Firefight: The Soul Scorchers MC (The Scorched Souls Serial-series Book 2) by C.L. Riley Read Free Book Online

the others. Various poses of us together, looking like a content couple. My doubts had all but vanished, even before seeing the hard evidence captured in pictures.
    A final photo caught my attention. I was wearing a cheerleading uniform. Boone wasn’t in the photo, just me. I looked young and carefree. I didn’t realize I’d been a cheerleader. That particular image seemed to conflict with the whole super-slut and pregnant at fifteen scenario.
    When had I had time to attend school?
    I figured I was uneducated or had a GED at best. Perhaps there was more to me then a history of trailer trash behavior. I couldn’t wait to ask Boone about it.
    “Mom…” was all I heard JV say before another lost memory hit like a hurricane battering an unsuspecting shoreline.
    “Mom…! I screamed. “No!” I dashed toward the house, looking for a way inside between the flames. Sirens wailed in the background. Desperate to free my mother, I raced around to the backyard and up the backdoor’s steps.  I reached for the knob. Searing pain lanced through my hand, and I tore it away from the door.
    “No-o-o-o!”
    That scene ended abruptly and changed to one with me wearing my cheerleading outfit.
    The doorbell rang, not once, not twice, but three times!
    “For goodness sakes! Give me a sec!” I grabbed my gym bag from the landing at the top of the stairs and trotted down. Where the hell was ‘the help’ when you needed them?
    I opened the door, stunned to see the brawny biker fireman who had helped put out our recent fire. For some reason, his presence pissed me off.
    We exchanged verbal barbs that I found oddly stimulating, before I marched off to my car, making sure to sway my hips.
    “Mom, are you okay?” JV pleaded. Both he and Joey were standing over me where I’d fallen back on the couch.
    Was I? What did the memories mean?
    I’d appeared older than fifteen in the visions, and I clearly wasn’t married or even dating Boone at that point. It was as if he was little more than a stranger. What the hell?
    “I’m okay. How’s the coloring coming?” I forced myself to respond, hating the anxiety painted across my boys’ faces. “Let’s take a look.”
    On wobbly legs, I made it to the table where I ooed and awed appropriately over their work, still shaken by my most recent recollections.
    Joey wasn’t convinced by my performance. He’d been hanging out with the ‘big boys’ too long to fall for my act.
    “You don’t look so good. What’s wrong?” he persisted, again reminding me of his father.
    I decided to be honest and see how they would react. “Well, I had a couple of new memories I’m not sure how to process.”
    Each boy stiffened as if on cue, and they glanced quickly at each other before turning their questioning gazes back on me.
    It didn’t take a rocket scientist to sense something was going on.
    “Now I’m going to ask you the same thing. What’s wrong? You both look like you saw the same ghost.”
    They shared another glance, and Joey spoke first. “We’re just worried. We don’t want you to be upset.”
    I tilted my head, trying to keep my expression open and friendly. “Why would I be upset? I want to remember all the awesome times we’ve had together as a family.”
    JV hung his head, and a lone tear, trailed down his cheek. Joey elbowed him.
    “Joey!” I admonished. “Why would you do that to your brother when he is clearly upset about something?”
    Joey just shrugged. I could tell they were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of our discussion. It was apparent I’d stumbled onto something major that involved our family’s history. I didn’t like where this was heading, not at all.
    In less than ten minutes, I’d gone from complete certainty about my past with the Richards’ ‘men’ to a whole new level of suspicion. So what if there were pictures? A Photoshop expert could manipulate any image to suite his or her agenda.
    Boone couldn’t get back soon