Brewer (Dead Souls MC Book 3) Read online

  I slid a couple of twenties out of my back pocket and handed it over to the man. He took it proudly and nodded his thanks, then I watched him and his buddy climb up into the moving van. I stood there while Ana waved them off, then the two of us turned back to the house.

  And I was painfully aware of the fact that my neighbor was staring at me.

  Without turning to look at him, I started back into the house. I opened up the back door and let Ana run out into her new backyard. She had a few play toys back there that would keep her occupied, and I could watch her from the kitchen while I unpacked everything.

  Her laughter was intoxicating, and it reassured me that I had done the right thing.

  My ex was a piece of shit. I’d caught him cheating with one of my co-workers. Right there in the fucking back room of the building. I worked as a warehouse manager and was always back and forth between the front desks of the operation and the products out back. Despite the fact that the job wasn’t glamorous, it was a very good paycheck and had outstanding health benefits. I was thankful that my prior boss put in a good word for me, because I already had three interviews set up.

  And I was pretty sure one of them was already a given.

  As I stacked things in the kitchen, I watched Ana slide down her little plastic slide. She was giggling and having the best time and it made my heart soar. I’d already planned ahead and gotten her enrolled into school. She started at the beginning of the week and I hoped she would enjoy it. The people around here seemed nice enough. The secretary of the Elementary School she would be starting at helped me out by faxing everything over so I could get it back to her immediately.

  They had been a massive help through this entire process and it reassured me I’d chosen a good spot for us to touch down.

  The moment I figured out my ex was cheating on me, I threw him out. Then I packed up my shit and left. Luckily, he wasn’t Ana’s father. So, I didn’t have to worry about him coming after her or anything. Ana’s father was a good man. We’d gotten pregnant my senior year of high school and he had enlisted into the military in order to provide for us. He went through basic and moved us onto base with him, and we quickly fell into a good life together.

  But before Ana was even six months old, an accident out in the field took him from us. Leaving me as a single mother at nineteen years old.

  That was how I’d gotten into the warehouse business. It was the only place that would hire someone like me with nothing more than a high school diploma. My ex was my boss, and he saw potential in me. We grew close and he suggested all these certifications for me to get, and then I was promoted. I kept getting promoted, inching my way towards success. And he cheered me on every step of the way. Loved me and supported me and enjoyed his time with Ana.

  Until I had been promoted over him as the overall manager of the entire warehouse.

  That was when our relationship took a turn for the worst. He got angry with me easier and didn’t come around as much. He stopped spending time with Ana and she would constantly ask about him. We had more fights in the last year of our relationship than we’d had throughout the course of it, and it wasn’t until I caught him cheating with one of the line workers that I realized what had happened.

  He resented me for the success he pushed me towards.

  I decided I didn’t need that kind of negativity in my life, so I left. The few things he did have at my place were put in boxes and left on his doorstep. I told my immediate boss what was going on and she did everything in her power to try and convince me to stay. But when she knew it was fruitless, she put out a few feelers in Redding.

  She still didn’t know why I wanted to be all the way out there, but she finally became supportive of it.

  Redding had a massive warehouse that employed more than half the town. It sat on the outskirts of the town and had an opening for the exact position I was looking for. That was the job I was hoping to get. More money than I was getting paid in Texas, better health benefits, and a 401(k) with company matching up to four percent.

  I was really hoping to nail that interview.

  Ana was getting grass stains all over her dress as I emptied the last of the contents for my kitchen. It wasn’t much. Enough for Ana and myself. But it was what I had and I was proud of it. I moved into the living room and threw open the curtains so I could continue peering into the fenced-in backyard, but a knock at the front door drew my attention.

  Who was at my door?

  I walked over and threw the door open before my heart stopped. There he was, with his white t-shirt pulling against his athletic frame and his strong shoulders. My eyes grazed up his body, clocking every single piece of strength he had sitting underneath his tight jeans. There was a vein throbbing against his neck that I wanted to lick. I could feel my breasts rising to peaks behind my bra.

  I looked up into his amber brown eyes as a small grin crossed his cheeks.

  “This box yours?”

  I stuck my head out into the porch and saw the massive cardboard thing sitting there.

  “Yes. Yikes. Thank you,” I said.

  I went to step out of the house, but his hand landed on my shoulder to stop me. His touch was hot. White hot. It sent electricity shooting down my spine and weakened my knees. I looked up at him as he withdrew his hand, then he bent down and picked up the box in his hands.

  His arms flexed with their strength as veins began to bulge from his forearms.

  “Where do you want it?” he asked.

  Chapter 3

  Brewer

  I pulled up on my motorcycle and saw a moving van in the driveway of my new neighbor’s house. Huh. That’s odd. She’d been there a couple of days already. I was friends with the old man that owned the place. Nice guy who lived in an apartment above the diner in town that he owned. Him and his wife had lived in that house all of their adult lives. Raised their children in it. But when she died, he couldn’t stomach staying there. Not with all the memories and the whispers of the past coming alive at night. And I couldn’t blame him. I found him on his porch out back one night at four in the morning and we had a long talk over the fence. I told him I’d help him find another place if he wanted to, and that was what led him to not only purchasing his apartment but investing in the diner below it.

