by Lexy Timms
Talon stopped his bike and got off, his hand going under his cut. "Go help them," he said.
"Talon, what about—"
"Go!" he yelled, his eyes firmly on the road ahead of him. "I'll take care of our friend."
I watched Talon go, walking down the shoulder of the road, stalking towards the bend in it. I couldn't possibly know what was waiting for him, but I did know he would never let me pull him away. Never get on the bike and just run because I wanted to. Once he'd made up his mind, there was no changing it.
I ran into the road, stepping over a fender, glass crunching beneath my feet. I stepped up to the green sedan and peeked in through the broken, arced, destroyed window frame, my stomach twisting at first, then relaxing. The woman driver had her seatbelt on and the airbag had deployed. Blood dripped steadily from her nose, probably from hitting the airbag. Her steering wheel was way too close to her chest. The airbag or plastic enclosing it must have popped her right in the face as it sprung. She was touching her face gently.
"You ok?" I asked.
She looked at me, coughed, and spit out a wad of blood, most of it falling on her leg. "I don't know," she whispered.
"Help is coming," I said, knowing someone had to have called an ambulance by now. I turned to the black SUV, thinking the people inside couldn't have been hurt any worse. Their vehicle was bigger and less damaged. I picked my way over a flattened tire that had come from somewhere and lifted my eyes to the driver's compartment. The driver was a middle-aged man, bent over his seatbelt, his eyes closed. My gaze went to his chest. Breathing. "Hey," I said. People began to gather around me, getting out of their cars, talking. I heard someone giving directions to where we were. "Hey," I said again. "You ok?" He didn't answer. I reached inside his window and took his pulse at his wrist. Fast, but strong. He also had his seatbelt on and his airbag had deployed, so why was he unconscious? I moved to put my hand on his shoulder, maybe shake him.
A man's voice, right in my ear, startled me. "He's breathing." I looked around. A thin man with balding hair was gazing at the driver. "We shouldn't move him. The paramedics are on their way."
I nodded. "You know what you are doing?"
"Yeah," he said, his eyes sad, not volunteering anymore information. That was good enough for me. There was nothing I could do anyway. I was a premed student with one first-aid class and zero experience under my belt. It wasn't like I was going to perform any miracles out here.
I turned away from the wreckage, looking up the road for Talon. His shape and leather should have been easy to pick out among the ordinary-looking people but I didn't see him.
A loud pop sounded from that direction, startling me. Oh no. People turned around to look, and I gawked with them, then began to run in that direction. Talon!
Four more shots boomed through the air. "That's a gun," someone said. A woman screamed half-heartedly, the sound fading quickly. People began to get back in their cars like they could go somewhere, and some jogged away from the sound.
I headed right for it. I had to find Talon. Before I got more than a few steps he came running down the shoulder. His eyes found me immediately.
"Get on the bike," he called.
I turned to do what he said, terror catching up with me again. Would this day never end?
I waited for him, then climbed on the bike with him, cinching my hands around his waist and my feet on the pegs. The bike started with a quiet roar. He maneuvered it between two cars, onto the other shoulder, easing it past the destroyed SUV.
"Maybe we should go the other way, towards San Fran," I said.
"He's coming this way," Talon grunted, still walk-riding his bike around the metal and vehicles. "Going this way is our best chance. He won't be able to turn around again." My throat closed and I looked towards the curve at the stopped traffic.
Then I saw it. The van riding slowly down the shoulder. I saw a bullet hole directly in front of the driver's face.
"Did you shoot at him?"
"Yeah," Talon grunted. "Hold on." He cranked the throttle and the bike shot forward, taking us with it. I tensed, waiting for a tiny piece of metal to take me in the side, tear me in two, but nothing happened. Talon quickly swerved onto the empty road and we rounded the bend, unable to see the van anymore, safe for now.
Chapter 13
Talon
I pulled into the clubhouse, my eyes constantly scanning the road behind us. No sign of our friend since we'd left the accident scene.
