“There were a lot of new faces, Jacob.”
“Not for long,” Father warns and heads back inside.
I go to follow when Curtis pulls me back. Narrowing my eyes, I pin him in place and nip my bottom lip between my teeth to stop from spitting out something that could cause me trouble down the line.
“I find it strange, more Lost Souls ride into town the same time you come back.”
“That’s your problem.”
I shrug out of his hold and fling the door open. I take my seat knowing one thing, I need to see the twins again.
Myles
We’ve barely arrived at the clubhouse when Cas is calling us over and he doesn’t look happy. I’m not too happy myself and Mason is clearly pissed.
“His daughter was the girl you brought back here last night, wasn’t she?” he says before we’ve reached him.
“Yes,” we both answer.
“Where exactly did you find her?”
Neither of us answer and he steps closer, his anger within reach of us.
“Talk, now,” he growls.
“In a house in town.”
“What house?”
“It was called, The Manor.”
Cas turns to Gabe who is standing on the porch. “You know this place?”
“Yeah, it’s Jacob’s house.”
“Oh fuck,” Mase and I sigh.
“Oh fuck in-fucking-deed. I warned you not to pull any of your shit here.”
“Technically, you told us after we’d done it,” I point out.
Fuck being lectured after the event. We haven’t pulled anything else because he ordered it so.
“Don’t get smart,” Dad warns, and I roll my eyes.
Inside the bar, we’re expected to follow like bitches and apparently we’re bitches because we follow Cas over to the table he sits at here and wait patiently for him to speak.
“I want to know everything that happened between the three of you,” Cas demands and we both shrug.
“Nothing, we had a drink and she passed out. She hung around with Tori and left before we finished this morning. Haven’t seen her since,” I explain.
“She didn’t ask no questions about us?” Grumps asks.
“No, and we wouldn’t have told her anything anyway. Talking wasn’t really a part of our plan,” I point out yet again.
Mason stays his usual quiet self and it’s pissing me off.
“From now on, you don’t leave this mountain,” Cas tells us before standing and walking off and we nod, knowing we’re going to do what we want anyway.
“Why is it you two who finds trouble?” Dad asks, accepting a beer from the ugliest looking girl I’ve ever seen.
“It’s called fun, old man,” I tell him and we back off, heading for our room.
We climb the stairs and I stick behind Mase as he walks straight past our door and heads for the second set of stairs he found earlier, the ones Aspen must have used to get her bag without anyone noticing.
“Do you want answers, brother?”
“Damn right I do.”
Creeping out the back door, we discreetly head for our bikes and roll them down the mountain until we’re far enough out no one can hear us leave.
The ride to the manor isn’t long and this time, we park at the top of the road. Finding a spot we can’t be seen from, we crouch down behind the bushes and wait for the lights in the house to go out.
“We should have known she was too good to be true,” Mason whispers and I nod, agreeing with him.
“She wouldn’t have known who we were at the time, why would she make us believe she had broken into the house?” I ask in return.
“That’s what we’re here to find out.”
And we will find out one way or another. She’s not going to get away with playing us for a pair of fucking fools.
A balcony is on either side on the first floor windows and I remember from last night, a girl’s room was the one on the left. It has to be her bedroom. The fucking bitch played us and all thoughts of wanting to fuck her have vanished. All I want from her now is answers.
The last light at the front of the house fades to darkness and we wait another half hour before leaving our spot and creep across the front lawn. Mase heads up the trellis first and I stealthy follow behind.
Climbing onto the balcony, I pull out the crowbar I had hidden in the back of my jeans ready to bust the doors open. Only, the door opens, and we step to the side. It’s bullshit, there’s nowhere to hide.
Aspen creeps out, dressed in dark jeans and a black hoodie with the hood up hiding her long black hair. She’d look hot if I didn’t know she’s the daughter of the cunt extorting money from my club.
“Going somewhere, darling?” Mason says quietly and she jumps around.
The fear fades from her face when she sees it’s us and for whatever reason, she looks relieved.
“I was coming to see you.”
“Was you now?” I spit out trying to keep my cool.
It’s Mason who moves closer to her.
“Why did you play us?”
What? Sounding like she’s hurt us wasn’t a part of the plan. Mase has never broken our united front before and I have no idea what he plans on asking next. I jump in before she thinks she can play us hearing tones like that.
“Tell us what we should be thinking after seeing you with our enemy tonight, little miss-I’m-not-from-around-here.”
“We can’t talk here,” she whispers and starts to climb over the balcony ledge.
Without another word, we’re climbing down and creeping across the lawn and walking up the road to catch her up.
I’ve had enough of this bullshit. Grabbing her arm, I pull her to a stop and she spins to face us.
“Can we go back to the mountain?” she has the audacity to ask.
“That’s not a good idea,” I tell her. The club will eat her for breakfast if we show up with her and then we’ll get our asses handed to us again because of it.
“We can’t stay here,” she hisses.
“Come on.” Mason takes hold of her hand and walks her back to where we’re parked. Holding her fucking hand! Mason doesn’t do handholding.
