Chapter One
After swiping a table clean, Rose McCoy tapped one foot on the scarred wooden floor and checked the time. Close to midnight. Finally, her shift had come to an end. Exhaustion crept into her bones. She could barely keep herself awake, and her feet ached.
Nicky Goodman, her boss and the owner of One for the Road bar, nodded to the only occupied table in the room. Rose followed sighed and walked toward Keegan Butler, the town drunk. In his late forties, balding, and sporting a beer belly, Keegan was also a regular at One for the Road.
Keegan also happened to be the mayor’s only brother. Nicky might be an ex-biker covered in tattoos, but he couldn’t just toss Keegan outside like the common riff-raff. Only Rose could sweet-talk Keegan into leaving, to convince him he left of his own accord.
“It’s past closing time, Keegan,” she reminded him. “Go home.” She gently gripped him by the elbow, ignoring the lecherous look he gave her. Ever since she entered puberty, she’d gotten used to men gawking at her chest area and her curves. Keegan might be a noisy drunk, but he was always a coward.
Keegan cursed and grunted for a good ten minutes before he slapped a couple of bills on the table. He allowed Rose to lead him to the door. Before he left, Keegan gave her left ass a squeeze. She glowered at him, but he only flashed her a cheeky grin before stumbling out.
Rose didn’t take insult. Growing up in a trailer with an abusive and drunk father who couldn’t hold down a job and a brother who always got into trouble all the time, she developed a pretty thick skin. Keegan was harmless most of the time. Rose had experienced worse.
After helping Nicky clean the place, they closed up. Without saying another word, Nicky walked Rose to her car, even though the parking lot was just a short distance away from the bar. She appreciated the kind gesture. Castle Falls could be dicey at night.
Nicky had no designs on her. Her boss had been happily married to his husband of ten years, Raul, and they even had two sons together. Whoever said chivalry was dead? Rose thought.
Nicky passed Rose an envelope containing her latest pay before they parted ways. If she had to choose a favorite among her three jobs, she’d have to pick working for Nicky. Sure, the hours might be long, but the pay was good. The customers always tipped generously.
“See you tomorrow, Rose,” he said.
“Good night, Nicky,” she said.
Rose slid behind the driver’s seat of her second-hand red Chevrolet. The paint peeled and looked faded in some places, and her car almost looked more pink than red. Her ride also had its share of nicks and dents. She slid her key in, and the engine gave out a weak sputter. Rose expelleda breath.
“Don’t you dare die on me now,” she said.
Frustration welled up inside her. Money was tight right now. She couldn’t afford to send her ride in for repairs.
All she wanted to do was head home, take a hot shower after checking on Stefan, then go to bed. Then repeat the same old cycle all over again the next day. No use thinking about the direction where her life was heading. At the moment, it was nowhere.
It wasn’t like she had a choice. Her brother Donny seemed keen on walking the same crooked path their father did.
She tried the engine again. On the third try, it worked. Thankful for small mercies, Rose navigated out of the bar parking lot and headed home. One for the Road was located on the outskirts of Castle Falls, a twenty-minute drive to the trailer park. No streetlights lit the way home, so she had to rely on her own lights.
The rumble of motorcycles behind her made her grip the steering wheel tight. Panic almost set in, but she refused to let the emotion swallow her up.
She took deep breaths and stopped the car at the side of the road, where she killed the lights and her engine, then silently prayed the bikers would ride past her. She peered outside the windows. Her breath caught when three laughing loons on bikes roared past from where she was.
The sound of a gunshot made her jump in her seat. Rose bit down on her lower lip to prevent herself from giving her position away. Some drunk rider must’ve fired it. She waited with bated breath. Nothing else happened.
About twenty years ago, the Black Dogs MC rode into Castle Falls and declared the town their territory. Rose was four at that time. They never left. Instead, the motorcycle club continued to be a plague in town, and here they would stay. Rumor had it the club lined the pockets of the local police and even the mayor. Corruption had been rampant everywhere.
Anyone could be bought. Her own father and even Donny worked odd jobs for the MC. Rose chose to keep her head down like everyone else. Deeming the roads safe again, she turned on the engine. For a second, she wondered if her baby would fail her again for the night. It didn’t.
Rose let out a breath of relief. She almost thought she had to walk home, but she managed to reach home without any further incident. Home was a single-wide trailer that was slowly falling apart. Like the rest of her life, it was sorely in need of repairs.
Janice, her neighbor and babysitter, must’ve heard her come in because the teenager left the house. On her shoulder, Janice carried Stefan, Donny’s kid.
Someone had left Stefan on their doorstep two months ago along with an angry handwritten note. When Rose confronted her brother about it, he shrugged it off and said both the baby and the note were from an angry ex. Realizing she had another mouth to feed had skyrocketed her stress levels.
When she asked Donny what his plans for Stefan were, his answer had always been the same. He didn’t know. Rose brought up the notion of adoption once or twice, because as much as she’d grown to love that little boy, neither Rose nor Donny could give the kid the life he deserved.
“It’s 1:00 AM, Rose,” Janice said in an exasperated voice.
“I know. I’m really sorry,” Rose said.
Janice handed Stefan to her, and he didn’t even wake. Rose wanted to give him a kiss, but she felt grimy. “Sorry, could you hold him again for a second? I need to pay you.”
Janice complied. Rose retrieved the envelope containing her pay from the car. She paid Janice a little extra for the overtime, but Janice studied her for a moment, then handed the extra bills back. Janice might just be a senior in high school, but she was perceptive for someone her age. A good kid who reminded Rose of herself a long time ago.
“Could you look after him tomorrow night as well?” Rose asked her. Most of the time, Janice said yes to babysitting. According to the kid, it was easy money and Stefan was delightful to look after, but Rose knew exams were coming soon. What would she do then?
She juggled three jobs and hardly had any free time left. Rose worked herself to the bone so much she wouldn’t be surprised one day if she’d simply collapse and die. A morbid thought. Who would take care of Stefan then?
God knew where Donny was. Probably running jobs for the MC, only to flush all that money earned down the drain in a single night of gambling. The Black Dogs MC ran illegal gambling dens all over the city. They owned her brother, and he didn’t even realize it.
“Tomorrow then,” Janice agreed.
“Did Donny come by?” she asked.
Rose had instructed Janice to text or call her immediately if her brother or any of his biker “friends” dropped by the trailer. Rose used the word friends loosely because she wasn’t blind. Those bikers only saw her brother as a pawn to be used, then discarded when they no longer needed him.