Page 10 of Johnny Gun

Throughout her school years, male classmates chased after her, and the girls hated her guts. Then later, after her mother passed, her grief-stricken father kept her confined to the rear of the clubhouse. Still, she wasn’t blind to the attention she received from the MC brothers. Whenever she came out to the front rooms in search of a necessary item, the furtive glances were all too obvious. Gomez was the worst. He didn’t hide his desire. She shivered,recalling the man’s blatant leer as his eyes seemed to remove her clothes one item at a time.

Amazingly, Deacon, in all his paternal possessive jealousy, hadn’t noticed any of this, and to avoid problems, she didn’t complain. So she dealt with the discomfort the best way she could, by pretending none of the guys existed.

With Johnny, things were different. For sure, her developing feminine curves had garnered his attention. But there was more. On that unforgettable afternoon, he’d gone beyond her outward appearance. He’d probed deep into her eyes and soul. She’d trembled with excitement under his piercing blue gaze. He’d read her mind and seen the woman, the real Isolde, with her quirky habits and shameful secrets she hid from her father and the world. No one had ever studied her so fully and with such careful interest, and as a result, he stole her heart.

His last words of farewell, when seeing him again seemed an impossibility, resonated in her mind once more.“Your dad is a Devils’ Spawn. There’s always a chance we’ll run into each other again.”

The opportunity came totally out of the blue. In a brief encounter, they ran into each other in Garden City. But beyond a quick hello, a smoldering glance, and an introduction to an MC brother, no other communication passed between them. Johnny had picked up on her father’s irascible mood and left the room. She didn’t see him again. Maybe it was for the best…

Now he was on the road.

Riding to her home.

To live in close quarters.

Without a time limit.

“The brothers will stay with us for as long as it’s necessary to defend us against the Steel Wolves’ aggression.”Deacon’s pronouncement to his men had the effect of throwing gasoline onto afire. The quarrel between the dissenting members flared. Their frail egos rejected help from the south.

How would she endure this torture?

“Wait up, Isolde.”

The sweet voice stopped her. Opal, her friend and sister of the heart, rushed down the path, waving her jacket. “You left without your coat. It’s too cold. You’ll catch your death out here.”

Isolde smiled, her heart brimming with affection. Even though Opal was younger, she behaved like a caring older sister.

Opal Madden had lost both parents at an early age. Warden, her father and Deacon’s best friend, had died during a bloody shootout between rival MCs. Her mother, Julia, inconsolable in her grief, had overdosed on sleeping pills, leaving her young daughter alone. But Isolde’s parents, Deacon and Elaine, rallied around the orphaned child and brought her home to live with them. And Isolde, who’d been nagging her parents for a sister since she’d learned how to speak, was ecstatic over the arrival.

A curious gift from fate.

Weeks after Opal came to live with them, Elaine learned she couldn’t have any more children and needed a hysterectomy. The dreaded C word had spread its black wings and descended on the Lennox household, prognosis uncertain.

Despite the foreboding diagnosis, life continued. Elaine was a fighter. She soldiered through challenging treatments and conflicting results—sometimes hopeful, sometimes disappointing. Meanwhile, a lost and confused Deacon did his best to hang tough, supporting his wife as his world crumbled around him. The girls clung to each other, growing closer than blood sisters ever could. Isolde couldn’t imagine what her life would’ve been like without feisty, loving, stubborn Opal at her side.

“Have they stopped arguing?” Isolde asked, slipping her arms into the jacket’s sleeves.

Opal’s hazel-brown eyes crinkled with amusement. “Some.” She wrapped her arm around Isolde’s, and the pair continued to stroll toward the lagoon. “Six guys. Can you imagine? I don’t know what Daddy’s thinking. Where are we going to put them?”

“Gomez and Jax live alone and have room,” Isolde quipped. “They could take three or four men.”

“I don’t like Gomez.” Opal frowned. “I’ve seen how he looks at you. It’s rude.”

Isolde pulled her closer. “Don’t give him a thought. He’s going to be really busy when the Garden City guys show up.”

“Tell you one thing. Wait until Gomez gets a good look at your Johnny.”

Isolde froze. “What are you saying? I don’t have a Johnny.”

Opal gave a wicked giggle. “I know what’s going on. I watched you two talking to each other.”

“When?”

“When he came up.”

“But…”

“No, no. Don’t give me that. If I had any doubt, I saw you running around, sis. You were a wreck, packing for the trip to Savannah with Daddy. I wanted to go so badly.” She pouted. “He left me home with Sydney.”

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