Paige joined me in the booth sitting directly opposite, "How did you become so fucking nice and innocent?" her comment took me by surprise, she leaned across the table and briefly placed her hand on top of mine to give it a squeeze. No sooner had she done it, Paige removed her hand and checked her phone as a text message flashed up on the screen. She quickly typed a response and placed her mobile onto the table in front of her.
"I'm not nice, I'm just a little more rational than you." I stated trying to calm the situation further. She was still agitated but at least she was now sitting down and having a conversation rather than shouting at me.
"I need to ask whether you've been drinking." Paige turned her head to the side assessing what I'd just asked before sliding along the seat and stepping from the booth. "I didn't mean anything by it Paige, I just needed to ask," I shouted after her as she stomped over to another seating area and grabbed the glass from the table. As she turned, I noticed her smug smile of satisfaction. She gracefully placed the half filled glass in front of me before sitting opposite.
"Taste it," I looked down at the glass and then back up at Paige.
"No it's fine I'll take your word for it." I shook my hand dismissing her.
"Fucking taste it Chloe," her words were more aggressive but I knew I'd now have to so she could now prove her point.
I brought the glass close to my lips and breathed in the scent trying to place the drink before I tipped the glass and took in a small amount of liquid.
"I'm on the water so there's no chance of getting drunk." A text flashed up again and Paige quickly snatched her phone from the table to read the message before typing a wordy response.
"Who you talking to, is it Cade?" Paige finished her message and slowly looked up at me through the strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face.
"What the fuck has it gotta do with you? Do I ask you who you're talking to every time you get a text?" I shook my head, "Well then, mind your own fucking business." Her demeanour changed quickly from having a calm conversation to pure aggression and I knew that whoever she had been speaking to had really upset her.
Paige slid from the booth and casually walked passed me. I didn't know what came over me but I lunged for her arm and pulled her back.
Paige immediately looked down at her arm and back up to me several times as I squeezed tightly, I didn't want her to leave, I wanted her to carry on talking so I could find out who was upsetting her.
"You've got to the count of three to let go of my arm otherwise I'm gonna gouge your fucking eyes out."
I slowly let go of her wrist and was disappointed that I didn't put up more of a fight. She was my sister that I cared so deeply for but she bottled everything up inside and never allowed anyone to get close to her. I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation.
Paige smiled sarcastically before turning on her heels to saunter from the bar area. I couldn't allow her to leave without finding out where she was going. I grabbed my handbag from beside me and slithered from the seat to run after her.
"Paige," I shouted over the music but she ignored me and continued on her way. "Paige," I yelled again but this time louder. She glanced over her shoulder briefly and quickened her pace knowing that I was closing in on her.
I too quickened my pace and jogged after her, I pushed the two heavy front doors to let myself out into the car park.
"Paige come on, don't leave me like this. Let's chat for a bit and catch up, we haven't done this in ages."
She sauntered over to a black ford that was in the car park, the driver stared at me through the glass as I walked closer and pulled up the collar of his jacket.
"Chloe, I've got things to do. We'll catch up later, love ya." Paige blew me a kiss before opening the car door and getting into the back seat.
I didn't like this, something was off about the whole situation. I quickly removed my phone from my handbag and took a photograph of the car registration. I hoped that we could try to piece things together and find out whom she was hanging around with. I didn't recognise the car, not that I knew all of Paige's friends but I was concerned by the way that she'd been acting.
I needed to forward this photograph to the club, CJ was usually the member to deal with this sort of thing but I didn't want to disturb him knowing that he had a lot going on at the moment.
I decided to message Woods,
I found Paige but she was acting strangely. She got into this vehicle, can you trace the plate and get a name?
I attached the photograph and felt a little better knowing that Woods would look into this for me. I was about to place my phone back into my handbag when Woods called.
"Hey babe, what's up?" I asked walking across the gravel towards my car.
"Did she say where she was going?"
"No, she seems very distracted and messaged someone the whole time we were talking, she then disappeared with them." I removed my car keys from my handbag and pressed the button to unlock my car.
"Okay, well it could be nothing babe so don't worry. Leave this with me and I'll look in to it for you." Woods had a way of making every situation seem trivial even if it wasn't, this was a good quality to have because he always made me feel better about things.
"Thanks babe."
"Not a problem, right I'm just going into Church so I'll talk to you in a bit."
"Okay speak soon."
I had a bad feeling about this, Paige wasn't in a good place. I was pleased that she wasn't drinking and was convinced that she wasn't using either but I had a feeling that she was involved in something that she wasn't letting on about. I only hoped that she knew what she was doing.
Duke
I fucking hated the paperwork side of this job. I leaned back in my chair as the pen kept on sliding out of my grip because of the amount of grease everywhere. I'd washed my bloody hands but no sooner was they clean they became dirty again. I had enjoyed doing a couple of hour's manual labour in the garage this morning though. I was increasingly busy with club business that I didn't get much time to work with the lads in the garage but when I did, it felt like the good old days when things weren't so hectic.
