BILLIONAIRE BIKERS: 3 MC Romance Books (71 page)

Lucas had taken some of his final check and traded his bike for a pickup.   He paused in the parking lot before pulling out onto the road. Close to the border, it was easy to forget what time of year it was. He realized he wouldn’t be going east and north at all. He would have to avoid Colorado.

The only places that really appealed to him right now were quiet, out of the way places like Northern California or southeastern Oregon. The West Coast was nice, too, but unless he could find some little snug cabin with lots of firewood, it would be pretty cold and rainy this time of year. 

He finally pulled out of Calexico, heading north on Hwy 86, away from Blanco, away from difficult memories of Audra.

# # #

Audra gave Joy the news about her new job—although it still seemed unreal at the moment.

“I am so excited for you…and a little bit envious,” Joy had said. “I still have three more years of school to slog through.”

“Well, check with me in six months to see if I’m still excited,” Audra said.

“You will be. This could be your dream job. Who gets a dream job the first time around?”

“Exactly,” Audra retorted.

“Why don’t you come over tomorrow afternoon, so you can meet the whole gang and get acquainted? I have seven brothers, you know.”

“What? Why are you just now telling me this?”

“Because I didn’t want you to back out. Actually, I’ll pick you up. It would be tough to navigate buses to get here. Don’t forget to pack a bag because I’m keeping you overnight. Oh, and bring something to wear to Mass.”

“Mass?”

“Yeah, you’ll have to go to Midnight Mass with us.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

When the call ended, Audra started looking in her closet. Her new v-necked black velvet dress with pearl buttons down the front would work for Mass; it was a bit more conservative than the holiday outfit she had chosen.
How could I have known I’d have seven men to impress?

However, she couldn’t have chosen better: a taupe-colored lace-over-cream sheath dress with cap sleeves and matching Sergio Rossistilettos. The pumps were pricy, but she also had indulged herself with a pair of garnet cascading drop earrings and a matching rosette clutch. All of this she would top off with her new cream-colored wool overcoat with the to-die-for cowl neck.
I’ll make a smashing entrance!

As she dressed the next day and admired herself in the mirror, she thought how amazed Lucas would be at how she looked.
He wouldn’t even recognize me!
The next second, she had to sit down. Her face flushed, and she felt mildly nauseous.

Lucas!
She realized how hard she had been pushing him to the back of her mind. It had always been her way—stuffing and denying instead of allowing herself to work through her emotions.
I hadn’t even been honest with my therapist about how deeply I missed him. Hell, I hadn’t been honest with myself.
Suddenly, she wanted just to get back into bed and cry, but she couldn’t. It was almost time for Joy to be there, and she didn’t want to let her down. Even one tear would ruin her makeup. She swallowed several times and blinked it all back.
It will have to do. No time to be sad now.

“Va-vavoom!” Joy said out the window when she saw Audra walking down the stairs. “You put me to shame! I hope you brought something casual. Believe me, with all the horseplay that goes on around my house when the boys are home, you won’t want to wear that the whole time.”

Audra grinned as she got into the car. “Well, I have to impress these seven brothers in a hurry then,” she said.

Joy had barely prepared her for seven brothers, let alone four wives and twelve children. Luckily, the McCrearys had a huge home, so all twenty-seven of them didn’t have to occupy the same room at once.

The entire family, except for Joy’s father, had varying shades of red hair, from the deepest auburn to ginger.

“Aidan, Brendan, Colin, Conor, Eamon, Michael, Neil, everyone, this is my friend, Elise,” Joy recited.

“Did you just say them in alphabetical order?” Audra asked.

“Yes, and birth order as well. With that many, if you’re going to reel them off, it’s the easiest way.”

“All Irish names, but yours is not in order, Joy, either by alphabet or by birth order.”

“No,” Joy’s mother piped up. “I called her Joy because after seven boys, she was my little joy.”

Some laughed, a few rolled their eyes, having heard that line a thousand times.

“And I’ll leave it to each of them to introduce their wives and children.”

Eamon, Michael, and Neil,
Audra thought. The three youngest boys. She smiled broadly at Neil who reminded her so much of a young Eric Stoltz in her favorite teen romance of all time,
Some Kind of Wonderful
.

“What a dazzling smile,” he said. “Oh, just to set the record straight at the beginning, the only ones of us that are available are myself, Michael, and Conor. I didn’t want you to think Eamon was on the market.”

Eamon was nearly as handsome as Neil, but he quickly moved to the other side of the room, putting his hand on his wife’s back.

“So glad you cleared that up right away,” she said. She had removed her overcoat and was holding it in her arms, and her bag was sitting on the floor beside her. Neil relieved her of her coat, and Joy grabbed the bag.

