Phoenix (Blackwings MC Book 3)

by Teagan Brooks

  Coal nodded as if he understood what I wasn’t saying and blessedly changed the subject.

  Before I knew it, Ember had returned to the house with Dash and Phoenix. Apparently, it was well after dinner time and they refused to stay away any longer. Ember invited Phoenix and me to stay for dinner, but Phoenix politely declined for the both of us. And I was glad he did. The day had gone much better than expected and I didn’t want to push my luck. Phoenix offered to drive Coal back to the clubhouse, but he opted to stay for dinner. We hugged and kissed our kids goodbye and walked to the truck.

  Phoenix opened my door for me, but I didn’t get in. Instead, I turned into him and placed my hands on his chest. “Earlier, when you said you blew up Octavius’s house, it made me wonder about another building...the one where Ember and Coal were born, and Nathan, too. Uh, could we go see if it’s still there?”

  Phoenix cleared his throat and nodded. “Sure. Do you remember where it was?”

  Oh, I would never forget where that damn building was. “Yes, I do,” I answered, trying to keep the nerves out of my voice and gave him the directions.

  He pulled up in front of the building that held so many bad memories for me. He sat silently beside me, holding my hand, while memories I did not cherish flooded my mind. “Is it being used for anything now?” I asked shakily.

  “No, doll face, it’s empty.”

  “I swore if I ever had the chance, I would burn this damn building to the ground,” I confessed.

  “If you want to torch it, baby, I’ll gladly hand you a can of gas and some matches,” Phoenix said, pulling me into his arms.

  “I know it won’t change anything, but I really want to do it. I think I need to.”

  “Okay, let’s do it,” he said, reaching for his phone.

  Minutes later, Dash arrived with a red jug full of gasoline and a box of long-reach matches. He wordlessly handed the items to Phoenix, nodded, and drove away in his truck.

  “Before you get upset, I want you to know I called Dash because he truly understands how much Octavius took from our family. He is in love with our daughter and has felt every ounce of her pain. He was the one who ultimately captured Octavius and brought him back to the clubhouse. Then, he turned right around and saved my life. If anyone outside of our family gets it, it’s him,” Phoenix explained.

  “No, he’s probably wondering if he should marry a girl whose parents like to blow up and burn down buildings,” I teased, trying to lighten the moment.

  Phoenix chuckled. “Oh, he knew what he was getting himself into when Ember laid his ass out in the forecourt the day she showed up at the clubhouse.”

  “She did what?” I gasped.

  “I’ll tell you the whole story later. This building ain’t going to burn itself.”

  “I don’t know what I’m doing, Phoenix.”

  “Just pour the gas around the edges of the building. You can pour some inside if you want to. It’s an old building, so when you’re ready to light it, it should go up pretty quick.”

  I followed his instructions and dumped gas all around the outside of the building, but I had no interest in going inside. When the can was empty, Phoenix handed me the matches. “Strike it, drop it, and get back. Okay, baby?”

  “Got it.” It took me a minute to get the match lit with the way my hand was shaking, but I finally did it. I tossed the lit match at the base of the structure and quickly stepped back. When the flame made contact with the gas, the fire blazed to life with a loud whoosh.

  Phoenix’s arms circled my waist and he pulled me back against his chest. We watched in silence as the place that held so many heart-wrenching memories for me burned to the ground.

  I didn’t even realize I was crying until Phoenix turned me by my shoulders and gently wiped the tears from my face. “Come on, doll face. Let’s go home.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “Baby, if burning a building down makes you happy, I’ll set the world on fire for you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Phoenix

  “Ember said things went well this morning. How were things with Coal?”

  Annabelle smiled wistfully. “They were great. The time passed faster than I expected. They’re both great kids, aren’t they?”

  I pulled her into my arms. “Yeah, doll face, they are.” We stood there, in each other’s arms for a long while. I had no intention of moving, but she asked a question that made my blood turn to ice.

