She pulled away from him, almost running back over to her car, climbing inside and driving off before he had a chance to stop her.
Coby leant back against his bike and let out the loudest sigh of frustration, grabbing his hair with both hands as he shouted out loud. ‘Shit!’
Did he love her too? How could he possibly know that, when he’d never really been in love before. He was almost forty-nine years old and he’d never really been in love. He’d just let his life go by in the company of biker mamas and porn stars. And now he had one of the most stunning women he’d ever known stand there and tell him she loved him. A woman he’d watched grow from a ten year old tomboy into someone so beautiful she took his breath away. A woman who, since her return to Paradise, he’d spent every waking minute wanting to be with. When he was inside her he felt peace. Calm. He felt strong. Like he could take on the world. But she was a dangerous woman to love, because she’d given an already unstable house of cards a nudge. And he couldn’t risk the whole lot coming down around him. Around the club. He couldn’t risk it. But, at the same time, he knew that, at some point, he was going to have to. He had no other choice.
***
‘My grandson, Charlie! Jesus! You let our daughter go through pregnancy and the birth of her own child and you didn’t think to let her mother know?’
‘We looked after her, Angie. She had the best possible care, and Maggie was with her throughout everything…’
‘Maggie isn’t her fucking mother!’
‘And her mother was the one who forced her out of town, out of her home. Her mother was the one who forced her back here, to us. Or have you forgotten that? Huh?’
Angie closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. ‘We’re in a fucking mess here, Charlie.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘She needs her baby. She needs him home, in Paradise.’
‘And he needs stability. You think that’s what he’s gonna get over there?’
‘And what the hell is he getting with you? You telling me you never bring him to the compound? That he’s never around the boys there, never in the clubhouse?’
Charlie sighed down the line, just as frustrated by the situation as Angie was. ‘Maybe we should have sent Coby back to Paradise the second Lexi knew he was here,’ Charlie said.
‘Maybe.’
‘We could still have achieved the endgame we were after.’ But Charlie knew that was a lie. He’d needed Coby. He’d needed him to stay. So sending him back to California early had never been an option. ‘We made mistakes, Angie,’ Charlie went on. ‘You, me, Tay – Coby, even Lexi.’ Especially Lexi. Charlie was more than aware of the mistakes his daughter had made. The mess those mistakes had created. ‘We all made mistakes.’
‘And you let our daughter make an even bigger one… Jesus, Charlie… Coby Walker, of all people.’
‘Coby is one of the most loyal brothers we’ve ever had.’
‘So, you’re happy with the fact he slept with our daughter right under your fucking nose?’
‘What the hell did you expect me to do, Angie? Tag him? Lexi’s head was all over the place after Shane died. I had no idea she’d left the wake and come back here to see Coby. I had no idea, I promise you that. It wasn’t until she told me she was pregnant that I realized what had happened. And she tried to hide that from me for as long as she could.’
‘She… she tried to hide the fact she was pregnant?’ Angie felt her stomach give another unwanted dip. Was she ever going to get her head around this situation?
‘She was scared. She might have been thirty-four years old but she was terrified of what had happened. Of what she’d done. She was confused. She wanted me to help her.’
‘You should have called me,’ Angie said, her voice as calm as she could keep it.
‘What good would that have done?’
‘What good…? She’s my daughter! Jesus Christ!’
There was a pause, a moment of silence where neither of them spoke. ‘Coby knows the score.’
‘Coby is up to his eyes in shit over this, Charlie. And I’m not sure how long I can keep this from Tay. From anyone. Because she needs her baby here. He belongs with his mother.’ She gave another pause, leaving a good few beats before she spoke again. ‘That boy, he needs his father. God help him…’
‘We have to let Lexi and Coby work this one out for themselves, Angie.’
‘And I think it’s a decision that needs to be taken out of their hands.’ She hung up, throwing the phone down on to the desk just as Tay walked in.
‘Something up?’ he asked, going straight to the filing cabinet.
