Page 34 of Love Me, I Dare You

Despite my reluctance in allowing Nash to stay with me, I know having him with Jase at the ranch is out of the question. Though the tension it’s causing to have Nash here with me is making me second guess my answer.

Brynn clasps her hands tightly together, her eyes wide with excitement. “This is way too good to keep to myself, Bailey. You can’t make me.”

“Brynn, you know exactly what daddy will do if he finds out about this. Not to mention it will surely send mama to the hospital. Please, promise me you won’t say a damn thing to anyone?”

“Ugh, I hate you sometimes. You never were any fun.”

“Promise me, Brynn. This is nothing more than me doing a favor to a friend.”

She nods slowly, her mind racing with excuses as she huffs a breath of air out in defeat. “I promise. I won't breathe a word, but mark my words Bailey King, this is going to be fun to watch blow up in your face.”

Deep down, I know Brynn’s right. This is sure to blow up in our face. The weight of this secret will drive me insane if Nash doesn’t do it first. But it’s also the only way for me to move on. Nash is bound to remind me of the many reasons I hate him. Especially when he once again walks out of my life without so much as a goodbye.

Chapter Fourteen

Nash

From an early age, I knew the open road would be my home. I was a free spirit, most called it a wayward soul, but it was the only part of me that felt genuine. My brothers and I got into trouble like it was our life’s mission. My mama and pops didn’t care so long as we stayed out of their way and trouble didn’t come knocking on their door.

I remember the first, and only time, I was caught and trouble followed me to his doorstep. Jase and I were out at a party with Beau. Theo was out on a date with some chick he’d met over the summer, and Monty was back at school in Nashville. It was our sophomore year. Jase and I had just gotten our driving permits, and we’d taken one of his dad’s work trucks out for a spin.

The party was out at some abandoned warehouse down in Rivers Bend, about thirty minutes from my home in Crossroads. The moment we’d arrived, I knew the night would not end well. Everyone was older, and although I looked like I was at least twenty-one at only sixteen years old, Jase was a pretty boy through and through, and it was obvious he came from money.

We were ambushed by a pack of bikers, and barely made it away without a scratch. Sometimes my ability to talk my way out of the toughest messes came in handy. Jase wanted to get out of there as fast as we could, but I had other plans.

Remember, I liked trouble.

As we headed out toward Jase’s dad’s truck, something shiny and black caught my eye. She was a beauty. A two thousand and twelve Harley Davidson Speedster. I’d had my eyes on one of these for months, after I’d seen one back in Nashville when Jase and I went to visit the college Monty was at.

There she was, just waiting for me to mount her and take her for the ride of her life. I knew she belonged to him, the biker who’d put his hands on me and threatened to knock my teeth out. It was just that much sweeter to take something he owned and make way with it. Jase saw the look in my eyes as we passed her by, and he warned me, but I had already made up my mind. And when I do, there’s no stopping me.

I urged Jase to get in the truck and start driving while I rounded the bike and noticed the keys were right there in the ignition. It was still warm. The engine vibrated under me as I got on top and revved her up. Like the speed of light, I hit the gas and blew in the dust, driving down the countryside like it had been my birthright. It didn’t take long for the gang of bikers to catch up, though just before they reached us, we heard the siren of a police car hiding out on the side of the highway.

The gang pulled back and sped off the other way, but the officer came after me, pulling me over to the side. I saw Jase look back at me through the rearview mirror, but I urged him to keep driving. There was no point in the both of us getting caught up. Jase would get the shit end of the stick from Mayor King and as for Franklin, well, he already loved beating the shit out of me for any little thing, so this wouldn’t be anything new.

To say he was pissed off I’d interrupted his night of binge drinking would be an understatement. When the cops pulled up to his door with me in tow, an easy warning and fine for driving without a license on top of theft, he beat me black and blue. I was out of school for a week.

The only good thing about it all. The biker I’d stolen the bike from somehow found out who I was and where I lived. He dropped his bike off at my doorstep with a note that said he was impressed I’d stolen his bike and almost gotten away with it. He was in the market for a new one anyway and left me his as a gift. Said he’d never seen a kid ride a bike the way I rode her, like I was meant for it.

I still had her, though I’d probably have to upgrade to a newer model soon. She had done her time, seen all she could see. Time was catching up with her. My Daisy and I went through a lot together the last ten years, from the day I rode her out of Crossroads and out into the open road, to the day she brought me back home and into Bailey’s bar.

Seeing Bailey again not only reminded me of what I’d run from, but how easy it could be to be fooled back into believing I was meant for anything more than what I’d accomplished thus far. Bailey King once made me believe in the house, and white picket fence, the babies and Sunday night dinners. She’d almost made me believe it was a possibility to want more.

I wasn’t a guy who looked forward to growing up and setting down roots. Settling down with a girl and making a life together full of babies, but with Bailey, I could almost see it come to life. It’s a blessing I left when I did, because life with her would have never been possible. Not if her daddy had anything to say about it, and he sure did.

After the way Jase reacted to my being back in Crossroads, I have a feeling he knows more about his father’s ultimatum that drove me out of town. He may have thought his threats andanger drove me away, but I knew he’d eventually get over it. But when Bismarck King knocked on my door after his son had left, checkbook in hand, gun tucked tight into its holster, and threats spewing like cigarette smoke from his mouth, there was no stopping me.

He’d done much more than his son had. He’d threatened my family, my brother’s and sister’s livelihoods and their future in Crossroads. I knew I wouldn’t become anyone, wouldn’t amount to anything of importance, but they had everything to look forward to. Monty had his future stolen away once because of the choices our parents made. Beau and Theo both had so much potential and were only being dragged down for having to put up with my nonsense.

As for Monroe, she had her entire life ahead of her. Crossroads had robbed her of every moment of happiness. She deserved nothing else being taken from her.

So I made the selfish choice. I hurt the one woman I could see myself one day caring more about than anyone else in order to protect my family. With only the clothes on my back, and a few other necessities, I rode my bike out of Crossroads and never looked back.

Now, here I was riding the same one back home, back to her. I’d nearly forgotten how much I loved to ride out in the countryside. To see the grass on one side and the water on the other. Crossroads was on the southern coast of North Carolina and had the best of both worlds—the vast farmlands and gorgeous shores.

I park my bike right outside the barn I spent so much time in as an adolescent, and head over to where my brother Monty stands, taking some things out through the back door of the main house and setting them on the rotting back porch.

I hadn’t seen my childhood home for ten years, but it looked no different. Other than the rotting wood and chipped paint, andextensive damage done to the interior, it looked exactly as it had back then.

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