Chantal Fernando (2 page)

TWO

Faye

D
O
you know what love is?

Love is when your husband is the president of a motorcycle club, fucking hates that you're going to work for the feds, but doesn't stop you.

He might give me shit about it, but he isn't telling me that I can't do it. Probably because he knows I won't listen either way, but still. He knew what I was like when he married me. If he wanted obedience, he should have chosen someone else. I secretly think he likes that I am the way I am, because it definitely keeps things interesting. He just accepts me flaws and all, and I accept him just as he is in return. When you have such loyalty, such love surrounding you, there's nothing that you can't accomplish.

Now I want to put my powers to good use. As a lawyer, and with my contacts, I can make a change, I can help. I can stand up for the small people, the ones who don't have a badass MC at their backs, the ones who stay quiet to stay safe. I can be their voice, their superhero. I defend the MC every time something happens, and while I love protecting our MC family and will continue to do so, I want to do something else now. I want to give back in some way. Before I became a badass MC wife, I was just Faye, an ambitious law student with a smart mouth and a strict upbringing, but that Faye had her own dreams. Now I can make all of them a reality.

I started working for the feds as a consultant, but now I find myself wandering off into other areas. Because of my biker ties and gift of the gab, they like to put me in tight situations, and I like the challenge of getting out of them. Last month they used me as a liaison to talk to a biker in prison. He refused to speak to anyone about anything, but that was before me. Now? We have his club's drug dealers behind bars.

Faye: 1

Drug lords: 0

The thing I like about working with them is that I never know what case I will be given next, or what they will ask of me. I'm also able to say no. I don't have to do what they ask; it's up to me, so I like the autonomy of it. I like networking and getting to know everyone in this city. Connections are important, especially in a lifestyle such as mine.

“Talon is coming in for a talk,” Dex says as he walks past me in the clubhouse kitchen. “So don't kill him on arrival.”

“Why would I kill him?” I ask, wrinkling my nose. “I actually don't mind him. He's with Tia, and he's Shayla's cousin. Although, he's never been to the clubhouse before, so what's going on?”

It definitely isn't normal to bring a man who is not in the MC to the clubhouse—in fact, it's unheard of. Even though Talon seems to have a different set of rules from everyone else, this is one that should still apply to him. He's the president of the Wild Men MC, a club that used to be our enemy, but one we've now made peace with, mainly because of Talon himself.

“We voted,” he says. “He's in.”

I go still. “What do you mean, he's in?”

Only one thing comes to mind: Talon must've left the Wild Men. But he's their president? Surely not . . .

“Someone in his club betrayed him, Faye. His heart's not with the Wild Men anymore. He made some comments in passing, so we decided that he and Ranger are welcome to join the Wind Dragons. The rest of them can do what they want. I'm guessing they'll choose a new president and carry on.”

Dex goes on to tell me that, as everyone had begun to suspect, Talon found out he had a rat working with the Kings of Hell MC. He was selling and distributing drugs behind Talon's back. Talon still doesn't know who it is, but he has some ideas. Because of the mole's betrayal, information leaked about Shayla, putting her in danger of being killed. She pretty much has a target on her, and no one is happy about how everything played out, especially when some of it could have been avoided if the traitor had stayed true to his club.

Dex and the men are helping Talon find the mole, but no one is any closer. I don't even want to know what they will do to him when they find him. I can see why Talon would want to step away from his MC after that. The Wild Men are nothing like the Wind Dragons. They have no sense of family and loyalty. All they do is drink, fuck, and fight. No morals, no substance.

I've only met two of them over the years—Talon and Ranger—and they were nice enough. But now it looks like they will be coming to us. Still, it seems a little too easy. How can they just switch MCs? Nothing in our lives comes easily. We've fought for everything we have. And we still have to fight to keep it.

“Won't they want revenge on Talon then?” I ask, knowing the harsh reality of MC politics. “Surely he won't be able to leave so easily?”

“I don't think so. Slice, Talon's right-hand man, is staying with the Wild Men to take the lead, and he understands why Talon wants to go. He said he'd help us find the mole, 'cause he doesn't want a rat in his ranks either. We'll handle it,” Dex says with confidence. “Besides, all they really have is old men who don't even know what time of the day it is. I'm not too concerned about the Wild Men anymore.”

“You need to find him,” I scoff, my hand closing and opening, itching to have a weapon in it. You think a man is scary? Try messing with the mother of two small children. Ever since I witnessed firsthand how dangerous this world was, I've pushed myself to train with various weapons, honing myself into what I like to think of as a modern warrior woman. I'm much more than what meets the eye, and I've worked so hard to get to where I am today. The women in the clubhouse look to me for guidance, and if something bad were to happen, it's me they'd expect to handle things. Years ago, on the night that one of our women, Mary, died, I wasn't ready for what happened. Was I brave? Yes. Did I handle the situation the best way that I could at the time? Yes. But if I could do it all over again, if I was better prepared that night, I like to think that Mary would still be alive.

Dex steps behind me and massages my shoulders gently. “Relax, babe. We'll be one step ahead of them all the way. They aren't going to do anything to us. Our babies are safe.”

