Page 22 of Ember (Royal Harlots: Yonkers, NY Chapter #1)

A pril wasn’t sure if any of this was a good idea.

She only went to Ryan and Jenna’s housewarming party because Karlie had insisted.

She was proud of the way the house turned out, but honestly, she was under so much stress and worry lately, all she wanted to do was stay home and slip into a hot bath.

Karlie also insisted that her husband, Drew, would gladly drive up to Tennessee to pick April up after she made the excuse that her car was in the shop.

Of course, she didn’t want to get caught in a lie, so she had to accept Karlie’s offer.

And then, her dear friend insisted that April catch a ride home with the only single Jackson brother.

Both Drew and Ryan mysteriously came up with plans that made it impossible for them to drive April home.

April could almost see Karlie’s wheels turning as she hatched her diabolical plan to throw Shep and April together.

How could she say no? And really—why would she want to?

Shephard Jackson was pretty easy on the eyes, and when he smiled at her, she just wanted to melt into a puddle.

He was probably about six-four, judging how he made her feel short at five-eleven.

Usually, when she wore heels, she stood over six feet tall.

Men were often intimidated by her height.

But standing next to Shep, even in her designer heels, she felt petite.

The man’s body was drool-worthy. She wasn’t kidding when she teased him about working out a few times a day.

He looked like he spent a good portion of his day in the gym.

She knew she came on strong with Shep, but she couldn’t help it.

He just seemed to naturally bring out her inner bad girl.

The way he kept holding her hand, offering her comfort, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb, made her girl parts go liquid. And when he kissed her fingers, she felt like she would burst into flames. The man made her hot, and she had a feeling that he was a bad idea.

She must have temporarily lost her mind when she agreed to have pizza at his place.

She knew that going back to his home was a lack of better judgment on her part.

But her curiosity and libido won out, and it was too late to back out now.

Shep turned off the road, going into town, onto a little gravel path.

She grabbed his arm he had rested on the center console, and he laughed at her.

“Sorry, darlin’, I live a little off the beaten path. My cabin is about a half mile back.” April nodded, and Shep laughed again.

“So, you’re taking me to your cabin, deep in the woods?”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m taking you out to bury your body in the woods, we’re just having some pizza.

Besides, it’s peaceful and safe back here.

Almost like the rest of the world doesn’t exist.” Shep flashed his smile at her, and she felt a little more relaxed.

His cabin sounded like heaven. She often wished that she could just escape the outside world, especially with Malcolm threatening to come after her.

Her ex wouldn’t rest until she either went back to him or was dead.

After spending the past two years with him, that realization still hurt her.

How could a man tell her that she was his everything and then try to kill her when she decided to leave?

She just couldn’t stay with a man like Mal after everything he did to her.

She knew that if she stayed with him, she’d end up dead.

Hell, she left him, and he still wanted her dead.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Shep’s voice pulled her from thinking about what Mal promised to do to her, and she shivered.

“I was just thinking about my ex, sorry.” She needed to find her filter. First, she told Shep about her time in foster care, and now this?

“I’m not sure how to take that, Sweetheart. I don’t expect this to count as a date, but I hope I’d be enough to keep you from thinking about another man.” Was he serious? No other man could even compete with Shep, certainly not her ex.

“No, it’s not like that—sorry.” Why did this man make her so nervous?

“I was just thinking about something that he, um—well, that he promised, and it just wasn’t a good thought.

” Shep’s face tightened into a scowl, and she wondered if Karlie had told him anything about her past problems with Malcolm.

Karlie was her only friend when she lived in Georgia.

April left foster care as soon as she turned 18, even when her foster family asked her to stay with them, she couldn’t bring herself to hope for something more.

So, she left and didn’t look back. She ended up living in a little rat hole of an apartment and working at a shitty diner.

Karlie was her neighbor, and they just hit it off.

Karlie was a little older than April, and she took her under her wing.