  “What happened to my parents?”

  Fuck me. I sighed heavily. “Sit down.” She made a face at me, but took a seat on the couch. I dropped down beside her and ran my hand over my face. “I don’t know what happened to them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Exactly that. I don’t know. I can’t find any records of them having ever worked on the farm, legally or illegally. Much the same as you, they just disappeared.” Octavius kept meticulous records of everything related to himself or the farm, especially the people he had working for him. My brothers and I had been through nearly all the papers and files. We’d yet to find a thing on the Burnetts and I didn’t think we would in the remaining files.

  “Obviously, I didn’t just disappear and neither did they. Not that I give a shit about them, I just wanted to know if they were still around this area so I could avoid them while I’m here.”

  “If they are around here, I haven’t run into them since I’ve been back in Croftridge. When I returned after my first deployment, I couldn’t find them. I’ll be honest and tell you I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for them between learning of your disappearance and inheriting the farm. I have looked for them over the last year, but most of my efforts were focused on finding you, not them,” I explained.

  She stayed quiet, but I could tell she wanted to ask me something. “Just spit it out, Annabelle.”

  “You said Aaron was still around, right?”

  “Yeah,” I answered cautiously, wondering why she was asking about my VP. “Why?”

  “Could you ask him to check out my old house? Just to make sure they aren’t there.”

  “No problem, doll face. I’ll give him a call right now.” Her asking for Aaron made more sense. She didn’t like people knowing where she lived back then and I guess she still didn’t. Aaron, Macy, and I were her only friends that knew where her house was.

  Badger was more than happy to ride out to Annabelle’s old house and take a look around. I knew her parents were worthless and she never liked them, but she almost seemed frightened of them. “Annabelle, are you scared of your parents?”

  “Of course not. I just don’t want to see them. Surely you can understand that,” she replied. I would have believed her if she hadn’t said it faster than normal and an octave too high.

  “Try again,” I growled.

  She sighed. “It’s not that I’m scared of them, I just don’t trust them. They are toxic people, always have been. I don’t want them in my life and I damn sure don’t want them around my children.”

  “I get it. Now that I’ve found you, I’ll put more focus on locating them. We’ll go from there, okay?” I asked.

  “Thank you, Phoenix. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me and for our children,” she murmured.

  She didn’t get it. I loved her. I never stopped loving her. Not for one second. Yeah, there had been other women over the years, but they were nothing more than a means to an end. I hadn’t kissed another woman since the first time my lips met hers back in high school. Maybe it was time I told her how I felt.

  “You don’t have to thank me, doll face. I would do anything for you. You should know that.”

  She fidgeted with her hands and kept her eyes on the floor. “Annabelle,” I commanded, “look at me.” Slowly, she raised her head and brought her eyes to mine. “I love you. I never stopped and I never will.”

  I don’t know what kind of reaction I expected from her, but it wasn’t the one I got. She launched off the couch
and crash-landed into me. She grabbed my face and stared right into my eyes, “I love you, too,” she confessed and then she slammed her mouth down over mine.

  I cupped her ass in my hands and stood, carrying her upstairs to my bedroom. Entering my room, I kicked the door closed behind me and didn’t break my stride until I was placing her on my bed.

  Without a word, I kept my eyes on hers while I removed her clothing, followed by my own. I crawled onto the bed, covering her body with mine and gently captured her lips.

  Not a word was spoken between the two of us as I took my time and made slow, sweet love to the woman who captured my heart when I was 17 years old. When our lips weren’t locked, our eyes were. We held each other in a tight embrace as our bodies moved together in perfect synchronization until we found our releases together.

  ***

  Badger returned my call later that night. “I went by the house her parents lived in and no one was there. It doesn’t look like anyone has been there for years. The place is completely run down and ought to be condemned if you asked me.”

  “Thanks, brother, I appreciate it,” I replied.

  “May I ask why you had me ride out there?” he asked.

