Filthy Valentine: A Dungeon Demons MC Prequel Read online

  Filthy Valentine

  A Dungeon Demons MC Prequel

  Elizabeth Knox

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Filthy Valentine

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

  Filthy Valentine. Copyright © 2021 by Elizabeth Knox. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews. For information contact E. Knox.

  Editing: Kim Lubbers, Knox Publishing

  Proofreading: Jackie Ziegler, Knox Publishing

  Formatting: E.C. Land, Knox Publishing

  Cover Designer: Charli Childs, Cosmic Letterz Cover Design

  Created with Vellum

  Available Now From

  Elizabeth Knox

  Series: Skulls Renegade

  Reign

  Redemption

  Revenge

  Relentless

  Reckoning

  Reclaimed

  Reckless

  Regret

  Reclusive

  Retribution

  First Generation: A Skulls Renegade MC Boxset

  Series: Steele Bros.

  Tough as Steele

  Stripping a Steele

  Protecting a Steele

  Steele her Heart

  Stolen Hearts: The Complete Steele Bros Boxset

  Series: Reapers MC

  Scarred

  Blackjack

  Here Kitty, Kitty

  Booger

  Widow

  Kade

  Hawk

  Bull

  Cobra

  Mouser

  Dixon

  Zane

  Amara

  Grim

  Chaz

  Frost

  Zorro

  Axel

  Series: Iron Vex MC

  Enraged

  Bossed Up

  Vex’s Temptation

  Series: Royal bastards Mc: Baltimore/Knights of retribution mc

  Bet on Me

  Rely on Me

  Hate on Me

  Series: Satan’s Raiders MC

  Inc’s Regret

  Series: Dungeon Demons MC with J.H. Wolfe

  Filthy Valentine

  Series: The Clans with Iris Sweetwater

  Promised

  The Trade

  Cherished

  Deceit

  Love is War

  Defiant

  Shattered

  Ruthless

  Covert

  Heretic

  Venomous

  Flawed

  Demise

  Series: The Mackenzie & Volkolv Duet

  Deceptive Love

  Series: The Mackenzies

  Forbidden Love

  Corrupted Love

  Sin City Fets with Linny Lawless & Aubree Valentine

  Switched

  Surrender

  Full Throttle with Erin Trejo

  Against All Odds

  Sharp Edges

  Pins and Needles with E.C. Land

  Blood & Agony

  DeLancy Crime Family with E.C. Land

  Degrade

  Anthologies

  Santa’s Naughty Helpers

  Do you like Paranormal Romance?

  Check out Elizabeth’s Alternate Pen Name, Liz Knox.

  Available Now From

  Liz Knox

  Series: Bloodlines Trilogy

  Fated by Blood (Free Prequel)

  Series: Nightshade

  Blood Oath (A Prequel)

  Series: Lone Wolf MC

  Origins (Free Prequel)

  Series: Hells Gateway MC

  Caym’s Fated Mate

  Shax’s Destined Mate

  Series: Bloodborn Academy

  Bitten Magic

  Anthologies

  Romanticizing the Gods

  The Elementals

  She’s been off limits, but now I’ll have her.

  Preston

  Scarlett Allen has been in my life for longer than I can remember. You see, she’s my little sister’s best friend. With an eight-year age gap between us, I went off to college and started my career while she was still learning what she wanted to do in life. I’d check in with my little sister, Cameron, every few weeks and occasionally ask about Scarlett.

  Imagine my surprise when Cam mentions Scarlett was just dumped by her first ‘serious’ boyfriend.

  I’m now thirty-two and Scarlett is approaching her mid-twenties. She’s turned into one hell of a woman, and I’m ready to take what should’ve been mine from the get-go.

  I put a couple things in my little sister’s head to make her think it was her idea, but in all actuality, it was mine.

  All I have to do is be Scarlett’s date for Valentine’s Day. Who wants to sit in their apartment sulking about their ex anyway?

  Little does she know just how filthy her valentine will be.

  Dungeon Demons MC

  Brothers

  Kodiak – Prez

  Shadow – VP

  Leather – Enforcer

  Bongo – Sgt. at Arms

  Roadrunner – Road Captain

  Stack – Treasurer

  Filthy – Full Patch

  Cut – Full Patch

  Neon – Full Patch

  Steel – Full Patch

  Clubwhores

  Zoey

  Charity

  Brittany

  Chapter One

  Scarlett

  “The interaction with your last post has been amazing,” Talia, who’s one of my coworkers and is also one of my best friends, says from the cubicle beside me. We both work in downtown Jacksonville on E Bay St and our office overlooks the St. Johns River.

