SURVIVING SAVANNAH: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK 16) Read online

  SURVIVING SAVANNAH

  GODS OF CHAOS MOTORCYCLE CLUB

  Honey Palomino

  COPYRIGHT © 2021 HONEY PALOMINO

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without permission from the author. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events, locations and incidences are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This book is for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content and is intended for adults only.

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  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Untitled

  Prologue

  “Our dead are never dead to us,

  until we have forgotten them.”

  ~George Eliot

  Orbs of amber glowed in the darkness, slowly blinking at me from just outside of my shattered car window. Little piles of fire sputtered and danced behind them on the ground.

  I’d seen those eyes before, long ago — in happier times, younger times.

  “Oliver?” I tried to whisper, my cracked words dissolving into a ragged cough that sent agonizing pain ripping through my brain. The fear I’d felt moments ago slowly dissolved, replaced by the white-hot numbness of my broken body.

  The owl stared back at me, my own helplessness reflected in his huge eyes.

  What now? I wondered.

  Death was merely a breath away, I was certain of this fact. My eyes fluttered, as if my spirit was warning me that the end was near.

  The life I’d led was full and happy, if lonely and sad at times. If this was the end, so be it. I’d loved with all my heart, and that was all that mattered.

  My only regret is not saving that girl. I’d tried so hard…

  As I waited for the end to arrive, a slow smile spread across my face, the sound of my tires spinning echoing through the cold, Savannah night.

  Everything was going to be alright.

  The smoke from my destroyed engine billowed up into the darkness like a ghost, like a promise from the other side.

  I knew I wouldn’t be alone.

  Time passed, maybe minutes, maybe hours, and my racing heartbeat slowed to a crawl. I stared up at the glowing moon, in awe of the fact that she’d always been there for me.

  Even now, in the violent, bloody end, she watched calmly.

  She’d seen everything tonight.

  She’d heard the conversation that I’d heard. She knew the gristly plan.

  And now, we’d both die without being able to do anything about it.

  The crunch of boots approached, and then a knee appeared on the ground outside. A man grunted in pain as he knelt down and peered into my window. Pushing away a twinge of fear, I turned my head to face the end full on.

  “Cherry? Cherry, baby, are you okay?”

  At the sound of my name, my eyes crashed into the past.

  “Doc?” I cried, my voice cracking again.

  “Cherry, baby.” He beamed pure light into my soul with his wise old eyes. “It’s so damned good to see you, sweet mama!”

  “Doc,” I replied weakly, my eyes fluttering again, my heart filling with the joy of his love, the love I’d carried inside of me everyday since he’d been gone rising to the surface once more. I yearned to fling myself into his arms, but I couldn’t move.

  “Alright, Cherry, we’re going to get you out of there, okay?” He flashed me a reassuring grin. “Don’t move.”

  “I think…” The words ripped from my lungs like razors, taking every ounce of strength I possessed to push out. “I’m dying.”

  “Dying?” Doc laughed, shaking his head. “No way, babe, you’re going to be just fine. You stay with me, okay? You might have a scar or two, but you know I think scars are sexy.” He winked, and it was like a firecracker exploded in my chest. I’d never loved another man the way I loved him.

  It had been so long…

  “Doc, I love —.” Once again, my words erupted in coughs, a thick hot liquid pouring from my mouth.

  Doc’s fist broke through the shattered window, reaching in and squeezing my hand.

  “I love you, too, Cherry,” he whispered, his words caressing my soul like the sweetest honey, his eyes melting away into the darkness.

  Chapter 1

  GRACE

  A smile a mile wide stretched across my face as I watched Sadie giggle as Slade twirled her around in his arms. He’d been doing it since she was born, and now, anytime she saw him, she’d run up to him, arms outstretched, crying, “Twirl, twirl, twirl!” It was one of only a handful of words she knew but it was quickly becoming her favorite.

  As was Slade.

  Outside of me and Ryder, Sadie couldn’t get enough of him. His childlike playfulness was right up her alley and they’d become fast friends over the last few years. Watching him spin her around, her hair flying out around her beaming face, her little girl laugh bubbling up from deep inside her little belly as she became dizzier and dizzier, was just about the cutest thing I’d ever seen.

