River's Biker Heroes [The Ghost Riders 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  The Ghost Riders 4

  River’s Biker Heroes

  River knows who she is but can’t remember the last few months of her life. She must know something that someone wants to keep a secret. Can Merrick and Cassius help her piece together her past before it finds her again to finish what was started?

  When they find River close to death on the side of the road, Merrick and Cassius know she is special to them and claim her as theirs, therefore, under the protection of The Ghost Riders. The club rallies around them and helps the two men keep her safe as well as find out who is after her.

  When the threat is removed and the dust settles, will River curb her wanderlust and settle down with Merrick and Cassius, or will the two men take to the road to keep her between them?

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 47,996 words

  RIVER’S BIKER HEROES

  The Ghost Riders 4

  Marla Monroe

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  RIVER’S BIKER HEROES

  Copyright © 2014 by Marla Monroe

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-282-7

  First E-book Publication: February 2014

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of River’s Biker Heroes by Marla Monroe from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Marla Monroe’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Monroe’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  This is for the members of B.A.C.A., Bikers Against Child Abuse. Their selfless pursuit of justice for those who can’t fight against their abusers is inspiring. They help empower the children by offering them acceptance, support, and friendship. When an abused child goes to court, they go with them to make sure no one bothers them or tries to intimidate them. My hat’s off to these men and women. It proves you can’t judge a book by its cover and they will be the first to tell you that they use their tough reputation for the good of the children they support. God Bless.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  About the Author

  RIVER’S BIKER HEROES

  The Ghost Riders 4

  MARLA MONROE

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  River wasn’t sure how long she’d been walking when her legs finally gave out. She hadn’t had anything substantial to eat in several days. The old Coke bottle she’d filled up at the last place she’d stopped was empty again. Her head pounded to the point of nausea, and since she didn’t have anything in her stomach to throw up, she’d only end up with the dry heaves.

  It took all of her remaining energy to drag herself off the road to lean against one of the scrub bushes that lined it. Of all the ways to die, this hadn’t been one she’d actually thought of. River had always imagined she would die out in the wilds of Africa photographing some endangered species or maybe a plane crash over South America on her way back from filming the effects of deforestation of the rainforest. This was so anticlimactic for her.

  The sun was already beginning to sink behind the distant hills. It would get much cooler once it was gone. River had no doubt she wouldn’t last the night. Between her broken ribs and her lack of food and water, she didn’t see any way around it. She’d wandered aimlessly for several days before she’d finally found the road she was on now. The last place she’d stopped had been an abandoned house that was missing most of the roof and one wall. She’d been lucky there had been a well with a working hand pump that she had been able to use to fill her bottle. Unfortunately there hadn’t been anything lying around she could have used to carry more water with her.

  For a little while, she’d thought about sticking around there since she at least had water, but the lack of traffic on the road and no food was a problem. She decided instead to push on and hope for a passing car or truck to stop and pick her up. She would have gladly stood in the middle of the lane to make them stop if she needed to.

  Before she’d gotten so dehydrated, she’d been coughing a lot. Now that she was so dry inside, there wasn’t anything to cough up. She wasn’t sure if that would help her or not in the long run. She was sure she had been on the verge of pneumonia from her broken ribs, but maybe that didn’t matter now anyway.

  Laughter bubbled up out of nowhere. She was rambling in her head. It wasn’t like she could talk to herself out loud since her mouth and throat were so dry.

  I must have heatstroke or is it heat exhaustion? I sure am exhausted.

  Again the urge to laugh hit her, but all she could do was dry cough then gag and h
eave. Pain tore through her chest at the pressure it put on her aching ribs. No more laughing. It hurt too badly.

  Why was she out here anyway? She was smarter than to go walking in the heat without water. And why were her ribs broken if she had just gone for a walk? River fought to remember what had happened to her, but now it all seemed to be a jumbled mess in her head. She could remember trying to find out about something. She’d been investigating something, right? That was what she did, investigate and document things—important things.

