St. Germaine sat back with narrowed eyes. “I’m hoping we can arrive at an understanding like gentlemen. I’d hate to have to pull out any more stops.”
“You’ve already taken my job and Garland’s transportation. What’s next?”
“Remember when I said that all kinds of deals are made in places like this? Well, it might amaze you at how easy it would be for your father to be pulled over for a simple traffic violation, like say, a broken tail light. If he, a convicted felon, happened to be found in possession of a firearm, I understand that the sentence in Texas could be, what? Two to ten?”
Brant’s blood was boiling like the juices in his stomach, but his eyes were ice cold and steady. “I haven’t asked Garland to stay here with me. But I will. And I hope like hell she understands that it’d be a shame for a girl as special as she is to have to live in the gutter with you and your kind.”
He stood, took off the jacket, dropped it on the chair, and walked out.
The next night, Brant picked Garland up at eight o’clock. She’d been listening for the distinctive rumble of the Harley and came running out the door like he was back from a war. Her exuberance was just one of the things he loved about her.
At that time of year the sun wouldn’t set for another hour. So Brant got the full visual experience of Garland in her rose-colored halter top with a hem that floated around her hips like magic. The thing left her shoulders bare and shiny from the healthy tan she kept by swimming every day. He loved running kisses over the smooth skin of those shoulders, but was regretting telling her to wear that, as he imagined fighting guys off of her. His eyes touched on the slight hint of cleavage and ran over her hair, which was pulled into a braid that highlighted the white-blonde highlights she’d gotten from the combination of sun and pool. But what made him instantly hard was the extra flush in her cheeks that said she was sincerely glad to see him.
“I look okay?”
Brant snorted. “Fishin’ for compliments?”
“How else am I going to get any?”
He turned over his shoulder. “No. You don’t look okay. You look like a dream.”
“A good one.”
He laughed about the fact that she was pushing for clarification. “Listen. About tonight. Sometimes the parties get a little wild.”
“No arrests. No photos.”
“I think we can manage that. But stay with me. Don’t go wandering off.”
“Why?”
“Well, ah, sometimes local girls come to the parties because they want to find out what it’s like to be with, you know, somebody rough around the edges. If you’re not with me, you could be mistaken for one of them. I’m not sayin’ you’d be in danger, but assumptions might be made.”
“I get the picture. Glued to your side. Will you hold my hand if I need to go to the little girls’ room?”
“No. But I will stand outside the door.”
“You’re serious.”
“Yes ma’am.”
When they pulled past the gates and parked the bike, Garland took off her jean jacket.
“You can leave that here. It’ll be safe,” Brant said.
She nodded then pulled the elastic that was holding her braid away and finger combed her hair out. It had been wet when she braided it and the air had dried it on the way over. The result was a fall resplendent with shiny waves that made her look like a goddess.
“You’re staring,” she said.
“We’re leaving. No one can see you looking like this.”
“No sir. I’m not leaving until I see what you do when you’re not with me.”
She started walking toward the music coming from the other side of the building, which made Brant have to jog to catch up.
He grabbed her and brought her to a stop. “Garland. I’m seriously not kiddin’ around when I say I need you to stay with me.”
“I wasn’t going far.”
He pulled her into his side and they walked around the corner of the building. A group of the guys were standing around an open fire pit, with a pig on a spit that was rigged to constantly turn like a huge rotisserie.
They were talking quietly, holding beers. Every one of them wore a sleeveless leather vest with the same artwork on the back. In the center was a depiction of a Corinthian temple with Hydra’s heads emerging from the columns, snarling at the viewer. Above the artwork was an arc of text that said Sons of Sanctuary. Below was an inverted arc that said Texas.
The evening was eye-opening for both Brant and Garland. He introduced her with pride, but noticed that some of the guys raised their brows at him as if to say, “What the fuck you doin’ with a woman like that?”
Brant introduced her to his father, his mother, and his older sister, who was married to somebody named Doobie. As the night became dark and the drink flowed freely, the mood of the party changed from a family picnic vibe to something else altogether. At one point Brant watched Garland taking everything in and tried to imagine his life through her eyes. That’s when he knew she wasn’t going to stay.
