Kitty begins to untangle herself and I hold onto her waist, pulling her closer on my lap.
“Stay.”
“What for?” she snaps, irritated, “You haven’t bothered with me in the last hour,” she adds.
“I’m bothering now, aren’t I,” I snap back at her.
Her face falls slightly and somewhere down deep it gets to me. What Kitty and I share isn’t serious, hooking up was meant to be fun and carefree. Lately, it’s becoming more often and when I see her looking at me it is with more depth than someone just getting what they want in bed.
I could do worse I suppose and she is willing to warm my bed most nights of the week.
“Please, stay. I want you to,” I say more softly.
“Are you jealous of Mark?” she asks, out of nowhere.
Not of nowhere because she is wrong but out of nowhere because I thought I had a better check on myself and how I feel and she has never questioned me like this before.
“If I was it wouldn’t be any of your business, darlin’. Now why don’t you go and get us a couple of beers and sit that fine ass back on my lap,” I say, giving her my best smile.
She studies me for longer than I like but slips off and disappears to the bar.
Looking around the bar again, Mark and Rayna have disappeared themselves. No doubt celebrating in private. I hate the jealously I feel. I hate that I like her enough to make me stupid over a woman. I didn’t think it would ever happen to me. Not once have I felt the need to commit to a woman. Maybe when I grew older and wanted to settle down but then again, I can’t imagine that happening either. Now they are getting married there’s no chance for me. It’s time to put her in the past and treat her like I should be doing. Like the family she’s about to become.
Pulling myself to my feet, I make the decision to get off my head drunk tonight and starting in the morning. I’ll become Michael fucking Blake, who I was and will always be.
The house is quiet when I wake and the sun is pouring through the kitchen window warming my bare chest as I sit at the table, sipping my morning coffee.
I long ago left Kitty passed out in bed and made my way downstairs to get some water. I drank so much last night I can’t remember a thing.
“Is there any left?”
I look up to find Rayna standing in the doorway wearing nothing but Mark’s tee and my mouth goes dry. Her legs are long and smooth looking, I vision nothing but running my hand along them until I reach her panties.
“Michael, is there any coffee left?” she asks, again.
I gulp down the remainder of my drink and go to the coffee pot.
“Sit down, I’ll get you some,” I tell her.
At least when she is sitting her legs will be hidden under the table. She remains quiet until she takes her first sip of coffee and smiles up at me.
I take my seat back at the table and concentrate on the pile of papers in the middle of us.
“I’m surprised you can lift your head off the pillow this morning,” she chuckles.
The sound kills me.
“It’s a good thing I can handle my liquor then.”
“You made hell of a racket when Micky and Benny had to put you to bed last night. It’s a good job we’re in the middle of nowhere, you could have woken an entire city. What were you drinking?”
“A little bit of everything, I don’t quite remember,” I admit.
And I don’t remember Benny or Micky helping home neither.
“I’ve never seen you drink so much before, is everything okay?” she asks.
I close my eyes and briefly imagine this conversation going completely different.
“Sure, everything is fine,” I lie, moving on I ask, “Are you happy? Mark proposing this soon must have taken you by surprise. You haven’t even played the field a little,” I flirt.
I can’t help myself. Whenever she’s around, it just comes out.
Her smiles broadens and I know the answer before she opens her mouth to reply. I regret asking at all.
“I’m more than happy, Michael.” She beams, “It doesn’t matter how long I’ve known Mark. I know he’s the one. He makes me feel everything no one has managed before. I won’t be walking away from him again.”
Boom. The final nail in the coffin. She never was and never will be mine because she doesn’t see me.
“I doubt he’ll let you go anyway.”
“Let her go where?” Mark mumbles, still half asleep joining us.
“Absolutely nowhere,” Rayna smiles at him.
Mark wraps his arms around her and leans down and kisses her neck. I can’t watch this so I dash my mug in the sink and leave them to it. They are completely into each other they don’t notice me leave.
My feet plod heavily up the stairs and I fall onto the bed relieved to take the weight off. The headache Rayna expected to me have is showing an appearance and all I want is to sleep.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Mark
The last few weeks have been non-stop. Denzel came through for us and we’ve been on two more runs as well as other jobs for him, bringing in over thirty grand in cash. Needless to say, the guys have been partying hard to celebrate and it has made today possible to give Rayna anything she wanted. Not that she needs a lot, for a woman she is easily pleased and wants to get married for me, not to have the big, white wedding with puffs and frills. My girl is keeping it simple, thank God.
That is until Benny walks in the bar carrying a tray of single flowers.
“Boss, Rayna said you each need to pin one of these on.”
Snorts ripple through the room and I know myself that none of us will wear them.
“Tell her, if she wants me at the altar then she should find someone else to wear them.”
I will do anything for that woman apart from wear a flower, besides it won’t match my cut. We had talked it over and we both agreed that we are going to start as we mean to go on and instead of the traditional tux jacket I would wear my cut over my shirt and we would marry each other completely being ourselves.
“Don’t make me go back there, boss. They’re all actin’ crazy and shit, they’ll probably pin them all on me,” he whines.
