Book Read Free

His One Choice

Page 16

by Hunter, Ellie R


  I stand, moving closer to Leo. I put my hand on his shoulder, but he shrugs me off.

  “Between you and mom, you’ve destroyed everything I believed in when it comes to family. I’m walking out of here and if you follow me, I won’t be held accountable for my actions.”

  Cas’s mouth opens but nothing comes out and he hangs his head, his chin hitting his chest.

  Leo makes it halfway to the door before he finally speaks.

  “You’re my son and if you’re saying you can never forgive me, then everything I’ve done doesn’t mean shit to me. You need this club more than ever, you need your brothers around you, so I’ll step down, regardless of the outcome of the vote.”

  Cas takes advantage of everyone’s shock and takes his flick knife out again, only this time it’s not as slow, he digs it under the fabric and slices the patch from the stitching.

  Brothers are on their feet, hollering and pounding the table before he walks over to Leo and slams it against his chest.

  Leo doesn’t take it from him, and it falls to the floor when Cas lets go and steps back.

  “I’ll be damned if another brother leaves the club because of me, I’d leave myself.”

  “Stop this,” Pope roars, coming to stand in between them. He faces Leo first. “Is this really what you want? Your dad’s patch?”

  Flexing his jaw, Leo doesn’t speak, only stares at the old man. Pope turns to Cas.

  “Pick that fucking patch up and we’ll forget it ever happened.”

  Shaking his head, Cas says, “It’s up to Leo. It goes back on when I hear it from him.”

  Cas steps around Pope and stops by Leo. “I’ll be at home.” And then he walks out, leaving everyone in his wake, stunned silent.

  “Get him back in here,” my dad orders, but it’s too late. We all hear Cas’s bike engine roar and fade away to nothing as he rides away from the club.

  “You think you’re ready for his patch?” Dad scathes. “You’re not. One day you will be, but that day is not today. Pick up his patch and go follow him, talk to him and come to some arrangement. I don’t care what it is, as long as you’re both wearing your patches the next time I see you.”

  It’s strange seeing him exert his power like this. I mean, he’s been the vice president all my life, but this is the first time, I’ve seen him step up like this. There’s never been a reason for him to before now.

  Leo stands there and all I can do is watch. I’m on tender ground with him and I’ll be fucked if I say something wrong and set him off.

  “Your dad would do anything for you, for us all, for you to allow him to leave this club would be devastating. It’s not right, Leo. It’s not right and you know it, deep down you this is wrong.”

  A beat passes and then another, Leo bends down and picks up Cas’s patch. For a moment, I think he’s going to spit on it, but he quietly turns and walks out.

  I go to follow him but dad’s hand curls around my arm and he stops me.

  “Leave him,” he tells me and then spins around to face everyone. “No one is to interfere with Leo and Cas. This is now father and son business.”

  “It’s club business until Cas puts the patch back on,” Pope argues and dad sighs.

  “He will, they’ll work through this shit and he’ll put it back on. It’s family business,” he reiterates.

  Fuck this, this is much more than I was expecting, and I need a drink. I head to the bar and order a beer. As soon as it’s in my hand, I sink half the bottle and lean on the bar.

  My head pounds as I go over everything that’s happened today. How can so much occur in less than twenty-four hours? It’s crazy.

  All I want is to go get Harper and go home. Judging by dad sitting down with Pope and settling down into a conversation it isn’t going to happen any time soon.

  Harper

  Bonnie was sure Sparky would text her when they were done, and I was expecting to hear from JJ when he was free to use his phone, so when someone knocks at the door, Bonnie and Alannah are instantly on alert. Surely there aren’t any Crows left to ambush us now.

  Another knock comes and Alannah passes me the baby before joining Bonnie as they head slowly down the hall towards the front door. I’m distracted by Rayna clutching at my hair so I miss the relief surge through them and swing the door open. Cas walks in and offers me a small smile before turning to Alannah.