The parking lot of the club was empty. No bikes. No cars. Damn. This guy had to know who Crystal was and where the clubhouse was, but even if we were alone this was still the safest place for us to be. There were guns inside, and strong locks on the doors, bars and shutters for the windows. The place could be a fortress if we needed it to be.
I stopped the bike just inside the gate and waited. Crystal got off at once. She always read my mind like that. I knocked the kickstand into place, then climbed off.
"Take it around the back then head inside. I'm going to close the gate."
Crystal looked at me like I was crazy. I stared back. She was a smart girl. She would catch on quick. Ordinarily, no one would drive my Dyna but me, but today was as far from ordinary as I ever wanted to go.
Finally she nodded and threw a leg over the seat. I turned away from her and ran to the large gate, pushing it shut. The sound of engines revving stopped me and I waited, my hand on the fence.
I expected to see Whitey's restored custom, but instead, Ram's Fat Boy turned the corner with three bikes behind him. I waited for them to pull in, then shut the gate, engaging the bar that would only let it open from the inside.
I jogged up to where the boys were parking their bikes. Rams, Slider, Germaine, and Pike.
"Where is everyone?"
Rams took off his helmet, shook his hair out of his face, and looked over the gate. "Just us."
"What?"
Rams shook his head. "Whitey told us not to come at all, said you'd be fine. Said he needed the manpower. I threw a massive fit and was going to come alone so he said ok, sent them." Rams nodded his head at the three other men. A prospect and two members even greener than me and Rams. What in the fuck?
They got off their bikes and we headed for the clubhouse. "Did you tell him I had Crystal with me?"
"Yup."
I shook my head. "Thanks for coming man, we were shot at."
Rams gripped my shoulder, hard. "What the fuck, Talon? Is Crystal ok?"
"Fine."
As we walked inside, Rams told Pike to watch the cameras. Germaine and Slider headed for the bar. "Crystal," I called.
"In here."
We headed into her dad's office where she sat at his desk, the TV on the wall turned on. She flipped through the channels. "News," she said. I fought to keep my eye from lingering on the creamy curve of her neck as her chin strained upwards.
I lost.
I explained to Rams everything that had happened, starting with Crystal being attacked the day before. Rams didn't know about Jaze, so I didn't have to worry about him making the connection.
Rams huffed out a breath when I was done. "Serious shit, dude. Does Whip know?"
I shook my head and pulled out my phone, dialing Whip's number.
"Bikes," Pike yelled from the party room.
"Ours?" Rams yelled back.
"Can't tell yet."
Rams got up and left to go watch the cameras with Pike. Whip answered on the first ring.
"Whip. Crystal and I made it to the clubhouse. We were shot at on the road."
Whip's gravelly voice held no surprise. "Un-fucking real. Crystal ok?"
"Yeah."
"Who am I looking for?"
"Why, you back in Rosemill?"
"No, but I'm coming back now. I need to unfuck this situation, fast."
"Guy in a black van. Brown hair. Bandage on his left eye. We never saw him up close."
"Plate?"
The numbers and letters I had memorized ju
mped to the forefront of my mind, but a ripple of uneasiness passed through me as I began to speak them. Did I not want to give the license plate to Whip? That didn't make sense. Then I remembered Knox's text.
Before I could confront Whip, he cut me off. "Keep Crystal in the clubhouse. Call me if anything else happens." The phone beeped in my ear, signaling a dead line.
I stared at it for a long moment, before texting my half-brother.
Thanks for the info. Can you run a license plate for a registered owner?
His response came back at once.
Yeah, but it might take awhile. I'm not at my computer so I have to call a friend.
I thanked him again and gave him the plate, glad he wasn't asking why. We barely knew each other but he already treated me like family. He was a good man to know, to be related to. If he ever needed my help, he had it, no questions asked.
Crystal continued to flip the channels mindlessly as I tried to decide if it was a good time to tell her about Jaze. The decision tore at me.
