Chapter One

Mick

It was another fuckin’ beautiful day, and I should have been out on my bike letting the warm breeze brush my skin as the sun shone on my back. Instead, I was leaning against the house that used to belong to my mentor, my surrogate father, and my club brother. Magnus Ashbee had been gone for almost nine months, and I missed that old man more than I thought possible. Something about his death had left my guts churning with a desperate need to find the truth, and I’d figure it out. No matter what. Magnus was a decorated Navy SEAL. The man had done more covert operations than anyone I knew. He’d seen so much shit, it had changed him, made him realize who the real enemy was.

CAOS Five was actually started in the seventies by Vietnam vets. They were responsible for ridding the area of drugs permanently. Even before the fucking War on Drugs and before crack decimated whole neighborhoods and then meth, they had taken on drug traffickers, cartels, and gangs looking to get rich on the suffering of others. Now the rest of us continued their legacy. We did our own shit, mostly bikes, guns, and girls, but that shit never included drugs. Ever.

Figuring out the truth behind Magnus’ death was for another day, though, because I didn’t come by to stroll down memory lane. I stood out here waiting for the kid Magnus had never been able to find after two decades of searching. Going through his things after we put him in the ground, I knew I had to finish what he’d started. It had taken some time, but we’d found her. Talon. What a sexy ass name.

She stepped from the cute little red SUV, showing off shapely legs covered in short shorts and punctuated with those little wedge sandals with big loopy ribbons around the ankles. When she straightened, I saw she was a tiny thing, probably just over five feet, but enough curves to keep a hungry man satisfied. And dammit, I was starving. The red and white sleeveless blouse she wore tied at the waist gave her a Midwestern farm girl appeal that made my cock stand up and pay attention. Get it together, man, she’s Magnus’ daughter. “You Talon?”

She turned at the sound of my voice, silver eyes as wide as saucers. “Y-y-yep.”

She’s afraid of me. My lips curled up at that thought. Most women bent over backward and offered all kind of sexual depravity just for a night with me, and this little thing stuttered at the sight of me. “I don’t bite, darlin’, unless you ask me to.” I chuckled at the way pink rose up her bare flesh.

She laughed, and damn that husky sound was another arrow of lust between my legs. “I’m not afraid, it’s just I’ve never seen someone like you in real life.” She reached forward, about to touch one of the tats on my arm, but she pulled back at the last minute. Damn. “You’re so big. And colorful,” she said, eyes again straying to the ink covering my arms. Then she licked her lips, and I wanted to believe there was desire in her eyes, but I couldn’t be sure.

I groaned and took a step back, forcing myself to remember who she was. “I guess all this was a pretty big surprise?” I motioned to the house and the land.

She nodded and explained that the lawyer had given her a couple letters written by Magnus. “My mom always told me he had died before I was born.” Her voice went wobbly, and I froze. Like most men, I couldn’t handle a woman crying. “Did you know him well? Was he a good man?”

I knew what she was asking because the world had exactly one view of motorcycle clubs. Thought they were gangsters, criminals, and all around outlaw assholes. Not CAOS. Sure, we were outlaws, but we had a code of honor. “Magnus was one of the best men I’ve ever known.”

“Really? How’d you meet him?” I stared at her ass for minute when she bent over to reach for a couple bags before remembering my manners.

I took the bags from her hands and led her inside, continuing, “Well, when I left the Navy, I had no idea what I wanted to do next, so I spent some time riding up and down the coast.” I couldn’t believe I was opening up to her so easily, but she was as easy to talk to as her dad had been. I took a long drag off my cigarette and continued, “I guess you could’ve called me a beach bum. I had plenty of money saved up and even if I didn’t, I didn’t have a desire to do anything. So I took odd jobs just to break up the boredom.” I let out a chuckle. “One day my bike sputtered to a stop in the middle of the desert. Next town was fifty miles either way, and then I heard the roar of bikes. It was CAOS.”

Her brows bunched in confusion. “CAOS?”

“California Outlaw Sentinel. The club. Anyway, they stopped and your dad got my bike running long enough to get me back to town. We had a few drinks, hit it off and the next thing I know, I’m getting my cut.”

She turned her attention back on me from checking out the unfamiliar space, and her gray eyes smiled in my direction. “And they became your family.”

