Claimed: A Forever After Novella

  Claimed…

  A Forever After Novella ~ By Natasha Thomas

  Copyright © 2016 by Natasha Thomas

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  eBook Published and any subsequent printing done and developed in Australia

  First Released, December 5th, 2016

  Natasha Thomas

  Sydney, Australia

  Email:

  http://www.natashathomasauthor@gmail.com

  Facebook:

  http://www.facebook.com/NatashaThomasAuthor

  Website:

  http://natashathomasautho.wix.com/natashathomas

  Goodreads:

  https://www.goodreads.com/NatashaThomas

  Amazon author page:

  http://www.amazon.com/author/natashathomasauthor

  eBook copyright ©2016

  Natasha Thomas

  All rights reserved

  By purchasing this eBook, it allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading, on your computer, tablet, or another device capable of viewing eBooks. After purchasing, you do not have the rights to; resell, print, distribute, or transfer this book, in part, or whole to any other person via any method currently known, or yet to be conceived, or developed in the future. It may also, not be uploaded, in part or whole, to any file sharing programs, websites, or social media outlets. Being resold, given, or transferred to any other person is in direct violation of the Australian, and U.S. Copyright Laws.

  Warning

  This book is a work of fiction and is written to be taken as such.

  Characters, names, road names, motorcycle clubs, places, businesses, towns, events, and incidents are a product of the author’s own thoughts, and imagination. As such, any resemblance to persons living, or dead, actual events, or incidents, the past, present, or future, is purely coincidental and is not in any way intended to offend, upset, or disturb person/s reading its content.

  This book is intended for mature audiences aged 18 and over. It contains content that may be viewed as disturbing for some readers, graphic sexual scenes and references, coarse language, and violence.

  Acknowledgements

  Wow, getting this book finished has been one of the hardest projects I’ve undertaken to date. Aside from the usual drama of kids, doctors’ appointments, school assignments that just have to be done at the exact time I’m trying to finish a steamy sex scene, and running a household, we’ve had a couple of uncharacteristically busy months.

  So to my readers, I would like to thank you first. You have been infinitely patient awaiting the release of this book, and I am honored that you’ve stuck with me. Hopefully, you think it was worth the wait, and you enjoy reading Jake and Farrah’s story as much as I loved writing it.

  Even though I wouldn’t trade you for anything; to my children, could give mommy a break from hospitals, specialists, exam anxiety attacks, and cleaning for, at least, a month while I catch up on sleep, that would be much appreciated. If not, I may have to consider selling you to the highest bidder. No, but seriously…I do love you, kiddos; please remember that the next time I’m yelling at you to get your shit together.

  Then there’s my husband. Albeit, I’m a little insane and a lot of times I go missing for hours at a time, lost to a world of fiction and sweaty alpha males that don’t resemble you in the slightest, I’m glad it’s you I get to go to sleep beside when I do eventually make it to bed. Thank you for being my rock, best friend, and the only person I can count on for literally everything.

  Next up is my team of sensational BETA readers; Angie, Jamie, Linda, and Kelly. You ladies are the glue that keeps my books together. Without you, I fear there would be gaping holes in the storylines, and all of my characters would end up with brown eyes. Thank you for all of your insights and suggestions; they truly are what makes these stories great.

  Belinda Battles, my new cover designer, who created the masterpiece that is, Jake; thank you from the bottom of my heart. This cover rocks, and I can’t wait to work with you again on our next project.

  And lastly, to the long-suffering editor and chief, Micha; your witty emails have again warmed my heart, but if you could refrain from sending me sordid Christmas memes, I would be forever in your debt. Acts of sexual deviancy involving Christmas trees aren’t cool on anyone’s monitor when zoomed in.

  Dedication

  For Jamie. One of the sweetest, kindest women I’ve ever had the pleasure to call a friend...

  Table of Contents

  Warning

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  CHAPTER ONE

  ~ Jake ~

  CHAPTER TWO

  ~ Farrah ~

  CHAPTER THREE

  ~ Jake ~

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ~ Farrah ~

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ~ Jake ~

  CHAPTER SIX

  ~ Jake ~

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ~ Farrah ~

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ~ Jake ~

  CHAPTER NINE

  ~ Farrah ~

  CHAPTER TEN

  ~ Jake ~

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ~ Farrah ~

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ~ Ford ~

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  ~ Farrah ~

  EPILOGUE

  ~ Jake ~

  Forever After series

  Dark Knights Series

  Books in the Vengeance MC series

  Books in the Devil’s Spawn MC series

  Books in the Patricks’ Brothers Series

  ~ About the author ~

  CHAPTER ONE

  ~ Jake ~

  “Long time no see, brother,” Simon grins, clapping his hand on my shoulder.

