Tickety Tock, page 1
Also by Manda Mellett
Wicked A Bad Boy Biker Motorcycle Club Romance
Warts an' All, Wicked Warriors MC Arizona Chapter
Wicked Warriors MC Arizona Chapter
Tickety Tock (Coming Soon)
Watch for more at Manda Mellett’s site.
Wicked Warriors MC - Arizona Chapter
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Manda Mellett
Contents
Production Acknowledgments
Wicked Warriors
Cast List Wicked Warriors Arizona Chapter
Prologue
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
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Other Wicked Warriors Books
Acknowledgements & Author’s Note
Stay in Touch
About the Author
Copyright
Published 2022 by Trish Haill Associates
Copyright © Manda Mellett
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book reviews.
www.mandamellett.com
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Warning
This book is dark in places and contains content of a sexual, abusive and violent nature. It may not be suitable for persons under the age of 18.
Production Acknowledgments
Cover Design by Wicked Smart Designs
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Edited and formatted by Maggie Kern @ Ms.K Edits
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Proof reading by Darlene Tallman
Cast List Wicked Warriors Arizona Chapter
Officers:
Prez: Toad – Curtis Mckenzie
VP: Raider
Sergeant-at-arms: Metalhead
Enforcer: Stumpy
Treasurer: Cash
Medic: Scalpel
Tech Expert: Cloud
Members:
Bonkers
Midnight
Crumb
Prospect:
Punchbag
Club girls:
Easy
Cilla
Old Lady:
Ruby (Princess) – Toad’s old lady
Prologue
Dwarf
As I stand at the top of the ramp leading into the single-storey house, I gaze at the sight of the sun setting, just visible over the roofs of the houses opposite. I don’t much care for the location. Personally, I’d hate being hemmed in by other buildings, but apart from that, my old Marine buddy, Miles, seems to have it all. The house, the family, and the girl. Of course, what he hasn’t got probably balances it out in my favour. Despite that, some effort is needed on my part to make the visits to keep in touch. It still hurts to see what I missed out on.
Turning at the whishing sound behind me, I see Miles rolling his wheelchair out of the widened front door. When his wistful gaze lands on my bike, it’s not hard to see him longing for the freedom it represents.
“You sure you don’t want to stay the night? Won’t take but a moment for Jolene to make up a bed.”
Suppressing my shudder, I shake my head. In a few moments, I’ll be throwing my leg over the seat of my bike. Shortly after, I’ll be feeling the wind in my hair and seeing the pavement go by beneath my wheels. Guilt has me mumbling something about having to get back to the club, and not mentioning that I need to escape the atmosphere around here. A few hours, and already it’s stifling.
Miles and I had served together, him signing up for one tour more than I. Though it was done without an ounce of premonition, the fact is, had I put my name on that dotted line just like he had done, I might not be alive. Miles was the only survivor of the IED that took his transport out, and sometimes I believe he’d prefer to have died. As well as his physical injuries, he wrongly blames himself that the rest of his team didn’t survive. It’s one of the reasons I make this annual visit to see him. Maybe I come because I share that survivor’s guilt. I’d gotten out in time.
“She’d have been better off with you.” His voice catches as he expresses the thought on the topic I’d hoped we’d continue to avoid until I’d ridden out of sight.
She’s the reason I have to prepare before I come to see him, gritting my teeth and swallowing my anger before I come darkening his door. Now he’s brought it up, I can only hope I find the right words to reply.
I wave my hand dismissively, wishing to shut this discussion down. “Long time ago, man.” In the early days, it had been hard to continue a friendship with him, but like many things, time had deadened the hurt and gradually it mostly got swept under the rug. No blame could ever have been attached to him, but seeing him with her was always difficult.
Miles, though, isn’t going to let the matter drop. “She’s going to leave me.”
Having picked up that impression, I don’t respond. I’d stayed with them for a day and any fool could see it wasn’t marital bliss. To be honest, it had been obvious for a while. I give her credit, though, for not immediately walking away. Jolene had at least stayed with the broken man out of a sense of duty, proving she had some loyalty, after all.
Miles gives me a moment, then says, “She made a mistake, and she knows it. Look, Liam. If you want to rekindle—”
I cut him off. A relationship with the woman who’d dropped me like a hot cake, impossible to consider. “It’s too late now. That ship has passed.” And that’s if it ever left port in the first place. Or if it had, it had only been my feet on the gangway. She had stayed with hers on solid ground. Turning to face him, I give him more. “If what we’d had had been worth anything, she wouldn’t have left my side.”
