Out From Under Read online

  My head felt light and completely empty. “What happened to my parents, Tristan and Taryn?”

  The Sheriff met my eyes wearily. “They’re dead. Car explosion off Highway 580. We identified the vehicle by what was left of the license plate. I’m sorry, but by the time we got to the scene, there couldn’t have possibly been any survivors. Trista, Trey—I’m so very sorry for your loss.”

  “My dad doesn’t drink when he has to drive…were they run off the road?” Trey questioned in a cold voice, heavily-laden with sadness.

  “We don’t know all the details, and won’t for a while. When we do, you two will be the first to know. Let us do our job, Trey.”

  A scream echoed in the room, and I didn’t realize it was my own voice until I collapsed on the floor. I cried so hard, I thought my heart would collapse and my head would explode.

  Trey immediately peeled me off the floor and slid me under the covers of my comfortable bed.

  “You guys can go now, I’ll stay with my sister. Oh, and until you know any useful information, don’t fucking return.”

  I clung to my brother as the sobs overtook me and my heart broke apart, piece by piece.

  Snapshots in time of Tristan, Trey and I when we were still together, happy and a family. Our loving parents. Mom singing me a lullaby so I would drift off to sleep. My father reading me a chapter out of Black Beauty, one of my favorite novels, when I was little. Tristan and I talking about how he knew he was in love with Taryn for the first time.

  It wouldn’t have been Lucifer’s Saints behind this. They had too much to lose and the relationship between them and the Bastards wasn’t exactly cordial but it wasn’t acrimonious either.

  That left only one group who hated my family enough to destroy us.

  The White Knights Motorcycle Club.

  Chapter Eight

  LINX PRACTICED WITH the rest of the band for the final Winter’s Regret concert in Tokyo. After that, they had one other pit stop, Malaysia, before they finally flew to Australia.

  The song they were working on ended and Talia advised them all to take a break, before she set her mike on the stand and pulled her phone out the back of her jean pocket. She had a couple of phones, including a Samsung Galaxy S4 for personal calls and a Galaxy Note for business and acquaintance calls.

  “Hello? Trey? What the hell are you blowing up my phone about?”

  Linx handed his bass to his personal guitar technician, and half-listened to her phone call while he checked the messages on his own cell phone.

  “Oh my God. Well, when is the funeral? I can’t be there because of this fucking tour, but I will help financially any way I can. How’s Trista?”

  There was a missed call from Cassidy and a text message.

  Cassidy Monroe-Carter: When you get back home, I think it is time we talk about you and me. xo

  As far as Linx was concerned, there was no him and her anymore, because he had absolutely no intention of going back to her. He quickly texted a reply.

  Linx Carter: You’re wasting your time, babe. There is no U & me. Time for you to face that and move the fuck on. We tried that reconciliation shit in the past. Didn’t work then, wouldn’t work now.

  He hated to sound so cold and callous but Cassidy was the kind of person who did not respond well to kindness. Once a person gave her an inch, the bitch would take a motherfucking mile. That’s just the kind of human being she was and he had no time for her fucked up behavior.

  Talia ended her call and slowly sat down on the stage before she collapsed into tears.

  Linx looked toward her usual savior, but Kris and Damira were quietly fighting off stage in the corner, and he had no idea what had just happened. Niko had left the stage shortly after she called break, and he was the only person to hear what actually had gone down over the phone.

  He wasn’t the type to pry but he walked over anyway and knelt before her. Talia looked up, her eyes red, their bright green irises a contrast against pin-point pupils.

  She embraced him and sobbed on his shoulder. He wanted to ask what happened but that seemed rude and besides, he knew real grief. Hell, he’d experienced it and gone through it. This wasn’t an act. What ever happened was major and painful and something she may not want to talk about.

  As they separated, Talia stared at him. “My aunt and uncle…my cousin and his fiancée—they were killed in a car accident and I can’t make it to the funeral because we’re stuck on this fucking tour.”

