Deceptive (The Houston Defiance MC Series Book 6) Read online

  Everyone chuckles as Sunshine and Kevlar stride over. “Speak of the devil. We’re just talkin’ about your friend, Savanah. How’s she doing, Sunshine?” Hurricane asks.

  Sunshine widens her eyes and looks directly at Hurricane. “No. Hurricane. Just no!”

  Everyone bursts out laughing.

  Hurricane shakes his head. “I don’t understand y’all’s aversion to me simply findin’ out how Savvy is doin’?”

  “Because she is doing her own thing and doesn’t need you interfering. Go find someone else to harass,” Sunshine berates.

  Hurricane turns to Kevlar. “See, your Old Lady hasn’t changed?”

  “See, you haven’t changed.”

  Hurricane chuckles. “I brought you a package of beignet mix too. I know how you get if we don’t bring it along for ya.”

  Kevlar smiles wide. “See… there is a nice guy deep down under that alligator skin of yours.”

  Hurricane grunts. “Don’t tell no one. I have a rep to protect, ya know!”

  Kevlar steps forward. “You forget, brother, I know you. And this attitude you put out is a front. You’re a big teddy bear underneath all that bravado.”

  Hurricane suddenly pulls out a gun aiming it at Kevlar, but the cheeky grin on his face lets us all know he’s playing around. “Shut your damn mouth.”

  Kevlar easily pushes the gun away and leans in toward Hurricane. “You big ol’ softy.”

  Hurricane flicks off the safety. “I will shoot you! In front of your Old Lady!”

  Kevlar chuckles. “No, you won’t.”

  Hurricane grunts, flicking the safety back on and stowing his weapon. “No… I fuckin’ won’t. But consider that packet of beignets your last, motherfucker.”

  Kevlar and Sunshine laugh as Hurricane and Kevlar move in for a back-slapping embrace. The brothers are longtime friends and have been through so much together. Hurricane was there through Kevlar losing Em. The club pulled Kevlar through that dark period in his life, and they were also there when he met Sunshine.

  I want to leave them to catch up, so I casually stroll off and walk over to Koda and Thayleah, who are sitting with Nickel and Siren. Pulling out a seat, I turn it around and sit as they all glance up at me.

  “Hey, Phantom, we were just talking about you,” Siren says.

  “You were?”

  “I was just saying how badass it was that you were beaten to a bloody pulp, and yet you still managed to find the strength to fight when we got here to take out the Heathens. You’re so fucking tough.”

  “I don’t deserve that praise. I couldn’t help Ax. He didn’t make it, and I couldn’t help Shiver. Rage still tortured her, and she nearly died too. Your assumption of me being a badass is fucking flawed.”

  Koda scoffs. “Dude, you got beaten so badly your nose was broken, you had a concussion, and you still got up and were shooting to help us gain control of the situation, even after you found out about Billie. If that’s not balls, I don’t know what is.”

  Thayleah reaches out, grabbing my hand. “I think you’re amazing, Phantom. Even if you don’t believe it yourself.”

  Their accolades don’t feel warranted. “Thanks. So… uh… I couldn’t help but notice that Brady was missing today. He and Ax were close. Where is he?”

  Koda stares at Thayleah, then back to me. “I’m not one hundred percent sure. He’s shady on the details, but he said Ruin and Riot from Malice MC offered him something he couldn’t refuse. He said he couldn’t tell us what was going on, but hopefully, one day he might be able to come back and fill us in.”

  “So he’s gone? Off to Richmond?”

  Thayleah shakes her head. “He said he was going to Washington DC. I don’t know what the hell for, but he said he would keep in touch. I just hope he knows what he’s getting himself in for.”

  “Brady’s an interesting character, he knows how to land on his feet. He’s gonna be just fine. Whatever he’s got himself into, he’s gonna do well at it,” I tell them.

  Thayleah nods, and Koda exhales. “I sure hope so.”

  Suddenly, my cell beeps, and I glance down to see a text from Billie.

  Billie: I just want you to know I have been thinking about you all day. I am there with you in spirit, and if there is anything I can do for you, please let me know. xo

  A slow smile crosses my face, and warmth floods my chest.

