Spartan (Forsaken Sons MC Book 1)

by Jessica Joy

  “Have something for ya Babydoll. This is for you. Tinker set it up with a new number and programmed all the Club numbers in already. If you need to get a hold of anyone, any number in there will come help you,” I explain, handing the phone to her. She looks confused and shakes her head emphatically.

  “Sawyer, no. I don’t need a new phone,” she resists.

  “Babydoll, I’ll rest better while I’m gone, knowing I can get a hold of you, or vice versa, no matter what,” I urge.

  “Ok, hard to argue with that, I guess. If it helps you focus on getting Evan, then fine,” she pouts, snatching the phone and shoving it in one of the pockets of the pants she stole. She really is adorable when she gets uppity.

  My hands come up and cup her face, drawing her to me and I seal my lips over hers in a tender kiss. I want one more moment with her before I go. I need one last moment with her that isn’t tainted by my mind running wild on me. The kiss quickly deepens as I swipe my tongue across the seam of her lips, begging entry and she opens for me. On a groan I press into her mouth, our tongues tangling as I savor every moment, every taste of her, drinking her in.

  Much too soon Tessa pulls away, burying her face in my neck for a moment as she tugs on the edges of my Cut, pulling me closer. Looking up at me she pins me with a deadly serious glare and says, “bring him home Sawyer.” she pulls me in for one last desperate kiss before pushing me away and out the door.

  Chapter 23

  Tessa

  I wish I could say I was a total badass, standing in the doorway, staring into the middle distance, watching my man go off to war; but I can’t. I had hoped to perform like the Ol’ Ladies of the MC who weather these events in the same regard as waiting for the mail. But alas, I am not one of those women. Me? I curled up into a ball on Sawyer’s bed and sobbed for a good four hours.

  Yep, total badass right here.

  It is well after lunch and heading toward dinner before I finally pull myself together. I decided that a shower is probably in order to gather my wits. Walking back out of the bathroom, I see a bundle of clothes on the bed, women’s clothes. I bet Roxy went and got me some things, she was probably pissed she wasn’t allowed to come checkup on me until now.

  I make myself mildly presentable with the clothes and basic makeup from my care package and wander out into the common room. It’s Monday, so the compound is relatively quiet with only a couple Brothers scattered around the common room. Kiki is behind the bar cleaning and stocking. I decide she is my best bet at decent conversation, distraction, and maybe food. At the thought my stomach rumbles its protest; OK, I could use some food. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I ate and judging by the shakiness in my fingers, I know I am about thirty minutes away from a full-on hangry attack.

  Sliding onto one of the barstools near where Kiki is doing her thing, I plaster on a fake smile and hope I can manage some small talk.

  “Sup’ Tess. It’s good to see you out and about. I was about an hour from coming and shoving food down your throat if you hadn’t shown up. Bone’s orders of course,” Kiki says with a wink, leaning against the other side of the bar and sliding a water bottle toward me. I give her a grateful look and drink almost half the bottle in one go before offering her a more genuine smile and responding.

  “Thanks, I’ll admit I’m still not really sure how fit for human consumption I am right now, but my hunger can no longer be denied. To be honest, I’m not so sure being alone with my thoughts is any better though.”

  “I feel ya. Let me go get you something to eat. Be back in a sec,” the tiny woman says before disappearing into the giant kitchen.

  My phone dings in my pocket as I take another long drink of my water and I startle, not used to the tone or anyone actually texting me. Fishing it out, I see a text from Sawyer and can’t help the little smile that teases at my lips as I unlock the phone.

  Sawyer: Eat, Babydoll.

  I swear my eyes roll all the way around at his bossy little non-message. Is that really the best he can do?

  Tessa: Gee, thanks for warm and loving concern, Mom.

  *tongue sticking out emoji*

  The three little dots start bouncing immediately as he types his response.

  Sawyer: Clearly you’re feeling better since your sass is back in full swing you smartass.

