Duke (Aces MC Series Book 2)

by Foster, Aimee-Louise

  “Come here.” I shuffled forward in my chair and leant over to take her into my embrace.

  It was at this moment that I wanted to tell her how I really felt but I just couldn’t. I didn’t want to put any pressure on her. She had to do what she felt was right and I’d just have to deal with it in my own way whatever she decided.

  After a couple of minutes of just sitting there enjoying each other’s company, my phone started to bleep.

  “Yeah…Where’s Diesel?... Okay we’ll make our way back.” I put my phone back into my pocket, “I’ve gotta get back to the club, Locke’s kicking off and they want me to sort him out.”

  She nodded her head as she stood.

  We took a slow walk back to my ride.

  “Am I right in thinking that Stoney’s girlfriend has nothing to do with the club?”

  I didn’t know that she knew Stoney, maybe Ames or Savannah had mentioned him.

  “She’s what we call a civilian. Nikki is kept completely separate from the biker culture. She doesn’t come on runs or attend parties and is kept out of all club business. Both Stoney and Nikki wanted it that way so that the kids have a ‘normal’ upbringing.”

  “Does he have an old lady as well?”

  Fucking hell she had been doing her research. “Some men choose to have a civilian wife or girlfriend and an old lady or fuck about with the sweet butts at the club but Stoney never has. He’s a one woman man.” I looked at her confused, “Why, what you thinking? Do you wanna be a civilian?”

  This is why I’ve never been in a relationship. Women send mixed messages all the time and I was struggling to figure her out.

  “I’m just thinking, weighing up all of my options.”

  She was distant, I think I lost her about an hour ago but I was hopeful that she may reconsider. Women had to label things, give it a name and put it neatly into a box. I just wanted to go with it and see where it took us.

  We got onto the motorcycle and she placed her arms tightly around my waist holding me closer than she did on the journey here. I took in a deep breath savouring this moment as it may be our last, before starting the engine and driving off into the night.

  We weren’t far from the club house when I noticed a car speeding up behind us. This road was notorious for young drivers speeding because it was a straight run without any speed cameras. I moved over to the left hand side of the road mindful of drains and potholes so that the vehicle had enough room to overtake. I continued to keep a sensible speed, being attentive to Taylor’s dislike for motorcycles when the car pulled up directly beside us.

  “What are they doing Duke?” Taylor screamed down the mic.

  “Don’t know but hold on.” I slowed down so that the vehicle continued in front of us. Maybe they were just simply over taking. That’s when I saw the passenger lean out of the side window with a gun.

  I knew what was coming. I braced myself as I tried to dodge the bullet by swerving but the jerk of the motorcycle on the damp floor allowed it to swing from beneath us.

  As soon as we hit the floor I felt Taylors grip vanish quickly and heard her frightful screams. I hit the floor hard on my right side and skidded across the gravel onto a grass embankment at the side of the road.

  Once I’d stopped moving, I jumped to my feet but could feel the sting down my right leg. I could also see that I’d taken away the skin from my right hand as I’d put it out to try and stop some of the momentum and it was now pissing out blood.

  “Taylor!” I shouted looking for her frantically. I stepped out onto the road and was grateful that the shooters hadn’t come back to finish the job.

  I pulled out my mobile to call Bear.

  “I’ve just got the call, I’m on my way back to the club house to deal with Locke. “

  “No I need you Bear, we’ve been shot at on Crown Hill. I can’t find Taylor. Hurry!” I hung up stuffing the phone back into my pocket.

  “Taylor!” I continued to look around the embankment for her.

  “I’m here Duke.” I saw her hand waving at me further down the verge.

  I slid down the ridge to where she was laying. “Where you hurting babe?”

  “Everywhere!”

  I took out my phone and turned on the light so that I could see properly in the darkness. I scanned her body and felt a sigh of relief to see the helmet and leather jacket in one piece. It wasn’t until I got to her leg when I realised we needed to get her to hospital.

