Sexy Bastards Anthology: Bad Boy, Biker, Alpha, Motorcycle Club, Contemporary Romance Collection (75 page)

Chapter 6

Talon

"Where is she?"

"She's at the campus police station. I told her not to leave until you get there."

"What in the hell happened?"

"Some guy attacked her while she was jogging. She stabbed him in the eye with her keys and ran."

Fierce pride filled me. That was my Crystal. "They catch him?"

"No."

"What was it, just some nut?"

Whip's voice was heavy, deceptive. "They don't know."

Fuck.
I stuck my hand in my pocket and pulled out the misshapen coin there to work between my fingers. "You sending me out there on a seek and destroy mission but not giving me any fucking intel, Whip?"

He sighed into the phone. "Look, I don't know, Talon. Maybe it's related to ... you know. Maybe it's not."

"Related to Jaze? Are you fucking kidding me, man? Enough with your secrets old man, you gotta tell me what the fuck is going on."

Whip sighed again and I bit my tongue and worked my coin. It was a good thing he wasn't in front of me right now. He was the fucking president but that didn't mean I wouldn't beat his ass if he didn't come clean. I'd had enough.

"There's not a lot to tell. There were threats against Jaze and me. There weren't any against Crystal. I thought she was safe."

"Threats by who?"

"I don't know. I got some strange letters in the mail. No postmark. They're in my bottom desk drawer. You can look at them. They said shit like 'Your time has come' and 'Revenge trumps regret'. One of them showed pictures of Jaze locking up the bar at night and getting on his hog. I put another man with him at night and I had him start wearing a vest."

"Are you fucking serious? And you didn't tell me?" Jaze hadn't told me either. My best friend.

"You were away on an overnight when they started coming in. It only took a week from when the first one came till Jaze disappeared."

I snarled into the phone, all my patience completely gone. "You didn't tell me when we had that fucking
incident
at the warehouse either," I said remembering Whip's insistence that he didn't know what was going on.

Whip didn't talk for a few moments. I held the phone up to my ear and looked around for something to destroy, but all the shelves in the garage were empty.

"And the cops? Was that a lie too?"

"No, the cops know. They know it all. I made several reports. But they don't even have a lead. That's why I'm out here in Bumfuck, Nowhere, following my own leads. Don't ask though, there's nothing to tell yet."

I knew how Whip felt about cops, and it made me wonder if he was feeding me a lie.

When Whip spoke again, his voice was strained, but strong. "Look, Talon, I have some suspicions who it might be, and if I'm right, we're in big fucking trouble. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'll rectify that shit as soon as I see you in person. But until then, you haul your ass out to Stanford and you get my daughter. She has a final tomorrow so keep her there overnight. Keep her safe. Follow her to that final. Don't let her out of your sight. Then bring her straight home. Keep her in the clubhouse till I get back. Don't leave her side. That's an order."

I shook my head and stared at the phone in my hand like it had sliced me. I didn't need that order. Even though Whip was like a father to me, and Jaze, like a brother, Crystal meant more to me than both of them put together, even though none of them would ever know it.

"Got it?" Whip barked into the phone.

"Got it," I said, and hung up, my blood beating relentlessly at my temples.

I pulled up one of Crystal's missed calls to call her back. When she answered, she sounded breathless and anxious, but her voice soothed me as much as the roar of my bike did.

"Talon? Thank God."

"Hey Gidget, I heard you kicked some ass."

She swallowed a giggle. "Not really, I don't know."

"Where are you?"

"I'm still in the cop shop, waiting for you."

"Good, stay there. I'll be there in two hours."

"No, I was just about to go, one of them said he'd drive me back to the dorm. You can meet me there."

"Gidge, stop, listen to me. Don't fucking leave, you hear me?"

Her voice became annoyed, like she thought I was teasing her. "Talon, you know I don't like it when you call me Gidget. And I'm a big girl. I took care of myself, didn't I?"

"Gidge—Crystal, sorry. Look. Didn't your father tell you anything?"

"Tell me what?" she said and I could hear the bewilderment in her voice. That fucking cocksucker, she was completely in the dark.

"You're in danger. This might be some sort of retaliation against your dad. You have to stay with the cops and let me come get you."

She went silent then. We both knew that Whip had been involved in some really shady shit in the twenty or so years between when he'd founded the MMMC and when he'd had his first kid. Something about Jaze and then Crystal, and then the flood of fosters he had taken in over the years had turned him, changed him, made him a better man—one determined to clean up his act, but his past still came back to haunt him every once in a while, and his present never seemed to stay as clean as he wanted. Until now, it had never touched his kids, but he'd always warned them it could.

"Ok," she said, her voice small. "I'll stay here."

