Fisher's Return Read online

  Fisher's Return

  Birds of Hell MC

  Glenna Maynard

  Copyright © 2022 by Glenna Maynard

  All rights reserved.

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

  Contents

  Dedication

  1. Previously

  2. Chapter One

  3. Chapter Two

  4. Chapter Three

  5. Chapter Four

  6. Chapter Five

  7. Chapter Six

  8. Chapter Seven

  9. Chapter Eight

  10. Chapter Nine

  11. Chapter Ten

  12. Chapter Eleven

  13. Chapter Twelve

  14. Chapter Thirteen

  15. Chapter Fourteen

  16. Chapter Fifteen

  Dear Reader,

  About Glenna

  Acknowledgments

  Available Now

  Fisher

  I was set up.

  Served time for a crime I didn’t commit.

  The woman I love believed the worst in me, but I won’t let her go.

  Not without a fight.

  Freya’s always been my girl.

  I’ll move Heaven and Hell to prove to her that we belong together.

  No one will stand in my way.

  Freya

  My boyfriend’s back after serving three years in prison.

  His betrayal nearly broke me, but I moved on.

  Found a better man.

  One I want a future with.

  Except he has a past that refuses to let him go.

  I’m at a crossroad. Torn between what I want and what’s right.

  It’s not only my heart that is on the line.

  Nothing is fair in love and war.

  Dedication

  To all the readers who love their romance a bit twisty, dark, and gritty.

  Previously

  From the last page of book 1

  I’m two steps from turning on the light when an arm snakes around my waist and a hand clamps over my mouth. “Miss me, baby?”

  My eyes bulge and my stomach does a pitch like I just went down a big dip on a roller coaster.

  The hand loosens and I’m turned around slowly until I come face to face with Fisher. His long hair is gone, but he has some facial scruff.

  A million emotions move through me, and I’m taken right back to the last time I saw him driving away from this very apartment. Back to when he was mine and I loved him. Loved him so much it hurt.

  “What are you…” I don’t get any other words out before his mouth is on mine. Hot and needy. Exactly like old times. For a moment I forget how deeply this man hurt me. How broken he left me.

  His tongue presses against the seam of my lips and I don’t deny him entrance. I kiss him as hot tears burn the backs of my eyelids. His thumbs move in swiping them away as quickly as they fall.

  I pull away stunned and pissed off at the same time.

  “You missed me.” He licks my salty tears from his thumb. “You don’t write. You never take my calls. Worried me that I was going to come home and find someone else sleeping in my bed.”

  “When did you…” my thoughts move to April. The word rat carved into her forehead. Her throat slit. A crime of passion. I take a step back.

  “Why are you looking at me like that? Is there someone else?”

  I shake my head. This can’t be happening. “Did you…?”

  I don’t get to ask him if he killed April because my sister comes barging into my apartment. “Sis, you here? There’s been an accident.” Her gaze lands on Fisher standing in the doorway of my bedroom. “Holy fuck. When did you get out?”

  Chapter One

  I stare at Fisher. His stormy grey eyes hold me captivated. Handsome as ever if not more so than the last time I laid eyes on him. His hair is clipped short. Practically buzzed to the scalp. New ink tatted on his neck. Dressed in the same clothes he wore the last day we were together like a ghost of the past who has reappeared in my life to haunt me. The man who destroyed me. The man I’ve mourned the loss of for three years. The taste of his betrayal is as fresh on my lips as the day it happened. The day I learned he’d been arrested. The day I discovered he’d been stepping out on me.

  I have a million questions. The first one being did he murder April. The woman he fucked around with. The woman who was found dead today. The same day he shows up unannounced and definitely not locked up as he should be in prison. Did he escape? Why is he here?

  “When the fuck did you get out?” Yara, my sister, repeats her question, and I’d love to know the answer to that myself. Only I’m more focused on the accident she mentioned the second she barged in.

  My stomach does another pitch and bile hits the back of my throat with a bitter burn. Memories of the past opens the raw wound in my heart that never seems to heal no matter how hard I try. “You mentioned an accident,” I prompt.

  “Can you give me a minute with my sister?” Yara snaps, shooting him a dirty look as she flips her blonde locks over her shoulder, throwing her full ‘don’t fuck with me attitude’ his way, then adding a hand to her hip that’s jutting out.

  “Yeah. I’ll go out for a cigarette. Then we’ll pick up where we left off.” He pinches my chin then strolls out the door. I watch him go, wondering if he will disappear.

  As soon as the door shuts, my sister’s arms are flailing and her lips are moving. Her hair bounces on her shoulders with every move like it too is pissed off on my behalf. “What the actual fuck? Are you shitting me? Why is he here? How is he here? Jesus. Are you okay?”

  “To answer all of your questions, I don’t know. I don’t know how he got out or why he’s here. No, I take that back. I guess he’s here for me.”

  “Do you want to see him? I mean, I’ll call Whiskey or our brothers and have them deal with him. Choice is yours.”

  I shake my head. “You and I both know that they’d pat him on the back and welcome him home. I’ll talk to him and tell him he needs to stay at the clubhouse. Then I’m changing the damn locks first thing tomorrow. I’ll speak to maintenance. Anyway, what has you here all in a tizzy?”

