The Harder They Fall (The Soldiers of Wrath MC, 8) Read online

  That had to be Constance, the woman that Vengeance had fallen in love with. She’d never actually seen the woman, but she had heard about her from her brother.

  Renee knew how much Vengeance cared about her, and the emotion on the other woman’s face was clear as day.

  Once she pushed the door open she immediately saw her brother. Her heart was thundering, her palms sweating, and everything in her had stilled.

  “Vengeance,” she said softly, her heart in her throat, her nerves threatening to make her freeze right in her spot.

  He turned and faced her, surprise and confusion on his face. “Renee?”

  Vengeance stayed by the window, his cut on and the patch in the center of his back like a warning beaming in the night. The Soldiers of Wrath MC were known as being brutal in everything they did. She heard as much when Vengeance first started with the club.

  As the moments ticked by, her emotions started to become even more intense. She knew she couldn’t have been able to keep them in check even if she wanted to.

  “I’m so sorry,” she finally said, knowing that she shouldn’t beat around the bush, that she just needed to get it out and say what was on her mind. The weight of seeing her brother, of the shit with the ex, of just being here, it all weighed down on her. “I’m sorry about not listening to you, about turning my back on you and thinking I knew what was best. I didn’t. You were right the whole time.” She felt like crying, like just saying fuck everything else and let her brother see that she’d broken down.

  Before she knew what Vengeance was doing, he was in front of her and embracing her in a bear hug.

  “We’re family, and that means no matter what we stick together. I don’t care if we hadn’t talked for years. You’re my sister, and I’d do anything for you.”

  “I just hate that time passed where we didn’t talk.”

  He rubbed her back and she felt him nod. “Me too, but you’re here now and that’s all that matters.” He pulled back and smiled down at her. She had to crane her neck back just to look into his face. Her five-foot-seven height had nothing on his over six-foot tall posture.

  He wasn’t just her brother. He’d always been her protector and always would be. She knew that.

  “I promise everything will be fine.” He pulled her in for another hug, and she breathed out.

  Her thoughts were consumed on the future, on what she wanted, how she felt. But she had her family back and right now that was all that mattered.

  4

  “Told you that guy was a fucking dick,” Vengeance said over coffee the next morning.

  Renee smiled. They weren’t at the clubhouse, and he’d actually invited her to his new place, which she totally loved. “I know, and I was such an idiot. Every word I said, I regretted the moment I said them, but my pride and all that shit…” She stopped as Constance placed a mountain of pancakes in front of her. “Wow, thank you.”

  “I want you to feel welcome here. Vengeance has spoken a lot about you, and I know it means a lot to him to have you here.”

  She grimaced. “He said a lot about me, huh?”

  “He told me that you two parted ways on bad terms but that is now all in the past, right?” Constance took a seat with them. The scar on her face had come from some asshole named Craig who had stolen her, and when he’d tried to have sex with her, he’d gotten angry and slashed her face. Vengeance had told her a lot last night, when they’d stayed up late catching up. It had been really nice.

  Constance was such a nice woman, and strong too. She was the kind of woman Renee always imagined her brother would be with. “I was a first-class bitch to my brother. I said stuff about the club that I don’t think Demon’s going to be too happy about.”

  “It’ll be fine.” Constance waved her hand.

  Vengeance stared at his woman, and the love was clear to see in his eyes. When he turned toward Renee, he raised a brow. She knew without him saying anything that it wouldn’t all be fine. She had disrespected the club. As far as Demon and the other brothers were concerned, she was done. She’d have to earn back their respect, and that may never happen.

  To most she was just a bitch or at worst a whore. Maybe not even a traitor. The club had most likely turned their back on her, and rightly so. She deserved it.

  She nodded and tried to force down some of the pancakes that Constance had cooked. They weren’t bad at all. In fact she thought they were delicious. The biggest problem was knowing what she was going to have to face.

  Weasel had been nice to her last night, which was good. Out of all of the brothers, apart from her own, it was Weasel she had missed. His face had been the one to plague her.

  Idiot.

  That was what she was, an idiot. Turning her back on her only family because a guy had told her to. It made her sick to her stomach and she would never forgive herself, not in a million years, even if that were an exaggeration.

  “I’m getting the sense you two need to talk, and I need to clean up. I look like a monster.” Constance got out of her seat, pressed a kiss to Vengeance’s cheek, and rushed around to give her a squeeze. “It’s so nice to put a face to the name.”

  “She is really nice,” Renee said when they were alone.

  “Constance is the best thing that has ever happened to me.” A second of silence passed. “So you left his ass in Europe, and what then?” Vengeance asked.

  “As soon as I could I came back to the States, and then I’ve been working, doing odd jobs. I’ve wanted to call you for the longest time, and every time I tried, I just couldn’t bring myself to actually do it. I know. I suck, right?”

  “Weasel kept asking me to call you. He seemed to think that you were in some kind of trouble or might like to hear from me.”

  “I wasn’t in any trouble. Just working, trying to keep afloat.” She took a deep. “I’m really sorry about everything.”

