But it wasn’t Hawk who answered him. It was a very pissed off DC.
“And what if she makes another attempt on River and Duncan? What if that’s her next play? You freaking dropped the ball with River once already, Ice. And now there is so much more at stake. You have no freaking idea. We cannot allow the bitch to get her dirty hands on River or Duncan. Dagger would lose his freaking mind and so would Jinx.”
Everyone looked at DC with confused frowns.
“What are you talking about, little bird? What aren’t you telling us.”
“I can’t say because I promised I would keep my mouth shut.” She gave a disgruntled sigh. “I already said too much and even though she said I can tell you if you push I’m not going to. It’s for her to tell.” She growled at Hawk but her eyes slid to Ice and stayed on him.
What the hell?
Ziggy stared at DC with narrowed eyes, tilted his head as he did when he was thinking and then started typing furiously. Suddenly he froze, lifting his hands from the keyboard leaving them hanging in the air in front of him he looked at DC with wide shocked eyes.
“Oh shit. She really, really can’t get her hands on River right now.” He murmured.
“Why?” Hawk snarled. “What did you find, Ziggy?”
“Okay, okay, but I just want to make it clear. This doesn’t feel right. I don’t like doing this and when it gets out, and believe me after I tell you it will, I will fucking deny any involvement.”
“For fuck’s sake stop moaning and just tell us.” Beast snarled.
“Don’t, Ziggy. This is her business, not club business.” DC warned.
“But it is club business, DC. If she told you then you know why it is.” Ziggy said with an apology in his voice.
DC sighed then nodded. “I know. I just wanted to give her some more time.”
“Enough with all this fucking back and forth shit. Ziggy, tell me what the fuck is going on. Right the fuck now.” Hawk laid down the law.
Ziggy drew in a deep breath and Ice frowned when for some reason he looked right at him before he opened his mouth.
“River is pregnant. With twins.”
Shock coursed through Ice as he clenched his teeth to stop words he didn’t want to say from passing his lips. And then his cousin did it for him.
“Does the file tell us who the father is and how far along she is?”
Ziggy covered his face with his hands as if he was praying or something.
“Yes to both. And that’s why it’s club business.”
“Stop fucking dragging it out, Zig. Just give it to us.” Bulldog said. “It can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, but it is, it is that bad. According to her file she’s about fourteen weeks pregnant. So please do the math motherfuckers. It happened around the same time as the family braai we had here and our esteemed VP is the fucking daddy.” He hissed.
And then Ziggy exploded. “How the fuck could you do this to her? You dumped her to go after fucking Emma? Jesus. No wonder she doesn’t want you to know.”
“Oh fuck.” Kid whispered. “She saw you with Emma. And the bitch was all over you.”
Spider shoved his chair back and looked ready to launch himself at Ice. “Seriously? Are you fucking with me right now? You’ve been allowing the piece of shit whore to climb all over you while your woman is pregnant with my nieces or nephews? Shame on you, bro.” Spider looked like he had smelt something really bad. “No wonder you need to hose yourself off every time you’ve been out with the evil slut.”
Shock hurtled through him as he reared up and out of his chair, he heard it bang into the wall behind him but he only had eyes for his dad who had slowly pushed himself up from his chair. His dad was furious and disappointed at the same time. Ice saw it very clearly on his face and in his eyes.
Bulldog had both hands on the table as he leant forward, his eyes hard as they focused on Ice. “You will fix this. Those children are my grandbabies. As of right now you’re off the Emma Coetzee shit. Your family comes first. Do you understand me, Ice?”
Ice nodded. Yes, he understood but at the same time he didn’t understand. Why hadn’t she come to him?
And then it hit him. The phone call. The fucking phone call. He reared back and slammed his hands on top of his head and roared at the ceiling. He fucking roared with rage at himself.
Slowly the rage left him and he looked back at his dad.
