Free Sexy Bastards Anthology: Bad Boy, Biker, Alpha, Motorcycle Club, Contemporary Romance Collection by Lexy Timms, Dale Mayer, Sierra Rose, Christine Bell, Bella Love-Wins, Cassie Alexandra, Lisa Ladew, C.J. Pinard, C.C. Cartwright, Kylie Walker

first light, she’d call Cheri and make sure her friend could come and water her mom’s plants. Then, she’d be free and clear of this town for a while.
    And someday soon, if she tried hard enough to forget him…his scent…his touch…it would be like Michael Blade had never even existed.
     

Chapter Nine
     
    In a smoke-filled pub called O’Malley’s in the middle of town, Mike stared into the bottom of his lukewarm beer he’d been nursing for an hour. A position he’d been in far too often since the morning he’d come home from Ashley’s to find his jacket and Kaitlin’s note on his coffee table.
    Even now, four days later, the memory of it made the bile rise in his throat. At first, he’d convinced himself he was relieved. He’d been about to make a big mistake and start talking about commitment. Hell, she’d probably just saved him the trouble of an awkward talk at the end of the summer when he realized he’d been wrong. He’d tried to bury himself in the reno at his grandmother’s again and forget about her, but his heart just wasn’t in it.
    So he’d turned to the bike shop, putting Honey’s house on hold until he could get his head on straight. He’d been useless there too, though. And, after screwing up the paint job on a custom Fat Boy Lo, his buddy and employee Reese had begged him to take a couple days off. 
    Now he was here. Again. On his second pint of cheap beer, wondering why something that used to seem like fun now felt hollow.
    So yeah, maybe Kitty had been more than just a hookup. She was the girl next door. The girl he’d known since he was ten years old. But what really tore him apart more than anything was the fucking note.
    He knocked back the dregs of his beer and set his glass back on the bar with a clack .
    Eighteen years ago, before he and Rick moved into his grandmother’s house permanently, his mom had brought them over to Honey’s to visit. Not unusual. She’d drop them off for Honey to babysit them before going out on the town, or on a date with some guy, sometimes for days at a time. Hell, sometimes they’d have to stay there for weeks at a time if she got evicted from her apartment, or had a breakup with whatever guy was beating up on her at the time.
    She’d come back to get them, head hanging low, a couple new bruises on her arms, maybe a chipped tooth or a black eye. But she’d always come back for them.
    This time was different though.
    This time, she wasn’t coming back.
    The next morning they awoke to find Grandma Honey in the living room crying. She held a piece of paper in her hand that she crumpled up as soon as they walked in.
    She wouldn’t tell them what was wrong or what it said, but a week later while Grandma was out getting groceries, Mike snuck into her room. In her nightstand under a stack of junk mail, he found the wadded up note and read it.
    It was something he’d regretted seeing every day of his life.
    Please take care of little Rick and Michael. I’m no good for them.
    Strange how this whole thing with Kitty brought him full circle. He’d run out on her to help a friend so she wouldn’t stay in an abusive situation like the ones his mother always found herself in. And then walked back into the house to find a note.
    A fucking note.
    Right or wrong, it had torn open an ancient wound that had scabbed over but never truly healed. How could she walk away so easily? With no explanation. No chance to let him explain. Just empty words and a jacket that, for some reason, he had worn today, in spite of the heat.
    “Michael Blade?” a woman’s voice murmured from behind him.
    He whipped around in his stool, his pulse rocketing for a second until he saw who it was. He recognized the pretty blonde, but couldn’t put a name to the face.
    “Hey. Good to see you, ummm…”
    The girl laughed, “You don’t remember me? Tiffany. Tiffany Wallace.”
    Now he recognized her. They’d dated for a short time – actually, dated was a bit generous;