‘Hey, take it easy. It’s strong stuff that.’ Coby smiled as Mia handed him the whisky.
She watched as he effortlessly downed a long mouthful before handing it back to her. ‘Slowly this time. And I guarantee it’ll take the edge off everything.’
Her eyes met his. ‘Anything you need the edge taking off?’
He leaned back against the workbench, folding his arms, but he stayed silent, breaking the stare by bowing his head. Mia raised her eyebrows, taking a slower swig of Scotch. This time it hit the spot, filling her belly with a welcoming warmth.
‘Coby?’
He finally lifted his gaze, his dark eyes once more meeting hers.
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Aye, ‘course you can, darlin’.’
‘Ben… I don’t know what’s happening with him. I mean… should I have thought twice, about going into a relationship with a man who was once part of a club like the Dark Angels?’
‘I’m no expert when it comes to relationships, Mia. I’m the wrong person to be talking to about this.’
‘Do you trust him?’
Coby’s eyes narrowed, his body turning towards her. ‘Do you think there’s a reason I shouldn’t?’
‘I don’t know,’ she sighed. ‘He’s really fucking with my head right now… haven’t you noticed a change in him?’
‘Has he done something to hurt you?’
Mia shook her head, taking another swig of Scotch. ‘No. Not really. But he’s scaring me. This change in him, he’s scaring me. I saw him, just now, in the office, talking to Michael…’
‘Michael? Sheriff Bailey?’
Mia nodded. ‘And when I asked him about it, he just shut me down.’
‘How?’
Mia didn’t really know how much she should be telling Coby. Should she stay quiet, say nothing? But what if staying quiet put Ben in more danger? What if this was something Coby should know about?
‘Mia?’
‘He wanted to have sex, y’know, to try and steer me away from the subject, like I’m a kid that can be bribed into shutting up…’ She pushed a hand through her dark curls, taking a moment to catch her breath. ‘I wasn’t so keen.’
Coby looked right at her. ‘Did he…?’
‘No. No, he didn’t force me. I stopped him before anything happened. I didn’t want it, not like that. I didn’t want it, like that.’ She threw her head back, letting loose a long, frustrated sigh. ‘I’m not even sure I want him. Not the way he is; the person he seems to have turned into.’
Coby leaned back against the workbench. ‘I’ll keep an eye on him, darlin’.’
‘You know something’s going on with his father, don’t you?’
Coby let out a long, deep breath, pushing a hand through his hair before turning to look at Mia again, holding out his hand for the bottle of Scotch. ‘If he’s got family business to sort out, sweetheart, let him sort it.’
‘But this is Hector Almeda we’re talking about, Coby. And if he wants something from Ben…’ Mia’s voice was little more than a whisper as she looked at Coby with worried eyes.
He took a long swig of whisky, placing the bottle down on the bench when he was done. ‘I’ll keep an eye on him, Mia.’
She watched him for a second or two, well aware that he was shutting that conversation down. And she knew when to take a step back. But even though he was still an intimidating man sometimes, she was more comfortable in his company now than she’d used to be. Gone were the days when she’d been more than a touch unnerved by his booming Scottish accent and somewhat brusque manner. He wasn’t always like that. Sometimes he could come across as almost human. ‘Everything OK with you and Lexi?’ She decided changing the subject was probably the best course of action. ‘Only, she said you guys were butting heads over something.’
‘She shouldn’t be saying anything.’
‘She didn’t say what it was about.’
‘She shouldn’t be saying anything,’ Coby repeated.
Mia stayed silent for a beat or two. Maybe that subject change hadn’t been the best of ideas.
‘She thinks I should leave the situation with Shane alone.’
‘Shane?’ Mia could hardly keep the surprise out of her voice. This wasn’t something she’d expected Coby to share with her. And she wasn’t altogether sure how comfortable she felt about it. ‘I thought you were leaving it alone?’