“I’ll put this in my room,” Joy said. “In fact, let’s go up there right now. I want you to listen to this new group I found.”

“All in good time, my dear,” Mother McCreary said. “I need help in the kitchen right now.”

“Aw, Ma. You have four daughters-in-law. Can’t Elise and I get a bye this time?”

“A couple of them will join us, but some have to watch the children.”

“Did you bring something more casual to wear?” Joy asked.

Audra raised her eyebrows. “I did.”

“Well, better get changed, then,” she said. “C’mon up.”

“Such a shame to lose that ruby red vision so quickly,” Neil said, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

It was Joy’s turn to roll her eyes this time.

“So what’s Christmas like at your house?” Joy asked.

Immediately, there was a catch in Audra’s throat. She swallowed hard. “Since I’m an only child, and my parents were only children, there weren’t a lot of people around. It was just quiet.”

“Well, that’s all about to change,” Joy said. “I was going to ask why you didn’t fly home for the holidays.”

“Oh, with my job starting right away, I just decided it would be better to stay here. I’m still just getting oriented to things, it seems.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Joy said.

“And so am I,” said a voice from behind them.

“Neil Patrick McCreary, get away from my door,” Joy said.

“It’s this strange magnetism,” he said. “I was inexorably drawn to follow this vision up the stairs.”

Joy threw a stuffed animal from off her bed at him. He put his arms in front of his face and retreated. She closed the door.

“Boys!”

They both broke into giggles. Audra realized that the youngest siblings probably always retained some of their childhood rivalry, something she had clearly never experienced. She also realized that she had been forced to grow up much too early. It was fun to be able to be silly for a change. Even with Lucas, everything had been so serious.

Helping in the kitchen, with several women working together, was something else she had never experienced. It seemed like complete chaos at times, and yet everything came together seamlessly.

The immense table was lavishly set with red linens and a creamy yellow-gold table runner with sparkling crystal candle holders and pale yellow candles tied with sparkling bows. The center of the table held a huge prime rib surrounded with a tureen of oyster stew and dozens of sumptuous side dishes. The table seated eighteen, so thirteen adults and the five eldest grandchildren were seated at the main table, with the other seven children and one of the couples seated around a smaller table nearby. Apparently, the supervising of the “kid’s” table was relegated to a different couple each holiday.

Neil forced his way to sit next to her, displacing one of the brother’s wives and causing amused looks among the siblings. Joy rolled her eyes. Once the meal was begun and there was a quiet buzz of animated talk among them, Neil struck up a conversation as he passed the dishes to her.

After answering the requisite questions as to how she knew Joy, what she was doing, and where she was from, they were silent as they began to eat. He looked up at her with a crooked smile that made her pulse quicken. She quickly looked back at her plate.

“You have such beautiful green eyes,” he said. “Are they real?” She gave an inaudible gasp, and her face flushed scarlet. “I mean they are absolutely a stunning color of emerald. You must make any Irish mother happy.”

She forced herself to give him a grand smile but said nothing. She calmed herself by assuring herself that the blushing would be interpreted as just finding it difficult to take a compliment. A second later she realized that the fake eye-color was something she would never be able to keep from a partner. However, she wasn’t about to out herself at this point.

“You are Irish, aren’t you? Woodrow is an English name.”

“My mother’s people were McDonough’s,” she lied. “And my father was Irish but was adopted by the Woodrows.”

“Ah. What was his family name?”

Damn,
she thought.
So much for trying to keep it simple.
She knew she would have to recall it again at another time.

“He was an O’Rourke, I believe. He didn’t talk about it much.”

Neil nodded his head.

“Were you raised Catholic?”

“Pretty much agnostic,” Audra responded.

“Oh, so you’re not familiar with the pomp and circumstance of Midnight Mass?”

“No,” she grinned. “Joy was trying to prepare me, I believe.”

“Ah, Joy,” he said in a mock-Irish accent. “Ye’ve brought a hay-then amongst us.”

“You’re the only heathen among us, Neil McCreary, you and your atheist philosophies,” Joy retorted.

Neil faked a shocked look.

“Wha-a thing t’ say. I’m just sayin’ it’s nice o’ you t’ bring someone I can converse with without every oother thing bein’ about ‘the Lord.’”

Joy made a disgusted sound and looked at Audra.

“You have my permission to ignore him, Elise,” she said.

She simply smiled at one and then the other, but her stomach was already churning.

Audra helped clear the dishes and put out platters of ginger cakes and fruit breads, along with Irish coffee for those who wanted it. Audra sipped ginger ale to try to calm her stomach, but she began to wish she had taken some of the whisky-laden coffee in hopes of calming her nerves.

