Sexy Bastards Anthology: Bad Boy, Biker, Alpha, Motorcycle Club, Contemporary Romance Collection (77 page)

Chapter 10

Talon

Crystal pushed through the heavy double doors in front of me, and walked down the hall to the classroom where she would be taking her test, her mind obviously far away. I ran to catch up with her and grabbed her arm.

"Should I wait out here?"

She looked around. "Nah, security might give you a hard time if they see you. You don't exactly fit in, you know."

I raised my eyebrows. I knew.

"Come in the classroom. The professor is cool. He won't care if you sit in the back as long as you are quiet."

"Ok." She kept looking up and down the hallway at the people passing us, her eyes nervously scanning faces. I hoped what had happened to her yesterday wasn't going to affect her test grade. "Coin check," I said, just trying to get her mind straight.

She smiled and stuck her hand in her pocket. When she withdrew it she had the military challenge coin I had mailed her from basic training in her hand. A first sergeant had given it to me for being soldier of the cycle. He'd said I would make a good special forces soldier and I should consider pursuing it. The conversation had stuck with me as special, so that was why I had sent the coin to Crystal. I knew she would appreciate it.

"Perfect. Now you can't fail."

She made a face at me. "I wasn't going to fail anyway. How about you? Coin check."

Ah, she knew I always had my coin on me. I found it in the special pocket inside my cut and held it up for her to see. It had paratrooper wings on one side and an eagle on the other, given to me by the commander of my unit. Most times we didn't care about the coins the brass handed out, but that guy had been high-speed. He'd tossed it to me on my way out of the plane and I caught it in mid-air. When we hit the ground he'd put an arm around me and told me he knew I would catch it. He said I had reflexes like a cat and talons like an eagle and that's how I'd gotten my nickname.

I'd been proud of that nickname, even writing to tell Crystal about it. When I got hurt and was laid up in the hospital, she went around to all my old buddies stateside and told them to start calling me that. God I had loved her for it. She'd made it feel less like I was losing a part of myself.

Crystal ran her fingers along the jagged edge of the coin, her eyebrows closing in on each other. I took it gently from her hand. The point of this wasn't to remind her what had happened to me. The point was to get her mind off what had happened to her.

"Test time," I said gently.

"Right." She turned and headed for a door and I followed her. Once inside, she motioned for me to sit down in one of the seats on the right. I did, watching her walk down the steps to the very front of the room where an older man with white hair sat behind a desk. The room was large and reminded me of a theatre with its rows stacked one above each other so everyone could see the professor.

The door continued to open as students filed in and took their seats. I kept eyes on each person that entered until I assured myself they weren't looking for Crystal.

Crystal walked halfway back up the steps, gave me a thumbs up, and sat down, opening a small notebook and leaning over it for some last minute cramming. I was glad I wasn't her. Me and books had never gotten along, especially in high school. I'd done ok with my studies in the Army, probably because we dealt with guns and explosives and machines more than we ever had to stick our noses in books. Put a book in my hands and you might think I was slightly retarded, but put a machine in my hands and I'll show you I'm part genius. Preferably by blowing something up that's very far away. Too bad there wasn't much call for that kind of knowledge outside of the military. Crystal had encouraged me to try to be some sort of a cop, but I wasn't ready yet. I didn't know if I ever would be. These days, I was more criminal than stand-up citizen. Even if life left me no choice, that was still the case.

I leaned my head on my elbow and continued to people watch. Fatigue pulled at me but I ignored it. I'd barely slept at all the night before, but every time I had, I'd woken from a dream in which I'd been taking Crystal in every hole she had while she begged for more. It got to the point where I was scared to fall back asleep for fear that I'd wake up with my hands on her, trying to act it out.

After she'd stilled and her breathing had lengthened, I'd tried to climb off the bed but each time I did she'd made a vulnerable sound in her sleep and her hands had reached for me, trying to pull me close to her. I'd settled for laying on my back, my hip pressed against her ass, so she wouldn't feel my hard-on. Every time she so much as sighed or wiggled, my dick would wake up and raise its brain-less head. Now, my balls felt heavy and sore, a little reminder of what Crystal had been doing to me for years without even knowing it.

The professor began to hand out tests and give instructions. I put my head on the desk and closed my eyes. An hour passed, then another twenty minutes. I didn't sleep, but rather skated right on the edge of dozing, a skill I'd perfected during my time in the military. An alert cat nap had kept me alive more than once when sleep was hard to come by.

When the first person turned their test in and left the large room I lifted my head and looked around. Crystal was still bent over her test, scribbling swiftly. I felt eyes on me and scanned the room, looking for who they belonged to.