  But seriously Tess… eat.

  Tessa: Who me? Smartass? NEVER!

  Sawyer: Babydoll. Eat.

  Tessa: God you’re bossy

  Sawyer: WOMAN

  Tessa: *laughing emoji* calm down scary biker man. Kiki is grabbing something for me as we speak.

  Sawyer: Good. Glad you’re out.

  Tessa: … Bones told you I’ve been a hermit today didn’t he.

  Sawyer: I plead the fifth.

  A reporter always protects his sources.

  I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you.

  No. not that one.

  You know what I mean.

  You’re safe there Babydoll. Promise.

  Heading back on the road. Catch you later.

  Tessa: Be safe.

  My cheeks hurt from the smile plastered across my face by the time I set my phone back down on the bar. Looking up, I find Kiki standing there with a steaming plate of meat, bread, potatoes, and vegetables, smiling at me knowingly.

  “These bastards really are insufferable yet irresistible idiots, aren’t they?” she laughs, setting the plate down in front of me. My stomach gives a growl I’m pretty sure they can hear down the hallway, and I tuck in with a grateful groan. After shoveling a few less than ladylike bites into my face like a monster, I take a deep breath and a swig from my water bottle again before looking back up at her. She just laughs and returns to her work.

  In a rather shamefully short amount of time, I all but lick my plate clean, pushing it to the far side of the for Kiki. My hands have steadied, my stomach feeling now overfull but warm and happy.

  “Safe to talk to you yet?” Kiki teases.

  “Oh, like you’ve never been hangry.”

  “When I get hangry, there are deaths,” she says, giving me a wink as she comes and leans against the bar in front of me, clearly settling in for a conversation. “So, I see they gave you one of Tinkers Big Brother devices.”

  “Hmm?” I ask, around a final mouthful of water, raising a brow in confusion. Kiki laughs and grabs my phone, waving it between us.

  “These stupid phones. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome getting an upgrade every time there is a new version, and the Club pays for ridiculous service; but walking around with ‘Tinker LoJack’ took some getting used to. I had WORDS for him when I found out they were tracking me like the family pet with a microchip or some shit,” she explains, pulling an identical phone from her back pocket. Hers is in a cherry red case with a Jack Skellington sticker on the back.

  “Wait. Tracker?”

  “Yeah, King insists on it. Says it’s for security. Honestly, it’s a small tradeoff for not having to pay the bill for unlimited data, minutes, texts, and everything. If I get mad at that little geek, I buy a bunch of apps on the store and then make him ‘fix’ my phone when it doesn’t run,” she says with a smirk and a shrug. The gears in my head start turning when I hear Kiki explain the little side benefit with our phones.

  “Hey Keek, could you help me get some clothes?” I say gesturing to the clothes that were left for me that while nice, really don’t fit my curvy ass. “As much as I appreciate the little care package something that fits would be nice, or you know, a bra?” I ask with an awkward laugh.

  “What, free boobin’ it not your thing?” she asks on a laugh

  “Girl, I’ve had a baby. There is no such thing as ‘free boobin’ anymore,” I deadpan. Kiki throws her head back and laughs.

  “Fair enough. Yeah, let me go talk to Rox and see what we can dig up for ya,” she slides me a little pad of paper and a pen, “give me your numbers and I’ll see what we can do. Work if I drop a bag off at Sawyers room after din
ner?”

  “Yeah, that would be great.”

  With a smile she takes the paper and heads off, presumably to find Roxy and work out where to find me something.

  True to her word, there’s a duffel bag waiting on Sawyer’s bed when I get back to the room after dinner. The bag contains a couple different changes of clothes, several sets of comfortable cotton bras and panties, and a travel pouch full of basic toiletries. That woman is a saint. Well, Roxy is a saint because I have zero doubt this is all from her, but I can’t help but love Kiki as well for being willing to help me and to make sure everything is at least somewhat cute. It is easy to forget she is technically one of The Fallen. She is so completely unlike anything I expected from someone who happily identifies as … as whatever The Fallen use to describe what they do. It’s easy to see why she holds so much respect around the Club.

