by Simone Elise
I saw how upset he was getting and I didn’t want that. I saw the frustration on his face. His emotions were flashing across his face and he wasn’t hiding them from me. His normal carefree expression was gone and he was letting me see what he really was feeling.
He was getting more and more worked up, his breathing coming out sharper. I couldn’t stop myself from placing my hand on his cheek and going up on my toes so I was closer to him.
“I’m fine, Brad. Dad didn’t knock me out.” I wanted to smooth the anger and pain from his eyes. “There was nothing you could do or anyone could do.”
“He got out of my grip, Hannah. If I’d held him back better he wouldn’t have got free.” Was Brad blaming himself for Dad hitting me? I was the one that yelled at Dad saying I was going to an early grave.
“I’m pretty sure Tyson also couldn’t hold Dad back. When Dad is determined to do something, it happens.” I didn’t want Brad upset over this. “Nothing you could do to stop it and nothing you can do about it.”
“I told him I was walking from the club. He can find another fucking vice president. Maybe one that doesn’t want to kill him like I do.”
I sighed. Okay, this was going to be harder than I expected. “Brad, just because Dad hit me doesn’t mean you wipe him off. He is your best friend and don’t ever say you will walk from the club. Especially not because of me.”
That was the last thing I wanted. I didn’t want Brad leaving the club because of me. He lived for the club; Brad and the club were the same thing. Just the same as Dad.
His expression was still tight and the anger hadn’t disappeared from his eyes.
“You scared me, Hannah. Nah, fuck that, you gave me a life lesson.” His words were serious.
I frowned. “How did I scare you?” Was it what I was saying to Dad before he hit me? Was that what scared Brad?
He moved the hair from the side of my face behind my ear. “You walked out that front door and I never thought I would see you again.” His eyes were now on my cheek. “I knew I loved you before everything happened, but I didn’t realize how much.” His eyes went from my cheek to locking with mine. “I got a taste of what it would be like without you. It was only small but it was enough to fucking terrify me.”
He said it terrified him—and I could hear it in his voice and see it on his face.
What did he need to hear from me? What could I say to ease the panic in his eyes? The fear in his voice? Should I make light of it? That the man who was capable of leading beside a man like my father was terrified of me leaving his life? No. That wasn’t the angle I was going to take.
Tonight’s events had been dramatic and, well, eye-opening. But that didn’t mean I wanted him jumping into a relationship with me, one that we both knew we couldn’t really have.
I forced myself to smile at him even though it fucking sent excruciating pain through my body.
“Like you said, Brad, I scared you.” I took his hand off my waist. “I’m sorry but you can’t expect me to believe that just the chance of losing me has made you think you love me.”
“You don’t think I love you?” I heard the disbelief as well as anger in his tone.
“No, Brad, of course you love me.” How could I word this without hurting his feelings? I sighed and looked into his brown eyes that always sent a wave of comfort through my body. “But right now you are worked up and not thinking clearly.”
He had to know that, right? He had to know that I knew that too.
“Before you deny that, I know it was your glock that shot Dad. Your bullets are custom, leaving a trail of destruction.” I had to point that out before he started denying it as if his judgment hadn’t been impacted.
I also knew for him to shoot Dad meant he wasn’t lying to me when he said he loved me. Because you wouldn’t openly shoot your best friend unless he did something that was unforgivable.
“You should go.” I needed sleep, time to think. This weekend had been intense and now I needed sleep and to think of my next move.
“Can I stay?”
I smiled, this time not forcing it. It just came naturally after hearing the eagerness in his voice.
“Brad, I’m not going anywhere.” My hand was on his cheek. “I promise. I just need sleep.”
“I don’t want you here by yourself.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Reaper’s going to be in here the second I disappear and if he isn’t, your mum will be or that sister of yours. Let’s face it; Wilsons tackle problems by not give each other time.”
He had a point. But after last night, I wasn’t expecting him to give me any more time or worrying about me more. Clearly what I was feeling showed across my face because I saw his expression change.
“You know I’m not going to be able to relax at all till I see you again.” Brad accepted my decision without me saying it.
I let him pull me back in, closing my eyes as I melted in his arms. This was so perfect till I felt the blood trickling out of the corner of my mouth. I was quick to wipe it away and then pulled out of Brad’s embrace.
“You know there is a catch to me leaving, right?” His eyes were staring into mine and I gazed into his marvelous brown eyes.
“That being?” My words were a slow whirl; I was lost in his eyes.
“You agree that you don’t leave town. I don’t expect you to be my girlfriend—fuck, I’m not that stupid. I know you won’t agree to that. But at the very least I want you agreeing that I have a piece of you. A piece big enough that will stop you from leaving this town without telling me.”
He didn’t just have a piece of me, he had all of me. All my heart. All of my body. Everything. It was all his.
I nodded my head. I wasn’t about to confess to Brad that I was all his. I didn’t want to scare him. There was a large chance that he would wake up tomorrow not terrified or high or upset about what just happened and would be thinking clearly and this love he said he had for me could disappear.
