NO MORE RUNNING (Southside Skulls Nomads #1)

Chapter 1

LEXI

Isat on the wooden bench outside the café, breaking off the last pieces of my blueberry muffin and tossing them to a couple of birds pecking around near my feet.

One of them hopped closer, and I flicked him the remains and brushed my hands.

The rain had stopped about an hour ago, but puddles still covered the sidewalk. One sat right in front of me, reflecting the bright morning sun.

That was when I noticed the bench was wet too.

"Damn it."

I shifted my weight and immediately felt the moisture that had been slowly soaking through the seat of my jeans.

Fucking perfect. Just like everything else in my life.

Now I would have to walk the two miles to Leo's school with a wet ass that probably looked like I peed myself.

I stared down at the puddle as tears began to well up in my eyes.

A shadow suddenly cut across the sunlight dancing on the water and I felt even more gray from the cloud I assumed had moved overhead.

Just my fucking luck.

Probably the only cloud in all of Boston.

Then I realized someone was standing in front of me.

Of all the places someone could stand in this practically empty place, they decided to shade the only light in my life other than Leo.

I glanced up, ready to ask this nuisance if he could move one step to the left or one to the right and give me a little light when...

Holy fuck.

He was tall, muscled and covered in tattoos.

Dark sunglasses hid his eyes, but they did nothing to soften the hard angles of his face. His brown hair was long and wavy, his beard neatly trimmed. His leather vest stretched across shoulders that looked wide enough to block traffic.

Southside Skulls Nomads, the patch on his vest stated.

Shit.

A biker.

The last type of man I ever wanted to get involved with even if he was the last man standing on earth.

"You okay, darling?"

Darling?

He called me darling.

I felt like telling him to get fucked and fuck off, but I just didn't have the energy.

Instead, I stood and walked away.

Brax

It broke my heart to look into the face of someone so beautiful and see eyes so sad.

What was happening in her life?

Or what had happened to make her look so dejected?

Maybe her lover had died.

Or someone else special.

And then I called her darling.

Fuck me if that wasn't the wrong choice.

I wanted to chase after her and take away the pain.

Instead I went inside the café and bought myself a muffin.

Stepping back outside with that and a coffee in my hand, I watched her fade into the distance and turn the corner out of sight.

I wondered where she was headed.

I could give her a ride.

Would she want a ride?

Maybe from someone with a car, but most women were scared off when they saw someone looking like me.

I guessed everyone made judgments and first impressions, and someone who had just stolen her sun and insulted her apparently wasn't giving off the sort of vibes that would get me anywhere with that sad lady.

I sat on the same bench she'd been sitting on minutes earlier and ah fuck.

Wet ass.

I stood before it could soak through any more and took a bite of my muffin, the rest crumbling through my fingers and onto the ground where it caused a sudden flurry of bird life from the little beggars who should've had enough already.

Oh well.

Good for them.

At least they were singing.

I finished my coffee beside my bike, tossed the cup into a nearby trash can, then threw my leg over the seat of my Softail, started her up and did a U-turn.

Heading in the same direction the sad one had walked.

Lexi

I walked with my head down because it helped me think.

I was always thinking.

How would I pay for food?

Would Leo grow up to resent me for the life I was giving him?

Where would we sleep tonight if the back door lock at the church had been fixed?

The kind of questions no mother of a seven-year-old boy should ever have to ask.

The rumble of a motorcycle behind me pulled me from my thoughts.

I knew it wasn't the guy who'd stolen my sun and called me darling because the only bike back there had been facing in the other direction.

It came right up beside me and...

FUCK!

A giant splash of water soaked my jeans as he pulled to the curb through a puddle.

I spun around so fast in fury that I didn't recognize the face in the instant between yelling, "You fucking asshole,” and punching him in the face.

"Ow. Fuck. Fuck!"

My hand hurt like all hell.

I felt like I'd just punched a cement wall.

I grabbed my battered hand with the other and looked again as tears filled my eyes.

