Topaz: Book 8 of the Steel MC Montana Charter

by Michel Prince

  “I took it off a few months after coming to Montana.”

  “Because you didn’t need to travel anymore?” he questioned, his words softer.

  She could tell he was fighting sleep to learn more about her. “I’d found my home,” she said absently, her own mind drifting in a hazy space of half consciousness.

  “Yeah, I get that,” he said. The arm she was using as a teddy bear tightened to her body holding her close. “Never thought Montana could feel like home until…”

  His words drifted and he passed out, leaving Topaz to dream that she was the until he was speaking about.

  Onyx stayed as still as he could to not wake Topaz. Though, he passed out for a bit, her nightmares woke him. The sleep she got had been restless and full of pain if the noises and faces she made were any indication. Looking down, he wondered if he could fall in love with a woman like her? He never really considered the idea until now. Something about her made him want more in his life. The stripper part, much like Hollywood with Free, was less of an issue to him.

  The way she looked at him when she spoke of children, a home and future had him searching his own wants. All he’d wanted when he brought her out to the alley was to get an understanding. He wasn’t leaving. The LA chapter of the Steels wasn’t the same and the tat on his back proved he’d joined a brotherhood, one with charters all over the US he could transfer to, but not one he was willing to leave. That didn’t mean they would be home and besides, he didn’t want to go back to sitting behind a desk in LA, pretending to be a pre-teen girl so some perve could pick him up while playing a game about penguins. Hack may love cyber-crime shit, but he’d rather be on patrol, using his brain and body to stop crimes.

  Even if he wanted to convince himself all he wanted was peace between him and her, a part of him wanted more. He’d never imagined he’d be looking at her and thinking about a future. She wanted kids, a home, was she thinking of the flipped homes in town like Freaky and Dreamer just moved into? Or one onsite they might construct like most of the officers had? Why was he thinking about this? They fucked. Nothing more. He’d been beaten, they didn’t know if they would survive and it was just a ‘we’re the last people on the planet’ type of situation. If they’d been on the compound, she’d have gone to bed with someone else. He was under no delusion on that fact.

  The sun started to rise and he needed to figure out where they were and somehow find a town with a phone. Not worried about being found so much as they both needed to get in touch with the Steels. They would be able to come and get them to safety. He knew as much as his life depended on it. He couldn’t keep defending them his body was spent. He needed to recover from the beating he took.

  Flipping the visor down, he finally examined the damage. Eye swollen, quite a few stitches popped, but his blood had clotted enough to create a natural Band-Aid. He did need water, fresh, clean and not laced with the trace metal and beer flavor. Never being one for the lemon wedge in his glass, he now missed a drink with an infusion of fruit to hops. Rubbing his jaw, the five o’clock shadow was peppering and sadly salting his face with hair. He’d started going gray after the explosion. Hell, after that cabin he was happy a few dark soldiers remained intermixing with the lighter hairs. The balance, the department’s therapists explained, a balance between the parts of him that couldn’t deal with the tragedy and the part that could. To him, the gray and sliver showed weakness, a crack in his armor. Something he shouldn’t possess and why he shaved himself clean at every shower.

  Topaz started to move. Her eyes fluttering open and smiled up at him. “I must have fallen asleep. I’m sorry. I guess I was more tired than I thought.”

  “What are you sorry for? That was why we pulled off. You needed to sleep and we couldn’t do anything until the sun came up anyways. By the way, the sun is coming up, so we better figure out where the hell we’re at and get to a town, or we’re going to be walking soon.”

  “You stayed awake all night didn’t you Onyx?”

  “Not all night,” he replied, rubbing his hand over his face. Moving to a sitting position and stretching allowed him to open the door and get out. His lower back, neck…hell his whole body ached as he needed to stretch and relieve himself. With a few cracks of his back, he watched as she straightened and smoothed her clothes. Flipping the visor down, she fixed her hair by pushing it to the side then roughing it up a bit before letting out a harrumph and flipping the visor back up.

