Rise of the Phoenix: Phoenix Skulls Motorcycle Club: (Phoenix Skulls MC Romance Book 1)

by Cooke, Jessie

  “Ajei.” Jace came around the house where she was parked.

  “Hello, Jace. I’m sorry to just stop by like this, but my heart hurt so much and I wanted to make sure that you and Beck know we’re here for you. If there’s anything we can do...”

  “I just got a call from our lawyer that the assault charges are being dropped against Finn. I’m guessing you had something to do with that?”

  “Tommy asked them to drop the charges.”

  “Thank you. We are already so few in numbers that I can’t afford to be down a man. We’ve got so much to do. I heard from my contractor today. They got the permits in order finally and he’s going to have a crew out here tomorrow morning.”

  “That’s wonderful news,” Ajei said. “Just like the phoenix, your family will rise from the ashes.” Jace glanced down at the phoenix tattoo on his arm and she said, “Do you know the legend behind the phoenix, Jace?”

  “Not really. I’ve always heard the saying about the phoenix rising from the ashes, I know it’s a bird that never dies...that’s about it. I suppose I should do some research.”

  “If you’ll indulge me?”

  “Of course. Why don’t you come inside? I’ll get you something to drink.”

  “No, thank you. I don’t want to invade Rebekah’s space right now. Let’s sit on the porch.” Jace nodded and gestured with his arm for her to go first. He followed her and waited for her to take a seat and then he sat next to her. She stared at the mountains in the distance for a while, and then she said, “When the world began, there was a bird who lived alone in the desert. He was known as ‘the bird of fire’ because of the brilliant color of his wings. This bird was one of a kind, but sadly that meant that once he died, there would no more of his kind, ever. He was unable to lay eggs and he had no young. One day the sun looked down and noticed his shimmering red and gold feathers and told him, ‘Oh glorious Phoenix, you shall be my bird and live forever.’ The Phoenix was thrilled. He promised the sun that he would sing his songs from that day forward only for him. For a while, the Phoenix was happy and he sang his songs for the sun...but his own beauty was also his curse.” She paused and then said, “Maybe the beauty of what you’re trying to build here has been your curse as well. Rock and I came from belonging to a group like this, so we understand. Perhaps we were wrong to not let Tommy experience it more.” She sighed and said, “But back to the story...

  “Where the Phoenix lived he couldn’t get any peace. The children chased and tried to capture him and everyone wanted his feathers for themselves. Finally, he flew away one day. He flew to the east and as far away from the humans as he could go. He settled in a beautiful desert, and for some time he was happy there as well, albeit a bit lonely. He flew freely. He sang his songs to the sun...and he aged, slowly.

  “After five hundred years, he was still alone, and still alive, but he was tired. He was losing his strength and he couldn’t fly as far or as fast as he used to. He came to a point where he no longer wanted to live, at least not like that. As he sang to the sun one day he said, ‘Glorious sun, please make me young and strong again.’ The sun didn’t answer him, so he sang it again, and again, day after day. So much time passed that the Phoenix began to fear the sun couldn’t hear his voice, or his songs at all. He thought that maybe he’d flown too far from what he knew and loved. So, even in his weakened condition, he began to fly back in the direction he had come from. He flew over hills, valleys, and mountains. It was a long journey and he had to rest many times along the way. The Phoenix loved the smells of herbs and spices so on each one of his rest breaks, he collected fragrant leaves and pieces of cinnamon bark and tucked what he couldn’t carry in his claws into his feathers and then he’d fly some more. Finally, he came to the place that used to be his home. The first thing he saw was a tall palm tree growing up high on a mountainside. The Phoenix used his cinnamon bark to build himself a nest at the top of it, and he lined it with the fragrant leaves. Once the nest was done, he began to think of how alone he was, still, and he began to collect myrrh that he’d seen oozing out of a tree and he made it into an egg. He carried it back to his nest, tucked it into the fragrant leaves, and sat down on it. At last he didn’t feel so alone, but he still missed the sun. The clouds filled the sky and darkness reigned in the once bright and beautiful valley. He raised his head and sang out to his glorious friend, ‘Please, glorious sun, show yourself. Please, make me young and strong again.’

