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Excerpt

Ash sat in the interview room and had never felt more panicked in his life. He wasn’t used to feeling panicked. He was normally the one that never worried about the consequences. Never backed down. And yet here he was, a nervous wreck. He didn’t like it.

"What do you mean, my parents hung up?" he frowned.

The police officer, a lady, looked at him with pure pity. "I mean exactly that, kiddo, I explained we had you here in custody for grand theft auto, conditions of bail-"

"And they're coming to pick me up, right?" Ash gushed. He felt in his heart he knew. They were coming. They were his parents. They had to come pick him up, right?

"They said our son is dead to us, as far as we're concerned, we don't have a son called Ashton, then they hung up."

Ash blinked. "But..."

The police officer shrugged. "Guess it's time to wake up and smell the coffee."

That riled Ash. Patronizing bitch. No need to assume he had a silver spoon in his mouth. He didn't.

"Look, I know you think you've captured a felon here and got one more bad guy off the streets..."

She raised her eyebrows.

"...but this has all been a misunderstanding. I had to borrow my uncle’s car-"

"Did you actually ask him? Did he say yes?" 

Ash pursed his lips. "Well, he was asleep, it was the middle of the night-"

"Right-"

"But he's let me in the past, it was for a friend-"

The police officer openly and wistfully chuckled. He knew he sounded like a naive kid. Fuck, maybe he was. He had kind of assumed he was un­touchable. One step ahead of the game. Able to outsmart his family. Always with a witty comeback or a quick quip. Always a smile on his face.

But he wasn't smiling now. He knew he was in trouble.

"You've got one phone call to make, I suggest you call a lawyer." she said, flipping his file closed and standing up.

"I... but..." He mentally scrolled through his phone book. He needed help. He needed a friend. An ally.

Goddammit. He thought of his school friends. Half of them hated him since he'd fucked their girlfriends or fucked them. His family was obviously a no go... he considered his kid sister for a second but realized she would probably get upset... and fuck, she was so young. He needed to think... Who could fix this? Who could he trust with this?

The cold, harsh reality of having nothing and no one sent him gasping for breath. He was suspended above a big black hole that just plunged down and down into the abyss.

He was hyperventilating. It was like that moment when you think you've lost your keys or your cell. But then you find them and relief surges into you and you smile... yeah that relief never came. Ash just gasped and gasped his way through his first panic attack.

One person came to mind. Ash only knew him under a name he was sure was fake.

He only knew him a few weeks, but Ash knew he'd help. Ash felt it in his core, deep, that guy could be relied on in a jam like this.

At least he prayed he could. Ash bit his lip with his heart pounding in his chest and his palms cold and clammy. He grabbed the phone.

It rung. He felt like he'd run a marathon. He felt exhausted. His chest hurt.

Then, the ringing stopped. The line cracked a bit.

"Yeah?" A deep, clear voice came down the line. Into Ash's ear. Into Ash's soul. A life raft in a cold, rolling ocean. Ash clung to it, He pulled it to his chest and clung on with his fingernails, for his life.

He took a breath."Mr Black?" He said, hearing the hesitating in his shaking, exhausted voice.

The answer came back, swift and sure. "Ash?"

Oh thank fuck, thank fuck. Ash began to garble "I… didn't know who else to call, I..."

"Name’s Colt." came the gruff response on the other side of the phone.

Ash puffed out a  breath. "I didn’t think anyone else would answer. I've pissed everyone off, Colt," it felt good saying the guy’s name. Warm and fuzzy. How he imagined saying the word 'home' should feel. "I've really fucked up..."

Ash heard a breath in and out, crackling the phone line slightly. "Don't worry, everyone fucks up at some point." Colt answered.

That simple utterance from Colt began to ease the tension in Ash’s shoulders. Ash hadn’t realized his jaw was so tensed up. He hadn’t realized that his body was stiff as a board.

"What’s up?" Colt continued.

Where did Ash begin? What’s up? What wasn't up? How could he begin to explain what was going on in his head? That feeling of sheer utter panic from being left alone, abandoned, began to threaten again.

"This is my phone call..." Ash heard himself stammer. "I don't know what to do now..." As Ash uttered those words he felt himself slipping. Down, down, down.

"Where are you, Ash?" Colts life raft voice pulled his head above the water once more.

Ash’s lips moved. "Police station."

"Why?"

"My uncle..."

"Fuck." Colt's response was short, sharp.

