Baptism by Fire (The Restless Kings Motorcycle Club Book 4) Read online

  Baptism by Fire

  Restless Kings MC

  T. Ralston

  Copyright © 2022 T. Ralston

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-13: 9798784030641

  Cover design by: T. Ralston

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Foreword:

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Epilogue

  About The Author

  Restless Kings Motorcycle Club

  Foreword:

  This book includes elements of grief, death, talk of past domestic abuse, and sexual scenes with bondage and spanking,

  Prologue

  Sapphire

  Growing up in my family means growing up quickly, alone, and determined. Every adult that has left my family so far has had a driving passion. Our parents, if nothing else, instilled in each of us a motivation and ambition that cannot be rivaled by any other program in the country.

  When my eldest brother Michael left, his goal was to never come back, and he hasn’t as far as I know. He left with the intention of cutting off every person in our family and not making contact again for several years, if he ever planned to talk to anyone again. Michael went off to college and forgot all of us he left behind. That’s how he dealt with the resentment we all have for the people we were born to.

  Jewel, second oldest and my only sister, had a goal of escaping into a better life. Similar to Michael, but I think she actually wanted to have contact with us. I believe that something happened along the way, sometime after she ran head-first into the arms of a rich man who treated her like a princess and paraded her around like the perfect trophy wife- without actually making her a wife.

  I haven’t talked to Michael in over five years. Jewel and I last spoke three years ago at my high school graduation where I spotted bruising on her arm in the shape of a handprint that has haunted me since. She said it was nothing, but I know what it was. I know Alec was hurting her. My sister and I were as close as two siblings can be before she turned seventeen and disappeared.

  Michael will probably never come home. He’ll never want to, but I, at the very least, feel the need to talk to him, to check on him. He’s twenty-three now, almost twenty-four, and I’ve missed the last four birthdays. I’m about to miss the next one. I hope he is here with Jewel so I can throw my arms around his neck and tell him happy birthday in a few months.

  Jewel’s birthday, and subsequently mine, is in two months. I hope to be able to celebrate with her. I’ll do whatever she wants as long as I get to see her and hug her. We spent so much time together during the first part of our lives and I refuse to accept for even a second that we’re going to be separated now, as adults, by distance that can be covered in a day. The physical distance that is. After three years, who knows what other landmines will lie between us.

  My singular mission as an adult is to find my siblings and bring them home with me. I want us to return to some semblance of familial relations. We’ve never had whole-family dinners or anything. We rarely congregated in one room for holidays.

  But our family deserves something. Some togetherness with all of us. We never had any as kids, and if we have to find our own way through it as adults, then that’s what we’ll do. And if I have to be the driving force behind that change, I will. I’ll round everyone up and drag them back home screaming.

  Michael and Jewel were reported missing a few months ago, as well as Jewel’s boyfriend Alec. Something is going on with the three of them, and I don’t know what it is. The news stations are losing their minds over the stories.

  Michael has been in Baltimore, Maryland for the last five years. He changed his last name, graduated college with a degree in English literature, and has been working for the college as a TA while he earns his Master’s. I learned all this from news articles. His friends and professors grew concerned when he stopped contacting them and didn’t show up anymore.

  It took some time for Michael to be connected back to our family because he completely disassociated himself from us. The police force in Baltimore reached out to ask my parents if he had returned home to us in Salt Lake City, Utah. He wasn’t with us, but Mom and Dad were sure he’d turn up.

  “It’s just like him, you know,” Dad said to the officer. “He runs from his problems, runs from his friends and family. He’ll pop up somewhere else and set up a whole new life with a new name. He’ll make a new family for himself for a few years before he runs out on them too.”

  I don’t believe that. I have a different theory.

  Jewel and Alec were reported missing at the same time when Alec didn’t show up for any of the many ‘important meetings’ he had scheduled with the people who actually run his company, some financial institution that robs its clients at every opportunity under the guise of helping them with risky investments. Alec is worth a ton of money in the finance world. He’s evil and grimy just like everyone else he works with.

  I think Jewel finally had enough of being beat down and hurt by Alec. I know he was hurting her with every fiber of my being. I also know he’s somehow holding her hostage in that mansion because every time I’ve tried to talk to her, they send me away. On a few occasions, I’ve been sent away in a cop car after losing my temper. I struggle to control myself when it comes to my sister being in danger.

  If Jewel killed him, maybe she found her way to Michael and he helped her bury the body before they took off to skirt the cops’ questioning, bouncing around different cities and states all over the US. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe they’re together.