Chapter Nineteen
Tyson
“Someone has to go up there!” Eve looked between all of us, frustrated. Clearly she was worried; we all were worried. “She hasn’t left the house all week! And now look, another Monday and she hasn’t left for school!”
I think that was our first sign that something was wrong. Last Monday, Hannah didn’t go to school. In fact, she hadn’t left the bedroom apart from going to the bathroom. Mum kept leaving food at her door. We had all been talking to her through her closed and locked door.
And when she did make those breaks to the bathroom, it was quick and it didn’t give us enough time to get up there and see her before she disappeared into that bedroom of hers.
Yesterday I said I was going to knock it in which ended up with Dad just growling at me to leave her alone.
I told Dad it was his fault Hannah wasn’t leaving her room. And that was true—he had hit her, causing her to lock herself in there. But I was trying to get the point across that she wasn’t leaving the room because she knew he was home.
Like she was going to extra lengths to make sure she didn’t have to see him.
I suggested we tell her Dad wasn’t home to see if that got her out. And my idea was going to work till Eve snapped saying Hannah needs to face Dad before more time passes, and as if she knew what Hannah was thinking, Eve kept going on about how Hannah took time to think before making a decision and we needed to get her to see Dad before she made a decision.
“She may just be running late,” I finally said something. I couldn’t believe Hannah was missing school on purpose—that shit just didn’t happen.
Mum gave me a dirty look as if I was stupid. “It’s after twelve, Tyson. She isn’t running late. She simply isn’t going.”
“We’ll do what Tyson’s idea is. Tell her I’m out. At least that might get her out of the room.” Dad picked up his bike keys. “If it does get her out then tell me and I won’t come back. Give her sp
ace away from me.”
We all knew that was the last thing Dad wanted but if him being here was causing a problem for Hannah, then he would leave. He was hoping she would come down. But that didn’t happen.
Mum was still defensive about the whole thing and was still really pissed at Dad.
Eve wasn’t really talking to either of them, and when she did her voice had a bitchy tone to it.
Then there was me trying to keep a ruined puzzle together. The doorbell went off. I think everyone knew not to come to the house. It wouldn’t be a salesperson cause who the hell would think there was a mansion at the end of a dirt road behind a biker club.
We all looked at each other.
We had all pretty much stayed home apart from going out to get take away and usually it was always ones of Hannah’s favorites. We’d left the food at her door with hope she would open for it. But she hadn’t.
We had all had a conversation with her bedroom door. And not once had she spoken back to one of us.
The only one of us not to talk to her door was Dad. He knew better. The doorbell went off again and then suddenly they were banging.
“Something might have happened with the club,” I said to Dad. Because let’s face it, no one else would have the guts to come to the mother charter’s president’s house and bang on his door.
“Brad would just come in.” Dad’s eyes went to Mum. “Have you called your sister?”
There was this thick and tight tension between Mum and Dad, and what Dad just said had clearly just made that tension tighter. I sure as fuck didn’t want to be anywhere near them when the tension snapped.
Mum’s eyes sharpened. “You think Kim is here? You really think I need her to back me up?” Mum took a step toward Dad, uncrossing her arms.
Fuck. It looked like she was one second from lashing out all her anger on him.
“God, calm down you two!” I stepped in between them. I looked between them. “I’ll get the door.” I said as the thudding on the door got louder.
Whoever it was sure as hell would be regretting ever knocking on our door. And they were lucky I was the one answering the door and not my parents who were ready to kill at the slightest thing.
Layla
You know when your gut tells you something is off? When you just know something isn’t right? That is exactly what I was feeling when Hannah messaged me at the start of the week saying she had a bad case of gastro and wouldn’t be at school for the week.
She told me she’d rearranged her radiation appointments for the week and I believed her. So when she didn’t show this morning at school it just added to my concerns about her. But it was when I showed up at the hospital and she was a no-show and when wouldn’t pick up one of my calls that I got really worried. I asked the receptionist if Hannah’s appointment was still at eleven. She told me Hannah had ceased treatment as of last week.
I knew then I should have gone with my gut last week. I banged on the door again. Someone better bloody answer. It hadn’t slipped my notice that all Wilsons had disappeared off the face of the planet.
Eve wasn’t causing hell at school.
Then there was Tyson himself. If he was just blowing off school, I got that, but blowing off a monthly meeting that Brad had to head because Reaper was also a no show to the meeting? Cyrus was extremely pissed off that Reaper would blow off his business with the club. Took me hours to calm him down after that meeting with Brad.
And don’t get me started on fucking Brad. He sure as hell didn’t have his head in the meeting either. I could have just given them fake figures and he sure as fuck would have just signed them off.
Apart from the Wilsons’ disappearance and the Vice President of Satan’s Sons being not interested in club business, you would think everything was fine with the club.
So, realizing that all the Wilsons had gone underground along with Brad, who I knew had strong feelings for Hannah, it made me come to two possible conclusions.
One, Hannah had told her family about the breast cancer.
Two, her family had realized she was sick. The front she had been putting up had slipped.
I banged on the door again and finally it opened.
