Badass Women Hell’s Fire (Badass Women #12)

Chapter 1

Kelly and Shay: The Beginning...

Shay looked troubled as he let out a sigh. “Your friend Kelly here is not who she claims to be.”

Kelly glared at him.

Pops stepped up along with his other men, GTO, Chase, Whiskey, Crusher, and Comanche.

“What the fuck are you saying?” GTO asked.

“I have quick resources. I took a picture of her while I was here before and did facial recognition.”

“You did what?” Shelby walked up as she heard the last part. “How dare you!”

Kelly grabbed her arm. “Wait, Shelby.”

“Why should we wait?” Comanche spoke up. “This asshole may have saved the day but we aren’t going to stand here while he—”

“Just stop!” Kelly shouted. “He’s right.”

The men and Shelby all looked over at her.

“At least, he’s partly right.” Kelly seethed as she glared at Shay.

He simply stared back at her and he did not look away.

“My real name is Kelly Hines. Over thirty years ago, my mother met a man in the military, and he raped her at a party they were both at. Of course, he called it consensual, so there was very little the military could do about it. But when my mom knew she was having me, she went to him and told him. He denied having anything to do with her and asked one of his friends to take care of her for him. His friend beat her up pretty badly and dumped her outside of town. She was able to get herself home, then she packed her bags and left. She had nowhere to go, as she didn’t have a decent family, so she found herself in Iowa and decided to stay there.

She had me and raised me well.” Kelly paused as she sniffled a bit but refused to cry in front of the men, especially Shay it seemed.

“Then four years ago, my mom died of pneumonia. Going through her papers, I found the news articles about what he did to my mother. That’s how I finally found out the truth, as she never told me anything about my father, just that he didn’t want a kid.

But she loved me enough for two parents.

” She looked around at her men then at Shay.

“It seems I might be Owen Ever’s daughter.

He was that man. I decided to find out if he was my father or not.

So, I left Iowa and was making my way toward DC when I ran into.

..” she paused again and looked at the men she’d rode with for all this time.

“My boys, as I call them... became my family. They are all my brothers.” She turned to glare at Shay.

“So, I didn’t want to confront him anymore. He’s a piece of shit anyway.”

All her boys gathered close around her. Some of them reached out to pat her shoulder and her arms.

At the Savaged Souls Compound...

“Did you get Owen on treason charges?” Kelly asked about her no-good father.

Shay nodded. “We were able to round his entire group up, before they were even aware of what was happening.”

Kelly looked disappointed in any case. “I wish he could still be charged with what he did to my mother but time ran out for that crime a long time ago.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you want to admit being part of that particular family,” Shay told her.

Kelly growled and tightened her hands into fists. “Only problem is Mr. Government Man, I had no choice, none at all. It wasn’t like I got to choose who my parents were.”

Shay closed his eyes and hung his head. He just couldn’t win today. Open mouth, insert size thirteen boot. “Not what I meant at all, sweetheart.”

“What did you mean then, Government Man?” Pops asked as he leaned back on the seat of his bike. He squinted at Shay. “Have we ever met before? I know you from somewhere. I could almost swear I’ve seen you before last week.”

Shay glared at the older man. “I don’t think so.

I’ve met a lot of people in my lifetime but I think I would remember you.

” He turned back to study Kelly again. “What I mean is her grandmother doesn’t need to know that Kelly is her son’s daughter.

Janet Severs will make her life a living hell,” Shay explained.

Kelly was stunned. She suddenly went from having only one member of a family to having two. “I have a grandmother?”

Shay shook his head. “You may not want this woman in your life.”

“I wasn’t aware of the fact I even had a grandmother until now.”

“You haven’t missed much.” Shay scoffed. “Janet Harris Revers is not a pleasant woman by any stretch of the imagination.”

Later that same day...

Kelly was outside, sitting in the garden Winona and DeeDee had. She just needed a few minutes alone to think about what she had learned today.

This was where Shay found her. “Are you okay?” he asked her as he sat down across from her.

Kelly shrugged and admitted, “I’ve been better.

