“That bunch of animals,” said Jez.
“The Jordan’s deadliest enemies,” said Mikey. “Robbie must have kissed some arse to get their protection.”
“If she’s got their backing we can’t touch her,” said Jez. “Not without starting another war and that’s the last thing we need.”
“She’s sending assassins after Rachel,” retorted Ryan.
“She didn’t come to me, I went to her,” said Jules. “She hasn’t got the resources to order a hit, not a decent one anyway.”
“The Slatterys have given her their protection.”
“And they wouldn’t dare take us on,” said Mikey. “Katia’s not worth the hassle to them. They don’t want what we have, neither do they have the strength to take it. Vic Slattery’s king in Essex but he’s got no sway outside his own territory.”
“We can’t touch her in Essex though,” said Jez. “That would piss them off.”
“So you’re saying we just leave Katia out there as an ever-present threat?” said Ryan.
“What choice do we have?” replied Jez.
“If it was Cathy being threatened you’d be straight down south to take Katia out, but it’s not your wife is it, it’s Rachel. It’s always Rachel,” he thundered in his brother’s face.
“Perhaps you should take some time out?” Mikey suggested to Ryan.
“I don’t need time out. All I need is Lexie, Katia and that fucking psycho gone,” he said, gesturing at Jules.
Rachel took his hands and turned him to face her. “Ryan, they’re making sense. If Katia was capable of attacking us she would have done it by now. She saw her chance in Jules and she took it.”
“What if one day she does get the resources?”
“She’s setting up another business down south, dealing in women,” said Jules with distaste.
“You mean she’s trafficking again?” said Mikey.
“Vic Slattery was in on the last business with Alex,” said Jules. “He took the girls off his hands who got too used up for his own place. He’s made negotiations with Alex’s old contacts abroad and they’ve set up another distribution line.”
“That’s why you’ve brought this information to us,” Rachel said to her. “You hate Katia and the Slatterys for using people like the Parkers used you and you want them brought down.”
Jules vehemently nodded. “That would bring me enormous pleasure. I can do it too, I just need a little help.”
“Why not come to me?” said Mikey.
“I thought Rachel would be more likely to listen to what I had to say, especially after what she went through in Katia’s brothel.”
Rachel moved closer to the bed, so she could look Jules right in the eye and she nodded. “She’s telling the truth.” She leaned even closer. “Why did you attack me in the barn, and don’t say you didn’t because you helped Col Sugar.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure. I was burning up after what happened to my club.” She looked round at them all one by one. “How would you feel if someone shot down the people that had been your family for twenty years right in front of you? I think you’d be burning too.”
“So what’s changed?” said Mikey. “They’re still dead and we killed them.”
“I realised I do have a family, that I have all along, one I’m related to by blood.” She took a deep breath, allowing them to see a flicker of vulnerability. “I’m tired of being alone. I want to belong somewhere.”
“You don’t belong here,” said Ryan.
“Yes, you’ve made that perfectly clear.” She looked to Mikey. “But Manchester has always been my home.”
“Nice try,” snorted Ryan. “You can’t seriously be considering this,” he exclaimed when Mikey appeared thoughtful.
“This isn’t just your call Ryan. She’s my cousin and Jez’s older sister. We have as much right to a say in her future as you do.”
The retort Ryan had ready was snatched from him when his phone started to ring.
“What?” he barked into it. He frowned, listening. “No, don’t go there. I’ll text you another address.” He hung up then started typing out the message with his thumbs. “The plot thickens. That was Dane Black. He’s here in Devon.”
“Dane?” frowned Jez. “Why?”
“My guess is it’s something to do with you,” Ryan said to Jules.
She just shrugged, although secretly she was disturbed, unsure whether Dane’s arrival was a good or a bad thing.
“Why don’t you go downstairs and wait for Dane?” Rachel suggested to Ryan.
“I don’t need a break,” he replied, eyes locked on Jules.
“Yes you do. Come on,” said Rachel, leading him out the door.
“Wow, he’s whipped,” sniggered Jules as the door closed behind the pair of them.
“Rachel’s the only one who can talk any sense into him,” replied Jez, “so if I were you I’d stay on her good side. My guess is she’s the reason you’re still alive. If Ryan had his way you would have been dead and buried and we’d have been none the wiser.” His eyes turned as cold as his brother’s. “You’d better be telling us the truth, for your own sake. You do remember what happened the last time you took Rachel on?”
“I’ve got the false teeth to prove it, but I wasn’t thinking straight back then. I was grieving. You know what that’s like, you’ve lost brothers of your own and you went after the Maguires for it. Now look at you, partners with Mikey.”
Jez couldn’t argue with that.
“What’s your last name anyway?” said a curious Mikey. “Parker, Law or Maguire?”
“For a while it was Parker but I ditched that when I was free of them. Estelle Law gave me the name Jules, the only thing she ever gave me. I changed my name to Venom because I wanted nothing from either of them.”
“Just Venom, like Madonna and Cher?” said Jez dryly.
“No, not like them,” she hissed back.
