We all settled down and started watching the film as we sipped on our cocktails, we had faces full of facial cream and we sang and danced along to the songs on the film.
“Look at me I’m Sandra Dee…” I started.
“Lousy with virginity…” Cammie continued.
“Won’t go to bed til I’m legally wed…” Ashlyn sung. We all fell about laughing, this was the most fun I’ve had in ages. I never had a lot of girlfriends growing up, I found them all to be too bitchy. But I was definitely glad that I had met Cammie and Ashlyn, though the circumstances could have been better.
“So…” I started, looking at Ashlyn. “What’s going on with you and Drake?” I had been dying to ask this all week, since I saw the exchange between them the night Blade came home hurt and bloody. But I had never got a moment alone with her.
“Nothing.” She finished off her drink and stood up. We had all changed into our PJ’s. Ashlyn was wearing tiny pale pink shorts and a matching t-shirt, her long blonde hair falling down her back. “I’m making more cocktails.” She wandered off into the kitchen and Cammie gave me a look and a head nod. We both stood up and followed her in, we leant against the breakfast bar and stared at her. “What?” she placed her hands on her hips and stared at us.
“You’re avoiding, answer the question.” Cammie told her.
“Fine, there is nothing going on. He doesn’t want me.” She looked down at her hands and fiddled with her rings.
“Why do you say that?” Cammie and I got comfy on the stools as Ashlyn poured spirits and juices into a large jug.
“We kissed at one of the parties a few weeks ago and since then, nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. He hasn’t kept his hands off you all week. I’ve seen the little touches here and there,” I explained, taking a sip from the glass she placed in front of me. “Mmm, this is nice.”
“I like it with more pineapple juice.” Ashlyn stated as she took a sip and nodded in agreement with me that it tasted good.
“Do you know the club rule about prospects?” Cammie asked us. We both shook our heads. “They are not allowed to get involved with club women.”
“She’s not a club whore…”
“No, she isn’t. But the Cornish Crusaders protect her so, therefore they see her as their property and until Drake patches in he is not allowed to touch her.”
“What if he does?” Ashlyn asked, leaning on the kitchen counter so she could hear us better.
“He’ll get kicked out.”
“Oh.” Ashlyn looked and sounded disappointed. “It’s probably for the best anyway.”
“What do you mean by that?” Cammie asked her.
“I’m too complicated to be with, I’m scared. What happened to me at that club…” She trailed off and I saw Cammie shiver out of the corner of my eye. We didn’t want the conversation to turn this way.
“He should be patched in soon, right?” I asked looking between Cammie and Ashlyn.
“Soon, I think. It’s normally after about a year.” Cammie informed us.
“Oh, quick. Love this song!” Ashlyn called out as she went running into the front room. We walked in to see her doing the moves and singing ‘Go Grease Lightning’. She looked happy and care free, we joined in and proceeded to sing along to the rest of the film.
***
Blade
“Where are we, man?” Drake asked as we pulled our bikes up to a wooded area.
“Cornwall,” I answered, looking around us and making sure we wasn’t followed.
“Shit, should we be that far away from the girls?”
“We won’t be long, I just need to check on something.” We were back at the warehouse where I saw Prez and VP. I needed some solid proof that would put them away for good. I wasn’t in any shape to be fighting my way in, but I wanted to scope out the place some more. I wanted to know where all the entrances and exits were and how many men were around. I explained this all to Drake and he agreed to help me out. We stashed the bikes and made our way down the muddy, dusty hill. It was spookily quiet and that made me more on edge. I kept my movements light and my eyes were like a hawks, frantically looking around. I stopped when I could see the building. There were no lights on and no guards out the front. In fact, it looked deserted. We kept in the shadows in case we were being watched.
“I think it’s empty, man.” Drake whispered.