  She bites her lip and unshed tears glimmer in her eyes. “It’s um…Death.”

  My heart drops to my feet. Chill bumps race up and down my arms. A cold, dreadful sensation settles in the pit of my stomach. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t have all the details but there was a wreck. He had his wife and kid with him. Everyone is at the hospital. It doesn’t look good.”

  My bottom lip trembles. “He’s okay, right?” I think back to the last time I saw him when he dropped me at my car.

  “I’m sure physically. They had to sedate him because he was going ape shit. Because they say his boy might not pull through. Belinda is in surgery.”

  “I need to go to him.”

  “Sis, I know you care about him, but her family is there. All the club brothers including our father. Now isn’t the time…it’s not about you.”

  Her words as true as they are sock me right in the gut. His son needs him, and as badly as I despise the thought of her, so does his wife. Wrapping her arms around me, Yara hugs me tight. She rubs her nose against mine like she did as a kid. I would crawl into her bed when our parents were fighting, and she’d cuddle me close.

  “I’ll keep you updated. Unless you want me to stay until that asshole leaves.”

  “I can handle Fisher.” At least, I hope I can.

  “I’ll call or text when I know more.”

  I nod and she releases me as Fisher returns. Yara bumps his shoulder hard as they pass each other. I suck in a breath and exhale. I’ll deal with Fisher then I can process the rest. One crisis at a time.

  “You can hang in the living room. I need to change.”

  “Babe.” He strokes a knuckle along my jaw, and I pull away.

  “Don’t.”

  “Looks as if you’ve seen a ghost,” he mutters. “I know you believe the worst in me.”

  “I’m tired. Maybe we can do this whole whatever this is tomorrow. It’s late.”

  “Let’s go to bed then.”

  He’s lost his mind.

  Fisher is the last man I want sleeping in my bed.

  “You’re not staying here.”

  “The fuck?” he tilts his head to the side like maybe he didn’t hear me properly.

  “It’s been three years. Did you think I’d sit here and wait for you?”

  “Not exactly, but this is my place too.”

  “And what? Because your name was on the lease before you royally fucked me over you have it twisted in your head that it erases what you did to me?”

  “I never fucked April.”

  “I suppose you didn’t kill her either?”

  His brows shoot up. “April’s dead? Fuck me. No way. That lying bitch. I was planning to track her cunt ass down and have her confess her lies to you. To prove that I’d never cheat on you. Jesus, Freya. You’re my world. Past three years all I’ve thought about was making shit right. Didn’t you read any of my letters?”

  “Why would I? Why would I want to be reminded of how you broke my heart?”

  “Didn’t read my letters but kept my clothes in your closet. My boots are still under our fucking bed. So tell me, baby—which of us is the liar here? You missed me. You’ve been waiting for me to return.” His smoke tainted lips crash into mine and I pound my fists a
gainst his chest.

  He kisses me harder and deeper.

  I don’t want this.

  I don’t want him and yet my heart beats faster and faster while calling me a sorry fucking liar.

  My belly does a dip, and my nipples harden. His scent wraps around me, familiar and intoxicating. Sunshine and smoke. Tears stain my cheeks as his lips caress mine.

  I shake my head, but deep down I know part of what he says is true. I’ve held onto his belongings. I could have easily had someone from the club put them in storage.

  I could’ve burned them. Donated to charity. Anything but keep them.

  Fisher shakes me as I thrash against him. “Would you fuckin’ stop and listen.”

  “You fucking destroyed me. I loved you. I loved you so God damn much it hurt to breathe without you. Do you know how many nights I laid here in this apartment and begged for God to make the pain of losing you stop? What you did chipped away at me until there was nothing left.”

  He brushes my hair back, forcing me to meet his unforgiving, stormy eyes. “How could I ever choose anyone else when I had you? You could lineup a million women and tell me to choose but fuck me. I’d choose you every time. Only you, Freya.”

  The words he just spoke repeat in my head. “I’d choose you every time. Only you, Freya.”

  Maybe it’s the little girl who still resides inside me wishing someone would pick me. Put me first. I don’t know, but I believe him. My stupid heart squeezes in my chest and I embrace him.

  This asshole of a biker I’ve loved with my whole heart. I wrap my arms and legs around him and forget all the reasons I should push him away and tell him he can’t stay. No. I allow him to take me to bed. A bed that we’ve shared many nights. A bed that I’ve spent many lonely nights in wishing for him as much as I didn’t want to.

  My boyfriend’s back. No wife or child to come before me in his life. Only the club. I know it’s selfish of me to feel the way that I do about Death and the fact he has a life and responsibilities I don’t factor into.

  I need to be wanted. To be first. To be the only thought for the man I’m with. Fisher could be full of shit for all I know, but right now he is saying all the right things.

  He squeezes my ass. Savage and desperate. He aches for me as I have him. “That’s my girl. So fuckin’ sweet for her man. My Freya. Missed you,” he growls against my neck, nipping and sucking as he plants kisses along my jaw, working his way back to my mouth. “God damn it’s good to kiss you.” His tongue tangoes with mine, warring for dominance.

