Faith’s Temptation (Dueling Dragons MC Book 1) (2 page)

Two months later…

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING
me?” I ask the teller. “What do you mean I can’t take cash out of my account?” The bank in Calvert City held my trust fund.

“Well, Miss Landon, it looks like your account has been frozen. Going by our records, a Mr. Nathaniel Landon went into our branch in Mobile and froze the account and any access that you had to it.” The teller responds with a look that says he hopes I’m not about to jump over the counter and rip his head off.

“That’s my brother. But how does he have access to
my
trust fund? I thought that we all had separate accounts.”

My parents took out life insurance policies when Will was born. Since Daddy was a coal miner, they wanted to make sure that we kids were financially secure in case anything happened to them. When Momma passed, Daddy divided her life insurance between my brother and me. We didn’t have access to it ‘til we were 18. Part of mine went for college, but I dropped out ‘cause of what happened with Beau and me.

“I’m afraid I can’t give you any more information on this account without breaching confidentiality. Going forward, you’re going to need his permission for us to be able to release any money to you. I am so sorry for this inconvenience, Miss Landon.” He gives me a half-smile. “I do hope you can enjoy the rest of your day.”

Yeah, right. What the hell was I going to do now?
I push away from his desk and head for the bank entrance. I’ve been staying in the worst motel I’ve ever seen, and my rent for the week is due tomorrow. And I only have a hundred bucks to my name!
Fuck my life
!

Leaving the bank, I start my trek down the highway toward the rat hole I call “home.” I lived at home my whole life, so this whole paying-my-own-way thing is new for me.
I guess it’s time to get a job and be a big girl
. I slip my earbuds into my ears, put on some
Five Finger Death Punch
, and continue toward the motel.

I start to think about my daddy and the time he taught me how to run the backhoe.

***

“Here, Squirt, I’m gonna shows you how to run this here backhoe,” Daddy said as I sat on his lap. “It’s fun, but it can be dangerous. Got it?” I nodded.

Daddy smelled like coal and dirt. No matter how much he showered, it would never go away. But it became a smell that I learned to love.

“Yeah, Daddy, I got this. Just ‘cause I’m a girl don’t mean I’m not as good as Will or Nate.”

He started to chuckle and reached around my back to squeeze me. “That’s ‘cause you’re my Squirt.”

***

Honk!
A horn blared.

I stop dead in my tracks and realize that I hadn’t stopped at the crosswalk, just stepped off the curb without looking.

Jumping back, I grab my chest, frantically running my hands over me, making sure I’m still all here. As a truck goes past, it lets out its air and hisses.

The wind whips my hair around my face. Collecting the loose hairs, I push them behind my ear and watch the truck drive farther down the road. I play it safe this time and press the call button for the crosswalk, waiting for the light to say
Walk
. I slip my earbuds back in my ears and continue to listen to the song while I try to figure out a plan of action for my situation.

I’ve been in Calvert City for about two months, and I’ve started to like it here. This is a small town, so looking for a job is going to be a pretty short adventure, I think. There is a bank—
I think I burnt my bridges with that one
—a small corner shop, which is only open when the owner feels like it, and a grocery store.

On the other side of the highway from the motel is a huge truck stop—diner in the front, gas station on one side, and a body shop in the back. At night, its parking lot always has a lot of girls wandering around, almost like a nightclub but outdoors.

The only lights going on and off are from the trucks. I see young women gettin' in and out of trucks all the damn time. They must be hookers, but why would you want to sleep with a truck driver? The ones I’ve seen in person or on TV have always been overweight, hairy, and just plain nasty lookin’. I get the creeps just thinking about them. Yuck!

I guess I’ll give the truck stop a try and see if they have any openings. I need something quickly to pay the rent and to keep my pride intact, not having to take an ear-bashing from my brothers or Daddy by askin’ for help.
Even if they’re the cause of the askin’.

I called them once to let them know that I was safe and not to worry about me. Nate answered and started pelting me with questions one after the other. He never gave me a chance to explain or even answer.

