Passing the Torch (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation Book 1) Read online

  Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling Author

  Winter Travers

  Copyright © 2020 Winter Travers

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduction, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) utilization of this work without written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  For questions or comments about this book, please contact the author at [email protected]

  Also by Winter Travers

  Devil’s Knights Series

  Loving Lo

  Finding Cyn

  Gravel’s Road

  Battling Troy

  Gambler’s Longshot

  Keeping Meg

  Fighting Demon

  Unraveling Fayth

  Skid Row Kings Series

  DownShift

  PowerShift

  BangShift

  Fallen Lords MC Series

  Nickel

  Pipe

  Maniac

  Wrecker

  Boink

  Clash

  Freak

  Slayer

  Brinks

  Kings of Vengeance MC

  Drop a Gear and Disappear

  Lean Into It

  Knees in the Breeze

  Powerhouse MA Series

  Dropkick My Heart

  Love on the Mat

  Black Belt in Love

  Black Belt Knockout

  Nitro Crew Series

  Burndown

  Holeshot

  Redlight

  Shutdown

  Royal Bastards MC: Sacramento, CA

  Playboy

  Sweet Love Novellas

  Sweet Burn

  Five Alarm Donuts

  Stand Alone Novellas

  Kissing the Bad Boy

  Daddin’ Ain’t Easy

  Silas: A Scrooged Christmas

  Wanting More

  Mama Didn’t Raise No Fool

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Coming Soon

  About the Author

  Meet the Fallen Lords MC

  Chapter One

  Reva

  “Barbara! Pssst! Get over here.”

  Barbara raised her head to look at me but didn’t budge.

  “Get over here right now,” I demanded. My tone was firm, and I meant business.

  Barbara tipped her head to the side.

  “Get your ass over here, Barbara. I am not playing with you anymore.” I didn't know what the hell had compelled her to go traipsing over there, but she needed to get her ass back over to me.

  She stared at me for a second longer and then turned away.

  “Hey!”

  Oh, shit. I hung my head. This is what I was trying to avoid. Slinking around the backyard of the local motorcycle club was something I normally didn’t do. “This is all your fault, Barbara,” I grumbled.

  “Who the hell are you talking to?”

  I glanced over my shoulder. The low, intoxicating voice was attached to a tall, tattooed man with a black leather vest over a white t-shirt. His long legs were encased in a pair of light denim jeans with a hole in the right knee. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes, and his lips were turned down in a scowl. He was handsome. Too handsome.

  “Uh, Barbara?” Apparently, I wasn’t too sure of my answer. Maybe because this wasn't how I pictured my day playing out.

  I didn’t think it was possible, but he scowled even more. “There’s two of you back here?”

  I peeked back over my shoulder at Barbara, who had moved further into the backyard. “Well, yeah.”

  “You know this is private property, right?” He dropped his arms to his sides and moved toward me.

  “Yeah.” I had figured that out when I pushed open the gate that had a large yellow sign with black block letters that boasted NO TRESPASSING.

  “So you wanna tell me why you’re back here?” he grunted.

  I hitched my thumb over my shoulder. “Barbara.”

  “Is she drunk or something? Can’t read?” The guy stalked toward me.

  I shrugged. “Uh, or something?” I turned back to Barbara and moved further into the backyard.

  “That’s a dog.”

  I glanced back at a tall, dark, and tattooed man. “Astute observation.”

  Barbara lifted her head at the guy’s voice. She panted heavily and bound across the yard toward me. Finally.

  She leapt into the air and landed squarely in the guy’s arms. “Oof,” he grunted. “What the hell?”

  Maybe he wasn’t a dog person, but Barbara didn’t seem to care about that. “She likes you,” I said simply.

  She licked his face wildly and panted.

  “She thinks she’s a lap dog or something,” he grumbled.

  That was the damn truth. Barbara was a standard size poodle who was spoiled rotten, and I swore she thought she was human. “I’ll take her. I was in the middle of dealing with Hopper when she ran out.”

  This guy obviously hadn’t been too happy to find me in his backyard, so it was probably for the best to grab Barbara and run.

  “You really named her Barbara?” he asked. He rubbed her head and actually gave her a half smile. Her tongue lolled off to the side, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

  I scoffed and shook my head. “No.”

  He quirked his eyebrow.

  I sighed. “I own the groomers across the street. She’s supposed to be getting a cut and shampoo today.” I reached out and petted her head. “She obviously had other plans when she got dropped off.”

  “Who the hell names their dog Barbara?” he scoffed.

  “Uh, well, they always request she gets a cut that looks like Barbara Walters’ hair.” I cleared my throat. “It’s really uncanny how much she looks like her when I’m done with her.”

