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review 2019-02-09 05:14
Book Review for Beck by Jessie Cooke
Beck: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club #7 (Westside Skulls MC Romance Book #7) by Jessie Cooke - Jessie Cooke
 
 
 
 
 
Title: Beck
Series: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club #7
Author: Jessie Cooke
Genre: MC Romance
Release Date: January 14, 2019
Reviewed by Angels With Attitude Book Reviews
5 stars from us
 

 
 
 
 
 
Most little girls grow up idolizing supermodels, princesses or movie stars...but not Rebekah Golden. Rebekah “Beck” Golden grew up idolizing two men. One was her father, a Navy hero who died before she was even born...and a biker. Maybe being born along the side of the road in a desert, and seeing the bikers face before she saw anything else had something to do with it. Or maybe it was the letters that Xander “Coyote” Lee sent her every year on her birthday, showing her a side of himself that even those closest to him never saw, but those two men would serve to be the inspiration for almost everything she did for the first thirty-five years of her life.

 

When Beck finally had to admit that no matter how hard she worked, she'd never be the right gender for the Navy Seals that she coveted, she moved on to her next dream. But if she thought the US Government had a chip on its shoulder about women in their ranks...she hadn't seen anything yet. Rebekah shows up in California at the clubhouse Coyote built, almost four years too late to gain his support. But she recognizes her hero in his son and manages to convince him to give her a chance. Rebekah will give more of herself for the goal of becoming a Westside Skull than she'd ever given to anything in her life...but will it be enough?

 

Beck Golden is a lot like the men she will have to fight against for what she wants. She cusses like a sailor. She's got a dark outlook on life. She's sarcastic and edgy....and when it comes to sex, she thinks like a man. She's also drop-dead gorgeous, and she knows it. To Beck, it's just another weapon in her arsenal of many. To keep from being thought of as just another club girl, Beck will turn that beauty in the direction of an unlikely and unsuspecting biker named Jace. Jace has had a rough life, and his exterior shows it. Big, dark and covered in scars, Jace makes most people want to run in the opposite direction, but Beck Golden doesn't scare easily. Using Jace to satisfy her almost constant sexual urges will be the easy part though. Not falling in love with him once she starts to see past that frightening exterior...that might just be impossible.

 

Jace is a biker, a Skull, and in his role as a nomad his loyalty to both the Southside and Westside has been above reproach. He doesn't believe any differently about women in the club than his brothers do. But what Jace does believe in is Beck. Through Jace and another unlikely champion, the president of the Westside Skulls himself, Beck might just discover that's all she was looking for all along. Ride along with us and get to know Beck and Jace, and don't forget to pay attention to the scenery. You might just uncover another secret or two about the club you love along the way.

 

 

* * *

Book 7 in the Westside Skulls MC Series. 

This is a Standalone Romance Novel but characters from this story, will appear in future books in the series.
HEA and No cliffhanger. 
Intended for Mature Readers.
 
* * *
The Westside Skulls MC Series is about members of the MC club, their friends and associates. 
Each story, while focused around one main character, is not necessarily about a Westside Skulls club member, but the story is related to Skulls members and the club.

 
 
 
Let's start of by saying that I really love this series and Jessie Cooke is one of my favorite MC authors as I love everything she writes but, Beck moved up to the top favorite couples in this on going series.
 
I think that I loved this story the most out of the entire series.This story was simply amazing that was full of fun and tons of laughs.The story started out with a bang and sucked you right in and was none stop fun from then on.This story was page turner to beginning to end .The story was filled with so many great characters that this electric bunch added to making it one heck of an enjoyable read.
 
I always pick a favorite character and this time around it is going to be Beck that women was just a hoot.Beck was a women who knows what she wants and does everything to make her dreams happen.Beck can do anything a man can do like ride,shoot,swear,screw but,one thing she wants most of all and that is to be a patched member of the Westside Skulls.
 
Coyote and Beck have bonded over the years through letters and once she retires from the Navy she shows up at the clubhouse to convince him to give her a chance at becoming a patched member but,her next journey in life is not going as planned and boy did she take us on what heck of a ride.I have never laughed so much through a book like I did this one.
 