I picked up my folder from the table and flicked through the pages. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I just wanted to familiarise myself with all of the various events that I thought were possibly linked. None of us could make a connection still and I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation because there had to be something that I was missing.
My phone vibrated and the caller ID filled me with dread, why the fuck was HQ calling?
"Good morning," I answered knowing that it was either Trent or Ginge on the other end of the phone.
"Duke its Trent, I hope all is well your end." He stated and I could tell by the tone of his voice that this wasn't a social call.
"Cut to the chase Trent, you don't usually call unless there's something on your mind." There was no point beating around the bush, it was easier to be upfront.
He chuckled, "That's what I like about you Duke, always straight down the line no fucking about."
"It's the only way to be," I was quickly racking my brains trying to think of a reason for the phone call.
"We've heard through the grapevine that you've got a few issues going on up there in Essex."
He went quiet waiting for me to respond. Did we have a few issues going on? We'd had a fire, a brick through the window and they'd been Amber's death but were they serious enough to get HQ involved?
"I'm not gonna lie, we've had a few things go on recently but it's nothing we can't handle." These could be seen as major events but the club was dealing with them, I couldn't afford to have HQ sniffing all over us.
"What things have you had going on though Duke? You know we like to be kept involved and if anything makes the club look weak, you know that doesn't sit favourably with us." He wanted to see that what he'd been told married up with my story so I needed to be honest.
"We've had a f
ire at the business my Mrs owns, a brick through the window at the gym and Diesel's ex was found dead. Like I say, this is nothing to worry about as these incidents happened over a sustained period of time and I'm sure they're not linked." I lied but I wanted him to think that these incidents were just a coincidence.
"Is that the druggy ex Mrs he had?"
"Yeah, she was back on the shit and couldn't be helped but that had nothing to do with the club. Diesel washed his hands of her years ago."
"Okay and you don't think any of these things are related?"
"Not at this stage no, look I don't know who's been chatting shit and why they're even involving you to be honest. You know I'd get in touch if things were out of control."
"Okay Duke," there was a long pause before he continued. "We respect your decision for going legit. It was a brave decision but it's actually paid off. You pay your money on time each month and we've had no issues from the club but we're just a little concerned that the club may be getting the piss taken out of it."
"What do you mean?" I asked confused by his statement.
"Get your shit together quickly, you were put in charge for a reason Duke. Now we know that you can do it but we're hearing conflicting stories and from someone directly involved in the club so we're concerned."
"I totally understand," there was no point kicking off and throwing my toys out of the pram at the mention of a snake in my club. I needed to take this bollocking on the chin and deal with the consequences later.
"Now if something gets flagged up again then we've got an issue and we'll have to come up to Waltham Abbey for a chat."
"I can assure you there's no issue Trent."
"Well let's hope that you're right but in the mean time, clean your shit up and quickly Duke coz if we get involved then things will get shitty."
"I hear you loud and clear."
"I like you Duke but I want an easy life mate so get it sorted, you have two weeks." Trent hung up and I sat contemplating the conversation.
Who had been grassing to HQ? For fucks sake, I had enough going on without a snake directly in the club. I flicked through the folder again but slower this time. This had been a bone of contention within the club, it had been the thing to keep me awake most evenings because I was frustrated trying to place the pieces of the puzzle together. Nothing was overly obvious and sprung to mind, I rubbed my forehead feeling a migraine building and the pain was getting worse.
The sound of knocking pulled me from my thoughts, I closed the folder to conceal what I was looking at and sat back in my chair.
"Yeah," I shouted letting the person know it was okay to enter the room.
The door slowly opened and Hound peered around the corner, "Have you got time for a quick chat before church?"
I immediately noticed that he was looking tired, Hound obviously had something on his mind.
I sat up, "Of course mate come in."
Hound smiled as I beckoned him over. He leaned against the door to make sure it was firmly shut before he strolled across the room. Hound pulled out the chair beside me and sat down with an expressive huff.
I sniggered, "What's going on Hound that was a rather long sigh."
Hound unfastened his cut and leaned back into his chair, "I've got a lot going on at the moment, let's talk about why your face looks like a slapped arse first before I bore you with my issues."
"I've just been warned to get my shit together by HQ before they pay me a visit." I blurted pleased that he'd asked me to vent because I was steaming.
He frowned, "Why they sticking their noses into your business? We pay on time and have never missed a payment."
I shrugged, "They mentioned that and stated that they're happy with that side of the business but someone's been opening their mouth."
"No fucking way, they said we've got a grass?"
"Yep, Trent said we have."
Hound bit his lip, if it was one thing we hated most it was a grass. "Okay so what we gonna do?" he asked after a long pause.
