Locke (Aces MC Series Book 4)

by Foster, Aimee-Louise

  I could hear the other guys still deep in conversation and crept towards them still keeping in the darkness to conceal myself. Leaning my back against the wall I took a large breath trying to decide my next action. I heard an engine start and peered from the alley to see Billy sitting in the driver's seat of the car as Rev and Flex shook hands again. Flex returned to the vehicle and I could see him get annoyed from the expression on his face, "Millie!" he shouted looking around the dimly lit car park. "Where's that cunt gone?" He stepped from the car, "Millie, if you're not here by the count of three I'm leaving without you and it's a fucking long walk home. One, two, three!" He glanced around the car park one last time before getting into the car and slamming the door behind him.

  This spurred Rev on and he quickly looked around the car park focussing in my direction, "Bishop!" He removed his blade from his belt and strutted towards where I was hiding. "Bishop!" Rev walked into the alley, "Where's the fucking idiot!" He said muttering under his breath.

  As Rev passed me I slowly moved into position not checking to see what was beneath me, I stood on a twig alerting Rev of my whereabouts. He spun round wielding the knife as I tried franticly to pull the pistol from my jeans. As I pulled it free he was upon me and knocked it from my hand, and skidded across the ground. Rev quickly brought the blade down and cut my arm, his crazed expression alerting me of his anger.

  Still in the crouching position I leapt forward catching him off guard in a rugby tackle that knocked him to the ground. He gasped for air from being winded and I took my opportunity to scramble up his body and punched him several times in the face. Rev quickly gained his composure and sliced me again, "Fuck!" I yelled as the pain ripped through my arm. He took this opportunity to knock me off balance and rolled on top of me placing his knees on both of my arms immobilising me.

  Rev breathed heavily trying to catch his breath as I struggled beneath him, "What the fuck you done with Bishop?"

  I continued to struggle but maintained eye contact, "He's fucking dead!" I sneered. "Just like you'll be when the rest of the guys find out what you've done." I saw the rage on Rev's face as he pulled up his blade, I closed my eyes ready for the pain when Rev's body jerked forward and landed on top of me. The pressure went from my arms but his full weight smothered me, I pushed him off frantically trying to get some air but this took longer than expected because of the pain in my arm. As I rolled him off I noticed a young girl standing at my feet pointing my gun at me as her hands shook violently.

  "It's okay babe you can lower the gun now, I'm not gonna hurt you." The gun continued to shake rapidly and I felt concerned that she may shoot me by mistake. "Please lower the gun babe, it's all going to be fine." I went to get up from the ground but she held the gun with both hands steadying the pistol as she followed my every move, "It's okay I'll sit back down." I sat on the ground again contemplating the situation and how it was panning out. If she wanted me dead, she would've done it already but I needed to know for sure. I assumed that she was the girl Flex called after earlier but why would she be running away from him?

  "What do you want?" I asked holding up my hands letting her know that I wasn't a threat.

  "Take me with you," she whimpered.

  "Sorry?" I asked by way of clarification.

  "Take me with you." This time she pleaded as her eyes glistened with tears.

  "You don't know who I am or where I'm going babe, why would you want to come with me?"

  She glanced over her shoulder looking down the alley. "Because I'll probably be safer with you." The night had now turned cooler and I could see that she was shaking, probably from shock.

  I looked at the young girl pleading for help, and could only wonder what she was running away from if she was prepared to get a ride with a total stranger to an unknown destination. "Okay," I said with a huff. What choice did I have anyway when she was pointing a gun at me?

  She turned around quickly to look at me with hope, "You'll take me with you?"

  "Yes but can I have that back?" I nodded towards my .45mm.

  She gripped it tightly against her chest, "No, take me to your destination and then you can have it back."

  "Fine by me darlin, if we get pulled over I'll just say it's yours."

  She shrugged and continued to hold the pistol tightly as I scrambled from the ground. I ran my hand up the sleeve of my cut and looked at my palm, I was losing a lot of blood from the gash but I couldn't go to hospital, I needed to find a chemist and patch the wound up myself.

