Stunner (Bones MC 9), page 1
Stunner (Bones MC 9)
Marteeka Karland
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Copyright ©2020 Marteeka Karland
BIN: 009526-03087
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Editor: Katriena Knights
Cover Artist: Marteeka Karland
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Table of Contents
Stunner (Bones MC 9)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Marteeka Karland
Stunner (Bones MC 9)
Marteeka Karland
Suzie -- I’m the youngest grad student at MIT, and to say other students resent me for it is an understatement. To top it all off, I miss my Stunner. He’s been with me through the darkest moments of my life, helping me pull myself back together. He’s seen me at my worst -- I want him to see me at my best. If he’d just return my calls, I might be able to get myself around the mean girls (and boys) at school.
Stunner -- To say I’ve got skeletons in my closet is the understatement of the century. Suzie deserves a man more suited to her station than me, and she definitely deserves a man who’s not a stone-cold killer. I have my uses. Protecting her body, heart, and soul is one of those. I just never expected to fall for the woman after the girl grew up.
Now not only has she run into a foul and vindictive bastard, my past has caught up to me, and there may be no way to keep from being swept back up into the madness. All I truly know is I won’t let any of it touch Suzie -- even if it means giving her up. Forever.
Chapter One
“You staying here during break again?” The svelte redhead, Rebecca Tillerson, was not Suzie’s favorite person. As a rule, all the graduate students at MIT thought Suzie was weird because she didn’t socialize with anyone. More than one of the people living in her graduate housing openly made fun of her. Intellectually, Suzie knew they were threatened by her. She was the youngest person currently in a graduate program and had proven invaluable in helping her professors get funding for major projects both inside and outside her major of Astronautics and Aeronautics. More than one of the math professors routinely snagged her outside normal channels, and it had ruffled feathers of many of the math grad students.
“Haven’t decided,” Suzie answered. “Depends on my family’s schedule.”
Rebecca laughed merrily. “You say that like your family has all kinds of important things to do. You come from a hick town in Kentucky. What could they possibly be doing?”
“Well, my dad owns a security company. Sometimes he has to go to headquarters in South Carolina. I don’t like going because of the soldiers there. They’re kind of scary.” As always, Suzie talked too much.
Rebecca’s eyes got wide. “Scary? You mean you don’t go and hook up with one of the security guys? Even for the evening?”
“I don’t like scary men,” Suzie said softly.
The other woman’s mockery made Suzie’s face flame. “You’ve got to be kidding me! You’re an even bigger wuss than I thought.” Rebecca looked up at a busty blonde woman approaching them. “Georgina! You’ve got to hear this!” She looked back at Suzie, amused contempt in her gaze. “What’s the name of this security company your dad supposedly owns?”
Suzie really wanted to just leave, to turn her nose up at the two women and get the hell out. Instead, she found herself answering. Just like she always did when the two women berated and humiliated her. “ExFil Corporation.”
Rebecca snorted. “Your dad doesn’t own that place. It’s some service guy who’s a biker or something. Real badass.”
“He does. Joe Gill is my dad, and he owns ExFil.”
“Whatever. Georgina, little miss thang over here doesn’t like ‘scary men.’” She made air quotes. “That’s why she doesn’t go home during breaks. Because if her dad has to go to ExFil headquarters, she’s afraid to be around them.”
Georgina looked at Suzie like she was crazy. “You mean all those muscled, crazy-hot guys don’t do it for you?” She gave a disbelieving snicker. “You’re too much, Suzie. Stick to math. You’re good at that. But you’re a horrible liar.”
“I’m not lying!” She didn’t know why she felt the need to defend herself because, no matter what she said, Georgina and Rebecca would never believe her when they were wanting to make fun of her.
“Oh, please! You’re telling us that your dad owns the biggest security firm in North America and yet you’re going to college? If he were that loaded, you’d be home, basking in the sun and waiting on your inheritance. You aren’t rich. You’re just some freak of nature who wants people to believe she’s something.”
“I’ve got classes to prepare for,” Suzie muttered, and headed up to her apartment. To her utter embarrassment, the two women laughed so loudly there was no way everyone in the stupid building hadn’t heard.
College sucked. Like royally sucked ass. Suzie tried to spend most of her days either in the library or the computer lab. The parts of her days she had to actually attend a class or a practicum, she usually kept her head down and did just what she had to in order to scrape by. Being with others wasn’t her favorite thing. She’d rather be back home with Bones.
Bones was a motorcycle club she and the two boys who’d protected her during a dark time in her life had stumbled onto and basically moved in with. The man who had adopted her, Joe Gill, aka Cain, was the club’s president. Cain and Angel had adopted all three of them. How, Suzie had no idea, but no one had come looking for them, Social Services had only visited once, and the next thing they all knew, they were Cliff, Daniel, and Suzie Gill.
