Ride To The Edge (Lucifer's Saints MC) (Rough Riders MC Series Book 4) (17 page)

“That was easy, Dex.” She crossed her arms against her breasts as we separated. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Of course. What is it?”

“Just be there for Desmond. Bronaugh has decided against all modern medical forms of treating breast cancer. The doctors in Paris did what they could but she refuses any follow up treatment. She won’t go through chemotherapy or have a double mastectomy—not that I blame her. It is her life and her decision.”

“What’s she doin’?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “Smoking medical marijuana, baking marijuana brownies and cookies. Basically enjoying what life she has left. Spending a lot of time with her grandchildren. She said she doesn’t ever want them to remember her bald and frail. She’ll die on her own conditions, and with the lifestyle she chose to lead with Dizzy you have to take pride in that. Isn’t that the creed of motorcycle clubs everywhere? Live free and die on your own terms?”

“Yeah, it is. How’s he handling it?”

“Hangin’ in there but he’s not doing his bypass surgery he had any favors. He seems intent on taking that final ride right along with her. I suppose in the end, he loved us both but differently. He can’t stand the thought of being by himself and now that he knows I won’t be around to pick up the pieces, he seems to be in self-destruct mode. Again, that’s his personal choice but just check in on him every now and then. He’s going to need all the family he can handle around him.”

“Will do.” I walked out of her office feeling slightly more depressed than when I entered it but one issue I’d never have to deal with was having any regrets about staying on the job.

At this particular point in my life, I needed it as much as it needed me.

I
couldn’t truly complain after Hardy and I made up the only way we knew how and that was with lots of sex and great food. My dietician and my trainer despised me at the moment because I wasn’t losing any weight but then again, that had never been the point. I was down to my pre-pregnancy weight and although I had some loose skin and stretch marks I could work harder to tone, it only meant that I could invest in more corsets for stage wear.

I loved them because they were sexy but cute, and now that I was a mother of two, I didn’t necessarily think flaunting my belly was exactly all that appropriate. Yes, I was still in my twenties and looked damn good but it wasn’t my style anymore. I could still wear short skirts, leather pants and any kind of jeans I wanted so as far as I was concerned, I didn’t mind at all that my body was no longer perfect.

It was only a few weeks before the band and I went on a select tour dates around the United States to promote our new album,
No Regrets
. The title was pretty accurate since we’d fired Seth—or at least Dominic Stenfeldt and Introspect had—acquired a new rhythm guitarist and some more estrogen in the band, which I was happy about. Not only was Hailey Rhodes a top-notch guitar player but she was a quick learner with an ear for music that spoke of prodigy level. She could hear a song once and nail the part she was supposed to play perfectly.

Now that all the guys had women in their lives, they were easier to get along with, and we no longer fought at all now that Seth was no longer in the band. It was one of the best decisions we could have made, and I didn’t regret him leaving for even a second.

Though we didn’t have to practice as much as we did for our upcoming gigs, I didn’t mind at all. I had made someone a promise and so we had a special gig to play before we went on the road.

Layla had taken my advice and was leaving for Birch Tree. Her last night at the Vegas clubhouse, she begged us to play if she kept the Slappers at a minimum and most of the main club members in attendance had ol’ ladies or long term girlfriends. Kink had even surprised her by coming down to help her move her stuff, enlisting the help of Cillian and Trey. He’d agreed she could move in with him since they were already an item and the boys had already met her. She wouldn’t stop thanking me though I truly felt like I hadn’t done much but give advice I wish someone had given me when I was dating my loser ex-boyfriends.

The night of her farewell party was bittersweet to say the least. I would miss her cynical personality and the way she handled the guys. She was a natural but then again, she’d been brought up in the life. I sometimes wondered if Kaelan and Eden would end up similar but then again I knew they’d never be as exposed as Layla was.

I would guard them the same way Gisela and Kyra did their children.

