“Was that the time she picked it up and threw it back at him?” I asked.
“Yep. Dad learned to throw those bottles so they smashed. Otherwise he’d get clocked right back. I look back on it and chuckle, but at the time I was irate with them both. They just needed to fucking grow up.”
Silence descended onto the conversation, and I thought that was that. We picked at our breakfast and drank way too much coffee, but then Jace sat back and began studying me again.
“Your shirt’s inside out,” he said.
“I know.”
“You didn’t fix it in the bathroom?” he asked.
“Well, Jace, when a woman has her period, it usually requires her taking off her pants. Not her shirt,” I said.
“Don’t get smart with me. I’m worried about you, Gemma. You don’t come home, you’re obviously shaken. You were crying, for fuck’s sake. What happened? And don’t feed me some bullshit lie about staying at the diner all night. You love your sleep. Always have.”
I felt cornered. Trapped. Like a wild animal waiting for slaughter. My mind started whirling with thoughts of last night. How Talon had quietly commanded I relax. How I fixed dinner for us both and ate my fill. How his bathtub fit my body perfectly and how his hands were so gentle in washing my hair. I felt tears rising to my eyes again as I closed them, trying to keep all the memories at bay.
I couldn’t tell Jace. He’d kill him if I did.
“Who hurt you?” Jace asked darkly.
“No one,” I said breathlessly.
“Who were you with?” he asked.
“Jace, please stop,” I said desperately.
“Who hurt my sister!?” he roared. And before I could stop myself, I blurted out his name.
“Talon!”
And just like that, I was sobbing again. I put my face in my hands and sobbed. Tears were running down my face while Jace sat there stunned, and all the while Talon’s voice echoed in my ear. Whispering darkened promises of orgasms and relaxation. I could still feel his hands roaming my body while he cleaned me. I could still feel his fingertips massaging my pussy.
I could still feel his cock filling me at every angle.
“I thought he loved me, Jace,” I said, whispering. “I just… I just knew he did.”
I drew in a shaky breath and looked up at my brother, but all I could see was his stoic stare. That was the thing about our family. We were bombastic and boisterous. We were loud and proud. But when we got angry… really, truly angry… the silence was what you needed to be afraid of.
I heard a phone vibrate and saw Jace reach for his hip, then he put his phone to his ear without another word.
“Yep. I’m there,” he said.
“Jace?”
“Gotta go,” he said.
“Jace, where are you going?”
“Church,” he said.
“Jace, no. Stop. Listen to me. It was mutual. A mutual night we shared.”
I grabbed his arm, and he whirled around, and for a split second, I thought I saw his eyes soften. His hand came up to cup my cheek, wiping the tears from my skin before he pressed his lips to my forehead. I didn’t want him to go. I knew if he went to wherever the fuck he was going, Talon was a dead man. I knew if I let him leave with the fury mounting inside of him, Talon didn’t stand a chance.
And even though my heart was broken, he still didn’t do anything to deserve the fury of my brother.
“Be back soon,” Jace said.
“No, no, no, no, no! Jace! Stop!”
I ran after him, but all he did was pick up his pace. As I stood on the porch yelling for him, I watched as he sped away on his bike. I could feel my tears streaking the makeup down my chest, revealing the marks that reminded me of the dream I still believed in.
Deep down inside, I still believed Talon’s words he spoke to me last night.
That I wasn’t the only one with a crush all those years ago.
But my brother was pissed, and I hadn’t been strong enough, and now Talon was going to pay.
He was going to pay for my weakness.
Chapter 17
Talon
I cruised down the road with my mind on one goal. I couldn’t think about anything other than that. If I started thinking about Gemma, I’d want to go after her. I’d bypass church altogether and go straight to her house. And that wasn’t what was needed right now. The guys needed to know what was going on.
Mac needed to know so we could all figure out what the fuck was going on.
I felt the headset in my helmet vibrate, and I pressed a button on my bike. There was a message on my phone, and I was hoping it was from Calista. I played the message through my headset so I could stay as updated as I could on where she was, and I sighed with relief when I heard the message.
“Text message from… ‘Cee’... would you like to hear the message?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Message from… ‘Cee’... sent at eleven thirty-two A.M.: Wanted to let you know I went to see the doctor. Got stitches. On my way back now. Got the pictures. Thanks.”
“Thank fuck,” I said, murmuring.
“To replay this message, press once. To delete this message, press twice, to save this message, press three times.”
I pressed the button on my bike twice as I turned the corner, making my way towards the mechanic shop. Already I could see bikes out there, but I noticed Snake wasn’t there yet. I resisted every single fucking urge I had at that very moment to call Gemma, but every single part of me was screaming to do it. What if she was in trouble? What if she had told Snake? Was she in trouble? Was he yelling at her? I’d fucking kill him if he were yelling at her. Last night was all me. I was the one that needed to take on Snake’s wrath. Not her.
I’d promised her that.
I pulled up to the shop and got off my bike. I carried my helmet in with me and tossed my cell phone into the Faraday case, then sat down in the circle the guys were all gathered around in. Fox, Hawk, and Mac couldn’t keep their eyes off me, and as I sat down on the chair, I could see the worry bubbling up in their eyes.
