After the Fall: The Fallen Men, #4

by Darling, Giana

  Couldn’t blame him, way she looked that day. Spent a fuckuva lotta time in the bathroom dancin’ around in one of her bookish tees––The Great Gatsby––while she did stuff to her face that made her lashes even longer and her lips the kinda red a man absolutely had a solemn duty to kiss off. The pencil skirt was a leather so fine it hugged every inch of her curves, and the starched white blouse unbuttoned just a little too low to remind me of the days I’d sat in high school English class lusting after her, writing poem after poem to leave on her desk in an effort to woo her.

  So I couldn’t blame the man for tryin’, but I still put an end to it in a way he wouldn’t think to come back for a second effort if I wasn’t around to block him.

  All’a that beauty was heightened by the sheer fuckin’ joy and pride that radiated from her, so much it took serious effort not to stare at her and lose my train of thought when I was talkin’ to the people millin’ in and out of the store drinkin’ champagne and beer. Everyone in town was there, even the ones who looked sidelong at the dozen bikers shootin’ the shit like it was their backyard, and we were all makin’ an effort because we got it.

  Not often you see a dream come true, so we were savourin’ it just as much as Cress.

  Only the fucker Staff Sergeant had decided to ruin the fuckin’ day by bein’ an asshole and raidin’ one of our warehouses.

  “King,” Cressida said, bringin’ me back from the anger threatenin’ to consume me. Her hand went to my cheek, and I tried to focus on the way all that hair moved over her breasts as she shook her head instead of the ways I’d kill SS Danner for this. “Honey, look at me.”

  “See you,” I grunted because I did, fuckin’ every day I looked my fill like a glutton, shamelessly gorgin’ myself on her beauty and grace, tryin’ to be the kinda man who deserved it.

  “Go,” she urged with a soft smile. “Seriously, I am not going to be mad at you for going. They need you there?”

  “It’d be good,” I said at the same time Nova said, “Fuck yeah.”

  Cress laughed. “Of course, they need you and your big brain. Get out of here and be safe.”

  “Get gone,” Tayline ordered, popping up behind Cress like the little sprite she was, puckish and fuckin’ adorable. “I got your girl. We’ll go for some drinks after it’s all said and one.”

  “Make it tequila,” I said with a slight sneer because my girl got loose and heated on the Mexican booze.

  “Done.”

  Zeus stepped forward to squeeze my woman’s shoulder and bend low to look her in the eyes. “Sorry to go, Cress. Real proud of you, ya know? Takes a big set’a balls to start your own business, but if anyone can make it succeed, it’s you.”

  Cress blossomed under his praise. Not afraid to say it, the friendship between my Old Lady and my dad moved me. Different as oil and vinegar, but they got each other and respected each other in a way I didn’t even fully understand. It hurt too, though, watchin’ Cress with him sometimes, eatin’ up the almost paternal affection because her own parents had abandoned her over her choice to be with me. It stung I’d caused that deficiency and simultaneously felt fuckin’ great I had the kinda family that could more than fill the gap.

  “We’ll celebrate this and the engagement proper with a party at the clubhouse, yeah? Wanna toast to the fact we’re addin’ another kickass female to the Garro name.”

  Cress beamed. “That’d be good.”

  Z nodded, patted her shoulder, then turned to stalk off over to Lou and haul her––mid-conversation with EBA’s librarian––into his arms to kiss her thoroughly goodbye.

  “One last thing,” I told Cress even though the rest of the brothers had rolled out and were already straddlin’ their bikes out front.

  She frowned as I tugged her hand and led her to the couches so I could hop up on the coffee table and lift her up there with me. She made an adorable noise in the back of her throat, but let me haul her up and pull her close as everyone went silent.

  “Just wanna say one thing before I jet here, but it’s important so I’m glad you’re listenin’. This woman’s been my woman since the day I clapped eyes on her, but two days ago, she agreed to be my wife. So, cheers to her fulfillin’ her dream of opening a bookstore, and cheers to me for fulfillin’ my dream of gettin’ her to marry me.”