It was time for the family to retreat to the great room, with the beautiful white-flocked Christmas tree and the wide brick hearth, to read stories to the children and tell tales of Christmases long ago, but Audra felt flushed and ill. She went to the bathroom and replenished her lipstick.
This was a huge mistake
, she thought.

She found Joy. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to stay,” she said.

“What? Why?” Joy asked.

“I really do not feel well.”

“Is it that brute of a brother of mine?”

“No, no, not at all. I’m just feeling really nauseous and lightheaded.”

“Do you just want to lie down in my room?”

Audra looked at her for a second, considering. “It’s kind of difficult feeling comfortable with so many new people and feeling ill just compounds it.”

“I understand,” Joy said.

“Joy,” called her mother from the kitchen. “Can you girls help me with scraping and rinsing the dishes?”

“Just a minute, Ma,” Joy responded.

“I…“

“Is something the matter?” Neil asked, coming up behind Audra.

“Yeah, thanks to you she feels sick and wants to go home.”

“What? I…?”

“No, please, on the contrary,” Audra said. “I’ve enjoyed our conversation.”

“Are you really leaving?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

“Then allow me to drive you,” he said.

Audra immediately looked at Joy whose eyes questioned her in return. She sensed that Joy was concerned for Audra but would be just as relieved if she didn’t have to drive her back across the city.

“That would be fine, just let me get my bag,” Audra said.

“I’ll get it for you, Elise,” Joy said.

“Let me get your overcoat,” Neil said.

He came back with it and helped her into it. Joy came back with her bag and draped the dress across Audra’s arms.

“I put your heels in the bag,” she said.

Neil shouldered her bag, and Audra picked up her clutch.

Mrs. McCreary came from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

“Elise, I…?”

“I apologize, Mrs. McCreary,” Audra said. “Thank you so much for the amazing meal and your wonderful hospitality. I’m just not feeling well.”

Mrs. McCreary looked at Joy who shrugged slightly.

“Well, that’s fine, Elise. I’m sorry you have to go. I hope you’ll come back again sometime.”

“Oh, undoubtedly,” Audra said.
Just not when you have twenty-seven people in the house.

She said her goodbyes and ‘lovely-to-meet-you’ to everyone, and she and Neil departed.

They found his vehicle, luckily, behind the many vehicles in the McCreary’s make-shift parking lot.

“So, what’s this really about?” Neil asked.

“I don’t know,” Audra sighed. “I think it was just overwhelming.”

He laughed. “Yes, a holiday with the Hugh McCreary’s can be that way.”

“I grew up as an only child,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She smiled. “I never really missed having brothers or sisters, and, of course, I was ever the center of attention. But growing up agnostic our Christmas holidays were a bit strange anyway.”
What a lame thing to say
, she thought. She was quite sure that non-religious people had amazing holiday get-togethers, too. She had just never been part of one.

“Not even a night of Yuletide revelry?”

“No,” she laughed. “Definitely not that.”

“My. You must have grown up in a very austere household.” She just turned to look out the window. “All the more reason to make this one special.”

She turned and gave him a wan smile. “Maybe next year,” she said.

“I’d offer to take you to a frat party,” he said, “but if you think you’re overwhelmed with my family….”

“Yeah, no,” she said.

“Well, how about just a quiet drink somewhere?” he asked.

She looked at him. “Really, not tonight,” she said. “I wasn’t faking. I seriously don’t feel well.”

“Fair enough,” he said, “how about Sunday evening, then?”

She didn’t want to be rude, so she gave him the satisfaction of thinking she would go with him, knowing she could cancel later. “Alright,” she said.

“Good,” he said, pulling up to her apartment complex. “Since I know where you live, I’ll pick you up at six. We can have a bite to eat first, and then I’ll take you to one of my favorite places along the wharf.”

She smiled thinly. They both got out, but she grabbed her bag.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I’ll be all right. I’ll see you on Sunday.”

“You’re sure?” he asked, looking up at the apartments above them.

“I’m sure. Thanks so much for the ride, and please apologize to your family again for me. I’ll give Joy a call.”

She couldn’t get up the stairs and get her door open fast enough. She set down her bag, locked the door, and then leaned against it. She felt herself reviving a bit as soon as the door was shut behind her.

She opened the drapes so she could see the lights of the city, pulled down her bed, and reclined across it. She squeezed her eyes closed. She hadn’t thought it would be this incredibly difficult. Now that she was alone and could think, she realized that the way she felt had much less to do with all the people and the chaos as it was the strain of lying. She kept creating and practicing a back story, but Neil’s “are they real” question about her eyes was a curveball she hadn’t expected. And then her father’s family name. What had she told him? O’Rourke. That was it.