Above & Below: Mountain Misfits MC Prologue Read online

  I run my hands up the side of her shirt, tugging it as I go and she pulls away, looking over my shoulder at the house above.

  “Relax,” I assure her. “Nobody’s gonna see.”

  She puts her head in her hands and lets out a frustrated sigh. That’s when I hear it too.

  “Sloan!! Sloan!! Where are you?” A high-pitched squeal echoes from the hills.

  “I gotta go,” she whispers. She hits me with a peck on the lips before smoothing her shirt and taking off running. “Sorry!”

  Sloan:

  She better be bleeding from the head or missing an arm, and I mean that in the kindest way possible.

  Sure, banging a random biker on a boulder probably wouldn’t go down as my shining moment in life, but opportunities like this don’t come up too often when you’re working in an emergency room eighteen hours a day. I’m young. I have my whole life ahead of me to worry about white picket fences and good decision-making.

  “Olive!” I yell, waving my arms. “I’m coming!”

  “Where the hell did you come from?” she asks. Her face is streaked with tears. She’s got her shoes flung over her shoulder and she’s ripping off her fake eyelashes.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I say, trying to catch my breath. “What happened to you?”

  “I chickened,” she sobs. “I couldn’t pull the trigger. I…” Her eyes grow wide and her jaw drops. I cringe. I hear his footsteps coming up the pavement and I hang my head. So much for ‘nobody’s gonna see’.

  “Are you ok? Did somebody put their hands on you?” he barks.

  “Who are you?” she asks.

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Why do you both keep saying that? Wait a minute…”

  She looks at him and looks at me and shakes her head.

  “Are you all right or what?” he asks. His tone is perturbed but concerned and I actually find it kind of endearing. He doesn’t know her from the next stripper, but his knee-jerk protectiveness shows me he’s a good man underneath the ink and leather.

  “I’m fine, thank you. Everyone was very kind and very polite. I just don’t think I’m cut out for this kind of work. I thought I was; hell, I think my guidance counselor even suggested it as a career option, but the truth is, I don’t have a graceful bone in my body. I can’t dance to save my life. All those girls in there would put me to shame.”

  We all start cracking up.

  “I was about to be proud of you, but now I’m just confused,” I laugh. “Although I have seen your dance moves, and they are pretty awful. I thought maybe you took some lessons or something, though.”

  She shrugs. “It is what it is. Guess it’s back to bartending for now.”

  “You bartend?” Gavin asks.

  “Look at me,” she says. “Do you even need to ask that question?”

  “You know anything about managing a bar?”

  “I know everything about managing a bar. Why?”

  “We’re looking for somebody at the Bucktail Saloon. Our longtime manager passed away and we’ve been scrambling ever since. Pay’s pretty good.”

  If he’s doing what I think he’s doing, he’s a lot smarter than I initially gave him credit for. You always make nice with the crazy best friend. I’m not sure if he’s aware of what kind of gauntlet he’s throwing himself into, but the fact that he’s willing to offer a job to this barefoot, weeping, wannabe stripper to impress me is extremely flattering. If that’s what he’s trying to do. Whether he actually likes me or he’s just trying to get into my pants is irrelevant. Biker boy is at least going out on a limb.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Come down Monday morning at ten. We can talk about it then.”

  “I will. Thank you!”

  “Now what do you say we go inside and try to salvage what’s left of this night?” he suggests.

  “I’m sorry,” Olive says. “I just can’t. I’m so embarrassed. You guys go have fun, though. I’ll just wait in the car.”

  Dammit, Olive. The throbbing between my thighs isn’t making this easy. I want to finish what we started in the worst possible way, but I can’t just bail on my best friend to get some dick.

  “Let’s go home. Thanks for your hospitality, Gavin.”

  I go in for an awkward hug. I’m really not sure how one navigates this sort of situation. His dick is pressing into my thigh as his hands reach down to cup my ass, and I’m afraid that if this goes on any longer, he’ll likely impregnate me in front of my friend.

  “You’re fucking killing me, Sloan,” he whispers in my ear.

  “You better not die on me. I might be a doctor, but I haven’t quite mastered bringing people back from the dead. I’ll see you soon. I promise.”

  Begrudgingly, I open the car door for her and get in.

  “What the fuck just happened?” she says as I put the car in reverse and start heading down the hill.

  “I think that nice man just offered you a job.”

  “That nice man? Other than his arms, his ass, and his smile, what about that man is nice?”

  “What does it matter?” I ask.

  “Are you drunk? You know what those bikers are like. I feel like you’re constantly walking around trying to invent new ways to ruin your life.”

  “What’s this have to do with my life? It’s a hookup, Olive. Sometimes a girl just needs to blow off a little steam.”

  “Or blow off a big bad biker she just met?”

  “I don’t kiss and tell, Ollie, you know that.” Just kidding. Seriously, if I had my way with that mountain masterpiece, I would’ve made sure she heard every gory detail.

  “Listen, I don’t blame you one bit. I probably would’ve done the same thing. Hell, I probably would’ve locked you in the car and casually pushed it off the cliff.”

