Forgiveness Read online

  Contents

  PART ONE - THE BEGINNING

  Chapter 1 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 2 - Steve, 18 years old

  Chapter 3 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 4 - Steve, 18 years old

  Chapter 5 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 6 - Steve, 18 years old

  Chapter 7 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 8 - Steve, 18 years old

  Chapter 9 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 10 - Steve, 18 years old

  Chapter 11 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 12 - Steve, 18 years old

  Chapter 13 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 14 - Steve, 18 years old

  Chapter 15 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 16 - Steve, 18 years old

  PART TWO - LOVE, MARRIAGE, AND HEARTBREAK

  Chapter 17 - Harley, 17 years old

  Chapter 18 - Steve, 19 years old

  Chapter 19 - Harley, 18 years old

  Chapter 20 - Steve, 19 years old

  Chapter 21 - Harley, 18 years old

  Chapter 22 - Steve, 19 years old

  Chapter 23 - Harley, 18 years old

  Chapter 24 - Steve, 19 years old

  Chapter 25 - Harley, 18 years old

  Chapter 26 - Steve, 19 years old

  Chapter 27 - Harley, 18 years old

  Chapter 28 - Steve, 19 years old

  Chapter 29 - Harley 18 years old

  Chapter 30 - Steve, 19 years old

  PART THREE - BETRAYAL, DIVORCE, AND FORGIVENESS

  Chapter 31 - Harley, 23 years old

  Chapter 32 - Steve, 25 years old

  Chapter 33 - Harley, 24 years old

  Chapter 34 - Steve, 25 years old

  Chapter 35 - Harley, 24 years old

  Chapter 36 - Steve, 25 years old

  Chapter 37 - Harley 24, years old

  Epilogue - Steve, 50 years old

  Epilogue - Harley, 49, years old

  THE END

  Afterword

  About The Author

  Books In This Series

  Books By This Author

  PART ONE - THE BEGINNING

  Chapter 1 - Harley, 17 years old

  I don’t really like school. It’s not because I don’t like learning, but because it’s so fucking boring. I’m getting straight A’s and barely even trying, but everyone assumes I’m a dumbass since I don’t talk to anyone. The teachers even stopped calling on me once they realized that I wasn’t going to respond, but proved I knew the material with my high test scores.

  I don’t really have many friends at school because I’m affiliated with the Burnt Kings, a local motorcycle club. My dad Hammer was a founding member and my brother and his friends just started prospecting after graduating high school last year. This year sucks for me because I don’t have them at school with me anymore, and now I’m starting to realize that I don’t really have any friends outside the motorcycle club.

  The only person in the school that I know is the fiance of one of my brother’s best friends, but she’s one of the popular girls and it’s her senior year. Besides, her man joined the military instead of prospecting so she isn’t really part of the club. I sit down in my first class of the day and it’s AP Calculus BC. I’ll actually need to pay attention in this class because I can tell some of the concepts may be difficult to understand.

  I look around the room and don’t recognize anybody other than the Davenport girl. I’ve always looked up to her because she constantly talks about leaving this small town, and she seems like the only one capable of doing it. Not only is she smart, but she’s a great softball player from what I hear. She could get a full ride to a lot of the local universities, but I think she’s choosing to go out of state.

  Class starts, and I quickly realize that I need to focus, so I listen carefully and take detailed notes. The bell rings and class is dismissed, but I hear the teacher call my name.

  “Harley!” yells the teacher. I head to his and look at him. Mr. Jones is an older man in his forties with long hair pulled back into a ponytail. He’s beginning to grey around the edges, but his eyes are blue with a mischievous sense of humor.

  “Ms. Reynolds,” he drawls in a heavy British accent. “I wanted to give you the opportunity to tutor some athletes this semester. I’ve looked at your past math grades and I believe some of our athletes would benefit from your understanding of the concepts they’re learning in my class. Also, it would look good as an extracurricular on your college applications. Because of your stellar grades, you have a free period, so you could tutor during that free period.”