I couldn’t believe she understood. “More than that, they gave me a purpose when I was at loose ends. But yeah, Magnus was like a father to me and I knew he wanted you here, taking care of two things that meant the world to him. This place and the diner.”

“I’m glad you did. I never got a chance to thank you for giving me a piece of him…oh my God! I didn’t get your name. It’s like I completely forgot my manners.”

Damn, she was as adorable as she was sexy. “Mick.”

She took my hand which pretty much swallowed hers whole. “Nice to meet you, Mick. And thank you for this.”

“My pleasure.” I held her hand a little longer than I needed to, but she felt so damn soft. And she smelled like sunshine and honeysuckle.

Her mouth curled into a smile, those bee-stung lips tantalizing all on their own but with the glittery shiny shit on them—I couldn’t help but think about them wrapped around my cock. “I’d ask what you’re thinking right now, but I’m not sure I’m ready to hear it.”

I loved a girl with a sense of humor, and this chick seemed to have it in spades. Instead of throwing herself at me, she just talked.

“When you’re ready, I’ll be happy to share.”

She cocked her head to the side and gave me a small smile. Then she did the craziest thing, she doubled over with laughter. Her little body shook, and the husky laugh echoed in Magnus’ cavernous living room. “You know, Mick, I think I will.” She looked around the place again, and I wondered what she saw. An aging home with mismatched furniture? Or did she just see a home? “I didn’t intend for you to help me unload my stuff, but I appreciate the help. Can I buy you dinner as thanks? Wait, is there a place to eat this late in a small town?”

“Did you just offer to buy me dinner?” I scraped my hands over my beard and shook my head. Not once in my life had a woman bought me a meal or a drink. Other than my mother, of course.

Talon froze, mouth open in shock. “Shit, sorry. You have a girlfriend who’d have a problem with it. No problem, just point me toward the food, and maybe I’ll just send you a six pack instead.” Shaking her head and mumbling to herself, she walked to the kitchen and began typing into her phone. “At least he’s faithful,” she muttered to herself.

“Talon?”

She jumped at the sound of my voice and whirled around. “Yeah?”

“What are you doing?”

“Creating a shopping list, why?”

“I thought you were buying dinner, or was that just a line?” I wondered if she had as much fight in her as I thought she did.

“I thought…but you said?” She stumbled over her words, tilting her head as she looked at me. She looked confused, but that look faded really quick. “Yes, I’m buying dinner.” She straightened and shot me a sweet Midwestern smile then disappeared down the hall. When she returned, she wore a prim little cotton dress that should have turned me off, but damn if I didn’t feel my cock harden behind my zipper. “You don’t have a girlfriend, right? Because I don’t want to start any crap in a new town.”

“Completely and totally single. You interested?”

“I might be. Haven’t decided yet. Ready?” She winked.

Damn she was feisty. “Always.” I grabbed the helmet Magnus kept by the door and watched as Talon locked up. “Put this on.”

“But I have my car.”

“It’ll still be here when we get back. Unless you’re scared of a motorcycle,” I teased.

Just as I suspected, she snatched the helmet and put it on. “I’m not scared, but what if I were?”

“Then we’d be taking your car.” A slow smile spread on her lips as she followed me out to my bike.

“A little help?” She motioned to the bike, and I slid on first.

“Push off me and swing your leg around. And don’t forget, Talon, hold on tight.”

***

Talon

Sweet hot damn! I’d never been on a motorcycle before, but the ride was exhilarating. Thrilling. My whole body hummed, probably from all the vibrations between my legs, but maybe it had a bit to do with the tall, bearded redhead I had been wrapped around for the past fifteen minutes. “That was amazing!”

He grinned back at me in that sexy, kind of restrained way that screamed trouble. The best kind of trouble, but trouble nonetheless. Mick was tall—at least six feet four by my estimate—wide and tattooed. I should have been terrified. But I’d seen how sweet he could be, and that left me intrigued. “First time on a bike?”

“Did that classy dismount give away my secret?” I didn’t know how laughing had come so easily given everything that had happened lately, but maybe the weeks I took driving across the country were more therapeutic than I realized. “Oh!” My legs wobbled and I nearly fell flat on my face, but Mick’s strong arms wrapped around my waist and caught me. “Thank you. Nice arms.”

