‘Maybe it’s what he deserves,’ Kip said quietly.
Coby turned to look at him. ‘It was a mistake, Kip, all right?’
‘A mistake?’ Lexi laughed, she couldn’t help it. ‘Y’know, maybe he’s done me a favor.’ She jerked her head in Ben’s direction. ‘I mean, this is nothing but history repeating itself, isn’t it?’
‘Lexi, darlin’…’
‘Do it, go on.’ She looked straight at Ben, her stare defiant. ‘You wanna kill him, go ahead. You’ve got my permission.’
‘Jesus, Lexi!’ Coby gasped, grasping his shoulder as blood continued to pour out of it.
‘Don’t do this, Ben, please,’ Mia pleaded, walking slowly over to him. ‘You don’t really want this to happen.’
He looked at her, keeping his gun raised.
‘This is crazy! He doesn’t deserve to die.’
‘But I do,’ Ben whispered, lowering his hand to pull a second gun from his back pocket. ‘The things I’ve done… losing you…’
Mia felt another wave of panic wash over her as he pointed the second gun at his temple, his eyes glazing over into an almost trance-like state as he pulled back on both triggers…
‘Taking the coward’s way out, son?’
Ben’s head swung around, and Mia took that opportunity to knock the gun he’d had pointed at himself out of his hand, crouching down to pick it up.
Hector looked around him, a sinister calm exuding from every pore. ‘Good to see you, Coby. Wedding go all right, hmm?’
‘You fucking bastard!’ Coby lunged at the Dark Angels’ president, momentarily forgetting about his injured shoulder, until the pain ripped through him to remind him. ‘Jesus!’
Hector turned to face Ben, raising an eyebrow. ‘You do that?’
Ben’s face was cold, expressionless as he stared at his father. Why was he alone? Where were the others? Where was Sol?
‘Couldn’t even finish the job properly, huh?’ Hector shook his head, digging his hands into his pockets. ‘What’s happened to you, Benjamin? You used to be such a good shot.’
‘Fuck you!’ Ben sneered, slowly turning the gun on his father. ‘Everything that brought me here, to this, that’s on you.’
‘And you’ve just proved you aren’t strong enough to deal with it. You were about to take your own life, the ultimate coward’s exit.’
‘I should kill you now, rid the world of your toxic crap, your poisonous shit…’
‘So what’s stopping you? If you were the Benjamin Almeda you’d once been then Coby wouldn’t still be standing, and I’d already be in a heap on the floor. But you’re not that man anymore. Are you? You’re nothing but a weak shadow.’
‘You put me through hell…’
‘I gave you the chance to live.’
‘You still want my gratitude for that?’
Coby watched the two men face off, shaking his head as Luca and Cain stepped forward, mouthing instructions at them to tell the others to back off. This wasn’t about him and the Lone Riders any more. This was about Ben and his father.
‘You let me live? I didn’t kill Marianna. You did. And everyone knows that. Sol, everyone – they all know the truth.’
Hector’s eyes narrowed as he stared at his son, his expression giving just the tiniest hint that Ben’s comment had rattled him. ‘Then why hasn’t he done something about that?’
‘We wanted to do this together, brothers in arms…’ He stepped back, his eyes never leaving his father’s. ‘But Sol’s not here. And I’m not prepared to wait. I’ve already waited too long, and what the hell have I got to lose now, huh? Nothing. Everything I loved, everything I lived for, that’s gone. It’s over, finished, so I have nothing to lose by pulling this trigger and ending your sorry fucking life.’
‘You haven’t got the balls,’ Hector sneered. ‘My son, the coward…’
He only just got the words out before he suddenly slumped to the ground, blood pooling slowly around him as he lay there, an eerie silence flooding the air.
‘It’s done.’
Ben slowly looked up to see Sol walking towards him. He was carrying a gun with a silencer fitted to it, his expression calm and composed but his eyes were like shards of ice.
‘Just like we planned, brother. Me and you, taking him down. Together.’
