Moving On (Rolling Thunder #7) - P.J. Fiala Page 0,2

LuAnn while she was incarcerated. She needed friends now more than ever before, and he was going to be that friend.

It just might mean that he would have to forego some of the shop rides in the coming days. It settled like a rock in his stomach because everyone at Rolling Thunder was and had been a family to him. He'd worked for them for close to ten years now. Dog had been the first person to help him straighten out his life when he was in his teens and he'd fucked up. He'd had to do some community service back in the day. His judgment wasn't all that good, and he'd become a real shit. Then he met JT, who shared his love of motorcycles, and who then introduced him to Dog. He hadn’t really had a “home.” His mother had taken off when he was a boy and his father fell into the bottle with no desire to raise Chase. His life changed when Dog took him in.

Dog demanded that he be on the straight and narrow. He had to develop manners. Take a shower every day. Be respectful. Show up to work on time, which was tough some days because he and JT used to hit the liquor pretty hard back then. But, he admired Dog and he loved JT like a brother, and he didn't want to lose them, so he straightened up. Many a night he spent at the Sheppard house. He slept on the sofa, he helped make meals. He balked the first time Dog asked him to clean the bathroom, but then he saw that JT and Ryder, JT's twin, had chores to do so he stopped gripping and did it. They'd just started Rolling Thunder and money was tight, but he always had a place to go and Dog always made sure they all ate.

Once money started rolling in, he got a raise, they all did. Then he and JT got the chance to design bikes for custom builds and his life changed forever after that. He found out that he was good at it. Really good. He had an eye for design. He had the chops to imagine what a bike would look like if he just changed this or did that. JT, too. Together, they were unstoppable.

Flipping the lever to flick on his right turn signal, he slowed and turned down the road that would lead him to the women's prison. His stomach turned over and not for the hundredth time; he wondered if he was making a mistake. Dog's face flashed before his eyes and nausea rose in his stomach. He didn't want to lose the Sheppards. He also remembered needing someone to believe in him and the Sheppards had. How could his life, which had been so bad, become so damned good and now feel as if he were throwing it away? Why the fuck couldn't life just stay good once you were lucky enough to find the good in it?

The prison came into view as he reached the crest of the hill and as it always did his stomach became queasy. By some miracle, he'd never had to go to prison. Too bad LuAnn hadn't found her salvation before she did. But thank God, she didn't kill Joci or Maddy and that she'd only been given three years. He couldn't help but worry that she still loved Dog, which is how she ended up here. Where would that leave him? Irritating Dog and the family for staying friends with LuAnn only to have her behave as she always had would end his relationship with them. He couldn't let that happen.

He pulled into the parking lot and wasn't sure what he should do from this point. Did she come out the front door or the gates? He'd been given no information on where to park or where to find her once he got here.

Twisting his wrist to see his watch, he saw that he was five minutes early and decided to get out of the car and stretch. It had been an hour's drive from home.

Opening his door, he stepped out and bent over to stretch his back. Then stood, tucked in his shirt and closed the door. Walking to the front of his car, he leaned on the hood and stared at the gates. Turning his head to the right he could see the front door, and to be honest, he still was undecided as to what