by Kara Parker
“I swear on her life that I’m not a traitor. It happened like I said, I escaped the cops and then I drove around until I thought it was safe enough to come home. I swear it on my daughter’s life!”
Finally Big Chris let him up. And Falcon stumbled for a moment and steadied himself on the desk. Chris threw his shirt back to him and Falcon dressed quickly.
“Let’s get one thing straight: I am watching you, and if I find out that you’ve betrayed me I will make an example of you. I will visit horrors upon you and your daughter that you cannot imagine. I will torture you until you are broken and only when you are reduced to a blubbering mass begging for your own death will I finally let it end. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, I understand,” Falcon said looking the boss in the eye.
Chapter Seven
It had been three days since Falcon had sworn his innocence on the life of his daughter. He had no other choice. If he admitted he had turned snitch, Big Chris would have killed him right then and there. The whole point of working with the cops was so Falcon could be a part of his daughter’s life. He hadn’t wanted to involve Sophie, but the boss had done it anyway.
If anything, threatening Sophie had only furthered Falcon’s resolve. Who was Ernie that he would threaten an innocent little girl? Sophie had nothing to do with any of this, but, somehow, she would have been made to suffer for Falcon’s mistake. It confirmed everything Grace had said the other day. He knew then that he made the right decision and he was sticking with it. The Screaming Eagles didn’t care about Falcon or his family and they certainly wouldn’t look after them if anything happened to Falcon, so it was up to him and helping the cops was the best way to do it.
Falcon was ready to get to work and he was ready to talk, but he hadn’t heard from Grace. He checked his phone constantly and made sure that it wasn’t on silent, he was ready. He wanted her to call, he wanted to hear her sexy voice, he wanted to see her again, and he wanted to fuck her again. But he was met with only silence from Grace and he wasn't the kind of guy who got all sappy over a woman, so he got back to work.
But he thought about Grace constantly. He remembered what it was like to kiss her. Being with her had been like some kind of wrestling match. They had pushed and pulled against each other, fighting and fucking at the same time. He had never been with a woman who had been so active and present during sex. Sometimes, when he was with a girl from the club, they would just lie there, or roll their eyes waiting for it to be over. But not Grace, she had wanted it and him; she had come when he was inside of her, crying out in pleasure on top of the table.
He wanted her again. None of the other girls meant anything to him anymore. The groupies at the club were even sadder than they had been before. He no longer felt anything when he was in a room with them. He didn’t want to fuck them; he didn’t even want to touch them. He wanted Grace. He wanted to make her scream and writhe against him. He had moves that would drive her wild and he wanted to show her each and every one. He wanted to make her beg for it.
But she hadn’t called him and he couldn’t call her. It was strange, but other than the occasional fantasy about her, he had almost forgotten about his deal with the police. He had so thoroughly convinced himself of his fake story during his interrogation with the boss he had almost forgotten the truth. Almost; he knew he was living in denial and he knew that couldn’t last forever.
The life of a biker could be a busy one and after the raid on the processing center the boss had them all working twice as hard to make up for the loss. Falcon woke early that morning and checked up on the meth supplies they had hidden around the city. The police had taken the processing center, but they had other places to work and other stashes set aside. The Screaming Eagles were prolific and had set up shop in empty apartments and abandoned trailers all over this part of town. As part of his job, Falcon drove from point to point making sure everything was working and on time.
He met with their dealers. Men who lived in the bad neighborhoods and slung the meth the Screaming Eagles had made. They had heard about the hit, but they were impressed they were still moving forward. He met with his suppliers and talked about prices, and always he was watched. Either Big Chris or Billy went with him on jobs he used to do alone. It was degrading, but there was nothing Falcon could do about it. It was funny, he was annoyed that they were following him, but they were right to watch him; he had turned against his gang. The thing was, it was easy to pretend otherwise. Falcon didn’t feel any guilt or shame over betrayal of the Screaming Eagles. Grace had been right: he was a foot soldier, nothing more. The Screaming Eagles would have thrown him into a cell themselves if they thought it could bring the boss more money. Falcon was on his own now, he was looking out for himself and Sophie and no one else.
It was eight o’clock on the third night and Falcon had just returned to his apartment. He came home gone straight for the shower, letting the hot water massage his strong arms and firm back. He was toweling off when his phone chimed. The name on the home screen said Princess Bubblegum and Falcon’s heart skipped a beat as he recognized the fake name he had used for Grace. Without hesitating he grabbed the phone and answered it quickly.
“This is Falcon,” he said.
“It’s Detective Santiago. Are you alone?”
Her voice brought him back to their liaison in the interrogation room and he wondered if she had been thinking about it these last few days, if she had been thinking about him.
“We need to meet,” Grace said.
