“Making Los Ahn more powerful? That’s a good plan?”
“Better than Vaughn and Jade,” I growled. “They were…”
“You fucked her, man. You fucked her… you…”
Layne looked ready to scream or cry. Or both. All the years of rage and hate for me were coming forward right now. All in front of the MC. In front of Everly. Right in the middle of the lot.
“Yeah,” I said. “I fucked her. I’d fuck her again, Layne. So what are we going to do now? You want to blow my brains out, do it.”
I put my arms out. I waited for the bullet to take my life. But it didn’t. Instead, Layne swung the gun at me, cracking me in the jaw. I spun around and stepped back a few steps. I grabbed my jaw and moved it. Hurt, yeah. Bleeding, no. Giving up, not a chance in hell.
I stood tall and took off my leather cut. I tossed it to the ground. Layne did the same damn thing, including putting his gun down.
This was going to happen. Finally going to fucking happen. Me against Layne. Brother against brother. Man against man. President against President. So much bullshit lingering between me and him. He never got over me fucking Anneliese and killing her. Rightfully so, I guess. But I did it to save the club.
We put our fists up.
“This is insane,” Buzzy growled. “The war’s out there…”
“No it’s not,” I said. “Layne is right. Listen to your President.”
We started to circle each other. The entire MC watched us. The prospects stood there, in disbelief. And then Everly…
Whatever. This was about honor. About truth. About the MC going forward.
Layne and I closed in a little. I wasn’t going to take the first shot at him. He deserved to get me one more time for free. So I put my hands down. He threw a fist and cracked me in the nose. The punch was like getting hit by a brick. It wasn’t the first time I had taken a shot from Layne to the nose. We had always had our fights in the past, but nothing like this.
I stepped back a few steps and touched my nose. There was blood on my index finger. I flicked it away and put my hands back up. I nodded.
Fair enough, Layne. You got your shot… now I get mine…
I went right after Layne. It was just my style. I didn’t hang back and wait. I went for the throat and took my chances.
A right, a left, another right, I just went for the kill on Layne. I got his shoulder, his hand, and then his forehead. Layne grunted and came at me, swinging his massive fists, smacking me in the ribs and gut. He then pushed me back, giving me a chance to get some air. Fuck, I needed it. But I didn’t stay back long. I went right back in. Layne opened his arms and got ready to attack me at my sides again. So I hurried to threw up a right fist and got him in the jaw. My left fist followed a second later with another hit to the jaw. I had Layne stumbling back and stayed on him. Punch after fucking punch, I took the big man, who was as close as a brother to me, right to his fucking knees.
I thought I had him almost down, but Layne came forward with a huge head butt to my stomach. I tried to scream but had no breath. I grabbed at Layne’s shoulder and felt like I was about to throw up. Layne punched me in the mouth, then the gut. Now I was on my knees and he was standing. He brought his elbow down to the middle of my back and stole even more air from me. Now I was on my hands and knees. My mouth open, spit and blood dripping to the ground.
Layne kicked me in the ribs. It was so hard, I felt a crunch from the inside of my body. The second kick was matched with a loud grunt. I went off the ground to my side. Layne then put the toe of his black boot to my throat. But the big, dumb son of a bitch didn’t press down and end it all. He could have, and should have, crushed my throat and stared into my eyes as I suffocated.
Maybe that’s why it took him so long to stab me in the back. Always hesitating. Always the second voice to mine, trying to figure too much out at once. Yeah, maybe my rushing actions had brought the MC to where it was, but fuck, I followed my heart.
I followed my fucking heart… always.
If I hadn’t followed my heart with Anneliese then what would have happened? The bitch would have run through the MC with her drugs and ideas. Layne and I would have been fighting worse than this and one of us would have been dead by now. Anneliese would have run through him and taken all his pride, money, and anything else she could grab onto.
