Phoenix Bar: A Steel Demons MC Novel Read online

  Phoenix Bar

  Steel Demons MC

  Book 1

  Annelise Reynolds

  Copyright © 2015 Annelise Reynolds

  ISBN-13: 978-1514792322

  ISBN-10: 151479232X

  Phoenix Bar

  Editor: Brandi Beers

  Cover Designer: Bonnie Trujillo

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduction, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) utilization of this work without written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been uses without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  For questions or comments about this book, please contact the author at www.annelisereynolds.wix.com/annelisereynolds

  Acknowledgements

  I have so many people to thank for their love and support. First and foremost to my kids. I love you guys and thank you for putting up with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pizza, and other fast fix foods because mommy was trying to get some writing done. I love you both.

  To my Authors Gone Wild crew: Winter Travers, Jemma Bell, Addyson Thompson, and Lindsey Anne, thank you ladies for inspiring me and encouraging me every step of the way.

  Bonnie Trujillo, I can’t thank you enough for the amazing work you did on Phoenix Bar. I love the cover, teasers, and the trailer you made. I couldn’t have done any of it without you.

  Brandi Beers, thank you so much for your work in editing Phoenix Bar. Commas are my worst enemy, so I know you had your work cut out for you.

  To Lizette Palleschi and Sierra Farris, my number one and number two stalkers, you two have encouraged, supported, and entertained the hell out of me. Keep that shit up.

  To my Vixens, thank you for pimping me out to the different blogs.

  I have to say a special thanks to my long-time friends Katie White and Paula Pipes. Thank you ladies for eighteen years of friendship and support. Also to my co-queens: Holly, Brittany, Stephanie, Patty, and Della, thank you ladies for encouragement and helping me to stay on track with school work while trying to enter the crazy author world.

  To my fellow authors who lead the way and shined the light for a newbie in this crazy world of books, thank you.

  Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to thank the blogs and the avid readers who have shown me great support from the beginning

  Dedication

  To anyone who has ever had to

  Rebuild their life from the ashes,

  This one is for you

  Phoenix Bar

  Steel Demons MC

  Book 1

  Annelise Reynolds

  Some bridges are made to be burned

  and life remade from the ashes.

  Prologue

  My Little Phoenix,

  You will receive a letter two months from now, but this is what I want you to do in the meantime… I want you to move. I’ve already contacted an old lawyer friend of mine and I have a house set up for you in Belle, Texas. The house is under A. Price and Jed will be the one that provides you with all the information I have given him as the time comes. He knows what to do.

  I also want you to get McKenzie out of New York. The time has come. She doesn’t need to be there anymore. Do whatever you can to get her out of there when you feel the time is right, but I must warn you, time is a luxury you will sadly not have.

  When you get to Belle, I want you to figure out what you want to do with your life, but in this process, keep your identity as hidden as possible. The best thing we could have done for you, I believe, is change your last name to my maiden name, but since we didn’t do that when you first moved in with me. It would be pointless to do it now. Pick a nickname to introduce yourself and McKenzie by. There is no need to draw unneeded attention to yourselves with your names, and it also makes it a little harder for them to find you. Nobody needs to know your real name, and if you must share that information make sure Jed is present. He lives in Belle, Abby, he knows everything. I’ve asked him to look after you. You can trust him.

  I love you,

  Grams

  Chapter One

  Abby

  “Pick up, pick up” I chanted into the phone as it rang. It was early here in Texas and I knew it was still early in New York, at least early for someone with her schedule. She was tired I’m sure, but I urged her to pick up the phone anyway. A few weeks ago I had moved to Belle and I had gotten an idea in my head that just kind of stayed there. I was given the means to make it happen a few days ago.

  Jed had called me into his office and handed me a big manila envelope with instructions not to open it until McKenzie moved down here. He advised me to hurry and get her here as fast as I could and then he gave me news that I was not expecting.

  “This better be good,” McKenzie grumbled, breaking into my thoughts. She never had been a morning person and with all the crap she had going on at work, it made her mood even worse in the mornings.

  “Good morning to you, too. I have a question for you,” I said excitedly, my enthusiasm clear in my voice through the line.

  “Abs, do you realize what time it is and what time I get home at night?” She groaned, her voice thick with sleep.

  “I do, but I’ve got good reasons for calling. Now for my question, are you set on staying in New York?”

  She sighed and I could hear her the rustling of her sheets as she moved to sit up in bed. “No, there is nothing holding me here except the job,” she yawned.

  “Ok, so you have no reason to stay there at a job you hate with an asshole of a boss. That’s great, because I have an idea.”

  She groaned and I swear I heard her mumble that it was too early for this shit. “Ok, I’ll bite what’s your idea.” The deep breath she pulled in and let out said she was preparing herself and trying to wake up enough to listen.