From outside, the rumble of multiple engines shook the building. The team was home. Short funeral. Or maybe Whitey had second thoughts about leaving us high and dry.
I waited, my mouth buttoned, until Whitey entered Whip's office. He looked pissed that I was in there until he saw Crystal in Whip's chair. She was above the rules.
"Trouble?" he grumbled at me. Crystal ignored him. She had never seemed to like him much.
"You could say that. We were shot at."
Whitey chewed on his lower lip, bleeding all the color out of it, making his pale face look even paler. He watched me without saying anything.
Finally he grunted. "Shoulda said something."
"It happened after we called."
"How'd you get away?"
"It wasn't easy. The guy caused a pileup on Novato Blvd. and we got on the other side of it."
Whitey grunted again and turned to go.
"What happened to your funeral?" I asked.
"Wrong day," he said and left the room.
Crystal stared after him, her eyes narrowed. "Wait, he didn't show up to help us because of a funeral?"
"Or something," I said, starting to wonder why nothing the guys in charge said or did made sense all of a sudden.
My phone buzzed. Knox, saying the license plate wouldn't help us. It was reported stolen from a van on the south side of town two days ago. Great.
Breaking news flashed on the screen, showing the accident scene. We watched carefully, but no mention of us or gunshots or the black van was made.
"Should we go to the cops?" Crystal asked.
I took a deep breath. I knew what Whitey and Whip would say, and it wasn't what I was going to say. "Yeah, I think we should."
"When?"
"I don't know. The sooner the better, but I feel like I need a breather."
Crystal nodded, and went back to watching the TV, letting me go back to watching her.
Did I say I needed a breather? Shit, more like an hour. Better yet, twenty-four hours, but I had a bad felling I wasn't going to get any of that.
Chapter 14
Talon
I dozed for what felt like an hour, then came awake with a jerk as I remembered Knox had sent something to the clubhouse for me. Where was it? Probably in my old room. Instantly alert, I stood up. "I gotta check something in my room."
"I'm coming with you," Crystal said, turning off the TV.
I could tell before I even opened the door that there was a party in full swing going on in the common area. Music blared, women laughed, men shouted. It was nothing unusual but not something I wanted to deal with right now. For some reason I hated the idea of Crystal being at the clubhouse during a party. I didn't want her to see what went on, even though I knew she probably had before. More than that, I didn't want her to ever hook up with any of the guys from the club. She was too good for them. For us.
She'd said a few times in the past that she would never date a biker, but she'd been mad at her dad or her brother each time, so I couldn't be sure if it was real or bullshit.
I pushed open the door and grabbed her hand, intent on pulling her through the room as quickly as possible. Shouts of greeting rang through the room, for both of us.
I kept my head down and pushed my way through the crowd, then heard something that set my teeth on edge.
"Hey, Crystal, why don't you come over here and sit on my face!"
I shook my head and turned toward the offender. Rush. Drunk, of course. He was the nicest guy in the world when he was sober, but drunk, he turned into a totally different person. It didn't do any good to beat his ass when he was drunk either, because he just took it, apologized when he was sober again, then did the same damn thing the next time he mixed beer and tequila.
That wasn't going to stop me from teaching his drunk ass a lesson though. He should have known better. Crystal was off-limits. For many reasons.
Before I could take a step in his direction, Crystal fired back, "Why? Is your nose bigger than your dick?"
Laughter erupted in the room as men slapped Rush on the back and whistled. Crystal could take care of herself.
I smirked and continued to push past the hordes of laughing bikers. When I got Crystal into the hallway that led to the bedrooms I stopped and turned to her, a smile on my face.
"You got some lip on you, Gidge."
She took a step closer to me, stood on tiptoes, and with a whisper-soft voice said, "I have two sets of lips, Talon. Which ones are you thinking about?" She touched her tongue very lightly to her top lip, then dropped down flat-footed and walked away from me, pulling her hand out of mine.