Then he heard a quieter, softer voice. April. The angel girlfriend, or fiancée, partner to Colt. Blonde hair and pouty lips and clearly head over heels in love with Colt. She murmured something, she was further from the phone. Fuck, were they in bed or something? He suddenly felt uncertain again. Should he have called? Should he be asking this stranger he hardly knew for a favor, to help him.

"Sorry," Ash said sheepishly, "is that April? Are you busy?”

Colts voice snapped back. Without facial expressions, Ash found Colt hard to read. Or maybe it was his panic, barely kept at bay right now.

"We're in the hospital."

"Shit," Ash shouldn't have called. “Are you okay?"

The line crackled again as Colt breathed. A deep, long sigh. Ash didn't breathe. Ash felt his panic imploding. He heard the weariness now in Colt’s voice. Shit, Ash shouldn't have called, he shouldn’t have called, he was a stupid-

"Yeah," Colt sighed," April is... we crashed the car... Ash, I'm sorry, the car..."

Ash felt heat shutter through him. It was nice to feel something other than blind panic. He felt anger. Yes, anger. Colt shouldn't have to apologize. Ash shouldn't have to find a lawyer. This was all so unjust and Ash felt angry. "Fuck the car, you both hurt?'

"Nah...”

Ash felt the need to repeat the endless racing thoughts in his head. "I'm sorry." He almost cried, almost. "I shouldn't have called-"

The life rafe smacked him in the head. Colt’s voice. "No…”

“Yes Ash," her voice, bright as a bell, light as a cloud, she'd moved closer to the phone. He felt that warmth again. What home should feel like.

He felt his lips moving, voicing the thoughts in his head. "I got no one else. Yours was the only number I had left."

Ash felt his voice fade to a whisper. He felt his soul and his spirit following close behind. Fading, getting smaller, almost ready to vanish completely.

Colt didn't say anything for the longest time. "Ash, this phone call is meant to be to your lawyer-"

Panic flared in Ash. Ash garbled. "Right, right, I know, I didn’t know who to call…"

"It's okay," Colt said. And in that moment, Ash believed him. "This is what we are going to do..."

Ash felt himself bleed back together. His resolve. His fight. His heart and soul and head. His spirit.

"We're going to get you a fucking good lawyer...." Ash focused on Colt’s warm, steady voice. Colt was going to help. Colt was taking this all on, like Ash had asked him to just hold Ash’s coffee for a second while he tied his shoelaces. Colt took charge. He took the weight. Ash was going to be okay because Colt was going to help.

"You may do time, Ash, prepare yourself for that, but we'll get you out as soon as we can-"

Oh hang on, Ash's new found resolve stuttered. His brain caught up. Colt paying for a lawyer to fight for him. “We? You and April? I can't ask you to do-" Ash's heart spasmed and flopped.

Colt’s voice cut through the haze. "No, we, as in the MC. My MC."

Ash took a moment to process those words in his head. "MC… motorcycle club?"

"Yeah.”

"You're a member of a motorcycle club?” Ash blinked. He remembered Colt eyeing up his bike... helping him, knowing his way around the bike like Ash knew his way around his own body. The leather jacket. The mysterious disappearance in the early hours of the morning. The tattoos, the devil-may-care smirk… it all fell into place.

"I'm the Prez." Colt said, and Ash heard the triumphant pride in Colt’s voice. Like a blast of a sunbeam bursting through thunderclouds, Ash was drawn to it. Colt’s confident self assurance. Those two letters. MC. The warmth and safety and freedom that those two letters offered Ash. The knowledge that he wouldn't be alone.

Ash gasped. "What's the MC called?"

Colt’s clear voice came back down the line. "Black Coyotes..."

The words were a promise of a whole new life for Ash. He felt it, this was the beginning. This was where it all really got started. Fuck high school, fuck college, fuck all of the fuckers who'd tried to fuck him over so far. This was his story now, this was his time to shine.

"You’re shitting me…" Ash muttered at the realization of what was to come. The adventure of a lifetime.

"You want in?"

Ash couldn't respond fast enough. "Hell fucking yes."

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Other Titles Within this Series

THE CHASE

Black Coyotes MC Series - Book One

THE TASTE

Black Coyotes MC Series - Book Two

About the Author

Ruby Bloom writes gritty erotic romance about alpha males who love fiercely and roughly, and strong female characters who know what they want and aren't afraid to ask for it. She is an avid fan of romance books and always seeks that Happily Ever After.

She lives in the UK and works in the mental health field by day, and writes erotic romance by night!

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