  Then before anyone could say anythin’, I kissed her.

  Nothin’ romantic like a dip or some shit.

  No.

  I was a biker, and this wasn’t an announcement.

  This was a claimin’.

  So as people started to shout and clap in congratulations, I picked her up, one hand to her sweet ass, the other at the back of her neck to hold her still while I plundered the sweetest mouth I’d ever kissed. And just as she always did, she softened into me by degrees until everyone else was forgotten and the only two beings in the entire world for her were us.

  When I pulled away, her eyes stayed closed, flutterin’ like in a dream. I couldn’t resist brushin’ my lips against her red, kiss-bruised mouth until she came back around from her daze. Her eyes flashed opened, sass flooding right back in, and she asked, voice wry, “Was the alpha display entirely necessary?”

  “Most things worth havin’ aren’t.” I grinned nice and easy as I let her slip through my hands, slidin’ down my body so I could feel every inch of those soft curves against the hard planes of mine. “And trust me, this was worthier than most.”

  “Heathen,” she teased, but she was happy.

  It shone in those wide brown eyes, stretched that sinful mouth into a wide smile, and just fuckin’ glowed from her, makin’ her even prettier than she already was.

  “Your heathen. Your man. Soon to be your husband. Better get used to it, babe,” I said with a wink as I jumped back off the table and helped her down. After watching her straighten that fine little pencil skirt over the sweet curve of her ass, I gave it a slap as I turned to walk away. “Any fucker hits on you again, you tell ’em just how heathen your man can get.”

  * * *

  * * *

  It was a shitshow.

  Cops fuckin’ swarmed the treed hill like ants, cop cars and SUVs parked at all angles, throwing lights across the grass gone gold with the sudden spring heat.

  It was a fuckuva lotta fanfare for what looked like a tiny shack on an isolated track of wilderness, but someone, and I’d fuckin’ find out whoever it was, had tipped off the corrupted coppers to our grow-op here, and they were goin’ over it with a fine-tooth comb.

  Ignoring the men in blue, I swung off my Harley and ambled over to Zeus talkin’ to Walter Townsend, the local we’d hired as the front man for the Christmas tree farm that ostensibly owned and operated the property.

  “Told them they wouldn’t find nothin’,” he was sayin’, wringing a ballcap between his hands. “Just disruptin’ my day for nothin’.”

  “Sorry about the trouble,” I said, offerin’ my hand so we could exchange a shake and back slap. “You know how it is.”

  “Fuckin’ joke is what it is,” he grumbled, glaring at the cops as they hauled shit out of the little storehouse and ripped it apart in their search. “Gonna have a massive clean-up on my hands.”

  “Ransom will help ya,” Zeus promised. “Now, I’d suggest takin’ a seat and settlin’ in for some fireworks when they find fuck all that they’re searchin’ for.”

  So we did. The six of us there leaned up against our bikes, smokin’ and talkin’ like we didn’t have a care in the world, because we didn’t, while the cops did their work.

  Was obvious two hours later that they’d reached the end of their search because the air went hot with frustration.

  “Good lads, those Porter boys,” Buck muttered around his cigar, tippin’ his chin to me in deference of my strategy even though he’d been one of the ones to protest it.

  “The best,” I agreed with a wink.

  “’Bout done, boys?” Zeus called as they started filing back into their cars. “Can we check o
ut the damage now you’ve come up with shit all?”

  “Fuck you, Garro,” Officer McDougal said, his left eye still purple and yellow, lip scabbin’ over.

  We’d found him after he’d pulled over Cress and tried to fuckin’ assault her, and we’d dealt with him accordingly. Funny how a simple ski mask could hide your identity well enough to jump a man and get away with it in the dark of night.

  Unconsciously, I flexed my fists, eager for the ache in them again if it meant clockin’ the motherfucker out cold.