"I've been going through this folder for weeks now." I pushed the folder towards Hound and he picked it up and slowly flicked through the pages. "But I'm still no closer to finding out who's involved, whether there's even a link or everything's just a coincidence."
"I feel like you're not telling me something." Hound closed the folder and leaned onto the table ready to hear my response.
I smiled, I had known Hound for years and he could read me like a book. "I'm contemplating setting a trap."
"A trap?"
"Yeah."
"I'm all ears," he stated leaning back into his chair. "How do you know what they want?"
"They want me. They either want me to fail and lose my presidency or they just want me dead, I haven't quite worked that one out yet."
"You think it's personal then?" he asked confused.
"Yeah it's gotta be."
Hound let out a loud sigh, "Okay so do you know who the grass is?"
"Nope but I'm gonna find out soon enough. I need to start playing hard ball."
"Are you gonna call them out at Church?"
"I'm not sure yet, I think I need to play things cool and work everyone out first."
Hound looked at his watch, "Well it's about that time."
"Open up and let them in," I stated.
Hound pushed his chair back scraping it across the wooden floor and grabbed the empty box that sat in the middle of the table before walking towards the door.
He glanced over his shoulder, "You ready?"
I nodded, "Let's get them in and then I'll try to work out who the fucking grass is."
Hound opened the door and rested his back against the wood as he held out the box for the mobile phones to be put into.
"Right come on ladies," he shouted rounding up the troops.
They filed in one by one turning off their phones and slipping them into the box.
"Duke," Spike nodded strolling into the room.
"You okay?"
"All good man," he stated walking around the table to sit near the back.
"Recon, how's things?"
"I'm alright mate, I could do with a drink though."
I looked at my watch, "It's a little early."
"Women," he stated sitting down beside me.
I sniggered, "Well it's never too early to drink where they're concerned."
He rolled his eyes, "Exactly."
I watched as the rest of the group filtered into the room, some made direct eye contact saying hello and giving a quick nod of the head and others didn't as they were too involved in their own conversations.
Hound took one more look outside before handing the box to Buster.
"Has Cade made it here on time?" Buster shook his head and Hound looked a little upset by his response.
Hound shut the door and walked towards his seat positioned two chairs away from me.
"So where's Cade then?" I asked Hound over the noise of the guys settling down into their seats.
"He's running an errand for me, I thought he'd be back by now."
He looked uncomfortable as he shuffled in his chair. I wasn't stupid, I knew that he'd done a bunk earlier on this morning and now I knew that Hound was covering for him, the only thing I was wondering was why?
"Okay guy's settle down, I haven't got much to cover so let's get going and then you can go about your day." The group quickly went quiet allowing me to speak.
"I'll start with CJ. He's currently sorting stuff out elsewhere at the moment so he's not going to be around a lot over the next couple of weeks. His shifts at the gym will need to be covered so I'm gonna allow Lyric to run it but Jayden to oversee it. Now I know that's unusual because he's an associate come hangaround come family...," the guys struggled as I tried to explain exactly what Jayden was. "But CJ has requested that he be involved and will keep in regular contact with him so I can't say fairer than that."
There were a few mutters but no questions were asked so I swiftly moved on.
"We now own the Bookies in town and Justice has also been working his magic over there or is it over her?"
There were a few sniggers but Justice just lapped up the attention with a huge grin on his face.
"We are a little stretched at the moment so we plan on bringing some fresh meat to the club."
A few of the guys looked around and nodded with approval, this made me feel better about the situation as I couldn't afford for there to be any animosity.
"Now I know this changes the dynamics of the group, remember how Lyric changed things in this very room." The group sniggered in reference to the fight CJ and Lyric had as Spike ruffled Lyrics hair.
"What? I was cool with the situation it was CJ who had the issue."
"Yeah whatever Lyric," I stated rolling my eyes. "I've been looking at Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertford and Kent, there are a few names bobbing about but I'll let you know nearer the time."
"No come on man at least share a couple of names," Rex asked. "We can't have any dickheads joining the group."
I let out a sigh, "Okay, well Tugs, Pachenko and Grimm have been mentioned so far."
The group seemed okay with the names mentioned, I glanced in Diesel's direction and he raised his brows also shocked with the reaction from the group.
"I can't leave here today without mentioning the high number of incidents that we've had recently. We still don't know who is behind it all so we all need to stay vigilant. Use any resources necessary , speak to your grasses, drug addicts, literally anyone that you can think of that you think will be able to help in order for us to have some fresh leads. The extra man power that we'll be getting, will hopefully help by freeing some of us up so that we can investigate this matter further."
"Things are happening way too often for whoever it is to not slip up." Diesel added helping the message to come across clearly to the group.
The guys nodded and ripples of low level conversations happened around the room.
Cade (Aces MC Series Book 5.5) Page 6