” She looked away and told him softly, “You know all I ever wanted was a family. A mom and a dad, like most kids have. I mean I had a great mom and despite what happened to her, she did love me. She never told me about my dad until she got sick and she knew she wasn’t going to make it.

Growing up, I never even knew his name. Then after she was gone, the more I learned about him the more I hated him, and what he’d done to her.

She certainly didn’t deserve what happened.

” She wiped away the tears from her face.

“After she recovered from the beating she took when she went to confront Owen and she felt me kick for the first time, she knew what she had to do. She had to allow me to live and she knew she had to raise me right. She moved to a small town in Iowa and did just that. She found a job and we made our life there, just the two of us.”

Shay studied her face and listened to her voice as she told him about her life.

She hesitated. “She told me once after she got sick this last time, that she never regretted having me. Her life was hard sometimes, we didn’t always have money to pay the rent, but she said she always loved me the most she could and she prayed it would be good enough.

” She turned to look at him and admitted, “It was. Good enough, I mean.”

“What about her own parents? Didn’t they help you two?” Shay asked.

Kelly shook her head. “As soon as they found out what happened, they turned their backs on her. According to her, they were very religious and when she was raped, they blamed her for provoking it. Then she ended up pregnant and they claimed she was wanton. They never believed she was innocent. When she finally walked away from them, she never contacted them again.” Gazing down at the table and taking a deep breath, she admitted in a soft voice, “I looked them up after I grew up. I wanted to tell them their daughter was dead and where she was buried. I knocked on their door and when her dad answered, he looked at me and I could see that he knew immediately who I was. He told me I looked like his daughter and then he asked if she sent me to him. I told him she hadn’t and he said that was a good thing.

He said she left years ago and they were no longer responsible for her or her issues.

” She laughed as tears ran down her face.

“To his mind, I was nothing more than her issue. I wasn’t his granddaughter, I wasn’t a person in my own right, I was just his daughter’s problem.

Then he told me never to come back. They wanted nothing to do with her or me.

I turned around and walked away. I got on my bike and I could still hear him shouting but I was no longer listening to his rants.

Just as I took off, I turned my head and glared at him.

His face was red and he was still shouting.

His wife was standing behind him looking frightened and praying and you know what I did? ”

“No, what did you do?” Shay asked as he shook his head.

“I revved up the engine on my bike and just before I took off, I flipped that crazy old man off. Then I did what my mom did. I understood her a little better after I met her parents that day. I left and never once looked in my rear-view mirror. They weren’t worth it.”

Her story touched his heart. First, her own father, then her grandparents on her mom’s side, and he knew her grandmother on her dad’s side would do nothing for her.

No wonder this woman seemed to be searching for something she couldn’t find.

She lost the only person who cared whether she was dead or alive.

She found her ‘boys’ as she called them and she had found in them something no one else offered her.

They offered her protection, just because they were good men.

They gave her friendship and a shoulder to lean on when she needed it.

And she offered them the same. Nothing more, nothing less.

They were a family of sorts and even if they weren’t blood related, they were related.

This brought him back to the way he’d felt a few days ago.

Family. He realized he did not know what having a real family felt like.

He had to turn his own parents in for treason of all things.

Shay reached out and took her hands in his.

He decided that he wanted this woman in his life.

He knew it the minute he first saw her. He hoped she would agree to at least give him a chance.

A week later...Hell’s Fire Riders Compound

Kelly and Shay walked into the room, hand in hand.

In the far corner, the men who had come with Kelly were sitting at a table. Pops, GTO, Chase, Crusher, and Comanche. Each of them had a half a beer in front of him.

“Hey Mr. Government Man,” Pops called out to Shay. “I finally remembered where we met before.”

Shay turned to face him. “Oh yeah, where was this? I told you I’ve never met you before.”

“Yeah, I know you did.” Pops growled as he stared at their joined hands. “Kelly, you might not want to hold his hand.”

“Why not, Pops?” she asked as she looked between the two of them.

“Cuz, I know you hate liars and cheats and he’s lying to you,” Pops grumbled.

“How so?” Kelly stepped away from Shay.