Ben breathed in deep, slowly dropping his arm, letting the gun slip from his grasp. ‘It’s done,’ he whispered, feeling like a wave of relief had just washed over him so brutally it was like a punch to the stomach. But then he remembered everything else – Mia, Coby, the truth about Carrie; the realization of what his life had been, what it had now become, and he sank to his knees, his head in his hands. ‘What’ve I done?’ he murmured, his head spinning, his stomach churning; he was lost. There was nothing, he could see nothing. Because he had nothing. Not anymore. His father might be dead but it was too late. He’d already stripped Ben of everything. And now he was lost.
He felt someone crouch down beside him and he slowly raised his gaze, his eyes meeting hers. ‘Take this.’ Mia placed the gun in his hand, her voice so cold it was chilling. ‘And finish the job.’
Twenty-Seven
Mia opened the back door and stepped out into the yard, letting the early morning sun wash over her skin. She was getting used to being back home. Back in England. There was nothing for her in Paradise anymore, not after everything that had happened.
‘You coming to the clubhouse today?’ Charlie asked, joining her on the back step.
She shook her head, smiling at her father as he handed her a mug of tea. ‘Thought I’d go into town, do a bit shopping, maybe see some old friends. I’ve missed Newcastle, y’know? This is my home. This is where I always belonged. And now that Lennie’s out of the way…’
Charlie gently squeezed her shoulder. ‘It’s for the best, kiddo. Coming home, I mean. Where I can keep an eye on you.’
‘I’m not a child, Dad.’ But she had a smile on her face when she said that. And if she was honest, it was kind of nice being back home, with Charlie and Maggie. Nice to be looked after, just for a little while. Although, it had been three months now, since she’d left America, and she still didn’t feel much like finding her own place. Not yet. And Charlie seemed in no hurry to see her leave.
‘You’ll always be a child in my eyes, Mia. So just humor your old dad, OK?’ His head dropped, and Mia frowned.
‘Dad? You all right?’
‘I sent you to Paradise because I thought it would be a safer place for you.’ He looked up, his eyes meeting hers. ‘I sent you there to protect you, from a violent man. And instead I sent you straight into the arms of another one.’
‘Ben was never violent towards me, Dad. He never hit me, we never even had violent sex…’
‘Jesus, Mia…’
‘I’m just trying to tell you that he wasn’t like that with me. Whatever he did in the past… he wasn’t like that with me.’
Charlie looked straight at her, his gaze not wavering. ‘But you couldn’t trust him.’
Mia broke the stare, her eyes dropping to the floor. ‘I don’t want to talk about it, OK? I’m moving on.’
Charlie gave her shoulder another gentle squeeze. ‘Look, I’ve got to head over to the compound in a bit, so, you gonna be OK on your own? Because I can get Maggie…’
‘I told you, I’m not gonna be on my own. I’m gonna call up some friends, spend some time reconnecting with the old crew.’
‘Well, if you need anything you just give me a call, y’hear me?’
‘I hear you. Now go, go on.’
He turned to head back inside, but then he stopped, turning back around. ‘Things will get better, Mia. I promise you.’
‘Yeah.’ She smiled again, but she wasn’t feeling that one quite so much. ‘Maybe.’ She didn’t want to dwell on the past, on what could have been. She needed to move on. ‘Look, Dad, before you go… I know we’ve already been through this, but – what happened with Coby, what I did to Lexi… I�
��m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.’
He pulled her in for a hug, holding her tight. ‘I know, baby. I know.’
‘I don’t blame them, for the way they feel. I almost…’
‘Hey, come on.’ He pulled away slightly, gently tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. ‘It’s just gonna take time, for the wounds to heal.’
She dropped her gaze. ‘Some wounds won’t ever heal.’
He tilted up her chin, making her look at him. ‘They will, sweetheart. They will.’
‘Does it get any easier, Dad? Does the guilt ever go away?’
‘You just have to give it some time, Mia. That’s all you can do.’
Time. Something she had way too much of now.
***
Kip ran his fingers over the President’s patch on his cut. Running the club – it was all he’d ever wanted to do. But the circumstances that had led him to this point – he wished they could have been different.
‘Hey. You doing OK in here?’
