Authors: Lila Rose
A
few seconds later, the front door opened and the young cookie-liking
biker walked in, closely followed by Blue. I was shocked to see Blue was
restraining a reluctant, dark, and handsome stranger.
“Blue?”
I asked. Talon pulled me closer; both his arms wrapped around my waist.
Deanna
stood up from the couch. “What’s going on
now
? I don't mind the
entertainment, but it's startin' to get a bit much.” She turned her concerned
eyes to me. I shook my head. This was as surprising to me as it was to her.
“Who
the fuck are you and why are you hounding around this house?” Talon asked the
shocked-looking guy.
That
said guy gasped, “Holy Mother Mary, I've hit the payload. No fucking wonder he
deserted me to come here. The bastard. Where is he? I'm going to cut off his
penis.”
Blue
shoved the guy hard, and he stumbled forward. It was obvious to everyone he
wasn't a danger. Besides the fact that if he did—which I doubted—try anything,
the house was already full of mean-looking people who’d take him down. But it
was also a sense that he wouldn’t have the heart to hurt anyone.
He
straightened, fixed his clothes on his lean body, turned to Blue, and glared.
“Well, really. I like a bit of roughness, but only in bed, honey.”
Blue
snapped, “Fuck off.”
I
giggled; I couldn't help it. Blue turned a fierce glare on me, but my giggle
also brought the attention of our guest.
“Well,
spank me. You must be Zara.” He smiled.
My
eyes widened. Talon stepped in front of me and said, “You do not speak to her
or look at her, until you tell me who the fuck you are.”
“Don't
get you knickers in a bunch, love muffin.” He looked over Talon's shoulder to
me. “He is lickably-‘licious, sweetheart.”
“I
think I love this guy,” Deanna said.
He
faced Deanna. “Thanks, doll, aren't you gorgeous too. I'm sure the feeling will
be mutual.”
“Fuck.”
Talon made a beeline for the guy, who started backing up quickly.
“Whoa,
hold up, Hercules. I'm just making friends here.”
“Tell
me who the fuck you are or my fist—”
“Julian?”
The room turned to see a startled Mattie.
Talon
stopped his pursuit and stalked back to me. His arms wound around my middle
again.
“Hell,
I think I just soiled myself.” Julian sighed.
“What
are you doing here?” Mattie asked.
“Who
is he?” Talon glared at Mattie.
“A...a
friend.”
“Seriously,
dickface? You forgot the
boy
in front of that friend. Or is it because
you've found your sister and a house full of Chippendales that I'm suddenly a memory?”
Mattie,
with an outstretched hand, said, “No, no. It's nothing like that.”
“Whatever,”
Julian harrumphed, crossed his arms over his chest, and ignored my brother’s
gaze.
“Oh,
this is exciting.” I smiled and wiggled my way out of Talon's hold; I walked
over to Julian. “It's so nice to meet you.” I hugged him. “Mattie only got here
last night. I had a little breakdown, but I'm sure if that hadn't happened he
would have told me all about you.”
“Well,
aren't you just beautiful? Thank you, precious, and I'm so sorry for your loss.
I understand Mattie wanting to find you and tell you himself, but to leave me
behind? Nope.” He shook his head. “That just doesn't jive with me.” He leaned
in and whispered, “I think he was worried how you’d take to him being gay.” He
stood straighter and smiled. “But you're handling it just fine and dandy. Now
tell me, cupcake, how in God's name have you got a house full of orgasmic men?”
I
grinned and pointed to Talon. “That one thinks he has some claim on me because
he stuck his tongue in my mouth yesterday. He's their head honcho.”
“Fuck
me.” Talon looked to the ceiling.
“I'll
take you up on that, Iron Man,” Julian said with a flutter of his eyelashes.
“Julian!”
Mattie gasped. “Sorry! He’s sorry, he didn’t mean it.”
“Christ,
enough. What the hell am I thinkin'?” Talon asked.
I
put my hands on my hips and glared at him. “I certainly don't know. But, I can
easily fix that and leave.”
“Say
or think that one more time, I'll take you to bed and fuck some sense into you.”