  Returning his grin with one of my own, I nod,

  “Yeah, it’s been a while.”

  “You back for good now?” He asks, pulling up the free barstool beside me, ordering himself a beer.

  That’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question now, isn’t it? And one I’m yet to have an answer to. I can hardly tell my best friend of fifteen years it all depends on his sister, can I? If Farrah can’t bear to look at me, if me being back makes her uncomfortable in any way, or if I see tears in her beautiful hazel eyes even once, I won’t stay. I can’t.

  Everything in me has been screaming at me to leave Darkness Rising’s tour so that I could come back home to explain things to Farrah. For months, I’ve agonized over how to make what I did right. I called every day, sometimes up to five times a day for the first few weeks after she ran from me, misunderstanding what I’d said. I messaged her probably a hundred times or more when I realized she wasn’t going to take my calls. They went unanswered – all of them – so I had to settle for getting updates on how she was doing through her brother and another friend of ours.

  It killed me not to talk to her, but what could I do. There is only so many times I could blow up her phone with voicemails, texts, and emails before it would be classified as stalking. If Farrah didn’t want to talk to me, she wouldn’t. She’s as stubborn as they come, so my only option was to wait. Wait until I got home and beg if I have to.

  See, as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t leave the tour. I was heading up the bands security, and with Eli on a job in Texas, Talon too inexperienced to handle a job that big on his own, that left Ford, and he wasn’t an option. Ford’s mom had just been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer – there was no way I could ask him to cover for me, nor would I �
�� so I was stuck. Stuck on a tour I didn’t want to be on. Stuck allowing Farrah to believe the worst of me. Just fucking stuck.

  Instead of giving Simon an answer, I deflect it by asking a question of my own.

  “Has Leslie stopped her bullshit, or do I need to have another conversation with her?”

  Snorting into his beer, Simon grins at me.

  “I think the last one did the trick, buddy. I haven’t seen or heard from her since you warned her to back off.”

  “Good,” I nod.

  Part of me holds Leslie somewhat responsible for what went down between Farrah and I. If I weren’t for my old boss – a man I have a lot of respect for – calling in a favor, I wouldn’t be in the situation I am now, but I can hardly blame him for my fuck ups. Why? Because there are so many what if’s that would have made a difference. What if I had just told Farrah my relationship with Leslie was a cover until I gathered enough dirt on her cousin to have him arrested? What if I had said, no to Adam, that I had a woman and couldn’t do it? And what if I had just manned up and told Farrah how I felt about her years ago, instead of waiting until it’s too late?

  “So I want to run something past you. Back before you left, did you see Farrah hanging out with any guys, or did she tell you she was dating anyone?” Simon asks gruffly, derailing the depressing train of thought my mind had taken.

  The thought of any man touching my girl, putting his hands or lips on any part of her sets my blood boiling. All-consuming anger clouds my vision for a moment as the red haze of rage dims everything but my well-honed killer instincts.

  “Hey, you all right?” My best friend hedges, narrowing his eyes at me in concern.

  “Yeah, sorry,” I reply, shaking off the urge to hunt Farrah down and demand she tell me who the motherfucker she allowed to touch her perfect body is.

  “So, did you see her with anyone?”

  “No,” I clip out. “Why are you asking? She okay?” I question, feeling my heart accelerate dangerously at the mere thought that Farrah might have been hurt while I was away.

  Simon lifts his beer to his mouth and downs half the contents of the glass in one long gulp.

  “Depends on how you look at it?” He answers cryptically. “If you ask her, she’s great. But if you’re asking me, then no, she’s not.”

  A little too quickly, I spit,

  “What’s happened? Did someone hurt her? Who was it?”

  Chuckling at what he thinks is an overreaction on my part, Simon snorts.

  “She’s not hurt, man, so calm the fuck down. You know I appreciate you helping me keep an eye on her when she was a kid, but I’ve got her now. You’ve got other shit to deal with anyway.”

  Little does Simon know; I’ve been keeping tabs on Farrah for years. Long after he told me not to worry about her anymore, I kept watching out for Farrah. But over time, the brief glimpses of her coming or going from work, and the occasional dinners the three of us had together weren’t enough. I needed more.

  My partner, Eli, is the only person who knows the full extent of my obsession with Farrah, and that’s only because he caught me checking in with the guy I asked to watch over her for me one day. That was a little over three months ago, just before we went out on Darkness Rising’s latest tour, and he hasn’t stopped giving me shit about it since.

  Yeah, you heard me. I asked someone to keep watch over her, but in my defense, Farrah is so fucking beautiful that she attracts a lot of attention. Sometimes the wrong kind. I didn’t want to be on the road with the band and not know she was doing okay, or I wouldn’t be able to do my job. As it is, I barely sleep or eat, knowing that she may hate me for what I did. The vulnerability I saw in her eyes when she realized who it was fucking her up against that wall almost gutted me on the spot. Her tears, though, those did break me.

