“Tell me it isn’t true, Harper,” Slade pleads, and I focus on him.
He’s lost and nothing I say or try to do is going to help.
“He said, choose, and you said, India. That’s what you said?” He chokes on her name and I nod. “Yes.”
The shrillest scream bursts from Kristen and she flies over the table and clutches onto my dress.
A blur of hands and hair fills my vision. My instinct is to fight her off, but I don’t get the chance. Strong arms wrap around my waist and I’m pulled back, leaving a handful of hair in Kristen’s hand as Sparky pulls her away. I didn’t even feel her grab at my head.
Sparky locks his arms around her as she thrashes in his hold and kicks out, trying to get at me.
“Take your hands off my wife,” Slade warns, darkly.
But Kristen is doing her best to get at me and Sparky doesn’t budge.
“You were never right in the head,” she spits at me. “You never liked her either, I used to see the way you looked at her. You hated her and I bet you took great delight in choosing her.”
“I didn’t, I swear. It wasn’t like that, I promise,” I tell her, hoping she’ll believe me. I shrug out of JJ’s hold and move forward.
“Believe you!” she cackles, and it sounds so wrong. “You’re evil, Harper, I’ll never forgive you for this.”
I didn’t expect any less, but it still hurts to hear it. Slade rounds the table and pushes Sparky off Kristen. He pulls her against him and turns to Cas.
“I’m taking my wife home and then I’ll be back, and I want answers.”
Everyone watches them leave and a rush of air escapes me as Pope stands.
“Old ladies should go home too, this is club business,” he says, and Kyla and Victoria are the first to push away from the table.
Alannah looks to Cas before making a move and he nods at her.
“He’s right, only Harper will stay.”
Great.
They move quietly and quickly and before long, the bar door closes, and I’m surrounded by Lost Souls all staring at me.
“Everyone sit, we wait for Slade. He deserves that much,” Pope says, and no one goes against him.
Even Cas sits and when I take my seat, JJ pulls it so close to his chair, his jeans brush against my thigh. His hand slowly works its way up and my down my back but it does nothing to soothe me.
JJ
Cas taps his flick knife against the table, dad thrums his fingers over his thighs, Leo sits with his elbows resting on his legs and his head hung in his hands, and I remain at Harper’s side, keeping her so close, no fucker is getting close to her again.
It’s another twenty minutes before the door opens and Slade returns. He doesn’t walk to his seat, but straight towards Cas and lands a right hook to Cas’s jaw. Dad jumps from his seat, but Slade is fast, and he spins, throwing a right to dad’s cheekbone.
“I’d bet my last cent you knew about this,” he says to dad and steps back.
One punch each, that’s all he wanted, and they don’t move to retaliate. He walks around the table towards where Harper and I sit, and he pulls the chair out on her other side. He swivels it sideways and sits real close. Harper is frozen from head to foot and I try to ease my breathing and watch for any move he might make.
“Tell me what happened that night, from the beginning right to the end. Everything. Leave one detail out and I won’t be held accountable for what I do next.”
I listen to her repeat everything she told me a few nights ago and keep softly touching her so she remembers I’m right here with her.
“And after you stabbed him? I need to know every single detail, Harper.”
“I ran and kept on running and hid out at a motel. I didn’t know what to do but then Cas text me and told me to meet him at the Old Mill and that he was going to protect me. I could come home.”
“Go on, what happened when you got the Mill?” he pushes her.
“I can tell you that, brother,” Cas jumps in but Slade doesn’t even look his way. He’s focused on Harper and he’s waiting for her to speak.
“Before, when Cas was in the hospital, I asked him if I could be the one who killed him. He took so much from me and all I wanted was to be the one who took from him. When I got to the Mill, Ellis was tied to a chair and Cas told me I could kill him, that I could come home. But I couldn’t do it, I asked Jay to do it instead and he did. He stabbed him until he took his last breath. I’m so sorry, Uncle Slade. I’m sorry.”
I flinch, ready to strike when Slade lifts his hand and cups her cheek. For a brief moment, he softens, and I think I see understanding in his eyes before they fill with water.
He pulls her in and kisses her forehead before letting her go. He rises from the chair and stands, looking around. He stops at the prospect and tips his head towards his niece.
“Take Harper home,” he barks and then proceeds to grab her arm and haul her up to her feet.
Her head twists to look back at me over her shoulder and I nod encouragingly. She should leave now; she’s said her piece and she doesn’t need to see what happens from now on.
“I’ll come straight home as soon as we’re done here. Lock the doors and stay safe,” I tell her, and she walks out with the prospect.
The door has barely closed when he spins on me and I hold my chin up.
“I don’t hold anything against you for killing Ellis, you were avenging everything that happened to your wife, any one of us would have done the same.”
Having said that, he faces off with Cas and asks, “Why?”
“I was protecting her from anyone who would’ve looked at her differently for what he made her do,” Cas defends.
“To be fair, who here after hearing Harper out, believes she really held the final decision?” Ricky asks everyone around the bar.