Julian
squeaked beside me. “He sounds serious.”
I
looked at Julian and rolled my eyes. “He probably is.”
“Everyone
shut it. We need this shit sorted.”
“He's
reeeeal bossy too,” I said to Julian.
“
Kitten,
”
Talon growled.
“All
right, jeepers.” I grabbed Julian's hand and led him over to the couch. The
silently watching Violet and Warden moved to stand near Talon across from us.
Julian
sat between Deanna and me, and Mattie breathed deeply and plopped himself on
the edge of the couch.
“Hey,
I'm Julian.” He held his hand out to Deanna.
“Deanna.”
She gave him a chin lift.
“What's
going down here?” Julian asked.
“Her
P.P. man is waiting for an explanation on her past, and why she fuckin' wants
to up and leave ever since Mattie found her.”
Julian
raised his hand yelling, “Oh, oh. I know why. 'Cause her crazy ex, right?”
Deanna
nodded and went on. “So now, the idiot keeps getting in her pea brain head that
it's best to just up and run to keep her and Maya safe as well as everyone else
here.”
“Oh,
shut up!” I glared. “You don't get it. No one does. If he finds me, someone
will end up getting hurt. I'm—”
“Woman.”
Everyone looked to Griz when he barked that one word. The other bikers who had
been playing with their phones or quietly talking amongst themselves fell
silent and stood straighter as if waiting for their queue. “That's why I left
earlier. You may have a hard time coming to terms that you're Talon's woman,
but once he claimed you, you became a part of Hawks. We take care of our own,
and now, that means you. So don't fuck around with thinkin' and worrying 'bout
us. We live for this shit. We’ll protect you no matter what shit you dribble.
Ain't that right, boys?”
A
chorus of 'Fuck yeah', 'Damn straight', and wolf calls echoed through my tiny
house, which brought tears to my eyes.
I
held up one hand. “But—”
Griz
interrupted and said, “Shut ya gob and go with it; nothing you say will change
anything. Now get the fuck back to work.”
I
realized he wasn't talking to me when the bikers started to disappear out the
front door. Only a few stayed: Griz, Blue and Pick.
“Kitten,
it's finally fuckin' time to sort this shit.”
Me
being my stubborn self shook my head. I thought if he didn't have the
information, he couldn't go off halfcocked and get him and his boys hurt.
“Okay,
if you ain't talkin', I will,” Deanna yelled.
“Don't.
You. Dare,” I hissed.
Violet
cleared her throat. “If she doesn't, I will. You need to stay safe. And against
all my better judgment, I think my brother can do that.”
“How
do you know her shit?” Deanna snapped.
Vi
crinkled her nose, raising her upper lip. “Barbie, I'm a PI; of course I done a
check on her.”
“You
suck, just like your brother.” I glared, crossed my arms over my chest, and
slouched down in the couch.
“Just
for that comment, I'll tell your whole frigging history.”
“Violet!”
“Nope.”
She shook her head.
“Someone
just fuckin' start talkin',” Talon sighed. “Give me the info I need to keep my
woman safe.”
Whoops,
guessed he'd had enough.
Vi
took a breath and began, “Zara Edgingway was actually born Zara Alexander. She
accidentally told me her last name when she came in, and I realized it was
different from the one on her resumé. Zara grew up in Manly, NSW with her
parents and her brother Matthew. She graduated high school. But then she met
David Goodwill when she was working at
Starbucks
. He charmed her into
believing he was a good, caring guy. They married young, but—”
I
couldn't look at anyone. David had suckered me into his fairytale, and now my
whole life was being aired like some leather-fetished grandma.
“—unbeknownst
to Zara, David Goodwill dealt with the Mob on the side of his club business.
He's also dabbled in drugs, selling women, and guns. He's one evil
motherfucker.”
Fruit
basket! I knew he was bad, but not like that.
“Why'd
you leave him, Zara?”
Oh,
that hurt. No kitten, but Zara. I couldn't tell him the real reason. I was
already Zara; if he really knew the truth, the filth, what would I become then?