I managed to tell him that everything was fine and repeated what I had written in my note.

“You’re fuckin’ pregnant, aren’t you?” Nate yelled.

“No, I’m not. You, my dear brother, are insane!”

He fired off a list of other reasons he thought up on why I left. It was totally a one-sided conversation, a bit like with an over-protective parent.

Once I got sick of his yelling and badgering, I faked a bad signal and ended the call. After that, I forwarded all their phone calls to my voicemail. If they are only going to yell at me for leaving and not understanding that I want to be alone, then I don’t need them in my life anyways.

Of course, I didn’t tell them what Beau did. Everyone in my family had high hopes for Beau. I don’t know that they would understand the choices that I made at that time. Being that Beau was my first and only love, I gave him everything. He was the one thing that was real and true in my life.

***

Ryder

Crossing the Kentucky state line gives me a sense of security. The feeling of being safe and needed makes me feel good.

Being the President-elect of the Arizona Dueling Dragons Motorcycle Club – the MC for short - would make anyone feel safe. The MC is spread out all over the United States, but we have two major clubhouses—Calvert City and Yuma.

“So, Prez, where we headed?” The voice of my best friend Ziggy comes over the CB in the truck.

I snap out of my daydream and grab the mic. Clicking the button on the side, I turn my head, looking at him riding alongside me on his chopper, and say, “Well, jerkoff, I’m not actually Prez yet. But to answer your question, I think we should drop this load at the yard and then head to my sister’s place.”

Ziggy and I have been friends since we were kids. He’s always had my back, and I’ve always had his.
Ride or die
has always been our philosophy.

“Sounds like a plan,” he says. “Lead the way.” He waves his hand at me in acknowledgment as he drops back.

I bear down on the gas and clutch of the 18 wheeler and grab gears, heading for “home.”

I’ve been on the road for some time now. Things got fucked up with Pops and the club. Pops was always good at making messes and then letting everyone else clean them up. So, now I get to fix his fuck-up.

“Maybe we’ll be able to find some ass this stop?” Ziggy laughs into the radio.

Horny bastard needs to figure out what he wants more, a life or pussy. Most of the time his mind is on pussy more than life.

“Oh, I’m sure there’ll be a lizard or two for ya to fuck around with.” I laugh at him and shake my head.

“When you gotta fuck, you gotta fuck,” he laughs.

“All right, jackass, let’s focus on the road and get to the yard as soon as we can. So, let’s hammer down,” I say as I hear the chopper’s exhaust roar to my left.

Ziggy cuts in front. “I got you up here, Prez. Just keep ridin’ low and steady. We should make it back, no problem,” he says in a more serious tone.

***

What seems like days later—but in reality is only a couple hours—we pull into Calvert City. I see the bank, grocery store, and my sister’s place. We pull past all of it and head for the yard just on the other side of town. Only good thing about these loads that I have to haul is that most of them are drop-and-hook. All I gotta do is back up to the trailer, hook it up, and go.

I’m coming up to a stoplight when I see her—a beauty. A real angel.

One that I’m about to run over! Shit!
I slam both feet into the brake and clutch to try and get the truck to stop as quick as I can.

The whole semi shakes and sounds like it’s going to come apart as I lay on the horn, just hoping that this mystery woman will see me. She jumps when she hears the horn, and hops back onto the sidewalk just in time as I slowly pass her, shuddering. I let the air out of my lines and watch in my mirror as her hair blows everywhere.

God, she’s stunning!

“Ryder, what the hell was that?” I hear Ziggy come over the CB again.

“Not sure if that was an angel or what. But that about gave me a heart attack and a hard-on at the same time.” I run my fingers through my hair as I answer.

“Looks like ya almost ran that poor girl over. Let’s get to Layla’s before you do any more damage,” he laughs into the radio.

Well, he may think it’s funny as hell, but I think I just saw my soul mate. There’s something about that girl that gives me the urge to get to know her. I need to find her. Now I’ve got another reason to stick around this shitty little town.

