Caleb's Regret Read online

  Caleb’s Regret

  Forever Midnight MC#2

  Victoria Gale

  Published in 2020 by

  Deryn Publishing

  United Kingdom

  First Edition

  © 2020 Deryn Publishing

  All characters, places and events are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, places or events is purely coincidental.

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored or distributed in any form, without prior written permission of the publisher.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  “A friend is someone who walks into a room when everyone else is walking out.”

  – Gary Moore

  Prologue

  I sucked in a lungful of the cold night air and pulled my coat tight at the collar. My head hurt, my feet hurt, and exhaustion threatened to knock me on my ass and keep me there. That’s what I got for pulling a double shift at the airport. My third this week.

  I rubbed my head and tried to block out the incessant droning of the planes that almost drowned out the ringing of my phone in my bag.

  “Hey, Caleb,” I said, relief evident in my voice when I answered. It was hard being the girlfriend of a member of the Forever Midnight Motorcycle Club. More so now that Caleb’s dad had been killed and he had taken on the mantle of President. “Where are you?” I asked.

  “Still in Mexico, baby. We got a lead on the fucker who took dad out and should catch up with him in a day or so. We’ll be home straight after that.”

  I huffed out a breath and rubbed my head again. My headache pounded full force, as did the dread kicking me in the gut. I knew who Caleb was, and I knew neither he nor his brother, Cane could leave finding the guy who killed their dad to the cops. But that didn’t mean I was happy about it, nor that I wasn’t afraid of what would happen to him in the process. That worry had been the reason for my double-shift. For all the double-shifts I’d taken since the funeral and Caleb’s leaving a week ago. It was easier for me to pass out exhausted than try to fall asleep.

  “Is that a plane in the background?” Caleb asked. “You still in fucking work or starting another shift? I told you already, you don’t need to do that. I can take care of us. Just quit already. They work you like a dog.”

  Despite myself, I smiled. We’d had this conversation a thousand times. Just as it was in Caleb’s nature to go after the person who killed his dad, it was also in his nature to be a bossy fuck who thought it was his job to take care of my every need. But it was in my nature to work, and he knew it.

  “I’ll tell you what,” I said, deciding to appease him. “I’ve built up some lieu time. As soon as you get back, I’ll cash it in. We can get away for a break together. Lord knows we could both use a vacation.”

  “You’re not wrong there,” he said. “But Cane—”

  “Cane’s a big boy who can take care of himself. Besides, he’ll have Bono and the others to look out for him.”

  “I’m just not sure it’s the right time for him to be alone. Dad was the only blood-family we had. You know how fucking broody Cane gets.”

  I gave a wry laugh. “Don’t I just. He’s much the same as his brother in that respect. Give him something to focus on and he’ll be fine.”

  “Yeah, and what about me?”

  “Well,” I said, smiling. “I’ll see to making sure you’re okay. You know, it’s part of my job description as Lounge Manager to ensure everyone gets a 5-star service.”

  “Yeah. What sort of 5-star service do you have in mind for me?”

  I glanced along the walkway leading from the departure lounge and the short-term parking opposite and towards employee parking, my destination. No-one was in sight. “It’s a special service I reserve for tattooed muscle-men named Caleb Landon,” I said, almost shouting to be heard above the sound of an airplane taxiing on the runway. “The man who makes my core throb and my panties wet just by saying my name.”

  Caleb growled down the phone. “Now, Amber,” he said in a deep and sultry voice that made me chuckle, “that sure sounds like a service I could get into. Just as long as there’s no other fucker named Caleb Landon within an eight-thousand-mile radius of your location.”

  I laughed again. “I’m pretty sure the diameter of the Earth is a little under eight-thousand miles.”

  “You’re right. It’s not fucking far enough. How many miles away is Pluto?”

  “I have no idea. We’re probably talking in the billions.”

  I heard a background voice shouting Caleb’s name, followed by a commotion. The voices were indistinct, and I couldn’t make out what was going on.

  After a moment, Caleb returned to our call. “Sorry, babe. I gotta go. I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

  “Okay,” I said, my worry flooding back. “Take care of yourself. Come home to me and we’ll take that break, okay?”

  “Amber. Seriously, I can’t leave Cane.”

  But you can leave me, I resisted mentioning. Instead, I said, “I know, family comes first.”

  “Jesus. Do we really have to fucking go there now?”

  “Go where?” I asked, my tired mind confused by the shift in his tone. “Ah,” I said, as realization clicked into place. Family. It always seemed strange to me that Caleb would get pissed off when I noted his family came first, and that included all the brothers of Forever Midnight, especially when it was true.

  “Look. I’ll call tomorrow and see you in a couple of days. You can fucking lecture me all you want then. I gotta go.”

  “You can be a complete fucking asshole sometimes, you know that?”

  “Yeah, I do. It’s why you love me,” he said, trying to make his voice light again. “I love you, too, you know?”

  “I know. Just hurry home.”

  With that, he ended the call, and I let out another huffed breath. It was great to hear Caleb’s voice, but the worry it would be for the last time filled me with an icy chill that had nothing to do with the weather.

