Page 14 of Desert Rose

Once I clear the dirt road and drive a few more miles down a barren road, I pull over, rest my head on the steering wheel letting everything I held in out. I yell. Curse and pound the seat with my fist. When I look up, I see a familiar truck on the other side of the lane coming closer. I put a hand over my brow, trying to shield my face. But he doesn’t even glance toward me. Mandy is tucked into his side as he races toward the other girl who’s also his.

Rage like I’ve never felt before rises up in me. I exit the truck. The force of my emotions has me falling to my knees. My fists touch the desert clay Earth. “Why!” I scream up to the sky. “Why did you bless him. Give him everything and leave me barren? With nothing? Why is his heart full while mine bleeds out until it’s nothing?” I make a vow right here and now to destroy him. I’ll take everything from him. One day he will feel the painful bitterness who’s my only companion. Our MC’s will always war. I will lead the fight. If he becomes king, I’ll take his queens. The question is which will I take first? Mandy or … her? My cell dings with a text from Tate.

Tarak’s here. The girl is not legal bro. Here on Res lands… yes but outside, no. Let it go. I’ll keep your secret. Got rid of the evidence.

I pinch two fingers to the bridge of my nose. I was out of my mind last night. High on drugs and adrenalin with a concussion, but she looked at least twenty. Her hair was so long and thick. Her straked make-up made it hard to get a good look at her face. Her mascara was on her cheeks. Her eyes red and swollen. When we touched, I felt fire. Something I’ve only felt with Mandy and that summer night. What the fuck is wrong with me? I need to stay off the Res. Every time I go there My head gets tripped by girls almost women. Maybe it’s because I’m such a giant that I like the tiny creatures. Something in me needs to protect them. Keep them close. But I won’t do time for that shit. I’ll never see the girl from last night again. And even if I do some years from now, I wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a line-up. But if I kiss a girl one summer night years from now, I’d know. That’s for damn sure. I pick up a rock, hurling it into the dry brush then get back in the truck. I have a journey to make and no way of knowing how I’ll get there.

REAGAN

7

“Where is she?” Tarak’s booming voice rattles the window. I saw him drive in with…her.My mind is still processing things. Blocking parts of last night out while rewinding the minutes with him. He left. Just up and left. Like a coward. It burns. Stings. I thought… he’d stay. But I also know he couldn’t. I’m a Royal Bastard and he’s a Bloody Scorpion. I’m still underage while he’s all man.

I open the door. Tarak’s rage is wind, traveling through the air. Mandy tries to hide her smirk. I hate her. Hate her with everything in me. She has the love of both the men I want.Why? Why have the gods favored her and not me?Why does she have everything I want in the palm of her hand?

I raise my palm. “Don’t say it! If you weren’t so busy fucking her scheming ass you would never have forgotten my birthday! You put me in this mess with your neglect and lust!”

His face turns from red to gray. He bites his tongue. “Wait for me in the truck,” he growls to Mandy. Her eyes are wide in fear. He never speaks to her like that. Tate and his men clear out, knowing this was between the two of us.

“I’m sorry… Did… were you…,” he swallows hard, unable to get the words out.

I lift my chin. “No. I killed Suarez.” His brows lift. “I did. He was the one who had me trafficked. He wanted to… he tried,” I swallow. “But Tate and his men tracked us somehow. “They’ll come for us. They won’t stop looking.”

“No one will touch you. The Bastards are Global. I’ll call a chapter meet. We protect our own, especially when other crews kidnap them. I’m proud of you.”

I pop a shoulder. “I fucked up.”

“So did I.” He swipes a hand over his head. “I love her. But she’s bad for me. She consumes me.”

I know what he means but I don’t voice it. Edge consumes me. He puts an arm around me and holds me close. “You’re my blood. Nothing will come between us ever again. I’m keeping you under lock and key for a while.”

The drive back is silent. Mandy and Tarak don’t speak. My eyes watch the desert plains, mountains, and valleys. Out in the desert a cactus tree blooms. It’s afternoon when we get home. I lock myself in my room and cry. Mandy screams, cries, and wails. Tarak’s low voice is steady and even as it comes through the walls. He’s breaking up with her for me. Blaming their out-of-control affair for so many fuckups. I don’t even feel a twinge of guilt. Fuck her.

Tarak knock on my door hours later. “She’s gone.”

“You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“I did it for me. I’ve messed up with you but also with the MC. I’m in too deep with her and haven’t made good decisions.”

I stay silent. “It was only a Res party. There was a bonfire, a desert race. Amanda met a guy from another Res. We went with them. It was stupid. A trap. When he got around the boulders, Suarez Cartel was waiting. They had paid them to lure us. I wonder how much they took to sell us out like that?”

Tarak is silent. He lets me speak. I tell him everything. Omitting Edge’s presence. I tell him Tate and his men rescued me instead.

Over the course of the following days and weeks a truce forms between us. We become close again. I know he misses her. A man like Tarak loves with his whole heart. But he stays busy in the Club and making sure I’m okay. At night, I either have dreams or nightmares. Some nights his hands are on me in dreams and others the devil’s. Amanda and I text often. Only the two of us really understand what we are going through. My phone rings on the bed. I pick it u seeing her name flash across the screen. “Hey.”

I leave my room, opting to walk out into the desert sunset. Tarak got me a porch swing and I sit down, using one foot to make it rock. “I need to tell you something… she’s back with him.”

“No,” I snort. “Tarak swore to me that he’s so done with her. I know he’s still in love with her, but it’ll fade with time.”

“Not Tarak. Edge.”

My heart drops. “No.”

“I’m sorry. They came out here together for a Council Meet. Were all lovey dovey and shit.”

“That whore! What is it with her?”

“She can’t be alone.”

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