Corrupted (Book 3): Blacktop Sinners MC, #3

By Kathryn Thomas

This is book 3 and the finale of the Blacktop Sinners MC romance series! 

 

Every stroke corrupts her more and more.

 

It only took one night to change her life.

One raw night that left her craving more and more of me.

 

But I can't stay here.

Not with an innocent young thing like her.

I'm too scarred by my criminal past. Too corrupted to lay my dirty hands on the pretty little virgin nurse.

 

So I break her heart in order to save her life.

 

Leaving Tess was hard.

But getting her back will be even harder.

Because just when I think I've severed all ties, my enemies find her, the only weakness I have left.

 

Now, I'll have to fight a war to protect my woman.

If that's what it takes, so be it.

I've spent my whole life preparing for this moment.

 

And I'll spill every last drop of their blood to keep her safe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBook Publishing World
• Release date: Apr 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393772941

Book preview

Corrupted: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Blacktop Sinners MC Book 3)

By Kathryn Thomas

Every stroke corrupts her more and more.

IT ONLY TOOK ONE NIGHT to change her life.

One raw night that left her craving more and more of me.

But I can’t stay here.

Not with an innocent young thing like her.

I’m too scarred by my criminal past. Too corrupted to lay my dirty hands on the pretty little virgin nurse.

So I break her heart in order to save her life.

Leaving Tess was hard.

But getting her back will be even harder.

Because just when I think I’ve severed all ties, my enemies find her, the only weakness I have left.

Now, I’ll have to fight a war to protect my woman.

If that’s what it takes, so be it.

I’ve spent my whole life preparing for this moment.

And I’ll spill every last drop of their blood to keep her safe.

Chapter 1

They cleaned themselves and slipped off once their legs could move and muscles felt like more than just Jell-O. He climbed in to her car, wishing she hadn’t favored a sporty update of the classic Volkswagen Beetle. His legs were going to be pretzels by the time they reached Asheville. He had to give her credit for being smart, for getting Lizzy to help her move the blade to her parents’ home, far from Boone and far from anywhere either club would first assume to look.

They’d have figured it out eventually and, even though they weren’t consolidated there, they’d have come for her.

The thought of Smitty sending Bones and Bullet for her, of that rat bastard laughing as she screamed for her parents’ safety, made him furious. He clenched his right hand by his side and wished he could just punch through the other man’s damn cheek bones. Derek would teach him why he was the Grinder, what kind of Hell there was to pay for ever thinking of hurting his girl. As it was, the palm mark was still there, a fresh reminder of his failure to save her truly when it mattered. The marred flesh was there to taunt him.

No one—-not the Blacktop Sinners, not the Death’s Head crew, no one—-would get a second chance to touch her.

He’d fucking scorch the earth before he allowed it.

With his other hand, he reached out and grabbed hers, letting his fingers entwine with hers in a silly, sentimental way that he would have laughed at before. He still would have if he could see himself doing it with the average sweet butt. She was better than that. Hell, now that she was back and his, Tess felt like a damn angel.

She stilled for a minute, and maybe she hadn’t been expecting the gesture.

He hadn’t expected to make it.

Tess smiled at him and continued on down the highway. Well it won’t be long now. You can get that blade and get it back to Spike first thing in the morning, and then you all can kick some serious Death’s Head crew ass.

The words were right, but the tone was wrong, too forced and cheery to be genuine.

Don’t.

Don’t what?

I know what I do bothers you, so don’t think about what comes after. We have to get that knife to Spike for my sake but for yours. Your instincts are correct, blondie. You do not want the Blacktop Sinners after you, and you do not want them motivated to hurt you and yours.

Like you’ll do to anyone who’s not me, she said, her voice soft and sad.

It was worse than if she’d just screamed at him. As if she’d resigned herself to it, no matter how much she resented it, as if she were chained to it.

We don’t have to figure out everything right now, he reminded, focusing on the road and not her crestfallen expression. Just make it simple, get the blade and get to the roadhouse again.

She nodded, but he could tell from the way she was biting her lip to keep silent that they’d definitely be coming back to this point soon. Alright, Tess finally agreed.

He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. How could one blonde spitfire really control him that badly? How could he worry so much about a woman he hardly knew? Well, scratch that. He knew her biblically, but he felt like somehow he was disappointing her, that he could be better or smarter or if he just had a normal nine-to-five, then their relationship could be perfect.

All hearts and flowers.

Or some shit like that.

