Two Of A Kind: Snakes Henchmen MC

by Grayson, Alivia

  Trace stayed at my place that night, though we’ve been staying at his house ever since. Trace has a lovely home. It’s clean, and the furniture still has that new smell. I wouldn’t have guessed he’d have such a smart home, but after seeing where he grew up, I’m not surprised.

  We stayed in bed for two days straight. We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other, and I think the only time we did was to use the bathroom. Even when we ate, we were touching, his hand on my leg, my head on his shoulder. Those few days, we locked ourselves away; everything was perfect. I didn’t worry about anything at all because Trace helped me forget for a little while.

  I did manage to pull myself away from him on the way to his house to attend my interview. Securing a placement with the Elementary School is vital to my placement in college. Work experience. It all helps toward my final grade at the end of the year. It’s going to take me four years to get my bachelor’s degree, but I know I can do it. This is what I want more than anything, to be an Elementary Teacher. After everything that’s happened in my life, I deserve to be who I know I can be. I will work harder than anyone could possibly imagine.

  I arrived for my interview at Sommerfield Elementary School wearing a pencil skirt of gray, and a white blouse, three-inch black pumps, my hair tied in a neat and respectful ponytail. Miss Edwards, the principle, was nice enough, very encouraging. She wanted to know which high school I graduated from. I couldn’t lie, so I told her the truth that I didn’t go to high school. Scott homeschooled me, as much as he could, but he barely had the skills to teach me much, so I would teach myself.

  It wasn’t my brother’s fault that he wasn’t too good with schoolwork; it’s not like he went to school much either. He was always too busy taking care of me to go. Scott was in no way stupid, but he always had more important things to do than schoolwork.

  Miss Edwards told me that I’d be starting work next week. I’ll be assessed every-single-day for the work I put in. I won’t be teaching the children, of course, but I’ll be doing a lot of the donkey work a teacher does typically. It’ll probably be mundane crap like recess duty, helping the kids with reading and writing.

  You know what? I don’t care. This is my chance to have the life I deserve. The life Scott always told me that I could have. The life he wanted for me. I’m smart, I learn fast, and the fact Miss Edwards sees that in me is amazing to me. Not only her, but Dean Roberts seems to see the same thing in me also.

  Who knows where I’ll be in five years. All I know is, I’m going to have a life. I’m going to get back what’s mine. I’m not going to worry about Brick and his silly treats. If I do that, I’ll forever be looking over my shoulder wondering if today could be my last. I’m finally starting to see a future for myself. A future where I’m not stripping my clothes to make ends meet. A future with the man I love. The last thing I need is to worry about Brick.

  However, I am worried about him. I should have told Trace about Brick’s threats, but I didn’t want to bother him with it because I didn’t want Trace getting into it with Brick and his club. Not for me. Trace is protective over me as it is, and I don’t fancy being the cause for war between Snakes Henchmen and Satans Cutthroat, thank you very much.

  Besides, we only just got together, I can’t bring my troubles to Trace just yet. I will tell him everything soon enough, just not yet.

  Besides, Trace is still trying to persuade me to go over to Roman’s. I didn’t see what Roman could want to talk to me about. I don’t even know the man. What I do know is, he doesn’t like me. So, I refused to go with Trace. He wasn’t pleased, but what could he do?

  If what Roman has to say to me is that important, he would have come to find me. As he didn’t, it can’t be anything of interest.

  I’m feeling so pleased with myself right now, and I can’t wait to tell Trace my news. I also have a favor to ask of some of the MC girls I’ve made friends with. I need some babysitting jobs as part of my credit. I lied on my application form and said that I had years of babysitting behind me. I don’t. I only ever babysat with Ginger when she took care of her aunt’s kids once in a while, but it counts, right?

