Dirty Mother (The Uncertain Saints MC Book 5) Read online

  Text copyright ©2016 Lani Lynn Vale

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Other titles by Lani Lynn Vale:

  The Freebirds

  Boomtown

  Highway Don’t Care

  Another One Bites the Dust

  Last Day of My Life

  Texas Tornado

  I Don’t Dance

  The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC

  Lights To My Siren

  Halligan To My Axe

  Kevlar To My Vest

  Keys To My Cuffs

  Life To My Flight

  Charge To My Line

  Counter To My Intelligence

  Right To My Wrong

  Code 11- KPD SWAT

  Center Mass

  Double Tap

  Bang Switch

  Execution Style

  Charlie Foxtrot

  Kill Shot

  Coup De Grace

  The Uncertain Saints

  Whiskey Neat

  Jack & Coke

  Vodka On The Rocks

  Bad Apple

  Dirty Mother

  Rusty Nail (December 2016)

  The Kilgore Fire Series

  Shock Advised

  Flash Point

  Oxygen Deprived

  Controlled Burn

  Put Out (1-26-17)

  I Like Big Dragons Series

  I Like Big Dragons and I Cannot Lie

  Dragons Need Love, Too

  Oh, My Dragon (Winter 2017)

  Dedication

  Every single time I struggle with this. I owe so many people a huge thank you that there are too many to list. My readers. My mom and mother in law. My husband and kids.

  I got a sign recently to hang in my office that says ‘Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.’ And it is so true. Not a day goes by where I sit in my computer chair and pull up my current work in progress that I think ‘dangit I don’t want to do this.’ Because when I do sit down, I get excited. I can’t wait to see what will happen with my characters that day.

  So thank you so much, everyone who reads my books, for giving me my dream.

  Acknowledgements

  Robert Simmons—You make this cover. The moment I saw it, I knew that it was the one.

  Golden—this photo is Golden—just like your name. :) I love it. If it was possible to be in love with an inanimate object, this photo would have my devotion!

  Danielle—You make my babies shine. Thank you so much for doing all that you do for me.

  Asli and Kellie—Y’all are awesome. Thank you so much for putting up with my last minute ‘oh I have something for you to edit’ messages. LOL.

  To my beta readers—thank you so much for giving me your priceless feedback on my book babies. I don’t know what I would do without y’all!

  The thing about hitting rock bottom…

  Ridley doesn’t think he has anything left to lose, not after the life he’s lived. Then he meets her, Freya Capone, the nurse who saves his life when the last thing he wants is to be saved.

  One look at her, and he’s transfixed.

  He doesn’t know what drives him to run by her house that night. Intuition. Sixth sense. Whatever it is, his gut screams at him to go, so he goes.

  And thank God he does.

  There isn’t any farther you can fall…

  Freya hits bottom after her brother’s death. Her rock. Her best friend. Her everything. Gone.

  She always knew it was a possibility that he might get hurt while on shift, but she never entertains the thought of him dying. Not until it’s too late.

  She literally has nothing else to lose. Until she meets him. Ridley Walker. A biker with The Uncertain Saints MC and a local sheriff’s deputy.

  The man responsible for taking away her best friend.

  But at least you have a solid foundation to build upon…

  The last thing Freya wants is to fall in love with the man responsible for her brother’s death. She doesn’t want to care that he is nearly killed. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with him.

  But she can’t stay away.

  And neither can he.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue I

  Prologue II

  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

  Epilogue

  Prologue I

  Sometimes getting out of bed ruins the whole day.

  -Coffee Cup

  Ridley

  “Okay, what you need to do is clean all these crumbs out,” I indicated around the car seat. “We had about ten kids in the car last weekend, and we need it all cleaned out for when my sister’s kid comes.”

  He didn’t comment on the fact that my truck only had room for three kids, if I was lucky. Instead, he only nodded.

  “Do you want me to take the seats out?” He pointed at the baby’s car seat that I’d installed last weekend.

  Reluctantly, might I add.

  My sister hadn’t wanted to put it in yet, and I’d told her that it was better to be safe than sorry. She’d agreed and I had placed the car seat in, expertly might I add.

  Then again, I spent at least an hour each work week placing car seats into other peoples’ cars.

  I was a sheriff’s deputy with the Harrison County Sheriff's Office.

  It was the stupid new truck that I’d had a problem with.

  “No, leave this seat in,” I pointed to the infant one for the baby. “But you can take this one out. I won’t be using this one again.”

