Tabor
Roux Cantrell
Tabor
Copyright © 2019 Roux Cantrell
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including storage and retrieval systems-except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews-without permission in writing from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, and events portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by author.
An Ink and Art Original
Published in the United States by Ink and Art Publishing LLC, Louisiana
Cover art, formatting, and editing by Poole Publishing Services LLC
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
To my family, for always being there,
my journey would be incomplete without you
For my friends for never failing to keep me laughing
Acknowledgements
With every book, there are many people to thank, Heather Michele, Julie Beckford, Kimberly Cortez for always keeping me focused and on track. For my brothers and sisters making sure I know the rules of the road, keep the rubber side down.
The Gypsy Kings
Nicolea Petrovic aka Gypsy … President
Misha Pavlenko aka Cruise … Vice President
Stephan Demidov aka Tabor … Sergeant at arms
Rafe Bondarev aka Wrench … Sergeant at arms
Daniel McDonald aka Fiddler
Kiril Pavlov aka Angel
Dimitri Nardin aka Wick
Luca Niemi aka Tool… Treasurer
Yuri Goraya aka Preacher
Yasha Goraya aka Bones
Valentine Romano aka Romeo
Adrik Davies aka Doc… Secretary
Sasha Petrov aka Tumbler
Liam Price aka Dagger
Sergei Leone aka Hammer
Robert Laurent aka Bishop
Christen True aka Trip
Marcus Breaux aka Crow
Prospects:
George Farrow aka Killer
Prologue
A lone Harley rolled down Highway 101 along the coast of Northern California. It was rare to see a Gypsy King running solo. But today, Tabor rode wide open, heading nowhere in particular. He was used to being responsible for their president, Gypsy, and the downtime wasn’t sitting well with him. Things had been quiet—way too quiet for Tabor. Being one of the Gypsy Kings’ sergeant-at-arms came with responsibilities. The most important one was protecting the club’s president. Now, Gypsy was on his honeymoon, far away from the prying eyes of home. Wrench and Trip had gone to watch over Gypsy and Mariquinn, leaving Tabor behind to keep watch over their VP-Cruise.
Too many ghosts rode Tabor when he didn’t have a mission. Shifting gears, he rolled through the next curve as he caught the scent of lilacs. Damn, she shouldn’t be haunting him this long. It had been years—six to be exact. Maybe he needed to deal with the past before he could move forward. He just didn’t know how to move on when he felt responsible for Echo’s death. Hadn’t he beat himself up over her death long enough? How long should he carry it? Always.
Twisting the throttle, he opened up the bike in the straightaway. Today the devil was riding his back hard, and Tabor needed to be rid of him. Underground fighting always had room for another fighter, and he could use an excuse for pounding his fist into someone else’s face. Gypsy being out of country allowed him to do just that. But first, he needed to make a call before he went down into Fort Bragg.
***
Things always happened the way they’re supposed to—that was Genevie Martinelle’s philosophy. It happened to be the only thing that made sense to her when things didn’t work out.
It was time to put her plan into action. Walking around the SUV, she put the last of her daughter Katya’s things in the back while she bounced around the backseat. Her daughter made her smile, she was always her happy spot. Watching the little girl bounce around with her long blonde curls tumbling around her face made Echo laugh. She needed to get her energetic child into the car seat. A touch of melancholy came over her, and she wondered for a moment what Katya’s father would think about his little girl. She had her father’s mischievous nature. Shaking her head, Echo reminded herself he left a long time ago and never came back.
Slipping behind the wheel, Echo punched Lampsing, California into the car’s GPS. From Albany, NY to Lampsing would take less then forty-eight hours. If they didn’t stop for food, gas, or rest, they would make it in time. She smiled as her child continued to dance in her car seat, she knew that wasn’t going to happen. Knowing her daughter, she would want to see every sight along the way. Echo had mapped out a weeklong trip, and if it took her two weeks, then it took two weeks.
Chapter 1
Genevie “Echo Sala” Martinelle rushed upstairs to turn on the lights before bringing up her young daughter. The building she had inherited had lain dormant for years. It would take a lot of work to bring it back to life. But she was thankful for it, no matter what it looked like. They would finally have a home, far away from the state of New York. A new life, a new start.
Here she would be safe. Her ex didn’t know her family name. She had always kept that secret. Martinelle was a known name in New York and Echo tried not to have anything to do with them. She had loved the family, but they were her stepfamily. Her grandmother had married into the Martinelle family bringing Echo right along with her.
The building had been the only piece of property from her family’s estate. Old man Martinelle’s children, mostly Anthony Martinelle, had fought Echo for it, only to lose the fight in the courts. She had been thankful the judge had also fined them the amount of the court fees. It seemed the judge was not a fan of the family. To say the least, “Lil Tony,” as his friends called him, had been pissed.
