Chapter 1
Lola POV
Five years.
Five whole years. Sometimes it felt like yesterday. Other times, it felt like an entire lifetime had passed.
At twenty-three, life looked very different from what I thought it would when I was eighteen. For starters, I owned a bakery.
An actual bakery, not just any bakery, either.
My bakery.
Dad had insisted on buying the building after I qualified, Mom had threatened him with bodily harm if he tried putting it in his name.
The result?
Sweet Harmony.
My bakery.
The second bakery in Creek Wood.
I still smiled every time I unlocked the front door, the smell of fresh bread, warm pastries and coffee.
It felt like home.
A different kind of home than the clubhouse or the house Dad built, this was mine.
The bakery had done well, better than expected. Apparently growing up around Mom, Harper Carter, meant baking became second nature, not that I'd ever admit that to her face.
She'd never let me live it down.
A smile tugged at my lips as I arranged pastries in the display case. A lot had changed in five years.
Jessie was nine now. How that had happened I had no idea, the kid was a menace. An adorable menace, but still a menace.
Last week he'd somehow convinced Enzo and Toby to fill Uncle Gabe's office with hundreds of balloons while he was in a meeting.
The clubhouse had spent an hour laughing while Uncle Gabe tried to get to his desk.
I still laughed every time I thought about it.
Toby was seven now. Still sweet, quiet and happiest with a sketchbook and pencils. A little piece of Sky somehow wrapped up in a Carter body.
My smile softened.
Life was good, really good.
So why did it still feel strange being back?
Maybe because college hadn't ended the way I'd imagined, maybe because the future I'd planned had fallen apart, maybe because some wounds never quite healed.
My thoughts drifted somewhere they shouldn't.
Craig Donovan.
I rolled my eyes immediately. Even now, even after ten years. The memory still irritated me.
Thirteen-year-old Lola had been stupid.
Hopelessly stupid.
Craig Donovan had been my first crush.
My first kiss.
The first boy who had ever made my heart race. Then he'd humiliated me in front of half the school and run off with Monica.
A mistake I'd never let him forget, not that I'd seen much of him since.
College had helped, distance had helped and life had helped.
Then Eddie happened.
My smile disappeared.
That one hurt more, because Craig had been a kid. Eddie had been a man or so I'd thought.
I'd trusted him.
Given him pieces of myself I'd never given anyone before, convinced myself we'd have a future.
Then I'd come home early to surprise him. The memory still made me sick.
The apartment had been quiet, too quiet. Until I opened the bedroom door and found him tangled in the sheets with my roommate.
I hadn't screamed, hadn't cried, hadn't even spoken, I'd simply turned around and packed my things.
Eddie gave the typical excuses "It just happened, it doesn't mean anything. Lola I only love you."
I turned round without a word and left. The tears hadn't arrived until three hours later, halfway home to Creek Wood.
Mom knew something had happened. She'd taken one look at me and known, I never told her the details.
Just enough.
Dad still didn't know and he never would, because if he found out?
Eddie would need witness protection.
The bell above the bakery door chimed, I smiled automatically.
"Morning, welcome to—"
The words died, my heart stopped. Everything stopped because standing in the doorway was Craig Donovan.
Not thirteen-year-old Craig.
Not eighteen-year-old Craig.
A man. Tall. Broad shoulders. Dark hair slightly longer than I remembered. Strong jaw. Confident posture.
The boy I'd once known was gone.
Completely.
For a moment neither of us moved, neither of us spoke. Then those familiar blue eyes met mine and suddenly I was thirteen all over again.
Damn it.
Because Craig Donovan had just walked back into my life, and something told me neither of us was ready for what was to happen next.
*********
Tommy POV
Five years.
Funny how people always said time flew. Most of the time I hadn't noticed, then I looked at the kids running around the clubhouse and realized half of them were nearly adults.
That was terrifying.
I left before one of them asked me for advice. The last thing Creek Wood needed was me influencing the next generation.
Twenty minutes later I was sitting in my office above The Devil's Den.
