Safe Haven (Royal Harlots MC Baltimore, MD)

Prologue

Jersey Shore

“But the moment that I first laid, eyes on him, all alone, on the edge of seventeen!”

Ilay under the hot summer sun, tapping my fingers to the music blaring in my ear as I secretly watch my elderly neighbor’s grandson fixing something on her roof.

His brown hair is blowing in the sea breeze, and I bite my lip, remembering just how soft those curls felt as I ran my hands through them when we were making out last night in the back of his pickup truck.

“I thought it was against your religion to tan?” I groan at my cousin’s voice.

“And I thought you were in Juvie for another month.” I sit up and lift my sunglasses to stare at Danica.

Our parents are twins. Meaning, our mothers and fathers are genetic matches, making our DNA more like sisters.

We’re only three months apart, so growing up was a nightmare of matching lace and bows.

Until I hit age thirteen and decided I hated the color pink and took my entire wardrobe into my dad’s garage and tried to use motor oil to dye it black.

It didn’t work out so well, but my parents got the point.

I was not going to be their little princess anymore. They vetoed me trying to change my name to Raven, but they have since accepted my goth emo ways in stride.

Between the two of us, I look like the troublemaker. Danica kept her blonde, wavy hair and sun-kissed skin. She added the pushup bra and daisy dukes once her body filled out, and depends on her looks to get her out of trouble.

Didn’t work out so well this past Christmas when she was shoplifting the new Angel Collection at Victoria’s Secret.

“Let me out on good behavior.” She grins and winks at me before sitting across from me in the other lounge chair.

“So, you gave the guards a blow job.” I place my glasses back on my nose and lean back to try to ignore her.

But I can’t help but notice how my pale skin and black bikini are the complete opposite of her bronze skin and white bikini. However, our faces are identical to the naked eye. IF she ever dyed her hair black, I’d be in deep fucking trouble.

I love her, but Danica only cares about herself, and sure as shit, she’d try to pass me off as the family fuck up in a second.

If she weren’t such a fucking delinquent, she’d be an excellent actress.

“Still a fucking prude, I see. Tell me, are you still a virgin? Are you pining for that neighbor boy to pop your cherry?” I grit my teeth as Joel chooses that exact moment to glance our way.

Fuck, did he hear her?

“What the fuck do you want, Danica? You never visit unless you have a reason.” I glare at her through my sunglasses as she keeps watching Joel.

“Who I choose to fuck or not is none of your concern. WHY. ARE. YOU. HERE?” She sighs dramatically and sits up, making sure her boobs are spilling out of her top right in Joel’s line of sight.

BITCH.

“I need your help.” Of course she fucking does.

“No.” I stand up, grab my towel and iPod before turning my back on her to march my ass back inside where I can put my parents between me and whatever the fuck she has planned.

“PLEASE!” she calls after me, but I ignore her.

I slam the back door in her face, but she just opens it like I wasn’t telling her not to come in.

“Mom?” I call out when she’s not in the kitchen.

“They left for the store,” Danica announces, making me spin on her.

“Just because they aren’t here doesn’t mean I’ll agree to help.” She sighs and drops her shoulders, which immediately start to shake with fake tears.

Here we fucking go.

“I know I’ve put you in impossible positions in the past, but this time I really fucked up. If I don’t fix this, they’re going to kill me.” When her watery eyes look up and meet mine, I swallow hard.

I almost believe her.

“Danica, I am not going to help you fix shit. You got yourself into it, get yourself out. I’m done helping you destroy your life, and I sure as shit am not going down with you. Keep me out of your troubles.” She steps back away from me and stumbles as if I physically pushed her.

The hurt that fills her eyes and the scared pose her body takes almost has me taking my words back, but in a flash, her entire demeanor changes.

“Whatever, thanks for nothing, cuz.” She storms out the back door, and I rub my forehead.

“Shit,” I walk over to the fridge to get some water when I hear the back door open and close.

“I haven’t changed my mind, Danica,” I call over my shoulder before turning to see Joel standing in my kitchen instead.

“Oh, hey.” I bit my lip as his eyes roamed my body.

“You hide all those curves under those baggy black clothes? Why?” His smirk does things to my body I can’t even explain.

“I’m not the flashy type.” I wish I had something to cover myself up with.

“Fuck, Haven. You look good enough to eat.”

Shit, how was I supposed to answer that?

“Ya hungry?” What did I just say?!

“Starved.” He makes his way around the counter that was separating us and kisses me without hesitation.

I’ve made out with a few boys before, but the way Joel kisses me is not how little Bobby Cruz did at Susan’s fifteenth birthday party when he got me during a game of spin the bottle.

His hands hold my face at just the right angle, and when my lips part to let his tongue in, they move into my hair. He groans as he pulls our bodies closer, and since he’s shirtless and I’m still in my bikini, our skin sizzles when it touches.

His hot flesh meets my cooler skin, from being in the air conditioner longer than him.

“Is it true? Are you a virgin?” I freeze, and he immediately takes a step back.

“It doesn’t matter to me. I just don’t want to rush you.” His face flushes as he says it, and somehow it makes him even more handsome to me.

“Danica has a big fucking mouth. Probably from all the blow jobs she’s given. I am nothing like her.” I make sure he understands I have standards and limits.

“Got it. No blow jobs.” He grins and steps close to me again.

I stop him with my hand flat on his chest.

“You’re ok with that?” He looks down at me like I hung the fucking moon.

“I want so much more from you, Haven, but I can wait until you’re ready.” Wow, if that was a line, it sure was a good one, but Joel has this demeanor about him.

What you see is what you get, and I’ve fallen head over heels in love with him this summer. The problem is that the summer was almost over. I was leaving for college in three weeks, and he was off to the Navy in ten days.

Fuck, was that really all the time we had left?

“Let me take you to dinner tonight.” He tucks a piece of my long bangs behind my ear.

“Like a date?” I raise my eyebrow, and he runs his thumb over it.

“Mmhmm,” I bite my lip as I think about it.

He runs his finger from my temple to my bottom lip, which he then pries out from between my teeth and rubs as he waits for me to answer.

My pulse jumps, and my breath catches at the action.

“You’re dangerous to my health.”

Joel shrugs with that cocky grin I’ve learned to love.

“Probably, but I promise only to ruin your panties.” He winks as I glare at him.

Too fucking late, buddy.