Talon Read online

  It consumed our lives, trying to get Dad back on track, but the way he coped was downing alcohol in order to swallow his pain pills.

  I tried to get Jace to go back to school, or at least let me help him get his G.E.D. I tried to convince him that he couldn’t allow Dad to take him down the way he was. My Dad became reliant on him to a point where Jace felt wholly responsible for our father’s wellbeing, and all the while I was trying to convince him that he wasn’t. That our father was a grown man capable of leaning on his wife if he needed someone.

  But all Jace kept telling me was once Dad got better, he’d go back.

  Things never work out the way we want to, I suppose. I dug myself harder and harder into my schooling, taking impossible classes in high school and doing early college courses in order to earn credit. I would get up with Dad in the middle of the night whenever he needed help getting to the bathroom or taking his pain medication, but he eventually stopped asking for me when I stopped picking him up cases of beer at the grocery store.

  And all Jace did was gravitate towards The Road Rebels as the stress in our house skyrocketed.

  Before I left for college, I was still trying to convince Jace to go back to school. Anything to get him out of the motorcycle world he seemed entranced to be in. When he wasn’t taking care of Dad, he was off joyriding and drinking with his new friends, and I got curious as to what drew him to that lifestyle.

  So, I begged and begged him to take me for a ride sometime, and he finally caved.

  I still didn’t quite understand the appeal, but there was one biker that caught my eye. He was tall and lanky, quiet and kept to himself. Jace said his name was Talon, and that he was kind of an oddball. Smart and computer savvy and I started wondering what in the world someone like that was doing in some sort of motorcycle club.

  I struck up a conversation with him one night, but it never really blossomed into anything.

  I kept telling Jace to keep taking me with him, but he wasn’t having it. He kept making up excuses as to why I couldn’t go with him. Things about ‘official business’ and ‘private meetings’ and stuff like that. But when I brought up the fact that he just didn’t want me around Talon, he clammed up.

  I finally just started coming around on my own, showing up at the bar with Mom’s car after she’d settled in for the night. Jace would always be so upset whenever he’d see me walk through those doors, but the small smile that would creep across Talon’s face would make Jace’s verbal lashings worth it.

  His blue eyes sucked me in every single time.

  I had a massive crush on him for two years before I left for college. I was bound for Florida State and was determined to major in music. I wanted to bring beauty into a world that had tried to swallow both Jace and I whole. I wanted to find a career in the artistic world so I could forget all the awful things that happened while I was away at college.

  I didn’t come home once I left because I was working my way through school. I took classes and worked as a part-time secretary at a local law firm, trying my best to not drown in student loans. I heard from Jace randomly, and every time I did, it seemed that there was always bad news. Mom left Dad. Dad drank himself to death. Mom died in a car wreck after becoming a drunk because of Dad’s death.

  I made it a point to not drink the entire time I was in college.

  I grieved them, but I didn’t go home for their funerals. They’d fought so much when Jace and I were growing up that I had thrown up an emotional wall with them. I memorialized them the only way I knew how, and then I kept trucking with my degree.

  I was determined to graduate and not allow myself to be derailed.

  Jace was the only family I had left, honestly. Our grandparents died when we were pretty young, and all of our aunts and uncles wanted nothing to do with us. My Dad was the black sheep of his family, and my mother had pissed off everyone on her side of things. Family reunions weren’t something we indulged in, and Christmas cards from family members weren’t something that lined our fridge during the holidays.

  Hell, we almost never celebrated the holidays anyway.

  But now, I was holding my diploma in my hand. Now, I was packed down with all of my stuff in my car and headed home. I’d graduated from school with no debt to my name and a degree I was proud of, and I was ready to celebrate with Jace.

  But I was also ready to celebrate with the guys from the club as well.

  Specifically, I was ready to see if Talon would still give me the time of day.

  When I’d left for college, Jace was still just a prospect. I couldn’t talk him into going back to school, but I could tell the club was enveloping him into their clan. While school and music were my escapes, The Road Rebels seemed to be his, so I eventually hopped on his bandwagon and supported him during his induction process.

  I couldn’t wait to see if they’d actually accepted him or not.

  I rolled up into the driveway of our parent’s home as memories started flooding back to my mind. I still have no idea why Jace had been so dead set on making this his own home, but I was willing to give it a shot. I stepped out of my car and walked up to the porch, my mind reeling with memories of the fighting and the shouting as I raised my hand to knock on the door.

  And the moment Jace threw it open, all the memories ceased.

  “Gemma!” he exclaimed.

  His brown hair and brown eyes looked like home to me. He had a small beard on his face, a dark auburn beard that bled right down into his neck. I threw my arms around him and squealed as he picked me up, his five-foot-eleven stature hugging me close.

  “What the hell you doin’ here, sis?” he asked.

  “I graduated, you idiot,” I said, grinning.

  “Wait, holy shit. You did? Congratulations.”

  “Could I come in?” I asked.

  “The fuck kinda question is that? Get in here.”

