Say It's Forever

Book 2: Redemption Hills

by A.L. Jackson

Genres: Family Life; Sagas; Romantic Suspense; Erotic & Steamy Romance; Dark Romance

Synopsis

From NYT and USA Today bestselling author A.L. Jackson comes a close proximity, single-parent stand-alone romance about a woman on the run and the man who will do anything to save her...
 
 
Jud Lawson found me stranded in the rain.
Broken down on the side of the road in a deserted neighborhood with my piece of crap car.
I wasn't looking for a hero, and definitely not one who looks like him.
An obscenely hot, mountain-of-a-man who screams danger.
But I have little choice other than climbing onto the back of his bike.
 
 
One look at Salem Aguilar, and I'm hooked.
The girl is devastation wrapped in a black, seductive bow.
A knockout.
A dream.
Turns out, she needs a job, and I need the help.
Now I have a vixen strutting around my shop, and I'm the fool who's itching to reach out and take what he can't have.
 
 
But neither of us can ignore the burning attraction.
The fire that leads to a kiss.
A kiss that has us falling into my bed.
The connection that has me wanting the one thing I'd never thought I could have again.
Because monsters like me don't deserve love.
 
 
Only Salem has a secret, too.
She's been running for years, and her past just caught up to us...

 

Read more

Release date: March 28, 2022

Publisher: A.L. Jackson Books Inc.

Print pages: 459

Sample

Chapter One

Jud

 

It was just before ten when I slowed my bike and made a right onto Dawson.  

Darkness had long descended on the small, mountain city, but a storm had rolled in, and the sky pounded its fury on Redemption Hills, California.

“Shit,” I grumbled under my breath when I saw the red blinking lights up ahead. The last thing I wanted was to play savior right then. I was soaked through, and I was itching to get back so I could peel the drenched clothes from my body, hit a hot shower, and maybe kick back a beer or two considering I’d picked a really fuckin’ bad night for a joyride.

But the storm had hit from out of nowhere, and I’d been halfway back to my place before I’d realized I was about to get slammed.

I slowed my Harley, barely moving as I passed the car, hoping it had been abandoned for better weather.

No such luck. The hood was open and…shit…there was a woman leaned over the front peering down at the engine.

I groaned out a sigh and eased to a stop about fifty feet in front of the car.

I could keep on going, but that would be a dick move. On this side of town, it was industrial, most every shop closed and locked up tight, and I knew full well the only ones out prowling at this time of night were hunting for trouble. Out looking for targets to unleash their sickness and depravity.

I figured the pile of sins I was paying for was high enough not to add leaving some chick stranded in the rain to the top.

Besides, it wasn’t like metal and oil weren’t in my blood. It was what I did.

Kicking the stand, I killed the engine and swung off the bike. I dug into the saddle bag, pulled out a flashlight, and clicked it on. The beam glittered through the flood pouring from the sky. My boots were heavy, sloshing through the river that ran the curb as I strode that way.

The woman whirled around, and I was squinting to see her where she had her back pressed to the front of the car, clutching her damned keys between her fingers with the tips facing out.

Could feel the energy.

Her fear rushing the air.

Shit.

I didn’t want to freak her out, but what the hell was I supposed to do? Leave her there? Fuck no. I might have been a monster, but my mother had at least taught me better than that.

She slowly came into focus the closer I got.

Well, fuck me.

Would peg her at about twenty-four or twenty-five.

The girl as drenched as me. Long, black hair was matted to her face. She wore a thin t-shirt, jeans, and sky-high heels, the fabric sticking to every inch of her lush body.

The scattering rays of light caught on her eyes.

Thunderbolt eyes.

Blue strikes of lightning that raged.

Turbulent.

Tumultuous.

Her face was a clash of soft and hard, her brow and chin and jaw sharp, but her cheeks and mouth were full and plump.

So damned pretty I almost stumbled in my tracks.

With my approach, terror ridged her expression, but she clenched those keys tighter. It was clear if I became a threat, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

A wild animal backed into a corner.

Feral.

Fierce.

“Hey there, darlin’. You look like you’re having some trouble.” Basically had to shout to be heard over the driving rain that pounded against the pavement.

Her chin lifted, and I could see her attention darting all around while she still focused on me, the girl calculating her escape route, her flight if she needed it.

I stepped closer.

Carefully.

A roll of energy trembled the ground.

“I’m just fine.” Her voice was this deep, sultry, wicked thing.

“You sure about that?”

Ferocity flared in her features, and shit, that was the wrong thing to say.