What the fuck? This certainly wasn’t a part of our plan and I’m not fucking liking this at all.
I watch him put her on the back of his bike and stare at her for too long before climbing on himself.
I’m working myself up to the point I want to punch my own twin when he pulls over halfway up the mountain and I skid to stop beside him.
He angles his body so he can see her sitting behind him and my ass remains on my bike.
“Start talking, who are you and what’s your game?” he asks laced with a deep growl.
“My name is Aspen and Jacob Peirce is my father. I came back to kill him.”
Both our eyebrows raise, nearly hitting our hairlines. I have no quick retort for her. She’s completely thrown me but Mason smiles, and I don’t like the way he’s now looking at her.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”
He starts his bike again and pulls off in front. He’s taking her back to the club and I have no idea what our play is. He’s doing this alone and it feels so fucking weird.
I bring my bike to life and rev the throttle to catch them up. If he wants to do this alone, he can deal with Cas and the brothers on his own. I want no part in appeasing this bitch.
* * *
Mason
* * *
We reach the clubhouse and I stay on the bike until the engine quietens. She was deadly serious when she blurted out her intentions and I believe her. I was watching her the whole time and I reckon I’m a good judge of character and can tell when someone is lying to my face. She gave nothing away.
She climbs off from behind me and I twist my body so I’m facing her and can see her every move.
“I don’t believe you, you’re really going to kill your daddy?” Myles snorts when he joins us.
“Yes.”
“Why?” he asks not missing a beat.
“I don’t want to talk my business out here.”
Snorting, Myles looks at me silently asking if she’s for real. “Mase, a word.”
There’s no point denying him, I climb off and join him away from Aspen.
“If you take her in there the way shit is, there’s a chance she won’t make it out. Cas isn’t in the forgiving mood right now.”
We both look at her and she’s staring off at the clubhouse. It’s quiet, a little too quiet.
“Get her story out here and take her home.”
I still haven’t taken my eyes off her but I can feel Myles’ eyes on me, drilling into me as I think.
Even if she’s playing us, which I don’t think she is, we could use it to our advantage.
“She comes with us,” I mutter and join Aspen, not wanting to hear Myles bitch at me.
I want to take hold of her hand and walk inside with her, but I deal with her sticking close by and open the door for her.
It’s quiet because most of the brothers are in bed. Cas and Grumps are the only two up and they both scowl when they see who we’re walking in with.
“If you’re not straight with us, I can’t and won’t help you,” I whisper to her and she nods.
“Explain, now,” Cas hollers and I reckon we’re one move from being thrown on the shit heap with Gabe.
“You were told to stay away from her,” Grumps adds, pissed with us too.
We can handle him though. We know how far we can push him and when it comes to us, we can push him quite far. Others, nowhere near as far.
“I think she can be of use to us if you hear her out,” I tell them both.
In the corner of my eye I catch Myles shaking his head and hanging back.
“I’m fucking tired and pissed beyond your imagination, so I’m going to ask you one thing, Mason.” I nod and wait. “After the shit we’ve just left behind, I’m not willing to listen to her without reassurances. I’m not taking any chances when it comes to the club and she’s not one of us. Whatever this is, it has to be on your head. If she fucks us over, you pay.”
I didn’t expect this but I go to nod when I’m yanked back. Myles grips onto my arm and doesn’t release me.
“You’re not putting your neck on the line for her.”
Aspen isn’t lying, I fucking know it. I shrug him off and face Cas.
“Done.”
The sound of Myles sucking in a breath so hard it sounds like a hiss fills my ears and then his boots pounding the wooden floors follows as he leaves.
I’ll deal with him later.
“Take a seat.”
I daren’t look at Grumps and pull out a chair for Aspen.
“She says she’s going to kill her father,” I say, kicking it off.
“Big words for a little girl.” Cas smirks and it even sends a shiver down my spine. “Why?” Grumps asks her.
“Because he’s a bad man,” she tells him, and I wish it were more.
“We’re all bad men here, sweetheart,” Cas says, huffing. Him calling her sweetheart sets me on edge.
“You haven’t been bad to me,” she throws back at him.
“Enlighten us then, what did he do to you?”
She chooses now to keep her mouth shut and Cas sighs.
“If you’re telling the truth and you’re serious, we can help you,” I offer hoping it fuels her to carry on.
“Hey, now, boy. Don’t be so quick to offer such things.”
Cas taps the tabletop and leans forward. “I’m tired, talk, girl.”
“Look, you don’t trust me and I get it. But I have no reason to trust you either. I have my reasons for wanting him dead and I’m guessing you’re not happy with him for keeping your club on a leash. I wasn’t coming to see Mason to seek your help or approval…”
“Why did you then?”
“For other reasons that don’t concern you.” Fuck, she’s turning me on standing up to Cas like this. “I said I’d talk to Mason, I don’t need to talk to you.”
Cas slams his hand on the table, and she jumps in her seat. “Get her out of here, she’s wasting my fucking time.”