“So if it’s not Parker or Law, do you want it to be Maguire?” said Mikey. He was pleased when hope shone in her grey eyes. It was very brief, nothing more than a flare that was quickly steamrollered by her iron will but it convinced him more than anything that she was being honest. She just wanted to belong somewhere.
“I’d like it to be,” she said.
“We’ll see. You have to earn it and I want a DNA test done too. Jez, a word.”
He nodded and they left the room, Battler and Bruiser staying behind to guard Jules. She reclined back on the bed, cradling her arm that was still in its sling and flashed them a grin. “Up for a threesome boys?”
Bruiser frowned and took two steps back while Battler just sighed and shook his head.
CHAPTER 22
“I think we should take Jules back to Manchester with us,” said Mikey.
“I agree. If she stays here Ryan will kill her,” replied Jez.
“Why does he hate her so much?”
“She reminds him of Estelle.”
“Your mum?”
Jez nodded. “When Jules gets nasty she looks just like her.”
“I see.”
“What do we do with her once we’ve got her down there? We can’t trust her.”
“She has to earn our trust. I need a number two,” said Mikey.
“Her? You’re serious?”
“Declan isn’t ready, he’s admitted that himself and Grant is in charge of my security. I need someone I can bring in on the business and I think she could be good, with the right encouragement. She found Katia when we didn’t have a clue with all our contacts and cash.”
“She’s already an experienced assassin, which could be useful but I’m really not sure we can trust her.”
“Like I said she has to earn it and I’ve got a way of testing her, but I won’t bring her in unless I’ve got your agreement.”
Mikey and Jez were careful to confer on everything, ensuring neither of them ended up a crazed despot like Alex. They didn’t want to share his fate so they ran everything past eac
h other first, it was a way of protecting themselves as well as each other and it was working very well for them.
“I agree. I want to give her a chance because she’s blood but if she fails the test…”
“Then we eliminate her,” said Mikey. “I’m not taking the chance on any of our lives, especially not Rachel’s.”
“You’ve got to keep a lid on it Ryan,” said Rachel. “You’re usually so good at containing your emotions. What’s changed?”
“Jesus Rachel, everything and everyone has changed. Didn’t you hear Mikey and Jez up there? They’re different men and so am I. All that shit we went through with Alex saw to that.”
“I know you are babe but you’ve got to calm down. I’ve never seen anyone wind you up as much as Jules can, not even your mum. Why does she get to you so much?” She sighed and closed her eyes. “Because she reminds you of Estelle?”
“Yes.”
“Now it all makes sense.”
“I can even see the resemblance. The hair colour might be different but that’s all. She’s the waster slag through and through.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“Are you serious?”
“You heard how she spoke about that little girl, Cara. She genuinely loved her. Estelle could never feel like that. Jules is a product of the abuse she was subjected to.”
“Don’t give me that social services shite.”
“We know she was telling the truth because Mikey confirmed it with Alice Parker. You don’t go through something like that and come out the other side unscathed. Jules was badly hurt and now she’s a walking, talking lump of scar tissue. That’s why she’s so spiky.”
“She’s a psychopath.”
“No she’s not because she can love. It’s all part of her defence mechanism. Stop showing her she winds you up because that gives her a control over you that she likes, she’s had precious little control in her life.”
Rachel knew she was reaching him when he went quiet.
“Alright babe, perhaps you’re right,” he eventually said. “But I don’t want a relationship with her and I don’t want her anywhere near us. Mikey and Jez can do what they like with her, but I promise you I won’t hurt her.”
“Thank you,” said Rachel, embracing him. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“We’ll see,” he replied, hanging onto her.
Lexie timidly entered the room. “Is everything okay? I heard shouting.”
As he’d turned his anger from Jules, he now directed it at Lexie, who had no excuses like his other prodigal sister, but his tirade was silenced before it had begun by a knock at the back door.
“That’ll be Dane,” he said, pausing to take a kitchen knife out of the block before cautiously opening the door. He relaxed and pulled it open wide when he saw it was indeed his old friend, replacing the knife back in the block.
“You look pissed off. Jules is definitely here then?” said Dane wryly, stepping inside.
“Wow,” murmured a voice.
They all turned to see Lexie staring at Dane with her mouth open.
“Go away, this isn’t your business,” Ryan told her, making her scuttle off into the next room.
“Who’s that?” said Dane.
“My sister, Lexie. She’s Riley’s sister too but you don’t need to be concerned with her. I take it you’re here about Jules?”
“I am.”
“What is she to you?”
“It’s complicated.”
Ryan’s face went as hard as stone, heartening Rachel. He was concealing his emotions again. “She’s upstairs.” Abruptly he turned on his heel, Rachel and Dane following in silence.
Mikey and Jez had concluded their talk and were just about to enter the room too when they encountered them at the top of the stairs.
“Dane, good to see you again,” said Mikey, shaking his hand as they all crowded on the landing outside Jules’s door.
