Sweet Revenge (Sinners MC Book 1) Read online

  Sweet Revenge

  The Sinners MC, Book One

  Jennifer Hanks

  Loyalty. Bravery. Honor.

  Three words the men of the Sinners MC live by.

  Three virtues they have sworn to defend.

  No matter what the cost.

  He shouldn’t want her.

  Maggie O’Brien has the ability to destroy him and his plan for revenge on his club’s biggest threat.

  But he’s craved her almost as long as his retaliation, and nothing will stop him from getting everything he’s always wanted.

  Not even the man he fears she really loves.

  She doesn’t trust him.

  Ryker Evans, a.k.a. Gunner, has the ability to change that with his kind words and soft touches.

  But she decided when she sacrificed herself to save another that she would never give someone the power to break her again, and that kindness comes at a price.

  A price she is no longer willing to pay.

  In a world filled with lies and secrets where freedom is fleeting, can they learn to love each other enough to survive?

  Or will the cost of revenge be too high?

  SWEET REVENGE

  The Sinners MC, Book One

  Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Hanks

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Cover Design by Designed with Grace

  Digital Formatting by Author E.M.S.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  SWEET REVENGE

  About the Book

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from END GAME

  About the Author

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to every warrior, every survivor, and every person who faces their challenges with sheer determination.

  “Fate whispers to the warrior,

  ‘You cannot withstand the storm.’

  And the warrior whispers back,

  ‘I am the storm.’”

  –Unknown

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  As I always have and always will, I’d like to thank my family, specifically my children who are incredibly supportive and encourage me every day to give my absolute best to my characters and stories.

  Thank you Megan at Designed with Grace! I love the cover you created for this couple and to kick off this brand new series. I can’t wait to work on the rest of the series with you!

  Thank you, Judy Brown! When I started my writing journey three years ago, you were one of the first people recommended to me and I couldn’t be more grateful to have found you. You’ve been with me through every story, every character and are always encouraging! You’re also so patient while I continue to make the same mistakes-Hahaha!

  Thank you Jenny for your proofreading services! We’ve worked together a few times now and I can honestly say when I get my MS back from you, I know it will be polished to perfection. It’s so comforting to know I have your eyes as the final reader before I put it out into the world.

  Thank you, Amy for another incredible job formatting my work! You’ve been an amazing friend to me as well as a support and I can never thank you enough.

  Thank you to all the girls at Give Me Books! You girls are awesome to work with and I always know I can count on you for a fabulous release as well as a fabulous experience! I can’t thank you enough for getting my work in front of readers and bloggers.

  Thank you to all the bloggers who have supported me and enthusiastically pimped my stories to their friends and fans! You are an amazing group of people who spend hours blogging and writing reviews, as well as posting terrific teasers and release information! You are undoubtedly a group of the most dedicated and selfless individuals and I love each and every one of you who have held my hand on this crazy ride. I wish I could hug all of you!!

  And last, but definitely not least, thank you readers!! You are the reason I can do what I’ve always wanted to do, but always considered an impossible dream. I hope I can continue to give you stories you love about families that win our hearts.

  CHAPTER ONE

  MAGGIE

  The shrill sound of sirens screamed through the night air and woke me from what could have only been a blackout. When I lifted my head, the pain searing through my head and neck overwhelmed me, so I immediately dropped it back on the cold floor. My eyes wouldn’t open; I knew that without trying. I’d actually felt them swelling shut with each blow.

  Loud pounding on the door, not far from where I lay, caused panic to move through me. Shifting my body back, I tried to force myself into a small ball, hoping to hide. Maybe he wouldn’t see me if he was the one who’d come back and was beating on the door. The pounding became louder, but I didn’t call out, needing for my own peace of mind to stay quiet and protect myself with my silence. Car doors slammed, and my body twitched with each new noise, bracing for what may be coming, hoping to black out and avoid any more pain if he was back.

  “Maggie!”

  My name was yelled through the closed door, and vaguely recognizing the voice, I was relieved when it didn’t send a chill down my spine.

  Like when he would scream it.

  “Maggie, honey, if you’re near the door, move back!”

