DARK FALL (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel)

Welcome to world
of
BACK DOWN DEVIL MOTORCYCLE CLUB

~

A romance novel by
London Casey

London Casey is
the pen name for bestselling romance author Karolyn James

Sign up for the
official
 
Karolyn
James
 
newsletter
and you
’
ll never miss a new
release!

Sign up here -
 
tinyurl.com/KJSignup

Stay social with
Karolyn James here...

www.KarolynJames.wordpress.com

On Twitter @KarolynWrites

https://www.facebook.com/KarolynJamesAuthor

DARK FALL

A Back Down Devil
MC Novel

Kaity
Parkner
is on the run and the last person she expects to help her is a shady looking
biker. Little does she know, her protection will cost her a bullet wound, a car
explosion, and the fight of her life.

Erik thinks about
taking his own life every single day he's alive. The only thing stopping him is
the determination to find the people responsible for the bombing that
 
covered his face
 
in hideous
 
scars. When Erik
begins digging around, the last person he expects to meet is a beautiful woman
that he stupidly promises to protect.

From the first
second Kaity looks at him, he can't believe that she is looking at him... and
not his scars. However, the club is Erik's life and Kaity has been invited in,
but
 
her
confession forces the club to put her trust
 
to the test... Back Down Devil MC
cannot afford to have a rat
 
amongst
them.

With no other
choice, Kaity puts herself in the crosshairs of a major war.

Will her years of
experience give the club enough time to find their answers or will unexpected
secrets get them all killed?

one.

A single pull of a trigger could
simply change everything.

That was the first and hardest
lesson Erik learned when he moved up in the rank of Back Down Devil MC. A
single pull of a trigger could initiate a war. A single pull of a trigger could
end a war. Or in Erik
’
s
case, a single pull of a trigger could end a painful mistake that he would have
to face if he stayed alive.

Surviving an explosion maybe gave
him serious credit within the MC, and with plenty of women willing to ease his
pain in any way he wanted, but deep inside, Erik was extremely pissed off at the
fact that he was suffering even though he wasn't the intended target. The bomb
was meant for Shay and as of now the club still had no idea who ordered the hit.
Erik was actually thankful that he had hit his head so hard and was able to
forget the bombing itself. But now and forever, the scars on Erik
’
s face would be his memory of
that day.

Erik sat on his bed, shirtless, his
hands balled into fists. He looked down at his tattooed biceps, his chest, and
his stomach. Spending so much time in the hospital made him weak. He needed to
get into the gym and tear the fucking place apart. It seemed like the only way
to take care of the urge that he couldn't shake.

Erik looked up and caught just a glimpse
of his reflection in the mirror. Even then he could see the scars. If he
touched his face, his fingers jumped over the scars. If anyone looked at him,
they saw scars and then Erik. Even the guys in the MC. And whether they meant to
or not, it pissed Erik off every time it happened.

There
’
s one way to do this. To solve
this. To erase all this.

It wasn
’
t just about finding who had hurt Erik. That task
was going to be daunting, which was proven by the kidnapping and torture of
Jonesy. The MC had hired him to track down whoever put the bomb in Shay
’
s car. Now, Jonesy's finger
rested in the middle of the table in the meeting room. The finger was simply a
warning. A silent threat of power.

Erik looked to his right at the
handgun that lay there. One simple squeeze of the trigger and it would all come
to an end. There was no honor in dying by suicide within a club, but
considering Erik
’
s
circumstances and all he had done for Back Down Devil, he believed they would
make an exception to the rule. He wasn
’
t
some guy going off the edge or killing himself with pills and booze. This was
real pain and real anger. The kind that could only be stopped with a gun.

It had been days since Erik had a
full night of sleep. It was more of a series of naps, during which he would
wake to his gun tempting him over and over. Out in the clubhouse, nobody knew
what really went through Erik
’
s
head. There was enough shit going on in the MC and the last thing Miller and
Gaige needed was to be on suicide watch over Erik.

Plus, up until now he hadn
’
t pulled the trigger yet.

Fucking pussy.

Erik closed his eyes and swallowed.
In his mind he heard the explosion. That sickening
boom
followed by a
sense of free falling. Then the hard thud and nothing. That
’
s all it was in his mind, simply
a soundtrack to living, almost dying, and now being stuck between living and
dying.

This was not a life to be lived.
Without retaliation, there was no purpose.

A single pull of a trigger could
retaliate.

Erik believed that his death by his
own hands would force the club to up the level of urgency to retaliate and
defend their own. Whether it be local enemies like Eight Under or Coast Road,
or something worse, the MC would avenge Erik
’
s
death the proper way. The way they couldn
’
t
do now because Erik was alive. His scars didn
’
t
even piss the guys off anymore. They were treated as a testament of Erik's
strong will.

It wasn
’
t will that kept Erik alive after the explosion. That
was doctors and nurses doing their fucking jobs for their fucking paychecks. If
they left Erik to bleed out on the ground, that would have been the test of
will.

Erik reached for the gun. He held
it in his hand and nodded.

Today was a good to do it.

Just pull that fucking trigger,
brother. Come on
…
do
it
…

There was a whiskey bottle on the
nightstand, along with pills. Those two could make the decision easier. But
Erik preferred that the guys find the pills and the full bottle and know that
he was clear headed when he made this decision.

Erik stood up and turned around. He
wouldn
’
t look himself in
the mirror while he did it. He licked his lips and felt his heart pounding in
his chest. It was okay to feel a little nervous right now. His brains were soon
going to be splattered across the fucking room.

Erik put the gun to his chin and
kept his eyes open wide. His hand shook at first, but then it slowly calmed.
Everything calmed. That
’
s
what made it so scary and easy now. It was calm. There were no regrets. There were
no worries.