  “Annabelle asked me if I knew where her parents were. I have no idea where they are or if they’re dead or alive. I told her I would have someone ride by the house and she specifically asked if you would do it. I don’t think she wants anyone who doesn’t already know what pieces of shit they were to know anything about them.”

  “Makes sense,” he said. “Why’s she looking for them?”

  “She’s not. She just wanted to know if they were still around town so she could avoid them,” I explained.

  “Gotcha. Well, I’ll swing by a few more times over the next week or so and make sure I don’t see anything suspicious, but I highly doubt anyone is living in that place.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Well fuck. A part of me was hoping they might have gone back to that old shithole of a house and another part of me was hoping they were long gone, be it somewhere far away or somewhere six feet below.

  “He didn’t find anything, did he?” Annabelle asked.

  “Woman,” I hissed. “Don’t sneak up on me like that. You should know better than to eavesdrop on my conversations.” She just stared at me, anxiously awaiting the answer to her question and not intimidated in the least. “No, doll face, he didn’t find anything. We’ll keep looking though.”

  Over the next few days, I continued to try to find something on the whereabouts of Annabelle’s parents, anything. I was getting frustrated because every avenue I took led to a dead end. Finally, I sucked it up and called Luke for help.

  He never acted like he minded helping me out from time to time, but I hated asking him. I knew he was a busy man with much bigger fish to fry, but my valiant efforts had failed. He readily agreed to help, assuring me it was no problem. I gave him all of the information I had on her parents. We talked for several minutes and he said he would get back to me within a few days.

  With that out of the way, I made my way to the common room to make sure everything was on track for the party that night. We had parties often, but this was the first one Annabelle would be attending and I wanted everything to be perfect.

  Annabelle showed up at the clubhouse a few hours later looking like sex on a stick. She had on a tight halter top that did the most wonderful things to her tits. Her shorts though, those were going to be the death of me. They were too fucking short and she looked absolutely edible in them.

  The guys noticed her immediately and the room erupted in cheers. For a brief moment, I was afraid she was going to bolt, but she didn’t. She smiled and sauntered in like she owned the place, walking straight to me.

  “Hey, doll face,” I said when she got near. I pulled her close for a very inappropriate kiss, her words, not mine. I didn’t give a fuck where we were or who was watching. If I wanted to kiss her like I was about to fuck her, I was going to do it.

  “Daddy! Your kids are here!” Ember whisper-yelled at me.

  I laughed. “You do realize we had sex to create you, right?”

  She hunched over like she was going to be sick and groaned. “Oh, please, someone make him stop before I puke all over the place.”

  Annabelle slapped her hand playfully against my chest. “Nix, behave yourself.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied. I would do anything for her and she knew it.

  I placed my beer on the bar and whistled loudly through my fingers to get everyone’s attention. “I’m sure all of you know by now, but in case some of you missed it, this is my Annabelle.”

  The room erupted in cheers again and the brothers immediately lined up to greet her and introduce themselves. She shared a warm hug with Badger and a tearful embrace with Patch while she thanked him for his help all those years ago. I wasn’t crazy about them touching her, but I managed to keep my possessive tendencies under control.

  The party was in full swing and everyone was having a great time. The music was blaring. Annabelle and Ember were dancing on the makeshift dance floor with Reese, Harper, and some of the other girls. I was playing pool with Badger, Dash, and Duke in the common room while watching my sexy as hell Annabelle shake her ass.

  “We win again,” Dash proudly announced.

  “Yeah, it’d be a different story if I had a partner that wasn’t so damn distracted,” Badger teased.

  “Hey, Phoenix,” Crystal purred into my ear, dragging her hand down my chest. “I bet I can hold your attention. Want to play with me and see?”

  I flicked her hand away from my chest. “No, thanks. I’ve got a woman.”

