Desolation
Jokers' Wrath MC, Volume 4
Bella Jewel
Published by Bella Jewel, 2015.
Table of Contents
Title Page
~*DESOLATION*~
DESOLATION | Copyright © 2015 Bella Jewel
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PROLOGUE | THEN – Pippa
CHAPTER ONE | NOW – Pippa
CHAPTER TWO | THEN – Pippa
NOW – Pippa
CHAPTER THREE | THEN – Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER FOUR | NOW – Pippa
THEN – Pippa
CHAPTER FIVE | NOW – Pippa
NOW – Pippa
CHAPTER SIX | THEN – Pippa
NOW – Pippa
CHAPTER SEVEN | THEN – Pippa
CHAPTER EIGHT | NOW – Pippa
NOW
CHAPTER NINE | THEN – Pippa
CHAPTER TEN | NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER ELEVEN | THEN – Pippa
NOW – Pippa
CHAPTER TWELVE | THEN – Pippa
NOW | Pippa
CHAPTER THIRTEEN | NOW – Pippa
THEN - Pippa
CHAPTER FOURTEEN | NOW - Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER FIFTEEN | NOW – Pippa
THEN –Pippa
CHAPTER SIXTEEN | NOW – Pippa
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | THEN - Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | THEN – Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER NINETEEN | THEN – Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY | NOW – Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | NOW –Pippa
NOW –Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | NOW – Pippa
NOW -Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY- THREE | NOW – Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR | NOW – Pippa
NOW -Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | NOW – Pippa
NOW – Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | NOW – Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN | NOW – Pippa
NOW - Pippa
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT | NOW - Pippa | One month later
EPILOGUE | Six months later
THE END
~*DESOLATION*~
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DESOLATION
Copyright © 2015 Bella Jewel
DESOLATION is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events portrayed in this book either are from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, establishments, events, or location is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, my heartfelt thanks to every single blogger, reader and author that has supported my journey. From reading my books, to sharing them, to raving about them, to being there for me. Thank you. My career would be nothing without any of you.
A huge thanks to Kylie from Give Me Books for organizing my reveals and blitzes. You do such an amazing job. No matter how many times I use you, I am always blown away by how efficient you are. Nothing is ever a drama. Thank you for giving me so much support.
A massive thanks to Ari from Cover it Designs for this gorgeous cover. You never disappoint. I love how well you capture my characters. You really brought this cover to life.
To Lauren, my epic editor. You are the best thing since sliced bread, no lie. You seriously are the best person EVER to work with. You are quick and your notes always make me laugh. No one else could ever keep up with my writing pace, but you always nail it.
To my girls, Belle and Sali. I f’ing love you so hard. There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not thankful to have you in my life. From our crazy vox messages, to the amazing times we have together. You girls are my glue, but you already know that.
And of course, to my admin, MJ, for ALWAYS keeping my page running beautifully. I couldn’t do it without you, girly. I love your teasers and your passion, thank you for taking the time out of your life to help this poor girl keep everything running.
And, last but certainly not least, to my loyal readers. To each and every one of you that picks up my books and give me a chance. To the reviews you write, good or bad. To the time you take to make me a better person. You make this real for me; never stop giving such love and passion. You make our journey so amazing.
PROLOGUE
THEN – Pippa
A warm hand strokes over my skin, awakening me from my sleep. My eyes flutter open and I expect to see my sister, Santana, leaning over me and smiling, letting me know that everything is okay and that we’re going to find a home where we can feel safe once more. Instead, I see Kennedy. He’s staring down at me, his eyes sad and his mouth in a hard line.
“Pippa,” he says softly, even though his voice is rough like sandpaper.
“Where’s Tana?” I squeak, rolling from my soft bed and sitting up.
“She’s . . . listen, Pippa, I have to take you somewhere. You need to trust me, okay?”
Fear swells in my chest, and I stare at the man who took my sister and I from the streets. He always liked Santana better than me, but I know it’s because she’s so beautiful. He probably just thinks I’m a little child. Maybe I am. I don’t mind being by myself when he’s giving her attention, because anything is better than being cold on the streets.
“I don’t want to go anywhere,” I tell Kennedy. “I just want to wait for Tana.”
“Santana is . . . busy right now. You need to trust and come with me.”
“Kennedy . . .” I shake my head. “I don’t want to.”
He looks away, his jaw tight. “I’m sorry for what I have to do right now, Pippa. Forgive me.”
The door busts open and three men come in. They’re big, so horribly big. I scramble backwards on my bed, clutching my sheets to cover my tiny body. Then one, a scary one, steps forward with a smile on his face. His eyes are terrifying, his hair is dark, and he’s tall and lean. He horrifies me. There’s an air about him that makes me want to curl up and hide.
“Hello there,” he says, stepping forward. “You must be Pippa.”