  I had no idea if I was near the door, and I couldn’t remember where we were when he delivered the last blow, the one right before the darkness overtook me.

  My body reacted to a loud crashing sound by jerking, and I winced from the pain, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t have even if I’d tried.

  “Check the bedrooms!”

  I heard shouted, but it was only a moment more until I heard his voice, and it was much closer. “I found her.”

  A hand touched my face. “Maggie, honey, it’s me, Luke. You’re safe now. The ambulance is only a minute out.”

  I winced again when he pushed my hair out of my eyes, although I could tell he did it gently. “Can you talk to me?”

  I swallowed hard, but opened my mouth to acknowledge him even though I felt the darkness starting to pull me under again. “Luke.” I whispered.

  He gently pulled my hand into his. “Yeah, sweetheart, it’s me. Do you know where Snake is?”

  The
darkness swam around my mind, and I welcomed it. Luke’s voice became more distant until he called my name.

  “Maggie, stay with me.”

  But I didn’t want to. I wanted the darkness and the peace it would bring me. My last thought before succumbing to the comforting silence was maybe he finally did it.

  Maybe he finally killed me.

  CHAPTER TWO

  MAGGIE

  ‘Never trust them, baby. Never trust anyone.’

  As I listened to the sound of machines beeping every few seconds, I realized I was in the hospital and somehow still alive, but lost in my dreams while my mom’s words circled my mind with the last vision of her I still had. It brought me peace, but then again, she’d always had a way about her. She was calm and simple in a world filled with violence and anger. At least that was the world I’d grown up in. But as bad as it was, I had my mom, and I loved her more than anything. I would’ve walked through fire to be with my mom, would’ve moved anywhere she wanted to go, and I did, until I couldn’t anymore.

  Until the day I had to call an ambulance. The day I had to hold her hand during what felt like the longest trip we’d ever taken. The day I had to kiss her goodbye, when the cancer eating away at her finally took her life.

  And in less than a week after I’d lost her, I’d run away.

  I was fifteen.

  I was homeless. I was hungry to the point of pain. I had no prospects, no idea how to survive alone, but it was still better than staying with my mom’s brother who was the only family I had left. Or the only family I knew about. He said he’d take me in, but during the long week after she died while we planned the funeral, I knew by the way he watched me that I’d have to pay for my place in his home and not in a way I ever would voluntarily.

  I ran away the day we buried her and spent the next two years begging for money and food, moving from shelters to squatting in abandoned homes and stealing. I kept my head down so my age wouldn’t be discovered, and I made sure I was never in a position to be picked up by the police for fear they’d move me to a boarding home or, worse, back to my uncle’s.

  I thought fate was finally shining down on me when I met Snake. He found me hiding behind a dumpster in the alley behind a popular restaurant while I waited in the black of night for the trash to be thrown out. I was mesmerized by him. Though he was big and strong, he was sweet to me, offering me food and shelter, and I was so damn tired. Tired of running, tired of hiding, tired of being alone.

  Always alone. I couldn’t even remember the last conversation I’d had with a person.

  He found me eighteen days before my eighteenth birthday, and I considered that a sign, so I followed him back to what he called a clubhouse, and I never left.

  He never let me.

  He said over and over again that he’d never let me go and what once felt like my only chance at freedom quickly became my prison. I still thought it was better than the alternative. By age eighteen, I wouldn’t have had to go back to my uncle, but I had no job, and I hadn’t even graduated from high school. He kept me locked away in that damn clubhouse or in our shitty apartment, like I was a dirty secret or, worse, his property. He owned me, and he knew it.

  I had nowhere else to go.

  The beatings started shortly after I moved in with Snake. A slap in the face and a punch to the ribs all became a weekly occurrence if he was drinking or upset about something. I came to learn the sounds he would make if he was agitated late at night when he was coming home, and I’d try to hide or feign sleep, whatever I could do to become inconspicuous or hopefully invisible to him, but it never worked. I would take a beating, usually accompanied with sex if he was drunk, and then he’d collapse beside me while I would lay awake and know in my soul that if my mom could see me, she’d be disappointed.

  She taught me to be resilient in an unforgiving world, but she didn’t live long enough to teach me to be strong enough to break free of my own prison.