“Ah fuck, Dad. I fucked up, I really, really fucked up. I was trying to keep her safe. She hates me and after what I said to her I don’t blame her. But I didn’t mean it, I swear.” Ice swung to face DC. “I swear, DC, I just said what I did to keep her safe. I didn’t mean any of it. Not one fucking word.”
DC sat down on Hawk’s lap and crossed her arms as she stared at him and then she gave him an evil little smile.
“I’m not the one you should be telling this. You need to tell River and hope and pray she can forgive you for being the biggest asshat in the known universe.”
And then it hit him. And it hit him so hard the world seemed to wobble on its axis.
“I’m going to be a dad.” He whispered. “Holy shit, Dad. I’m going to be a dad and there are two of them. Holy fucking shit.”
“Congratulations, you asshole.” Spider grabbed him and hugged him hard. Ice held on to his little brother as the reality slowly sank into him.
Then the rest of his brothers surrounded him, teasing and hugging him. They congratulated him on his super sperm making two for the price of one. Jesus. Only his brothers would think of that shit right now.
Deep inside his chest a glow of satisfaction started to spread. And joy grew right along with it.
His woman was having his babies. His babies.
Now he just had to convince her she was his and he was hers. It wasn’t going to be easy. Not after the fucking phone call and the Emma fuck up.
Hope. He had hope and this feeling inside. A feeling that grew and grew.
A feeling that was fast starting to take up all the space in his heart.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
River
For a couple of days now Dagger had been quiet and withdrawn and his eyes were filled with shadows. Exactly like they had been after Dylan had been murdered.
God. It still hurt every time I thought about or said that word. Murder.
Because that’s what it was. Dylan had been murdered by a person or persons who had never been caught. The car had been reported stolen years earlier and there had been zero forensic evidence. The police said they had no leads and the case had gone cold.
Not that I had believed them. I had seen it in the investigating officers’ eyes. They had just chalked it up to another gang shooting and moved on to what they considered to be more deserving cases. It had been as if Dylan’s life hadn’t mattered. And because of the way they had treated me at the time, I hated the police and would never call them for assistance under any circumstances.
With a sigh I rolled my neck to ease my aching muscles. I had been hunched over while working on the engine on the workbench for too long. I needed a break. When I turned around I caught Wrench’s eyes on me. The frown said it all. I was about to get a lecture.
“You need to sit down for a while and drink some fu...freaking milk or something. The prawns are getting bigger every day and you need to rest more.”
And there it was. He had been around Krissie too much. Actually everyone was calling my babies ‘the prawns’ myself included. Wrench was being so sweet trying not to swear around them.
“And don’t forget, you use the hand cleaner in the clear bottle. Not the other shit full of chemicals that might harm the prawns.”
“Yes, yes. I’m going to get cleaned up and head home a bit early. Duncan has to take something for a cake sale at school tomorrow and he wants cupcakes. I wish I could just buy them and be done with it but he wants to bake them himself. So I’m getting one of those box cake mixes from the shop and hoping for the best.”
Wrench
was shaking with laughter and I pulled a face at him. He knew very well how bad I was at baking, he had seen the results.
“Call mum, ask her to come over and help out. You know she would love to.”
Ever since I had revealed my pregnancy Wrench had been a big part of my family and like with the other men my parents had promptly adopted him. He too now called them mum and dad.
“Do you think my boykie would mind? I don’t want to disappoint him. He’s already so confused about the babies.”
“No, he won’t. He loves his Nana and you can hang out with them while they bake. It would do both of you good to spend some time with mum just hanging out.”
“When did you become so wise and stuff?”
He tightened an imaginary tie and smirked. “I have always been wise, your prawness.”
Dropping my head I shook it slowly from side to side, laughing as I walked out to go and clean up.
As I walked out of the workshop to where my bakkie was parked I sighed sadly. No more riding my bike for the next ten months at least. It sucked. Waving at the two prospects that would be shadowing me I slowly pulled out on to the road. Traffic wasn’t too bad and I did a quick stop at the small supermarket near home and got a box cake mix just in case we needed it.
