Page 90 of Talon (Road Rebels MC 2)
And I could see why they would assume she could come to me.
If they’d been digging into her and they went back enough, we were practically attached to the hip. And if they calculated the amount of time she left and compared it to Emery’s age, they probably already pieced together that there was a possibility Emery was mine.
Which meant she would really flee here.
But if there was more than one black sedan, that meant they were hunting her down. It meant they were ready to pounce and raid the house. It meant they would stop at nothing until they’d found her, which meant one of two things: either she played a bigger role in the Iron Souls than she was letting on, or they really were going to string the Iron Souls up and make an example out of them.
Either way, it affected this shipment, and it affected Emery. If I was caught harboring a fugitive, they could haul me away as well, which meant Emery had no family to run to. They’d stick her in a fucking foster system somewhere, with some family that could never love her the way I could.
The idea of someone tracking Emery burned my blood. Part of me wanted to stay here and watch them. Follow them and see where they went after the diner. But nighttime had fallen, and the stars were twinkling, and without Syd having my number and being all alone with Emery, I needed to get back to them.
I had enough information, for now, to help me with what I was trying to figure out.
I took one last look at the license plate before I struck up my bike. I rode out of town, rehearsing the combination of letters and numbers in my head. I knew I needed to be concerned about the DEA snooping around. They were at the fucking warehouse we were using, for fuck’s sake! This could spoil everything, and I knew I needed to tell Mac.
I needed to tell the group what was going on and who I was stowing away.
My loyalty would be questioned and I risked being tossed out of the club. The legacy I wanted to leave behind-- the family I wanted to protect-- was all hinging on the next step I took. My mind raced as I barreled down the highway, my tires carrying me as fast as I could risk it as I fled back to my home.
I couldn’t betray The Road Rebels. No matter how much I wanted to protect Emery and Sydney, the truth was she’d left. She’d left her family high and dry, and The Road Rebels didn’t forget about shit like that. I had to tell them the DEA was snooping around because whether or not she was still in that life, I was. This put my entire family at risk, and even though Sydney was the woman I loved and Emery was my daughter, I couldn’t be around to protect them if we got busted.
I couldn’t be around to raise Emery if they threw us both in prison.
I exited off the highway as I looked at the road behind me. No one was following me, and I didn’t see any cars without taillights behind me, but I wanted to be sure. I diverted onto a bike path, cutting on my light as I whizzed through the trees. My heart ached with what I had to do, but I knew it had to be done.
I couldn’t allow the transgressions of the Iron Souls to take down The Road Rebels, too.
If I alerted the club before I talked with Sydney, they’d string her up. Not literally. Women and children weren’t something we hurt. Ever. But they would drag her through the mud. I’d certainly lose my position as well as the trust I’d built within the group, and they’d try to chase Sydney and Emery out of town in order to preserve their own legacy and shipment.
I didn’t want that to happen. I didn’t want Emery to be subjected to that.
I raced up the road to my home and saw no black sedans sitting there. That gave me some relief that maybe there was only one, but the only way to be sure was to check the license plate the next time it came stalking the house.
But after I asked Sydney the questions I needed to, I doubted she would still be here to look at it.
I wanted her to stay. I wanted to protect them both. But I couldn’t allow them to take down an entire group just because they fled. Just because Sydney made bad decisions. I knew she was lying to me. Not telling me the whole story. But as I shrugged my helmet off and parked my bike around the side of the house, I put on my stern face.
I needed the truth from her, and I needed it now.
Chapter 10
Sydney
My hands were shaking again with panic. I’d laid Emery down for bed in the guest bedroom upstairs just in case anything were to happen. If anyone were to come busting into the house or knock on the door wanting to talk, I didn’t want Emery within earshot, but less to see what was going on.
Or be seen by whoever was at the door.
I kept cursing myself for not getting Hawk’s number. I had no idea when he was coming back, I had no idea if he was all right, and I had no way to inform him of the black sedan that had been outside of the house. It wasn’t there anymore, it had driven off in a hurry, but it was there nonetheless.
