Page 1 of Secrets

Chapter One

Summerville

Bodie

Bodie Hall stands on the bridge over the highway as Jolie, a woman he just met, stands outside the barricade and promises to jump into oncoming traffic. He's gotten her talking as he inches closer to her, and he feels drawn to her for some inexplicable reason, but she doesn't seem willing to accept any of his antics to have to come back over to the right side of this bridge. She's hellbent on jumping.

The woman who initially flagged him down as he drove up to them waves her phone in the air, letting him know she's talking to authorities. Bodie doesn't think they'll get here in time. No, in fact, he decided it was his time to shine as he tried his hand at crisis intervention, and based on the way she continues to shiftas though amping herself up to jump tells him not to quit his day job. If he had one. Being a member of the Deranged Drifters Motorcycle Club is a job within itself, and it did not prepare him for this.

As he drove towards Summerville earlier that night to get the hell out of Black Valley and away from his ex, he felt a strange pull towards this bridge that only intensified as he got closer. And the moment he reached the bridge, it was as though someone wrapped a cord around his chest. Like some imaginary cowboy threw a lasso over him like they do a calf, and it felt almost suffocating. And when he saw the woman, he knew it was her, but he can't for the life of him figure out why. What is it about Jolie that has Bodie so captivated?

"Why do you care about me? You don't even know me," the dark-haired beauty with dark eyes and killer curves shouts over her shoulder at him.

It's a great question. Normally, Jolie wouldn't be his type. So, it surprises him that every thought he's had since he saw her, besides the thought of 'holy shit, she's jumping,'has been nothing short of inappropriate. His ex, the love of his life, is tall, lean, and light-haired with light eyes. This petite woman ready to jump to a painful and traumatizing death captivates him in a way that he just can't quite figure out. Yet.

"I told you already. The thought of a pretty woman jumping to her death doesn't sit well with me. I've seen death. Hell, I was at death's door, and it's not a fun place. I can promise you that."

Bodie prays she trusts he isn't lying. He really was at death's door until the news came in that they'd found a match and were ready to give him a new heart. Until that moment, he accepted he would die. He pushed everyone and everything he cared about away. Which would be the exact reason he's standing here, right now, in this mess.

"Neither is here."

Her legs shift, and Bodie knows Jolie is jumping. His hand reaches out just as her hands release the guardrail that normally keeps people on the safe side of the bridge away from oncoming traffic.

Jolie screams as she dangles, and Bodie struggles to hold onto her by the wrist as gravity takes over. She slams against the bridge, smacking her head into the concrete.

"Jesus, dead weight is no joke," Bodie huffs as he reaches over with his other hand to grab her.

If she really wanted to die, she wouldn’t be reaching up for him. No, she would have let it dangle and force him to work with only the one arm he'd gotten ahold of as she stepped off the bridge. Or maybe it's the fact she got a good conk on the head when he grabbed her. Blood runs down her forehead, making him feel a little guilty, but at least she's alive.

"Oh my God, she jumped!" the woman on the phone screams. "Did you catch her? Is she okay?"

Grunting, he pulls Jolie up over the guardrail and onto the bridge. This can't be good for his fresh heart as it pumps hard and pounds in his chest.

An ambulance shows up, and her hand touches the blood on her forehead. "You made me bleed."

"Youmade you bleed," he says. "You jumped off a fucking bridge."

"And you should've let me."

Some gratitude. "I don't know what you think dying will solve, but I can tell you that you're wrong. You're dead wrong."

"You don't know me," she says as the paramedics and cops show up in front of them.

Bodie's never felt comfortable around cops, and the looks they give him right now remind him why. They see his kutte and nothing else. He's a biker, and they assume immediately that he had to have something to do with this.

No, motherfuckers. I'm a damned hero. Not that you'll ever utter those words because I drive on two wheels instead of four.

"What happened?" one of the officers asks.

"She was on the other side of the bridge, and she jumped!" the woman from the car screams.

For the first time, Bodie's thankful she's here. If it was just him, there's no doubt he'd already be handcuffed and in the back of the squad car. The annoying woman who only seemed capable of calling emergency personnel has helped. Finally.

"And you just happened to roll up, and... what?" the cop asks him.

"Well, the woman over there flagged me down, so I stopped. And when I saw another woman on the other side of the bridge, I did what I had to do to keep her from getting run over likeFrogger."

"Why was she trying to jump?"

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