Proven (Aces High MC - Cedar Falls Book 2), page 1
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Author’s Note
Christine Michelle Books
Book Description
*
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
**
Christine Michelle Books
Christine M. Butler Books
Musical Inspiration
JDRF Donations
About the Author
Proven
An Aces High – Online Serial #1
Christine Michelle
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Christine M. Butler / Christine Michelle
All rights reserved.
Scanning, uploading, copying, and/or any distribution of this book, either electronically or otherwise without express written permission from the copyright holder, is illegal and punishable by law.
Small quotes and snippets may be used for review purposes only where they do not contain information that would spoil the book for potential readers.
Help support authors you love by only purchasing legitimate copies of their work through trusted sources. Trusted source links and updated pricing can be found on the publisher’s website at
https://www.moonlitdreams.org/
Any similarities to persons, organizations, or places written about within these pages is purely coincidental, as this is a work of fiction.
Cover Photo © prometeus with licensing from https://www.canstockphoto.com
Aces High MC logo image © rocich with full licensing from https://www.canstockphoto.com
Page break image © zmiter with licensing from https://www.canstockphoto.com
Cover Font - Outstanding Font © Metaphase Brothel Graphix licensed for commercial use via https://www.fontspace.com/metaphase-brothel-graphix/outstanding
Interior Font (headers/chapter heads): Cabbagetown © Metaphase Brothel Graphix via https://www.dafont.com/ Commercial licensing acquired from font designer.
Author’s Note
If you already started reading Proven as part of the online serial, do not skip ahead to the where you left as some things have changed.
Proven was originally supposed to be part of an online serial story. By the time I got through the first three installments I had to take a full time job, I was working nights, and as a single mom it was difficult to keep up with. I had always intended for this one to be free to read though. So, with that in mind, I asked some of my readers on Facebook how they would prefer to get that free copy. The top response was to have it available on Amazon through Kindle Unlimited.
The book will be available to purchase there for $0.99 and free in KU since Amazon doesn’t give me an option to offer it for free in any other capacity. One hundred percent of my royalties made on this book will be donated to Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) as a result. As of February, 2020 the book will no longer be in KU, but will be available for free at all other e-book retailers. Think of it as a time-share, and thank you for not only reading, but helping me make a difference in the Type 1 Diabetes community!
Christine Michelle Books
S.H.E. Series (MC Romance)
Angel-Girl
JoJo
Aces High – Dakotas Series (MC Romance)
Dancing With Danger
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Aces High – Cedar Falls Series (MC Romance)
Redemption Weather
Proven
Smoke and the Flame
T.I.E Series (Rock Star Romance)
The Infinite Something
The Infinite Beat
Book Description
I followed my heart from San Diego, California to Cedar Falls, West Virginia. Too bad that heart wasn’t worth the trip.
Thankfully, I had my job, new friends - which consisted of an entire motorcycle club I’d fallen into - and my newfound responsibility for a family that was torn apart by needless tragedy.
As luck, fate, or whatever crazy force made such things occur would happen, I had followed my heart straight to Cedar Falls. I just didn’t realize I hadn’t met my heart yet.
Once there, I found myself lost in a woman named Gillie-Bean, a boy named Kade, and what was left of the family I’d helped save from the aftermath of a drunk driver.
As the former me - Daniel “Gray” Grayson - became “Surfer” in the Aces High MC, I realized my heart had been worth the trip. I was brought here for a reason.
For a new family.
For her.
*
Something was off in a major way as I sat my bag down on the chair next to the front door and glanced around for my girlfriend, Kayla. There were things missing from the room. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what, but I knew there were void spaces where shit used to be. A picture of us from our first date used to sit on the entertainment center. It was gone along with all the movies, music, and video games that once had been visible in the open cabinets underneath.
“What in the hell?” I muttered the question to myself since Kayla was still missing in action somewhere in the apartment we’d shared for the past eleven months. Just as I was about to explore, I saw her head poke out from around the bedroom doorjamb.
“Oh, good, you’re home!” She squealed, and a hard knot clenched tightly in my gut. With Kayla that squeal could mean she’s horny and about to jump my bones – which I wouldn’t be opposed to – or it could mean that she’d done something stupid like open another credit account in both of our names without my permission. Something she seemed more and more inclined to do the longer we were together. Actually, her penchant for doing just that had warranted me putting a freeze on my credit account to keep it from happening again. If only I hadn’t lifted the freeze briefly to get the loan for my bike.