  “The clouds were suddenly chased away and the cold winds stilled and his friend the sun shone brilliantly, and it warmed the Phoenix to his core. All the other animals, even the reptiles, hid from the flaming hot rays, but the Phoenix endured. He spread his beautiful wings and soaked up the fierce rays until his feathers began to smolder and then suddenly, they burst into flames. Within minutes the Phoenix became a big ball of blazing fire. The light from his flames could be seen for miles and burned for a long time. But the fire never spread from the bird. Once it died out, the tree still stood, the nest was intact, and so was the egg. Only the Phoenix had burned, becoming a pile of silver ash. The winds were still calm and there wasn’t a sound to be heard anywhere, until the ashes in the nest began to tremble and shake, and they seemed to heave upward until all at once, from underneath the ashes, a young Phoenix emerged. He was tiny and brand new, yet he still stretched his neck up toward the sky and lifted his wings and flapped them...and as he flapped, as he struggled, he began to grow. He grew and grew until he was the size he had been before, only now he was young and strong again and even more beautiful. The Phoenix looked up at the sun and sang, ‘Oh glorious sun, I’ll sing my songs just for you, forever and always.’

  “When he finished his song the wind began to blow, and the clouds swirled across the sky and all of the creatures came out of their hiding places. The Phoenix picked up his egg in his claws and flew up and away from the nest. As he flew through the sky all the birds rose up from the earth and flew behind him singing, ‘You’re the greatest of all birds. You’re our king.’ The Phoenix kept flying until he got to the temple of the sun and he placed the egg with the ashes inside the sun’s altar. It was his gift to his friend, the only child he would ever make. He told the other birds that was as far as they could go; he had to fly on alone. They watched as he flew away, not stopping until he reached the desert where he still lives, and he still sings to the sun each day. In return, the sun allows him to overcome...all adversity.” Ajei touched Jace’s arm softly and said, “You and your beautiful Rebekah will overcome this. You’ll rise from it and spread your wings.” Jace smiled down at her and she said, “What did you name the baby?”

  Jace’s smile faded as he said, “We didn’t name it...she was only twelve weeks along...”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. We do things differently in our culture. In our culture when a baby passes, we name them so that when we pass from the earth, we can find them again in the afterlife.”

  Jace smiled again and said, “I like that.” He looked sad again and said softly, “I’m worried about her. She hasn’t moved from the bed since I brought her home. She’s just staring at the wall, not talking to me.”

  “She probably just needs time. Think of it this way, Jace: as hard as this was for you...Beck had that child inside of her. Her body was already nurturing him, and in her mind’s eye, she could see herself holding him in her arms. As real as it may have been for you, for her it was already living in her heart and her soul...”

  “Stark Golden-Bell.” Jace and Ajei turned and looked in the direction of Beck’s voice. She was standing in the doorway, dressed in her jeans, a Harley tank top...and her leather kutte. Her blue eyes weren’t filled with the fire that Ajei had seen right away when she met her...but just like the Phoenix, she’d risen up, and Ajei didn’t doubt that she’d continue to grow. She smiled at the beautiful, slightly damaged, blue-eyed girl and Rebekah smiled back. She looked at her old man then and said, “It means strong in a bunch of different languages. It was my
father’s mother’s maiden name.” She looked at Jace and said, “With our genes, there’s no way he’s not up there already, trying to run things.” She had tears swimming in her eyes, but Ajei had a feeling that in time, her new friends would be just fine.

  9

  “Hey, Jace, what is this?” Finn had discovered the Harley late in life, and he still had a lot to learn. Jace laughed and said:

  “The plastic tie that held the parts together in the box.”