  I’m still smiling while looking out of the window beside me in this small coffee shop in Bardsville, where I’ve stopped before Trace collects me to give me a ride home. He insisted. The school I’ll be working at is a twenty-minute bus ride away from my house, and a ten-minute walk from SliverHills College. It’s not a bad commute, and my new schedule isn’t going to be so bad. It’ll be a week of mornings at college and afternoons at the school, vice versa the following week, and so on.

  The workload will get heavier as time goes on; of course, this isn’t going to be an easy ride into teaching. However, it’s important to me, and I hope Trace will support me on this. I’m not going to give up on my dream if he doesn’t want me to do this. Though he is right, I do need a car. I’ll invest in one as soon as I can afford it. I’ve already turned him down on the offer to buy one for me. I’m not with him for his money, and I won’t accept one as a gift. I made sure he understood that before he went out and purchased a car for me.

  I’m one step closer to reclaiming what is mine, and I swear, my heart beats a little faster every time I think about it. Brick won’t have a choice, I know it deep down, and I’m smiling just thinking about it right now.

  “Excuse me?” I look up with a smile on my face – because it’s plastered on my damn face – at the woman addressing me. She looks to be in her early fifties. I could be wrong, she might be a little older, but she doesn’t look it. She’s well dressed, beautiful, light green eyes. I’ve never seen a mixed-race woman with green eyes before, and her dark brown hair is immaculate. She’s so pretty, and she looks vaguely familiar, but I know I’ve never seen her before. “Would you mind if I joined you? There doesn’t seem to be another seat, and I really could do with getting off my feet. I’ve been on them for hours.”

  “Of course.” I smile and offer her the free seat opposite me on this made for two table, by the window. I hadn’t realized the place had filled up as it has.

  “Thank you so much,” She places her coffee cup on the table while taking a seat and placing her purse on the floor beside her feet.

  “That’s no problem.” I smile at her.

  “I’m waiting for my daughter-in-law. She’s bringing my little grandchildren with her. They’re just the cutest things.” I chuckle, she’s so quirky, but I like her. I don’t even know her, but I know that.

  She talks about her grandchildren and how much she loves them. How she never thought her son would make her a grandmother again. She then tells me about her son’s other daughter, the one neither he or she has ever met because she was taken away by her mother before she was born.

  I’ve never known anyone so forward in my life. Normally, I would’ve walked away. I’m not the kind of girl who gives a damn about a strangers life. However, I’m in such a good mood today that I don’t care what this woman wants to talk to me about.

  “My gosh, listen to me rambling on. I haven’t even introduced myself,” She holds her hand out to me over the table. “I’m Leona.”

  “Fallon,” I tell her while shaking her hand. Her smile falters for a second, her eyes scanning my face. It creeps me out a little, so I pull my hand away.

  “There she is!” Thank God. I was fine until she looked at me like that. Her daughter-in-law is here, so I’m leaving.

  I get up out of my seat but stop still when I see Marley. I can’t help smiling when she hugs me. I laugh when baby Romany slams her little fists down on the safety bar of the side by side stroller she’s in with her baby brother while screaming happily when she sees me. I do love that little girl.

  I crouch down in front of her, kissing her little hands, and she squeals loudly, laughing as babies do. “She’s so beautiful,” I’m not sure whom I’m telling, but it’s the truth, Romany is beautiful.

  “She looks like her daddy, and a lot like her big sister, don’t you think?�
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  I get to my feet and turn to face Marley and Leona. “I didn’t know she had a big sister,” I tell them honestly.

  Marley’s eyes shoot to Leona, then back to me. “But I thought...”

  “No!” Leona almost shouts. What the hell is going on? “Not now, Marley.”

  I fold my arms around myself. Something isn’t right. I get the feeling they’re hiding something, something that’s to do with me. “Is there something I should know?”

  They’re doing that thing people do when they have a secret that they’ve almost slipped up on: the looking at each other awkwardly, the not knowing what to say after the fact.

