Deserved (The Soul Mates Book 2)

by Victoria Johns

“I promise you he won’t want to know.”

  “He may just surprise you, and in any case, why should we be the only ones suffering?”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Okay, sweetheart, I should go. I’m hoping my big brother hasn’t given Oli a firearms refresher course while I’ve been up here.”

  I smiled at him as he left my bed. I snuggled back down, feeling some small sense of peace at having the chance to talk it through with him. He was my best friend. He’d come through for me when it really counted and was still stood by my side, supporting me until I knew what the hell was going on in my head.

  When I heard the front door close, I pulled up my big girl panties and wandered down the stairs. I found Lottie and Oli in the kitchen. She was stood in his arms, looking up at him, trying to calm him down and I was dreading having to talk to them.

  “Can we talk for a few minutes?”

  “Of course,” Lottie replied, spinning round.

  I slid up against the kitchen units and searched for words. “Please don’t be angry with Jake. Trust me when I say he was not to blame for any of this. It’s all me. I was the one who got carried away when I shouldn’t have done.” Oli looked to the ceiling for some kind of divine intervention. “I am sorry that I’ve disappointed you both.”

  “Honey,” Lottie began.

  “No wait, please let me finish. I’m not that experienced in these kinds of things—you know, relationships and stuff. I focused on schoolwork to make something of myself when I could have been out partying. Even so, I’m still a grown woman. I know I screwed up by getting pregnant, but I promise I didn’t know and it was a genuine accident.”

  “Oh, Lacey, listen,” Oli started.

  “I hate that I’ve disappointed you. You two are so important to me that I can’t bear the fact that you’ll look at me and forever see me like a little girl who slept around and got knocked up. For me, it wasn’t like that. Yes, I ended up pregnant, but I would have loved that child with all my heart.”

  Oli sensed that I was on the verge of breaking down and he stepped around Lottie and came to stand by me.

  “I know I get protective sometimes, but you’re our family. I accept that you’re grown up and do things I’d rather not think about, and I know you would have loved that baby. It’s not that I’m mad about. It’s that you nearly died. If Jake hadn’t have found you, we’d have lost you and that scares the fuck out of me. You need to let me be angry and work through it. I feel like I’ve failed because I didn’t keep you safe.”

  “Can you do that without killing Jake please? Whatever is going on between us is between us, and the fear of getting buried somewhere on farm land or in the foundations of one of your building sites isn’t helping us work through it.”

  Oli nodded his agreement and hugged me. I seemed to be receiving a lot of those lately.

  “I’ll ease up on him, just a little, though. Can’t have him thinking he’s off the hook completely. Besides, it’s probably Jonas he should be worried about.” He started laughing and Lottie came and joined the group hug we had going on. “Be careful with you, though. You’re precious to us, Lacey,” he whispered and then wandered off.

  I went to follow in the same direction, feeling more peaceful. I’d part explained stuff to Jake and he had my back, and Oli was genuinely scared by it all.

  “Wait,” I heard Lottie say and by the tone of her voice, I knew I wasn’t going to like what she said next. “I know there’s more to this and I’m ready to talk whenever you want to, okay?”

  I didn’t answer. I just looked in her direction and nodded before retreating back to my room, feeling like I’d had a lucky escape.

  Lacey Talbot

  The last thing I wanted to do tonight was attend a group BBQ, and a small part of that was because I knew Carly would be there and seeing her reminded me of him. The place would be rammed with people, kids especially, and that hurt. I was still sore from my own ordeal. I mean, who wanted to look at kids having fun when they no longer had that prospect. You had it and now it’s gone.

  Jake was pretty insistent that I keep going. He hadn’t said anything but I knew he was struggling with his own feelings after seeing me fall apart. I wouldn’t normally have seen this side of him, but somethings you just couldn’t hide. He’d brought Jack with him tonight. He always involved him when he needed someone to keep him in check.