  Truth be told, I was going to spend my free period at the new club garage that one of my brother’s best friends Ratchet opened after graduating last year. My free period is my last period so I was just planning on leaving school early to hang out with the guys and do my homework.

  “I’m not so sure about that, Mr. Jones,” I reply. “I’m not sure I want to spend my free time with a bunch of dumb jocks.”

  “How about this?” he asks. “If you agree to tutor these boys, I’ll give you at least twenty extra credit points for every test for the rest of the semester. The football coach really needs these boys to pass.”

  Twenty extra credit points? This is a teacher that’s notorious for hard tests, and an extra twenty points per test would be a huge grade boost.

  “I’ll do it,” I tell him.

  “Awesome,” he says. “Tutoring will be Monday through Thursday. Since Fridays are typically game days, you won’t be tutoring on those days. I’ll let the boys know you’ll meet them in the library during the study period.”

  “Alright, thanks,” I respond. I head to my next class, AP Language, and continue through my day. My last class before my free period is Anatomy, and I’m excited because this class is with one of my favorite teachers. I’m not a huge fan of science, but this teacher is one of the few that makes it exciting and interesting to me.

  When I sit down in my seat and get ready for class, it feels like someone is staring at me. I look up and see a pair of beautiful, green eyes boring into me. Those eyes belong to an attractive guy wearing a letterman jacket. Ugh, what a waste of a face. As soon as I saw the jock jacket, I decided that anything between this guy and I will never happen. The club brothers and the jocks have always had issues with one another anyways.

  Well….another one bites the dust. Almost as if reading my facial expressions, the hot guy smiles at first and then starts to frown. Well, this class should be interesting. Right before he’s about to open his mouth to say something, the teacher walks in and starts the class. Whew. I’m glad he didn’t get a chance to talk because I’m not exactly sure what I’d say.

  Chapter 2 - Steve, 18 years old

  Harley fuckin’ Reynolds. I’ve been half in love with this girl since I moved to this town ten years ago and she punched a kid in the face for making fun of me. She probably doesn’t even remember it, but I’ve been head over heels for the girl ever since. Freshman year of high school, her older brother Scott and his friends made it a point to warn me away from Harley. I totally understand since she’s like a little sister to them, and it doesn’t help that I come from a family of police officers. In fact, I plan on joining the sheriff’s department as soon as I graduate. It’s probably better for both of us that she ran out of Anatomy class.

  I make my way to the library for study hall because I’m trying to get a jump on my hardest subject...math. Coach is making all the guys who have had trouble with math in the past get tutoring during the time that would usually be a free period for seniors. When I walk into the library, I immediately stop. There’s no way Harley Reynolds is my math tutor this semester because there’s absolutely no way
I’ll be able to focus.

  I take a deep breath and walk to the table, and there are three other football players there. I recognize my best friend and main blocker Adam from behind. I’m not surprised he’s here because we’re both terrible at math. It’s one of the many reasons he’s my best friend. He knows about my low key obsession with Harley, but nobody other than the club brothers know about it. Harley says something that causes Adam to burst out laughing, and then she notices me and stops talking. She just stares and I’m speechless. Finally, Adam turns around, sees me, and gets up to walk towards me.

  “Hey man!” he says, “We’re over here. I should’ve known that coach would make you get math tutoring too. Thank God. I don’t know if I can spend an entire semester with those two douches. Your girl is cool as hell though.”

  “She’s not my girl,” I say while shoving him. We walk over to the tutoring table and I understand what he meant when he was thanking God. The other two guys at the table with us are the ones on the team Adam and I like the least, Mike and Drew. Mike is my backup quarterback, and he would give his left nut for me to get injured so he can play. His best friend, Drew, was one of my starting blockers until he started to purposely let linemen through so I would get injured. Not only are these guys entitled dicks, but they’re complete idiots. I have no problem admitting that I need extra help in math, but these guys need extra help in every other subject too. Tutoring sessions with my best friend, the girl I’ve had a crush on since childhood, and the two guys in the school that I hate the most...this semester should be interesting to say the least.

