Lone Rider (Motorcycle Club Romance)

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons--living or dead--is entirely coincidental.

Lone Rider @ 2014 by Kelly Lawson. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

LONE RIDER

Tom yanked the keys out of his motorcycle and clipped his helmet on the handlebars before standing up with a sigh. He’d been on the road for nearly nine hours and his body was beginning to ache. He’d decided to stay the night in
a small town, but he needed a drink before he chose a place to bed down for the night.

A few months prior to this day he had decided that he needed to get out of his boring life, his boring job, and search for something. He wasn’t sure what he was searching for though, he just knew that he needed to change his life, he needed something new. He wanted fulfilment.

Tom made sure that his motorcycle was secure before he opened the door to the bar. The place was small and intimate, with low lighting and only a few patrons sitting at the long bar and a few others playing a game of pool. Tom kept his head down before taking a seat the furthest away from any of the other customers at the bar.

“What can I get for you, sweetheart?”

“Whatever is cold and on tap.” Tom fished his wallet out of his pocket and glanced around the bar. He had expected it to be some tacky, run down hole in the wall, since it was a fair way from downtown, but he’d been pleasantly surprised when he walked inside. The walls were painted a dark red and the bar was stretched across one wall, a wide variety of alcoholic drinks behind.

“Here you go.”

Tom finally looked away from the scratched wood and up at the woman that placed the sweating beer in front of him. He wasn’t sure what it was about her but he couldn’t help staring at her. While she wasn’t naturally beautiful, there was a certain element to her that caused him to stare like a pervert.

“You can stop staring.”

Tom blinked and handed her the money, shaking his head when she tried to hand the change back to him. It wasn’t that much really, and Tom hated loose change rattling in his pockets. He spun on the barstool and looked at the people in the bar. Most of them were balding men with obscenely large stomachs poking out of the bottom of their shirts.

“Haven’t seen you around here before.”

“Sorry?” He turned back around and took a sip of his beer before smiling at the woman behind the bar.

“I said I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new or just passing through?”

“I’m Tom and I’m just passing through. I’m on an adventure, you see.” He took another mouthful of his beer and watched as the woman wiped the surface down before sitting on the stool that was behind the bar with a smile.

“Well, I’m Caroline and this is my bar. What adventures are you going on, Tom?”

Caroline. The name seemed to fit the dark haired woman. He found himself shrugging before he started to talk, he wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to tell Caroline all about his adventures.

“My life was boring me, so I decided to get out of it. Sold my house, put all of the furniture and stuff into storage and just got on my bike and started to ride. So far I’ve been to Vegas, Ohio, Mississippi and Washington, and now I’m here in good old Texas to see what I can find.”

“Why did you leave? What was so boring you decided to leave everything you knew behind?” Caroline leaned her elbows on the bar and rested her chin in her clasped hands, still smiling.

“I was an accountant, believe it or not. I just couldn’t do it anymore, it wasn’t me. So I needed a change, and I had nothing really at home for me anyway.”

“I wouldn’t have placed you as an accountant with all the tattoos and your look.” Caroline gestured to him and Tom looked down at his uncovered forearms. It had taken him almost thirteen years to fill both of his arms up with tattoos and he didn’t regret a single one of them. He just shrugged and downed the last of his beer.

“My boss was a bit of a prick; he made me cover them up all the time anyway. I needed to do something that gave me a thrill. This is why I’m here. So tell me, Caroline, what is there for me to do in this town?”

“If you stick around for a couple of days then the annual Richard Sampson’s Festival is coming up. That’s always a fun thing.”

“Richard Sampson’s Festival? What’s that?”

“It’s a weekend of activities such as hot dog eating contests, bull riding, there will be a circus, and not to forget the apple pie competition. It was started when the founder of this town, Richard Sampson, died and the people wanted to celebrate what he had done for this town. It’s become a tradition since then, and it’s just a good laugh for the town. It gives us time to wind down.”

“I think I’ll have to stick around for this, it sounds very interesting indeed. Is there a place where I can get a room for the night?” Tom stood up and smoothed his riding leathers down before turning to smile at Caroline.

“If you head straight down the road and take the first left, there is a bed and breakfast you can stay at.”

“Thank you very much, Caroline. I’ll be seeing you around.” Tom winked at her before leaving the bar and hopping back onto his motorcycle. Well, it looked like he had something to do this weekend other than drive around country lanes.

****

Caroline watched as Tom walked out of her bar and slumped onto the stool again. She wasn’t sure why she’d told Tom about the Richard Sampson’s Festival. It was usually a thing that only the members of the town did, and it was very rare that people from outside participated.

There was something inside Tom, though, that called out to her — That told her he could do with something to cheer him up. Obviously his adventures so far hadn’t been doing an awful lot of good.

“Caroline, honey, can we have another pitcher of Bud Light over here?”