  “I know, ya asshole,” I say, punching her in the shoulder. “The thought crossed my mind, but I didn’t want to lose my ChapStick in the glove compartment.”

  “That’s just your lady blue balls talking. I’ll pretend like I never heard that.”

  “You’re gross. And you’re going to take that job.”

  “You mean I’m going to give you an excuse to creep on some guy you’re trying to bone?” She laughs.

  We’re back on the long dirt road, and this time I’m going to take it slow. My poor car has seen enough trauma for the day, and so have my lonely lady parts. I think a pothole would feel like a gunshot to the crotch.

  “Well, it obviously has more potential than your stripping career.”

  “Oh, fuck off. I’ll think about it. But not because of you. I’ll spend my dying breath keeping you away from guys like that until you’re done with school, and you know it. I already let you slip once.”

  “K, mom.” Sure, maybe this wasn’t going to go down as one of my best life choices, but I would definitely have zero regrets. I can’t stop thinking about his hands on my body, his mouth on my neck. Men like him know what they’re doing, and I was totally willing to let him prove it to me in any way he wanted.

  “I’ve been called worse.”

  “I have quite a few choice names for you right now, actually, captain cockblock.”

  “We both know you’ll be thanking me someday. You know he only offered me that job so he could get in your pants, right?”

  “That’s what I was hoping.” I pull my car into the parking lot of the twenty-four-hour diner off the highway. “Olive, I have a hole that needs to be filled, and I think a cheeseburger the size of my head is my only option at this point. You got any money?”

  “C’mon. I’ll even let ya get a milkshake if you promise not to talk about your holes anymore.”

  “Fries too?” I ask, skipping across the parking lot.

  “Sure.”

  Chapter 4

  Eight years ago

  Gavin:

  “Dude, you only have two beers in your fridge. This is not what I imagined Gavin Boden’s collegiate pussy palace to look like,” Heat s
colds. Late fifties and scruffy as hell, I almost feel bad I don’t have something special planned for the old guy. It’s not every day I can pry the chaplain of the Mountain Misfits Motorcycle Club out of his hole and drag him down the hill to walk among the living.

  “You shoulda been here last night. This place was crawling.”

  He shakes his head at me.

  “Too little, too late, son.”

  A short little brunette in cutoff jean shorts comes flying out of my bedroom, screaming as she clutches her shirt to her chest.

  “Found a live one!” Clutch shouts, following her out with a box of my stuff. He just recently finished his final tour in Iraq, and I’m sure he’s going nuts here on campus with all the fresh young tail running around. The man has always been a dog. Charming and loyal as hell, but still a dog.

  “What the hell have you been eating, Gavin?” he asks. “You’re fucking yoked. You look good, man.” I had been putting the time in at the gym. When you’re not doing manual labor on the mountain, it’s crazy how much pent-up energy you end up with.

  “Beard’s a little thin, though,” Heat teases, grabbing my scruff. “We’ll get you back where you belong, boy, and get that fixed up quick.”

  “You guys really didn’t have to come down and help me move. I would’ve figured something out.”

  “Oh, come on, Gavin,” Heat says. “You know we can’t wait to get you back up on the hill with us. Just wait until you see what we have arranged for tonight. You think this place was crawling last night? We’ve been planning your graduation party since the day you got accepted into college.”

  I’m sure all these bikers dragging boxes out of my apartment are well out of their element. I was the first Mountain Misfit to go to college, let alone graduate. Hell, I don’t even feel right here half the time. You can take the man out of the mountain, but trying to function down here is claustrophobic on a good day, and on the worst days, well, I feel like a fucking wolf in a cage.

  I dumped all my aggression into studying and working out. Muscling through. If it got to be too much to handle and I felt like I was going to explode, there were always plenty of pretty young chicks who wanted to straddle my bike.

  But I’m done. I’m graduated. For now.

  Law school is the next logical step.

  The next logical step.

  Maybe not the next actual step. I need to feel things out first.

  I’ve passed my LSAT. Got accepted into a fairly decent school that’s at least somewhat rural.

  I haven’t even said a word to anyone about it except my roommate, and he’s making himself scarce at the moment while my rough and tumble crew, my family, load boxes into the moving van. I don’t blame him.

  I don’t want to tell the guys that I’m not coming back to stay like they think I am. At least not yet. I just want to enjoy a couple months out in the woods, up on the mountain, riding my bike and spending time with my crew.

  When you’re a Mountain Misfit, you don’t have the luxury of a five-year plan. More like a five-minute plan.

  “I’m surprised Goob didn’t want to come along.” My youngest brother, only ten years old, would do anything to be included in club business. He idolizes us, and with good reason. Our mother bailed when he was a baby, so club life is all he knows. Anything is possible, though. I was raised in it and look at me now. He’ll figure it out when the time comes. For now, I’m happy with him being an innocent kid, and I know these men will throw themselves in front of a bullet for the little guy.

  “Oh shit, Gavin.” Heat’s face turns dark. The scar that stretches from his forehead to his ear is twitching, and I can tell whatever he’s about to tell me is much worse than the information I’m withholding from them.

  “What?”

