Property of Gemini (Kings of Anarchy Motorcycle Club: Montana, #1)

Prologue

Gemini

The first time I truly noticed Sutton Alexander even though we’d been in the same school since we started kindergarten, she was sitting across the room from me in the cafeteria at school.

She was all alone seeing as the fuckwits we call peers have made her a pariah to be near.

I have too much going on in my home life to worry about the popularity and cliques that others find necessary.

I cringe as I watch someone ‘trip’ behind her as their tray of spaghetti goes spilling over her head and tumbling down her back.

My mom has stage four breast cancer and isn’t doing well so I’m having to pick up the slack at home since Dad is busy with work and the club he and my uncles started back in the day when they weren’t much older than I am.

I have a part-time job at a local warehouse where I go every day at one o’clock, then work until midnight before I head home, do whatever homework I have, then crash out before doing it all again the next day.

Mom’s got round-the-clock nursing at this point, although the actual nurse only comes by twice a week.

In between, she’s got certified nursing assistants who help bathe her, make sure she’s taking her medications, and ensure she eats and drinks.

The problem is, before her doctor told her the treatments weren’t working any longer, she developed ulcers down her throat from all the vomiting she was doing thanks to her chemo and radiation treatments.

They still haven’t fully healed, so it’s extremely painful for her to swallow.

There’s been talk about putting in one of those feeding tubes, but she’s already so thin and her veins are pretty much shot, that she doesn’t really want to do that if at all possible.

I try not to think about the fact that my mom’s not going to be around for much longer.

She won’t get to meet the woman I fall in love with, or spoil rotten any kids I have in the future.

No, she’ll just be a memory that I share with them.

And as a teenage boy whose sole goal in life is to be as emotionless as possible, it’s killing me.

She and I have always been close; I was their miracle baby after they were told for years she’d never be able to have kids.

A horrified screech brings me back to the here and now, all traces of my personal issues pushed back in my mind.

I wince when she stands up, strands of noodles flying from her clothes.

“Childish bullshit,” I mutter beneath my breath.

Don’t these assholes know that bullying is an asshole move?

I watch as she rushes out of the room, books and personal items forgotten and left behind.

I feel sorry for her, just because she has a few pimples on her face, her body is shaped more like a woman than a teenager, and she wears glasses that swamp her face doesn’t mean she’s a bad person or that she should be their whipping boy.

Sighing, I take my tray to the trash can and dump it before strolling over to her things and snatching them up.

I’m not sure where Sutton ran off to, but I’ll be goddamned if I let them destroy her stuff for the fun of it.

Instead of trying to find her and track down which bathroom she’s gone to hide in, I take her stuff to the main office and see Mrs. Jaymes standing there. Holding up Sutton’s purse and backpack, I say, “Mrs. Jaymes, these belong to Sutton Alexander–”

Before I can finish, she asks, “Then why do you have them?”

“Because she ran out of the lunchroom after someone’s tray with today’s lunch on it was dumped over her,” I snarl.

“Oh, and by the way, it was spaghetti in case you hadn’t looked at the menu.

I don’t really know her all that well, so I wasn’t comfortable trying to figure out which bathroom she might have gone into, but I think someone may want to check on her and see that she’s okay, just in case she got burned or something. ”

The school nurse, Ms. Andrews, who walked in on my explanation says, “I’ll take her things. I’m pretty sure I know where she’s at.” I hand over Sutton’s things then leave the office; my destination is my bike since it’s time for me to head to work.

Needless to say, the next few years went exactly like that for Sutton.

I can’t begin to count how many times I stepped between her and a tormenter but it’s more than I can count on two hands.

I received a black eye once for my efforts when I caught an elbow when someone thought it’d be a great idea to try and take me on and ‘put me in my place’, only the joke was on them because my dad and uncles made sure I knew how to defend myself, even when the odds were stacked against me.

* * *

Graduation is fast approaching, and I watch day by day as Sutton’s glow dims. She hides her face as she walks through the hallways as we line up in alphabetical order before hitting the auditorium.

I shake my head because I can’t even begin to understand the logic that eighteen year olds have when it comes to belittling someone because they aren’t what is considered as being picture perfect.

Lucky for her, I’m situated behind her since our last names are close. Like a guard, I stand sentry behind her and try to keep her out of their sights. I know in my gut that this is their last opportunity to play a prank on her so I’m on high alert.

Leaning forward, I tell her, “I’ll have your back as much as I can, Sutton. But you need to be aware of your surroundings.”

“Thank you, Gemini,” she whispers.

Hearing my name roll off her tongue does something to me, but I’m not at a stage in my life where I can figure out what that is.

