Hammer's Pride by E.C. Land (brene brown rising strong TXT) 📕

of porn business. No, this one is shady, as you know what. She does this for her pimp slash boyfriend. How that works is ridiculous if you ask me. Then there’s Alexandra, she so high all the time she doesn’t know what she’s doing half the time. I’m surprised she hasn’t killed herself by overdosing.

I thank my lucky stars, I didn’t end up like any of them. But until I finally got the nerve to leave, they always came to me for money. To them, they saw me as nothing but a wallet. I knew if I wanted to finally do something for myself, I had to run.

Which is exactly what I did without telling them a thing. I up and left in the middle of the night, got in my car, and high-tailed it out of there as quickly as I could. At twenty-five, I couldn’t do it anymore. Not after the car that Adam stole, was my boyfriend’s at the time. And then Aidan, along with his gang, jumped another guy who simply asked me out on a date. Oh, let me not forget the fact, my sisters. Aubrey offered to suck one guy off, and Alexandra pocketed another’s wallet.

Any time they thought I would find happiness, or I started seeing someone, they’d take it upon themselves to do something to make them dump me. Andrea would sneer down her nose at me, stating I thought I was too good for our family while the others laughed.

This is only one of the reasons I left when I did. I didn’t want them to be able to mooch off of me anymore. Nor did I want them to do what I’d heard them talking about. I won’t be used in such a way. No way. Not happening.

Shaking my head, I climb out of bed and head to the shower. I need to get cleaned up, dressed, and out the door within the next twenty minutes to drive over to the coffee shop. Two months after I opened Rise-N-Shine Coffee, I found a cute little house for rent and was able to move out of my office and into my little two-bedroom cottage-style home. I absolutely love it. My neighbors keep to themselves, which is a great thing. This means I get to stick to myself as well. Though my one neighbor across the street who is rarely home but when he is, we all know it—the reason being the thundering roar of his motorcycle when he pulls into his driveway.

I would go over there and say something to him about him constantly revving his motorcycle when he pulls into his driveway or when he’s leaving again; I’m not wanting to draw his attention. Tall and broad-shouldered, he seems to be my age, but I’m not sure. I don’t get close enough to him. I do know he wears the same vest type thing as the men who come into my coffee shop.

My alarm goes off again while I’m in the shower, and I finish up quickly, knowing I won’t have time to blow dry my hair. Sighing, I turn the shower off, grab my towel and dry off. I rush into my room, turn my alarm off, and get dressed. Bra and panties in place, I grab a pair of my super fade jeans with holes in the knees. I refuse to get rid of these because even if I’m not trying to attract anyone’s attention, I do love the way the material fits me. Buttoning the jeans, I snag my Sublime shirt. I don’t worry about anything else but running a brush through my hair, putting it up in a messy bun, and then slip my feet into my shoes.

Before leaving the room, I unplug my phone from its charger on my nightstand and head for the door. By the front door, I reach up and pull my purse and keys off their hooks and unlock the front door with my key. You can never be too safe, so I’d changed out the deadbolt with a key lock rather than having the sliding deadbolt. This way, I felt safer at night when I’m asleep.

I make sure to lock the house back up and turn to head for my car. I climb in and start her up. It takes a couple cranks, but she starts, thankfully. I just need my car to bear with me another month or two, and I’ll get her to the shop to be fixed.

Backing out of the drive, I put her in gear and head in the direction of my shop. Time’s ticking, and I’ve got to get it together. I might be exhausted, but I pride myself on owning my own business. And it’s worth the lack of sleep. Maybe one day, I’ll take the time to have a life, but it won’t be today. Or tomorrow.

Chapter Two

Hammer

Pulling up in front of the clubhouse, I sigh in relief. It’s been a long fuckin’ two weeks. After the bullshit that went down with Venom and his ol’ lady up at Stoney’s charter, I wasn’t thrilled to find out the club has yet another problem. We might have been informed about the Supreme Masters, but my club didn’t know all the information they’d found. Evidently, what they found was all thanks to Amaya coming to them. On top of all that, we had to deal with even more drama. The chick who everyone thought to be the ol’ lady to Fuse, a member of the Inferno’s Clutch MC, isn’t who they thought.

From the information Amaya, Venom’s ol’ lady, found out about Simone, she is the twin of Lyrica. But the drama of it all gives me a headache. This is why I don’t deal with women. I swore it a long time ago, and I’ve kept to it. And I intend to keep on keeping on with the way I do things. The only woman in my life is my