DEKE (An Alpha Male Motorcycle Club Romance)Book 1

Jenna

Jenna is sitting in her parents living room watching her dad's lips moving but not hearing a single word he's saying. Her mom comes into the room with a tray of coffee mugs, each labeled with one of their names. Jenna smiles despite the pain in her chest, her mom hanging onto their small family of three in any way she can. Jenna could go to another planet and her mom would still keep that mug with the bright pink "Jenna" in the cupboard, smacking at any hands that attempt to use it.

"Jenbie you seem a mile away."

She loves both her parents fiercely, but she and her dad think so similarly she sometimes wonders whether while her mom sustained her physically through an umbilical cord, her dad sustained her psychologically through a psychic link when she was in her mom's womb.

"Dad, I did something you might not approve of."

Her parents look at her expectantly, her mom visibly concerned, her father faking calmness.

"I appointed myself Les Kramer's attorney. I spoke Laura a minute ago and she's really grateful that I'm helping."

Neither of them speaks for a minute. Then her dad clears his throat and looks at her carefully.

"Les Kramer is being held by the bikies. You won't have a chance to represent him honey. Just let the police handle this, you aren't familiar enough with this town to take this on."

He is anxious, very anxious. Her mother is twisting a button on her shirt so hard, Jenna is sure it'll pop.

"I don't need to know the town to do my job Dad, I know you are concerned because this has to do with the MC, but Laura has already hired me and I'm not going to let her down."

Just mentioning the word MC makes her stomach twist. Deke. She's got to stop thinking of him, but she can't get his words out of her mind. She meant nothing to him. All these years waiting to see him, hoping that when they met she could explain why she left him without even a goodbye. Meanwhile in his world she was nothing but some girl who gave herself to him with the ease of a common prostitute. Jenna's hands suddenly shake and she spills hot coffee on herself. Her mom rushes over, tea towel dabbing furiously at the steady brown stain forming over her cream skirt.

"Oh Jenbie, don't get involved with those people please, they are dangerous criminals and they answer to no law but their own."

"Mom, you and Dad didn't spend half your life savings on an expensive college education to have me sitting pretty, idling away my hours sipping cappuccinos while my degree gathers dust in a cupboard. Isn't this what you've wanted? For me to make a difference? To show the world who I am? Why would you stop me, it makes no sense! Mom stop, it's too late the skirt's already stained."

She doesn't mean to sound so sharp. Her mom freezes mid-dab.

"You were never supposed to come back to this godforsaken place, all these years I made sure you stayed away and in the process gave yourself a chance for a good future. Then you expressly disobey me and come back to this insanity!"

Jenna looks at her mom in shock.Her mom is shaking hard, her face contorted with rage, her tears creating tracks on her perfectly made up face.

"Please baby, just go back to New York, there's nothing for you here. That bunch of criminals will hurt Les and probably the rest of his poor family, and then they'll turn their attention to anyone else who interferes. Is that you want, to endanger our lives too?"

"Clara enough."

"No don't you dare. You...especially you... have no right! She needs to understand she can't go anywhere near that crazy club and that crazy man. They may have taken my dignity, they tried to take my sanity but they will never have my daughter James, do you hear me. Never!"

Jenna looks from her mom,who is now sobbing into the dirty tea towel, to her dad whose face has lost all colour. Her mom rushes out of the room still sobbing, leaving Jenna bewildered. This is not her family, she is in some twilight zone with alien parents.

"Daddy. What's Mom talking about? What's all this about MC?"

It can't be Deke, her parents have no interaction with him as far as she knows. They know nothing about what she and Deke did. But they know something. There was a time when she thought her mom cared about Deke, when Deke's crazy mom left him and Ella outside their doorstep with a note begging them to feed the children and keep them for the night. That was the first time she'd met the quiet frightened ten year old boy who refused to make eye contact with anyone and the sullen eight year old girl with the dirty stuffed bunny. Her mom found spare clothes for them, ran baths, made sure they ate, made beds for them. Deke's cokehead mother didn't turn up for weeks, and her own mom sat with Deke and Ella, reading to them until they fell asleep. And after that, even after Deke's mom returned, he and Ella became regulars in their home.She was sure her mom had loved them, but one day something changed and she wasn't sure anymore. And soon after, her mom had bundled her off to live with her aunt and uncle in New York.

Jenna's dad's face sags, he removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. Then he looks at Jenna, and for the first time, she has no idea how he's feeling. There is a strange distance between them, she observes her dad carefully, this man she has known and trusted her whole life.

Her beloved dad who is now keeping some sort of secret from her.

"Jenbie, your mom's just really worried you know. We knew Deke once remember? He didn't take it well when he found out you'd left. He came to the house looking for you and when your mom refused to tell him where you'd gone, he broke a couple of windows and messed up the house. We eventually had to call Officer Michaels. It really scared your mom and ever since, she's wanted to make sure you stay far away from him. That's what this comes down to."

Jenna's heart is racing. All these years they kept this from her. She is so confused, it feels like she's wading through molasses, none of this makes sense.

"Deke doesn't give a shit about me Dad. I am just some kid he once knew, and he can't even remember me very well. The bottom line is that I'm not running back to NYC because you and Mom are paranoid, or because some outlaws try to intimidate me. That's not who you raised me to be right? This is my baptism of fire and you and Mom of all people should back me, fully, completely. Unconditionally."

"They won't let you near..."

"They will. Deke has already agreed. I will represent Les Kramer in the trial that they hold at the MC. I realise its not under the law I know, but I am completely confident that if Les Kramer is innocent, I will make sure the MC frees him. There's a lot I need to do, a lot I need to learn about this case, I need your help Daddy. I need to use your old buddies at the newspaper to help me investigate. Can you put in a word?"

He hesitates, he appears to be debating with himself whether to stick to his guns or throw in the towel. When he lets out a long sigh, Jenna throws herself at him and wraps her arms around him in a tight bear hug.

"I will be ok Daddy, I'm streetsmart and I have friends in high places. When this is done, I'm going back  to New York and you and Momma won't have to worry about me hanging around here indefinitely ok? Let me show you what I can do, let me make you proud."

"Honey, Mom and I are beyond proud of you already."

A movement catches her eye and she glances across towards the doorway, where her mom is standing. Her mom's eyes are still bloodshot,but that's not what concerns Jenna. Its the way she's staring at her Jenna's dad.

With a look of pure unadulterated hatred.