  “Seriously, what is it? Because I’m getting the feeling, I should know you,” I nod toward Leona. “It wasn’t just a coincidence that you asked to sit with me, was it?” Leona shakes her head, her long hair sliding over her shoulders as she does. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Tallon’s mother.”

  “Tallon?” Who the fuck is Tallon? I thought she was Roman’s mother. I got that much from Marley being her daughter-in-law.

  “Roman.” She corrects herself. “I shouldn’t have come here. However, I thought when I saw you sitting here with a smile on your face, that he’d told you.”

  “I thought that too when I saw the two of you together. Why else would you be sitting together?”

  “What are you talking about? Neither of you is making sense!” I didn’t mean to be quite so loud, and now everyone is looking at us like we’re freaks!

  “Trace said he was taking you to see Roman so the two of you could talk,”

  “I know that, Marley, but I don’t see why a man I don’t know very well would have anything to talk to me about.”

  “Fallon,” I flinch when Leona touches my arm, but she doesn’t remove her hand from my arm. She does smile at me, though. “My son really needs to talk to you. I honestly thought that when I saw you sitting here with such a big smile on your face that he’d told you. Finally. However, I couldn’t be sure. I was sure that Roman would have told you about me, but you didn’t say anything, so I didn’t say anything.

  “When Marley walked in, and you hugged her, I thought you knew as much as she did. However, when she said what she said about Romany looking like her big sister...” Something just slapped me upside the head. She’s talking, but I can’t hear her. How have I been such an idiot all this time?

  I turn away from Marley and Leona and crouch down in front of Romany again. She’s giving me a great big toothy baby smile. I swallow past my dry tongue and reach inside my purse for my wallet, where I take out the only picture I have of myself. My mother never took many of Scott and me, together or separately.

  I hold the picture up, looking between it and Romany, moving it to Colt, and I see it as clear as day. We’re identical. The three of us look so much alike. Holy fuck!

  I get to my feet and stumble a little, pulling away from Marley when she tries to help me, ignoring her when she calls for me to sit and talk to her. I don’t want to talk to anyone.

  Fuck it! Just as my life was starting to feel normal, this happens!

  Why didn’t that coward tell me who he really was? He must have known for some time.

  Was that what he was trying to tell me that day in my brother’s hospital room that he was my father?

  Walker. Christ, it makes sense now. Marley, Romany and Colt Walker. Tallon Walker.

  He was trying to tell me that day, and I wouldn’t listen. I’ve been in the same room as my father many times over the past couple of months, and I didn’t even know it.

  Tallon Walker. Tallon. Fallon. Oh, Jesus! That bitch named me after my father! In a fashion, at least. Fallon, Romany, and Colt. We’re all named after our father. Our father. Oh, God!

  I don’t even know what the hell to think, and as I run until my lungs are fit to bursting, everything inside my head is drowning me.

  * * *

  It’s so quiet here by the lake. I have my arms wrapped around my body as I stand on the water’s edge. The night air is chilly, but I don’t really feel it. It’s not dark yet, but dusk is approaching. I don’t know how long I’ve been standing here, could be minutes, but I’m guessing it’s been hours.

  All this time. All this damn time!

  Why didn’t Roman tell me?

  How long has he even known?

  So many questions swim to the forefront of my mind, and it’s driving me crazy.

  He couldn’t have known who I was the night I met him. I stripped that night. The thought of my own father seeing me practically naked turns my stomach. But then, I don’t remember him being there when I did, or the few nights that followed. Did Roman know who I was the second he saw me, as Red did Scott?

  It hurts to think he wouldn’t come to me to tell me who he was. Is he ashamed of me? Is that it? I can’t think of any other reason why he wouldn’t come forward.

  But then, I think about Red, did he know Roman was my father?

  Has he kept it from me all this time after he swore he didn’t know who my father was?

  It kills me to think that. However, I don’t know what else to think right now. My head is screwed up all over again because of this.