I exhale and close my eyes. “It will be good to have Talon and Ranger on our side. Talon's pretty much already family to some of us.”

Besides being Shayla's cousin, he's also Anna's quasi-brother. And now he and Tia, Bailey's best friend, are attached at the hip. I think Bailey is quite fond of him too. Hell, maybe I should get on board this Talon thing. He must have some redeeming qualities if he's slowly recruiting a fan group. As for Ranger, I don't really know him, only what I've heard from Shayla. I do know that he's a pretty good-looking guy though, and extremely intelligent, so he'll definitely fit in here fine.

Talon trusts Ranger, and Dex must see something in him too—the men wouldn't make this offer to just anyone. It's like inviting someone into your family, into your household, and trusting them in every way. And given our history with the Wild Men, especially with Arrow and Rake, I truly can say that I never saw this coming.

Years ago, Talon's stepfather—Anna and Rake's biological father—was the president of the Wild Men. We were at war with them, and one night they broke into our clubhouse, guns blazing. The men were all gone, except for Vinnie, and the Wild Men knew it. We all survived the night, except for Mary, who at the time was Arrow's woman. Arrow and I took the loss the hardest.

Although I hadn't known Mary for long, she was such a sweet woman and tried her best to make me feel welcome at a time when I was completely lost. It's unfair that her gentle soul had to leave us. Talon didn't have anything to do with the attack, and didn't even retaliate when Arrow took his revenge for Mary and killed his stepfather. Arrow didn't know at the time that he'd killed Anna's biological father. Maybe that's why Anna is so close to Talon. He's her last connection to her father. I hope Talon is a good man.

Some people only think of themselves, of what they can get out of everything, and they go with the highest bidder. People like that don't belong in the Wind Dragons, and they don't belong in my life. When I look back at what I was like when I first walked through these clubhouse doors, I can see how different I am; yet I'm also the same. I don't think I'm harder, but I'm stronger, wiser. More diligent. I'm the best version of me, physically and mentally, and yet I'm still the goofy woman who arrived here, using humor as her weapon and coping mechanism, obsessively cleaning, and pushing boundaries with the men, turning them into family.

I'm now a mother, a wife, and a woman that people look up to.

Dex tells me that I'm everything. It's the only word he can think of to explain it. I don't know about that, but I do know that I'm this club and this club is me.

I sit down next to Rake and lay my head on his shoulder, staring up at the sky. Talon came and went, and Dex told me he accepted their invitation. “How are you feeling about the Talon thing?”

He wraps his arm around me in a brotherly way and makes a sound in the back of his throat. “The vote was unanimous.”

My eyebrows rise, surprise hitting me. “I thought you weren't a fan.”

“Got to look at the club's best interests, not just mine, yeah?” he says, removing his arm. “Besides, saves me from having to worry every time Anna goes to see him, or about whether she's taking Bailey with her. And Ranger? He's a smart guy. He'll be an asset too.”

I gasp dramatically. “Rake, are you . . . growing up?”

“About time, I guess,” he grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. “We all have to become an adult at some point.”

“Yeah,” I agree, smirking. “Never thought you would though.”

“Faye?” he murmurs.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

I can hear the smile in his tone.

“You shut up.”

“Make me,” he replies with narrowed eyes, contradicting his previous theory about being an adult.

I pull out my phone. “I'll call Bailey and make her make you.”

He plucks the phone out of my hands and lifts it up in the air. “And now what are you going to do?”

When he starts going through my phone, I try to grab it back off him. “Trust me, Rake, if you go through that you're not going to like what you see.”

He stills and flashes me a wide-eyed glance. “Nudes?”

I nod. “In all different poses and distances.”

He hands me back my phone instantly. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Because you know me?” I grin, sliding my phone into my bra. There's actually only one photo on there I wouldn't want anyone but Dex to see—a sexy one of me in lingerie that I sent to him the other night while he was working at Rift.

He was home in fifteen minutes.

Like I conjured him with my mind, Dex comes to sit on the other side of me. He doesn't say anything about me sitting so close to Rake, or pay any attention to it, because he knows we're like family. I'm like this with all of the men, pretty much. They're like my brothers. Brothers I never expected or wanted, but ones that turned out to be everything I could possibly need.

“What's the time?” I ask him, knowing that we have to leave to get Clover from school anytime now. I really hope the dogs haven't destroyed the house in our absence, or I'll never hear the end of it from Dex.

“We have to leave in twenty,” he says, then looks to Rake. “Are we still picking up Cara and Rhett?”

The kids wanted a playdate, so I said I'd have them all at my house today.

Rake nods. “Yeah, that would be fuckin' great. I have to drop by Rift and Toxic now. We're hiring new bouncers.”

With that, he stands, but not before kissing the top of my head. “I'll come and get the kids once I'm done, yeah?”

“Sounds good,” I say, watching him as he disappears back inside the clubhouse. “I hate waking up Asher from his nap,” I say to Dex.

“Me too,” he answers, nuzzling my neck. “But, babe, it's the only time we have peace.”