“That’s gonna be hard,” Falcon said. He began to pace around his small one-bedroom apartment, walking from his room to his kitchen and then back again. “The gang is watching me all the time. I’m never alone. I think I’ve got them convinced that that nothing happened the other day, but they still don’t’ trust me. They suspect something.”
“You think you’re going to get out of this? That I’ll just go away? You made a deal and now it’s time for you to keep your half of it. I need information; real information and you need to give it to me. Think, Falcon,” she said. “There has to be some time you can get away. Think.”
“Tomorrow,” Falcon said with a sigh. “I’m taking Sophie to the beach tomorrow. It’s my weekly visit and the gang knows all about it. We’re planning to go to Venice Beach. Can you meet me there?”
“Yes, what time?”
“Eleven thirty, but you can’t come looking like a cop. They might be watching.”
“Don’t worry about it. I know how to blend in. How are you? Are they giving you any flack? You said they suspected something.”
“I was gone a long time,” Falcon said. “It looked suspicious.”
“Maybe you should have left earlier,” Grace said and there was a hint of gentle teasing in her voice.
“No way. It was worth it,” Falcon responded grinning into the phone.
“Well don’t get any ideas. It’s not happening again,” Grace said.
“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, Detective,” Falcon responded. “You don’t know the half of what I can do. Don’t you want to find out?”
“I found out plenty the last time,” she said.
“That’s right. I can still remember the sounds you made when you came, the expression on your face, the way your breasts felt in my hands. Imagine what we could do if we had more time, if we didn’t have to worry about anyone sneaking in on us...”
“Well, it’s time to stop imagining. We need to get to work. Arresting as many Screaming Eagles is the only thing you or I should be thinking about right now.” Her voice was suddenly stern and Falcon wondered if she was trying to control herself. There was something in her voice that made him think that there was more to her phone call than just their professional relationship.
“I know you want it,” he said. “That little taste the other day wasn’t enough. I know all about addicts. One is never enough, you’ll always want more.”
“You don’t know what I want.”
“You want a man, a real man. Not some pussy that works in an office all day. But a strong man who works with his hands, a man that’s not afraid to bend you over the table and have his way with you. A man that’s not afraid of a couple of bites or hits. I am that man, Grace, and I know you want me.”
“Stop it,” Grace said, but there was a hitch in her voice, a gasp she had tried to cover.
“I’m going to make you beg for it the next time we’re alone together. I want you to think about it, think about me between your legs. Think about a real man having his way with you.”
“The beach, tomorrow. Eleven thirty. Be there or I arrest your ass.”
The line went dead and Falcon smiled to himself putting down the phone. Detective Grace Santiago. She was a real woman, nothing but strength and conviction on the surface, but underneath there was an ocean of passion begging for release. Maybe they could slip away tomorrow at the beach; it didn’t need to be long. Falcon knew what she liked, he remembered it well and he couldn't wait to give it to her again.
Chapter Eight
Kelly had this thing about putting Sophie on the motorcycle. Little jaunts around the block were okay, but anything else and someone was liable to call CPS on them. So when he had Sophie for the day, he borrowed Kelly’s car. Falcon drove his bike to her apartment complex. It was one of the nicer ones about twenty miles outside of LA. He helped pay the rent, but it was worth it to make sure Sophie was in a safe neighborhood.
“Daddy!” she screamed loudly as Falcon opened the door and then, like a tiny little missile, she ran right at him. Falcon snatched her before she could reach him and she giggled as he swept her up and over his head before bringing her down for a kiss on the cheek.
“You ready to go to the beach?”
“She has been ready since five o’clock this morning,” Kelly said. She was wearing flannel pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt, a cup of coffee clutched in one hand. She was on the shorter side, with long brown hair.
Falcon had thought he had loved her once. She wasn’t a groupie from the club but worked as a bartender in one of the nicer downtown L.A. hotspots. Their relationship had been fast and Sophie had been an unplanned surprise. But even after they had admitted they didn’t work as a couple, they still managed to get along. They both loved their daughter and over time their relationship had gone from lovers to friends.
“I am going back to bed,” Kelly said handing Falcon the keys to her car and a bag with extra clothes for Sophie. “Have fun with Dad,” Kelly said leaning down to plant a kiss on her daughter's head.
“Beach, beach, beach, I love swimming!” Sophie chanted as Falcon put her securely in her car seat. He couldn’t help but smile at her antics. Falcon had done a lot of bad things in his life and he had made a lot of mistakes, but Sophie wasn’t one of them. She was the one good thing in his life.
He hated that she had become involved in all of this. The one thing Falcon and Kelly had both promised was that Sophie would never become a groupie for the gang. They would keep her away from the drugs and the lifestyle. He had been putting money aside so she could go to college since the moment Kelly had announced she was pregnant. He didn’t care if she became an artist or a lawyer; he just wanted her to have the choices he had never been given.
