Finding Needles (Charon MC Book 10) Read online

  FINDING NEEDLES

  Charon MC

  Book 10

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Finding Needles (Charon MC, #10)

  Books by Khloe Wren

  Acknowledgements

  Biography

  Charon:

  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

  Epilogue

  Forging Blade

  KHLOE WREN

  ISBN: 978-0-6483085-4-6

  Copyright © Khloe Wren 2019

  Cover Credits:

  Model: Charlie Dex Alexander

  Photographer: Reggie Deanching of R+M Photography

  Digital Artist: Khloe Wren

  Editing Credits:

  Editor: Carolyn Depew of Write Right

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

  If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, please delete and purchase it legally. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  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.

  Books by Khloe Wren

  Charon MC:

  Inking Eagle

  Fighting Mac

  Chasing Taz

  Claiming Tiny

  Saving Scout

  Tripping Nitro

  Scout’s Legacy

  Mac’s Destiny

  Losing Bash

  Fire and Snow:

  Guardian’s Heart

  Noble Guardian

  Guardian’s Shadow

  Fierce Guardian

  Necessary Alpha

  Protective Instincts

  Dragon Warriors:

  Enchanting Eilagh

  Binding Becky

  Claiming Carina

  Seducing Skye

  Believing Binda

  Jaguar Secrets:

  Jaguar Secrets

  FireStarter

  Other Titles:

  Fireworks

  Tigers Are Forever

  Bad Alpha Anthology

  Scarred Perfection

  Scandals: Zeck

  Mirror Image Seduction

  Deception

  Kings of Sydney: Daniil

  Acknowledgements

  This crossover project with Janine and her Satan’s Knights has been some journey! I love how it’s all turned out and Needles and Bash are now firmly settled in their new clubs and homes.

  I couldn’t do what I do without the awesome support I get from my family. Steve and the girls are extremely good to me.

  To my editor, Carolyn, thank you for the continuous support and assistance with so much more than just editing.

  My PA Andrea Rhoads, you’ve stepped up once more to help me through every crisis this project had brought along and helped to keep me sane while I did completely insane things!

  Night Writers, a Facebook group for writing sprints. I can’t thank my sprint buddies enough for their help this round. I ended up having to write this book in just twelve days, a feat completely impossible without their help and support!

  xo

  Khloe Wren

  Biography

  Khloe Wren lives in rural South Australia with her husband, two daughters and an ever changing list of animals! She started writing seven years ago and has published over 25 books since then in the romantic suspense genre. She writes both paranormal and contemporary stories, including her best selling series Charon MC. Khloe enjoys writing outside of the box and she loves her heroes strong, and her heroines even stronger.

  Charon:

  Char·on ˈsher-ən, ˈker-ən, -än

  In Greek mythology, the Charon is the ferryman who takes the dead across either the river Styx or Acheron, depending on whether the soul’s destination is the Elysian Fields or Hades.

  Chapter 1

  Elizabeth

  Once upon a time, there was a young girl who believed she could break free from the small town where she lived. She left rural Texas behind for the bright lights of Miami, where she knew she could be something more. Where she knew her dreams could take flight and she could truly live.

  That girl had been so young. So full of hope. So damn naive.

  She should have known better.

  I should have known better.

  Because that girl was me.

  I should have remembered that dreams were just that. Figments of the imagination that tortured us with what we can never have. My nights were still filled with those fleeting thoughts. The hopes I’d once had. The only time I truly lived anymore was when I slept. It was while I was sleeping that I could pretend I’d never met James, never got enthralled by his charms, his fake smiles and lies. Could pretend that my drunken night last month with Ryan, one of my very few childhood friends, hadn’t completely screwed up our friendship just as we’d reconnected after over a decade of not having seen or spoken to each other.

  “Elizabeth?”

  My father’s tinny voice came through the old-school intercom he insisted on using, breaking through my momentary lapse into my past and back to the present. Where I was back in Rocky Gully, the small town I’d put so much effort into escaping, working as an admin for my father, the only lawyer in town.

  “Yes, sir?”

  Yeah, at work he was sir, not Dad. My father was all about image and professionalism. I had to wear appropriate outfits and behave as a good legal secretary should. I swore he thought he was practicing law in New York, not the middle of Nowhere, Texas. But whatever. After what had happened, I was happy to hide away here, where everything was familiar.

  “Can you pull Mrs. Perry’s file and her current Will from the safe and bring it in to me?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The irony of having my thoughts of Ryan interrupted by having to do work for his mother was not lost on me. I had been waiting for her to call in now that her husband had passed. It made sense she’d want new documentation drawn up.