Kyra had given birth just weeks after me to a healthy baby boy they’d named Gareth Aidan Cox. He was a beautiful little boy with a shock of reddish brown hair and his mother’s bright blue eyes. She’d hoped his eyes would eventually change to the color of Trey’s but that was a fifty-fifty chance since his own father had blue eyes and both her parents were blue-eyed. She was extremely protective over him and didn’t want to leave him with the nannies, even though Gisela had brought hers as well and Kassandra was there to look after the kids along with Beatriz.

Finally after Gisela and I managed to get a few drinks into her, she settled down and decided it wouldn’t be so bad if she left her son alone with our own children even if the women taking care of them were “strangers.”

We finally managed to get to the clubhouse shortly after seven, and although summer was beginning to wind down, it was still hot and the sun had not set. It was low enough in the sky to enjoy the outdoors while the doors to clubhouse were open and industrial fans helped keep everyone cool enough whether they were outside or ventured inside to the bar.

The band and I began to set up around nine after I gave them plenty of time to mingle with club members who were still in awe they were meeting famous people. I still had old ladies and girlfriends of members look at me with absolute star-struck reverence though they’d seen me around the clubhouse more than a handful of times.

Of course the men in the band were popular as hell though they all had girlfriends that were pretty protective though not overbearing. The only exception to this was Linx, who like me, was married. Unfortunately, he hadn’t decided to just marry any girl but Trista, my cousin and Trey’s sister. He was particularly off limits since Trey, Trista or I would step in on any woman with sticky hands or arms who wanted to do more than cop a feel.

The old ladies and I had a blast making fun of the few Slappers that were there but at the same time, we tried to keep it light and friendly unless they tried to make a pass at any club member who was devoted and taken.

Every Slapper who wasn’t hitting on a taken man had laser-beam eyes for Razr, a former Barstow Saints’ member who’d transferred to Vegas just a couple weeks previously. He was quiet, kept to himself, and although I knew he probably enjoyed pussy as much as the next man, he didn’t seem like the type to mess with just any woman.

It was obvious he was damaged and had a terrible childhood, a fact that Estelle, Chemist’s fiancé, had confirmed. I walked over to him as I ordered a Becks from the prospect tending bar. He sat with a bottle of Jim Beam, a shot glass and seemed to nurse shots more than pound them down. The bottle was two thirds full and he’d been around since we had arrived at the party.

“You’re Razr, right?” I questioned after I had taken a swig from my imported beer. “I’m Talia, Hardy’s old lady.”

Razr gazed at me with the most gorgeous gray eyes I’d ever seen. “You’re Talia from Winter’s Regret before you’re Hardy’s ol’ lady. Jesus Christ, I ain’t never met no one famous before.”

I smiled at him and he in turn smirked. “I’m not that famous and you’ll see me around when there are club cookouts and parties—at least those that aren’t pussy parties.” I laughed then. “I try my best to be approachable but I implore you not to think I am better than any of the other old ladies.”

He swallowed his shot of Jim Beam. “That’s a hard fuckin’ thing to do though.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m not the one you should fear. Gisela Cox knows and sees everything. She’s going to be the woman who will sit by the mother chapter President one of these days, not me.”

Razr turned Gisela’s way to see her surrounded by a bevy of old ladies looking to suck up and show their utmost respect for her. “Yeah, I heard stories about her and Killer. She’s from some rich family yet she wasn’t slummin’ ‘cause she actually fell in love with him. It’s a nice bedtime story though I bet you ninety-nine percent of the relationships in the club don’t start that way.”

“Well that you are right about. Hardy and I met through casual acquaintances and there was absolutely nothing orthodox about the way we fell for one another but we did and I’d never be sorry it happened.  I fell in love with him and I’d never give him up for anything in the world—”

“Now who’s that?” he asked, cutting me off.

