Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Pain -- When I walked out of Terre Haute Prison, I wasn't the same man who went in. I've got blood on my hands, but I'm determined to pay my debt and take back what's left of my life. Once I'm home, inside the walls of the motorcycle club that welcomed me when I had no one, I have more hope than I dared to have the whole time I was incarcerated. Problem is, the past doesn't stay buried. When I recognized Nadine, a young woman from my past, and got to know the woman she'd become, I'd convinced myself there's no way to be worthy of a woman like her. Until she's put squarely in the crosshairs of a situation she knows nothing about. That's when it's time to earn my road name and bring her enemies a world of hurt.
Nadine -- I know better than to fall for an ex-con. I've seen the worst of humanity from inside prison walls where I work as a nurse. But something about Dr. Raven, or Pain, as they call him, gets under my skin. There was a time when he was my hero, the person I wanted to be most like. I admit I might have a huge case of hero worship and the tiniest little crush on him. I don't know the rules in his world outside the prison, but I know I need to learn fast. Especially since corrupt cops seem to be hell-bent on cutting in on the Kiss of Death territory. It sometimes feels like I'm fighting just to breathe. But the scariest part? It's not the blood, the bullets, or the bodies. It's that I might actually be falling in love with Ford "Pain" Raven.
A gritty, steamy romance featuring a protective alpha, a fierce heroine who refuses to break, and the family you choose when the world tries to tear you apart.
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Chapter One
Nadine
One Year Ago…
There were days when I seriously had to wonder what the fuck I was thinking taking a nursing job in a maximum security prison. The routine for getting in and out was about what I expected. Tight. Every door had a card swipe and a keypad to enter a code. The guards were armed and plentiful, and in some cases, just as bad as the men they kept incarcerated. I wasn’t naive enough to think anyone in this place deserved anything less than what they got from both the government and the guards, but it was the whole power trip thing that left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
As I entered the infirmary, the heavy metal door clanged shut behind me, sealing off the outside world. I took a deep breath, inhaling the familiar scent of disinfectant and despair that permeated the air. My footsteps echoed throughout the mostly empty ward. Nodding at the guards assigned in my area today, I gave them bright smiles.
“Morning, Nadine.” Officer Grayson, his bulky frame filling the doorway, gave me the creeps. He had since the first day I’d met him. He hadn’t done or said anything overt, it was just a vibe I got. Needless to say, I tried to keep to myself as much as possible.
“Morning,” I replied, slipping past him. The fluorescent lights flicked a couple of times before settling into their typical, harsh, unforgiving aura. Just another day at the office.
I set my backpack underneath my desk and got to work. I wasn’t the provider in this little clinic, but as the on-duty nurse, the ward was my responsibility. The night shift had either been relatively light or else someone got froggy and stocked and cleaned. I grinned. Had to be Lisa. She was always doing the little extras to make everyone’s life easier.
“Ready for battle?” Dr. Martinez breezed in. Of all the doctors I worked with here, she was by far my favorite. The petite Latina was in her early forties and a force to be reckoned with when she had to be. I couldn’t say the men she treated in here on occasion actually respected her, but they were well aware she held the keys to the medicine cabinet and the only way they had of getting anything from the clinic was to make nice with Dr Martinez.
I flashed a wry smile. “As I’ll ever be.”
Today was supposed to be mostly physical exams and initial assessments of new inmates. I hated new inmate days because these were men I wasn’t familiar with. Granted, there was always an inmate I didn’t know -- there were thousands of men here -- but I didn’t have to be up close and personal with most of them. There were always multiple guards to make sure nothing got out of control.
The day shift medical staff usually tried to come in a couple hours early to prepare. I liked the solitude in the mornings before I started my day. New inmate days were the exception. Everyone was here early in an effort to make sure everything went as quickly and smoothly as possible.
One thing I’d learned since I started working here was that nothing was what it seemed. Every inmate had a story, and they were never pretty. The sweetest little papaw ever had most likely killed, and done it without remorse.
Kind of like the older man sitting on the exam table in front of me.
“How’s the arthritis today, Mr. North?” I gave the elderly crime lord what I hoped was a kind yet professional smile. According to his file, Mr. Nicholas ‘The Judge’ North was head of a West Coast crime syndicate. He had killed more than the three people he’d been convicted of killing, some of them after he’d been put in prison. So yes. Always be nice to the elderly crime lord.
“Same as always, ma’am. Like someone’s taking a sledgehammer to my back.” Mr. North winced and shifted so he braced a hand on his lower back, like he was working the kinks out. That was something else. Every inmate without exception always addressed me as ma’am. It wasn’t because there was any real professional relationship. Not in the least. Every prisoner here knew they were more likely to get what they wanted if they were simply nice about it. If they weren’t belligerent, and kept their hands and bodily fluids to themselves, the staff was more cooperative to their wants. Also, every single one of them, without exception, would stab you in the kidney if they thought it would benefit them or in any way make life on the inside more comfortable.
I nodded sympathetically, making a note in his chart. “I’ll mention your pain to Dr. Martinez. They had you on some pretty powerful painkillers at your last facility.”