“Kayla, there are things miss…” I didn’t even get the full question out before she slammed into me, expecting me to catch her. Sadly, she seemed to forget – again – that I was coming off a 48 hour shift with EMS. Instead of me catching her and those long legs of hers wrapping around my waist as she’d obviously intended, it turned out to be more a of a full body slam with her slipping down my front while nearly knocking me off my feet. The pout on her lip and furrow in her brow tipped me off to the fact that she wasn’t happy I couldn’t read minds. Before she could say a word, I reached out, grabbed her shoulders, and slid her a full arm’s length back from me. “Just got off shift, Kay, my reaction time isn’t all there. It was a fuckin’ long shift.”
Her pout didn’t dissipate. As was usual with Kayla, other people’s lack of energy didn’t factor into her plans. She had grown up a spoiled rotten princess in a huge house near Old Town in San Diego. Her parents had reason to cut her off financially just before she graduated college, though she’d never bothered filling me in on their reasoning. Not that she shouldn’t be fiscally responsible for herself now that she was an adult, but she still tried to live that life she’d grown up in, and that wasn’t easily done on an EMT’s salary and her job as a phlebotomist. I still almost chuckled every time I thought about her job. The princess sticking people with needles and pulling their blood from their body had to be a sight. I had yet to see her in action though. Actually, I felt bad for her patients without ever having seen her skill, or lack thereof, because she could be a frosty bitch when doing something she disliked.
“I had good news to share,” her pouty tone told me I should probably sit down for this. No telling what Kay thought of as good news these days.
“Well?” I questioned as I scooted my bag off the chair then plopped into it as the bag came to rest at my feet.
Kayla perked up as if my monotone, one-word question was the segue she needed to get into heaven, not to start a conversation. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be something she should smack me with the moment I walked through the door after a very full 48 hours shift.
“My grandma died, and she left me a house and a bunch of money!” She shrieked out excitedly while I frowned at the outburst considering she mentioned the death of a family member in there somewhere.
“Kay, I’m sorry to hear about your grandma,” I started, but she waved off my concern with the swipe of her hand in the air like it meant nothing.
“That’s not the important piece. Did you hear the part about where I inherited a house and tons of money?” She asked again as if I were daft for putting the death of a family member ahead of some inherited fortune.
I sighed and scrubbed my hand down my face. “Okay, that’s… well, that’s news. I guess our lease is up in another month so that’s good timing if you wanted to move into your grandma’s house,” I started wearily.
“I knew it!” She shrieked again, causing my head to throb as she bounced around the living room like a little bunny on crack. “I knew you’d be okay with moving, and all the crap that will go with it.”
Uh-oh. Alarm bells started ringing then. “Where is this house, Kay?”
“Um,” she hesitat
“Well, see, the thing is there’s a teeny, tiny stipulation in her Will that states I have to live in the house for one year in order to collect the money.” She started pacing, and before I could ask what was wrong with the house that it would cause this reaction she continued. “And um, I already found a job there, and have everything set. I even started packing.”
“Kayla, you already found a job where? Where is this house?”
“Cedar Falls, West Virginia.” It was said as a statement that brokered no argument.
“West fucking where, again?” I asked, completely flummoxed that she was laying this on me like she’d had all the time in the world to prep and I should already be up to speed and onboard with what was going down.
“There’s no need to curse at me, Gray!” She threw her hands up, her strawberry blond locks with their chunky curls bounced around her shoulders as she did so. This movement also caused her braless tits to jiggle just so. An outsider would think this all cute, sexy, and done without thought. That outsider looking in would be wrong. These were more of Kay’s go-to moves to distract from whatever shit was flying out of her mouth.
“The house is in Cedar Falls, West Virginia. I don’t know why the old bat moved there to begin with, but she did, and the only way to get the house is to move there and stay for a year. Then I can sell the house and collect the money too. It’s perfect. Then we can come back here or go wherever we want. I was thinking maybe Los Angeles or something more glamorous than San Diego when we come back.” All of this was said without her taking a breath.
I just sat there, staring at her. “What about my job?”
Again, she waved me off with a flip of her neatly manicured fingers. I noted that they looked professionally done again, even after we discussed the fact that we couldn’t really afford frivolous expenses right now after her last run through of the credit cards she maxed out. Some of the cards she got were in my name even though I never applied for them, hence the credit freeze I’d had to obtain. I blew out a frustrated breath. I couldn’t afford to renew the lease on this apartment without someone to split the bills with me. Kayla had driven off most of my friends with her antics. My partner at work was a female with a husband and three kids. The rest of the guys had cramped quarters for living arrangements, but ones they were all happy with.
