September is for Shaw

Read the first pages

From Chapter 1

Shaw's new neighbor just showed up, and her goat is eating his motorcycle seat.

“What the fuck?” My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. I squinted at my Harley sitting on its side in the middle of the gravel drive. I hadn’t even had a sip of my beer yet, but I could have sworn there was a fucking goat standing next to my bike.

It lifted its head and looked up at me. Big buggy blue eyes watched me while its jaw slowly moved back and forth. I’d seen strange things happen in Mustang Mountain, but as far as I knew, no one around here had ever seen a goat materialize out of thin air.

I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking maybe I’d been putting in too many hours at the garage. My buddy Owen was always joking that the fumes were going to go to my head. But when I blinked my eyes open, the damn goat was still standing there.

“Where the hell did you come from?” I moved closer, trying not to scrape my work boots against the rocks and scare it away.

Either I’d hallucinated the dumbest goat in the world, or the creature in front of me was used to being around people. The damn animal didn’t move an inch while I approached, except to swish its hairy chin from side to side while grinding something between its teeth.

I wondered what it was chewing on. Then it bent down and ripped off a hunk of the seat of my bike. The strip of black leather hung there for a moment before the goat slurped it into its mouth like a wide piece of spaghetti.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I charged, ready to defend my bike with my life.

The goat lowered its head slightly, but didn’t seem threatened. I’d almost reached it when a woman’s voice came from the other side of the drive.

“There you are! Scapegoat, get over here!” She came through the trees, and I blinked to clear my vision again. My MC brothers would never stop giving me shit if they found out what kind of mindfuck I had going on tonight.

I knew everyone who lived on this remote side of the mountain. My closest neighbor was over half a mile away, and there was only one other cabin higher up the mountain before the road ended. The Sugarman place had been empty for about six months, ever since the old man took an extended vacation to visit his daughter out in North Carolina.

So where the hell did the curvy brunette and her goat sidekick come from?

Twigs and pine needles stuck out of her long brown hair, making her look like some sort of forest fairy. A smudge of dirt stretched across one cheek. When she turned my way, the warmth in her amber eyes made me stop in my tracks.

“You must be my new neighbor. Hi, I’m Eden.” She thrust her hand forward. Dozens of bracelets stacked up her forearm. Some intricate design covered the back of her hand, almost like a tattoo, though I’d never seen anything quite like it. She had on a sheer, flowy top with a tank underneath that showed off some amazing curves. The kind of curves my palms itched to slide over and my fingers ached to grab onto.

Find out what happens next tonight.