  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that something is very fucking wrong when the woman you’re in love with tells you to forget her and then hightails it in the opposite direction. I was about to beg her to wait for me – to tell her that I had to fulfill this one last contract with Darkness Rising, but that I’d be coming home to her. If she’d have me, that is. However, Farrah doesn’t hang around to hear me out, and me, in my infinite wisdom, didn’t chase after her to make her.

  Finishing off my beer, I order another.

  “It might not be my place to look out for your sister anymore, but I care about her, so why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

  The words taste like acid as I say them because nothing could be further from the truth. Farrah is absolutely my responsibility to love, care, and protect, she and Simon just don’t know that yet.

  Simon sighs, tilting his head to signal he’ll talk. But just when I thought we were getting somewhere, he goes and blows my motherfucking world apart with two life-altering words.

  “Farrah’s pregnant.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  ~ Farrah ~

  “Stop staring. He’s going to come over here and then what will you do?” My best friend Sophie whisper yells.

  The bass pounding from the speakers reverberates over my skin like a caress. The alcohol I’ve consumed lowers my inhibitions and makes me consider doing things to him that I only dream about when I’m at home alone. I can feel his eyes roaming my body, the intensity in them melting away the last of my defenses, and it’s then that I realize I should never have come out tonight.

  Except I had to. Something inside told me I had to see him, that I had to witness him make the biggest mistake of his life so that I could go on with mine.

  Flipping my long, curly blonde hair over my shoulder, I turn to Sophie and shrug.

  “Tell him the truth, I suppose.”

  “Ah, I hate to say it babe, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  And she’s probably right. Telling the secret star of all of my teenage and womanly fantasies that you want one night with him before he enters into the sanctity of marriage with a psychotic, sociopathic she-bitch would be highly inappropriate. Especially considering that said star is my brother’s oldest and best friend, which will only make it awkward for him and humiliating for me when he turns me down.

  Because let’s face it; a man who looks like, Jake, all six foot seven, two hundred and sixty pounds of solid muscle, covered in sexy black ink, who is smart, considerate, generous, and considered the most eligible bachelor in L.A. wouldn’t want someone like me. Why? Because no one wants quiet, shy, boring, Farrah, that’s why.

  Before you ask, no, I’m not hideous. I do not need a paper bag to cover my face or plastic surgery to correct some horrible disfiguration. I’m just plain. Plain Jane, Farrah. Nothing remarkable to report. No redeeming feature to focus on. I’m just me, and I’ve learned to be okay with that.

  With a best friend who looks like a supermodel just having walked off the catwalk and a new group of friends, each one more blindingly beautiful than the last, I don’t stand a hope in hell of attracting a man’s attention. Let alone his. Jake wouldn’t even look twice at me if it weren’t for the fact he’s known me my whole life and my brother is his closest friend.

  Facing the cold, hard truth of my situation wasn’t easy. Learning to accept that the only man who has ever made me feel safe, yet so utterly alive at the same time will never be mine was even harder. But it had to be done. I had to get my head out the clouds and stop doodling Jake’s name in my notebook at some point, imagining white picket fences, adorable dark haired babies, and a partridge in a pear tree. That just wasn’t my lot in life. It never would be. Not with Jake, at least.

  But being the good friend she is or not, considering what happens next, Sophie sees where my thoughts have gone and orders us a round or five of lemon drops, and that’s when things get hazy…

  *****

  The hand behind my neck, pulls me closer, slamming my small body into his broad, powerful chest as his mouth collides with mine. His lips attack and his tongue plunders my mouth with the same desperation I feel thrumming
through my veins at his touch.

  I had gone to the bathroom after lemon drop number four, only to find myself hauled into the back hallway of the club we were in by a man I had a feeling I knew but couldn’t see through the shadows. I should have tried to stop him when he pushed me against the wall and started manhandling me, but there was something familiar about him that made me pause.

  Maybe it was the sensation of his surprisingly gentle hands on my exposed skin or the way I could sense his eyes assessing my comfort level as he tore my panties from my body. Or possibly it was the way he hung on every moan, every whimper that slipped past my lips as he fondled my breasts. Who knows? But whatever the reason, I don’t think I could pull away from him now even if I wanted to. And just to be clear, I don’t want him to stop, far from it. I want more.

  The top of my dress is pushed down beneath my breasts, leaving them bare and chilled by the cool air. The tip of mystery man’s tongue flicks at my engorged nipple as he teases it, making it impossible harder before sucking it deep into the hot recesses of his mouth.

  “Oh…oh God,” I whisper as he slips his hand between us and runs one long finger through my already drenched pussy.