Rocket forsaken riders m.., p.1
ROCKET (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 12), page 1
ROCKET
A Forsaken Riders Standalone MC Romance
Book 12
Samantha Leal
Copyright ©2017 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Introduction
Thank you so much for purchasing my Novellete. All of my stories also contain bonus stories, so please take a look at the other stories I offer here. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for updates and free books!
The Forsaken Riders series is a collection of novelette length standalone Bad boy romances that fit together to tell the longer tale of the Forsaken Riders – and the woman they love - as they fight to dominate the town of Slate Springs.
The Forsaken Riders are:
King (Book 1)
Lynx (Book 2)
Steel (Book 3)
Gunner (Book 4)
Hawk (Book 5)
Bull (Book 6)
Stag (Book 7)
Stick (Book 8)
Decker (Book 9)
Ax (Book 10)
Hunter(Book 11)
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Table of Contents
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BONUS BOOKS
Highlander Time Travel Romance
Billionaire Romance
Dystopian Romance
Alien Romance
Dragon Shifter Romance
Bear Shifter Romance
Stepbrother Romance
Victorian Mystery
MC Romance
Wolf Shifter Romance
1.
She walked along the desert highway as the sun went down casting a pink glow across the sky, her arm outstretched, her thumb upturned, waiting… waiting…
“Come on,” Megan sighed. “Please don’t be another selfish douchebag…”
She had been walking for hours and her feet were sore. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to keep going, but she was pretty sure she couldn’t be that far off total collapse. The problem with running away, it seemed, was the actual running. All she wanted was to be swept up off her feet into the comfy seat of a passing car or truck, but so far she had been shit out of luck.
The sound of the engine growled along the highway closer to her and she waved her arm up and down, making sure that whoever was driving couldn’t ignore her. But as the driver seemed to speed up, she knew her efforts were all in vain. She was just another hitchhiker that the majority of people using the road wanted to avoid.
And really, she couldn’t blame them.
She had never wanted to be one of those girls. The kind that packs up and runs when the going gets tough, but it had happened, and now she knew she was going to have to deal with it. Megan was strong, and she would cope, but she had never been prepared for the almighty shit storm that had rained down on her only weeks before, leaving her in a position of complete uncertainty and fear. And now, here she was, walking along the highway with only her own hope for company.
At least she could see the funny side. Even if it was starting to get dark.
Her feet carried her forward and the road fell silent once more. She had passed through the last town almost three hours before and knew that surely there must be something coming up along the way, even if it was just a gas station. She had ambled and taken her time, not thinking it would have taken anywhere near this long to flag down a ride and be saved by some kind soul. But it certainly wasn’t her lucky day in that respect. She had been ignored and forgotten, almost just as bad as she had been back at home. But she wouldn’t allow herself to think about that.
Not now. Not yet.
She yawned and hitched her backpack up higher onto her shoulder. The sun was starting to disappear behind the mountains and she could already feel the dusk chill rolling in. She didn’t want to be walking out there alone and in the dark, so she better start walking faster, or she could end up in a whole load of trouble.
“Come on Megan,” she coached herself. “You’ve got yourself into this, now you’re going to have to suck it up and get yourself out of it.”
She stopped for a moment, pulled her water bottle out of her back pocket before taking a long, drawn out swig, and then she cricked her neck, took a deep breath and began her march forward.
The cars had been few and far between, but she was confident she couldn’t be far from civilization. And she had promised herself that when she got there, she would either find a room for the night or wait for someone to take her to one. There was no way she was going back out to hitchhike, it hadn’t been anywhere near as successful as she had hoped and she was going to have the blisters to prove it.
As the sun crawled away and the greying night drew in, she reached into the pocket of her backpack and pulled out a flashlight. She had no idea how long it would be before the next car came by, but the last thing she wanted to happen was to be missed and ran off the road.
“You at least want to get somewhere in one piece,” she laughed to herself as she shook her head and flicked on the flashlight.
She held it down in front of her and lit up the way ahead. If not for her, then for any potential drivers that may pass by, maybe this way she would at least stand a better chance of getting their attention.
Her whole body was aching and her mind was swimming with what if’s.
What if you had just stayed?
What if he was telling the truth?
What if she was the one lying?
What if you could have worked it all out?
What if… what if… what if the baby wasn’t even his?
She felt the tears welling up behind her eyes. For all of her strength and reserve, she knew she was about to break. She stopped in her tracks and threw her backpack down on the ground before she sat down on top of it and put her head in her hands. The desert was silent all around her, all she could hear was the distant calls of birds of prey heading home for the night, of Coyote’s howling up at the moon, and of her own rapid breathing.