‘No,’ Angie sighed, sitting back in her chair. ‘Everything’s fine.’
He turned around, nudging the cabinet shut with his elbow. ‘You sure? Only, you look more stressed than I’ve seen you in a long time. This got anything to do with Lexi?’
Angie looked at her husband. A man she owed a lot to. A man she really shouldn’t lie to. Because the consequences of that could be something she really didn’t want to face. ‘No. I told you, everything’s fine.’
He continued to hold her gaze, which only served to make Angie more nervous. ‘Okay. Well, I’ll be in the garage if you need me. And if you see Coby, can you tell him I want a word?’
‘Yeah. Sure. I’ll tell him.’ She watched Tay walk out of the office, sitting back in her chair and closing her eyes. She’d lost control of this one. And that was a feeling that terrified her.
Thirteen
‘Can I come in?’
Lexi looked up as Coby pushed open the door of the clubhouse apartment. ‘You’re asking now?’
He closed the door behind him, sitting down on the chair by the door, clasping his hands between his open knees, his eyes down on the floor. ‘We can’t go on like this, Lexi.’
‘I know.’
He looked at her, and Lexi felt her breathing speed up, her heart racing, a mixture of nerves and fear and a ridiculous need to cry welling up inside her. What she’d felt for Coby before she still didn’t know, but she hadn’t felt this, hadn’t felt anything close to this until he’d come over to England. Until he’d put his lips against hers and his body inside her. Until he’d given her Ozzie. And a lifetime’s worth of heartache.
‘I think…’ His eyes were back down on the floor, and she watched as he visibly breathed in deeply. ‘I think, maybe, it’s time to get our shit together, kid. Because this – this can’t go on.’ He raised his head to look at her again. ‘So, maybe we’ve just got to bite the bullet, you know? Get things – some things – out in the open.’ He paused for a second, but his eyes never left hers. ‘I want you to be my old lady, Lexi.’
Lexi felt the breath catch in her throat and she closed her eyes, trying to take in what he’d just said to her. He wanted her to be his old lady. That meant making it official, telling everybody they were together. It meant that she belonged to him now. But it also meant that the truth would finally have to start coming out. If this happened, they’d have no choice.
‘What do you say, kid?’
She opened her eyes, climbing off the bed and walking over to him, leaning over to kiss him slowly, deeply, the roughness of his skin against hers and the smell of cigarettes and engine oil all merging together, turning her on. Making her love him more. ‘Yeah. All right.’ She smiled, and he returned it, sliding his hands up under her t-shirt, hooking his fingers into the sides of her panties.
‘Every time I come in here you’re practically naked. There a reason for that?’
‘No. I guess you’ve just got incredibly good timing.’
He laughed low and quiet, and Lexi felt a shiver run right through her as he started to slide her panties down over her legs. She helped him, stepping out of them and pulling off her t-shirt, leaving her naked, and ready for him to claim her as his own. Ready to give herself to him. Completely.
‘Jesus Christ!’ he groaned. ‘How did I get so fucking luck
y? Come here.’
She leant over, resting her hands on his open knees, kissing him again, running her fingers up over his thighs.
‘Come on, Lexi!’ Coby groaned again, quickly unzipping himself.
She slowly lowered herself down so she was straddling him, taking him in her hand and guiding him inside her. ‘I really hope you’re not doing all of this purely because I told you not to touch me until you were ready to deal with it all.’
‘I’m ready,’ he whispered, pushing her hair back off her face and kissing her again.
‘You better be. Because if you come inside me, then just walk right out of here like none of what you said mattered, I’m gonna cut that dick of yours right off. You got that, soldier?’
He looked at her, smiling that smile, his hands now on her hips, pushing her further down on to him. ‘You really know how to make sure a guy keeps his hard-on, don’t you?’
‘It’s a talent.’
