Black Heart And Red Redemption (Iron Dogz MC)

by René Van Dalen

  During my forced confinement in my luxury jail I had come to know Aunt Beryl very well. She sneaked up for a visit whenever she was at the clubhouse and we sat around, drank tea and chatted when she visited. She kept me up to date with all the skinner (gossip) at the club. Consequently I knew more about some of the men than they would be comfortable with. Aunt Beryl hadn’t held back at all. It was as if she wanted to make sure I knew the men weren’t angels, or demons for that matter. When she told me the story behind Beast’s marriage and divorce it took every trick I had learnt over the years not to give myself away with my reaction.

  From being a man who had been heatedly adamant that he would never have any children he had ended up with two little girls. Two little girls he was fighting to get custody of. I was horrified to hear how they had ended up living with him. What kind of a woman was his ex-wife that she could drop her babies on his doorstep and walk away with her new man? Why had he been with a woman like her in the first place? Aunt Beryl did not even pretend to like the woman, in fact, I think she hated her. As far as she was concerned the two little girls were her granddaughters and she, along with the rest of the club, would go to the ends of the earth to protect them. It was heartening to know those poor little babies would have a very powerful family of bikers taking care of them now.

  But the plight of those little girls did not stay at the top of my mind all the time. For the last few days I have been taking the brace off for short periods of time and exercised my leg with DC’s help to strengthen the muscles. We were very, very careful not to overdo it and kept to very basic exercises. I was anxious about the doctor’s visit. How bad was the damage? Would I have to have surgery?

  Dearest virgin queen. I hope not.

  My leg looked bad enough as it was, I didn’t need yet another scar to add to the collection. I knew I was being overly sensitive about the scarring. Compared to other scars I’ve seen they weren’t that bad and I had been told they would fade to be hardly noticeable at all. The scars from the first surgeries had faded to a pale pink while the last surgery’s scars were a darker pink. I so did not want to add to them.

  And anyway, during our last conference call with Pixie she and DC had decided that my leg needed a tattoo. So once I got the okay from my orthopaedic specialist they were going to decorate my skin. They had been very secretive about the design they wanted to put on my leg and I was super curious to see what they came up with.

  As long as it was pretty. That was my only rule. They could do what they wanted as long as it was pretty and would look good with all my shoes. And I had a lot of shoes. So many in fact that I had special racks installed in my second bedroom for the clear boxes in which I stored my shoe collection.

  Lordy, I hope I would still be able to wear my shoes after this shit was over.

  Trying to calm myself down I plugged my headphones into my phone, which Ziggy had returned to me, and scrolled until I had my favourite band playing. Evanescence. I was blasting the music, sitting on my bed while my arms danced in the air and my body rocked to the beat. My eyes were closed and I was in my own little world as the music told the story of my life. I mouthed the words, begging for my spirit to be found and led back into the light.

  So much of what had happened in my life seemed to come through in their music. Plus it reminded me of some very, very good times. It reminded me of Ilya and I in the dance studio, dancing while the music blasted and how, when we had had our friends with benefits thing, we’d inevitably end up on the floor making love wildly, madly. He got off watching us in the mirrors as our bodies moved together, his blue eyes glowing as he drove me crazy, over and over and over.

  God, how I missed him. I had loved him, but not with the single mindedness a very young me had loved Beast. By the time I lost him he had been my best friend, my ex-lover, my confidant, my sounding board and dance partner.

  I felt his loss down to my soul. I needed to dance, so freaking badly. It boiled inside, burning in my gut and then the burning calmed with one of our favourite songs, ‘Swimming Home’. The burning turned into tears that started to roll down my cheeks as I slowed my movements and sang along softly. Telling Ilya that I had loved him, and in my heart I knew I always would.

  When I opened my eyes and wiped the tears away Sam was kneeling at the side of the bed, frowning, and his eyes dark with worry. I tried to smile but I knew he saw the smile wasn’t sincere, so instead I pulled the headphones down around my neck and did what I could to reassure him.

  “It’s the music. I need to dance and I can’t and it’s making me sad. And to be totally honest I miss Ilya today, so very, very much.”

  Sam didn’t say a word he just straightened, then lifted me from the bed and set me on my feet in front of him.

  “I’m no good at dancing, but I’ll hold and sway with you as long as you don’t do anything crazy, babe.” He said softly.

  And that’s how Kid found us. Sam holding me as I swayed gently to the music, my head on his chest and my arms around his waist.

  Kid silently took over from Sam, lifting me up he set my feet on top of his and started moving me gently around the room, dancing with me as I cried against his chest.

  “You’re breaking my heart, baby girl.” He said softly against my hair at the end of several songs.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I can’t stop crying.” I sniffled.

  “No need to apologise, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”

  God. He was such a good man. How could a man this good not have a woman who worshipped the ground he walked on? By the shadows lurking deep in his beautiful blue eyes I knew there was history there that hurt almost every day. He was broken deep inside, just like I was.

  He started talking as we danced. Giving me something new to focus on.