Tyson’s tight expression disappeared when he saw it was me who had been banging on his family’s door loud enough to wake up a small city.
“Look, Layla, now isn’t a good time.” Tyson jumped to the conclusion I was here to see him.
I scoffed. “Not here for you, Wilson.” I was hurt when he didn’t reach out to me at all after I gave him my number but that was last week’s news. “Hannah. Where is she?” I was waiting to hear what excuse he was going to come up with.
“Um.” He frowned, and then scratched the back of his neck. “She isn’t well. Like I said, it isn’t the best time.”
“Right. Gastro. When did she get it?” I crossed my arms. Come on Tyson, lie better.
“Over the weekend.” He did lie, badly.
I scoffed. For a Sergeant of Arms, he really needed to work on his poker face. I uncrossed my arms, acting like I’d accepted that as response. “Okay, no worries,” I lied perfectly. Well enough that his grip on the door was off and he went to actually say goodbye to me. I took the opportunity and pushed open the door and walked into the haunted mansion.
“For a Sergeant of Arms, you need to work on your ability to lie, Wilson.” I gave him some advice and I was heading for the stairs when I noticed all the Wilsons in the lounge room. What were they in the middle of? A family meeting?
“For a smart girl, you sure as hell don’t take a hint.” Tyson’s words were sharp but only reached my back. I had already headed up the stairs, not dwelling on why the Wilsons looked like they were having a meeting.
The one Wilson I wanted wasn’t there.
“Oi, Layla! You can’t just storm into our house!” Tyson was quick to follow me but I was ahead of him. I was the one who sprinted daily. He may be fit, but I was fitter.
I stopped at Hannah’s door, my hand going to the handle, twisting it. Locked.
“Layla! Get the fuck out! You aren’t welcome!” Tyson had caught up to me, looking as furious as a fighting pit bull. Pity for him I dealt with pit bulls all the time. He would have to physically drag me away from here for me to move.
I knocked on the door. “Hannah?” I tried to hide how pissed off I was with my best friend.
Silence followed. Tyson’s mouth actually shut when I called for Hannah’s attention. Then a few minutes passed and there was no reaction from inside the room.
Tyson sighed. “Look, Layla, can you go? Hannah isn’t well.” He wasn’t yelling at me now. “Just give her some space.” He was actually trying to give me advice—had Hannah told them the truth?
I looked at Tyson a bit harder. I think I needed a bit more information. “How long has she been in there for?” I wasn’t about to drop the cancer word in case Hannah hadn’t told them the truth.
“All week.” Tyson told me the truth; I could tell by his tone. He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sure she will call you when she is feeling better.”
I knew then. Right then that Hannah hadn’t told them to the truth. If they knew she had cancer they wouldn’t be letting her cease treatment or lock herself in her room for over a week.
I didn’t need Tyson to tell me another word. I knew something else had happened. I banged on Hannah’s door again, this time putting all my force into it.
“You have three seconds to open this door, Hannah, before I start screaming about your least favorite topic.” My words were loud enough to be heard through the whole house. Even if she had headphones on she would have heard that. But the threat I was giving was real and that could be heard in my tone.
I had just counted to three in my head when I heard the door unlock. I glanced at Tyson. “Just give us a few moments,” I said to him, his face covered with disbelief, and I twisted open her bedroom door and walked in, closing the door aft
er me.
I scanned her up and down. Okay, well, she was still breathing and alive. So that ruled out her being dead as an excuse for not answering her phone this morning.
I saw her jaw and cheek. It was all deep blue and black with a yellow tint to the ends of the bruise. I crossed my arms, looking at my best friend. If she thought for a second hiding because she had a bruise was acceptable then she was wrong.
Should I shout at her about how stupid she was being? She wouldn’t look me in the eye; her eyes were glued on the carpet.
“So, who did it?” I walked toward her. Guess we should get the obvious out of the way.
“Dad.”
So this explained why all the Wilsons were currently in damage control mode. Hannah had a strong thing against violence. It was sort of weird considering what her dad was like, and we all knew her mum’s history. Then there was her brother—hell, even her twin was known for getting into a punch-up.
But Hannah had this rule when it came to her dad. If he ever hit her, she would leave. Yet it seemed she hadn’t.
“I made him.” She glanced at me for the first time since I’d walked in, her eyes locked with mine. “I coaxed him. Told him I was heading to an early grave and there was nothing he could do about it.”
I sighed. “Hannah, why?”
She shrugged.
Well, I knew there was an answer to my question and it wasn’t just a ‘shrug’ response.
“Did he notice something?” I took a guess and it would seem I had gotten close to the reason because she nodded her head.
“The no eating. He noticed that. Well, someone pointed it out to him but then he went into control overload mode. He was saying things like him taking a break from the club and putting me in the hospital.” Her words were coming out rushed. “And going to every appointment till I was better.”
That was Hannah’s biggest fear: her family but mainly her Dad being impacted by her health. I knew then why she had said what she’d said and I also knew why Reaper reacted like he had.
Though I bet right now he was regretting ever letting his temper get the better of him. Reaper would be hating himself right about now.