The Princess and the Prospect Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Note From Author

  MC Books

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  JDRF Donations

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2019 Christine M. Butler / Christine Michelle

  All rights reserved.

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  Any similarities to persons, organizations, or places written about within these pages is purely coincidental, as this is a work of fiction.

  Editor - Bella Hickman

  [email protected]

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  I don’t like doing this, because I honestly don’t think books should have to come with warnings. I am relenting in this case, because I know the subject matter is one that many people don’t want to read. So in an effort to help out my readers here is your

  TRIGGER WARNING!

  This book, especially the beginning, may be difficult for some people to read. It was difficult to write because if I were Anna I would have done things so differently. I’m not Anna though, and both she and Tiger Lily represent another view point. I hope that despite people’s triggers for certain scenarios that you will read it anyway, because it’s the only way to get to the end of the big picture by book five. Just know that I understand the reluctance, I feel your pain, but every character I write cannot be a representation of myself or my personal ideals and choices. Some have to be there to represent people who have made entirely different decisions in their lives. They made them for reasons I’m not privy to, and that I cannot judge because I wasn’t walking in their shoes when they were faced with those choices.

  All of this build up has been to warn you – there is cheating in this book. For the first time ever, I’m writing about cheating that involves the main characters. Granted, the situation may make it seem like a gray area for some, but I’m going to call a spade a spade on this. If you simply can’t tolerate reading it, then bail out now. If you can hang in there for a little bit, I promise things work out in the end.

  ONE MORE THING

  I also want to issue a sincere thank you to everyone who read The Other Princess and were still able to dive head first into the story of A Love So Hard and the man I made you hate in book one. I am a huge fan of writing realism into fiction and exploring the things that make people behave badly or react a certain way. Often times we’re quick to judge other people’s situations from the comfort of our seats, or when we’re looking from the outside in, but when you don’t have the full picture it makes things difficult to understand. My goal, other than to entertain, is to make people think. The things we see on the surface of other people’s daily lives have deeper roots. Those roots – while you may have never experienced them yourself – affect the choices that people make and the roads they take in their lives. I wish you all the smoothest path to happiness, but I’m wise enough to know that’s not possible for everyone. These books are for the people who jumped those hurdles, hit those bumps, and picked themselves up anyway. Even if they managed to mess it up a little more on their journey to smooth sailing. They’re also for the people who have been lucky enough never to have to endure the harsher side of life – because for them this is truly fiction.

  Thank you again for taking a chance on a new (to you) author, or a new book, and for sticking it out with me this long! Your encouraging messages have meant so much to me! You’ve also enabled me to teach my children a wonderful lesson in going after your dreams, and not giving up! They have seen me work hard, cry frustrated tears, move past disappointments, and celebrate successes. To me, that is the greatest gift I could give them. Through my own journey to reach my goals they’ve seen persistence is key, and giving up isn’t an option. You have helped me give that to them.

  Thank you so much!

  Xoxo,

  Christine Michelle

  S.H.E. Series

  Angel-Girl

  JoJo

  Aces High – Dakotas Series

  Dancing With Danger

  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

  Aces High – Cedar Falls Series

  Redemption Weather

  Proven

  Smoke and the Flame

  Aces High – Charleston Series

  The Other Princess

  A Love So Hard

  The Princess and the Prospect

  Other Books by Christine Michelle

  T.I.E. Series

  The Infinite Something

  The Infinite Beat

  *

  Age 14

  Dear Diary,

  I can’t wait until I can get married and move out of this nuthouse my family calls a home. My mom is being weird all the time. My sister is so emo I honestly don’t want to be around her, and my brother – who used to be her best friend – isn’t around much either. He probably came to the same conclusion about Ever. She’s just unhappy, and I don’t know why. Daddy gets us anything we want. I know when I ask, he’s right there to get me whatever I ask for. Only, he has been riding out to the clubhouse more these days for some reason so I haven’t actually been able to ask for things. Not that I was spoiled and took advantage, but Daddy lived to make me happy. I’m sure it was the same for both Toby and Ever too.

  Can you see why I want to just get married and move out though? I don’t want to know what makes Ever sad, why Toby stays gone all the time, or why Daddy doesn’t come home all that much anymore. None of those things are bound to make me happy, and all I want is to be happy, write my stories, and raise my babies with a man who loves me more than anything in the world. That’s not too much to ask, is it? It’s my dream, and I plan to make it come true.