This story was seriously a hot one ! Jace and Beck had serious chemistry together and they were definitely all about the fireworks.This couple were perfect for one another Jace a nomad mc club member and Beck who keeps everyone at a distant but, in the arms of one another they found just what the other needed.
 
I found Beck to be a tough cookie,standoffish until you new her better,smart,sassy,sexy,feisty,determined and has one of those infectious personalities.
 
Jace is one of those loner type individual who keep things close to the vest and just personable enough to people to like him.One look at Beck and everything he thought he new about himself went right out the window.Both of them took a wild ride together and had one hell of adventure and we loved being on it as they we a really interesting and fun couple to read about.
 
Overall this story was an awesome read from beginning to end."We loved it !"
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter One

Mid-Atlantic Ocean

Rebekah Golden handed the sailor his bottle of pills through the pharmacy window. He looked at the label and said, “Do they dissolve?”
She rolled her blue eyes. “No. You swallow them.” God, she hated this job.
“I can’t swallow pills. Does it come in liquid?”
“Are you serious? How old are you, sailor?”
“Twenty.”
“How the hell did you make it to twenty years old without the ability to swallow a pill? Mommy crush everything up for you, did she? Or maybe she had them give it to you in suppository form?”
The young kid looked like he might cry. The only emotion Beck felt was disgust. She hated soft, weak people, especially men. Some days, she could hardly stand it at all. The US Navy was full of whiny, immature little boys...who were given preferential treatment over women like her, just because they had a penis. Beck had seen quite a few of them, the penises that is. Just that morning she’d seen her favorite one, her on-ship booty call. His was impressive, but still not worthy of bragging rights in her opinion. Beck had been in the Navy for almost seventeen years. She would be turning thirty-five years old in a couple of months and she could outrun, outlift, outswim, outshoot, and out most of them at just about everything else.
She’d been training since day one to be a SEAL. Hell, she had started training for that when she was a kid. It was all she ever wanted to be. And she had gone into the Navy, sure that it wouldn’t be long before the US Government realized how much potential they were wasting. About that, sadly, she had been wrong. In 2017 they still denied women the right to be in combat. They denied them the right to be in the Special Forces of all branches of the military. And their only reason was that they didn’t have penises. It pissed her off every time she thought about it. Beck knew that her balls were bigger than any of these assholes and she proved it on a daily basis, so she had just finally decided...fuck them. She had put in for early retirement and that was happening in a week. If the SEALs didn’t want her, she would go blaze a new trail.
“I’m sick,” the sailor said. “My throat hurts. Can you please...?” The sound of the alarm drowned his whiny voice out, thank God. Beck didn’t waste time by asking him to repeat what he said. She didn’t care to begin with, and the second that alarm went off...her switch was flipped. That sound opened her adrenaline valve and it poured into her system. It made her feel strong, sharp, and most of all, alive.
Beck slammed down the window in the pathetic little sailor’s face and twisted the lock before grabbing her EMT bag and running for the door. She locked it on her way out and paused only long enough to hear what was coming over the radio speaker mounted overhead. The screeching noise stopped and a scratchy, robotic voice wafted out.
“White smoke, Compartment 2B L Aft CPO! Explosion, fire, black smoke, Compartment 2B L Aft CPO! Away the Flying Squad, away! Away the Flying Squad, away!” Those words were music to Beck’s ears, especially when the voice followed that up by saying, “This is not a drill.” 99 out of 100 times that alarm went off, it was a drill. Those were okay too...they at least broke up the monotony of her day-to-day job as a nurse, or more accurately, a pill pusher.
Beck had always sought out danger and thrills, and she had picked the nursing squad when she first entered the Navy, imagining herself on the frontlines as a medic, or like one of the nurses on the old television show, MASH. What she got was eight hours a day of looking at rashes in strange places and inflamed dicks because these idiots were too stupid to wear a rubber. She handed out more penicillin and Ibuprofen than she did anything and it bored her to tears. So, the second she was given the chance to join up with the Flying Squad, she jumped at it. Amazing that someone without a penis was good enough for that...but, in this case, she wasn’t complaining.
“Away the Flying Squad” was the Navy’s call to the elite group of sailors she belonged to. They were comprised of people from all specialties such as machinery repair, damage control, hull technicians, medical personnel, and firefighters. They were the first line of defense on a ship when an incident occurred out at sea. These sailors were put through basic and advanced damage control classes and then they learned to perform every position on the team from the top command in charge to the guy that mopped up the mess afterwards. They responded to fires, floods, toxic gas leaks, and many other types of emergencies. It was the only thing that Beck lived for lately...that, and her plans for after retirement.
She raced toward the left aft, the port side of the back of the ship. Anyone and everyone on the ship that wasn’t a part of the Flying Squad, or involved in the emergency itself, would still press pause on whatever they were doing. They would look toward the speakers on the wall and wait for the orders to come. Even those sailors that were sleeping would be expected to wake up and be ready in the event that they were needed, or that an evacuation was called for. 
