Chapter 3
Talon
The clubhouse was packed with people today while the entire club mingled with one another. We all got together all the time on random occasions, but every Friday night we all got together, ordered a shit ton of pizza, and gave our own bar a serious amount of business. Fox was busing cold beers from the bar for us to drink while I set the pizzas out, and all the while people were talking about our latest trip we were taking in a couple weeks. We were all riding up to the northern point of California and camping out at some bullshit lake or whatever. The last road trip we’d taken was to Redding for a massive bike festival, and that ended up getting some people into some serious trouble.
We already had two guys dealing with pregnancy scares while a couple of our women were getting treated for STD’s they caught.
We all agreed that a calmer trip this time with just the group would be a welcomed turn of events after something like that, so I set to planning it. As road captain, I wasn’t only responsible for the safety of those riding to our destination, I was also part of the coordination team that made sure the dates were set and that everyone had money to go who wanted to go. Our shipments we trafficked in were split evenly between all the group members as well as certain accounts we held, and one of those accounts was one I was in charge of.
It was the account I used to pay for everyone’s sleeping arrangements as well as giving them extra money to put gas in their car and food in their stomachs.
Tonight, however, was just a family night. Mac wanted to get all of us together just to make sure everyone was okay from the supposed backlash of the Devil Saints he was so paranoid about. He ended up sending out a mass text message to everyone saying food and beer were on the core group tonight, which pulled me from my bed on a night I’d planned on staying in.
For someone who wanted me to garner information from places, Mac sure as hell wasn’t giving me the time to do that.
I’d gotten some unassuming information after Calista sucked me off I’m sure Mac wanted to know about. As far as Calista was concerned, she didn’t suspect the Devil Saints were trying to find or place blame anywhere, though she did say they were on a witch hunt within the confines of their own club. The President of the club was dead set on finding out whoever ratted them out, and I could tell Calista was a bit shaken.
We sat on my bed while I comforted her, trying to get her to understand that it was going to be all right. If there was one thing, I couldn’t stand, it was a crying woman. I always just wanted to make them feel better. I kept asking her if they suspected who I was. If the Devil Saints had any inclination that I was Road Rebel and not just some random man from town looking for a little pussy on the weekends. She told me they didn’t suspect anything, and that it was even putting her in the President’s favor because I was the first repeat customer she’d ever had.
The idea made me sick.
I told her it was best if she stayed away. For good this time, so she wouldn’t get herself killed. The last thing I needed was the only connection I had with that club crumbling to ruins because they were on high alert. They might not suspect another rival club of planting anything like we did, but a witch hunt within their own ranks would make people paranoid.
And the last thing I needed was someone following this woman around.
Fox came in with another tub of beers on ice, ripping me from my thoughts. He dumped it all into the massive barnyard sink we had in the community kitchen, then he grunted before he left to get another shipment of beer. The glass bottles that didn’t fit in the double basin were being shoved into the fridge, and when the fridge was overloaded, I started bringing out coolers. Hawk ran out to get ice to fill up the coolers while Fox made another run back to the bar to get more beer, but suddenly the tone in the room shifted.
I stood up from behind the kitchen island in the clubhouse and saw Snake walking into the room.
With his sister.
Gemma.
Suddenly, I was ripped back to another time. A time when I was a gangly teenager being inducted into a life I had no business being a part of. A time when I was petrified of talking to people because I thought they would hit me if I said the wrong thing. A time when I was all limbs and no muscles, not a threat to anyone except the bugs that crunched underneath my feet. My eyes raked along Gemma’s form while everyone descended upon her, giving her hugs and planting kisses on her cheek while Snake beamed with pride.
And still, all I could do was rake my eyes up and down her beautiful form.
I’d had the biggest crush on Gemma when I was a teenager. From the first moment, Snake brought her into the bar where none of us had any business being. But I stayed away from her because Snake kept threatening to chop my dick off if I touched her. If I looked at her wrong. If I had any romantic intentions, I wanted to bestow upon his sister. She came by the bar and clubhouse regularly, despite the fact that all of us were underage at that point, and she would always sit with me and talk. She’d talk about school and the latest books she was reading. She’d talk about how her father’s back was improving even though he was drinking a lot more. She’d rant to me about how her parents always fought and how she just wished she could pack up her stuff and leave.
I never talked back, but I always listened. I was too busy staring at her tits or being too wound up in her beauty to answer her, but holy hell did I love it when she sat down with me.
Every story she told me prompted a dream that night. Where I’d whisk her away and put a smile on her face every morning. Where every night I spent licking that beautiful pussy and bringing her to erotic heights she could’ve never dreamed of. Where I introduced her to toys, I loved and pressed her against walls I wanted to imprint the outline of her body into. I had dreams of buying her an island where she could escape the pain of her household. I had dreams of living with her in a remote cabin where we were totally off the grid.