  The guy busted out laughing.

  Yeah, it was true. Barbara’s owners were a bit on the kooky side and didn’t care how crazy it seemed to not only call their dog Barbara, but to also give her a haircut that mimicked her namesake.

  “Now that is something I’d like to see.” He shifted the dog in his arms, and Barbara sighed.

  Yeah, girl. I’d be sighing too if I was lucky enough to be cuddled up to this guy.

  “So, you need help taking her?”

  I blinked. “Uh, who?”<
br />
  “The dog.”

  Oh, right. Barbara. I pulled out a leash from my back pocket. “Uh, I should be okay.” I reached out and hooked the end of the leash on her collar. “You can put her down.”

  He bent over and set her paws on the ground. Barbara leapt up and about knocked the guy over trying to get back in his arms.

  “I think you’ve got an admirer in Barbara.”

  He pushed her down and petted her head. “She’s a good girl, aren’t you, Barbara?” he cooed to her.

  I watched him fawn over the dog and smiled. Who would have thought the suave looking biker would be an animal whisperer? “Uh, well, we better get back to the shop, Barbara.” I tugged on her leash, but she didn’t budge.

  Her tongue lolled out the side of her mouth, and she stared lovingly up at the guy. Totally smitten. Same, girl. Same. Three minutes with this guy and I was jealous of the dog he was petting.

  He crouched down in front of her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Time for you to go get your haircut, pretty girl.”

  Ugh. Majorly swoon worthy.

  Barbara whined and scooted closer to him. I was never going to her away from him at this rate.

  “Come on, Barb. You can have a couple of cookies.”

  She didn’t even glance at me. Normally, the word cookies sent Barbara into a tizzy, and she would do anything to get one.

  Not today.

  The guy stood and turned to me. He held out his hand and smiled. “I’m Hero, and I think you might be needing a little help here.”

  I clumsily shook his hand. “Uh, I’m Reva.” I held onto his warm palm and kept yanking it up and down like it was a damn water pump. Up, down, up, down. I tried to wrap my head around his name. If his mother had named him that, it was one hell of a moniker to live up to.

  Hero laughed and set his other hand on top of mine. “I think that’s good, Sunshine.”

  I laughed nervously and extracted my hand from his. “Uh, sorry about that.” Apparently, touching the tanned, tattooed hottie turned me into an idiot. Lovely.

  He grabbed the leash from my other hand. “I can walk her back over, if you want. I think that might work better.”

  Barbara stared up adoringly at Hero. “She seems to have taken a liking to you.”

  Hero shrugged and headed toward the gate he had left open. I followed behind sheepishly.

  A laugh escaped my lips at the hilarity of Hero walking Barbara.

  The biker and the poodle. Now if that wasn’t a lame title to a romance book, I didn’t know what was.

  Hero opened the gate wider and held it for me. “Something funny?” he asked as I walked past. My shoulder brushed against his chest, and my heart kicked up a beat.

  “Nope, nothing at all.” I smirked. I would keep that thought to myself. No way was I going to tell Hero that he looked slightly ridiculous and also sexy as hell with a poodle following his every step.

  I led the way around the back of the clubhouse and onto the gravel driveway.

  “How long have you worked at the groomers?” he asked.

  I glanced over at him. “I’ve owned it for three years.”

  He nodded. “Own. That’s pretty cool.”

  Yeah, it was. I had worked my butt off to get to where I was today. Not saying I was a millionaire or even close to that, but I was living a life I was comfortable with. The lights stayed on, and I had food on the table every night. “Living the dream,” I mumbled.

  We crossed the street to the strip mall. Three years ago, the small five-store row of businesses had been built, and I was the first one in line to sign the lease for my shop. Mine was the first store when you pulled in, and I also had the largest space.

  Three-foot high letters stretched across the wall above the door of my space.

  Hair of the Dog.

  You see what I did there? I had to admit, the first couple of months that I was open, I got some weird phone calls thinking I was a liquor store, but those had all died down now.

  I held open the door and turned to let Hero in.

  “You didn’t lock the door?”

  I tipped my head to the side. “Uh, well, no.”

  “You should have locked the door, Reva. Unless you have someone else who works with you?”

  I shook my head. I was a one-woman shop. “Just me.”

  “You should have locked the door,” he repeated.

  “Yeah, well, I was a little more concerned about getting Barbara, and the door is hard to lock in a hurry. Everything is fine.” I reached out to grab the leash from him.

  He gripped the leash tightly. “What do you mean it’s hard to lock in a hurry?”

