Rough Love

by Laura Morgan

  Tobin then joined me, climbing in at the opposite end of the full and flowery scented water. I’d used a bath bomb and the water wasn’t only heavily fragrant, but also a deep shade of sparkly purple he seemed surprised by. I just laughed, figuring he hadn’t been one for taking long and aromatic baths in the past. We simply stared at one another, me tracing the lines of his ink while he had his eyes on my breasts as I breathed, dipping them in and out of the dark water with each inhale and exhale.

  “When did you have those done?” I eventually asked, and Tobin looked down at his chest, following my line of sight. He lifted one hand and pointed to the tattoos on his body and the tops of his arms.

  “These were started years ago while I was still in the army. I had some done while based in Germany and others once I came back to the UK,” he told me and I grinned. “The rest I added over the past few years since getting out.”

  “I can’t imagine you in a uniform,” I replied, leaning forward so I could take his hand in mine, tracing the lines of the roses on the back of his left one. I’d seen the soldiers in their kit and, like most women, couldn’t deny a man in uniform was a sexy sight, but he wasn’t a soldier in my eyes. He was a biker, through and through. Chuck’s prodigal son who had returned in time to spend his final years together. “I think I’d like to see you in your kit though.”

  “I’ll show you some of my old photos if you like?” Tobin offered and I nodded profusely. I wanted to know the man he’d once been. I wanted to see his friend who had died and learn about how Tobin had coped with the loss. He didn’t seem to have PTSD anymore, but I knew it was common in soldiers who’d returned from war having seen and experienced things I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

  “I want to know everything about you, baby. I want to see your life, both the good and bad,” I replied honestly, and Tobin seemed glad. As if he too had secrets he hadn’t felt able to tell me, and I just wished that one day I might finally be able to open up to him and reveal the things I had learned about my sister and his abusive cousin.

  The next morning, Tobin took Dad out to meet with a few local mechanics. I could tell it was a business meeting, probably to discuss the club’s needs for local contacts for their bike repairs. That side of the club business bored me, so I said goodbye and headed to the kitchen in search of some breakfast. My brothers then came downstairs and joined me, and were soon chatting loudly while I made them coffee and bacon sandwiches. When Thomas and Brad were done, they thanked me and disappeared back into the bar, while Nico stayed behind, watching me intently from the large table as he finished his brew. As I was taking a large bite of brown sauce covered bacon, he stood and refilled our mugs, both of us enjoying the comfortable quiet.

  “Are you okay, Dahlia?” he then asked, taking his seat opposite me again.

  “I’m fine,” I answered, but I could tell he wasn’t convinced. Nico seemed to have the same insight as our father and could tell something was up with me, even though I’d done my best to hide it. “Just been doing a lot of soul-searching lately. A lot of thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “Dita…”

  “Still?” he seemed uneasy by my answer, and now I knew why.

  “Yeah,” I answered. I tried to think how best to come out and say what was on my mind, so I started slow, trying to gather the courage to finally tell him the things that were haunting me. “Calvin hurt her over and over. I can’t help but wonder why. It doesn’t make sense that it’d be just about the sex or the power he wanted over her. I think he wanted to have power over someone else as well, to punish them.”

  “Like Tobin? Maybe he was pissed off with him and thought that by hurting Dita he could hurt him too?” I shook my head. “Then who?” Nico was playing the game, but we both knew who Calvin had been trying to punish, and I was looking right at him.

  “You,” I answered coldly. I’d had to detach myself from the idea to cope with it, but there was also a huge part of me that needed to know if my hunch was true. If Nico was the reason behind Calvin’s torturous ways. “I know about the two of you, and I know that’s why you protected him rather than tell everyone what he’d done to Dita.”

  Nico went white. He let his mug clatter onto the wooden table top and stared at me incredulously. I didn’t move a muscle as he shook his head, and when I didn’t back down, he lowered it and began rocking back and forth. “How long have you been fucking him, Nico?” I demanded quietly, trying my hardest to keep from screaming it at him.