Another few seconds passed and Layne started to add pressure. My air was instantly cut off. I looked at him breathing, the hateful glare in his eyes. But he wasn’t focused. He was somewhere else, with someone else. Maybe jumping to the past with Anneliese, or maybe running to the future where he believed he and Everly would end up together.
Fuck that.
I made a hard fist and punched the inside of Layne’s knee. He lifted his foot just enough for me to grab his knee, twist, and bring him down to the ground. I then sat up and came at him with an elbow, smashing him in the left eye. His head snapped back as he screamed. I landed two more elbows before we both pushed off each other.
I kicked back and jumped back up to my feet. I stood there, hurting and bleeding. I licked my bottom lip and tasted blood. My body, my ribs, everything hurt. It hurt to breathe. It hurt not to breathe.
Layne’s eye was bleeding and starting to swell.
“Done?” I asked.
“Nope,” he said.
“Fucking hell,” Buzzy said. “I’m not watching this anymore.”
The rest of the guys remained there, watching Layne and me circle each other again. We inched closer, taking little punches when the opportunity opened itself up. It seemed strange, taking a shot to the face from Layne and almost not feeling it. Like my sensory for pain was turned off. Or anger and adrenaline just made it so I couldn’t feel it. We each took our shots, punch after punch, leaving ourselves open to get hit. I had no fucking clue why we were really doing this. It wasn’t going to fix a thing.
I came in with a wicked left, a punch Layne did not see coming. I smashed my middle knuckle against the wiggly cartilage of his nose and felt it explode. Blood sprayed at me and ran down his face like a faucet. Layne tried to come over with a big hook and I put my arm up and blocked it. With his arm still up, I had a one second window to land a good punch to his ribs. I did so and it felt like I just punched a fucking wall. A pain shot up my wrist. I used my left arm to try and twist his right arm to bring him in for, hopefully, the last punch of the damn fight.
From the corner of my eye, as though it were something instinctive in me, I saw Everly suddenly clutch at her stomach. She fell to her knees and let out a scream.
My head was turned long enough for Layne to come across with a left hook that sent me to the ground, knocked me out, and ended the fight.
All I saw was Everly… and then nothing.
It could have been a minute or a fucking year when I started to come back. I heard screaming and Everly crying out my name. I opened my eyes and was facedown on the ground. I started to push up and felt my right eye half shut. I tasted blood and dirt.
I looked and saw Layne near Everly. She had a hand out, shaking her head.
“I need Talon!” she screamed.
I fought against the pain and the feeling of being disoriented. I got to my feet and tried to take a few steps. I stumbled left to right like I was drunk. But I kept fighting. To get to her. To get to my girl. To get to my love.
I grabbed at Layne and spun him around. His face looked as bad as mine felt.
I dropped to my knees and hugged Everly as she let out a cry. Her hands went to my back and she clawed at me hard. She dug right into my shoulder, right into my stab wound, but I didn’t stop her. She was in fucking pain. Bad.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her. “I don’t…”
That’s when she looked up at me. Tears running down her face. Terrified.
“I’m losing the baby, Talon.”
8.
(Everly)
I opened my eyes and looked around. It was quiet, a little dark, empty. I instantly told m
yself I was trapped in another one of my nightmares. Soon something terrible would happen. So I braced myself, waiting for the worst. There were machines all around me but most of them weren’t being used. I was connected to a heart monitor that heart beating 90 beats per minute, sometimes shooting up into the 120 per minute.
I was cold and shivering. My stomach hurt but nothing like it had been before.
I had tried so hard to get through the fight. The goddamn fight. The fight that probably needed to happen a long time ago and finally did happen. Seeing Talon and Layne unloading on each other was horrible. Maybe a while ago it would have been sexy. Those two rough and tough sexy bikers throwing punches. Sweating, bleeding, so much tension and testosterone lingering around. It could make any decent woman a little wet and turned on.
But not what I saw.