Beck reached the main hallway, still running, balls-out. Even as she saw the foot traffic in front of her, she didn’t slow her motion. She yelled out a warning, and if they didn’t move they would get mowed down. Either way, Beck would arrive at her post ahead of most of the rest of her team every time. The Flying Squad did enough drills that the other sailors knew what to do when that alarm went off. Their main jobs were to stay alert and get the hell out of the way. Beck likened it to pulling over to the right-hand side of the road to let an emergency vehicle pass. Any idiot knew the drill, and Beck had knocked them down like dominoes more than once...just so they never forgot again.
Beck knew every inch of the ship, the USS Alaska III. She’d not only been deployed out to sea on it several times now, but as part of her training in the Flying Squad, she had to pass a test, labeling every inch of the ship, every nook, cranny, and closet. She could do it in her sleep now, or behind a curtain of thick, black smoke. They often piped the smoke in during their drills to allow them practice using their gas masks and oxygen tanks, and the team members were expected to get to where they were going, quickly and blindly.
Beck made it to the control locker where all the equipment was stored in under a minute. The Fire Marshall was already there, handing out the equipment the team would need as they arrived, and issuing orders. The locker held breathing apparatus, fire extinguishers and hoses, medical equipment...and much more. Everything they might need in an emergency situation was in the control locker, and Beck was confident that her commander knew exactly what he was doing when he barked out his orders.
“There was an explosion on the fantail and there’s a fire. We have one man down that I know of. I have no idea if he was injured in the explosion or the fire, or if it’s smoke inhalation. Take a litter and make sure your radio is on. I’ve already notified the medic chopper and they’ll be standing by for orders.”
Beck grabbed a second medical bag and in one fluid movement she and her partner picked up the litter, the basket that they would transport the sailor out in if need be. Her partner placed it up against his back and held onto it with one hand while he reached up and grabbed the furthest rung he could reach on the ladder with the other. Beck steadied the basket on his back with one hand and slowly climbed up behind him. As soon as he was up top, he pulled the litter the rest of the way through and Beck tossed up both of her bags and then followed them. 
The smell and the smoke were both overwhelming. She slapped on a pair of latex gloves and put the gasmask on; so did her partner, and they moved forward through the thick, black smoke. It was like soup and they were both moving by memory and not by sight. It smelled like oil was burning, which made sense, since the deck they were on was where the storage containers were kept in a compartment all the way at the aft of the ship. It looked like the firefighters almost had the fire contained already as they got closer, but Beck knew that the toxic, billowing smoke could be twice as deadly as the flames.
Her partner dropped to his knees and let the basket drop down next to him on the deck. Beck slid in on her knees, opening her bag before she even stopped moving. She was at the sailor’s head and she positioned it so that his airway was open. She put her thumbs in his mouth and pulled it open so she could see if there was anything blocking his airway. What she did see made her cringe. His tongue was black and so was the back of his throat. Her partner had cut open the man’s uniform and was putting the AED pads on his chest and ribs, and it was Beck’s job to put the non-rebreather mask on and make sure he was getting oxygen. She hesitated. If they were able to restart his heart, this sailor was in for a long and arduous journey and from what she saw, he would more than likely have lung damage and suffer from breathing problems for the rest of his life if he made it. He would probably die en route to the hospital after they cracked a few ribs to get his heart restarted. That was almost exactly the way her father had died. When she was old enough, she requested a copy of the death report from the Navy. He had been near an IED that exploded and set a gas pump on fire. He inhaled too much smoke, but the medics saved him...long enough for his cracked rib to puncture a singed lung and cause him to choke on his own body fluids and die on the way to the base.
“What are you doing, Golden? Get the mask on him!” her partner snapped.
“He’s gone,” she said. “Are we really doing him any favors at this point?”
“Damn it! That’s not your call and you know it.” Her partner pushed her out of the way. Beck didn’t like to be manhandled and her first impulse was to go back at him, but she was stopped by another one of their teammates. He was a friend of hers and when he grabbed her from behind he said:
“Do you really want it to end like this, Beck? Seventeen years...and a dishonorable discharge?”
Beck looked down at the man on the deck. She saw her father’s face. He was twenty-two years old when he died...a horrible death. She never got to meet him, but she always wondered if he thought about her in those moments right before he took his last breath. He was discharging from the Navy in less than two weeks when he died. He was coming home to be with her and her mother. She wondered if this kid on the ground had any kids of his own...or one on the way.
“Beck,” the friend who was still holding her said softly. She nodded and pulled away from him. Her partner was back on the AED. Beck took hold of the rubber bulb and began to force oxygen into the man’s lungs. Just about the time they heard the chopper approaching, the AED informed them that the man had a pulse. The next second he began to cough and choke and wheeze. He was choking on his own blood and vomit as they loaded him into the litter and attached it to the cable the chopper had lowered down to them. Beck didn’t wait around and watch him go. As soon as she let go of the litter, she was gone. She turned in her equipment and went straight to her quarters. She would get her ass chewed out for not staying for mop-up and debriefing. She might even get written up for it, but if there was one thing that Rebekah wasn’t about to do in front of any man, it was cry.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jessie Cooke writes hot romance novels about tough guys, bad boys, bikers, fighters and lovers and the women of strong character who tame them.
 
