Strapping his girls into their car seats on the back seat of his double cab bakkie he grinned as they babbled excitedly about their day.
“Daddy, us girls are going to bake cake with Grammy Suzy, and Auntie Gail is going to watch ‘cause she’s got two babies in her tummy and it’s beeeg. She can’t bend no more ‘cause her belly is so big.” Jossy informed him in a high pitched excited little voice. “
Beast grinned at her excitement. “You girls be good for Grammy Suzy, okay?”
“Yes, Daddy.” Jossy chirped as she wiggled her little butt in her seat to get comfortable.
His littlest baby just nodded her curly head, her thumb stuck in her mouth. Beast gently removed it from her mouth and kissed her little curly head.
“We don’t eat our fingers, baby.” She gave a tiny sweet little smile but didn’t say a word.
She hardly ever spoke and when she did he had to listen really carefully because she spoke so softly. His baby who had started talking at eight months and rattled on almost continuously now hardly ever spoke. One more thing their whore of a mother was going to pay for. She had done this to his baby girl.
Fuck. He should never have let them out of his sight. This was as much his fault as it was hers.
Clamping down on the rage he kissed his girls, checked that they were securely strapped in, closed the door then slid in behind the wheel. The drive to Bulldog’s place wasn’t long and before long he had the girls out of the bakkie and carried them into the house.
A house that was filled to the fucking rafters with females. How Bulldog handled it he didn’t know. And now he was adding his two to the flock of twittering birdies in the kitchen.
Their Chaplain sat at the kitchen table with a little girl balanced on each of his big thighs, a huge fucking smile on his face.
“Good morning my little sweetie pies, come say good morning to Grampa.” He called to the girls and both his babies wriggled their little butts to get down. Scampering over to Bulldog he lifted them up to join his granddaughters. The little girls all giggling as he ruffled their hair and kissed the tops of their heads.
From the moment he had brought his babies to live with him at the club everyone had stepped up to help. Especially Aunt Beryl, Aunt Suzy and Bulldog. They had immediately become the grandparents his babies had never had. His parents were seriously fucked up and he had cut ties a very long time ago. The whore’s parents weren’t in the picture at all. They had never met their granddaughters and the way things were going they never would. His girls were better off with their club family.
Beast met Bulldog’s eyes and lifted his chin in greeting and appreciation. Soft arms folded around his waist and he looked down at Aunt Suzy as she hugged him.
“We’ve got them. You go do what you have to do to keep them safe.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “And when the time comes to bury that slut I want a piece of the action.”
Beast shook his head with a laugh. “We’ll see.”
She snorted as she let go of him and went back to what she had been doing, packing muffins in a small Tupperware. The Tupperware ended up in his hand as he walked out of the house. It didn’t stay closed. By the time he drove through the gates onto their private road two of them had already made their way down his gullet.
It felt good to be taken care of by a good woman. Something he had never had. He had once almost had it, but he had driven her away for her own good.
Fuck. Why was she on his mind so much these days? She was most probably married and he hoped to hell she was happy. Not that he could do anything about it if she wasn’t. It was none of his fucking business.
Pushing his memories roughly into the far dark reaches of his brain he focused on what was important. Keeping his little girls safe.
Nothing else was as important as they were. Nothing.
Hours later Beast tiredly rubbed his hands over his face. They had been going over the case for hours already. Saskia Gordon, his new lawyer, was a beautiful woman who hid a ravenous shark inside. She was determined and focused on helping him win his case. With the overwhelming evidence against Bettie Malan she was confident of a victory.
But Beast still worried. He knew the way Bettie and the people she surrounded herself with operated. They couldn’t give a shit about the law. They mistakenly thought they were above the law. Beast operated outside the law as well, but not this time. This time he would be using the law to get what he wanted. And Saskia had assured him that they had everything they needed to get the custody of his children awarded to him.
He had learned a long time ago never to count his chickens before they hatched. He would not relax until he had the signed papers in his hands. The buzzing of his phone drew him out of his thoughts and as he read the text he felt like throwing the damned thing at the wall.
She refused to sign. Has some slimy fucking lawyer. She wants the car, the townhouse, more money and full custody.
Instead he slid his phone across the conference table to Saskia. She read the text with a frown and then she smiled. She slowly slid the phone back across the table but didn’t let go when he reached for it.
“This is good news. We want her turning up at court, Beast. We want her on the stand. There’s no way she’ll be able to keep up the poor little ex-wife façade once the questioning starts. Mr Brandt is the best there is. Like I told you, he has an impeccable record of wins for his clients. He never takes a case he doesn’t believe in and he believes in yours.”
Clasping her hand over his she squeezed then patted his hand reassuringly. Beast froze, then abruptly withdrew his hand from her touch. Her eyes narrowed but she continued as if nothing had happened.
“If this lawyer of hers is any good he’s going to try and clean her up, present her as a loving parent. That is why we have a private investigator on her all the time. The photographs he’s been taking will be totally damning. She has not been very discreet.”