  He didn’t answer me right away. Nico simply continued to stare at the table, his head in his hands. But I didn’t let him off the hook, I stared him down, waiting for what felt like forever for my answer.

  “About two years,” he finally responded in a strangled tone, as though the tense silence was killing him and he’d had to say something.

  “Do you love him,” I needed to ask.

  “No, but for some reason I keep going back. It’s like I can’t help myself, even though I know what he did to Dita.”

  “Did he do it to punish you?”

  “Yes, the first time at least. I told him we were over and he flipped his shit. All I know is that he was in the right place at the wrong time and Dad ended up confiding in him about how off the rails Dita was getting. Calvin talked him into letting him rough her up in a bid to scare her, which was when he… you know,” I certainly did. I clutched my chest over where my heart was beating ten to the dozen.

  “How did you find out?”

  “He told me the next day. Said he had to punish me every time I hurt his feelings because he loved me so much, and I caved. I let him dictate when and where we met up, knowing he was unstable. Knowing I should’ve called it off and sent him away, but he hid the truth from me after that first time. He was punishing me in secret by ruining her, and I had no idea until you told me the night of Thomas’s party.” Nico finally looked at me, his brown eyes bloodshot and suddenly weary. It’d been weighing on him, I could tell, and so I reached across the table and took his hand in mine. It couldn’t be easy on him, so I remained supportive rather than letting myself be angry with him for having kept his secret. Didn’t we all hide the truths to save ourselves the shame of coming clean? I knew I too had told white lies to suit my own agenda, so couldn’t begrudge him. “I stayed quiet and protected our secret rather than say a word to anyone about what you told me that night. I should’ve told Dad or gone to Tobin, or at least told Jodie the truth, but I couldn’t. I even told you to wait. To bide your time, because I knew he might punish you too, and I couldn’t bear it if he treated you the same as he had Dita.”

  “Do you think he messed with your bike?” I replied and Nico looked surprised at my question, his brows furrowing. “I fucked with him that same morning, maybe he thought it was you? Maybe he took it as you trying to freak him out so he decided to fuck you right back?”

  Nico jumped up from the table and began to pace, his hands on his head as he thought about my question. I don’t think he’d even considered it before I’d said, and I watched as something snapped within him. Something primal and dominative.

  “Stay here, Dahlia. Do not come outside, got it?” I nodded, but wasn’t sure what he was getting at and wasn’t given an explanation either. Nico stormed out of the kitchen without another word and he stalked over to where Calvin was playing pool with some of the guys. He barely said a word to him, but I saw Nico indicate for him to meet him outside, and I had to force myself to keep my promise. Instead, I charged into the office and loaded up the security software, watching my brother as he continued his pacing outside on the gravelled parking lot.

  Calvin appeared and I watched them talking for a few moments before things quickly became heated. They were soon arguing and while I couldn’t hear what was being said, I could tell via a spot of simple lip-reading that Nico was furious and Calvin was pleading with him for forgiveness.

  I’m sorry, please! I could see him mouthing, but Nico was having none of it. Clearl
y I’d been right. Calvin had been the one responsible for his crash, and Nico now knew it. I then watched, open-mouthed as he lunged for Calvin and punched him repeatedly while tackling him to the ground. Calvin took it at first, but then his rage seemed to take over and he retaliated, fighting back with strength and skill I was shocked to see. He sure knew how to fight, and before I knew it, they were both black, blue, and bloody.

  Each lying on their backs, staring up at the sky, I then watched them talking quietly, the row evidently over with, and was surprised to see Calvin’s hand reach for Nico’s. I was even more stunned when my brother took it, caressing his fingers with his for just a moment before jumping up and storming back inside without another word or a backwards glance.