That was pure hate. That was pure love, too. If they wanted to attack, they would have. Someone would have went down in a minute. Someone would have ended up really hurt or dead. But each time one of them had a chance to do something drastic, they held back.
Talon looked ready to knock Layne out and that’s when the pain hit me once and for all. The doctor had warned me it probably would happen like that. It would be a real intense cramping feeling that would end up with me bleeding. Nothing like knowing you were losing a baby, right? I was early on in the pregnancy, which maybe was some kind of sick blessing that it wasn’t more intense, more painful, and further along.
The door opened to the room. I shut my eyes and braced myself for the next part of the nightmare.
I heard feet shuffling and opened my eyes to peek for a second. I saw Talon standing there with a cup of coffee in his hand. His face looked like death. His right eye completely swollen and almost black. He had a cut on his upper lip and lower lip.
The second he saw my eyes open, he rushed to put the coffee down and reached for my hand.
“Fuck, beautiful,” he said. “How do you feel?”
“Okay,” I said. “Sore. Confused. Scared.”
He reached down and stroked my hair. “No need to be scared. I’m right here.”
I nodded. My eyes welled up with tears and I bit on my bottom lip.
Here comes the conversation…
“Everly, what the fuck…”
I wiped a tear off my cheek. “Talon, I barely knew anything. Okay?”
“What does that mean?”
“I had been feeling a little off. I went to the store and bought two pregnancy tests. They both came up positive. But I was just a few weeks late. I was waiting for the right time to tell you what was going on. It hasn’t been calm…”
“Shit,” Talon said. He stood up and backed away. “So what happened?”
“I started feeling pains. Cramps. It got scary enough that I snuck out and went to a doctor. She told me it was… ending. I wasn’t far along, just weeks. So it’s not life threatening or anything.”
“So I was left in the dark. I stood there and watched you collapse. I thought…”
Talon looked ready to explode. I wanted to jump out of bed and tackle him. Hug him until there was no more pain. Kiss him until the world came to an end. Just become wrapped up in our fucked up romance and leave everything behind.
“I didn’t know it was going to be like that,” I said. “It just hurt… and…”
“You were fucking bleeding,” Talon growled. “I didn’t know what the fuck to think.”
“I’m okay,” I said.
“I know that,” Talon said. “I talked to the fucking doctors already. They’re discharging you today. Within a few hours. You just need to rest, take some meds for pain, and let your body figure its shit out. All that womanly cycle stuff.”
“You talked to the doctors? Asked them all that?”
“Of course I did. You were pregnant, Everly. With… my…”
“Yes,” I said. “Fuck, Talon, yes. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want one more thing on you. I don’t want you to break.”
He looked down. “Break. The only way I’m going to break is if you’re not here. Not with me. Not around to keep me off the edge. Got it?”
I nodded slowly.
Talon came back to the bed. He sat down on it and took my hand again.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“I don’t know how much more I can take of all this,” Talon said. “Wars. Inside the club and out. You need to just… goddamn, beautiful, I just need your trust so much right now. More than anything you’ve ever trusted in. No matter what happens.”
“Even when you get stabbed by Layne? And fight Layne?”
Talon nodded. “Yeah. Exactly. You need to trust me. We’re going to make it through all this. But, damn, Everly, if you have something… a pregnancy…” Talon slowly touched my stomach. His hand was shaking. “You should have told me.”
“Before or after you were hunting down Jade? Before or after I was taken by Vaughn? Before of after you and Layne…”
“Christ, I get it,” he growled. “I just asked you for trust. My trust. Not Layne’s. Not the club. Fuck all that. I’m asking you to look into my eyes and trust me. Do you fucking trust me?”
“Yes, I swear,” Everly said. “Yes.”
“Then you need to just go for this ride some more. You cannot hold back from me though.” He stroked my hair. He seemed like he was fighting to remain calm in front of me. “Pregnancy? That’s a big fucking deal. I don’t care if the world is on fire, beautiful. If you need me, I’m always right here.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“Mad at you?” he asked. He gritted his teeth. “Truthfully, no. I’m mad that I didn’t know. I’m mad that you were experiencing something so beautiful and then dark… and you were alone. While I was right there.”