  That old man was living proof that second-chance lives did happen for everyone.

  I parked my bike in the driveway as the garage door began to open. There were two men hauling furniture into the house and a little girl, no more than five, running underneath their legs. She was carrying sparkling bags filled with toys and rolling small suitcases behind her. She seemed like a little spitfire ready to conquer the world.

  Then, there was her mother. And no one would be able to deny how they were related. The two of them looked exactly alike. So much so that it kind of freaked me out a bit.

  I watched her struggle with a few heavier boxes as the moving guys kept walking past her. Part of me wanted to dent their heads in by not helping, but a part of me was amused. She looked over at me with those piercing blue eyes and that determined stare, but it looked like she was studying me.

  Watching me. Trying to get a feel of what I was all about.

  I grinned as I watched her struggle with that box. Part of me wanted to go over and help her, but part of me couldn’t get over how damn cute she was when she was frustrated. Sweat was dripping down her neck and beginning to stain her shirt, and each time she came outside the fabric of her clothes clung a little tighter to her body.

  I needed to get inside before I got myself into trouble.

  I padded my way into the garage and closed the door behind me. I made my way into my house, shrugging my leather vest off. I tossed my sunglasses onto the kitchen table and made my way to the refrigerator, then pulled out a bottle of beer to chug down. It had been a long day with the guys trying to sort through all this rat bullshit, but for some reason Diesel was still bucking against the damn idea.

  I didn’t like it, but I s
tarted getting ideas of going to the guys behind his back to talk this shit through.

  I threw back my beer, feeling as the burning alcohol dribbled all the way to my stomach. It was easy to drain a bottle like that on a hot day like the one we were having. I loved riding my bike, but on hot days underneath some jeans and my leather vest? It was fucking miserable. I set the beer bottle on the kitchen counter and made my way to my front door.

  I was feeling a little front porch sitting time.

  I watched from the corner of my house. The only place that provided shade on my damn porch. The men kept coming and going with things like metal bed frames and mattresses. A couch and some chairs. A rickety kitchen table with chairs that looked more suited for firewood than for sitting.

  Then, there was that woman.

  Her and her little girl.

  The more frustrated she grew, the more her nose scrunched up. The woman’s hair would fall in her face and she would pucker her lips to try and get it out of the way. I chuckled to myself as I watched her. She kept telling her little girl to not get underneath anyone’s feet. She disappeared into the truck as her mother ran after her, and she came out sitting on one of the chairs the men were hauling into the house.

  Fuck. That woman had her hands full with that one.

  I smiled at the scene as she wrestled her daughter off the chair. The movers seemed to be enjoying the spectacle as well. The woman unlocked her car and started stacking toys in her daughter’s hands, then she took off, dropping dolls and shit behind her as the woman sighed. She lobbed her head back and groaned so loud I could hear her from my porch and I shook my head.

  Something told me that little girl took after her mother with all that spunk.

  Every time my new neighbor came out of her house, I studied her. Raked my eyes along her languid body and took in the valleys of her body. The tits that bounced against her chest and the hips that swayed with every step she took. Her sweat was disappearing beyond the hem of her shirt, probably rolling down those perfect mounds and finding their death along her nipples. Those fucking nipples I’d love to wrap my lips around if I could ever get close enough.

  She was a beautiful woman. With her dark red hair and her illuminating blue eyes and her soft features.

  I bet her face lit up when she smiled.

  I watched her tip the movers before they got into their van and left. My eyes followed my neighbor back into her house, but there was a box still on the porch. I sat there, waiting for her to come back out one last time. Waiting patiently to get another glimpse of the sexy woman who had moved in next door with her little miniature edition.

  But she never came back out.

  I sat there for about twenty minutes before I pushed from my chair. I walked on over to her front door and gave it a knock, waiting for her to answer. She had probably forgotten it was sitting out there, and I didn’t want anyone to come by and snatch it off her porch.

  I could hear the giggles from her daughter wafting around the house as the doorknob turned.

  The door flew open and there she stood. With beads of sweat still dripping down her neck and her round aquamarine eyes staring up at me. She was even more beautiful up close. Her skin was smooth and smelled of salt. The dip in her waist was accentuated by the clinging of her shirt to her body. It called to my hands like magnets to a refrigerator door. I had to curl my toes into the concrete of her small porch to keep from lunging at her. To keep from backing her into her new home and destroying it with memories of my cock between her thighs.

  I gave her a playful grin as I nodded towards the cardboard on her porch.

  “This box yours?” I asked.

  She stuck her head out beyond the doorway as her eyes widened at the lone box.

  “Yes. Yikes. Thank you,” she said.

  She went to step out of the house to grab it, but I reached out for her body. My hand landed on her shoulder before I could catch myself and electricity shot up my skin. Her head whipped up to mine and I removed my hand, knowing I wouldn’t be able to stop from pulling her into me if I didn’t disconnect myself from her.