  “How’s your neck and back feeling Taylor? Do you think you can move?”

  “Yeah I’m fine Duke, it’s just my leg that’s throbbing.”

  “I need to get you up to the road. The guys will be here soon and we’ll get you to hospital.”

  I put one arm around her waist and she put her arm around my shoulders so that I could take her weight and get her up the grass verge.

  I could hear the familiar rumble of several Harleys in the distance and knew that the guys would be here in force. That’s one of the things I loved most about this club. It didn’t matter what was going on, each and every one of them would drop everything to help another member out. That’s what family was for.

  “Duke! Taylor! Are you here?”

  Bear was stalking down the middle of the road with no regard for his own safety as cars tried to pass him. He looked like a man on a mission.

  “We’re here Bear.” He ran over to us and took Taylor gently from my arms as he could see that I was in pain. “We need to get her to a hospital. Put her in the van and get Ramsey to take her there and stay with her until we’re back.”

  “Where we going?” Bear asked still supporting Taylor’s weight as we stood in the road.

  “To get revenge!”

  Taylor

  “Honestly I’m fine Ramsey, I just need to go home.” I stated, trying to smile through the excruciating pain. I really didn’t want to go to hospital. They’d ask too many questions and I wasn’t in the mood to be prodded and poked. I had an ear and stomach ache again and all I wanted to do was to go home and sleep.

  “Taylor, I can’t defy orders from Duke. Come on be fair and do this for me.” I could see the desperation on his face but I wasn’t in the mood to be sympathetic.

  “Fuck Duke, what about me Ramsey. I’m the one that has just been fucking shot at and I’m the one that has more skid marks down my leg than a person with diarrhoea does in their pants.” Ramsey sniggered at my lame attempt of a joke.

  “Look if you were to drop me off at the hospital, I’d only end up getting a taxi home. What do you say?”

  “You’re putting me in an awkward situation. I’ll have to tell him what I’ve done straight away.”

  I continued to smile at him although it probably looked more like a grimace because of the pain.

  “Okay I’ll do it but you owe me big time.”

  “Thanks Ramsey, I really do appreciate it.”

  We pulled up outside my house and I notice all of the lights were off apart from the porch light, which meant Chanel was probably in bed. I winced at the pain as I tried to get out of the van.

  “Do you need a hand?” Ramsey asked sincerely.

  “Please. Could you also help me up to my room?” He looked uncomfortable but nodded his head as he came around to support my weight so that I could hop towards the house. He took my keys from me and unlocked the door before holding me tight as we went inside.

  We both stood looking at the next obstacle of getting up the stairs.

  “I’ll have to carry you Taylor.”

  “Good luck with that!”

  “It’s the only way you’re getting up there without injuring yourself further.”

  I nodded as I looked up in the air. This was fucking hilarious being carried up the stairs at my age.

  For a small guy he was fairly strong and managed to lift me with relative ease, he walked into my bedroom and placed me gently on my bed.

  “Do you need anything before I go?”

  I’d already made a mental l
ist of what I needed. “I need some pain killers, a glass of water, scissors, antiseptic wipes, bandages and surgical tape. You’ll find all of these in the first aid kit in the bathroom cabinet.”

  I could hear him repeating the list like a mantra, over and over again so that he didn’t forget anything as he left the room.

  I tried to move on the bed to get comfortable but I couldn’t. I now had a constant shooting pain in my leg that was made worse by the restriction of my jeans.

  Ramsey came back out of breath as he’d been rushing around, “I think I’ve got everything.” He said laying the things out on the bed.

  I started to breathe heavily as the shooting pain was getting worse.

  “Here take these.” Ramsey said passing me the pain killers and the water.

  “You’re gonna have to help me by cutting me out of my jeans.”

  “Taylor, Duke would kill me and I mean that literally. I’m already in enough trouble by bringing you here.”

