The Biker's Fate Chapter 92

Cassidy

 Blurb 

Carter 'Ace' Quinn has spent his life running from the rage caused by a broken heart. After several tours in the Air Force, and continued missions as a para-jumper, he spends his down time within the Dogs of Fire Motorcycle Club.

Cassidy Dennis is living with a choice she made years ago that lost her the love of her life but gained her something more precious. However, she misses her best friend and longs for the love they'd been building.

When a chance meeting brings the two together, will they put aside their hurts and forgive each other?

Will the jealousies of outsiders force the two apart?

Eight years ago...

"CARTER," I WHISPERED, forcing back tears. "I have to go."

"Why, Cass?" he demanded.

I stared up at my best friend and tried not to fold. "You're leaving—"

"I'll be back in less than a year."

Carter had driven to my place, rather than heading home after work, and he now stood in my kitchen (after sneaking in through my bedroom window), his face contorted in frustration as I tried to explain in person what I'd tried to explain over the phone. My parents were still at work and my sisters were out with their boyfriends, so I had the house to myself... which almost never happened.

"But if you're not here, there's no reason for me to stick around." I smiled. "Who knows where the Air Force will take you?"

He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. "Damn it, Cass. I don't get this need you have to run."

I raised an eyebrow. "You've known me since I was six. I have always wanted to run."

Carter Quinn had been my constant shadow ever since my parents moved me and my sisters to the property adjacent to the Quinn farm eleven years ago. It had started on my first day of first grade when he put a cockroach in my hair and I calmly removed it and named it "George." He was two years older than me, but ever since then, we'd spent pretty much every day together trekking through the wooded areas around our homes and lazy water "rides" on what he called the Quinn River. Of course, it was more of a pond, but it was safe to swim in and sometimes we would all take turns pushing each other in inner tubes in order to feel like we were all on some kind of rapids adventure. Silly kid stuff that I was going to miss.

"That's not what I meant," he grumbled.

"I know, buddy." I sighed, trying once again to bolster my resolve.

Carter was the fifth of six brothers, all rambunctious little boys who grew up to be gorgeous, strong, respectful men. They loved their Mama, and had a deep reverence for women in general, but that didn't mean they didn't take advantage of the fact they were all illegally good-looking.

"I can't believe you're giving up your senior year."

"To dance in France, Carter!" I said for the umpteenth time.

"You could dance in good old America," he said, also for the umpteenth time. "What if you hate Paris and I'm not here to help you pack up and come home?"

"You leave in a week." I rolled my eyes. "You won't be back for at least eight months, probably longer, and then that'll be for what, a week or two? Then onto something else for another year or more, right? I'll do my year in Paris and beat you back here either way. It's the perfect chance for me to finish school and train with a prestigious ballet company... and take my mind off the fact that you're going to be flying planes into combat. It's a win-win."

He knew how much I hated school. I was never good with the politics of high school and once he left, I was bored... and a target.

"Are you still dealing with assholes?"

"Not since you forced your brother to stick close to me," I said with a sigh.

"I didn't force him to do anything. You know he thinks of you like the sister he never had."

I chuckled. "Or wanted."

Carter grinned. "Aidan adores you. Just don't let him know I told you."

Aidan was the baby of the family and one year younger than me, but you'd never know to look at him. He was six-foot-one and still growing, his best class was weight training, and, as was common with the Quinn brothers, he had a harem of girls who followed him everywhere.

Once Carter graduated and I was left without my "shield," Aidan took up the mantle and his harem didn't like it, but I tried to keep my head down and ignore them as best I could. Easy to do for the most part since I was dancing more than going to classes my junior year.

"My lips are sealed." I tried for a goofy grin. "This isn't a problem that you can make your bitch, buddy. We're just going to have to let it all play out naturally."

Carter crossed his arms and studied me. "If you go, I'm gonna miss your eighteenth birthday."

"I'll be back a full week before my eighteenth birthday, it's you who'll still be gone more than likely."

"You're breakin' our deal, Cass."

I scowled at him, my stomach churning. "You broke it first by running off to war!"

"So, this is about getting back at me?"

"No!" I snapped, and then took a deep breath. "No, seriously, it's not. The deal was we would have a private wedding ceremony by the dead tree with Torbig the Troll as officiant when I turn eighteen, right? I'm not eighteen. So, as long as you're back at some point before I turn nineteen, I will view the deal is intact. Unless of course, you find your forever love and marry her instead. At that point, I will admit that my heart will unequivocally shatter into a million pieces..." I let my sentence trail, hoping my joke would lighten the mood.

Carter laughed. "Fuckin' nut."

I giggled. "Says the bolt."