It didn’t stop him from trying.
When the calendar ran down to seven days left, he made his play.
“I don’t want you to go. Stay here. With me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because this is your life. Not mine.”
“But it could be ours.”
“No. It couldn’t. It would always be me trying to fit into yours.”
She cried. She told him she loved him and always would. She cried some more. But in the end she left with her father.
CHAPTER 7
Brant sat on his bike on a patch of grass at the southern end of the airport and watched the Germane jet take off. The sleek plane was beautiful and Arctic white, but looked miniscule sandwiched between a 747 and an Airbus on the runway. He watched it climb until it was out of sight.
Some guys would have crawled into a hole with a bottle. But Brant rode to Chuy’s, took a seat on the patio, and ordered a frozen Margarita with fish tacos.
His life would be forever divided into before and after that summer. Before Garland, he’d been a simple man with simple needs. After she left, he was a man on a mission called money.
When the table server came to check on him, he put cash in her hand and stepped out the patio gate. Fifteen minutes later he was walking past the bar in the Sons of Sanctuary club house.
“Where’s the old man?”
“Office,” said Digger, looking up from his beer.
Brant knocked twice. When he heard his father say, “Open,” he stepped in.
“Make me a prospect.”
F.J. Fornight looked his son over. “What brought this on?”
“I got my reasons.”
After staring Brant down for a full minute, he said, “Okay. I’ll sponsor you. You know the rules. No favors.”
“Got it.”
“Church day after tomorrow. Seven o’clock. I’ll put it to vote, but everybody has to agree.”
“I know. I’ll be here.”
Brant had his hand on the door, when his father said, “This have anything to do with that beauty you brought by?”
It had always been impossible to get anything past his old man.
“Reasons are my own.”
F.J. nodded and went back to what he was doing.
EPILOGUE
Garland was three weeks into the fall semester at the Wharton School when her pregnancy was confirmed. Her initial panic was assuaged when she reasoned that lots of women go to school while pregnant. She’d have to take off spring semester because of her due date. Her father would have to be told. And Brant. She couldn’t decide which she dreaded most. The single saving grace was that she could do it by phone and wouldn’t have to see either of their faces.
It took four days to work up her courage. She took a hot tea out onto the balcony of her University City apartment that overlooked the Schuykill River. She pulled the hoodie up on her red, boiled wool jacket be
cause it was chilly out. If there was going to be serious unpleasantness, she wanted to deal with it outside.
The phone call with her father was every bit as awful as expected, especially the part where he insisted that there was a quick fix that could resolve the problem for everyone. It left her shaken, and thinking it was a mistake to plan to make both calls on the same day.
The phone rang three times before Brant answered. Since she was intimately acquainted with how small his house was, she almost hung up.
“Hello.”
Her breath caught, hearing the sound of his voice. It was like a blow to her solar plexus and caused her to close her eyes. “It’s me.”
There was a long pause before he simply said, “Garland.”
She heard the lingering pain in his voice and hated herself for causing it. “I have news.”
“Okay.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Another long pause. “I thought you were on the pill?”
“I am. Was. It’s not guaranteed.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I’m having a baby in April.”
“You’re keepin’ him.”
She heard relief in Brant’s voice. “Of course I’m keeping it.”
“No. I didn’t mean keepin’ him like that. I meant you’re not thinkin’ about adoption or any shit like that. Because I have dibs.”
“Dibs?” She smiled. “You’re calling dibs on the baby?”
There was a part of her that was thrilled that Brant wanted to be father to their child.
He let out a long breath. “Yeah, if you didn’t want to raise him, I would make it work. Somehow. Gonna be hard for me to be part of his life if you stay in Yankeeland.”
“I guess. Okay, then. I just wanted you to know.”
“Garland.” His heart seized with panic knowing she was about to hang up. He didn’t know what to say. He just knew that he didn’t want to let go of that little piece of Garland, her voice on a phone that was fifteen hundred miles away.
“Yes?”
“How are you?”
She sighed into the receiver. “School is okay. I like business better than I thought I would.” Pause. “How about you?”
“I miss you. I wish you’d change your mind. Especially now.”
“I think about you a lot. But we made the right decision.”