  “Duke doesn’t have to know. Please Ramsey I can’t clean the wound until these are off and I can’t bend down properly.”

  I took off the leather jacket that just may have saved my life and threw it on the floor. Ramsey grabbed the scissors hesitantly off the bed and bent down in front of me carefully removing my boots. He then started to cut at the bottom of my right trouser leg and up as far as my knee. That was the easy part over.

  “You ready for this? I’ll go slowly but promise to let me know if I’m hurting you.”

  I nodded quickly as I embraced myself. He was very tender as he cut the material away slowly mindful of the deep gash on my leg. I grimaced and wriggled around on the bed a little as he cut around the over sensitive parts but I held firm biting down on the sleeve of my jumper.

  He eventually moved past the cut and I let out a sigh of relief as my leg wasn’t as restricted.

  “Do you need me to go further?” He asked almost embarrassed.

  “Please Ramsey, just cut them off that side and then I can manage.”

  He continued to cut through the material so that I was now wearing my jeans on only one leg. He thoughtfully pulled my jeans off the other leg so that I was naked from the waist down apart from my panties.

  “Thanks Ramsey I really appreciate your help.”

  “Do you need me to clean you up? I have basic first aid training.”

  “No you’ve done more than enough. Thank you Ramsey I won’t ever forget this.”

  He smiled as he stood. “Please promise not to tell Duke.”

  “You have my word.”

  He quietly left the room closing the door behind him.

  I put the pillow over my head to try a muffle the screams as I shrieked in pain. I’d done well to cope whilst Ramsey was here but now he was gone I was able to let it all out. I positioned myself fully on the bed and started to clean up the wound. I bit down on the comforter that I’d put in my mouth as I used the antiseptic wipes to remove some of the debris. I used another wipe to clean around the gash and poured the sterile water onto my wound which had me crippling over as the pain was excruciating.

  I took small controlled breaths. If anyone was listening at the door they’d think I was in labour! Once I was satisfied that the wound was clean, I covered it over with the bandage and secured it in place with the surgical tape.

  I lay on the bed still breathing heavily as this process took a lot out of me. I was absolutely exhausted and could feel my eye lids start to droop as I lay there thinking about today’s shitty events

  I woke up in excruciating pain all over. The pain killers had either worn off or they just weren’t strong enough for the severity of the injury and I could feel the soreness down my right hand side. I should’ve gone to the hospital like Ramsey said but I was being fucking stubborn and not thinking straight.

  I tried to roll over onto my other side but found that the covers were stuck to my leg.

  Shit! Shit! What was I going to do?

  “Think Taylor, think!” I said aloud trying to think of a solution and rationalise my thoughts.

  I tucked my hand carefully under the cover that was attached to my leg and rolled over quickly so that I took the sheet with me.

  I now had a better view of what I was dealing with. As I looked at the white sheet I could see the various coloured stains, showing that the bandage had come off and that the wound had been weeping for the past two hours.

  I gently tried to pull the sheet off and let out a blood curdling scream at the pain as it was just too much to bear. The neighbours would probably think I’m being murdered.

  I needed help I couldn’t do this on my own.

  I leant over to grab my phone off the bedside cabinet, knowing that I needed to call Amy.

  “Taylor, what’s up?” Amy answered sleepily but concerned.

  I started to cry, “Amy I need James.” I wailed down the phone.

  “Where are you?”

  “At home, please hurry.”

  “What’s the matter with you? Have you called Duke?”

  “I came off the bike. I’m in so much pain Amy. Please hurry.” I could feel the sweat dripping from my skin and I started to shake.

  “We’ll be with you in ten minutes.”

  I hung up as Chanel flew through the door.

  “Taylor what’s up with you?” She said sitting on the edge of the bed assessing me.

  “James is coming, let him in when he comes.”

  Chanel touched my forehead. “You’re burning up Taylor, I’ll go and get a wet face cloth.”