  The more she tried to remember, the more her head hurt and the less she could concentrate. She decided it didn’t really matter since she wasn’t going to make it to tell anyone anything anyway. Even if she could remember what it was she had been doing, she didn’t have her camera anymore. Where had she lost it? It was an expensive camera. She’d never be able to afford to replace it.

  The urge to laugh at that thought when she wasn’t going to make it anyway almost got the best of her, but she managed to stifle it.

  No more laughing, River. It hurts to laugh, remember?

  The sun was much lower now. Cooler air began to blow through the heat of the late afternoon. She looked up when her head rolled to one side and realized something was flying above her. Was it an airplane? Could they see her? She tried to lift her arm to wave, but it was just too damn hard. Then she realized it wasn’t a plane because it circled not far above her without making a noise.

  Is it my guardian angel? It sure isn’t doing a very good job of watching out for me. Maybe it’s the angel of death waiting for me to die. Well screw you! I’m not ready to die yet. I have something important I have to do. Didn’t I?

  River tried to remember what it was she was supposed to do, but couldn’t. Maybe after she’d taken a nap she would be able to remember. She was tired. She’d walked a long way. A very long way.

  * * * *

  Cassius hated riding into the sun. Especially when it was as low in the sky as it was now. It blinded him even with the tinted visor on his helmet. Most days he didn’t bother with a full helmet, but when he was out on the open road, he preferred the full face deal. He’d take red meat over bug meat any day.

  “Fuck this shit. I’d just about rather pull over and wait for the fucking sun to set then ride like this,” Merrick, his brother, said over the mic in his helmet.

  “I’m all for that. Want to pull over at that copse of scrub ahead?” he asked.

  “Hell, yeah. Could use a drink anyway.”

  Cassius slowed the big bike down and started pulling off the road as soon as he reached the scrub then cursed and jerked the bike back up on the road, nearly turning the thing over.

  “What the fuck?” Merrick yelled in his ear over the mic. “You trying to kill me?”

  “There’s someone on the side of the road, man. I nearly ran over their legs.” He walked the bike up a short ways before shutting off the engine and setting stand.

  He could hear Merrick cursing even after he’d pulled off his helmet. Cassius threw one leg over the bike and groaned as his legs and ass stretched in a new direction. He walked toward the figure on the ground, making it there at the same time as his brother.

  “Fucking hell, is she dead?” Merrick asked before crouching down.

  Cassius grunted before kneeling next to woman’s upper torso to get a better look. Her skin had a tight look to it with enough pink showing through the dirt, dust and bruising to attest that she’d been out in the sun a good bit before she’d collapsed. Her dry, cracked lips were caked with blood and peeling skin.

  “Damn, if she’s alive, it won’t be for much longer,” Merrick said.

  Cassius pulled off his leather gloves and checked for a pulse, noting that her skin was hot and very dry. The rapid, faint beat against his fingertips said she was still with the living, but he was with his brother on the not much longer part.

  “She’s alive. Rapid pulse, dry skin. She’s dehydrated and probably suffering from heatstroke. Let’s try and get a little water down her,” he said.

  Merrick stood up and walked back to his bike. He returned a moment later with a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap and handed it to him.

  Cassius slipped his arm behind the woman’s neck and gently held her head up enough that maybe she wouldn’t choke and poured a small amount on her slightly parted lips. At first the water just ran off, making a wet, muddy track down her chin and neck. Then her lips moved a little and her cracked tongue peeked out.

  He poured a little more into her mouth this time and was rewarded with a high wheeze cough and soft moan. As he continued to slowly add more water to her mouth, she managed to swallow more of it each time. When her eyes opened, he pulled the bottle back and looked down into dull, doe-brown eyes that still didn’t seem to see much.

  “Hey there. Can you hear me?” he asked.

  She winced, and her throat muscles worked but nothing came out. She finally nodded.