  “Your dad said he talked to you about it. Said you thought it was a good idea. That a boy needs his mother.”

  I slam my fist on the countertop. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

  “I don’t know, man. You know I’d do anything for the boy, but I’m not his blood. It’s not my decision.”

  I need to punch something, but I don’t feel like patching up a wall so my roommate, Dale, can get his security deposit back.

  “He just let her come and get him? Why?”

  I don’t remember much about my mother, other than the fact that the only thing she loved more than cheating on my dad was drugs. He was more the other way around. The two of them were explosive, the fights never-ending. She disappeared with a safe full of family heirlooms ten years ago and hasn’t been around since. I sure as hell didn’t miss her.

  Dad’s definitely not a much better parent, but he’s always used the club as his excuse. As president, he has a lot on his plate. Taking care of three boys and a daughter always fell by the wayside. We ran wild as kids, doing whatever we pleased up there in the mountains while club prostitutes, drug dealers, and patched brothers made sure we stayed fed and kept all our limbs attached.

  “Honestly, I think it was just getting to be too much for the old man. With Micah gone and you here, Goob needed a lot more attention than your dad was willing to give. I thought he ran it past you, though. Figured you worked something out or I would’ve said something sooner.”

  “Where are they?”

  Knowing my mother, this wasn’t just some attempt to reconnect with her long-lost son. She’s conniving. There’s an ulterior motive somewhere in there.

  “Poconos, I think. She showed up with some suit when she came to get him; called him Uncle Harry. I think he works in the film business.”

  My blood is coming to a boil.

  “He’s ten years old, Heat! Do you have any idea how bad this is going to fuck him up? Being sent to live with two strangers? Getting bailed on by everyone and everything he knows? You know that woman. She’s crazy.”

  “Listen, man, I thought you knew. You want to track him down? I’m sure we can.”

  “Yes, I want to track him down. Tonight. I’m not going back up there unless I have him with me.”

  “Let me make some calls.” He steps into the other room, and I grab as many boxes as I can, not even caring at this point if I leave anything behind. I just need to go take care of my family.

  There goes law school.

  There goes that other shoe, the one that’s always about to drop.

  I should’ve never left.

  I can’t even be mad at my dad for bailing. I did the exact same thing.

  Brooks comes barreling through the kitchen door, a shit-eating grin stretched across his face and a girl on both of his arms.

  “Can I keep them?” he asks.

  “Gavin, why didn’t you tell us your friends were so much fun?” the blonde bubbles.

  “Yeah, Gavin,” Brooks jokes. “Why didn’t you tell us college was so much fun?”

  I toss him a taped-up cardboard box.

  “You ladies don’t know what you’re getting yourselves into,” I warn.

  “Oh, come on.” Brooks and I grew up together for the most part. His father was the president of the club before he passed in a strange and tragic “accident” when we were teenagers. We both had always hoped that one day, when we were older, Brooks would take over and I could be his vice president.

  “You are all grown, consenting adults. How are you gonna fit two girls on your bike, though?”

  “No need,” Clutch steps in, shooting the tall brunette a wink. You can tell she about faints as she smooths her little sundress down her curvy tan thighs.

  “Got ya an address,” Heat says, passing me his phone. I punch the coordinates into mine. It’s looking like a two-hour ride, but I’m going to push it as fast as I can.

  “I’m coming for you, buddy,” I think, hoping that some sort of blood brother ESP connection truly does exist. As much as I love spending time on the road, I have a feeling it’s not going to be a pleasant trip.

  I pull the door of the moving van shut. There’s no turning back now. My experiment in living my l
ife as anything but a misfit outlaw has officially concluded.

  “Thanks, guys. I’ll see ya when I see ya.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to come with? You don’t know what you’re walking into, and I feel like this is my fault,” Heat says.

  “It’s not your fault. And no. I’ll be fine. My kin, my responsibility. You guys just get back up there.”

  I give him a long hug. We might be big badass bikers, but we’re family.

  Brooks and Clutch hit me with some pats on the back as they fire up their bikes. The little blonde jumps up and down, squealing with excitement. I don’t even know her name, but I’m sure I’ll hear all about it later in dramatic detail. She doesn’t look like our typical dirty birdies, but knowing Brooks, she’ll be dressed in leather booty shorts, desperate to make him an old man by the end of the summer. I’m sure her parents will be proud.

  “If this is how you tip, I’ll be your moving man any day,” Clutch laughs, squeezing his new fling around the waist.

  “I’m hoping for a little more than the tip.” She smiles. Now he looks like he’s about to faint. Maybe he’s met his match. He swats her ass and looks at me seriously.

  “You sure you don’t want backup?”

  “You got a piece I can borrow?”

  He nods, pulling the gun out of the holster on his hip.

  When I first came to school, I constantly wore mine tucked into the waistband of my pants where nobody would see, even if it was against campus policy. After a while, I relaxed, stashing it in a safe under my bed and pretty much forgetting it even existed. It felt strange having this power back in my hands. Strange knowing that I wouldn’t have asked for it if I didn’t plan on using it. I tuck it in my waistband.