  I blew my hair out of my face. “It’s fussy. It takes finesse that I don’t have when I’m screaming after a poodle headed to hang out at the local motorcycle club.” I grabbed the leash and yanked it out of his hand. “Thanks again for your help. I promise it won’t happen again.”

  Barbara was going to be leashed no matter what when she came here from now on. I didn’t want to do that again.

  “You should get the lock looked at if it’s giving you problems.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’ve talked to Russ about it.”

  “Russ?”

  Barbara cried and moved closer to Hero. Lordy. She was completely under Hero’s spell. “Russ is the guy who owns the strip mall.”

  “Your landlord,” he clarified.

  “Yup. That’s him.” I cleared my throat and nodded to my shop. “I better get back to work. These dogs aren’t going to bathe themselves.” As much as I’d love to stare at Hero’s handsome face all day, I had to do my job to make money to pay my rent. “Thank you again for helping to rein in Barbara.”

  He leaned down and patted her on the head. “I’ll see ya later, lil girl.”

  My heart fluttered with his words even though he wasn’t talking to me.

  He straightened and smiled. “I’ll see ya around, Reva.”

  I nodded dumbly because I had no idea what to say. I’d like that? When? Is that a promise?

  His words were unclear, so I pulled Barbara back into the shop and pushed the door closed behind me. I attached Barbara’s leash to the counter and sighed. “That was a very naughty girl, Barb,” I whispered.

  I petted her head, and she flopped down on the floor. She whined pathetically and huffed, staring out the glass door. I turned to see what she was looking at.

  Hero was slowly walking across the street with his phone to his ear. Barbara whined and gave a short bark.

  “I hear ya, girl,” I muttered. Watching Hero saunter away was a nice sight. A very nice sight.

  He crossed the road and disappeared into the clubhouse.

  While I knew the clubhouse was across the street the entire time I’ve been here, I had never really paid much attention to it before now. I also knew they ran the strip club on the edge of town, and they had a repair shop connected to the clubhouse. Dad was handy with cars, and he had taught me to take care of mine. What I couldn’t handle, he did short of body work and paint. I never had a need to pay much attention to the Devil’s Knights.

  That was, until Barbara decided she wanted to take a little field trip over there to meet the handsome Hero.

  “Jesus,” I whispered. Guys like Hero were the things romance novels were made of. He was the bad boy you craved would do bad things to you, but ya know, in a nice way. A sexy way.

  I fanned my face with my hand and sighed. Guys like Hero were trouble. Too handsome for their own good and with way too much confidence.

  This was the first run-in I had with one of the Devil’s Knights, and it was going to be the last. I was more than happy with my little life I was building, and I didn’t need a sexy man with a motorcycle to mess it up.

  Barbara whined and dropped her head to the floor. She looked up at me with her big brown eyes. She was letting the sexy biker mess with her already.

  I was not going down that path.

  Nope. Not happening.

/>   *

  Chapter Two

  Hero

  “You wanna tell me where the hell you’ve been?”

  I sighed and plopped down in the chair at the opposite end of the table from King. “I was doing something. I’m here now.”

  King leaned back in his chair at the head of the table. “Try being on time for once, Hero.”

  This was constant from King. Even if I was on time, he would tell me I was late. Nothing I seemed to do lately was ever good enough for him. I had been a prospect for a year before becoming a member of the club when I was nineteen. Now, at twenty-eight and a member of the club for almost ten years, it still felt like I was treated as a prospect most of the time.

  “I talked to you before you went to smoke a cigarette. What the hell happened between then and now?”

  I looked at the guy sitting next to King. His mohawk had shortened over the years, but it was still there and still electric blue.

  “Someone was in the back, Dad.” Yeah, Rigid, the blue mohawk, was my sire. His affinity for colored hair didn’t run in the family. It had for a brief summer when I was younger, but I had decided to leave the colored hair to him. The tattoos, though? Yeah, I had plenty of those.

  “Who the hell was back there?” King demanded.

  “The chick who owns the groomers across the street had a dog get away from her. I helped her out.”

  “Hair of the Dog?” Demon asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah.” I hadn’t really taken notice of the place before today, but obviously Demon had.

  King’s phone buzzed, and he grabbed it off the table. He grunted after looking at the screen. “Let’s get down to shit. Meg’s breathing down my collar to get on the road.”

  Rigid laughed. “Same with Cyn. It’s like she’s never had a vacation before in her life.”

  “I still think we should have just sent all of the girls off on their own instead of fucking agreeing to go with them,” Slider complained. “Fayth has four suitcases packed, and even though I keep telling her that she can’t bring that many, she isn’t fucking listening. That damn Banachi blood in her…” he trailed off.