I had dreams where it was just her and I, losing ourselves in each other’s bodies and watching sunsets huddled underneath a blanket.
I knew Snake intentionally kept her away from the club over the years, especially with all their family had gone through. I remembered when his father died, then when his mother died not too far behind him. I remembered accompanying him to the measly funerals he threw for him, and I starkly remember Gemma not being there. His mother and father weren’t very liked, that much was for certain, but I just knew Gemma would’ve made it back for her parent’s funerals.
Then again, Snake didn’t talk much about his childhood, and I suspected Gemma didn’t come back for either of their funerals because of something that happened when they were younger.
Gemma looked phenomenal. Her dark brown hair was much longer than I remembered. In high school, she kept it short. No longer than her chin. But now it cascaded down past her shoulders, nestling sweetly between her shoulder blades and fluttered with every movement she made. Her bright blue eyes sparkled with happiness as the entire club enveloped her within their arms, and for a split second, I thought maybe I could do the same.
Maybe Snake would overlook a hug between the two of us.
I never touched Gemma while we were teenagers, though I wanted to. She had this beautiful tan skin that made her eyes pop in the morning sun. She had long legs I’d dreamed of wrapping around my waist for years and slender fingers that I wanted raking down my back while I plowed into her body. Her smile was white and bright, and it spread widely across her face, almost like the Cheshire Cat from that one movie she loved so much.
What was the name of it?
Alice of something, I think.
Her slender shoulders slid into beautiful breasts that were the perfect handfuls. The soft curve of her waist poured into slender hips before her body tumbled into her long legs. Her skin looked so soft and so inviting, and I wondered if any man at her college had the privilege of touching her.
Of kissing her.
Of marking her body as his own.
The thought made me angry. Did they treat her with respect? Did they take her to dinner and treat her well beforehand? Did they take baths with her, or shower with her, or give her massages whenever her shoulders ached? Or did they just take what they wanted and leave her alone, cold and shivering between the sheets of her bed?
I felt my hands clenching at my sides at the thought of someone mistreating her.
I took a deep breath through my nose as Fox started barreling through the crowd. He tossed the wooden crate of beers up onto the counter before he rushed towards Gemma, wrapping her up and spinning her around. Her giggle filled my ears, filling me with jealousy I didn’t know I was capable of.
Everyone else got to touch her except me, and it made my ears burn with anger.
I started stacking the beers in the coolers that were still waiting for the ice Hawk was garnering. My assumption was he’d gotten sidetracked with Syd, and the thought made me smile.
I wish I could get sidetracked like that with Gemma, because I’d do it over, and over, and over again.
I stood up from stacking the beers just as Hawk appeared at my side. He was all smiles as Syd threw her arms around me, and I enveloped her into a hug. The look in her eye told me exactly what she was thinking, then I saw her nod towards Gemma as my eyes turned to her direction.
And that’s when it happened.
Gemma’s eyes connected with mine for the first time in almost four years.
“Why don’t you go talk to her?” Syd asked. “You’ve had some practice with talking over the years.”
“Ha, ha, ha,” I said as I glared at her.
“Hey. It took a lot of work bringing you out of your shell. You’re a good man. Snake can’t get pissed at you for talking with her,” she said.
“Then you don’t know Snake,” I said.
“I’ll keep him entertained. Go talk to her,” she said.
Syd rubbed my back as I turned my eyes back to Gemma. She was smiling brightly at me, her hand rising up to wave. I nodded at her as my entire body flooded with a heat I’d never experienced with any woman, but soon I felt Snake’s eyes on me as well. I could see him out of the corner of my eye, glaring at me while I smiled at Gemma.
There was a slight shock behind her eye that fluttered about, and I wondered why she looked so surprised at my reaction to her.
“She’s surprised because you never talked to her when you guys were younger,” Syd said, giggling.
“How the fuck do you do that?” I asked as I turned to her.
“Talon, you might not talk, but you’re the easiest of the group to read,” she said. “You didn’t even give Gemma the time of day back then. All you did was sit there while she did all the talking.”
“I was an idiot back then,” I said.
“Then don’t be an idiot now,” Syd said. “Snake will get over it.”
“Uh huh. Sure,” I said.
“Talon quit being a pussy and go for it,” Hawk said. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Snake could climb in through my window and stab me in my dick,” I said.
“We’ll take care of Snake as long as you make us a promise,” Hawk said.
“What?” I asked.
“Talk to her this time,” he said, grinning.
“All of you are dicks,” I said.
“And you’re gonna get yours wet tonight,” Fox said as he approached us.
“Seriously, Fox?” Syd asked. “You gotta put it like that?”
“How else did you want me to put it?” Fox asked.
But I was already lost in Gemma’s eyes again as I looked back across the room and saw her. Snake was at her side now, his eyes attached to me while mine fluttered up and down the body of his sister.
I was determined to talk with her this evening, especially if other people were on my side in all this.
Tonight, Gemma was finally going to be mine.