"Good girl. Don't you leave for anyone. And keep your phone out. If any kind of trouble goes down, call me right away, got it?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be right there, Gidge, two hours. No more."

"I'll knit you a coat."

I smirked at her smart-ass mouth, then hung up and cranked my bike to life, backing quickly out of the garage. Every cell in my body screamed for me to go to her, but I had a ten minute errand to run first. Rent money could wait, but Greg's pills couldn't.

Especially if I was going to be gone for a few days.

***

I rode to my bank and went through the ATM drive-through, swiping my card and inputting my pin. A flashing box popped up, obscuring the letters and numbers on the screen.

"What fucking now?" I muttered.

I read the message.
Account flagged. Please see bank specialist
.

"Good Goddamn," I swore, scaring a gasp out of the lady in the car next to me. I smiled real big at her, showing all my teeth, then cranked my throttle and shot through the drive-through. I pulled to the front of the building and parked. Someone was going to get their asshole reamed out. I didn't have the time or patience for this bullshit. I knew how much I had in that account. $802. It was all I had left from my one-time government disability payment. I was going to walk out with that much cash one way or another.

I parked my bike and strode through the front door, ignoring the
Please take off your hat and sunglasses
sign. I'd played the good boy for a long time. It didn't get me anywhere but in a hospital bed with people taking advantage of me. That wouldn't ever happen again.

Three women stood behind the counter, the one on the far left was with a customer and didn't look up at me. The one on the far right put her hands under the counter. She wouldn't be that fucking stupid, would she? I wasn't going to rob anyone. The cute blonde in the middle eyed me, then smiled and lowered her gaze, her expression saying she might take me in the bathroom and blow me if I said the word. I angled my stride to end up in front of her, my anger already leaking away a little. I was sure she hadn't had anything to do with my account being fucked, and getting sucked off would certainly help my demeanor.

I put my hands on her counter and leaned forward. "My account won't let me take my money out using the ATM. I'm in a hurry, so if you could work some magic for me, I'd appreciate it."

She looked at me under sooty eyelashes and smiled bigger. "Of course, Mr ...?"

"Covina. Thomas Covina."

Her fingers flew over the keyboard and then she clicked once with the mouse as she stared at her computer screen. Her bedroom eyes went wide and she glanced at me nervously, then licked her lips. I didn't even think she knew she was doing it.

What the fuck?
If I were wanted by the police I might have been worried at that moment, but as far as I knew I wasn't. Even if the prospect had gone whining to the cops, they wouldn't have contacted my bank.

"Uh, Mr. Covina, I need you to wait here for a second."

She walked to the woman next to her and they whispered together, then she disappeared in a back office.

I bit the inside of my lip hard enough to taste blood and stared at her computer. What was going on here? I pushed my hand forward and turned her computer screen enough that I could see it, but all the boxes and columns made no sense to me. While I was looking, Blondie came back down the hall with a man in tow.

He was wearing a business suit, tall, graying. Looked soft. He smiled at me and stuck out his hand. "Mr. Covina, it's so nice to meet you. I'm Lee Roberts, the branch manager. Would you like to come back to my office? Tessa has explained you are in a hurry so I'll make it quick."

I looked him over, suspicious, but pleased. I hadn't been treated with such genuine courtesy since I'd last worn the uniform. My cut usually inspired fear, and respect, but there was frequently an undercurrent of condemnation there too. Something about this man was different. I wanted to know what.

I made a
lead the way
gesture and he seemed to relax, then walked back down the hallway he'd come from. He stood at the door, closing it behind me, then pointed out a fancy leather chair for me to sit in.

He walked around his desk and sat down, then steepled his hands in front of him. "I'm sorry we flagged your account, Mr. Covina, but I'm sure you'll understand why as soon as you hear my explanation. You see, a Mr. Knox Rosesson came in two weeks ago and deposited a rather large sum into your account. He asked me to give you a note."

Roberts pulled an envelope out of a drawer on his desk and handed it to me. I looked at it, trying to decide how I felt about what he'd just said before I read the note. All I felt was relief so I slid the envelope open and unfolded the piece of paper.

Talon,

I didn't tell you about this in person because I didn't think you would accept it if I did. I hope you accept it. The Rosesson name comes with a lot of privilege and money, and you are just as much Rosesson as the rest of us. If you don't want it, give it to someone, or put it in a trust for your brothers when they are older. I won't take it back. That's how strongly I feel like you and your brothers deserve it. I've got a job for you too, if you ever feel like you want one.

Knox

I shook my head but felt my lips curve into a smile. Now I just needed to know what
a rather large sum
was.

"How much?" I asked Roberts.

"I have it right here," he said, pulling out a piece of paper from under a stack on his desk. "I hope you will continue to bank with us, Mr. Covina. We can help you manage this money."

