I pulled my phone out of the pouch in my hoodie when it started to ring. The caller display read ‘Mum’. I hadn’t spoken to them since the day I asked the Cornish Crusaders for help, which was four days ago. I hated the way they judged Solar so quickly, they were always the ones who taught me not to judge a book by its cover and it was the same thing I had taught Nathan.
“Hi,” I answered the phone quietly. If she started going on at me then I was just going to hang up, I didn’t need her negativity right now. I didn’t need it ever.
“Is he home? Did they find him?” she asked.
“Do you not think if I had him back that I would have called you?”
“Don’t take your attitude out on me, young lady,” she warned me. “His birthday is in four days,” she added.
“I think I can remember when my son’s birthday is, thanks, Mum.”
“Jasmine, what is this biker gang doing? Are they even trying to find him? Have they said if they expect payment even if they don’t find him?”
“They are a club, not a gang. Yes, they have had many leads but they haven’t led us to the correct path yet. I’m not giving up, and to be honest, Mum, you’re not helping. I need all of you around me at the moment, I needed you to support me in the decision I made.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, sweetie.” She sobbed. “We miss you. Will you come by the house later?”
“Yeah, ok. I’ll come over at about four.” I missed them too, like crazy. They were all I had left in the world.
“Great, I’ll make sure your brother is here too.”
“Sounds good. See you later, Mum. Love you.”
“We love you too, Jasmine.” I pressed the end call button on my phone and gazed around Nathan’s room again. It was full of everything that he loved. He had a photo of me and his dad in a frame on his desk, his toy box was overflowing and his trainers were lined up neatly by the side of the door.
“Hey.” I jumped when I heard Solar’s voice. “Sorry, I thought you heard me come in.” I shook my head, looking down at Nathan’s bed. Where I was sitting now was where I always sat to read him a bedtime story, I’d always kiss him on his head and cheek, tell him that I loved him and tucked him in before pulling his door closed. He was sensitive with light so he had a black out blind on his window, no night light and the bedroom door had to be shut tight.
“Where is he?” I mumbled to no one in particular. I jumped again when Solar pushed my legs apart so he could kneel in front of me. His hands slid up until he was gripping my hips.
“I’m so sorry we haven’t found him yet, flower.”
“When will you stop looking? After how long?” I pushed my hair behind my ears and looked into his green eyes.
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly.
“He’s going to be five years old in four days. I have his presents. I wrapped them weeks ago and hid them so he couldn’t find them.” I sighed, resting my forehead against his. Trying to steal what strength he had for myself, it wasn’t working.
“I was a mess, a wreck. No wonder he hadn’t tried kissed me again.”
“Do you want me to kiss you, flower?” Solar smirks.
“Shit, did I say that out loud?” I cringed.
“Yeah, you kinda did.” He chuckled. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you, and more, but I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“I want you to kiss me. I want to feel something. I’m fed up of feeling numb.” Just as I finished my sentence his lips were on mine. His grip on my hips tightened as he pulled me closer to the edge of the bed; I felt his jean covered hardness against me. Just as a moan started to escape, his tongue invaded my mouth and I wrapped my arms around his neck to hold onto him; I didn’t want him to stop kissing me. I needed this.
“Hey, Solar!” Tyler yelled. We separated, both panting as he climbed to his feet and shot out of the room. I could hear them mumbling but couldn’t make out what they were saying. I glanced at my phone and saw that it was nearly three o’clock, I had to be at mum and dads in an hour. I needed to go alone and wasn’t sure how Solar would take the news. I climbed to my feet and took a deep breath, a slow blush crept up my cheek when I remembered that I all but begged Solar to kiss me. How desperate did I come across? No wonder he shot out of the room so fast; so Tyler wouldn’t know what we were doing.
I strolled into the hallway and as soon as they saw me they stopped talking.
“Everything ok?” I asked.
“Fine,” Solar answered a bit too sharp for my liking. I needed to get out of here and away from him. I didn’t need to be worrying about what he thought of me, I needed to put all of my energy into finding my son.
“I’m going to my parents’ house. Alone,” I informed them both before I turned around and headed into my bedroom to get ready.
***
Solar
It was strange knowing that someone could change your life so quickly. A week ago I hadn’t paid Jasmine a single thought. Yeah, she was hot and I thought about her a couple of months after I had met her but that was it. Who knew that a year later our paths would cross again?
“Hey, man. You ok?” I looked up to see Iron standing in front of me. The clubhouse was bustling with people as usual, it wasn’t a locals night so it was just us brothers and their Old Ladies while the club bunnies were running the bar and entertaining a couple of the guys.
“Yeah.” I exhaled, lifting my glass of whiskey to my lips and taking a sip. I nodded my head at the seat opposite me, telling him to take a seat and he dragged it out and sunk into it. “How does it feel having your cast off?”