He did that quirk of his lips that almost appeared to be a smile, but not quite. The man had hidden depths, that much was for sure. “Don’t know really, too busy checking out your legs.” Without another word, he guided me into the diner where apparently, everyone knew his name because we were met with cries of, “Mick!”

“Popular guy,” I muttered, wondering if I had another player on my hands. I really hoped not because this man’s presence did things to my body that no man had in real life, never mind actual proximity. Not that I had a string of lovers in my past, just Damon and the cliché I lost my virginity to at prom, but until meeting Mick, I would have said that I wasn’t a very sexual person.

He guided me to a booth in the back, his big hand splayed across my lower back. “This is a small town, darlin’, everyone’s popular by default. You plan on sticking around Brently?”

“That’s the plan so far. I guess it depends on how things turn out.” Though I’d left Chicago pretty much in a hurry, I had a few weeks of driving across the country and talking to myself to really think about my options, and I’d decided to give Brently a fair shot. “This town is kind of small for an all-night diner, isn’t it?” I asked as I scooted into the booth.

“Not all night, just open until midnight then reopens at four in time for the truckers to eat and get back on the road.”

I sat back and took a moment to really soak him in. Fiery red hair in a short spiky style that should have made him seem less intimidating and a close-cropped beard that he obviously took great care of covered a full set of pink lips and if I had to guess, also a razor-sharp jaw. His eyes seemed bluer because of the red hair and when he looked at me, they smoldered. “Makes sense.”

The silence that settled over us was broken by a busty blonde in tight jeans and a pink t-shirt with the words BLACK BETTY scrolled across the chest in large gothic letters. “Hiya, Mick.” She leaned over so her tits were just inches from his face, a salacious grin on her red painted mouth. “What can I getcha?”

“Janine. I’ll have a Guinness. What do you want, Talon?”

Damn, he’d just straight up ignored what she so clearly offered. I wondered if it was for my benefit or if he really had no interest in her. “I’ll have the same. And a burger, medium rare and sweet potato fries.”

Mick flashed a grin and then looked up at Janine. “Make it two.” He’d been about to say something, but we were interrupted once again by an older woman with salt and pepper hair and an all-black ensemble. “Hey, Charlie, come and meet Magnus’ daughter, Talon.”

I looked at Charlie and knew her instantly. “Charlene?” I whispered. “My dad mentioned you in the letters he left for me. He loved you so much.” So much I wondered if I’d ever find someone to love me like that.

Charlie’s dark green eyes misted over, and she put a hand to her chest. “I love that old fool, too. He was stubborn and bossy, but the man had the biggest heart of any man I ever came across.” She surprised me with a tight hug. “It’s nice to meet you, Talon. Once you get settled, come on back and I’ll run you through everything.”

My confusion must have shown on my face because Mick jumped in. “You own this place, along with the house and the land.”

My eyes went round with surprise. I thought he’d left me a small café that sold sandwiches and chips, not all of this. “But what about Charlie? This has to be a mistake, he couldn’t have left everything to me if he was the good man everyone says he was.”

Charlie’s warm hand fell to my shoulder. “You sure are a sweet one.” She gently cupped one side of my face. “Don’t worry, Magnus made sure to take care of me. That’s just the kind of man he was.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. I got my own house and a small plot of land. He gave it to me years ago, to make sure I was always taken care of.”

Charlie’s words finally broke the dam I’d erected around my heart and my emotions since finding Damon plowing into Abby on my kitchen table. I didn’t cry after kicking him out, or when I sold everything in the apartment for two grand. I didn’t cry as I packed up my little red SUV and said goodbye to Chicago. I wanted to cry because I’d been left all alone in the world sooner than I should have been. Wanted to cry for the man I never got to know. But somehow Charlie’s softly spoken words were what made me crack. Why, Mom? I just wanted to know why she had lied to me my whole life. Why she’d taken that relationship from me, that love. I turned toward the wall when she walked off, using a napkin to dry my tears.

Finally under control, I took several long pulls from my beer as the busty Janine set our plates down. “Thanks.”

She ignored me and kept her gaze trained on Mick, who acted like she wasn’t even there. He raised his beer and said, “Don’t be shy, sugar, dig in.”

And in six words, Mick made me forget my grief as my body surged to life at that slow molasses drawl.

Yep, he was gonna be trouble with a capital T.

* * * *

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