“If that’s what my woman wants,” I laugh, his face falling in despair.
I throw the tee I took off before putting my shirt on at him and laugh.
“I’m messing with you, Benny. Just leave them on the table if you’re too chicken shit.”
He flops onto a seat next to Michael breathing a sigh of relief before Michael smacks his lips and walks out.
“Do you want me to have a word?” Oak asks, watching my brother shove the door open and disappear outside.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll go.”
My doubts about Michael died out when he congratulated Rayna on our engagement. I kept expecting snide comments and him to tense up whenever Rayna and I were close around him, yet he did none of these things and went as far to prove he was over her and became closer to Kitty.
I find him leaning against one of the old beaten up trucks round the side of the clubhouse inhaling a large draw of his cigarette.
“You should be inside,” he says, watching me walk towards him.
“Yeah I should be, what’s up?” I ask, leaning against the truck beside him.
“Just needed some air.”
He’s lying but I don’t have the time to stand around soothing his ego.
“Talk to me, you’re not out here for air.”
He throws his head back on the truck and then pushes away and paces before me. His behaviour begins to worry me.
“Michael, what’s wrong?”
“Everything is changing, we have this place now and it’s good,”
“But?” I urge.
“With you getting married, this club is all I have.”
I step in front of my brother. I want him to see in my eyes that I’m about to speak nothing but the truth. I grasp his face between my hands and make sure he can’t look awa
y from me.
“You’re wrong, you have me, you always will. It doesn’t matter if I’m married or not, nothing about us will change. Every minute of every day you and Ray and everyone else here are on my mind, making sure none of you get hurt or into trouble. Making sure you all have money in your pockets to live a better life than we all previously did. This is our life now and I can’t do it without you. I’m not going anywhere, you have my word, brother.”
He remains standing tall and his jaw locks tight, he nods and I release his face from my hold.
“Are you ready to come back in now?” I ask.
“Yeah, let’s do this, but you could one thing for me,” he replies.
“What’s that?”
“You could see if Rayna has any backup bridesmaids. I wouldn’t touch Flo even if she wasn’t with Micky and the other two are pigs.”
I can’t help but laugh, today I’m marrying the most beautiful woman on earth and I have my brother, life couldn’t be better.
“Don’t you think Kitty would have a problem with that?” I laugh.
“Of course she would but I’m not the one who’s getting hitched,” he argues.
I sling my arm around his shoulders and we head back to the bar. He has caused me enough worry over the years but as he walks beside me today, I wouldn’t change a thing about him.
He is who he is and I am proud to call him my blood.
If I let go of her I’d think I had dreamt her saying, I do. In her long halter neck wedding dress she looked perfect and I couldn’t wait to take it off as soon as we were alone.
No one was staying at the house tonight giving us our privacy for our first night as husband and wife. Rayna Blake, I love saying it and hearing my name rolling off my tongue as soft as a kitty’s purr after hers. We left our party early escaping the madness.
“We’re officially man and wife now, it feels good huh,” she purrs, running her lips across my chest as her body writhes on mine.
“It feels better than good.”
I prove it by pushing my hard on up onto her stomach. I use my legs and flip her around so she is on her back. My lips have barely touched hers before shots are being fired and the guys start yelling and the women begin screaming. I spring from the bed and look out of the window.
All I can see is small flashes of brightness coming from the road side. Fuck. Rayna comes up behind me trying to see out past me.
“Fuckin’ hell, Ray, get back.”
I don’t mean to scare her as I grab her arm and push her back on the bed out of danger but the fear of her being hurt or worse, killed has me going into overdrive.
My guys begin running about and I rush to find my jeans by digging in the pile in the corner. I shove my legs in and reach for the pistol on the shelf in the wardrobe.
“Stay here and do not fuckin’ go near that window.”
I don’t wait for her to agree and fly down the stairs and throw open the door. Micky and Oak are shouting for everyone to clear out. By the time I join them the shots have stopped and engines roar as they drive off.
“What the fuck is going on?” I demand.
“Don’t know, we were all drinking and then out of nowhere shots are going off. Who do you think it was? Cause it weren’t fuckin’ us,” Oak asks, keeping his eye on the road.
“One fuckin’ guess,” Micky spits.
“Hunter.”
“Mark! Come here!”
I turn to see Michael calling me over. I don’t like the anger in his voice.
All three of us go over to see what he wants and it becomes obvious as we get closer and see the heap on the floor.
Michael hands are covered in blood and for the first time since our parents were killed, I see tears in his eyes.
“Who is it?” I ask, bending down and flipping the body over.
“It’s…Fuck!” Michael roars, smashing his fists into the wall.
Oak pushes him against the wall to restrain him as I check for myself who it is.
Benny. Laying in his own blood, he’s dead with a shot to his chest and another between his eyes.
“What was he doing round here?” I ask, the side of the clubhouse is normally left vacant.
“Take a guess man,” Micky nods down to Benny’s jeans round his ankles.
That means there should be another body around here, moving away from Benny, I scan the area and listen carefully.
