In REBEL CUSTODY, Skeeter is a man used to breaking the rules while Miriam is always on the right side of the law. When Miriam agrees to pose as Skeeter's woman to get details they need for a case the lines between business and pleasure begin to blur. Golden Heart Finalist, Sarah Hawthorne returns to her Demon Horde series with this sinfully hot must read from Carina Press!
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About Rebel
Custody
Author: Sarah Hawthorne
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release
Date: May
1, 2017
Publisher:
Carina
Press
Series: Demon Horde, MC #2
Format: Digital eBook
ASIN:
B01MUG1G4V
Synopsis:
A son in danger
The Demon Horde MC are no strangers to
breaking the rules, but making a man pay to get his son back crosses one too
many lines for Skeeter. He'll do anything, including play by the book, if it
means bringing his son home. Hiring straitlaced attorney Miriam Englestein is
meant to solve his problems, not create new ones. One look at her and his
good-guy facade goes out the window. He wants to throw his buttoned-up lawyer
onto the back of his bike and make her his.
A woman at risk
Miri wants nothing to do with the club. Her
father may be in their pocket, but she's on the right side of the law and she
intends to stay there. But there's something about Skeeter's plea—something
about him—she can't walk away from. While she's tempted to let him do
unspeakably wicked and delicious things to her, she can't risk her law
practice, or her heart.
A dangerous
deception
When Miriam agrees to pose as Skeeter's
woman to get details they need for the case, things heat up fast—and it's not
long before the lines between business and personal blur, and they're both in
over their heads. In the MC world, lies have a way of coming back to you, and
they put everyone at risk.
Look for
Outlaw Ride (Demon Horde #3) releasing in September 2017 with Carina Press! And
be sure to pick up your copy of Enfocer’s Price (Demon Horde #1), available
today!
About Enforcer’s
Price:
Author: Sarah
Hawthorne
Publisher: Carina
Press
Series: Demon
Horde #1
Release Date:
February 6, 2017
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 9781488024412
A man looking for
redemption
Colt spent eight months
in prison for trusting the wrong woman, nearly bringing down his entire
motorcycle club in the process. Now he needs to fix the MC's cash flow problems
or watch the only family he's ever known fall apart.
Meeting Krista wasn't
part of his mission.
A single mom trying to
get by
Krista was ready to
leave hooking behind when her ex cleaned out her bank account. Stuck working to
provide for her daughter, she protects herself with one rule: never get
involved with someone at the club.
Not that she wants to.
Sex has become a job, a means to an end.
One night together as an
escape
Krista's body wakes at
Colt's touch, allowing her to imagine a life after the MC. A future. A
happily-ever-after, if only briefly. Krista brings out feelings in Colt he
forgot could exist. But just as he begins to trust again, Krista's truth is
revealed - testing the very boundaries of Colt's jealousy and faith.
Praise for Enforcer’s Price:
“I’ve been looking forward to Enforcer’s Price since the moment I learned the premise, and I’m
happy to say that this debut novel by Sarah Hawthorne doesn’t disappoint. Edgy
and real, Enforcer’s Price grabs
at your heart and doesn’t let go!”
-- J. Kenner/Julie Kenner, New
York Times & #1 International bestselling author
“I loved Enforcer’s Price. It’s a wild ride showing the
gritty side of love in an MC.” --
Jade Chandler, author of the Jericho
Brotherhood series
“Enforcer's Pride is a wild ride. It gets you in the feels
and keeps going. It's a dark and gritty MC romance, and I can't wait for more.”
-- Jade Chandler, author of the Jericho Brotherhood series
“Enforcer’s Price
is a sexy romance with spicy, cagey, and memorable characters who need to make
the right choices this time around or forfeit everything. The plot is
believable and has intense moments that leave the reader breathless. Hawthorne
writes with passion and honesty.” -- Romantic Times
Excerpt from Rebel Custody:
Chapter One
Skeeter
I liked to keep my back to the wall. It was a habit I
developed in the Registan Desert. But tonight I was just in a neighborhood
hangout, a strip club called Jiggles. I surveyed the strip club from a corner
near the pool tables. A woman danced onstage while a rock song played. The
booming bass had a slight buzz. The strip club’s sound system had blown a few
speakers last year, but no one bothered to replace them.
When it was my turn, I leaned across the green felt.
Bank shot. Three ball into the corner pocket. I closed my eyes and let the cue slide
through my fingers. The balls cracked together. I heard the thump off the side
cushion and then the rattle as the ball sank into the pocket. Easy.