  Knowing Dad would want the documents and file immediately, I flipped the phone over to the machine, stood and made my way to the back room where the safe was. Well, it was more of a secure room, rather than an actual safe. There were no windows, and every wall was lined with shelving that was mostly filled with a variety of documents, all coded and in order. Because my dad was old-school and refused to allow me to put everything on a computer, to find the documents was a process of going through the index cards by the door. All the little drawers filled with yellowing index cards always made me think of an old-fashioned library. As did the smell. The air was heavy with the scent of old parchment. I took a deep breath of the scent I’d always loved as I went to the drawers to find the latest documents for Mrs. Perry. Dad had only asked for her Will but I was certain he’d want the power of attorney and other documentation he’d put together for her before her husband passed away last month
. Much of my job was anticipating what Dad wanted but forgot to ask for.

  It seemed to be one of the few things I was good at. Noticing the small things and working out what people wanted, then giving it to them. And it was that same trait that had gotten my heart ripped from my chest in Miami. With a growl, I shook my head at myself. I couldn’t afford to let myself slip back to focusing on those memories. That led to dark days and darker nights, where that damn black dog nipped at my heels. I’d already lost way too many years spending every ounce of my energy fighting my mind for my life. I did not want to go back there. Never again.

  Plastering a smile on my face so my father wouldn’t see anything wrong, I forced all those dark thoughts aside. It had been nearly nine years since I’d moved back. I shouldn’t still be struggling so badly. Didn’t seem fair.

  With my head held high, I left the room, closing the fireproof door behind me before heading to my father’s office to get the file. Yep, the file he asked me to get was just out of his reach. Dear old Dad really was old-school. I was fairly certain a younger lawyer would just get up and get the damn file himself. It would be faster than intercoming me to come in and get it for him. I bit back a snort as I entered his office. Who was I kidding? A younger lawyer would use one of those fancy computerized file systems that my father refused to allow me to set up, and wouldn’t have to get out of his chair for a damn thing. I guess I really should be grateful Dad let me use a computer to type up the documents and letters. I’m sure he’d prefer I use a typewriter, if I’d given him a choice in the matter.

  Once I had the file, I set everything neatly on his clean and dust-free desk. It was this massive timber thing with inlaid green leather on the top. It was excessive for a country lawyer, but I guess Dad had his dreams too, and like me, he’d gotten stuck in this small town, so he’d made do and tried to live his dream where he was. Couldn’t fault him for that. In fact, I rather envied him for it.

  “Is Mrs. Perry coming in? She’s not in the appointment book.”

  With a frown, my father shook his head as he scanned the documents. “No, I’m going to visit her at home this evening.”

  That had me frowning. I hadn’t actually seen her since her husband’s funeral last month, which had a wash of guilt chilling my skin. I’d spent a lot of time with her and Kenneth before he’d passed. He’d had a stroke and had been unwell for the longest time. Barbara was getting too old to be the full time caretaker for her husband and their only son, Ryan, lived up in New York, so I helped out where I could. Then, after he passed, I kept helping her as much as I was able. What happened between Ryan and me the night prior to the funeral had me unable to look her in the eye, so I’d avoided her. I realized how wrong that was, but I just wasn’t strong enough to face her after what he and I had done. If she’d known we’d gotten completely drunk off our asses and fallen into bed together she’d either start planning a wedding, or tell my parents how they should disown me. Neither option was anything I wanted to be a part of.

  The Perrys lived next door to my parents, always had. Ryan was eighteen months older than me and we’d been best friends growing up, until he’d gone off the rails and dropped out of school. But just because neither he nor I lived with our folks anymore, shouldn’t mean I never visited. Especially now that she was widowed. Ryan had only come home, bringing his young daughter with him, for a few days before heading back to his life up in New York, and they were her only remaining family. She had to be lonely with how rarely he visited. In the nine years I’d been back in town, his trip down for the funeral was the first time I knew about him coming home. Thoughts about Ryan and his sweet little girl had me wanting to reach to cover my lower belly. I resisted, because I didn’t want Dad to know that my mind was beginning to shatter all over again. This was my burden to bear, and I’d do it quietly, without anyone else knowing. My parents were two of the very few people who knew I’d even been pregnant. So, they, of course, knew I’d lost the baby, but even they didn’t know the damage that had been inflicted on me before and after it happened. No one outside myself and the medical staff knew how I miscarried. Which meant my folks had no clue I’d never give them the grandkids they so desperately wanted. That it wasn’t a choice I made, but one that was made for me nine years ago. Tears threatened, but I forced them back down again and cleared my throat.

  “Is she unwell?”

  “Well, she’s not getting any younger, and I dare say still adjusting to life on her own, but she didn’t say she was ill. Just asked if I could come over for a professional visit to make sure everything was in order. With Kenneth’s passing, she needs a new Will. I should have already contacted her about it.”