She pushed herself down on to him a little harder, gently rotating her hips against him, closing her eyes as his mouth covered one of her breasts, his tongue circling her nipple, sending wave after wave of tiny tingles shooting through her. A dangerous shot of something she maybe should have avoided, left alone; but when had she ever done anything she was supposed to?
‘Oh, you got a talent all right, kid. You got one hell of a fucking talent.’
She leant back, resting her hands on his open knees, arching her back, angling her body so he could push as deep into her as he could go, and it was just seconds later that she felt that wave intensify, build up speed, until it came crashing over her like a tsunami of beautiful spasms. And the cry she let loose was so loud she was almost sure that anyone else inside the clubhouse must have heard it. But so what? They were all going to know now anyway, weren’t they?
‘Jesus Christ!’ Coby groaned, his own body jerking slightly as he came, too, shooting out into her fast and hard, holding tightly on to her hips as their bodies shuddered slowly to a halt. ‘Shit! I’m getting too old for this,’ he laughed, dropping his head forward so it rested between her breasts.
She buried her fingers in his hair, kissing the top of his head. ‘You’ll never be too old, Coby Walker.’
He raised his head, his eyes meeting hers. ‘I meant it, Lexi. What I said before. I want you to be my old lady. I want this to go somewhere.’
‘And Ozzie?’
He lowered his gaze, and Lexi let go of him, climbing off him, picking up her t-shirt and pulling it back on.
‘You really can’t do it, can you?’
Coby kept his eyes on the floor, his hands clasped together.
‘You take me, you take him, too, Coby. Jesus! He’s your fucking son! Do you ever think about that, huh? Do you? Do you ever think about him?’
He stood up, kicking the chair back, his face a mask of anger and frustration. ‘I never stop thinking about him, Lexi. I never stop thinking about you. Since the day I saw you at Charlie’s; since the day I first made love to you, baby, you have been right here…’ He violently tapped the side of his head, his eyes boring deep into hers. ‘Right fucking here, and you have never gone away. Never. And when I knew you were pregnant…’ He finally broke the stare, turning away for a second or two. Lexi found herself backing off until she was up against the wall, watching him as he paced the floor. ‘I wanted to come back over there, I wanted to be with you…’ He turned to face her, his expression softer now. ‘It killed me, Lexi, to know you were so far away… and I couldn’t get to you. To know you were having my baby, and I couldn’t be there with you when he…’ He lowered his gaze again, pushing a hand through his hair, ‘… when he was born. I missed that.’ He looked back up, walking over to her, tilting her chin up with his forefinger so her eyes met his. ‘I missed that, because of this fucking messed-up way we live.’
‘I want him over here, Coby.’
Coby shook his head, once more breaking the stare. ‘It’s… it really isn’t as simple as that.’
‘Isn’t it?’
He sighed, turning away from her. ‘I love you, Lexi…’
She felt her heart shudder to a stop as he said those words. ‘Look at me, Coby. Please.’
He slowly turned around, his eyes locked on to hers. ‘I love you, kid. Whatever love is – whatever it’s supposed to be. But we have to take things slowly. Trust me. Please. What we’re doing here, going public… that’s gonna be enough for a lot of them out there to deal with. Throwing Ozzie into the mix as well – it’s too much, baby. All in one go. It’s too much.’
‘Tell me you love him too, Coby,’ Lexi whispered, tears starting to blur her vision now. Hot, painful, confused tears.
Coby pulled her into his arms, holding her tight, and all she could do was fall against him and cling on to him. It was the only place she wanted to be right now – there, in his arms.
‘Of course I love him too, Lex. And believe me, sweetheart, we’ll be a family. One day. If it fucking kills me…’
‘Don’t say that.’ She pulled back slightly, looking right into his eyes. ‘Those words… said around here, they can be just a bit too literal sometimes.’
He threw her a small smile, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear, kissing her slowly, causing her to fall against him once more. ‘Trust me, beautiful. Okay? Trust your big brave Scottish man.’
She couldn’t help but smile, playing with the edges of his cut, breathing in that familiar smell of leather. ‘It doesn’t look like I’ve got much choice, does it?’