  “I want us to open a restaurant and a bar down here. You’d have to move here to Belle, but I think that it’s perfect. I want to do this and I can’t think of a better business partner than my best friend.” I was laying it on thick. I knew she would agree once I laid everything out for her, because well, let’s face it, she wanted to get away from her asshole boss, away from her past, and she was lonely, even if she didn’t know it.

  “What made you decide to want to do this?”

  “Well, I want to use my business degree, but I don’t want to work for someone else. I also don’t want to be involved in anything corporate, considering who my family is. So, I figure my surest way to use my degree is being a business owner and doing something that I know and I’m good at. You know Grams had a stipulation for paying for my college. I had to maintain a job while doing my online classes. That’s why I started bartending. There are only a few bars around here and they are all pretty run down. I think the residents of Belle and surrounding towns could use a new watering hole.”

  “Ok, so why the restaurant part if you want to open a bar?”

  “Two reasons; one, being it will get your ass out of New York and two, it will get your ass out of New York.”

  McKenzie chuckled and yawned. “Ok, how would we make this happen? I don’t have the money to invest and it takes a lot o
f capitol to start one business, much less two businesses?”

  “Well, like I’ve said, I’ve been thinking about this for a while and three days ago I got my answer.” I took a deep breath to steady myself and push aside the longing I felt. I still missed Grams so much. I could hear the catch in my own throat, so I am certain that Mac heard it as well. “Grams is still taking care of me. It turns out that when she retired, she didn’t fully retire. She still maintained majority of the shares in the company and had a third party running things for her that was her lawyer I told you about. She had Jed transfer all her holdings, everything, to me. Mom and dad keep what they’ve had all along, but they won’t get anymore. The estate in New York, the house here, the shares, the inheritance, everything is coming to me.”

  McKenzie sucked in a deep breath. “Holy Shit.”

  “Yeah. I was floored too. I mean, I expected something because Grams told me that I was in the will and I’d be receiving an inheritance, but I didn’t expect her to basically cut mom and dad out.”

  “Your parents are going to shit bricks.”

  “I know. I dread the day that Jed is going to tell them.”

  “When is that going to be?”

  I laughed, thanking God for Grams. “Grams gave me six months to figure out what I wanted to do before Jed has to go to mom and dad and tell them the situation with the company and its holdings. So, basically, I have six months to sell the estate and the shares of the company. I don’t want to be a part of that world. It holds nothing for me.” Doing any of this without my parent’s knowledge is going to be hard, especially since they are living at the New York estate. They sold their home when Grams moved to Texas and moved into her place. Appearances are everything with them and nothing says status like a mansion in Manchester.

  McKenzie was speechless. This is not something I was used to, but I completely understood it. I was that way myself when Jed first told me. Jed is the only one in Belle that knows who Grams was and who I am. Nobody else knows about the money and company that our family built. Grams didn’t want to live off her name and neither do I. I prefer people being around me because of who I am, not because of what I can do for them. That was a lesson I learned long ago, that with great power comes great corruption. “There’s two more things Jed gave me,” I said, holding the envelopes in my hands. “Grams left us both envelopes with instructions that we should open them at certain times. I’m supposed to wait until you move here.”

  McKenzie sucked in a breath at my words. She had gotten close to Grams when she would visit. Grams truthfully looked at her like another granddaughter. When things went down in high school, it really solidified the bond between them. She had loved the fact that McKenzie stuck by me despite outside pressure. “I’m packing my bags now. I’ll give my resignation effective immediately tonight. When we find someone to take care of the sale of your estate, we’ll have them handle the sale of my apartment as well.”

  No other convincing was necessary, not that I thought it would be. She needed to get away from New York almost as bad as I did back then, if not more. I have suspicions about McKenzie’s past, but she has never said a word. My heart breaks for the pain I fear she has gone through. This could be the chance, the change, the complete start over we both need. After I left New York, my life got better, and I’m convinced Mac needs the same thing.

  <<<<<>>>>>

  One Week Later

  I’m driving to Amarillo to pick Mac up at the airport. She had boxed up and shipped everything she wanted to keep, which basically boils down to her clothes, accessories, and recipe books. Everything else she left for the attorney that we hired to go through it to sell or donate. Neither one of us wants to step foot back in New York so lawyers are the way to go.

  “There’s my bitch,” I hear her yell across the crowded baggage area. I watch her approach with her carryon bag slung over her shoulder. People scurry out of her way, which tends to happen wherever she goes. What she lacks in height, she makes up for in personality. She compensates for being on the high side of dwarfism by wearing stilts on her feet. The stilettos she wears puts her about even with my own height. She’s a big personality in a little package and I love her to death. She’s the sister I never had.

  “I think we need to liven up a little town. You ready for this?” She asks me with a huge grin on her face.