I took the piece of paper, which was actually a deposit slip. All those fucking zeroes caught my eye in the best possible way. I counted them several times before I could look back up at Roberts.

"One million dollars," I said, a wild laugh building in my chest.

"Yes, sir," Roberts nodded.

No fucking wonder he had treated me like my shit didn't stink. I was a fucking millionaire. Well, at least for a few more minutes. I snorted to myself. That Knox Rosesson was something else. Damn right I wouldn't have taken his money in person, but damn fucking straight I was going to keep this. I would dream about what it could do for my brothers, for the club, for my friends later. Right now Crystal needed me.

"Don't worry, Roberts, you can keep my money. But I need some of it right now. Cash. Five thousand. And I
am
in a hurry."

Chapter 7

Crystal

The white wall across from me was extremely uninteresting, but staring at it kept my eyes off the freshman babe two chairs down who was crying and muttering about something. I'd tried to talk to her but she'd only cried louder and waved me away. I checked my phone. It had been one hour and fifty-six minutes since I'd hung up with Talon. Any minute now ...

I'd been there for over eight hours. I'd had a good cry in the bathroom and even talked to a counselor they had on staff. I was feeling pretty good, considering what I had been through. I hated that Talon said maybe the guy had been looking specifically for me because of something he had against my dad, but I hated the thought of it being some random psycho even more. Neither would go in my diary under best revelations of the year.

A door to my left opened and one of the cops who had taken my report strolled out into the waiting room and smiled at me. He was young and handsome in a clean-cut, stick-up-the-ass kind of way, a look I'd never been interested in. I didn't want to be a club hanger-on, getting passed around and talked shit about, but I still liked my men more hard and rough than immaculate and creamy. There had to be a middle ground, right? A bad boy on the streets and between the sheets who still would never fuck your best friend and leave you crying in a puddle of your own mascara?

I returned the smile with a grin of my own, wondering only for a moment if he said words like please and thank you in the sack, then went back to making sure my wall didn't run away.

A second later, the cop dropped into the chair next to me. I sat up straighter and looked for his nametag out of the corner of my eye. Turner.

He leaned forward. "You sure you don't want a ride, Miss Santee?"

I twisted in my chair to face him. "I'm sure. I've got someone coming to get me. Thanks."

He smiled at me again, showing a mouth full of perfect teeth. Someone had paid big money for those braces. "Good. I just want you to know that you did exactly the right thing when that freak attacked you. We're going to find him, and he's going to answer for what he tried to do to you."

Um. Ok. I'd already heard this exact same speech a few hours ago. "How're you going to find him?" I asked, genuinely curious.

He hooked his fingers under his Sam Browne belt and pushed his lips out in some weird, guy version of fishlips. "We're running his blood through the database now. It won't let us identify him, but when we catch him, it will make sure we have the right guy, plus it may provide a lead if he's got anything strange going on like exotic diseases or rare blood types. There are two officers questioning people on the trail and in the area to see if anyone saw him. They've been there since you called us. And the crime scene guys are going over the entire area for clues, just like you see on TV. They are checking anything found on the ground or path, looking for footprints, monitoring cameras in the area. That kind of thing."

I nodded, glad I had asked. Before I could say a word, the door to the outside opened and both of us turned our heads to see who was coming in.

Six foot, two inches of badass biker strolled in and my heart did a funny little jig in my chest. Talon Covina had ruined me for any other man, and I'd never even kissed him. Well, except in a brother-sister way. My dad had let him come live with us when I was fourteen and he was sixteen, and I'd spent the next two years trying to get him to notice I wasn't just an annoying little kid. Then he'd joined the Army and I'd thought I would die. I'd written to him every Monday for three years, always wanting to spill my heart out, but mostly just telling him what Dad was doing, what Jaze was doing, what the club was doing, and how I was doing in school. He'd always encouraged me to study hard and never teased, well, except for the Gidget thing. I hated having straight brown hair, brown eyes, and a baby face.

Officer Turner stood up immediately and squared his shoulders, staring Talon down. "Help you," he barked out, making it sound more like fuck you than a simple question.

"Nah, brah," Talon said, flashing a wide smile I hadn't seen since before he left for the Army. "I got all the help I need." He held out a hand to me and I took it, thrilled he was finally there.

Then I remembered my promise to myself that I would tell him how I felt. My heart fluttered madly in my chest as a funny tilting sensation raced through me.
Uh uh. No way. I couldn't do it.

Talon pulled me to the door, ignoring Officer Turner's parting words, whatever they were. We went outside into the cool night air and down the steps, still holding hands.  At the bottom of the steps he stopped for a minute and picked at a lock of my hair. My new blonde streak. "Pretty," he said, then dropped it and pulled me into the parking lot.