He tilted up her chin again, kissing her quickly. ‘What are we gonna do about Jesse?’
‘Oh, Jesus…’ Lexi sighed, throwing her head back. ‘Jesse.’
‘I know it looks like he’s over you…’
‘He’s over me.’
‘Are you over him?’
She looked at Coby, running her fingers over his scarred cheek. ‘I think I was over him a long time ago, if truth be told.’
His mouth lowered down on to hers, his hands sliding up under her t-shirt, lifting her up, her legs wrapping around him. He was about to take her again, lay claim to her body, her soul; he was about to put himself inside of her and stay there, for as long as she needed him to. To give her the calm she needed. But that storm was growing ever closer. And there wasn’t a thing anybody could do to stop it.
Fourteen
‘Something going on I don’t know about?’ Tay asked, sitting down at a table outside the clubhouse and helping himself to a beer from the crate beside him.
Angie looked at him, continuing to place beer bottles into a barrel of ice.
‘Angie? You gonna answer me, sweetheart? Only, I might be missing something here, but you’ve gone all weird on me, my VP’s answering back, giving me shit, and Lexi’s walking around looking like she’s got the weight of the world on those beautiful shoulders of hers. You still want to stand there and tell me everything’s fine?’
Angie stopped what she was doing, looking over towards the clubhouse. Most of them were still inside, but this was another Lone Riders party. They wouldn’t all stay in there for long. Parties always spilled out into the compound.
‘Hey, hon. You gonna talk to me?’
Angie looked at Tay, watching as he took a long swig of beer. Should she have told him this sooner? Should Coby have told him this sooner?
‘Coby and…’ She took a long, deep breath, ‘… and Lexi…’
‘They’re sleeping together.’
Her expression turned to one of confusion as she folded her arms, staring at Tay. ‘You knew?’
‘Oh, no fucker told me, Ange. But I’ve seen them, the way they’ve been with each other since Lexi came back. The way he looks at her… shit! If she wasn’t my stepdaughter I’d be looking at her that way, too.’
Angie ignored him, looking towards the clubhouse again.
‘Are we sure this is wise?’ Tay carried on. ‘For those two to be together?’
‘Is it any of our business?’ Angie ask
ed, turning her attention back to her husband.
He slammed his bottle down on the table, standing up and staring at her. ‘She confided in you?’
‘She’s opened up a little, but I’m still not sure we’re getting the full picture. And I’m nervous, Tay. Nervous of everyone’s reaction to those two and their relationship because we can’t…’ She trailed off, uncertain of exactly what she should be saying next. How much did Tay know? How much should she tell him? How much of a mess was this, really?
‘Shit!’ Tay shouted, sitting back down, pushing both hands through his hair. ‘They should never have got this close.’
‘How could we stop them?’
‘You spoken to Charlie?’
‘Charlie?’
‘Jesus Christ, Angie, stop taking me for a fucking idiot! You think I don’t know this all started when Coby was over in England? Huh? You think I don’t know about that?’
Angie felt her stomach sink, a feeling of nausea rising up inside of her. He knew enough.
‘When I think something is going on that could damage this club I make it my business to find out exactly what that is.’ He got up, walking over to her until they were almost face-to-face. ‘And this – what those two are doing; what those two have done, that could damage this club.’
Angie shook her head. ‘No, Tay. We can sort this out.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘You think?’
‘Coby won’t say anything to Lexi, I know he won’t.’
‘Really? So, when she’s lying there, all beautiful and naked with her legs wide open, and he’s got his dick so far inside of her he doesn’t know what fucking day it is; when she’s promising him all kinds of shit that does nothing but fuck with his head – you think he won’t eventually just give in and spill everything?’
‘Jesus, Tay…’
‘Well? They have a fucking son, Angie! How long have you known about that, huh?’
She looked down, unable to meet his eyes. ‘She only told me a couple of days ago.’
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