Coby turned to face her, his expression firm, a harder edge to it now. ‘We were. But that isn’t what we do, Mia. Not really. You know that, darlin’. And so does Lexi, which is why I’m struggling to understand why she thinks I should just sit back and let it go. I can’t do that. I’m not gonna do that.’
‘Jesus, Coby…’ A slow realization began to dawn on her, and she felt that fear start to rise again. ‘Is Ben…? Is he involved in all of this?’
Coby threw his head back, letting out a long, loud sigh, so heavy with frustration Mia could almost feel it seeping into her. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything, darlin’. I shouldn’t have…’ He stopped talking, bowing his head, pushing both hands through his hair, backwards and forwards, again and again – an almost manic action, and one that slightly unsettled Mia. ‘I’m sorry.’ The sigh he gave this time was one of resignation. ‘Look, Mia, you know the score, darlin’. He’s a part of the club, and we’re all involved in this, whether we like it or not. And Ben, he can be a real help to us.’
‘Is he in danger?’ Her voice was quiet, and carried just a hint of fear, because she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to that question.
‘He knows what he’s doing.’
‘That isn’t what I asked. Is he in danger?’
Coby said nothing, but he didn’t have to. And once more Mia felt her blood start to run cold.
‘What’s really going on, Coby?’ Another question she wasn’t sure she wanted answering. Maybe she was better off knowing as little as possible.
‘You don’t need to know everything, Mia. Not yet.’ But he knew she’d have to know it all, eventually. He’d known that from the second he’d asked Ben to help them. There was going to come a time when she needed to be strong, and play her part, too. And that time was coming soon.
‘It’s OK,’ she whispered, watching him as he raised his gaze, their eyes locking. She couldn’t fight whatever was going on. She couldn’t stop it from happening. She wanted it to go away, to end, of course she did – whatever crap was going down, she wanted it to end. She wanted everything to go back to normal – their kind of normal, anyway – but it wasn’t going to. Not until this, whatever it was, was over. She knew that. ‘You have to do what you have to do. You all do.’ What choice did she have? Ben wasn’t the safe, ordinary lawyer she’d fallen for. He wasn’t the man she’d first thought he was. He had a past, and it would seem that past was now becoming a part of his present, for whatever reason. But at least it explained his mood change.
‘Aye.’ Coby’s voice was so quiet Mia struggled to hear him. ‘Aye. I guess we do.’
Their eyes remained locked, and she couldn’t seem to break the stare; couldn’t look away. ‘I should probably go.’ She finally pulled her eyes away from Coby’s, ending whatever strange moment that had been. ‘I could do with an early night. It’s been a weird day.’
She slid down from the workbench, and was about to head out of the garage when Coby gently took hold of her wrist, swinging her back around to face him. ‘I’m here for you, Mia. Remember that… I’m here, for all of you.’
It almost felt as though he’d hurriedly tacked that last bit on to the end of that sentence.
‘I know.’ Mia smiled, but she just wanted to get out of there now. She longed for the safety of her bed, and a sleep she knew she needed. Maybe everything would look better after a good night’s sleep. Isn’t that what everyone said? Things always looked different in the morning.
Their eyes met for a few more, brief seconds, but then Mia pulled her arm from his grasp, turned around, and walk
ed out. Yeah. Everything would look different in the morning. But just how different… that’s what scared her.
Eleven
‘I need you to promise me that none of that personal crap – none of it spills over into this, OK?’ Coby wasn’t in the mood for any shit. He was in the mood to get things done, and he wanted them done quickly.
Kip leaned back against the wall, folding his arms. ‘What personal crap you talking about here?’
And that was exactly the kind of shit Coby wasn’t in the mood for.
He fixed Kip with a cold look. ‘I know you still have feelings for Mia…’
‘Jesus Christ!’ Kip threw back his head, sighing loudly. ‘Not this again. She’s my fucking sister!’
‘You still have feelings for her, and I know – I know, Kip – that you still don’t entirely trust Ben.’
‘Do you? I mean, what you’re asking him to do… It’s fraught with possibilities for him to turn against us, you do realize that, don’t you?’