  "I need to get these bodies into the car, any chance you can give me a hand?" she was tiny but what little strength she had may help to speed up the process. She nodded and placed the gun in the waistband of her jeans before bending down to grab Rev's ankles.

  "Hold up, I just need to take this." I crouched beside Rev and removed his cut, this gave me a sense of pride knowing that I'd stripped him of his colours before I moved over to Bishop to do exactly the same thing. They didn't deserve to wear these but I only wished I'd removed them before they were dead. I left their cuts safely on the ground as I returned to Rev's body and placed my hands under his arms carefully as to not get too much of his brains on me as we lifted him to the car.

  "You're gonna have to get in the car babe and pull him in."

  She nodded and backed up minding her head as she crouched to get in the back seat of the car. She pulled his legs as best she could and shuffled across the seat to open the door on the other side so that she could get out and try and yank the body further. What ever happened now she was linked to the deaths and the act of covering them up which pleased me as I had some bargaining power. I didn't know this bird and if I was taking her with me I needed to have something over her until I knew she didn't pose a threat.

  "You're doing well, we just need to go back for Bishop." She looked at me thoughtfully before walking towards the alley. "What's that look for?" I asked as I caught her up.

  "You're wearing the same colours, I thought you were brothers?" Millie asked breathlessly as she continued walking towards Bishops body.

  "So did I but they tried to kill the Chapter President this evening, in fact I don't know if they were successful or not yet?" Millie nodded her head understanding what I'd just said but if she expected me to talk then she needed to do the same. "While we're talking about loyalties, who are you to Flex?"

  "No one of importance anymore," she said flippantly. Millie bent down to grab Bishops ankles and we carried him to the car like we did with Rev but in silence.

  "Can we do the same but in the front seat, I'm not climbing over his body?" Millie asked nodding in the direction of Rev.

  "That's fine," she gave me a brief smile like she was thanking me for not making her do it.

  Millie opened the door and climbed into the vehicle and over the centre console so that she could pull Bishop in fully. As she exited the car on the opposite side she pulled the body one last time so that I could close the door on the other side. Millie leaned against the side of the vehicle and let out a long sigh as I leaned beside her, "So I'm assuming you're Millie?"

  She smirked, "I sure am, and you are?"

  "Locke." Millie held out her hand for me to shake which was a surreal moment after spending the last twenty minutes together moving bodies. "We need to set this car alight and get out of here before someone sees us." I reached into the vehicle and tore some material from Bishops t-shirt and jogged around the Jeep to open the petrol cap, and stuffed the material deep into the hole before using my lighter to set the cloth alight. I leant into the vehicle and also set alight various parts of the interior.

  "Don't forget these." Millie said holding up the cuts I'd taken from Rev and Bishop. I smiled and grabbed Millie's hand pulling her in the direction of my motorcycle away from the burning vehicle.

  When we were at a safe distance we both turned looking at the fire take hold of the vehicle. I hadn't realised that I was still holding Millie's hand until she squeezed it. "Sorry babe," I let go of her ha
nd and she glanced at my arm.

  "You're losing a lot of blood we need to get you patched up." I nodded, she was right if this continued I wouldn't be able to ride. "Where do you want to go for supplies? I remember passing a Tesco down the road."

  I was surprised by her proactive attitude and the fact that she didn't mind helping me out considering what we'd just done.

  "Let's find a hotel for the night, I can't ride around too much covered in blood." Millie nodded her head and waited for me to mount my motorcycle before she got on to the bitch pad and wrapped her arms around my waist. She'd obviously done this before and if she'd fled from the Skulls I'm sure she was more experienced than most.

  I passed her my helmet. "Thank you Locke," she said appreciatively. It made me think of Keira and how she reacted the first time she got on my ride, I had to argue with her to take my jacket and helmet but Millie was obviously more concerned about her own safety.

  I started the engine and we rode away from the scene as a large explosion came from the Jeep, Millie squeezed tightly around my waist which made me chuckle. What the fuck had I gotten myself into?