Brant barked out a laugh. “We didn’t decide this. You did.”
She sighed again. “Let’s don’t fight. I called Dad first and it was… hard.”
Brant relented and backed off, as he always did. He couldn’t stand to think about her hurting. Fucking David St. Germaine had some karma coming and Brant fantasized about being the one to serve it up.
“Okay. Are you… stayin’ in school?”
“This semester. At least. Next semester… well, with an April baby…”
“Yeah. Let me know if you need anything?”
“Sure.”
“Or just want to talk?”
It was her turn to pause. “Hearing your voice just makes it harder.”
“Yeah.” Brant wasn’t accustomed to the sting of tears threatening. He was a bad-ass second generation biker. Not a slobbering little pussy-face bitch. “I’m here if you change your mind. At least give me regular updates about the baby.”
“Okay, bye.” She started to hang up and then called out. “Brant?”
He heard her voice and brought the phone back to his ear. “Yeah?”
“Why do you keep calling the baby ‘he’?”
He smiled.
On May 1st, when the sun resided in the constellation of Aries, Garland St. Germaine gave birth to two big beautiful boys. Identical twins. She named them Brandon and Brannach.
When she’d learned that the ‘baby’ was actually babies, she and Brant Fornight had many long talks before deciding that he would take one home to Texas and she would keep the other. The first time she saw the boys, she regretted that decision with all her soul. But she was also grateful for the gift of that choice because the look on Brant’s face when he held Brannach told her that it was the right thing to do. She knew that little boy would help heal the scar that she’d left on her biker’s heart.
They decided together that it would be easier on the boys to not know about each other. So, on the birth certificates, Brandon was given the surname St. Germaine and Brannach became a Fornight.
It was 1988 when Brant boarded a plane for Austin with a brand new baby and an ache in his heart that never went away.
This bonus feature also appears at the beginning of Two Princes. To find out what happens to Brant and Garland, read on.
Links to all Victoria’s books can be found here… www.VictoriaDanann.com
KNIGHTS OF BLACK SWAN
Knights of Black Swan 1. My Familiar Stranger
Knights of Black Swan 2. The Witch’s Draam
Knights of Black Swan 3. A Summoner’s Tale
Knights of Black Swan 4. Moonlight
Knights of Black Swan 5. Gathering Storm
Knights of Black Swan 6. A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Knights of Black Swan 7. Solomon’s Sieve
Knights of Black Swan 8. Vampire Hunter
Knights of Black Swan 9. Journey Man
Knights of Black Swan 10. Falcon
Knights of Black Swan 11. Jax
Knights of Black Swan 12. Deliverance
Knights of Black Swan 13. Black Dog
Order of the Black Swan D.I.T.
D.I.T. 1. Simon Says
D.I.T. 2. Finngarick
D.I.T. 3. Irish War Cry
Order of the Black Swan Novels
Black Swan Novel, Prince of Demons
THE HYBRIDS
Exiled 1. Carnal
Exiled 2. Crave
Exiled 3. Charming
THE WEREWOLVES
Hotblooded 1. Stalk
Hotblooded 2. Omega
Hotblooded 3. Laugh
Big Bend, LOBOS (by Victoria and Teresa Gabelman)
New Scotia Pack 1, Shield Wolf
New Scotia Pack 2. Wolf Lover
New Scotia Pack 3. Fire Wolf
The Witches of Wimberley
Witches of Wimberley 1. Willem
Witches of Wimberley 2. Witch Wants Forever
Witches of Wimberley 3. Wednesday
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
SSMC Austin, TX, Book 1. Two Princes
SSMC Austin, TX, Book 2. The Biker’s Brother
SSMC Austin, TX, Book 3. Nomad
SSMC Austin, TX, Book 4. Devil’s Marker
SSMC Austin, TX, Book 5. Roadhouse
SSMC Austin, TX. Book 6. Irish
Cajun Devils Book 1. Batiste
Cajun Devils Book 2. Pickup
I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading Stalk.
Reviews are enormously helpful to me. Please take the time to follow a link back to the book you’ve just read and post your thoughts. A few words are often as powerful as many.
Victoria Danann NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
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Stalk (Hotblooded Book 1) Page 20
