Crow's Stana (Ruthless Renegades Book 1) Read online

  Crow’s Stana

  Ruthless Renegades MC

  Kat Cameron

  Copyright © 2020 by Kat Cameron

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Foreword

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  To my husband who never gave up on me.

  “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one”

  George R. R. Martin

  Chapter One

  Stana

  I didn't know how my life ended up this way. There were a million ways I could tell you how but none of them would be true. I would be lying my ass off if I said I was happy with the way things happened. As of right now, I was outside in the cold wishing I had a warm blanket that would at the very least keep the warmth in. I was hungry, my stomach feeling like it was going to turn itself inside out, and at this point, I would do anything for food. My life was never hard before the ‘accident’ as I called it.

  Now though, here I was freezing my ass off at the tender age of nineteen. If things were different and I actually listened to my father, I might have been in control of my life instead of it spiraling out of control as it had.

  Blinking out of my thoughts, I saw a bright blinding light right behind my eyelids. I was actually afraid of opening my eyes because of the shit I had been through. When I picked out my spot to sleep in tonight, I thought I would be invisible. It would have been nice to be able to get some shut eye. My eyelids felt like sandpaper from the lack of sleep.

  Cracking open my eyes just a smidge, I saw three huge figures, and I could hear them talking. As they continued walking closer, I could see they were dragging something behind them. Actually, not something. Someone. This was not good. I could feel the nervousness taking over with the weight of the situation I found myself in. Sweet Jesus, now what the fuck was I going to do? This would be just my luck, wouldn’t it? I just wanted one night of sleep, considering I hadn’t been able to find a decent spot lately.

  My inner ramblings were cut off when I heard the words, “Just fucking leave him here. He can freeze for all I fucking care. He didn’t give us shit anyways.” The tallest guy growled.

  Fucking son of a bitch, now I was a witness to attempted murder. Keeping my breathing as quiet as possible, I watched them dump the guy right next to me. I almost gave myself up when I grunted as the guy landed on my ankle the wrong way. God damn it that felt like a few bones cracking.

  As soon as they walked away, I was able to breathe again. Fuck, I really shouldn’t help this guy. I should just leave him here and let that be the end of it. I could barely take care of myself, let alone someone else at the moment. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t help though.

  When I went to get up, I was reminded of how cold it was outside by the amount of shivering my body was doing. It had to be one of the coldest nights in winter so far. Standing up, I felt my ankle buckle under me as the pain radiated up my leg. That couldn’t be good.

  “Come on man, wake up!” I pushed the guys’ shoulder, and he looked worse than I thought when he rolled over to face me. The smell of vomit slammed into me as I took a good look at him making me gag. It was easy to see that both of his eyes were swollen shut, even his nose was sitting at a crooked angle. There was even blood matted in his hair, it would be a fucking miracle if he survived the night.

  “You need to go to the hospital, please let me help you get there. You are going to die out here if you don’t get it together. Don’t you have anyone worth living for? A family or kids or anything?” as soon as the words left my mouth he muttered something that sounded like, “Delia and Dylan.”

  “Well then let's get you to them or at least to the hospital so you can see them again. Come on, big guy, let's get up.” Even though my ankle was killing me, I was able to help him up and ignore the pain. The hospital was about two miles from my sleeping spot tonight. Maybe this all happened for a reason. Maybe just maybe there would be hope for me after all. Yeah, that was the biggest joke of my life. Hope. What a stupid fucking word.

  This monster of a damn man leaned on me pretty much the whole way to the emergency room. It was cold as shit but the man radiated heat like he was my own personal heater. Where was he when I was freezing my ass off? Maybe that was why I couldn’t feel my ankle anymore. Oh well, there wasn’t anyone to come and get me from the hospital so I wasn’t too worried. Pretty much the only one that cared for me when I did live with my family was my sister Riley but I wouldn’t let her help me. It was just too dangerous. So I was on my own.

  “Why the fuck are you helping me, little girl? You should’ve just left me to die. Fuck my ribs hurt.” he grumbled as he kept walking.

  “I am not a little girl. Just not in a great place at the moment. I heard you mumble two names. If you can remember them they will give you hope to live. You don’t want to leave them out there high and dry wondering where you are. Just be lucky you have people that care if you are dead or not mister.” I scolded.

  Shit. Why did I open my big mouth? What the hell had gotten into me? I never ever asked for anything or told anyone my story. So why was I giving details freely to this guy that I just met even if he was half-conscious?

  “Come on, we are almost there. I just need to get you there and I will be on my way. You won’t ever hear from me again. I can promise you that.” I said with a sniff. Sometimes it really fucking hurt that I didn’t have anyone around to care about me. I wish like hell my life would have gone differently but it didn’t and now I was here.

