The Thunder Wolves MC - Lizzy (Book #5)

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***Hello everyone, just real quick before we get into the story. If you haven't read any of the other The Thunder Wolves MC books, I recommend you do so. I listed them in order at the bottom of this book's description. Also, if you forget what order they go in at the bottom of each description before each book, I have a note suggesting which books to read first. :) If you have read all the others, thank you, and I hope you enjoy this one just as much. I am still writing it and will do my best to keep the updates coming. :)***

Lizzy

A whole year of negotiating with my father is what it took before he finally agreed to me going to college in California. Why California? Because I wanted to be somewhere, I could go out and not have a member of The Thunder Wolves MC watching me for my father or my brother. I wanted to be able to date a guy and not have my father threaten to kill him or my brother there glaring at the guy with his own threats. I chose California because it had the surgeon program I wanted to participate in. Like my mother, I wanted to be a doctor. But I didn’t want to work in an emergency room as she did. I wanted to be a surgeon. Could I have taken a similar program closer to home? Absolutely. I could even do my residency at the same hospital my mom worked at. But the point was to get out of town and be a typical young adult. Be able to go out on dates without the guy being scared off. I wanted to be able to make mistakes. So with the help of my brother, I finally got my father to agree to be ok with me moving out of town. I didn’t like the fact that he only agreed to it because there was another MC in the town I would be in that just so happened to be friendly with The Thunder Wolves. But I was relieved when none of those members seemed to care who I dated. They were around but never bothered me.

I was loving life. I made it through the first couple of years of school. They flew by, really. I worked my ass off and was just about halfway through my bachelor’s degree. Next would come my residency, which would take a few more years. I hardly really had time to date, but that didn’t mean I never went on a date. I had most recently started dating a guy I met on campus. He was sweet, and best of all, he didn’t know my dad or my brother. He was a business major. He was a little on the large side, but I didn’t let that bother me. I thought he was cute with his short sandy hair and blue eyes. He was really into sports, and I noticed, in the beginning, he would get really angry if his team lost. But he never got mad with me, just would be angry. That alone should have been a red flag for me. But I was so focused on enjoying life I didn’t let it bother me. I wrote it off as he was just passionate when it came to sports. But slowly, that seemed to shift to other things. It started little at first, so little I didn’t notice it. But looking back at it, I should have. He did things my father always told me to watch out for. Things my father told me if I ever saw a guy do or say to dump his ass. And if he didn’t want to take me leaving him, then let him know, and he would take care of the asshole. But I thought I was in love. I thought he was sweet. His name was Connor, and I thought he loved me back. I thought we supported one another. So when his lease was up on his apartment, I had suggested he move in with me. We had been dating for six months or so, and we spent most of our nights at one another's place anyway. It only made sense to split the rent. I, of course, didn’t tell my dad. He would flip his s**t if he knew I let a guy move in with me.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly at first. We both had busy schedules, but I think it bothered him that I didn’t have to work while going to school. My parents had given me a card when I moved out here, and they put money on it for me so I could focus on school one hundred percent. Which was how I was moving through my degree so fast. That and I had studied all my mom’s medical books starting when I was only fifteen. I always knew what I was going to do and I was determined to get through school as fast as I could so I could do it. But while I was going to school and then to the library and back home, Connor was going to school then work. He was frustrated he was not able to go to school full time like I was able to. Connor hated that he had to work his ass off to come up with his half of the rent. And then when Alex called and invited me out because he and Clara had news to share with the family, Connor was pissed that I went and didn’t take him with me. It had been a whole fight with him. I didn’t understand why he cared. I was going to be with family the entire time. But he just kept going on about how he didn’t like how he wouldn’t be there to make sure another guy didn’t try and flirt with me. What other guys? I was going to be with my family. The only guys there were my dad, brother, and a guy I considered as an uncle and was Clara’s dad. The fight got so bad Connor had even told me he didn’t want me to go unless he could get the time off. Which he couldn’t, and well, I went anyway. Shutting my phone off and ignoring it for the whole trip. I was there with my family and best friend, Summer. Who was also Clara’s sister. The two of us had grown up together.

We were kind of forced to be friends growing up. But neither one cared if our friendship was slightly forced. We loved each other. Summer was the complete opposite of me, though. She loved the MC life, to where I didn’t care for it. But like me, she knew what she wanted to do with her life. I had always thought she would be an artist or follow in her mother’s footsteps and be a tattoo artist. But she didn’t. She was the most social person I had ever met, so when she told me she would talk her parents into letting her take over her mom’s bar, I was not at all surprised. It would be perfect for her. She could talk and flirt with everyone that came in for a drink, and she would be amazing at it.

When I returned to my apartment after that trip and finding out I was going to be an aunt, I found the place empty. Connor must be at work. Sitting down on the couch, I finally turned back on my phone. Over the weekend, I was gone. I had somehow gotten well over a hundred missed calls, my voicemail was full, and so many more text messages, all from Connor. Seeing all the missed calls and messages, I kind of felt bad for shutting my phone off. Maybe something terrible happened. I started working my way through the voice messages. But all of them were pretty much the same. Him yelling about me leaving him here alone and not taking him with me. The text messages were pretty much the same. At least the ones I had made it through reading. I was about halfway through those when I heard the door slam closed. Looking up from my phone, I found Connor glaring at me.