Again, I find the slowly disappearing sun a more interesting direction in which to focus my eyes, unwilling to load Miles with any more burdens. Although I might not be giving voice to it, it doesn’t stop the memories going through my mind.
I should have been used to it. I was a Marine. Girls were drawn to me like a moth to a flame, attracted by my uniform and the danger of my job. But it wasn’t the man under the clothes that they wanted. I knew exactly what I was, a poor substitute for the type of man they were really after. Miles wasn’t the first man the girl I’d thought could have been mine had gravitated to. They’d used me to get an introduction to the man they really wanted. At best, they’d let me into their pussy before moving on, at worst, I’d be short the dollars for the drinks that I’d bought.
They’d wanted a man like Miles. Miles, when he had both his legs, had stood six foot three, handsome in ways even a cisgender male like me could admire. He’d been fit and well proportioned. In contrast, I was short and rotund, and my face could in no way be described as pretty.
Jolene? Well, I’d thought she was different, and it certainly went more than a few drinks. I’d gotten lucky. After a couple of weeks of dating, I thought I’d found one who would stick. I’d even started to believe this attractive, intelligent, fun girl could really be mine. Although it was still early, I was already considering a ring.
Up until the night we’d ended up at a bar frequented by my fellow Marines, that was. One look at Miles and, without apology, she’d left my side and glued herself to his.
Of course, I hadn’t told him I’d considered her mine. Once I saw the way the wind was blowing, I accepted what happened all the time. All he knew was that an available female had plastered herself to him, dismissing me without even a glance. When he’d glimpsed down, he’d smiled like he’d won the jackpot when he saw how fucking gorgeous she was. As he’d put his arm around her, I watched as she’d leaned in close, my fists clenching, but knowing there was fuck all I could do about it.
Her choice. I couldn’t force the woman, any woman, to stay by my side.
I’d have kept quiet. He wasn’t responsible for Jolene’s actions. He was a good friend, a man who’d had my back time after time. If it was up to me, he’d never have known. If I’d had to bite my tongue and find excuses for not attending their wedding, well, so be it. But on their first night of marital bliss, Jolene had come clean, had chosen to joke about the short ass of a man who’d tried to get her attention.
Miles wasn’t stupid. He’d read between the lines. Something he refers to now, even though I’d rather he kept quiet. “I never would have fuckin’ gone there had I known.”
I shrug. “No worries, man.” He wouldn’t have, unlike some others. But why would I want to hold on to a woman who felt the grass was greener on the taller side? It had only revealed her true nature.
The sun’s almost disappeared now. It’s time for me to ride. Already it will be l
Sure, I’ve read the signs. I know Jolene’s now looking for a way out, and even if it might be with Miles’s blessing, I’m never going to settle for being second best, a consolation prize. I’d rather never have an old lady, not if she wasn’t going to choose me first.
As I reach down to pick up my saddlebags, he again glances toward my bike with a look of envy. “It was good to see you, Liam. You’ll be back this way soon?”
“Hopefully in a few months.” I jerk my head back to the house behind me. “Let me know...” How can I ask him to let me know when the inevitable happens and his wife leaves him all alone? I start again, “Keep in touch, man.”
My heart breaks for him, though this has been coming for some time. Jolene, having enough of looking after a disabled man, will leave him, taking the kids with her. To be honest, I’m surprised she stayed with him as long as she has. It’s been six years since that explosion.
Bending, and slightly awkwardly, I give Miles a man hug, telling him to take care and to look after himself—all the platitudes you normally say upon leaving someone.
“Take care of yourself, Liam.”
With a mock salute, I go to my bike, settle my saddlebags in their rightful places, then ride off into the night.
Chapter One
Dwarf
Knocking down a gear, I carefully take the next bend in the road, then speed up once I’ve rounded the curve. Trees, lit by the light of the full moon, flash past in a blur as I twist the throttle hard. I’m riding on my own, and it feels like I’m in the middle of nowhere. In daylight, it would be exhilarating, but in the dark, for some reason, I’m feeling unnerved.
Give me the desert every day where I can see what’s coming for miles. Here in the midst of a forest, I’m out of my element.
Frustrated by the stationary traffic on the highway, I hadn’t thought twice about using this road as a shortcut when I’d turned on to it. Sure, it was dark, but hell, all I need is the beam of my headlight. But an hour or so later, noting there’s no other traffic about, I have pricking at the back of my neck and a sense I can’t shake that something’s not right.