  The man nodded and got to work.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket and I smiled as I pulled it out.

  “Yes, darling?” I teased, knowing my sister hated that nickname.

  The only reason I used it was because it bothered the shit out of her.

  “Stop calling me that,” my sister snapped.

  I grinned as I walked away from the man cleaning the truck and the crumbs.

  “What’s up?” I tilted my head so I pinned the phone between my shoulder and face.

  “You told me that you would have someone to take me to Dallas for my appointment. Did you figure it out yet?” she asked.

  I looked at my watch and considered the time.

  “You do realize, right, that it’s only a little after six in the morning?” I wondered. “What are you doing awake already?”

  “You’re not answering me,” she growled.

  I snorted.

  “No, I haven’t asked who I plan on asking yet. Does that answer your question?” I knew it wouldn�
��t.

  She grumbled low in her throat, making the laughter I was trying to hold back burst free of my own.

  “I’m asking him when I get to work, promise,” I soothed.

  “You never told me who ‘he’ was,” she hinted.

  “I didn’t, did I?” I asked evasively.

  ***

  “Capone!” I called out loudly once I shut off my bike.

  Capone turned from where he was walking into the front of the station and crossed his arms over his chest, and waited for me.

  “What?” he yelled.

  I grabbed my lunch that I’d picked up from Sonic on the way over, and half ran, half jogged over to him.

  “I need a favor,” I informed him.

  He raised his brow at me.

  “What?” he pursed his lips. “The last time I did you a favor I got punched in the eye.”

  I grinned at him.

  “My sister needs a ride to Dallas,” I didn’t beat around the bush.

  He winced. “That man of hers can’t do it?”

  I shook my head. “No. And you’re the only one I trust to take care of her.”

  I would count Capone as one of my friends, even though, outside of work, we didn’t hang out much besides grabbing a quick bite to eat or a beer here and there.

  He sighed.

  “You trust more people than me, but you don’t trust them with your truck,” he countered.

  I shrugged.

  “I trust others with my truck, they’re just busy because I fucked off and forgot to ask them in time,” I amended.

  “I’m meeting my sister for breakfast tomorrow,” Capone grunted. “What time do you need me to take her, and where?”

  I gave him all the details, and he nodded, pulling out his phone.

  “You’re sure she won’t mind?”

  “It’s gotta be done, man,” I said. “And you’re it.”

  He snorted.

  “She’s going to kill you,” he was smiling now. “You know how pissed she gets when I take her. Which she then takes out on you.”

  I nodded.

  She would.

  She had something going on with one of my club brothers, Apple Drew. The ink hadn’t even begun to dry on his tattoo that claimed him as a member of The Uncertain Saints, but my sister had been around since his first prospecting days. They were together, but not. If that made any fucking sense.

  Apple had been a prospect with The Uncertain Saints MC for months, and had very recently become a full blown patched in member.

  Corey Capone worked with me and was everything that I would’ve chosen for my sister.

  Apple, though, was the father of her child. Not that either of them confirmed that fact, but I wasn’t a dumbass. I could see the sparks flying between the two of them every time they got within a hundred yards of each other.

  I just wanted them to fucking admit it.

  Which was where Capone came in.

  “I’ll have to miss breakfast with Freya,” he sighed. “But I’ll do it. You know the cost, though.”

  I grimaced and pulled out my wallet, extracting a note.

  “Here,” I said.

  He took the card.

  “What’s this?” His brows furrowed.

  “That’s the name of the man that helped me build my bike,” I grinned. “He’s expecting you to call him on Monday.”

  “You’re fucking joking, right?” His eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning.

  I shook my head.

  “No,” I confirmed. “You need to just grow a pair and get it done instead of borrowing my old one. It’s worth it, I swear.”

  Capone had been borrowing my spare bike for months now, and I was beginning to think he’d never make a decision, so I made one for him.

  “My sister will kill me,” he grunted. “She hates motorcycles, thinks they’re death machines. She calls them donor cycles every chance she gets.”

  “You’re going to let your sister make your decisions for you?” I ribbed him.

  He shrugged.

  “She’s an emergency room nurse at the hospital in Kilgore, and our father died in a motorcycle accident when we were fifteen years old. She’s seen firsthand how dangerous one can be, but I haven’t been able to get the itch to go away. I’ve loved bikes since I was sixteen and cocky,” he reminisced.

  I snorted.

  “Just do it. Trust me. Your sister’ll get over it…eventually,” I lied.