I looked in his direction and at first thought he was talking about Hailey but she stood side by side with an exotic young woman that could have passed for a cousin or relative. “Well, that’s Hailey who replaced Seth—”

“Yeah, I know Hailey. She’s one of the top female guitarists in the world. I’m talking about who’s that chick she’s talking to.”

I felt completely out of my element because all I could reply was with, “I’m not exactly sure myself.”

“I’ll go find out before some of the unspoken brothers are all over her like flies on shit. They’ll think just ‘cause her skin’s a bit tanner than all these Slapper sluts that she’ll just hop in bed with them. Two things I can’t stand: men who beat their wives and children, and people who immediately stereotype.”

Before I could reply, he’d left the bar and strolled over to Hailey and her friend. She and Razr would be instant friends because they both hated stereotyping and from the looks of their body language, it looked like they hit it off immediately. The friend was quiet and shy—the exact opposite of Hailey—which made me wonder all the more who she was.

She had that exotic look where she could pass for being anything from Greek to Turkish, Sicilian to Mexican. There truly was no placing her in an ethnic category so I suddenly became as curious as Razr.

I began to stroll in their direction when Hardy grabbed me unexpectedly and pulled me into a warm embrace. “I just wanted to say, break a leg on stage, love, and if I’m extra sweet tonight, does that mean we can have sex?”

My eyes rolled at him unconsciously before I laughed out loud. “You act like it’s a chore for me—of course we can get down and dirty but it won’t be on the staircase. We have overnight guests ya know.”

“Yes, I know, including that neurotic bitch, Kyra, who is so afraid to leave her son alone for five minutes. If she doesn’t stop coddling him, he’s gonna turn out to be camp as a row of tents. At least she’ll have the perfect shopping partner though in the embodiment of a son who was supposed to be an alpha like his dad,” Hardy said shamelessly.

“One, that’s very un-PC of you and two, so what if he does turn out to be gay? Although I have to agree with you about the whole over the top mothering thing. That kid is gonna be afraid of his own shadow if she doesn’t let up.”

“Where were you off to? I know I caught ya just in time. Lookin’ to see who the fresh meat is standing next to Hailey?” he chided.

I kissed him passionately if just to shut him up for several seconds, which turned into a minute of outrageous lip-locking and an over the top display of PDA. “I just wanted to know who she was. Your new guy, Razr, seemed interested enough,” I replied breathlessly after our makeout session.

“Oh, all you had to do was ask me. That’s Harley, and she happens to be Hailey’s younger sister. They’re Irish twins—barely eleven months apart. Unfortunately, she didn’t inherit her sister’s extroverted personality but she’s quick on her toes and quite the spitfire despite her words, or lack of them.”

“I don’t believe you. No way would they name her Harley—and you do mean like Harley as in Harley Davidson?”

“Yeh!” he exclaimed comically before his hands skimmed my body and he finally let go. “Apparently, their father is a motorcycle buff . . . and Prez of the Edinburgh Lucifer’s Saints charter. I gotta speak to my big bro—I wasn’t even aware there was a chapter in Scotland.”

“Neither was I.”

“That’s because it’s new,” a female voice interrupted and we turned to see Hailey had walked over, a bottle of Newcastle in one hand while her other clutched Kris’s left hand to her right.

“What’s going on? Don’t tell me the Saints are expanding?” I questioned regardless of the company—that being Kris who knew about my affiliation with the club but had no idea how deep or integral it was.

“Well, members of the London and Belfast charters had to go somewhere if they didn’t want to leave the British Isles,” Hailey continued as if she were talking about the weather. “I grew up in London—my dad was
your
VP. You would have never known it though because he never brought us around. He wanted Harley and I to have as normal childhoods as possible.”

“Wait a minute . . . Ewan MacKenna?”

“Points go to Hardy who has hit the nail on the bloody head.” Hailey smirked. “Rhodes is me mum’s last name. Harley uses MacKenna though because she attends university here in the States and no one would know who she was associated with but once I knew I wanted to be famous, I didn’t want all that club shit following me so I legally changed my name.”