Now, she was here starting over. Hustling back down the steps, Echo hurried to get Katya out of the car. It had been a long road trip driving from Lil’ Italy all the way to the northern coast of California. A beautiful vacation, one which they had never experienced before. Echo had not been on a cross-country trip since she was a young girl while staying with her grandmother.
Opening the car door, she reached in, helping her daughter out of the back seat. Grabbing the backpack from the front seat, Echo shut the door using her hip. She took a second to look around. It was a nice area. Tomorrow she would get her bearings and make a plan. For now, there was an air mattress upstairs waiting to be set up and slept in. Who was she to keep it waiting? Suddenly, a tingling sensation had her looking over her shoulder. She felt she was being watched. Just old feelings creeping in on her. Reminding herself that Neil was still in jail and would be for some time made her feel a little better. The feeling just wouldn’t leave her until she got inside and closed the door, locking it. Echo carried a sleepy Kat upstairs.
***
Sitting in his second-floor apartment, Tabor watched the empty two-story building across the street. It sat on the north corner from the clubhouse. Gypsy had tried buying the building with no luck. The property had been tied up in litigation due to a will dispute.
What a waste of good real estate. Just as he turned to walk away from the window, a
light popped on across the street in the vacant building. Stepping back to the window, Tabor noticed a small SUV parked out front. The idea of a car pulling up below without catching his attention bothered him. Staring down at the car, he noticed movement in the small backseat. He couldn’t make out if it was a person or possibly a pet.
When the door opened to the building, his heart skipped a beat. A woman stepped out, a breathtakingly beautiful woman. Dark hair cut a little shorter than shoulder length showed off her neck nicely. Long shapely legs balanced on a pair of wedged heels and went all the way up to a pair of cutoff shorts. Her blouse hung off one shoulder, exposing a tattoo. Nice, he thought. Then the woman opened the door, tugging a small girl out of the car. The sight of a child deflated Tabor’s wild thoughts. Just his luck, a married woman moving in across the way…
He watched as she stopped, looking over her shoulder before continuing inside. He could almost see the look on her face. Tabor thought she was fearful. He had seen it before. Tabor wondered what had put it on her pretty face. He waited for the woman to enter the upstairs apartment. When she did, Tabor couldn’t tear himself from the window. She was a siren, he decided, but something about the woman nagged at the back of his mind. Something about the woman brought up old ghosts. Maybe it was just the time of year bringing things up.
The door opening to his room caught his attention. Gina, one of the club girls, sauntered in. He knew what she wanted, and up until seeing the woman across the street Tabor would have given it to her. When her hand reached down to stroke him through his jeans, Tabor grasped her hand, giving her a look. He watched as she huffed off, slamming the door as she called him an idiolute. Tabor needed the drama like a bullet to his head. He hated when the club girls tried using Romanian, his native language. It was a turn off, to say the least. He looked back across the way, trying to get one more look at the mysterious woman.
***
Echo sat in an old worn-out chair, left behind by the previous occupants. An open window let in the soft night breeze, breathing fresh air into the old apartment. Katya was asleep on the other side of the room, snuggled under blankets. Tomorrow they would go buy paint and supplies to get the place cleaned up. The first bedroom she would paint would be the smaller bedroom, making it Katya’s. Echo wiped a tear as it tracked down her face. Her daughter deserved some form of normality after what she had been through.
This is it, Echo thought. This was their last move, the last time Echo would uproot her daughter. She was tired of never feeling like she could ever have a fresh start, tired of running, tired of hiding. No more excuses. Six years had passed and still she allowed the memory of Stephan to haunt her. He had kept every man at bay without even being near her. Hell, he wasn’t even in the same state—maybe not even the same country, for all she knew.
It had been out of necessity Echo had started dating Neil Logan. He had been a sort of shelter until he became just one more thing that beat her down. Their relationship had been a ruse to keep Grandmama’s husband off her case. He was old-school Italian and believed a woman of Echo’s age should be married, and was horrified at the idea of a woman raising a child on her own.
Echo had believed she could trust Neil; he had been her friend for years. He was also close to Anthony. Her love for Stephan had made her blind, she never saw the simple fact that Neil had been playing her. One day things took a turn for the worst and Neil hit Echo in a fit of anger. His immediate response was an apology, but it was just the first of many episodes. Echo never knew what would set him off.
He blamed Katya for Echo not having intimate feelings towards him. He said the child was old enough to sleep alone. Echo had laid it out for him: she wasn’t interested in a real relationship. When he eventually hit Katya, Echo reached her breaking point. Making the decision to leave was easy, but actually leaving had been another matter.
Echo had never realized just how controlling Neil was until she left. He handled the money, controlled her spending, all while telling her he was helping her save for emergency situations. Echo shouldn’t have been surprised when she went to the bank and discovered Neil had never added her name to the account.