  “We need to talk, out back,” he tells her, and she nods. Her eyes fall to his chest and then widen.

  “Where the fuck is your patch?” she gasps.

  What?

  Both Bonnie and I follow suit and see his President’s patch is missing. Shock rolls through me like thunder across the sky and I try my best to supress the voice screaming this is because of me, because he did this for me.

  “They voted against you?”

  The notion he isn’t president anymore struggles to register in Alannah’s head. She leans on the top of the chair for support and it’s like witnessing someone receiving news of a death of a loved one.

  “Cas? Please say something,” she begs, and I stand frozen waiting to see what he says.

  “No one voted against me, well, apart from Leo,” he tells her.

  “Then why the fuck are you not wearing your patch?”

  Alannah is fierce and I see now, they truly are a team. Alannah is a Lost Soul, this is her life and it affects her just as much as it does Cas.

  “Leo was walking out, the only way I could stop him was to take the patch off. He needs the club, babe, more now than ever. It worked, he stayed, and I left.”

  Sadness flows through her and she slumps on the chair she was leaning onto.

  “Come outside,” he says and squeezes my shoulder as he passes on his way to the back door. She’s quick to follow and gently closes the door behind her.

  The minute she’s out of sight, Rayna begins whimpering in my arms. They quickly grow and turn into full blow cries and she pushes her little hands against me to push away from me.

  I tighten my hold on her and try to readjust her so she isn’t slipping but she’s quick and fucking strong for someone so small, and she pushes against me again.

  “Come on, baby, I don’t want to drop you,” I whine.

  “Give her here,” Bonnie says, trying to hide her amusement. “Don’t you have much experiences with babies?”

  “Zero,” I tell her and gratefully pass the squirming body over to her.

  The kid soon settles and Bonnie jiggles her as she starts making a bottle up.

  “Don’t worry, when you have your own it’s easier, you soon learn their cries and what they want. This little one is tired, and I bet with a warm bottle, she’ll be asleep before she finishes it.”

  “I don’t want to learn, kids aren’t for me and JJ doesn’t want them either.”

  This is news to her and her face clearly shows it. She soon recovers and smiles.

  “I can’t say I’m not disappointed to hear that, I was looking forward to the possibilities of a grandchild or two, but I respect it.”

  Thank god there’s no awkwardness, or Bonnie’s just a great hider of her feelings, either way I’m glad I don’t have to explain myself any further. Instead, I change the conversation.

  “Do you think JJ and Sparky will be back soon, with Cas being here?”

  “I hope so, we’ll know more too. But, with them there and him here, I don’t think it’s good news.”

  Out the back-door window, I watch Cas and Alannah and while she’s clearly upset, he just looks tired. I tune out Bonnie and the baby and wonder if this is what life will still be like for me and Jay in years to come. Cas and Alannah have both lived this life for so long they don’t know any different. Will it be the same for us?

  “Who will be president now?” I ask, keeping my gaze outside.

  “I can’t even think, most of the brothers wouldn’t want to take Cas’s place. Majority of them have no interest in leading, they just want a place to relax and belong. Leo has
always been primed to take over the gavel, but I’m not sure he’s in the right head space for that right now and I know Cas wasn’t ready to pass it down to him just yet.”

  “You know, since I’ve been around it’s been all bad. What’s it like to be married in when the times are good?”

  I’ve been wondering this for a while.

  A genuine smile covers her face and she shakes the formula in the bottle.

  “They’re good, really good. They get on with whatever they do, us old ladies do our thing, and when we all come to together, it’s the best time of your life. Birthdays, celebrations, holidays, it’s always exciting because you have everyone around you and you never know what to expect.”

  It sounds perfect and something I definitely want to be part of.

  She moves into the sitting room and makes herself comfortable on the couch, laying Rayna in her arms to feed her and I perch myself by the window, hoping to see JJ drive up to the house.

  The baby hungrily sucks at her milk and her eyes soon start to droop, just like Bonnie predicted.