  Ryder’s deep chuckle behind me announced his arrival and as his arms wrapped around my waist, I leaned back into him, closing my eyes and counting my blessings.

  I did that every day now.

  My life now, the one I lived with the Gods of Chaos, was a far cry from how it started out and I couldn’t have been more grateful. Fate had led me here, to Ryder’s arms, to the immense satisfaction I felt by doing good work everyday, to the love shining in our daughter’s eyes. And I thanked the universe everyday that our destiny played out the way it did.

  Before I met Ryder, I was a lonely, ambitious undercover cop — still trying to do good work — but running into obstacles and corruption at every turn.

  Now, we do things our own way. Now, the work we do produces results.

  Now, we’re able to ignore the red tape, the oppressive judicial process, the slow-moving monster of investigative units — and actually save the people who ask for
our help.

  I couldn’t be more proud.

  We’d all been through hell and back, but we’d come out stronger, and we were still standing. And I could contribute that resilience to the family we’d become. Outside of Eli and Nate, none of us were related by blood, but none of that mattered. Our bond was just as strong.

  I trailed my gaze around the misfits that made up that family — all scattered around the property outside of our clubhouse doing their own thing — and I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. The joy was real and deep, if a touch bittersweet. We’d lost a few loved ones along the way, and it still felt like my heart was being ripped in two when I thought about them, but they remained a huge part of our family, even if they weren’t here.

  Hell, sometimes it felt like Doc, who we’d lost so violently, was still around. Even the ghosts of those who’d departed, but were still alive, were still felt. Every single time Lacey made one of Cherry’s famous pies, the fragrance alone was enough to make me think Cherry would be strutting out the front door of the clubhouse at any moment.

  I sighed, a wistful tribute to them both, as Ryder leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.

  “I love you, babe,” he whispered in my ear, his voice a low growl of emotion meant only for my ears.

  “I love you, too,” I replied, just as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it, his brow wrinkling before he answered.

  I turned around and watched his face as he answered. “Ryder.”

  He listened, his eyes widening before replying. “Where is she?”

  His eyes widened even bigger. “Georgia?”

  He looked over at me, and my heart sank seeing the worry in his eyes.

  “I understand. I need to talk to Grace. I’ll call you right back,” he finally said after a few moments. He shook his head, his brow furrowed.

  “What is it?” I prompted.

  “Cherry’s in the hospital,” he said, with a rush of breath. I gasped. I’d just been thinking about her.

  “Oh, no! What happened?”

  Slade and Riot heard him, too, and ran over.

  Ryder ran a hand through his hair, and I knew his mind was going a mile a minute.

  “That was Cherry’s sister, Hannah. She was in a car accident. In Savannah. But she said Cherry was working on a dangerous case and she wasn’t completely convinced it was an accident.”

  “Shit!” Slade growled. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “She didn’t know. She’s still unconscious. She flipped her car,” Ryder said.

  “That’s awful!” I cried, picking up Sadie and pulling her close. “Did she say anything else?”

  “Just that she doesn’t feel safe, and she doesn’t know if Cherry is, either.”

  “I’m guessing the local police have been no help?” Riot asked.

  “I’m guessing not,” Ryder said. He looked over at me, his eyes asking me the question before his lips could form the words. “Do you think we —?”

  “Of course. We should go,” I answered.

  “Right,” he nodded, relief flooding his face now that it was decided.

  “Y’all can’t go alone,” Riot said.

  “I can’t leave Sadie,” I said. “But it might be hard to work with her.”

  “I can come,” Lacey said, with a determined smile. “I can watch Sadie, and I’ve always wanted to visit Savannah.”

  “Hey,” Slade said, “isn’t Blade from Savannah? Where is he?”

  “I’m right here,” Blade said, his long black locks tied back in a tight ponytail. Blade was one of the quiet ones, but he’d been slowly opening up to us all as time went on. But more than most, he tended to keep to himself since he’d joined up with the Gods after his old club dissolved. He rose to his feet from the porch swing, seeming to literally unfold his limbs until he was standing at his full height — at least a good three inches over six feet. I was told that’s where his name came from — his old friends compared him to a tall blade of grass. It was good to know it wasn’t because he carried a blade. Although, that could have been the case too. You never knew with these guys.

  “You’re from Savannah, right?” Slade asked again.