  Twenty minutes later we arrived at a hotel on the outskirts of town. I drove around the car park looking for a secluded place to leave the motorcycle and decided to park it under some trees at the far end of the car park.

  "Come here," Millie removed a hanky from her pocket and licked the material before rubbing my cheek roughly.

  "That's gross, my mum used to do that when I was a boy."

  She sniggered, "Well if you try to go into a hotel covered in blood they're going to start asking questions. Millie wiped the wet material over my face removing grime and blood to make me look a little more presentable before she wiped along the sleeve of my jacket trying to mop up some of the blood.

  When she was finished with me she stuffed the hanky into her pocket and quickly combed her hair with her fingers before straightening her clothes.

  "Are you ready?" she asked holding out her hand, I nodded but frowned at her gesture. "Oh play along Locke. If you're taking me away for a romantic night in a hotel, we at least need to act like a couple." She stated winking at me.

  I grabbed her hand and squeezed it as I dragged her through the car park, I wasn't particularly up for playing games especially this evening. I'd pretended to be someone else for the past seven years but if I was going to role play the only person I wanted to do that with was Keira.

  We reached the reception desk and I dug deep into my jean pocket to retrieve my wallet and gave it to Millie, she noticed my grimace and quickly sped up the booking process of getting us a room. Once we had the key card, we scurried along the corridor looking like a couple excited about getting a room, and Millie quickly used it to open the door.

  "Aggggghhhh," I shouted as I removed my jacket. During the evening some of the blood had dried around the wound making the material of my jacket stick to my skin. I stomped in to the bathroom and looked at the gashes in the mirror, "They don't look too good, if you give me some money I'll find a chemist and get some supplies."

  "Take what you need out of there." I said nodding towards the wallet she was still holding. Millie opened it up and removed the notes as instructed and placed them into her pocket.

  "Here take these before I go." Millie stuck her hand up into her jacket and pulled roughly on the cuts she'd concealed in her jacket earlier. The scenario made me snigger as this action had made her look pregnant because of her slight frame, "What you laughing at?"

  "It doesn't matter," I said shaking my head amused.

  Millie placed the cuts and the pistol onto the vanity unit and smiled, "I won't be long." She said before scurrying from the room.

  I let out a long sigh as I made my way into the bedroom and sat myself down on the bed. I needed to make contact with the Aces but I was scared as to what the outcome may be regarding Duke. I reluctantly removed my phone from my pocket and dialled Bear's number.

  "How you doing man?"

  "I'm good. How's Prez?" I asked preying that he was okay.

  "It'll take more than that." I realised that he was being coy as it wasn't a secure line.

  "Just to let you know it's all been taken care of?"

  "So it's all good?"

  "Yeah Rev and Bishop have taken a very long holiday. Look I can't really talk I have a couple of things to deal with but I'll check in soon."

  "Okay, stay safe."

  I hung up and let out a sigh of relief knowing that Duke was going to be okay. I was now hoping that Duke and I could possibly try and build bridges. I knew that it wasn't going to be an overnight thing, it would take more than what I'd done this evening to make amends but at least he would know that I'm serious about the club and my brothers.

  I picked my phone back up and decided to call CJ quickly to make sure he was okay.

  "Where are you Locke?" CJ asked concerned.

  "I'm going away for a while, I need to get my head together."

  "A break will be a good thing, it will give you time to take stock and come back refreshed."

  "Yeah something like that. I've gotta go man, I'll speak to you soon."

  "Stay safe!"

  "And you."

  I walked back into the bathroom and removed my clothes, I needed to take a shower to get all of this shit off my face completely. I leaned into the shower cubical and turned on the tap to warm the water and glanced at my arm. It was still pissing out blood, it didn't need stitches but I needed Millie to get her arse back quickly so I could cover it up. That's if she came back. I'd given her a large sum of cash, which could possibly get her home from here, wherever home was. "Nah," I said to myself, if she'd wanted to have done a bunk, she wouldn't have wanted to have come with me.