“What the fuck’s going on, Talon?” Mac asked.
“We not waiting for Snake?” I asked.
“We’ll fill him in when he gets here. What’s happened?” Mac asked.
“Calista showed up at my place this morning,” I said.
“What’d she have to say?” Hawk asked.
“Her husband tried to kill her last night.”
“What. The. Fuck,” Fox said.
“Beast is losing his fucking mind,” I said.
“Start from the beginning,” Mac said. “Tell us everything.”
“It starts the night before at the diner. You know, when I went to go dig information out of her and cut ties with her.”
“How’d that go?” Hawk asked.
“I mean, it was what it was. She was real beaten up when I saw her. I told you guys about this already.”
“I want to hear it again,” Mac said. “The whole story with this new info you’ve got.”
“Fine. She was real beaten up because The Devil Saints core group are trying to weed out the fucking mole. Beast beat the shit out of his own fucking wife, but left it at that,” I said.
“So, you saw her beat up. Got it. What happened at the diner?” Hawk asked.
“I left to go into the bathroom, then she slipped in a few minutes later. I tousled her hair and made it look like I’d gotten mine, then I sent her off with a wad of cash.”
“Okay. Now, switch it to this woman’s point of view. What happened after she left? Did she tell you any of that?” Fox asked.
“Yep. And it’s fucked up,” I said. “She went back to the compound and handed her husband the money. He went to go put it in the safe and log the trip or whatever the fuck it is they’re doing, and that’s when a DEA sedan rolled by.”
“Oh, shit. Her husband thought she brought the DEA with her,” Mac said.
“Yep. Which means one majo
r thing for us: if they have enough to warrant scoping out The Devil Saints-”
“Then they’re digging into their past history, which is full of us,” Fox said, groaning.
“Exactly.”
“So, what’d Beast do after this?” Mac asked.
“According to Calista, ran upstairs and started ranting about how she betrayed him. How she went and got the DEA and how the money she was given was dirty. He pulled out a fucking knife and went after her, guys.”
“You said she showed up with a gash on her back,” Hawk said. “How bad was it?”
“Bad enough for stitches. He tried to plunge it right into the top of her fucking spine, but she ran. It grazed her and opened her up good, but you couldn’t see her vertebrae.”
“How is she now?” Mac asked. “What the hell’s that woman gonna do?”
“Well, I figured out why the fuck she hasn’t run from them yet,” I said.
“Why?” Hawk asked.
“She doesn’t know where her daughter is.”
“Is anyone tired of this bullshit? Because I’m tired of their bullshit,” Fox said.
“They’re holding her daughter ransom?” Mac asked.
“That’s what I’m not sure of because she doesn’t know. But I think that’s why she keeps going back. To try and find her daughter. We promised her and her daughter a way out from underneath that disgusting club, but she can’t find her,” I said.
“So, what’s going on now?” Mac asked.
“I told her to go back.”
“You what?” Fox asked.
“If she wants her daughter, it’s the only way. I sent her with a way to get back into her husband’s good graces. But you’re not gonna be happy about it.”
“What the fuck did you do, Talon?” Mac asked.
“I told her to go back to her husband after she saw a doctor and tell him she had information.”
“You fucking didn’t,” Hawk said.
“I didn’t give her much. Just enough to quell her husband’s anger. I told her the drugs were cut similarly to drugs running over the Mexican border and that’s why they were patrolling.”
“Fuck, Talon,” Mac said.
“Then I sent her three pages of that massive packet I found in the DEA’s system to back up her story,” I said.
“Holy-... are you out of your mind?” Hawk asked. “That’s the only leverage we’ve got!”
“And didn’t we promise to keep them safe? Huh!? Wasn’t that what we promised!?”
I stood up from my chair with my hands clenched at my sides. I hadn’t even gotten to the threat that was looming over us now, and they were already hopping down my throat. If they didn’t like my fucking tactics, then I didn’t need to be doing this type of bullshit.
“If you think you can do it better, then do it,” I said.
The mechanic shop fell silent, so I drew in a deep breath and continued.
“That’s not all,” I said.
“It never fucking is,” Fox said.
“If Beast is enough out of his mind to try and kill his own fucking wife, then it’s bad. That explains the commotion at the compound last night, Mac. But if he was paranoid before, this DEA car is gonna put him on high alert. And if they already suspect us, then it’s not above the realm of possibility that they will come after us.”
I saw Hawk visibly shake at that notion.
“That’s not happening again,” Hawk said.
“And we’ll make sure it doesn’t,” Mac said. “But Talon’s right. If the President of The Devil Saints is coming this unhinged, the only thing we’ve got going for us is the hope that the club will overthrow him as President.”
“Which won’t happen with him wielding a knife at his own fucking wife,” Fox said.
“Which means we need to prepare. From all sides,” Mac said.
“Where the fuck is Snake?” Hawk asked. “Should someone call him?”
“He said he was gonna be here when I called him,” Fox said.
