Saving Axe Read online

  And if something happened to June, I didn’t want to imagine what I would do, the depths I would descend to protect her.

  “No,” I said. “We can’t stay. It’s over. I can’t be part of it anymore.”

  Blaze nodded. “I didn’t expect it.” He was silent for a while. “Crunch is going back to Puerto Rico, taking MacKenzie.”

  “It’s not the best life for her.”

  Blaze shook his head. “Dani understands that, more than anyone.”

  Dani would, I thought, growing up in a crime family, her own mother murdered when she was only fourteen.

  I looked up as Dani and June joined us.

  “It was a nice ceremony,” Dani said, sliding her arm around Blaze.

  “It was,” I agreed.

  Silence fell over the group as we stood there. After so much had happened, there was nothing left to say.

  Crunch joined us, holding MacKenzie in his arms. The rims of his eyes were red, and his skin was ashen, his cheeks sunken. It had only been a few days, but he looked hollow, a shell of a man.

  He looked broken.

  I think all of us looked that way.

  "Hi Uncle Axe," MacKenzie said shyly, not moving her head from her place on her dad's shoulder.

  "Hey MacKenzie," I said.

  "We're going to visit my grandma's house," she said. "My mommy isn't going with us. Daddy said she needs to rest for a while."

  I swallowed hard, and looked at June, who was clearly blinking back tears.

  "No, baby," Crunch said. His voice cracked, and I thought he was going to break right there. "Mommy's not going with us."

  "Hey, Mac," June said, her voice falsely bright. "Can I see your stuffed animal?"

  "It's a jaguar," MacKenzie said, smiling. "Put me down, daddy." She ran over to June, and I heard June and Dani begin to pepper her with questions.

  Crunch spoke to me, his voice low. "We're going to take off for a while."

  "Yeah, that's what I heard," I said. "June and I are going back to Colorado." I nearly said, you're welcome anytime, but stopped myself. I was sure he never wanted to set foot in the state again, after what had happened there. I was the opposite- it was the only place I wanted to be. I needed to lay my father to rest.

  I needed to lay my own demons to rest.

  SALVATION

  West Bend, Colorado

  Three Years Later

  June

  "Be careful, swinging him up in the air like that!" I called from the front porch, watching Cade lift little Stan up in the air and hearing him squeal with delight. "He's only eighteen months- you can't go too high!"

  Cade carried little Stan back to the porch, and set him down. He toddled around, mostly stable but not entirely, still giggling. Bailey followed him, always loyal, but mostly looking for abandoned snacks. Cade wrapped his arms around me, around my belly.

  "I don't remember you being this anxious the last time you were pregnant," he said.

  I leaned my head back against him. "We didn't have a toddler for you to throw around last time."

  "No, we didn't," he said. "How's the momma-to-be feeling?"

  "Tired," I said. "But happy."

  Looking out across the property, to my old house, the one we'd turned into a bed and breakfast, I thought, Stan would have liked this, knowing that Cade had come back here, that we were raising our kids in the home where he'd raised Cade. Keeping the old ranch alive.

  "What are you thinking?" Cade asked, his voice low.

  "Nothing," I said. "Just that your dad would have liked all of this."

  "He'd have loved little Stan," Cade said.

  I nodded. "He'd be so proud of you, too, with the bike shop and everything." The bed and breakfast had done so well, with the influx of ski tourists the past two winters, that we'd been able to open a custom bike shop in town, and Cade had gotten to start doing what he loved. It didn't pay much, but it was good for him.

  "Do you ever regret not going back to California?" I asked him. "Regret not being a part of the club anymore?" Guys were bringing their bikes to him from hours away, and Cade was getting a reputation for doing good custom paint jobs, but I sometimes wondered if hanging around those guys just made him wish he was back with the MC.

  "No," he said. "I'm pretty barn sour now."

  "What?" I asked, turning toward him, my protruding belly in the way. I leaned over to pick up Stan, and he patted his hand on Cade's face, intrigued by his stubble. "What do you mean?"

  "You and that little man right there are my home," he said. "I feel the way horses get, when they're barn sour and they don't want to leave the barn. I don't want to leave you guys. I know where I belong."

  Axe

  Everything was quiet, with my wife and child both napping.

  My wife and child.

  That's something I never thought I'd say.

  I stood outside, watching the clouds roll by, turning my cell phone over and over in my hand, thinking about the phone call I'd just gotten from Crunch.

  He wasn't Crunch anymore.

  He'd moved to Vegas with MacKenzie, had this gig where he did some kind of hacking shit for casinos. I couldn't remember how he'd explained it, something about security or some shit. He had come out of retirement, was starting to associate with the club chapter out in Vegas. The shit that happened out in LA had gotten him a new road name.

  Hammer.

  I guess brutally killing three assholes, smashing one man to pieces with a sledgehammer, warranted a name change.

  After April's funeral, he'd gone back to Puerto Rico, left MacKenzie with her grandmother for a bit. Which was probably for the best, because he'd pretty much gone off the deep end, a total fucking tailspin.

  I could understand the feeling.

  Last year he'd pulled himself up, gotten his shit together. Now he had this good job and MacKenzie back living with him.

  Then I get this voicemail today.

  He'd gotten involved with a girl. Someone important to him, he said.

  And now she was missing.

  Back inside the house, I poked my head through the bedroom doorway, careful not to wake June. She was sleeping peacefully, and I wanted to keep her blissfully unaware for as long as possible. I slipped into bed beside her, cradled her stomach, and breathed her in. She murmured something in her sleep, snuggled in close to me. I knew that I'd have to call Hammer, face whatever grotesque reality he was going through.

  But right now, I wanted to soak in a few more minutes of peace.

  For now, everything was right in my world.

  THE END

  BREAKING HAMMER

  He would search the ends of the earth to bring her home.

  Betrayed by the MC he once loved, mourning the brutal murder of his wife, Joe "Hammer" Holder was picking up the pieces of his life.

  He swore he would never fall in love again. Until Meia.

  A high class escort catering to some of the richest and most powerful clientele in Las Vegas, Meia has a dark past. She escaped the clutches of the vile men who trafficked her through southeast Asia years ago.

  Love was not part of her destiny. Until Hammer.

  When Meia disappears without a trace, will their love be enough to help her survive?

  Book Three in the Inferno Motorcycle Club series contains mature themes, including human trafficking and violence. It is not meant for the faint of heart.

  Please enjoy this preview of Breaking Hammer.

  Author’s Note

  Breaking Hammer contains mature content, including descriptions of sex, language, and violence, that are not suitable for readers under the age of eighteen. It also should be noted that it deals with subjects that might be sensitive for some readers, such as abusive situations and human trafficking. However, please note that while this book deals with abusive subject matter, there are no descriptions of non-consensual sexual encounters. All sexual situations in this book involve consenting adults over the age of eighteen.

  In June 2014,