“I’m going for that window, to see if anyone is inside. Cover me, you got your piece?” He pulled his gun out of his jacket and released the safety. I nodded and made my way down the rest of the hill as quietly as I could. Once I reached the window, I listened, it was deadly quiet. I slowly peered into the window and it was in fact empty, no women, no mattresses, no Gloria and no VP or Prez. Fuck, I can’t believe I missed an opportunity to get the info the police needed. I had a chance to put them away and I missed it. This could cost me my future with my family.
“Fuck!” I yelled as I slammed my fist into the wall. I heard movement behind me, I pulled my gun out and aimed it as I spun around. I breathed a sigh of relief and dropped it as soon as I saw it was Drake. “It’s empty.”
“Let’s get out of here.” I nodded in agreement and we made the quick walk back to our bikes.
“I need a drink, we passed a bar on the way in.” I climbed onto my bike and we made our way to the bar.
We pulled up to the ‘Queen’s Inn’ it didn’t look like the normal place we would visit but I was pissed off and needed a drink or two. We parked our bikes by the side of the building and headed inside. From the outside, you looked like you were walking into a country pub, but inside it was dark; a few scattered tables, a long bar, a stage and a dance floor. This was not what I was expecting. We walked up to the bar and I ordered two whiskeys. I pushed one towards Drake and he downed it in one. I looked around and there was a group of women at a corner booth, drinking and laughing without a care in the world.
“Give me another,” I demanded to the barman. He looked at Drake and he shook his head, indicating that he didn’t want one. I noticed that one of the women kept looking our way, she had long straight black hair, a black corset, black shorts and fish net stockings, finishing off by a pair of black killer heels.
“What you doing, man?” Drake asked, stepping in front of me and blocking my view.
“Nothing.” I slung back my drink and nodded for another one. “You being a pussy and not drinking?”
“One of us has to be able to get us home tonight.”
“Hey, handsome. You wanna dance?” The woman I had been watching came over and had her hand on my thigh. I smiled back to her, grabbed her hand and started to stand up.
“What the fuck, man?” Drake growled, pushing me back into my seat.
“What?”
“You really going to do this?” He pointed to the woman.
“Why not? I’ve fucked up my life now, I may as well screw it up a bit more.” I stood up and wrapped my hand around her back. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Heather.” She smiled, turning her body in closer to mine, that was when reality hit me. Shit, what was I doing? What was I thinking?
“He’s not interested.” Drake told her, pushing her away from me.
“I saw the way he was looking at me, he wants me. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Fuck off!” Drake shouted in her face, she paled and scurried away. “Let’s get out of here.” He threw some money on the bar and grabbed me by my arm, leading me out of the bar. We walked around the corner of the pub to where we parked our bikes, he pushed me up against the wall and threw a punch, hitting me square on the jaw causing my head to jolt. “What the fuck were you thinking? You have a gorgeous, kind and amazing Old Lady at home, looking after your three kids. You were gonna throw that away for some slut.” He paced in front of me and I rubbed my hand over where he had hit me. It was a good solid punch, he was built like a brick house.
“You get one punch for free. Anymore and I take your ass do
wn,” I warned him, he stopped pacing and looked at me laughing.
“You ok to ride? Or do we need to come back and get your bike tomorrow?”
“I can ride.” I straddled my beloved bike, I wasn’t leaving it anywhere. Drake followed behind me and we made our way back home.
Chapter 26
Heather
“Where are we going?” I asked Blade as I climbed on the back of his bike. We had planned to go out this morning, but Tegan was being fussy, but after her lunch time nap she was much happier.
“It’s a surprise.” He grabbed the side of my thighs and pulled me closer to him. “Wrap your arms around me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“And I don’t want you to fall off.” I wrapped my arms around him, trying not to hold on too tight. “Sugar, tighter.” I held on tighter else we were never going to get anywhere. Once he was satisfied, he started the bike and we sped off down the road. This was the only the second time I had left all three children and I felt a little apprehensive about it. I knew I could trust Cammie and Ashlyn and knew that Drake would keep them all safe.