  I shook my head and walked towards the lighted parking lot. I noted the battery on my phone was down to five percent and made a mental note to put it on charge in the car before chucking it in my bag and fumbling to find my keys. Caleb had told me to always have them in hand when I approached my car to be sure no-one could jump me in the seconds it took to get them out. I always scoffed at the idea. This was an airport for goodness’ sake, you couldn’t find better security. Still, the night had a hollow feel to it, even with the bustle of the airport behind me. Eerie clouds swirling around the moon like black ink in water. I shivered and increased my pace while reminding myself I’d made this same journey day in and day out, and I was perfectly safe. Maybe knowing I was going home to an empty house with Caleb over a thousand miles away in Mexico had me on edge. Tiredness didn’t help.

  I zigzagged through the parked cars, desperate to reach the safety of my own and be on the road for my one-hour journey to Castle Rock and home. I told myself it was my imagination when footsteps sounded to my ‘. After all, who could hear them above the sound of the planes? But then they got faster, and I heard running. I turned around in time
to see someone charging at me from a tree by the side of the lot.

  My heart thundered. I gripped my car key and pointed it out between my knuckles, ready to use it as a weapon should the need arise.

  “Amber,” a voice called at the same time as my pursuer’s face came into view, highlighted by the LED lot light.

  “Damn it, Sophia,” I said. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

  She linked her arm in mine and pulled me into the open area between the cars. “I just wanted to catch up, is all,” she said and shivered. “This place creeps me out after dark.”

  “So, you decided to creep me out in return,” I said.

  “Oh, you’ll be fine. No-one would even think of touching you with that big, bad boyfriend of yours.”

  “He’s not that bad.”

  “Ooh.” Sophia raised an overly plucked eyebrow at me. “That means he is big. Just how big are we talking? Ten? Twelve inches?” I laughed, and she dragged me over to her car. “See you in a few days, chica,” she said and hopped in.

  I waited until she’d driven off before finding my own car. I chucked my bag on the passenger seat and shrugged off my coat before starting the engine, revving it for a few seconds to kick start the heating. Fastening my seat belt, I turned the radio on at a low volume and headed away from the airport, towards the I-25. I had the next two days off work and planned to spend them huddled in bed with a good book and a hot-water bottle. A bottle of wine wouldn’t go amiss either.

  I must have been twenty minutes out of Castle Rock when I first heard the rumble of bikes behind me. My first thought was that it was some of the brothers from Forever Midnight, but that notion soon faded when the leading bike came alongside my car and hovered in my blind spot. None of the brothers would pull a stunt like that.

  I dropped back a little to let him pass, but he mirrored my actions. Five more bikes joined him, and one pulled up alongside my window, motioning me to pull over.

  Yeah, like that was going to happen.

  Two of the bikers pulled behind me and turned their lights on high beam. I adjusted my rear-view mirror to avoid their glare and put my foot down on the pedal to pick up speed.

  My stomach felt as hard as a rock and my hand shook as I turned off the radio to better focus on my situation. The motorcycles all pulled alongside me, a whirl of noise, leather, and menace. They motioned for me to pull over again. When I didn’t, they dropped way back. All bar one, who accelerated well past me before turning in the road and coming back at me in a full-on game of chicken.

  “Just run him down,” I said, hoping that voicing the words would give me strength. “The damage to him will be far more than it is to you.”

  My heart pounded and all I could see was the high beam of the bike headed my way. Tears formed in my eyes and I told myself over and over just to head straight, he’d pull out of the way; he had to pull out of the way. But, he didn’t.

  At the last second, I yanked the steering wheel to the side and the car shot onto the grass verge. I kept my head and control of the vehicle intent on pulling it back onto the road again, but my wheel struck something, and my tire burst with a loud boom, followed by a whoosh of air, and an incessant flapping. My car slowed instantly and pulled to the left. I had no choice but to ride it out, slow down gradually or risk flipping the car.

  As soon as the car stopped, I rushed into my bag and grabbed my phone. Two percent. I almost screamed but tried to make a call anyway. I’d only managed one out of the three numbers I needed to call before it died completely.

  My car door yanked open and someone grabbed hold of my arm, leaned across me and unclipped my seatbelt before dragging me out of the car and flinging me against its side.

  My heart hammered and my breaths came in shallow gasps as panic and fear swelled inside. I’d been so stupid. I should have kept my foot down. He would have moved.

  Five bikes made a circle around me and the man who’d dragged me from my car. In their blinding light, it was hard to see anything other than the smiling face of the dark-haired man before me.

  “Amber Gerald, I presume,” he said and ran a finger down my cheek. “You hear of the Feral Sons?”

  I had. I jerked away and tried to back up a step, but there was nowhere for me to go. “What do you want?” I asked.

  He lifted his hand and motioned to the guys on the bikes. To my surprise, they backed away. But when they took up positions around half a mile along either end of the road, I soon realized they were lookouts.

  “If you know who I am then you know my boyfriend?” I said, trying to sound braver than I felt.