A knockout brunette with a cheerleader body and a sexy grin made eye contact with me from across the aisle. I smiled back, my dick taking notice immediately. She stuck a tiny, pink tongue out of her mouth and rolled it around her lips. An invitation. My mind immediately saw those lips wrapped around my dick, that tongue working it from underneath. I looked around to see if anyone else was looking at us. No one was. I leaned back in my seat so she could see me and palmed my stiff cock through my jeans. Her eyes dropped to it and her expression went wide-eyed and innocent. I laughed, causing two guys in front of me to turn around and look at me. I dropped my hands and looked forward, a shit-eating grin on my face. Now I felt better. If I could manage to find a little hole in the wall where I could take the girl and get a little slut action while still having eyes on Crystal, I'd feel even better, but that wasn't going to happen.

Three people turned in their papers and headed up the steps. I kept my eyes forward till they passed, then turned to look at my new friend. She had materialized a piece of paper from somewhere and was writing on it. She looked up at me several times as she did it, the sexy grin back on her face, her tongue making frequent appearances.

She stood up, her test in one hand, the piece of paper in the other and walked towards me, holding up the paper. I was just about to pluck it from her fingers and make it disappear when Crystal came up the steps and grabbed it instead. She hip-checked the brunette and watched her crash into the seat behind her. Everyone in the room turned to look at us.

"Sorry," Crystal spat out through clenched teeth at the brunette who looked stunned. "Let's go, Talon," she said to me. I stood, perplexed, helped the brunette to her feet and gave her a smile, then followed Crystal out into the hallway.

"Jesus, Gidget, what was that about?"

She ripped the tiny piece of paper in two and threw it on the ground, then turned to face me as the door we'd just walked through slammed shut behind us.

"You tell me, Talon. I thought you were here to protect me, not eye-fuck every slussy on campus.

I laughed. I couldn't help it. Crystal had a mouth on her and when she got going she always made me laugh. Even when her tirade was turned on me, which happened more often than I wanted to remember.

She darted forward and pushed me, but her small frame didn't have a chance against my larger one. "Don't laugh at me, you big twat," she hissed, then whirled and took off down the hallway.

I shook my head. What was she learning at Stanford?
Worst insults 101
?
How to alienate your friends
? Why in the world was she so upset anyway?

Unless ...

She rammed through a door that led outside and I ran to keep up with her, pushing the thought away. Crystal wasn't interested in me. And even if she was, it could never work. Would never happen. Better not to think about it.

Chapter 11

Talon

I followed Crystal into the sunshine and ran to get within six feet of her, then slowed and followed her at a distance. She'd cool down by the time we got to my bike, which I'd had to park almost a half mile away.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I took it out. A text from Knox. I'd gone to him for help because I knew he had the connections, the resources, the know-how, to get more information than I had been able to. I read it quickly, cold sweat breaking out on my brow as an invisible hand grabbed me around the throat.

The building you wanted me to check into belongs to Christopher Daniel Santee of Rosemill, California. He acquired it in 1976 for one dollar. Probably a fake paper trail. Maybe it was given to him or he won it in a bet. He rented it to another company till 1982 when it was shut down by the government as a safety hazard. It's been empty ever since. He's paid taxes on it every year. I have a messenger delivering the deed, tax, and rental history to your clubhouse now. There's something else in there you should look at too. Not sure if it’s relevant.

My steps faltered as I tried to make sense of the message. Whip owned the building where we'd found and lost Jaze? He hadn't told me that. I tried to remember that night, how it had happened.

It had been late, almost three in the morning. We'd been at the clubhouse at a party that seemed to just be getting started. Whip had come out of his office and pulled me away from the three women who'd been trying to pull me and Rams into a five-some, mostly by pretending to cat-fight over who got to suck our dicks.

"Talon, I need your help." His voice had been quiet, and then he'd disappeared.

I'd followed him into an empty room. "Sure, Whip, anything."

"Something happened to Jaze."

He had my attention immediately. "What happened? Where is he?"

"I don't know." He sighed and sat down on the couch behind him, putting his head in his hands. "He had the late shift at the bar. Randy was there with him. Randy just called me and said they were jumped as they locked up. They knocked him out and left him in the dirt. When he woke up, Jaze was gone. They left a piece of paper with an address on it pinned to his cut. I want you to go with me."

All I'd said was, "Let's go." I'd wondered every day since then if things would have been different if I had insisted on going to the cops instead, or going in a show of force, instead of just him and me.

After the truck had disappeared with Jaze in it I'd freaked the fuck out. Whip and I had called in a team to fix our bikes, then ridden the neighborhood in circles looking for the truck for hours. I'd insisted he go to the cops then. He said he would, and I should keep riding. I'd ridden aimlessly through the city until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Had he acted strange? I recalled his words, his actions, his demeanor, but nothing jumped out at me.

He didn't get the club involved until the next day, and even then he only told a few people, enlisting their help with the search. He didn't want the prospects to know, or any of the newer, younger members, except me. I had been too fucked up to even ask why. Too fucking heartsick with what I thought I had done.

I looked up at Crystal ahead of me. I had to tell her. But not now. She would know by the end of the day.

