Phoenix (Blackwings MC Book 3)

by Teagan Brooks

  The sound of my bedroom door creaking open had my head shooting up to see Phoenix filling the doorway, his hands braced on the top of the door frame. “You’ve been in here for a while. You okay?”

  I cleared my throat and licked my dry lips. “Yeah. I was able to get the time off from work. I can leave with you tomorrow.”

  “You don’t seem so happy about that,” he observed, taking a few steps closer.

  “I’m not happy about it. I’m terrified,” I whispered as tears began to fall from my eyes.

  He sat down on the bed beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. “There’s no reason to be scared. Octavius can’t hurt you or anyone else anymore.”

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with him.”

  “Ah, you’re worried about seeing Ember and Coal.” I nodded even though it wasn’t a question. “They are going to be ecstatic when I roll into town with you in tow. They don’t know where I went or why I left last week, but they both know that I have been looking for you. I already told you Ember was helping me try to find you. Coal would have helped, too, but he only recently found out about you and me being his biological parents. And, he’s had some other things going on that have kept him from diving into the search head first.”

  “They don’t hate me?” I asked.

  “Why on earth would they hate you, Annabelle?”

  “Because I left them behind,” I wailed, my head falling against his chest.

  He closed both arms around me and held me while I cried all over him yet again. “You didn’t leave them behind intentionally. You thought Ember was dead. She even thought you were dead. We both did until about a year ago and even then we weren’t sure if you were alive or not. As for Coal, you didn’t even know about him. I haven’t kept the truth from them, Annabelle. They know exactly what happened.”

  “What kind of mother doesn’t recognize her own children? I saw Ember almost every day for years and I saw Coal several times a week?” I cried.

  “Let me ask you something. When you hear about babies getting switched at birth, do you blame the mothers for not realizing the baby they took home wasn’t their biological child?”

  “Of course not,” I replied indignantly.

  “Ember and Coal ran into each other a few times on the farm. Do you blame them for not recognizing their own twin?”

  “Again, of course not!”

  “Then why are you beating yourself up for the same thing? They don’t blame you and neither do I, because none of that was your fault,” he said with so much vehemence I almost believed him. “It was a fucked up thing that happened to our family, but what’s done is done and we can’t go back and change it. Only thing we can do is move forward.”

  I sat up and wiped the tears from my eyes. “You’re right. I know you’re right.” I clapped my hands together loudly and stood. “I guess I need to get myself packed and ready to go back to Croftridge.”

  He saw right through my façade. He had always been able to read me better than anyone else and, apparently, that hadn’t changed. He got to his feet and kissed my forehead. “It’ll be okay, doll face, I promise.”

  I hoped he was right.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Phoenix

  When I arrived at Annabelle’s house the next morning, she was waiting on her front porch, packed and ready to go. Obviously, she had spent a great deal of time with Wave’s club over the years and had traveled with them because she had all of her things packed in a small leather duffel bag and a leather backpack. I tried not to dwell on the thought of her on the back of another man’s bike.

  Instead, I focused on her. She was a breathtaking sight, standing there in her tight jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, riding boots, and leather vest. Her long hair hung in a braid down her back. She watched me ogle her body and I didn’t give the first fuck that she knew I was checking her out.

  “Are you about done? I’d like to get on the road sometime this week,” she said with a smirk.

  “Oh, doll face,” I groaned, “I’ll never be done staring at your gorgeous body.” I reached down and readjusted my cock for good measure.

  She rolled her eyes and sauntered past me, shoving her duffel bag into my chest as she went by. She climbed her fine ass on the bike, slid her helmet on, and motioned for me to hurry up.

  I quickly strapped her bag down and made sure everything else was secure. We synced our Bluetooth devices and started on the long journey back to Croftridge.

  Even though we were synced up, we didn’t talk much for the first few hours of the trip. After we stopped for lunch, Annabelle seemed to perk up a little. Finally, she asked me how I found out about Ember and Coal. Deciding it would be best to tell it like it happened, I started from the beginning, the day Ember walked into my clubhouse asking for help. By the time I finished that tale, it was time to stop for dinner.

  We ate at a kitschy roadside diner and refueled at the station next door. I offered to stop for the night and find a hotel nearby, but she insisted that she was fine to ride for a few more hours. I was happy to hear that because, as it was, it was going to take us at least four days to get back home and that wasn’t accounting for possible weather or traffic delays.

  We rode until we reached Salt Lake City, talking off and on about the kids. During the moments of silence, I had time to think about how I wanted our journey to go. If it was just me, I would have stopped at the cheapest motel I could find for the night, but I didn’t want to do that with Annabelle. This was a chance I never thought I would have with her and I wasn’t going to waste one second of it.

  I pulled into the parking lot of a high-rise hotel right in the heart of the city. Annabelle gasped, “Phoenix, we can’t stay here!”

  “Why the hell not?” I asked.

  “It’s too extravagant. We just need a place to shower and sleep for the night. I’m sure there’s a basic hotel around here somewhere,” she rambled.

  “Doll face, I want to stay here. That okay with you?”

