Free Desire: Big Bear Outlaw MC Romance Book 1 by Charlotte Byrd Page A

small 1950s house with
the falling fence and overgrown weeds. Watching the world that I
was leaving behind in the side mirror, I imagined what it would be
like to leave it for good. To get into a car and just drive away,
far away from a place with so many bad memories.
    But to leave for good I had to be smart.
    I couldn't just drive away - I
would just get stuck in another town like this one, working a job I
hated. School was my way out, and I had submitted transfer
applications to five schools, as far away as possible from
Joshua Tree, California, this
claustrophobic town in the middle of the Mojave desert.
     
    “ I met this guy at the gas station this afternoon,
he ’ s really cute and drives a motorcycle, ” Delilah was one of
those people who was always in mid-sentence.
    “ Have you ever been on a motorcycle? ”
    I was going to nod, but she
didn ’ t wait for my answer. “ Me neither. I really
want him to take me out on it. ”
    “ Who is he? ”
    “ I don ’ t really know, his name is Carter Daniels,
he ’ s a few years older. He ’ s a mechanic and
works at that shop where all the bikers hang out, out on Highway
62. ”
    I knew of the place. It was in the industrial part
of town, surrounded by large flat warehouses with enormous parking
lots. Without a single tree or shrub for nearly a square mile, the
place felt like a concrete box.
    There was no life there – not one
bird hopped around looking for crumbs, not one mouse or feral cat
made a home there. There were only leather, motorcycles and car
parts.
     
    I immediately regretted agreeing
to go with Delilah to this party. It wasn't my scene. Even though I
didn't have a specific scene, bikers definitely
weren ’ t it.
    What did I have in common with a bunch of old men
with long greasy hair and longer rap sheets? What did I have in
common with men who wore matching leather jackets and liked women
and girls who wore bras for tops?
    “ I don ’ t know, Delilah. I ’ m not sure about
this, ” I tried to back out.
    “ No, please, please, come. I don ’ t really know this
guy and, honestly, this place seems a little scary to
me. ”
    “ I know! Me too! So why are we going
there? ”
    “ I like Carter, he ’ s really
cute, ” she blushed. “ I just want someone to come with me, so
I ’ m
not all alone out there, in the land of bikers. ”
     
    I still had my reservations, but
she was right. It was better for us to go together. The last thing
I wanted was to see her face on a missing poster on the ten
o ’ clock news.
     
     

    When we pulled into the
Hart ’ s Auto Repair parking lot, the party had already started,
and the place looked even worse than I could ’ ve imagined. Girls
in bikini tops and the shortest skirts I have ever seen – the ones
with their butt cheeks hanging out – draped themselves
over everything that moved – men, women, motorcycles. The girls
were young, about our age, but the men were old, like my
dad ’ s age.
    “ How old is Carter again? ” I asked looking around. I could
barely see a single person who was under forty.
    “ I don ’ t know, twenty-five? Twenty-eight? ” Delilah asked me as
if I knew. Delilah walked back and forth, in between the parked
bikes and falling over couples, looking for Carter. I followed
her.
    “ Everyone here is very old, ” I whispered.
    “ Really? ” she asked. “ I
didn ’ t notice. ”
    How could she not notice? Many of
the men had gray hair that they didn ’ t try to hide one
bit. Most of them also had wrinkled necks, and one even had an
oxygen tank like the one I had seen at the retirement home where my
grandmother lived.
    Granted, most of the men here did
look fit for their age, they probably lifted weights and worked
out, but that didn ’ t change the fact that they were as old or older
than my father.
     
    Finally, we spotted Carter. He stood around the
grill laughing loudly with a group of younger guys. All of them
wore leather jackets with the words Big Bear