Damn it. She had just put me in one hell of a bind. “Kayla, if I go with you, I need to give my work notice. I also need to have employment set up ahead of time, so I don’t have too big a lapse in paychecks, especially since I’m paying on my bike and paying off the damage you did to cards I never fuckin’ ordered.”
It was her turn to blow out a frustrated breath now. “Jesus, Gray, you act like I’m putting you out. This is a huge opportunity that I simply can’t turn down. Once the year is up, I will be rolling in the dough!” She was squealing excitedly again, forgetting the serious shit I was just bringing up.
“Kayla, come back down to earth with the rest of us mortals, and listen. I need to know when we’re supposed to be moving. We have less than 45 days to re-up the lease here or get the hell out. You’re already packing shit, some of which belongs to me. I need to know what exactly is going on. Sit down, stop the drama, and be real for five fuckin’ minutes.” I swear talking to Kay was like talking to a five-year-old some days. Only, I would actually expect that five-year-old children behaved better.
Kayla poked her bottom lip out again, which really did nothing but highlight her almost complete lack of an upper lip. Normally, she had it lined so heavily that you couldn’t tell as much. Right now, she didn’t. She was also pulling it tight while jutting out the bottom, so it disappeared completely. Damn it. Her distraction techniques were working, just not in the way she was hoping they did.
“Okay, I have to be there in 10 days. I’m packing everything and taking it with me. If you need a couple extra days for work, then so be it. I have to be there on the 12th though or else I lose everything.”
“How long have you known about this?”
She looked away, guiltily for a moment, and then back to me again. “Two months,” she stated sweetly as she smiled in a way I used to enjoy seeing.
“Two months?” I questioned on a growl. “You’ve known about this for two months, are scheduled to be there in ten days, and you are just now telling me about it?”
She shrugged her bony shoulders. “I um, wasn’t sure you would want to come with me. I wanted to make sure I had everything set ahead of time just in case.”
“You wanted to make sure you had everything set, FOR YOU!” I reiterated, emphasizing the last two words. “What about me? What if I wanted to go with you? You’ve left me no time. What if I don’t want to go? You’ve already started packing my shit. Is it packed separately or thrown in willy-nilly with your own shit?”
“You don’t want to go?” She questioned looking truly taken aback.
“I didn’t say that, Kay!” I almost yelled out completely losing my shit at this point. “I’m saying you dropped this on me all at the last minute when you’ve known for two fuckin’ months!”
“I was just trying to plan everything so you wouldn’t have much, besides your job to worry about.” She got up and came to me, sitting her ass down on my lap and brushing the tip of her breast across my cheek as she did so. “Baby,” she whined out. “I want us to do this together. I’ll be able to pay off all those credit cards, and even your bike as a thank you and an apology for the whole credit thing.”
Now, that part of her plan had some merit. I would love to have my bike paid for free and clear. Something I would have been able to do if I hadn’t had to tap into my savings to bail her ass out of the credit card fiasco that she caused last time. “Ten days, huh?” She nodded her head vigorously and started a little mini bounce session in my lap. “Fuck, dude!” I hissed out.
“You know I hate when you call me dude or bro, Gray.”
“Really, Kay?” I huffed out and gave her a look.
She tossed her hands up in the air as if she was giving up or giving in, two things she never did. “Does this mean you’re coming?”
“It’s not looking like I have much choice in the matter. You’ll be there.” Yes, she was annoying me a bit more lately, but I still loved her. She put up with my shit when I came home with fresh nightmares from my time in the Army. I’d wake up screaming, and she’d rub my head and coo sweet things to me until I drifted back off to sleep. There were things about her that redeemed the spoiled bitch routine she liked to hide behind. There were glimpses of the woman I hoped she’d move further toward, but only time would tell. For now, it looked like I was moving to West-By-God-Virginia and I had to get a handle on that situation in quick fashion.
Chapter 1
Ten days later I was staring up at the old white farmhouse with aging gray shutters that looked as though they may have been blue at some point. The house needed a lot of work. It seemed that Kayla’s grandmother hadn’t enlisted anyone to help her with upkeep in her final years. The money pit that stood before me had me groaning out loud at the site.
Kayla’s nose crinkled up in disgust too. “What the hell?” She shouted at me as if I could magically produce the answers to her questions. “It did not look like this in the pictures I saw. What’s up with this grass? Why hasn’t it been mowed at all? My God, it’s like three feet tall in spots where there’s actually grass or weeds or whatever that stuff is,” she complained as if she’d be the one tackling the jungle of a lawn we were faced with.
“Well, I’m guessing once your grandma died two months ago you never bothered to hire anyone to care for the lawn until you could get here to do it.”
