Nickel (Fallen Lords M.C. Book 1) Read online

  “Badminton practice?”

  I didn’t think she could blush anymore, but her cheeks turned a dark shade of red, and she nodded yes. “I felt that I needed to broaden my horizons and figured that would be a good place to start.”

  “Well, how about you broaden your horizon with me tonight, and you can pick back up with your badminton practice next week.” Her eyes darted to the left, and I knew she was scrambling to find an excuse not to go. “Please,” I begged.

  “Um, what time is it?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Dusk. I need to help Maniac set things up, so you can either come with me and wait while I work or I can swing by after we’re done, and we can watch the fireworks together.” Holy shit, I think Karmen was actually going to say yes.

  “I have to work in the morning, so I can’t be out all night.” She jerked her hand from mine and clasped both in front of her.

  “I’ll have you home in time to slip into bed with a full night's rest.”

  She just stared at me, her eyes uncertain. This was the moment of truth. Was Karmen going to give me the time of day?

  **********

  Karmen

  Crap. Crap, crap, crappity crap. I couldn’t go out with Nickel. Except I couldn’t think of a reason not to go. The best lie I could come up with was badminton, and he saw right through that. My brain was not functioning, and I had no idea what to say.

  “One night, baby, that’s all.”

  I swooned a bit when he called me baby. I had never been called anything but Karmen by anyone other than my dad. Nickel calling me baby made me weak in the knees, and I was sure I would say yes to anything as long as called me it again. “I don’t get off work ‘til seven.”

  “Dusk isn’t until after nine. I can pick you up at eight.” He shoved his keys in his pocket and looked down at me.

  Eight. I could do eight. Maybe. I only lived five minutes away from work, so I would still have almost an hour to get ready. “I don’t know.”

  He reached out and caressed my cheek. “Just say yes. It’s easy.”

  “Yes,” I breathed out, mesmerized by his touch and his piercing blue eyes.

  His other arm snaked out, wrapping around my waist, and he pulled me flush against him. He leaned down, placing a kiss on my forehead. “You just made my day a whole lot better, baby.”

  I leaned into him, burying my face in his neck and inhaled his soothing scent. My brain was fogged, and all I knew was, I had never felt more at home than in Nickel’s arms. “Glad to help,” I whispered.

  His body shook while he laughed at me. He placed one more kiss on my forehead and pulled away. “All right, you get back into work, or neither of us is going to get anything done today if I touch you any longer.”

  I stumbled out of his arms, catching my balance before I tumbled into a bush. “Um, okay. I’ll see you at eight?” I still couldn’t believe that I had just agreed to go on a date with Nickel tonight. I think I was losing my mind.

  “Eight on the dot, baby.” He grabbed his keys out of his pocket, twirled them around his finger, and winked at me. Tearing my eyes away when he walked over to his bike was impossible. I couldn’t move from the spot I was in.

  He swung his leg over the bike, cranked it up, revving the engine, and gave me a two finger wave right before he roared out of the parking lot.

  “You did it, finally,” I heard from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Nikki holding the door to the nursing home. She had a huge, smug smile plastered on her face.

  I rolled my eyes at her and glanced one more time at where Nickel had been before I walked back in. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “Oh, please. It’s about fucking time you cut that gorgeous hunk of man a break. He’s been fawning over you for a year. I don’t know any man who would put that much time into a woman who hasn’t given him the time of day.” Nikki held the door open for me, and we walked over to the front desk.

  “That man is going to go on one date with me and then run for the hills when he sees how boring and unfun I am.” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the desk as Nikki walked around to the receptionist chair and plopped down.

  “You don’t give yourself enough credit, Karmen. What you see, is not what he sees.”

  “He must be looking in the wrong mirror because I’m boring and nothing like the girls he is used to.”

  “On that point, you’re right. You’re class, and those other girls are all trash. You aren’t even in the same realm as those skanks from the club.” And that was why Nikki was my best friend and had been since we were fourteen. She always told it to me straight.

