His Young Queen: (Steel Jackals MC #1) Read Free Page B

hot air and cursed her uniform. It wasn’t the synthetic McDonald’s nightmare she used to wear, but the butt-hugging shorts and small black T-shirt with “Bubba’s” emblazoned across the front were fabric, and that fabric was already sticking to her because it was Arizona in August. Blowing her hair off her forehead, she aimed for home.
    She looked up at the stars as she walked, her boot heels clicking. She hated August. But wouldn’t always. In two years, it would be her favorite month. She looked forward to that particular August the same way she used to look forward to Sundays. She hated Sundays now, too. But wouldn’t always. When he came home, they might become her favorite day.
    As a truck drove past, and she neared the house her uncle had moved her into, rent-free, shortly after Josh had gone away, the cold anger that now lived within her bubbled up to make her eyes sting and her throat ache. She missed him. God, how she missed him. She wanted him to come home so badly it was a constant physical pain in her chest. She wanted him never to have left her. She wanted her mother to change places with him. It was Rachel who should be behind bars, serving a five-year sentence for illegal possession of a controlled substance, not Josh. But, no. Rachel was roaming free, shooting up and hopping from one dealer’s bed to the next, happily feeding her addictions. While Josh remained locked away, alone, his freedom gone for something he’d had nothing to do with.
    She pursed her lips as she reached her house and stood looking up at the darkened residence. He wouldn’t be alone every single day if he would change his stubborn-ass mind and allow her to come to the prison. But he wouldn’t, and she didn’t know why. The only person who might know was her uncle, and he was too loyal to say shit. Nick was grumpy lately. Maybe his new responsibilities were piling up—he’d been honored with a VP patch eighteen months ago when, Chase, the previous VP was patched President.
    Yawning, she got her ass in gear and dragged her feet up the walkway. She might sleep in tomorrow. Time passed when she was asleep. She didn’t work until seven, which was unusual. Her normal shift on Saturdays was four until close. It was a long day, but she could always use the tips, which was why, if it wouldn’t interfere with school, she took any hours offered. She’d just started back for her final semester at the local community college and didn’t want anything to get in the way of her finishing.
    Taking her keys out of her purse, she glared up at the light that was once again out on the porch. She banged her fist to the right of the mailbox and squinted at the brightness that slammed into her eyeballs, blinding her for a minute. She stood there, blinking while her vision came back to her, then unlocked and entered the house.
    As she closed herself in, she smiled a little. With any luck, by the time Josh came home, the graphic arts business she planned on starting up after graduation would be thriving. She’d be able to brag about—
    Tish was screaming before she even thought to scream. She stumbled back and slammed into the door as a chair scraped and the dark shape of a man flew through the shadows at her. Terror was an electric buzz that raised the hair on her arms and legs when a strong arm snaked around her waist at the same time as a wide palm covered her mouth. As she belatedly thought to struggle, she heard the most amazing sound.
    “Easy, Tish-Tosh,” a familiar voice rumbled into her ear. “It’s just me. We don’t want to wake the neighbors with your enthusiastic greeting, do we?”
    With her body pressed against heat and steel, and her heart trying to beat its way out through her mouth, she managed to shut down the shrill sound coming from her throat.
    She pulled in some much-needed air, and with every inhalation that scent she’d know anywhere burrowed in and memories came. Josh dragging himself up from their sofa in the