  I mean that too. Everything is all planned out in my head and in my little memory books. I’m going to meet the man of my dreams just before I graduate high school so I don’t have to rush off to college or something else that will waste my time. We’re going to start our family while we’re young so we can have plenty of energy for those babies and still get to enjoy our lives once they’re out of the house. It’s
my life plan. My wedding is going to be spectacular too.

  I already have my dress picked out. It’s going to be an amazing ivory gown with tons of lace and a train so long it trails down half the length of the church aisle. My bridesmaids will be wearing peach and cream floor length dresses and the same color ribbons will be tied to the backs of all the pews in the church. My bouquet will be created using peach Dahlias and white garden roses. It will be tied together in ivory and peach satin ribbon too. My makeup will be done in light tones to compliment the colors as well. My handsome husband would have a peach Dahlia pinned to the lapel of his tux, only he’d tell me that the flowers paled in their beauty when compared to me. We would dance the night away under the stars of a beautiful spring night – because we’d melt in the summertime here in Charleston even when the sun went down – and then he would whisk me away to our honeymoon where our first born would be conceived.

  Are you swooning yet? I know I am. My dream is lush, and I don’t plan on settling for anything less.

  Chapter 1

  Not once in my entire life did I ever think about what my wedding day would look like. Then again, I never expected to be the groom in a goddamn shotgun wedding before either; yet that was exactly where I found myself.

  The only saving grace I had in my favor was that this was the result of her lies. Her dubious plan to nab herself a baby daddy and husband worked beautifully, but since she got her way by handing me a load of shit as a background story, lying about her age, who she was, and probably everything else; I wasn’t about to give in on the other demands her family had tried to make. They wanted their little girl to have the sweet wedding she used to write about in her journals. Fuck that. There was nothing sweet about being forced to marry the little brat. No, all she was getting from me was a trip to the Justice of the Peace at the courthouse, some nicer than usual denim jeans, and a button up shirt. I couldn’t wear my kutte into the courthouse or else I’d be donning that too. Though, truth be told, that kutte and me were not on friendly terms right now either. If it had been anyone else’s daughter I could have just slipped the lying bitch some child support, or taken the kid from her once it was born. Nope, I’m not that lucky. Instead, her daddy, Double-D, was the Vice President of Aces High Motorcycle Club. Yeah, the very some club I had spent the last year prospecting for. I’d finally become a member, just in time to find out I was also going to be a daddy and the mom had already turned out to be a lying bitch.

  “You doing okay?” My best friend, once Army brother, and current club brother, Deck asked me as we stood there waiting on my bride-to-be to actually show her ass up.

  “What do you think?”

  “Aw man, I know there’s some bad blood because of how everything went down, but haven’t you guys at least talked it out some?” Deck was the lying bitch’s brother-in-law. That made him a little biased and hopeful that I would step up and be the better man. I was supposed to bury the hatchet on her lies and actually give this farce of a marriage a try.

  I turned narrowed eyes on him instead. “I haven’t spoken to her since she broke the news about the baby that day in the clubhouse,” I admitted. Deck’s eyes rounded out and he stepped back almost as if I had physically assaulted him.

  EIGHT WEEKS AGO

  Deck had finally convinced me that I needed to quit slamming shit around, being angry, and get over his little sister-in-law and the trap she had made me fall for. It had been a little over a month since I found out that she was really a club princess, that everyone called her Anna instead of Lise. Granted, her full name was Annalise, but that didn’t help ease her deception at all. I also, God help me, found out she was under age by the club standards and my own personal standards too, the law be damned.

  I ended up on this double date with Ever and Deck as a result. The woman wasn’t too hard to deal with, but that spark I had felt with Anna all those times we had been together just wasn’t there. Hell, I didn’t know if I’d ever feel anything like it again. Anna had been a magic balm to my soul, and one I hadn’t known I needed until she was ripped away from me and her lies exposed.

  Mindy had been Deck’s pick. Apparently, he knew her from high school so she was far more age appropriate than the girl who had my mind swirling from want to need to anger and back again. I couldn’t fault his choice, physically speaking. He had obviously tried to go in a different direction with looks. The bitch was blond with blue eyes and tits for days. She also had a bit more weight on her everywhere else than Anna did, but I supposed that was the difference in Anna still very much being a teenager and Mindy being a full-fledged woman.

  Mindy didn’t seem to have a shy bone in her body and took to me like a fly to shit. It was exactly the thing that turned me off in women when it came to dating. I didn’t like the over eager aggressive types. I preferred… Well, my preference hadn’t seemed to do me a whole lot of good. Anna had been the epitome of my preference. Mild-mannered, shy, reserved, and willing to let me take the lead was my type. I didn’t want to lord over my woman. I just didn’t want one who thought she could pull all of my strings, and manipulate me on purpose like I was nothing more than a puppet on a string.

