Renegade Biker

By Lily Harlem

Tammy

I’m on the run.
With nothing more than the clothes on my back and my child.
If my husband finds me God only knows what he’ll do.
So it’s just as well my uncle has sent a Devil’s Barbarian biker to watch over me.
Rough—check.
Tough—check.
Lawless—check.
Hot—check.
Damn shame I’m in no mood for a man ... or am I?

Jayden

Hudson wants me to play goddamn babysitter.
There’s gear to shift, deals to make, I ain’t got time for this.
So how come Tammy keeps drawing me in?
Fragile yet strong.
Scared yet brave.
And so damn sexy she’s screwing with my head.
It’s time she found out about real men.
Men with heart.
And that’s gonna be my job if it’s the last thing I do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight
• Release date: Oct 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9780369506962

Lily Harlem

Lily Harlem is an award winning, multi-published author of erotic romance and erotica. She lives in the UK and since giving up a career in nursing has been widely published on both sides of the Atlantic. Her stories are made up of colourful characters travelling on everyone's favourite journey, falling in love, and with the bedroom door left well and truly open readers are warned to hang on for the ride, or rides as the case might be.

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Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2022 Lily Harlem

ISBN: 978-0-3695-0696-2

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Audrey Bobak

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all survivors of domestic abuse. I applaud your bravery and wish you only happiness.

RENEGADE BIKER

Dirty Bikers, 3

Lily Harlem

Copyright © 2022

Chapter One

The adrenaline shooting through Tammy Wearing’s system was as powerful as any opioid. It was potent, couldn’t be ignored, and the effects on her trembling body were real and frightening.

I have to get out of here.

I have to leave.

I have to leave him.

Terror, panic, and hatred shot up her blood pressure and heart rate and made her muscles twitch. Staying was no longer an option. She’d known for a long time what Gary was—a bully, a wife beater, and a violent asshole who was destined for Hell on Judgment Day.

Where are you, bitch? Thump. Bang. I know you’re home. You can’t hide from me.

Shh, it’s okay. He won’t find us in here, she whispered to Zak as she stroked his silky soft hair and held him tighter.

Zak didn’t answer. Even at just six years old, he knew not to make a sound when his father was raging through the house, knocking over anything within reach and punching holes in the walls.

Trying to make herself smaller, she hunched forward, Zak a ball in her arms. This hidden cubbyhole in the basement had saved her several times from Gary’s temper and fists. He didn’t know the small space existed. The previous owner had left a bookcase covering it, and with a little ingenuity, she’d made it her own tiny panic room.

And panic she did when Gary went out with his buddies. He always drank too much and with that came the jealous paranoia. He couldn’t believe she wasn’t a cheating wife. A liar. A whore. And when he came home stinking of liquor, he said as much and beat her as if she deserved punishment for the very worst crimes against humanity.

I know what you’ve been doing. Aaron told me you were at the grocery store, talking to that teller again. You fucking him, huh? Fucking the zitty-assed kid who rings up your groceries. Dirty fucking cunt, that’s what you are, Tammy. A whore.

Please, God, make him go to sleep, Zak whispered.

Shh, baby. We have to be quiet until he does go to sleep. She rocked him, small movements back and forth.

A huge crash came from right above them. She guessed it was the dresser holding the plates and glasses and her mother’s best casserole dish.

Zak jumped in her arms.

She held him closer.

Please, God, make him stop.

I’m going to give you a slapping you won’t forget, Gary raged on, his heavy footsteps thumping up the stairs now and the volume of his voice fading. Teach you a lesson for making me look a fucking fool in front of my buddies.

She’d never made a fool of him. Never cheated, never even spoken out of line. It was the other way around on the rare occasions they socialized—Gary putting her down and flirting with anyone who could tolerate him for more than a few minutes.

Forsake all others.

When she’d said her vows, she’d meant them.

Including ’til death do us part?

No, not that one. Well, she’d meant it at the time. Standing before God, and in the presence of friends and family, sure, she’d absolutely meant it. Gary was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. But not now.

Now he’s going to cut my life short.

Zak’s too?

She couldn’t risk her son. And she couldn’t take the beatings anymore. Each time it was worse, and he never allowed her to get medical treatment. Her ribs ached permanently, and her left wrist sported a round bump where it had been broken and hadn’t healed properly. She got headaches too, bad ones that made her vision blurry. At five-feet-one and of a slight build, she just wasn’t up for being a human punching bag to a man who worked out five times a week.

She jumped at the sound of glasses smashing. Reaching for the silver cross that sat on a delicate chain around her neck, she rubbed it between her thumb and index finger.