Coby looked back down at the table, turning the gavel over and over in his hand. ‘He won’t turn against us.’
‘You can guarantee that, can you?’
‘We know what happened between him and his father now, Kip. We know his history…’
‘All of it?’
Coby slowly raised his gaze, but he stayed silent.
‘You back off from any personal vendetta you might still harbor for our new boy; do you hear me, Kip? Let him get on with what he needs to do.’
‘And if he pulls this off? If he manages to persuade Hector Almeda to take him back into the fold, what happens to Mia then?’
‘She’ll need to back off, too. She can’t be seen with him, not when he’s wearing the Dark Angels’ colors. It’s too risky. Too dangerous.’
‘Does she know all this?’
‘She knows Ben’s working on something. But she’ll need to be told the truth, if everything goes to plan.’ Coby fixed Kip with another look. ‘But that doesn’t give you an excuse to move in and start any personal crap, do you understand?’
‘I’m her brother, Coby. I don’t have those kinds of feelings for her anymore.’
‘You sure about that?’
‘Yeah. ‘Cause I really want to get my arse thrown in jail for fucking my sister, right?’
Coby raised an eyebrow. ‘Look out for her, by all means. That’s what we do here. But no bad-mouthing Ben, no trying to persuade her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. He’s one of us now, you got that? You don’t like it, tough. Deal with it. But he’s one of us, and he’s putting his life on the fucking line for this club.’
Kip held his hands up in surrender. ‘Best behaviour, I promise.’
‘I’m being serious here, brother.’ Coby stood up, his dark eyes boring into Kip’s.
‘I can’t stop caring about her, can I? After everything she’s been through, I think she deserves a bit of security, and I’m just not sure…’
‘What the fuck have I just said, Kip? Keep your personal shit to yourself, OK?’
Kip walked over to Coby, looking him right in the eye, his expression hard. Determined. ‘OK. Anything you say, Pres.’
Coby stared him out, wanting to believe him. But he knew the way Kip still felt about Ben. He knew he didn’t trust him, didn’t think he was the man for Mia. But Coby didn’t have time to baby-sit his V.P. He was just going to have to hope Kip was as good as his word. ‘Go on. Get out of here.’
Kip felt relief flood through him. He’d almost blown it there. Almost let his true feelings for Ben Salter come out in front of the one person he should be hiding them from. Because if Coby knew what he was planning to do he’d have him pulled from this job quicker than he could down a beer. But, despite Coby thinking he knew enough about Ben’s past to trust him, Kip knew he was right; he knew Ben was still hiding something. He knew that accepting Ben into the Lone Riders as anything other than their lawyer had been a dangerous move; a rash action. He needed to go. He needed to be out of Mia’s life. And Kip wouldn’t settle until his name was history in this compound.
‘You still here?’ Coby sighed, pushing his hair back off his face. ‘Go on. Out. I’ve got work to do.’
‘Listen, Coby… if all this works out, if we do actually find Shane…’
‘You know what happens, Kip. He has to pay for what he tried to do – for what he did.’
‘Yeah. Those are words I really wanted to hear from you, Coby.’
Kip swung around to see Lexi standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest, her eyes cold. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ Kip directed that at Coby before making his escape. The last thing he wanted was to become involved in one of their domestics.
‘I’m not in the mood for a lecture, Lexi.’
‘Why can’t you just accept that he’s probably gone? That he might just have left America.’
‘Because we have no proof, Lex! We have nothing concrete, not a fucking thing that says he is no longer a threat. Don’t you understand that, darlin’? Don’t you care that this could be your safety in jeopardy here? The man is a fucking mess. He’s twisted, irrational… that is not a good mix, sweetheart. And if he thinks he can get to me through you…’
‘That isn’t gonna happen…’
‘How the hell do you know that? How, Lexi? How can you fucking know that?’
‘I don’t…’
‘Exactly. You don’t. So you go back to picking out wedding dresses and leave me to deal with this.’