  We work at a fashion magazine called Blur, but over the last year it’s turned into more than just a magazine about fashion. Now we’re having our journalists going out and doing things like trying certain feminine waxes, the newest beauty trends, and so much more. Honestly, we’re rapidly growing and I think we’re going to be comparable to Cosmopolitan soon.

  “Which one? I’ve scheduled so many over the last few days,” I tell her while picking up my afternoon cup of coffee. I’m one of those women who drink it early in the morning and then right before I leave. But today is a much different day, I’m leaving a few hours early so I can go enjoy a nice Jacksonville afternoon. I had some rollover vacation time from last year so now it’s time to use it.

  “The Twitter post, it really got people moving and communicating with the magazine. I heard Bernard say something about it.”

  “Positive or negative?” I question. Bernard’s our boss, one of the men whose photo is on the hallway leading into the offices with some of the other more established and reputable people here. I think he might even be on the board, but I can’t be too sure. I’d have to double-check.

  “Positive. This is good, Scarlett. You’re making it so he knows your name.”

  I smile lightly, but I aimed to get a job here because of what my mother told me. Bernard isn’t just a man, he’s most likely my father and my mother never told him about me. Now, I’ve debated strutting right up to him and telling him who I am, and who I think he is . . . but I couldn’t do it. I
wanted to prove myself here at Blur first, and from the looks of it I’m starting to do just that.

  My mother told me she had an affair with a man in journalism, one who was always searching for his next story. She told me that even though she felt fondly of him, she knew he wasn’t the type to stay home and raise a family, how his heart was burned into his work and she felt it was unfair to force him into playing house.

  Not many people would understand the position she was put in, but I do. She grew up in a very rural part of Georgia and moved to Florida with me when I was a few weeks old. When I was sixteen, she sat me down the evening of my birthday and answered every question I had about my family, about why my grandparents didn’t come to my birthday parties as a child, about why I didn’t know her brother, or two sisters, or even my cousins. Anything I could’ve possibly questioned, I asked her.

  I discovered some ugly truths that day, truths I often wish weren’t my reality but alas they are. My mother. No, let me rephrase that. My angel of a mother left behind her entire family when I came out of the womb and they saw what I looked like. Every bit of excitement they could’ve had flew out the window, the same excitement that took months to build up, considering their daughter was unwed.

  Georgia is a very hush-hush state, so having kids out of wedlock at the time wasn’t exactly the way most people wanted to go. My mother told them she was having me and that was pretty much it. After a while they began to support her, and then I was born, and my grandparents saw I was too dark.

  I was too dark for their liking.

  I wasn’t white enough to be Caucasian, but the irony is how I wasn’t black enough to be with the black kids when I went to school. There weren’t even very many kids who had the same skin tone as me when I was in elementary, middle, or high school . . . which only ended up making it worse.

  Now I accept the fact I’m a beautiful, biracial woman, and while the road called life wasn’t easy . . . I pride myself on my triumphs. I may be a mixture of both worlds, but I truly believe it’s the best. Now I only wish I can gain the courage to speak to Bernard, who yes is one of my bosses, but is also half of the reason I’m here.

  I’ve been slowly gaining the courage to speak to him about this for a while now, and while I’ve had countless opportunities . . . I’m going to wait. I’ll wait until the end of the month, and on my twenty-fifth birthday I’ll tell him everything. I’ll tell him who I am. I’ll tell him who my mother is, and I’ll pray he’s accepting and open to communicating with me in a different way than he does while we’re at work.

  “Guess I’ll have to throw more polls online from time to time. I was experimenting with our readers a bit, but I’m glad to know it paid off.”

  Talia smiles widely. “It more than paid off. When you come in Monday morning check and see what the counts were. I overheard him talking to Clarise and he said your idea was, and I quote, brilliant.”

  Heat swarms in my chest and I’m happier than I’ve been in ages. To know I’m doing something right here at Blur is one thing, but knowing he holds pride in what I accomplished makes me even prouder.

  I finish my last sip of coffee and log out of my computer. It’s about sixty-three out today so I wore a light jacket in and I’ll be wearing it out as well. I plan on going straight home to the apartment I share with my boyfriend of six months, Scott, and then I’ve booked myself a nice spa day starting this evening at four.

  Smiling at Talia, I pick up my purse and sling it over my shoulder after I have my jacket on. “Thanks for telling me. I really needed to hear that.”

  “It’s no problem. You know how the upper management is here. They’re hardly ones who go boasting when someone does a good job and it’s always nice to hear whenever we’re doing something they like.” Talia has a really good point here. I’d rather know what’s working well for not only the magazine, but for the people upstairs as well.