  Fisher kisses me as though he can’t get enough. He’s starved for me.

  Eager to reclaim what he’s lost.

  Craving what only I can give him. My body and my love.

  He drops me at the foot of the bed. I sit on the edge as he goes to his knees then wraps his arms around my middle. Resting his head on my breasts as I run a hand over his buzzed hair, he whispers sweet nothings.

  The two of us hold on tight. Part of me never wanting him to let me go and the other half wishing he’d walk back out the door and never look back.

  I wish I could deny him.

  I wish I were stronger than this, but when he stares at me with his big eyes, I crumble.

  “Fuck,” he croaks, sounding on the verge of crying.

  “You okay?” I tilt his head up.

  “Doesn’t feel real. Was afraid I’d never have this again. Feels damn good just to hold you and breathe you in. Fuckin’ sucks though. You believin’ the worst in me. Thinking I’d ever step out on you.”

  He’s been back in my life merely thirty minutes and already I’m being sucked back in. Fisher makes it hard to dredge up my anger when he’s like this.

  Sweet.

  Genuine.

  Loving.

  Raw.

  “Love you, Freya. You’ve always been my girl. No one else. Not then. Not now. There’s only been you for me.”

  I hiccup on a sob as my tears fall. Damn him. Damn him for making me feel. For making me care. For making me still crave his touch.

  There are so many things bottled up inside me that I’ve yearned to say to him. There were days when I first lost him that I was sure I would die. Losing him absolutely gutted me. He shattered my fucking soul.

  Emotions I’ve kept bottled up for so long pour out of me. I can’t hold back. Not with him. I never could.

  “I ripped up your photographs and shoved your memory in a box. For three years I mourned the loss of us. Then I learned how to live without you, but now you’re back. And honestly, I don’t know what to do or say. I spent so long being angry that it became the only emotion I knew,” I confess. “I’ve hated you. Cursed your name. Wished for you. Cried for you. Fuck how I’ve cried.”

  “Can’t promise that you’ll never shed another tear over me.” He kisses me on the jaw, tasting my tears. “Damn, baby. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  I watch as he shoves up, dragging his shirt over his head then kicks his boots off. Fisher’s always been hot but while he was gone, he’s lost weight. His muscles flex as he moves as if his body was carved from stone. My name is tattooed on his chest in script lettering, like a fucking tribute. I trace the letters with my fingers. His nostrils flair at my touch. His eyes soften and I see the man I once knew. The man I loved.

  “Know I have a lot to make up for with you. Promise you one thing. Two things. I won’t lie to you, and I’ll do whatever it takes to win you back.” He grabs a pillow off the bed. “I’ll sleep on the couch. I won’t push you, but one day, babe. You’ll invite me back into your bed.”

  Fisher starts down the hall and I stop him, my thoughts getting the better of me. Someone murdered April and if it wasn’t Fisher that means the person who did is still out there. Death may possibly be losing his world and he doesn’t have time for me. I don’t know what to do about us. What I do know though is I don’t want to be alone tonight.

  “There’s an extra toothbrush in one of the drawers.”

  “Appreciate it.” He tosses his pillow on the couch then disappears to the bathroom.

  I’m questioning my sanity.

  This is a terrible idea. I shouldn’t let him think he stands a chance. But maybe he does. Maybe I had him all wrong.

  It was easier to hate him when we weren’t faced to face.

  I fall back on the bed and close my eyes.

  What am I doing?

  I should be driving to the hospital and not giving a damn about anything but getting to Death. And yet here I lay with Riley Fisher in my bathroom brushing his teeth.

  Maybe this is what shock is like.

  Maybe I dreamed him here.

  I swore I’d never go here with him again and yet part of me dares to hope that for once I truly am first choice.

  Chapter Two

  Yesterday

  “Riley Fisher,” Officer Kemp bellows, stopping at my cell. “Gather your personal items.”

  “What’d I do now?” I glance to my bunkmate, but he seems as clueless as I am.

  “Looks like it’s your lucky day. Just received your release papers.”

  “My what?” I can’t hide the grin twitching at the corners of my lips. If he’s fucking with me, I swear I’ll rip out his eyeballs and play ping pong with them.

  “You heard me. Your stay at our luxurious resort is over.”

  I look at my bare necessities and at my cellmate. “Keep it. Trade it. Whatever. Nothing here I need.”

  “Appreciate it, man.” He gives me a chin lift. Brave little fuck is practically a baby. Eighteen years old. But a bad ass hero. Stabbed his stepfather in the neck for touching his sister. Bastard didn’t die. Not yet. Motherfucker will get his though. Best believe that.

  “Look me up when you’re released. I’ll sponsor you.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  Officer Kemp opens the cell door and escorts me out of general population for the last time. First thing I’m doing is tracking down Freya and getting a taste of that sweet pussy of hers. Fuck. I’ve missed her. I’m given my clothes I was wearing when I was arrested along with my wallet and keys. Cell phone too. The damn thing is dead and without a service plan anyway. I’m on Parole for the remainder of my sentence. I can live with that.