  “We finished the arrangements to take you to your appointment with the specialist today. Would you like to hear how we’re going to do it?” He asked softly.

  I nodded against his chest and sniffed. Kid chuckled as he lifted me up and set me down on the bed. Leaning over I grabbed the tissues from the bedside table, wiped my eyes and blew my nose. While I was taking care of that Kid drew a chair up next to the bed and sat down, leaning his elbows on the bed next to me he clasped his big hands over my thigh. Holding me gently.

  “Ice’s woman has a visit with her gynaecologist coming up on Friday and we’re going to use it to get you to your appointment with the specialist. We’ll be using the big SUV so no one will suspect that we have you in the back with River. You’ll have to lie down for the entire trip but I’ll make sure you’re comfortable. There have been some threats against River so no one will think it odd that so many of us are escorting the two of them to her doctor’s appointment. We’re going to have to take the brother who’ll be with us into our confidence but I trust every single man that has been selected to protect River. I will introduce you to your guard later so you know exactly what he looks like. We’re not taking any chances with your safety. We’re not having some asshole slipping in and pretending to be one of the Dogz and stealing you away.”

  I nodded then frowned. “How are you going to get me to the specialist from where ever we are going with River?”

  Kid grinned. “By some lucky coincidence your doctor’s rooms are in the building right next door and there’s a skyway connecting the two buildings. We’re going to load you in a wheelchair and push you across. The skyway glass is tinted and if we stick to the middle we’ll be invisible to anyone watching from the ground. They won’t be expecting us up there anyway. They’ll be watching the doors and the parking garage. And we have a plan for that as well. Trust me, beautiful, we’re going to make sure no one knows you’re there.”

  I let out a big sigh and nodded. “Okay. I can’t wait to get out of this room, even if I have to lie on the floorboards of the SUV all the way to the doctor’s rooms. When do you think it will be safe for me to go outside? Maybe you could take me outside at night after everyone’s as
leep.”

  Kid laughed out right. “Babe, no one goes to sleep early around here. There’s always someone walking around at all hours of the night. The brothers have women around all the time and most of them kick the women out once they’re done with them. Between those bitches leaving and the brothers looking for something to drink or having a smoke outside we’re shit out of luck. You are safer sticking to your room. I’ll see if I can make a plan with DC to get you to visit with River at their house, we could maybe sneak you out the back without anyone noticing.”

  Years ago the fact that these men so casually called women bitches used to get me all fired up, but then Rooster explained and he made it seem like it was a compliment or something. I still wasn’t so sure about that.

  The thought of getting out of the room had me smiling wide and Kid grinned as he shook his head at me.

  “Feeling better now, sweetheart?” He asked softly.

  “Ja, I do. Thanks for dancing with me, Kid. You are such a good man.”

  He snorted. “No, babe, I’m not. If you knew my history you would not want to know me.”

  I snorted. “Bullshit. I don’t give a shit about your history, because that’s all it is, history. Gone, done, in the past. Who you are inside has nothing to do with your history. You’re a good man, Kid, a really good man. And nothing and nobody will change my mind about that.” I leant over and slung my arms around his neck and hugged him hard.

  His arms slowly came around me and he hugged me back. “Thanks, sweetheart, you have no idea how much that means to me.” His voice rumbled softly against my head. I gave him another little squeeze before I let go.

  I sat back against my cushions and grinned at him. “The fates were being so good to me when they placed me in your hands. You are going to be in my life forever, I hope you realise that. Now that I have you as my friend and honorary big brother I am never going to let you go. Prepare yourself, Kid, all my friends say I can be a big pain in the ass at times. I bet you’re going to miss me when I go back to Cape Town. I promise we’ll video chat all the time.”

  He just grinned as he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I don’t think DC and I are going to let you leave after your problem has been taken care of. I like having you here and so does she. And she’s been working on a surprise for you that she says is so good you’ll never want to leave us.” He winked as my mouth fell open.

  “What is she doing?”

  “It’s a surprise, baby girl, so I can’t tell you. You’ll just have to be patient until she does the reveal. All I’m allowed to say is that it’s a really good surprise.”

  How was that supposed to be a clue? A really good surprise. Narrowing my eyes at him I tapped a finger against my lips as I thought about it. What could it be?

  For the following couple of days I tried to guess what the surprise might be and every time Kid just grinned and shook his head.

  Suddenly it was the day before we would be sneaking into the doctor’s rooms. In preparation Kid had quietly escorted the man who was going with us up to my room. He now stood looking at me with narrowed suspicious eyes.

  “The lady on the bed is Tori Keating. She was attacked by a mutual enemy and we are keeping her safe until the threat has been eliminated. Tomorrow she has an appointment with a specialist and you are riding along as protection. We have to be aware of every single little thing around us because we will have River in the SUV as well. She’s going to her doctor for her regular check up on the babies at the same time.”

  “We’re using River as a cover for someone we have never met and know nothing about. Why the fuck would we do that?” The very intimidating and frowny guy snapped angrily at Kid.

  Kid’s eyes became cold dead pools of pale blue ice as he stared at the guy. If he looked at me like that I would be peeing in my pants.