  I was worried at first that Michael had shown up to rescue Jewel from the torture she must have endured with Alec and that Alec had killed them both, but I felt in my guts that Jewel was alive. So I’ve been looking for her and Michael. It makes sense that she’d do a good job of covering her tracks if she’s on the run from Alec, especially with all the money he has, but I wish she would slip up just enough to let me find her.

  Somewhere on this planet, my sister is alive and my brother is probably with her. Hopefully they’ve escaped Alec or killed him. I’m going to find Jewel and Michael. I
have to keep it a secret though, because our parents are jerks. They say Jewel and Michael are selfish for leaving us, that they don’t have any loyalty and don’t respect family.

  It was easy to hide when I took a bus across town to Alec’s mansion trying to get inside and find Jewel. It wasn’t even that hard to lie about getting stuck at work for a double shift the times when I got picked up by the police. It’s harder to keep secret the amount of time I spend behind my computer talking to people from all over the world who have access to information I don’t, trying to find out where my siblings have run off to.

  My phone dings in my pocket and I yank it out, hoping it’s a message from one of the people I’ve been trying to contact in South America to find out if Jewel is there. Instead, it’s a notification for a received email.

  Incorrect address. Package for JEWEL YOUNG rerouted to updated address. New address: 754 Hope Street, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Please update your records to reflect the new address.

  My head snaps back up and I look around the room to make sure no one saw my face as I read that email. I have Jewel’s address. Or at least some location that she’s registered as a place for her mail to be delivered. I pull up Google maps and type in the address. I immediately switch to Satellite images, but all I can see are trees and desert. There’s a gravel path that looks like a driveway, but I don’t even see a house.

  Crap, Google hasn’t updated these images since 2012. There could be a McDonalds there now and I wouldn’t know it. There’s no Street-View option, and I let out a sigh. I have to go. I have to go to New Mexico and find Jewel. How am I going to get to New Mexico without telling anyone?

  Chapter One

  Clara

  The customers at this table are the sweetest I’ve ever served. The elderly women sitting here keep bringing a smile to my face, complimenting me and thanking me profusely for everything I do. You’d think I was bringing them gold instead of glasses of ice water with lemon. They’ve been here for almost an hour past finishing their food, just chatting away.

  Jewel grins at me as she walks past, nudging me with her arm so I follow her to the employee break room. “How was it last night?” she whispers. “Did he like it?” She’s asking if James, my boyfriend, liked the way I presented myself to him last night.

  I don’t know if there’s a man on the planet that wouldn’t enjoy coming to their girlfriend’s house to find her half naked on the kitchen counter, waiting for him. James absolutely loved it, especially since the only thing I was wearing was one of his giant shirts that swallows me up. He looked like he wanted to devour me, and he did.

  He laid me down on the counter, rucked my shirt up, put my legs over his shoulders and buried his head between my legs. My back tenses at the memory and I smirk at Jewel. “He did love it. You should try it sometime.”

  She shakes her head. “I’m lucky if I get all the way in the door before he’s on me. I don’t have time to strike a sexy pose.” It’s good to see Jewel smile after everything she’s been through. A few months ago, we were both losing our shit.

  Ivy’s sharp gasp jolts through me and I turn to see what’s happening. My gasp is louder to my ears but otherwise almost identical to Ivy’s.

  “Give me the money!” he screams at Ivy, but she’s just the hostess. She doesn’t handle any money.

  Ivy sobs and I take a step back. I have to get to Pres. Pres will kick the shit out of this guy and make everything better. The gun swings towards me and I stop in my tracks.

  “Bring me the money!”

  “I don’t… We…” My voice is too quiet for him to hear from so far away, but I know that if he pulled the trigger, the bullet could travel the distance between us. I stuff my hands down into the pockets of my apron and pull out the little wads of cash and change I shoved in there from tips on the table.

  “That’s all you have?” he shouts. “It’s not enough. More, more!”

  “We don’t… Everybody pays with credit cards. There’s no cash!”

  “Clara!” Pres barks, stepping in front of me. He puts his body between me and the man with the gun, and I make fists in his shirt, hiding behind him. “There’s no money for you here,” he says. His voice is hard and unwavering. Pres doesn’t seem scared at all.

  Every second that passes feels like a year as my heart beats triple time, poking my head out to look around Pres at the son-of-a-bitch with the gun. I’m terrified, trembling. Poor Ivy is too, with tears pouring down her face and her hands up in surrender, the gun still pointed directly at her.