  “Oh, Nikki. What the hell have I done? Why did I say yes?” I buried my head in my arms and tried to figure out how to get out of this. Maybe when he showed up, I could say I was sick and couldn’t go. Or maybe when I opened the door—

  “Stop!” Nikki yelled, pulling me from my scheming to get out of my date. “You’re going. I’m coming home with you and making sure you walk out with that man when he knocks on your door.”

  “What?” My head snapped up, my mouth hanging open. “You can’t be serious. I can’t have you there acting like my mom, watching me go out on a date. For all I know, you’ll yell, ‘Have her home by ten,’ as we walk to his bike.”

  Nikki threw her head back laughing, almost falling out of her chair. “You know me too well.”

  “I do.”

  “I’ll hide behind the curtains and promise not to yell anything besides ‘Nice ass’ when you walk out the door.”

  “I’m sure you don’t need to tell him that, he probably already knows.” I laughed, grabbing the chart I needed and walked down the hall.

  “I wasn’t talking about his ass,” she called. I shook my head but kept walking. Nikki was crazy and would probably do it. “I’m coming home with you, Karmen. You are not backing out of this date!”

  I raised my hand in the air, admitting defeat and ducked into the medicine closet. I tried to calm my breathing, realizing I was on the brink of hyperventilating. I rested against the shelving, the cold metal of the rack cooling my forehead. What the hell did I get myself into?

  Let’s review everything I knew about Nickel. 1. He was in a motorcycle club. 2. He had the sweetest grandma I have ever known.

  That’s it. Those two facts were the only things I knew about this man. Well, I also knew he was the sexiest man I have ever laid eyes on, but that was something you would know as soon as you saw him.

  I closed my eyes and counted backward from ten. By the time I got to two, I knew what I needed to do.

  I had to find a box to put Nickel in. All I needed to do was break down everything I felt and knew about this man and put it all away into tiny boxes, then I could toss them all away and never think about him again.

  Just looking at Nickel, I knew he was everything that could and would disrupt the tiny, peaceful world I had built.

  After I had graduated high school and escaped my grandma’s house, I worked two jobs, went to school full-time, and got an apartment of my own. I still lived in that same tiny apartment because it was where I felt safe, and it always helped to remind me that I was independent and could do things on my own.

  I worked my ass off for four years before I graduated and got a job at Acadia Nursing Home and finally had smooth sailing for the first time in my life.

  Nickel was not about to walk into my life and mess everything up. All he was getting was one night. I’m sure he would see that I was not the woman he thought I was and that will be that. The only reason he had asked me out was because I was something unattainable to him. I was probably more of a challenge to him than someone he wanted to spend time with.

  So, new game plan. Stop the freaking out, go out with Nickel, and then get back to my regularly scheduled life.

  I grabbed the meds I needed and took a deep breath. Nickel wasn’t going to get more than I was willing to give him.

  **********

&nb
sp; Nickel

  “This is complete bullshit. This isn’t what I signed up for,” Slayer said as we watched the drugs we had just dropped be loaded into a black SUV. Boink had bailed on me, and Slayer had been forced to ride along. Nobody wanted to do these fucking runs anymore.

  “You ain’t gotta tell me, brother. I voted against this shit.” Slayer and I were sitting on our bikes, ready to head back to Weston. I had to meet Maniac in an hour and pick up Karmen in two and a half hours. I was tempted to skip helping Maniac and butt my way into Karmen’s house and convince her to stay home with me.

  “Things are changing, Nickel, and I don’t like where things are headed.”

  I pulled out a cigarette and offered one to Slayer. He couldn’t be more right. Once you get as deep as we were headed, there was no turning back. I had been having a nagging feeling lately that it was time to make some significant changes of my own. “I belong to the Fallen Lords, Slayer, but I don’t think this chapter is the right fit for me anymore.” I lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply.

  “You thinking of transferring?”

  I exhaled, a cloud of smoke billowing up into the sky. “I don’t know if transferring is the answer, either. I’ve been thinking about asking Wrecker if I can start up a new chapter in Nittleton.”