  “I know that look, it’s a man who’s smitten,” Nickel suggests.

  “Phantom, if you want to go talk to Billie, please don’t stay here on our account. I want you to know that from my point of view, I think you should be able to talk to her,” Siren says.

  Thayleah tightens her grip on my hand. “If you want her in your life, then make it happen, Phantom. It won’t be easy, but fighting for love never is, but it is worth it. Take it from two couples who know more than anyone.”

  Koda and Nickel both bob their heads in agreement. Suddenly, it seems perhaps I have a few people on my side, and it makes all the difference in the world. Smiling, I stand, dipping my head. “Thanks, guys. You don’t know how much your support means to me.”

  “We only want you to be happy. Safe, but happy,” Thayleah states.

  I hear her.

  She’s telling me to be cautious.

  I need to be, but I also can’t stop the feelings I have for Billie.

  She means far too much to me.

  With my cell in hand, I turn and walk away, making my way upstairs to my bedroom. It’s too rowdy downstairs. I need a moment to be alone and reflect on the day with the person I have needed here with me all along.

  Making it to my room, I close the door with my foot behind me, shrug out of my cut and shirt, and spread out on the bed. Hitting her number, it rings a couple of times before she answers, “Hey! I didn’t think I would hear from you today. Shouldn’t you be celebrating Ax’s life with the guys?”

  Hearing her voice instantly calms me.

  I sink further into the pillows, letting out a long exhale. “I just needed you.”

  She’s quiet for a moment, sniffles, then clears her throat. “I’m so sorry I can’t be there. You know I would if I could, right? I’d drop everything to be there.”

  “I know, but I don’t want to risk Zero banishing you for life because I had a moment of weakness. We’re in this, Billie, in this mess, and I’m gonna ride this storm with you. It just means we’re gonna have to weather it for a while in the good and the bad times like this.”

  “What can I do? How can I help you?”

  Closing my eyes, I listen to her breathing. “Talk to me… tell me about your day.”

  “About my day? I think your day is far more import—”

  “I don’t want to talk about my day. I wanna forget.”

  She hums under her breath. “Okay… so I went searching for apartments today to try to find something better, but without a reference and a job, no one will even look sideways at me. But I found this perfect little one-bedroom place, not far from the clubhouse, actually. I fell in love instantly, but… I guess I have to find myself a proper job before I think about moving out of here. I don’t have a lot of time, though, the rent is only paid until the end of the month. But I do have a secret stash of cash I was keeping aside hidden from Rage in case of a rainy day.”

  I let out a small chuckle. “I’ll be your reference. You tell me where this place is, and I will go there tomorrow and put your name down. I’ll pay the first six months’ rent to get you by until you get a job.”

  Billie gasps. “Phantom, no… I can’t ask you to do that.”

  “Who’s asking, I’m telling. This is happening, Billie. I can’t have my woman living in that dump. You found a place you like… I’ll go check it out, and if I think it’s okay and there’s enough security around it, then it’s yours.”

  She sniffles like she’s trying to hold back tears. “So, I am… am I your woman still?”

  Sitting up on the bed, I let out a long breath. “Someone told me t
hat if I want you in my life, then I have to make it happen. It won’t be easy, but fighting for us is worth it. Fighting for you is worth it.”

  “You mean everything to me, and I’m going to spend the rest of forever making this up to you. I promise,” she admits.

  My chest squeezes hearing her say that. We both know what she did to Defiance and me was wrong, but she did it under duress. This woman was scared for my life, and for a moment there, the lives of everyone here at the club.

  She didn’t care about herself, she was fighting for us.

  And I need to get everyone else to see that too.

  And I will.

  With time.

  PHANTOM

  Two Days Later

  This whole thing with me wanting to be with Billie, but her not being allowed at the club is making me question the way I look at life and all the things that are important to me.

  The club is important—of course.

  But Billie is everything.

  My life has always been chaotic from one turmoil to the next, and I only have one man to blame for that—my father. Half of my damn issues stem from him. But if what is happening with Billie has shown me anything, it’s that life is short, and you never know what’s going to be thrown your way.