"You!"

It was him.

From the café.

The shadow.

He held his hands up.

"Sorry. I am so sorry."

He was getting off his bike but I was already walking away as fast as my shaky legs could take me.

"Wait. Please," he said. "I'm sorry. Can I give you a ride somewhere?"

I stopped and turned to face him as he walked toward me from where he'd left his bike.

"I don't need a hospital," I said. "And I don't need you in my day, or any other day."

He stopped in his tracks.

"And I'm not your fucking darling."

"I know," he said. "Wrong word. I was just trying to be nice."

“Your fucking head,” I said. "What's it made of? Brick?"

He laughed and his whole face transformed into something soft that I couldn't imagine would damage anyone's hand.

"Maybe," he said. "Maybe I'm as thick as a brick for the way I introduced myself today."

"OK," I said.

Then I turned and continued walking.

And here came the fucking bike again.

What was wrong with this guy?

Didn't he have some club girl or someone else to go fuck?

I didn't need this today. I just needed to be left alone so I could work the next hour of my shit out.

The rumble passed me by and the bike stopped up ahead and sure enough it was Shadow.

Or whatever the hell his name was.

I felt like heading back to the café and getting one more free day-old muffin from Tash.

She was a single mom too and she was struggling to get by like me. But when I was in a funk I knew not to linger in the shop and when she was, the same applied. We didn't like bringing each other down and sometimes it seemed like that was all we were good for.

I stopped and folded my arms as he stepped off his bike.

"Look, let's start again," he said as he strolled toward me.

"We're not starting anything," I said.

I knew I was being a bitch now, but he stole my sun, soaked my jeans, and not in a good way, and my hand was still hurting because his jaw was like a rock.

"So, let me just fix what I started that you didn't want."

"Okay, so you're offering to wash and dry my jeans and bandage my hand?"

"Sure," he said in a voice that sounded far too smooth for a biker. "I'll buy you new jeans if you like."

My eyebrows shot up.

Was this guy serious?

"Two pairs," he added. "Designer if you like."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"I've got a kid," I said.

"Me too," he replied.

“Congratulate your wife," I said.

“Don’t have one,” he said. "I won't ask if you have a husband."

His brows were up now and I knew it was more of a question than a statement, but I let it go.

"I just need to get to my boy's school and walk him home. Thanks all the same but I'm good to go."

"I can drop you off, but I won't be able to give both of you a ride home."

Home.

My home was wherever it was warmest and safest and free.

"It's the least I can do."

I didn't know why the fuck I said, "Okay," because nothing good could come from this, but I did, and when he smiled…

If he wasn't the most handsome man I'd ever seen, then I didn't know who was.

He gestured to his bike with an open palm and I walked toward it, about to get on yet another bad boy's bike in my life.

The last time I'd done that, I'd ended up in my current mess.

I'd forgotten about my wet ass and my wet legs because something else was getting wet now as I leaned against his back and felt the heat from his body and the rumble of his bike doing nasty things to somewhere that hadn't seen a lot of action in years.

At least if my panties were wetter than they should've been, the café seat was a perfectly good excuse.

It felt good to be thinking about something other than free food, free accommodation and someone else's needs for once.

I'd forgotten what that actually felt like.

But I needed to push those thoughts out of my mind because there was no room for them.

Not now.

Not until something changed.

I'd work if I could get a job in this economy, but everybody was cutting back or closing down, and they didn't need a single mom who could only work during school hours.

I had my arms around his waist because there was nothing else to hang on to, and he'd just placed one hand gently over my bruised hand as if to comfort me.

Maybe I should've flipped the script and called him Light rather than Shadow, because my dad used to tell me good thoughts brought good things.

I'd been thinking that was a lie recently, but I should've put faith in the man who'd done more for me than any other man in my life.

I was a grown-ass woman, but I wished I had my mom and dad now.

"Oh wow," Leo shouted as he came bounding up to me while Shadow helped me off his bike.