Pull. The. Fucking. Trigger.

With a deep breath in, Erik readied
himself. He exhaled and finally pulled the trigger.

The gun clicked.

Erik didn
’
t breathe again, because he was dead
…
right?

Erik opened his eyes and dropped
the gun to his bed. He took a step back and started to shake.

“
I
pulled the fucking trigger,
”
he said.
“
I pulled the
fucking trigger.
”

The gun lay on the bed, barrel
pointed at himself. He took another step back, then another, and kept going
until he crashed into a wall. He turned and threw a fist, cracking the wall.
Erik looked at his bloody knuckles. He spun around and the gun was still on the
bed. Erik ran to the mirror. His eyes were wide as he checked for a bullet hole
under his chin.

There wasn't one.

There wasn
’
t supposed to be one.

This was a test run. A practice
suicide. A way to discover if Erik had the balls to actually do it to himself.

“
Fuck,
”
he said.

Maybe that was the only moment he
would have done it.

There was a knock at Erik
’
s door and it flew open.

“
Hey,
brother.
”

Erik saw Blaine in the reflection
of the mirror.

“
Blaine.
”

“
What
’
s wrong?
”
Blaine asked.
“
You
look like shit, man.
”

Erik turned and folded his arms.
“
I
’
m
fine.
”

“
You
sure? You got a woman hiding in here or something?
”

“
No.
”

“
Playing
a little hide-n-seek? I got something I could hide...
”

Erik shook his head. Blaine was
such a dickhead asshole.

“
What
do you want, bro?
”
Erik
asked.

“
Time
to ride,
”
Blaine said.
“
Miller wanted me to get you.
”

“
I
’
m in on it?
”

“
That
’
s right. Can you ride?
”

“
Fuck
yeah,
”
Erik said.

His heart started to pound. He hadn
’
t been able to ride with the
crew since before the accident. He wasn
’
t
even sure if he was medically cleared, but he didn
’
t give a fuck. Not being able to ride was like
being held prisoner. He looked down at the bed. He
’
d rather be dead than not be able to ride with Back
Down Devil.

“
Are
we going out to find who did all this shit?
”
Erik asked.

“
Just
go find Miller,
”
Blaine
said.
“
Look, I
’
ve got about two minutes so I
’
m going to find something to fuck
real quick.
”

“
Something?
”
Erik asked.

Blaine laughed.
“
You know
…
if the hole is big enough
…”

“
Get
out of here.
”

Blaine knocked on the door,
laughed, and shut it.

What a sick fuck.

Erik hurried to find a shirt to
wear. He grabbed his leather cut and put it on next. He looked at himself in
the mirror and forced himself to stare at the leather cut. The scars on his
face meant nothing against the power of the leather cut. It was proof that he
belonged to the club. To his brothers. They were family; the only family Erik
ever knew.

Erik grabbed the handgun and took
out the empty clip. He shook his head at the idea of pulling the trigger on an
empty gun like that. It made him feel like a fucking pussy. When Erik put a
full clip into the gun, he holstered it and left his room. He then went to the
meeting room and found Miller and Gaige standing there, waiting.

“
Come
on in,
”
Gaige said.

Erik knew the protocol. They wanted
to feel him out and make sure his head was in the right spot.

“
Sit,
”
Miller said and pointed to Erik
’
s designated spot.

Miller looked at Gaige and gave a
nod.

“
How
are you feeling, bro?
”

“
Like
shit,
”
Erik said.
“
You see my face lately?
”

“
We
want you to ride tonight,
”
Gaige said.
“
We want you
there to find out the truth. But only if you want to be there. If you can
handle it.
”

“
You
think I can
’
t handle it?
”
Erik asked.

“
He
didn
’
t mean it like that,
”
Miller said.
“
Don
’
t get heated, Erik.
”

“
I
’
m not heated. I
’
ve been waiting to ride again.
Now I can. Let
’
s get
moving.
”

“
Hold
up,
”
Miller said.
“
Think about what we
’
re up against here. Someone
tried to take out Shay. They got you by accident, Erik. Then we hired Jonesy,
and now look at him.
”

“
We
have his finger,
”
Erik
said.
“
I know.
”

“
This
is bad,
”
Gaige said.
“
Real bad. This isn
’
t some bullshit crew around
here. This is going to be some dangerous shit. This is
…”

“
A
silent war,
”
Miller said.
He stood from his chair.
“
Something
we
’
re not used to. But
Damnit, Erik, I don
’
t want
you to be stuck here. I want you out there, working and riding with us. Where
you belong.
”

“
But
you have to keep it together,
”
Gaige said.
“
Revenge and
retaliation is something that burns like fire. I
’
ve
fucked up myself, Erik. Because of me, the club is in bed with a businessman
that
’
s being a pain in our
ass. I regret it.
”

“
But
he
’
s helping us now,
”
Miller said.
“
That
’
s who we are meeting. It
’
s a black SUV, quick exchange of information and
nothing more. I want you there
…”

“
You
want him to see me?
”
Erik
asked.
“
You want him to see
my face? Scare him?
”

“
The
truth,
”
Gaige said.
“
We want everyone involved in
this to see and know the fucking truth. We are not going to bow down and walk
away from this.
”

“
They
’
ll attack again,
”
Miller said.
“
I refuse to have more bloodshed
in my club.
”

Erik swallowed his pride and
nodded. The scars would never go away. They would forever be a haunting
reminder.

“
Then
we ride,
”
Erik said.
“
You guys want my gun or
something?
”

“
No,
”
Miller said.
“
You need to protect yourself,
brother. We just want you to know what
’
s
happening right now.
”

“
Four
of us are going,
”
Gaige
said.
“
Miller, me, Blaine,
and you. That
’
s it. Quick
ride out and back.
”