So, he asked, genuinely curious. What actually made you come back? You were furious before, and there was no way you were happier when you had to have heard about the hospital.

She nodded. Yeah, Lizzy called me in from Asheville to be questioned. That’s how I met that delightful Chief Johnson.

He’s a dick, but he works for the right price.

Which is?

A hell of a lot of zeros, he conceded. Seriously, you wanted me dead last time we spoke, it just radiated off you, that rage. What changed?

She sighed and slipped her hand out of his. He almost took offense but then noticed how tightly both hands were gripping her steering wheel. Derek could easily make out the whites of her knuckles. I couldn’t stop remembering Jason, my brother.

Okay?

He died in a bike accident like I said, but I always thought that being so closed off, that just almost being a damn hermit like Lizzy jokes was because of that.

Still following, he said, frowning back at her.

But then I remembered one of the last fights we ever had over his damn bike.

Don’t knock one until you’ve tried one.

You’d never catch me on one.

They’re the ultimate rush, the perfect amount of power. I think you’d like it, if you let yourself go. Yes, people wipe out, he said, gesturing to his toes and then to the scar on his forehead. But you could be in a mugging or a car accident or eat something with E. Coli at a restaurant. You don’t know when your number’s up.

Jason’s shouldn’t have been, she said, her teeth gritted. But in that fight, he did tell me that I never bend. Then it was so tense that I just stopped trying to even talk to him. The three months before he died, it was like the Cold War in our house. I’d give anything if I’d not given up on him.

You didn’t want to give up on me? he asked, his voice incredulous. The only two people besides her who didn’t seem to do that so far were Spike, who while upholding the law seemed to take no pleasure in it, and, as always, his brother in arms and everything else, Ron. Why?

She shrugged but kept her hands on the wheel. I don’t know completely. I just know the way you make me feel, the feelings you stir up, and I can’t turn my back on that. I have no idea what it means or where we go from here, but it’s the first time I’ve felt alive since...No, screw it! This is the most alive I’ve felt ever, Tess finished, and she looked at him for a moment, her hazel eyes bright with need, as if she were willing him to understand her.

He stared into those haunting gold flecks and licked his lips. How desperately he wanted to make her stop the car and fuck her right here. God, it was more than that. Derek needed to hold her tight, to let her know everything would be alright, that he’d never leave her.

That they were family now, kindred.

Well I can take that. I know what it’s like to have someone special like that in family. Ron and I, we’d been in foster home and juvie together, like I said.

Yeah, and at least for part of it, you had someone. If Jason and I couldn’t cling to each other until the Everharts, then I don’t know what I would have done, she admitted.

Ditto, so I get ‘brothers.’ They can annoy you like no other.

Oh Jason was a master at it, loved practical jokes and ones that involved fake spiders or rubber snakes were his favorites. I ran out naked of the bathroom more than once ‘cause I thought a giant tarantula or wolf spider or whatever was in the drain.

He chuckled.

Note to self.

I think I would have liked your house growing up.

She chuckled even as she lightly slapped his left shoulder. I bet. The point is that if I’d bent before, maybe things would have ended different. Or better. I’m trying to bend, but I’m just not sure yet how far I can go.

Because I’m a criminal, he said hollowly.

Yes, but we just have to play it by ear, see how everything works out, Tess admitted.

Then, in the spirit of playing it by ear, he said, reaching into his pocket. I have something I think you’re going to be glad for.

What? He loved watching the smile spread across her face when she spied the silver St. Christopher medal glinting in his grasp. Bright white teeth gleamed back at him, and her cheeks had the slightest flush in her excitement. Where did you find it?

I’m a man of many surprises.

Then we can both agree on that, she huffed.

He didn’t quite like the double entendre there.

TESS KNOCKED ON THE door of her parents’ home and was beyond nervous. Dan and Barbara Everhart were about as clean cut as they came. He’d been a civil engineer and her mom had her own career as well. They

Reviews for Corrupted (Book 3)

[Heather Mattfeld · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm going to start off by saying I like most of Thomas' books but Corrupted was just okay. The story line was good but there were a few discrepancies and that's just annoying that the author or editors didn't catch them. I can't help but shake my head when the H, being a biker and enforcer, says womanhood or member that just ruins the whole big tough biker image for me. I didn't feel any chemistry or passion between the H and h and the few sex scenes were boring, quickly written and had no feeling between them just blah. That being said I had to keep getting the next book because I wanted to see how it ended and I didn't dislike it. All in all it wasn't bad just not my favorite from her.