“Coming right over, Mr Pearson.” She shook her head before turning around and filling the pitcher of beer for her regular customers, and tried not to think too much about the mysterious tattooed biker.

****

Tom stretched his body the next morning in the overly large bed. It was nice to be able to sleep in a bed that was comfortable and he wasn’t scared of getting HIV or any other nasty illnesses from the rusty springs that were poking through the mattress and into his butt. He decided to spend the day looking around town and to see if he could find more information about this Richard Sampson’s Festival.

He took a quick shower before dressing in jeans and a thin shirt, since the weather was ridiculously hot in this town, and he didn’t want to sweat his guts out before he’d even met the owner of the place that he was staying at.

“Breakfast!”

Tom managed to get down the stairs without tripping, his stomach growling angrily at him. The couple that ran the bed and breakfast were short and elderly. They fussed over him when he’d insisted that he had enough food and that he really needed to go. He didn’t bother using his motorcycle, preferring to walk if he could get away with it.

It didn’t take him long to get into the town centre, but he was sweltering by the time he did. He picked up a cool drink before exploring the numerous random shops that littered the town. At around noon he found himself wandering into Caroline’s bar again, and taking the seat he had left last night.

“The wayward traveller has returned.”

“I was wondering if you could tell me where the Richard Sampson’s Festival is being held.” Tom leaned against the bar, a smirk on his face.

“It’s way out on old Reynolds farm. If you stick around long enough and come back tomorrow morning I can show you the way if you’d like?” Caroline brushed her hair out of her face before smiling at him. Tom couldn’t help but track the way she licked her lips and tilted her head slightly to the side while she was waiting for his answer.

“That would be great. Is there a garage somewhere? My motorcycle is making a weird sound.”

“Look out the window.”

Tom turned and chuckled at the sight of the garage opposite him. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed it while driving in last night. He had been meaning to get his motorcycle checked out when he had gotten to Mississippi, but had forgotten.

“Can I have a cold coke before I go back out into this hell?” Tom turned away from the window and back to Caroline, having the pleasure of watching her throw her head back and laugh before grabbing him an ice cold can from the fridge with a wink.

“You’ll grow used to the weather, don’t fret it.”

“I’m only here for the weekend and then I’m going somewhere where it’s snowing.” Tom rolled the can across his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief as the coolness slightly lowered his body temperature.

“Of course, well come by tomorrow morning and I shall show you the way to the festival.” Caroline wiped down the bar in front of him and headed out the back. Tom frowned at the back of her head. She seemed distant today, but he shouldn’t worry about that, since he was only here for two days. But why did he feel like there was reason for him to stay in this town longer than one weekend?

****

Tom leaned against the counter in the garage a few hours later, as a mechanic gave his motorcycle a few tests. It didn’t appear to be good, since the man kept humming and shaking his head at it. Eventually, after what seemed like forever, he stood up, mopped his brow with a dirty cloth and shook his head at Tom.

“I’m sorry, son. It seems like it’s going to be here for at least four days.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“A part in your engine has died. It would have been a simple quick change job if it wasn’t custom built. I’ll have to order the part in, and that’ll take at least three days. It’s not safe to use until then.”

“How much is it going to cost me?”

“Fifty and a beer.”

“Fifty? That’s it? I had this serviced in Vegas and they charged me near three hundred for it.”

“Big city grabbers, you see. Is that everything?”

“Yes, thank you very much.” Tom nodded his head at the man before exiting the garage and heading back into the bar, sighing.

“Not good news, ey?” Caroline finished pulling a pint and placed them all on a tray before lifting it above her head. Tom’s eyes were immediately drawn to the strip of pale flesh that had been revealed when she lifted her arms up.

“Uh, no. It’s going to be in there for at least four days.” Tom shrugged and pushed a coaster around the bar with another deep sigh.

“What’s troubling you, Tom?” Caroline asked once she’d returned with the now empty tray.

“This was supposed to be some big adventure, trying to find something new and exciting, something that made me feel...fulfilled.”

“So you’ve had a few mishaps along the way, shit happens.”

“My bike was working fine until Mississippi and then it decided to break down in a practically deserted town. Good for me.” Tom leaned his head on the bar and tried not to move when he felt Caroline’s soft touch on his shoulder. He felt a warm sensation flood through his body and smiled into the counter.

“At least your bike decided to crap out this weekend. There is something to do here, at least.”

“That is a good thing. I think I’m going to head back and take a shower before lying in bed for the rest of the day. I feel like I’m going to need my energy tomorrow.”

“Have you eaten today?”

“Not since this morning. I’ll get something when I get back.” Tom waved away her concern and stood up.

“No, sit down. You’ve probably burned the calories from that meal. I’ll give you something to eat, I make everything myself.”

Tom couldn’t deny her, not after the amazing smile, so he just sat back down and leaned his elbows on the bar as she disappeared into the back and a few moments later returned with a steaming bowl of something.

“What is this?”