  She opened her mouth and then closed it. She did that two more times before I finally took pity on her. “How about we share a room to save on the cost? Will that make you feel better?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “Um, yes, I guess that would be okay,” she sputtered.

  I kept my face neutral but I was smiling from ear to ear on the inside. The first part of my plan worked beautifully. I walked into the hotel lobby with my proverbial fingers crossed that the second part of my plan would work.

  Annabelle walked over to the fountain in the middle of the lobby while I got us a room. I placed some cash on the counter and told the girl it was hers if she promised to confirm that they only had rooms with one bed available should she be asked by the beautiful woman standing in front of the fountain. She readily agreed and that was how I got Annabelle into a hotel room with only one bed for the two of us.

  As expected, Annabelle balked at the idea at first, but I convinced her that it was late and we both needed to get some rest. We had several days of riding ahead of us and neither one of us could afford to be tired. Reluctantly, she agreed and followed me up to the room.

  She showered first. I was surprised at how little time she took in the bathroom, especially after riding all day. I just assumed she would want to soak in the bath or whatever girls did that took so damn long in there, but she was in and out in about 10 minutes. She walked out in a tiny little t-shirt and yoga pants that molded perfectly to her tight ass. I about swallowed my damn tongue when I laid eyes on her.

  Once in the shower, I knew I had to take care of something or it was going to be a long painful night for me. My cock had been half hard all damn day with her snuggled up behind me, her full tits pressed against my back, but seeing her in that get up she called pajamas sent every drop of blood I had rushing to my dick. I braced one hand against the wall and wrapped the other around my throbbing cock. Gripping myself firmly, I slid my hand back and forth while I imagined the things I would do to Annabelle’
s firm little body if she would give me the chance. Closing my eyes, I pictured her on her knees in front of me, taking me into her mouth while she had one hand on her tits and one hand between her legs. It took about five seconds of that image before I was spurting all over the shower wall.

  I finished up in the shower and realized I’d forgotten to bring my clothes with me in my rush to get away from her and her fuck me pajamas. Oh well, two could play her game. I walked back into the room with nothing but a towel around my waist.

  She was sitting on the bed and she froze when she saw me. Her cheeks flushed and her plump lips parted. She didn’t say a word, but she took her time looking at my body. I smirked. “Are you about done? I’d like to get in the bed sometime this week.”

  She shook her head. “Oh, Phoenix, I’ll never be done staring at your gorgeous body.”

  I stepped closer to her. “Is that right?”

  “Mmm-hmm,” she replied, licking her lips.

  “If you don’t want this, you better get your ass in the bed and under those covers. I’ve been waiting almost 20 years to fuck you again, doll face, and my self-restraint is damn near tapped out,” I growled.

  “I-I-I,” she stammered.

  I slid a pair of boxer briefs on under my towel and barked, “Get in the damn bed, Annabelle.”

  She jolted out of her stupor and climbed under the covers faster than a child hiding from the monster under their bed. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

  Climbing in the bed with her, I turned off the lights and pulled her to me. I placed a kiss on the side of her face and told her, “Good night, doll face.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Phoenix

  I woke Annabelle up early the next morning. I wanted to get on the road as soon as possible because I had plans for the evening and I didn’t want to take a chance of missing them. We had breakfast at the hotel and then we were on the road by 8am.

  I was the happiest man in the world. The love of my life was on the back of my bike riding across the country with me. The scenery was almost as stunning as she was and, thus far, the weather had been nothing short of perfect. Annabelle seemed to be more relaxed, which only heightened my mood.

  We had been on the road for about 30 minutes when she asked, “Will you tell me how you found out about Coal?”

  The next several hours were spent telling her the story of Coal. I even pointed out that he prospected for me almost a year and I had no idea he was my son. She didn’t seem affected by my statement, but I hoped she would let it sink in when she had some time to herself. I debated whether or not to tell her about his injuries while we were still on the road. I guess I was silent too long and she picked up on my unease.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.

  I sighed. “Nothing that I planned to keep from you. I was just trying to decide if I should tell you now or wait until we’ve stopped for lunch. I don’t want you falling off the bike,” I said.

  She gasped. “It’s that bad?”

  I reached back and patted her thigh. “It might sound that way at first, but you have to keep in mind that he is okay now. You think you can handle that?”

  I heard her swallow and then her soft, “Yes, I can.”

  I crossed my fingers and began telling her how Coal was injured. She tensed at certain parts, but she quietly listened while I spoke. When I told her he had been shot three times, she wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her helmeted head in my back as she cried. I wanted nothing more than to pull over and take her into my arms to comfort her, but I kept going.

