Deciding that I might as well tell her the full story, I continue with a laugh. “I should apologise for my weird behaviour when you arrived.”
“I was wondering what was going on,” Colleen admits with a shrug.
“You scare me,” I murmur. Pulling on her hand, I guide her forward until there’s only a few inches between our faces. “I like you. A lot. And that scares the hell out of me. I should warn you that when I’m scared, I act like an idiot.”
“That’s good to know.” Colleen smiles. She moves a tiny bit closer. “I like you, too. Even though, you scare me more than anyone else ever has.”
“Grub’s up,” Vic announces louder than necessary. Colleen pulls away from me instantly. I feel the loss of her hand in mine more than I care to admit. A sheepish grin covers her face when she looks at Bonnie and then Vic.
We sit still while the server puts our meals in front of us. When she has left, the atmosphere at the table gets a bit tense until Vic does what he does best and cracks a joke.
“I’m so hungry, I could eat the leg off this table,” he wiggles his eyebrows at Bonnie when he speaks. “Or your leg. I can see myself eating you all the way from your ankle to your—”
Bonnie slaps her hand over his mouth. “Oh, no you don’t. Eat your burger and be quiet, mister.”
Me and Colleen laugh. She looks at me, pokes her tongue out and crosses her eyes. I do the same thing back at her, chuckling when her fork hits the table when she breaks into a giggling fit. Bonnie glances at us and I feign an interest in my dinner.
Colleen picks up her fork and digs into her salad. She lifts a forkful to her mouth and almost gags before swallowing. When she’d ordered a Greek Salad, I’d been too far into my panic to note her distaste. Right now, watching her clear disgust, I decide to take matters into my own hands.
“Here,” I cut my burger in half, then lift it onto her bread plate. I add a handful of my chips and slide the plate to her. Tipping the bowl of salad into my plate, I wink. “That better?”
“I’m on a diet,” she replies. She reaches across the table and tries to grab my plate. I hold onto the edge and refuse to let it go.
“Why are you on a diet?” Bonnie makes a choking sound after I ask my question. A hacking cough as she tries to clear her throat is the only sound at the table. Silence dawns when she has her breath back and everyone looks at Colleen. She ignores us, except to yank on the plate again. I stop her and repeat my query. “What’s the diet for?”
“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because I’m fat.” The snark in her retort brings a smile to my face.
I take hold of the hand that’s tugging on my plate. Running my fingers along the pale, purple veins that snake under her skin, I push her arm down on the table and lay mine next to it. “You’re tiny. Look at the size difference. My arm is two of yours.”
Colleen snatches her limb back. She grabs the tomato sauce and squirts it all over her chips. I grin when she sticks a chip in her mouth and chews. When she picks up her half of the burger and bites down, I tuck into my own food without offering another word.
Someone rubs their foot against my shin under the table. I look a Colleen, surprise that she would be down with playing footsies so soon. Colleen’s not looking at me, she’s playing with her chips. Confusion makes me slow on the uptake and it takes a vicious kick for me to turn my attention to Bonnie.
She’s smiling—a genuine look of approval rather than her usual mocking smirk on her face. With a pointed look at the salad on my plate, she mouths, “Well done.”
SIXTEEN
Colleen
“I need to get home to Kerry,” I announce the minute my food is gone. Standing, I glare at Bonnie, who’s looking at me like I have two heads. “She’s got school tomorrow. Gotta get her to bed at a decent time.”
“Colleen.” The glare she levels at me is entirely unnecessary. Bonnie’s annoyance with me is clear from her voice alone. “Shari has it under control.”
The need to get away from Cole is making me crazy. My skin is crawling with want. The part of my arm where he brushed his fingers is burning. My mind is screaming at me to run before I do something stupid—like kiss him for being so well-meaningly bossy.
One meal and I’m in over my head.
Cole is dangerous to my common sense.