  How could it be that my father has been in the next town over from mine all these years and I didn’t have a single clue? But then, Scott didn’t know his father was just as close either.

  How ironic is it that both our fathers are part of the same MC?

  Was my mother such a whore that she slept her way through them all?

  Did she tell Roman she was pregnant with me before she took off, or did she keep it from him?

  Is Roman even old enough to be my father?

  He has to be, right? I mean, he’s at least forty. I think. I don’t even know because I’ve never given enough of a damn to ask. Why would I care how old any of them are? I only know Trace’s age because I asked.

  Trace. Did he know Roman was my father?

  Has he been keeping it from me as well?

  We won’t survive that kind of betrayal. No, sir. If he kept the identity of my father from me, knowing how desperate I have been to find him, then I won’t forgive him, I couldn’t.

  I have to get away from this place and these men. I can’t breathe here. Nothing I do will ever change the shit hand I’ve been dealt in life. Yeah, I got into college, into the Elementary program, but I can do that anywhere. I have a little money left from my last couple days working at Stilletthoe thanks to Red paying off Scott’s medical bills and his funeral. I can get by until I find another job.

  This place holds too many bad memories for me. Memories I will never be free of if I don’t leave. Okay, I’ll never be free of them, but while I hang around here, they will just consume me.

  I have to get away and start anew. It’s the only way.

  “Thought I might find you here.”

  “I don’t wanna talk to you, Trace. Please leave me alone.”

  “I can’t do that.” I sense him folding his arms around his big chest. I don’t turn to face him. The cool breeze on my face right now from the lake feels so good. “Marley explained what happened at the coffee shop.”

  “How long have you known?” There isn’t even any effort in my voice. I have no anger left inside of me, and there are no tears, just numbness.

  “Since the night at the club.” I close my eyes. At least he hasn’t been keeping this secret since we first met. Still, he’s known a week, and he’s said nothing to me.

  You know that isn’t true, Fallon. Trace has been trying to get you to see Roman all week, and you’ve refused.

  Goddammit!

  “I honestly thought Ace was your father,” I don’t say anything. If he expected a reaction, he didn’t get one. “I confronted him the other night because I was sick of this bullshit. That’s when he told me to meet him at Roman’s, and everything would be explained.

  “I got there, and Roman told me the truth about why he hasn’t been in your life. That’s wh
y I wanted to take you there, so he could tell you from his own mouth that he’s your father.”

  Roman was backed into a corner, that’s the only reason he came clean about who he is. He’s ashamed of me, that’s the real reason he hasn’t told me himself.

  When I was a little girl, I used to dream about the day I’d meet my daddy. In my head, I was always a little girl. Scott and I would be playing in the yard on the swing – which we never had, but it was a dream – the gate would open, and my daddy walk through it like a soldier just back from war.

  I’d catch his smile as he crouched down and held his arms out to me, and I’d run to him as if I’d always known him. In my dream, he was so big and strong, so handsome, so my daddy. He’d lift me and hold me close while telling me how much he loved me and how he’d never leave me again.

  However, that was just a dream. That would never be my reality, and I came to terms with that a long time ago.

  Though Scott built my hopes up about finding our father so much that I couldn’t let go of one little thing... The hope that my father would love me instantly the moment he saw me, that he’d hold me and never let me go.

  So when I found out Red wasn’t my father, that Scott and I didn’t have the same father, it broke me. However, somewhere deep inside of me, I hoped that I’d find my father. Maybe not now, but someday. I hoped he’d love me, hold me, but he didn’t, did he? No, he pretended I didn’t exist!

  “I really don’t care what Roman has to say, Trace. He’s known who I am long enough to grow a set of balls and tell me. He didn’t, and it’s too late now.”

  “It’s never too late, Fallon.” He’s right behind me now. I can feel his breath in my ear. I don’t want Trace to touch me right now. Thankfully, he doesn’t. “Talk to him. Listen to why he didn’t tell you who he was right away.”