She was the big sister April never had but always wanted.

Even Karlie couldn’t save her from herself, and April had a knack for finding trouble.

After Karlie moved back to Alabama, April felt more alone than ever.

She met Malcolm when he came into the diner.

He took her home that first night, and she didn’t leave for two years.

She thought she had found her prince charming.

Well, until her prince got mad at her a week into their relationship and knocked her half across the bedroom.

She wanted to get up from the floor and walk away from him then. But Mal wouldn’t let her leave him.

Two months into their relationship, he beat her so badly, she ended up in the emergency room.

She could see in the nurse’s face that she knew what had happened, but April couldn’t tell her what had happened.

She made up a lie about falling down a flight of steps.

They stitched up her lip and sent her on her way, back to Mal.

The crappy thing was that she started to believe that he loved her; that she was the wrong one.

Mal would tell her that if she could just keep her fucking mouth shut, he wouldn’t need to teach her a lesson.

After two years, two fucking years of bruises, lacerations, and even a broken arm, she finally got away.

She packed her bag while he was out collecting money from one of his jobs, and she ran.

April used almost everything she had saved to buy a bus ticket to Tennessee, and she left.

She called the only person who ever meant something to her—Karlie.

Drew told April to lose her cell phone and to cut up any credit cards as if she had any.

He drove to Tennessee with Karlie and their adorable little girl, Jemma, and brought her a new cell phone and gave her an envelope with enough cash to set her up.

She didn’t know how she could ever repay them.

Karlie even called one of her local friends, Pam, who owned an interior design business, and got April a job.

She was finally finding happiness with her new life, and she’d be damned if she would let Mal take that away from her.

She was happy. Well, if Mal would stop threatening her, she’d be happier.

Mal called Karlie, trying to find April after she ran away from him.

He put on a good act, telling Karlie how concerned he was for April.

He even tried to convince her friend that she was crazy and made up all the abuse.

Karlie knew the truth, and she kept April’s location a secret.

April worried for her friend, but Drew insisted that he could keep Karlie and Jem safe.

Still, April knew what Mal was capable of, and she worried that he would go after Karlie to get to her.

About once a month, Malcolm sent a menacing text to Karlie, threatening her to get to April.

Drew decided to change Karlie’s number, and things were quiet.

It had been about two months since anyone heard from Malcolm, and the silence was making her nervous.

Mal had the means and the ability to track her down, and that scared the shit out of her.

She saw firsthand what Malcolm did to people who owed him money and couldn’t pay, so she knew what he could do to her.

Or worse, what he could do to people that she loved.

Shep pulled in front of a little rustic cabin, and she gasped.

It was something out of Country Living Magazine, and she was in love.

She unbuckled her seat belt and jumped out of Shep’s truck before he could make it around to her.

She just couldn’t help herself; she squealed with delight as she ran up to the front porch.

“Shep, this is perfect,” she flounced down into one of the rocking chairs he had on the porch. Shep’s phone chimed, and he pulled it from the front pocket of his worn jeans.

“Jackson,” he barked. April tried to pretend not to listen, but she just couldn’t help herself.

When they left the party, he got a call from someone, and their conversation sounded suspiciously like he was talking to a girlfriend.

The person on the other line seemed to be asking a lot of questions again.

And Shep’s answers were mysteriously short and sweet.

Although he had a pretty sour expression on his gorgeous face.

She couldn’t help but smile at how his mood seemed to go from easy-going to completely defensive and sour in just seconds.

“Yeah, I got it. But I am gonna be a little late coming in tonight.” Shep looked in her direction, and she pretended to be interested in something in the woods. He turned his back and tried to whisper into the phone, but the man seemed to have only one volume.

“Yeah, I said I’ve got it. I will be in tonight, and we can talk about it then. And you can call off your boys, I’ve got it all under control.” Shep turned back around, and his smile was back in place as he ended his call.