This plan is not going to work if I let him take control and fix things. Everything hinges on my ability to make him like me enough to use his Club to protect me. Sharing burgers, telling him that I like him too, and just generally losing my head when he speaks to me isn’t going to help me find a way out of my miserable life. He already makes me feel better about myself than I have in a long time—exchanging the comfort of food for Cole would be a mistake.
I need to be able to run when the time is right.
Growing attached to anyone outside of Kerry is stupid.
Eventually, everyone lets me down, whether they mean to or not.
“I can give you a ride home,” Cole says, wiping his mouth with a napkin. He stands and holds out his hand to me. “Let’s go.”
Running my gaze over his face, I try to peg his intentions. He seems sincere. I can’t find any signs that he’s upset with my abrupt need to leave. Bonnie offers no help. She’s furious at me and refusing to meet my pleading stare.
I’m out of options. The person I want to escape is my only way out of here.
It’s almost poetic—the perfect punishment for my plan to use him.
“Okay, thank you.” I scoop up my little hand bag and follow him to the exit. He leads me to the same Harley he was riding the other night and I groan. “I’ll have to get a taxi. There’s no way, I’m getting on that with a dress on.”
Not with these dimply thighs, I add in my head.
Cole smirks. “Just tuck it under you, you’ll be right.”
Looking up and down the street, my heart drops when I don’t see a taxi anywhere. We’re too far away from my suburb for me to walk. I groan, looking at the bike in front of me, as the fact that this is my only way out of here hits home.
I’ve got to get through half an hour with my arms around his waist and my breasts pressed against his back before I can put the distance I crave between us.
Yep, it’s the perfect punishment.
*
For most people, trouble has a way of sneaking up on them. For me, it usually likes to knock on the door, announce its intentions, and then make itself at home. I can deal with that. Unfortunately, the trouble that hits tonight is of the sneaky kind.
It’s my fault. What happens is caused by an oversight on my part—a gigantic screw up that’s going to have repercussions I’ll feel forever.
You see, when I gave into Bonnie’s silly idea for Shari to babysit so I could go on this double date tonight, it never crossed my mind that leaving her in my uncle’s proximity was dangerous. He’s mean to me, ambivalent toward Kerry, and only interested in his next fix. Greg McCormack is a loser by anyone’s standard, however I thought there were depths he wouldn’t stoop to.
I was wrong.
Tonight, he decided to write his loser status into history with indelible ink.
“Holy crap,” I scramble off the back of Cole’s bike the moment the wheels stop turning. My calf touches the hot pipes. I screech and jerk away from the burning heat, gasping when my skin rips and a searing agony shoots up my leg.
A scream comes from my house—the fear and pain in it louder than that the music that’s pounding within the four walls by a few dozen decibels. It forces all thoughts of my burnt leg out of my head and sends me sprinting toward my home.
Cole beats me to the front door. He yanks it open and barrels into the house. I follow, heart in my throat, fear pulsing through my veins, prayers on the tip of my tongue. I stopped believing in God the day the lawyer read the will and I realised that I had no choice but to leave with the smelly man sitting next to me. It had been the final insult in a lifechanging month that had begun with my parent’s death a
nd ended with everything in my life turned on its head.
But, tonight I speak to God. I ask him to make sure that Kerry is okay. I follow that request with a prayer that Shari will forgive me for what my uncle is doing to her right now.
“Step back,” Cole bellows. The half a dozen people in the living room freeze and turn to us with their mouths open. Cole bends down and unclips a handgun from his ankle. The pinpoint pupils of the partiers widen quickly when he points it at the closest head. “Get away from the girl.”
“Whoa, man. No harm, no foul.” The guy closest to us lifts his hands in the air and tries to reason with Cole. “We had nothin’ to do with any of this.”
He tilts his head in my uncle’s direction. My uncle is crouched over Shari, who’s lying prone on the floor. “This is all on him.”
“We good to go?” Cole nods. The guy stops speaking. He lowers his hands and gestures to everyone else to follow him. I slide behind Cole when they pass. The sickly-sweet smell of burnt drugs clings to them. It makes my stomach churn and my skin crawl—I don’t want them anywhere near me.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Cole forces Uncle Greg to stop when he tries to leave with his friends. He grabs him by the front of his stained shirt and hauls him up against the wall.
