No Man Left Behind: A Veteran Inspired Charity Anthology by Elizabeth Knox (black authors fiction TXT) 📕

telling her to get lost. She fucked up with her stunt, I’ll find either Legs or Nama later.

“Well, this cat just so happens to have some news for you,” Bowser chuckles.

“Yeah? You gonna elaborate on this news?” I ask, lifting my beer to my lips.

“Seems I have a new neighbor. Someone moved back into her momma’s house while we were out on this run.” My body stiffens at the mere mention of this news.

“Which neighbor?” I demand, gritting my teeth together.

Bowser had bought a house next door to Charlee’s mom about three years ago, and ever since he’s ragged me about shit back from the old days. Charlee’s mom was always a sweet woman so I’d kept in touch with her, making sure she was taken care of since I caught wind Charlee moved to the east coast. Bowser started doing this as well, knowing she’s a good woman who needs help every now and then. I think Bowser does it for the cookies and cakes she bakes him in payment.

“Mrs. Amelia,” he states, grinning like a fool.

Fuck me.

Amelia didn’t tell me last time I had been by her house that her daughter was coming back to Portland. Then again her and I have an unspoken agreement about not mentioning her daughter to me.

“Charlee’s home,” I mutter, clenching my jaw as I narrow my gaze on Bowser.

“Yep and she has a cute kid with her too,” he chuckles, tapping a hand on the table.

Shit. Charlee has a kid.

Shooting up out of my chair, I storm through the clubhouse and out the door. With quick movements, I get to my bike, straddle her, and bring her to life. I back out of my spot in the parking lot, point my girl in the direction of Charlee’s mom’s house, and hit the throttle.

It doesn’t take me long to get there, I honestly don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing but as I pull up in front of the house I’ve been to several times over the past twelve years, but never once did I see any photos of Charlee with a kid, then again I wasn’t ever looking for a reason to stare at her face. My anger comes back tenfold. When Charlee broke up with me back then, I’d been pissed.

I should be over what she did, quitting us when we could have made it work. Sure, I wanted to join the military, but I also wanted her in my life as well. Charlee could have gone to college while I was doing what I had to do. I’d have found a way to come to her as much as I could.

Parking my bike, I swing my leg over as I climb off. Striding up the front walkway, I step up to the front door and ring the doorbell. When I don’t hear anything coming from the other side of the door, I hit the bell again.

“I’m coming.” My stomach tightens at the sound of her voice.

As the door opens, I clench my jaw and place my hands on my hips as I wait for her reaction. Last time she saw me, I was still coming into my body. Now I’m the man she could have had but chose to leave.

Chapter Three

Charlee

I’m rendered speechless, blinking with my mouth held wide open. I probably look like someone who’s having a stroke, staring at the man I left all those years ago, the same man who’s changed so drastically.

Kaden is no longer the scrawny, preppy boy I left when we were barely adults. Now he’s . . . a tank. His shoulders are broad and I can see the obvious impressions of abs through his white t-shirt. But his physique isn’t the only thing that’s changed through the years. He now has a scruffy beard, sporting that few days old without a shave look . . . and the ink. Up and down his arms, going under the confines of his shirt and coming out through the collar of his shirt, spanning up his neck. With his deep mahogany eyes, he doesn’t say a word, further causing anxiety to creep up.

“Kaden,” I rasp out, finally able to speak.

“Fuck, I thought the boys were jokin’ with me.” He laughs lightly, rubbing a hand over his jaw. A nervous tick he’s kept from when we were younger it seems.

“Boys?” I question, but as I do, I take a moment and see a leather vest around his shoulders. It’s a deep camo green color, and there are a few patches on it. One reads ‘Deathstalkers MC’ and another reads ‘Enforcer’. “Oh yeah, your biker club.”

He cocks a brow. “You been keepin’ tabs on me, Bailes?”

“No, I’d just ask Mom how you’ve been from time to time.” Immediately I defend myself. It wouldn’t even matter if I’m keeping tabs on him. The thing I’m keeping from him is my secret, which is upstairs right now. Stepping out onto the porch, I shut the door behind me.

“You good, Bailes?” He calls me by my last name again, something I’m not used to. I know it’s a common thing in the military branches, yet it feels so insincere.

“What’re you doing here?” My nervousness is obvious in the way my voice cracks through every word.

He snickers and shakes his head. “What? I can’t just stop by?”

“You’re not the type to ever just stop by.”

He cackles lightly and as I’m about to speak he stops me. “Every Tuesday is when your mom goes shopping. Who do you think is the one who goes to the store with her to help load her car up and get everything unpacked in the house? You know she’s not capable of doing it herself.”

Narrowing my eyes in on him, I’m shaken. Why would he help my mom? Like, honestly? Why would he . . . I don’t understand.

“Right now, you’re trying to figure out why I’d help her, right? Wondering why I’d do something like that, after the way you