“Where the f**k have you been?” I raised an eyebrow. “I told you I was going out of town. My brother had news he wanted to share with the family.” Crossing the room, he leaned down, so his face was only a few inches away from me. “I told you no. I couldn’t go with you. You had no business going alone.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were my father all of a sudden.” His hand shot out, grabbing my face. His thumb digging into one side of my cheek while his finger dug into the other side. “Don’t be a smart mouth.” I tried to pull my face away, but his grip was too strong. I was starting to get angry. Who the hell was he to tell me I couldn’t see my family? “You don’t go anywhere without me.” Since I couldn’t pull my face out of his grip, I settled for glaring at him. “When I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it. I don’t trust other guys to keep their hands to themselves. Anything could have happened to you, and you had your phone off.” I sighed, “I was with my family. What could have happened to me? And what guys would have touched me?” He let go of my face, and for a second, I thought that was it. But it wasn’t. I didn’t even see it coming as he stood back up and moved his hand away from me. But then it came back so fast I didn’t even know what happened at first.

The sound of him slapping me across the face didn’t even register for a few seconds. And by then, that was the least of my worries. The slap had my face turning to the side while his hand grabbed a handful of my hair. He dragged me off the couch onto the floor, climbing over me. His fists came down a handful of times, hitting me in the sides. I tried to fight back at first, but it hurt too much. When he was done, he grabbed my face again and leaned down over me. “I told you not to be a smart mouth.” Sobbing, all I could do was nod. “Now go shower. I don’t want anything left of any of the guys you f****d while you were gone left on you.” With that, he let go of me and climbed off me. I didn’t move right away, which seemed to make him angrier. With his still booted foot, he kicked me in my side. “I said go shower, don’t make me tell you again.” Rolling over, I pushed myself up off the floor and headed into the bedroom. He followed me, taking my phone from me and watching me as I gathered some clean clothes. He even followed me into the bathroom and watched me the whole time I showered. Making comments when he felt I hadn’t cleaned a particular spot well enough.

When I was done, he was back to being the sweet and loving guy he had been before. “I am sorry, baby. I just get worried when you aren’t around. I didn’t mean to overreact. It won’t happen again.” He caressed my cheek, pushing some of my hair back behind my ear. And even though everything in me told me to get out now. Call my dad or my brother, or any member of the MC. I didn’t. I was a fool, and I believed him. I ignored everything my father had taught me about guys like him and the promises they make. I ignored everything in me that told me to run as fast as I could away from him. I thought I was in love. And after that, things were good again for a week or two.

Then he came home one day after one of his long days. He had a class in the morning then had to work until around sometime after eleven at night. I was still up sitting on the floor in front of the couch with my books spread across the coffee table studying. I had a test coming up, and even though I was confident I would pass, I wanted to be sure. When he walked in, he was pissed. “Why are you still up?” Looking up from my books, I was confused. “I have a test in a few days.” He glared at me. “Did you at least make dinner?” I was even more confused. Was I supposed to make dinner? It was nearly midnight. “No, was I supposed to?” My answer came in the form of him crossing the room and dragging me by my hair from the front room into the small kitchen. Once he had me in the kitchen, he proceeded to punch me several times. Every hit was placed in areas that if it were to bruise, it wouldn’t be seen. And if last time had proven anything, I would bruise badly. When his fists didn’t seem to be enough, he started kicking me and yelling at me, telling me how worthless I was. When he was satisfied, he leaned down, grabbing me by the face, so I was looking right at him. “You should always have dinner ready when I get home. Every night, no excuses.” Reaching down, he pulled my phone from my pocket, then let me go, and stormed off into the other room. Leaving me on the floor.

Again I should have left. I know I should have. But instead, I picked myself up off the floor and made him something to eat. When I was done, he came back and was super sweet again. Apologizing for being so mean. Promising me, it would never happen again. This time, though, he didn’t give me back my phone. In fact, I don’t even know where it went. Every number, every contact I had was gone. I cursed myself for relying so much on my phone to keep my contacts and never memorizing anyone's number. On top of taking my phone, I later found out he had taken my bank card that belonged to the account my parents had set up for me. He also took my car keys, leaving my only form of transport with him. He took me to and from school.

I couldn’t leave the apartment unless it was within walking distance. I was stuck now. Unless I was lucky enough to find a member of the local MC that knew who I was. But even though there was an MC here in town, I had only seen any of the members a couple of times. This was a bigger town than what I grew up in, and the MC guys all seemed to be on the other side of town and never really came to this side. I could tell someone at school, but then what? I had nowhere to go. I had no way of calling anyone. And most of the people in town seemed scared of the MC here. Taking a chance a few weeks later, I asked a few people at school if they could take me to where the members liked to hang out. And every single one of them told me hell no. The news of me asking to be taken to the MC here in town somehow got back to Connor, and he was convinced I was sleeping around with one of the members. This earned me another beating and a shower with him watching me. So I didn’t do that again.