“Thanks Dane, that would be a huge help.”
“No need to thank me, I’m doing it for Jules. Where’s her husband? He should be here.”
“He’s gone to get some sleep. Don’t look like that Dane, he was dead on his feet, he hadn’t left her side since she was brought in.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.”
Without another word he slipped into the chair Jackson had vacated and gently took Jules’s hand.
Leah looked questioningly at her mum but Rachel just shook her head.
“We’ll give you some time alone,” said Rachel, indicating for Leah to leave.
Once they’d both gone Dane released a heavy sigh and grasped both Jules’s hands in his own. It was the first time she’d never responded to his touch.
“You’d better wake and wake up fucking fast lady, do you hear me? There’s so many people who need you, especially that little girl of yours and Jackson. And me.” He ran his fingers down her face, wanting her eyes to flicker open and for her to give him one of her smart arsed comments. Those comments of hers had driven him crazy over the years but right then he would have given everything he had to hear her give him more of her shit. “You’re not finished giving me pain, I know that. So come on girl, stop arsing about and just wake up.”
He had hoped his voice would rouse her, like something out of a fairy tale but of course it hadn’t and he felt stupid.
“Bugger it,” he said, getting to his feet and planting a firm kiss on her lips but still she didn’t stir. “Didn’t work either. Maybe because I’m not the one, no matter how much I want to be. Maybe Jackson should try?” He hesitated before adding, “or Mikey.”
“Who is he Mum?” said Leah, watching through the window as the big dark haired man kissed her aunt full on the lips.
“His name’s Dane Black. He and your Aunty Jules have…history.”
“They used to date?”
“You could put it like that.”
“He’s really hot. Aunty Jules is lucky, him and Uncle Jackson.” Her smile fell. “Well, not lucky.”
“I know what you mean honey.”
“So he won’t hurt her?”
“Do you think me or your Uncle Riley would have let him anywhere near her if he would?”
“No, I suppose not.” She looked up at Riley on sentry duty with his hands clasped behind his back. He looked down at her and winked.
At that moment the blond nurse who had made Rachel uneasy earlier passed by again, walking purposefully, as though whatever mission she was on was life or death. Once again the woman’s presence made unease ripple up and down her spine.
Amber lay back on the bed in one of the many spare bedrooms, completely naked, feeling slightly satisfied. Declan wasn’t as good in bed as Mikey, nor was his body as impressive but he was eager to please, which went some way to making up for it.
“Wow,” said Declan, catching his breath. “That was amazing.”
Hardly, she thought. “Yes, it was. It was so nice to be treated gently.”
“Don’t talk about him,” he glowered. “I can’t stand it that I’m even related to him.”
She rolled onto her front to kiss his chest. “Okay, let’s not mention him again. This is about us.”
“There is an us?” he said, pleased.
“Yes, at least I thought so. Why, don’t you want there to be?”
“Of course but you’re married to Mikey.”
“He’s obsessed with me. You’re putting yourself in danger just being with me. I have to warn you, he will never let me go.”
“I know and I’m not afraid of him.”
Liar. “Good because you and the kids are the only good things in my life.”
He pulled her to him. “You don’t need to be afraid anymore. I’m here now.”
“And I’m so grateful,” she said, kissing him.
He flipped her onto her back. “You just lie back and relax. It’s time for someone to give you pleasure for a change.”
As his lips made their way down her body Amber smiled to herself. Mikey’s shag piece was a drooling vegetable and now she had her own. She sighed inwardly when Declan rather inexpertly slid his tongue inside her. Still, it was worth it just for the satisfaction of getting one over her husband.
CHAPTER 26
Jared felt like he was going barmy. Contrary to what his mother had said, Cara had carried on crying and snivelling when she’d woken up that morning.
“Where are you going?” said Tanya when he snatched up his car keys.
“Out before I lose my fucking mind.”
“Do not swear in front of the child,” she said, covering Cara’s ears with her hands.
“She doesn’t know what I’m on about.”
“You’re not going anywhere, you’re staying right here and spending time with your daughter.”
“Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be with me or you? She wants her real mum and dad back.”
Tanya was furious. “You are her dad.”
“Not to her I’m not.” He sighed and shook his head. “I should never have let you talk me into this, it was a mistake and now Jules might die.” The look she gave him chilled him to the bone. “What the hell have you done now Mum?”
“I’ve sent someone to finish the job.”
He slammed his fists down on the kitchen table, silencing Cara, who went rigid with fear. “You fucking what?”
“What have I told you about swearing in front of the child?” said Tanya, voice ice cold.
“Don’t change the subject. Why couldn’t you leave Jules alone? Haven’t you hurt her enough?”
“I’ve done her a favour and put her out of her misery.”
Jared swallowed hard. “Has it been done?”
“Not yet.”
“Then call it off.”
“No. If she survives she’ll be straight down here for Cara.”
“Her family’s going to come here anyway. We’re going to have Mikey and Jez and probably Ryan on our doorstep too and do you think they’re going to go away nice and quietly? Course not.”