  They were identical twins, and if you didn’t know what you were looking for, they were hard to tell apart. I also believed they had some kind of connection, and when one was suffering, the other one kicked in. As a couple of guys, they were the kindest people I knew. Even though they’d always been loved and had a family, their bond had made them ultimately reliant on each other.

  When Jake had come over earlier, he’d known I’d be wavering about attending. He also knew that I wouldn’t want Jack to know. Having to explain why I wouldn’t go was enough of a reason to force me into it.

  I could hear the kids getting more and more hyped up, and looking out of my bedroom window, I could see them all gathered on the field by the volleyball net. Standing there, I could see Jake and Jack in the thick of things. The kids were giggling and I knew what was coming. In the past when they’d been to a BBQ, they’d been self-appointed volleyball captains. They’d split the kids up evenly, and what would start out as a normal game would become hilarious and farcical.

  Step one was when Jake lined up his team and they’d perform some made up version of a war dance. The younger kids would join in while the older kids looked on embarrassed. Jack would then retaliate until it became some kind of dance off. This time he was body pumping and break dancing until he peeled off and grabbed Carly from the crowd. The bewildered kids watched as Jack waltzed her round the field. Her face was crimson and blended in with her hair. While they followed some crazy path around the court area, I noticed that she couldn’t keep her eyes off him.

  She was completely wrapped up in the moment. She wasn’t a kid blending into the background, but a young girl desperate to become a woman because she’d been chosen by a handsome, older guy. She looked up at him, awestruck. While Jake and his gang laughed and cackled, Jack brought her back to the center and dipped her back until her hair swept the floor. He pulled her upright and proceeded to bow and kiss her hand in some debutante ball fashion.

  I could see that Carly still hadn’t spoken. She was in shock, just staring at him, smitten and open mouthed.

  The game got underway, and when Jake’s team started deploying underhanded tactics to win, I knew I needed to save the kids from all out war between the twins. It was silly that a fun filled game of volleyball for the kids had them vying for the win like it was the ultimate prize.

  I couldn’t put it off any longer so I made my way down to the event feeling less and less party-ish with every step. I was wearing scruffy casual clothes, and the night air was getting chillier. If I could have gone in my PJ’s and gotten away with it, I would have done.

  As I hit the recreation space, I heard Jack’s team pushing hard to take back control. Jack and Carly went for the same ball and she ended up slamming into the side of him, nearly toppling over. Jack apologized profusely and started to do a full body check to make sure she was okay. Once again, Carly stared at him with a shy look and was unable to find her voice.

  I recognized that look. I was twelve years old once.

  Carly, bless her, was having her first crush. I wanted to intervene and protect her from the hurt she would feel, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t my place to do it. Even if I only suspected, I couldn’t say anything. I felt so protective of her and I knew Tommy would go nuts. No, he was her parent. He needed to deal with how she grew up and learned the lessons life threw at her.

  As I walked further into the crowd of gathered kids, they swarmed around me. Normally I’d have been playing on the opposite side to Jake, but not tonight. Tonight, I was going to team up with him and have some fun.

  “What are you doing
, Lace?” Jake said, rushing to intervene in my plan to just get on with it.

  “I’m playing ball. I need to get back into the swing of things.”

  Jake swept me up into a comfortable hug as he whispered, “No, you’re not. It’s too fucking soon.” When I looked back at him, he brushed some loose strands of hair from my face. “You aren’t. I can take him at volleyball anytime. Can you imagine how much of a pain in the ass Jack will be if he thinks you needed to come and help me, you… a girl. No fucking way.”

  “I think you need my help.”

  “Go help the ugly bastard. He needs a handicap, although don’t fucking tell him I said so.”

  The look on his face was priceless. He was serious and I burst out laughing. They were identical yet Jake still claimed he was the good looking one. It felt amazing to laugh, and for the millionth time over the last few days, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have him in my corner.

  * * *

  Tommy Sevens

  Cash or Carly…

  Those words were still rattling around inside my head, and until the situation was resolved, I couldn’t see them doing anything else. They were the first words I thought of when I woke and the last words that battered my brain when my head hit the pillow at night.

