Rain or Shine (Fallen Meadows Ranch #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Delaney

Cursed.

If someone were to ask me to give one word that describes my life, that would be it. I’m cursed. Everything about my life is. It’s the way it always seems to be.

It started when I was little, after my mom left my dad to raise my two older brothers and me. He worked two jobs until a massive heart attack took him when I was in the eighth grade. Then five years later, while I was a freshman in college, a semi-truck jack-knifed, taking Davis from Dustin and me.

My only blessing was that when we lost Davis I was home on winter break.

I was lucky enough to be able to see him one last time.

It might not seem as such, but it was a gift to have the memories of the days leading up to the accident.

I hated losing Davis. He was the one I talked to the most. Not that I don’t love Dustin, he was always great growing up, but losing Davis was like a wall building in place between the two of us.

We didn’t talk as much. Didn’t really spend time together.

We lost the glue that held our family together.

Dustin became more involved in his club, where he now goes by what he calls his road name.

I honestly don’t understand the MC life.

To me, he’s always been Dustin, though when around others, he’s asked me to call him Mammon.

I do this for him to keep things good between us, and so we don’t have fights.

I do a lot of things to appease him since I’m not a confrontational person. I never have been. I’m more of a book nerd and homebody than someone who likes going out and partying.

I get my reasons for being a homebody and reading all the time, though others wouldn’t get it or even understand why. If I go out and make friends, there’s a chance that those people I end up caring for could end up leaving me like everyone else has in my life.

The only one I’m okay to keep around, even at a distance, is Dustin. He’s the only one who I’ll let in since I don’t have to let him past my walls.

It’s the reason I agreed to the job offer at Saddle Ridge Elementary as a kindergarten teacher. I could keep my stance with life and still spend time with my brother every once in a while.

The decision to move home hadn’t been an easy one, but there were reasons that pushed me to make the move.

Ones I’ve kept to myself and won’t be sharing.

It was already hard enough to take the step, however, I don’t regret it.

It was time to face all the memories. Including the bad ones.

One of the worst was standing in the middle of the road while a friend of Dustin’s told me our brother was gone.

Dustin had been off to the side, surrounded by others, his back to a white picket fence, head down, shoulders shaking.

I shake the thought away, not wanting to go deeper.

I never liked going down the rabbit hole of that dreaded day, or the days that followed.

It’s never something a sibling wants to have to decide.

The yes or no answers to where his body should go.

Of knowing he’s an organ donor and parts of him would go to someone else.

Though Davis had been gone, they’d been about to save some of his organs, including his eyes, to give to another person.

Only we never got to find out who those people were who received them. At the time, I thought of looking into finding out who the recipients were. I knew you could find out, but I never went through with it. I couldn’t.

The idea of meeting the person who had Davis’s eyes and seeing them in another’s face . . . it would kill.

Sucking in a breath, I shove all thoughts to the side. I needed to get ready.

My brother is dragging me to a wedding. He insists I need to break out of my shell and cut loose before the school year begins.

I reluctantly agreed, hoping if I did, he’d lay off and let me live my best introverted life.

Plus, I’m kind of curious to see how the bikers do a wedding.

Will the VP wear a suit and tie when he ties the knot?

Probably not. I hear he's marrying a sweet girl, though.

My brother is hellbent on making Della my new best friend.

Slipping into a simple, knee-length crochet dress, I reach for the only pair of boots I own.

Typically, I wear flip-flops or no shoes at all.

Work is the exception. I have a ton of different flats I like to wear.

Though for work, I have a ton of different flats I like to wear.

Being that I’m only five-five, I could seriously get away with heels, they just weren’t my thing.

I preferred to have my toes in the grass as much as possible.

Checking the time, I groan. I need to finish getting ready if I want to get there on time.

I brush out my blonde hair and put on minimal makeup.

Another thing I am pretty basic about. It’s not that I’m conceited about the way I look by any means.

I simply don’t like to cake my face up. Moisturizer, a little concealer, mascara, eyeliner, and a red lipstick. That’s all I need.

Once I’m ready, I make it through my little rental. It’s lucky, with it still being summer, I could find a place. Saddle Ridge and its surrounding area are famous for rodeos. However, there’s more to the town itself than just the rodeo. The views alone could attract tourists.

Finding my boho bag, I make sure to grab my keys and phone from by the entryway. I check my bag to make sure I have a book, I never leave without one, and my wallet. I’m paperbacks all the way.

I take a breath and step outside into the sweltering heat thanks to the late summer days. I’ll be glad when it starts to cool off and the leaves begin to turn autumn colors. I long to smell the fall air in the breeze.

Sighing, I hop into my truck, a gift from both Dustin and Davis when I graduated high school.

It was so I could get home whenever I needed to.

I’ve kept it in top running shape myself, as they taught me, so I didn’t worry about going to a mechanic to do those things.

I have everything I need to fix it myself.

The truck starts with a loud rumble of the exhaust system. One thing about my Chevy Z71, you can hear it coming from a mile away. If not more. Something my brothers used to joke about, they’d know I was coming home without me telling ‘em.

I put the truck in reverse, back out onto the street, and throw it in drive. Music blasts from the speakers, Zac Brown’s Chicken Fried. This song always makes me smile. I love the song for no other reason than for what I feel when I hear it.