I opened my eyes to set up my next shot.
“Hey, genius.” Clint laughed. “You’re stripes. Thanks
for taking care of one of my balls, though.”
Fuck. I looked at the table. He was right; I was
stripes. I hadn’t been paying attention. Instead of returning to my favorite
spot against the wall, I sat on a stool in front of the bar.
“Hi, baby.” Asia, one of my favorite pay-to-play
hookups, leaned in close. “I’d be happy to take care of your balls, but how
about you buy me a drink first?”
I rolled my eyes and asked the bartender to get her a
beer.
Asia pouted. “You haven’t called me in weeks.” She
stuck her lower lip out. “I could call a friend, and the three of us could have
our own personal party. Remember how fun it was that time?”
Tempting. Asia was always enthusiastic and willing to
please in bed, especially if it would earn her a big tip.
“Actually, I don’t really remember much of that
night.” I sipped on my beer. “I haven’t been in the mood lately.”
“Oh!” She smiled and started to root through her huge
purse. “I got stuff for that.”
I put my hand on her shoulder. “That’s not what I
meant. I’m just not interested, okay?”
What the hell was wrong with me? Asia was tall with
long legs that she could bend any which way I wanted. And her fees were
reasonable. But sex had just lost its thrill. It was the same old shit. Women
in skimpy outfits trying to entice me to buy, which I often did. Then a
meaningless meet-up in my room at the clubhouse and a morning alone.
Maybe I could soften the blow. “Why don’t you go hang
out with Clint?”
We both looked over at him—he was chatting up a blonde
stripper in a purple dress. Asia frowned.
“Well, maybe I’ll just make a new friend tonight.
Thanks.” She walked away, hips swinging. I knew she wanted me to take a good
look at her ass and change my mind, but I just didn’t care.
Leaning against the bar, I finished off my beer and
surveyed the room. Hanging out at a strip club every Friday night was getting
tiring. The constant noise and empty flirting made me wish for a night at home,
and not just a night in my room at the MC. I bought a house last year and never
fucking stayed there. I was always partying. Maybe it was time to move.
I tried to catch Clint’s eye; I was thinking of making
the long drive out to my place. He was still talking to the blonde, so I
decided to hit the john. Strip club bathrooms were always nasty. No matter how much
froufrou crap they piled in there, it was still a urinal in a titty house.
As I was zipping up, something touched the back of my
neck.
Cold. Hard. Steel.
Fuck.
“Thought I’d find you here.”
The man’s thick Cajun accent brought me home, the
voice vaguely familiar. My father’s face floated in my head before I remembered
the fucking gun pressed to my neck.
“I know you?” I started to turn to see who this fucker
was.
He cocked the hammer. I froze. It’s a distinctive
click, and when it’s pressed below your ear, it’s real fucking loud.
“Well, then put away the gun and we’ll go get a beer.”
The barrel pressing into my neck eased off, and I heard him release the hammer.
“I’m turning around now,” I told him.
Holding the pistol was Davide Lavernge. A year or two
behind me in school, he had been a class clown who dealt a little weed on the
side.
“How ’bout dat drink?” He grinned.
Davide followed me over to the bar, and we ordered a
round. I sucked on my beer and studied the piece of shit next to me. His sour
breath wafted over from two bar stools away. He smelled like crawfish three
days after the boil.
Davide licked the salt off his lips and combed peanut
shells out of his beard. His face was lined and weathered, his teeth yellow. He
was no longer the happy-go-lucky guy I used to know.
“Tacoma, Washington, is damn far from Breaux Bridge,
Louisiana. What’re you doing this far north, Davide?”
He put down the beer I had paid for and turned toward
me. “I’m here about child support.”
He must be in a shit ton of trouble if he was coming
to me for help. I shrugged. “How much do you owe?”
He shook his head. “You owe me, Skeeter. Forty large. I been taking care of your kid.”
The world went fuzzy, so I blinked. Again. My vision
was clear, but my brain didn’t quite understand what Davide had just said.
“Embrasse moit
chew.” Kiss my ass. I pushed back
from the bar. “I haven’t been back to Breaux Bridge in years. I don’t got no
kid.”
Davide scratched at his beard. “After you joined the
Army, Delphie realized she was pregnant. She decided she wanted to raise it on
her own. That’s why she dumped you.”