A young looking girl is sat behind an old, rusty pickup truck with her knees pressed up against her chest and covered in blood. I rush over to help but when I get too close she screams in fear.
I hold my hands up to show her I mean no harm and step closer slowly. Whether from fear or knowing I won’t hurt her, she doesn’t complain when I check her over and find no wounds. The blood must be Benny’s.
“What happened?” I ask her.
She’s shaking so hard she can barely speak. Her voice is quiet and I can barely hear her.
“Guys on bikes came…I don’t know how many but they started shooting and Benny told me to hide here. He was going that way,” she points weakly behind me, “But they shot him and then he fell and didn’t get back up. I tried to help him but he was already dead.”
She begins to sob and hides her face between her knees.
“What’s your name darlin’?” I ask, trying to calm her down.
“Shellie.”
She couldn’t be no older than twenty but she was a frail little thing, I scoop her up into my arms and she immediately clings to my shirt.
“I’m taking her to the house and then I’ll be back.”
I take her to the house hoping Rayna will be able to calm her woman to woman, when I get there I find Flo is with her and Micky has told her not to leave. I pass both of them and take the girl upstairs to the bathroom.
“I’ll send my wife and her friend up to help you get cleaned up and get you fresh clothes, okay?”
She nods gently and takes a deep breath.
“Thank you, you’re really kind. I’m sorry this has happened on your wedding day, Rayna is lucky to have married such a nice man.”
She is not as sorry as I am and definitely not as sorry as the fuckers who showed up shooting like mad men are going to be.
“Don’t you worry about that, my wife will look after you, she’ll get you whatever you need.”
I can’t stay around her a second longer. She’s making me think about the shit I’m in and I haven’t got the time to dwell on it right now. I need to be back outside seeing what else damage has occurred.
Flo and Rayna are waiting outside the door listening in on what I told the girl. Flo passes me and runs the bath for her. I block Rayna’s way and take her into our room.
Once we are alone she runs her hands over my chest and arms.
“I’m fine, it’s not my blood,” I tell her, knowing what she’s looking for.
“They hit Benny, he’s dead. I’m not sure who else has been hit. I need to get back out there. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. You go and check everyone. I’ll make sure the girl is okay.” she promises me.
“Don’t let her leave tonight, set her up in Oak’s room and make sure she gets some sleep. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
I allow myself a few seconds longer with her and wrap her tightly in my arms.
“I’m so fuckin’ sorry this has happened tonight. I promise I will make it up to you.”
Releasing her, I place a kiss on the top of her head and turn for the door.
“Just be careful, the violence has begun.” She warns.
“You’re damn right it’s begun.”
Her words haunt me all night. The determination to keep the violence to a minimum is slipping away. Losing Benny needlessly fuels me to not let this happen again. He was the only one to be shot, the others managed to get to safety without being hit. Michael and Micky moved his body to a table in the bar and cover it with blankets Micky found in one of the rooms upstairs.
Gathering in the back room, Michael saunters in holding a bottle of Jack’s in one hand and his gun in the other.
I made it clear the guys were only allowed to carry their guns when we were on jobs for Denzel but after tonight, anytime goes.
Michael falls into his seat next to me at the table Oak had been working on and swigs straight from the bottle.
“Who saw what? And one at a time,” I say, as they all go to open their mouths at the same time.
Oak, Micky and Michael didn’t see anything, the shots had finished by the time they ran outside.
“I saw, there was ten of them. They rode up fast and slowed down to shoot before riding off again. It was the Raging Riders.”
Everyone stares at Tommy, he’s rarely spoken to me let alone the other guys. It is usually Michael who can get anything out of him, so this is the first time most of the guys have heard him speak. They soon get over it when Michael growls.
“Who cares what happened? They killed Benny. I say we ride tonight and attack them sleeping in their fuckin’ pits at sunrise.”
Michael scowls, daring anyone to disagree with him.
“Think brother, if we go rushing over there more lives could be lost…”
“Fuck you,” he spits, cutting me off, “Benny is fuckin’ dead and they fuckin’ killed him. He deserves to rest knowing we took care of him.”
“And he will get it,” I promise, grabbing his face in both hands like I had done earlier to make sure he saw the sincerity in my words. I let him go and face the rest of my guys.
“They’ll all get what they deserve and God help whoever gets in our way.”
I look around the room and feel the weight of them all looking back at me, waiting for direction.
For them, for Benny and for ruining my wedding night, the Lost Souls will cement our mark in this world and show everyone you don’t shoot at us without receiving hard payback.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Michael
We have been staking out the Raging Riders compound over the last couple of weeks, noting all their movements and clocking everyone who goes in and out of their club. Payback is going to be a bitch. If they thought they could come and shoot us up and on my brother’s wedding night, they’re in for a surprise. The loss of Benny is what fuels me to take out any Raging fuck that comes my way. I don’t know whose bullet hit Benny and that only makes it more bitter sweet for me because now it gives me a reason to shoot who the fuck I want.
Biker Born: The Lost Souls MC Series (The Lost Souls Series Book 4) Page 10