Addison Kline's Broken Road

Broken Road - Book 2 in the Breaking Black Series and the sequel to Black Horse

It is

often said that time heals all wounds. It is spoken like a promise... a vow.

These words are repeated to people who have been beaten down to their lowest

state. To the poor souls who have nothing left to lose. Whispered into the ear

of a grieving daughter, told with a shrug to a man who has nothing left to live

for.

These are

dangerous people.

The

down-trodden.

The grieving.

The ones

who love more people dead than alive.

The words

should never be uttered. Not to the ones who have no solid ground on which to

stand upon, no rail in which to clasp. The white-knuckled moments of life have

come to be expected rather than feared.

"Time heals all wounds."

The words

are an insult. A slap in the face... and around here, they'll get you hurt. For

Averi McClain and her husband Colt, there were few deeper insults.

If time

could heal all wounds, Jessa McClain would be proud to know that she was going

to be a grandmother. Nathan Ford would have proudly walked his little girl down

the aisle with Corinne beaming from her seat. Sitting by her side, Anna McCord

would wipe a tear from her eye. Standing proudly by Colt and Randy at the

arbor, Seth would have stood as a groomsman for his childhood friend. That is,

if time truly healed all wounds.

But what

about the hurts you cannot see? The deep gashes and the mangled hearts that

remain after the brutality of a war. Their childhood was a battlefield. Colt

and Averi didn't want that for their own sons and daughters.

What does

time to do wounds? Time is nothing but a reminder of how much time has past

since you last saw the ones you love most. The line is bullshit. A scape goat.

A cheap cop out. It is something people say when they don't know what to say.

It's not deep or sympathetic. It doesn't stop the heart from bleeding. Colt

would not have a granite wall built around his heart like a fortress. A barrier

which only Averi could crack.

Randy's

soul would not quake with anger every time he heard mention of Black Horse, his

roving band of lunatics, also known as the Seventy Devils, or Jimmy Hearns. You

can’t even say the name Trent Myers to him without his sanity flickering out of

sight. Tim wouldn't have to fight his anger out at the gym for several hours,

five days a week. Shelly's sense of security would be intact and undisturbed.

Averi's legs would not be permanently scarred with evidence of Black Horse's

fiery insanity.

Time doesn't

heal all wounds. Wounds fester. Sometimes the strain and exertion of trying to

get

better puts so much stress on the wound that the scab rips open, stitches and

scar tissue be damned.

Some

wounds cannot be mended.

Some

lines are just begging to be crossed.

Some

roads are meant to be broken.

As one of

Averi's favorite bands so poignantly croons, "God blessed the broken road

that led me straight to you." In the case of Colt and Averi, no song

lyrics could more perfectly describe the road that they have traveled. They

have a love like no other, acting as a guiding light, a beacon in a world turned

dark by Black Horse. What would you do if the the one man you couldn’t live

without, was the son of the bastard that murdered your parents and your eldest

brother? In the case of Averi Ford, she knew Colt was nothing like his father.

He had spent his entire life running from his shadow. He had always been the

one to protect Averi, even moreso than her ever watchful brothers. You can’t

turn away from a love like that.

Theirs

was a love that was intensified by pain and longing, desperation and heartache.

They faced seemingly unsurmountable odds, and continue to do so, side by side.

She needed him, not to be her hero, but as her equal and her friend until the

end of their days. He needed her, not only physically, but spiritually,

emotionally, he had wrapped all his hope in her. His humanity relied on her

happiness. If her heart ceased to beat, he would let the darkness overcome him.

He wouldn't stop until every single member of the Seventy Devils were dead.

Lord

knows Randy and Tim would fight right alongside him. Averi was as essential to

Colt as oxygen. Without her, the Colt that she knew and loved would cease to

exist. They loved each other despite the odds they faced; in spite of those who

said they shouldn't. Averi loved him regardless of his family history, of the

stares and gossip, the upturned noses and blatant hostility. When Colt McClain

walks into a room, the citizens of Oakely don't see him. They don't see his

face or his kind soul. They don't see him at all. They see Black Horse - the

man he so closely resembles, but whose hearts are night and day. There is a key

difference. There is a gentle warmth to Colt's gaze. A calm depth that if you

look deep enough, you can see all the good in him. Look into Black Horse's eyes

and you'll see your own demise. When people look Colt's way, they see a

murderer, a thief, a snake. They see a man with no soul. But Colt never killed

a man that didn't have it coming, and let me tell you, Jimmy Hearns has it

coming.

Most

motorcycle clubs are not street gangs, but in the case of the Seventy Devils,

there was no point in hiding it. The Seventy Devils ran the streets of Oakeley.

The Seventy Devils, the band of lawless savages that did Black Horse's bidding,

lived on, leaderless and hell bent on anarchy. When the strange circumstances

surrounding Black Horse's death went public, Jimmy monopolized. Playing the

role of a mourning son, Jimmy earned the respect and the power Texas' most

violent motorcycle gang. To say the devils are out for blood is an

understatement of epic proportions. The band of sociopathic heathens were

rallied by Black Horse's death. It was a call to action, a call to arms, each

one of them thirsty to drain the blood from Black Horse's murderer. Each one

yearning to display his killer's head on a pike for the whole community to see.

If the Seventy Devils were hostile during Black Horse's reign, it was nothing

compared to their mental state after Black Horse was found burned, shot and

murdered.

A war has

erupted. The Seventy Devils are scattered and on alert, gnawing at the bit for

the go-ahead to strike. They would not hesitate to spill the blood of anyone

who stood in their way of recompense. They knew they would need to act fast if

they wanted to come out on top. Colt was not the kind of guy that you slept on.

He'd stop at nothing to protect his family and he was lethal whether he was

heavily armed or going toe to toe, bare knuckled beat-down style. Colt did have

Black Horse's blood coursing through his veins, after all. But then, so did

Jimmy, and he is ready to show everyone that the apple didn't fall far from the

tree... in fact, they appear to have formed on the same poisoned branch.

As leader

of the Devils, Jimmy had seventy miscreants to do his bidding - and three goals

in which he needed to achieve:

1.      Avenge Black Horse

2.      Kill Colt McClain and Randy Ford

3.      Take Averi for his own

Jimmy has

another thing coming if he thinks victory is easily won. Will Colt and Averi's

broken road end in tragedy? Or will they be the ones to banish the devils

straight to hell? When the demons of the past rise up, can Colt and Randy face

them fearless and determined? Whatever happens, don't expect Colt and Randy to

stand alone. Buckle up. The broken road makes for one hell of a ride.

Want more Broken Road? Check out these teasers!

To the Broken Road Release Party! 

https://www.facebook.com/events/289136587927849/?source=1

Hope to see you there!