Ace (Syns of Desert Angels MC Book 1) Read online

  ACE

  Syns

  of

  Desert Angels MC

  For the hubs.

  Thanks for loving me through the darkest period of my life. My soul wouldn’t be this happy without you.

  Just thought you should know – I want more babies.

  “There’s an old saying, “That what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” I don’t believe that. I think the things that try to kill you make you angry and sad. Strength comes from the good things - your family, your friends, the satisfaction of hard work. Those are the things that will keep you whole. Those are the things to hold onto when you’re broken.”

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Sneak Peek

  Acknowledgement

  About the Author

  Ace

  Syns of Desert Angels MC

  Copyright @ 2018 L.M. Reign

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and other elements portrayed herein are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons or events is coincidental.

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

  Cover, interior design, and formatting ©

  Saucebox Publishing

  Playlist

  “Castle” - Halsey

  “Hail to the King” - Avenged Sevenfold

  “Do Re Mi” - Blackbear

  “Ride” - SoMo

  “Beautiful” - Bazzi

  “Me, Myself & I” - Bebe Rhexa & G-Eazy

  “Wrong Turns” - Old Dominion

  “Now or Never” - Halsey

  “Bad at Love” - Halsey

  “Stay With Me” - Sam Smith

  “Grand Piano” - Nicki Minaj

  “Climax” - Usher

  “Him & I” - G-Eazy ft. Halsey

  “Just a Man” - SoMo

  “Look After You” - The Fray

  “Iris” - Goo Goo Dolls

  “Better Days” - Goo Goo Dolls

  “Hear You Me” - Jimmy Eat World

  “Hurricane” - Halsey

  “I Never Dreamed” - Black Label Society

  “In This River” - Black Label Society

  “Name of Love” - Bebe Rhexa ft. Martin Garrix

  *Check out the Ace playlist on Spotify!*

  Prologue

  Cole

  Mila Rogers was mine. At least she used to be. Now she’s just a plague that’s been looming over my meager existence since the day she left.

  I’m from the rough side and she was from the best. Her friendship was that little piece of heaven in the dark hell that was my life.

  It was always easy between us. She was always the one that I could lean on when dad decided to dole out his punishment with his fists. Not by choice, though. Mila found me hiding out in her parent’s basement after I snuck in to get away from a beating.

  She didn’t judge or start giving me unwanted advice. She just laid in bed with me, holding my hand, and cleaning my wounds while changing my cold packs for the rest of the night.

  “Still handsome as ever, Cole,” she told me after a particularly bad bout with my dad.

  My body was so broken that it was excruciating to move, and my face was almost unrecognizable. But she stayed. She stayed and cared for me. Covering for me at school and killing any rumors that would’ve led to a call to protective services.

  The last thing I needed was to end up in the system.

  She never told Milo either. And she told Milo everything.

  That was the night I realized Mila was pure goodness. She didn’t deserve to be tainted by the biker trash that swims in my veins. My birthright was the MC my dad started, the one that he never let me escape.

  Mila was never supposed to be my girl, but that didn’t stop me. She quickly became the one lightest part in the darkness that threatened to consume me. And because I was best friends with her twin brother, Milo, I was around her almost all the time.

  Win-win.

  “Your knuckles are busted up,” she said, putting a cold pack on my hand.

  “Should see the other guy,” I croak as she threads her fingers through mine. Milo barges in, looking for a cold pack of his own.

  “You two should just date already,” he mutters, grabbing the frozen peas. Mila just smiles, shaking her head.

  “Maybe,” she whispered so low, I could barely hear. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

  “Baby, this is going to hurt,” she tells me, giving me a kiss before resetting my nose.

  Mila taught herself how to reset bones to help Milo and I after another one of our fights left us some kind of way. Sometimes, I would get hurt just to have her hands on me.

  “Cole Davenport, I’m not getting on the back of that bike! I value my li-,” she squealed as I tossed her over my shoulder, spanking her ass. Sauntering over to my newest purchase, the one I saved all summer for, had me feeling like a new man.

  Sitting her down on the saddle, I was captivated with just one look. And I’ll be damned if I didn’t get lost in those ashy blues. Brushing a few strands of her dark hair out of her face, I stroke her cheek.

  “Well, are you going to kiss me or not?” She gives me the softest smile, pulling me to her. Our lips connected so slowly that I could’ve died a happy man with nothing else but the memory of her lips on mine. I came to life every time I kissed her.

  That night, we rode up Rocky Point, and she gave me something I’ll always cherish. She was my first and I was hers. We cuddled her under the stars that night, staring at what felt like the entire galaxy at our fingertips.