  She moved back in, seeming to get herself even closer to me. “Get rid of her,” she whispered in my ear while rubbing her fake tits on my arm. I was raising my hands to shove her away from me when a shrill screech came from Crystal as she was pulled away.

  “You keep your motherfucking nasty ass whore hands off my man,” Annabelle yelled into Crystal’s face. She had a handful of her hair and was shaking her head with each word.

  Crystal tried unsuccessfully to get out of my woman’s grip. She straightened herself as best she could and demanded, “Who the fuck are you, bitch?”

  Annabelle smiled an evil smile. “The correct response was ‘I will’.” Annabelle then slapped her hand back and forth across her face while yelling, “He is mine, not yours. Don’t touch.”

  “He isn’t yours. He has an Old Lady,” Crystal spat. Annabelle gasped and tossed Crystal to the floor, turning her furious eyes to me.

  Shit.

  Shit.

  Shit.

  “You have an Old Lady?” Annabelle screeched in a tone that had Chop whimpering.

  Well, fuck me. I wanted to tell her in private, so I could explain, but that option was blown out the window by a whore’s breath.

  “It’s you,” I said quietly.

  She blinked, taken aback by my words. “Excuse me?”

  “It’s you. Claimed you the day I received my patch. I knew back then I would never want anyone else but you. Plus, if you did ever come back to Croftridge, you would have the club’s protection, even if something happened to me,” I explained.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, her tone much calmer.

  “I wasn’t sure how you’d take it, especially with everything else going on. Figured you knew what it meant to be an Old Lady, particularly the president’s Old Lady since you’ve been hanging with the Knights.”

  I turned to look at Crystal still sprawled on the floor, “This is my Old Lady, Annabelle. You know the rules.” I arched my eyebrow and waited for her to spew more of her bullshit.

  She surprised me and did what she was supposed to. “My apologies, Annabelle. I didn’t know who you were.”

  “It’s probably best if you head on out for the night,” I informed Crystal.

  “Yeah, sure thing.” She rose to her feet, said something to one of the other club whores, a
nd left.

  Annabelle gave me a hard look. “We’ll talk about this later. I’m going to go dance with the girls. Should I pee on your leg before I go?”

  The guys laughed hysterically. I did my best to ignore them and cleared my throat to hide my own amusement. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Annabelle

  After the party, Phoenix and I discussed the Old Lady thing. I knew it was the equivalent of a marriage in most biker clubs. I also knew that once a woman was claimed in front of the club, she couldn’t do anything about it unless her Old Man unclaimed her. I wasn’t sure if once unclaimed, one could be reclaimed. Not that it mattered, Phoenix would never do that. He had claimed me, I was his Old Lady, and there was nothing I could do about it, not that I wanted to.

  The next morning, I had to get up while it was still dark outside, which was rather difficult given the party the night before. I had an early flight to L.A. to catch. I knew Nathan’s schedule was tight, but he said he would have some time for me over the weekend. After Ember confessed that she really wanted Nathan to be at her wedding, I made the decision to tell him the truth about our past. That was most definitely a conversation that had to happen in person.

  Phoenix drove me to the airport and walked me as far as they would allow him to go. He hugged and kissed me, fawning all over me. “I love you, baby. Be safe. Call me when you land, okay?”

  I smiled. “I love you, too. I promise to call when I land.” I laughed, “You’re acting like I’m going to be gone for weeks or months. I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

  “Sorry, doll face. I’m just not ready to let you out of my sight again. The last time we were at an airport saying goodbye, I didn’t see you for 20 years,” he said sadly and squeezed me even tighter to his chest.

  “Oh,” I replied. I hadn’t thought about it that way. Determined, I said, “Well, that won’t happen this time. I’ll be back tomorrow. I promise.”

  The flight to L.A. was uneventful, though I did manage to catch up on some missed sleep. When I landed, I was pleasantly surprised to see Wave and Token waiting for me at the terminal. I was planning on taking a cab to Nathan’s hotel. “What are you two doing here?”