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  BLACKWINGS MC BOOK ONE

  BY

  TEAGAN BROOKS

  Copyright Ⓒ 2018 Teagan Brooks

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Adult Content Warning: This book contains explicit language, sexual scenes, and violence.

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  Ember

  It was time. Time to leave. Time to start a new life, a real life.

  Taking a deep breath, I quietly slipped out of bed. I arranged the pillows and blankets to make it look like I was still in the bed in case anyone decided to check on me. I knew they wouldn’t. No one ever had.

  I grabbed my backpack and slid it over my arms. The thing was almost too heavy for my small frame. I had crammed it as full as I possibly could. Once I left, I was not coming back. Ever. I didn’t have many things, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be to fit everything I wanted to take with me in one bag. After tightening the straps, I grabbed the gun I had hidden under my bed and tucked it into the back of my jeans. There was also one in the bottom of my backpack, but that wouldn’t do me any good if I needed it during my escape attempt. After I strapped a knife to each ankle, I took one last look around my room.

  I felt...nothing really. No happy memories threatened to bring tears to my eyes. I just felt empty when I looked at the room. My eyes fell on the window and a sense of excitement rushed through me. It was time to go.

  I carefully raised the window in my bedroom just enough to climb through. When my feet hit the ground, I reached up and gently pulled the window back into place. Scanning the area, twice, I saw nothing but darkness ahead of me. Steeling myself, I walked as quickly and as quietly as I could toward the tree line. The farm I grew up on was located in the middle of nowhere and was completely surrounded by forest. It really was its own little hidden hell.

  Once I made it to the tree line, I got my compass from my bag and started walking the route I had mapped out weeks ago. The cover of the trees allowed me to move faster, shielding me from sight while the sounds of the animals in the forest hid the noise of my movements. Even though I was blindly moving through the forest with nothing but a cheap compass and a sliver of moonlight, I made it to my destination in less than an hour.

  I looked up at the large tree in front of me. Taking a deep breath, I started to climb. The farm property was surrounded by a 10-foot concrete wall topped with several feet of electric wire fencing. In order to get out, I had to climb up and over using the trees. I knew there were motion sensors and cameras scattered along the fence, so I had chosen to start with a tree that was several yards away from the fence. I moved from tree to tree without issue, refusing to look down. If I saw the fence below me, I would pause and start overthinking things, which would likely lead to me misstepping. I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  I kept moving and kept count of the trees. When I made it to the 10th tree, I finally looked down. I was on the other side of the fence! I had done it. I took a quick moment to catch my breath and tried to steady my nerves before I started climbing down. Once my feet hit the ground, I started running as fast as I could toward the tree line.

  As soon as I emerged from the trees, I saw the car pulled over on the side of the road. It matched the description, but I remained exactly where I was, just outside of the line of trees. With only the tiniest bit of light from the moon, I could only be seen if someone was specifically looking for a person. I knew I had been spotted when the headlights on the car flashed twice. Breathing a sigh of relief, I jogged across the road and opened the passenger side door.

  Reese turned to me and smiled, “You made it!”

  I dropped into the seat, “Yes, I did. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Okay. Duck your head below the window until we get closer to civilization.”

  I laughed at Reese, but did as she said. I crouched in the front floorboard and looked up at her, “Thank you so much for doing this for me. I…”

  She cut me off, “You don’t have to thank me, Ember. I know something weird goes on at the farm. I was happy to help you get out.”

  “Still, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  We drove in a comfortable silence and my mind wandered to when I first met Reese.

  About a month into my senior year at Croftridge High, a new student named Reese joined our class. I was asked by our homeroom teacher to show Reese around the school, help her find her locker, and make sure she knew where all of her classes were located. It was all I could do to contain my excitement. See, as a “farm kid” I was only allowed to associate with other farm kids and even with them, it was very limited. We arrived at school together, we ate lunch together, and we left school together. We even sat together at every event that took place during school hours. If any one of the farm kids tried to make friends with “the locals,” one or more of the obedient farm kids would tattle and the kid who broke the rules would be punished. I had heard that the punishment was a whipping given by one of the council members, but I had never broken any of the rules or seen any evidence that any of the other farm kids had been whipped.

  Needless to say, it was near impossible to befriend someone outside of our circle of lunacy. I had been working on a plan to escape and get as far away from the farm as possible, but I couldn’t do it by myself. I needed help and that help had to come from someone outside of the farm. For me, that help came in the form of Reese Walker.

  As soon as we stepped out into the hallway, I introduced myself and started quickly giving her a brief explanation of my situation. She didn’t laugh at me or look at me with repulsion like I had expected. She just stared at me with a sort of vacant look in her eyes and asked, “Why are you telling me all of this? You want me to help you or something?”