“Colleen,” Shari’s voice is weak when she calls out to me. “Help me.”
Leaving Cole to deal with my uncle, I run over to her. A sheen of sweat coats her skin and she’s clutching her left knee. The pain I see on her face sets off alarm bells in my head. Her knee is twice its normal size and rapidly swelling.
“What happened?” I prod her knee with soft fingers, grimacing when she whimpers from the light touch. “What did he do to you?”
“Kerry was asleep. I thought it would be okay. All I wanted was a drink,” Shari replies in a series of rapid fire sentences. She tries to flex her leg, tears streaming down her face when she can’t make it move. Her next words come between agonised pants. “He wouldn’t let me go back to the room until I danced for him. Now, it’s busted. I’ve got to get home. Mum’s going to kill me. I’ve got trials next week.”
I throw my arms around her. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think he’d bother you.”
“Get. Off. Me,” my best friend orders from between gritted teeth. “This is your fault. If my career is over because of this, I’ll never forgive you.”
Backing away quickly, I go into the kitchen and rummage through the freezer for something to ice her knee with. The whole time, Shari’s accusation circles my head. She’s right. If this injury is as bad as it looks, it might very well destroy her chance of dancing professionally.
“Here, press this against it.” I hang my head and try not to meet her angry eyes when I hand her an ancient bag of frozen peas wrapped in the cleanest tea towel I could find. “I’m going to get you home as soon as I can.”
Cole is still leaning over my uncle as I approach. His lips are moving, but I can’t make out the words. My uncle is nodding his head, agreeing to whatever it is that he’s saying. The one-sided conversation halts before I’m in earshot.
“Shari’s knee is really bad. She needs to go home,” I say. Cole lets go of my uncle, who sags straight to the floor with a low thud, and opens his arms wide. I walk straight into him and rest my cheek against his wide chest. His arms close around me. It’s the first time in a long time that I feel safe—a glorious feeling that stops panic from running riot through my mind.
I feel a shiver run through his body. Taking a step back, I look up at him. “I don’t have enough money to get her a taxi. Even if I did, I don’t have anyone to look after Kerry. I need to get her home.”
The big, blonde boy doesn’t even flinch when a fat, tear rolls down my right cheek. He brushes it away with a kind smile.
“Don’t worry. If you show me where your phone is, I can get the van.” I point in the direction of the hallstand that holds our home phone. Cole picks up the receiver and starts dialing a number. When he puts it to his ear to wait for an answer, he looks at me with a no-nonsense expression and says, “Pack a bag for you and Kerry. I told this piece of shit that you’re not staying here tonight.”
There is no way that I’m going to argue with him. I don’t want to be in this house a second longer than I have to. After checking on Shari again, and getting another brush off, I head to my bedroom to pack.
I wake Kerry when I’m done. She’s sleepy and a tiny bit grumpy when we re-enter the living area. It’s packed with boys in Black Shamrocks vests. The same three friends that I see Cole with all the time at the Clubhouse have come to the rescue tonight. Brian and Paddy are discussing who will carry her outside while Vic and Cole are huddled together in discussion.
Even Bonnie’s here. She rushes to me when she sees us, devastation written all over her face. Two, lithe arms engulf me, and she hugs me tight. I bury my face in her neck and whisper, “She hates me.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Bonnie replies. “She’s just hurt and lashing out. Once her knee has been looked at, she’ll come around.”
I hope Bonnie is right. Because if she’s wrong and the glare that Shari shoots in our direction when Brian carries her past us is any indication, it’s going to be a cold day in hell before Shari forgives me.
“Paddy’s going to take my bike back to the Club. Bonnie’s going to go with Vic and Brian in the van to take Shari home and I’ve got a separate car so that you don’t have to travel with her while she’s pissed at you.” Cole comes over to us and outlines what he’s organised. He takes hold of my hand and I squeeze his in response. “Are you ready to go?”
