Let It Ride (Hell's Tribe MC Series) [Book 3]

Prologue: The Summer of 1989

BOOK 3 OMG! I can't believe I made it here. This is the first time that I have gotten this far with a series and it's only because of you guys and all the love you've shown me for the last two years! It's been crazy to have so many people read and love my books and I appreciate it all more than you know. I hope you all enjoy the different direction I went for this book as much as the others. It will be significantly shorter, more like a novella, but I hope you all love it just the same. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy learning a little bit of history between Mick and Val, and how the Hell's Tribe MC came to be. I hope you enjoy. xoxoxoxo

Mary.

Song for this Chapter: Summer of 69 By: Bryan Adams

~Mick~

Present day

People would be arriving any minute—or maybe they already had, I wasn't sure. I had been glued to this chair for the last hour. I stared out the window as I watched the tents be put up, the tables set, and the decorations placed, wondering how in the hell I had ended up here?

Ronnie's wedding day.

Well, more like her wedding reception since she and that piece of shit husband of hers decided to run off and get married at city hall without telling anyone.

I was beyond pissed at first—mostly because I was honoured by the fact that she had asked me to give her away in the first place and then she went and pulled the rug out from under me after showing up only weeks before the wedding saying she and Knox had already gotten married without any of us there. Then I was relieved because I worried I might actually break if I had to hand her off to Knox in front of everybody. Now, they decided they would do another ceremony to make everyone happy—mostly Tawny who bitched that she didn't get to see them tie the knot the first time. I was happy that I would get to see Ronnie get married after all, but with the wedding only hours away, all I could think about was Val and how much I wished she could have been here.

I would have given anything to give Ronnie her mom on her wedding day, but unfortunately, it was out of my hands. I knew Val would have loved all this though, probably would have been a hysterical mess, but would have loved it all the same. Val just loved everything, she was so fun and full of life that it killed me to remember that she was gone, and Ronnie's girls would never know the spark their grandma had.

I felt my hands ball into fists, trying to hold back everything I was feeling—cos, since when, had I turned into such a sentimental fucker?

A knock on the door broke me out of my thoughts, as I tried to rid my head of all this shit.

"Yeah," I called into the distance, as I stood to my feet.

Ronnie opened the door a few moments later, looking about ready to be a cake topper or some shit. Her hair was curled and pinned up, and her makeup was more dramatic than anything I had ever seen her wear. She was missing the big white dress, but she looked more and more like her mother every day.

Her face fell when she noticed I was still not showered or dressed, and she crossed her arms over her chest and let out a breath.

"Mick!" she exclaimed. "People are already starting to show up—people you invited by the way, and you're not even dressed yet?"

I sighed, holding up my hands. "I know, kid, my bad. I'll be ready soon."

Ronnie's eyes narrowed. "What have you been doing all morning? You've been up for hours."

I nodded, knowing I really had no reasonable excuse since I had been awake since before the sun had come up. Tawny had been bitching that I had kept her up with my tossing and turning, but I just couldn't get myself to sleep.

I covered my face with my hands, falling back in my chair by the window as I continued to watch the party get set up. Ronnie took a few steps further into the room and looked at me with concern.

"Is everything okay, Mick? You've been acting a little weird since you guys got here."

I let out a breath, not knowing if I should burden her with all of this, or remind her of the fact that her mom wasn't here on one of the most important days in a girl's life. I knew she must have already been feeling it, but it seemed to be eating away at me more than it was her.

"Just got a lot on my mind, kid. Don't really know what to do with myself," I admitted.

"Club stuff?" Ronnie questioned.

I shook my head. "Your mom actually."

Ronnie's eyebrows shot up. "My mom?"

I nodded. "Ever since you and Knox got engaged I've been thinking about her, and how much she would have loved all this," I said, gesturing out the window to the whole set up.

A sad smile took over Ronnie's face as she took a seat on the chair next to me. "I've been thinking about her a lot too. The first person I wanted to tell when Knox pulled out that ring was her. I tried to call Ed and settle for him instead and that asshole didn't even pick up," she scoffed.

"No good piece of shit," I mumbled under my breath. Colourful words maybe, but much too kind for an asshole like Ronnie's father.

Ronnie chuckled. "He probably had to change his number for how many people are after him, or he's probably dead in a ditch somewhere by now."

I shook my head. "You deserve better."

Ronnie shrugged. "I got it," she confirmed. "I have you and Tawny, I have Knox and my girls, and I have the whole Tribe. I have more than most people ever get."

I took her hand in mine and squeezed it because god damn, Val had raised one amazing kid, and all on her own to boot. Never did I think when I had gotten that call from Ronnie that I would be standing here a few years later. As far as I was concerned, Ronnie was my daughter just as much as Carter was, and part of me felt like shit knowing that I would have to let go of Carter one day just as I had with Ronnie. The other part of me was still not over the fact that Ronnie had been gone for a while now and had started her own little family with Knox and the girls.

"Your mom would be so proud of you," I whispered.

Ronnie's eyes grew glassy, and I could see her physically fighting her tears.

"Goddammit, Mick! Do not make me cry right now," she demanded, wiping away at a couple of stray tears that had fallen.

"Shit, I'm sorry, kid."

Ronnie let out a breath seeming to gain control of her emotions. "Tell me about her?" Ronnie asked.

I nodded. "What do you wanna know?"

Ronnie bit her lip contemplating my question.

"What was she like when you first met her?"

I felt a smile creep up on me as I thought back to that fateful night when I had first laid eyes on Valerie Mynett.

"Wild, fun—and absolutely fucking beautiful," I admitted.

Ronnie let out a laugh. "How did you two meet?" she questioned. "Mom told me that you were her first love and that she had some of the best times of her life with you, but I never got the full story."

Memories flashed through my mind like a movie. I remembered every detail of that night like it was yesterday.

"It was the summer of 1989..." I began.