DAMON: A Bad Boy MC Romance Novel Read Free Page A

relationship, for sure, but they thrived on that. And it was good for Cristov to have a woman to spend his time with; he’d been in charge of the marijuana growing and sales until they decided to shut the business down for good. Now, Cristov spent more time at his tattoo parlor, which was gaining more popularity by the week, and at Ricky’s apartment.
    As for Damon? He didn’t envy his brothers their happy relationships. He had his own feelings about women and love. Women who attracted him – really, truly attracted him – were few and far between. He had always been the stoic brother, the careful one, the controlled one. He was the one who Kennick went to for guidance when things were particularly bleak. Before Ricky, he was the one everyone trusted to pull Cristov back from the brink.
    The strong silent type – though he wasn’t really that silent, just careful with his words. He was strong, though, there was no mistaking that. He’d been fighting since he was old enough to be taken seriously in the underground betting circles; his name was fairly respected among the lawless, violent, bloodthirsty crowds of basement brawling. Scars decorated him like badges of honor, his knuckles forever swathed in red. He was big, and he was brawny, an intimidating sight to anyone unlucky enough to end up on the opposite side of a ring from him.
    But unlike many of his opponents and cohorts, he didn’t live his whole life like it was one big fight, or one big after party. He wasn’t much of a drinker, didn’t care for drugs, and didn’t blow his money on women. He went to the movies. He played guitar. He spent a lot of time alone.
    He didn’t let his desires get the better of him, and he didn’t waste time on women that he wasn’t sure about. Years of cultivating this had left him an exceptional judge of character. The last woman who’d shook him, made him look twice, had been Tricia Garland. And she’d left town, for obvious reasons.
    But he could remember every inch of her, from the few times he’d seen her. Her tanned skin, her tall, bountiful body, her hair like honey and her eyes warm and golden. Her hair had been so straight, her body that perfect ratio; she looked like she walked off the set of Easy Rider, or some other 70’s classic. He could see her in hip-huggers and a tight-fitting striped, collared shirt, sunglasses like Twiggy and her sandy skin glowing. Her face was clearly made for smiling, and he could spend hours remembering how her button nose scrunched when she laughed.
    He’d dreamed about her plenty. Thought about her plenty. She wouldn’t leave him alone, even when she was miles and miles away.
    And, according to Mina, the youngest Volanis sibling and the only girl, she was coming back to Kingdom. Mina had told him this after hearing the news from Ricky, with whom Mina had struck an unlikely but fast friendship. Mina was only 18, but she was wise beyond her years, and though she and Ricky had clashed in the past, they wound up bonding over their shared inability to cook and love for bad mystery novels.
    The fact that this news had trickled down to Damon through Mina, instead of his brothers, was a matter that bore some rumination. Damon knew that he’d lost a lot of his brother’s trust and respect in the past year. He’d been doping the whole time the kumpania was under siege by the biker gang, using steroids to try and halt the aging process in his well-used fighter’s body. He’d been erratic, angry, acting spontaneously, without thought; none of his trademark characteristics.
    He’d stopped using, but it was too late. He’d lost something precious and fragile between himself and his family.
    And he was on track to lose even more. Things had been strained for a while. He was still keeping secrets. They were beginning to wear him down. And everyone knew it. The family was suffering for it.
    So no wonder Cristov and Kennick hadn’t told him about Tricia. They probably didn’t want him to