Desire: Big Bear Outlaw MC Romance Book 1 by Charlotte Byrd Read Free Book Online

Chapter 1
     
    EMMA
     
    I came home from school to the perpetual smell of
vomit, which permeated the house. Dad was drunk again, just as he
had been every day since my mother left, a month ago.
    Mom had been threatening to leave
for some time. I used to sit in my room listening to their fighting
through my headphones - my parents could always scream louder than
Taylor Swift. Mom had left before, but this time she packed her
bags and even took the things from storage. She had left for good,
and she wasn ’ t coming back.
    When Mom was still around, Dad had a reason to hide
his drinking. He was embarrassed by what he was. But now that she
was gone, he spent his days in a drunken stupor.
     
    I came home and went straight to my room. Dad and I
were ships passing in the night. He was too wasted to notice me,
and I was too angry to acknowledge the person whose vomit I had to
clean up from the living room floor every evening.
    The only person who knew the truth was my friend
Delilah. Her mother was an alcoholic too, and when she came over to
my house to work on our biology project, she knew what was going on
right away. She was the only one who understood why I never wanted
to invite anyone over. Why I was reluctant about her coming, why I
rarely wanted to be home and why I had to be there to make sure
that he was okay.
    Delilah understood the confusing
bundle of hate and love that I felt for my family and made me
promise to call her if I ever needed anything. I
didn ’ t want to make that promise, but I did.
    Delilah and I were unlikely friends. She was
outgoing and adventuresome, and I was a recluse. I was shy and
standoffish. When Mom was still around, we used to fight about what
I did on my weekends: she wanted me to go out and party and I
wanted to stay in and read.
     
    I was 20 when Mom left, old enough to both move out
on my own and to take care of Dad.
    I was in conflict.
    On one hand, I wanted to go to my room and stay
there, hidden away from the world forever. On the other hand, I
wanted to get out of the house and away from the man who I was
starting to hate more and more every day.
    And so I remained stuck here, in
my parents ’ house, attending community college even though I got
into UCLA and Berkeley. The longer I stayed in the house, the more
I hated Dad and hated myself for hating him. My only hope now was
that they would accept me again when I submitted my transfer
applications.
     
    Sitting in my room and painting my nails Damsel in
Distress, a dark plum color that reflected the hopelessness that I
felt inside, I had a realization. Dad spent his hours laying on the
couch with a garbage can of throw up next to his head and the only
way that I could escape that image was to escape.
     
    My hatred for my mother and what she had done and my
hatred my father and the pathetic sight that he had become was
leaking out of my pores, contaminating everything that I touched.
The only way to break free was to avoid being alone.
    My phone rang.
    “ Want to go to a party with me? ” Delilah
asked.
    I nodded yes, to the phone, but still asked, “ What kind
of party? ”
    “ Just some older guys, not from the school.
I ’ m
not sure exactly, but it should be fun. ”
     
    Older guys sounded fun. Older guys typically had
nice haircuts, jobs with steady paychecks, suits with dress shirts
and ties and newer cars. Older guys would probably not know about
my family situation, the news of which had already spread through
our small town, and resulted in many uncalled-for sympathetic looks
and occasional smirks.
    “ That sounds good, ” I said.
    I could use a night out with
strangers who didn ’ t know anything about me. With them, I
didn ’ t I didn ’ t have to be some sad girl with a mother who
didn ’ t want her and a father who was killing himself in the
slowest and most grotesque way possible.

Chapter
2
     
     
    EMMA
     
    Delilah picked me up at seven. I got into her old
red Mazda Miata, and we sped away from my