He looked up to see Cat leaning against the doorpost, her long legs encased in skin-tight leather pants, her just-as-tight T-shirt accentuating her perfect tits. His beautiful biker bride-to-be. The new Queen of the compound.
‘I’m fine. Just thinking, that’s all.’
She walked over to him, kissing him quickly, letting him pull her against him. ‘You need to stop feeling guilty, Kip. Coby understands what happened.’
‘I know,’ Kip sighed, throwing back his head as he let out a tired, frustrated sigh. ‘It’s just, everything that went on… I’m still trying to make sense of it all.’
‘It was a crazy day,’ she whispered, running her fingers through his hair, ‘But it brought us to this, didn’t it?’
He smiled, pulling her closer against him, her soft, sexy-as-hell body giving his dick something to think about. ‘Yeah. I guess it did. And I know it’s all been kind of a whirlwind thing, but, when you know something’s right, you just gotta go for it. And you – us, we feel right.’
‘I couldn’t agree more, handsome.’
‘Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be down at the Candy Cave this afternoon?’
‘Not for another hour or so. One of our threesome’s been delayed so they’re filming another scene before mine.’
‘A threesome, huh?’ Kip smirked, letting his hands fall down onto her tight ass.
‘All girls, and all willing to push that envelope as far as we can.’
Kip groaned, his hard-on barely able to conceal itself. ‘Fancy bringing some work home with you later?’
She stood on tip-toes, her mouth touching his as she spoke, a seductive smile on her face. ‘Maybe. If you’re a good boy.’
‘Jesus Christ, get out of here.’ He pushed her away, running a hand over his throbbing dick. ‘You’re driving me crazy!’ He was one lucky fucking son-of-a-bitch.
She grinned at him as she backed away towards the door, lifting up her T-shirt to give him a quick glimpse of those perfect tits.
‘Get out!’ he laughed, sitting down on the edge of the table, willing his hard-on to disappear. He didn’t have time to go deal with it.
After a few seconds, and with all thoughts of a naked Cat and her two playful friends gone from his mind – or pushed firmly to the back of it, for now – he stood up and walked over to the window, looking out over the compound. Everything was slowly returning to normal. Building work had resumed out the back of the clubhouse – a day nursery for the town’s children, and a family orientated bar and restaurant that Kip hoped would bring the community together, bring them back to the compound; let them see they could start trusting the Lone Riders again.
That new beginning was slowly becoming a reality. And he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face.
***
Sol stood at the edge of the river, his hands in his pockets, staring out at nothing in particular. It was a warm day, the sun only occasionally disappearing behind an unwelcome cloud, but he still couldn’t lose the chill that seemed to have been forever present since that day. Hector was dead. And that’s what he’d wanted – the only revenge that fitted every lie his father had told him; every betrayal he’d committed. Hector was dead. And nothing felt any better.
‘They said I’d find you down here.’
Sol looked around to see Michael Bailey approaching. ‘Just needed a bit of time out.’
‘From what I can gather you’ve been having quite a bit of that lately.’
Sol stared straight out ahead of him. ‘I don’t know if this is what I want anymore.’
‘The club?’
‘It was all handled so badly. Everything. The second I knew what my father had done…’ He dropped his gaze, briefly closing his eyes. ‘I helped turn Ben into… I helped destroy him.’
‘We all made mistakes. It was a mess, Sol. And maybe – maybe if we’d dealt with it all through the proper channels…’
Sol looked at him. ‘That was never gonna happen, Michael. And you know it.’
It was Michael’s turn to look away. ‘I’m outta here, Sol.’
‘Walking away, huh?’
‘I’m getting too old for this crap now, son. I was in way above my head, and I should never have let it get that far. I was just trying to keep the peace, y’know? Trying to keep this town safe. I got it wrong.’ He turned back to face Sol. ‘I didn’t want any of this to happen.’
‘Nobody did,’ Sol sighed, leaning back against a tree and lighting up a cigarette, taking a deep draw. ‘But I guess we just gotta work with what we’ve got now.’
‘You said you didn’t know if this is what you wanted anymore.’