I lifted my hands out to the sides, light blinking off to the side. “I’m not here to mess with you. I saw you were in trouble, and it looked to me like you could use some help. Not like I want to be standing out here in the rain, either.”

A little of the edge drained from her shoulders, but she watched me, refusing to let her guard down, not that I could blame her.

There were some twisted motherfuckers in this world. Figured I’d known half of them by name.

“Not out here to hurt you,” I told her, words gruff.

She scoffed out a dismissive sound, shooting me daggers as she did. “That’s what they all say, isn’t it?”

A slight chuckle rumbled out.

Little wildcat.

Hoping to put her at ease, I angled my head toward the engine. “Do you have any idea what the problem might be?”

She huffed out her frustration and gestured wildly at it, all that soaked hair sticking to her gorgeous face.

It was really damned distracting, if I was being honest.

“It just died. I was barely able to coast to the side of the road.”

Warily, I peeked at her as I moved closer because I was pretty sure she wouldn’t hesitate to chop off my dick if I made the wrong move. I leaned over the engine, jiggling a few hoses and wires to see if it was something simple that I could fix right there.

“Hopefully it’s just the alternator or battery,” I mumbled as I poked around.

“And how much is that?” An edge of hysteria slipped into her voice, like she was going to lose it if one more thing went wrong.

My chest squeezed tight as I peered her way through the rain.

Could see it written all over her, this desperation that lined her being. Padded her in steel and severity.

“Not sure. If it’s the battery or alternator, it won’t be a biggie. If your engine seized—that could get dicey. Will have to get it into the shop and take a look before we can know for sure.”

“Shop?”

Our voices were raised over the drone of crashing rain.

“Have one, right up here around the corner. Iron Ride.”

So okay. Iron Ride was a custom bike shop. A spot for a restoration was highly coveted and didn’t come cheap. Our specialty was motorcycles, but every now and again, we brought in a collectible car that we rebuilt from the bones. Didn’t need to tell her my mechanics were going to have a field day when they found out I’d hauled in a ’99 family sedan.

Her eyes narrowed in contemplation before she suddenly stepped back and shook her head. She looked like she was the one commanding the raging storm.

This dark chaos that thrashed in the night.

“What are you doing out here by yourself, anyway?” I asked, swiping the deluge pummeling my face.

“You know what? It’s fine. I’m fine. Just…I’ll figure something out. I’ll call for a ride. You can go.”

She flung her hand at my bike sitting in the distance, totally ignoring my question.

Through the rain, I looked at her, studied her face that shimmered in the glow of hazy light. Her teeth were clenched, and my gaze locked on the long, jagged scar that ran the side of her left jaw that the grinding somehow accentuated.

I had the urge to reach out and touch it. Run my fingertips along the flesh.

That was some serious fuckery. This reaction she evoked. Like I suddenly couldn’t move.

As stranded as she was.

My hand curled into a fist to stop myself from doing something stupid.

Like she felt the attention there, her teeth ground harder, but instead of dipping her chin and hiding it, she lifted it in some kind of challenge.

Lust jumped into my guts.

Yup.

I was losing it. Mind traipsing into things that could set this freezing cold rain to boiling.

I was there to help and that was that.

But this girl was seriously hot and seriously savage, and my dick didn’t seem to get the memo that we were going to help her out and send her on her way.

Thing was, I thought she could cast a spell with a glance.

Hypnotize and mesmerize.

Could feel it—some kind of magic that floated in the air.

Enchantress.

It wound with the storm and beat into the ground.

A bolt of lightning lit the sky around us.

One second later, thunder cracked.

The hairs lifted on my arms.

I inhaled a steadying breath and shoved the crazy shock of attraction down. I angled my head. “Do you really think I’m just going to leave you out here in this storm?”

Defiantly, she crossed her arms over her chest. “I said I was fine. You can go.”

Another bolt of lightning. I saw her flinch.

“Go? That’s not gonna happen. Come on, we need to get out of this rain.”

“That would be great…you know…if my freaking car was running.”

I almost laughed. She was a fiery thing.

“Grab your purse.”

Her brow curled as a river of mascara ran down her cheeks. “What?”

“Let’s go.” I pointed at my bike.

She huffed and stomped her foot like I was crazy. “I don’t even know you.”

“Name’s Jud. Jud Lawson. Like I told you before, my shop is around the corner. We can take shelter there until the storm passes. And guess what, don’t know you, either, darlin’, yet I’m out here trying to get my ass electrocuted to help you. So how about we get the hell out of here before we both end up on tomorrow’s news, yeah?”