Echo went home, packed everything that could fit in her SUV, and left. She hit the ATM, withdrawing the maximum amount. When Neil texted asking her why she had taken money out, Echo ignored it. She had gone back to her grandmama’s, only to find out upon her death that Neil was more in bed with the Martinelles than she had ever imagined.
At that point the property had been settled, leaving the Martinelle family out of her holdings. She never understood the anger Anthony Martinelle had towards her, until one evening Echo walked in on Neil and Anthony in bed together. As in the physical bed together. Echo had been more than surprised.
Because Anthony didn’t dare let his family or friends know of the relationship, he broke things off with Neil. It was still unclear if Neil himself or Anthony had rigged the gas line in her apartment. What was proven was that Neil’s fingerprints had been found on the wrench he used to damage the line. Neil would be in jail for a long time. So, why did she still feel like she needed to worry?
Returning to the view outside the window, Echo took in her surroundings, thinking how she had been lucky that she had a bank account that Neil knew nothing about, along with a safety deposit box. Now, she just needed her mind to stop thinking about Stephan. He left six years ago and never looked back. Why was it so hard for her to let him go? Looking back at her sleeping daughter, she answered her own question… his daughter.
Unfolding herself from the chair, Echo went to snuggle with her precious little girl.
***
Somewhere a phone rang. Tabor wished someone would answer the bitch. Rolling over, he realized the bitch ringing was his. Grabbing his cell, he answered. His clipped tone should have told the caller to hang up. Not a chance, he realized, once he recognized the VP’s voice.
“What’s up. Cruise?”
“We have a meet with the blade riders in Mendocino, rumor is we haven’t asked permission to fly our colors.”
“I wonder who started that rumor?”
“We know who, I’m not wanting to call Gypsy for this.” There wasn’t any reason for Cruise to call his Pres, Gypsy and Quinn deserved their private time. Club business could be handled for now without him being called in.
“We can handle this ourselves. You’re the fucking VP, they think Gypsy being gone makes us weak.” Rolling over, Tabor tossed the covers aside, planting his feet on the hardwood floor. Sleep eluded him; he may as well get things organized. The boys needed to be notified first thing. “I’ll set the meet for Saturday. Also, someone moved into the building on the corner tonight.”
“Really.” Damn Gypsy would be disappointed, the MC had wanted the building. They would have to find another location for the bar.
“Yep, pretty little thing.”
“A woman.”
“And her daughter.”
“How old’s the daughter?”
“Three, maybe four. Fuck if I know, it’s a kid.”
“Oh, you mean a young mother and a baby.”
“That’s what I fuckin’ said, douche.” Damn Cruise had a one-track mind when it came to the female sex. The man was a whore.
“No, you didn’t fucker.” Cruise laughed.
In the background Tabor heard soft moans. Shaking his head, he realized Cruise had company. “Anyway, thought you would want to know about it.”
“Thanks, sorry I woke you.”
“Wasn’t really sleeping. I’ll take care of setting up the meet don’t worry about it. You go play with your company.”
“I can multi-task. She’s busy right now… with her mouth.” Cruise chuckled. “While we’re talking, what’s up with Wick? He’s been going off a lot.”
“Not sure, you want someone on him?”
“Not yet, just keep an eye out.”
“Will do.” And just like that Cruise hung up without even a “fuck off.”
Stretching his neck, Tabor thought about the woman across the street. Why, he had no idea. She was just another body to look at, he supposed, so why was he back at the window trying to get look at her? Maybe he just needed to get laid, it had been a while. Checking his phone, he saw it was three in the morning. Cruise must have been just calling it a night when Tabor phoned him. That man had women all over his dick all the time. One day, one would rock his world and Tabor wanted a ringside seat to see that shit. Not everyone’s as lucky as Gypsy.
***
How did he get his ass in these fucking situations? Not the situation he was in at that moment, but the one he was about to be in. Slapping the perfectly tight ass of his paid companion for the next hour, Jason Becks wondered how many more jobs he would have to do for his client before his debt would be paid.
“Honey, if you’re done, I can go.”
“Shut up, I paid for an hour and I want my fucking hour.” He needed to think. He had to find Genevie Martinelle, and fast.
Chapter 2
Two weeks it had taken her to scrub the entire apartment. Once she had started, there was no stopping. Needing a break, Echo thought going out for lunch sounded good. Unfortunately, there weren’t a whole lot of choices in the area. She really needed to get her bistro up and running. The nearby diner was quaint, and the food had been decent, she just didn’t know how many trips she would be making there. Echo’s first choice had been the Brew House. Imagine her surprise when she walked into the Brew House thinking she was going to grab a six-pack for later, only to discover it was a coffee house. Katya had liked Margo, the nice young woman running the cafe. She had been very helpful in explaining where things were in town.
After her mediocre lunch at the diner, she dragged Katya back into the coffee shop. Katya didn’t mind once Margo gave her a cupcake. Now they were heading back home to set things up to start painting. Pulling around the corner, she saw cars out in every spot out front of her building.
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