  “I haven’t ever pictured myself as a mother, with all my problems and trouble following me like a bad smell, I can barely look after myself. The thought of a child feeling lonely because I’m not in the right frame of mind would kill me. I remember how it felt with Lily.”

  “What is JJ’s reason for not wanting children?”

  “He doesn’t like them, that’s what he says anyway.”

  “Maybe things could change, it’s hard to think of something pure when death is around you. And as for you comparing yourself with Lily as a mother, that’s what having children is all about, we all want to do differently than our parents did. I definitely did. I vaguely remember my mom being soft with me and my brother. She would sing and makes us laugh, after she died there wasn’t any of that from my father.”

  “What happened to her?”

  Bonnie looks down at the baby and back up to me.

  “My father killed her, he strangled her to death.”

  Moving away from the window, I sit on the end of the couch and my legs are numb. She speaks so casually it confuses me.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “My father was the president of another motorcycle club and a long-time enemy of the Lost Souls. He was a cruel man, president and father. He was even worse as a husband. There is no man in our club who comes close to him. He would beat me and my brother, he forced me into many things with the brothers and if he hadn’t have died and I hadn’t have run, I would have had to marry some guy called Tommy and let me tell you, he wasn’t any nicer than my father.”

  “Bonnie, that’s…”

  “I know,” she says smiling and I don’t know how she finds the strength. “Then I met Sparky and everything changed. Eventually I fell pregnant with JJ and while that was a journey of its own, I vowed I wouldn’t let any darkness into his life. I would protect him, I would change in any way I had to for him to never know cruelty. Up till now, I’ve done my job as his mother. So you see, bad parenting isn’t hereditary, Harper. It’s you, you break the cycle and choose different.”

  She has a point. I’ve never thought that way before. I mean, I still don’t want a baby, but maybe it’s not so set in stone I don’t.

  God, this night is messing with my head.

  An engine disturbing the quietness has me launching up to my feet and looking out the window.

  I should have recognised the difference between a bike engine and a car. The rider gets closer and Leo slows to a stop away from Cas’s bike.

  No one else is behind him and when his engine silences, the stillness around the house returns.

  “It’s Leo, I’ll let him in,” I tell Bonnie.

  I get to the door before he knocks and swing it open as he steps onto the porch.

  “Is JJ on his way too?” I ask, instead of greeting him and before he can step inside.

  He looks the spit of his dad. Tired and just like he’s had enough.

  He shakes his head and says, “Only me and dad. Everyone else is staying at the club.”

  I want to ask a million questions. Why? Being the first and main one.

  “Your dad is out back with your mom.”

  He goes to walk around me, but I step to the side and stop him.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Far from it.”

  He gently moves me out his way and disappears out the back. Bonnie is still with the baby and I walk into the kitchen and pour myself a glass of water.

  Leo joins them down by the little stream that runs through and Alannah goes to her son, Leo steps away and the pain is clear for me to see up here.

  There’s talking, yelling, Leo goes to walk back to the house when he stops at something Cas says and spins back to face them. Watching their faces animatedly change at every second, there’s more yelling and I wish I could hear. Alannah cries and her tears shock me more than anything. I didn’t think she was capable of shedding human emotion.

  This time when she steps closer to Leo, he moves to her and they hug. They stand there for a while as Leo speaks to Cas over the top of her head.

  I’m so focused on their every move I don’t notice the time passing and when I look at the clock hanging on the wall above the stove, they’ve been out there for an hour.

  Cas steps forward and pulls Leo into him. Leo doesn’t fight him, and he wraps his arms around his dad. His back shakes just enough for me to see and he’s crying. Cas holds him for so long, I start to believe they can be fixed. Leo is the first to pull away and he hands something to Cas. Cas shrugs out of his cut and passes it over to Alannah and the thing Leo passed him.

  Her shit eating grin is back, and she heads for the house. I quickly sit at the table and by the time she walks into the house, I can sense her mood has changed for the better immediately.