***

Faith

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Reaching over on the nightstand, I find my phone and click the button to make the thing stop its annoying beeping. I look at the display and yawn, realizing that I must have fallen asleep when I got back.

Holy shit!
I have ten missed calls. I slide my finger over the screen and pull them up.

They’re all from the same number.
What the hell?
They didn’t even leave one message. Besides, everyone knows to text me.

I drop my arm next to me and sit up on the side of the bed. I start to think about times when Beau and I were together and the things we experienced. We would’ve never happened if it weren’t for my bestie at the time, Peggy Sue. She and I were friends for as long as I can remember. She was the one that brought out the incorrigible Faith that hid behind the coy little farm girl.
That shit!

My phone starts to play my Ozzy Osborne ringtone. Looking at the screen, I see it’s the same number calling again.

"Hello?" I answer questioningly.

“Hey, Squirt! How ya doin’?” That’s when I hear the asshole himself on the other end. My brother, Nate. Just the person I need to talk to.

“What the fuck, Nate? You have no right to call me ‘Squirt.’ It’s not your nickname to use, and where in the hell do you get off thinking you can freeze
my
trust fund?” I snarl into the phone.

“Well, if you would shut your sassy mouth up for a minute I’ll tell you why I froze
your
trust fund,” he says with that
holier than thou
tone he always has.

We both take after our momma in that respect, or so I’ve been told. And only being 18 months apart, we are so much alike anyway, but Nate thinks he is Mr. High-and-Mighty.

“I’m listening,” I say back at him.

“Okay,
Princess
. Daddy is sick—he has been coughing up a storm—but the old man won’t stop working. He thinks that our family is going to fall apart if he stops working or some shit.”

I shake my head and give a sour look to no one.

He has to be lying.

“And with you gone and all, he thinks he’s done something wrong. We also need the money to pay for tests and things Daddy needs. But the big thing is that we need you to come home, Sissy.”

I hear the raw emotion in Nate’s voice as he calls me Sissy. It’s what he and Will used to call me growing up.

“You froze my account. I have no money. I’m about to lose my place to sleep because of it,” I tell him, trying not to sound as defeated as I feel. “I don’t know how you expect me to get home.”

“Goddammit, Faith! Life’s a bitch, sweetie. I don’t know what to tell ya, but I think it would be wise if ya came home for a little while and then you can go back to whatever in the hell you’re doing now. But you need to figure out how to get back here on your own. You left on your own, and you can get home on your own,” Nate says just before hanging up.

Well, what a douche waffle. What good are brothers anyway?

THE NEXT MORNING,
I wake with a start. I can’t figure out why I’m breathing so hard. I must’ve been dreaming of Beau again. I’m so sweaty that my hair is sticking to my neck.
Yuck!

He was my first, and what makes it even harder is that we had been friends for about eight years before we ever started dating.

He’s always been a very attractive guy—about 6’1” with blondish-brown hair and piercing blue eyes that have a halo of green around the outside. He played football his whole life, so his body is nice and tone in places I’ve never even dreamed of. I can still remember our first time together just like it were yesterday.

***

“Are you sure about this? I don’t want you to tease me like you’ve done in the past,” Beau said as I spread my legs open for him to do as he pleased.

Looking at him, all I saw was the heat and lust. “Yes, Beau, I want you to take me. I want you to show me what real love feels like.”

Hearing the innocence in my own voice, I started to cover myself up with the sheet. I’d never been fully naked in front of anyone, so this made the whole experience all the more frightening and uncomfortable.

“Don’t you even think about covering up that sexy little body of yours.” He licked his lips as he slowly ran his hands down the length of my naked torso. “I want to see you in all your glory while I’m taking control. Now, are you ready?”

“Yes...” I panted out as he leaned forward, covering my mouth with his, plunging his tongue deep inside my mouth.

All I could manage to do was moan and melt into his touch.

He glided his hands over my shoulders, reaching my breasts. He let out a little growl. “God, Faith. Why do you have to be so perfect? I could get lost in your body all day long.”