Redemption (Broken Hounds MC Book 3) Read online

  “Hey!” Maddie was outraged. He would really do that? “Don’t make me out to be the bad guy here, Jace!”

  “Well, you are. I want to do the right thing for the first time in my fucking life.” He opened the door, still scowling at Maddie. “When Jeremy asks where I’ve gone, you’d better tell him the truth. Because if he comes after me, I’ll tell him exactly what happened. I won’t be the bad guy here.”

  Then he was gone, the door slamming behind him. Maddie stared at where he had been standing, not quite sure what had happened. Then she realized that Jace had gone and he was going to be out of her life. If he wasn’t going to be there when she needed him, that was for the best, surely?

  So why did she feel like her life had walked out?

  Chapter Eleven

  Jace couldn’t settle. He rode around on his bike, trying to clear his head. But it didn’t work, and he was still seething.

  Maddie had ended it. Jace hadn’t expected that. He had been expecting a lot of fights and a lot of making up – that was to be expected in relationships – but not this. And from the look on Maddie’s face, she wouldn’t be accepting him back anytime soon. She never went back on her word, even if it was the wrong one.

  Jace might have agreed with Jeremy’s advice to take it easy and have patience – there was a lot going on with Maddie and the hormones would be running riot, creating another being inside her – but this was too much. He wasn’t about to have himself get thrown out only to be brought back the next day. Maddie would have him treading on eggshells, the slightest thing setting her off.

  Jace wasn’t having that. This was why he didn’t do relationships in the first place. They were messy.

  He wished he could go back in time to when he had arrived in Tucson. He wished he hadn’t met Maddie and had the best sex of his life with her. Then they wouldn’t be in this mess. But his cock had been leading him then and Jace couldn’t argue when his cock wanted something.

  Right now, it wanted Maddie. It loved it when Maddie was angry, loved her temper. But Jace felt like he had been doused with a bucket of ice-cold water. His chest was tight, and he was struggling to breathe.

  Was this a broken heart?

  Finally, Jace gave up trying to drive away his problems without leaving the city and went to the park. It was nearly midnight and barely anyone was there. Nobody would bother him and Jace could stay for as long as he wanted.

  The park brought back many memories of when he had been a kid. There was a skateboard park that had just been built when he was a teenager. Jace remembered playing on there for hours. Then there was the climbing frame and the playground, which Jace had had fun playing on from when he had been a kindergarten kid right up to when he left. It was changed now. The playground was still there but the equipment had been replaced. The wood had probably rotted away.

  But none of those memories made him feel better. It just left a nasty taste in his mouth.

  Jace had adapted his bike so he could charge his cell phone on the go. Now fully charged, his cell was bleeping with incoming messages. Most of them from after he had left the clubhouse were from Jeremy and Schuman. One of them was from Beth.

  But none from Maddie. Jace didn’t know if this was a good or a bad thing.

  He did send one message back to one of them. The one person who might be able to either talk sense into Maddie or talk him down. A voice of reason was what he needed right now.

  Nearly half an hour after he sent the message, a car pulled up beside his bike. Sitting on one of the swings in the deserted playground, Jace watched as Beth climbed out and walked across the grass towards him. She had divested herself of her jacket and replaced it with a dark blue fleece zipped up to the neck. He marveled at how this woman could look so stunning. The Beth he remembered from school had worn gaudy hand-me-downs and refused to wear make-up. She was like an ugly duckling that had turned into a beautiful swan.

  He gave her a wan smile as she entered the playground and joined him at the swings.

  “Thanks for coming.”

  “Of course.” Beth sat on the other swing and gave herself a little push, rocking back and forth on her heels. “Your message sounded urgent and I thought you might need some company. What’s happened, Jace?”

  “Maddie’s ended things between us.”

  Beth’s eyes widened.

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I wasn’t there when her car was trashed.” Jace looked at the ground as he swayed his own swing. The movement was somewhat soothing. “I wasn’t there when she had that bleed in the restaurant. Because I’m not there, full stop.”

  Beth snorted rudely.

  “Bullshit. Of course, you’re there for her. Even I can tell that. You’re there providing for her, wanting to be in the baby’s life. Maddie should be grateful that you want to stick around at all.” Beth scowled. “What happened was something out of your control. I was there, and I couldn’t help but be a leaning post when she needed it. You couldn’t have done anything if you had been there.”

  “That’s what I told her. But she’s refusing to listen.” Jace could feel the urge to cry and blinked back the tears. He was a man; he didn’t cry. Never. “Now she’s saying she doesn’t want me in the baby’s life. She won’t let me be a father.”

  “What?”

  Jace felt her hand touch her shoulder and squeeze it. He looked up to see Beth’s sympathetic look, pain in her eyes.

  “I’m so sorry, Jace.”

