Page 20 of Talon (Road Rebels MC 2)
“Yep. Dad learned to throw those bottles so they smashed. Otherwise he’d get clocked right back. I look back on it and chuckle, but at the time I was irate with them both. They just needed to fucking grow up.”
Silence descended onto the conversation, and I thought that was that. We picked at our breakfast and drank way too much coffee, but then Jace sat back and began studying me again.
“Your shirt’s inside out,” he said.
“I know.”
“You didn’t fix it in the bathroom?” he asked.
“Well, Jace, when a woman has her period, it usually requires her taking off her pants. Not her shirt,” I said.
“Don’t get smart with me. I’m worried about you, Gemma. You don’t come home, you’re obviously shaken. You were crying, for fuck’s sake. What happened? And don’t feed me some bullshit lie about staying at the diner all night. You love your sleep. Always have.”
I felt cornered. Trapped. Like a wild animal waiting for slaughter. My mind started whirling with thoughts of last night. How Talon had quietly commanded I relax. How I fixed dinner for us both and ate my fill. How his bathtub fit my body perfectly and how his hands were so gentle in washing my hair. I felt tears rising to my eyes again as I closed them, trying to keep all the memories at bay.
I couldn’t tell Jace. He’d kill him if I did.
“Who hurt you?” Jace asked darkly.
“No one,” I said breathlessly.
“Who were you with?” he asked.
“Jace, please stop,” I said desperately.
“Who hurt my sister!?” he roared. And before I could stop myself, I blurted out his name.
“Talon!”
And just like that, I was sobbing again. I put my face in my hands and sobbed. Tears were running down my face while Jace sat there stunned, and all the while Talon’s voice echoed in my ear. Whispering darkened promises of orgasms and relaxation. I could still feel his hands roaming my body while he cleaned me. I could still feel his fingertips massaging my pussy.
I could still feel his cock filling me at every angle.
“I thought he loved me, Jace,” I said, whispering. “I just… I just knew he did.”
I drew in a shaky breath and looked up at my brother, but all I could see was his stoic stare. That was the thing about our family. We were bombastic and boisterous. We were loud and proud. But when we got angry… really, truly angry… the silence was what you needed to be afraid of.
I heard a phone vibrate and saw Jace reach for his hip, then he put his phone to his ear without another word.
“Yep. I’m there,” he said.
“Jace?”
“Gotta go,” he said.
“Jace, where are you going?”
“Church,” he said.
“Jace, no. Stop. Listen to me. It was mutual. A mutual night we shared.”
I grabbed his arm, and he whirled around, and for a split second, I thought I saw his eyes soften. His hand came up to cup my cheek, wiping the tears from my skin before he pressed his lips to my forehead. I didn’t want him to go. I knew if he went to wherever the fuck he was going, Talon was a dead man. I knew if I let him leave with the fury mounting inside of him, Talon didn’t stand a chance.
And even though my heart was broken, he still didn’t do anything to deserve the fury of my brother.
“Be back soon,” Jace said.
“No, no, no, no, no! Jace! Stop!”
I ran after him, but all he did was pick up his pace. As I stood on the porch yelling for him, I watched as he sped away on his bike. I could feel my tears streaking the makeup down my chest, revealing the marks that reminded me of the dream I still believed in.
Deep down inside, I still believed Talon’s words he spoke to me last night.
That I wasn’t the only one with a crush all those years ago.
But my brother was pissed, and I hadn’t been strong enough, and now Talon was going to pay.
He was going to pay for my weakness.
Chapter 17
Talon
I cruised down the road with my mind on one goal. I couldn’t think about anything other than that. If I started thinking about Gemma, I’d want to go after her. I’d bypass church altogether and go straight to her house. And that wasn’t what was needed right now. The guys needed to know what was going on.
Mac needed to know so we could all figure out what the fuck was going on.
I felt the headset in my helmet vibrate, and I pressed a button on my bike. There was a message on my phone, and I was hoping it was from Calista. I played the message through my headset so I could stay as updated as I could on where she was, and I sighed with relief when I heard the message.
“Text message from… ‘Cee’... would you like to hear the message?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Message from… ‘Cee’... sent at eleven thirty-two A.M.: Wanted to let you know I went to see the doctor. Got stitches. On my way back now. Got the pictures. Thanks.”
“Thank fuck,” I said, murmuring.
“To replay this message, press once. To delete this message, press twice, to save this message, press three times.”
I pressed the button on my bike twice as I turned the corner, making my way towards the mechanic shop. Already I could see bikes out there, but I noticed Snake wasn’t there yet. I resisted every single fucking urge I had at that very moment to call Gemma, but every single part of me was screaming to do it. What if she was in trouble? What if she had told Snake? Was she in trouble? Was he yelling at her? I’d fucking kill him if he were yelling at her. Last night was all me. I was the one that needed to take on Snake’s wrath. Not her.
I’d promised her that.
I pulled up to the shop and got off my bike. I carried my helmet in with me and tossed my cell phone into the Faraday case, then sat down in the circle the guys were all gathered around in. Fox, Hawk, and Mac couldn’t keep their eyes off me, and as I sat down on the chair, I could see the worry bubbling up in their eyes.
“What the fuck’s going on, Talon?” Mac asked.
“We not waiting for Snake?” I asked.
“We’ll fill him in when he gets here. What’s happened?” Mac asked.
“Calista showed up at my place this morning,” I said.
“What’d she have to say?” Hawk asked.
“Her husband tried to kill her last night.”
“What. The. Fuck,” Fox said.
“Beast is losing his fucking mind,” I said.
“Start from the beginning,” Mac said. “Tell us everything.”
“It starts the night before at the diner. You know, when I went to go dig information out of her and cut ties with her.”
“How’d that go?” Hawk asked.
“I mean, it was what it was. She was real beaten up when I saw her. I told you guys about this already.”
“I want to hear it again,” Mac said. “The whole story with this new info you’ve got.”
“Fine. She was real beaten up because The Devil Saints core group are trying to weed out the fucking mole. Beast beat the shit out of his own fucking wife, but left it at that,” I said.
“So, you saw her beat up. Got it. What happened at the diner?” Hawk asked.
“I left to go into the bathroom, then she slipped in a few minutes later. I tousled her hair and made it look like I’d gotten mine, then I sent her off with a wad of cash.”
“Okay. Now, switch it to this woman’s point of view. What happened after she left? Did she tell you any of that?” Fox asked.
“Yep. And it’s fucked up,” I said. “She went back to the compound and handed her husband the money. He went to go put it in the safe and log the trip or whatever the fuck it is they’re doing, and that’s when a DEA sedan rolled by.”
“Oh, shit. Her husband thought she brought the DEA with her,” Mac said.
“Yep. Which means one major thing for us: if they have enough to warrant scoping out The Devil Saints-”
&nb
sp; “Then they’re digging into their past history, which is full of us,” Fox said, groaning.
“Exactly.”
“So, what’d Beast do after this?” Mac asked.
“According to Calista, ran upstairs and started ranting about how she betrayed him. How she went and got the DEA and how the money she was given was dirty. He pulled out a fucking knife and went after her, guys.”
“You said she showed up with a gash on her back,” Hawk said. “How bad was it?”
“Bad enough for stitches. He tried to plunge it right into the top of her fucking spine, but she ran. It grazed her and opened her up good, but you couldn’t see her vertebrae.”
“How is she now?” Mac asked. “What the hell’s that woman gonna do?”
“Well, I figured out why the fuck she hasn’t run from them yet,” I said.