“He fucked with her as much as he did with us, it was clear hearing her,” Dex chimes in.
Slade’s stare bores into Cas and then at my dad.
“So why lie to us?” he roars.
“Harper didn’t believe the club would understand, Cas made it so she believed,” I jump in.
This isn’t right, I might be biased because she’s my old lady but I can’t let Cas stand there and take this alone.
“I did what I thought was best at the time. I only just got my daughter back, I wasn’t going to lose her,” Cas yells. “Okay, so I went about it the wrong way…”
Slade loses it. He sweeps his arms across the table and the dinner, and plates and glasses crash down onto the floor. Slamming his fists against the tabletop, the fight in him grows stronger.
“The wrong way? You lied to us, Cas. You lied to us all. What gave you the right? It wasn’t a decision made as a president, it was made as a father.”
“Can you blame him?” Dad chips in.
Ignoring him, Slade carries on. “What do you think would’ve happened to Harper if you had told the truth? She’s my niece,” he yells.
“Slade…” Cas starts before he’s cut off.
“I have my wife at home with a broken heart who has given me an ultimatum, her or the club. There isn’t talking her around, and to be honest, I don’t want to try. All the way here I imagined so many scenarios from wrapping my hands around your neck to crashing my bike and ending it all.” He shrugs out of his cut and grips onto it like a lifeline. “The thing is, I don’t care anymore. I came back to hear the truth and now I have it. It hasn’t brought my daughter back and I don’t feel any better for it either. I’m no longer a Lost Soul. Do not give me time and think I will come back.” He lays his cut on the table and runs his finger over his patch.
“I’ve given years to this patch, to you all, and I lost one of the most important parts of me because of it. This is me and the club done.”
“Slade, brother…no,” Ricky says, getting up to his feet.
“Can you imagine how I feel? I feel nothing and it’s worse than anything I’ve felt before. Keep the Crows you have at t
he Mill, I’m going home to be with my wife.”
He turns his back to us and doesn’t look back as he walks out the door. Silence weaves around corner of the bar and no one can look away from the door. Me, I can’t take my eyes off his cut.
“It’s no surprise,” Leo says, the first to speak up and disturb the silence.
“What? Are you going to leave too?” I say, not standing for anyone else leaving. “Cause it’s not right if you do.”
Shaking his head, a cold smirk plays around the edge of his mouth.
“No, I’m not leaving,” he says. “I’m calling for the club to hold a vote of no confidence.”
Shock ripples through the brothers and all eyes ping pong between Cas and Leo.
“Leo, he’s your dad,” Mason whispers.
“No, he’s the president,” Leo snaps back.
Fucking hell. This is getting out of hand. I move closer to my brother and get him to focus on me.
“You should think this through, there’ll be no going back if you push this.”
He’s staring back at me but there’s nothing there. He’s so deep in his grief and anger he’s not thinking straight. That is the only reason for him to call for such an extreme action.
“This is between you and your dad, keep it that way.”
“JJ,” Cas calls over. “Leave him, if this is what he wants, so be it.”
“He has a point,” Dex speaks up and I want to punch him in the fucking face. “Maybe a vote is what we need, the club hasn’t been right in a while and perhaps it’s the leadership?”
Seriously, what is with him? I look around and most of the brothers aren’t jumping up to defend their president.
Even Cas isn’t uttering a single word in his own defence, he sits back in his chair and reaches for a pack of smokes someone left on the table.
He tips the pack and puts a cigarette to his lips. Dad is there in an instant and slaps the smoke from his mouth.
“Cut that shit out,” he snaps and then turns on Leo. “You really want to hold a vote against your dad?”
Nodding, he says, “Yes.”
“After everything he’s done for you, you’re going to stab him in the fucking back?”
The brothers stay quiet as they watch the scene unfold around them.
“Like I said, this is for the club and his actions have been very fucking questionable lately.”
Dad is one second from launching into an fight on this when Cas slams his hand on the table.
“Everyone be here tomorrow night at eight, we’ll hold the vote then.”
With that said he stands and disappears into his office. Brothers begin to strike up conversations debating between themselves what the fuck just happened, and Leo stares off after his dad.
I head out, eager to get home and back to Harper, I need to know how she’s doing. I sense someone behind me and when I come to a stop at my bike, Leo is climbing on his beside me.
“Shouldn’t you stay here and try and fix this with your dad?” I ask him.
He fixes me with a glare and revs his bike, waiting for me to ride out first. I ride towards town and he rides behind. This should be interesting.
Harper
I didn’t even get to try my pie, for all I know the guys are kicking off and the pie is a casualty on the floor. It’s not what should be playing on my mind as I wait on the porch for JJ to come home, but it saves me picturing Slade trying to keep it together while he listened to every word I poured out to him. I’ve always thought my life was hard, that I’ve had to deal with crap over and over but sitting face to face with my uncle and telling him the events leading up to his daughter’s death, that was hard. Cracking my fingers, I find anything to do to stop the nerves from taking over. I’m dying to know what’s going on, I should be at the club, I was there with Ellis after all, there isn’t anything they can talk about that I don’t know.