But I shouldn’t have bothered. Wrench had obviously called mum and she and my boykie were already busy in the kitchen. Duncan smiled wide and waved the sieve in his hand and cake flour went everywhere. A white cloud flew up into the air and slowly sifted down on him. His eyes were wide as they skated between my mum and me.
“Oh shit.” He muttered softly.
I know I should have reprimanded him, but damn, it was so funny I burst out laughing and so did mum. A wide happy grin settled on Duncan’s face as he watched us.
“Sorry, Nana, sorry, Mumma. I made a beeeg mess and I said a bad word. Sorry.” The little shit apologised but didn’t stop grinning.
“As long as you know it’s a bad word and you don’t say it again, okay? And you are definitely going to help us clean this up.”
“Uh-uh. Wrenchie said the prawns have to sit.” He frowned heavily as he stared at my belly then pointed at it. “Sit prawns, sit.” He ordered.
Mum and I looked at each other and burst out laughing again. I laughed so hard I had to cross my legs to stop from peeing all over the floor. Mum pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and pointed while she snorted with laughter.
“Sit prawns, sit.” She gasped through the snorts and giggles.
When I stopped laughing, if ever, I was going to call Krissie and kill her, over the phone.
On the deck outside I heard the prospects laughing and knew, I just knew, this was going to spread like wildfire through the club.
Later when I was tucking Duncan in before reading him his nightly story he looked at my belly and then at me with a puzzled frown.
“Are they really prawns with ugly feelers? We eat prawns. I don’t want to eat our babies.”
“No, sweetheart, Aunty Krissie was just teasing. They aren’t really prawns. They are tiny little babies and when they get here they will look just like you did when you were a baby.”
He thought about it then nodded. “Okay. But they must be boys, I don’t want girls.”
“Why? What’s wrong with girls? I’m a girl and Nana is a girl and you love us.”
He sighed as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “If they be girls I have to take care of them. It’s a big brother job. Sammy told me. An’ I’m still too little.”
Ah fuck. I felt the tears threatening and blinked them away. “You don’t have to worry, my boykie. If the babies are girls we’ll have a lot of help taking care of them. We have Nana and Grampa and Uncle Dagger and Uncle Jinx and Wrenchie who love us and they will love the babies too. And don’t forget about Aunty Krissie and Aunty Mari, they helped me when you were a baby and they will help again because they love us.”
Again he lay there thinking about something and I could see it puzzled and worried him. With his next words the tears could not be stopped.
“The prawns don’t have a daddy, just like me. Did their daddy go be with the angels too?”
Sweet baby Jesus. What do I do? What do I do? Honesty, always honesty.
“No, my boykie, he didn’t, he can’t be here with us right now. Okay?”
“Where is he? My daddy’s in heaven and he can’t come back. Can the prawns’ daddy come back?” His big green eyes looked earnestly into my watery eyes.
This little man of mine. He was so damned precious and sweet.
“Yes, yes he can, sweetheart. But right now he’s busy somewhere else and can’t be here. I’m sure he loves the prawns just as much as we do and he’ll help to take care of them. Just not right now. Okay?”
He gave a big sigh then smiled. “Okay. Can we read Green Eggs and Ham?”
And so we read Green Eggs and Ham and I tucked my boykie in and kissed his forehead before starting his music, turning on the baby monitor and his night light.
It was only once I had walked into my room and softly closed the door behind me that I allowed myself to cry. Big gulping sobs that I smothered in my pillows.
Fucking Ice. Fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking Ice.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ice
Hawk was stretched out in his big assed chair in his office, and those hawkish eyes of his hadn’t left Ice’s face since he had walked in and sat down across from him.
“You’re going to be the second of the Walker males to have a child. Do you have any idea of the shit the women in the family are going to pull? Fucking glad I’m not you.”