  “It’s a good thing I have this short hair style I can just mess it up and its ready to go. I must look a fright though. This has been a trying time for both of us.”

  “Yeah, but look we survived it and escaped those people. Now, we just need to find us a phone. Maybe a house or town is near-by.”

  “Well, all we can do is drive and see where it takes us before we run out of gas.”

  He glanced at the pond, the water stagnant, but not overgrown with algae they might be able to at least get a drink. “I’m going to…it’s morning.”

  Topaz opened the passenger door to the truck. “I need to go to the bathroom then we can go.”

  He watched her disappear into the brush. He didn’t want to lose sight of her, but she needed a little privacy and so did he. The pressure building in his bladder he ducked behind a tree on the other side of the clearing hoping to be back before she reappeared. Why were his emotions all over the place with this chick? He’d known Topaz for nearly a year now and until they had sex, he hadn’t been this attached to her. Hell, he’d tolerated her at best. Why did one night of fucking do this to him?

  Heading to the pond, he saw the water completely clear. Pebbles of all colors created the bed and he wondered how Montana could be so pure in nature’s beauty. Rinsing his hands in the water, he glanced over her shoulder, but Topaz hadn’t reemerged. Scooping with his hands, he drank the cool spring water and looked across to the pond to see a few deer on the other side lapping their own drink. The quiet of the moment lulled him into a sense of calm as he stood and turned back to the truck expecting to see Topaz to be there—only it stood empty.

  His heartrate thudded in his chest. How long had he taken in the sights? Minutes at best, but still how long could it take to take a piss? He cupped his mouth with his hands and yelled, “Topaz!”

  “I’m coming.” She reappeared stepping from the brush.

  “You good?” he asked.

  “Yep. Are you?” She tilted her head.

  “Just washing up, the water is clean if you need a drink,” he said.

  She smiled and came over to the pond.

  “But quietly,” he whispered.

  “Why? You huntin’ w’rabbits?” she teased in a soft whisper doing her best Elmer Fudd impression.

  “Deer,” he said standing behind her, he wrapped his arm around her belly and pointed across the water while bringing his body flush to hers. “See, let’s not disturb our neighbors.”

  “If only they had a phone,” she teased and turned her head enough they were now close enough to kiss in the light of day. “You think they have an Insta account?”

  “Who doesn’t?” he replied wanting to kiss her full lips and taste her once again. Electric waves coursed through his body tinging his sore muscles like he’d used the stimulating pads. Constricting and tightening them.

  Her gaze swung down and she slipped from his hold.

  He watched as she quietly dipped her hands in the water, her shoulders doing a little shimmy shake from the cold he forgot to warn her about, before she gathered water in her hand and took a drink.

  Although he wanted to sit at the water’s edge next to Topaz and watch as the sky lit up with a mix of orange, yellow, pink and blue, he knew they had to get moving. Onyx did allow himself a moment to take her in as the morning light crept across the placid pond. The only disruption coming from Topaz and the deer who were moving on.

  “I never liked deer growing up,” Topaz said as she stood and held her hands interlocked high above her head to stretch. “D
eer meat that is, we always had a ton and I hated it. But right now, I wish I had a knife.”

  “Not the sweet princess comment I expected,” he said with a light laugh.

  “I’m starving,” she said. “And I grew up country, we saved a lot of money eating daddy’s—” she stopped her words and closed her eyes. A tear formed at the corner of one and she quickly wiped it away. “You know there was this stupid computer game about rednecks. Redneck Rampage I think it was called.”

  “Kinda backwards isn’t that? Computers, rednecks?”

  They walked toward the truck, the back of their fingers brushing against the others, but they didn’t move to hold hands. It was only a few steps.