 
 
 



 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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review 2018-09-16 19:20
ASH: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club (Westside Skulls MC Romance Book 4) by Jessie Cooke
ASH: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club - Jessie Cooke
Ash is the 4th book in the Westside Skulls series by Jessie Cook. This series just keeps getting better and better to me. I have read all 4 books in the series and cannot wait to continue reading this series. There is a lot of colorful language, some hot sex scenes, and some violence in each of the books but the true story in each book is love and family. Which is true to most of the bikers I know, and I know a lot of them. I like how each book is dedicated to a different member of the MC but you still get to follow the characters from previous books. You also get to know the future leading characters a little. 

In this book Ash is our leading man. Although his cover picture is not my kind of sexy, the man in the book is hot. Ash has been dealing with a broken heart for over 5 years. After being left at the alter he moves to California with his best friend to join the Westside Skulls. He has built a life as an Enforcer in the MC. When his father dies his past comes crashing down on him. 

Ash is Asher Bennett IV, his father owns Bennett Textiles and is a multi millionaire if not billionaire. Asher is a college graduate with a business degree and worked on Wall Street. Mackenzie better known as Mack, Ash and Steve better known as Sledge grew up together, they were best friends since middle school. Ash and Mack fell in love at 13. On their wedding day Mack is a no show. Ash pack his bags and follows Sledge (Steve) to California and doesn't look back. 

Charlie or Charlotte is Ash's little sister. She was 10 when Ash leaves for California. Now almost 16 she is filled with hurt over Ash leaving her. Ash was very close to his father and sister but could not deal with his step mother Allison. Allison is a gold digger and when Ash's father passes leaving his money and business to Charlie things get really deep. 

When Charlie runs away Mack travels to California to tell Ash in person that Charlie is missing the hurt and love Ash had and still carries for Mack bubbles up to the surface. The search begins for Charlie and so does the search of the heart. 

Sledge is the next book in the series. I can't wait to see his story.
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review 2018-09-16 16:38
SLEDGE: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club (Westside Skulls MC Romance Book 5) by Jessie Cooke
SLEDGE: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club - Jessie Cooke
Sledge is the 5th book in Jessie Cooke's Westside Skulls MC  Series. I have read all 5 books so far, and they just  keep getting better. Each book in the series focuses on one of the members of the MC. You get to keep learning more about other members of the Club with each book but you also get a closer look at the main character of the book. This is an adult series there is lots of language and lots of  hot sex scenes. I may of even learned a few hot tricks from this series.
 
