Phantom: An Alpha Male MC Biker Romance (Steel Knights Motorcycle Club Romance Book 1)

by Ivy Black

  Bucky laughed. “Bet you hate that whole man-of-your-word bullshit now, don’t ya?”

  “So, they’re going out tonight, and I’m not about to let a little business stand in the way of true love,” my dad said.

  Bullet sucked his teeth. “Hardly.”

  “All right.” My dad slammed his hand down on the table. “MiD. It’s just a few weeks away, and we’ve still got a lot left to do.”

  MiD was the shorthand name for Music in the Desert, the huge music festival that we hosted along with our ally clubs, the Blazing Rebels and the Raging Vipers. Back when my great-grandfather started the Steel Knights, he didn’t believe in allies—said you could never truly trust anyone—but during my granddad’s regime, a nasty global gang called the Devil’s Riders started encroaching on Arizona. In one night, the Devil’s Riders had decimated the numbers of all three groups, including my grandfather, who died protecting his brothers.

  As a result, that was the first thing my dad addressed as president. He forged an alliance with the Blazing Rebels and the Raging Vipers so that we could all work together to protect our territories, and they decided to remember their fallen brothers through the Music in the Desert festival. By day, it was a family-friendly music festival with food booths, carnival rides, and games, and by night, it turned into a bass-bumping rager. Screw Christmas or my birthday—MiD was my favorite time of any year.

  Though the festival was always hosted in the same place, an exact midpoint between all three groups, the club that hosted it rotated each year. We split the profit three ways and invite our communities to come and enjoy it with us. It’s a huge success every year, and this year was the Steel Knights’ year to host.

  “Obviously,” my dad continued, “with The Unchained Dogs so quiet lately, my fear that they’re planning something big is going up. They may be planning an ambush at MiD, so on top of our regular tasks, I want someone to go out there and make sure things are safe and solid.” He looked at me. “Tess, you’re gonna go, and you’ll be taking CJ with you.”

  “What?” Taylor and I asked in unison.

  My dad always left us out of MiD planning. He didn’t trust Taylor’s temper, but Taylor was even worse whenever I was involved while Taylor wasn’t. It was the adult version of making sure both kids have the same toy to prevent fights. He always said that Taylor’s and my main duties were to focus on the Steel Knights during event planning, but I knew the truth.

  “Why would you send CJ instead of one of the older members?” Taylor asked.

  My dad held up a hand and started counting off something unknown to us on the one hand, and then he looked at Taylor. “You know, Taylor. You’ve been questioning me a lot lately. Is there something you want to say?”

  To my surprise, Taylor actually did a cursory glance of the table, almost as if he might puff up if he felt like he’d have support, but everyone was looking back at him like he was insane. His gaze shifted back to my dad, and they had another one of their tense, silent showdowns. This one didn’t last as long, as Taylor had likely sensed the heat permeating off my dad. Dad didn’t often get ruffled feathers, so when he did, it was time to back down.

  “No,” Taylor said finally. “I can adjust to change as much as the next guy. CJ is here to stay, so I might as well get used to it.”

  My dad smiled, but there was a poison behind it that served as a quiet threat. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” He looked back at me. “You good with that?”

  “Yeah.” Honestly, a trip to the desert sounded lovely. “We’ll go this afternoon.”

  “Great.” The smile my dad gave me was one of his rare warm ones, and Taylor snarled.

  My dad really did seem to like Colin more and more by the day, and the more my dad seemed to like him, the more Taylor seemed to hate him. Maybe Colin was just considering what I was overlooking. Taylor had proven that he’d stop at nothing to harm someone close to me. I’d like to think that our ironclad rule not to fight with other brothers would protect Colin in a pinch, but that might be giving Taylor too much credit. As much as it killed me to admit it, maybe it did make more sense to keep things professional with Colin. I didn’t want to get him killed.

  Though even as I thought it, another part of me was thinking that I’d be the one becoming murderous if Taylor tried anything, and I’d probably have my dad’s support in the matter.

