Katie McGarry - Long Way Home

Seventeen-year-old Violet has always been expected to sit back and let the boys do all the saving

It’s the code her father, a member of the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, raised her to live by. Yet when her dad is killed carrying out Terror business, Violet knows it’s up to her to do the saving. To protect herself, and her vulnerable younger brother, she needs to cut all ties with the club—including Chevy, the boy she’s known and loved her whole life.

But when a rival club comes after Violet, exposing old secrets and making new threats, she’s forced to question what she thought she knew about her father and the Reign of Terror and what she thinks she wants. Which means reevaluating everything: love, family, friends...and forgiveness.

Caught in the crosshairs between loyalty and freedom, Violet must decide whether old friends can be trusted—and if she’s strong enough to be the one person to save them all.

Chevy whispered, “Do you trust me?”

Of course I did. Trusted him to be the first boy to hold my hand. Trusted him to be the first boy I kissed. Did I trust him with my life?

Chevy sits with me in the backseat. Our legs are pressed tight together and he hooks one of his fingers with mine. He slides his finger up and down in a reassuring caress. Not too fast, not too slow. It’s like a heartbeat.

A promise.

We’re going home.

He’s here with me.

It’s going to be okay.

I want to believe him, but I’m not sure if I can...

Long Way Home

Katie McGarry

Praise and Awards for Katie McGarry

“[A] star-crossed love story.”

—Booklist on Walk the Edge

“A thrilling escape.”

—School Library Journal on Nowhere but Here

“Everything—setting, characters, romance—about this novel works and works well.”

—Kirkus Reviews on Dare You To (starred review)

“A riveting and emotional ride!”

—Simone Elkeles, New York Times bestselling author of the Perfect Chemistry series, on Pushing the Limits

“An intoxicating and unforgettable story that kept me glued to the page.”

—Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on Walk the Edge

Summer Kids’ Indie Next List Pick

YALSA Teens’ Top Ten

Goodreads Choice Award Finalist

KATIE MCGARRYwas a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings and reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan. She is also the author of Pushing the Limits, Dare You To, Crash into You, Take Me On, Breaking the Rules, Chasing Impossible, Nowhere but Here, Walk the Edge, and the novellas Crossing the Line and Red at Night.

Katie would love to hear from her readers. Contact her via her website, katielmcgarry.com, follow her on Twitter, @katiemcgarry, or become a fan on Facebook and Goodreads.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

Praise and Awards

About the Author

Chapter One: Chevy

Chapter Two: Violet

Chapter Three: Chevy

Chapter Four: Violet

Chapter Five: Chevy

Chapter Six: Violet

Chapter Seven: Chevy

Chapter Eight: Violet

Chapter Nine: Chevy

Chapter Ten: Violet

Chapter Eleven: Chevy

Chapter Twelve: Violet

Chapter Thirteen: Chevy

Chapter Fourteen: Violet

Chapter Fifteen: Chevy

Chapter Sixteen: Violet

Chapter Seventeen: Chevy

Chapter Eighteen: Violet

Chapter Nineteen: Chevy

Chapter Twenty: Violet

Chapter Twenty-One: Chevy

Chapter Twenty-Two: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Three: Chevy

Chapter Twenty-Four: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Five: Chevy

Chapter Twenty-Six: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Chevy

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Violet

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Chevy

Chapter Thirty: Violet

Chapter Thirty-One: Chevy

Chapter Thirty-Two: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Three: Chevy

Chapter Thirty-Four: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Five: Chevy

Chapter Thirty-Six: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Chevy

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Violet

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Chevy

Chapter Forty: Violet

Chapter Forty-One: Chevy

Chapter Forty-Two: Violet

Chapter Forty-Three: Chevy

Chapter Forty-Four: Violet

Chapter Forty-Five: Chevy

Chapter Forty-Six: Violet

Chapter Forty-Seven: Chevy

Chapter Forty-Eight: Violet

Chapter Forty-Nine: Chevy

Chapter Fifty: Violet

Chapter Fifty-One: Chevy

Chapter Fifty-Two: Violet

Chapter Fifty-Three: Chevy

Chapter Fifty-Four: Violet

Acknowledgments

Playlist for Long Way Home

Copyright

CHEVY

THE INSTRUCTIONS OF the English homework I didn’t do hang out from the top of my folder: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both.

Story of my life.

According to my football coach, I chose wrongly on the two crap paths I had to face last week. I just ran into Coach on the way to English, and he ripped into me for my sorry decision-making skills when it came to me choosing to stand up for the Reign of Terror Motorcycle Club instead of a member of my football team.

I didn’t just get my ass chewed out, his tirade made me late for English with no tardy note. Which is great, since my English teacher hates late students like I hate riding my motorcycle in forty-degree weather while it rains.

I round the corner, then peek through the small window in the door of my class. Ms. Whitlock stands in front of her desk in her patented white button-down shirt, gray pencil skirt and dark-rimmed glasses. From the back row, my best friend Razor meets my eyes and shakes his head. Damn. That means she’s in one of her moods where she’s refusing to let anyone in.

I’m not a tail-tucked-between-my-legs type of guy, but this lady is one of the few who can reduce me to begging. If she doesn’t let me in, then she’ll mark me as absent, the front office will think I skipped, and that means I won’t be able to play at tonight’s football game.

The window rattles when I knock. The entire class turns their heads in my direction, but Ms. Whitlock doesn’t. The muscles in my neck tighten. She is one of the hardest core people I know and my grandfather is the president of a motorcycle club. That says something.

She starts for the whiteboard and I knock on the door again. This time Ms. Whitlock does look my way and she grants me the type of glare reserved for people who kick puppies. I got it. I’m late. I’m the scum of humanity, so let my ass in so I can play football.

There’s this guy in my club, Pigpen. He’s about the same age as Ms. Whitlock, late twenties, and he’s a walking hard-on for this woman even though she would never give him the time of day. He practically runs into walls when she’s around because he’s too focused on checking her out. I don’t see gorgeous—all I see is seriously pissed off and the person standing between me and playing.

Ms. Whitlock points at the clock over her desk. She’s telling me I can wait. If I’m lucky, she’ll open the door after the quiz that I’ll receive a zero on. If I’m not so lucky, she won’t open the door at all.