  Finn’s face turned bright red. “Oh, sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” Jace told him. “It’s all a learning process. Streak, how are you coming with that carburetor?” It had been a week since the painting incident on the side of the house and Jace was trying like hell to get things back to work as usual. He had placed an ad in the Phoenix Sun right after they got to town and he was beginning to get in more work than they could handle between the three of them. To top it off, Finn was still learning, and Jace had to stop what he was doing dozens of times a day and talk the kid through whatever he was working on. He had to talk himself through breathing and being patient at least as many times a day. He had to remind himself that Finn didn’t grow up putting together models and taking them apart, and reading everything he could get his hands on about engines and pipes and anything else Harley. The contractor had finally broken ground on their real shop a few days before, but for now they were working out of a one-car garage, and sometimes the close quarters grated on his nerves as well.

  “Hey!” Beck was standing in the opening of the rollup door. She had snapped back, quickly, and seemed to be her old self again. She even talked to him about her feelings a little, which was big for her. She carried a lot of guilt over losing the baby. She had it in her head that it was somehow a “punishment” for giving up her first baby for adoption. Jace tried to talk her out of that nonsense, telling her it was nobody’s fault...until she finally said she agreed, just to get him off her back. “Punk’s here,” she said. “Punk” was Kevin Lord. He was a sailor whom Beck had worked with. She wasn’t as close to him as she was to Streak, but she’d supervised him on deployment on the ship more than once and she thought he’d be a good fit for the club. Jace trusted her judgment. Normally, he’d want to have a man’s background checked out before he just let him patch into their club...but for Beck’s friends, he didn’t think it was necessary. Punk had driven out from Chicago.

  “Okay, baby, I’ll be right out.” Jace cleaned the grease off his hands and as he was walking out of the garage he saw one of the contractor’s trucks speeding up toward the house. He stopped and waited and when it stopped, the young guy behind the wheel yelled out the window:

  “Jace, Sam needs you, now!” The kid’s face was as white as a sheet, so Jace didn’t ask any questions. He climbed into the truck and before he could close the door, Beck was there, climbing in after him. The kid with the orange vest and construction hat put the truck in gear and flew back up the road, where they were putting in the foundation for the shop. Before they got there Beck said:

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’m gonna let Sam tell you,” the kid said. He sounded almost like he was about to get sick. Beck started to say something else and Jace squeezed her hand. She gave him an annoyed sigh but didn’t say anything else. By that time the kid was pulling up next to the backhoe and putting the truck in park. As soon as Jace and Beck got out, Sam was at their side.

  “What’s going on, Sam?”

  Sam looked like your stereotypical construction worker. He was muscular and tall and he had a calm demeanor about him that Jace hadn’t so far seen rattled at all. But today, he looked even sicker than the kid had. “I found...I’ll just show you,” he said. Beck still looked annoyed, but Jace held on tightly to her hand as they followed Sam. When they reached the site where Sam had been moving dirt in preparation for pouring concrete, Jace stopped in his tracks. Beck wiggled her hand out of his and put it over her mouth, turning away and bending over like she might be thinking about throwing up.

  “What the fuck is that smell?” Jace asked.

  “Death,” Beck choked out. “It’s decomposition.” Jace was looking at Sam. The other man was nodding sadly. He pointed at the hole next to where the digging arm still lay in the dirt. Jace couldn’t see anything but dirt, but the closer he got to the hole, the worse the smell got. He was gagging before he reached the digging arm and it took everything he had to not lose his lunch when he saw what Sam had found. There were two bodies and they lay intertwined in each other’s arms, like ghoulish mannequins locked in a forever embrace. It might be sweet, if it weren’t so horrific. Their skin was waxy and so white it was almost translucent. Their eyes were open wide and a silent scream was on the blue, rotting lips of both of them and their hair was no more than strings that protruded from their scalps in places. The clothes they’d been wearing were now rotted threads of fabric and so was the skin on their arms. The worst part, however, was the deep gashes that nearly severed their heads from their necks. Without thinking about it, Jace reached up and pressed his fingers to the scar that had nearly killed him.