Dipping my head in a quick nod, I pull my hand free so I can grab our bag. He beats me to it so I settle with leading Kerry outside. Everything is exactly as he said. The white van that usually brings me home from the Clubhouse is parked in front of the house behind Cole’s Harley and in the drive is a tiny little sedan.
Cole leads us to the car. Once we’re settled inside he quickly speaks to his friends before they drive away.
“Vic said that Bonnie will ring with an update once they know how bad her knee is.
“Thank you,” I say with as much appreciation as I can. “I don’t know what I would have done without you tonight.”
His big hand reaches across and pats my knee before coming to a rest on my thigh, where it stays for the remainder of our journey.
“If you want,” Cole remarks. “You’ll never have to worry about coping without me again.”
The words hang heavy in the car. I’m equal parts terrified and excited by what he just said.
Tonight, he thought of everything.
That level of care could become addictive if I let it.
SEVENTEEN
Colin
While my mum fusses over Colleen’s burnt leg and makes Kerry feel at home, Dad summons me out to the back patio. The screen door swings shut behind us and I find myself pinned against the rough brick exterior before I realise what’s happening.
“What did I tell you?” Dad hisses in my face.
I meet fire with fire. “She has nowhere else to go. I couldn’t take her to the Clubhouse. What did you want me to do? Leave her with her drug fucked uncle?”
There’s no sympathy in his expression. I see nothing but the desire to punch me written there. Dad is shaking with fury, which scares me as much as it confuses me. I’d expected him to be unhappy about me bringing Colleen and her sister here to spend the night, but I hadn’t anticipated outright rage.
“Do you realise the fucking position that you’ve put me in?”
“Dad, I didn’t think—”
He cuts me off with an angry snarl. “That’s the problem. You’re not thinking with anything but your fucking dick. You’ve brought the nieces of Greg McCormack into my house. How do you think that’s gonna go down at Church?”
Pushing against him, I force my way free. I sit down on the back step and drop my head into my hands. When I decided to bring Colle
en here, all I was thinking about was keeping her safe. My dad and the position that it would put him in hadn’t crossed my mind.
“I’m sorry.”
He sits next to me. “Your heart is in the right place, son. If it was anyone else, I’d be giving you a pat on the back. The McCormack’s are a big issue for the Shamrocks at the moment and you’re setting yourself up for a whole heap of heartache by not listening to me.”
Since Dad sounds mildly friendlier, I decide to push my luck. “Just tell me the full story. The secrets are what’s causing the problem.”
“This is what I’m talking about.” Dad stands and glares down at me. “You’re a prospect. It’s not your place to be sticking your beak where it’s not needed. If you keep pushing, you’re gonna lose your patch before you’ve even got it. I hope this fucking girl is worth it because if that happens, you won’t be welcome here.”
I’m up and in his face in a second. I plant my hands against his chest and push. He takes a step back then comes for me. Ducking my head and ramming it into his gut when he charges, I find myself caught in a headlock. I swing wild punches. Some land, although most don’t. My dad jams his knee into my gut and I drop like a sack of potatoes.
Mum rushes out the back door. “What’s going on?”
I roll onto my back, panting as I try to get my breath back.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Mum says in a shrill voice. “Why are you fighting?”
Dad moves to placate her, “Don’t worry about it, Paula. It’s just a bit of Club business.”
“Club business?” She places her hands on her hips and cocks an eyebrow. “Or something to do with the two girls I just sent to sleep in my guest room?”
“Both,” Dad admits. “Cole’s got himself into shit he shouldn’t have. I’m trying to fix it, but you know what he’s like.”
My parent’s exchange a look that makes me feel like I’m still a nine-year-old kid, instead of a nineteen-year-old man. Mum runs a hand down Dad’s cheek, then gives him a quick kiss. “Dessert is in the fridge, Quinn. I’ll be in in a minute.”
Conan (Black Shamrocks MC: First Generation Book 1) Page 9