Kindle Edition
Amazon
Category:
Romance
Publisher: self published
Pages: 197
Copyright: 3/25/2014
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Biker romance, with a twist.
The wall was put into place to protect the rich and the privileged from the fallout of a catastrophic natural disaster that destroyed half the world. The world outside the wall was left to the lawless, while behind the wall the class system was only fair to those born in the upper districts. They ruled the lower class with fear of the being forced into the lawless world outside of the wall.
Molly Daniels a mechanic living in the Slum district is convinced she’s found love or maybe just a way out of her servitude. Instead she finds herself abandoned by her lover and her family, and thrust into the world outside the wall. Fearful and alone she tries to find her way in a world that’s filled with unknown dangers. Only to find that the world outside might just be better than the one she was forced to leave behind.
Lucca “Bone” Brighton is the president of the Red Devil MC. His only family is his MC. When Molly ends up in his town sick he saves her life and decides to keep her, only Molly doesn’t make life easy. Not getting what he wants isn’t making him happy. But when a rival club kidnaps Molly, he realizes that he’s not letting her go without a fight. This Prez isn’t lying down anytime soon, and he’s not allowing anyone to take Molly from the Red Devils until he’s dead.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Molly Daniels dressed in her grey coveralls. She really hated them, but if she wanted to keep her job she had to wear them. Checking her hair in the mirror she smiled at the cute twist she’d managed to convince her frizzy black hair was a good look. She put on a light layer of mascara which was the only makeup she owned, and looked with dismay at her reflection in the shapeless coveralls, which were lumpy around the hips and baggy around her slight chest.
They really weren’t a good look for her, she thought, turning to see if that was a more flattering view.
Sighing with disappointment when it didn’t help, she wished she wasn’t required to wear these dumpy coveralls for once. Having to wear them today when they were not at all fashionable or attractive was disheartening. She had a special date with Luzen today.
Ha, she thought with a snort, what else could she wear anyway. The one dress she owned was second hand with a simple flair skirt that had patches sewn into the worn areas.
Examining herself one last time, she decided it was the best look she could manage with the tools available to her. She headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Her mother was standing by the counter loading ration cubes into lunch bags for Molly and her father.
Molly continued into the kitchen sitting down at the table in front a bowl filled with goopy oatmeal. She frowned down with distaste at the bowl. She was so tired of oatmeal, but it was cheap and easily available in the Slums so she ate it every morning without complaint.
“Morning, Mother.” She said as she took her first bite.
Molly watched as her mother set the filled bags on the end of the counter, and began to clean the dishes in the sink. She smiled at Molly, although it didn’t reach her eyes. She wasn’t surprised that her mother wore a fitted skirt and flared button up blouse that was a popular fashion in the Hill district. Nor was she surprised that even standing in her slum kitchen, her mother was immaculately groomed, her slightly graying hair forced into a clean bun, which was also popular in the Hill district right now. Her mother was always dressed in the latest fashion from the Hills. Molly was unsure how she managed it. She almost suspected her mother stole the clothes from somewhere.
“Morning Molly, your father said that you have another date with that boy from the Hill district today. He said that the boy wants to take you to a place in his part of the city, but I really wish you wouldn’t go.” Her mother paused. Her eyes clouding with concern as she looked at Molly.
Molly didn’t fool herself that it was concern for her own wellbeing. Her mother loved her in her own way, but she always put her own needs first, followed by Molly’s father, and if she had anything left that’s what little concern Molly got from her.
“He’s a Hillie dear, and you two dating is like a bird dating a fish. It won’t work. Even if this boy isn’t concerned with his reputation his class will never accept you as one of them. You’re not in his league. You know….”
Molly raised her hand to stop her mother’s tirade it was the tenth time that they’d had this conversation and she was over it. Luzen Colden, the man her mother referred to as that boy from the Hill, was twenty four. He wasn’t like the other class snobs who thought that those living in the Slums were little better than lepers. Luzen was sweet.
He brought her flowers and even some candy once. They’d been together for ten months, and today was the day he would ask her to marry him. She just knew it. When he’d asked her to go out he’d seemed nervous about her answer. Then when she’d agreed to go he’d been overjoyed. He’d also told her last week that he loved her.
She was twenty two years old. She was well aware that their City wasn’t perfect, but sometimes people could understand that classes didn’t matter. Her Luzen was one of those people.
Molly had been a gearhead most of her life, and she’d been looked down on by many in the upper classes from the Hill’s during her short lifetime. She hadn’t once been treated that way by Luzen.
Even before they were together he was kind to her and the others who worked on her team, if a little clueless about their true circumstances.
If he asked her to marry him it would be her chance to escape from this demeaning class, and move into their upper class world. Where she wouldn’t have to eat lumpy oatmeal every day, she thought with disdain eating another lump of the stuff. When she became a Hillie, as the Slum’s residents called those who lived behind the gates, she wouldn’t look down on her old class as many who’d moved into the Hill district did. She would be kind as Luzen was, only she’d know what it was truly like to be living in this squalor.
“Please, not before I go to work. We can argue about this when I return tonight. Where’s dad this morning? He’s supposed to be on shift at seven too.” Molly asked between disgusting bites of goo to change the subject.
“He’s helping Mrs. Rohan with that generator of hers. It stopped working last night and she had no power for her water system. So, he went over this morning to help her fix it.” Her mother looked at her with haughtiness.