“You too.” Dane was a little nervous and he cursed Jules for putting him in this position but it was something he had to do. He prayed his feelings for her wouldn’t be the death of him. He walked into the bedroom and shook his head. “I warned you this was a bad idea, didn’t I?” he barked at her.
“You knew she was coming here?” frowned Ryan.
“More of an informed guess. She told me she was going away.”
“And why would she bother to tell you anything?”
“We have a long history.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been fucking her?”
Dane felt sweat break out on the back of his neck when they all stared at him, all except for Jules who merely looked entertained, the bitch.
“We had a thing in the past, but it’s over now.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I was worried about what she’d do to you as much as for her.”
Ryan stood nose to nose with him and Dane returned his glare, even though he was outnumbered.
“When you said you’d join us to take down Lucifer’s Shadow you never once mentioned a relationship with The Queen.”
“I didn’t see how it was relevant.”
“Not relevant? Don’t bullshit me Dane.”
“It was over between me and Jules years ago.”
“She’s the reason you and Jasper fell out?”
“He caught us in bed together,” smiled Jules. “Dane was chained to it at the time while I whipped him.”
Dane closed his eyes and huffed. “For Christ’s sake Jules, you’re not helping.”
“I just want them to get the full picture.”
“Why couldn’t it have been that big flapping gob of yours that got injured instead of your shoulder,” he retorted.
“If it’s so over then why are you here now?” said Jez.
“Like I said, I was worried what she was getting up to. From the looks on your faces I’d say her usual tricks. What have you started Jules?”
“I wanted to get to know my family.”
“What family? You have no family.”
“On the contrary, I have two brothers and a cousin and they’re all here right now.”
Dane’s puzzled expression soothed some of Ryan’s anger. Obviously he hadn’t known.
“What are you talking about?”
“Ryan, Jez and I share the same mother.”
He gaped at her. “What? How long have you known?”
“Twenty years.”
“And you never said a word.”
“Not to anyone. Not even Jasper knew.”
Dane hated it that he was relieved by that nugget of information. His jealousy was pathetic.
“Who’s your father?”
“Terry Maguire.”
“You’re kidding right? This is a fucking joke?”
“No joke,” said Mikey grimly. “What were you planning to do when you got here Dane? Help her escape?”
“No. I didn’t even know if she was here, but I had to check. I know all too well what sort of mayhem she’s capable of causing.”
“Were you in contact with her when we attacked the clubhouse?” Ryan asked Dane.
“No,” he replied firmly. Dane was a confident, capable liar but he knew Jules might betray his lie for her own amusement and he prayed she knew when to keep her trap shut. She did.
“If you had warned her then she wouldn’t have been in that clubhouse waiting for us to hit it,” reasoned Ryan.
“I only went to see Dane for old time’s sake,” interjected Jules. “I wanted to say goodbye because I didn’t know if I was coming back.”
“You nearly didn’t. Think yourself fortunate you’re still alive,” said Ryan.
“Big brother tried to strangle me,” she explained to Dane, smiling when he cringed. “Look at him, he knows very well what that does to me. He strangles me himself just before I come, it makes the experience so much more intense.” She looked to Rachel. “You should try it, big brother is really good at it, a natural.”
“If you don’
t shut up I’ll strangle you right now, the only difference is I won’t let go,” thundered Dane.
“Hey, that’s enough,” Mikey told him. “You should have told us you had a relationship with her Dane.”
“It was years ago.”
“We fucked only two days ago, just before I came here,” interjected Jules.
“Before that I hadn’t seen her in ages, there was no relationship,” he exclaimed.
“Is this true Jules?” Mikey asked him.
She stared at Dane, enjoying watching him squirm. “Yes,” she eventually replied and it took all of his self control not to sigh with relief.
“You still should have told us Dane,” said Ryan. “Obviously you didn’t warn her about the impending attack on the clubhouse because she was in there. That’s the only reason things aren’t going to get very serious for you. I’d hate to see that happen, we’ve been friends a long time but my faith in you has been shaken.”
“Mine too,” said Jez. “And that’s not good when you’re in business with someone.”
“Oh dear,” sniggered Jules.
Dane gave her an infuriated look.
“Everyone just calm down,” said Rachel. “Dane didn’t betray us, in fact he went out of his way to help us and I believe you two were pinned down by Jasper’s men at the farm until he showed up with Riley,” she told Mikey and Jez. “I think he’s proved where his loyalties lie.”
“Thank you Rachel,” replied Dane, resisting the urge to sweep her into his arms and kiss her. If he had her support then the others would fall into line, they all took her advice.
“Anyway, we’ve got another problem. No, it’s nothing to do with her,” said Ryan when Dane looked at Jules. “Come downstairs and discuss it. We could use your help too,” he said, addressing Mikey and Jez.
“I want to come,” said Jules.
“You must be fucking joking,” retorted Ryan.
“I’ve been locked in here for hours, I’m going insane.”
“That ship’s already sailed.”
“Alright,” said Mikey.
“No, not alright,” said Ryan.
“What’s she going to do against all of us?” said Rachel reasonably. “You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you Jules?”
Aftermath (Dividing Line #6) Page 19