The Biker's Fate Chapter 376

Grace Lundy's life has been tainted with horror and tragedy. She's spent the past ten years building a fortress around her heart to avoid more pain. In the process, she's managed to push away those closest to her, but the time has come for them to push back.

Billy "Flea" Jameson lives his life as a faithful soldier in the Dogs of Fire MC, free of commitment and drama… until Grace comes home from college. The sexy as sin woman who walks into the clubhouse isn't the young girl who left for school, and her appearance promises an end to his commitment-free life.

But trouble brews when an innocent man is sent to prison and a rival club vies for territory.

As Flea works with his brothers to protect the club, can he keep Grace from being caught in the crossfire?

Grace

"Maisie?" Mom said, sobbing into the phone. "I'm so sorry."

"Maisie! Mom has a gun!" I screamed, hoping my surrogate aunt would hear me.

My mother had locked us into the upstairs bathroom, and I was inside the tub, pinned against the wall, trying to shelter myself from the gun she waved between us.

"I can't keep doing this," Alison rasped.

I whimpered quietly, hoping not to draw her attention as she spoke with her best friend, Maisie.

"It's all too much, Maisie, you know?" Mom rasped and aimed the gun toward me again.

"Maisie! Help! Oh, God, please!" I screamed, moving against the back wall in a futile effort to evade the gun.

"Do you remember that time we took the kids to the museum?" she asked.

Tears flooded my face as Mom talked about a memory from long ago. She'd completely broken free from reality and if I couldn't get out of this room, I knew she was going to kill me.

"Ohmigod, yes," she giggled manically.

"No, Mama, please don't," I begged.

I heard Maisie's voice on the other line calling for her. "Alison?"

"Huh?

"Ali, love?" Maisie called again.

"Yes, I'm here."

I relaxed just a hair as she listened to whatever Maisie said on the other end.

"I forgot about that," Mom whispered. "Why don't they wash those damned toys?"

I moved an inch to my right, further away from the angle of the gun.

"We had such good times, didn't we?" Mom relaxed her hold on the gun slightly. "I'm so sorry, Maisie."

I wasn't sure if she was sorry for what she'd done in the past… or of what she was about to do.

"If I could take it back, I would."

I bit my lip as she pointed the gun to her head.

"Goodbye Maisie."

Bang!

"No! Mama! Ohmigod, why did you… you…! Mama, get up!"

I stood in my brother's kitchen and downed a glass of wine, the memory of last night's dream rattling around in my head. My mother had killed herself over ten years ago, but I was still dealing with nightmares, always made worse when I was stressed.

I'd graduated from college two weeks ago and had been home for almost a week. A very long week. My relationship with my brother was currently tentative, mostly because he chose my father over me, but as long as he didn't talk about Dad, I could pretend I was still Merrick's favorite and that he loved me best. Which was why I was staying with him until I could figure out what the hell I was going to do with my degree… and my life.

"Hey, sis," Merrick said, shrugging on a leather vest (he called it a cut) as he walked into the room.

"Hey, Mer."

"Finch," he corrected.

I rolled my eyes. He was patching into the Dogs of Fire and one of the bikers had given him the super special biker name, "Finch." He said it was because Merrick always had his face buried in a law book. Accurate, considering this had been true since forever. Merrick was the quintessential nerd, only the football playing, poetry writing, computer programmer-type nerd.

"I've seen your bare butt when Dad spanked you… I'm not calling you 'Finch.'"

"Grace," he said, his voice low like he was all fatherly and shit. "This is important to me. You've been around everyone enough to feel comfortable, but I need you to at least give me the respect my patch affords."

"Not sure I'm there yet, brother," I admitted.

He smiled. It was a sad smile, but I acknowledged the effort. "Fake it."

"You've been different since you got back from Savannah."

"Yeah, things came into focus." He ran his knuckles gently down my cheek. "You're safe with us. You know that."

I nodded with a sigh. He was right, I was safe, and I felt comfortable around the Dogs. My best friend, Poppy, was practically married to one, and her mother literally was. Hatch. The coolest man I'd ever met. He'd scooped me and Merrick up and took us back to the clubhouse the night of the incident, and the people there had helped to put me back together. Well, as together as a broken and fucked up twelve-year-old could be.

"You ready?" Merrick asked.

"Yep."

"You sober enough to drive?"

"I've had one glass of wine. I'm good."

He handed me a roll of Ritz crackers. "Eat."

I raised an eyebrow. "When did you get so bossy?"

He ignored me, snagging my keys off the hook and handing them to me. I grabbed them and followed him outside. He climbed on his bike, while I slid into my car, opening the cracker packet before securing my seatbelt.

I followed him to the compound, excited to see Poppy, who I hadn't seen in almost a week. Considering that up until three weeks ago, we'd lived together, I was going through some serious withdrawals.

Flea

Hatch handed me a beer and I gave him a nod of thanks. "Poppy comin'?" I asked, sliding the toothpick I'd been chewing into my pocket.

"Yeah. Sparky's bringin' her," Hatch said. "Still not ready to wrap my fuckin' mind around that one."

"It's happening, darling," Hatch's woman, Maisie said, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Figure it out quick."

Hatch pulled her close and shook his head.

"Figure out what quick?" Poppy asked, walking into the kitchen, Sparky following.

Hatch held his free hand out and Poppy stepped into his embrace. "Nothin', baby girl. You good?"

She grinned up at him. "I'm good, Sid."

Pulling away from Hatch, she walked over to me and hugged me. "Hey, babe," I said.

"Hi, buddy." She gave me a quick squeeze, then leaned back against Sparky who wrapped an arm around her from behind. "You married yet?"

I choked on my beer. "Uh, fuck no."

Poppy grinned. "I can't wait to meet the woman who makes that happen."

I shook my head. "You'll be long dead, Poppy. Never happenin'."

She giggled, then looked over my shoulder, gasping as she made a run for the door. "Gracie!" she squealed.

My gaze followed the flurry of activity and I found I couldn't raise my bottle to my mouth. My body locked, and my dick took notice of the drop-dead gorgeous woman pulling Poppy in for a sisterly hug. There was no way in hell this was Grace Lundy. The last time I'd seen her was when she'd headed off to Atlanta for school with Poppy. She'd barely been eighteen.

And before that, she'd been the little girl whose mother had almost killed her…but turned the gun on herself instead. The little girl who'd fallen asleep on my shoulder that night as Hatch, Maisie, and I had watched a movie with the kids in an effort to keep her distracted. I'd wanted to protect her back then. Wanted to keep the demons at bay, but she'd had Hatch and Maisie, so I made sure she was okay from a distance.

Grace had always been a little girl in my eyes, but this woman who was lamenting the fact her best friend was too busy to hang out with her, was nothing less than stunning.

Long raven hair, eyes a deep blue, she made her way around the group, hugging everyone, and I was transfixed at the graceful way her body moved. Made sense, considering she was a ballerina, but I still couldn't seem to look away.

"Hey Flea," she said, and smiled up at me.

"Hey, babe," I said, pulling her in for a chaste hug.

Fuck, her tits felt amazing against my chest. Since I couldn't focus on that without embarrassing myself in front of my brothers, I released her so she could rejoin Poppy. While the reunion continued, I decided to get the fuck outta Dodge and find something stronger than beer to drink.