Prologue
GQ
Last Summer
I was a routine sort of guy. Each morning, I’d get on my hog and head to my favorite donut shop for a maple bar and coffee. I didn’t know what it was about the two, but I fucking loved them.
“Here you go, GQ.” Vanessa handed me a white bag and my cup of dark roast. She was a pretty little thing. Way too young for me, but a man could look, right?
“Thank you.” I winked at her and went on my way.
I sat on my Harley and enjoyed my early morning breakfast for one, there in the parking lot. This was my quiet time. My alone time. Time I rarely had where I could think about stuff without a club girl breathing down my neck.
And I could make a private call without anyone eavesdropping, like now. I dialed my mom’s phone number and held my breath listening to it ring. My folks moved to Florida more than a decade ago.
We didn’t talk much.
Hadn’t seen each other since the day they left.
But I missed them, and it was stupid to miss people who didn’t give a fuck about me.
On the fifth or sixth ring, someone answered. “Hello?”
Totally blindside, I choked on my donut and said, “Mom?”
“I thought it was you. Why do you keep calling me?”
“Because I’m your son and I wondered how you and dad were doing.” What a fucking idiot. I shouldn’t have to explain why I was calling. They never even told me why they moved away. The moving truck was loaded one day, and they were gone the next.
“I don’t have no son. I wash my hands of you. Now you do the same with us.” The call ended.
“Fuck!” I yelled, tossing my coffee and donut on the ground. Reviving my engine, I peeled out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
I cursed my very exists and almost cried because her words hurt me so fucking much.I don’t have no son. I don’t have no son. I don’t have no son.
In my bar-end mirror I saw a garbage truck coming up behind me.
I raised my hand and gave him the bird. “You fucker better slow down.”
But he didn’t. I must have pissed him off.
Well, if he kept this up, I’d show him who he was messing with.
As those words floated through my mind, the son of a bitch plowed toward me.
My mother’s words came back to me.I wash my hands of you. Now you do the same with us.
I ignored the truck and, in that moment, I just didn’t give a fuck about anything.
Crushing pain shot through my body as he careened into me, knocking me off my hog. My face hit the road and I blacked out.
1
Kelly
Coming home to a dark, quiet apartment was the worst, but not totally out of the ordinary for a single woman raising her rebellious younger brother. Maybe he had spent the day in his bedroom and never turned on any lights. Or he wasn’t home…
I exhaled a heavy, irritated breath. It was almost eight o’clock at night. Although it was summer, the sun would be setting soon, and Kevin didn’t drive.