  I got into the shower cubical and stood under the warm spray of the water as it covered my body and washed away the evidence of tonight's altercation. I tried to keep my arm out of the water but this was made difficult as I tried to wash myself.

  My shower took longer than expected but once I was satisfied that I was clean, I got out and grabbed a fluffy towel from the vanity unit to cover my modesty.

  "Hi," Millie said without turning around as I entered the bedroom. I watched as she used wet wipes to clean the blood from my jacket and put the dirty wipes in to a carrier bag. "I'll just finish this then I'll tend to your arm." I sat quietly on the bed so as not to disturb her as she continued to busy herself while humming a tune. Considering what had gone on this evening she was fairly chipper which surprised me, most women would've fallen to pieces by now.

  "All done," Millie moved my jacket and hung it on the back of the chair in the far corner of the room and quickly returned to my side. "Okay, so I don't think it needs stitches but I'm obviously not a doctor." She stated moving my arm back and forth concentrating on the task at hand. I watched as she opened a packet of antiseptic wipes and set the bandage, cream and sticky tape onto the bed so she could grab them easily. Taking a hair band from her wrist she scragged her hair high into a messy bun and stuck her tongue out slightly as she concentrated.

  I sniggered which made her look up from my arm, "What?"

  "Do you always have your tongue hanging out when you concentrate?"

  "Ha-ha!" she said dryly as she grabbed an antiseptic wipe and ran it down my arm. I pulled back slightly but she held firm. "Oh sorry I forgot to say it may sting." Millie stated as she smiled, I continued to snigger although in discomfort but she had a likability about her which made me at ease.

  Millie continued to work on my arm and did a good job of bandaging it. Once she'd placed the sticky tape in position she stood back to assess it, "Not bad if I do say so myself." She didn't wait for a reply from me, she just cleared the mess that she'd created and hummed happily to herself.

  "Oh I nearly forgot I bought us both some clean underwear and a new t-shirt each, I can't get back in to this t-shirt with all this shit down it." Millie sat on the bed and glanced in my direction, "You're change is on the beds
ide cabinet." She stated pointing to the money.

  "Thank you, I appreciate what you've done this evening."

  "No problem, so where are you taking me? I see you're from an Essex chapter, where you based?"

  I shook my head not understanding her motives, "Hold on a minute, let's not worry about me. Why do you want to get away?"

  Millie rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling, "I want a change of scenery."

  "That's fine with me." If she weren't prepared to give any information then neither was I. "You'll find out tomorrow where you're going."

  Millie pouted as she grabbed a bag from the end of the bed and stomped into the bathroom to change. I heard the shower turn on and knew that I had a couple of minutes of peace before she returned.

  I took the other bag and looked inside to see a pack of boxers and a black t-shirt, I pulled it from the bag and held it up to see the slogan, "I only have one nerve left and you're getting on it!" and sniggered to myself. I'd only met Millie a couple of hours ago but this about summed up her humour, I could imagine her standing in the Tesco store laughing to herself as she selected the t-shirt. I quickly pulled on the new boxers which were a little snug and removed the tags from the t-shirt before pulling it over my head. Glancing around the room I noticed that there wasn't anywhere else to sleep as the room was so basic, she'd have to sleep in the bed with me because I wasn't sleeping on the fucking floor.

  I pulled a bottle of water from the carrier bag on the bedside cabinet and swallowed two paracetamols washing them down with a swig of water. A shiver ran through my body and I quickly pulled back the covers to get into the bed as I was getting cold.

  I heard the shower turn off and knew it wouldn't be long before she joined me, this was going to be awkward. I hated to be put into situations but what choice did I really have, she'd most certainly saved my life.

  Her humming alerted me to her presence in the room, I must've fallen asleep briefly. "Are you okay if I sleep in the bed with you? I don't fancy sleeping on the floor."

  I nodded my head briefly and Millie smiled as she snuggled under the covers, "Good night Locke." She stated rolling over to get comfortable.