This book focuses on Sledge. He has been in the MC about 10 years. He is an enforcer in the MC. Sledge has not always been a respected person. as a child he was bullied and picked on all the time. He was raised by a single mom in a poor household. He was not dumb and got a scholarship to one of the high class and ritzy private school. This is where he met Ash and Mack (stars of book 4 in the series). 
Once out of school he headed to California and college. College didn't set well with Sledge, he felt he didn't fit in. One night he meets Coyote (ex president of the club). Sledge joins the club and has finally found a place he fits in. 
 
Now 10 years later his  past is coming back to haunt him. 
 
Daria Ford is all grown up now and a different person. She still can't forget Steve. Steve was her first love but on their first date Daria drank to much and when she threw herself at him her turned her down. So embarrassed she turned it around and told everyone he came on to her. Daria is best selling Author and one of her books is being made into a Lifetime movie. Headed to California her memories of Steve jump to the forefront of her mind, not that hes ever been far from her mind. She has heard he is in a MC,and wonders what it would be like to bump into him again.
 
Daria literally bumps into Steve. At a restaurant where she is on blind date Daria sees Steve/Sledge and just as she does she passes out she lands in his arms.
 
Sledge still holding a grudge, Daria still sorry for what she done to him. Can these to get it together and have what  they should of years ago or are things to broken.
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review 2018-08-28 19:34
Book Review for Ash: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club by Jessie Cooke
ASH: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club - Jessie Cooke
 
 
 
 
 
Title: Ash: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club
Series: Westside Skulls MC Romance Book 4
Author: Jessie Cooke
Genre: MC Romance
Release Date: August 20, 2018
Reviewed by Angels With Attitude Book Reviews
5 stars
Arc copy
 
 
 
 
 

Ash, an enforcer for the Westside Skulls, returns home to New York for his father's funeral. He hadn't seen him in five years thanks to a combination of events that sent him out to California and a whole new life. Ash...or Asher Bennett IV, as he was known in New York, hailed from an uber-rich family and for a few years after graduating for college, worked on Wall Street...before ending up in California, in a leather kutte on the back of a Harley. Ash just wanted his father's funeral to be over so he could escape his gold-digging stepmother, his snobby teenaged sister and the plastic, fake people of his childhood once more. 
The past hurts, and it only gets more painful at the graveside when he comes face to face with his past…Mackenzie, or Mack as he always called her. 
Mack was the girl he'd loved since he was thirteen years old, and the woman who had stood him up at the altar five years ago.
Ash's father's death leaves him juggling his life as a Skull, his past with Mack, and the possibility of a future with his teenaged sister who wants nothing more than to escape...the same way he did, and a stepmother who will do anything she can to make his life hell. 
Of course, when it rains, it pours and in the course of dealing with club business...tragedy strikes, and Ash has to either learn to reign in his notorious temper...or risk losing everything.
Climb on the Harley with Ash and Mack and take a wild ride that will leave you wondering what's around the next bend in the road...and gasping for breath when you get there.
 
* * *
 
Book 4 in the Westside Skulls MC Series. 
This is a Standalone Romance Novel but characters from the previous stories in this series appear in this and future books in the series. 
HEA and No cliffhanger. 
Intended for Mature Readers.
 
* * *
 
The Westside Skulls MC Series is about members of the MC club, their friends and associates. 
Each story, while focused around one main character, is not necessarily about a Westside Skulls club member, but the story is related to Skulls members and the club.
 
 
 
Let's start off by saying I am loving this series. I loved the characters they were totally awesome.
 
My favorite character would be Charlie even though she was not a main character.I think what I loved most about her as she surprised us at every turn.
 
I loved Ash as well as he is another character that surprised you as he was such a hothead and quick trigger that you would never knew how he would react to a situation.He never acted the way me thought be would.I loved how protective he was his club family as well as Mack and Charlie.Charlie is not going to like dating with a brother like him or this MC at he back as the brothers are going to be just as protective and threating....
 
The story was packed with action ,drama,and all about second chances for Ash,Mack,Charlie and Sledge we loved how they were able to put the pieces back together that had broken them apart in the first place.
 
Sledge needs a shout-out here I loved seeing his protective side come to the forefront!
 
The romance was steamy and passionate and Mack and Ash were super hot together in and out of bed.
 
I really loved how Mack & Ash were able to make things work between them even though in the beginning it was a love/hate relationship and the bottom line is they never stopped loving one another.
 