  I found the most peace staring at the night sky for hours all while thanking God that I’m hers. She was my one in a hundred billion, the shining star in my galaxy. Without her, I would just be lost in the sky. I’d be all alone. I let myself believe that God made her just for me. To be my light in the darkness, saving me from myself over and over again.

  I drove everywhere that night until I ran out of gas. I would’ve driven to the ends of the earth if it meant she’d never let me go. I truly believed the best version of me was when I had my arms around her.

  Loving her was easy, and I loved her with everything I had. There wasn’t a single high school memory that she wasn’t part of. I would’ve done anything for her and her brother.

  She endured her own torment at school, never giving anyone the satisfaction of tearing her down. And they tried to. Mila and her brother were the children of the revered Jorge Rogers. A prominent figure of the Irish Syndicate.

  Despite her fairly Hispanic name and complexion - those she got from her dad - Irish blood ran through her veins. The story was that Rose Gavigan married Jorge Rogers against the wishes of her father and Syndicate leader, Reynard Gavigan. Gavigan eventually accepted Rogers into the fold and allowed him
to become a member. How the Irish ended up in our small town of Gilbert is still a mystery to me.

  Mila used to stand there and take their insults, never bending or breaking, while Milo and I were always busy defending her. Kicking asses and taking names of the ones who even dared to attack her.

  Fighting back wasn’t what Mila wanted to do, even though she could’ve. She wanted to be better than what they all had presumed her to be; a murderer.

  “One day, she’s going to snap. When that happens, I hope she goes after you first,” I spit in Logan’s face, slamming him against the wall.

  My girl wasn’t popular by any means, but she stood out. It’s kind of hard not to notice the dark-haired beauty with sparkling blue eyes in the hallway. It was her friendliness that made her a target, but her grace made her a saint.

  Logan treated her the worst. She was his punching bag for the next three years, and he was ours.

  That fucker never did learn.

  The years went by and Mila became impervious to the torment. Unflinching and always chastising us for fighting with others.

  “Leave them alone,” she said. “They’ll get theirs eventually.”

  Our senior year came, and we did every single thing together up until we graduated; Milo and I just barely. My girl was awarded full honors and had a section cheering for her as she walked across the stage. Me being the loudest.

  While they had plans to leave for college at the end of summer, I didn’t. They encouraged me to go with them, to talk to their dad because he would be more than happy to help with the cost.

  They bugged me about it so much that the idea had been planted and grew in my head. But in my house, ideas like that were dangerous. Ideas like that could get you killed.

  I decided to browse a few brochures just to see what the fuss was about. Taking it another step further and actually applying to the local college just to see if I had the chops.

  It wasn’t until dad found one of the brochures under my bed that he beat some sense into me. Never letting me forget that I was born DAMC. Only meant to find a pretty girl, love her, and then say goodbye. That meant a different life with Mila would never be possible.

  Her family wouldn’t accept me, and he made it clear he would never accept a member of the Syndicate. Even if she wasn’t one of them, she belonged to them.

  Not to me.

  Not to the club.

  DAMC was my home, my inheritance, and Mila wasn’t cut out for the club life. I couldn’t ask her to stay, not when she was bigger than this bullshit town. Dad told me I’d be the one to ruin her and I believed him. I saw what this life did to Ma.

  I couldn’t do that to Mila.

  I wouldn’t.

  From that day, I vowed to never call him “Dad” again. He wasn’t worthy of the title. It was because of Bodi that I started to distance myself from them early that summer, throwing myself into the club.

  I began prospecting, making him proud. Ma cried and begged me to get out of this life. Ignoring her pleas, I decided to embrace it - drowning myself in booze and pussy because I wasn’t destined for anything more.

  They called and texted constantly, but every single one went unanswered. I let my phone die just so I didn’t have to bother receiving the notification. Mila would never step foot near the clubhouse because of her father, and I was always driven to them because of mine.

  The actual moment that severed the cord holding the three of us together came when I got my acceptance letter in the mail. I felt a sliver of excitement and a longing to tell them. I even started charging my phone just so I could call her.

  Then I got angry. Angry that they let me get my hopes up. Let me think and act like a goddamn fool. I tore the letter up, burning it in my ashtray.

  My phone pinged, letting me know it was alive before all those missed text messages and voicemails flooded in. Because I was a glutton for punishment, I listened. Each one became less worried and more resentful. Eventually, they stopped coming altogether.

  The last text I got from Mila was from the day before.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I was on the road, driving to the Rogers’ house for the last time. Parking down the street, I pulled out my phone, re-reading her text.

  “I’m sorry. Goodbye, Cole.”

  Her bedroom light was off, and her text was just another painful reminder that I’d finally accomplished what I set out to do.

  I pushed them away.

  I lost them.

  I lost her.