  Jace didn’t know how long he stood there. It was the most horrible thing he’d ever seen, but he couldn’t stop looking at it. “Baby?” He felt Beck’s hand on his arm and he looked down at her. She wasn’t looking at him. Her blue eyes were locked onto the horror show in front of them. “I’m going to call the cops, okay?” Jace nodded, afraid if he spoke that the vomit threatening to spew out of his mouth would escape. Beck hooked her arm through his and said, “Come on, baby, come away.” She led Jace far enough away that the smell was no longer overwhelming and he couldn’t see the corpses any longer. But as long as he lived, he knew he’d still see them, every time he closed his eyes.

  * * *

  Jace and Beck were sitting on the front porch of the house with Finn, Streak, and Punk. Punk was going to stay with Streak until he found a place of his own, and he was falling asleep now, thanks to his long drive out from Chicago. The detectives had told them no one could leave, however. That was hours ago. Beck had opened up the kitchen to them all, but told every one of them, even Jace, that they’d be taking their life in their hands if they even suggested she make them a sandwich. It was close to 8 p.m. when Detective Tyler finally showed back up to talk to them. He was the same detective investigating the vandalism, so he knew everyone except Punk. He asked him a few questions about who he was and where he had come from, how long he’d been in town, etc....then he turned to Jace and Beck and said:

  “I’m afraid we may have found the source, or sources, of all that blood. The corpses have both been drained.” Nobody said a word but there was a gasp that might have come from any or every one of them. “The medical examiner took the bodies but the techs are still working the scene. I’m afraid this will stall your work for a while.”

  “Shit,” Jace said. It wasn’t that he didn’t have compassion for those poor people drained of their blood and buried like animals in a shallow grave...but he was beginning to feel like maybe the crazy Indian kid was right and they had inherited some kind of curse. “How long?” he asked.

  The detective shook his head. “I don’t know. We have to identify those bodies and we’ll have to dig around them, to collect not only evidence but make sure there are no other bodies out there.”

  “Fuck,” Jace said. Then to the detective he said, “I’m sorry for those...were they girls?”

  “Yes, both female,” he said.

  “I’m sorry for them. This whole thing has just been...fucked up, to say the least.” He felt Beck’s hand on his shoulder and then heard her say:

  “Yeah, it’s fucked. But let us know whatever we can do to help. I hope you catch the sick bastard, soon.”

  Detective Tyler nodded. “Me too.” His eyes moved to Finn’s face then and he said, “You keeping out of trouble?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Keep it that way. The next time the DA won’t drop the charges. You got
lucky this time.”

  “Yes, sir,” Finn said again. Tyler gave Jace another nod and headed out, and finally Jace’s and Beck’s three virtually adopted sons left for the night, and they were alone. As soon as the last of the three “boys,” as Beck called them, drove away from the house she said:

  “Wanna fuck?” Jace laughed and shook his head at her. She’d been on doctor’s orders for no sex all week. She had a follow-up appointment earlier that day and she’d gotten the green light. A week without sex for Beck was like a year without to almost anyone else.

  “I’d love to,” he said, “but there’s something I need to do first.”

  She made a face at him. “I know it’s been a shitty day, baby. I just thought this would help us both relax and take our minds off of it for a while.”

  Jace stood up and wrapped Beck up in his arms. She almost disappeared into his chest. Kissing her on top of her soft, pretty blonde hair he said, “I think it sounds like an amazing idea. There’s just something I’d like to talk to Ajei and Rock about first.”

  Beck raised her eyebrows. “It’s kind of late, can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

  Jace sighed. “I guess it can, I’m just not sure I’ll be able to concentrate on anything else until I get some more information about this land and...” He gasped and then chuckled. “What are you doing?” Beck had unzipped his jeans and slid both of her hands down into his pants. She was holding onto his rapidly hardening cock as he spoke.

  “Convincing you that I can take your mind off of anything.”

  “Mm...you know what?” Beck slid her hands up and down and he felt his body temperature heat up and his cock grow bigger and harder in her soft hands.

  “What, baby?”

  “You’re right. It can wait.”

  She giggled. “I thought so. Where do you want to do it?”