  “No shit.”

  “Yeah, brother. I think the only way I’m going to be able to stay with the Fallen Lords is if I can spearhead my own chapter. I need this.” I had been thinking about this before the vote. Now that we were officially muling drugs, I was ready to make my idea a reality.

  “I know if I get Wrecker in my corner, I can take it to the mother chapter and get things lined up quickly. I need this, Slayer. I can’t keep going the way things are right now.”

  “You get shit rolling; I’ll be there, brother. It’s about time someone breathed some fresh air into this club.”

  I couldn’t have said it better myself. Now if I could convince Wrecker of the fact that it was time for a change, and I was just the guy to make those moves.

  Karmen

  “I swear to God, if you don’t sit still, I am going to rip all your eyelashes out with the curler. Calm your tits, woman,” Nikki scolded as she put the finishing touches on my makeup.

  We arrived at my house forty-five minutes ago, and we had been going non-stop. I had jumped in the shower as Nikki ransacked my closet looking for something to wear tonight. I had no idea what she was going to find. I knew I had to dress differently this evening, but I also knew my closet was lacking. If I wasn’t at work in my scrubs, I was curled up on my couch wearing yoga pants and reading.

  “Sorry, it’s just that he’s going to be here any minute, and I’m going crazy.”

  “Just stop freaking out about it, and just go with whatever he wants to do. Did he say what you guys were going to do tonight?” Nikki gave me one last look, scanning the miracle job she had just done on my face.

  “Um, we’re just going to the fireworks. He didn’t mention anything else.” I glanced in the mirror as Nikki walked over to my closet, and I didn’t recognize the person staring back at me. “Holy shit, that can’t be me.”

  “Ha! Better believe that chick is you, babe. I’ve known all along what a babe you are under those scrubs every day.”

  “Please, I am anything but a babe.”

  “That’s why I’m down with you going out with Nickel. I believe that man is just what you need to make you see just what you are. Your witch of a grandma needs to be shot for making you doubt yourself so much.” Nikki pulled out my favorite pair of jeans, tossing them over her shoulder at me and continued looking for a shirt.

  “You gonna bring my grandma back from the dead to shoot?”

  “Phft, in a heartbeat. That woman was stone cold.” Nikki threw her hands up in the air and turned around. “How the hell do you not have anything sexy to wear?”

  “Because I have nowhere to go that requires sexy. I work. That’s it.”

  “Well, thank God you at least have a pair of jeans that give you a shape that isn’t baggy. Put those on, and I’ll see what I can find that doesn’t look like it’s been washed fifty times.”

  I walked into the bathroom, leaving the door cracked so I could listen to Nikki’s rambling. “I just bought a couple of new t-shirts the other day. They are in the top drawer of my dresser.” I shimmied out of my scrub bottoms and worked the jeans up my legs. They were boot cut and fit me like a dream.

  “Hmm, this will have to do. Thank God, you, at least, bought woman’s cut t-shirts and not baggy men's.” Nikki reached into the bathroom, the t-shirt hanging from her fingertips. I grabbed it and tossed it on the counter.

  “Am I just leaving my hair down?” I glanced in the mirror, taking in my dark, chocolate brown hair.

  “Hell yeah. I don’t know how you have such soft, full, bouncy hair. If I didn’t like you so much, I’d hate you for it.”

  “My hair is all I have going for me. Now out.” I pushed the door shut and pulled off my top.

  “I’m gonna look for shoes. You better have some good ones, or I’m calling it a wash and you a lost cause!” Nikki yelled.

  I shook my head, laughing, and pulled the black V-neck t-shirt over my head. Nikki was going to be pleasantly surprised when she saw my unhealthy obsession with shoes. It was my guilty pleasure that I kept to myself. I smoothed my shirt down, thankful I had at least invested in some sexy bras and panties. Not that Nickel was going to see them. I think.