“Don’t tell me you’re scared of them,” she snorted.
“No but I am wary of them, they’re fucking dangerous and if you can’t see that then you’re an idiot.”
“Do not speak to me that way boy.”
“I’m not a boy Mum, I’m a man. It’s what Jules kept trying to tell me all the time she was here. She said I was too tied to your apron strings and by Christ she was right. I’ve always let you push me about, done as you said but you know what? This time I’m right and you’re wrong.”
“Cara is our family, she belongs with us.”
“She’s Jules’s family too. For God’s sake, she’s her daughter. You remember what you went through when you lost Kelly and now you’ve inflicted the same thing on her.”
“No I haven’t because she doesn’t know what’s going on. She’s in a coma dummy, remember?”
“Don’t you dare call me that, you’re the dummy here. You’ve brought a whole heap of trouble to our door for a little girl who doesn’t even want to be here. I mean, look at the state of her. Does she look happy to you? And what the hell have you done to her hair? She looks like one of those creepy old dolls.”
They both looked at Cara, who stared back at them, her lower lip wobbling, eyes brimming with unshed tears. Tanya had curled her hair into ringlets and put them into bunches. The long white gown she’d been dressed in completed the eighteenth century motif.
“She looks beautiful,” said Tanya.
“She looks ridiculous and Jules would have a heart attack if she saw her looking like that.”
“If only she had,” she said darkly. “It would have saved us going to all that trouble.”
“I don’t know how you can even look her in the eye after you stabbed her mum.” Jared was still furious. He had hoped it would ease off overnight but on the contrary, it had only grown stronger. He could hardly bring himself to look at Ca
ra either. His first ever interaction with his daughter and he’d completely and utterly let her down, he felt like such a failure.
Tanya shrugged. “I did what was best for Cara. What kind of life do you think she would have had being brought up by that biker slag?”
“Don’t call her that and did it look like Cara was suffering? She was living in that nice big house and you heard Jules when we were hiding out there, she was looking after her and she obviously adored her. And Cara was happy. Now all she does is cry because we ripped her life apart.”
“What’s happened to my son?” said Tanya, eyes narrowing. “I want him, not this soft, pathetic lump of mush. How did Jules get so deep under your skin? I knew it was a mistake taking you to Manchester, you’ve always been weak when it comes to her.”
“Because I love her, an emotion you don’t seem to understand. This isn’t about you being the doting gran, it’s about making up for what happened to Kelly.”
“No it’s not,” she spat back at him.
“Course it is, don’t even try and deny it. You’re trying to replace her and you’ve ripped apart another family and probably scarred Cara for life.”
“This is for her benefit,” she said, pointing at Cara.
“Don’t give me that old pony because I don’t believe it and deep down, neither do you.”
“Oh yes, what’s all this then?” said a figure, walking into the kitchen.
“Bugger off you,” said Jared.
“Just ignore him,” Tanya told the newcomer. “He always was grumpy in a morning.”
Jared just glared at his mum.
Estelle bent her head to kiss Cara. “Hello sweetpea. How are you this morning?”
Jared loathed Estelle Law but probably not as much as her own children. Jules had told him all about her so he knew she didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. But his mum, who was usually so astute, seemed to think she was just a doting grandmother, conveniently ignoring the fact that she’d sold out her own daughter and didn’t seem to give a shit that she was in a coma.
Cara just stared up at Estelle, not looking in the slightest bit pleased to see her.
“Beautiful girl, isn’t she?” said Estelle. “All my kids are lookers so it’s only natural their children will be. Plus, having a daddy who looks like him she was always going to be gorgeous,” she said with a wink at Jared.
“Piss off Estelle,” he said.
“Jared, don’t talk to our guest like that,” said Tanya.
“You mean that backstabbing rattlesnake? We can’t trust her after she sold out her own daughter, she was the one who told us about Cara in the first place and she’s still not given us a good explanation as to why she did that.”
“She already has,” sighed Tanya. “How many more times Jared? She didn’t think Cara was being raised properly.”
“Of course she was, we both saw it and what room has she got to talk?” he said, gesturing at Estelle. “She sold her daughter to a pair of paedos, she tried to sell Ryan too, only she couldn’t.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Tanya with an amused smile.
“This isn’t funny. She’s done nothing but sell out her own family her entire life and she’s still doing it, so what makes you think you can trust her?”
“Family?” snorted Estelle. “I’ll have you know my precious family threatened to bury me alive.”
“And I bet they had good fucking reason.”
“Why don’t you just run off to Manchester and join them if you think they’re so great?”
“I won’t need to because they’re going to come here, I guarantee it. So while you two arse about playing happy families I’m strengthening our security because when her lot descend on us we’re going to need it.”
Tanya rolled her eyes. “Will you stop being so melodramatic? We’re too well dug in here, no one can breach this place.”
“That’s just what Mikey Maguire thought about his compound and look what happened there. This is just a house, yeah, granted a bloody well reinforced one but we aren’t invulnerable here.”
