Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
My uncle and father are not my version of hot. They are just regular old men whose hair is no more. I’m sure in their day they were attractive, at least to my aunt and my mother. And for women who love a clean cut man, they were probably total knockouts in their day.
For me, I’ve never been into the preppy type.
Give me a man with a solid beard and a smooth head, well, yes sir, what are we getting into today? I need tall, dangerous, and commanding. Normal is boring and I can be boring all on my own.
“Tall, dark, and handsome, pppfffff,” I scoff to them, “give me gruff, rough, and tattooed up.” And the more ink the better, if you ask me. I probably shouldn’t have said any of that out loud. I’m only giving them more fodder for their conversations about me being the weird one. I don’t care though. I am who I am and I refuse to apologize for it.
Momma shakes her head, “you have been my wild child since your very first breath.”
Yes, I have and I’m damn proud of it!
“There goes Connie,” Aunt Nelda points out, “already messin’ up the table settings. Which, Sara, you got it right this time. See your Aunt Nelda has taught you some things. Good southern etiquette is a must.”
Aunt Nelda rushes over to correct the minor movement of the salad fork by a guest leaving me thankful for the escape. Between my mom and my two aunts, southern charm and etiquette is engrained in all of us girls. Funny, my Aunt Nelda only has boys, my Aunt Willa never had kids, and my mom, well she has three girls. This means that all their childhood practice on dolls became real life dress up on me and my two sisters. Both of my aunts have been involved in everything each of us has done from childhood to now. They are supportive and I truly have the best family a girl could ask for.
“Sara, when does the mimosa bar open?” Cara-Ann rushes over asking, “there is already a line.”
I let out a laugh, “Meredith will start serving soon, but you aren’t getting any of that, missy.”
“I know!” She states with her hand on her hip. “I want the juice and hello, we have a crowd, so go to that microphone and get this shower going. We have games and gifts.”
Cara-Ann is my teenage baby sister. We are close, but the bond is different from Carrie. My parents gave birth to Cara-Ann when I was in college. She’s fun, but I didn’t share a room with her and live through all the teen girl drama like Carrie. Cara-Ann is the perfect blend of Carrie and me. She looks like me but acts like Carrie. They both love makeup and dressing up, but Cara-Ann will get dirty too, don’t let the heels fool you. She spends every second of free time she has either competitive swimming or at the barn. Yes, my baby sister loves animals, especially the equine variety. She is outdoors in barn boots, cleaning up horse shit as much as she’s dolled up like today. Like her name, Cara-Ann is a blend of me and Carrie. Mom thought having such an age difference the best way to give us a bond from the beginning was joining Sara and Carrie into Cara for her name. It has never mattered her name; we love her for the sassy and sweet person she is.
Carrie leans into me, “I’m ready whenever you are, Sara.” She grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. “I can’t wait to do this for you one day.”
Oh, lord have mercy, we don’t need to even think about my one day. This time I let the laugh out. “Honey don’t hold your breath. I’m waiting on mister dangerous, not mister dreamy.”
ONE
COUNTRY BOY
“Raise Hell, Praise Dale!”
The open road, damn, there is nothing better. The steady rumble of my steel horse in unison with the brothers behind me is music to my ears. Growing up in a small town, I didn’t think ahead. It’s kind of a bubble, small-town life. Everyone knows everyone, shit runs a little slower paced than city life. When I went to college, I saw life outside of Salemburg, North Carolina. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t for me. The older I get the more I have learned to think ahead.
As a man, this brotherhood I’ve found in the Hellions it’s everything from my past to my future now. I live, eat, and breathe for this club. Life can be rough, but the Hellions family is always at my back to pick me up.
Grinder rides to my left slightly ahead of me. As Road Captain, he heads up these things. We ride two by two down highway twenty-four east in the great state of North Carolina.