Beast blew out a heavy breath. “All I want is for this shit to be over. I want my girls safe, and while this shit drags on they are not safe. That bitch doesn’t give one shit about those kids. For her it’s all about the money. She’s used to a certain lifestyle that I have been paying for and now that I’m no longer paying she’s finding it hard to survive. The asshole she’s hooked up with has no money, he’s been living off the money I paid the bitch to take care of my children.” Gesturing at the papers scattered all over the conference table Beast continued. “That’s why I need this to go the way you say it’s going to go. I can’t let her or that asshole put their hands on my babies ever again.”
“Beast, I promise...”
But he interrupted her. “My babies have nightmares, Saskia. Fucking nightmares. What would scare them so badly that it haunts them in their dreams? I fucked up by agreeing to share custody of our girls. I should have taken them from her then. I’m not going to fuck up again. I won’t give my girls up, not ever. I refuse to consider anything but her signing away her parental rights. That’s the only thing that would satisfy me.”
Saskia nodded and then hit him with a hard truth.
“We’re going to need a psychiatric evaluation of the girls, Beast. Will you be okay with that? I promise it won’t be invasive or frightening. The girls will think they are playing and while they play the psychologist will be interviewing them and watching the way they interact.”
Jesus. Fuck. Fuck.
“Is it really necessary? My girls aren’t in a good place right now.”
“That is why we need them evaluated by a child psychologist. It will help prove that she’s a bad parent and that her behaviour endangered the girls. We don’t know exactly what happened to your girls but maybe with the help of the psychologist we’ll find out and you’ll be able to help them recover.”
She sounded so very fucking reasonable. Then why did it make him feel as if he was betraying them?
“I fucking hate this. I hate feeling fucking helpless.”
Saskia looked determined an
d self-assured. “We’re almost at the end of this fight, Beast. I know it’s been weeks but you need to have patience. We just need to ensure that we have every single bit of evidence against her that we can lay our hands on. Your girls will be safe. We’ve used this psychologist before, she’s very good and kids love her. Your girls won’t feel intimidated or threatened. They will be on a play date, it will be that easy.”
Sitting back in his chair Beast sighed. “Fine, let’s set it up and get it done. The sooner my babies can settle down the better.”
“Are you still living in the clubhouse?” She suddenly asked.
Beast frowned. “No. I share a house with one of my brothers and his woman and baby girl. We live on club property but not in the clubhouse. That is not a place for little girls.”
“I understand that there are other families living on the property. Do your girls have friends there or are they the only little ones?”
Why did she want to know this? He wasn’t sure how it could be relevant.
“There are quite a few children living on club property right now. Why?”
“Nothing bad. I just want to prove that they are living in a healthy environment and that they have friends close to their own ages to play with.”
Beast shook his head, he didn’t like this line of questioning.
“I don’t feel comfortable discussing this with you. My brothers are very protective of their families and we don’t want the whereabouts of our children written down in some document that our enemies can get hold of.”
She visibly bristled with indignation. Her fingers tapping an irritated rhythm onto the table top.
“I won’t write it down and I’m not recording this conversation. You can relax. We are your lawyers, Beast. If we betray the club it would not go well for us, you know this.”
He sighed, she was right. “I’m sorry. I’m just irritated and anxious to get this over and done with. My girls need to be able to run around and play outside without me or my brothers standing guard. When can we do this psychologist visit?”
“I’ll get on it as soon as we’re done here and text you the appointment details.” She moved the papers together in a pile. “Another week or so and we’ll be ready for court and your girls will be yours. I give you my word we’re going to do everything in our power to ensure those little girls end up in your custody. We might have a tiny bit of a problem with the reputation of your club but it shouldn’t be a problem. Everything they have will be speculation. You have never been convicted of a crime or even considered an accessory to a crime. Your clean record will help to convince the judge of your suitability as a parent.”
She suddenly grinned and winked. “You don’t have a serious girlfriend tucked away that could sway the opinion of the judge, do you?”
For some reason he immediately thought of his little Ladybug. She would have been the perfect mother for his children. But she was gone, belonged to someone else now.
“No.” Beast growled, his voice low, cold and hard.
“Pity.” She teased and Beast was done. He was here to get the help he needed to get his children back. Not to crack stupid jokes with some bitch who liked the way he looked. Ja, he had noticed that right from the start but had ignored it. Now it seemed he should have made it clear he wasn’t interested. Maybe she got the message this time.
“Are we done? I need to get back.”
She looked slightly flustered but recovered quickly.
“Yes, yes we are. I’ll text you the details regarding the appointment for the girls and when we next need to meet. Mr Brandt will be joining us for the next meeting. I’m sorry he wasn’t able to be here today but he had an emergency with one of his other clients, as I explained.”
Nodding Beast shoved the chair back and stood. “I’ll be waiting for your text.”
With one final nod he walked out of the conference room and as he left he felt her eyes on him. He did not look back. Wasn’t interested in looking back.
Saskia Gordon was beautiful and classy and not his type. She reminded him of a classy version of his bitch of an ex-wife. Tall, blonde and built. And he was never going near one of those ever again.
He had learnt his lesson the hard way.
The sight that met him as he parked in Bulldog’s driveway had him bursting out in laughter.