  “Oh, fuck, Tal, I’m so sorry to hear that. Maybe we can call up Dominic and explain the situation.”

  “No.” Talia shook her head and looked down. “I can’t go because…my cousin is a Demon’s Bastard and if Jaden found out…” she trailed off.

  All the sudden, the picture became clear.

  Talia had all sorts of secrets and skeletons in that closet of hers, and a big one was that she had a cousin who was a major player in a rival MC to her lover’s. How hadn’t Jaden put two and two together by now?

  “I take it he doesn’t know. Why the secrecy?” Linx grabbed a Camel out of his coat pocket and lit it.

  Talia bit her lip. “They live in the small Northern Nevada town of Pine Bluff and they’re my family. Not everyone is involved in the MC. That’s not the kind of people they were. Trista is going to Stanford University and this is—was—Tristan’s last year at UNLV. My aunt and uncle were fucking accountants for Christ’s sake and they lived in an upper middle-class, well established community. It’s only Trey that tarred the family name.”

  Linx stared at her and watched as her eyes hardened. “This is the life I chose and sometimes shit happens and you don’t get to be there for your family. Trista is going to need more than enough help and Trey won’t be there for her. I can do more for my cousin if I finish this goddamn tour than leaving now.”

  “I know a thing or two about loss, Talia. It’s completely your decision and I respect you no matter what. I know you had some tough times in Boston and I know how you fought for the position you have now. No matter what you decide, just know that I will support and back you one hundred percent.

  “You have earned my respect. Regardless what kinds of backhanded games Seth tries to play, just know that Kris, Niko and I will always be there for you, got it? You have single-handedly resurrected this band and don’t you dare think none of us are aware of that.”

  She shoved her phone into her back pocket and grabbed Linx’s hands. “Promise me something. You won’t tell anyone else about this. Not Niko or Kris…this has to remain our secret. Trista’s life might still be in danger and I can’t risk too many people knowing where she will end up. My parents’ house isn’t secure enough and she won’t want to go back east anyway.

  “I will pay for her to go to UCLA if she likes, but I want her to stay with me. At least we have security guards and all that crap—bottom line is, we’re always protected. Please don’t tell anyone what you found out. This goes no further. It’s the only way.”

  Linx looked at her with bright, determined eyes. “You have my word. I swear on my son’s lives I won’t tell anyone.”

  “Thank you.” She walked off the stage in defeat and he knew where she would end up, but first, she needed a place to cry in private.

  Life was a bitch and then some.

  He had no idea who her cousin was but, if Talia was taking the situation this hard, it must have been hell for the young woman whose life had become a waking nightmare and his heart ached for her.

  THAT NIGHT, THOUGH Linx knew how much pain Talia was in, she performed one of the best shows of her life and the band, simply following her lead, did the same. She’d quietly asked Linx if he knew “Paradise” by Coldplay and of course he did. He listened to all kinds of emo-rock, along with tons of hip-hop and neo-soul. Yes, he was in a rock band but he could appreciate every genre of music from blues to country; pop to dance.

  It was the one area of his life where he didn’t discriminate. Good music was simply good music regardles
s of what genre it fell into.

  He was one of those old school musicians who believed that to be the best, it was essential to listen to the best, and there were so many legends in every genre.

  The last song they performed that night was an acoustic version of “Paradise”.

  Although Linx considered himself a lousy electric guitar player, his first guitar had been a second hand acoustic, not a bass. He could play with his eyes closed; he knew the acoustic guitar so well.

  She dedicated it to “All the lost souls who have been stripped of their way out and to the many who would always dream of a better life.” The rest of the band could have walked off the stage, but by the second set of verses, Niko had added drums and Kris started on the guitar, practicing quieter, more haunting strings to play as opposed to his usual preference.

  Even without an orchestra, Talia nailed the song and the Japanese fans went wild. Apparently, Coldplay had a huge audience in Japan and they were blown away by Talia’s version of the haunting song.