  Even though they had hugged and were talking, something was missing. There was a tension between them, and she couldn’t help the tears that filled her eyes, and she quickly looked away. She put her fork down. There was no way she going to be able to stomach any more pancakes. She couldn’t even swallow past her tears. “I messed up so much.” She sniffled, and Vengeance moved.

  He wrapped his arms around her, and she sank against him. “I’m so sorry, so, so sorry.” She kept repeating the same words, hoping that he’d believe her.

  “I know you are, honey. And I’m so fucking sorry, too. You and I, we can work on this, and in the meantime, I’ll help you find a job here. I won’t toss you out, and I won’t treat you like shit. We’re family. Always.”

  “Thank you.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek. There was a knock on the front door, and she pulled away.

  “I think I know who that is.”

  She watched as he went to the door, averting her gaze long enough to lift her glass of water to her lips. She heard the deep timbre of the man she’d always wanted.

  Weasel.

  “I thought I’d stop by for breakfast,” Weasel said.

  “Since when?”

  “Since now.” Weasel walked into the house and took a seat at the table. “Where’s Constance?”

  “In the shower.”

  “When they were at the club we’d hear them fucking all night long.”

  Renee wrinkled her nose. “Seriously, that’s my brother.”

  “Seriously, Demon had to put a ban on them.” Weasel started laughing. “Everyone was hoping … Ouch!” Vengeance slapped Weasel up the back of the head.

  “Show some damn respect. That’s my old lady you’re talking about.”

  “Okay.” Weasel grabbed a pancake and shoved it in his mouth. “How are things between you two,” he said through a mouthful of food.

  Leave it to Weasel to make things entirely weird, and she had missed him so much for it.

  5

  After breakfast she’d gone out job hunting. First thing on her list was actually getting employed, then finding a place of her
own. She’d try living in town, being close to her brother and continuing to work on their relationship. They had a lot more to correct before it was back to the way it was.

  Renee stared at Weasel, wondering what his angle was.

  Or maybe he’s just being nice.

  He’d insisted on coming with her to town to look for a job. Renee couldn’t help it, but it was a nice feeling having somebody else with her. She pushed her feelings for Weasel behind her, knowing they wouldn’t do any good because they’d never go anywhere.

  He lived a hardened biker life, and most likely saw her as nothing more than Vengeance’s little sister.

  But at this point in her life that was good enough. She had other shit to work out personally before she tried to even consider anything romantic with Weasel, or anyone for that matter.

  She’d applied to three different jobs already, and although they weren’t prestigious positions and mainly secretarial work, she would be glad to get anything at this point.

  Leaving everything behind and starting over was hard, but with her relationship with her brother on the mend and the feeling that things would finally be okay, Renee knew that this was the start of her future.

  She glanced at Weasel, seeing his focus already on her. There was something about the rough biker that always made her heart pound faster, harder.

  He had several days’ worth of scruff lining his cheeks and jaw, and his dark hair was on the longer side, but the disheveled look suited him well. He was so attractive, rougher on the edges, and made the blood rush through her veins. His body was big, muscular, and perfectly honed.

  He was masculine to her feminine. He made her feel like a woman just sitting next to him. No man had ever done that before, made her feel this way before.

  “Vengeance tell you about the problems we had, or my personal issues and why I’m back here?”

  Weasel shrugged. “Don’t be offended that he told me. We’re family and he didn’t have anybody else to talk to. He took you guys not speaking or seeing each other pretty hard.”

  She looked down at her hands, which were clasped together in her lap. Yeah, their relationship has been rocky for a while.

  They both made their relationship strained, but they had their future to make it right. And now that Constance was in his life, Renee could see how much Vengeance changed and how happy he was.

  “Yeah, we both made some pretty big mistakes, but hopefully things can start looking up now.” She looked at Weasel again, the biker’s face stoic, emotionless. But she could see in his dark eyes that he held compassion, that maybe he even knew the struggle of family, bonds, and relationships.

  “So you finally got rid of that dickwad, huh?”

  She couldn’t help but chuckle. Leave it to Weasel to say it like it was. “Yeah, something like that.”

  “You’re better off without someone who treats you like shit, Renee.” He stared right into her eyes and she felt like he meant every single word he said. “You deserve somebody who’s going to treat you the way you deserve to be treated, and who will get on their hands and knees and worship the ground you walk on.” He looked away then, his jaw tight, his eyes hard-set. He almost looked upset that he had said the words.

  She was so overcome with emotion that she thought she might cry in that instant. But she straightened and knew that from now on she needed to show strength.

  Like she had said before, this was the first day of the rest of her life and she wasn’t going to screw it up.

  Weasel stared at Renee, his emotions for her strong and growing by the minute.

  He always cared about her, hell, he would even go as far as saying he loved her, if only to himself, that was. But he stayed away, kept his emotions in check because of who her brother was, and the fact she didn’t like the club.

  Well, she liked the club well enough, she just didn’t agree with some of the practices the MC did. He couldn’t blame her though, because club life was not for everyone. But when you’re in, you’re in and there was no turning back.