  Chapter 3 - Harley, 17 years old

  I make my way to the library hoping to get through this tutoring session quickly so I can go to the garage and do my homework. I’m used to being at school surrounded by my club family, but they’ve all graduated. I know I’ll see them after school at Ratchet’s garage, but it’s not the same as hanging out with them all day. We’re the first generation of Burnt Kings MC kids to grow up in this town, and since the club’s presence cut into the Davenport family business, most people try to leave us alone.

  I’m the youngest and the last to graduate. I have two more years until that happens, so I need to make the best of it. Since I got to the library before any of the players, I had a chance to get comfortable and think about how I want the rest of my school year to go. First, I really need to make some friends that I can hang out with for the next two years. Besides, it’ll be nice to have friends that are outside the club for a change. I sit down and try to get myself prepared when the first football player walks in. He sits down and introduces himself as Adam.

  We start chatting, and I realize that he’s really nice and we have a few things in common. His uncle, Hawk, is one of the founding members of the Burnt Kings along with my dad Hammer. Hawk is awesome and I can totally see the family resemblance between the two now that I’m looking at his face. They both have the same thick dark eyebrows and the same blue eyes.

  “Have you ever considered joining the club?” I ask.

  “Every once in a while,” he admits. “My uncle used to bring me around a lot when I was younger. My mom was a single mom and used to leave me with Hawk a lot so she could work. He used to bring me around the club and I loved it. It stopped when she got married. My stepdad is a sheriff’s deputy.”

  Ah ok. That makes total sense why I don’t remember him being around. The club and the sheriff don’t have the best relationship, and it’s really on because the cops in this town are crooked as fuck. The Davenport family ran all the illegal businesses in town until my dad and his military buddies started the Burnt Kings motorcycle club, and club business cut into Davenport profits. The Davenport matriarch has pretty much all the local cops on her payroll, and probably a few of the state police too.

  While we chat about the club, two more football players sit down at the table and Adam starts frowning. One of the guys slaps him on the back.

  “What’s up, man? I didn’t know you’d be here,” says one of them.

  “Harley,” Adam says while trying to be nice. “This is Mike and Drew.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I say with a smile. One of them focuses his gaze on me...Mike, I think his name is.

  “You’re that biker chick, aren’t you? The one who hangs out with those thugs and rides a motorcycle,” he asks.

  “If you mean my family is part of the Burnt Kings motorcycle club and if I ride my bike to school, then yes, I’m that biker chick,” I respond.

  He sits down next to me and starts leaning in and trails a finger down my leg.

  “I also heard that you’re down for a good time,” he says while getting closer to me.

  “Dude,” Adam says. “What the fuck?”

  “Don’t worry, Adam,” I say. “I can hold my own.”

  “I bet you can,” says Mike with a wink.

  I take a deep breath in and out. The good part about being one of the few girls raised in the club is that the men made sure I’d be able to take care of myself. Other than teaching me how to ride a motorcycle, all the vets in the club made sure I had basic self-defense knowledge. I grab Mike’s hand and dig my nails into it.

  “I don’t know who the fuck told you that, but you need to back off before I make you,” I say calmly. At first, he’s surprised and then he gets angry.

  “You don’t have your brother and his gang here to save you, bitch,” he says. I pause and take a deep breath like the brothers told me to do before striking.

  “I’m asking you to please back up,” I say quietly.

  “Hey man,” Adam says leaning closer to him. “You heard the lady so you better back off before I tell the coach and get you kicked off the team.”

  Mike instantly backs up and narrows his eyes at Adam and I can see an intense hatred.

  “You wouldn’t,” he says.