She realized her hands were shaking.
It had been such a shock when she answered the door. When she had seen the look in the other woman’s eyes.
She still could feel exactly how she had felt when she heard the words.
“I’m pregnant with his baby…”
The bottom had fallen out of Megan’s world right there and then. The man she had thought was hers, loyal and true, had been cheating on her for two years. Living a completely second life, and was bringing a new life into the world with another woman.
He had lied. He had cheated. And in the end, he had left. Just like Megan knew he would.
She wiped a tear from her eye. She knew he didn’t deserve it. Even if she had spent three years of her life with him, it shouldn’t matter anymore. He had treated her badly, used her up and spat her out and had been playing happy family just down the road with another girl. How could Megan just allow that? And even all the more relevant, how could she hang around in her tired, old hometown watching that all unfold around her?
She had had no intention of putting herself through it, and so once all of his things had gone and she had had time to think, she had decided to run.
She had never had an adventure before, and although it was scary, she wanted to do it right. She wanted to feel as if she was on the move, as if she were secretly going somewhere. She wanted to hit the road in a way she never had and forget everything. She wanted to truly start again. And this is why she found herself sitting at the side of the desert highway, alone and beginning to get a little afraid. But Megan rose to her feet and shook out her shoulders.
“The monsters aren’t out here,” she said aloud. “They were back at home, and now there are miles and miles between them and you.”
It was a mantra she could repeat over and over, and she found it giving her strength. She reached down and hauled up her backpack before she began to march on again, whistling and singing a song she was making up as she went along.
Her positivity began to pay off. Her feet and legs relaxed and the pain that had been shooting up them slowly disappeared, and it wasn’t long before she heard the rumble of an engine in the distance and saw the gleam of headlights shining up the road.
She turned around and walked backward, facing the oncoming vehicle and smiling brightly with her thumb held high and proud.
“Come on,” she said to herself through gritted teeth. “It’s dark now, only a total jackass would leave a girl out here like this.”
When she saw the frame of the vehicle judder and begin the slow, she sighed and smiled with relief. A loud honk, honk, rang out ahead of her and she stopped in her tracks as she waited for them to catch up with her.
From a distance she hadn’t been able to tell what it was because she was blinded by the lights, but now as she shielded her eyes from the glare, she could see that it was a huge, long truck, and its cab was high and boxy at the front.
When it rolled to a stop in front of her, she pushed herself up onto her tip toes to try and see in the open window, but it was still too high.
“One moment,” a voice came from inside the cab, and within a few seconds, the passenger door swung open with a click and a creak.
The trucker was leaning across the seats and he smiled at her from under the red rim of his cap. He didn’t look threatening in anyway, which was reassuring; on first glance, he was just a regular guy doing his job.
“Hi,” she smiled, not really sure what else there was for her to say.
“You need a ride?” he asked in return.
Megan nodded her head and grinned.
“Please,” she sighed, “That would be awesome, I’ve been out here for hours.”
“Well, for Christ’s sake, jump in!” he laughed as he slapped the seat next to him and Megan reached up for the handle and pulled herself inside.
As she closed the door behind her, she looked around and back out at the road. It was crazy, she couldn’t believe how high up she felt, it was as if she were standing on a giant’s shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said. “You are a total life saver.”
He shook his head and breathed out as if it were nothing and then he pulled back out onto the highway.
“What are you doing out here at night alone?” he asked with worry. “Who knows what could be lurking out there…” He shook his head again and gripped the wheel.
“I’m having an adventure,” she said enthusiastically, and she realized how naïve that sounded.
“Well, no adventure is worth dying for,” he laughed.
“Very true.” She reached down and rubbed her feet.
“I have a daughter around your age,” he said. “I dread to think of her doing something so reckless.”
“Is that why you stopped?” she asked. “Because no one else has been as kind over the past four hours.”
He looked at her and shrugged slowly.
“Folk don’t pick up along this stretch of highway,” he said almost ominously. He looked out into the distance and concentrated again on the road. The night was flashing by them and they seemed to be floating across the asphalt.
Megan wanted to ask him what he meant, but she also had the feeling she wouldn’t be getting a straight answer.
“Anyway,” he said, “Where you heading?”
Megan laughed to herself as she realized she had no idea.
“You know what, I don’t even know…” she shrugged. “I’m open to suggestion, though. What’s the next town?” She looked across at him.
“Jeez, you don’t do anything by halves, do you?” He whistled and shook his head. “There’s one in about ten miles, but we ain’t stopping there.”