  I could have cried right then and there, but I managed to hold it together. “Yes! That’s exactly what I want, what I need. Would you be willing to help me?” She started to nod, so I continued spewing forth as much as I could before we ran out of time. “I’m not allowed to talk to anyone who isn’t from the farm. If I do and get caught, I will be punished. So, when we go back to class, I won’t be able to speak to you anymore, but it isn’t because I don’t want to. I have to obey their rules, but I do want to be friends with you. I hate having to follow their rules and do what they say. I know it is just going to get worse the older I get. I want out, but I can’t do it without help. We are almost out of time. I’ll drop a note in your locker explaining more.
If you want to help me, write back and drop it in my locker, just don’t let anyone see you do it. I’ll show you where it is. But if you don’t want to help, I will understand, just please, please don’t tell anyone else about this. Please.”

  The expression on her face never changed. She seemed sad or maybe lost, but I was too wrapped up in my own misery to ask. She responded almost robotically, “I won’t tell anyone. I’ll try to help you. Drop your note in my locker and tell me what you need from me.”

  I wanted to hug her and break out into a happy dance at the same time. Instead, I reached out and squeezed her hand, “Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

  She nodded and we walked back into the classroom.

  Reese’s voice brought me back to the present, “Ember?” I looked up at her, still crouched in the floor. “We’re here.”

  I blinked up at her, “Wow, that was fast. Um, is your brother home?”

  “No, he’s out for the night. It’s just me and you.”

  This news eased a little bit of my anxiety. I was so worked up I was practically vibrating with nervous tension.

  We entered the condominium she shared with her older brother and it was like entering a completely different world for me. I had never been in a home that wasn’t on the farm. The houses on the farm looked exactly alike, inside and out, with the exception of one house. White siding, no shutters, small front porch. The inside walls were all white, all hardwood floors, all furniture was made of wood, any bedding or linens were white, almost no color of any kind anywhere. The buildings on the farm were very much the same.

  I stood just inside the doorway in absolute awe. The living room was painted gray and had black leather furniture. Hanging on one wall was the largest television I had ever seen. Posters of motorcycles and street signs covered the walls.

  Just beyond the living room was the kitchen, walls painted blood red with everything else, including the cabinets, countertops, and appliances in black. Even the sink was black. I had never seen such a thing. I couldn’t stop turning in circles trying to take it all in.

  I heard Reese giggle behind me, “I’m guessing your house was nothing like this.”

  I turned to face her, my eyes wide as saucers, “Nothing at all. Everything in my house is white or wood. And black, well that’s just absolutely forbidden.” I turned a full circle once more, “This place is amazing.”

  Reese smiled, “Let’s go upstairs and see what you think of my room.”

  She opened the door to her bedroom and my eyes were filled with bright pink, black, and zebra patterns. She had a large bed with a wrought iron frame and several pieces of furniture placed around her bedroom, which was far bigger than the one I had just left. But the thing that seemed strange to me was that her room had two doors, in addition to the one we had just walked through. I turned my curious eyes to her, “Why are there more doors in here?”

  She furrowed her brow and looked confused for a brief moment, before the blank expression she always wore on her face returned. She cleared her throat and explained, “The door on the left goes to my private bathroom and the door on the other side of the room leads to my closet. Go ahead and have a look.”

  I walked to the door she indicated led to her closet and pulled it open. I looked at her over my shoulder and remarked, “This is your closet? This is the size of my bedroom.”

  She tried to hide it but she didn’t do a very good job of it. Pity. She was looking at me with pity. That’s okay. I would have pitied me, too, but not anymore. I had managed to get out of there and I would rather die than go back. After the things I had learned or figured out over the last few months, Octavius and his men would just have to kill me if they found me because there was no way I was going to live the rest of my life on that farm or with the man who had “selected me.”

  Changing the subject, I plastered a smile on my face and said, “Let’s see the bathroom.” She led me across the room and opened the door to another room that was bigger than my old bedroom. It had a large mirror with two sinks in front of it, a toilet that was almost in a room by itself, a shower stall, and a deep bathtub that had holes in the side of it. “Why does your tub have holes in it?”

  Reese smiled and said, “That’s a whirlpool tub. I’ll show you how it works later. Let’s get something to eat and then get started on your hair.”

  I readily agreed. I had been so nervous all day, I hadn’t been able to eat much of anything. Now that my actual escape from the farm was over, the mention of food made me realize I was starving. She pulled out her phone and used it to order a pizza. I knew a lot of kids had cell phones and they could do a lot of things with them, but I still thought it was cool that she could order food and pay for it from the little phone in her hand. Hopefully, one day soon, I would be able to do that, too.