The plot took on some twists and turns and through some surprises popped up it was a nice easy read that kept you glued to the pages the entire time all the way to the end.
 
 
What I loved about this series is that it has so many amazing characters for us to laugh with ,love,cry and fall in love with and this story was the perfect mix of it all!
 
Recommended read to all and it series!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The early morning light streamed in through the beautiful stained glass of the cathedral windows and the sun’s rays bounced off the white and gold coffin, making it look almost ethereal. Ash sat stoically, hating the tie that was choking him, the suit he hadn’t worn in over five years, the shoes that were pinching his toes...but most of all, hating the fact that his father was inside of the coffin. It was a beautiful coffin, made to impress...not the dead guy of course, but everyone else. That was what his stepmother Allison did best...impress. She’d impressed his father when she was just a twenty-five-year-old barista and he was a forty-year-old multi-millionaire, recently widowed and left alone to raise a twelve-year-old boy. Asher Michael Bennett III had been a hard man to impress, so Ash supposed he should give her credit for that at least.
He wondered what his father was wearing inside that fancy coffin. He’d be willing to bet the old man was the best-dressed man in the room. Allison would know that everyone who was anyone in Manhattan would be at the funeral, and it would never do for the guest of honor to be wearing anything less than Armani’s finest.
Ash could hear the whispering and shuffling as the cathedral filled up behind him. He didn’t need to turn around to know that the guest list would read like the who’s who of Manhattan Island, and he didn’t care to see any of those faces. It was why he lived in California, in the Central Valley...in a motorcycle club. He’d had his fill of these people for the first twenty-three years of his life, and the only person he still had any respect for after all those years was the man who was lying in the casket up at the altar. That respect was the only thing that brought him back...that, and Sledge. He smiled when he thought about his oversized friend. Sledge had ridden hard with him for three days so they could get there on time. He’d set his alarm and woke Ash up that morning. He’d ordered Ash a beer from room service with his breakfast because even though Ash wasn’t much of a drinker...he was going to need at least one to get through the day. And then, he’d gone back to his own room to spend the day sleeping, watching television, and smoking. Sledge wasn’t about to show up in a church full of what he still referred to as his “mortal enemies.” They were a clique of rich kids that they had both gone to private school with their entire lives. They were the bitches and bastards that had terrorized Sledge almost to the point of causing his suicide. Sledge told people that Ash saved his life in high school, but in Asher Michael Bennett IV’s mind, it was the other way around.
Ash’s blue eyes left the coffin and moved to the flowers...thousands of them that would all be carried out to the gravesite and left to die alongside the man being buried today. Tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of flowers. He wondered if anyone there found it the ridiculous and practically obscene waste of money that it was. His father wasn’t impressed with things like that...but this party wasn’t really about him. This party was about Allison...and of course, Charlie. Charlie might be the only person there that Ash was interested in seeing. He wasn’t sure. He hadn’t seen her in five years and then she’d been a cute little ten-year-old with pigtails. She was fifteen now and sadly, according to the emails and phone calls from his father, Charlotte Joanne Bennett was rapidly becoming as superficial as her mother Allison. Ash supposed he was partly to blame for that. The day he’d left New York, his little sister had begged him to take her with him. She’d cried and held onto him until his father had to peel her off. Ash tried to maintain a relationship with her after that, but she refused to talk to him on the phone and she hadn’t answered a single one of his text messages or emails.
Ash reached up and tugged at the Windsor knot that felt like it was choking the life out of him. But in truth, it wasn’t the knot or the tie...it was this place and the people, and the thought of the best man he ever knew being closed inside of a box and put into the ground. He hated that, and he just wanted it to be over. He wished that he’d stayed behind at the hotel with Sledge. His big friend had always been the smarter of the two of them.
Somehow, he made it through the church service. It was long and drawn out, and there were way too many speeches. These people loved to hear themselves talk and they loved showing off their new designer funeral clothes even more. He managed to sneak out of the church and into the family limousine without having to come face to face with anyone. He knew his time was coming, though. He’d have to stand in a line at the graveyard to receive condolences and then he’d have to suffer through the reception afterward at the mansion, but then it would be over, and he could go back to California and his real life and his real family.