We travelled for about twenty minutes, when I felt Blade slowing down I looked around and noticed that we were at the beach. He knew this was one of my favourite places to be. As we were going slowly around the car park, I pulled my helmet off and shook my hair out, I loved feeling my hair blowing around in the breeze. Blade pulled in up high by the cliffs, the view was outstanding. I climbed off the bike and walked over to a bench. Blade followed me.
“I love it here, thank you.” I kissed him quickly, not wanting to take my eyes off the view. Far out on the horizon, the sea was bright blue and settled and as it go closer to shore it crashed on the rocks, creating bubbles and foam. The sound was calming and it was one of the places I could sit and relax all day even in the rain.
“I love you, sugar.”
“I love you too.”
He turned his body towards mine and held my hands in his.
“I never knew it was possible to love someone as much as I love you, to want to protect you, keep you safe and love you all day long, every day. You, Liam, Kelsey and Tegan are my world and I would be completely lost without all of you,” he paused as he rummaged around inside his jacket. I watched as he pulled out a ring box and held it in front of me, closed. “I know we can’t get married, because technically you are still married to James and I’m married to Willow…” He took another deep breath, I knew it wasn’t possible for us to get married as our other halves were cleaned up and buried, no funerals, no evidence of their deaths. As far as anyone knew, they were still alive.
“I want you to have this ring and be mine, forever. What do you say? Always together forever?”
“Oh, Kade. Yes, of course I will always be yours. Isn’t that what this means?” I asked pulling at my leather cut.
“It is, but I hated seeing that finger on your left hand bare.” He opened the box and settled inside was two rings, matching wedding rings. One for me and one for him. “Heather, I give you this ring to show you how much I love you, respect you and cherish you. I will always protect you and our family. I love you.” He pushed the ring on my finger and I gazed at it. It was a white gold Celtic ring, the delicate pattern on it was amazing. I pulled out the other matching ring from the box and placed it on Blade’s finger.
“Kade, I give you this ring to show you how much I love you, respect you and cherish you. I will always keep our family safe, happy and healthy. I love you so much.” A tear ran down my face and Blade wiped it away as he cradled my face in his large hands, his soft lips and stubble caressing my skin, first a kiss on my cheek, my lips and my neck.
“Mmm,” I moaned in pleasure. His lips moved back to mine and he showed me how much he loved me with a soft and passionate kiss that lit my body on fire. I hoped that feeling would never end, that he would always have this effect on me. Once we separated he pulled me onto his lap, my back to his chest and we watched the sun setting. I didn’t know how long we had been sitting there, we were interrupted by the sound of Blade’s phone ringing. I jumped up quickly, panicking that there was a problem with the kids.
“Club.” Blade told me as he looked at the caller display. I sat back down beside him as he answered it. “Yeah… Ok, yeah I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He sighed as he wrapped me in his arms again. “I need to stop by the clubhouse on the way home, it won’t be for long.” I nodded, I didn’t want to leave the little bubble we were in but Blade was needed and it was never a good thing to keep the club waiting.
***
I didn’t want to go into the clubhouse as Blade said he wouldn’t be long. I had been sitting on a picnic bench outside for nearly an hour and it was starting to get unnervingly dark. I needed the toilet too, so I got up and walked inside. The club was busy, girls were dancing on the stage, the bar was busy and it was noisy. I didn’t want anyone to see me so I quickly hurried to Blade’s room to use the toilet. I didn’t want to have to walk past the bar to get to those toilets. Once I was finished, I washed my hands and went in search for Blade. As I walked down the hall I heard some voices in the Prez’s office, the door was ajar so I peeked through the gap. The Prez and VP were standing there talking, no Blade. I went to walk away when I heard the words Satan MC. I stood back from the door so they couldn’t see me and listened.
“I don’t know what the fuck happened, boss. No one knows we are working with the Satan MC. No one knows about the merge.” I gasped at what I was hearing. Shit, did they hear me? I peeked back into the room and saw two sets of eyes staring at me.