She stared at him, her eyes still cold, but he could match that. He wasn’t playing here. This was real, and this was happening.
‘You’re putting yourself at risk, Coby…’
‘And if I do nothing, you think the situation changes? You think by ignoring it it’ll all just go away? You really think it works like that?’
‘Don’t patronize me.’
‘Then stop talking crap. Look, the wedding isn’t that far away, and there’s still a heap of stuff to sort out so why don’t you and Angie head out for the day, go shopping…’
‘You’re doing it again.’
‘What?’ he sighed, leaning back against the table. He needed this to end now. He could feel his blood pressure rising by the second.
‘Patronizing me. I’m not some bored Beverly Hill housewife who doesn’t give a crap what her man gets up to as long as she’s got a tight grip on his credit card. I give a crap.’
‘And all you’re doing is giving yourself unnecessary worry. Leave it, Lexi. And that’s not a request.’
‘Jesus,’ she laughed – a cold, humorless laugh. ‘Seriously?’
His eyes bored deep into hers. He wasn’t shifting on this one. ‘Seriously.’
‘You can be such a fucking prick sometimes, Coby. A real fucking prick.’
He did nothing to stop her as she turned and left. What was the point? He called her back, they’d only spend the next few hours going round in circles, arguing, fighting, and none of it would end up in sex, so even the perks of making up weren’t going to be there. For some reason he just wasn’t in the mood right now. Too many distractions, too much crap going on inside his head. And when Lexi was like this, bitching and whining and telling him what to do; it was hardly a turn-on.
Walking over to the window he leaned forward, his hands palm down on the window-sill as he stared out across the compound. He’d made sure this club had pulled itself back together in super-quick time after the fire; after everything that had happened just a few weeks ago. He wasn’t about to let anyone destroy it again.
***
‘Mia, baby, I’m sorry, OK?’
Mia looked up as Ben approached her outside the clubhouse. ‘Yeah. OK.’
He sat down beside her, reaching out for her hand and she let him take it. She wasn’t in the mood for fighting today.
‘Things are just… they’re a bit strange right now, that’s all.’
She looked down at their joined hands, but said nothing. She couldn’t think
of anything to say. In fact, she felt almost detached from the situation. Was that deliberate? Was she making herself feel that way because it was the safest thing to do?
‘I don’t want us to fight, Mia. I love you…’
‘Ben, please…’ She looked at him, right into his eyes. No. The Ben she’d fallen in love with, he still wasn’t completely there, she could see it. Feel it. This wasn’t him. ‘Whatever’s going on, just finish it. Then we’ll talk.’
He let go of her hand and she looked down, watching as it fell from his grasp.
‘It’s the only way I can cope, Ben. Being near you, close to you; loving you, it’s… it’s too hard. Right now, it’s too hard.’
She wasn’t even sure she’d meant all that to come out, but she’d said it, so she must be feeling it, even if she hadn’t fully realized it before.
‘Jesus, Mia…’
‘Please, Ben.’
He reached out to cup her cheek, stroking her skin with his thumb, and for a fleeting second she was sure she saw a flicker of something familiar in his eyes. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. And he was back to that person she didn’t recognize. ‘I promise you, Mia…’
She stopped him talking by pressing her fingers to his lips, instantly killing that sentence dead. She didn’t want promises. She didn’t want to hear anything he couldn’t fully mean.
‘I love you,’ he whispered, slowly pulling his hand from her cheek. ‘I love you.’
‘I know you do.’
‘And when all this is over…’
Words. That’s all she was hearing now – words. White noise. Meaningless. That was how she had to handle this, because anything else was too terrifying. So, without another word, without any more acknowledgement she stood up and walked away. She didn’t even know where she was going, she just knew she had to get away from him, find something to take her mind off whatever the hell was going on around here. The situation with Shane, all the crap going on with Ben – if ever there was a time she needed a distraction, this was it.
Resurrection (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 3) Page 7