We’ll leave, baby, she said to the top of Zak’s head. When he goes to sleep, we’ll leave and we will never come back.

Saying the words out loud for the first time was both frightening and empowering. If Gary heard her utter them, she’d get a beating that would leave her in bed for days. If Zak repeated them, he’d get a wicked clip around the head too.

Zak stayed quiet. She wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t believe her or if he was beyond relieved at the prospect.

We will have to go quickly, she said, rooting under a folded blanket for a phone she’d kept secret. But I know someone who will help us.

God will help us, Zak said, his voice barely more than a breath.

He will … but so will my uncle. He’s a good man. She closed her eyes, remembering her wedding day and her uncle Hudson handing her a slip of paper with his cell number on it.

"I know I wasn’t around as much as I could have been when you were growing up, Tammy, but family is family. You need me, you call me. He turned to look at Gary, his leather jacket creaking and his eyes narrowing as he took a slug from a bottle of beer. Hudson was huge. His presence couldn’t be missed. Not all men know how to treat a woman right, he went on, and if Gary turns out to be one of those assholes, don’t waste your life with him. You’re worth more than that."

She hadn’t known what her biker uncle had meant at the time. Of course Gary would be a good husband, and a fine father too. He was her world. She was head-over-heels in love with him.

Yet now she hated him. Hated him with a fiery passion that threatened to burn her up from the inside out.

Daddy isn’t being good today, Zak said.

No, no he isn’t. She kissed his head again. Zak had never said anything like that, the same way she’d never told him they were leaving.

It seemed they’d both hit their own wall. Their eyes were well and truly open. And with that, she could see a way out. She had to try. If she didn’t, she was dead.

If I escape and he finds me, I’m dead.

But being found wasn’t a certainty. The odds were in her favor if she went … surely.

Gary slammed down the stairs again, stomping along the hallway.

The basement door opened with a menacing creak.

She froze, air lodging deep in her lungs. He was getting nearer. Any second now he’d be in the basement, and if he moved the bookcase she’d carefully slid over the entrance to their hiding place, he’d drag her out and beat her so bad there’d be no escaping for weeks.

Zak shook silently in her arms. The feel of his small limbs trembling steeled her resolve. This would never happen again. She wouldn’t let it. Even if her uncle had changed his cell, or had gone and gotten himself thrown in jail for hanging out with his no-good biker buddies, she’d still leave, figure it out some other way.

Thudding footsteps paced the basement. She could hear her husband breathing, hard, angry pants. It was as if his frustration filled the air, the space. He was livid, and his seething, red-cheeked face hung in her mind’s eye as she stared at the dark back of the bookcase.

Damn that whore, he shouted and accompanied the roar with a stamp of his foot. Bitch!

Then to her relief, he banged up the stairs, slamming the door behind him.

Is he gone? Zak asked.

Gone from the basement, she said. He’ll get a drink now then go to bed, don’t worry.

I’m thirsty.

Me too. Reaching behind herself, she found the bottle of water she kept for this exact situation. Here drink, but be careful and go slow. Don’t let it make you splutter.

I won’t, Mommy.

She brought the cell to life. It had just one number in it.

Hudson’s.

As soon as she was sure Gary had passed out into a drunken stupor, she’d make the call.

Please God, let Hudson answer.

Please God, let Hudson be true to his word about helping me.

Her father had never gotten along with his brother. To look at them, it was as if they were from different worlds. Her father was a businessman based in Singapore. He had another new wife and he was a smart, expensive dresser. He liked fine dining and fast cars and wore a woman on his arm the way most men would wear an expensive watch.

She hadn’t spoken to him in years.

Gary had turned him against her, telling her father she was an adulteress, a terrible cook, and a short-tempered mother who needed to be kept in line otherwise she’d make Zak’s life a misery.

When her father had believed the lies, believed Gary over her, Tammy had removed him from her heart and her thoughts. He was no better than her husband.

What’s that? Zak asked.

A secret phone, she whispered. To call for help.

To call God?

No, baby, to call my uncle.

The good man?

Yes, that’s the one. She looked up into the darkness, matching the noises to what Gary would be doing. He was searching the tipped-over dresser for an unbroken glass. Once he found that, he stomped to the kitchen pantry, retrieving a bottle of Jack D.

It would be a generous measure, she knew that much. Which was good. The more alcohol in his system, the sounder he’d sleep.

Can I take Bilbo? Zak asked. When we leave.

Yes, of course. But he’ll have to be quiet too.

He’s always quiet, Mommy. He’s a toy rabbit.

That’s true. She didn’t need much else other than Zak. Her purse, that was all. She had a secret stash of four hundred bucks sewn into the lining. It had taken a while, sneaking a few dollars here and there when she’d bought groceries, and each time she’d risked a slapping for it, but now it would be their ticket to a new life.