Who is he? Why is he here? Is he a bad man? Is he one of the ones who were horrible to Kennedy? My heart pounds with fear. Why is Kennedy letting these men into his home? Where is Santana? What did he do to her?
“Please,” I squeak. “Leave me alone.”
He smiles again. “I won’t hurt you, dear girl. If you’ll come with me, this’ll be so much easier.”
“I don’t want to go with you!” I cry. “I want Santana!”
“Sadly,” the man says, lifting his hand and flicking his finger, “you don’t get a choice. Kennedy owes me, and you, dear, are his payment.”
My eyes flick to Kennedy, and he hangs his head in shame, not looking at me. “Kennedy!” I cry. He doesn’t look up.
The other two men step forward and I scurry backwards until my back hits the wall. The two men lean forward on the bed, and my heart is pounding as I desperately try to find a way out. I don’t want them to take me—not without Tana. My hands tremble with fear as I put them up in front of me
. “Please,” I whisper.
“It’ll be just fine, dear.”
Then the two men reach out for me, curling their fingers around my tiny, thin arms. I scream and twist, kicking out and trying to stop them but they’re too strong. I call out over and over for Kennedy, but he doesn’t help. One leans forward with something in his hand, and a piece of material is put over my face. A terrible smell fills my nose and my eyes roll back into my head as my world spins.
Then everything fades into darkness.
CHAPTER ONE
NOW – Pippa
I’m watching Tyke from my place at the bar. He’s laughing, his beautiful face lit up. I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from him. I’m at the compound, spending time with Santana and her daughter, Molly. I adore spending time with my beautiful niece, who was meant to be a nephew. You can imagine Santana and Maddox’s shock when she came out, well, a she. I don’t mind, though. I adore having more family around, no matter the sex.
In fact, I adore everyone here, at the Joker’s Wrath MC. When I first met the people Santana called family, I was terrified. They weren’t the kind of people I would have thought could make me feel safe, yet during my adjustment years, they did just that. They’ve been here for me, all of them. Especially Tyke.
He’s my very best friend. The handsome, slightly broken biker caught my eye the moment I arrived at the compound after Santana and Maddox rescued me from Artreau’s grips. Tyke has a warm edge about him; he isn’t as brass and angry as the other members of the club. We sparked up a friendship, and it’s only developed since.
It’s especially developed for me, because I’m in far deeper with Tyke than I’d like to admit. Our friendship is fresh, real and beautiful, but there’s something else in my heart for this man. Something intense that I can’t quite understand. The problem is, I’m the only one who feels it. Tyke has never indicated that he wants more, and I’m not going to risk losing the only friend I’ve ever had.
And loved.
He’s been here for me through thick and thin. Adjusting hasn’t been easy for me, and even now I find it hard to venture out into the world on my own. I work, which has helped me interact with people, but aside from that, the family at the Joker’s are the only people I trust, and even then I find it hard to find myself.
I’m lonely. I’m the one they struggle to understand. The one they love, but don’t know what to do with. I don’t blame them; I’m not easy to understand. I can’t exactly expect them to take to me when I don’t know myself enough to give them something to hold on to. They deal, they smile, they include me . . . but I have been, and always will be, the outsider.
“Earth to Pippa?”
I jerk at the sound of Santana’s voice, and turn to see her standing with Molly tucked into her side. Molly is three now, and is the most gorgeous little girl I’ve ever met. She’s got the dark features of her momma, but she has her daddy’s eyes. Molly is somewhat of an exotic beauty. Her dark hair is lightly curled in perfect little ringlets and her eyes are as blue as the sky.
I kneel down, “Hello, Molly girl.”
“Aunty Pippa,” she says in her cute, tiny girl voice.
“Are you being a good girl today?”
She nods, her eyes bright.
“That’s good, because if you keep being good, Mommy is going to let you come sleep over this weekend.”
“I am?” Santana asks.
I stand and smile at her. “Yes, you are. I’m not working, I’d love to have her.”
Santana grins, only accentuating her exotic beauty. We’re so different, Santana and I, but she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. She says the same about me, declaring I’m the most beautiful girl she’s ever met. We’ve agreed to disagree. I think we just love each other so hard that we see nothing but beauty in one another.
“Maddox would like it.” She smiles. “Molly has been somewhat of a handful.”
“Never,” I say softly, staring down at my niece.
“You just wait, Pippa.” She grins, then her eyes go towards Tyke and the subject quickly changes. “I really don’t like her. She is the wrong girl for him.”
I huff out a breath and turn, staring at the beautiful blond woman Tyke has been dating for the past two months. Her name is Andi, and she’s not my kind of person. She’s arrogant and rude—only to me, of course. She doesn’t like the friendship Tyke and I have and she makes it known to me every chance she gets. To everyone else she is the picture of angelic behavior.
“And the right girl is?” I question, still watching Tyke.
“You, silly,” Santana says.