The door to the limousine was pulled open and a teenage girl with long, straight blonde hair and crystal blue eyes slid in. She was dressed to kill in a navy-blue Burberry suit and she was on her phone. She didn’t even look across the seat at her brother and Ash had no idea if she even knew he was in the car. Seconds after Charlie, Allison entered, riding high on a wave of Gucci perfume...and on her phone as well. Allison, unlike Charlie, did make eye contact with Ash, and her dark green eyes, which used to be brown before the contacts, said everything he needed to know about how happy she was that he showed up.
The door was closed, the limo started up, and Ash sat in silence on his side of the huge car, practically melting into the soft leather. Finally tiring of the sight of the two women chatting on their phones like they were on their way to a party, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back into the seat. He tried to draw up images of things that made him happy. His Harley, his brothers, the club, and the gym where Wolf had begun letting him take boxing lessons from one of Jacob Wright’s teammates, a guy named Jagger who played a guitar and sang like his namesake Mick Jagger and fought like a champ in the cage. The guy was fun as hell to be around and since things had been quiet around the club for a few months, Ash was enjoying the larger-than-life stories Jagger had to tell.
He felt the limousine slowing down and he opened his eyes. His sister’s large blue ones were locked into his as soon as he did. He managed to find a smile and he said, “Hey, Charlie.”
With no expression at all on her beautiful face she said, “It’s Charlotte.”
“Sorry. Hi, Charlotte.” She stared at him, like she was studying his face and then turned to her mother, who was still on her phone and said:
“Is this dolt going to open the door and let us out of here or what?”
Ash felt a pang in his chest. He blamed himself for Charlie, at least a little bit. He reached across the table in front of him and using the handle that was within her reach, he opened the door and pushed it open. His little sister looked at him like he was a circus freak with two heads and then looked at her mother, who sighed and rolled her eyes. The driver appeared in the doorway then, but not soon enough to escape the wrath of the spoiled teenager.
“Jeez, thanks for showing up,” she said, to the man that was old enough to be her grandfather. Ash’s dad insisted on manners from the time that Ash was old enough to remember. When he was four years old he was taught to say please and thank you to the staff. He knew that Charlie had been taught the same. Somewhere along the way she’d decided that she was above all of that, and Ash was sad for her because of it.
The driver helped her out of the car and Allison finally ended the call that she was on by saying, “Gotta go, I’ll call you later. Of course we can do lunch tomorrow. Mwah!” As she slid toward the door she looked at Ash and said, “Your tie is crooked.” The Gucci perfume that had wafted in with her didn’t leave when she did, and Ash felt like he might gag on it before he hit the fresh, cold air and sucked in a lungful. The limousine was the first in line of many and the rest of the guests seemed to be holding back until the “family” made their way to the huge canopy and took their seats in the front row. Ash sat next to Charlie, but she looked straight ahead, not just ignoring him, but going out of her way to do so.
The graveside services were as long and boring as the church service had been. His father would have hated it. He would have thrown a joke or two into one of his speeches and he would have jazzed up the music. He would have made people feel like no matter how sad they were that their loved one was gone, there was hope left for the future. That was what his father did, he lifted people up. The one mistake that he’d made in his life was sitting two seats away, and although she was a bad one, Ash couldn’t hold it against him. He’d made a bad choice in women a time or two himself.
The priest finally stopped talking, the boring music quit playing, the boring people stopped giving their fake speeches, and it was at last time to stand in line and accept their fake regrets. It was the first real look that Ash had gotten of the guests. Up front and moving through the reception line like royalty were the “society people.” There wasn’t a wet eye in the bunch as they offered their stiff handshakes and stiffer condolences. A little further back were the executives that worked for his father in his textile company. The Bennett money went back for centuries and the company was almost as old as that. Those gentlemen, and one lady at least, seemed genuine in their grief and condolences. The next wave of people was extended family members, cousins and aunts and uncles that Ash hadn’t seen in years if at all. They weren’t much looser than the first wave of rich people had been...at least not with him. He did notice a few of them being overly friendly with Allison. That probably meant his father had left her in charge of the fortune and they were hoping to get what they likely thought of as their fair share.