  Taylor’s evil glare didn’t let up as my dad continued to hand out tasks to the rest of the officers. Bullet was on finalizing vendors, Bullseye was in charge of merchandise, and Bucky would work with my dad on marketing and ticket sales. When my dad finally called Taylor’s attention to direct him to work with the non-officer members to follow up with the musicians and make sure they were all still on board, Taylor gave him a shallow head nod and nothing more as he continued to stare at me.

  Finally, my dad dismissed everyone but Taylor, likely to give me a chance to escape without Taylor as a shadow, and I didn’t pass up the opportunity. I was the first one out of the warehouse, and I nearly made it all the way out of the bar, but I stopped when someone called my name.

  “Hey, Val.” I had a hand on the door already, but I looked back over my shoulder, and Bucky, Bullseye, and Bullet were headed my way, with Bullseye leading the pack. He came to a stop in front of me with his arms crossed. “Grim’s set to snap if you keep letting your dad run amok like he is.”

  Grim was the nickname given to my brother, though no one ever said it to his face. He’d earned the moniker after killing my ex just for being my boyfriend.

  “What makes you think I have any control over my dad?” I said back. “He’s my boss, just like he’s yours.”

  “I told you this was pointless,” Bullet hissed.

  “You know that ain’t true,” Bucky said. “If you tell him to back off, he will.”

  I didn’t respond, mostly because they were probably right. Unlike Taylor, I didn’t question my dad. On top of being his daughter, I was also his VP. If I approached him and told him to stop favoring Colin, he’d probably listen. I didn’t want him to back off, though. The closer Colin and my dad were, the greater Colin’s chances were at survival. From cops, Taylor, or otherwise.

  “If you all have a problem with the way my dad’s calling the shots, the bylaws have actions you can take.”

  “Yep.” Bullet shoved by Bucky and Bullseye until he was face to face with me. He looked me up and down before spitting at my feet. “Useless,” he said and continued past me and out the door.

  Bucky didn’t say anything, just glared at me and walked by as well.

  Bullseye shook his head. “If you were waiting for a window to earn some trust around here, Val, that was it.” With that, he walked around me and left.

  I stood motionless for a few seconds. It was hard to hear but even harder to believe. The second I started doing what they wanted under the false guise that I was earning their respect was the second I’d start losing myself. I wasn’t gonna be anyone’s puppet.

  I stormed out of the bar and mounted my bike. Bucky, Bullseye, and Bullet were discussing something in the middle of the parking lot, so I made sure to rev up a lot and kick up dust to let them know what I thought of their little suggestion, then I blazed out of the parking lot and rode onto the highway, choosing to take the quick way home. I wanted to see Colin. He was the one person who saw me for who I was, and whether it was as friends or something more, I wanted to soak up as much of that feeling as possible.

  I pulled into the driveway and saw that Colin was still lying on his side, working on his bike. Lockjaw was standing over him, grunting and licking his face in a continuous pattern.

  I turned off my bike and got off, then walked into the garage. “You know, you can put him inside if he’s being irritating.” There was no response. “Colin?”

  Lockjaw turned and barked at me, and I could see the urgency.

  “Colin.” I walked over, leaned down, and pulled on Colin’s shoulder. He slumped over to his back witho
ut resistance. He wasn’t moving, and he was burning up. “Fuck. Colin!”

  Chapter Nine

  Phantom

  Thick, swamp-green shrubbery grew around me on all sides. It stretched up much further than my vision could carry and into a darkened void the likes of which I’d never seen before. Looking forward, I saw there were a dozen different paths I could take. I searched my brain for any sense of direction, but none came. Backward, forward—nothing was familiar, so I settled for just moving and hoping that it eventually came to me.

  My pace was slow as I gathered my bearings, but the more I moved, the more I realized that I didn’t know where I was or how to get to a place I knew. Though I preferred to keep a level head in any situation—panicking gets you killed—each corner I turned led me down a row with its own flurry of new roads to travel. Always turning right didn’t seem to get me anywhere specific, nor did consecutively turning left. If I kept heading straight, I’d meet dead ends and be forced to turn around. Nothing made sense, and my heart rate quickened, my breath starting to run short.

