Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Sydney
It’s been a week since I moved back home. I’ve been working on unpacking and decorating for the upcoming holiday in a couple of days. My mom is here now, and she’s been bugging me to come over so she can get some time with Mari.
I pull into my driveway and stop to unarm the house alarm and open the garage door. The weather is cool, but the sun is still bright.
Today I only worked part of the day at the zoo.
The drive to work in Nashville has been about an hour in heavy traffic, but today was good since I got off early.
I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the day-to-day work and not being out in the field every day or traveling to all the exotic locations, but Mari is worth it.
I like having a regular bed every night and not living out of a suitcase.
Or checking for extra critters before I crawl into bed.
I pull into the garage, where boxes still line the walls. As I shut off the engine and the door goes down, I decide I’m going to grill burgers for dinner tonight. In South Africa I could get burgers, but there’s nothing like a good grilled burger. I missed cheeseburgers and pizza living over there.
I unload Mari and carry her into the house.
Then I quickly change out of my khaki uniform into a pair of jeans and a baggy cable knit sweater.
I grab Mari’s jumper walker saucer—hell, I don’t know what they call these things, but she loves it—and drag it out onto the back deck so she can play in the sun while I get the grill ready.
“Are you grilling in the wintertime?” Wrenn’s voice comes from across the fence.
“It’s not that cold, and I want a burger.” I laugh.
“The girl’s right, it isn’t cold. Back home I grill year-round.” A deep voice joins in, and I look over to see an older man standing with her. I remember what her dad looks like, so I know it’s not him. “Hello, I’m Troy,” he says as he reaches his hand across the fence for me to shake.
I’m not trying to be rude, but meeting new people makes me nervous now. I look down at Mari and back to the man standing there with his hand out. I need to stop fearing everything.
I walk across the deck and down toward the chest-high fence.
“Hello, Troy, I’m Sydney.” I watch as his hand engulfs mine.
“Troy is Poseidon’s dad. He’s staying with us over the holiday.”
“Poseidon?” I look over at Wrenn.
“Oh, that’s right, you haven’t met him yet.” Wrenn explains that Poseidon is one of Beck’s biker brothers. “You’ll hear Beck referred to as Aries by his brothers and others.”
I finally met Aries last week when I was lugging in groceries and he offered to help.
He did pause when he was giving me his name to introduce himself.
I assumed Beck, like Wrenn calls him, but I know that MC guys prefer to be called by their club names, so I make a mental note to call him Aries from now on.
It is interesting that both Beck and his friend Poseidon have Greek god names, but I don’t want to question it more.
“Hey, is there a party back here?” A deep voice comes from Wrenn’s deck, and we all look over.
I know it’s the man from my first day even without seeing his eyes before.
His golden blond hair is closely cropped to his scalp in a military cut.
His piercing, light-colored eyes take me in, and everything in my body lights up.
“Well, I have to get dinner ready.” I pull my hand from Troy’s and then make my way to the house.
I lift Mari and carry her inside before the man can get to the fence.
I know deep in my soul that if I met him, I’d want to know more, and I can’t do that.
I can’t let myself go there. Everything is for Mari, and right now she needs me.
Besides, most men would run when they find out I’m a single parent.
I don’t want to deal with that right now.
I slide the door closed and take in the fact that both men are watching me. The similarity in both is not hard to see. Father and son. This must be the Poseidon that Wrenn was just talking about.
The ringing of the doorbell wakes me from a deep sleep.
I roll over in bed and see that it’s almost one in the afternoon.
I worked last night. As the newest on staff for the African exhibit, I took the night shift.
Mari spent the night with my mom, and she should be home anytime now.
I slip from my bed and grab my robe. When I get to the security panel, I check the camera and see that it’s Wrenn.
“Just a moment,” I say into the speaker as I disarm the system.
My mom had a top-of-the-line security system installed to protect Mari and me.
She still worries that there could be retaliation, even here in America.
I tie my robe tighter across my body, covering my sleep shorts and night shirt.
Pulling a hair tie out of my pocket, I put my hair up in a messy bun.
I open the front door to the bright sunlight, and Wrenn has her back to me as she looks out at the neighborhood. She’s so pretty, and sometimes I’m jealous. With my red hair and pale skin, I don’t tan like she probably does in the summer.
“Hello, Wrenn,” I say, and she swings around.
