My hand cracks across his bruised face. He grabs it, leaning so close, his breath kisses my lips. “Get lost.”
His eyes are a black hole filled with nothing but contempt. I swallow hard. Making enemies with him is hardly how I envisioned the start of my new life. But I won’t be cowed into leaving. Not when I’ve come so far. I decide to change tactics. Leaning closer, my breath lands back on his lips. “Why? Why do you hate me? We’ve hardly met…”
He closes his eyes. “I know enough… see enough…,” he swallows hard, then abruptly turns. With his back to me he calls out, “End of the week.”
I flip him the bird. He can’t really make me leave, can he? I mean he’s just the Prez of an MC. He doesn’t own this town. That’s just TV bullshit, right? He’s nothing but a grown-ass bully.
I sip my coffee, trying to forget how he looked at me like something he wanted to crush.
5
Tarak
I watch her walk away while the smell of her sugary lips still lingers in the air.
She’s too much like Mandy. Even her name’s similar. I don’t trust her. Not one bit. The way Edge looked at her got under my skin. For all I know she could be a plant. A way for him to get eyes and intel on what goes down in my turf. Edge knows I have a penchant for broken little things.
That fucker really likes to stir the pot.
“Tarak?”
I turn, glaring at my second, Indé. “Find out where she lives. Who she is... Everything about her down to her blood type.”
He nods, pulls out his cell and starts making calls. It won’t take the Royal Bastards long to find out every detail of her life. Our chapters span the States and across Europe. Soon, we will be the biggest syndicate on the globe. Fuck the Cartels. They’re too busy fighting one another to grab the ultimate power of a unified global network. That’s what we have in the Royal Bastards. The pandemic just further cemented our power. While governments wrung their hands worrying about PPE and the economy, we moved the merchandise and fed the hungry by partnering with the farmers. We are the ones who stepped up and saved lives. No one forgot either. This new girl is about to wish she never crossed my path. I don’t want her traveling down my road.
I wave my guys ahead. “I’ll meet you at Church in thirty.” I stop in the florist three doors from the café and pick up Mandy’s favorite. Pink orchids and white hydrangeas.
With the flowers wrapped and under my arm, I navigate the streets until I rise higher above the town. I throttle down, the engine revs as the altitude increases. There high above town, under a tree I nurtured until its roots grew, is a small cross bearing only her name.
I take off my helmet, hanging it off the edge of the handlebars.
“Babe.”
Kneeling in the dirt, I press my hands into my eyes, willing the salty tears back. I lay the flowers on the ground. “Damn, girl. I wanted to die with you. I miss you so much.”
I press my palms flat on the ground, trying to feel her through the layers of rock and soil separating us. “Sometimes I think I hear you. You tell me to let go and move on. But I just can’t, babe. You were it for me.”
I stay here at my love’s final resting place until the sun singes my skin. “I love you. I’ll be back soon, babe. Wait for me. Don’t go falling in love while you’re in heaven.” I kiss two fingers than trace it over the cross.
I have Club business to attend to now. Things are getting messy. Now that some semblance of normal is back, every MC, street gang, and cartel wants a piece of the action. The latest hot commodity is blood plasma from recovered patients. That geek fuck might’ve saved the world, but his antibodies are made in a lab. There’s nothing like the real thing especially since the cost of mass production is high. But no one wants to donate. The survivors are scared shitless. The black market is ready to supply the demand, but first they need to find the survivors and take their blood like vampires. The Royal Bastards are voting on it. Not just us either. All the Chapters. If we’re in, we’re in. But if we vote it down, someone else will fill that void and that’s the problem. I’d rather it be us. At least we live by a code. Sure, I’d take the plasma, willing or not but I wouldn’t kill for it. They are survivors of something, who would we be to take their life for it?
I turn down the dirt road at the base of the mountain that leads to our Clubhouse. Protected by chain link and barbwire and tricked out with the latest surveillance equipment, it’s a fortress. The back of our property is the black, rugged terrain of the mountain’s base. The rest of the land is flat in all directions. No one can sneak up on us in our compound, During the outbreak, we let people pitch tents on our lands after being swabbed. Our people don’t fear us, they know we protect them from everything.
My sister, Regan, is out front tending the garden. She made us haul logs and soil for hours. But her garden kept us fed with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. Regan moved in during COVID and never left. It’s a real pain in the ass having your little sister constantly underfoot. Especially when she’s hot and curvy. I’ve planted my fist in more than one brother’s face for staring too long. Regan ain’t no sweetbutt. She’s off-limits. When we host other Chapters, I’ve locked her in her room more than once. I can’t be distracted or get into fights with my brothers. It ain’t good for my image as Prez.
“What are you growing now?” I plant my hands on my hips, noticing an addition to the garden.
“Herbs.”
“Hemp?”
She shakes her head.
“At least plant some shit we can make money off of.”
She giggles. “All this kept us alive.”
“I know.”
“What’s wrong? Besides, the obvious. Who did you get into it with now?”
“Who else.”
Her spine stiffens. “Edge?”
I nod, looking away.
“She wouldn’t want this. You need to let it go.” Regan places a hand on my arm.
“I can’t. I’ve tried.”
“Have you?” I shrug off her touch. She sighs. “They’re all waiting inside for you to make the vote.”
My brow lifts. “If you had a seat at the table, what would yours be?”
She shrugs. “I see both sides.”
“Me, too.”
“You’ll do the right thing, Tarak. You always do. Even when the right thing is the wrong thing.”
“Thanks, for the vote of confidence, sis.”
“Anytime.”
“You didn’t cause any trouble when I was gone, did ya’?”
“Not as much as you did.”
“He had it coming.”
“So, you decided to waltz down to the Triple XXX and just walk in?”
“I was in the mood for some tits and ass,” I shrug, grinning like a mother fucker.
“Oh yeah? Did you get any?” The memory of how that girl stood before me in her dirty jeans and thin T-shirt runs through my head. Her eyes returned fire. Her tiny fists were balled. She was beautiful in that moment. Her defiance stirred my blood. She also stirred Edge’s. Her little-bitty tits and no ass didn’t matter. All that mattered in that moment when she baited me was making her beg for my touch.