By the time I make it to the clubhouse where my brother told me to meet him, four other songs have played through, including Fancy by Reba.

I spot my brother outside as I park off to the side, where other cars and trucks are. He makes his way over to me, a grin in place, one I know means he’s actually happy, and he’s not just putting on a front.

“You actually made it on time,” he jokes, knowing me well.

“I’ve gotten better about being on time for things.” I always tend to be late to everything I’m invited to. To avoid this, I now set an alarm for when I’m supposed to leave.

Dustin pulls me into his arms and hugs me close. My eyes shut of their own accord at the familiarity of it. For a long time, I didn’t have this from him, but since moving back a couple of weeks ago, he’s hugged me whenever we see each other.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.” With his arm still around my shoulders, I start walking toward the back of the clubhouse.

“I’ve already met them,” I tell him, not wanting him to put the attention on me. I didn’t do well with attention. I haven’t been one for wanting the spotlight.

“You know my brothers, but you need to meet the others that are around here today,” he explains. “We’ve got Della’s family and those who work on the ranch here as well.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” He chuckles and stops us next to the first group of guys. Two of them I recognize. The others, I can somewhat remember their faces. “Amelia, you might remember her, but Maddox, Garrett, this is my little sister, Delaney. Laney, this is Della’s brother, his fiancée, and Garrett.”

“Yeah, we met a couple of years ago at one of the club’s cookouts. You were the girl with the book, and I was the lunatic running after a feral little boy, secretly wishing I had time to read.” Amelia smiles warmly. “It’s good to see you again.”

The man standing beside Amelia winds an arm around her waist, drawing her into the crook of his arm, making it clear he's her fiancé, and not the other man standing to her left.

His eyes leave Amelia, and he regards me with a curt nod.

“Nice to meet you, sweetheart.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Garrett gives me a chin lift, his fingers on the brim of his cowboy hat.

“You all as well,” I say, feeling my cheeks heat at the attention.

“And you remember Shadow and Lucifer.”

“Yeah.” I nod, not really able to meet Lucifer’s gaze.

It’s not that he wasn’t nice to me. It wasn’t even the fact that he could seem intimidating.

I simply struggle to look into his eyes because when I do, all I see is him telling me that Davis is gone.

He took it on his shoulders to tell me something tragic, and I respect him for it.

He didn’t have to be the one to tell me.

He could have left it to my brother or even one of the many officers on scene that fateful day to break the news, but he’d been the one to do it instead.

“Delaney, good to see you again.” My gaze slides to him, and a relieved sigh escapes me when I find his eyes are pinned to my brother. “What’s the matter, Mammon? Couldn’t find a saddle bunny to bring to the wedding, so you brought your sister instead?”

“Fuck you, man,” my brother grunts. “She needed a night out.”

“Well, whatever the reasoning, I’m glad you could come today,” Shadow says, pulling my attention toward him. “Mammon mentioned you’re gonna start teaching here.”

“Yes, I’m one of the new kindergarten teachers. I start orientation next week, then I’ll be able to set up my classroom and prepare for open house and the first day of class.”

“Her last school awarded her best teacher of the year,” Dustin brags, giving me a squeeze.

“It’s not a big deal,” I mumble and shake my head. Yes, I’d gotten the award, but all I did was do my job and make sure my students learned the material they needed to know. I didn’t rush them as I helped them learn and thrive in the classroom, as many other teachers do.

Thankfully, Amelia turns the attention from me, and they all bustle about getting ready for the wedding to begin. My brother shows me to a seat, taking the one next to me.

“You don’t have to sit with me if you don’t want to,” I tell him while picking at a strand in the hem of my dress.

“I’m good right here.” I don’t know what this change is in him, but it honestly freaks me out.

For the last several years, he’s been pretty aloof. He talks to me, but it’s never been like this, just like with the hugging. That wall I have up was just like the one he had toward me. Only now it’s different with him, and I don’t understand why.

“What’s going on with you?” I blurt without meaning to. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ask that.” Not out loud, that is.

“Mammon,” someone shouts, calling for him to join them.

Dustin looks at me. “I gotta go help Shade, but to answer your question quick-like, I was reminded not long ago that I don’t want to lose the only blood I have left.

I watched Maddox nearly lose his sister.

Shadow could’ve lost his woman, but she’s here.

I’ve lost one sibling, I’m not losing the other.

I’m not going through that again, Laney.

I won’t. Now that you’re back, I’m fixing things between us.

We’re going to get back what we shouldn’t have lost in the first place. ”

With his words cutting me like a double-edged sword, he gets up and heads in Shade’s direction.

The ceremony starts moments after his departure, and I’m left with his words reeling in my head on repeat. I’m not sure how to handle what he said to me. Throughout the entire thing, I don’t really pay attention, not even when Shadow kisses his bride.

All I keep thinking about is escaping the feeling that my brother has embedded in me.

Did he lose me? Did we lose each other? For so many years now, we haven’t been the same as we were with each other.

Could we get that back? I didn’t think so.

I’m cursed to lose everyone in my life. I couldn’t go back, not with the fear lingering over me.

Or without him learning my secrets that I keep deep down.

My dad used to say that rain or shine, there’s always a brighter side. Well, my life always seems to be raining without a brighter side, so I stopped looking a long time ago. I’m better off alone, and that’s how it should stay.