  My evening just got a lot easier. Looking through the duffel, I realize half of the work I thought I needed to do is already done for me. Not that I’m complaining; it just means I have more time to devote to my little scheme.

  After the talk with Kiki and learning that all the Club’s phones have Biker LoJack, I had to amend my plan to discreetly follow Sawyer and the Brothers. I’ll be damned if I won’t be there when they find my son.

  Sitting on Sawyer’s bed, I carefully repack the bag and pull out the new phone, bringing up Sawyers contact. As his contact card opens, the top portion of the screen shows a little map grid with the message of “locating contact.” After a few moments a little dot in the middle of Montana pops us, showing Sawyer moving along the freeway.

  “Well, at least it works,” I mumble, tapping out of the contact app and tossing my phone onto the bed. With a heavy sigh, I flop down onto the mattress and throw my arm over my eyes; trying to figure out the tiny detail of getting out of here with a car without the nanny police coming to save me.

  It’s well after midnight as I finally sneak out of Sawyer’s room with the duffel over my shoulder, wearing one of his black hoodies in a meager attempt at camouflage. The noise from the common room died down over an hour ago. Figuring the Brothers are either passed out or left for home, now is probably my best chance to sneak out of here.

  Admittedly, my plan is… thin. Sneak out the door I saw in the kitchen, sweet talk the prospect manning the gate to let me out, giving me at least a little bit of a head start before he tattles on me to King, and then run back home to grab my car and head out.

  Yeah. That’ll totally work.

  I know it’s a bad plan but it’s all I have at this point. I need to get out of here and get my boy. If that means sneaking out of a heavily fortified and guarded biker compound in the middle of the night, so be it. I make it down the long hallway without incident but stop dead in my tracks when I round the corner and see Roxy sitting at the bar nursing a drink and a smoke.

  Ah, goddammit. Of course she’s up, keeping an eye on things before it all settles into the truly quiet part of the night.

  Deciding the logical thing to do is to flatten myself against the wall and slide along it, I do just that and slowly make my way toward the front doors. I make it all the way to the doors and am about to pull them open when a throat clearing behind me freezes me in my tracks.

  “Nice try little lady. I appreciate the effort, but did you honestly think that would work?” she says with a teasing grin on her features.

  “Would it have helped if I sang the Mission Impossible theme under my breath as I did it?” I joke, attempting to lighten the mood and the reprimand I’m about to receive.

  “Honestly? Probably not, but it would have made the story so much more fun to tell tomorrow,” she deadpans, ashing into the tray at her elbow. Seriously, how the hell did I end up at a biker compound where they take their work seriously enough to be sober while prepping, let alone be run by the most paranoid and anal-retentive couple on the planet.

  “Worth a shot,” I shrug.

  “Come little one, have a drink with me,” she says, patting the stool next to her. I settle on the stool next to her and she continues, pouring me a drink from the bottle of rum in front of her. “Sawyer left incredibly strict instructions to not let you out of our sight while he was gone. And King wisely agreed with him after I gave him the look.”

  I can’t help but laugh at that; the thought of this slight woman bringing the gaggle of beefy bikers to heel with just a look.

  “Please, I need to find my son. He is the only thing I have; I just can’t sit here and wait for a bunch of strangers to bring him home...” I plead.

  “Home huh?” she says, taking a final pull on her cigarette and putting it out. “I didn’t realize you had acknowledged that you’re home yet,” she says, hiding a small smile behind her glass.

  Shit, did I just say that? I did… and… I think I meant it. When the hell did that happen?

  “I, I guess I did.” I say, confusion running across my face. “But I mean it Roxy, Evan needs his mother to be there when he’s found. These hairy thugs will just scare him and have no idea how to take care of a baby,” I say, trying to get back on track to getting the hell out of here as soon as possible.