The last wave was a mixture of loyal staff and old friends that didn’t fit in the society set. As Ash was accepting the condolences from the first one, a man who had served as his father’s mechanic for as long as Ash could remember, he suddenly realized that Charlie and Allison were no longer standing next to him. He glanced to his right and saw them being escorted back to the limousine by the driver. Words couldn’t describe the sheer disgust he felt for them both at that moment. He swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth and continued accepting condolences until the line was gone and so was the limousine. Chuckling to himself at the stupidity of it all, he walked over to where his father’s white casket now sat, waiting to be lowered into the ground. He put his hand on top of the blanket of flowers that covered it and finally let the tears that he’d been holding back all day, fill his eyes.
“I’m pissed at you, old man. You were too fucking young to die. Who has a fucking stroke and dies at fifty-six years old? You were Asher Michael Bennett the fucking Third, man! You were supposed to live forever. You were at least supposed to live until I found the right woman and had you a couple of grandkids...until I finally did something worth all that pride you always had in me.” He reached up and wiped a tear off his face. “I love you, old man. You won’t be forgotten, I promise you that. I know you’re in heaven so I’m not sure if we’ll be meeting up again someday...but if I don’t make it up there, I’ll be drinking a toast to you where I’m at.”
“And where might that be?” Ash froze at the sound of the voice. It was soft, sultry and the last voice he ever wanted to hear again in his life. Even Allison’s was preferable, and that was saying a lot. He ground his jaw and turned slowly around with his eyes still on the ground. As he moved them up past a pair of black-and-white heels, delicate white ankles with a blue rose tattooed on the outside of the right one, sculpted calves, sexy knees, and three inches of muscular thigh before the bottom of her black skirt interrupted them, he realized that even now she still set his blood on fire. Her hips were still wide and her waist small. Her breasts were perfect. He couldn’t see that in the coat she wore over her suit now, but he knew what they looked like...and they were perfect. The skin on her neck and face was still flawless. Her golden-brown hair lay in waves all over her head and down her back and her hazel eyes were still the prettiest thing on the east coast. But when Ash looked at her now, it was like staring into the eyes of a snake.
“Hello, Asher.”
“Mack.” Mackenzie Foster had at one time been the love of Asher’s life. She was the basket that he’d put all of his eggs in...and then that basket had fallen to the cement and it was all over. He’d found himself sifting through the slimy shells, and trying to find the pieces of his life. Like Humpty Dumpty, he’d never been able to put them back together again...so he’d done the next best thing, he’d left.
“I’m sorry about your dad.”
“Thanks, but not to be rude...why are you here?”
She flinched, almost like he’d hit her in the face. “I cared a lot about your dad.”
“Oh...I didn’t know that caring about people meant showing up to you.” He hadn’t meant to do this. Hell, he just hadn’t expected her to show up. The one time he’d staked his whole future on her showing up, she’d bailed. His rudeness wasn’t driving her away, though; instead she nodded, like she understood, and said:
“I’ve missed you, Ash. I tried to call you after you left...”
“Changed my number.”
“Yeah, anyways. It’s good to see you, I’m just sorry it’s under these circumstances.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry too. Look, I better get to the reception...” He realized as he was talking that all of the cars had left. Allison...the bitch...had left him stranded in a graveyard.
“I can give you a ride,” Mackenzie said, as if reading his mind. He used to think she could do that since she always seemed to know what he was thinking, or how he was feeling. It used to give him a warm, comforting feeling, like they were soulmates. Now, it just felt intrusive and it annoyed him.
“I’ll call an Uber.”
She looked hurt again. Too fucking bad. “Ash, it’s been a long time...are you ever going to forgive me?”
“No. I’m not.” He took out his phone and as he headed toward the road where his ride should still be parked he texted Sledge. “At the cemetery. Heading to Last Call in the Village. Meet me there?”
The text he got back in return was swift and to the point. “OMW.”

Ash ordered an Uber on his app and then stuck the phone into his suit jacket. He was almost to the pavement when curiosity got the better of him and he looked back over his shoulder. Mackenzie was still under the canopy, standing next to the coffin with her face buried in her hands. There was still a piece of his heart that beat for her; it pissed him off, but he’d learned to live with it. What he couldn’t learn to live with was the woman who abandoned him at the altar on the very day their life together was supposed to begin.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
Jessie Cooke writes hot romance novels about tough guys, bad boys, bikers, fighters and lovers and the women of strong character who tame them.


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