  His voice trailed off and I heard the guilt in his tone. Guess I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t been visiting her lately.

  “Did you want me to come with you and take notes for you?”

  At that comment, he put down the file and looked over his eyeglasses and up at me.

  “Sweetheart, you don’t need an excuse to go visit her. You know you are as welcome in the Perry’s home as you are at ours. But if you did want to come and take some notes, I would appreciate it.”

  With that, he refocused on work and I was silently dismissed with my new layer of guilt. Yeah, I didn’t visit my folks all that often, either. I had my little rental house in town where I basically lived like a hermit. It was safer that way.

  I went back out to my desk and let my mind wander down memory lane to happier memories of the times Ryan and I had together as kids. Even though he was older than me, we’d been best friends. He’d always called me Bess, the only one who’d ever dared to give me a nickname. My parents were strict with things like using one’s full name, but Ryan hadn’t cared. I was his Bess. Tears pricked my eyes as I wondered how different things would have been if I’d followed him to New York to live my dreams, rather than going to Miami. Not that he’d invited me or anything. Or that it was his job to watch over me, but he always had. The whole way through school, he’d been like the bad boy older brother I’d never had. Maybe he would have kept me from making such a stupid mistake like falling for James. Or not, considering he was a single dad himself now. Turns out neither of us made good choices in our twenties.

  Based on how the night before his dad was laid to rest went, it turned out we didn’t make such great decisions in our thirties, either. The memory of his hands on me had tingles running over my skin and a warmth spreading through me. The chemistry between us had been damn near electric, and there was no denying the man had skills. And he’d definitely grown into a man. He hadn’t ever been a pretty boy, but now he had a roughness, an edge that I couldn’t deny held a hell of a lot of appeal. Life had kicked him down more than once, but he was still going, refusing to give in.

  Had to respect that. Even if I was a little jealous that he seemed to be able to do it with such ease, while nine years later, I was still struggling to simply keep breathing most days.

  Twenty-four hours later, I still couldn’t believe what had happened last night. What Mrs. Perry had requested. How the hell did my father sit there calmly as she’d told him what she wanted?

  It had been a struggle for me not to go over and shake the damn woman. Was she blind? I sighed. I guess she was. Her grief had made her so.

  I eyed my phone again. I’d pulled it out and left it on the coffee table as I paced around my small living room, trying to figure out what to do. I knew what I wanted to do, but it came with a huge risk. I did another lap, chewing on my thumbnail as I went.

  “What to do ...”

  In the end, I decided if the roles were reversed, I’d want to know. And you never knew, maybe Dad wouldn’t ever find out I’d broken client/lawyer confidentiality. I heaved another sigh. Even if this did cost me my job, I couldn’t, in good conscience, sit by while this fucking piece of shit con man took Mrs. Perry for all she was worth.

  Snatching up my phone, I pulled up Ryan’s details and hit call. Two rings later his rough
voice filled my ear.

  “Hello?”

  “Ryan?”

  Gah, that was the dumbest thing to say. Of course it was him. It was his phone, sounded just like the man. My spine stiffened as silence filled the line. Would he really refuse to talk to me after our night together? I knew I’d been pretty short with him afterward, but I’d just been trying to protect myself from the inevitable heartache.

  “You there, Ryan?”

  Fuck. He still stayed silent. This wasn’t good. Did he not want to hear from me that much? I needed to say something to stop him from ending the call before it began.

  “Look, I’m sorry I’m calling. I know—”

  “Quit apologizing. I’m glad you called.”

  I was shocked silent for a moment. I heard him talking to someone, his voice muted like he’d covered the phone and I briefly wondered if he was with another woman. Shaking my head, I nearly laughed. He was no doubt with his daughter, not some random woman, but even if he was, what did it have to do with me? We had one night and things didn’t get left on good terms afterward. What did I expect? That he would be sitting around waiting for me to call?

  “Sorry ‘bout that. It’s good to hear your voice.”

  I doubted that. The earlier shocked silence didn’t really back up that claim. But that wasn’t why I was ringing. I needed to stay on task here.

  “I’m not calling to catch up. I’m breaking all sorts of rules by doing this, but I just can’t let this slide.”

  “What the fuck’s going on, Bess? Lay it on me straight.”

  I tried to ignore the effect the extra gruffness his voice now held had on me.

  “Your mom is in trouble, Ryan.”

  The bastard laughed. LAUGHED! “What’d she do, piss off the neighborhood watch?”

  Fury heated my blood as I hissed my next words down the line to him. “This isn’t funny. You need to come home before the shit hits the fan.”