Free Throttle MC: A Stepbrother Romance by Daphne Loveling Page B

surprise.  Hadley’s mom had died of an overdose? Jesus . 
    I didn’t know what to say, so I just asked the only question I could think of. “Does Hadley know how her mom died?” I questioned.
    “Nah, I never told her,” Lon muttered.  “I could never figure out a good way to break it to her. I figured she had enough to deal with, without knowing her mom was a crack head.”  He looked down at his feet.  “Tessa came from a different world.  Sheltered, you know? She came out west from the east coast on a road trip with her friends after her senior year in high school.  I met her in a dive bar they went to one night -- to slum it, I guess. Get a taste of danger, go back and act all tough to your other preppy friends.
    “Well,” he continued, “something kinda sparked between us, and before I knew it she was saying goodbye to her friends and shacking up with me.  Said she was happier than she ever would have been back east.  And for a while, I believed her. Then she got pregnant with Hadley.  I married her because that’s what Tessa wanted, and everything seemed to be set. 
    “Thing was,” he smiled sadly, “Tessa got real depressed after Hadley was born. Don’t get me wrong,” he said, looking up at me.  “She loved Hadley.  But I think she felt kinda isolated.  I don’t know.  And I was away a lot on club business those first few months.
    “Anyway, somewhere along the line, she started using.” Lon sighed.  “She hid it from me pretty well, at first.  I didn’t notice a goddamn thing. Then one night, I came back from a trip to find Hadley screaming in her crib and Tessa strung out on the sofa.  When she finally woke up the next morning, we had the first big fight we’d ever had.  She swore to me that she hadn’t been using long, and that she wouldn’t do it again.  And like a fucking idiot, I believed her.  She must have kept hiding it from me after that, because I didn’t see any evidence of her using again until about seven months later, when she O.D’ed.”
    Lon looked at me now.  His expression was intense, his jaw set hard as stone. “I wanted Hadley to have a better life, you know? The one her ma would have had if she hadn’t met me.” He was silent for a moment, and when he began talking again a bitter tone had crept into his voice.  “When Hadley cut off contact with me, I figured it was the price I had to pay for getting her away from all this.  It hurt, but whenever I missed her, I’d think, ‘Good.  It’s good that she ain’t here.  She’s making a life for herself. A better life than her old man could give her.’
    “But now...” He shrugged his shoulders slightly and frowned.  “She’s back. And I’m really fuckin’ glad she’s back.  But part of me wants her to leave again, you know? I’m scared of her getting sucked back into all of... this.”  He nodded his chin toward the door.  “I feel like I’ll be a lousy father if I make her leave, but I’ll be a lousier father if I let her stay.”
    I sighed, trying to think of what to reply.  What would Lon do if he knew that the person he was confiding in, the person he considered like a son, was exactly what he was worried about happening to his only daughter? 
    And, God help me, I was just as worried.  Hadley... there was just something about her.  The way her eyes flashed at me when we sparred.  The way she had moaned underneath me clutching at my arms as she screamed her release. She was unlike any other woman I’d ever known. She was dangerous.
    She was my sister.
    I wanted to piss her off so badly that she would leave and never come back.
    But even more, I wanted to take her into my bed, fuck her senseless, and make goddamn sure that she never looked at any other man again.
     
    Lon was looking at me as I stood there in silence, trying to think of something to say. Finally, I decided I just needed to ignore everything I was starting to feel about Hadley, and tell Lon what I