  Mindy was not shy. By the time dinner was over, she had touched my dick at least four times, and then pouted when she realized I wasn’t an uncontrolled boy popping a boner at every look or touch from a woman. She played it off each time as if it were an accident, but we both knew better. That was my other distinct turn off with women. The ones who played games were not meant for me. This one was a game player from the word go.

  “I need to grab my cell,” Deck mentioned as we left the restaurant. I left it at the clubhouse earlier when we were there. You mind swinging in there?”

  “I don’t mind,” I told him as we all moved to my truck.

  “Oh goodie!” Mindy chirped as she hopped in the passenger side, leaving Ever and Deck to climb in the back. “That means we can ditch this old truck and pick up your bikes. I want to go for a ride!”

  I didn’t know how to break it to her, but the bitch wasn’t getting on the back of my bike. I’d only had one woman on it, and I didn’t plan on putting another there. I was about to tell her just that when Ever perked up in the back.

  “That sounds like a plan. I love a night ride, but the sun will be setting soon. If we get to the clubhouse quick enough, it will be perfect. We can head towards the beach and then the moon should be up by the time we cruise on down…” the rest of what she was saying was lost to me. I couldn’t believe she was sitting here planning out a romantic sunset/moonlit ride for her sister’s ex-boyfriend and another woman. What the fuck was wrong with Ever? I glared at her through my rearview mirror and I watched as the bitch smirked at me. She fucking smirked. She knew exactly what she was doing.

  It was then I resigned myself to having Mindy on the back of my bike just so Ever could see how far her plan was about to blow up in her face. Deck may have had friendly intentions trying to get me to go out with someone else and take my mind off of things, but his meddling woman was attempting to be pull some shit.

  We pulled up and went around to the back of the clubhouse instead of heading in the front because Deck thought he left his cell in the kitchen and we didn’t want anyone holding us up from this ride we were about to take.

  “You know, all those vibrations from your bike are bound to get me super horny, right?” Mindy asked. I watched as Ever rolled her eyes and Deck tried not to laugh.

  “Have you ever ridden on a bike before?” I asked the woman.

  “Well, no, but I’ve heard…” she started to say.

  “Oh, my bike will get your motor revving for sure, just be sure that’s what you really want before you hop on the back of my bike.” I turned so that my eyes met Ever’s then. Two could play her fucking game. “I’m in the market for a new old lady, so play your cards right, it might not be the only ride you get.”

  Deck cut his eyes to me then before glancing over at his wife. Understanding dawned an
d he shook his head. “Not in front of my virginal ears, kids!” He joked while covering his ears like a child would when they don’t want to hear something. We all laughed as Ever opened the back door and walked inside. She halted in her tracks giving us just enough space to all pile in tightly behind her. I was about to ask what was up when she entertained a question of her own that pulled my focus forward.

  “Momma-Luce? Anna?” My attention shifted to the two women that were standing in the back hall along with Double-D. I had thought that he and Lucy hadn’t made up yet, but then again I didn’t know shit about that family that I thought I did. “What’s going on?” Ever’s question mirrored my own thoughts.

  The hallways was quiet as the grave for a moment before Anna bit into her bottom lip, worrying it with her teeth before just blurting out two words that sunk me. “I’m pregnant.” I felt the blood drain from my face as they penetrated my suddenly fogged brain. She was what now? Pregnant? By who?

  “Shit!” Deck called out.

  “Isn’t that your little sis, Ev?” Mindy asked as she moved closer, thrusting her tits into my arm as she grabbed onto my bicep in a tight hold. I didn’t know if she realized Anna’s pregnancy announcement might have something to do with me or not, but it sure as fuck felt like this bitch I had just met was trying to mark territory. Unfortunately, I was still trying to wrap my stupefied brain around those two life altering words. “We better leave them to the family stuff. Looks like it’s gonna get brutal.” I didn’t miss the hopeful edge to her tone. This bitch was hungry for the family’s drama for some reason.

  “You will go nowhere!” Double-D shouted and the bitch stopped tugging on my arm trying to get me back out of the door behind us. Double-D looked Mindy over, finding her lacking by the disgust that was clear to read, and then he shifted his focus to me. “I see it didn’t take you long to move on from my daughter after knocking her up,” he roared, sounding like a feral damn bear.