I thought my heart would stop in my chest. I would gladly be accosted by strange men every day of the week if it made Talon treat me like this.

Talon led me to his Harley and threw a leg over, then handed me a brain bucket, his dark hazel eyes staring into mine, entrancing me. I shook my head and tried to focus on his words, not the gorgeously-bearded mouth they were coming out of.

"Your dad said you—what in the hell is that?"

"What?" My hand rose to my face where he was looking. I hadn't seen any bruises and had cleaned all of the blood off of me already. I didn't know what he was upset about.

"You pierced your nose."

My hand touched the tiny stud and I smiled. "Yeah, do you like it?"

Three lines appeared between his eyebrows. "Doctors don't have pierced noses."

I almost laughed. Would have if he hadn't looked so pissed. "Lighten up, Talon. Some do these days. I can wear a retainer if it causes a problem."

"You've seen a doctor with a nose piercing?" he asked, his eyes hard.

"Well no, but some of the other students have them." I rubbed my tiny, diamond stud. "It's small. Most people don't even see it. Besides, I'm still only pre-med. Maybe I'll change my mind. Become a veterinarian instead." Now I was just fucking with him, but I couldn't help it. It made me feel more in control of myself.

"A veterinarian! What are you talking about? You've wanted to be a doctor since you were three years old!" The fire in his eyes threw me. He was really upset about this. But why?

Still I couldn't control my mouth. "A veterinarian
is
a doctor. For animals."

His jaw tightened and he shook his head. I could see the lecture building behind his lips and I wanted to head it off. He could be worse than Dad sometimes. Especially whenever I did anything even slightly illegal, like when I'd gotten drunk for the first time ever and spray-painted the underside of a bridge with my friends.

That was one thing that always pissed me off about Talon and my dad and even Jaze. Their double standards. Like they thought I didn't know what they were doing in the clubhouse and when they went on their runs. My dad made a show of changing, I knew he'd tried to change many times, but I also knew he had a deep streak inside him that shunned authority and control and always would. I just hoped Talon wasn't turning out the same way. For his sake, I told myself.

I held up my hands. "I'm kidding. I still want to be a doctor. I promise you the piercing won't get in the way, and if it does I'll let the hole close up."

Talon watched me for a moment, giving me just long enough to get lost in his eyes again, then he spoke. "Let's start over. Your dad said you have a final tomorrow."

"Yeah, cellular biology at eight in the morning."

He looked around the well-lit parking lot, then turned back to me, his square jaw drawing my eye as he spoke. "What kind of hotels are near here?"

"Hotels, why?"

He fastened his own helmet and narrowed his eyes. "Where else are we going to sleep?"

"Sleep? What?" Was he asking me to sleep with him? I knew he wasn't but I couldn't get my brain to form thoughts. I dropped my eyes to the pavement and dug into my palm with my fingernails. I hadn't seen him in almost two months and he still did this to me. He must think I was a complete idiot.

"So you can get to your final tomorrow without us having to fight rush hour traffic and get up at oh-dark-thirty. I'll take you home after your final."

"You're staying with me?"

Talon's eyes narrowed and he turned his head slightly. "Yeah, of course. What if this guy comes back?"

I shuddered at the thought and looked around the parking lot like maybe he was hiding behind a police car, about to run at us. "Oh, yeah. Ok. Um. There's lots of hotels but you won't be able to get a room right now. There's a game tonight. They'll all be booked completely full two cities out."

Talon just stared at me with his beautiful eyes. "Ok. We'll head to the club then. Get up early in the morning and come back."

I didn't want to drive all the way to Rosemill. It was almost an hour north of San Francisco, and we had almost an hour's drive just to get to the Golden Gate Bridge. Even driving to San Fran to find a hotel would be better than going all the way back. Maybe we didn't have to leave Stanford though. "We could stay in my room. Well, maybe we could. My roommate has a boyfriend. She hardly ever sleeps there anymore. Let's go see if she's there."

Talon nodded and started his bike, waiting for me to climb on. I did, sneaking my hands around his waist and leaning forward against his broad back. This was the first ride I'd gotten from him in five years. I still remembered he and my brother pooling their money and restoring that old Bonneville together. Talon's first bike. His pull into the world I'd always known and frequently rejected, with a heavier heart each time I did it. I loved my dad. I loved my brother. Both were bikers for life, even if I knew I would never fit with the lifestyle. Throw Talon in there, and things really started getting confusing. I sighed. Yeah, that was my life. Confusing.

The bike glided forward, taking us with it. The wind in my face and vibration under my ass cooled my earlier upset, made the whole damn day a little easier to bear.

The warm, sexy man who made heat rush between my legs didn't hurt either.