  I moved to pick up the box in my hands, trying to put some much-needed distance between her and I.

  “Where do you want it?” I asked.

  “You don’t have to do that. I promise I can-”

  “Where does it go?” I asked.

  I held her gaze with mine as I cradled the box in my arms.

  “This way,” she said. “Up the stairs.”

  I followed her to the second floor of her home before we turned down the hallway. She led me into a large bedroom. A bedroom that I figured was hers. There was a bed frame that still needed to be put together and furniture haphazardly pressed against walls. A mattress and box spring were laying against the closet doors with suitcases full of clothes pouring from the bathroom in the corner.

  “Sorry. It’s a bit of a wreck,” she said.

  “Moving always is,” I said as I stood there. “Where do you want it?”

  “Anywhere is fine. You can drop it right where you are.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  I dropped the box at my feet as my eyes drifted around the room. It was a decent size. About the size of mine. That was what people got when living in cookie-cutter homes. Once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen all of them.

  “Need any help?” I asked.

  “Nope. I think I got it. The movers brought the last of my things.”

  “Didn’t mean with moving.”

  “Then what did you mean?” she asked.

  I pointed over to the bed frame lying in pieces on the floor.

  “Oh, that’s fine. I can get it tomorrow.”

  “What are you sleeping on tonight?” I asked.

  “The couch,” she said plainly.

  Like she was fucking used to it.

  I walked over to the metal frame and lowered to my knees. I could hear her protesting behind me, but I paid her no mind. No woman who ran after a child should be sleeping on a damn couch. I didn’t know her back story or where she had come from, but I knew one thing was for certain.

  She wasn’t the type to ask for help.

  “You got a name?” I asked.

  “I do. Do you?”

  I grinned as my hands worked to piece the metal frame together.

  “My friends call me Brewer,” I said.

  “That a last name?”

  “A nickname,” I said. “You got one?”

  “No nickname. Just Makenna.”

  “Pretty name, Makenna.”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “I see you have a daughter.”

  “I do. Her name’s Ana.”

  “And I’m five.”

  I turned my head around and saw the little girl standing in the doorway.

  “That’s a big milestone, being five. You like it?” I asked.

  “Yep. I started big girl school,” Ana said.

  “Do you like big girl school?” I asked.

  “I do. At least, I did. I hope I’ll like this one here.”

  “I think you will. I went to school around here. The teachers are really nice. What’s your favorite subject?”

  I could feel Makenna’s eyes on me as I reached for the last piece of the metal bed frame.

  “Coloring. That’s my favorite,” Ana said.

  “Mine was nap time,” I said with a grin.

  “We don’t do nap time,” she said with a giggle.

  “No nap time? Oh, my heart.”

  I clenched my heart and faked like I was passing out, which made Ana laugh. Her giggles filled the room as I crashed to my back. I sat up and connected the last piece of the frame before I slid the middle part in place, then I stood up and looked over at Makenna.

  Her eyes were studying me and her brow was furrowed tight.

  “Where do you want it?” I asked.

  “Want what?”

  “The bed frame. I’m going to put the box spring and mattress on it next, but I want
to know where you want it first.”

  “You really don’t have to do that, Brewer.”

  “Do you always fight like this?” I asked.

  “Will you do mine next?” Ana asked.

  “Ana, that’s not appropriate,” Makenna said.

  “Yes, I will. And since Mommy doesn’t know where she wants her bed, you can tell me where to put it.”

  “By the bathroom. Mommy pees a lot.”

  “She does, does she?” I asked with a grin.

  Makenna’s head lobbed back in exasperation as a smile bloomed across my cheeks.

  “Hope you ran to the store and got toilet paper then,” I said.

  “I’ve known you for ten minutes and I already hate you,” she said.

  “I’ll change that soon.”

  Our eyes connected and I could’ve sworn I saw her grin. She shook her head and bit down onto her tongue as her hands found her hips. Oh, she was feisty. Fighting between bucking up against me and listening. I enjoyed women who put up a good fight. Who were independent and capable of doing things on their own.

  It made it all the sweeter when they begged me to fuck them harder.

  “Against the far wall is fine,” Makenna said.

  “Perfect. I’ll get the mattress and box spring on it, then I’ll get to work on Ana’s bed,” I said.

  I stuck around and ended up helping her put together the rest of her house. I started in Ana’s bedroom with her plastic princess bed frame, complete with a canopy I needed to screw into the ceiling. Then I put together the bed frame for the guest bedroom and got that mattress and box spring onto it. We made our way downstairs and I rearranged her living room a few times before she settled on a design she enjoyed, then I hooked up their television and DVD player so they could have some sort of entertainment for the evening.

  I wiped the sweat off my brow as Makenna came up to stand beside me.

  “I can’t thank you enough for your help,” she said.

  “Not a problem. Moving’s hard, even if it’s right up the road,” I said.

  “Well, we definitely weren’t right up the road.”

  “Where’d you guys come from?”