  “Computer for the city boys who wanted to be rednecks.” She waved her hands to clear her mind. “Anyway, there’s was a phrase one of those ignorant bastards said when you really needed to get them more energy points and I’ll never forget it.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  She leaned in and messed with the wires to get the truck to turn over. The roar of the diesel engine caused birds to take flight and any small woodland creatures to scurry into the bushes. Topaz stood outside the door and stared at him, using the most backwoods voice she could and said, “I could eat the ass end of a menstrual skunk.”

  Onyx let out a howl of laughter, then settled as a bit of Cro-Magnon man crept up his spine and spiked his brain. Must find food for his woman. His—no this woman. He was starving himself, but that didn’t matter. Topaz starving was a very big issue for him. One making him look at sticks and rocks as if he were going to fashion a weapon. The best weapon they had was the truck, to get away and find help. “Let’s get back on the road,” he said and they both got in, this time clicking their seatbelts.

  He turned around in the glade and made his way down the narrow path back onto the dirt road. When he came to a crest at the top of a slight hill, he stopped and put the truck in park. Throwing on the hazards out of habit, not necessity he opened the door and got out. “I need to see if I can see anything in the distance.” Dropping the truck’s tailgate, he stepped up into the bed of the pickup and then climbed on the roof.

  “You know I could have done that,” she called from inside the cab of the truck.

  “Afraid I’ll fall through?” he teased, a bit uneasy himself with the give the roof had.

  “Maybe.” She laughed a bit. “See anything?”

  “Mother fucker,” he snapped. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “What?” she asked. “You see Turnabout or something?”

  “No, but this fricking road is parallel to a damn paved one.” He grumbled and turned, taking in the whole area. Although there was plenty of land, he did see several houses in the far distance. Being a clear day, it may be twenty to thirty miles away. They could make it to them if they drove at a reasonable speed and conserved the gas. As long as the gas light indicator wasn’t broke, they’d be golden. It could be the edges of a town, one with a store, gas station maybe. Then again, the handful of houses could be the town, as this was Montana.

  Careful stepping down from the truck he didn’t want to jar his ribs or his leg where the prosthetic was rubbing wrong on his stump. After almost falling out of the truck, he made his way back inside and fastened his seatbelt. “There’s a few houses up ahead.” At the next cross dirt road he turned right, then left and finally they were on a paved road. One that was smooth and no longer tested his limits when it came to how many bumps does it take before he had to stop.

  11

  Topaz could tell Onyx was in pain, but he insisted on being brave and trying not to show it. She silently gave him credit, but didn’t want to say anything to embarrass him more than he was already. The way he lost his leg was horrific and not his fault in any way, but she’d noticed he tried his best to hide the disability. Even over the winter, he didn’t get a handicap placard. Red would have filled out the forms in a heartbeat. She wasn’t sure if it was pride, or shame. Either way, he’d learned to hide it well enough that even Glen and Stimpy hadn’t figured it out.

  A shudder tore through her when she thought about what the two of them would have done to his leg if they’d known. She closed her eyes trying to tamp down the visions only to see the smoldering cabin and wish she could have done worse to them. Her cousins would be up for parole soon and she wavered between giving a victim statement to get them to rot, or having them released and sending Steels after them.

  Topaz had never met any Arkansas Steels, but there had to be some. Dell would know. Life was full of choices, but death was too good for her cousins. She’d run, ostracized because she refused to follow the party line. As if the blood that ran in her veins had somehow curdled and spoiled because she refused to lie. Maybe that’s why the Steels had become her family. They never once asked her to lie. Every man to a member owned the shit they did. Running guns, blowing shit up, and transporting kids with their mothers even if it were technically, illegal.

  Everyone knew what they were doing when they signed on, and if shit went sideways, they were willing to take the hit. She knew Dreamer was nervous, being new to the life, when Freaky would roll out on a run, but the newest Ol’ Lady would take a deep kiss from her fiancé and threaten him with death if he didn’t return. Like a good Ol’ Lady should.