  “What’s your name darlin’?” he asked with his southern twang slurring a little bit. I hesitated in giving him my name because I couldn’t have anyone finding out who I was. If they did, they would just send me right back to where I came from.

  “Cara. You?” I told him hoping he would believe it. I doubted he would give me a hard time considering the position he was in.

  “Garrison but my club calls me Crow,” he told me and I choked on my next breath. His answer made me feel like my lungs were collapsing in on themselves. I was terrified but I wouldn’t just leave him at death’s door.

  “Your club?” I squeaked

  “Yeah, babe. I am the VP of Ruthless Renegades.”

  Sweet fucking baby Jesus, I was in so much shit. If he found out who I was, I would be murdered by his club.

  “Come on, let's just get you in there and all will be okay. You can get back to Delia and Dylan. And your club, of course.” I huffed.

  Five minutes later, we were walking through the doors.

  “Help please, I need help! He has been beaten badly!” I yelled and the sound reverberated through my ears.

  “Oh honey, you look like hell. Let’s get you into a room. You too
dear,” she said as she looked at me as well. I let the nurse take him off my shoulder.

  “I am not worried about myself, just take care of him, please. He needs it more than I do. I will just be on my way.” I said as I started walking away. Apparently, I had forgotten all about my ankle since I nearly fell on the way out.

  “Shit, I am a fucking mess,” I grumbled to no one in particular.

  Getting a hold of myself, I was just straightening up when another nurse came over and demanded I sit in the wheelchair so she could take me to a room. It just so happened that the room was right next to Garrison. Damn it, I really couldn’t be here when his club came.

  “Now, honey tell me what happened to you? You look like you’ve been outside for way too long. When is the last time you ate, sweetheart?” She asked sweetly with no judgment on her face. Her sweetness was just too much at the time, and the tears just came pouring out. It sounded like there was a dying animal somewhere in the hospital. Oh right, that was just me. I felt a pair of arms around me, with this and her voice sounding all too close to being a mother’s voice, it all just became too much, and I couldn’t breathe.

  Next thing I knew, everything was black.

  Chapter Two

  Crow

  Fuck.

  That perfectly described how I felt. The last thing I remembered was getting knocked down before I went into the bar. The babysitter had the twins tonight. All I had wanted to do was chase some skirts tonight with the boys but that just wasn’t in the plans, apparently. I woke up in the hospital with all kinds of IVs sticking out of my arms. There was a breathing wire, or whatever the fuck it was, on which made sense since it felt like a ton of bricks were on my chest every time I tried to breathe. My eyes weren’t swollen shut, but they were swollen.

  I didn’t remember anything besides everything going dark right before I got to the door. Now here I was sore as a motherfucker. There were a million thoughts running through my head when Snake came in and saw me awake.

  “You scared the shit out of us tonight when your babysitter called me because you didn’t come home tonight, Crow. She said she tried calling, and then your phone just went right to voicemail after she called three times. What the fuck happened to you, brother?” He asked as if I had any clue.

  “Honestly, I have no idea,” I told him exactly what I remembered. Which wasn’t much at all but the bar had cameras so hopefully, we could find the fuckers that did this to me. Our computer whiz Knuckles would have had to pull up the camera feeds. We didn’t have any beef with the club, so I wasn’t sure what the fuck was up.

  “Well, you got lucky when that little slip of a woman dragged your ass in here; meanwhile, she was dehydrated herself and had a fractured ankle. Looks like you both took a tumble in the mud, though. You really don’t remember her? She helped you walk here from two miles away, brother.” He told me with a hint of something weird in his voice.

  “I don’t remember any of it. Wish I did so I could thank her.” I grumbled.

  Snake chuckled and got up from the chair. I didn’t pay attention to the curtain until he pulled it back uncovering another bed. It was a woman that didn’t look like she weighed more than 100 pounds soaking wet. Fuck, how did she do all that for me? I weighed well over two times her weight. She could only have been five foot two maybe. I was a foot taller than her, maybe more.

  She was sleeping, her hair moving every time she breathed through her nose.

  Her hair was a chocolate brown wavy mess. She looked dirty as hell. Just what the hell happened to her? The blanket covered most of her but I could see even with it covering her she was just too skinny.

  “She didn’t have any identification on her so we don’t know who she is. Maybe just a good samaritan but we won’t really know until she wakes up.” Snake explained.

  “She didn’t even have a phone? What person doesn’t have a phone these days? She must either be hiding from someone or she doesn’t have anyone.” I told him, still watching her shallow breaths.

  “Well, we sure as hell can’t let her go until we know why she helped you. Did she have an alternative motive or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Snake seemed to be lost in his thoughts mumbling out questions not seeming to notice that her breathing stopped.