  I’d heard often while I was growing up that people, mainly women, would find themselves trapped in situations and under the control of another, but I found it hard to believe they couldn’t find a way out if they were strong enough, if they tried hard enough, until I was living in the same situation. Over the years with Snake, he slowly tore down the little bit of confidence I had until I believed I was nothing with or without him. He told me repeatedly no one would want me, that I was trash he found amongst the trash, and that I would always be trash. I believed him. After all, he was the only person I ever talked to.

  Until I met Luke Dimarco.

  The first time Snake beat me badly enough that I had to go have my broken wrist set at the hospital was also the first time I met a man with kind eyes. He held my hand and offered me an escape from the prison I was living in, but I’d been afraid. The world was too big and too scary to me now. I was alone, and as bad as Snake was, he was also all I had in this world.

  So I stayed.

  I stayed and endured more beatings than I ever imagined my body could survive. He stripped me of any beauty I ever thought I had, stripped me of any confidence I may have possessed at one time, and sadly, he took away my belief in resilience.

  He taught me I was worthless.

  And he taught me well.

  I denied Luke every time he came to see me in the hospital over the years, but truth be told, I came to anticipate his visits, to hear his voice, and talk to someone who was listening. I told him about Snake, about the club, the little that I knew, and he tried, he really did, but I was always afraid of the repercussions if I talked. Sadly, over the years, the beatings became more tolerable because I knew I would talk to someone who actually gave a damn if I lived or died in that hospital.

  I’d come to accept this was my life. Snake was my world, and the only world I had would eventually end my life. Snake would kill me, and I knew that without a doubt; his hate for me was intense, but I never understood why.

  Then one day, on a rare occurrence that I left our apartment to go to the store, I saw Luke and a beautiful woman holding the hand of a little boy. I watched them, without them knowing, enthralled by their small family and the love so obvious between them. It was odd seeing Luke outside of the hospital, and a large part of me was sad that I couldn’t walk up to him and chat, but I knew I wouldn’t be welcome. I also knew, for me, it would be torture. I’d developed a crush on him over the past few years and always thought of him as mine, at least for those small chunks of time. It was what pushed me through, but seeing him, so happy with her, I realized I was exactly what Snake said.

  Trash.

  And I always would be.

  I’d snuck out that day, thankful Luke had never seen me. I then convinced myself to squash any little girl dreams I’d had about Luke Dimarco.

  It wasn’t long after that, on a night when Snake thought I was sleeping, that I’d heard him talking with some other members of the club and laughing about a fire they’d set at Luke’s girlfriends house. I lay there that night, listening to him, knowing my schoolgirl dreams of Luke or someone like him rescuing me from my prison were just that, schoolgirl dreams. I made a decision, as I lay there, a decision that would change my life.

  And everyone’s around me.

  The very next day, I went out while Snake was at the clubhouse for a meeting or church as they call it in the Motorcycle Club. When he woke, I’d asked for permission to go to the store, not surprised he was in a good mood because he’d caused sadness to the man he’d come to hate. Luke had arrested Snake often over the years for assault and always tried to convince me to press charges, but I never did. I never would, and Snake knew that although it didn’t ease his hate for the man he felt was trying to tell him what he could and couldn’t do with his property. Snake was untouchable—at least, that’s what he thought—and every time I didn’t press charges, I proved him right. Fear is a strong emotion and being alone and afraid can drive us to do things and accept things that we wouldn’t normally. Accept things we would never want for
anyone else.

  I couldn’t drive because I’d never been taught, so over the years when I was allowed to leave, I would walk, but I knew I couldn’t walk that day as far as I needed to and be back in the amount of time Snake expected. I had money stashed in a bag of flour in the cabinet, money that Luke had given me every time he’d seen me in the hospital, money he assumed I used to get a cab home since Snake would never come by or pick me up. No matter how long I was there. But I didn’t use it for that. I saved it because I knew one day I would need it; I just hadn’t known what I’d need it for.

  That day, I rode the bus to the edge of town, then walked the last mile to the clubhouse. I’d heard its name and location thousands of times over the years when no one knew I was around. Those were the times in my life I was happy to be shy and quiet. I was unnoticeable.