  After we ate and cleaned up, we went back to her room to start my transformation. Part of my plan to get away included changing my appearance. This was actually Reese’s suggestion and a good one at that. I hadn’t thought of changing how I looked to make it harder to find me. She had told me not to worry about any of that because she would take care of everything. Now it was time to see what she had come up with.

  I sat on a stool in her bathroom facing the mirror. She stood behind me brushing my hair and explaining her plan, “First, I think we need to cut this hair. At school, you were the only girl who had hair this long. It’s a dead giveaway. How much would you be comfortable taking off?”

  I had never had anything done to my hair besides a trim, but that wasn’t my choice. I thought about it for a few minutes and said, “Maybe a few inches below my shoulders. What do you think?”

  She smiled at me and nodded her head, “I think that would look great. We also need to color your hair. I picked up a few different shades I thought would look good. I’ll go get them and you can pick which one you want to try.”

  She left the room and I began rubbing my palms together, a nervous habit I had been trying, unsuccessfully, to break since I was a preteen. It was an obvious tell and everyone on the farm knew when I was nervous or frightened by something the second I started rubbing my palms together. I immediately slipped my hands under my thighs on the stool to prevent any further rubbing.

  Reese returned to the room with six or seven boxes of hair color. She showed each one to me, but she wouldn’t tell me which one she liked best or what she thought of any of them. “I’ll tell you what I think after you pick. I don’t want to influence the first big decision you get to make for yourself.”

  This was part of why I loved Reese. She appeared emotionless and distant most of the time, but she was a very thoughtful person and every once in a while, she showed it.

  “Okay, um, I’ll try this one.” I held up a box of something called highlights.

  “Good choice. That is the one I would have picked. Ready?”

  The next several hours were spent cutting and highlighting my hair. I still wasn’t sure what exactly that meant, but Reese seemed to know what she was doing so I went along with it. I didn’t really care what I looked like when she was done as long as I looked different. I was going for unrecognizable, no more, no less.

  After washing the smelly stuff out of my hair, she forbid me from looking in the mirror while she finished cutting my hair and adding what she called layers. I sat quietly going over the things I had done the last few months, the things I had learned, and the things I still had to accomplish to finally be free and clear of the farm. She must have noticed that I was losing myself to my thoughts because she started talking to me and asking questions again.

  I couldn’t help but think how superficial we both were at times. She didn’t want to talk about clothes and makeup and neither did I, but we did, because both of us wanted to talk about our real issues even less. I had told her very little about the farm and she didn’t ask many questions. I wasn’t sure, but I guessed it was because she didn’t want to talk about whatever put the blank look on
her face and kept it there.

  I heard my name and blinked up at Reese. Judging by the expression on her face and her posture, she must have said my name more than once. “Sorry. Guess I spaced out for a minute.”

  She pursed her lips and gave me a scrutinizing once over before continuing, “I said I wanted to get your makeup done and have you put on a new outfit before you look in the mirror. Is that okay with you?”

  “Yeah, that’s fine, but, um, I’ve never been allowed to wear makeup before, so can you kind of teach me as you go along?” I don’t know why asking her to teach me to put on makeup bothered me, especially considering all of the other things I had asked of her, but it did. I felt unsure about it for some reason.

  Reese placed her hand on my shoulder, “Relax, Ember. I planned on teaching you. I didn’t expect you to know anything about makeup. Sit right there on the floor by my bed and don’t look in any mirrors. I’ll be right back.” She returned carrying a plastic bag which she immediately upended and dumped the contents on the floor. “I bought you a makeup case and all the essentials you will need to get started. I had to guess on your foundation color, but our skin color seemed pretty close, hopefully, I got it right.”

  Emotion clogged my throat, making it hard to swallow. Finally, I managed to rasp out, “Thank you, Reese.” I cleared my throat, “No one has ever done anything like this for me.”

  “No one has ever helped you escape from a crazy farm? I’m shocked,” she held her hand to her chest, feigning surprise. Without missing a beat, she launched right into my makeup lesson. Thirty minutes later she had me trying on skinny jeans with a long, flowing top. She finished the outfit with ankle boots, a necklace, and then she handed a pair of earrings to me. I looked from the earrings to her and back to the earrings. I quietly said, “My ears aren’t pierced.”

  That didn’t faze Reese at all. She continued digging in her closet, “Yeah, I know. Flip the pack over. They’re clip-ons. Give me a sec and I can show you how they work.” Really, she thought of everything. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to continue on my journey without her.