And it had been sitting there for quite some time.
I paced the kitchen, trying to occupy my thoughts. I could surprise Hawk with something. Hawk had left without eating anything. But what if he came back with dinner? What if he planned to bring back something from a fast food place or whatever? I didn’t have his number so I couldn’t call, and I quickly shut the fridge before I wasted any of the energy he was paying for in this house.
I started wiping down the counters and cleaning up the kitchen as a feeling of dread settled into my bones. What if that black sedan really was looking for me? What did they know about Emery? Would they try to use Hawk to get to me? What would that do to The Road Rebels? I had no only put myself and my daughter at risk by making these idiotic decisions and seeing all I did, but I’d now put the family that raised me at risk by bringing them around here.
I had to talk to Hawk when he got home.
I had to come clean and tell him the truth.
I sat down on the couch and tried my best to occupy my time. The minutes just seemed to bleed together in an infinite cycle of misery. Every time I thought another hour had passed, I’d look up, and it would’ve only been ten minutes. I tried to lay back and take a nap, sinking into the wonderful couch Hawk had in his living room, but I just couldn’t get my mind to stop swirling.
I couldn’t get it to shut off.
Suddenly, I heard Hawk’s bike roaring in the distance. I jumped off the couch and scurried to the door just as he burst through. I put my finger to my lips, trying to signal to him that Emery was sleeping and to keep it down.
But his eyes were on fire with something, and he took my hand and promptly dragged me to the other end of his house.
“Hawk? What’s wrong? What are you-?”
“Tell me everything,” he said.
The way he turned around and looked at me, I could’ve sworn he was angry. For a brief moment, I felt my panic recede into worry. Hawk was never this stirred up about anything, which meant that something had happened to The Road Rebels.
Or, at the very least, something was about to happen.
“Hawk, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Tell. Me. Everything. About the Iron Souls. About what you’ve gotten yourself into. About why they’re tracking you down. Everything.”
“Wait a second… the black sedan out front-”
“There was a black sedan out front?” he asked.
“After you left,” I said. “You drove down the road until I couldn’t hear your bike anymore, then it crept up and planted itself in front of the house.”
“Why didn’t you call me!?”
“I don’t have your fucking number.”
He shoved his hand into my robe and pulled out my phone. I unlocked it for him, and he promptly put his cell number in. He closed out the screen and tossed it back to me before he raked his hands through his mohawk.
Something had happened, and I needed to know what.
“Hawk, what’s happened? What’s gone wrong?”
“You don’t get to ask questions anymore. Only I do,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“Those black sedans. They
’re not Iron Souls. They are DEA agents. Start from the beginning. What happened?”
“Hawk, you know I-”
“You’re putting my entire life at risk, Syd!” he roared. “Talk to me!”
“Shut up! Emery’s sleeping,” I said breathlessly.
“Then start talking. And tell me the truth.”
I looked at him. The fire brewing behind his eyes. I was scared. Hurt. Angry. Fearful. In all the years I’d grown up next to Hawk, never once had I seen him angry at me. Never once had he turned his fury onto me. Never once did his electric gaze get turned in my direction.
It was the first time I’d ever angered Hawk.
And it was because I put his family at risk.
His true family.
The one he would always be loyal to.
“Why did you come back here after all these years, Syd?” he asked. “And don’t give me some bullshit about my kid. If you weren’t in trouble, I would’ve never seen you, and you know it.”
“Hawk that’s not-”
“Cut the shit, Syd!”
“I saw too much, okay!?”
If Emery weren't awake now, then she’d probably sleep through all of this.
“I saw them hurt. And ravage. And pillage. And steal. I saw their operations, how they trafficked their drugs. The leisurely bike rides I went on with them, they were actually their routes. I had no idea they were casing their routes, they would always just tell me we were going on a joyride.”
