Chapter One
Adler
I looked up at Elliot as he stepped into the chapel, a steaming mug of coffee in his hands. Elliot was my Sergeant at Arms and had joined the club after serving four years in the Marine Corps infantry division. He’d seen things no one should have to, and I found him trying to find work and fit back into society a few days after he’d gotten back home.
I’d brought him into the fold, and after he prospected for a few months and proved he was worthy and loyal, I patched him in as an officer. The club gave him something to be part of again, and it gave him a command system to fall back on. He needed structure, and the Storm Hogs MC offered that.
Four years later, the six of us in the club—me, Seb, Elliot, Beau, Harlan, and Remi—had all signed our names to an LLC and created Storm Hogs Construction. We went from working for others to working for ourselves. We were looking to eventually expand and create a couple of other crews, but we weren’t ready to let go of all that control yet and break apart. Because we would have to break apart so each crew had a foreman.
“Got a call yesterday from a woman named Cecily Truitt about remodeling a house she just purchased on the outskirts of town. Out on Highway 24 East. Apparently, it’s an old farmhouse. You ever heard of her?”
We sort of knew everyone around here. Washington County wasn’t that big in terms of people that lived inside of it.
“Cecily Truitt? Yeah—she owns that strip club outside of Davisboro,” Elliot said, taking a seat at the table.
My eyebrows shot up into my forehead. “A woman owns that place?” I’d always suspected it was a man that owned it. Just went to show I shouldn’t always be assuming shit. Seb, my vice president, always frequented that place, and all of us had been there a time or two. It was a clean place with sweet girls, and security was tight.
Ms. Truitt ran a tight ship, apparently, and suddenly, I had a fuck ton of respect for her.
I took a sip of my coffee. “You and the others still heading out to finish up that project on Old Tennille Road?” I asked.
Elliot nodded. “Yep. If that’s the orders you gave, that’s where we’re going.”
I stood to my feet and clapped my hand to his shoulder. “Y’all be careful, you hear? I’ll be out there just as soon as I have this meeting with Ms. Truitt.”
He threw me a thumbs-up over his shoulder. I walked out of the chapel, nodding once at Seb, who looked like he was ready to dump the entire pot of coffee in his mouth. I snickered. “Rough night?”
He just grunted at me. Seb wasn’t a man of many words most days, and he was certainly not a morning person. Knowing him, he’d spent most of the night out at Frisky’s.
I headed out the door, Ms. Truitt’s address memorized. I straddled my Harley-Davidson Low Rider® ST and strapped my helmet to my head. With the beast rumbling beneath me, I headed in the direction of Highway 24 East, enjoying the fresh, crisp morning air blowing over my face and the open road ahead of me.
~*~*~
I released a low whistle at the state of Miss Truitt’s house as I slowly inched my way up the drive. The driveway was a mix of gravel and dirt and was in desperate need of a good grading. Then, more gravel definitely needed to be added.
The old farmhouse was settled on several acres of cleared land. It was any backwoods man’s wet dream, to be honest. All this land—plenty of trouble to be had on it. It made me chuckle to think of the shit me and the guys could get into. Dirt bikes, four-wheelers, bonfires—it would be a blast.
A slim woman with dark brown hair mixed with lighter tones and blue eyes stepped out of the old house. She lowered a pair of shades over her stunning blue eyes, and I trailed my eyes over the rest of her as I shut off my bike and took my helmet off.
She was wearing a pair of old, worn boots and a pair of cut-off jean shorts with multiple frays. They were basically one wash away from completely falling apart. Her plain black tank top showed off her impressive breasts, and my cock went half-hard, surprising the fuck out of me.
Fuck, she was hot.
It wasn’t very often I was instantly attracted to a woman. I was a man who needed an emotional connection first. But damn if there wasn’t something about her that made me want to bend her over this bike and fucking ruin her sweet cunt.
I stood off my bike and walked toward her with an easy smile on my face. “Miss Truitt?” I asked, holding my hand out to her.
She took my hand in hers and firmly shook it, a smile tilting her own lips. My heart skipped a beat in my chest, and it was right then I realized I was in a fuck ton of trouble with her. “Cecily,” she corrected me. “Miss Truitt is my mother. You’re Adler, right? Adler Farley?”
“You’ve got it, ma’am,” I told her. I dropped her hand when I realized I was still holding it and quickly shoved my hands in the pockets of my cut that labeled me as the president of the Storm Hogs MC. “This place is pretty impressive.”
She snorted. “Maybe once upon a time,” she said, turning to face the house, her arms crossed under her chest, pushing her tits up even more. Christ. She was killing me here.
“Let’s take a look inside,” I told her. “You can tell me your ideas, and I can tell you if I can make it work or not. But I can tell you just from looking at the outside, it’s not going to be cheap.”
She shook her head. “Cost isn’t a concern. I have a construction loan. I just need this place to be a little more livable. I’m tired of grilled food.”
I barked out a laugh. She began walking up to the house, her hips swaying in those damned shorts. “I’ll see what I can do, Cecily.”
I blew out a soft breath when we stepped inside, internally cringing. Whoever owned this place before Cecily got her hands on it had not taken care of it. Once upon a time, it was probably a grand, beautiful home. But I could clearly see it had been left to fall apart.
I whistled lowly. “Let’s start from the top,” I said. “Are the stairs safe?”
She chuckled. “I haven’t been brave enough to go up them.”
Oh, boy.
~*~*~
This would be a long project; no doubt about it. It would take us months to get this done, and that was only if I put all of our other jobs on the back burner and focused on this. She had all the money to pay upfront, which would help make that decision easier. But this was going to be back-breaking work.
As much as I didn’t want to yet, I was going to have to hire at least one more crew and put two of the brothers as the foremen. I didn’t have a choice. Because I couldn’t alienate my other customers, no matter how sinfully hot Cecily Truitt was.
“Do we have a deal?” she asked me.
I nodded. “We’ve got a deal,” I assured her. I looked down at her, ripping my eyes away from the house. A smirk curved my lips. I’d been eyeing her all damn morning, and I’d caught her sneaking looks at me, too. And damn it all to hell, I couldn’t resist her any longer.
Mixing business with pleasure was a huge no-no in our books, but rules were meant to be broken.
“Why don’t we discuss it more over dinner on Friday evening?” I asked her.
She smirked, her eyes flashing with amusement. “Are you really wanting to discuss my run-down house further, Adler, or are you wanting to get in my pants?”
I winked at her. “If I said both, would you slap me?”
She barked out a laugh. “No. I’d just appreciate the honesty.”
I shrugged, liking her even more. She wasn’t easily offended. Honestly, she was probably the most laid-back woman I’d ever met. “I’d like to get in your pants, Cecily,” she laughed, “but I’d also like to just get to know you. Is that okay?”
Her smile softened a little. “You’ve got my number, Mr. Farley. Just text me the details.”
With that, she turned and walked back up the old porch, which was going to be the first damn thing I replaced. I could just picture one of those old, rotting boards breaking on her and her falling through, seriously injuring herself.
“It’s Adler!” I called after her.
She just turned her head and winked at me.