We reached my Dyna and she slammed on her helmet, her face making it clear she was still pissed at me. But when I mounted up and she climbed on behind me, her hands wound around my waist whisper-soft and she pressed her body against me. Fuck. I hated riding with a stiffie.

"We good to get on the highway?" I asked. "Nothing you need to do or get before we go?"

"No, I'll come back with Dad and get my stuff in a couple of days."

Good enough. Within a few minutes we were on the road, the miles soothing me as they always did, even if my thoughts were a bit more jumbled than usual. With Crystal at my back, I couldn't help but wonder where my life was going. I loved the club. Loved everything about it. My real brothers were my family, but my brothers at the club were my life. They would always have my back in the same way my squad had my back in the army. Most people don't get that kind of support, that kind of dedication in their lives. But one thing I knew about the guys in the club, they didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the future. Even the younger guys. Even Rams. Even Jaze. They were happy to spend all day working on their bikes, hanging out with the guys until the girls showed up, drinking and smoking. That set me apart. Especially while I was in Mexico getting my leg fixed again. Was I really going to do nothing but hang out at the club for the rest of my life? Drink with the guys, party hard, and that was it? It didn't feel right to me, but I couldn't see anything in its place. The military had abandoned me. Given me a general discharge because I had lost my temper. These days I couldn't see more than ten minutes into the future either.

We made good time, hitting San Fran in under an hour, but traffic slowed us down on the Golden Gate Bridge. I checked my mirrors and noticed a black van behind us. I'd seen it since Stanford, but hadn't thought too much of it. We were on a highway, all heading in the same direction. But in the almost-stopped traffic I could see the driver's face.

"Hey," I shouted to Crystal. "What eye did you get that guy in? Left or right?"

"Left," she called back and I felt her shudder against my back. "Why?"

Fuck.
"Did you actually get his eye?"

"I don't know. It might have been right below the eye."

"Don't look behind us. Use the mirror. There's a van back there that's been there since Stanford. I just saw the driver's face. He's got large sunglasses on but I can still tell he's got a bandage taped under his left eye. It might be on the eye."

I felt Crystal tense against me. She stretched her torso to see my mirror. Traffic began to move again, then stopped completely. "Do you see him?" I asked.

"Yeah." Her voice was small. "I don't know if that's him or not. It could be."

I memorized the plate on the van, then got out my cell phone and speed-dialed Whitey. I prayed I wouldn't need help, but just in case ...

Whitey didn't answer so I tried Rams, tapping my fingers on the phone. I watched the man in my mirror, imagining he was watching me right back.

Rams answered. "Hold on!" he called and I could hear the wind whipping past the phone speaker and the growl of his bike.

Traffic moved again, but slowly. I plugged in an earpiece and dropped the phone in my pocket.

"Hey Talon, how's Crystal?"

"Rams, we need help. We're on the Golden Gate Bridge, stuck in traffic and the guy who attacked Crystal might be behind us in a van."

"Jesus. Take off. You're on your bike, right?"

"I'm going to, but I can't see what's stopping us up ahead. If there's cops, I might not be able to get past."

"If there's cops, then you should be safe."

"Yeah, until we all pass together. Then what? Who's at the club?"

"Fuck, man, no-one. We're on a run up to Cloverdale. Everyone."

"What? What for?"

"Security for some guy's funeral."

"Who? What club?"

"Whitey didn't say. He said it was last minute and everyone had to go."

"Rams, if something goes down with this guy, we might be coming in hot. We need backup."

"Got it. I'll figure something out, Talon."

"Good man."

I hung up, my eyes still plastered on my mirror. "Hold on," I said. Crystal cinched her hands tighter around my waist. I eased the Dyna forward, between the two cars in front of me, watching the guy behind me for a reaction. Traffic was moving slowly, but picking up speed. I curled my fist, pressing the bike faster, until I couldn't see the van behind me anymore. I kept my speed down. Splitting lanes was dangerous with traffic at speed, and maybe more dangerous at a stand-still. I'd seen a buddy get plastered when a driver opened his door in stopped traffic, and another one trapped between two cars when someone tried to change lanes without seeing him. I was determined to get Crystal home in one piece.

We wound our way between the two lanes of cars. As we got closer to the north end of the bridge, traffic started moving freely again.

"Look," Crystal said, tapping my right arm. The road had opened up as the bridge fell away behind us. Two deer were grazing in the foliage on the other side of the guardrail. I nodded. They could have been what had stopped traffic.

I sped up, wanting to put as many cars between us and the guy in the van as possible. This side of the bridge tended to run a little lighter on witnesses.

We'd ridden hard for thirty minutes when I first saw the van behind us again, coming fast. We'd gotten off of the highway and were getting close to Rosemill. The road was only two lanes, with deep foliage and an occasional steep cliff on each side.

I cursed and patted Crystal's hand, gratified when she squeezed me tighter and suctioned herself to my back. She was a veteran double-rider, knowing exactly when to let her weight go completely, and when to shift it for balance. I watched the van in my mirror, my gut telling me things were bad and about to get worse.