  “If this is a problem for you then walk out the door, Spook, right the fuck now. Tori is a very good friend of DC’s, and it’s one of the reasons why we are protecting her. And she’s important to me, so you do not want to piss me off about this, not today. Not ever.”

  The frowny look disappeared as if by magic to be replaced by a wicked grin and a wink. “Sorry, brother, I didn’t realise she was your woman. Hell, I didn’t even know you had a woman.”

  Kid dropped his head, shook it, looked up again and growled. “She’s not my woman, asshole. I consider her to be my baby sister, so be very fucking careful about what you say or do around her. You will not talk to anyone about what you have seen and heard up here. Not anyone, brother, not until Hawk says it’s okay.”

  Shocked silence descended in the room. I wish I knew what was going through his head right then. He looked confused and shocked at Kid’s statement. Why? Was there something I didn’t know? Hell, there was a lot of shit I didn’t know about him but I didn’t care. He was right, we were family now.

  By the time Friday came around the nervousness about the fast approaching appointment with my doctor shoved all thought of surprises out of my head.

  Instead I started to worry about whether there had been any damage to my leg that would necessitate surgery. I didn’t want to go back in for surgery. I hated the resultant pain and immobility and long recovery period. I hoped and prayed for good results.

  I needed good results.

  Kid

  Tori was stressing and was so very nervous about the visit to the doctor he thought she was going to burst right out of her skin. Trying to keep her calm he had stayed with her the night before, playing countless games of poker with her and Sam. When she eventually fell asleep he had sent Sam off to rest and had stretched out on the bed next to the tiny woman who had come to mean the world to him.

  He had been very serious when he had told his brothers that she was like his baby sister. The gutsy little woman had crawled into his heart and made herself at home. Having her in his life had changed something inside him. After the shit with his father and sister it felt good to have someone in his life who believed in him. Yes, his mother was in his life but for years she had kept her mouth shut while his piece of shit father had done his best to break him. He had forgiven her but he didn’t think he would ever forget that she had failed him when he had needed her the most.

  When Tori arrived at the compound, broken, beaten and hurting, she hadn’t known him from a bar of soap, but she had taken one look at him and had put her life into his hands. Why she had trusted him after one look he didn’t know, but her trust in him had healed an important part of his badly broken soul.

  For that reason alone he would protect her with his life.

  He hadn’t felt this protective urge in fucking years. Anyone who made a move against her had better say their prayers because he would take care of them, planting them deep in the ground where they won’t ever be found. She was his family now, and the only sister he would ever claim.

  The SUV was surrounded by his brothers but that did not stop him from scanning the road in front, behind and around them. Other motorists were staying away from them, clearly afraid of pissing off the bikers riding in front and behind the SUV.

  Glancing in the rear view mirror at Tori and River he grinned. The two had hit it off the minute Kid had introduced them and they hadn’t stopped yakking since. It turned out that River was a huge ballet fan, in fact, a Victoria Keating fan, and she had been quizzing Tori endlessly about her life as a dancer. And the fact that she could sympathise with Tori’s loss of her best friend had brought the two of them closer together. Ice had not appreciated it when his old lady told Tori how super hot she thought Ilya Ivanov had been.

  Kid had been glad to see Tori’s smiling nod of agreement. Then there had been some whispered conversation between the two women and he just knew he did not want to hear a word of it. The sly expressions on their faces told him very clearly that they were talking about sex.

  Fuck. He did not need to hear how good some dead guy had been between the sheets. Ice gave an angry grunt from t
he passenger side as the whispering led to giggles. Kid grinned at his brother’s angry grunt and was grateful when the brothers in front of the SUV turned into the parking garage attached to the medical building. The parking was automated and he stopped briefly to extract the ticket from the machine before slowly driving up to the third level where River’s doctor’s rooms were situated. The skywalk was on the same level but they would have to walk across the building to reach it.

  Parking in the middle of the parking garage Kid called Ziggy to let him know they had arrived and were in place. Ice and River got out of the SUV and with Jagger, Boots and Sin following walked into the building.

  Kid and Spook waited until Ziggy gave them the all clear, left their kuttes in the back, then loaded Tori into the wheelchair and quickly walked into the medical building. Sam stayed behind to watch over the SUV. No one took any notice of them as they headed to the far side of the building. Kid was pushing the chair while Spook followed behind them.

  The specialist’s rooms were empty because he had rescheduled all his morning appointments for Tori’s safety. They had Dominick Maingarde to thank for that.

  Kid pushed her into the doctor’s office and was about to leave when she grabbed his hand and held on tight.

  “Please don’t leave me.” She whispered urgently. Kid nodded and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

  Then Tori introduced him to the doctor as her brother. God, this woman was something else.

  After a short chat during which the specialist asked Tori a lot of questions and a thorough examination he sent them to the Radiography Department. This was the part where Kid was most uncomfortable with their exposure, there were too many things that could go wrong. But nothing happened. Now Tori was back on the examining table and Kid stood next to her, holding her hand.