  I walked in, and immediately spotted the cut hanging on the banister of the staircase. I walked over to it and fingered the leather, holding it up to take a look at it. The logo on the back of it boasted of The Road Rebels, and my jaw dropped as I slowly turned around towards him.

  “Jace. Are you a member now?” I asked.

  “Been that way for about three years now,” he said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “Figured you didn’t really care about it.”

  I tossed the cut back onto the banister and wrapped my arms around his neck.

  “Of course I care about it. I’m so happy for you,” I said.

  He hugged me close while we stood there in the foyer of our childhood home. It was the first time I’d been here where there wasn’t any fighting. No beer bottles were being thrown, and no cuss words were whizzing by my ears. The house held an eerie silence to it while breathing out the secrets it kept stored within its walls.

  “Let’s go get a drink to celebrate,” I said.

  “I’ve got some in the fridge,” Jace said as he released me.

  “Oh, come on. Take me to the club to get a drink,” I said.

  “No.”

  “Jace…”

  “I’m not taking you by that place, Gemma.”

  “And why not?” I asked.

  There was a flash of something behind his eyes. Something that told me there was trouble brewing in our little corner of the world.

  “I’ll stick right by your side,” I said.

  He sighed, and I could tell I was wearing him down.

  “And I’ll pay,” I said.

  “Gemma, come on,” he said.

  “I won’t even indulge myself by telling embarrassing stories of you while we were growing up.”

  “That’s cold-blooded, you were seriously gonna do that?” he asked.

  “If you take me to the club, I won’t now,” I said.

  Finally, he relented. I clapped my hands with delight while he grabbed his cut, and I watched him put it on. I could see his numerous tattoos poking out from beyond his t-sh
irt. Tattoos I didn’t know he’d gotten until I took a second to study him.

  Really study him.

  “Jace?” I asked as he grabbed a helmet.

  “Yeah?” he asked as he tossed it to me.

  I caught it with a thud in my hands before he reached for his out of the hallway closet.

  “I’m really glad you opened the door,” I said.

  “Gemma, I’m just so fucking glad you’re home,” he said. “Now, you remember how to ride the backseat of a cycle?”

  “How the hell could I ever forget? I still have the scar from the crash course you gave me when I was fifteen.”

  “You just make sure you keep that scar hidden,” he said. “Don’t no one need to be seeing my sister’s thigh.”

  I followed him out of the house, giggling to myself as I pulled my helmet on. I swung my leg over the bike, my arms threading around my brother’s waist as he kicked his bike on. We sped out of the driveway and left our childhood home behind, making our way down the road I’d traveled so many times as a teenager.

  I wasn’t going to tell Jace I secretly wanted to see Talon, but my body was humming with silent anticipation.

  I couldn’t wait to see him again.

  I couldn’t wait to see all of them again.

  Chapter 3

  Talon

  The clubhouse was packed with people today while the entire club mingled with one another. We all got together all the time on random occasions, but every Friday night we all got together, ordered a shit ton of pizza, and gave our own bar a serious amount of business. Fox was busing cold beers from the bar for us to drink while I set the pizzas out, and all the while people were talking about our latest trip we were taking in a couple weeks. We were all riding up to the northern point of California and camping out at some bullshit lake or whatever. The last road trip we’d taken was to Redding for a massive bike festival, and that ended up getting some people into some serious trouble.

  We already had two guys dealing with pregnancy scares while a couple of our women were getting treated for STD’s they caught.

  We all agreed that a calmer trip this time with just the group would be a welcomed turn of events after something like that, so I set to planning it. As road captain, I wasn’t only responsible for the safety of those riding to our destination, I was also part of the coordination team that made sure the dates were set and that everyone had money to go who wanted to go. Our shipments we trafficked in were split evenly between all the group members as well as certain accounts we held, and one of those accounts was one I was in charge of.

  It was the account I used to pay for everyone’s sleeping arrangements as well as giving them extra money to put gas in their car and food in their stomachs.

  Tonight, however, was just a family night. Mac wanted to get all of us together just to make sure everyone was okay from the supposed backlash of the Devil Saints he was so paranoid about. He ended up sending out a mass text message to everyone saying food and beer were on the core group tonight, which pulled me from my bed on a night I’d planned on staying in.

  For someone who wanted me to garner information from places, Mac sure as hell wasn’t giving me the time to do that.

  I’d gotten some unassuming information after Calista sucked me off I’m sure Mac wanted to know about. As far as Calista was concerned, she didn’t suspect the Devil Saints were trying to find or place blame anywhere, though she did say they were on a witch hunt within the confines of their own club. The President of the club was dead set on finding out whoever ratted them out, and I could tell Calista was a bit shaken.

  We sat on my bed while I comforted her, trying to get her to understand that it was going to be all right. If there was one thing, I couldn’t stand, it was a crying woman. I always just wanted to make them feel better. I kept asking her if they suspected who I was. If the Devil Saints had any inclination that I was Road Rebel and not just some random man from town looking for a little pussy on the weekends. She told me they didn’t suspect anything, and that it was even putting her in the President’s favor because I was the first repeat customer she’d ever had.

