Making Choices (Black Shamrocks MC Book 2) by Kylie Hillman

dismissed me, it would seem.
    “Well, thanks for that. You basically answered nothing.”
    Giving up, I sit down on the side of the bed that I’ve mentally claimed as my own. I can understand having faith in the Shamrocks because they’ve always struck me as very dangerous, yet capable. What I don’t understand is her blind conviction that we should just sit here and wait for them. We don’t even know if they know we’re missing yet. We should be trying to find a way out so that we can contact the police and have these maniacs dealt with.
    Ordinary people do not kidnap others over a vendetta caused by problems , just like ordinary people do not sit around waiting for an outlaw Motorcycle Club to rescue them.
    Regarding Maddi as she leans back against the wall with her eyes shut, the ill-feeling I felt toward her last night begins to trickle back into my consciousness. Of all the people in the world I could’ve found myself in this shitty situation with, it had to be her.
    Little Miss Perfect.
    The beautiful, smart lawyer.
    The woman who manages to wrap every man she comes into contact with around her little finger.
    The woman who the man I have feelings for is in love with.
    The universe is having a gigantic laugh at my expense. I’ve never been good enough for my own family, and now I have this goddess to compete with in my love life.
    A small laugh escapes from me at the thought of my love life and I close my eyes, copying Maddi by resting against the wall.
    What love life?
    Am I seriously entertaining the notion of pursuing anything with Lucas after I’ve been kidnapped because of his Club?
    I’d kick my own ass for being so stupid if I could.
    We are over.
    Done.
    Finito.
    “I was repeatedly raped and beaten by my first boyfriend. He blackmailed me into keeping quiet about it. He nearly killed me before Mik rescued me from him.”
    My eyes fly open with shock, and I raise my head to look at her.
    Maddi hasn’t moved or even opened her eyes, but her hands are fisted at her sides as she keeps speaking. The pain she exudes takes my breath away, even though I’m certain that I’m only hearing the bare essentials of her story.
    “He went to jail for some of what he did to me, and I got on with life as much as I could. Mik and Timber looked after me the best they were able, but they couldn’t do much because there was only a handful of people who knew what’d happened to me, and that was the way I wanted to keep it. Dad and Wendy didn’t know, neither did my younger brothers or the Club.”
    An image of Beast losing his temper and Maddi’s stepmother Wendy trying to calm him flits through my mind. I’ve seen him in action at a couple of parties. He’s a scary, bad-tempered man. I imagine what he would have done if he’d known what had happened to his only daughter.
    Exhaling loudly, Maddi opens her eyes and faces me.
    Her expression is somber and her eyes are filled with tears that she’s refusing to let fall, but she radiates a strength and worldliness that makes me feel like a toddler.
    Our life experiences are miles apart.
    My problems feel small in comparison.
    “This is between us. I’m not kidding, JJ. Nobody outside the Club is supposed to know.”
    I nod at her vehement words. Lucas has explained to me a million times about the Club and its “what happens at the Club, stays at the Club” policy.
    Not that I’ve heard anything interesting yet.
    “My ex tried to organise a hostile takeover of the Club when he was released from jail, using Connor and Sherri’s Old Man to organize it from the inside, and another Club to attack us from the outside. He had me kidnapped and after I escaped him, he had Joel tortured and almost killed as a way of getting me to go back to him. It didn’t work because Mik and Timber messed up their plans. In the end, my ex ended up dead, but so did one of our senior brothers. Sherri’s Old Man was killed as well, but Sherri and Connor disappeared.”
    “Shit,” I