My hair was a bird's nest because he didn't have a helmet for me. He'd told me if we got pulled over, he'd tell the cops my helmet had been stolen.

"Can I sit on your Harley?" Leo asked.

"Sure, man," Shadow said as he hoisted Leo onto the seat and my little man grabbed hold of the handlebars.

Shadow started showing Leo all the switches and dials, explaining everything as if I'd vanished, but it made my heart swell so much I thought my chest might split in two.

I was really fighting back the tears now.

I was good at doing that in front of Leo.

Crying in front of my boy was not an indulgence I could afford.

"What's your name?" I heard Shadow ask.

"Leo."

"I'm Braxton. You can call me Brax."

They fist-bumped each other and I lost it.

I turned away as the tears started streaming down my face.

My lips were quivering and when I dried my eyes I saw a group of three mothers snickering at me.

I knew what that was all about.

It's easy to look down on people when you're not in the gutter.

I looked back at Leo and Brax with a smile on my face and thanked God for Leo's distraction.

Brax looked at me, then at the bitches over my shoulder.

Then he pulled me into a hug and I let him.

Brax

It felt good to hold her, but she pushed her hands against my chest and stepped back, then looked at her boy to see if he'd seen us.

Fortunately for her, he was still admiring my bike.

I looked over her shoulder and the women were talking and sniggering.

I knew them.

I walked up to the group and told them something, quietly enough that Leo's mom couldn't hear.

They all stormed off.

"What did you say?" Leo's mom asked.

"Doesn't matter, Leo's mom," I said.

"Lexi," she told me.

"Nice," I said. "Suits you."

"Suits me? Why?"

"It means defender of man."

I nodded toward Leo.

"Greek,” I said.

"You're Greek?" she asked.

"No, your name," I replied.

She raised her eyebrows.

"It has Greek roots."

"Oh."

I thought I'd diverted her from the question.

"So, what did you say to those women?”

Nope.

This one didn't give up.

"I know them, from my boy's friends."

Now her eyes were wide.

Davey went to this school too, but he lived with his mom and we took turns picking him up. He was away on a day trip.

She was waiting for her answer.

"I told them they should spend less time judging people and more time worrying about their own marriages."

"That's all?"

"I might have implied a couple of their husbands spent too much time around club girls."

"Really? They do that?"

"Nah, but what the fu?—"

I stopped before the word landed on Leo's little ears.

Oh, man...

If that wasn't the prettiest smile I'd seen all year.

It appeared and disappeared so fast I almost thought I'd imagined it.

"Hey, Brax," I heard Leo call from behind me.

"Yeah."

"Can you take me for a ride?"

"Depends on your mom," I said.

He looked at her with big blue eyes and she said, "Maybe, but not today."

"Okay," he said.

Then he asked me, pointing to my vest, "What's a nomad?"

"Someone who travels around."

He nodded.

"I do trips on my bike for the club."

"Cool," he said. "So you don't have a home?"

"Well..."

I started, but he was a little chatterbox.

"We don't have one either."

Lexi butted in.

"Come on, Leo. Let's get going."

"Where?" I asked her.

"Church," Leo said.

"Leo," she said, her voice stern this time.

"It's okay," I said. "I believe in God too."

I didn't really, but faith could help a person get through some tough times, so whatever worked for them.

"No, we don't go to church?—"

She cut him off.

"Leo! Let's go."

"Okay," he said as he climbed off my bike.

But as he walked past me to his mom, he whispered,

"We only sleep there."

Fuck.

They were fucking homeless.

Lexi held her hand up to me.

"Don't say a word."

I started.

"But—"

"Don't say a fucking word."

She mouthed the fucking, but I got the message.

Then she grabbed Leo's hand and they started heading toward town.

I didn't know what to do.

Help?

I had no right to interfere but...

I stood and watched as they walked away, but not before hearing Leo say,

"Why are we going this way?"

She was trying to lead me astray, but there were only three churches within walking distance from here and I intended to check every one of them out that night, whether she or God liked it.