Smolder: Trojans MC (53 page)

Chapter Eight

Kelly had this thing about putting Sophie on the motorcycle. Little jaunts around the block were okay, but anything else and someone was liable to call CPS on them. So when he had Sophie for the day, he borrowed Kelly’s car. Falcon drove his bike to her apartment complex. It was one of the nicer ones about twenty miles outside of LA. He helped pay the rent, but it was worth it to make sure Sophie was in a safe neighborhood.

“Daddy!” she screamed loudly as Falcon opened the door and then, like a tiny little missile, she ran right at him. Falcon snatched her before she could reach him and she giggled as he swept her up and over his head before bringing her down for a kiss on the cheek.

“You ready to go to the beach?”

“She has been ready since five o’clock this morning,” Kelly said. She was wearing flannel pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt, a cup of coffee clutched in one hand. She was on the shorter side, with long brown hair.

Falcon had thought he had loved her once. She wasn’t a groupie from the club but worked as a bartender in one of the nicer downtown L.A. hotspots. Their relationship had been fast and Sophie had been an unplanned surprise. But even after they had admitted they didn’t work as a couple, they still managed to get along. They both loved their daughter and over time their relationship had gone from lovers to friends.

“I am going back to bed,” Kelly said handing Falcon the keys to her car and a bag with extra clothes for Sophie. “Have fun with Dad,” Kelly said leaning down to plant a kiss on her daughter's head.

“Beach, beach, beach, I love swimming!” Sophie chanted as Falcon put her securely in her car seat. He couldn’t help but smile at her antics. Falcon had done a lot of bad things in his life and he had made a lot of mistakes, but Sophie wasn’t one of them. She was the one good thing in his life.

He hated that she had become involved in all of this. The one thing Falcon and Kelly had both promised was that Sophie would never become a groupie for the gang. They would keep her away from the drugs and the lifestyle. He had been putting money aside so she could go to college since the moment Kelly had announced she was pregnant. He didn’t care if she became an artist or a lawyer; he just wanted her to have the choices he had never been given.

As he drove to the beach he kept his eyes on his rearview mirror checking for any potential tails. It felt strange to be actually meeting with Grace; sometimes he wondered if their dalliance had even really happened, maybe he had just imagined it. It had almost been too good to be real. After spending so much time back with the Screaming Eagles, the lie he had told to the boss had become the truth. When he was with the gang he was able to forget all about his deal with the police and his quickie with Grace. But when he wasn’t with them, it was all he could think about.

Falcon didn't like that he was meeting Grace with Sophie in tow. He didn’t want Sophie to be mixed up in any of this. But at the same time he wanted Grace to meet Sophie. Sophie was the best thing he had ever done, it was the only thing in the world he was proud of and he wanted Grace to meet her.

They arrived at the beach and Sophie jumped out of the car and made a beeline for the water with Falcon grabbing her bag and running to catch up with her. She reached the water first and laughed as a crashing wave sent water running up and then back down the shore. Once the water was gone she plopped herself down on the sand and waited for the next wave to bring the water to her.

Falcon smiled down at her. She was so easy to please; she would sit there and laugh and play in the shallow water for the entire day, happy as a clam. He put her bag up on dry land and walked down to the shallows to watch her. It was a crowded day and other parents quickly surrounded Falcon and together they hovered over their children playing in the ocean.

“You came,” a voice behind him said. “I was starting to get worried.”

“I’m literally two minutes late,” Falcon responded without turning around. “You worry too easily.”

“Aunt Grace, Aunt Grace! Can I go in the water? Please?” Falcon looked down at the little girl who couldn’t have been older than seven. She had messy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and she was literally jumping up and down as she waited for an answer.

“Stay where the lifeguards can see you,” Grace said and, without a warning, the girl took off like a shot and jumped into a wave, hurrying out past the breakers with a boogie board in tow.

“Aunt Grace?” Falcon asked with a smirk.

“Said the dad,” Grace answered.

He finally looked over at her and then had to instantly look away. She was stunning. Wearing a two-piece bikini with a vibrant pattern of green palm fronds against a white backdrop, her long hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and it was taking all of Falcon’s energy to not openly ogle her. She was still a cop, after all.

“Daddy, a seashell!” Sophie said running up to him with a simple clamshell.

“It’s so beautiful, thank you,” Falcon said, leaning down to take the shell as Sophie ran back down to her spot on the beach. He slipped the shell into his pocket and turned to look at Grace who was smiling at him like she was trying not to laugh.

“How many of those do you have?” she asked.

“Oh, about a thousand. I’m sure I’ll get rid of them someday...”

Grace shook her head at him and he watched as her eyes lingered on his firm chest and his well-defined abs and arms. “So, the tattoo thing is real? I thought it was just a legend. Mind if I take a look?”

“Look away,” Falcon said as Grace moved behind him. He couldn’t see her, but he could feel the light touch of her finger on his back as she traced the line of feathers of the left wing of his Falcon tattoo.

“It’s stunning,” she whispered.