PTSD, I tell myself. I don’t like being hemmed in, that’s all. It’s just my imagination that the road seems to be narrowing, as if the conifers are joining forces and corralling me. But fuck, I’m sure the road was wider than it now is. Could I have taken a wrong turn?
Nah. That’s fucking stupid. While it might be a long detour, my glance at the map on my phone has showed me it was just one road that more or less takes me in the direction I want to go. The way that will eventually get me back on the highway that will take me back to my home, to the compound of the Wicked Warriors MC Arizona chapter.
Should have waited until morning to make the trek back.
Yeah, should have done. But a night spent under the same roof as Jolene and Miles hadn’t held much joy. Their marital issues and our past history seemed to suck most of the oxygen out of the room, and I’d been pleased to get gone. Weighing it up, driving through the night to return to my own bed, which I could probably persuade a sweet butt to warm for me, was a far better option. But who could have guessed a fucking eighteen-wheeler would have jack-knifed, lost its load and blocked the whole damn freeway?
Should have been an easy ride.
The idea that keeping moving was better than sitting on my bike twiddling my thumbs drove me to choose this route. Longer by far, but at least I’ll get back tonight. Or so I’d thought. Is it just in my head that this route’s turning out to be several miles further than I estimated it would be?
Am I riding in circles?
Another bend coming up, I shift down, feeling my engine growl as it ascends the slight incline, then, taking the middle line, lean into the curve. I’ve started straightening my bike when the blur of a dark shape runs out in front of me.
What the fuck?
Deer?
Christ! I’m going to hit it.
As I’m still at an angle, I fight my bike, trying to swerve to avoid whatever the fuck it is, knowing a motorcycle hitting something that size at the speed I’m going is certain to cause some damage both to it and me. My brain’s working at the speed of light, issuing instructions to my muscles.
Front brake, rear brake, get that fucking speed down. Don’t lock the wheels.
Despite my efforts, I’m heading straight for it. I try to take evasive action, but off-balanced, being still on a lean, I’m quickly losing my fight with gravity.
I feel a thud and wrench the handlebars. That action has me almost horizontal, skidding toward a tree. Knowing there’s no saving the bike now, I make the decision to part company with it. Though I’ve slowed sufficiently and I’m not going too fast, my dismount is ungainly, and I land awkwardly on my ankle and twist it.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Gritting my teeth, I use the trunk of a tree to help me stand. Putting as little weight as possible on my injured foot, I manage to hop over to my bike to turn the engine off. Taking out my phone to use the flashlight, I see it’s clipped the tree hard and fallen on its side in a ditch. As I inspect it, I find the front wheel bent out of shape.
Just my fucking luck. I’m in the middle of nowhere. The shortcut I’d taken was not much more than an old logging trail. As the main roads provided a far quicker solution to get from A to B, I hadn’t come across any other idiot using it but me.
For a moment I stand cursing, listening to the ticking of the cooling engine, rubbing my leg, while coming to terms with the fact that neither my bike nor I are going to make it out of here without help tonight.
As my bike grows silent, other sounds invade my psyche, including the loud rustling in the bushes behind me. What the fuck’s that? Spinning fast, I try to make out a shape.
There’s nothing there. Or nothing that the light of my phone allows me to see.
My heart rate’s still high, adrenaline still coursing through me from the accident. I’m so on edge, a hoot of an owl from close by actually makes me jump. I’m not kidding. I have two feet in the air. Then something brushes into me. Putting up my hand to fight it off, I find I’m battling with a leaf falling off a tree.
Christ, I’m spooked tonight.
Taking several deep breaths, I bend over, deliberately trying to slow my fast-beating heart. That fucking owl hoots again and another answers, destroying all my efforts to calm myself down.
Give me engine noise over nature any day.
I may be a fucking biker, a Marine who’d served too many terms, but this deserted forest at midnight is really fucking with me.
A growl rises in my throat as I remember the reason for my current predicament. Fucking deer. Turning so the beam from my light falls on the offending animal, I hope to see it dead, so I might at least end up with a haunch of venison to share with my brothers when they show up to save me. One thing’s for certain, with that fucked wheel on my bike, I won’t be riding out of here by myself. But there could be a plus side to this. I’ve already got several recipes running through my head.
Concentrating on those thoughts rather than my unease of the situation I find myself in, I begin to limp over toward the carcass, when goddamnit. I slide my gun out of my holster when I see movement from the shape on the road, showing I hadn’t made the kill cleanly. Now I’m going to have to help what’s going to be on the menu on its way.