Distrust filtered through her expression, gaze narrowed before she huffed and threw up her hands. “Fine.”

She strode on those sexy-as-fuck heels over to the driver’s-side door. She dipped in and grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder before she stormed back my way like a tempest.

I closed her hood and reached for her hand.

She glared at it like it was poison.

A rough chuckle flooded the air around us as I dropped my hand. “Not gonna bite.”

That wicked gaze narrowed.

Damn. This girl could slay me with a look.

I moved for my bike, and she kept her distance as we went. I swung my leg over and pressed the ignition button. The loud roar filled the night, mixed with the rhythm of the rain.

The woman hesitated at my side, warring, looking back at her car that sat like a heap of disappointment behind us.

I stretched out my hand again. “Get on. That thing’s going nowhere tonight.”

Thunderbolt eyes pierced me, as sharp as a blade. “Touch me, and I stab you.”

Deep laughter rolled. “Have no doubt about that, darlin’. No doubt at all.”

Finally, she gave and put her hand in mine.

A shockwave streaked my flesh.

A clash of that severity that blistered in the air and coalesced with her touch.

What the motherfuck?

Sucking it down, I steadied her as she swung a long leg over my bike and tucked her body close to mine.

She curled her arms around my waist, her breath hot on my neck.

I felt her all around. Heat and flames and ferocity.

Need went stampeding through my veins.

I silently scolded my cock like it was a thirteen-year-old boy who’d cut class to get high.

Make bad choices and you’re gonna end up no place good.

I knocked my bike into gear and took back to the road that was turning into a river.

A flood of water streamed down, and the tires of my bike cut through and created a wave.

I took the next left, ignoring the way I could feel the hammer of her heart beating into my back, like that thunder could sink right in and take over.

The way her arms curled tighter and tighter. Clinging to me like I could be her refuge.

To the left was Absolution, the club my brother Trent ran and owned, though I had a piece of it since I’d invested in it when we’d come to build new lives here in Redemption Hills.

Blue neon lights glowed through the storm like a mirage. A sanctuary sitting in the middle of factories and shops.

It didn’t matter that the sky was dumping, the place was packed as always, the club set in an old warehouse that we’d taken from the rubble and built a new dream.

Where we’d taken the worth of our depravity and done our best to pour it into something better.

Where we’d left behind the crimes and misdeeds and tried to come clean.

But where Absolution was Trent’s baby, mine was on the lot at the back.

I took the two short lefts that wound around the club to where Iron Ride sat on a four-acre lot behind Absolution.

The building was massive. Two soaring stories. The customer lobby and entrance were through big glass doors that were on the right, and a row of huge garage doors ran to the left.

I could feel half the woman’s tension drain away when she saw the building with the glowing sign.

Slowing to a crawl, I pushed the button mounted on my bike that made the farthest garage door crawl open. Lights flashed on inside. They glinted against the shiny black epoxy floors of the shop.

I eased my bike in, pulling it alongside my truck, ushering us out of the rain and into safety.

My boots came out to plant on the ground to balance the bike as I turned off the engine and kicked the stand.

In an instant, quiet surrounded us. The pounding of the rain that echoed on the metal roof had become a steady drone that covered us.

A hazy, mesmerizing dream.

The girl’s arms tightened around my waist like she didn’t know what to do with herself from there, and I could feel her reservations return full force.

“This is it,” I rumbled low.

Warily, she eased back to inspect the shop.

Iron Ride was ten-thousand-square-feet of pure bliss.

A sanctuary.

Where I found my joy. Where I found new purpose. Where I created beauty when my past life had created devastation.

It was all thick, brick walls, gleaming black floors, and massive steel bay doors.

Bikes in varying states of renovation were in different bays and workspaces. A few classic cars were situated about, too.

You knew when you brought your baby into Iron Ride that you were getting first class. The equipment was state-of-the-art, place ultra-clean and ultra-modern.

Still, it remained authentic.

“Wow.” She breathed it.

Slowly, I shifted, taking her hand to help her off.

She stumbled back onto her heels to the side of my bike.

My damned breath hitched in my throat.

Bright lights glowed from where they were hung from the rafters, and for the first time, I got a good look at her.

The girl was devastation wrapped in a black, seductive bow.

Ebony hair and eyes the color of a toiling sea. The darkest, deepest blue. An abyss where it’d be so easy to get lost. That soaked white tee stuck to the contours of her curvy, pin-up body.

She wasn’t exactly tall, but with those heels, she looked like a force.

A motherfuckin’ knockout.

A fantasy.

A dream.

My dick twitched, and my mouth went dry.

