Hunter: The Bad Disciples MC, #2

By Savannah Rylan

She bends all the right ways. 

I'm a hunter, I shoot to kill. 

That's what the military taught me, and now I protect my brothers in the Bad Disciples MC. 

But when I meet Kylie, a physical therapist at the VA, I don't need protection. 

Ever. 

Her beautiful body curves in every direction, she knows how to stretch herself to meet my needs. 

Kylie has her own demons though, an ex with a tendency for hitting women. 

And there is no way in hell I'm gonna let that mother fucker put his hands on her again. 

Or her son Carter. 

I'll protect them both with my life. 

Because they're my family now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pink Empire Publishing
• Release date: Feb 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386483700

Book preview

2

KYLIE

I was filling out a form at the reception counter, and as my blond curls fell over my eyes, I realized that my hair was a mess. I hadn’t really had the time to do much with my hair other than tie it up in a bun and hope that it stayed in place for the rest of the day.

In the glass partition behind the counter, I glanced at my fuzzy reflection. Even through the blur, I could tell that I looked tired. I’d been working fourteen-hour shifts for the past week, covering for a colleague since there were only three of us trained physical therapists at the VA. Besides, I could really do with the overtime.

Nobody told me that being a single mom would involve responsibilities that I wouldn’t be prepared for. In fairness, I was only twenty-three when I got pregnant with Carter. I was too young, and I thought I was in love and believed Tony was the man for me. Even when anyone was giving me advice back then, I wasn’t listening.

Now, three years later, I had a growing child who needed daycare so that I could work and provide for him. And Tony…the further I could stay away from him, the better it would be for my safety and Carter’s. Being a single mom was never a part of the plan, but this was the reality of my situation.

Thankfully, I had already earned my degree in physical therapy before I got pregnant, which meant that at the very least, I could earn a decent amount of money to care for Carter. However, it was still a struggle with juggling daycare and work. I was trying to make the best of a bad situation and make sure that my son grew up in relative comfort.

In the reflection, I could see how tired my green eyes looked, how messy my tight blond curls were, but if I was being honest with myself, I had stopped caring about my appearance years ago. My sole focus was Carter and his well-being.

Get something to eat, you! one of my friends and colleagues, Mia, called out to me as she passed by me in the hallway. I grinned at her, and now that I was reminded, I heard my belly rumbling. When was the last time I’d eaten? Six, maybe eight hours ago? I couldn’t even recall what I had eaten. I looked at my wristwatch and calculated that I had forty-five minutes before my next appointment, so I turned on my heels and headed straight down to the cafeteria.

At the cafeteria, I smiled at some of the others as I stood in the queue and picked up a tray with a sandwich and a juice box. With the food in my hands, I carried them to the farthest corner of the room and sat down. It wasn’t that I didn’t get along with my colleagues; I was just glad for the silence. A couple of minutes of silence and not having to make conversation would give me time to think, because I did very little of that these days.

I chewed on my sandwich mechanically, not tasting the ham or cheese in it. The food at the cafeteria wasn’t great, but I didn’t care anymore; it was just fuel to keep me going for the rest of the day.

Taking a deep breath, I looked around the cafeteria and sensed the chattering voices. Everyone else seemed chirpy and relatively content with life, and I tried to count my blessings as I sat there. I had my son, and he was the most important thing in my life. I was a young mother, only twenty-six, and yet I was able to provide for my son. My career was stable, and we had a cozy little rented apartment to live in. So what was I missing? I tried to think hard. Was I lonely?

After my relationship with Tony ended - or rather…when I managed to get away - I knew that I would rather have been alone than live with a man like him. It wasn’t just the alcohol he was addicted to, but it was his violent abusive nature…the people he hung out with…I was lucky to be able to get away; I was lucky to get Carter away from him, and yet I knew that I missed having someone to rely on, an adult to come home to, to do anything else at night than just read Carter his bedtime stories. But I didn’t have a choice; now that I had him and experienced an abusive relationship, I was going to make sure that I never made that same mistake again.

Just as I was washing down the remnants of my dry sandwich with the juice, I felt my phone vibrating in the pockets of my scrubs. I slipped it out and saw that it was Joan Meyers calling. She ran the daycare that Carter went to. I panicked instantly. I wasn’t supposed to pick up my son for another two hours when my shift ended.