Suzie wasn’t naive enough to think Cliff and Daniel had actually stumbled onto the only club across God only knew how many states who would take responsibility for three teenagers, but she didn’t look too closely at it. Most likely Daniel had found them by snooping in places he shouldn’t. Being sneaky was his talent. Cliff and Daniel were both three or four years older than she was, but they’d done their best to protect her even though it meant things were always harder on them. For that, she’d never be able to repay them. As she’d gotten older and ventured from her safe haven of the clubhouse, she’d realized what they must have gone through.
Suzie tried not to think about any of that if she could help it. Unfortunately, Igg and Ook downstairs made her go back to those dark days after she’d been taken. She sighed as she stepped off the elevator to her floor. No way she could avoid the nightmares tonight.
Currently, her most pressing problem was the coming fall break. She desperately wanted to go back home to Kentucky. The only problem was she didn’t drive, and she refused to ask Cain or anyone else at Bones for more money or to take time out of their schedule to look after her even more than they already had. They’d gone out on a limb to pay her tuition for her until she could get a job and pay them back. MIT didn’t give scholarships on merit. They gave financial aid based on income. Because she was unwilling to draw attention to herself even now over her family status, she’d had to do some creative accounting to fudge tax documents and, in the end, had made it sound impossible for her to get aid for college.
She’d actually hoped that would be the end of the MIT journey, but Cain had insisted she was going if she got in, and had paid the full tuition price. Owning one of the top security companies in the world, he’d said it was no problem. She didn’t believe that, and, even if it were true, she didn’t deserve to take his money. She only went because he insisted and Suzie owed him and Angel. Big time.
The prospect of staying at school during fall break stressed her out and made her sad for more than one reason. Sure, she missed her family, and, really, every single member of Bones -- patched member or prospect -- was her family, but more than anything she missed Stunner.
From the first day she’d come to live with Cain, Stunner had been there watching over her. Her own personal very large, very strong, very protective security blanket. He was more than a protector and best friend though. No matter what she t ried to tell herself, or what she wanted other people to believe, she was in love with the brooding man. Had been since he’d forced his way into her life and refused to be separated from her for a very long time afterward. Well, until Angel had talked her into going to MIT. Suzie hadn’t even been serious about it. She’d just applied on a whim after completing a mathematics BS online. It had seemed ludicrous at the time. Why in the world would MIT take a student who’d graduated from an online program, no matter that it had been Purdue through their Global University program. Right?
But they had. Then Angel found out, and Suzie absolutely would not disappoint her mother. Not ever. Surprisingly, Stunner hadn’t protested. He’d been restless the week leading up to her departure, but he hadn’t gone with them to take her to MIT, and she only saw him when she went home. This was her first year there, and she hadn’t been home in weeks. Which meant she missed Stunner like she might miss her right hand.
She’d texted him a few times, but he always responded with one-word answers or an emoji or something. Calling was even worse because he wasn’t much for conversations. And she couldn’t bring herself to admit she loved him.
But after this latest run-in with Rebecca, she needed him.
Once inside her apartment, she clicked the lock and turned the deadbolt. The chain was next. Safely locked inside, she went to her bedroom and grabbed the blanket Stunner had always wrapped her in when she was younger and needed him to hold her when the nightmares got too bad, and crawled into the closet. She sat back in the far corner behind some boxes. It was a little nest in a cubby hole she’d made the first night she’d arrived. There were pillows and blankets in case she felt the need to stay in there for longer than a few minutes. Leaning out of her hiding place, she pulled the door closed, then huddled under her blanket and cried until she fell asleep.
* * *
“FIGHT!”
Stunner bared his teeth at Pig. The fucking bastard had opened his fucking mouth for the last fucking time. The alarm had been sounded the second Pig had uttered the words “girl’s a fuckin’ pussy,” in reference to Suzie and how she avoided the Boneyard when she was home.
The call to arms went out over the bar from the recently patched member, Kickstand. Despite being friends with Pig, Kickstand had turned out to be a loyal member of Bones and a good guy if a little shy in the brains department. Like how he continued to be friends with this motherfucker.
Good thing the warning had gone out, because Stunner had had all he was taking from the stupid pissant. Stunner was out of his chair and had the former prospect for Bones by the throat. By the time everyone realized where the fight was, Stunner had slammed Pig against the wall three times, not taking care with his head. If he beat the fucker to death, he’d get rid of the body where no one would ever find it.