Her eyes were doing the same thing to me. Taking me in. Something flaring in the depths and radiating out.

It was the same feeling that had erupted when she’d touched me before.

Yanking her attention from me, she looked around. She huffed out a sarcastic sound as she flung out both arms. “Awesome.”

My eyebrow quirked. “Yeah?”

Because it didn’t sound like she was impressed.

Once again, her arms were crossed over her chest, and I was doing my damned best not to notice the way it pushed up her perfect tits.

“Do you think I can afford this? I mean, what is this place?” Her accusation jerked my focus back to her eyes.

“Told you…it’s my shop.”

“Um, yeah, and it looks like you should be on one of those TV shows where you have wars to see which shop can make the showiest bike, and I’m pretty sure I can’t afford that.”

“We can talk about that tomorrow.”

Her head shook. “No, we can’t. When I say I can’t afford it, I mean it.”

She dug into her purse and pulled out her phone. She dialed a number and pressed it to her ear before she began to frantically pace in a five-foot radius. “Come on, come on, come on.”

She curdled a frustrated scream in her throat and held her phone out in front of her, eyeing it like it was single-handedly responsible for her predicament. “Why the hell isn’t it going through?” she grumbled.

I climbed from my bike. “Storms always throw the service.”

“Shit,” she hissed, glaring at her phone like it’d grown horns. She swung her attention back to me. “I need to get home.”

I tossed a glance at the open garage door where the skies continued to dump. “Don’t think that’s going to happen right now, darlin’.”

Her mouth pinched in worry, and something that looked like dread twisted through her being.

My head angled as I took her in, trying to keep from spitting the words. “You have a man waitin’ on you?”

She choked a pained sound. “No.”

She looked like she wanted to kick herself for admitting it, while relief flooded through me, as deep as the rain.

Idiot.

Couldn’t stop it, though.

“You’re safe here. Promise you.”

She stilled, and our gazes tangled.

Thunderbolt eyes sparked in the light.

Deep and dark.

Ghosts welled from their depths.

Felt them tugging at my heart.

Compelling me to look closer.

Drawn.

Like I should recognize something in this girl that just wasn’t there.

Magic.

I blinked to break me out of the stupor.

“We’re just going to have to wait it out,” I added.

In exasperation, she glanced down at her soaked clothes.

“Let’s go upstairs. I’ll find you something dry to change into.”

Her brows shot for the ceiling. “Excuse me?”

A rough chuckle tumbled from my chest, and I took two steps her direction. “I live upstairs.”

Disbelieving laughter rolled from her throat. “You’re serious?”

“Yup.”

“And you want me just to follow you up there?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

She waved an erratic hand. “For my car to actually work. That would be a great idea.”

 A smile tweaked at the corner of my mouth. “That’s called a dream, baby, not an idea.”

Her eyes narrowed.

A tease of a laugh left my lips before everything softened when I saw a shiver race across her body. “Come on, let’s get you dried off. You’re freezing, and the only thing I want right now is a shower and a beer, and I’m guessing you’re feeling about the same.”

“This is insane.”

“Insane is standing here freezing our asses off when we could be getting warm.”

I didn’t think it prudent to mention all the ways I could conjure warming her up.

Maybe she saw them play out in my mind, anyway, because she glowered at me as she gave. “Touch me and I stab you.”

Could feel the grin split my face. “You’ve made that much clear, darlin’.” Unable to stop myself, I edged closer, voice soft when I murmured close to her ear, “And who said I wanted to touch you?”

Oh, I did, but I kinda wanted to mess with the little wildcat, too.

Trembles rocked her.

Energy lashed.

Attraction so fierce I was itching on my feet.

“Just so we’re clear,” she gritted.

My grin turned into a full-fledged smirk. “Crystal.”

Her spine straightened in all that rigid defiance, her hair smelling like toasted coconut, sex radiating from her skin.

Intoxicating.

“Good.” The word was hard as she hissed it between her lips.

“Good,” I rumbled back, hitting the button to close the garage door and striding for the metal stairway that ran the far back wall and led to my loft above.

I could hear her heels clacking along behind me.

Her presence was potent.

Overpowering as I bounded upstairs.

Girl followed me step for step.

At the landing at the top, I punched in the code at the door and swiveled around to face her. The breath hitched in my lungs all over again at the look on her face.

The dread and the relief.

My heart fisted while my head spun.

Enchantress.

“What’s your name, darlin’?”

She hesitated a beat before she whispered, “Salem.”

A disbelieving chuckle got loose without my permission.

Yeah.

Black-fuckin’-magic.