“So are you in that suit,” he said.

She walked around him until they were standing next to each other staring out into the ocean. Their feet were in the water and sometimes-huge waves would bring the level up to their knees. They were surrounded by kids and other parents and Falcon relaxed as he realized that even if a member of gang saw him here, he would think that Grace was just a hot mom he was flirting with.

“Don’t,” Grace warned, turning her green eyes towards the distant horizon. “The other day at the police station was fun, but it was a one time thing. I was high on busting the Screaming Eagles and turning one to my side. I don’t want you getting any ideas that anything like that is ever going to happen again.”

“You say that as if you didn’t enjoy it,” Falcon said.

“It doesn’t matter if I enjoyed it or not. It’s not happening again.”

“Why doesn’t it matter that if you enjoyed it or not? Are you not allowed to enjoy things?” Falcon asked looking over at her, taking in her tan skin and the curve of her hips underneath her bathing suite. 

“I’m a cop. I enjoy putting criminals in jail, everything else comes second after that.”

“Then you and I should spend more time together since our shared goal is to put criminals in jail. We are working together; why not mix business with pleasure? Everyone else is doing it.”

She ran her hand through her hair and bit her lower lip; Falcon could see she was trying to suppress a smile.

“Come on now, Grace. You have to admit that we were good together, on that table... Why shouldn’t we be good again?”

“I’m not admitting anything.”

“You can deny it all you want, but those moans you were letting out are all the evidence I need.”

“Well I need a bust. A real one and a big one. I’ve given you time to reinsert yourself into the gang, now I want arrests and names.”

“I can do that,” Flacon said and he turned to look at her. He looked her up and down his eyes traveling the length of her body, remembering each and every inch of skin he had been permitted to touch. He remembered the taste of her, the way her body reacted to the slightest of touches.

Finally he looked her in the eye again and he wasn’t surprised when he saw the naked want there. She wanted him, too, and he knew it.

“I can’t tell you here. It’s too crowded,” Falcon said glancing around at all the other parents around him.

Chapter Nine

By noon Sophie was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open and Falcon gently picked her up and put her back in car seat. She was fast asleep before he had even turned on the engine. He drove back to her mother’s house in silence, keeping the radio off so she could rest uninterrupted. He was doing all of this for her; he had brought her into this world and it was his job to protect her.

She slept soundly as he brought her upstairs and gently laid her down in her little bed covered in Beauty and the Beast sheets.

“Did you have fun?” Kelly asked as he quietly closed the door.

“Yeah, she’s a little water bug that one,” Falcon said.

“Hey, I have to ask,” Kelly began, as she nervously looked everywhere but Falcon’s eyes. “I heard about the raid the other day. Do I need to be worried that the next call I get about you is going to come from the cops?”

“No,” he said with a rueful laugh. “And I don’t want you worrying about me, Kelly. If anything were to happen the only thing that matters is that Sophie is okay, and that you’re here to take care of her. I would never do anything to hurt either one of you. I’ve kept you out of the game and I plan on keeping it that way.”

“I know,” Kelly said with a nod. “But she loves you a lot. And I don’t want to have to be the one to tell her Daddy’s never coming home. I wish you would get out of the Screaming Eagles. I could get you more hours at the bar-”

“Kelly, don’t,” Falcon said cutting her off. “Don’t waste your time worrying about me. Just worry about Sophie, okay?”

“All right.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good. But I gotta be getting on the road. Take care of yourself, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you next Thursday?”

“Bright and early,” Falcon said.

He left the apartment, closing the door quietly behind him. He worked sometimes as a bouncer for Kelly’s club, but he had never enjoyed it. College boys with rich daddies were always trying to push or pay their way past him and Falcon had lost his temper on them more than once. It was sad to say, but the only job he was remotely good at was being a biker. It was just a shame his occupation was probably going to get him killed.

He drove the road back to the beach. He checked his mirror the whole way, but there was no tail. He had told the Screaming Eagles he would be with Sophie all day and, so far, it looked like they believed him. Once back on the beach he took the path to the shore, but made a hard right at a “No Trespassing” sign. He walked back through a rarely used path with tall grass covered dunes on either side of him, protecting him from the buffeting ocean’s wind.

He turned a corner and there in front of him was a dilapidated little shack. He had first found it when he was a kid who hated to be at home. His father had been in a rage and Falcon needed somewhere to spend the night until his father cooled off. He went to the beach and then ignored the No Trespassing sign and discovered the little-used shack set back in the dunes.

It had been built five years ago when the county had done research on beach erosion and no one had been back since. But it was built well and the inside was still clean and dry. Falcon spent many nights here as a child and he had brought blankets and pillows and candles and it became almost homey.

He produced a key from his keychain and opened the door - he had changed the locks years ago and put up the fake signs that warned of a security system. Once inside he walked around the barren room and lit a few candles filling the room with their soft glow. There were sheets and blankets on the floor and old editions of Popular Mechanics strewn around. He thought back to the last time he was here. It had been a long time ago on a cold and rainy night. His girlfriend before Kelly kicked him out and he, with nowhere else to go, rediscovered his little beach house hideaway. 