  I didn’t want to startle her, but I knew she was awake. I could see her eyelids fluttering almost like she was planning her escape.

  “Sweetheart. I know you are up over there. We aren’t going to hurt you. We just have some questions for you. Come on, darlin’” I tried to be quiet but it's hard when my voice almost always sounded like I was growling.

  As she opened her eyes slowly, I almost tented the sheets over me. Holy fuck, she had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. They were the color of the sea but like that bright turquoise color that you only see when girls have contacts in.

  “You didn’t die.” were the first words she uttered out of that pretty little mouth. Nope. No. Just absolutely do not go there, Garrison. She was beautiful though. I could tell under all of that dirt and grime.

  “No, I didn’t. I think I owe you a whole lot for that.” I told her as my voice got thick with emotion. Just thinking about never seeing my babies again was enough to give me a heart attack.

  “It was nothing really. But I need to get out of here. You are welcome for everything but I need to go.” she huffed as she started ripping her IV’s out. When she slipped her legs out of bed, she muttered a bunch of colorful curse words that would make a man like Snake blush. He must have heard her because sure enough, he had a slight pink creeping up his cheeks.

  When he noticed she was limping towards the door, he got out of his chair and put his hand above her head successfully locking her in the room. She turned around with a deer in headlights look, almost as if she thought we were going to hurt her. When he brought his hand down, she flinched. Shit. That wasn’t good. This meant she was likely running from someone. But that meant that she didn’t have any motives. Hopefully.

  “Who hurt you, honey?” I asked genuinely. All of a sudden she burst out laughing. I think this girl might have lost her marbles in the hospital somewhere. Her moods were giving me whiplash.

  As she stood up, she wiped her eyes and realized she had dirt on her hands.

  “Oh dear god. I look a mess right now and you are pretty much broken. Meanwhile, you are asking who hurt me. Shouldn’t you be asking who hurt you? You are the one with a shit ton of bandages and IV’s poking you all over. Look all I know is I found a spot to sleep last night and someone or three someone’s rather dumped you right on top of my ankle. I dragged your heavy ass here and here we are.” she huffed and took a deep breath.

  After assuring her that we weren’t going to hurt her, Snake called one of our most trusted club girls to bring her some clothes since she told us no one would be coming for her. She also told us her name was Cara, and she was nineteen. She was a baby. Compared to my twenty-nine years, anyways. She agreed to come back to the clubhouse with us when I could go home but I had a feeling she was going to try to escape as soon as we got there.

  When our girl Kelly got to the hospital, Cara took a shower, and when she came out my heart almost stopped. She was a fucking unique looking woman that was for sure. Her chocolate brown hair and her turquoise eyes were every man's wet dream. Looking down her body, she was too skinny but I knew with some meat on her bones, her body would complete that picture-perfect look. I needed to get her out of my head already. I didn’t even know this broad.

  “When can I go home, Snake? I need to see the babies.” I snapped, maybe a little too harsh, at him since he gave me a death glare right back.

  “I will have Kelly bring them with her tonight when she comes back to get me. You are going to have to deal with my ass until then.” he gloated like he was a child that just won a damn board game.

  Fuck, I couldn’t wait to hold my kids. They were my life. Ever since their mother left them on my doorstep, I hadn’t been able to go
more than a few hours without seeing them. Before them, I didn’t have much in my life. I had the club which was everything but having them babies was more than I could've ever asked for.

  A little later, I fell asleep but I woke to the sounds of babies crying. Fuck that sound almost broke my heart. Opening my eyes a little more than I could before, I saw that they were still in their car seats.

  “Where is Snake?” I asked Cara since she was sitting in the chair next to my bed just staring at the babies with big eyes. Almost like she had never seen something so small before. She jumped at the sound of my voice.

  “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare ya, honey. I just heard them whining and it is like an internal alarm that wakes me instantly. Snake?” I asked again this time with her eyes on me. She just kept staring at me almost as if she was trying to figure me out. Like she was trying to find some internal secrets that I didn’t have. It honestly kind of freaked me out. Once she snapped out of her daze she answered me.

  “He went to take a call. He said he would be back in a few minutes. Your babies are gorgeous. How old are they?” she wondered almost as if she was talking to herself. Cara seemed like a timid woman but at the same time, there seemed to be a wild side that showed she was a fiercely dependent and loyal woman as well.

  “They are six and a half months old. Can you bring them to me please?” I begged. I couldn’t get out of this bed for the life of me. My ribs were killing me and I wanted to heal up so I could get out of here sooner rather than later. Cara looked at me like I had grown five heads. What did she expect? I wasn’t going to just let them sit so far away from me.