Loving Laurel Animals MC book 6

Prologue

If the photo works it's of Laurel

Laurel sighed as she climbed from her Cadillac in front of the strip club she owned and ran, she started across the parking lot just as her phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID seeing it was her mother she paused, debated not answering it.

"Hello?"

"Laurel, I've been trying to reach you!"

"I'm sorry mother I've been busy."

"Well, that's alright but tell me are you coming to the wedding?"

"I....I don't know mom I'm pretty busy and it takes days to drive there..."

"Oh please darling? You know Lydia would love to have you there and you haven't been home since Christmas."

Laurel winced she wished she could go home more often and see her family but she couldn't she just had too many secrets from them.

"I'll think about it," She said softly.

"Very well then, I love you."

"I love you too mom."

She hung up and took a deep breath, somewhere along the way her lies had snowballed out of control and now here she was at the edge of the cliff she could either jump and end the fiasco or keep up with her tirades and hope it didn't push her off.

She chose the latter, turning she crossed the parking lot and slipped back into her car. She drove across town the bar that her ex-husband Ivan owned. She sat in the parking lot for a few long minutes, hating herself for what she was about to do.

Before she lost her nerve she climbed from her car and crossed the parking lot walking inside, she bypassed the bar section where the bartender was wiping things down and two bikers sat up chairs. Her husband was the president of the Trojans MC and once upon a time she was his vice president.

She knocked on his private door, giving him a few minutes to answer and fidgeting.

"Come in."

She stepped into his office, closing the door behind her. The office looked the same, dark red carpet and dark mahogany walls with a large oak desk and a dangerous man behind it.

"Laurel, what can I do for you?"

"I....I need a favor." She said gently.

"Okay, what can I do for you?"

He wouldn't hesitate to help her, they had stayed friends after the divorce and he owed her so much. A few months ago he'd been in a war with a rival gang and Laurel had saved his ass in a raid, not long after that his cousin and best friend was murdered only Laurel had held him together. Ivan drank too heavily and had it not been for Laurel would have probably slipped into depression. Two weeks ago he had finally sobered up and returned to work.

"Will.......will you, come home with me?" She asked with a wince.

"What back to your apartment?" He asked.

"No back to....mayport...."

Mayport falls, a rustic, hidden little town in the mountains. Population five hundred and nine and their hometown as children. Ivan hadn't stepped foot in that place since they're divorce his father lived nearby him in the city and he had no other family.

"Mayport......why?"

"Lydia is....getting married."

Her cousin Lydia was the over achiever of the family, but Ivan was still confused. He and Laurel had been divorced for five years.

"Okay, why do you need me?"

"Remember when I said that my parents don't know I still gamble on the horses?" She asked.

"Yes."

It was right after Laurel had taken a bullet that was meant for him, she'd been in the hospital betting on horses and Ivan had chastised her for it.

"Well....they also don't know about us."

"Wait, don't know what?"

"That we're divorced."

"Are you serious? Holy shit, Laurel." He pushed back in his seat, running a hand through his hair.

"I know I'm sorry I should have told them. It's just at first when we were having trouble I thought we'd work it out then when the divorce happened....I didn't know how to explain it to them."

Their divorce was anything but normal Laurel had been home alone one night and men had broken into their home. A rival gang had beaten and raped her leaving her for Ivan's cousin Ezra to find, after that their marriage was strained and after seven months they finally agreed to call it quits.

"So, they don't know about the rape either?"

"They don't know you're a motorcycle club leader, they don't know you smuggle cocaine for a living, they don't know I run an opposing club and whore house. How the hell would I explain the rape?"

He fell silent, deep down he still blamed himself for what happened. Part of their divorce had been because Laurel healed and Ivan had not.

"How long?" He asked under his breath.

"How long what?"

"Will we be gone?"

"Oh, I'd like to leave maybe tomorrow. I'm sure you remember it takes two days to get there and then that puts us there on Wednesday so....a little over a week maybe?" She said with a small wince.

"Fine."

"Really? You'll do it?" She asked daring to hope.

"I'll do it because I owe you....a lot."

"Thank you."

"But you can't keep this charade going forever," He pointed out.

"I know just help me get through this."

"Of course I will."

She offered him a beaming smile, relieved that he agreed to help her pull this off and already calculating how she could get out of this mess. She'd made it the passed five years by going to as few family events as possible and when she did go she always had an excuse for why Ivan wasn't there. Work, family duties, etc. Sometime she sent herself flowers from him apologizing for not being at her side, at first it was just to get by but then it became her way of life.

"Thank you, for doing this." She said as she stood.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow, nine work?"

"Yes."

He gave a small nod and she stood there awkwardly for a minute then with one last sigh of relief turned and hurried from the room. She needed to go home and pack, it was going to be a long couple of days.