Tanya’s expression was hard. “The Maguires and Laws might be top in Manchester but we’re in charge down here. It’s a whole different ballgame.”
“They’re coming for Cara, probably as we speak and they won’t ask us to give her back nicely.”
“We’re not giving her back, are we Estelle?”
“Course not. She’s much better off here, where she can be looked after properly.”
“What do you know about looking after a kid properly you nasty old slag.”
“That’s it Jared. Out,” said Tanya. “I won’t have you use one more dirty word in front of Cara.”
“Fine by me,” he thundered back, storming out, slamming the door shut, sighing when Cara set off wailing again on the other side of the door.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with that boy,” said Tanya, picking up Cara and cuddling her but the girl writhed in her arms so much she was forced to put her back in her chair.
“Boy isn’t the word I’d use for him,” said Estelle a little lasciviously.
“Anyone would think he was afraid of the Maguires and Laws.”
Estelle waved a dismissive hand. “Take it from me, that lot are all bluster and noise. They’ve got no bite. Your lot will make mincemeat of them. Look what Jared did up north, he actually took out The Compound, something everyone thought impossible and he sent them all on the run. Just think what he’ll do to them when he’s here on his own patch at full strength.”
“I wish my son was as confident.”
“He’d better get some confidence and fast because my boys will be up here soon, sure as shit. They’re probably already on their way.”
“And what will you do when they arrive?”
Despite what everyone thought, Estelle was smart. Her kids got their huge IQ’s from somewhere and that was her. She knew these people wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of her if they thought it would give them an advantage. It had been a calculated risk coming here but she’d had little choice. She’d gone abroad like she’d been ordered to by her boys but the money had soon run out so she’d been left with little choice but to return. However she couldn’t get back into the country by the usual route because her sons’ contacts in airport security were keeping a watch on her passport. Fortunately she’d met a forger in Germany who had fallen head over heels for her and had made her a false passport, so she’d been able to return to the country undetected.
“I’ll do right by my granddaughter,” said Estelle. “And by you.”
Tanya nodded and wandered over to the kitchen unit, drawing one of the knives from the butcher’s block, carefully studying the blade. “You’d better otherwise I’ll finish you myself.” She looked to Estelle and smiled like a shark. “I won’t make the same mistake I did with Jules. With you I’ll make sure to hit the artery. It might take you a couple of minutes to die but at least you wouldn’t be stuck in a coma. That would be better, wouldn’t it?”
Estelle swallowed hard. Even Cara had caught the threat in Tanya’s tone and was staring at her in scared silence. “I’m on your side, okay?”
Tanya’s sweet smile was creepy. “Good. Then we shouldn’t have a problem.”
Estelle wanted to sigh with relief when she replaced the knife back in the block.
“Coffee?” said Tanya.
“Err, yes please,” said Estelle, wondering if she should have stayed abroad.
They were interrupted by Hayden walking into the room. “Is Jared around?” he said.
“Gone for a sulk,” replied Tanya. “Coffee?”
“No thanks, I’d better get to it. He’s ordered me to make sure everything’s secure.”
Tanya just nodded then waved her hand in dismissal. This imperious gesture didn’t get Hayden’s back up as it normally would because inwardly he was smiling, the bitch had no idea what was about to hit her. His eyes settled on the skanky old blond hovering around Cara. She looked
very familiar and it took him a moment to figure out why. When he did it gave him a shock, although outwardly he was careful to reveal nothing. Clearly she didn’t remember him, which was only for the best.
Hayden exited the kitchen and found Ivor, one of Jared’s most trusted men on guard duty at the front door. Hayden had no idea why Jared trusted him so much, he was the biggest gossip in the county.
“Who’s the blond in there with Tanya?” he asked Ivor, deciding it would be best to feign ignorance.
“Why, you wanting a piece?”
“Urgh, you must be joking.”
“She’s the girl’s other grandmother.”
As Ivor explained Hayden inwardly rubbed his hands together. More brownie points for him with Ryan.
When Ivor had finished explaining the situation to him in a hushed tone, Hayden walked through the house to the rear to find Robbie. “I need you to stay here,” Hayden told him.
“Me, why?” He and Hayden agreed on one thing. Jared’s men were a bunch of incompetents.
“Because this lot can’t tell their arses from their elbows. I need someone here who knows what they’re doing.”
Robbie couldn’t help but sneer. “Seriously, you’re complimenting me? What the fuck are you up to?”
“Nothing and I mean it. We don’t like each other but I know you’re capable of guarding a door.”
“Or you just want me out of the way for a bit.”
“That too. I need to round up the others.”
Robbie was tempted to tell him where he could stick his fucking orders, until he realised Hayden had given him the perfect opportunity to drip poison in Jared’s ear about him and hopefully he’d execute the fucker. Then he and Katia could finally be together. “Fine, I’ll stay. It’ll be a relief to be away from you for a bit.”
“Good. I’ve got plans for me and Katia today and we don’t want a little pervert hanging round outside the door.”
“Bastard,” Robbie hissed at his retreating back. But he reined in his anger. Soon that smug git would get what was coming to him.
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