  By the time Linx got back to his hotel room, he had a young, impressionable, yet intelligent Japanese fan on his arm. Maiko was gorgeous, in university and studying for a degree in journalism. That was what attracted him to her in the first place. Her English was flawless and she was a beautiful woman with long blacker-than-black hair, brown eyes and golden skin with a heart-shaped face, small frame and a body made for sin.

  She sat down on his bed as he removed an expensive bottle of Dassai 5o sake from his private bar and two heavy clay sake cups to drink the beverage. Maiko watched as he opened and poured with precision, before he walked over and handed one to her.

  “Thank you,” she said in her clear English. “You’re such a gentleman for a rock star who is only going to share one night with me.”

  Linx smiled for the first time. “Perhaps I don’t see you as just someone sharing my bed. You are an intelligent and beautiful woman, after all. If you don’t want to have sex with me, we don’t have to. I really appreciate your company and it’s been a long time since I felt like this but to be honest, I didn’t feel like being alone and you seemed like the perfect person to spend my evening with.”

  “I’m glad I could accommodate you.” Maiko sipped from her sake.

  Linx downed his and appreciated the fruity flavors and the aftertaste. “No, the accommodation is all mine. I’ve had a shitty run with women lately but perhaps it’s because I have treated them like disposable pieces of trash and that isn’t right. Being here, with you tonight, makes me feel like I have redeemed myself somewhat.”

  She downed her sake, stood and brought the bottle over before she sat down again. “I don’t understand. You’re this famous guy and women are going to want to be with you. Perhaps some hold delusions of grandeur, but most know what they are getting into. They will fuck you and then they will be asked to leave. That’s just how it is.

  “I have been to my share of rock concerts and because my Dad is who he is, it’s quite easy for me to get back stage passes. Most rock stars are jerks. I get a few questions answered and it helps toward the degree I am trying to achieve in Journalism but rarely do I go home with one. They seem to have some kind of misplaced stereotype that all Asian women are easy, when that simply isn’t true.”

  Linx had another sake shot with Maiko, then set his cup down. “I don’t think you’re easy at all. I have been all around the world and women are the same…I mean, some women just want to fuck a rock star but I don’t get that from you at all.”

  He cupped her face in his hands. “I think you are beautiful and extremely intelligent. We can do whatever you want to do and nothing more. You got that? If you aren’t attracted to me then I understand.”

  “That’s the problem,” she whispered with a soft voice, before her doe-eyes met his. “I am attracted to you and I do want you to take me…sexually.”

  Linx leaned over and kissed her lips. That night, he had sex with Maiko but it wasn’t the usual experience. He didn’t love her, but he did care about her feelings and he made sure she had an orgasm.

  It was the most meaningful sexual experience he’d had the whole tour and it proved something to himself. As he held her in his arms afterwards, it proved he wasn’t emotionally dead and he could give a shit.

  That meant it was possible for him to love a woman, and that feeling delighted him. He slept better that night than he had since the tour had begun.

  Chapter Nine

  I WAS EMOTIONALLY numb for the following days to come.

  Life seemed meaningless and empty. What was the point of everything, when love brought nothing but pain? It was much easier to hate because at least hate gave you a goal to work towards, a task that needed to be accomplished to squash that feeling for vengeance. I could understand how Trey had grown so hard over the years and although we had a love/hate relationship, he would never not be my favorite brother and the one I always looked up to. Had that admiration caused me to be blinded by what he was capable of? I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d done something to cause this awful situation.

  Sheriff Briggs came by a couple days after the accident. Trey had moved back in and taken his old bedroom because he didn’t want me to stay alone. It meant I had to put up with Keri and her skanky porn star friends, but overall, they were decent and respected my privacy.

  Lorna Hughes sent over enough food to feed an army and also came by to visit. The MCs—both the Demon’s Bastards and Lucifer’s Saints—called a truce since Dizzy had lost his niece in the accident.