  “I’m going to give you a little more water but not much. If you drink too much right away you’ll only end up getting sick and throwing it back up. Understand?”

  She nodded again, so he gave her a few more swallows then handed the bottle back to his brother. Her eyes appeared a little less glassy now. He took that to be a good sign. With the sun nearly gone, his view of her began to dim.

  “Need a flashlight, Merrick. Then we’ve got to figure out about getting her to a hospital,” he said.

  Merrick returned with two flashlights. He handed one to Cassius and aimed the one he held at the woman’s midsection.

  “Can you talk yet?” Merrick asked her.

  She swallowed with a wince but managed a weak, “Some.”

  “Think you can hold on to one of us on the back of the bike if we go slow enough?” he asked.

  She looked down at her hands and seemed to be thinking about it. Finally she sighed and shook her head. Cassius noticed then that she was flexing her fingers but they weren’t moving much.

  Fuck. She was a lot weaker than he had hoped. Now what were they going to do?

  “Merrick. See if you can get a signal on your cell. We need help,” he said.

  His brother pulled his phone out of its holder and walked off a ways. Cassius pulled off his jacket and covered the woman. It was getting cool now that the sun was gone. In her condition, the cold would affect her much faster than normal.

  “Hey! Got a small signal over here. Want me to call for an ambulance?” Merrick yelled.

  “Call the club and get them to bring a truck. Something tells me that an ambulance might not get here as fast,” Cassius yelled back.

  He could hear his brother talking to someone then the crunch of gravel as he walked back toward them. When he looked up, Merrick nodded. Good, help was on the way. They just had to keep her comfortable until they arrived.

  “Did someone throw you out here?” he asked.

  Her eyelids fluttered open again. “No. Walked.”

  “From where?” Merrick asked, crouching down.

  She coughed. “Don’t remember.”

  “Well, let’s see if we can make you a little more comfortable until the truck gets here.” Cassius started to move her when she yelped and squeezed her eyes shut. “Where are you hurt?”

  He started checking her neck then moved down her body. When he pulled up her shirt he heard Merrick cursing next to him. Her right side was a mass of bruises. Her left side wasn’t much better. Someone had worked her over good. If there were any broken ones, like he feared there were, moving her wasn’t a good thing to do without support. She could puncture a lung or another organ if they were broken. He lowered her shirt and continued checking her for more injuries. Other than the ribs and the obvious bruising on her face, he didn’t find anything else major to worry about.

  “Someone sure did a number on you, lady,” he whispered under his breath.

  Merrick stood up and walked away for a few seconds. When he returned, he had a pair of his rolled-up jeans and an emergency blanke
t. He knelt down next to her and gently placed the jeans beneath her head as a makeshift pillow while Cassius spread the blanket out over her and his jacket. It wasn’t the best in the world, but it was about all they could do until help arrived. If she made it in the shape she was in, it would be a miracle. Cassius didn’t much believe in those anymore.

  “What’s your name, lady?” he asked.

  She didn’t say anything for so long that Cassius wondered if she had heard him. Then he worried that she’d died on them. He leaned down to see if he could feel her breath on his cheek and felt a puff of air as she spoke in a near whisper.

  “River. My name is River.”

  Chapter Two

  Merrick took turns with his brother checking on the woman. She didn’t look good at all to him. They’d done all they could though. She was covered with two blankets now to ward off the cold and help with shock. They’d stabilized her ribs the best they could to keep from accidently puncturing a lung or something when they moved her. Cassius had her feet elevated on some rocks, and they were giving her sips of water when they were able to get her to respond to them.

  Right now, his brother was talking to her as if she could hear him, talking to her about stupid shit. He nearly laughed. His parents would cringe if they heard him talking about the classics that way. They were professors at Yale with multiple doctorates in the arts. Hell, he and Cassius each had a few degrees with Masters themselves. Neither one of them wanted to go to the extreme of become a doctor of anything.