“I told you we weren’t doing that again.”

Falcon turned around at the voice, startled and reaching for his gun, but he relaxed when he saw it was only Grace. “Don’t sneak up on a guy like that,” he warned. “It’s liable to get you shot.”

“I’ll take my chances,” she said, walking into the room and closing the door behind her. “So, what do you have for me?”

Falcon took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He leaned back against one of the walls and watched the way beams of sunlight poured through the window illuminating thousands of dancing dust motes. “There’s an apartment-” Falcon started and before pausing as he began to doubt himself. All of this felt so wrong; it had been drilled into him from his earliest memories that you never rat on your gang. You were supposed to die for them. But no one had ever told him why; they never explained why his life was worth less than someone else’s. “It’s on Eighteenth and Ravenclaw; it sits above an out of business pawn shop. The shop’s been closed for eight years. The owner was shot and killed one night and had no one to pick up the business for him. The Screaming Eagles own the entire building and aren’t interested in leasing out the first floor.

On the second floor is storage space. When you walk in it looks normal; it’s filled with junk: old chairs, empty cans, records. But there are a lot of clocks in there, cuckoo clocks and grandfather clocks; none work because they’ve been hollowed out and we keep them filled with the merchandise. I’m going to be there tomorrow at one o’clock. I won’t be alone.”

Falcon finally looked up at Grace, she was staring at the floor and nodding in a thoughtful way. “Thank you,” she said, finally looking up at him. “I know this is hard for you, but you’re doing the right thing. The Screaming Eagles are bad guys; they do bad things that destroy neighborhoods and lives. And you don’t need to worry, Falcon. I’m gonna protect you. I’m going to get you out of there.”

“Then what?” Falcon asked. “My whole I’ve been in the gang, who am I going to be without them?”

“You can be whoever you want to be,” she said, Grace walked towards him and leaned against the same wall he was leaning against. “You’re a good dad. Maybe you can just focus on that for a while.”

Falcon nodded, but he knew there was more to being a good dad than just being present. He needed to provide for her daughter, needed to be able to give her a good life.

“How did you meet Sophie’s mother?”

“She works a bar in downtown L.A. We liked to go there after big scores to celebrate. One thing led to another, you know how it goes,” He said with a rueful shake of his head. “Kelly’s a good woman, but we just never really clicked on that level. She has primary custody, for all the obvious reasons, but I can see Sophie whenever I want.”

“That’s nice that you and your ex get along. It’s very mature.”

“Thanks, but it’s all for Sophie. I don’t want her growing up in a house where her parents hate each other and fight all the time. Kids know about that stuff. If they live in a home where their parents hate each other, it seeps down into them and they start to hate themselves. It’s not a good thing.”

“Is that what growing up for you was like?” Grace asked.

“You’ve seen my file,” Falcon said, straining to keep his voice even. “I didn’t have a lot of choices growing up. Joining the Screaming Eagles was the only option for me. I don’t want that for Sophie. I want her to have a good life where she can be whatever she wants to be. I don’t want her to always have to be running from the cops or worried where her next meal is coming from. I’ve been on my own since I was fifteen. By the time I was seventeen my parents were broke drug addicts living on the streets. They would find me wherever I was staying coming at all hours begging their teenage son for money or a score. But by seventeen I knew better than to give them anything and I always sent them packing. The last time I saw my father I was twenty years old and he was trying hock a stolen watch off on me. I don’t want to end up like them. I don’t know what I want to be, but I know it’s not that.” A strained silence fell over them and Falcon didn’t want to dwell on his past. “What about you? What were your parents like?”

“I’m a military brat,” Grace said. “I’ve lived in Spain, Greece, the Baltics, Hawaii, and all over the U.S. I guess a lot of people hated moving around like that, but I always liked it. Every couple of years we would just pick up and leave everything behind and go start somewhere new. I always thought it was thrilling.”

“So why didn’t you join the military?”

“There were just so many problems at home, it seemed unfair to me that we were out policing other countries when our own cities were such a mess. So I became a cop instead. My dad’s proud of me; he comes and visits a couple of times a year.”

“And you like being a cop?”

“I fucking love it. I’m an excellent shot and I’m never afraid of working in even the roughest neighborhoods on the toughest cases. I live for the thrill of hunting down bad guys and putting them behind bars. It makes me feel alive. Nothing feels as good as busting bad guys.”

“But no boyfriends?”

“No time for love, Dr. Jones,” she said shaking her head and Falcon couldn’t help but chuckle. “I don’t have time for it. I don’t have time for someone else’s shit, you know? I want to do my thing and not have to worry about anyone else. Besides...the whole detective thing intimidates some guys. They want a nice little wifey who can sit at home and then make them dinner and clean up after them.”

“Not me,” Falcon said, he reached up with his hand and turned Grace's cheek until she was facing him and he kissed her deeply letting his tongue slide into her as he pulled her close.