“Get her, keep her quiet.” Prez ordered. I ran away as fast as my legs could take me, I looked behind and saw Ripped gaining on me. I ran straight for the exit, praying that Blade was outside waiting for me, I was relieved to see that he was. I looked behind again and saw that Roxy had stopped Ripped, I needed to thank her for that one day.
“Sugar?” Blade looked worried.
“Get on the bike, quick, we gotta go.” Blade climbed on the bike and sped off even before I had a chance to put my helmet on.
“Helmet,” he shouted to me. I nodded and slipped it over my head. “What happened?” he asked. We had speakers in our helmets so we can talk to each other.
“Just get me home,” I shouted.
“Sugar, you need to tell me what happened.” I felt the bike slowing down before Blade pulled into a layby.
“No, don’t stop, why are you stopping?” I slapped at his back.
“Talk to me,” he turned around the best he could and flipped open the visor on my helmet.
“I heard Prez and VP talking. I was looking for you. They mentioned working for the Satan MC and a merge.”
“Fuck!” he roared. “We gotta get you out of here.” He slammed my visor down, slipped his helmet back on and then we were flying down the dual carriageway.
“Where are you going?” I panicked, home was in the other direction.
“We need to get you away from them. We have to put distance between us and fast. Before they find us.”
“What do you mean? I want to go home.”
“We can’t go home, sugar.”
“Kade, our children are there,” I sobbed. “Stop the bike.”
“No.”
“Stop the bike.” I hit his back. “Stop the bike.” I hit him again. “Stop the bike.” My head fell against his back and I cried.
Blade
I felt the pain shooting through my chest at the turmoil Heather was going through. I didn’t want to keep her away from our kids, but I couldn’t let her go back there either. She heard private information and I couldn’t risk letting them get to her, not only would they kill her, they would enjoy it. They would probably rape her and torture her, enjoying every moment of it. I would never let them hurt her like that.
“Kade, please,” she sobbed. We had been travelling for over two hours, I was vigilant in checking my mirrors and was convinced no one was following us. I pulled
in to the car park of a Travelodge to see if they had any rooms for the night.
“Come on, sugar.” I tapped her leg and she climbed off the bike, pulling her helmet off. Her eyes were red and puffy. I pulled her in closer to my chest and she broke down.
“Please, Kade, let’s go back. I can’t leave our children, I just can’t, please,” she begged.
“They will be fine with Cammie, Ashlyn and Drake. Let’s get a room and then we can phone them.” She nodded, I grabbed her hand and led her into the entrance.
The reception was clean, tidy and minimalistic. Sat behind the desk was an older woman, with short dark hair.
“Do you have any rooms available, please?” I asked.
“For how many nights?”
“Just one.” She kept looking over at Heather who was still sobbing.
“Yes.” I handed over my credit card, I didn’t care how much it would cost, I just needed a place where we could lay low and rest. As she processed the transaction she looked at Heather again.
“Miss, are you ok?” She handed over a box of tissues and Heather took a couple, dabbing at her eyes.
“Yes,” she sniffed. The woman looked from me and back to Heather.
“If you don’t want to go with this man, I can call the police,” she informed her, now standing up. She placed my credit card back in front of me.
“Oh, no. He’s my husband, we’ve just had some bad news, that’s all. Thank you for your concern though.” She nodded her head. “He may look rough around the edges but he is a teddy bear really.” She smiled.
“As long as you’re sure.”
“Yes. Thank you, it’s good that you checked.”
“Ok. Your room is on the third floor. Take the door at the end of the corridor, up the steps and it’s the fourth door on your left.” She handed me the room key and we walked away from her.
As soon as we walked in the room, Heather turned to me.
“Give me your phone. I need to call Cammie.”
“We need to use the hotel phone. I need to keep this one turned off in case it can be traced.” She rushed to the hotel phone and called Cammie. “Let me talk to Drake when you’re done.” She nodded.
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