  “Your boyfriend, Caleb Landon is the reason I’m fucking here. I like to kick a man when he’s down, and you’re gonna help me do it.”

  By the dimmed light coming from my car and the moon above, I noted the black spot on his neck was a tattoo of a lion wearing a crown. He saw me staring at it and lifted his chin to give me a better view.

  “You like that,” he said before running his hand down my cheek, my neck, my chest. “Be sure to tell Caleb exactly what you saw on the guy who hurt you.”

  I wanted to scream, to lash out. I jerked my knee up, landing a blow to the man’s crotch. He stepped back for a moment. I darted away in a run. I hadn’t gone three steps when he pushed me to the ground, grabbed my legs, and pulled me closer to him.

  “I like a woman with a bit of fight in her,” he said as he grabbed my throat.

  Four years later.

  Chapter One

  Amber

  I pulled the car to a stop and turned in my seat to look at my beautiful angel. Her deep brown eyes were so unlike the blue of my own. At least, she had my blonde hair, although I suspected that would change as she got older.

  “You ready, Charlie-baby?” I asked. “You excited to see Aunt Sophia, Uncle Franc, and Aunt Caroline?”

  She squealed, flapped her legs, and pulled at the straps holding her into her car seat. I wished the nausea rising in my stomach had more to do with excitement than nerves.

  Four years. Four years since I’d been south of Denver. It seemed like a lifetime ago. In Charlie’s case, it was her lifetime, and then some. Even though I’d never been more than an hour’s drive from Castle Rock and the home I once had there, I’d never made the trip, until now.

  “Mommy’s coming,” I said, and got out of the car before opening the back door and freeing Charlie.

  “Walk.” She wriggled in my arms until I put her down.

  “Hold Mommy’s hand by the road, Charlie-baby,” I said when she tried to run ahead. She stopped in her tracks and waited for me with her hand stretched high ready for me to take hold of it.

  My nerves had increased when my surroundings moved away from the big city and into the countryside, and now they felt fit to burst. Still, I wouldn’t miss my best friend’s wedding for the world. Not after everything she’d done for me.

  Before we could reach the door of Sophia’s parent’s bungalow, where we’d be staying for the next few days, it flew open and she ran out to greet us.

  “Hey, chica,” she said, pulling me in for a quick hug before crouching to Charlie’s level. “Hey, little one, you got a big hug for your Aunt Sophia?” Charlie flung her arms around her neck, and Sophia lifted her from the ground. “Oh, you are getting so big, Charlie. Just make sure you don’t get too big too fast or I won’t be able to pick you up.”

  Sophia motioned with her head for us to go inside. “Let me just grab our bags from the trunk first,” I said and rubbed my hand over the top of Charlie’s head. “Will you be okay with Aunt Sophia for a few seconds?”

  “Aunt Sophia,” Charlie echoed and clung on tighter to her neck while bouncing up and down.

  Sophia laughed. “She’ll be fine.”

  I smiled to myself and returned to the car. Huffing out a deep breath, I took in the views of the town and surrounding countryside. I briefly wondered if we had time to take a hike up to the Castle Rock butte, the namesake of our small town
, but decided that Charlie’s little legs weren’t up to it yet.

  Maybe when she’s older.

  I froze, case in hand, surprised at the thought. Homesickness struck me deep inside. I’d missed this place so much and hadn’t even realized it. A knot formed in my throat. This was meant to be a one-time deal. The town held too many bad memories for me to think of coming back again. Although maybe, being home, the good ones would overshadow the bad.

  “Amber,” Sophia’s dad called. Spotting me with the bag, he rushed over and pulled it from my hand. “Come on, let’s hurry you inside. I hope you’re hungry. Caroline has chili on the stove.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Cortez.”

  He shook his head and hefted my bag over his shoulder. “I’m not sure how many times, I’ve told you to call me Franc.”

  “Sorry, Franc. Old habits die hard.”

  As soon as we entered the house, Caroline ran over and fussed over Charlie for a few minutes before turning to me and pulling me in for a hug. “Look at you, as lovely as ever,” she said and placed her hand on my cheek. “How are you doing?”

  I nodded and smiled. “I’m good. I really am.”

  “That’s great to hear. Wait until you see the fabulous dress Sophia has picked out for you to wear. The little one too. One of her other bridesmaids should be here soon. Sweet girl is pregnant. You know what that’s like. Her size is changing daily, so we’re doing one final check before the big day to make sure her dress fits.” She huffed out an exasperated breath and excused herself to the kitchen and her chili.

  “I’ll put your bag in the room,” Franc called, as Sophia, still carrying Charlie, and I followed Caroline.

  “Banana.” Charlie squealed and pointed to the fruit bowl on the center island. Sophia sat her on top of the counter and handed her the fruit, peeling it first.

  “I’m really glad you could make it,” Sophia said reaching over and squeezing my hand.

  “Yeah, me too.” I wiped a spot of banana from Charlie’s face. “I just can’t believe you're getting married, and to a man I’ve only met once. I feel like I’m missing so much of your life.”