  Briggs only informed Trey and I that my mother, father, Tristan and Taryn had been murdered in the accident. The brake fluid was dangerously low and looked like it the vehicle had been tampered with, mechanically-speaking. It was quite dangerous indeed, since it was snowing and that meant my father had no way of stopping.

  Pine Bluff Police Department had no witnesses or suspects, so although it was considered murder, it would go into their unsolved crime files.

  I wondered around in a Xanax induced haze and drank more than I ate. I didn’t have an appetite. I couldn’t even think about all the funeral arrangements. The Bastards’ had arranged it since it was one of their own who’d been affected.

  My parents had left me very well off; there were stocks, bonds and a trust, but none of it could be touched until I turned twenty-five so for the time being, I was given a thirty thousand per year stipend and any university of my choice would be paid for but that was about it. The house had been paid off and there would be no way I would sell it, nor could I stand for anyone to live there if they weren’t family.

  Trey offered to look after it and I handed over a set of keys, reluctantly, before I locked up everything in a floor safe that anyone might be interested in. No one knew about it except my late parents, Tristan and I because my father had it installed after Trey had left the house.

  I took the opportunity to clear out my mother and father’s client files, my dad’s laptop and any mementos from my family that I didn’t want accidentally destroyed or stolen and placed them in the safe as well. Trey had gone to town and Keri was around with a couple of her friends, but they were in the sitting room and had no idea what I was doing.

  After everything was packed away, I locked the floor safe, replaced the Persian carpet and slowly moved my father’s heavy oak desk over it again. The curtains were closed because I was paranoid as hell and since we still didn’t know who had ordered the hit on my parents or my brother, we knew I couldn’t stay.

  I also knew I wouldn’t be attending Stanford University either and called the school to explain my situation. They promised to hold my position until the Autumn quarter of 2014 and I thanked them, but I knew my dreams were over. I would never attend that school. Too many bad memories were associated with me going there and I would end up flunking out.

  The afternoon before the funeral, I sat in my room with a strong glass of Macallan. I’d just taken another Xanax and I was tired yet, I stared at the same page on my Kindl
e Fire. I’d read the exact passage a dozen times and the words still hadn’t been comprehended by my brain. I didn’t even know what the hell was going on in the story or why I was reading the novel at all.

  I was in such a fog, I’d put “Up in the Air” on auto-repeat and it must have played at least thirty times in a row before I felt my phone buzz under my ass where it’d slipped. I grabbed it and looked at the number. There was a gorgeous photo of my cousin, Talia, and I immediately answered it.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, sweetie. How are you doing? Fuck…that’s such a stupid question. I’m so sorry about Aunt Netty, Uncle Tim, Tristan and his girlfriend. You know I would give anything to be there, but I am stuck half way around the world in Malaysia at the moment,” she explained quickly, in a husky voice.

  “I know, Tal, and it’s cool. I mean, no one expected you to show up. Your mom and step-father are coming to the funeral and they want me to come live with them, but I don’t want to go back east. It would just be more cold weather,” I rambled on and knew I sounded as drunk and out of it as I was, but I couldn’t be bothered to give a damn.

  “Yeah, I knew they would offer you a place to stay.” Talia sighed on the other end and I knew she had a proposition. Whatever it was, I knew I would say yes because it would be so much cooler to stay with my cousin, the rock star, than my aunt and uncle.

  “Are you offering me refuge?” It seemed the appropriate word at the same time.

  My cousin laughed out loud. “I wouldn’t call it that but I don’t think Pine Bluff is the safest place for you at the moment. Trey called me and I was going to offer before he suggested it but…I need you to keep yourself busy. You can’t sit around and mope all day, high on Xanax and drinking like a fish. I want you to be my PA.”

  It was my turn to laugh. “Tal, I was offered a place at Stanford University. In case you aren’t following current events, it’s an Ivy-fucking-League school and you want me to trade that in to be your personal assistant? What am I doing? Picking up your dry cleaning and making sure your fucking schedule is correct or something?”