  “There is definitely some truth there, these babes can barely take care of themselves some days,” she says with a chuckle. “Tessa, this life is tough, but rewarding. These men are worth every ounce we give them, because they pay it back tenfold without a single word in protest. But… sometimes that means we have to let them do their thing because they are right, us Ladies put them at risk and expose them,” she says seriously, drawing my attention at the weight of her words. She watches as her words sink in and my head drops in thought.

  I’m toast. I know she’s right, but I need to go, to be there for Evan.

  She continues, “The hardest thing we have to do though, is to know when to tell them they are wrong and stand our ground as they rage.” I snap my head up, looking her in the eyes and finding nothing but steel and determination. “Can you be that for Sawyer? Can you be his support, his guidepost, his solace? Can you be strong enough to heal him so he can in turn heal you?”

  “Yes…” the words whisper out of my mouth, barely able to keep up with her. “I can be that for him… I want to be that for him. I… I…” I trial off lost in the roiling emotions this woman has pulled out of me faster than a rocket.

  “That’s what I thought, I could see it in your eyes at the party, I could see it in the way he carried you here yesterday,” she says, a gleam of triumph in her eyes. “Take this and drive safe.”

  She slides me a heavy envelope with a misshapen bulge in the middle. I flip it open to a set of keys, a new Minnesota Driver’s license and a stack of twenties.

  “Roxy, I can’t take this. No way could I pay this back in a hundred years,” I protest, confused and lost.

  “The car’s a loan, I expect it back in one piece, but I can’t have you driving that POS you call a car back across the country. The rest, well, if you do what I think you’ll do for Sawyer, I’ll consider it a debt well paid,” she smiles, putting her hand on top of mine and closing it over the envelope. “Show the probie at the gate this,” she says, handing me a silver token the size of a silver dollar with the patch emblem stamped into it, “he’ll let you out and won’t give you any trouble on the way. Oh, and give it to Sawyer when you find him, it may keep his anger from totally exploding.” she finishes.

  I pick up the token and turn it over in my hand, examining it. “What is it?”

  “It’s an Officer Chit. Only the club officers have one and is basically a ‘no questions asked, guaranteed favor’. Anyone associated with the club will recognize it and respect it. King won’t miss this one for a few days.” Roxy explains, giving me a conspiratorial wink.

  “Roxy, I… Thank you,” I say, standing and giving her a hug, overwhelmed with emotion and not sure what else to do.

  “Be safe, and don’t make that boy wait one moment longer before he has his mother. Be strong, stand your ground, and
love him. If you can do that, all will be well. Now go, you’ll have to drive all night to catch up to them.”

  Chapter 24

  Sawyer

  Driving for 28 hours in a metal box with a bunch of stinking bikers sucks ass. Not knowing what we’re heading into is even worse. By the time we pull into the shitty motel just outside Seattle, I’m ready for a shower and some fresh air away from Cotton and his nasty stinking feet.

  The only good thing to come out of that drive was the call we got about eight hours ago from Tinker and King. As if taking Evan wasn’t enough of a pansy-ass dick move, turns out Sir Shit-Stain nabbed Tessa’s sister, Alexis, as well. From what Tinker could dig up, David has been a busy little asshole the last couple of years, growing his business and earning favors from the Pikesmen MC. His plating shop started out as a family business run by his uncle; Shit-Stain took it over when he retired about five years ago. Three years ago, the Pikesmen MC started using David to do all the plating for the custom bike business they run as their primary front and laundromat across town. Apparently, things stayed above board for a while but eventually David hit a rough patch and went deeper with the Pikesmen. His warehouse became the main storage and transfer location for their drug shipments; the volume of supplies coming in and out for legitimate business hiding the increased volume. Being their watchdog must have come with some perks because not only did they snatch Evan and Lexi, it looks like they also helped David murder of Lexi’s fiancé.