Fuck. She boiled my brain and turned my cock to iron with nothing but a few words. My dreams from the night before came flooding back to me and I saw myself rush her, push her against the wall, tear those tight jeans off of her, and be inside her in one hard thrust. Would she protest? Like it? Fucking love it? In my imagination, she couldn't get enough. In my dreams, she was my very own cock-sucking fanatic, stopping only to eat and sleep.
I shook my head and bit my tongue, hard. She was Whip's daughter. Jaze's sister. And so far out of my league it hurt. Sure, recent events had made me wonder if she might be interested in a round of rough sex with the veteran biker, but I knew she would just be slumming with me. Not pity sex. More ... experimentation? Wanting to sow her oats, get it out of her system before she found her real man? Who would probably be another doctor. An intellectual who read textbooks for fun and drank fucking tea for image. A good boy who would give her two kids, a polite roll in the hay twice a week in their mansion, and never raise his voice.
Crystal could ride a hog like a man and had a tongue like a razor, but she'd always been better than her father, than her brother, than all of us in the club. Even if she didn't know it.
I watched her ass as it disappeared into my old room.
A slum fuck was better than no fuck at all, right? Something I could remember her by when she disappeared into the suburbs and never came to see us anymore?
I started walking, unable to believe I was even thinking about her in that way. Her last name was still Santee, and if there was one thing I would never do, it was betray her brother and her father.
Besides, it was time to come clean.
In about two minutes, the last thing on either one of our minds would be fucking.
Chapter 15
Crystal
I walked into Talon's room and sat down on his immaculately-made bed, my heart pounding in my chest. Had I really just said that to him? I felt heat flood my cheeks as I played back the look in his dark eyes. He'd been surprised. But totally into it. Maybe.
I looked out the window at the high fence surrounding the clubhouse, so he didn't see me blushing when he came in.
He entered slowly and went straight to his desk. I watched him pick up a manila envelope and open it.
So we weren't going to mention it. Good. I could act like it never happened. Relief and disapp
ointment flooded me equally.
"I have to tell you something, Crystal, something bad."
The gloom in his voice scared me worse than being shot at on the road. All thoughts of flirting fled my mind. I looked straight at him, waiting. He held the manila envelope in his hands, bending and creasing it. I'd never seen his strong face look quite so lost.
"I should have told you this when it happened, but your dad wouldn't let me. He was afraid it would mess with your grades."
"What is it?" I asked, my fingers curling into my palms.
"It's Jaze, he's missing."
"Missing!"
Talon nodded and I felt my heart drop into my feet.
"For how long?" I whispered.
"This is day twenty-eight."
I stood up, my hands finding my hair and pulling as I paced back and forth in the room. "My brother has been missing for a month and I'm just now hearing about it?"
"That's not the worst," Talon said and I stopped to look at him. What could possibly be worse?
But when he spilled it, all of it, I knew what could be worse. Someone had set them up. Jaze could be dead. My emotions threatened to swallow me. It had barely been six weeks since I'd buried my mother, now I find out that my brother had been missing, and someone attacked me too? What was going on?
"That's why your dad went to Arizona. He wouldn't tell me any details, but he's supposed to be looking into someone who might be responsible."
I shivered and pulled my phone out of my pocket. Maybe daddy wouldn't tell Talon anything, but damned if he was going to pull that shit with me. I dialed his cell number, anger threading through me when he answered.
"Daddy, Talon just told me Jaze is missing. What in the hell is going on?"
He didn't say anything for a minute and when he finally did speak, I could tell he was choosing his words carefully, like I was a piece of china he had to protect. Either that or he was lying.
"Crystal, it's ok. We don't know exactly what's going on. But we're going to find him. I promise you that. He's going to be ok." I waited, for him to go on, and when he did, everything I thought I knew about my dad shattered. "For all we know he's just off on a little adventure. Maybe he found a girlfriend."