“And I wasn’t trying to argue again, dear. I just want to talk to you about this boy. You need to face the facts about your relationship with him.”
Molly ignored her mother’s comment, and smiled this time with real joy. Mrs. Rohan grew oranges. She usually paid her father for fixing the old generator with fresh fruit. So maybe tomorrow, she could have something besides oatmeal and nasty ration cubes, which tasted like cardboard, to eat.
Molly ate the rest of her oatmeal in silence, while her mother finished cleaning up the small kitchenette while muttering about ungrateful children. Molly stood and took her lunch from her mother with a cursory kiss to her cheek.
“Don’t wait up. I’ll be late tonight. Tell dad I’ll see him at work.”
“I really wish you’d reconsider about that Hillie, but what does a mother know…” Her mother’s voice followed her out the curtained door into the streets.
Molly walked towards the gates watching as children ran by holding toy guns made from trash. Scurrying over piles of rubbish to run into houses made from aluminum siding. She sighed looking around at what she hoped soon would not be her home, seeing all the rundown buildings, the muddy streets, and the poverty that filled the Slums of the great city behind the wall. She just wanted to escape.
She headed to the barrier between the Slums and the Hill. Her boots sank into the mud with wet plunks, and early morning light shown off the aluminum buildings almost blinding her as she left behind the Slum district. She crossed to the gate where she entered stepping onto the cobblestone road leading into one of the twenty cubicles were she was scanned for germs, vermin, and then for weapons.
A mechanical voice chimed in an annoying whine “Slum Mechanic 452 free from germs now cleared for entry. Proceed to manual inspection.” Screw you, she thought as the door opened. She really hated that whiny computer. She stepped out into the second area of clearance required to enter the Hills. Several others were waiting there forming a line towards the two doors that were the only entry point into the Hill district from the Slums.
She saw Racheal, a busty blonde with a dynamite figure covered by a similar pair of coveralls, who didn’t have any baggy areas that made her look dumpy in her uniform. She was stepping out of a cubical to her right and waved with a smile.
“Hey Doll, I hate these early shifts. I wanted the nights, but the lottery gave me this one again. How was this morning with your mum?” Racheal loudly questioned with a knowing look.
“You know mother. She was trying to convince me to stay home. Again. Ugg… I don’t know why she can’t just stop with this don’t date him crap. He’s a bird you’re a fish. It’s all crap. I know why she really wants me to stop dating him.”
Molly mocked her mother while glaring at Racheal who looked great in her uniform. “I really hate how great you look in these damned coveralls, you know.” Molly growled moving up as the person in front of her stepped forward.
“Yep, I know it.” Racheal said preening a bit. “You know it’s just her thinking of you getting hurt.” She said with obvious disbelief in her tone of voice.
“Ha, my mother cares for little that doesn’t affect her. The only reason she cares is if I marry him then I would be living better than her, and she can’t stand that. I know she’s always trying to pretend she’s better than everyone else in the Slums because her mother was a whore who got pregnant with a Hillie’s baby.” Molly hissed quietly, while scowling at her friend. Who smiled with delight at the angry outburst, and slung her arm over
Molly’s shoulders.
“Okay, Okay, I know she isn’t a warm fuzzy type, but I’m sure she loves you. And wants you to be happy.” Racheal said, although Molly could tell she didn’t believe it any more than Molly did. They moved again with the line of people waiting to be allowed into the building two at a time for manual inspections, finally reaching the front of the line.
“Maybe really deep down…” Molly said sighing.
She was next in line. She showed her id badge to a guard who inspected it with the scanner before returning it, and said in a firm voice “Clear 452”.
Molly stepped into the building entering the left door and met Lt. Tucker’s smiling blue eyes surrounded by bushy white brows. Carl Tucker was her favorite guard, a man in his late fifties with grey hair and a slightly heavy frame; he was always friendly and seemed to love his job.
He’d been recently promoted to Lieutenant within the guard, as the new stripes denoted, two extra stripes were on his right shoulder today. The white shirt and black slacks were the uniform all the guards were required to wear, as were the stun stick and laser gun attached to his utility belt.
“Hey, I thought you weren’t doing entry scans since your promotion?” Smiling she raised her arms to allow him to scan her again with the wand scanner.
“Well, they were short staffed, and I wanted to slip you that manual I promised”
Lt. Tucker reached into his back pocket, and discreetly pulled out an old manual for an turbine engine. This was her secret passion and she had about thirty five of these old manuals stashed away at home. Carl knew about her obsession, having discovered her rummaging through some old manuals a few years ago in the office of an abandon building in the Hill district.
That first meeting could have gone very badly had Carl not been the kind man he was.
“Oh, I love it thanks” She said stuffing it gently into her coveralls.
“How’s Berta doing?”
“Purring like a kitten after you finished fixing her. I took her for a spin outside the wall just yesterday.” He whispered to her as he finished scanning her.
“Well, keep her tuned like I showed you, and she’ll be fine.”
Smiling widely, Molly moved to the exit as another man entered through the door and walked out into the hall from the little room with a wave over her shoulder. Berta was Carl’s sweet Harley fat bob which had been built back in the 2000’s it was a pre-disaster motor bike. The man loved older technology as much as she did.
“Clear mechanic 452.” Carl called out as she left the small room.
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