  “Sweet mother of God, where have you been hiding all of these shoes?” Nikki exclaimed from my bedroom. I slipped out of the bathroom and saw Nikki in the middle of the floor with all my shoe boxes strewn around her.

  “In my closet.” I stood over her with my arms crossed over my chest.

  “Oh, my God, none of these have ever been worn! What is wrong with you? This is a crime against the shoe gods!” Nikki cried, outraged.

  “I like cute shoes, I just never have anywhere to wear them.”

  “Girl, these shoes are not cute. They. Are. Gorgeous.” Nikki held up my favorite pair of purple sling backs and beamed up at me. “Can I please try these on? I will love you forever.”

  “Have at it. Just be careful on the rug in the living room, I always trip over it whenever I have them on.” I reached to the left of her and picked up a pair of black flats.

  “Are you kidding me?” Nikki said, kicking the boxes out of her way and then slipping on the purple shoes. “All of these shoes you have and you are going with the most grandma-looking ones.” She curled her lip up in disgust as I grabbed my purse and slung it over my shoulder.

  “We’re going to the fireworks. I can’t wear four-inch heels in the grass. I’d fall on my face, and then he would have to carry me everywhere.”

  “And that would be a problem because?” Nikki waved her hands in front of her and laughed.

  “Because I don’t need anyone to take care of me, that’s why.”

  Nikki stood up, wobbling a bit and walked over to the full-size mirror I had rested against the wall. “One day, Karmen, you are going to need someone. I know you had a shitty childhood, and it taught you not to rely on anyone, but there are good people in this world who will help you and not ask for anything in return.”

  Nikki told me this all the time, but I didn’t believe it. No matter the person, they are always looking to get something. “I think you are the only person I can say that is true about.”

  “That’s because I’m awesome.” Nikki winked at me and moved down the hall to the living room.

  My one-bedroom apartment was small, but it was home. With a small kitchen, somewhat large living room, and one bathroom, it was perfect for me.

  I adjusted my purse and looked in the mirror.

  I was plain and ordinary and would more than likely fade into the background with Nickel. What he saw in me, I was blind to.

  “Karmen! He’s here!”

  I gave myself one last glance in the mirror and slipped down the hall t
o Nikki. “Would you stop peering out the window like some psycho? I thought you said you were going to hide when he got here?”

  I tried nudging Nikki out of the window, but she refused to move. “Shh, can we please just take a moment to recognize the smoking hotness that is Nickel Cunningham and thank his momma for bringing him into this world?”

  I caught a glimpse of Nickel as he walked to the front door of my building and had to agree with Nikki. He was one fine specimen of a man. His jeans fit immaculately, tight in the thighs and widened out at the leg encasing his perfectness. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt with the Fallen Lords logo stretched across his back. His dark brown hair was windblown, and it begged for me to run my fingers through it.

  “Sweet mercy, can that man be any sexier? I think I just came.”

  “Nikki!” I screeched, pushing her out of the window. “You’re freaking crazy! Hide in the bathroom. I’m afraid to have you in the same room as him when he comes in. You might jump him.”

  Nikki moved down the hallway, turning halfway. “If anyone is going to jump that man, Karmen, it’s going to be you.” She sprinted the rest of the way back to the window and peeked out at Nickel again. “Oh, man. I need to check my panties.”

  I grabbed a throw pillow off the couch and tossed it at Nikki as she raced down the hall. “God dammit, Nikki. Your ass better stay in that bathroom until I leave.”

  “You won’t hear a peep out of me,” she promised, shutting the door.

  I looked around my apartment, trying to find a place to hide when there was a knock on the door. Crap! I froze, staring at the door. He knocked again, but my feet felt like they were glued to the floor.

  “Psst!” I turned my head to the hallway and saw Nikki sticking her head out. “Answer the door,” she hissed at me.

  “I can’t!” I whispered back.

  “Oh, my God, I’ll—” Nikki started but stopped when another knock sounded.

  “I know you’re in there, Karmen. I can hear you talking to your girl,” Nickel called through the door. Nikki waved her hands at me and ducked back into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.