Shit. This isn’t how I saw this going down. She’s first to stand and she doesn’t wait for me to walk out with her, but before she gets to the door, she turns back to us.
“I’ll give you a heads up, my father won’t negotiate with you. When you meet him tomorrow, he’ll declare war against you and your club, and blood will follow. It always does with him.”
It’s never far from our club too, darling, but I don’t voice the thought.
“Have you killed anyone before, Aspen?” he asks her and her eyes hit the floor.
“No.”
“A daughter is meant to worship her father, tell me what he did to shatter that bond.”
Her chest heaves as her mouth opens. “He raped my best friend and made me believe she was lying when she went to the police, who by the way, are all in his pocket.”
Fuck.
“What made you believe her in the end?”
“I overheard him threatening her to leave town and offering her money to never come back. After that, I started to learn what his real businesses were, and it makes him no father of mine.”
“Real businesses?” Grumps asks.
“I’ve said all I’m going to say.”
She walks out and I think it’s the first time someone has walked away from Cas, leaving him hanging wanting information.
“Find out what she knows and get her out of here,” he orders, and I jog outside to find her waiting by my bike.
Aspen
Oh my god. My hands are shaking, and my heart is racing away with itself but there was no way I was showing weakness in front of Cas or that old guy. It was hard but it was harder dredging up past memories I’m here to avenge. I make it to Mason’s bike before he jogs over and holds my cheeks in his hands.
“You came here to talk to me, you can’t just give me half the fucking story.”
“Everyone knows my father’s business, even the men here, the ones who live here. I was the only one kept in the dark apparently.”
“I want to hear it from you.”
How can him and the club not know?
“Gabe would have said something…”
His thoughts overtake his speech as it dawns on him just how many secrets are kept in this town.
“You said he has the police in his pocket, how can that be?”
“Fear and money, there’s not many opportunities in this town, money is everything here.”
“But he doesn’t scare you?”
“Not anymore.”
“How was you planning on killing him?”
“Cutting his throat while he slept. It was the easiest way I could think of…”
Before I can finish, his mouth claims mine and he’s gripping onto my thighs and lifting me. I wrap my legs around his waist and sink into his embrace. Using one hand to grip onto his hair, I place the other on his cheek as he sweeps his tongue across mine.
Just as I’m hoping he’ll take me up to his room, he pulls back and drops me back on my feet, staying close so I don’t fall on my ass.
Breathlessly, my brows pinch together wondering why he stopped our kiss. The best kiss I’ve ever had to add.
“I’m going to take you back to your fathers’, and I very much hope our paths cross again.”
* * *
The smell of breakfast and coffee fill my nose as I head down to the kitchen, still replaying that kiss last night. He didn’t make a move to kiss me when he dropped me off, in fact, he didn’t even mutter a single word.
My father sits at the top of the table while Margery, my father’s maid, dishes his breakfast and pours him a coffee.
I pull out a chair at the opposite end to him and smile when Margery comes to fill my cup with caffeine.
“Thank you.”
She disappears to start her chores so my fath
er can eat without having to see the help lingering around. I used to love them being around, I didn’t feel so lonely when they were.
“What are you plans now you’re home?” my father asks once we’re alone.
“I don’t know, I just wanted to come home.” I lie my ass off. “I’ll figure it as and when.”
“As and when,” he says, nodding his head slightly. “Perhaps it’s time you come to work with me.”
I wasn’t expecting this. “Are you sure, Daddy?” I say sickly sweet.
“If I had have had a son, he would’ve been working with me by now. You’re old enough to take a place at my side. Curtis doesn’t agree, he wants my blessing to put a ring on your finger and a baby in your belly.”
I nearly choke on my coffee and put the cup down.
“I don’t want you to be seen as a wife, I want you to be seen as powerful, just as much as I am.”
This is new.
“I have it on good authority you were seen on the back of a motorcycle two nights ago. Now I’m not going to ask why you were with biker trash because quite frankly, I’d like to keep my breakfast down. But you can make it up to me by cosying up to one of them. You’re going to be my little spy.”
“But-”
“No buts, I want to know who I’m dealing with. These new faces aren’t like Gabe and his boys. You can’t learn everything about a man from what you read on paper. I want you to find out what kind of man Cas is.”
A very powerful, scary one.
Curtis chooses now to walk in and park his ass at the table, helping himself to toast and butter.
“Jacob, is it possible to spend the day with Aspen. It will be good for us to catch up.”
My father’s eyes flit between Curtis and me and he shakes his head.
“No, Aspen is busy today.”
Father stares at me until I nod, agreeing to his ridiculous plan which I have no intention of carrying out.
“Finish your breakfast and get on with what I’ve asked of you. Do not fail me.”
With that, he rises from his chair and leaves the room taking his coffee with him.
I learned a long time ago not to question him and believe the lies he tells me. I’m not looking forward to going back up the mountain but it’s got to be easier to deal with the bikers than my father. If they kill him before I do, it works out for me.
Their Fractured Souls: Sons Of Lost Soul MC Book Six Page 5