  I could hear noises around me but my eye’s started to droop. I tried to keep them open but they were so heavy that I fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 15

  Duke

  I gave CJ the registration of the vehicle. “Trace the car. I need to find out who it belongs to.”

  CJ nodded his head understanding the severity of the incident and how important this information was.

  “I’m on it Pres. I’ll call in some favours so that we can find it.” He walked towards his ride pulling out his mobile phone.

  “Shit!” I said aloud as a shooting pain ran down my leg. I needed to get it looked at but my adrenalin was pumping and I wanted to catch the bastards who had shot at me.

  “You okay?” Bear asked stopping me with his hand.

  “Yeah fine. Get Stoney and Rex to take our motorcycles back so we can take the van. I can’t ride at the moment.” Bear stared at me before nodding in agreement.

  “Where we going?” Bear asked as we pulled out into the traffic.

  “Chingford. I wanna drive past Tyreese’s hangout.” I started to wrap a make shift bandage around my hand to try and conceal the blood.

  Bear flashed me a questioning look but kept his mouth shut as we continued to drive at a steady speed.

  “Pull over there.” I stated pointing towards a side road near to the Royal Oak, where the gang usually hung out.

  We parked up and Bear turned off the engine before turning to me.

  “You sure about this? I’ll protect your arse until the day I die but does it have to be today?”

  I let out a chuckle as I started to take off my cut. “Don’t worry, we’re just gonna scout the joint to see if we can see the vehicle. If we do, I’ll call for back up.”

  We casually walked into the car park as to not draw attention to ourselves. We wouldn’t be recognisable to the lower members of the gang but we were still cautious. After walking around the car park and the side streets surrounding the pub with no leads, we decided to head back to the club house.

  On entering the van, my phone rang. “Any news CJ?”

  “The car is registered to a Miss Jennifer Wright. Woods and Justice are on their way over there now to have a friendly chat.”

  “Text me the address, we’ll meet them there.”

  “Sure thing.” He said before hanging up.

  Whilst my phone was out I decided to text Ramsey to make sure he got Taylor to the hospital. />
  Is Taylor okay? What did the doctor say?

  Taylor made me drop her off at home. I didn’t have a choice!

  “Shit!” Bear glanced up at me as I typed my response.

  We always have a choice and you just made the fucking wrong one!

  “I need to get to Taylor’s house. Ramsey dropped her off at home rather than taking her to the hospital.”

  “Has the kid got a death wish?” He said shaking his head.

  “Obviously! Step on it I need to get home.”

  “She doesn’t want to see you Mitchell. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you.”

  It was now Monday evening and I hadn’t seen Taylor since the night of the incident. Amy was acting like her private bodyguard and swore that if I turned up at the house again she would call the police.

  I knew she wouldn’t do it but I respected that she was trying to look out for Taylor. Not that she needed too as that was my job. Well I wanted it to be my job but Taylor had made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want to see me, clearly blaming me for Saturday night’s accident.

  Ramsey was under strict instructions to take her to the hospital but he’d ignored direct orders and taken her home instead. Therefore she didn’t get the medical treatment she needed straight away which was now delaying her recovery.

  I’d spoken to James several times on the phone and he promised to give me regular updates on her progress. He was worried that she had an infection, so he took a sample for analysis using a swab before cleaning. This meant that the wound couldn’t be closed as it may trap any infection inside, making it more likely to spread.

  He’d given her antibiotics to be on the safe side and we now had to wait a few days before the results were in.

  “Just tell me if she’s okay?”

  I could hear her huff before a long pause and I was starting to wonder if she’d cut me off.

  “She’s okay Mitchell. Very sore but she’s going to be okay.”

  I let out a long breath not even realising that I’d been holding it. “Thanks Ames. Please look after her and let me know immediately if you need anything.” I hung up and returned the phone back to my pocket.