  “Everything is going to work out from now on,” she tells me and goes in search of Bonnie. I look out the door she left open and hear her ask for a sewing kit.

  It isn’t long before father and son walk side by side back to the house and while Leo chooses to stand, leaning against the counter top, Cas pulls out the chair beside mine.

  Alannah comes back in with the sewing kit and gets to work stitching the patch back on the leather cut.

  “We’ll get back to the brothers when your mom’s finished.”

  “Can I expect my husband home any time soon?” Bonnie asks, coming into the kitchen alone. “Rayna’s asleep on the couch.”

  “I wouldn’t wait up, we’ve got other business to deal with,” Cas tells her.

  That means JJ won’t be back either.

  “Do you believe me now?” Cas asks and it takes a beat to register he’s talking to me.

  “Believe what?”

  “Everything works out,” he clarifies.

  “Yeah,” I say, smiling. “I do.”

  “One big happy fucking family,” Leo grunts but he’s not angry.

  “Yes, we are,” Cas agrees with me agreeing silently.

  It’s fucked up, and still a little tense but we’re a family. I have a family.

  JJ

  “Do you know anything about these Crows at the Old Mill?” Mason asks, as he and Myles sit either side of me at the bar.

  “I helped round them up, if we missed any, they should count themselves lucky.”

  “So, what, is it going to be a free for all or does Cas have a plan?”

  “For what, how to kill them?” I ask, unsure where they’re going with this.

  “Yeah,” they both answer together.

  “As far as I know, the only plan Cas has is for Leo to take his revenge on the fuckers who held him down and stopped him from helping India.”

  The twins go quiet and I never know with them if it’s a good or bad thing. It doesn’t occur to me they might be feeling out of their depth, because they’re usually so fearless.

  “We will be expected to kill anyone?” Myles asks casually.

  “Not if
it’s not what you want, you can still have fun kicking their asses. Don’t forget, they stood by and stopped you from helping Tori when Ellis was going to set her on fire.”

  “We’re not saying we aren’t up for this, we just have no clue how this is done. Grumps just tells us we’ve got our patch to prove and dad wants to kill them all himself.”

  Pope has always been the one the twins go to and seeing it now, Pope has found a burst of energy from god knows where and he’s only interested in the blood. This is the guy we’ve all heard about, all the stories of him back in the day, but we haven’t witnessed for ourselves.

  “Pope will have you by his side, I’m sure of that. Do whatever you’re comfortable with.”

  Wordlessly, they leave together and walk outside, only to walk back in seconds later.

  “Cas and Leo are back,” Mason calls out and the music is turned down.

  Digging out my smokes, I put the packet to my mouth and use my teeth to slide a cigarette out. As I light it, the twins venture back and Myles whoops my smoke from me, smirking as he puts it to his mouth and slides on the stool.

  “Cheers, brother,” he quips.

  “Fucker,” I mutter, shaking my head. I light another and this time, keep hold of it before Mason gets any ideas but his eyes are firmly on Cas and Leo as they walk in.

  “I see you’ve both come to your fucking senses,” Pope hollers. Seriously, where is this guy’s strength coming from?

  Cas holds his hand up for silence and Leo slaps him on the back and goes to sit down with Zachery.

  He cuts his eyes to mine and gives one nod, telling me shit is okay now. Every last ounce of tension leaves me, and I smile. I can’t help it. Shit can get back to normal with nothing being held from anyone.

  “After tonight, although our losses will stay with us always and we will never forget, we will move on. It’s the club way, it’s our way. Having said that, changes are coming, and they are needed. At some point, there will be someone else wanting our blood, our patches. We can’t let what happened to us happen again, we won’t let it happen. We are brothers and we won’t allow anyone to get that close to us again. Mark my words, we’ll be tighter, faster, stronger, we’ll make being ruthless look like a picnic.”

 

‹ Prev