  He sighed and pushed the piece of paper with Gus Henry’s name on it into his pocket before offering me his hand.

  I shook it.

  “I’ll come get her at eight. Her appointment isn’t until after lunch so we will get there in plenty of time. Make sure her man’s not there to kick my ass this time, will you?” he ordered before turning around and walking into the station.

  I followed suit, taking a left where he took a right, and walked to my office and got to work.

  I had a case that I was working on that involved a couple of douchebags who thought they were better than the cops, and it didn’t take long for my mind to become absorbed by the case.

  ***

  My scanner squawked, and I debated turning it off.

  I was on my lunch break.

  Or what I called my lunch break. Others might call it breakfast, but I’d been at work for over thirty-six hours now. I’d only caught about an hour of shut eye since I’d arrived at work yesterday morning.

  But something told me to leave it on. A sixth sense kept me listening, as I shoved yet another hot dog into my face.

  “All units in the area please respond. There’s a multi-vehicle wreck on Interstate Twenty about four miles outside of Jefferson,” a dispatcher droned. “Any and all available units needed.”

  I sighed.

  “Shit,” I groaned, taking the last hot dog that was on my plate with me as I left.

  The cute little waitress who had tried her hardest to get my attention while I was sitting there eating my lunch waved at me as I left.

  I nodded back at her, not wanting to encourage her behavior.

  Her father owned the one and only gas station called ‘The Mall’ in fifteen square miles, and it was inevitable that I ended up there at least once a shift.

  Hurrying to my car, I finished off my hot dog before I’d even pulled out of the parking lot.

  Picking up my radio, I called in to the station.

  “I’m responding to the call on the interstate,” I told the secretary who was there to answer our calls. “I’ll be out of district for at least a couple of hours.”

  That was only a guess, though.

  It could only be minutes, but would likely be quite a bit more than that.

  When an accident happened on the interstate, it was probable that it involved more than one car.

  I had my basic EMT certification and would be of some help, even if only a little bit.

  But, by the time I arrived at the scene, I knew I’d be way more than just a few hours.

  I’d be lucky if it was less than six.

  Once I arrived, I found the scene commander and walked up to him to introduce myself.

  “I’m Deputy Ridley Walker with the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office. What do you need from me?” I asked.

  As I introduced myself, my eyes slowly scanned the scene, taking in the complete and utter chaos.

  That’s when my eyes lit on the familiar black SUV that my sister was now using as her main form of transportation.

  It had a yellow ‘baby on board’ sign hanging in the back window, with a sticker that declared the driver of the vehicle a ‘State Trooper Association Member.’

  My dad had been a state trooper, and ever since he died, we’d been donating to the State Trooper’s Association.

  My sister, Kitt, had demanded I put that on my truck, and I’d done it.

  Why? Because I loved my sister.

  Now, seei
ng that sticker, something raw started to roll through my belly.

  I hit my knees beside the overturned car before the Incident Commander could even tell me where to go.

  The men that were already surrounding the car looked at me when I landed, but turned back to their business as soon as they realized they weren’t coming to harm.

  My heart sank when I heard the paramedic’s first words.

  “…man is dead. The woman isn’t, though. Has a large gash across her forehead. My guess she’s eight or nine months pregnant, too.”

  “Eight,” I corrected him roughly. “She’s eight.”

  The paramedic looked at me over his shoulder and nodded. “You know her?”

  I nodded tightly.

  “She’s my sister.”

  ***

  “Did you go to Corey’s funeral?” my sister whispered softly.

  She was holding her daughter, Emily, for the first time since she’d woken up this morning.

  Emily was four days old and looked exactly like Apple. She had his exact color eyes–pale blue. The same color hair as him. She even had his skin tone.

  If I hadn’t ever considered that the two of them were together officially before, I would’ve known they were hiding something now.

  You couldn’t hide genes like the ones Emily had.

  “No,” I said, running one thick, work roughened finger, down the side of Emily’s face. “I was here with you.”

  I didn’t bother to mention that Apple was here as well.

  He’d been the first one at the hospital when he’d heard what happened.

  Something happened to a man when he realized that the love of his life was nearly killed before he’d ever even claimed her as his own.

  I knew what it was like to lose the love of my life. I replayed the night in my dreams every time I closed my eyes.

  And I was happy that Apple was finally coming around.

  Losing the love of your life was something you never got over, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

  Not even my worst enemies.

  Prologue II

  I’m in a good place right now. Not emotionally. I’m just at a liquor store.

  -T-shirt

  Freya