  Every time someone came up the drive, I wondered whether it would be the roar of bike engines coming to demand I hand over my daughter. I was becoming a nervous wreck and apart from school, I never let her out of my sight. Carly was amazing. She’d bounced back from the night her mother rocked up out of the blue like it had never happened. It’s very sad that when your mother appears, you have the art of pretense down so well that you can just brush it off and carry on. The only other person who had that skill was the one person I desperately tried not to think about.

  I knew I’d broken Lacey’s heart that night and finally got my point across. Whatever we’d had was never going to work. Feeling Lacey take my back against Maisie had sparked something inside of me that cemented my decision. The troubles I would bring into her life were just too much for someone who hadn’t really lived. She was vibrant and had so much ahead of her. It would be wrong for me to steal her youth and make her the mother of a teenage child when she spent most of her time raising other people’s kids already.

  Carly came bursting through the door and headed straight past me. “Dad, there’s a group BBQ on tonight. Can we go?”

  “We?” I asked, following the sound of her voice to the kitchen. One of my cab drivers always met her from school where she was handed over by Sonny or Flo Marks, two of her teachers and friends of mine who’d been let into my current troubles.

  “Well, yeah. You haven’t been out for ages and I figured you could see your friends… you know, and I could see mine.” Carly made herself busy opening and closing cupboards, grabbing chips and soda and muttering.

  “How about a movie night here?”

  “Again? No! Come on, I miss Lacey. I haven’t seen her for ages,” she whined.

  I desperately wanted to agree with her. I missed Lacy, too. It was times like these when I felt bad. Lacey was her friend and my bad choices meant that Carly was also missing out.

  “How about I drop you off and then come back for you later?”

  “Sure, whatevs,” she told me using Lacey’s words, and wandered off to start her homework. I couldn’t help but smile. She was enthusiastic about her school work and really saw it as a privilege. As much as I hated the reminder of Lacey and the use of ‘whatevs’, it was also endearing. She was finally acting her age. If I did nothing else in life apart from protecting Carly from her whore of a mother then I could die a happy man and know I’d succeeded.

  A few hours later, I pulled up in front of Lottie and Oli’s. The music was at a respectable level and you could see the smoke rising from the massive grill.

  “Pick you up at nine thirty,” I shouted to her retreating figure, but just as I was about to drive off, a shadow stepped into my headlights.

  “Jesus Christ, Jonas, you trying to give me a heart attack or break my cab? Don’t step out in front of moving vehicles,” I shouted through the window.

  “Let’s go join the fun,” he commented, still standing there. That in itself was odd. Jonas never wanted me around, which meant he knew something about Maisie.

  I parked the cab and followed him to the party, joining him in the adult section of the gathering, grabbing a beer and sitting beside him in a corner. Oli was painting marinade on meat with an oversized paint brush while a kids volleyball game was being set up. Carly was already in the thick of that.

  “Well?”

  “Let’s wait for Oli. Sit down, kick back,” he told me, putting me on edge. There was nothing for it but to wait and see how this unfolded. “You still seeing that woman?”

  I pivoted my head round to look at him and furrowed my brow. We weren’t friends so why he thought it was appropriate to go down this route was beyond me. “There a reason you’re asking?”

  “Just, you know, wondering. I know you ain’t letting Carly out of your sight. Got to be a challenge when you’re seeing someone who leaves clothes strewn about the stairway. Hard to keep that kind of wildcat under the radar.”

  “That ran its course,” I replied, swallowing a nervous mouthful of beer from my bottle.

  At that moment, Lacey wandered across the field in front of me, heading to where Jake and Jack were horsing around playing volleyball with the kids. She was swamped immediately by the kids looking to get her to join in the game. She was wearing some kind of second skin yoga pants and a sweater that hung low off her shoulder. Her hair was in a messy bun that I knew would fit perfectly in my fist, and she had on some training shoes in readiness. I watched as she went to pick the ball up, but was stopped by Jake who took it off her and stepped in close.