I put a hand to his and squeezed. “But you get it, right? You get why…”
“Yeah, I get it,” he said. “Trust me, beautiful, I get it. But it can’t happen ever again.”
I nodded. I knew he waited for my eyes to become sad, or innocent, or something, but I fought it. I forced them to stay serious and intense.
“You… Layne… those other men…”
“Los Ahn,” he said. “Yeah. They’re real nice guys, aren’t they?”
I smirked. “They look serious. And if you and Layne…”
He touched my bottom lip and tried his best to be gentle and tell me to shut up. “Listen to me. This is all part of trust. Los Ahn has been a thorn in our side since I first started with Devil Call. They swoop in when they know we’re hurting or when they know they’re number two on our list. We took out Rilen Lost and now they want to take a stab at hurting us. Not going to happen. You rest and let me see how long until I can get you the hell out of here.”
He leaned forward and gently kissed my lips. He lingered for another couple seconds, kissing me again and again until the hospital door opened behind him. Talon stood and left me lingering for more of his kisses. I hoped it was a doctor or nurse coming to tell me that I was able to finally leave the hospital.
But it wasn’t anyone from the hospital. It was two police officers, one holding cuffs, the other holding a gun. Behind them, pushing through, was Detective John.
Detective John looked right at Talon. “Need to speak with Everly alone.”
“Like hell,” he said.
“That’s what I figured,” Detective John said. “That’s why you’re being arrested.”
“For what?” Talon asked.
The two officers jumped at Talon and grabbed him. He stiffened and looked as though he was holding back from attacking the police officers. I knew he didn’t want to fight back and cause another scene in front of me. It sent a surge of pain through my heart that Talon couldn’t be himself right now. He let them cuff him and the two officers pulled him away from the bed.
He looked back at me.
My bottom lip quivered. I wanted to tell him not to go. I wanted to beg him to fight and stay with me in the room.
Before I could speak, Detective John sat on the corner of the bed and put a hand to my leg. He looked at me. “How are you feeling? We need to have a serious talk.”
9.
(Talon)
The two officers pulled me from the room and down the hall. People stopped in their tracks to see me in cuffs. I growled at anyone who stood there, making sure they turned their fucking eyes to something more important.
“What the fuck is this?” I asked.
The two officers ignored me. I looked back, trying to find someone from Devil Call MC. This didn’t make sense at all. There were at least four of us here in the hospital just ten minutes ago.
Unless I was sold out on something.
Did Layne talk?
Did Buzzy talk?
Did one of the dumb fucking prospects talk?
We made it another two steps before I thrashed my shoulders and tried to break away. If something was going on I needed to get back to Everly. She couldn’t be there alone. She was still hurting, still confused. Her poor body…
I started to turn and the officers grabbed me again. I grunted and pulled the opposite way. The guy on my left threw an elbow and cracked me in the ribs. I gasped and lost my breath for a second. Normally it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal but after brick like fists and heavy kicks from Layne, I probably had at least a couple broken ribs.
The officers spun me back around and dragged me.
At the end of the hall, we turned, and I saw the other guys in the MC. Layne, Drave, Buzzy, Ash. Two prospects. All of them cuffed, standing against a wall, a cop in front of each of them with their guns drawn. At the end of that hall were two more officers keeping things clear.
This was a fucking set up. A complete fucking ambush. Right when Everly was at her weakest and needed me the most.
“You try and get away again and I’ll shoot you,” one of the officers said. “We have full clearance from Detective John.”
“Fuck you,” I growled. “Pieces of shit.”
The two officers threw me against a wall.
I was right next to Layne and looked at him. “What the fuck is this?”
TANGLED SECRETS (A Devil Call MC Book) (Talon & Everly Book Eight) Page 4