My nightclub.
Well... Technically mine and the club's. The brothers had backed me when I came home from college. Uncle Roman hadn't hesitated, neither had Dad.
Now the place was thriving.
Most weekends we had people coming in from the surrounding towns.
Business was good. Life was good. I couldn't complain, not that anyone would listen if I did.
College had been exactly what I needed.
Football. Business. Freedom.
A chance to figure out who I was away from Creek Wood.
Turns out I didn't need long, the second I graduated I'd come home. I prospected, earned my patch and somehow ended up with the road name Captain.
The brothers still found it hilarious.
Apparently six-year-old me had spent months calling Dad Captain. I'd informed everyone he was in charge of everything. Including Mom.
Dad still laughed about it and Uncle Roman thought it suited me. The name stuck and now here I was.
Captain. Patched member of Devil Creek MC. Nightclub owner. At twenty-three years old. Life wasn't bad.
Actually...Life was pretty damn good.
Women certainly thought so, I wasn't stupid, I knew what people said.
Playboy. Ladies man. Commitment issues.
I wasn't offended, mostly because they were right. Relationships weren't really my thing. Never had been.
I liked women and women liked me. Simple. No promises. No complications. No drama.
Exactly how I liked it, at least that was the story I told myself.
The problem was...There was one woman I'd never completely forgotten.
Five years and I could still picture her.
Auburn hair, curves, a laugh that had somehow stuck in my head all this time. She'd been older than me, smarter too.
The kind of woman who wasn't impressed by my charm, which had annoyed me at the time and intrigued me.
One night.
That was all we'd had. One unexpected night at a college party. Then she'd disappeared back into her life and I'd disappeared into mine.
I never even saw her again.
The memory should've faded, It hadn't. I shook my head, ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous, the woman probably didn't even remember me.
A knock sounded on the office door. I ignored the uncomfortable thought immediately.
"Come in."
One of the managers poked his head inside. "We're good for tonight." I nodded. "Thanks."
The door closed again and silence returned. My gaze drifted toward the window overlooking Main Street, toward Creek Wood.
Home.
No matter how long I spent away, no matter where life took me, this place would always be home.
A lot had changed.
The twins were sixteen now. Reid and Jacob were somehow worse than they'd been at eleven, which honestly shouldn't have been possible.
The girls in town followed them around like lost puppies. Torch and Lottie's daughter Emily spent most of her time pretending they annoyed her.
Nobody believed it, least of all me.
Skylar and Maddox had finally figured out what the rest of us had known for years. About damn time I say.
The two idiots were married now, with twins of their own.
Mason and Scarlett.
My nephew and niece. Both perfect.
Though Scarlett already had every man in the family wrapped around her finger, particularly Maddox. Definitely a daddy's girl.
The poor bastard never stood a chance.
A smile tugged at my lips.
Family.
Everything always came back to family.
Lola was doing amazing, too, running her bakery, building a life for herself. Making everyone proud.
Dad said she got her stubborn streak from Roman, Mom said it came from Harper.
Personally?
I thought they were both right, but lately, something felt off.
Small things. Moments most people wouldn't notice, a forced smile, a look in her eyes, the way she sometimes drifted off during conversations.
Something had happened.
I knew it, Dad knew it too. The difference was that Dad would wait, I on the other hand didn't like to wait, but I knew Lola she would talk when she was ready, and when she did?
God help whoever had hurt her, because they'd have me, Dad, Roman, Grandpa, and probably half the club is coming for them.
The thought made me smile, not a nice smile either, the kind that usually made people nervous.
A vibration against my pocket pulled me from my thoughts.
I glanced at my phone, a missed call.
Unknown number.
I frowned, then dismissed it. Probably nothing.
Outside, Creek Wood carried on around me. Busy. Loud. Familiar. Home. I had my club, my family and business.
A life most men would envy.
What I didn't know was that my life was about to become a hell of a lot more complicated and it all started with a woman I'd never forgotten.
