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  Kale

  Texas Kings MC, Book 1

  Cee Bowerman

  A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  Dear reader,

  Thank you for your purchase of the first book of the Texas Kings MC series! This book and the ones to follow it will go hand in hand with the books that you can find in the Texas Knights MC series. The friendships in the Texas Knights extend to the men of the Kings, and characters from both series can be found throughout all the books. The Texas Knights are a peaceful group of guys, but their friends in the Texas Kings MC aren’t quite as nice and upstanding.

  If you have already read Forever Home and Forever Family, you know that Zeke and Lisa along with Sam and Carlie have their stories in those books. One of the standout characters in Zeke and Lisa’s story was Kale. A gruff man with a soft spot for his Goddaughter, Brighten, Kale stole our hearts.

  In this book, we get to know Kale and follow him and his family through some ups and downs along with some fun times that they have together. As in real life, Kale’s decisions shape his future and even what he thinks his future should hold. Luckily, he meets a woman who understands the way he and his family think, and she embraces that in herself.

  Everyone I have spoken to about Forever Family has said that they were just a little in love with Kale and were anxious to read his story next. I’ll admit, Kale is one of my favorites, but I love his brothers almost as much. Each of them, along with a few of the other members of the Texas Kings MC will get their own stories in the future.

  Please do me a favor and share your thoughts on this book and any others of mine that you have enjoyed by putting a review on Amazon. Hopefully that will help others decide if these are books they want to take a chance on. I would love to hear from you, personally, and can be found on Facebook. Make sure to like my author page on both Facebook and Amazon so that you can get updates on new stories I am working on. I’d love to get some feedback from my readers, so feel free to send me a message!

  Once again, thank you to Victoria Mannin-Abadie, my BFF who has been my biggest supporter in this adventure. You’re a sister in my heart and always will be. Also, big thanks to Judi Paul, my far away friend who also helps me make changes to my books. Your support is much appreciated!

  And, of course, to my hubby. My own tattooed biker husband shares a lot of qualities with Kale. His penchant for starting sentences with, “Woman…” is one of them. He is also a growly kind of guy with a marshmallowy center who has taken care of me and the entire family while I get lost in my books and characters. As usual, all the best parts of the men in my books are taken from the man in my life. Love you more than coffee, B.

  Happy reading!

  C Bowerman

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and

  incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  All rights reserved as this is the property of Cee Bowerman.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or

  transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

  recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  PROLOGUE

  “Kale, I’m writing another letter to Terra. Can I give her your address?” My best friend’s girl, clipboard on her lap, was folded up on the couch across the room from me. I dozed in the recliner with their baby girl asleep on my chest.

  “Pen pals, huh?” Brighten, my Goddaughter, wiggled a little bit at the sound of my voice so I continued with less volume. “Yeah. I’ll do it. Not sure what to talk to her about. I don’t know anything about her.”

  “She’d be perfect for you, Kale. I know she would. I told her about you when I visited her last week.”

  “When you said you were going to hook us up I thought you meant for some wild sex. Not, you know, a thing.” I waved one hand around in the air.

  “Would ‘a thing’ be so bad? Maybe the two of you will get along so well that when she comes home it will be love.”

  “I don’t love, little one. I don’t have it in me. I’ll write to your friend. Help her pass the time.” Lisa looked sad that I wasn’t going to give her friend a chance in the relationship department. “Just because you are giddy with little hearts and birdies swirling around your head doesn’t mean the rest of us are gonna be.”

  “If you’d give her a chance you could love her. You love the baby. You love your sister and your Mom.”

  “True. But that’s different. I don’t even like most people.” Lisa’s man, my best friend Zeke, laughed from the other recliner where he was leaned back with two little kittens curled up on his chest.

  “Most people don’t like you either, asshole.” Zeke laughed when I flipped him off. “Lisa, my love, I know you think that Kale is a – hold on, what did you call it? A growly bear. Yeah. That’s it. I know you think he’s a big ol’ growly bear on the outside with a soft marshmallowy center, but I keep telling you how wrong you are. Hell, even he’s trying to tell you how wrong you are.”

  “I just think they should get to know each other. Really know each other. A real connection that’s about honesty and respect. Not because one of them likes how the other one looks or just because both of them are horny.”

  Her comment tweaked my interest.

  “She’s a horn dog too? Has to be if she’s been in there for a stretch. Well, yeah. It’s love. What does she look like, anyway?” Zeke laughed for a few seconds until Lisa put her hand up and snorted at him.

  “I’m not going to tell you. I don’t want you to ask her either. I’ll let her know to not mention what she looks like, and not ask you what you look like. I want the two of you to get to know each other. When you go get her you can see her then. By then the two of you might be in love.”

  “I’ll bang her like a screen door in high wind but I’m not gonna love her.” I looked over at Zeke and saw him smiling. “What’s she look like, man? You’ve met her. Tell me.”

  “No! Zeke, you are not to breathe a word.” Lisa pointed her ink pen at him. “Do not give him any details about what Terra looks like. I mean it, mister.”