The kids were running in wild circles on the lawn, screeching in mock fear as Spider, Terror and Will chased them with water guns. All of them were soaked and muddy. Beast knew that the minute he stepped out of his bakkie those bastards were going to train those water guns on him. Looking down at the suit he was wearing, the only damned suit he owned, he grinned. Without a second thought he shrugged out of the jacket, pulled off his shirt and dumped them on the passenger seat. Next came his boots and pants.
Leaning back he pulled his gym bag from behind the seat as the three bastards circled his ride. Pulling on the sweat pants, t-shirt and tekkies (trainers) he had in the bag he waited for his chance. Jumping out he raced around the back of the bakkie and wrestled Will for his water gun and once he had it he ran to his babies, shooting over his shoulder at Spider who was damned fast.
Jossy was laughing so hard she could hardly run and Ellie tried hard to keep up with the bigger kids. His little baby was laughing. She was fucking laughing. He had to blink hard to stop the threatening tears. His baby girl hadn’t laughed out loud for a long damned time.
Running to her he scooped her up and she screeched as he settled her against his chest. Her little arms clamped tight around his neck. And when she suddenly shouted in his ear he almost stopped running with the shock it gave him.
“Shoot him, Daddy! Shoot Spidey! He’s catching us, Daddy! Shoot him!”
The thumping of his heart in his chest was so loud he felt sure it could be heard around the world. His baby was shouting, she was fucking shouting. The child who had only whispered for weeks on end was shouting.
“I got him, baby.” Beast grinned, swung around and nailed Spider in the chest. His brother played along beautifully, he gasped and fell on the grass and was instantly hidden under a pile of giggling kids.
His baby girl wriggled to get down and when he set her down she ran and with a wild yell jumped into the pile on top of Spider. Glancing towards the wide stoep (veranda) his eyes met those of Aunt Suzy’s where she stood watching, her eyes suspiciously shiny. Leaving the kids to their game he handed the water gun to Duncan, Ice and River’s son, and went to join her.
Standing next to her with his arms crossed over his chest watching his children play he didn’t need to ask.
“She just suddenly started running after Duncan and shouting about twenty minutes ago. He’s been so sweet with her all day. Talking to her and drawing her into their games and making sure she had whatever she needed. I don’t know who’s the most protective of her, him or Jossy.”
Beast nodded. “I’m dreading sending them to nursery school. I don’t know if Ellie will adjust to another new environment so soon. I don’t worry about Jossy so much, but even she’s not the little girl she used to be. I want to kick my own fucking ass for leaving them with that whore.”
Aunt Suzy laid a hand on his forearm and squeezed.
“None of us suspected that the girls were being neglected and abused, Beast. All of us, including you, thought they had changed because they were being shuttled between two homes. We will all help to get them back to the chatty, happy little babies they used to be. And I’ve been thinking about the nursery school thing.”
Tilting his head down he lifted an eyebrow in question.
“Last night Johan and Gail told us they will be moving here permanently. They are going to build a house on the lower part of our property. And apparently Kahn and Vash have been thinking about asking Hawk if they could build a place on the property as well. Ice and River are in the process of designing their house. Every one of those couples has children. Small children.” She gave a quick grin.
“What are you trying t
o tell me, Aunt Suzy?”
“We are going to have more than enough children living on the property to hire a nursery school teacher for them. We won’t have to send them to a school where we can’t keep them safe. Bulldog is going to place it on the agenda to be discussed during church.”
“If I’m still busy with the custody shit I will give him my proxy. I vote yes.” Beast felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He knew Bulldog and Ice would push the vote through.
“You and the girls are having dinner with us tonight. And don’t try to get out of it, I won’t accept no for an answer. Go hang out with Bulldog on the back deck, have a beer and relax. I’ve got your girls.”
Giving one last look to where his babies were still rolling around on the lawn with Spider he walked through the house to join Bulldog. They didn’t say a word to each other, just sipped their beers and watched the sun start slipping towards the horizon.
As he sat there he slowly relaxed for the first time in weeks.
For the time being his babies were safe and they had a plan in place that would keep them safe for a fucking long time to come.
CHAPTER SIX
Tori
Two weeks. Two whole freaking weeks. That’s how long I’ve been in this freaking room. And I was about to lose my mind if I didn’t get out of here and breathe some fresh air. I wasn’t even allowed to open the damned window because an open window would be questioned. If it wasn’t for Sam, Kid and DC I would have gone off my head a long time ago. They kept me from losing my shit.
The swelling and bruising had subsided and I no longer looked like I had lost my mind and climbed into a cage with DC. The vicious blue, purple and black bruising had faded to yellow and green and was now a weird light yellowish brown. My leg was no longer swollen but I still wore the brace and had an appointment scheduled with the orthopaedic specialist towards the end of the week. I worried about it at night when I lay sleepless in my bed. I wasn’t exactly sure which day the appointment was scheduled for because Ice and Kid were being very secretive about it. I couldn’t wait to get out of the bloody room and hopefully I would very soon get to feel the sun on my skin and the wind in my hair.
Black Heart And Red Redemption (Iron Dogz MC) Page 6