  My father is a real piece of work, but my mother always stood by his side, probably out of fear. But I need to be the bigger man and extend an olive branch because I don’t want to be the one who didn’t try, and then it be too fucking late.

  Pulling my ride up at my childhood home, the American flag waves elegantly in the wind from the flagpole in the front yard. Dad was an officer in the US Air Force. His strict regimes and military methods coming down hard on my sister, Tee, and me.

  Though he was much, much stricter with me, trying to make me the man of the house, trying to mold and shape me into a carbon copy of him. The problem is, I hate who my father is. My rebellious nature doesn’t conform to routines and structure. I was always rebelling against him, and that got me into a world of hurt and a hell of a lot of time in a hospital bed.

  I think that’s why my sister, Tee, is studying nursing. She was always there to patch me up after Dad’s fists connected with me in some way. Dad never hit her, though, which I was always so grateful for. He didn’t mind laying into his son, but he had some moral code when it came to hitting women.

  I was thankful for small mercies.

  The patio door swings open with a rickety creak, breaking me from my thoughts, as Tee comes racing down the stairs toward me. A bright smile lights my face as she slams into me, giving me the tightest of hugs.

  “Libertee? What on earth are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in class?”

  She cuddles into me, inhaling deeply. “I have a free period, and I thought I would call in to help Mom with something. I had no idea you were coming. When I heard the bike, I knew it was you.”

  Looking at my gorgeous sister, I pull back. “You’re growing up way too fast.”

  She snorts. “What do you mean growing up? I’m grown, Cannon. I’m eighteen and studying to be an RN at the University of Houston. I’m saving for my own place with a couple girls from campus.”

  “What! So you can have frat parties and college boys around to drink? I don’t think so.”

  She grins, cuddling into me again. “You sound like Dad.”

  Grunting, I start walking us toward the patio. “I am nothing like Dad.”

  “You’re more like him than you think.”

  My stomach revolts at the thought as she detaches from me, and we walk up the stairs onto the rickety porch. Mom opens the door with her warm smile, opening her arms wide for me. “I thought I heard your bike pulling up, honey. What a lovely surprise!”

  I move in, pulling my mom close for a tight embrace. She smells like home-baked cookies. Just how I remember her. Moving back, a shadow moves behind her, and I glance through the door to see Dad standing at the back of the hall with his arms crossed.

  He’s not impressed.

  He doesn’t like it when people call in unannounced.

  I’ve just broken one of his cardinal rules.

  He knows I know it too.

  But this was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and honestly, I didn’t want them to give me a reason to back out of showing up.

  “It’s been so long since I was here last, thought it was time I stopped in and said hi.”

  Mom grips my arm and drags me inside. The house looks exactly the same as I remember. Childhood pictures line the wall, but in every one we’re standing in a perfectly straight line, no cuddling or fun enthusiasm about the pictures. It’s all military precision.

  No wonder my head is so fucked.

  I didn’t have a childhood—I had a dictatorship.

  Shaking my head as we walk through to the living room, Tee takes up her usual spot on the end of the sofa, Dad moves to his recliner, and Mom gestures for me to sit in the guest chair. Letting out a half-laugh, I nod. So that’s what I have been relegated to now. A guest.

  Mom takes her usual seat next to Tee while Dad eyes me up and down. “So, boy, there a reason you’re here? You don’t just show up for no damn reason.”

  Nodding, I wonder how best to go about this. Sitting forward, I rest my elbows on my knees and exhale. “I met someone.”

  Mom gasps, her eyes lighting up in delight. “You found yourself a nice girl?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “She fucking married or something. It’s typical for you to go for someone who is unavailable,” Dad states.

  I scowl at him. “She’s not married… sir.”

  Shit.

  Just like that, I fall back into old patterns. Fuck that!

  Dad smiles like he knows he’s just won one over me. “Then tell me what’s wrong with her, for her to be interested in someone like you?”

  Fuck you!

  “Dad! Why do you have to be so mean?” Tee moves in to defend me.

