Prologue
Juliette
Grief and anger go hand in hand, and I’ve felt so much since that damn biker rally. I wanted the MC’s gone and out of Rising Star. Dad always said the Celestial Sons weren’t like the Hell’s Artillery, but I couldn’t tell the difference. They were two sides of the same coin, both were groups of men that played by a different set of rules, and their rivalry had taken my father from me.
I held the only man I’ve ever loved as he died in my arms, and then had to go home and anchor my mom as she fell apart in those same arms, tears splashing against my fair skin when she realized he was never coming home again. It happened only a few months before he was planning on announcing his retirement, too. Dad was done. He’d given his heart and soul to this community for over thirty years, and the long hours had worn on him so heavily, he was ready to call it quits. Maintaining peace while keeping the Hell’s Artillery under control wasn’t easy. They did most of their dirty deeds outside of our jurisdiction on the outskirts of county lines, but that didn’t mean we were clueless as to who the bastards were.
The Celestial Sons seemed to run a clean ship, but so much had changed the day dad died, and my view of the club changed as well. They held a rally that got out of hand, and someone murdered my dad in front of my eyes. There were images from that day I would never be able to erase from my mind. It was like I was stuck in an endless nightmare; desperate to scrub away the bloodstains on my shirt and the remnants of his blood that had seeped into every crevice of my trembling hands--hands that tried everything to keep him from bleeding out, but failed miserably. When I closed my eyes I could still see him lying there, gasping for breath, telling me everything was going to be okay when we both knew better. He didn’t cry, didn’t even show an ounce of weakness in those final moments. That wasn’t the type of man Arthur Rooker was. He gripped my hand as he allowed death to take him until life simply drained out of his seafoam green eyes, leaving him nothing but a shell of the stoic man he once was. His vacant stare still haunts me, and I’ll never forgive those bastards in the Celestial Sons for what they did. It was their rally, so ultimately it was their responsibility. They may have not been the ones who pulled the trigger, but they were definitely the reason my dad was dead.
I watched from my car as the VP of the Celestial Sons took off angrily in his truck. I’d seen him around town a few times that day. Duncan Buchanan was his name, but his club called him Scorpio, I think. His blond hair and scruffy blond beard gave him a handsome, rugged look, but it was his piercing blue eyes that threatened to rob me of my sanity. I was drawn to him for some reason, and that made me hate him even more.
My phone rang obnoxiously beside me, breaking the silence that surrounded me with the theme song of C.O.P.S., indicating it was the precinct. “Yeah?” I said into the receiver without looking at the phone. My gaze was still stuck on the strip club owned by the MC. Stars and Strips was the only strip club within a two-hour drive, so we had a steady stream of men coming in from the surrounding small towns. People who didn’t want to go to the city, but wanted the big city entertainment came here. It was good for our little town, at least that’s what I used to think.
“I’m taking over as interim Sheriff until we can do an official election,” Hollender said smugly into the receiver. I gritted my teeth, my blood already boiling over what he was telling me he planned to do. He was my equal, but his superior attitude annoyed the shit out of me.
“Isn’t that something the town council is supposed to vote on?” I deadpanned. It didn’t matter what he wanted, that was something that had to go before the council.
“They just voted. You are in no place to step into your father’s shoes.”
“Fine,” I muttered. I didn’t really want that position anyway. Not yet. Dad was still the sheriff in my mind, and if the council felt like Hollender was the best option right now, then I would deal with it.
“What are you doing?”
“Considering it’s my day off, Acting Sheriff,” I stressed the title sarcastically. “It’s none of your business.”
“I knew you wouldn’t take this well, Deputy Rooker. Just remember your place when you come back to the office, tomorrow. I want you there bright and early.”
I bit my tongue, fighting over what not to say. “Yes, sir.”
I knew my place. It was the same place every woman cop hung on the totem pole when it came to the predominantly male dominated field I worked in--bottom of the barrel, scrambling to stay afloat in a sea filled with testosterone, and inflated male egos that were nothing more than a cover up for their tiny little peens, them itty bitty Willies, or as I liked to refer to them sometimes when I’m drunk, micro chubaroonies.
I hung up the phone and watched the comings and goings of the strip club silently from afar. If there was something to find on the Celestial Sons I was going to find it and take them down. Them, and all those bastards in the Hell’s Artillery.
The MCs of Rising Star were about to meet the inferno of Juliette Rooker, and once I was done burning their clubs to the ground, I’d take my rightful place as sheriff and rid Rising Star of all the corruption once and for all.
Chapter One
Scorpio
Life can go from good to bad in the blink of an eye. It’s like my dad always said, “Son, you gotta appreciate what you got because you never know when something can be ripped away from you and then you’re left with nothing.”
It’s how my life has always been. One minute, I’m the king of my own world, then the next minute, everything in my kingdom comes crashing down around me all at once. I felt like I was in the middle of a minefield, afraid to take a step, waiting for the catastrophic blow that came with tripping one of the wires.
That minefield started the day three soldiers showed up on my mother’s doorstep in full uniform, their faces void of any emotion at all.
I knew. I fucking knew the second I saw them why they were there, and it was like I looked into Medusa’s eyes and immediately turned to stone.
“Hello, are you Connie Buchanan, wife of Zeke Buchanan?”
I was a statue behind her, watching as her trembling fingers shook around the doorknob she was still clutching.
When she didn’t speak, I intervened.
“Yes, she is, and I’m his son, Duncan.”
“I am Master Sergeant Blackwood, this is Captain Patterson, and Chaplain Foster, May we come in?”
My mother didn’t move, so I physically had to pull her away from the door, giving the three officers enough room to enter.