Just then, we all heard a rumbling down the street. It got closer and closer before it stopped outside the mechanic shop, and we all knew it was Snake. I drew in a deep breath as I turned around, waiting for him to slam through the door. I was waiting for that temper of his. Waiting for him to throw the first punch. I was bracing myself for it. For the fight, I knew was coming.
But instead, he simply walked through the door, bypassed me altogether, and sat down in a seat.
I turned around and studied him, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. His eyes were boiling, but his posture was calm. His face was set into a type of stoic stone I’d only ever seen one other time.
And it wasn’t even his face I’d seen it on.
“What’d I miss?” he asked.
“Everything,” Mac said. “Want the long or the short version.”
“Give it to me straight. How much did Talon fuck up?” he asked.
His eyes panned towards me, hooking onto mine as I rolled my shoulders back. He was infuriated, which meant Gemma had told him at least where she was last night.
The question was, how much more information did she give him?
“Not too much, in the grand scheme of things,” Mac said. “His woman showed up on his doorstep this morning.”
“Uh huh. Corona, right?” he asked.
“Calista,” Fox said. “And she had a gash in her back. Her husband tried to kill her last night.”
But instead of inquiring as to why that had happened, all he did was nod his head.
“We called church because his fuck buddy got hurt?” Snake asked.
“No, we called church because we have reason to believe The Devil Saints are gonna come after us,” Mac said. “The commotion at the compound was because Beast lost his mind. Tried to kill his own fucking wife because the DEA was patrolling the area. He thought she brought them.”
“That’s too bad,” Snake said.
“I gave her a way to defend herself against him before she left,” I said.
“That’s good.”
“Do you even care to know why?” I asked.
“Not really.”
The tension in the room was mounting. The guys were falling silent while they watched Snake’s unwavering temper rise upon his body. His neck was flushing, and his fists were clenching. I balled mine up, readying myself for a fight while Mac stood to his feet.
“Look, I don’t know what the fuck’s going on, but we’ve got bigger issues to deal with then whatever the fuck’s brewing between you two,” Mac said.
“I don’t know, my sister’s a pretty big deal,” Snake said.
That caught everyone’s attention, and soon all their eyes were on me.
In an instant, Snake was out of his seat. He moved faster than I’d ever seen him, and at that moment I realized why everyone called him ‘Snake.’ It wasn’t because he was conniving or a trickster. It wasn’t because he was all arms and legs like I was. It wasn’t even because his skin always stayed a little dry due to the heat of the desert.
Oh, no. It was because he could move like lightning. Like the desert snakes that had you by the ankles before your heart could beat.
I felt his fist connect with my jaw, and for a moment I thought he’d dislocated it. I stumbled back, knocking against the shelf that housed the Faraday case. It went crashing to the floor and dumped our cell phones out, and in an instant, I was on high alert.
Snake stood over me and picked me up by my collar. I tried to swing at him, but he simply dodged it before planting another one right against my eye. I heard Mac yelling while someone grabbed me underneath my arms, and as Snake tried to fight against our president, I scrambled to my feet.
Snake’s eyes were wild. Like someone had flipped a switch we didn’t know he had. He was growling and grunting. Struggling against Mac while the veins in his neck bulged. I had no idea what Gemma had told Snake, but in that instance the only thing I could think about was her.
Was she all right? Had
she witnessed something similar like this? Surely Snake wouldn’t lay a hand on this sister, but then again I’d never seen him like this before.
Ever.
“What the fuck did you do to my sister?” he spat.
I stood there in shock as everyone’s eyes connected with my body.
“What did you do to her!?”
Chapter 18
Gemma
Raking my hands through my hair, I paced the kitchen floor. I tried over and over again to get Jace on his cell phone, but when he didn’t pick up, I tried Talon. I called time and time again, leave multiple voice messages warning him of the fact that Jace was coming. That he was angry with him and that I hadn’t been strong enough to keep last night from my brother. I wanted to let Talon know that I didn’t give any specifics. I didn’t tell him anything in detail.
But he did need to know what I actually had told Jace because it would blindside Talon otherwise.
I dashed upstairs and threw myself in the shower. I quickly washed myself down, trying to scrub Talon’s memory from my skin. Even though I knew things between Talon and I couldn’t be repaired, I still felt this need to save him. What Talon did was wrong. Telling me things like he did just to get me to stay with him for a night wasn’t right, but I had to admit that I loved every second of it. Up until the moment I found that woman standing on his porch, things had been perfect.
And that type of shit took effort.
I stepped out of the shower and tousled my hair before I threw clothes on. I didn’t have time to cover up the hickies on my neck, but at this point, they wouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. I grabbed my purse and dug for my keys, then dashed out the front door for my car.
I regretted telling Jace what I did the moment it flew from my mouth. My hands were shaking as I tried to get the key into the ignition, and I had to take a second to catch my breath. Sweat was still dripping down my face from the hot shower I took, and my skin was still sizzling red from the scrubbing I’d done to it. I was simultaneously trying to erase Talon from my body while still keeping hope that maybe there was an explanation.
That maybe I hadn’t been a stupid little schoolgirl all these years for hanging onto him.
Talon (The Road Rebels MC Book 2) Page 11