  Lisa looked back down to her writing and I motioned to Zeke. I raised my eyebrows at him in question.

  He cringed a little bit and moved his hand up to his face. He used one finger to trace over his lip like a mustache as his eyes got really big. He pointed to a spot above his eyebrow and moved his finger in a circle about as big around as a quarter. He shivered and shook his head.

  So, she had a mustache and a growth on her forehead? Great.

  I looked back to Zeke and he raised his arm and fanned his armpit with his other hand. He then pinched his nose like he smelled something bad. He shook his head at me again and shuddered.

  “Okay. You’d tell me if your girlfriend looked like bridge troll, right?” Lisa looked up at me, confused. “I can’t bang a woman with a better mustache than mine. Or a growth on her forehead. Or if she stinks. I have standards.”

  Lisa glared at her husband and put her feet down on the floor in front of her.

  “Why would you think she has a growth on her forehead. Or a mustache? Zeke. Be nice or you will suffer the repercussions.” She pointed down to her lap and snapped her knees closed as she stared at him with wide eyes.

  Zeke put his hands up in the air. “I didn’t tell him anything, sweetheart. I didn’t say a word.”

  Lisa and I both glared at him while he tried to act innocent. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

  “I’ll write your friend. But that’s all until I see her. I might not even sleep with her. I make no guarantees.” I pushed the recliner back just a bit more and closed my eyes to nap. I tried not to think about Zeke’s descr
iption as I felt myself dozing off.

  1.

  O=O=O=O=O=O

  KALE

  I felt the baby tense on my chest as my phone rang loudly in the silent living room. I pulled it out of my pocket and flipped it open before the baby could wake all the way. I glanced over and saw that Zeke was sleeping on the recliner next to me, Lisa asleep on the couch.

  “Talk.”

  “Kale? Um. This is Phoebe.” I put the phone between my chin and my ear as I sat up in the recliner. I transferred the baby to the crook of my arm and reached up to hold the phone with my other hand.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I stood up and moved to Zeke’s side. I kicked his foot with mine and he jerked awake. He reached up and took the baby from me and settled her in his arm as he sat up and pushed the footrest of his chair down.

  I turned and walked onto the front porch as I listened to the little girl on the phone cry.

  “Talk. What the fuck’s going on?”

  “It’s Jenna. She’s gone. We were at a party last night and these guys were giving her beer. I went to the bathroom and she just disappeared. I thought she went home. When I got here this morning she wasn’t here. She hasn’t been in her bed. She isn’t answering her phone. I can’t find her Kale. I’ve been looking. She gave me your number and told me to never call the cops if something happened. She said to call you.”

  “Fuck. No cops. Sit down right now and write down every single thing you remember about who was talking to her at that party last night. Who the guys were. What they looked like. Anything you know. Every detail. We’ll be there soon. Keep your phone on you.” I snapped the phone shut and turned to see Zeke in the doorway, his baby asleep in his arm.

  “Fuck. What’s wrong?”

  “Jenna’s missing. A party. Some guys. She didn’t come home. Call my brothers for me. Tell them to meet at the clubhouse.” I got on my bike and shot away from the curb, my mind on my baby sister who was in trouble, and on how many people I was going to have to kill today.

  O=O=O

  I paced back and forth in front of our clubhouse while I waited on my three brothers and the other brothers in our club.

  “I got Chandler on the phone. He’s headed to his office to fire up his computers. He’ll get in touch if he finds any chatter online.” Grunt, one of my brothers in the Texas Kings MC, held his phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other. “She wearing her tracker?”

  “Fuck, I hope so. Chandler can find her that way and give us directions.” Chandler Jacobs, or Chan as his patch said, was the information officer for the club. He was a whiz with computers and any other electronic devices. A few years ago, a club member had a scare when his crazy ex-wife disappeared with their daughter. After that, Chandler had found some small tracking devices that each of us had given the women and children in our lives.

  My Mom wore hers inside the pendant of a necklace that she never took off. My baby sister, Jenna, wore hers on a little ankle bracelet. Both pendants were waterproof. My Mom could take hers off if she wanted to but the anklet my sister had on was a thin chain with no clasp. It would have to be cut off her ankle for her to lose it.

  “Chandler will look for her location first thing, I bet.” Grunt threw his cigarette down as we both looked out to the street. We could hear motorcycles coming from two directions. The call had been put out of all members to meet here at the clubhouse thirty minutes ago.

  Most of the patched members of our MC worked for club owned businesses. Others owned their own. Either way, at different businesses all over town this morning cell phones rang, and employees walked off the job, most probably left without a word. That’s how our life worked. When the club called for any reason you dropped what you were doing, got on your bike and joined your brothers to conduct whatever business was needed.

  The first man to turn in through the gate was my oldest brother, Bird, the President of the Texas Kings MC. He was 29 years old and had been club president since our father stepped down two years ago. Bird was a strong leader. Ruthless and cunning, sometimes it seemed like he could look right inside a person and read their thoughts. He kept a strong hold on all the club businesses along with the ones that my blood brothers and I owned together.