“Oh, it’s amazing, man.” He chuckled, flexing his fingers. “Now, tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”
“What are we? Women?” I laughed, throwing back the rest of my drink and placing the empty glass on the table. I glanced around for a bunny to bring me another one and the only one that was free, and throwing daggers at me, was Missy. I’d rather die of thirst than ask her for help. She had really pissed me off recently. She was becoming clingy and I definitely didn’t want that.
“Come on, man. I can see the cogs turning in your head.” I contemplated telling him about my internal battle.
“Does Ashlyn know about your stint in prison?”
“Yeah, she knows.” He nodded. “What’s this about? Jasmine?”
“She’s too good for me.” There, I said it. “She’s a fucking school teacher for Christ’s sake. The one thing I’m good for, to help her with, and I’m failing at it.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, man. We all feel bad that we can’t find her son. And I’m the same with Ashlyn, she’s way too good for me.”
“I feel selfish for wanting her. Knowing that I can’t commit to her, knowing that I’ll drag her down.”
“Drag her down? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I haven’t told her, she doesn’t know what I did. Once she hears about it, she’ll run, leaving me a broken man. I can’t let myself get involved with her. Once we find her son, I’ll have no more contact with her.”
“Hey, guys.” Ashlyn smiled as she got closer to us. She perched herself on Iron’s lap and he wrapped his arms around her. They looked happy.
“Hey, Ash. Where’s that gorgeous daughter of yours?”
“She’s with my mum. Speaking of which, I have to go and pick her up.” She turned her head towards Iron. “I’ll see you at home later.” They shared a kiss and I felt like I should give them some space so I climbed to my feet. I needed some fresh air.
“Bye, darlin’!” Iron called out. I looked over my shoulder and Ashlyn was behind me. She looped her arm through mine and laid her head on my shoulder.
“You like her,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter if I do. It won’t work between us.”
“Why not?”
“We’re too different.”
“Sometimes different is good.” She smiled up at me as I pulled the door open for her to walk out. I w
alked Ashlyn to her car and watched as she pulled away. Were they right? Could I have something with Jasmine? I was pulled out of my head when I heard a voice behind me.
“Excuse me?” I turned around and a very pregnant, blonde woman was standing there. Shit, I couldn’t help but stare at her tummy. I don’t remember this chick, not at all. “Is Tyler around?”
“Is that…” I pointed at her tummy. “Is that his?” She ran her hand over her bump and nodded her head. Well, thank fuck for that, this woman nearly shaved ten years off my life when I thought I was about to be a dad. I was no angel, I had fucked my fair share of nameless beauties; the majority of them I probably wouldn’t have even remembered what they looked like.
“Do you wanna come in?” I nodded at the clubhouse door.
“Would you be able to bring him out here?”
“Sure.” I walked a couple of steps away and turned back around. “Does he not know about this?”
“Not really, no.” Well, shit. Things were about to get messy. I pushed through the doors and let my gaze fall on the people surrounding the bar. Tyler was collecting empty glasses and wiping down the tables. I sauntered up to him.
“Hey, man. I need you outside for a minute.”
“Everything ok?” he asked as he placed the tray of empty glasses on the bar and followed me.
“I’m not really sure.” I pulled open the club door and motioned for him to go out before me.
“What’s going on Solar?” he asked, turning back to face me.
“Ty?” His body tensed when she called his name. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“What are you doing here, Tanya?” he asked as he turned around. “Shit,” he swore, his eyes focused on her tummy. “You didn’t do it?” he whispered. “You didn’t get the abortion?”
“What the fuck, man?” I growled, pushing him into the wall. “You knock a chick up, you take responsibilities for your actions. You don’t tell her to get an abortion.”
“What? No. She wanted the abortion, I begged her not to do it. I was ready to take the job with my parents and settle down with her.”
She gasped. “You were? But you hate working at the hotel.” I loosened my grip on him and he pushed away from me.
“Yeah, I didn’t want to work at the hotel but I wanted you and our baby more, so I would have sucked it up and done it.” She smiled at him until he added. “But that was eight months ago. I got a new life now, here.” Her face fell.
“You don’t want your son?”
“Son? It’s a boy?” She nodded her head, smiling. She took a step closer to him and placed his hand on her tummy. “Can you feel him moving?”
I stepped away when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out to see that Jasmine was calling me.
“Hey, flower,” I answered, smiling at the thought of hearing her voice.
“Solar!” She said my name in a panic.
“What’s wrong? Shit, we’re on the way. Stay calm.” I flew back into the clubhouse and stormed up to Prez. I whispered in his ear what was happening and he roared.
“Let’s ride!” My brothers all climbed to their feet and one by one we fled out of the club.
“What’s going on?” Tyler asked.
“Jamsine. We need you in the car,” Prez told him. He nodded.
“You’re going to leave me here?” Tanya said. Tyler looked torn between the mother of his child and the club.
“Prez, is it ok if Tanya waits here until we get back?”
“She yours?” he asked.
“Yeah, something like that.” Prez nodded and Tyler told her to go inside and wait for him.