For a fleeting moment something dark moved through Hawk’s eyes and Ice knew he was thinking of his lost child. So he did what he always did, gave his cousin something else to think about.
Ice shook his head and forced a wide grin onto his face. “Brother, the day DC tells you she’s having your baby you won’t give a shit about the family. What they think, what they do, what they say. None of it will matter. All you’ll think about is the life you put inside of her. A life that turns your two halves into a whole.”
“Jesus, Ice. Since when have you become all sensitive and shit?” Hawk teased.
Ice laughed. “No fucking idea.”
“Okay, let’s get back to business.” Hawk’s relaxed posture was gone. “I called Dagger and he agreed to a meet. But because we don’t know if either of our clubs are being watched I had to get creative.”
He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “DC is going to visit Doc. She’ll be taking a cage along with you and Rider. Wolf and Dizzy will be escorting you. Dagger and Jinx will sneak in through the back entrance at the Warriors compound. Doc will be overseeing the meet because he’s a fairly neutral party.”
Clenching his fingers around the arms of his chair Ice sighed and nodded in agreement.
“Hopefully we get some answers to a few questions tonight. Dagger is going to be pissed when he finds out I bought the fucking car. Even worse, I could have helped to find Sparrow’s killers or pointed them in the right direction if I had paid attention back then.”
“Ice, brother, stop. Stop with this shit. You bought a bitch a car. How does buying her a car make you or us fucking responsible? Get that shit out of your head or you will be staying here and I will take this meeting. Are we clear?”
There was no doubt in Ice’s mind he had just been verbally smacked against the head by his president.
“Yes, we’re clear, Prez. I’m out of here.” Ice nodded as he stood. “I’ll call if something new comes to light.”
An hour later Ice was sitting in Doc’s extremely dusty and disorganised office with Doc, Dagger, Jinx and Skelly. Doc included Skelly to handle the information on the USB Ice had brought along with him.
“Okay, I’m only saying this once, don’t make me fucking repeat myself. There will be no physical shit in my office or in my compound. You talk about your shit like the fucking gentlemen you aren’t
.” Doc laid down the law according to Doc.
Ice sighed as he handed the USB over to Skelly who immediately got to work.
“After listening to the recording we did some digging and we found something. The car used for the hit…” Ice had to pause to settle the clawing in his gut before he continued. “I bought the car for Emma Coetzee and she reported it stolen two days before she left me. That was seven years ago, give or take a few weeks. It was never recovered. Then it suddenly reappears two years later during the hit on Sparrow only to disappear once again.”
Taking a deep breath Ice continued as a heavy silence hung in the office.
“There’s more. We think Sparrow saw the car somewhere before. Somewhere it shouldn’t have been and we think he saw two bitches in the car meeting with someone. Someone they did not want anyone to know about. So before he could put it together and burn them they took him out.”
Dagger and Jinx were staring at Ice, eyes intent as they listened.
“In the recording he tried to warn you and he kept saying ‘bitches’. He said ‘warn’ more than once. We think it wasn’t a warning but a name. Jane Warne. We think he saw Jane and Emma Coetzee at a hotel a couple of days before the hit. Ziggy is putting together a list of hotels starting with the letter H. We think he was trying to give you the hotel’s name. But he knew he didn’t have a lot of time and gave more personal messages before he died.”
When no one said a word Ice continued.
“We know Emma Coetzee wasn’t supposed to be in the country at the time of the hit. We are trying to find out why she was here and who they were meeting. If we’re lucky the hotel they were spotted at keeps records of past patrons and we can go through a process of elimination to find who it was.”
Dagger’s voice was rough when he spoke.
“So, to summarise. You bought the car for Emma Coetzee. It was stolen. It was used during the hit on my brother. My brother saw something that got him killed. Jane Warne and Emma Coetzee are responsible. There is an unknown person involved. You might have a lead on the location where my brother saw these women. Anything else you have to add?”
Lost And Found In Blue (Iron Dogz MC Book 2) Page 16