Page 1 of Desert Rose

THE PAST

REGAN

1

Summer Solstice 2013

“Behave, minx.”

“Don’t I always?”

My older brother, Tarak, stares me down. “Never.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Don’t start any shit with them Regan. I didn’t want you tagging along but leaving you behind didn’t sit right either.”

“You have my word. I won’t be an instigator with any Scorpion skanks, but if any of them but any moves on you, I’ll cut a bitch.”

He rolls his eyes, “I’d never touch a Scorpion skank.”

I grin, watching the desert horizon. It’s vast. Endless. And yet you can see everything so clearly. Nothing disrupts the beauty of sand stretching to the sky, the Black Mountains roll in the distance. We are almost there. Once a year, the greatest bonfire party hits the desert. Exclusive. Invite only. It’s the one time there is peace between the MC’s, the tribes, and the cartels. The Navajo’s host just in case shit goes south. They have sovereignty on their land. If shit goes down. Their law rules. No police. No Feds. Which also means I need to be careful. I’m under the protection of the Royal Bastards, if someone gets drunk and handsy with me, they will be likely to lose more than a hand.

Excitement races through me. I’m fifteen. Ripe. Never been kissed and nothing makes my teenage heart, beat faster than a tatted-up rebel. But I don’t like any in my own backyard. I’ve grown up next to them all in the Royal Bastards—sons of legends… but to me just babies turned toddlers that never grew up despite their growing muscles. I don’t crush on any of the boys my age who grew up in the same MC. I know too much about them. There’s no mystery. No excitement. But tonight, all I taste is excitement. It’s in the air. On the horizon.

Tarak pulls off the interstate down a dirt road, after a mile of bumps and passing cactuses, poles with string lights line both side of the road. A barbed wire fence cuts along the desert dirt, we’ve arrived on Navajo lands… anything can happen now. Tarak parks next to familiar trucks. The rest of our MC is already here. Tarak checks the gun at his ankle, then opens the glove box, handing me a switch blade. “Put it in your boot. Don’t except any drinks you don’t make yourself. No smoking. No Drugs. No, bullshit, Regan. You hear me?”

I nod, biting the inside of my cheek, knowing I’m breaking free of his iron grip at first chance. I’m tired of being kept imprisoned by the Club. If you’re a female under eighteen, you might as well be invisible to any boy within the MC and impenetrable to anyone outside. It’s not protection, it’s prison. But tonight, is my get out of jail free card and I’m going to play it.

I hop out of the truck, shut my eyes, and tip my face to the twilight desert sky. A soft wind kisses my face, teasing the locks of my long, dark hair.

“I meant it, Regan. Have fun, but don’t fuck up.”

I turn to face him. “Got it.”

“Regan!” My friend Robin squeals, waving her arms.

“Can I…?”

“Just go,” he waves me on with a sigh.

I don’t turn back as I wave and race straight for my friend. Robin is full Navajo and my father used to take me on runs to the Res since I was a toddler. Ma would complain I was hell while cutting teeth and long drives were the only thing that helped me sleep. Robin and I—let’s just say we learned to crawl, then walk together.

“Your brother, is glaring a hole in your back.”

“I know. I feel it. I have a headache from all the warnings that came with the two-hour pep talk to ‘behave’ on our way here.”

Robin wiggles her fingers at him, links an arm through mine and whisks me away. “I figured. Eagle has been assigned to ‘babysit’ the teens tonight.”

“Great,” I moan. Eagle is more like a hawk. He’s the Res’s newest soldier. Mid-twenties. Cut. Cruelly handsome with as much compassion as sandpaper. “He won’t let us do shit.”

“I know. That’s why I made sure Roxy from the Cartel was personally invited. He wants her bad.”

“The head of the Suarez Cartels, one and only daughter?”

“Yep.”

“That’s some shit. He won’t be able to get near her ass.”

She shrugs. “They always underestimate us, don’t they? Think we’re still just kids while they run the whole fucking show. Newsflash: tonight, is our production and we both have starring roles.”

I turn my head over my shoulder. Tarak’s clapping hands and making the rounds, but his heavy gaze still manages to find me. “He won’t let me.”

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