  “Let her go,” Pres orders. “That girl doesn’t have anything for you.”

  “Fuck you!”

  Ivy winces back and whimpers. She’s about to panic and make things worse. I move to step around Pres, to try and calm her down, but Pres’s arm swings out and pushes me back.

  “If you hurt my girls, I will hunt you to the end of the earth and I will kill you slowly, painfully, without mercy. Put the gun down.” The only place in the world where Pres doesn’t carry his gun is inside BIBO, but I have a feeling that’s going to change after today. If we survive this. I’m sure Pres will be fine, but Ivy, maybe not so much.

  Oh shit, the customers! I’ve completely forgotten everyone else in the restaurant but those of us in this corridor. They’re so quiet. Maybe they can’t see us, or they’re smart and getting away from the danger. I hope they’re safe and that the rest of us will be okay too.

  The front door bangs open and I squeal, tucking myself tighter against Pres’s back as I look up to see who’s coming in. I let out a breath of relief when I see Mac and the new prospect grab the would-be robber, knocking the gun out of his hands and throwing him to the ground.

  Hands touch my shoulders and I scream for a second, before Priest gets me turned around and I recognize that he’s just trying to comfort me, to help me. He grips my cheeks and turns my head side to side, checking me over. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

  I shake my head. “I’m okay. I’m not hurt.” The fear left me cold, but James’s hands are warming me. The concern on his face is threading through me and I put my arms around his waist, holding him against me as I cry into his chest.

  “Oh, baby, it’s okay.”

  We’d only hooked up a few times then, and it was the first time he’d ever called me baby. I was too shaken to ride on the bike or drive myself home, so he put me with Mac and Prospect since they were the only other ones with a car. Knuckles called and told them not to let me into the clubhouse where Maya was so I wouldn’t set her off. Maya is very sensitive about guns since Knuckles was shot, but she gets better about it every day.

  We were just pulling into the clubhouse when Zed called asking for something fun to do. Knuckles came running out with a bag to give to Jewel and the world continued spinning around me despite everything I’d just witnessed, despite all the feelings still warring inside me.

  Mac and Prospect talked the entire drive as if nothing had changed, but I felt changed. Jewel gave me a shoulder to cry on, listened to me mumble and whine and hugged me the entire time, until everything went sideways and the mutilated body of the man who’d just held a gun on us in BIBO sent Jewel into a spiral and Zed made us all leave.

  But James was waiting on me at the clubhouse when we got back. He opened his arms for me, carried me home to my trailer beside the clubhouse, and stayed with me for a week, until I was able to make it through a day without breaking down in tears.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Pres is coming towards us so I get Jewel’s attention with my elbow and nod towards him. “Hello, boss,” I say, grinning widely. “How can we help you?”

  Pres purses his lips. “Just checking in. Do you need anything?”

  “No,” Jewel says. “I’m almost done and I’ll be out of here.”

  I shake my head. “I’m good. I’m going to stay over a little longer if you don’t mind. I want to get a few more tips for this weekend.”

  Pres nods. “You know I don’t care
.” Then he turns to Jewel and tells her, “Be careful driving home.”

  Jewel takes her tips, grabs her stuff, and heads out with a wave to us.

  “I’m leaving too,” Pres says.

  “Okay. Drive safe.” I go back to check on my table of women and they’ve already left, leaving me with a nice tip. After checking in with all my other customers, running back and forth for drink refills and extra sauces, I head back to the break from and hear my phone ringing.

  “What’s up, Pres?” I ask when I pick up. He just left less than half an hour ago. “What did you forget?”

  “I didn’t forget anything. I need you to go ahead and finish for the day, sweetheart. If you have tables, give them to someone else. Something’s going on and I’m going to need you here.”

  Worry creases my brow. “What’s happening?”

  “I’m not sure. I might need you to go check on Jewel but for now just head in the direction of the clubhouse. I’ll let you know if you need to stop at Zed’s.”

  Chapter Two

  Sapphire

  Stepping up to the place where my sister's mail is being delivered, it all seems like an elaborate prank. When we were kids, she hated summertime and warmth. On all our vacations to the beach, she complained about the heat and humidity. She didn't like what it did to her hair and her skin. So finding out she's in New Mexico was quite surprising. Why the hell is Jewel in New Mexico?

  When she took off with that rich guy, my parents spent a lot of time looking for her and trying to get in touch with her. She was only seventeen and he was in his late thirties! Then one day, they stopped looking for her or talking about her at all. They stopped calling the cops for help, and told me to let her go because she had chosen a man with money over us.