  “Thank you. I really owe you one.”

  “How about we go out to dinner and have a girls’ night? I’m desperate for a good wing woman.” Talia and I have known each other for the last year, both getting our jobs at the exact same time. Blur operates a bit differently, offering hiring surges. For example, if they need new journalists, they might hire five to ten at a time. The same goes for every other department here.

  “Okay, just text me and let me know when and I’ll be the best wing woman you’ve ever had,” I say with a wink, causing Talia to laugh.

  I finish sorting out my desk, close my laptop and slide it in my laptop case that looks like a backpack and sling it over my arm. Since I’m ready to head out, I walk right to the elevator, get in the second it opens and take a deep breath.

  Today is going to be a great day.

  Chapter Two

  Filthy

  “Is everything alright?” I ask my little sister, Cameron, from where she sits across from me at the burger joint we’re at. I call her my little sister, but in actuality she’s not so little anymore. At twenty-four years old she’s grown into quite the incredible woman, following my own career path. I’m a criminal defense lawyer who dabbles in a few other areas of expertise, but my sister, Cameron, is passionate about immigration law. Most likely because our mother came to the United States with us when I was about ten and my sister was two.

  Cameron’s dark brown eyes look up to me as she takes a break from her phone, “No, I’m about to beat some culo’s ass for the way he’s been treating Scar’.” Scar’, my sister’s best friend in the whole wide world. Scar’ isn’t just Cam’s best friend though, she’s also the woman I’ve had my eye on the last couple years. But, she’s gone from deadbeat boyfriend into another shitty relationship. There hasn’t been a damn moment I can slide in and test the waters with her, but the scowl on my sister’s face makes me feel like this could be promising.

  “He just told her to get her ass out of their apartment, you know, the one she put the security deposit and first month’s rent on . . . said he got a new chick and she fucks better than her.” Cam’s face starts to visibly turn red and fuck, I’d pay to see her go at the son of a bitch who said this shit to Scar’.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I hiss. Does this jackass really think he can throw her out? “Did she sign the lease?” If she’s on the lease and he’s not, she’s the one who the side of the law favors.

  Cam’ shakes her head. “No, he got it and asked her to move in six months ago.”

  “The woman has bad luck with men,” I mutter, not understanding how a woman like Scarlett Allen can keep falling for these assholes. Last I heard she got a job with a reputable magazine in Jacksonville and she took a position as their online communications specialist, which is just a fancy word for social media manager.

  “Yeah, you can say that again. She always settles for the guys who don’t deserve her,” Cam’ comments, but it sounds more like a groan. “God, how does this even happen? Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and now Scar’ will be all alone.”

  I’m sure it’s not the first time Scarlett’s been alone on Valentine’s Day. She’ll be fine. “She’s a big girl, Cam’. She’ll be able to handle it.” I try to put my sister’s worries at ease but the only thing my remark does is make her more upset. “She’s a big girl, I’m sure Scarlett will be able to handle it.” She glares at me from across the table and rolls her eyes dramatically, reminding me of our mom when she gets upset. Hell, she might take off her heel right here and throw it at me from across the table.

  “She can handle everything that’s thrown her way but that’s not my point. The point is she shouldn’t have to spend another Valentine’s Day alone, Preston. Do you know how many years she’s spent Valentine’s Day alone?”

  I don’t even bother responding because Cameron’s on a mission. She’s gonna tell me regardless if I want to know or not.

  “She’s never had a Valentine’s Day with a man, like, ever. Not once has she had someone wine and dine her, show her what Valentine’s Day is supposed to be like. It�
��s sad, Preston. It’s so freaking sad and it just . . . as her best friend it hurts me to know she hasn’t had the simplest bit of affection shown toward her.”

  “Shit, that sucks,” I murmur quietly. I know for women Valentine’s Day is a big deal, but for guys like me it’s just another holiday where we have to buy chocolates and gifts for the special someone in our lives.

  “Yeah, so no, everything isn’t alright. Even though he was a deadbeat Scar’ liked him. At the end of the day, she’s the one who got her feelings trampled on, even if they were only together for six months.”

  “Pain only lasts for a little while. I’m sure she’ll be up and back at it soon.” I don’t add in the part about finding her next deadbeat, figuring now isn’t the right time. When it comes to Scarlett, Cameron gets super defensive.

  Cameron smiles lightly in thanks. “I appreciate that. I texted her and told her to come over to my place tonight, that she can stay there until she gets stuff settled. He won’t even let her in the apartment to get her shit.”

  Whoa. Sorry. Hold up. “Did I hear you incorrectly or?”

  “Nope. He’s holding her stuff hostage in the apartment they shared.”