  Sensin’ my aggression, McDougal frowned, then skittered farther away.

  Nova laughed at his fear and clapped me on the back as we walked up the hill to the building. “He’s not gonna forget you in his lifetime, that’s for damned sure.”

  “Good. Wanna be his only nightmare after how he scared Cress and Ares,” I grumbled, then stopped and whistled long and low at the devastation the cops had wrecked on the place.

  Wallpaper was ripped off the walls, some places the drywall was cut off to check behind the paneling for hidden compartments. The furniture was trashed, desk broke up, chair cushions torn out, and even the (newly) poured cement floor had been hammered into a bit at either end.

  “Thorough motherfuckers,” Zeus grunted, kickin’ over a piece of wood.

  “Still found fuck all.” I picked up a cracked photo of Townsend’s wife and kids and carefully righted it on the only surface still standin’. “They want us bad.”

  “No shit.” Zeus stared at the floor under foot, the exact place a hatch had been a week ago leadin’ down to two acres of greenhouses filled with Mary Jane. He stomped on it with a heavy boot and grinned at me. “Gotta smart kid.”

  “You’re just gettin’ that? Knew you were gettin’ old but…” I whistled and rocked back on my heels.

  Zeus laughed over the sudden swell of noise outside, and moments later, Staff Sergeant Danner appeared in the doorway, backlit like a villain makin’ his first appearance in a country western.

  “You’re laughing.”

  Zeus chuckled again and crossed his massive arms. “Good ears, Danner.”

  “You know we got a tip-off of illegal activity tied to The Fallen goin’ on here,” Harold snarled as he stalked farther inside. There was an ugly curl to his lip like plastic warped from the heat. “You got anythin’ to say about that serious allegation?”

  “Yeah.” He stroked his beard and cocked an eyebrow. “That’s why I was laughin’.”

  Danner snarled. “You think you’re so above the law, you can’t be caught? Don’t know how the hell you covered this shit up, but I’m comin’ for you and yours. I won’t stop until I’m dead in the ground.”

  “That could be arranged,” Priest muttered from the corner where he leaned against the wall in the shadows of the door.

  Danner whipped around to glare at him, clearly startled and a little afraid. Priest was like an animal; he could smell the fear, and it turned his crank. A red slash of lips across his face that was meant to be a grin but was really only a threat.

  Danner stepped away from him and closer to Zeus, not noticin’ when Priest adjusted his position to be at the cop’s back.

  We surrounded him.

  Even though there were officers outside, it was just Danner and us alone in the small office.

  I moved, closin’ in.

  “You threaten me all ya want,” Zeus drawled. “Been doin’ it all our lives, don’t think you get it doesn’t scare me.”

  “It should scare you.” Danner stepped forward, so locked on Z that he didn’t notice the way he tightened around him, a loose noose around his neck. “Limited resources in this Podunk town had me scrambling for years, but now I have real power and money at my back.”

  “Javier Ventura treatin’ you good?” I asked, noticin’ the way Danner checked me out, the shock and faint disappoint he had at findin’ me fully Fallen when he’d tried so hard to influence me to be a different man when I’d briefly lived in his home. “Must give it to you good in bed, you keep crawlin’ back in there with him even after what happened to Benjamin Lafayette and the Nightstalkers.”

  “Watch yourself, boy,” he growled. “I taught you to respect your elders.”

  My laugh was so hard it hurt comin’ up. “You taught me dick all. Even your son doesn’t respect you. Had to leave town because he was embarrassed to work for his corrupt daddy. I learned from him and Z what it was to be a man.”

  “You’re a criminal, and your sister is a biker slut who murdered her own boyfriend,” Danner barked.

  And that was it.

  The elastic band of tension holdin’ us all back snapped, and we flooded over him like the cops over this hill. Zeus got there first, though. Hauled Danner up by the neck with one massive hand and kept him danglin’ in the air like a human piñata for us to take a crack at.