  “It was Ember that put everything together and figured out he was her twin. He needed blood, a lot of blood, and he has a rare type. All of the brothers were getting tested, but only I was a match. They were refusing to let me donate because I had been shot, too, even though it was really just a graze. Ember overheard me arguing with the doctor. She knew that we had the same blood type so she rushed off to get tested. The nurse commented how odd it was that they had the same blood type, were the same age, and had the same birthday. As soon as she was finished donating, she told me what the nurse said. I had my tech guy dig up Coal’s birth records and you were listed as his mother. He was born two minutes after Ember. Still, I wanted to be absolutely sure, so I got Patch to run a paternity test under the radar while he was in the hospital. When we got the results, we kept things quiet until Coal was out of the woods. I wanted him to know, and I was going to tell him one way or the other, but I thought talking to Kathleen and her husband first was the right thing to do. I sat down with both of them and broke the news as gently as I could. I thanked them for raising my boy and promised them I had no intention of trying to replace them or keep them out of Coal’s life. After that, we agreed to wait until he was discharged from the hospital to tell him he had some new family members. All in all, he took the news well. He already knew he was adopted, but my promise to not disrupt his relationship with Kathleen and Jeff was what put him at ease.”

  “When did this happen?” she asked.

  I cleared my throat and braced for her reaction. “About three weeks ago.”

  “What?” she shrieked.

  “About three weeks ago,” I repeated. “I’ve wanted nothing more than to find you, but I wouldn’t have left Croftridge if his recovery wasn’t going well.”

  “So he’s okay?” she asked.

  “He’s still healing, but yeah, he’s doing okay. He came home from the hospital before I left. Kathleen and Jeff still work at the dairy farm and live on the property. Ember and Dash live out there now, too, so he’s got his adoptive parents and his twin sister fussing over him, not to mention the club members. He risked his life for the brothers; not a one of us will ever forget that. I promise, he’s being looked after by more than enough.”

  I felt her nod, but she remained quiet for a few minutes, likely absorbing everything I had just shared. “Did you say Ember lives on the farm property?” she asked, her voice full of disbelief.

  “Yeah, she does. Let’s stop for lunch, refuel and recharge, and I will tell you what she’s done with the place since I inherited it.”

  ***

  We rolled into downtown Denver around 5pm. I drove straight to the hotel I picked the day before. It was another upscale hotel, but this one wasn’t a large commercial chain. It had an old-world feel to it. I was looking forward to our stay because I made sure we had time to enjoy some of the amenities offered.

  Annabelle didn’t make a fuss about the hotel or the fact that we were sharing a room together. I didn’t know if that was because she was okay with it or because she was too tired and too overwhelmed to care. Once we were checked in and settled into our room, I suggested we order room service for dinner. We took turns showering while waiting for dinner to arrive.

  I couldn’t have asked for anything better. They wheeled in dinner for two on one of those silver carts, complete with a bouquet of flowers and lit candles for the centerpiece. When the attendant left, I popped the cork on the champagne and poured a glass for each of us.

  “What’s all this?” she asked.

  I tried to appear indifferent. “It’s dinner. What’s it look like?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Phoenix, do you honestly expect me to believe that staying in these kinds of hotels and ordering romantic dinners are things you normally do when you’re on the road?”

  I shrugged. “I like to travel in style. What’s wrong with that?”

  She looked at me like I had completely lost my mind for one long second before she threw her head back and laughed. “Travel in style,” she guffawed and slapped her leg. “That’s priceless.”

  “Shut up and drink your champagne, brat,” I barked.

  She wiggled her fingers at me, taunting me. “Oooh, don’t get all pissy with me, you stylish biker man.”

  She was going to pay for that, but it would have to be later, when I could enjoy making her pay. I stabbed my finger toward her plate. “Eat, woman.”


  She held her hands up in surrender. “Fine. You win.”

  We enjoyed our meal together, managing to keep the conversation light. When we finished off the bottle of champagne, I offered to send for a second bottle, but Annabelle declined. I opened the door to wheel the food cart into the hallway, surprised to find our next appointment standing there poised to knock. “Good evening, Mr. Black. Let me take care of that for you and then we’ll get set up.”

  Annabelle was doing her best to see who was at the door while trying to hide her interest. Good, I wanted her curiosity piqued. I stepped to the side and held the door open for our two guests and their equipment. “What’s all this?” she asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

  I winked. “Thought you might enjoy a massage after two days on the back of my bike.”

  She smiled brightly. “Oh, that sounds absolutely wonderful.”

  She stiffened slightly when she realized two things: one, we would both be naked beneath a small towel for the massage and two, the hot blonde would be massaging me. She went into the bathroom to disrobe and came out completely covered in the complimentary robe provided by the hotel. She then made me promise to either close my eyes or keep them averted while she was having her back massaged. I gave her my word, but she was going to explain that to me later.

  As for the hot blonde, I didn’t plan it that way; it’s just how it happened. Her little nose wrinkled when Svetlana introduced herself as my masseuse and led me by hand to the massage table. I swear Annabelle snarled when Svetlana cooed, “Oh, Mr. Black, you have such large muscles. It is such a treat for me to work on someone as toned as you are.”

  When our massages were finished, I felt great. Svetlana did an excellent job and remained very professional while she had her hands on me. Annabelle, however, was wound tighter than an eight-day clock. She hopped off her table and bolted for the bathroom. I thanked the girls, gave them both a generous tip, and walked them to the door.