Chapter 11
Jasmine
“I’ll let you know as soon as I hear more. I’m going to go back to the police station tomorrow,” I told my mum and dad as they walked me out of their house and to my car. I hugged them both goodbye and climbed in. I wound down my window to wave goodbye.
“We love you!” Dad called out.
“I love you too.” I smiled as I backed out of their driveway.
It had been a nice evening; there was no accusing me of not doing the right thing where Nathan was concerned, which was a change. We had come up with a plan to try and find him, I was going to go back to the police to see if another press appeal could be done and mum and dad said they were looking into a private investigation company too.
I only lived about twenty minutes away from mum and dad and the crazy thing was that if I walked I could be there within ten minutes as I could cut through the pedestrianised town. But in a car, you had to go the long way around. I hadn’t been driving for more than five minutes when I noticed a car getting quite close to me from behind. It was late at night and dark. I saw a flash of blue in my rear-view mirror and it was a police siren. They wanted me to pull over, something niggled inside of me. I was alone in my car and just didn’t feel safe. I grabbed my mobile phone and dialled the non-emergency Devon and Cornwall police line. It connected to my Bluetooth radio and I waited patiently for someone to answer.
“Hello, Devon and Cornwall police.”
“Hello. I’m driving home alone and an unmarked police car is flashing me down. I don’t feel comfortable stopping.”
“That’s fine, ma’am. Please can you tell me your location and then I will contact the officer,” I told her where I was and I could hear her tapping away on a keyboard.
“Now, ma’am, please stay calm. The car that is following you is a fake undercover police car. Do not pull over, keep at a steady speed and drive to your nearest police station. I’ll stay on the line with you.” My heart rate picked up. Fake police car? Why was someone trying to get me to pull over?
“I need to call someone else.”
“You’re nearest police station is about fifteen minutes away. Do you know how to get there?”
“Yes.” I should know, I had been in there several times over the past eleven days.
“There will be an officer waiting there for you. Don’t stop until you get there.”
“Ok.” I hung up the phone and dialled Solar. He answered and I screamed his name down the phone. I explained that someone was following me, trying to get me to pull over. I told him where I was and he said that he would be there as soon as possible.
Another five minutes had passed and the blue lights behind me were still flashing. My hands gripped hold of the steering wheel tightly and I had to concentrate on the roads. I heard the familiar sounds of bikes and there they were sitting at the next junction that I was about to pass. Two bikes pulled out in front of me and three more and a car pulled out behind the car that was behind me. The guys on the bikes behind me sped up and overtook the fake police car, so my car was now surrounded. I glanced over my right shoulder to see that Solar was beside me, he nodded his head at me and a wave of relief erupted through my body and I felt like I could breathe properly again. I checked my rear view mirror to see that the two cars behind me were now gone.
Tyler
I was driving the club’s car, we were on the way to see who was following Jasmine. As soon as Prez, Tat, Solar, Iron and Toes had her car surrounded, the fake police car eased off and took off down the next junction. I decided the best idea was to follow him, to find out who was following her and why. I dialled the Prez’s number; he had a Bluetooth helmet that his phone connected to.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Prez, I’m following the car.”
“Good job, Tyler. Call if you need back up. Be careful.”
“Will do.”
I hung back as far as I could as I followed the black BMW, he took lots of different junctions and I was glad that I was from this area or I would have been lost as hell. When he turned onto a farm lane, I parked up at the top on the opposite side of the road and climbed out of my car, I couldn’t risk him seeing my lights. I stayed in the shadows as I ran down the lane, luckily it was only a short lane. Some of the farm lanes here could be at least a mile long or more.
I stopped when I heard voices.
“She called for back-up. That biker club surrounded her car.”
“We need her, this guy is going to pay us a lot of money. But for some reason, he wants both of them.” I recognised that voice.
“Can’t you get closer to her, you know her.”
“I’ve tried, but the first week her house was crawling with police and now she’s always got those bikers with her.” I moved closer, slowly. It was quiet out here except for the sound of them talking. I recognised that guy, where did I know him from? Then it came to me, he was her next door neighbour. I grabbed my phone, turned it to silent and sent Solar a text.
T: I followed the car, I’ll explain later. If Jasmine has her neighbour’s number, get her to call him. Tell him she wants to see him. NOW.
I waited in the shadows and watched them, the house that they were standing in front of was quiet; there were a couple of lights on inside but no movement.
S: She’s doing it now. Hope you know what you’re doing.
T: Just get him to her house, but don’t be there. I won’t need long.
“Look at that, she’s ringing me. Jasmine? Yeah, is everything ok? Settle down, I’ll be right there.”
“What she want?”
“She said she needs to talk to me, she sounded upset. Maybe I’ll get to finally comfort her before we sell her on. You better come too, you may need to take out the biker guy that is always hanging around her. I don’t want to get blood on my suit.” He straightened his tie and opened up the car door. The other guy looked back at the house.
“What about her and the boy?”
Unexpected Love (South Coast Brothers Book 5) Page 7