As he drove to the beach he kept his eyes on his rearview mirror checking for any potential tails. It felt strange to be actually meeting with Grace; sometimes he wondered if their dalliance had even really happened, maybe he had just imagined it. It had almost been too good to be real. After spending so much time back with the Screaming Eagles, the lie he had told to the boss had become the truth. When he was with the gang he was able to forget all about his deal with the police and his quickie with Grace. But when he wasn’t with them, it was all he could think about.
Falcon didn't like that he was meeting Grace with Sophie in tow. He didn’t want Sophie to be mixed up in any of this. But at the same time he wanted Grace to meet Sophie. Sophie was the best thing he had ever done, it was the only thing in the world he was proud of and he wanted Grace to meet her.
They arrived at the beach and Sophie jumped out of the car and made a beeline for the water with Falcon grabbing her bag and running to catch up with her. She reached the water first and laughed as a crashing wave sent water running up and then back down the shore. Once the water was gone she plopped herself down on the sand and waited for the next wave to bring the water to her.
Falcon smiled down at her. She was so easy to please; she would sit there and laugh and play in the shallow water for the entire day, happy as a clam. He put her bag up on dry land and walked down to the shallows to watch her. It was a crowded day and other parents quickly surrounded Falcon and together they hovered over their children playing in the ocean.
“You came,” a voice behind him said. “I was starting to get worried.”
“I’m literally two minutes late,” Falcon responded without turning around. “You worry too easily.”
“Aunt Grace, Aunt Grace! Can I go in the water? Please?” Falcon looked down at the little girl who couldn’t have been older than seven. She had messy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and she was literally jumping up and down as she waited for an answer.
“Stay where the lifeguards can see you,” Grace said and, without a warning, the girl took off like a shot and jumped into a wave, hurrying out past the breakers with a boogie board in tow.
“Aunt Grace?” Falcon asked with a smirk.
“Said the dad,” Grace answered.
He finally looked over at her and then had to instantly look away. She was stunning. Wearing a two-piece bikini with a vibrant pattern of green palm fronds against a white backdrop, her long hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and it was taking all of Falcon’s energy to not openly ogle her. She was still a cop, after all.
“Daddy, a seashell!” Sophie said running up to him with a simple clamshell.
“It’s so beautiful, thank you,” Falcon said, leaning down to take the shell as Sophie ran back down to her spot on the beach. He slipped the shell into his pocket and turned to look at Grace who was smiling at him like she was trying not to laugh.
“How many of those do you have?” she asked.
“Oh, about a thousand. I’m sure I’ll get rid of them someday...”
Grace shook her head at him and he watched as her eyes lingered on his firm chest and his well-defined abs and arms. “So, the tattoo thing is real? I thought it was just a legend. Mind if I take a look?”
“Look away,” Falcon said as Grace moved behind him. He couldn’t see her, but he could feel the light touch of her finger on his back as she traced the line of feathers of the left wing of his Falcon tattoo.
“It’s stunning,” she whispered.
“So are you in that suit,” he said.
She walked around him until they were standing next to each other staring out into the ocean. Their feet were in the water and sometimes-huge waves would bring the level up to their knees. They were surrounded by kids and other parents and Falcon relaxed as he realized that even if a member of gang saw him here, he would think that Grace was just a hot mom he was flirting with.
“Don’t,” Grace warned, turning her green eyes towards the distant horizon. “The other day at the police station was fun, but it was a one time thing. I was high on busting the Screaming Eagles and turning one to my side. I don’t want you getting any ideas that anything like that is ever going to happen again.”
“You say that as if you didn’t enjoy it,” Falcon said.
“It doesn’t matter if I enjoyed it or not. It’s not happening again.”
“Why doesn’t it matter that if you enjoyed it or not? Are you not allowed to enjoy things?” Falcon asked looking over at her, taking in her tan skin and the curve of her hips underneath her bathing suite.
“I’m a cop. I enjoy putting criminals in jail, everything else comes second after that.”
“Then you and I should spend more t
ime together since our shared goal is to put criminals in jail. We are working together; why not mix business with pleasure? Everyone else is doing it.”
She ran her hand through her hair and bit her lower lip; Falcon could see she was trying to suppress a smile.
“Come on now, Grace. You have to admit that we were good together, on that table... Why shouldn’t we be good again?”
“I’m not admitting anything.”
“You can deny it all you want, but those moans you were letting out are all the evidence I need.”
“Well I need a bust. A real one and a big one. I’ve given you time to reinsert yourself into the gang, now I want arrests and names.”
“I can do that,” Flacon said and he turned to look at her. He looked her up and down his eyes traveling the length of her body, remembering each and every inch of skin he had been permitted to touch. He remembered the taste of her, the way her body reacted to the slightest of touches.