  Dad grunts out, “Libertee, the men are talking.”

  She sinks in on herself. “Yes, sir.”

  I love that she tried. Winking at her, she frowns at me, but I gesture that it’s okay. Turning back to Dad, I exhale, getting ready for round two. “Her name is Billie—”

  Dad bursts out laughing. “You’re joking, aren’t you, boy? That’s a fella’s name. That club turning you into a raging—”

  “Don’t even start that line of talk with me. I’m trying to be nice here, Dad, trying to have a civil conversation with you and tell you what is happening in my life. If you’re going to mock me at every fucking turn, I’ll leave right now.”

  Dad smirks, waving his hand through the air. “You’re so fucking precious. Go on then… continue your story.”

  Tee looks at me sympathetically while Mom keeps her eyes to the floor. I feel for Mom, she’s so downtrodden. She needs to leave the asshole, but I know she never will.

  “All right, so some shit went down with Billie and the club, and she isn’t allowed at the clubhouse—”

  Dad laughs. “Told you! You like the troublemakers. What did she do? Scratch a bike? Drink their beer? Break a pool cue?”

  His mocking tone is grating on my last nerve. “She infiltrated from a rival MC and gave them inside information on Defiance that led to people dying and our businesses being compromised.”

  Mom and Tee’s eyes both widen as Dad bursts out laughing. “Jesus, Cannon, and you’re dating this thing? You have lead in your head or something?”

  “She did it under duress. The other MC was holding her to ransom… she’s actually a really amazing person.”

  Dad screws up his face. “And this is why you will never amount to anything. Why would you get into bed with someone who openly betrayed your trust like that? That’s right, it’s because you’re a pussy, and you like being walked all over.”

  Shaking my head, I am trying to keep my cool, but the explosion point is coming closer. “You know… I came here to tell you that I have genuine feelin
gs for Billie, that she is someone special. That once all this red tape is fixed, I’m gonna make her my Old Lady, but right now, I don’t even want her to meet you.”

  “Not sure I want to meet her.”

  I go to stand, but Mom stops me. “Cannon, stay. Please. You came all this way. Please don’t leave just yet.”

  Dad glances at Mom, and her eyes instantly fall right back to the floor. I exhale, taking a seat back in the guest chair. “You may not like the idea of Billie, Dad, but she’s going to be a part of my life.”

  He shrugs. “Your funeral, boy.”

  “Can we talk about something else?”

  Dad grins wide like he’s loving how this conversation is going. “That real leather you’re wearing, Cannon?”

  Glancing down to my cut, I nod. “Yes, sir.”

  Goddammit.

  “You know, it’s not too late to think about joining the Air Force?”

  Grinding my teeth, I exhale. “No.”

  Dad sits taller, the vein in his neck pulsating. “No, what?”

  I’m not playing his mind games.

  I’ve fallen for it twice.

  I’m not here for this shit.

  “Just, no.”

  Dad sits forward, his hands on his knees, trying to assert authority. “If you won’t respect my authority, boy—”

  “I respect you, Dad, but I don’t need to call you sir to do that.”

  Dad throws his hands in the air. “This… this is why you are no fucking son of mine. Prancing in here wearing that stupid leather cut like you’re purposely trying to break the law. You think you’re so damn tough, boy. You ever been to war? You ever seen your comrades killed right in front of you?”

  I start laughing because he doesn’t even know the half of it. Yeah, he’s been to war, but so has the club. Multiple times. I’ve watched my brothers die. I watched Ax die right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  He doesn’t know shit.

  Dad stands, glaring at me. “You laughing at me? You’re laughing when I talk about war, you fucking pathetic piece of shit!” Dad rushes toward me. I don’t have time to think before he grabs my cut, shoving me back so hard the chair topples backward with me in it. Dad’s fist comes out, slamming me in the face, my head snaps to the side with the force of his hit, and I blink a few times before I see his fist coming at me again. I don’t want to hit him back, so I do the only thing I can think of and pull my gun from my jeans and bring it up, pressing it against his temple before he can slog me again.