  “Yeah,” Blade replied, not looking too pleased about the fact. “I grew up there and left as soon as I came to my senses.”

  “Think you might be of some help?”

  “It’s possible. It’s a small town,” Blade said, before shaking his head. “I’m not exactly gonna win any popularity contests, though.”

  “You’ll come with us,” Ryder said, his words clipped and decisive. The concern for Cherry was written all over his face and he’d quickly switched to business mode, crossing off his mental checklist.

  “I’ll go pack for us,” I said.

  “I’ll help you,” Lacey said.

  “We should leave tonight,” Ryder said.

  “I’ll go make the plane and hotel reservations,” Riot said.

  “Spread us all out,” Ryder replied. “I don’t want us all in one place. If we need to do any real work, it’ll be easier if we pretend not to know each other.”

  “Done,” Riot replied, before walking into the clubhouse to go to his office.

  I grabbed Ryder’s hand and made him look at me.

  “Babe,” I said, pointedly staring into his eyes. “She’s going to be okay. Cherry’s strong as a horse. She’ll get through this.”

  “Hell yeah she will,” he said, lifting his chin. He’d told me once that he got through life willing things to happen. He knew you had to take the steps to put things in place, but the sheer determination is where the magic really was.

  I kissed him softly and left him to his thoughts. I had no doubt he was likely many steps ahead of us in the planning stages. I also knew he and Cherry went way back. All the way back. They’d always had a bond that was different than he had with the guys. Theirs was a nurturing friendship that endured many different stages throughout the years and I knew his concern for her would go as deep as that bond did.

  The important thing right now was to move fast and get to Cherry’s side as soon as we could.

  Once I saw what we were dealing with, I had no doubt we’d do whatever it took to keep Cherry safe.

  Chapter 2

  BLADE

  The clouds floating outside the window reminded me of why I didn’t like flying. I’d always preferred the feeling of two feet on the ground — or two wheels would do, just as well. As long as I had the solid ground under my feet, I felt safe enough.

  Up here, way up in the sky, anything could happen. And I would have absolutely no control about the situation if something went wrong. I suppose that fact made me the most uncomfortable of all.

  Being in control was a necessity that I needed just as much as food, water or air to survive. That’s what I liked the most about this amazing organization I was now a part of — not only was it actually called Solid Ground, but it gave me the stability I needed to get through the days, it gave me a sense of being in control of my own days, in addition to a sense of knowing exactly where I was needed and how I could best put my skills to use to help others.

  I never expected going back to Savannah would be a helpful thing, though. Ignoring the sick feeling quickly growing in my gut, I started scrolling through my phone to avoid looking at the clouds free-floating along in the air next to this time bomb of a metal tube I was stuck inside of for another hour, or until it crashed — whichever came first.

  Of course, by ‘scrolling through my phone’ I mean strolling down memory lane and looking through the pictures I’d saved on my phone from days gone by.

  I mean, I knew where I was headed with that scroll, of course. To the old familiar photo that would have been in really bad shape if it had been an actual picture made from paper, but the digital age had preserved this photo like it was taken yesterday.

  But yesterday was a very long time ago.

  Much longer than I cared to admit. I pushed away the guilt, co
ntinued to ignore my sour gut, and just stared into the face of the past, getting lost in the memories.

  I never meant to stay away this long.

  But one year turned to two and then three and then it just seemed like time began moving exponentially, leaving the past in the dust like an after-thought. After a while, I didn’t see the point in going back at all. There was nothing left for me there, no matter how sentimental I felt about the place, or rather a few of the people that lived there, sometimes.

  I stared into Rose’s eyes for the millionth time, memories flooding my brain like they did every time I looked into those grass green eyes. We’d meant so much to each other at one point. But everything changes, and that did too.

  I’d taken the photo on my brand new camera, seconds after I kissed her the first time. We’d kissed under a huge magnolia tree under a full moon, with the silvery curtain of Spanish moss waving around us. A shadow fell on the side of her face, just as I snapped the photo, concealing a corner of her smile, so it looks like she’s smirking. I’ve relived that moment a million times throughout my life, the picture bringing it back like it happened yesterday, each time I look at it.

  Going back to Savannah was taking a huge risk. I’d left without looking back and purposefully avoided as much news as possible of the going-ons of that insane town.