A single headlight shines up the street and I spring up to my feet. Hope quickly vanishes when it’s not JJ’s bike. Luca parks on the drive and I sit back down. He soon joins me and makes himself comfortable on the top step.
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the club?”
Because if he’s here, then JJ should be here. He said he’d come straight home when they were done.
“I slipped out just after you left. I’m not interested in club politics. I came to check on you, I didn’t like the thought of you being alone after spilling your guts to the whole club.”
I smile for the first time since dinner and relax knowing he isn’t here to have a go at me. He rode into town, far out of his way to check on me.
“Thanks, it means a lot.” And it really does.
“You are my sister,” he throws back at me and bumps his shoulder with mine.
“Didn’t you want to be there to see what happens with your dad?”
“Our dad, you mean? And he can handle himself. For what it’s worth, I think he did the right thing, it brought you back to us. If I had a kid, I’m sure I would’ve done similar, if not the same. I don’t particularly care about many people, but I liked India, it hurts she’s not here anymore, and I feel bad for Rayna not having her momma no more, but it was down to Ellis. It was him who took her away. I’d let go of your guilt because someone was going to die that night, it just turned out to be her.”
“I didn’t realise you were this wise,” I say with a smile.
He pulls out a pack of cigarettes and I raise my eyebrows. I didn’t know he smoked and with Cas being sick, I would have thought it would put him off. He stuffs them away and I feel a small victory.
“The club is selfish, and they live under a guideline of rules that don’t make sense to the rest of the world. When something like this happens it blows our lives up in the air. Dad’s mistake was he wasn’t open with the brothers, it’s not about you so I wouldn’t worry yourself.”
It’s been so hard to take everyone’s advice when they tell me the same thing, but after tonight and when Luca says it, I’m starting to see it for myself.
“I was so scared for so long about Leo and Slade, Kristen and Zachery finding out what I did, and even though I hurt them today, a big part of me feels so much better it’s all out in the open. They probably won’t talk to me ever again, and I’ll have to learn to live with that but for once I feel free.”
“Slade didn’t blame you, and I doubt Leo will hold it against you. He’s holding too much blame for himself over India. Anyone in their right mind knows Ellis played you. The question is are you going to let him keep doing it from his grave, wherever that may be?”
It feels heartless to be happy, because I can’t work it out in my own head, but the answer is no, I’m not going to keep letting him do it. He’s gone and I’m still here.
“It’s selfish, but I don’t want Leo to hate me. All I ever wanted was a family. Lily was never enough, I haven’t even seen her since I come back, and Slade had India and Zachery. I didn’t realise how much I had until now. I had a family…”
He bumps his shoulder with mine and the smile on his face fills my heart.
“You still do, you’ve got me and dad, mom and Leo will come around. I have no idea when but with time, he’ll be there.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Anyway, Leo’s a dick most of the time. He wouldn’t be a good brother like me,” he says, his grin stretching across his face.
“Is that so?”
“Yep,” he says, popping the p on the end.
We hear the bikes before they pull onto the street and this time, two sets of bikes ride towards the house.
Luca isn’t alarmed and nor am I when I spot JJ’s bike, but then my pulses flips when I notice Leo riding behind him. What the hell is he doing here?
Luca and I stand, and he murmurs, “You got this.” And then he goes to stand by his bike.
Their engines simmer down, and JJ crosses the lawn and collects me in his arms. He’s in one piece, and he’s back home.
“The club is holding a vote of no confidence tomorrow night.”
That’s all I’m getting? I want to know everything, but I hold back from questioning him about it, and ask, “Why is Leo here?”
“I’m not sure, but if he kicks off, get in the house and I’ll sort him out.”
I pull back and he plants a quick kiss on my mouth before he drops his arms and moves to the side. Crossing my arms over my chest, I walk towards Leo, who hasn’t moved from his bike, and I stop a few feet away from him.
I don’t know what to say to start this off, so I stay quiet. He’s the first one to make the first move, he climbs off his bike and closes the distance between us. He wraps his arms around me and for a moment, so briefly, I tense, but then lean into him and hug him back. I don’t know how long it lasts but when he pulls back, his cheeks are wet, and he makes no show of trying to hide them as he wipes the tears away.
“I…”
I cut him off and drop my eyes to my feet, and say, “Don’t say anything.”
If he’s here to tell me he doesn’t want anything to do with me from now on, our moment will be a nice reminder of what I lost.
“I’m going to tell you this once, this isn’t on you. We walked in there trying to help and it didn’t work out. But…” he pauses, and the quietness lingers.
“But?” I urge.
“But when I look at you now and I look at myself, I want to claw our faces off…but I also know that’s my problem because I’m looking for anyone else to blame so I don’t have to live knowing she died because of me.”
“Oh, Leo.”
I step towards him and wrap my arms around him. He’s hurting so bad and my lame hug isn’t going to help him, but I still try.
“My issues aren’t with you, you were a victim of that prick but it’s over now, for you, it’s over. You can live your life, Harper.”
His One Choice Page 13