Royally Chosen Christmas (Royal Sons MC #7) - Elle Boon Page 0,34

lost it.

She looked down at her watch and froze. Her bracelet, the one Scott had given her a couple years ago was gone. “Oh no,” she cried, spinning around and nearly colliding with a man. “Excuse me.” She hurried back the way she came, looking at the ground as she did. The entire time, she tried to remember the last time she’d seen it. “Tai’s house. Oh, god, please let it be at her house.”

Her phone had the clubhouse number and Hollywood’s number, but she also had Tai’s number now thanks to her trip today. She hit the number she’d programmed earlier, walking back to her car parked on the line while the phone rang.

“Hey, Talena. I was going to send you a thing to say thanks for all the amazing things you gave me. Um, do you want it all back?” Tai asked.

“Oh lord no, never. I...I lost my bracelet, and I was wondering—”

“Yes, I found it. Didn’t your brother tell you? Cosmo took it right out to your brother. I promise, I would never keep something so precious, Talena.”

She felt tears well in her eyes knowing something so sacred was safe. “Oh, honey, I know you’d never keep anything that wasn’t given to you. Thank you so much for easing my fears. I thought I’d lost it, and it was gone forever.” She took a shuddering breath, letting it out in a big exhale.

“Good. I’m sure Cosmo gave it to your brother. If there’s ever anything you need from me, don’t hesitate to ask.”

She promised Tai she would, then hung up, feeling marginally better. Of course, she now needed to get ahold of Hollywood and ask him for her bracelet back. She’d do that after she raced and kicked Louis’s ass. The need to release some of the adrenaline pumping through her veins was like the need to breathe.

Ten feet from her car, she almost turned back around and said fuck it when she saw the man in question and his bitch staring at her. It wasn’t like she couldn’t afford to leave the Mazda on the line and forfeit her entry fee. However, being a coward wasn’t in her blood. Not that she actually knew whose blood ran through her veins, but she had come to terms with the fact she was making her own destiny regardless of who or what she came from. And Talena Haven wasn’t a damn quitter just because Louis, his girlfriend, and his boys were bulled up around their cars like a bunch of strutting peacocks. They did it every damn time as if she’d get scared enough to quit or stall at the line. “Not today, fuckers,” she whispered.

“What was that, Taloora?” Rosalie asked, purposefully saying her name wrong.

“Why, Rosa, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you down there,” Talena mocked, knowing the other woman tried her damndest to appear taller with her four-inch heels and still fell shorter than Talena’s own five seven. Hell, if Rosalie was five-foot-tall in her bare feet, she’d be surprised.

The other woman stomped back over to Louis, yelling in Spanish curse words Talena couldn’t make out.

She probably shouldn’t have stooped to Rosalie’s level, but it felt fucking good to piss the woman off . It was also a bonus that when Rosalie went to where Louis stood, she’d hopped into his arms, and the two began to make out, which took attention off of Talena’s return. All of the pricks took a lot of enjoyment out of watching their boss make out with his woman, it appeared.

Talena slid into her car almost unnoticed. A couple of other drivers gave her a nod as she walked up, respecting her as a driver not just a hot chick they wanted to fuck. Everyone was aware of Louis and his gang and their antics. Louis usually won the races, if Talena wasn’t there, but he was a sore loser and a jackoff of a winner. She and he had been neck-and-neck, the last couple months, almost every other week she won. Before that, she’d won quite a few races, lost several as well. She still wasn’t sure why he’d shown up and decided to become part of the scene, other than Rosalie and her girls. The woman owned a clothing business that catered to the lifestyle of the racing crowd. Her girls wore the garb, making sure the men appreciated it and wanted their own women wearing it. What she really thought they wanted was to fuck the women