A new life where?

She had no idea.

As long as it wasn’t here. This was a living hell.

Gary’s footsteps went overhead again, and then up the stairs to the master bedroom.

Good.

She’d give it thirty minutes and then make the call she hoped would not just change her life, but save it.

Chapter Two

Uncle Hudson. Tammy swallowed, her mouth dry.

A pause then a gruff deep voice spoke one word. Tammy?

Yes, it’s me. A whisper.

You’re in trouble. It hadn’t been a question.

Yes, but I can’t talk. The thudding of her pulse in her ears threatened to drown out his voice.

He beat you?

How did you…? Yes.

Could see it in his eyes, even on your wedding day. Rotten to the core, that lowlife husband of yours.

Tammy was quiet, stunned that a wedding guest had thought of her groom that way.

Is he close by, now, this minute? Hudson asked.

He’s asleep, upstairs, I’m hiding in the basement with Zak. We can’t be here when he wakes up … we just can’t. I just know he’ll… She stifled a sob and pulled Zak closer. He was looking up at her with wide eyes. Can you hear me, Uncle Hudson?

Yeah, doll, don’t worry. I hear you.

Can you help? Please? I have no one else to ask, and you gave me your cell number and…

"Get yourself on a Greyhound with whatever you can carry, and the little guy, and once you’re in California, I’ll get you set up. Don’t worry about money, not for a second. You gotta get outta there.

I’ve got some money, for the bus fare. But then I—

This asshole won’t bother you again. That’s a promise.

I’m sorry to do this… I have nowhere else to turn, nowhere to go … and … thank you.

Don’t mention it, you’re family. I’ll see you very soon. Have a good trip.

He hung up. A few seconds later, an address flashed through.

1983 The Strand. LA.

Staring at it, she allowed a breath of relief to leave her body. She had a destination at least. A destination in another state. Each mile she put between herself and Gary would be a weight off her shoulders.

All she had to do was get out of the house and to the bus station.

Easy, right?

She wasn’t so sure.

I think Daddy is asleep. Zak raised crossed fingers.

Me too. She held his shoulders and made him look at her through the shadows. Now this is really important so listen to me good, right?

He nodded.

We have to be quiet as mice, quieter than mice, when we go out of here.

He nodded again.

And we’re getting two things, Bilbo from your bedroom, and my purse from the kitchen, that’s it. Then we’re going.

Going where?

To the bus station.

To catch a bus?

Yes.

He was quiet for a moment. Can we get two other things?

Not really, baby, we have to go before Daddy wakes up and is angry again.

But— He looked at his bare feet. I can’t go to the bus station without my shoes.

No, of course, you’re right. We’ll both get our shoes, but nothing else.

My coat?

No, it’s warm where we’re going. You’ll like it.

Do you promise?

Yes, baby, I promise. She kissed the tip of his nose and then very gently and silently moved the bookcase.

She held her breath as she peeked out. The sudden awful thought that Gary had known all along where they were and was waiting for them to appear squeezed her heart. But fortunately, the basement was in its usual quiet, gloomy state. The one high window, laced with dusty cobwebs, let only a few blades of light stab through. To the right was a moth-eaten chair with a bloodstain on it from where he’d split her lip the year before and she’d fallen against it.

Come. She took Zak’s hand. Her heart was beating so hard she feared it might burst right out of her chest. Nausea gripped her as she climbed the wooden steps, avoiding the last one because it always groaned.

Zak held her hand so tight his tiny fingers were like vises around hers. Bilbo first, he whispered.

She nodded, then at the base of the main staircase, she released his hand. Wait here, I’ll get him.

His eyes were wide and scared. His cheeks pale as his bottom lip trembled.

Seeing him like that steeled her conviction. No child should feel the way he did, ever, and certainly not in his own home. And Zak wouldn’t, not for another minute.

Barefoot, she climbed the steps, her movements swift and light and once again avoiding a floorboard that creaked. She’d learned where they all were. It had been an essential part of her survival strategy.

She darted into Zak’s small room decorated to look like outer space and grabbed Bilbo, a small red rabbit he’d had since he was a baby. Thank goodness he’d been sitting on the bed and she hadn’t had to search for him.

A loud, juddering snore rumbled toward her.

She peeked into the master bedroom.

Her husband was spread star-shaped on the bed, fully dressed and with his head thrown back, mouth open.

Another snore accompanied by a grunt then a fart.

She suppressed a shudder. Her loathing of him was intense. It had become a part of who she was, and it was alive and hot and furious.

Part of the