  The Rogers were the best damn thing about my life. Milo was the friend I didn’t deserve from the day Logan and his buddies tried to jump me for my weed, and Mila... she was the best damn thing that was ever mine

  Chapter 1

  5 Years Later

  Mila

  “We don’t have to go if this is too much for you, Mi. We can stay here for the inauguration and piss off dad. Win-win. No big deal.” Milo smirks, closing the door to our shared condo, and following me into the kitchen while I put our groceries away.

  “I mean it, Mila. We can just not go. It’s just one night,” he sits at the breakfast bar, repeating the same spiel he’s been spewing since we left the store.

  Ramming a box of granola bars into the cabinet, I slam it roughly, turning to face my twin.

  “Stop trying to make it sound like you’re doing me a favor. We need to go. It’s Brooke’s inauguration. Dad’s been planning this for months. It’s not ‘just one night’. We are family - we have to go. He could’ve ordered us to be there. Be thankful he didn’t.”

  Milo’s expression hardens. His smile disappears. Dad wore many hats and always intermingled the ‘dad’ hat with the ‘Ordú’ hat. Command.

  I shake my head at him, not fully committed to the idea of going or staying at this point. “What if we have an escape plan? Code names, words, sounds even. Whatever. You name it. We’ll have it as a backup.”

  The thought of planning an escape to leave Brooke’s inauguration is enough to make anyone not want to go. But I won’t go without my brother, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get him there.

  Milo knows better than to question dad’s actions. We accept Brooke, but she’s not mom. This will be her formal introduction to the Syndicate as dad’s partner. Dad never took a partner in the years following mom’s death. So, imagine our surprise when he told us he was choosing Brooke. Especially when we didn’t even know he was dating.

  Milo took it the hardest. Saw it as betrayal to mom and the family. He fought dad on choosing Brooke as his partner every step of the way. It’s necessary if she’s going to be a part of dad’s life. I think the fact that dad is taking a new partner coupled with having the inauguration in the home he shared with our mother pushed all of his buttons. Literally lit up every single one.

  Every member of the Syndicate has to have an inauguration. Milo and I had ours after we graduated high school. I pushed mine off for as long as I could. I wanted to wait for him, much to my father’s chagrin.

  Finally, I couldn’t put it off any longer and accepted the fate of my future. Everyone thought we were going to college, but we went straight into the Syndicate to complete our Meitheal. No one could know where we were going.

  Staring him down, I feel waves of anger assail me. There’s no way I’m attending this by myself. I knew the only way to break him would be to invoke our bond.

  “Mo Chuisle,” I whisper, dropping my eyes in front of me. I smirk behind the curtain of my hair, anxiously waiting for his reaction.

  Several minutes pass before I chance a peek at him. He crossed his heavily tattooed arms over his chest. His mouth hidden by the hand that bears our oath, stroking his beard. He showed no expression other than the stormy battle raging within his ash blue eyes.

  It was always eerie watching Milo, a burly man with my eyes, even if we were identical. Running his fingers through his dark tresses, he blew out a deep breath.

  “Goddamnit, I hate when you do that,” he smacks the counter. “Mo Chui
sle,” he repeats. I hold my hand out, clasping his left. Leaning forward, I kiss the intricate rose attached to a rosary that laces up his wrist. The one mirroring mine. Ducking his dark head, he repeats the action.

  We honor Mo Chuisle, no matter what.

  My pulse.

  Dropping my brother’s hand, I start gathering ingredients for dinner. “Don’t be surprised when I start cawing like a motherfucker in the middle of the inauguration,” Milo yells, walking back to his room. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. Knowing he’d never risk the wrath of Reynard. Or our father.

  Deep down, Milo loves him.

  I know it.

  _____________________

  Dad is expecting our arrival, and Milo is hell-bent on making us as late as possible for inauguration weekend. Oversleeping, not packing, and pulling into every damn bar along the way has delayed our arrival well into the evening.

  I don’t even know the name of the bar we are currently sitting in, but I doubt it even matters since Milo only came here to do one thing and one thing only.

  Get trashed.

  He was two beers in, when some blonde stole his attention. And now he’s God knows where.

  “Another?” The bartender asks, holding up the top shelf bottle of Macallan that I’ve been nursing for the better part of an hour. I nod, shoving my glass towards him.

  The bar is packed with people of all ages, drinking and dancing to shitty music chosen by the jukebox in the corner.

  Ready to leave, I slam my drink back. Reveling in the punishing burn that comes with chugging scotch. The song switches over to a twangy tune as I scan the room for Milo.

  “From the guy at the end of the bar,” the bartender cuts into my view, placing a shot in front of me. I pick it up and hold it up to the buyer, meeting his eyes across the dim room. He lifts his beer in acknowledgement and I slam the tequila back. Sending him a quick smile, I continue searching for Milo.