Sol took another long draw, his eyes down, watching as he flicked ash on to the damp ground by his feet. ‘What else do I know, Michael?’ He raised his gaze. ‘Huh? What else do I know?’
‘That’s an excuse you guys really need to stop falling back on, Sol. Because that’s exactly what it is – an excuse. You want to leave all this behind? You can do it.’
Sol’s laugh was short and derisive. ‘Yeah. ‘Cause it’s that easy, right?’
‘You’re the one making it difficult. Your sister, she proved it can be done. Ben proved it can be done.’
‘Ben came back, he couldn’t stay away, couldn’t leave it alone.’ He took one more deep draw on his cigarette before stubbing it out on the tree. ‘And look what happened.’
‘We all let him down, Sol.’
Sol sighed heavily, pulling himself away from the tree. ‘I’m not leaving the life, Michael. I can’t. It’s all I know. It’s where I belong. I guess we’re all going through some kind of transition right now, that’s all. And maybe we just need to wait and see how that pans out, huh?’
Michael smiled a small but unconvinced smile. ‘Maybe.’
‘So…’ Sol let out a shorter, less heavy sigh, pushing both hands through his hair. ‘Where you off to then, Sheriff?’
‘Can’t call me that no more, Sol.’ Michael’s smile was more genuine as he spoke those words, as though saying them out loud had just lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. ‘I’m no longer a lawman.’
Sol returned the smile, chuckling quietly. ‘You never really were, to be fair. Sheriff.’
Michael couldn’t help laughing, too. ‘I tried my best, son. I tried my best. But I got myself in too deep in a game I lost control of. And now’s the time to take stock of all that, sit back and try and enjoy the kind of life where I don’t feel like I have to be looking over my shoulder all the time. I’m heading to Virginia. Gonna stay with my cousin for a few months; ride horses, have barbecues, do some fishing… I’m gonna do nothing but bum around and forget you lot ever existed.’
‘You not gonna miss Paradise?’
Michael just raised an eyebrow. ‘Can I take it now that you and the Lone Riders…?’
‘We keep to our own patches, Michael. I’ve spoken to Kip. We’ve got an understanding.’
Michael’s eyebrow remained raised. ‘An underst
anding?’
Sol just looked at him, and Michael held a hand up.
‘No, you’re OK. I don’t want to know, I don’t need to know, not anymore. You’re gonna be someone else’s problem now.’ Michael’s expression turned a touch more serious. ‘I trust you, Sol. I trust both of you. Look, Kip’s a good man. One of the best. And I’m not saying you have to be best buddies with the guy but, it’s possible you can avoid any real trouble. If you both try.’
‘I told you, we’ve had a sit down. We both know the score. Neither of us wants any trouble, Michael. And I know we’re not ever gonna be running our clubs the same way but…’ He shrugged, pulling out another cigarette from the packet with his teeth. ‘We’re not gonna be fighting either.’
Michael surveyed the new Dark Angels president with a slightly wary expression. They really weren’t his problem anymore, but he still cared about them – all of them – in a strange kind of way. ‘Be careful, Sol.’
Sol’s eyes met his, a slight smirk on the younger man’s hard but handsome face. ‘Right back at ya. Sheriff. Right back at ya.’
***
‘Flowers? Seriously?’ Lexi stood in the doorway, her arms folded.
‘I’m running out of options here, darlin’.’ Coby took a step forward, but she shook her head.
‘I’m sorry, Coby. I can’t do it.’
He bowed his head, laying the flowers down on the front step. ‘I don’t know what else to do, Lexi.’
‘There’s nothing you can do.’ Her voice was heavy with resignation. She loved him, but she couldn’t trust him. And she’d willed that to change, willed herself to at least want to give him a chance but every time she came close to allowing him back in, something happened – that barrier flew right back up and she couldn’t get past it. He’d slept with her sister, and she just couldn’t get past that.
‘I need you to know… and I’ve told you this a hundred times over the past couple of months, Lexi, but I mean it, darlin’. I mean it. I love you, so much it fucking hurts.’
Resurrection (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 3) Page 19