Nothing. So I shook my head and lied, “I found out what he did.”
“Zee,”
Deanna uttered. I caught her gaze with my own pleading eyes. She sat back and
said nothing.
Something
shattered. I gasped and looked up to see that Talon had thrown a vase to the
ground, one that had been near the television. “Don't fuckin' lie to me!”
“Talon.”
Blue barked.
“I'm
not, and don’t throw my stuff around,” I said with my head held high.
“Two
years I've waited for you to come to me. I've been waiting and watching, Zara.
I know you; I know when you're angry, when you're sad, upset, worried, happy,
horny, and fuckin' lyin'. Tell me the truth. Why did you leave him?”
My
bottom lip trembled. Goddamn him for saying that shit to me. The ass wasn’t
allowed to say nice stuff. I was gonna have to ban it from the house.
This
could work, though. If I told him, he'd move on. Let me go. It would hurt, but
it'd be for the best.
Standing,
I glared at him, my fists clenched at my sides and yelled, “You really wanna
know? I'd had enough of his beatings—” The room was eerily quiet except from
Julian's gasp, “—but what topped it off, what had me call Deanna in the middle
of the night and escape, was when he came home drunk, beat me, and then raped
me!” I pounded my chest.
Um,
maybe I shouldn't have yelled. Talon's own hands were clenched; he was
breathing deeply through his nose. A mountain of rage filled the room, and I
was pretty sure I'd have witnessed lasers shoot out of his eyes if Griz didn't
start ordering.
“Fuck!
Deanna, take Zara to her room. Gay guys, PI's, go with them.” Blue and Griz ran
across the room and grabbed Talon's arms. “Go now,” he growled.
Vi,
Warden, and Mattie were already heading down the hall. Deanna grabbed my hand;
Julian took the other one, and dragged me along with them. We'd gotten my door
shut before a roar of fury filled the house. “I'm gonna fucking kill that
motherfucker! Let. Me. Go.”
The
boys must have let go because the next thing we heard was things being thrown
around.
“Talon,
get the fuck outside,” Blue yelled.
We
listened to the front door being snapped open, hitting the wall.
“Clean
this shit; we'll calm him,” Griz said to someone.
Moments
later, the rumble of Harleys started and took off down the street.
“Well,
honey, pumpkin skin, I think I can honestly say I have never seen this much action
in all my life. I love it here. Mattie, we're moving.” Julian smiled from where
he sat next to me on the bed.
“That
was fuckin'...wow. I have never seen a man that...super angry before. Hot or
what?” Deanna gleamed with excitement. She was sitting on the other side of me.
Still,
Deanna and I both knew we’d seen others that angry before, but this was a
totally different situation. We knew that no harm would come from said super
angry person. It was actually funny how un-scared I was, especially with what
my past had detailed. In fact, I was anything but scared; what I felt was
nauseous and sad that I had upset Talon in any way.
“So
hot I think I came in my pants. Sorry, honey,” Julian said. Mattie smiled and
nodded in agreement, then patted Julian's leg.
“Hot-frigging-headed.
He's always been like that,” Vi said, shaking her head. She and Warden were
standing in front of the door.
“Maybe...maybe
he'll leave me alone now,” I uttered.
“Oh,
here the fuck we go. Where is that mushed up brain of yours leading you?”
Deanna asked.
“Now
he knows.”
“What,
Zara?” Mattie asked.
“He
knows I'm not good for him. I'm filthy.”
“Fuck”
Warden hissed, opened the door, and left.
“Too
much girl talk for him, I'm guessin',” Julian smiled. “And Zara, my potato pie.
From what I just witnessed and heard, Talon is far from done with you. You
ain't filthy, girl; that pubic hair flossing ex of yours is as good as dead.
You are much loved here, woman, and if it ain't you or Deanna or Talon doing
the killing, you're going to have many others stepping forward to fulfill that
job. That fucktard should never have laid a harmful hand on you. He's gonna
pay, poptart. No matter what you say. And Talon will be at your side through
all this hell to come. Everyone can see the hard-on he has for you.”