  Jace didn’t want her pity. He just needed Maddie’s best friend to know the score. Beth could hold a grudge as much as Maddie could and he needed someone on his side. He brushed off her hand and stood, pacing to the fence and giving it a kick.

  “I hate women’s hormones,” he muttered, leaning on the railings. It was getting chilly but Jace could feel the frustration boiling his blood. “Which is why I don’t get myself involved beyond jumping into bed with a girl. None of those messy emotions. And now the one time I let my emotions become part of the equation, I pay the price.”

  “She’s going to come to her senses,” Beth assured him. “She’ll climb down and realize she’s being stupid. I’ve even told her that she’s being ridiculous. You know Maddie’s not like that.”

  “Do I?” Jace grunted.

  He hadn’t been around in the last ten years and, when he had known Maddie, he had been her tormenter. He didn’t pay much attention. Since reconnecting, they had gone between loving and fighting and even that was only recent. Three months of that time Maddie had purposefully avoided him.

  Maybe Jace didn’t really know her.

  “By the time she comes to her senses I’ll be long gone.” He pushed off the fence and turned to Beth. “I won’t stay where I’m not wanted.”

  Beth’s mouth fell open.

  “What? You’ll actually leave?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you’ve been establishing yourself well here,” Beth protested. “I’ve heard Jeremy’s really impressed with you and, with your mutual history, that’s good.”

  That did make Jace feel better, knowing that Jeremy’s respect for him was growing. But it wasn’t enough. Not if it wasn’t Maddie. He shook his head.

  “I can’t stay if she doesn’t want me, Beth. Staying here where my kid is, and not being allowed to lay eyes on it…” He swallowed, not wanting to think about it. “That’s going to kill me.”

  From Beth’s expression, she knew it too. Jace hadn’t come here to be talked out of leaving; he just needed someone to listen to him. Someone who was close to Maddie and, hopefully, who could make her realize she was losing a lot by him leaving. Someone who knew both sides. Beth was the perfect choice.

  He didn’t want her to make him change his mind, however.

  “I’ll talk to her…” Beth started but Jace held up a hand to stop her.

  “Don’t. Not yet. I want her to come down from the hormonal high when she’s holding the baby in her arms and realize that she pushed me away becaus
e she was a bitch.”

  Calling her that didn’t sit well with Jace. True, he had called her worse, but calling her insults now had his stomach turning. Maddie didn’t deserve that but Jace felt he needed to lash out. Beth was looking at him curiously.

  “You do love her, don’t you?”

  Jace wasn’t going to deny it. Beth would be able to figure out a lie. He nodded.

  “I do. And, right now, I wish I didn’t.” He went back to the swings. This next bit Beth needed to know, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. “Martin Roberts was the one who told the Wild Leopards where Maddie was. They must have been staking out the clubhouse. I’m pretty sure they were the ones who vandalized her car.”

  “What?” Beth stared at him. “Martin did that?”

  “He practically admitted it.”

  Jace told her about his visit to Roberts’ house and what had transpired. It wasn’t much but Jace had been able to read between the lines. Beth looked as though she was struggling to believe it, her face going paler in the moonlight.

  “I can’t believe he would do that.” She swallowed. “Did he say anything about the hit on Maddie?”

  Then Jace realized he hadn’t asked about that. He had been focused on leaving before the cops came or he did damage to Roberts’ face.

  “I didn’t get that far. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was involved somehow. No one else I know would do that to her.”

  “But why would Martin do that? He cares for Maddie.”

  Jace snorted.

  “He doesn’t care for Maddie. He just wants to possess her. I’ve met his type before. They make themselves out to be chivalrous white knights to draw the women in and then turn into black hearts, showing their true colors. Possessing a beautiful woman to have on his arm is the goal.” He worried away at a hole in the sleeve of his sweater. “And now she’s pregnant with someone else’s child, that’s burst his bubble.”

  “I do hope you’re wrong.”

  “Same here.” Jace kicked at a stone, sending it skittering across the ground towards the slide. “Sometimes I wish I was like my father. He had people who loved him. They idolized him. He didn’t show me any emotions, but he showed a great deal for everyone else. He could do no wrong and they loved him. And what do I get?” He grunted. “Certainly not that.”

  Beth was silent. Jace turned and saw her standing, looking troubled. Had he just said something wrong?

  “Beth?”

  “I think you need to come with me.” Beth zipped up her coat. “There’s something you need to see.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Jace was confused as he pulled into the police parking lot. Why was Beth bringing him here? This made no sense.

  Jace didn’t have a hatred for the police, merely distrust. They could do their job well enough in Tucson but Jace had been raised not to rely on them, that the police were the ones who were the enemy. Jace didn’t believe that now but he tended to avoid them, even with Beth’s brother Lloyd, someone Jace had respected, who had become a cop in San Diego.