  “Where the hell am I?”

  In no time at all, I was running. I didn’t quite know how to explain it, but I couldn’t shake the fear that my time was running short. What my goal was, I didn’t know, but I had to get there quickly. I bolted in every direction I could find, quickly losing track of where I was going and where I had been, simply trying my hardest to move forward. It took active effort to bring myself to breathe, and my head started to fog.

  Reaching a T-shaped intersection in the path, I looked to the left and to the right, but both were dead ends. The shrubbery rustled, and Tess stepped out from between the tall hedge wall. She turned and smiled at me, and it put me at ease. Something about her spirit started to slowly pull my heart rate down and make me feel more in control of myself and my situation.

  “Well?” She held out a hand toward me. “Are you coming?”

  I took a step forward, wanting to follow her anywhere she would take me.

  “Colin.”

  A voice I knew all too well called out to me from the other direction. I looked back over my shoulder and saw a reflection of myself. My skin prickled, but the longer I stared at the image of me, free of tattoos, less muscular, slightly longer hair—it was Caid.

  He held his arms out on either side of himself. “I look better, don’t I?”

  Twins though we were, he’d always looked more feeble than I had due to his illness, but though the man before me didn’t have my full arms and thick calves, he looked leagues healthier than the frail man I’d put on a plane to Germany.

  My brain created a response, but nothing came out of my mouth. Instead, I just watched as Caid held out a hand to me and grinned. “Come on. You’re gonna love Germany.”

  I moved in his direction on impulse. Caid had always been my goal. His health and happiness had been the only things that I’d truly wanted to accomplish in my life ever since we were kids.

  “Where are you going?” Tess’ voice pulled me to a halt. I turned to look back at her, and her arm was still extended. “Let’s go.”

  Caid and Tess both stood looking at me with their hands outstretched. If I were to go with Tess, I could find a life of my own. I could be with someone who truly made me happy and find a way to deal with my problems instead of running from them. If I went with Caid, I could see the culmination of years of hard work and finally enjoy life with my brother the way I’d always wanted. Both seemed too good to be true, and for as much as I wanted to take a step in one of the directions, I couldn’t do it.

  “Colin,” Tess said.

  “Colin,” Caid said.

  “Colin.” The third voice sent a chill down my spine. It hissed from directly behind me and made my heart crawl to nearly a stop. Slowly, I turned around and looked right into Luther’s cold, unrelenting eyes. “Hey, Phantom.”

  My gut told me to scream to Tess and Caid to run, but no words would come out. They stood in their respective directions, still just looking at me, waiting patiently with their open hands. My throat tightened while Luther stared me down, and when he lifted his left arm, it brought with it a black pistol with a silencer at the end.

  “Which one of them should I kill?” Luther stepped forward and set the tip of the silencer against my forehead. “Or should I just kill you.” Kill me—but no matter how hard I thought it, nothing left my lips. Luther’s lips curled into an icy smile. “Time’s up.”

  A bang had me shooting straight up. My head swirled from the sudden rush of movement, and my stomach churned.

  “Oop.”

  I didn’t get the chance to see who spoke, but fortunately, a trash can appeared before me a second later, just in time for me to stick my head in and throw up all of my breakfast. My head pounded as I leaned away from the garbage can, seeing for the first time that the other person in the room with me was Dr. Marteau, the same doctor who’d patched me up when I first got to Hoppa. It took a few minutes for me to really figure out what was going on, but as my nightmare slowly evaporated from my brain, it was replaced with the memories of me working on my bike out in the garage.

  “Where am I?” Even as I asked, I knew the answer. The folded clothes on the desk, the sheets I’d rustled just earlier that day—I was back in Tess’ guest room.

  “You are in bed,” Dr. Marteau responded, “on the precipice of a lecture from your doctor, who would seek to remind you that ‘take it easy’ does not mean go perform hard labor in a hundred degree heat with no water to speak of.”