“Back the fuck off, Stunner!” Bohannon, the club’s enforcer, tried to pry Stunner’s fingers from around Pig’s throat. Stunner didn’t take his eyes from Pig’s. If he killed the man, he was going to look into his eyes while he did it. He stopped beating Pig’s head against the wall, but only because it was wood and gave just enough to prevent him from splitting the other man’s skull. So he resorted to squeezing the life out of him. Less mess that way. Not like anyone would miss the fucker. The club had been trying to get rid of him for a couple of years now. This seemed like as good a time as any.
“I know we want rid of him, Stunner, but not like this! We don’t kill without a good reason.” Bohannon was still freeing Pig from Stunner. “Let him go!”
Had he spoken out loud? Just as well. If they knew his intention, they could get anyone out of the bar who wasn’t Bones, and he could finish this business where he should have started it. In private.
“He’s gonna kill the fucker this time.” That was Kickstand. Kid sounded distressed. Like Stunner gave a good Goddamn. If the kid was stupid enough to think Pig was worth saving, he deserved the heartache. “I tried to tell him to back off, Cain. Told him he didn’t want to poke Stunner, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Stunner!”
Stunner turned to look at the Bones president. Unable to stop himself, he growled at the other man. No way he was taking away his kill. Not this time. Cain raised an eyebrow and glanced at someone beside him.
“Don’t look at me. He might be my sister’s kid, but I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout killin’ the stupid cunt my own damned self.”
“Well, he can’t do it here, Arkham,” Cain said, sounding annoyed. “Not with half the bar seein’ the start of the fuckin’ fight.”
Arkham sighed. “Fine. But this happens again, you’re on your own.”
All that registered in the back of Stunner’s mind, but his real focus was on watching Pig slowly lose consciousness. It wouldn’t be long after that until he died. Satisfaction filled Stunner, and he took a deep breath, relishing the thought. He was going to choke the life out of the fucker.
Pig’s face was now a satisfying shade of purple, and Stunner thought he might just finish the job before Cain could get enough people together to pull him off. Next thing he knew, several hands tugged at him and arms wrapped around him, pulling him off his prey. One fucker had his arm around Stunner’s neck, but he wasn’t concerned about someone choking him. He was pissed he might miss the moment Pig died. No way that was happening.
“No!” Stunner was desperate to hang on to Pig. They’d have to pry his fingers off the fucker’s neck. After they cut off his arm, Goddammit. There was no way he was letting go voluntarily.
“What the fuck did Pig say to set Stunner off like this?” Cain sounded equal parts pissed and exasperated. There might have been a touch of worry in there for some fucking reason.
“Get Stunner off him and the two of you go across the room,” Kickstand said. “Then I’ll think about tellin’ ya.”
“Stunner, let that fucker go, NOW!” Cain’s voice was hard with authority. Normally, Stunner would have done what the president told him immediately when he used that voice. Hell, he’d only ever heard it a couple of times since he’d been with Bones, and it had made him cringe even when it wasn’t directed at him. Now, though, well. It was going to take more than a true hardass to keep him from making this kill. Not even Cain was going to stop this.
Finally, someone managed to pry his fingers from Pig’s throat. Stunner let out a war bellow that promised retaliation. He knew he wasn’t thinking clearly, knew he needed to take a step back and get himself under control, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t think beyond the rage and longing, and emptiness, and loneliness that filled him. In his heart, he knew that, if he killed Pig now it would somehow make him worthy. Of her. Becoming worthy in her eyes was worth any amount of pain later. And Lord knew Cain would dish out the pain if Stunner openly disobeyed him.
“Back the fuck off, Stunner,” Cain said again, getting between him and Pig. Stunner tried to look around the other man, to get a bead on Pig so he could see the best way back to him to finish the job. “Look at me! Eyes on me!”
Reluctantly, Stunner shook his head, knowing Cain wasn’t going to let him kill Pig. Not tonight. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, leashing the madness inside him.
“Eyes on me,” Cain said again. He sounded calmer this time. Not the hardass Stunner knew him to be. “You back with me?”
Stunner paused for several seconds. Was he? Yeah. He had it under control. Unfortunately. He gave a short nod and stood straighter, no longer ready to attack.
“Good. Now, you go sit.” Cain pointed to a corner table. One where he could sit with his back to the wall and see the entire room and anyone coming or going. It happened on occasion that someone had a PTSD flashback, and Cain had prepared for it. If he was able to get that person back in control, he had a place for them to sit and breathe through it or talk to someone, or just fucking sit and drink coffee or ice water until they were ready to leave. Stunner suspected Cain knew this wasn’t PTSD for him, but if he didn’t ask, Stunner wouldn’t tell him. Which was probably not going to happen. Cain would demand to know why Stunner had nearly killed someone in the club’s bar.