  I didn’t see Nico again that day. He took Jodie and went home, the official story having been that he and Calvin had been talking and had a disagreement, which was dealt with the only way the men in my life apparently knew how—by having a good old fashioned fight.

  “Sometimes we have to clear the air and so long as neither of you are hurt permanently, a few punches can be quite cathartic,” Brad told me over lunch when I couldn’t help but snoop.

  “What was it about?” I asked him, and he shrugged.

  “Could be any number of things. Nico’s been stressed lately so maybe something small set him off and it just happened to be Calvin who got it.” I knew then how Brad had no idea what had been going on between Nico and Calvin, and I wondered if anyone knew. Could they really have done such a good job of hiding their gay affair from everyone? Surely someone had to have noticed.

  After I’d finished eating, I made my excuses and then disappeared off to the office so I could do some more investigating. There, I trawled through some more of the recordings but found nothing. I knew there were no cameras at Dad’s house so guessed they hadn’t counted on being caught before, but now they would know. Nico had to have realised how I had found him out, or at least he soon would, so I decided to lie to him. I’d say I’d delete the files, when I would secretively keep them in case I ever needed them for leverage against Calvin. I even made backups on my work hard drive in case Nico decided to make sure by wiping the computer’s memory.

  I then booted up Dita’s laptop and read through some of her diaries again. She really had hid the details of her relationship with Liev as best she could, and I finally understood why. They would never have been accepted. Not only for her having defied our father’s wishes by not seeing things through with Tobin, but also for her having fallen for the enemy.

  The Red Reapers were Dad’s rivals for not only turf and business, but also for his daughter’s loyalty, or so it seemed. There hadn’t been much information come my way about them over the years, but I’d heard rumours of them having been responsible for the death of one of our prospects a few years back. I’d also been warned never to put any information regarding my whereabouts online, especially after one of the girls who frequented our club had been beaten and raped by a member of the Reds who had stalked her on social media and then attacked her after finding out she was shagging a member of our club. They were monsters capable of anything, or so I’d always believed, and yet Dita had loved one of them. She’d repeatedly met up with him and they had tried to run away into the sunset together. She had trusted him, so I had to as well.

  Making my mind up, I did a search for their clubhouse and made a note of the address. Liev wasn’t answering my messages, so I would simply have to go straight there. I wasn’t going to make it easy for him to ignore me. But first, I sent one last message.

  I’m scared. I think I might be next…

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  A week later, I found myself in a cab on the way to the address I’d found for the Red Reaper’s clubhouse. Jemma had been busy with her official boyfriend John while I’d been at the new clubhouse, and even now that we’d all come back and were staying at Dad’s, I’d hardly seen her. I didn’t mind though. There was a lot on my plate that I was still determined not to drag her into, so we just caught up via text and she kept me updated on the budding romance she was now having with our friendly barman, while I made sure to sound interested and not get distracted by my own woes. But, as I seemed to do, I couldn’t switch off from the matter at hand. I couldn’t forget what Calvin had done or what Nico was doing with him behind Jodie’s back. Their fight had been and gone without mention or consequence. The guys all treated it as if the air had been cleared and that was that, no one even pried as to what it was all about, so I couldn’t get away with keeping on pressing the club members as to their assumptions behind the fight.

  I’d come back to the city and decided to go it alone again, so had sneakily asked for a lift from Bradley once Tobin and Dad had gone out for the day. I obviously couldn’t tell him where I planned to go, so had gotten him to drop me off at the college and told him I’d be there for the day. After waiting fifteen minutes to be sure he’d gone again, I’d then jumped in a taxi and given the driver the chosen address, but I wasn’t going in blind, and I certainly wasn’t going to take any chances.

  “Will you wait for me?” I asked the cabbie, offering him a handful of cash when we arrived. He looked out at the windscreen at the clubhouse and then back at me in surprise, but accepted the payment.