“Oh man, did I wake you?”
“It’s okay. I need to get showered before my mom gets here with Mari.” The words are barely out of my mouth when my mom’s Mercedes SUV pulls into my driveway. “Well, never mind.” I chuckle and let Wrenn in.
I walk over to the kitchen counter and click the coffee pot on.
“Would you like some?” I offer her a cup.
“I’m good. I was just stopping by to see if you’d like to go to a New Year’s Eve party at the clubhouse with me. Drea will be there too. You can ride with me.” She smiles, looking hopeful.
I chuckle. “I’m not sure.”
“Honey, we are home,” my mom says as she steps through the door with Mari. “Oh! Wrenn, is that you? It’s been years.” My mom walks over and gives Wrenn a kiss on the cheek.
When I told her my childhood best friend lived right next door, my mom was thrilled I’d have someone I know so nearby.
“Hello, Mrs. Parrish.”
“Call me Sharon, sweetie. Congratulations! Syd told me you’re expecting. What’s going on?” Mom looks back and forth between us.
“Nothing, Mom,” I say. If she knew why Wrenn was here, she’d push me to go.
“I invited Syd out for New Year’s Eve,” Wrenn says.
Well, shit.
“She’d love to go. I know she’s off, and I’ll take Mari for the night.”
“Mom, how do you know I’m off?” I pop my hip as I cock my head at her. “Besides, it’s Mari’s first New Year’s and I want to spend it with her.”
“Nope, you aren’t getting out of it. You won’t let me set you up with any of the young guys at the practice, so go have fun with Wrenn.”
“Mom, it’s at an MC clubhouse.” Maybe she’ll back off now.
“MC?”
“Motorcycle club.” I clarify.
“It’s not like Son’s. It’s just a bunch of guys hanging out. There is drinking and some girls, but nothing like on the television show.” Wrenn quickly defends.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, Wrenn.” I apologize because now I feel like I insulted her and her husband. I know they aren’t like that. Aries has only been nice, and if it wasn’t for his cut or his bike, I wouldn’t know he was the vice president of a motorcycle club.
“You should come and see.” Wrenn smiles at me and I know I’m stuck now. She just played me. I smile back and shake my head as the coffee pot beeps.
“Okay, fine.”
“I’ll be here to pick you up at eight.” She turns and walks out, leaving me with my mom.
“You need to move on, honey,” she pleads with me.
I reach over and take my daughter from her arms.
“I’ll never be able to move on, Mom. I need to take care of Mari and build a life for us.”
I take Mari with me to get dressed. I won’t ever forget what happened to me or what I had to do. I have the nightmares every night to remind me. No man would want that in his life. No man could love me when they find out about me.
Poseidon
I pull my bike up to the crowded clubhouse, all lit up for the New Year’s Eve party, and wish I had just kept riding.
I can’t though, because my old man is still here and wants to spend time with me.
I don’t even know why he came to visit me.
Yeah, he loves me and is my father, but I know he’s disappointed in me.
I was supposed to be a lifer in the Navy, just like him, but I punked out instead.
I rotate my shoulder, loosening up the tightness that always settles in when it’s left in the same position for too long.
It’s why I have a job working on a construction crew.
I need to keep it moving. It’s also why I couldn’t continue being a SEAL.
I knew it would be sore after the ride, but I had to get away for the day.
Away from the memories that are always there.
The fact that there are families out there celebrating without their loved ones because of me.
I failed my team. I failed those families. I hate the holidays.
Plus, my brother Zeus got in earlier today, so I’ll be able to visit with him. My younger brother Hades is still on an assignment.
What very few people know about the Drago Defiance MC is that it was formed by our president and originally included members of our clandestine unit, the Unknowns.
We have a location here in Tennessee and another in Alaska.
My biological brothers, who were also in the military, are a part of the unit too.
To keep our cover, we’ve allowed other men to join the club, but they aren’t part of the Unknowns.
I think my father, who has helped a couple of times, wants to be part of the group.
I know Cronus would hire him, but none of my brothers or I want that.
We lost our mom, and we don’t want to lose our dad too.
We aren’t exactly always safe. Our latest assignment has us breaking into a human trafficking ring that is being protected by our government.
“About time you showed your sorry ass.” Aries’s deep voice cuts through the darkness.
“Why aren’t you up your wife’s ass?” I tease him.