My cheeks heat, and I whisper, “Stop it, Tana. You know Tyke and I are only friends.”
She snorts. “Sure, Pippi, friends.”
“It’s been years since I was saved, and he’s never even tried to make a move on me. We’re friends, Tana.”
“Uh-huh,” she says, nodding, and turning her eyes back to Andi.
I follow her gaze again, and let my eyes run over Tyke. He takes my breath away every single time I look at him. He’s one of the most stunning men I’ve ever met. Sure, Maddox, Krypt and Mack are all gorgeous, but they’re good looking in the rugged, grunting type of way. Tyke is different. He’s sweeter, yet equally as rough in his appearance.
His russet-colored hair has grown out a little in the last few months, and is now hanging over his forehead. It has that perfectly messy look that makes it seem like he’s just rolled out of bed. His eyes are the most amazing mix of colors—dark brown with light chocolate flecks. His jaw is hard, square and entirely masculine. His body is big and hard and beautiful.
As beautiful as him.
As if he feels Santana and my stares, he turns. He smiles, a big, wide, gorgeous smile, and my heart flutters. Santana gives him a finger wave and I smile shyly. Tyke is one of the few people I trust as much as my sister. That’s just something we’ve developed over the years. He makes me feel safe. He feels a whole lot like home.
He is slowly recovering from his leg injury, and is actually doing the exercises he’s been handed to make him regain strength. He was in a serious accident a few years before I was saved, and his legs were crushed. For years he lived with little to no feeling from the knees down, but these days he’s starting to regain some of that feeling back, though he still needs to spend some time in his chair, because he gets a lot of pain if he’s on his feet too long.
I watch as Andi looks over to us, too, and she gives a sickly sweet, fake smile. “I want to smack that fake shit right off her face,” Santana grunts. “She thinks I can’t see through her, but I totally can.”
“Tana, it isn’t our business,” I say under my breath.
“She’s no good for him.”
I sigh. “No, but that’s not our choice.”
She doesn’t say any more, because Tyke and Andi are heading over, he’s leaning on her a little for balance. When they reach us, Tyke lets go of Andi’s hand and leans down, curling his fingers around the back of my neck like he always does, and kisses my forehead. His lips linger for a good long while, and I sigh at how amazing it feels to have contact with him.
“How you doin’, little one?”
He’s called me ‘little one’ for more than a year now. He said it’s because I’m the smallest woman he’s ever met. I know why that is—it’s because from a young age, I was starved of decent food, first when Santana and I were cast out onto the streets, and then when I was sold to Artreau. Because of that, my body didn’t grow the way most women’s do.
I’m just over five foot tall, and no matter how much I eat, I can’t seem to hold weight. I’m not as skinny as I was when Santana saved me, but I don’t have any curves and I don’t like that. I’ve tried all types of products to gain weight, and they’ve worked, but I have come to accept the curvy part will just never happen.
I tilt my head back and look up at Tyke. “Hi Tyke.”
“I haven’t seen you around here for a few weeks. I called las
t night, you didn’t answer.”
I flush. “I was sleeping. I worked until late.”
He nods and gives me a gorgeous half-smile. A dimple pops out on his left cheek. “I’m free tonight. I’ll come around.”
I love it when he comes around. I love it because of the way it makes me feel. When we’re together like that, nothing in the world scares me. He’s the only company I have, aside from Santana and Molly, and I love it. The outside world is still a frightening place for me, so I spend most of my time at home, or here. When Tyke is with me, though, I feel like I can do so much more.
“That’d be great.”
“But Tyke,” Andi says in her fake voice, “you and I were going to go out, remember?”
“Shit,” Tyke mutters, giving me a sympathetic look. “She’s right. Sorry, little one.”
I shrug, even though my heart is plummeting. This is the fourth time he’s told me he’s going to do something, but Andi has put a stop to it. I understand, really I do. I might not like her but she is his girlfriend, and I wouldn’t want that to happen to me if he was my boyfriend.
“No matter,” I whisper. “I’m tired anyway.”
Santana is watching this exchange with sad eyes. Before she has the chance to say anything, Maddox, Krypt and Mack enter the room. Molly squeals with delight, and charges towards Maddox. He grins, beautiful as always, and leans down, scooping his little girl into his arms. He kisses her face and she hangs onto him, giggling.
They look perfect together: the little girl and her massive biker protector. The very thought makes me miss my own father. I push that down and keep a fake smile plastered on my face as the three men approach.
“How’s it going, Pip?”
This comes from Krypt. I give him a shy smile. “Good, Krypt. Thanks.”
He smiles, and his eyes flicker to Santana. “Where’s Ash?”
“She had to make a run to the store. Phoenix spilt paint on the floor.”
His brows shoot up. “Paint?”
She sighs. “Yep.”
“How’s the new job, Pippa?” Mack asks.