  “Yeah.”

  Dr. Marteau shoved a glass of water into my right hand before pulling the trash can off the bed and turned his attention back to my bare left arm. “As far as this goes, you shouldn’t have much more use for bandages. Everything’s close. Now you need to allow it some space to breathe.”

  “Okay.” There was a scratching sound that had registered as white noise at first, but it became more prominent as my faculties returned. “What’s that noise?”

  “I imagine the dog.” Dr. Marteau turned to walk toward the desk where his supplies were, limping as he walked. “He’s been like that since we carried you in here.”

  “Who carried me?” I asked.

  “It was a combined effort between me and Tess.”

  My heart slammed hard. “Did she see—”

  “No, no. I told her to leave before removing your shirt. I remembered that preference from last time.” He hobbled back over to me and started to rub an ointment on my arm that cooled my skin the instant it made contact. “Although, I must say, I’m a little surprised she hasn’t seen this already.” He stopped working for a minute and looked up at me. “This wouldn’t happen to be a fear of her seeing the scars, would it?”

  What was this man, a physical doctor, or a mental one? “No.”

  “Hm.” He went back to working on my arm. “Well, I’ll just say this. These scars aren’t going away, and it’s not very attractive or logical to always have sex with a sweatshirt on, so unless you plan on becoming a eunuch, I suggest you make peace with it. Val’s not shallow, and she seems to care about you a lot.” He glanced up again. “In few words, don’t be stupid.”

  I nodded. “Thanks, doc.”

  Dr. Marteau’s hands moved in rhythm up and down my arm that seemed practiced, and my muscles were starting to relax and loosen with each pass. Finally, he stopped what he was doing, pulled off the gloves he had on, tossed them into the trash can, and then started to pack up his things. Mid-movement, he grabbed a shirt and handed it over to me, which I took and pulled on before kicking my legs over the side of the bed so that I could sit up.

  “You can come in,” Dr. Marteau called out.

  The door opened almost immediately, and Lockjaw was the first into the room, racing across and jumping up onto the bed. He licked up my cheek, and I patted his head. “Good to see you, too, bud.”

  “He was worried about you.” Tess was standing in the hallway. She took a couple of steps into the room and th
en backed out and situated herself right inside the doorway. I wanted to ask, but I decided it was probably better if she was finally staying away. “How’s he doing, doc?”

  “He’s okay. Just a little heat exhaustion and dehydration.”

  Tess raised an eyebrow. “Can’t I trust you to take care of yourself for a few hours?”

  I shrugged. “Evidently not.”

  Dr. Marteau lifted up his bag and looked at Tess. “Call if you need anything else, but he should be fine.”

  Tess nodded. “Thanks.”

  Dr. Marteau slipped past Tess and left the room, and we stood in silence until we heard the front door open and shut. Lockjaw curled into a ball next to me on the bed, and I started to pet him as Tess crossed her arms and placed a warm smile on her face. “Glad you’re not dead.”

  All I could think about was Tess holding her hand out in my dream and how badly I wanted to go to her. “Me, too.”

  “Your bike is operable again, right?”

  “Yeah, just cosmetic stuff now.”

  “Feeling up to a ride?”

  Suddenly, Caid flashed into my mind. His outstretched hand and the promise of seeing him healthy and happy in Germany. Was the way my dream laid it out the reality? The closer I got to Tess, the further I got from Caid? “I’m not sure.”

  “Okay,” Tess sighed. “Is this because you don’t feel up to going out, or because you’re trying to maintain this weird distance between us? If it’s the latter, you don’t need to worry. My dad asked us to do this.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. We have this big music festival every year. We and our allies do it together, and every year, the club hosting it rotates. It’s our year this year, and my dad wants us to go check out the venue. It’s this open plot in the desert. We built this clubhouse out there for all of our members, and there’s a meeting space where my dad will have his annual meeting with the presidents of the other two clubs. He wants me to go and asked that I take you.”