I answered the call hurriedly, hoping against hope that there wasn’t something wrong.

Kylie! Joan replied, and I could hear the panic in her voice, too.

Joan! What’s wrong? I said, my heart thudding against my chest. I had already stood up from the chair.

He’s here. Your ex! Joan sounded like she was speaking in a hush. When I first started taking Carter to daycare, I had warned Joan about Tony. He was never allowed to pick up Carter no matter what lies he tried to tell them.

Tony? Where? I was weaving around the tables of the cafeteria towards the nearest exit. I cursed slightly under my breath for not actually deciding to go to court when it came to Tony, to get full custody, but given his background, and with what he was involved in, I didn’t trust my safety or Carter’s with trying to make things legal.

Outside. He’s just standing outside in the parking lot, staring at the door. I can see him through the window, she said, and I was glad that I had told her about Tony and shown her his photograph. I wanted to make sure that a situation like this was avoided at all costs.

I’ll be there in ten minutes. Don’t let Carter out of your sight! I screeched into the phone as I ran towards my car.

With my heart beating out of my chest, I parked my car some distance from the parking lot. I tried to steady myself, my fingers drumming on the steering wheel and my shoes tapping the floor. I could see Tony through my window, but his back was turned to me. I’d recognize his broad frame anywhere.

He was standing there, leaning against his Harley, staring at the door of the daycare just as Joan had said. Nothing had changed about him. He was still as buffed up and muscular as before, with his tattoos trailing around his arms and neck, his chest wide and his biceps dangerously thick. I knew exactly what that man was capable of, how strong he was…I didn’t stand a chance against him.

I tried not to think, or have flashbacks that I knew I was susceptible to, but seeing Tony now made me weak. I hadn’t seen him in nearly nine months. Every time he called, I didn’t answer and quickly deleted every threatening voicemail he left me.

I could see his biceps clenched, and I was instantly reminded of the force with which he had choked me once. The night I had finally managed to slip out with Carter and nothing but a messily packed backpack, I escaped to my friend’s place. He had pinned me to the wall, his breath stinking of alcohol, his eyes bloodshot and bulging as he barked at me. He had lost his temper, because I had met an old friend for coffee, a girl I used to go to school with who happened to be in town for the day. It didn’t matter; Tony used any small excuse to react that way. If he was drinking, or sometimes even when he was not, his violence could be triggered by the smallest of things.

Once, he had knocked me against the kitchen sink, and I ended up on the floor, unconscious for several minutes…only because I’d forgotten to buy his six packs on my way home from a shopping trip. Since the night I got away, I have managed to avoid him at all costs. I stayed with old friends that he never knew about, so there was no way he could have ever found us. When I had saved up enough money to get my own apartment, I made sure it was completely on the other side of town and near a police station.

I watched him now, chewing furiously on my bottom lip. I could feel my limbs freeze up; a thin film of perspiration covered my forehead. It was like I couldn’t get myself to move, to push open the car door and step out. As desperately as I wanted to get Carter to safety, I still couldn’t make myself get out of the car. Not while Tony was standing there, not while I could recall all the abuse he had hurled at me, the pinch of his grip on my arm, the smell of his breath…

Once upon a time, four years ago…when I was young and foolish, I had been attracted to Tony, to his strength, to his rippling muscles, to the wildness in his eyes and the way he could throw me over his shoulder and fuck me against a wall. It made me feel special, like I was delicate and breakable in his hands. I thought he was sexy.

Then I got pregnant, then I moved in with him and eventually I tried to believe that his abusive nature was just a passing phase…that it was the alcohol that was making him act that way. He only got worse. Once Carter was born, and when I witnessed him barking at his newborn son, I knew that Tony would never change. I also knew that I had to get Carter away from his father who could hurt him at any moment of wild anger. I couldn’t stay. I realized that I was never truly in love with him. I loved the idea of him. It had only been about the sex, and eventually even that began to feel like I was being used as property.

I gulped as I watched him now. I was afraid of him. I was afraid of what he was capable of doing. Carter was in there. There were other children in there. Tony was capable of hurting anyone to get what he wanted. I had to find the courage from somewhere. I had to force myself to get out and face my fears. If there was anyone he was going to hurt, it had to be