Delphie. My first love. We had been nineteen and full
of dreams. Well, I was full of dreams, and she was full of meth, weed, whatever
else she could get her hands on. I put a tiny ring on her finger and then
packed up for boot camp. The letter came two days after I arrived in
Afghanistan. Classic Dear John. I read it in my bunk and then had to find a
private place to fucking punch something. A captain saw me, and I spent the
next three weeks cleaning latrines in the Registan Desert.
I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t about to fall for his
line of shit. “She never told me she was pregnant.”
“Don’t matter. You got a kid that you ain’t never paid
child support for. So, by my accounting, you owe me forty Gs.” Davide shrugged
and stuffed more peanuts in his mouth.
I rolled my eyes. That’s what this was about. “This is
a goddamn shakedown. If there was a kid, Delphie would be serving me with
papers. You’re bullshitting me, and you fucking know it.”
Davide stared at me, cold, hard. This was not the man
I used to know. Back then he sold a little weed and raised a lot of hell. He
was always quick to laugh, the life of the boil. Whatever he was into now had
changed him.
“Delphie overdosed about six years ago. Don’t matter,
though. You got a fucking kid, and I want my fucking money. Once you get that
through your head, call me. Else I’ll come find you again. I promise you that.”
He handed me an old-fashioned matchbook with the name of a dive motel and a
cell phone number scrawled in pencil. “Kid is here with me.”
Davide got up and left me with the tab.
The matchbook was blue with a red stylized horse.
Cowboy Motel. Printed on the back was a map. It was just off the highway, south
of town, in the middle of a bunch of apple orchards. Tourists would drive right
on by and find a room in Seattle or Tacoma. This place was meant only for
truckers or the kind of people who didn’t like to deal with society. The kind
of people who would blackmail someone for child support for a kid that didn’t
exist.
This was just another way for the Lavernge family to
screw me over. Delphie had dumped me as soon as deeper pockets had come along,
and now Davide was trying to milk me for all I was worth. I had enough to make
ends meet, but forty grand wasn’t sitting in my back pocket for a rainy day.
I ran my thumb over the top of the matchbook and felt
ridges. In the light of the bar, I could just make out indentations from a pen.
Something was written on the inside. I flipped open the damn matchbook and saw
a drawing. There wasn’t much room, but someone had drawn a sun with sunglasses.
The rays of the sun weren’t quite even, and the lines all wobbled. A kid had
drawn it.
What if I did have a kid? What if Delphie had been
pregnant when I shipped out? I did some quick calculations. The kid would be
nine or ten. I thought of myself at that age, all skinned knees and dirty
hands. If I had a kid, what would he or she be like?
I flipped the matchbook over and stared at the map
printed on the back. Same shitty location, right off the interstate. Davide was
pretty desperate if he’d come all the way up here to Washington State hoping to
get a lot of cash. I didn’t know what Davide was mixed up in, but it was bad,
and no child should be caught up in it.
I paid my tab and went to find Clint at the pool
table. If this was blackmail, I was gonna need reinforcements.
* * *
An hour later me and Rip and Clint cut our engines and
parked in a field behind the motel. It was easy to track down which room
belonged to Davide. There was a beat-up blue truck with Louisiana plates parked
at the far end, as far away as possible from the motel office and the security
camera.
So we crouched with ivy up to our goddamn shoulders
and waited. The lights flickered in the room, like someone was watching
television.
“Shit, Skeeter, it’s been forty-five minutes,” Clint
muttered in our ivy hole.
A sliver of light shone in the dark motel as someone
opened their door. It was a woman coming out for a smoke. She collapsed into a
plastic patio chair and lit up a joint. Too short to be Delphie, dark hair.
Craggy face. Torn jean shorts. Maybe Davide’s girlfriend? Under the hyperfocus
of the binoculars, she looked worn.
Then Davide came out and sat in the other chair. They
passed a joint back and forth. The door opened again and showed a small, dark
figure. With the bright light of the inside of the room, the person’s features
were in shadow. The shadow only went a foot or so past the doorknob. A kid
My heart leaped up into my throat. I tried to breathe,
but it just came out as a guttural sound. Even though I couldn’t see the kid
clearly, I knew. It was like a brush stroke inside my brain that spread truth.
Davide hadn’t come all the way across the country just to shake me down. He was
telling the truth.
Holy shit.
I had a kid.
Copyright © Rebel 2017 Rebel Custody by
Sarah Hawthorne
About Sarah
Hawthorne:
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