  They only had so much gas and Topaz worried they would run out. She didn’t think he could walk very far if that happened. Ready to hike it out on her own if it did happen. Flexing her feet and then pointing them in the only way she knew how to stretch. She only prayed that these homes ahead were safe because no matter how much she insisted or how much his body would protest moving, Onyx was the type of stubborn ass that would try.

  They drove for a few minutes and the lone road started to turn into a small town. The sign said St. Xavier. She knew where they were. They were only about an hour, maybe seventy miles outside of Turnabout Creek. “We made it Onyx,” she said with an exhausted gust of air right as the gas light clicked on.

  “We got another twenty-twenty five miles if we need it,” he said, lowering his head and eyeing the few buildings and houses in the unincorporated town of St. Xavier.

  “This is close to the Res, when Hack and I were on a run he rolled through because one of his great grandparents had been forced to go to the Catholic school. He wanted to see the church that—” She pointed to the tan building, one of a handful in the small town. Topaz clapped her hands excitement rushing through her veins from finding a spot she knew. Looking over she saw that Onyx wasn’t. The grim look darkening his eyes confused her. “What’s the matter?”

  “We haven’t found a phone or a friendly face yet. Hell, we don’t even know if anyone really lives here,” he said, his voice low as if he would be heard in the town without even a dog barking in the distance. “I’m black and that might be a problem here.”

  “Well, I’ll go then and call.” She reached over and covered his hand resting on the seat.

  “No!” Onyx’s jaw was tight. “We’ll both go. I’m not leaving you alone again.”

  “Ever?” Topaz questioned before she could stop herself. “I—I didn’t mean that to sound—well, sounds good, we can go together.” She respected the fact he was being brave for her. There was no question that they weren’t out of danger yet. Not knowing where the group ACT-UP was, they had to be careful. Members could be anywhere.

  He drove up to a small café, open for breakfast, but only had a handful of tables. Glen and Stimpy had taken everything they had in their pockets. With no money between them, she hoped someone would help, even if it was just to lend them a phone.

  Onyx parked the pickup on the side of the road and they got out. Smoothing his hands over his head Onyx kept scanning up and down the road.

  She walked around the hood of the truck and wove her fingers with his. Glancing up, she squeezed his hand. “Hey, you ever thought about the fact we’re both precious stones that require other stones to cut us?”

 
“What did you say?” He smiled down at her, his shoulders relaxing a bit, as he turned toward her.

  “Onyx, Topaz,” she said with a shrug as they made their way across the road. “I was trying to distract you.”

  “Never thought about that,” he said as he opened the door for her. “Why have you never been claimed?”

  “I never opened myself up to be,” she said swallowing back the pain of her last decade of life. “There were men, but I’ve never really wanted…”

  “More?” he said with a nod. “I get that.”

  The café was so cute, it was smaller than the one in Turnabout that the old couple ran. A few people sat at the tables inside the restaurant.

  Topaz led Onyx to the cash register set on the counter.

  Three stools lined the counter and a waitress came from the kitchen. “What can I do for you two?” She had a friendly smile, and welcoming voice.

  “Is there a phone we can use? We got stranded on the road and we’re pretty much out of gas. Well worse, diesel,” Topaz explained while thumbing toward Onyx to set the woman at ease. “He’s all winter in Montana you need a diesel. You get it, right? Anyway, we didn’t see a station close. Thought we’d need to call our friends to come and help us. They don’t live too far.”

  City far was different than country, and Montana far was a whole other type of distance. Something about most things being a half hour to an hour away, she wasn’t lying. Even if she said they were from Turnabout Creek, the woman would understand it really wasn’t a long drive.

  “Oh, sure honey.” The waitress handed her the cell phone out of her pocket. “I had a man like that once, pushing the tank to see how far. Most of the ranchers around here have their own pumps. The closest station is a truck stop about twenty minutes down the highway, but you can use my cell to call your friends.”

  Roadkill’s cell number was one every woman on the compound memorized. She dialed quickly and waited until the other woman answered.