Page 46 of Desert King

He swallows hard. “Mandy. Tarak doesn’t know. He’d take my girl from me and claim it’s his kid not mine.”

“Is she?”

“No. I did a DNA test.”

“This Mandy chick is getting on my nerves,” I mutter under my breath as I march past Edge and into my house.

“Nice spot you got here, mouse. You’re not so down on your luck as you seemed.”

“I had money. Had past tense. I don’t want your damn truck anymore.”

“Do what you want with it.”

“I need to shower and get dressed. Don’t move. Don’t you dare snoop,” I warn him.

“Can I at least have a beer?”

“Fine,” I snap. “A beer and my blood. We’re done. Even.”

“Deal, sweetheart.”

He appraises me. A blush creeps up my face. I think Edge might really be into me. Not faking anything at all. But I’m sick of competing with a dead girl for hearts. His and Tarak’s.

I pause halfway up the stairs. “Are you over her?”

“Somedays I am. Others not.”

“What was so special about her? What did she have that you and Tarak can’t let go of?”

He shrugs. “Can’t put it into words. She was wild. Beautiful. Untamed. But underneath she had a softness about her; a vulnerability.”

“Do I look like her?”

He takes out his phone. “Why don’t you decide for yourself?”

I take the phone from him, scrutinizing the photo he pulled up. She is brunette and tiny like me. Has dark eyes like me. But her lips are fuller. Confidence exudes from her and her eyes are not shy. They are filled with sexy promises I’m sure she kept.

“How did Tarak not know she had a baby? Your baby.”

“He was gone. Went back to Apache territory when his father passed. He lived on the Res… Mandy broke it off with me and went to her tribe, The Navajos. She hid her pregnancy from me. The Res had tight security. I went nuts trying to get to her, but I was young. I was pledging to the Scorpions. My personal life had to take a backseat to the Club. It took me two years to earn my patch. They don’t just let anyone who wants to join in. By then Mandy was with Tarak. She hid the baby from both of us, leaving her with the elders on the Reservation. But the guilt got to her. She came to me once, when Tarak was on a run with the Bastards. She confessed everything. I still loved her. I wanted us to be a family.”

“What happened?”

“Tarak came back from his run with a ring.”

I don’t know what to say. I leave him with his beer and memories while I shower and put on lounge clothes.

I come back down twenty minutes later finding him still in my kitchen. “Fine. I’ll do it. But then we’re done. We’re square.”

“Deal. Let’s go.”

“Now? It’s after midnight.”

“So? Time waits for no one. You know that.”

“No. I’ll drive down to Albuquerque next weekend. Text me her doctor’s info and I’ll make arrangements.”

“No can do, doll. The doc will come to my Clubhouse.”

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