  We had talked a lot over the last week and made lists of what we want to do, and what we definitely did not want to do. A lot would depend on the space. I had found a place that I think could work very well for our needs. I haven’t told her yet, but I’ve seen the place twice and both times I saw it I was convinced it was the place for us.

  “Let’s get going. I have something I want to show you before we head home to unpack your stuff. Your boxes arrived yesterday. There were four of them. Should we be expecting anymore?” We waited by the conveyor belt and she motioned to her bags as they were passing.

  “No, I got rid of a lot of stuff. I figured most of what I had is more for city life and not small town Texas.”

  “That’s the truth.” I motioned toward the red stilts on her feet. “Not many people wear those down here. In the small towns, at least, boots and tennis shoes are the footwear of choice.”

  We made our way through the airport and as we were about to step outside, I waited to listen for it and she didn’t disappoint. “Son of a bitch it’s hot.” She sucked in a breath as we walked out the doors into the brutal Texas heat. “Oh God, will I ever get used to living in this sweatbox?”

  I laughed. “Well, I’ve been here for six years now and I just got used to it yesterday, so yeah, in six years I think you’ll be good.”

  We laughed and talked the whole way home. Every time I’ve seen her since I moved out here, she has told me that I have a small town look to me. That the big city was washed right out of me. I took it as a compliment which is how she meant it. I’m not the same person I was in New York and I’m glad that my outside image reflects the change on the inside. It no longer shocks her that I wear jeans and boots and drive a truck. Not to mention makeup is warn very lightly, if at all. I wore heels, skirts and makeup, and drove a little Mercedes when I lived up there, but, like everything else in my life, I let it go when I came here. I’ve never been happier.

  As we drove to Belle, we turned the radio on and sang at the top of our lungs. “God, it’s good to be able to hang out and not just talk on the phone.” She grinned, her eyes lit up like they hadn’t done probably since the last time she was here. She seemed so at ease already unlike the past few years working for the asshole of a boss; she always sounded aggravated and stressed. This, in my mind, earned even more points in the favor of what we were about to do with our lives. Change was coming and I’m not sure it was all about our business venture. It felt like there was something more that was about to shake us both up and breathe new life in to us both.

  “Mac, there is something we need to discuss. Grams left me a note that we need to keep our identities hidden as long as possible. I’m thinking there is more that is going on than we know about. I haven’t been here long enough to really meet people, but I’ve been going by Phoenix because that’s what Grams used to call me ‘Her little Phoenix’”

  “Ok, Phoenix,” she said, turning the name over in her head, “I can get behind that name. It’s very fitting.”

  “Yeah.” I took a deep breath, knowing my next question would end up changing the whole tone of the conversation, but it was something that had to be discussed sooner or later. “Have you talked to the Senator or the bastard?”

  I saw her tense. She never liked to talk about them and I had been lucky to only meet them a few times. “No, I don’t ever talk to them,” she said sharply. I reached over and squeezed her hand.

  “I’m sorry, but I have to ask, will they look for you?”

  “Yes, eventually.”

  “Ok, we need to keep you hidden, too. Will they know to look here for you?”

  “I tried
not to leave a trail, but I think they have someone watching me. And even if they don’t, they will hire a private investigator eventually to find me at some point.”

  “Alright, we will cross that bridge when we get to it. You need a nickname that we use in public. We need to make it as hard as we can for them to find us and as hard as possible for people to figure out who we are and how we are tied together. Grams said to keep our identities hidden and she has never steered me wrong, so I’m sure it’s important.”

  “We’ll come up with one later,” she said as we started to drive through town. As I navigated the streets, I pointed out where everything was that I had stumbled across so far in my adventures to learning the town and finding a perfect place for our business.

  <<<<<>>>>>

  Belle was a little college town in north Texas with a lake not too far away. Spring and summer brought in tourists thanks to the lake and the recreation that could be had on it, but mostly it was pretty quiet around here, well except for the motorcycle club that has been a part of the town for the last few years according to Jed. The rumors about the club that I have caught over the last few weeks ranged from fight clubs to orgies, but who knows. I’ve tried to lay low, going a town over for anything I’ve needed, so I haven’t come across the bikers at all.

  The only person I see in town with any regularity is Jed and he’s a member of the group, but he said he really didn’t participate in it much anymore. His own age getting up there he let the younger guys carry on the legacy. Apparently, they just started this chapter when they moved here, but they had a bigger chapter located in the Dallas area somewhere. Other than that though, he has been tight lipped about the club and what goes on.

  I pulled up in front of the building that I was sure would eventually be our businesses. The condition of the building was dreadful, but the bones of the structure were good. It would take a lot of renovations to make it into what we needed, but with hard work and lots of money, it could be done. “Wow,” she said, studying the structure. The windows would need to be replaced they were so covered in grime plus with the atmosphere of one side being a bar, you didn’t exactly want people off the street to see in. “It truly needs to be gutted, but I think I see what you saw when you looked at it.”