  The idea made me sick.

  I told her it was best if she stayed away. For good this time, so she wouldn’t get herself killed. The last thing I needed was the only connection I had with that club crumbling to ruins because they were on high alert. They might not suspect another rival club of planting anything like we did, but a witch hunt within their own ranks would make people paranoid.

  And the last thing I needed was someone following this woman around.

  Fox came in with another tub of beers on ice, ripping me from my thoughts. He dumped it all into the massive barnyard sink we had in the community kitchen, then he grunted before he left to get another shipment of beer. The glass bottles that didn’t fit in the double basin were being shoved into the fridge, and when the fridge was overloaded, I started bringing out coolers. Hawk ran out to get ice to fill up the coolers while Fox made another run back to the bar to get more beer, but suddenly the tone in the room shifted.

  I stood up from behind the kitchen island in the clubhouse and saw Snake walking into the room.

  With his sister.

  Gemma.

  Suddenly, I was ripped back to another time. A time when I was a gangly teenager being inducted into a life I had no business being a part of. A time when I was petrified of talking to people because I thought they would hit me if I said the wrong thing. A time when I was all limbs and no muscles, not a threat to anyone except the bugs that crunched underneath my feet. My eyes raked along Gemma’s form while everyone descended upon her, giving her hugs and planting kisses on her cheek while Snake beamed with pride.

  And still, all I could do was rake my eyes up and down her beautiful form.

  I’d had the biggest crush on Gemma when I was a teenager. From the first moment, Snake brought her into the bar where none of us had any business being. But I stayed away from her because Snake kept threatening to chop my dick off if I touched her. If I looked at her wrong. If I had any romantic intentions, I wanted to bestow upon his sister. She came by the bar and clubhouse regularly, despite the fact that all of us were underage at that point, and she would always sit with me and talk. She’d talk about school and the latest books she was reading. She’d talk about how her father’s back was improving even though he was drinking a lot more. She’d rant to me about how her parents always fought and how she just wished she could pack up her stuff and leave.

  I never talked back, but I always listened. I was too busy staring at her tits or being too wound up in her beauty to answer her, but holy hell did I love it when she sat down with me.

  Every story she told me prompted a dream that night. Where I’d whisk her away and put a smile on her face every morning. Where every night I spent licking that beautiful pussy and bringing her to erotic heights she could’ve never dreamed of. Where I introduced her to toys, I loved and pressed her against walls I wanted to imprint the outline of her body into. I had dreams of buying her an island where she could escape the pain of her household. I had dreams of living with her in a remote cabin where we were totally off the grid.

  I had dreams where it was just her and I, losing ourselves in each other’s bodies and watching sunsets huddled underneath a blanket.

  I knew Snake intentionally kept her away from the club over the years, especially with all their family had gone through. I remembered when his father died, then when his mother died not too far behind him. I remembered accompanying him to the measly funerals he threw for him, and I starkly remember Gemma not being there. His mother and father weren’t very liked, that much was for certain, but I just knew Gemma would’ve made it back for her parent’s funerals.

  Then again, Snake didn’t talk much about his childhood, and I suspected Gemma didn’t come back for either of their funerals because of something that happened when they were younger.

  Gemma looked phenomenal. Her dark brown hair was much l
onger than I remembered. In high school, she kept it short. No longer than her chin. But now it cascaded down past her shoulders, nestling sweetly between her shoulder blades and fluttered with every movement she made. Her bright blue eyes sparkled with happiness as the entire club enveloped her within their arms, and for a split second, I thought maybe I could do the same.

  Maybe Snake would overlook a hug between the two of us.

  I never touched Gemma while we were teenagers, though I wanted to. She had this beautiful tan skin that made her eyes pop in the morning sun. She had long legs I’d dreamed of wrapping around my waist for years and slender fingers that I wanted raking down my back while I plowed into her body. Her smile was white and bright, and it spread widely across her face, almost like the Cheshire Cat from that one movie she loved so much.

  What was the name of it?

  Alice of something, I think.

  Her slender shoulders slid into beautiful breasts that were the perfect handfuls. The soft curve of her waist poured into slender hips before her body tumbled into her long legs. Her skin looked so soft and so inviting, and I wondered if any man at her college had the privilege of touching her.

  Of kissing her.

  Of marking her body as his own.

  The thought made me angry. Did they treat her with respect? Did they take her to dinner and treat her well beforehand? Did they take baths with her, or shower with her, or give her massages whenever her shoulders ached? Or did they just take what they wanted and leave her alone, cold and shivering between the sheets of her bed?

  I felt my hands clenching at my sides at the thought of someone mistreating her.

  I took a deep breath through my nose as Fox started barreling through the crowd. He tossed the wooden crate of beers up onto the counter before he rushed towards Gemma, wrapping her up and spinning her around. Her giggle filled my ears, filling me with jealousy I didn’t know I was capable of.