She noticed how unnerved he looked and he gripped the wheel tightly, digging his nails into the broken leather.
“Why?” she asked, unable to hide her curiosity.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” the trucker asked as he adjusted his cap.
“Sir, as of today, I’m not from anywhere,” she said with a wry smile. “But no, I guess you could say I don’t know a whole lot about this particular part of the world.”
He nodded his head.
“Maybe best if you keep it that way,” he said. “You never know what trouble you might get yourself into out here.”
“Oh, I think I’ll be fine,” she said as she bit her thumb and smiled. “I’ve had plenty of practice at avoiding and ignoring trouble, don’t worry.”
“But what if the trouble won’t ignore you?” he asked.
The silence hung between them for a few moments.
“Well,” she sighed. “I’ve had plenty of practice with that too… unfortunately.”
The trucker shook his head and rolled down the window, the air between them was becoming hot and dense. The cool night air was welcoming and Megan ran a hand through her hair and sighed.
“So what’s the deal?” she asked. “How far can you take me if you don’t want to stop at the next town?”
She was feeling ballsy and may as well act as if she were in charge, there was no other way to be in this dynamic as far as she could see.
“The next town along you won’t want to stop at, trust me.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packed of smokes. “But there’s another about twenty miles further West, I’ll be passing by there and I can drop you off.”
“What’s wrong with the next town?” she asked again, digging even deeper, unable to let it go.
“No one stops there,” he said as he sucked in on the cigarette and exhaled out the side window. “Dangerous place, full of dangerous people.”
“Sounds interesting,” Megan whispered.
“I would never call Iron Hill interesting,” the trucker said. “It’s a bad town full of bad things.”
“Dangerous and bad…” Megan mused. “Maybe you’re right, maybe I should bypass it, after all.”
“You think you’re smart,” he laughed.
Megan laughed too and she caught a glint in his eye. She could tell she had softened him up a little, maybe she even reminded him of his own daughter in some ways. Full of sass and confidence, thinking she knew it all.
“Well, I’m sure you are,” he said. “Smart, I mean… But trust me kid, Iron Hill isn’t the place for you. Especially if you’re on the run or anything like that. The people who run that town would eat you up and spit you out. You’d disappear there… But not in the way you’re hoping.”
She felt a chill run over her and her skin puckered with tension.
“I do want to disappear,” she whispered.
“But not like that.” He looked down at her.
“No, not like that,” she said as she rubbed her arms to try and warm herself up.
“I’ll drop you in Slate Springs,” he said. “It’s a quiet desert town full of its own drama, but trust me, the people there have hearts of gold compared to what’s going on in Iron Hill. And that is the kind of place you can get lost, live a good life, and love doing it.”
“Slate Springs…” The words rolled off her tongue with ease and she imagined golden sunlight glittering across the desert sand. She imagined water fountains and small, independent coffee shops, she imagined a world completely different to the city she had run from.
“Trust me,” he said. “That’s where you want to be along this stretch of highway, even if it’s only as a stop on your way somewhere else.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said with a smile.
“Well, I feel like I have a duty of care now.” He laughed as he slapped the wheel. “I couldn’t feed you to the wolves by dropping you in Iron Hill. I’d never forgive myself.”
“Well, thank you for being so upfront,” she said genuinely. “It’s good to know some people can still be honest and have other people’s best interest at heart.”
She rested her head against the window and looked out at the inky sky. The moon and stars were twinkling bright and she breathed in deeply.
“How far did you say it was?” she asked as she felt her eyes grow heavy.
“About an hour’s drive from here,” he said as he sucked in on his cigarette again. “There’s a motel on the edge of the highway with a diner not far away, I can drop you there if you like?”
“That would be perfect.” She smiled and felt warm inside.
She was well and truly on her way, and now she knew where she was heading.
She was on her way to Slate Springs. And she hoped more than anything in the world that it was going to be all the trucker promised and more.
2.
Just over an hour later, after a lot of laughs and good conversation, the trucker pulled to the side of the highway and they hissed to a halt.
Megan squinted as she looked into the distance and at the small smattering of lights that lay ahead.
“It’s just a little further,” the trucker said as he scratched the back of his neck. “The diner,” he pointed toward the lights, “is right there, and the motel… to the right.”
“Thank you,” Megan said. “I really appreciate this.”
“I would take you to the door, but…” He rubbed his chin and looked worried. “I never know who’s going to be around and the last time I stopped in town I may have got a bit over enthusiastic with my drinks in one of the bars.” He laughed and shook his head almost in disbelief. “The things this job will do to you.”
