RECKLESS THIEF
The mentor.
The doctor.
The Vandal.
I grew up on the streets despite my older sister’s best efforts to keep my nose clean. I thought I knew better. I worked hard, and made money. Who cared if what I did was a little illegal?
Then a little boy paid the price for my carelessness. A little boy and his baby sister. It was the wake-up call I needed, even if the cost came too high.
Rough choices made for rough outcomes, and when I had the chance to join the military or go to jail to get straight, I went to the military.
I paid for my thoughtless actions by becoming deliberate.
I paid for my greed by offering service.
I paid for my chance at a better life with blood, sweat, and fire.
That service left me scarred but determined. Medical school and training taught me I could continue to serve.
I walked away from the streets, from the blood, the violence, and the costs of doing business. Living a life I stole not once, but twice, I focused on helping, protecting, and healing.
Until she came back into my life.
I didn’t start this current war, but I will damn well end it.
My name is Mickey James. Little Bit is everything. I fought to stay away, and I’ll fight to keep her. Our enemies are going to learn that my skill at healing broken bodies makes me damn talented at damaging them too. They drew blood, we’ll bury them.
For every risk you were willing to take.
Even the ones that didn’t work out.
You’re worth it.
SERIES SO FAR
Savage Vandal
Vicious Rebel
Ruthless Traitor
Dirty Devil
Brutal Fighter
Dangerous Renegade
Merciless Spy
Reckless Thief
Fierce Dancer
FOREWORD
Dear Reader,
Welcome to book eight of the 82nd Street Vandals series. If you have not read the first seven, stop. Do not pass Go. Grab book one: Savage Vandal, and start there.
Seriously.
This is a series that really must be read in order.
Speaking of reading in order, let’s do a little previously in the 82nd Street Vandals. Merciless Spy opened following the revelation at the end of Dangerous Renegade from Bodhi that her mother was in a facility much like Pinetree.
Aware of the threats from multiple sides, the Vandals sent Em on the road with Jasper to keep her a moving target, while they dealt with shoring up security at home. They were also investigating the rats because they know they have a spy somewhere. Bodhi has been hanging out, but the guys are also missing Em.
In the meanwhile, Emersyn takes the time to read Jasper and Liam (separately) into the dark history of her relationship with Fuckbucket. For Em, it’s both cathartic and terrifying to tell them, but Liam and Jasper both rally in different ways to comfort and protect her.
Freddie and Emersyn flirt closer to the edge of deepening their relationship, particularly since Freddie asked Em to push him. He has a moment that causes him to bolt, the PTSD of his own history coming back to sack him. Bodhi follows him as does Jasper. They help keep him grounded.
Needing time to get his shit together, Freddie goes to stay with Doc and work in the clinic. It’s a challenge, cause he’s a little embarrassed about freaking out, but he wants to be what his Boo-Boo needs. Doc points out that maybe he already is and he should trust her. Em gives him time even if she’s missing him.
They celebrate Ms. Stephanie’s birthday in and around getting Moira Sharpe, Emersyn’s mother, from the facility. She’s not all there when they bring her back. The level of drugs she was kept on doesn’t help her clarity. Doc steals a very hot kiss during the birthday and tells Em to make him work for it, he is all in. Freddie teases her after but they are all right.
Em and Liam are also summoned to meet the king for the first time and that’s a revelation about his identity and the fact he’s no one that Em or Liam know. So that just adds to the confusion, especially when he makes it clear he considers Emersyn one of the Bay Ridge Royals now. Ezra backs their plays but it’s just adding to the tension
Finally, we get to the opening night of Liam’s club that was closed due to damage after the ambush in Ruthless Traitor. Em dresses up for the occasion in a sheer black outfit that teases her vulnerability as well as her confidence. The gang has a great time at the opening, she demonstrates her trust in them and they celebrate together.
It’s only at the end of the night as they are heading back that everything goes sideways. An explosion at Kellan’s auto shop, a fire at Vaughn’s tattoo parlor, and a blowout for Jasper’s car are just the beginning of the chaos as a body is dumped at the warehouse…
The war is only just beginning. Please be aware this book contains content with dark themes and intense situations intended for mature audiences only, including but not limited to: sexual assault, flashbacks of grooming, underage/childhood sexual assault, physical violence, emotional and mental abuse, as well as kidnapping, stalking, manipulation, addiction and other potentially triggering topics.
And now, as always, the housekeeping notes:
For those of you who have never read a why choose, or reverse harem before, first let me thank you for picking this up and giving it a shot. Second, the heroine will not make a choice in this book or any other between the guys in her life. It may take her a while to reach that conclusion, but it’s the journey that drives it. There are many ways to frame this kind of relationship, currently why choose fits it very well.
Also, this is the eighth book in a series. While there may be no specific happy endings at the end of each of these books, there will be one to the whole series, that I promise you. Some of these books will have cliffhangers, largely due to the size of the story, but the happy ending has to be earned.
Finally, I want to add one last note. Books are not written in a vacuum. Worlds are not created in silence. There were some deeply challenging moments as I worked on this book, and thanks to some of the most wonderfully supportive people and the best girl gang ever, I made it. We made it.
Happy reading.
xoxo
Heather
THE VANDALS
82nd Street Boys
Jasper “Hawk” Horan
Kellan “Kestrel” Traschel
Rome “Hummingbird” Cleary
Vaughn “Falcon” Westbrook
Liam “Mockingbird” O’Connell
Freddie “Unknown” Cleary
Milo “Raptor” Hardigan
Mickey “Doc” James aka Vandal
Emersyn “Dove, Sparrow, Starling, Swan, Little Bit, Boo-Boo, Hellspawn, Ivy” Sharpe
Other Characters
Elaine “Lainey” Benedict
Adam Reed
Ezra Graham
Ms. Stephanie
CHAPTER 1
MILO
Disapproval clung to Kellan, disapproval and maybe disappointment. But I’d been right to cut Mayhem loose. I needed to be here. She needed to be there…
Kellan pulled into the lot just in front of the auto body shop. Leaving the car running, he slid out. “I’ll just be a minute.”