  “You sure you want to go in there alone, duck?” he asked, eyeing the bikes all lined up outside. Grinning at his use of local pet name, I nodded and opened the door, stopping only to take a deep, steadying breath. “No matter how long, I’ll wait for you,” the driver then called after me, restoring my faith in humanity a little. I thanked him and then crossed the road, heading inside before I could lose my nerve.

  “You must be in the wrong place,” a voice called to me as I stepped into the lion’s den. I had a good look around, taking it all in. Their clubhouse was much like ours. They had a large communal bar area with staircases leading up into what I knew had to be their meeting room and offices. I took in the red and black décor, along with a mural dedicated to their club. Someone had taken the time to recreate their emblem in fine detail in the centre, along with drawings of bikes I knew the makes and models of, having been around them my entire life.

  “Get lost, little girl,” said another of the members, but I refused. Peering around at the dozen or so men stood staring at me in surprise, I searched for Liev’s face, but he wasn’t there. I looked again, hoping and praying to find him. No such luck. My heart sunk.

  “She’s not lost, are you?” another man asked, and when the crowd parted my earlier tenacity wilted even more. The same man who had trapped me in his grasp at the pub was walking towards me with a satisfied smile on his lips. He seemed to think I might be there for him, like I might’ve actually enjoyed our interaction the last time. As if. “I think she liked what she saw the other night so came looking for more. Is that right, lisichka?” he added as he reached me, his hand going up to my hair where he twirled one of my auburn locks around his fingers.

  “You wish,” I replied as I stepped away from him, opting to go deeper into the still surprised gathering of club members rather than let him corner me again. “I’m here to see Liev. Where is he please?” I asked the others, but they all remained quiet.

  “When your sister came here, she always let us have some fun with her. She often danced for us,” my admirer told me as he followed me into the group. He then stopped right behind me and pressed his chest against my shoulder blades. “She would get high and take off her clothes. And then she’d wear Liev’s cut to tell your father to go fuck himself. She showed us we could trust her not to go running home and tell him our secrets. Are you going to do the same? I don’t think so…”

  “I don’t need to do the same, Liev already knows he can trust me.” I looked around the room, looking for a more friendly face, but couldn’t be sure about any of them, and began to panic. “Tell your boss I came by, and ask him to call me. It’s important.” Turning on my heel, I headed for the door, when my new friend grabbed th
e top of my arm, turned me to face him, and then yanked me into his hold. The others sniggered as I yelped and tried in vain to pry myself free. None of them would help me, and I began to panic. I should’ve known better than to go I there alone and unprepared. Liev wasn’t even there, so I’d wasted the opportunity anyway.

  “One—you don’t tell me or any other member of this club to do anything,” the man growled, walking forward with me in his hold so I had no choice other than to step back along with him. When my back hit the wall, he finally released his grip on my arms and glowered at me. “Two—Liev isn’t my boss, or at least he won’t be for much longer.” I frowned, staring up into his face and he seemed to enjoy my confusion. He’d liked delivering the news to me, but I couldn’t fathom why.

  “Is he moving to another chapter?” I asked timidly, trying to ignore the sensation of the strange and scary man as he pressed himself harder against me. He wanted me, that much I couldn’t ignore, and yet I refused to let it shake me. He wasn’t going to win. Not this time.

  “No,” he eventually answered, stroking his hand through my hair again. In spite of his malicious taunts, I got the feeling he was actually quite taken with me, but he lacked anything I would’ve been attracted to in a lover, not to mention I wasn’t looking for anyone new anyway.

  “What’s your name?” I mumbled, feeling lightheaded thanks to his firm hold over me.

  “Oscar,” he replied, finally turning slightly gentler. His dark brown eyes roved my body and I knew he wasn’t being nicer for the hell of it. He was doing it because he thought he might actually be about to get lucky with me. Not a chance.

  “Well, Oscar. Care to tell me what’s going on with Liev?” He let out a small groan, evidently realising that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with me, but I was glad when he didn’t resort back to his cruel ways.