  Way closer than I’d ever seen him with her before.

  Fuck me.

  Were they together? I felt my mouth go dry and pointed all my intense hatred towards the guy immediately. He was allowed to be that close to her and no one batted an eyelid.

  I watched as they seemed to have some kind of intense discussion for a few minutes where she looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders. All of a sudden, he grabbed her and pulled her in for a cuddle. I’d seen them hug before, knew he was her best friend, but I’d not seen them hug like this. It was different. He swamped her with his arms and placed his hand on the back of head in a protective manner. Lacey returned the embrace immediately and rested her head on his chest, turning it in my direction, and with closed eyes, she showed complete contentment. I saw Jake whisper something into her hair and smile around his words, and then watched as she pulled back, looked up at him and burst out laughing.

  It was great to see her so happy.

  And it nearly fucking destroyed me.

  “Cozy, ain’t it?” Jonas mumbled, and I realized I’d been staring for way longer than I should have.

  “Didn’t you want to tell me something?” I bit back at him as Oli shouted that the food was ready and stepped back so some of the older kids, Carly included, could begin serving it up. He grabbed a beer from the outside fridge and headed our way.

  “I was just saying to Tommy that they make a nice couple,” Jonas commented, and Oli’s reaction was much the same as mine—hatred and pure unease. “Anyway, my source has found Gloria.”

  That sentence regained my attention. “Where?”

  “Delph Bay. She’s working as a coat attendant by day in some lounge bar and a waitress at night in the Baysider’s clubhouse,” he told me around his beer bottle.

  Part of me was disappointed that she was alive. It meant that at some point in the future I was going to have to have it out with her.

  “And?” I continued, knowing there was more.

  “Well, the Baysiders and RR have an alliance of sorts. They both know their own territories and they stick to them. My guy in RR thinks that the deal that went south with Maisie involves Gloria, too.”


  “I don’t understand,” Oli said.

  “Best guess is Maisie was to deliver the product to Gloria, effectively moving it between the two clubs. While the FEDS know that club to club dealing goes on, they can never catch it. Using the women is just another way of covering it up.”

  I didn’t like the sound of this at all. Taking on one MC was a death wish. Two was pretty much pre-booking your own fridge cubicle in the morgue.

  “What I’m saying is, we need to make sure Carly is protected. If Gloria and Maisie had some hair brained scheme to fuck over two MC’s, the payback just intensified. The fallout could start a fucking war.”

  I shook my head and slumped back in my chair. I mean, what else could I do? The two dumbest bitches in the world thought they could outsmart not one, but two criminal gangs who had managed to tie their shit up so tight the law couldn’t get near them.

  “I heard you. I’m going to head home. I need to think about this.”

  Nodding my head in thanks, I waved to Carly as I passed and headed for my car. As I walked around the side of the house, Lacey stepped out of the shadows.

  “Tommy, can we talk?”

  “Aren’t you busy already?” I sneered back like some high schooler.

  “What? What are you talking about?” She looked confused. She also looked beautiful and I wanted to take my anger out on her here and now, but those days had clearly passed.

  “You didn’t take long, did you? Not long ago you were begging me to give us a chance. You remember that, Lacey? Those times we spent together and couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I guess you didn’t mean that shit after all.” She shook her head and went to open her mouth. “It’s none of my business who you fuck.”

  “I know, but there is something I need to tell you,” she tried again.

  “Save it. Been there, done that.” I sneered, looking her up and down with fake derision. I was surprised by my own violent need to make her hurt like she was hurting me.

  I watched her face morph into complete shock. It was like I’d just slapped her, and before I could turn and leave first, she did. As I watched her walk away, I could tell she was sobbing. Her shoulders were rising and falling and her head was slumped towards the ground as she made her way back to the house. By the time I was in my car and starting the engine, Lacey was almost stumbling as I imagined her vision blurry with tears.