  Harleigh Rose was the hot button, especially now after weeks of silence, after Dad had returned only days ago from visitin’ her with a scowl darker than a starless night over his face claimin’ H.R. wasn’t welcome home until she got her head outta her ass and realized where her loyalties really lay.

  No matter her momentary isolation from our lives, Garros didn’t let anyone say shit about their family, and The Fallen sure as fuck didn’t let somethin’ like that pass without retribution.

  “You speak’a my daughter like that one more time, don’t care who you are, don’t care if I go down for the rest’a my life, I will rip you apart with my bare fuckin’ hands.”

  Cops pushed the door open, weapons drawn, compelled to check on us because of Zeus’s roar, but he didn’t stop holdin’ Danner aloft, and we didn’t stand down.

  “You’re filth,” Danner managed to wheeze. “To make matters worse, the underage girls you’re using for your prostitution are dying from that shit you’re getting them hooked on. Good luck living with yourself, Garro.”

  Zeus squeezed once, so tight it seemed Danner’s head would pop off, clean an’ easy like a cork from a bottle. Shakin’ his head, he tossed him to the ground and loomed over him.

  “Do your fuckin’ research. ’S not us leadin’ that ring, it’s your fuckin’ buddy Ventura and his wife. For once in your small, pathetic life, get your head outta your ass,” I growled, steppin’ up beside Zeus to leer down at the villain who’d somehow givin’ half his DNA to one of my heroes. “And clear out. You’ve got nothin’ here, and this is private property.”

  Priest leaned down and hauled the Staff Sergeant to his feet before he could move, but Danner pushed him off as soon as he was standin’. He straightened his uniform and tipped his chin like the haughty piece of shit he was.

  Only, there was a real threat in his eyes, an edge of demented anger that had no rules or boundaries. He wanted us so badly that I wondered if he wouldn’t go to new and extreme lengths to pin us with somethin’.

  Ominous premonition rolled down my spine like the warnin’ of thunder before a storm.

  “Enjoy your time as free men,” he said smoothly, easily, as if he knew somethin’ we didn’t. “It won’t be long now.”

  Cressida

  * * *

  “Mum?”

  I hadn’t said the word in so long that it felt foreign to me, a dead language I wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce.

  There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and then Phoebe Irons cleared her throat delicately and asked her only daughter, “Who is this?”

  Not a harbinger of good things to come.

  But it had been weighing on me in the weeks since the proposal. Not the radio silence that had existed between my parents and I since I divorced William and took up with King, but that I was getting married again and they didn’t know. There was some lingering sense of familial obligation, of daughterly guilt, that prompted me to pick up my cell one quiet afternoon in Paradise Found and call them.

  “Your daughter, Cressida.”

  “Ah, well, yes…hello.”

  A shocked laugh, a single ha of d
isappointment, burst from my lips. “Is that really all you have to say to me after four years? Hello?”

  There was a weary sigh from the other line, and I was reminded where I got my predilection for that from. How odd it was to know that I shared DNA and mannerisms with a person who would never and could never understand who I truly was aside from those commonalities.

  “What would you prefer me to say, Cressida? Hello, I haven’t seen hide nor hair from you in half a decade, but I am so thrilled you picked up the phone now? Because I don’t feel that way. You made your bed, so if you’re in trouble yet again because of the degenerates you’ve decided to associate yourself with, then I am sorry, but you must lie in it.”

  It was surprising how much it hurt to hear her apathy. It surprised me because I hadn’t expected to care. My parents had groomed me to be married to their best friend, pressured me to be a stay-at-home wife, and basically belittled every dream I ever had. Then, when I’d finally found happiness, they had turned their backs on me just because that happiness took a different form than they’d expected.

  How could I care about the opinion of people like that?

  What did it matter when I had people in my life who respected me, supported me, and loved me unconditionally? When King had given me a family of my own greater than any I could have previously imagined?

  I decided it must’ve been biological. Something intrinsic in me needed the approval of my parents, maybe even at the price of my own contentment.