  He stared at her profile, her long dark hair lightly blowing in the breeze. This urge to reach out and push the strands away from her face ran in him strong. But that would be crossing a line and he wasn’t that much of a bastard.

  But she was the only woman he’d ever had any kind of attachment to. He had to believe that meant more than just getting her in his bed.

  Weasel didn’t want to just fuck her—he wanted her by his side, wanted to make her smile, wanted to make her laugh. She had a rough go with the ex, according to Vengeance, and part of Weasel wanted to hunt the asshole down and beat his teeth in.

  Not caring at the moment, he reached out and took her hand and his. She looked over at him, her eyes wide, the confusion and surprise clear on her face. He gave her hand a squeeze, letting her know without saying anything that he was here for her.

  He just hoped she understood that because he wasn’t going to just walk away.

  He couldn’t.

  6

  Renee found herself in a diner at six o’clock feeling like the entire world was against her. She grabbed the menu and started to read through it. No one had given her a call back, and in a small town, that was like the kiss of death. She dropped the menu and then placed her head on top of her crossed arms.

  Everything she had done today was useless. All of it was a pain in the ass, and that just made her want to cry. She had always been able to get a job. Coming back was about getting her life back on track, but if no one would hire her, she was doomed.

  Weasel sat down beside her after using the restroom and was silent as she had her little tantrum inside her head.

  “Can anyone join this issue you’ve got going on, or are you going to have a pity party all to yourself?”

  She sat back and glared at him. “No one called back.”

  “So? They had a busy day?”

  “Or I’ve been blacklisted.”

  “Babe, you’re not the only one looking for a job, and with all due respect, you left town. To some people that could present a problem.”

  “Why?”

  “They want someone who is going to stick around. Not just get up and leave.”

  “I was asked that, and I told them I was here to stay.” She felt so fed up with everyone and everything.

  “And they probably didn’t believe you. It’s going to take a lot more than you just saying that to make them believe it. You left with a quite a reputation behind you.” Weasel stopped as a woman approached and filled their coffees.

  “Thank you,” Renee said.

  The waitress said nothing and left.

  “I really am a loser,” she said on an exhale.

  “People know what you did. How you treated Vengeance. The Soldiers, we contribute to the town and keep it alive. They don’t want to be seen as giving you an easy time.”

  “Of course not.” She should have known. Loyalty to the Soldiers of Wrath was for life, and she had abused that trust.

  “You know with this newfound freedom, you could do something with a hobby to pass the time.”

  “Newfound freedom?”

  “You’ve not got a job to go to.”

  “That’s not freedom. That’s being unemployed, and in order to do a hobby, you need money. To have money, I need a job, and now you’re making me sound like a bitch, and I don’t want to.” She groaned and once again dropped her head onto her arms. “I’m a loser.”

  “You’re not a loser.”

  She stared up at him with what she hoped was a pitiful look on her face. “Look at me, Weasel. I probably can’t afford this cup of coffee.”

  “Lucky for you, I can, and I’ll even feed you as well.” He shoved the menu at her. “Look, and then we can talk about what you can do.”

  She took the menu from him and began to look over it. Giant juicy burgers would offer two things—it would feed her and also give her comfort. She was chasing comfort right now. The waitress came back over, and she placed her order
. While Weasel was giving his, she took a sip of the bitter coffee. She wouldn’t complain. She really wanted a nice cup of coffee.

  Weasel sat back, and he stared at her. He kept on staring at her, and she looked around to see if someone else was watching her.

  “You’re freaking me out,” she said.

  “I want to try something with you.”

  “O-okay?” She frowned. Weasel was the only club brother she had ever had a crush on throughout her life. He’d been the one that she had compared all other men to. In fact, it was after seeing Weasel with a woman, literally fucking another woman, that had sent her to Jake, and thus, sent her out of town. But she’d never tell anyone that.

  She had been so jealous of that woman. But she couldn’t fault Weasel for being with a woman. Hell, Renee had never told him how she felt, never even acted like she liked him as a person. Not really. It had been years ago, and Renee had always kept Weasel at arms’ length.

  “I have a house, and I don’t always spend my time at the clubhouse. I could use a housekeeper, someone I trust. I will pay you to keep my house clean, and if my memory serves me correctly, you’re one hell of a cook. You do those and your room and board are covered, and I’ll pay you a weekly salary.”

  “You want me to cook and clean for you?”

  “That’s the offer.”

  Renee sat back and stared at him. “Are you joking right now?”

  “I never joke about money, and that is what we’re talking about.”

  “I’m doing everything an old lady will be doing?”

  “No, you’re not,” Weasel said. He took a sip of his coffee, and she watched as his neck moved as he swallowed. Why did that seem really erotic?

  “What does an old lady do that I’m not going to do then?” she asked.

  “Fuck me.”

  Her pussy went slick at the thought of Weasel between her thighs, thrusting his cock deep inside her. She pressed her thighs together and leaned forward, needing to distract herself. “I forgot how crass you could be.”