  Beth pulled into a parking spot near the front door. Jace parked beside her, further away and with enough room to leave if he needed. He climbed off as Beth got out her car and leant on the hood. Jace joined her, looking at her in confusion.

  “Why are we here? Are you trying to get me arrested?”

  “No.” Beth raised her eyebrows. “You haven’t done anything illegal, have you?”

  “Not yet.”

  Beth folded her arms and nodded towards the front doors.

  “Take a look at the wall in the lobby. You can see it from here.”

  Jace looked. There were not many people in the lobby and from their position nobody could see them. But Jace could see the entire side wall clearly. From what he remembered, it was Tucson PD’s wall of fame – or shame, depending on which way you looked at it. The worst of the worst were up there for one thing or another. Wanted posters as well as mug shots of regulars. It didn’t deter anyone, but Jace could see why it was done.

  But there was one picture, right in the middle of it all, that caught his attention. It was a mug shot of David Howard, scowling at the camera. He didn’t look like the loving, cheery man that Jace had seen around everyone else. This looked like the person Jace dealt with, only worse.

  “Dad?” Jace was still confused. “Why is his picture on there?”

  “You didn’t know he had been arrested?”

  “I knew that part, but I didn’t realize he was bad enough to be on the wall of shame.”

  Beth grunted.

  “David was a loving man and looked after us, especially Maddie and myself. He was fond of us. But he had a temper and wouldn’t back down.” Beth glanced at the mug shot and sighed. “He was in here so often that they stuck his face up on the wall. My brother Lloyd arrested him a few times before he died. He said David was notorious, would pick a fight with anyone. He’s put cops in the hospital before and nearly snapped Lloyd’s arm in half once on a routine vehicle check.”

  Jace felt sick. He knew his father was known to the cops and had been bad enough to do time, but he had never known this. Apparently, what he had known was the edited version. The very edited version.

  But he had no idea why Beth was doing this.

  “Why are you showing me this?”

  Beth sighed.

  “Because your father may have been a comrade in Broken Hounds and put his life on the line for others, but he was no saint. No one saw him as a saint, especially not the cops. He was an emotionless vacuum to you because he didn’t know how to parent. Your mother walked out the hospital as soon as you were born and that deprived you of the loving parent you needed.” Beth brushed her hair out of her eyes. “Broken Hounds see him as a hero and he did sacrifice himself for others the day he was killed. But nobody thinks he was a saint. You’re not the only one who has those feelings of anger and resentment towards him.”

  Jace leant on Beth’s car, trying to figure out what was going on.

  “I remember him going to jail a few times and having to stay with another biker family. But I was always told the police were wrong and had it in for him. I think I partly believed it.”

  “You were raised to hate the cops, remember? Biker gangs have their own code, their own way of dealing with things. Police are no go for that.”

  “I’m amazed they let you in considering what Lloyd does for a living.”

  Beth’s mouth twitched.

  “I’m not Lloyd. And I’m friends with Maddie, not an actual member. They just treat me as such because of who I’m friends with.”

  Jace looked at her and then into the lobby. His father’s mug shot seemed to be glaring straight at him. That was no different to the way he had normally reacted to Jace, as if he was a waste of space. Jace thought, at times, that he was a waste of space to his father.

  “Why are you showing me this?”

  “Have you ever been arrested, Jace?”

  “Not since I was sixteen and my juvie record should be closed.”

  “No adult record and no run-ins?”

  Jace shook his head.

  “Not on my end. If anything, I’m the one calling the cops. Usually on girls I’ve slept with, boyfriends of said girls or family members of same people. They come after me because I chose to ‘sully’ their reputations.” Jace sighed. “In reality, I slept with them once and refused to after that one night because I detected crazy and they didn’t like that. So, they tried to get someone else to bully me into a relationship.”

  “I didn’t realize you could sully someone’s reputation in this century,” Beth said wryly. “You weren’t very good at choosing bed partners, were you?”

  “Not really. I’ve even had laughs with the cops over the ridiculous charges.”

  “Well, already you’re better than David was.”

  “How so?”

  “You did your best to keep out of the police radar.”

  “I’m no saint, Beth. I’m a despicable pe
rson when it comes to women.”

  “I know that, but you don’t have a record and you’re careful. Well,” she backtracked a little, “you were until Maddie. While you made a mistake fucking Maddie without protection, you are willing to step up to the plate. You’re already better than your father because, in my eyes, that says you love this kid already. If anything, if he were still alive, David should be the one looking up to you.”

  “You mean I’ve been resenting him for all the wrong reasons.”

  “Exactly.” Beth squeezed Jace’s arm. “David Howard wasn’t a good father, but he was proud of you. He just didn’t know how to show it. If you knew the truth, would you have been how you were as a kid?”