My mom passed two days ago, and with my dad still mourning, and me not feeling like myself, I know I’m going to miss something.

She went into a semi, false state of recovery, but that only lasted a little over a year before her body just couldn’t fight anymore.

The nursing staff and her doctors stated that when a person isn’t ready to go, miracles happen and their bodies follow their mindset.

She was so determined to see me graduate, and because we knew it might not happen, the principal came to the house and presented my diploma to me in my cap and gown, no less.

The whole club was there and we had a ‘graduation’ party where I watched my mom smile through her exhaustion.

A few hours after that, she went into a coma-like state and early the next morning, she took her final breath with me and my dad by her side.

So as far as I’m concerned, today is merely a formality.

In fact, I’m not really sure why I’m here instead of at the clubhouse, where Dad has been since the hospice nurse contacted the funeral home who then came and picked Mom’s body up, his head in a damn bottle.

Hell, I’m willing to bet he has no fucking clue where I’m at right now, although I see a few of my uncles and cousins, as well as my aunts, sitting in the bleachers as we walk toward our seats.

Dad, however? He’s not there. But, I’m not going to complain too much about it because he and Mom have been together since they were kids, and only ever had eyes for each other.

This has gutted him completely, so I’ll ‘give him grace’ as my Aunt Becky has told me to do.

The only good thing about our graduating class is it’s not all that big, maybe one hundred kids total, so it’s not going to take too long. Once the superintendent of our school system welcomes the attendees, we listen to the class valedictorian give her speech.

“Mean girl,” I hiss, causing Sutton’s head to turn in my direction. “She’s just like that Rachel George chick in that movie.”

“Regina. The mean leader was named Regina,” Sutton murmurs so no one can hear her. I hate how timid she’s become since elementary school.

Like I said, we’re a small town so I’ve grown up with most of these people, and while a lot of them are okay, most of those are my cousins and they know I’ll kick their ass if they’re being jerks.

But somewhere between elementary and middle school, things changed for Sutton.

Her parents got fancy jobs and were always on the go, leaving her behind with her grandmother, and she was so old fashioned that Sutton soon started looking dowdy.

Then, of course, puberty hit like it did for all of us, and she grew curves while her skin betrayed her and top it off with wearing glasses and then braces and she became the laughingstock of the school.

It was subtle at first, but the day she stood up to go sharpen her pencil and the back of her white pants was red, it sealed her fate for the rest of her school years.

Thanks to having so many female cousins, as well as aunts, I knew what it was, but like the juveniles we were at the time, many of my classmates were clueless.

While the teacher took her to the nurse, I heard so many nasty comments it made me sick to my stomach.

I was raised to protect and care for the females in my life and even though Sutton and I were little more than acquaintances, it bothered the shit out of me that she had no one to do that for her.

I guess that’s why I started watching out for her since she withdrew into herself so much that she was usually unaware when shit was about to hit the fan.

Finally, finally we’re led to stand and get ready to walk across the stage.

I can hear several around me snickering and have caught covert looks toward Sutton that have my guard up.

Still, when it actually does happen, there’s not a damn thing I’m able to do to help the situation since I’m on the steps directly behind her.

As she shakes the last hand and prepares to exit the stage, I hear someone near me whisper, “Now!” and quickly look around only to hear a noise coming from the top of the stage.

I don’t stop to think about my actions, my only thought is to protect the girl who has been beaten down by the majority of these assholes on what should be a good day. Which is why, when the buckets full of what I’m sure is bison blood come pouring down, both of us are completely drenched.

“What the fuck!” my uncle, Jed, yells as he and several of my other uncles rush the stage. “What kind of fucked-up shitshow are you running here?”

He and another uncle, Gordon, quickly usher the two of us off the stage and toward the exit door, the rest of the club quickly falling in behind us.

While I’m worried that one of the buckets, which I heard hit the stage floor, may have hit Sutton in the head based on the fact that her hand is cupping it, I can’t tell if she’s actively bleeding or not.

“Fucking hell,” Aunt Becky seethes. “Come on, sweetheart, let me get a look at you because I saw that bucket hit you in the head. Jed! We’re gonna need one of the trucks and one of you boys best get Sheriff Childers out here because I’m gonna press charges on both hers and Gemini’s behalf.

They better get ready to open that checkbook.

Annalise would be proud of you, Gem,” she says, “because you tried to keep her safe, but right now, I’m so fucking pissed I can’t see straight. ”

Aunt Becky may be a God-fearing woman, but she’s also a biker’s old lady and wife, and as she says, if God didn’t want her using those words, He wouldn’t have given them to us to use in the English language.

That was the last day that I saw Sutton before she jumped on a plane and flew out of town.