  “Try me,” he says. “Coach may also get a screenshot conversation between you and your buddy here admitting that y’all purposely tried to hurt Steve so you could be starting quarterback. You should really be careful about the type of chicks you sleep with, especially when they have serious addiction problems.”

  “Fuck you, man,” Mike yells.

  “Naw dude,” Adam says quietly. “Fuck you. I know for a fact that you almost failed math last year, so you need Harley to stay on the team. If you piss her off, she may let you fail. Don’t forget that while you’re being a douche to her.”

  Mike looks like he’s about to jump across the table, but his friend Drew stops him.

  “It’s not worth it man,” I hear him mutter. Mike listens to Drew, but you can tell he wants to punch Adam in the face. I turn to Adam with a soft smile.

  “Thanks for defending me, but I really didn’t need your help,” I say.

  “I know you didn’t, but I hate that guy and it always makes me feel better when I put him in his place,” he says with a wink and a chuckle. I start laughing and think that maybe this year won’t be so bad if I get to chill with guys like Adam. The other two I could do without though.

  “I think he’s overcompensating for something,” I whisper. We both start laughing, and then I spot something in my peripheral. It’s him. It’s the guy. The one from anatomy class. Holy shit, he’s one of the guys I’m tutoring? I’m not sure I’ll be able to focus on tutoring now.

  “Hey man!” Adam says. “I should’ve known that coach would have you in math tutoring too.”

  “Yeah man,” Mr. Sexy says with a chuckle. “You know math is the only class I’ve ever gotten a C in.”

  Smart and sexy. I’m totally doomed. He holds out his hand to me and I stare at it for a minute.

  “I’m Steve,” he says. I grab his hand and shake it.

  “I’m Harley,” I whisper. He doesn’t say anything...he just holds my hand until I look into his eyes.

  “I know,” he replies. We just sit there staring at each other and holding hands until I hear someone clear his throat loudly. I look over at Adam and he’s smirking
.

  “Ok lovebirds,” he says. “Time to start tutoring. You guys can bond after school.”

  My face heats up and I know it’s red as hell. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I mean, I’ve had crushes on some of the guys prospecting for the club but none of them have ever made me feel like this. I pull my hand from Steve’s and focus my attention on the task at hand.

  I decide to focus on my job as a tutor and ignore Steve to the best of my ability. That plan quickly goes to shit as soon as I hear Steve laughing behind me. Adam must’ve said something funny, but all I can focus on is how sexy Steve’s laugh sounds. Douchebag Mike notices my interest and puts his hand on mine. I try to pull away, but he presses down harder.

  “There’s no way some trailer trash motorcycle thug lovin’ bitch will ever be good enough for the starting quarterback. Remember that,” he says with a shit-eating grin.

  I want to punch him in the face, but I know he’s right. I’ll never be good enough for Steve. This is going to be a long-ass year.

  Chapter 4 - Steve, 18 years old

  Harley is super smart and I can’t believe how intelligent she is. I mean, I’m taking a super hard Calculus class even though I know math is my weak point, and she has a way of explaining things that make the numbers make sense.

  Tutoring seems to fly by and, the next thing I know, it’s over and we’re packing up our stuff. Damn, I wanted to spend more time with Harley and I’m pretty sure Adam does too. I’m not jealous because I know Adam isn’t interested in Harley. Apparently, Adam used to spend a lot of the time at the Burnt Kings clubhouse with his uncle before his mother got married to his stepfather. I didn’t even know that about him until he started up a conversation with Harley during the tutoring session.

  We’ve been friends ever since I moved to this small town. My dad was an Atlanta homicide cop and got tired of the big city so we moved to a small town where he had more of a chance to move up. Adam and I became friends because my dad was assigned as his stepdad’s partner. He’s been my best friend ever since. Even though we’re close, he never mentioned anything about the club until I expressed my interest in Harley. Apparently, they were childhood friends, but Adam was a lot chunkier back in the day so she probably doesn’t recognize him