  My younger brother, Daughtry, was the club Secretary. He rode in right behind Bird. Daughtry ran one of the club businesses, Kings Customs, a motorcycle repair shop along with his duties to the club. He had been off work for a few weeks and I knew that when he received the call this morning he was at home, most likely in bed. He had been sick lately, but I knew that wouldn’t stop him from answering the call when he received it. Especially since it concerned our baby sister.

  Two patch members, John and Mattie, rode in a few seconds after Daughtry. The two men were inseparable. They lived together, worked together at the club’s gun range and they even fucked women together. Where there was John you could always find Matt. Both men were fun loving pranksters until they weren’t. Then they could become a team of the most ruthless bastards any man could imagine. They played off each other well whether they were laughing or killing, equally. I was glad to see that they were here.

  A minute or so later, Fain rode his Harley through the gates. He was the newest patched member of our club. After prospecting for a year, he patched in just a few months ago. He was sponsored by one of the club brothers, Sonny, who was serving time. They had met on the inside and Fain came to us with high praise from Sonny. I didn’t know him well but had seen him in action a few times and was impressed with his level-headed approach to situations. He was one to think things through and then react accordingly. So far, he had shown nerves of steel.

  From the other direction my brother Clem turned into the gate. He worked together with me to run the clubs that the four of us owned around town and he was also the Vice President of The Texas Knights. I was close to all my brothers, but Clem and I were thick as thieves and had been since we were small. I could see the worry on Clem’s face.

  All three of my brothers and myself were close to our baby sister Jenna, the only girl in our family. She had been our sweet little princess since the day she was born. Since moving into her own place, I didn’t see her nearly as much anymore. But, we still talk daily on the phone. The one guaranteed time all of us saw her was on Saturday mornings when we met at our Mom’s diner to have breakfast. Our family breakfasts were mandatory as far as our Mom was concerned and we rarely missed one.

  My siblings and I had all sat at our usual booth together just yesterday morning. I remember Jenna mentioning a party she planned to go to with her girlfriends last night. I wish now that I had asked her for more details.

  It wasn’t at all like her to disappear. She never missed a phone call. We joked with her all the time that her damn phone must be permanently attached to her hand because she was never without it. Today she wasn’t answering her phone. It rang for a while and then went to voicemail.

  She also wasn’t one to leave her car anywhere overnight but inside her garage. When I spoke to her roommate again a few minutes ago she told me that the car wasn’t in the garage or the driveway. Jenna had driven it to the party last night, carrying Phoebe and two other friends with her.

  Phoebe hadn’t been able to get either of the other girls on their phones this morning. None of them were answering.

  I watched my brothers park their bikes in front of the clubhouse. As I walked to the door to meet with them inside, I turned to see other motorcycles riding in through the gates. I hoped that this was a fluke. A false alarm. I hoped that these men had hurried to get here only for us to find Jenna in just a few minutes, sleeping it off at a girlfriend’s house, her phone out in the car on its charger.

  I had the feeling that wasn’t the case. I could feel it in my gut.

  My sister needed me. She needed all of us.

  O=O=O

  I backed my bike up against the curb in front of the townhouse my sister shared with her friend Phoebe. As I stood and looked toward
the house, I saw Phoebe open the door and step out, holding the glass door open. She stood patiently as my brothers and I came up the walk toward her.

  I had known Phoebe since she was a baby. Her father had been one of the original members of the Texas Knights when our father started that club with Bill Duke in the 1970’s. When my father, Smokey, split off and created the Texas Kings, Phoebe’s father went with him. Since her parents had passed away in a motorcycle accident a few years ago, Phoebe had become even closer to our family. She and Jenna were as close as sisters.

  As I stepped up on the porch Phoebe threw herself into my arms.

  “Kale. I’m so sorry. We always stick together but last night she was meeting a guy there. We thought it would be okay. She trusted him.”

  “Who is he?”

  “His name is Toby Andrews. She met him at school. They’d been talking for a few weeks. They’d gone out a few times. She made me swear not to say anything to you guys. She knew all of you would freak.”

  I pulled Phoebe away from my chest and turned her to go inside the house. My brothers followed us in and we stood around the kitchen table while Phoebe spilled the story of Jenna, this mysterious Toby guy and the secrets Jenna had been keeping from us.

  O=O=O

  I walked out on the back patio of my sister’s townhouse. I put my hand up to reach into the inner pocket of my cut before I remembered that I quit smoking years ago, the day I went to prison.

  Phoebe had given us descriptions and names of the guys that she had seen around lately with Jenna’s new boyfriend. They didn’t sound all that odd except that they were young, all eighteen or nineteen, but three of the four of them were covered in tattoos.

  I didn’t have a problem with tattoos, obviously, since I was covered in them myself. But kids that young usually only had one, maybe two, if they had any at all. I paced back and forth across the patio while I sorted my thoughts. Whoever took Jenna could be someone who knew that Jenna was connected to our club. Someone who had an issue with one or all of us.