Page 13 of Talon (Road Rebels MC 2)
I paused just outside of his apartment door and drew in a deep breath through my nose before I walked in.
“Got some stuff to do tonight,” he said.
“Oh, well. I could always come back later?” I asked.
“Not necessary. I’ll be back in a couple hours. Make yourself at home.”
“Talon, that’s really not necessary. I’ve got some shopping I could do anyway to keep myself busy for two hours.”
But the look he threw my way silenced the very voice in my throat.
“Two hours,” he said as he came over and kissed my cheek. “Make yourself some dinner and relax. I’ll be back soon.”
I found myself nodding as he walked out the door, locking it behind him as I stood there in the darkness of his apartment. The way he simply expected me to obey him was astounding. What kind of cockiness had this man developed while I had been at college?
And yet, he didn’t ask anything of me that wasn’t insane or obsolete. He simply wanted me to eat, relax, and wait for him to get back.
So, I walked over to his fridge, started pulling out things to cook, and decided to make him a plate while I was at it.
After all, he could heat it up after he got back.
Chapter 11
Talon
I got back to my apartment after meeting with Calista and stood out on my porch. I was looking out all along the highway to see if I’d been followed, either by someone from The Devil Saints or by someone from the DEA. I knew I had to talk to the guys about what I’d figured out, so I shot Mac a text message saying he needed to call church. I told him I had pertinent information we all needed to know, and just as I sent that text message, I saw something that made me smile.
I saw Gemma’s car riding down the road.
I’d shot her my address this morning, just in case she wanted to use it. I knew things with her brother were going to grow rough with her being back in town, and after what happened in the shed I wanted her to know she was always welcome. That she wasn’t just some woman, I was gonna fuck then toss away. She was special to me, and I wanted her to know it.
But I kept my eyes on the road until she pulled all the way in.
Now, I was checking to make sure she hadn’t been followed. With Gemma back in town and already being so heavily rooted in the club, I needed to make sure she was going to be safe. When I was convinced she hadn’t been followed I signaled for her to come up, then simply told her to make herself comfortable.
I didn’t mean to make it seem as if I was commanding her, but it was just a role I simply fell into. I didn’t talk often, but when I did, I expected people to listen. I’d gotten to where I was now in the club and obtained the reputation I had because I listened intently and only spoke when necessary. It was simply assumed that when I spoke, people would listen and heed the information I had to give.
Part of me expected it to be no different with Gemma.
Even though I could tell she was taken aback, I wanted to make sure she wouldn’t leave. The last thing I needed was for the wrong person to see her coming and going from her apartment. If the DEA was snooping around, she could get swooped up and interrogated. If The Devil Saints came around, she could get captured and hurt. And if someone from the club came around looking for me and saw her here, things would get back to Snake and shit would hit the fan.
So, I needed to make sure she stayed here.
Once I knew she would, I left and made my way to the mechanic shop. The guys were all waiting there for me, and the moment I walked in I put my cellphone in the Faraday box I’d made for all of us. After all the bullshit that went down a couple months ago, I felt the need to get us one for our cell phones. I’d wired up our mechanic shop to be a massive Faraday box with the touch of a button, but I guess I was being a bit paranoid.
And right now, my paranoia was welcomed.
“All right, Talon. Spill. What the fuck’s going on?” Mac asked.
“Got into the DEA’s files, and things looked okay there. They don’t suspect us, but there is an issue.”
“The fuck’s up now?” Snake asked.
“They had routes and maps drawn up in there to send out incognito DEA cars and trucks on. Because of the drug bust that happened, they matched the diluted drug content in the truck to a cartel running itself out of Texas and Mexico. Was any of that shit intentional?” I asked.
“Fuck,” Hawk said. “We didn’t mean to cut it exactly alike. Just enough to throw them off our trail.”
“Well, it worked. The DEA doesn’t suspect us one bit. But now they’re patrolling the very warehouse and highways we use to bus our own shit in.”
“Damn it,” Mac said, groaning.
“Before I met with Calista-”
“You saw her tonight?” Fox asked.
“I did. Let me finish. Before I met with her, I took a long drive. Backroads and all the precautions to check our routes. I didn’t see any unmarked parked cars or any new cameras on telephone poles, but it wouldn’t hurt to send out another squad of us in a couple days to check it out.”
“You can head that up, Talon,” Mac said. “In the meantime, I’ll start looking’ for other ways to get our shit in. The good news is, we won’t need to run another shipment of drugs for at least a few months. Our last two scores were massive.”
“Good. It’s about damn time we laid low on this shit,” Snake said.
“I know you’re worried about Gemma,” Fox said. “We’ll keep her safe.”
“You’re fuckin’ right you will,” Snake said.
“As for Calista,” I said, “that’s a much bigger problem.”
“Fucking hell,” Fox said.
“The Devil Saints are going too far as to beat their women to a bloody pulp to get answers from them. She was pretty banged up when I saw her. According to her, they’ve killed five or six of their own just to make examples out of them,” I said.
“The President’s trying to weed out the mole,” Mac said.
“Yep. She also told me that while she was lying on the floor after her husband fucking beat her-”
“Her husband beat her?” Hawk asked.
“Yeah. And she told me what he did to her was mild. The woman couldn’t even breathe right, and that was fucking mild.”
“Holy hell,” Mac said breathlessly.
“After her beating, she was laying on the floor, and she heard him murmuring about us. She thinks he suspects we are behind the planted truck,” I said.
“Fucking shit!” Snake roared.
He got up and kicked his chair, letting out all his anger while the rest of us sat in silence. Out of all the times for Gemma to come into town, she had to descend around this time. And while I was so excited she was back, Snake was worried about her safety.
And quite frankly, so was I.
“What can w
e do about The Devil Saints, then?” Hawk asked. “If they even sort of suspect us, where do we go from here?”
It was the first time I’d ever known Mac to be rendered speechless.
“I don’t know. This is a hell of a lot of information. Talon, did you tell Calista you can’t meet with her anymore?”
“Yep. Already done,” I said.
“Good. That gets you out of it. Put together a crew of three others and plan a ride to trace our routes and warehouses. Look for anything: parked cars. Abandoned cars. New faces. Shining new cameras. Cameras that aren’t facing where they should. New employment at the warehouse. Any fucking thing you can find.”
“On it,” I said.
“As for The Devil Saints, gimme the night to think about it. I’ll call church in a couple days. Until then, lay low, don’t talk about shit, and keep your noses to the ground,” Mac said.
I didn’t even wait for the meeting to finish before I picked up my cell phone and started for my bike.
I needed to get back to the apartment. I needed to get back to Gemma. I needed to lose myself in her beauty for just a little while. I needed to erase the taste and smell of Calista for good and replace her memory with the sounds of Gemma moaning my name in my ear.
I busted into my apartment and slammed the door behind me as I heard the running water of my bathtub.
“Talon?” Gemma called out. “Is that you?”
Without another word, I walked around the corner and made my way down the hallway. I saw Gemma poking her head out, and the smile that crossed her face was delicious. Her eyes lit up, and her skin seemed to glisten, and suddenly all the fears and hesitations and thoughts of The Devil Saints I had fell to the wayside. I backed her into my room and shut the door, rendering the bedroom pitch black, save for the light pouring from the bathroom.
I cupped her cheeks and brought her lips to mine and felt her melt into my body.
“Take off your clothes and go soak in that bath. I’ll be in there soon,” I said.
I felt her nod before she left, leaving a trail of clothing behind her before I watched her beautiful body step into the steaming water filling the tub.
