Adoption papers.
My adoption papers.
Quickly flipping back to my birth certificate, my mom’s name is on there but not my dad’s. This doesn’t make sense. It can’t be true.
Keeping the stack of papers in my hand, I shut up the safe and return to my bedroom and close the door behind me. I make it halfway across the room before I turn and lock it too.
Sitting on my bed, I read through each piece of script three more times and I’m not seeing things. I’m not on a trip or imagining shit.
Slade isn’t my father and everyone I know has lied to me. Bastard. The itch on my back no longer bothers me and I cover it with the tee I discarded on the floor earlier. I dig around in my closet for a clean hoodie and a pair of jeans.
Everything happens in flashes and I lose focus as I ride to the club. Mom said she was at the shop till late tonight and dad, well, whoever the hell is, said he’d be at the club.
Usually I wouldn’t feel papers in my back pocket through my jeans, but this stack is burning through the denim and into my soul.
The entire ride I’m trying to figure it out, why would they lie to me, make me believe Slade is my dad?
When all along he isn’t.
Alannah and Cas are the first ones I see at the club, and I push them out of my sight as I look around for my so-called dad.
“Slade’s inside if you’re here for him,” Cas calls over and I head towards the bar.
I grab the papers once I’m inside and I’ve laid eyes on him. He’s laughing about something with Sparky and Ricky and thinks everything is as it was at breakfast this morning.
“Look what I found,” I tell him, throwing down the papers on the table. “Care to explain?”
They’re scooped up by him and he pales, at least he has the grace to know the truth is out now.
“This isn’t what it looks like.”
“Oh, so I’m wrong and they’re not adoption papers.”
My voice is rising, and I don’t care. It’s not like it won’t be common knowledge around here. Everyone knows everyone’s business.
“We should go home and call your mom,” he says, standing up.
“Why? So, you can both lie to me some more?”
“It was never a secret, son, but it doesn’t need to be shouted about either.”
“You’re right, so who is my dad?” I ask, lowering my voice.
“That certainly isn’t going to be discussed here,” he says, his tone losing the edge of guilt.
“Why?”
“Firstly, why were you going through the safe?”
“Does it matter? Why have you lied to me? If you’re not my real dad, who is?”
I’m getting angry again and it’s getting harder to calm down. I lean on the back of the nearest chair, gripping it too hard.
“Take him in the back room and tell him, he’s not going to stop until he knows.”
This comes from Alannah and dad looks like he wants to throw her a million miles away from here.
“I can’t do it without Kris. We both said we’d do it together.”
They start speaking between themselves as if I’m not even here.
“Perhaps you should talk to him too, you’re the one who knew him at the end.” This comes from Cas and everyone shuts up, and the end? What’s that supposed to mean? It sounds to me like the man is dead.
“No, Kris has to be here.”
“Then go and wait in the back room so you’re not airing your shit in front of everyone. I know Kristen will shit bricks if she saw this.”
That’s true, mom says she doesn’t care what people think about her, about us, but she does. More than she cares to admit.
“Get her on the phone and get her here. I want to know the truth,” I demand.
Moving to the back room, dad sits one end and I sit at the other, neither of us saying a word.
Alannah appears at the door after a while and after a curt nod from dad, she slips in and closes the door. She pulls out the chair next to me and it’s strange to see her in here. I’ve never seen a woman in this room before. Even I wasn’t allowed to sit at this table until I had earned my patch.
“I won’t say what happened between your mom and dad…Slade…back in the day, it wasn’t my business then and it isn’t now. However, Billy was my friend and I still think about him from time to time. I just wanted to say, listen to your parents because they deserve it. If you have any questions after, you can come and find me.”
Billy? Is that my real dad’s name?
“I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Mom is standing in the doorway, I was so focused on Alannah I didn’t hear the door open.
Alannah doesn’t break eye contact with me and I nod. Once she has my confirmation, she leaves and it’s just me and the liars in the room.
Mom takes Alannah’s seat and drags it closer to mine. Dad still isn’t saying anything, and I can barely make eye contact with the pair of them. This isn’t going to go well.
“Before we start, I want to tell you that we were going to tell you the truth one day, I’ll be honest and admit I don’t know when that day would’ve been, and I wouldn’t change our lives no matter what. We are a family.”
“Start talking,” I shrug.
“Me and you didn’t meet Slade till you were a year old. We came to Willows Peak after your Grandpa died and your Grandma was settled with Great Aunt Helen. We drove for days staying in motels and eating out, looking back, that time changed my life, your life too. We got to town and came to the club and that’s when I found out your biological father had died.”
“How?”
I flick my eyes over to my dad and he has his eyes closed. Mom’s are full of water that she’s desperately trying not to let fall.
“Before that, I want you to know that what Billy and I shared wasn’t about love or commitment. We were friends, and he had already skipped town before I found out I was pregnant with you.”
“Get to how he died please.”
“He was murdered.”
Both mom and I look at dad and he is now looking straight at me.
“He was prospecting for us and he was ordered to watch over Alannah out at the cabin. Our enemy at the time found out they were there and used them to get at our president at the time. To get to Lana they had to go through Billy.”
This time I close my eyes, not sure if I want to hear what comes next.
“They beat him and he died shortly after.”
You could hear a pin drop in the room it’s that quiet and I feel like I’m going to be sick.
Pushing out of my chair, I lurch up to my feet and mom flinches.
“At first I was told he died in a car accident and we stayed in town for a break from travelling, that’s when you and me got to know Slade. He would bring us home cooked food and we spent time with the club. You used to be fascinated with JJ when he was a baby.”
I sure as shit am not fascinated with him now.
“What did you do when you found out the truth?” I ask her.
“We left town, I didn’t understand what happened and then Slade tracked us down and explained. We eventually came back, and we never left. We made Willows Peak our home, Slade was our home.”
I should sit back down but my legs are frozen. I have no idea what to say. Am I angry? Am I okay with this? No, I know I’m not okay.
My head is scrambled, and I can’t think straight.
“I have to go.”
“Zach, please, don’t,” Slade begs.
It physically hurts to hear his voice. I ignore him and escape into the bar. I keep my eyes down as I pass through the brothers and walk outside.
Everything I’ve known to be true, is not.
Nina
“Momma, please, tell me why I can come home now?”
“Vincent is gone. If you can’t return home to be with me now, you never will.”
Those words weren’t her whole truth. Yes, Vincent has left town
and yes, I could come home without having to live in fear, but that wasn’t the reason she had the Lost Souls motorcycle club track me down.
It turns out she was sick and didn’t want to worry me until she couldn’t waste any more time keeping it from me.
I had to come home and watch her die, and to top it off, watch her still want to go to work and sulk because I wouldn’t let her.
I stayed away from Willows Peak for my own protection and now I’m here and alone anyway.
As I stand looking over my mother’s grave, it hits me like a ton of bricks I’m never going to have the ability to call her up and ask how her day was, or her ask me, not that we’ve been able to do that lately. One day a year was all I had to call from a phone booth and speak for a few minutes at a time.
There is literally no one on earth who gives a shit how my day goes now. How sad is that?
I was so angry at first, but now it hurts so much I can barely focus on anything. Everyone who came to the funeral has long left and I can’t make my feet move to leave her alone here. It’s silly, she’s not here, not her soul anyway but I can’t face leaving her lying in the ground under six foot of dirt.
She wouldn’t want me standing here but she’s not here anymore to scold me. A stray tear falls down my cheek and I swipe it away. A brisk wind whips around me and I pull my jacket closer together. A drop of rain hits my nose and another splashes on my cheekbone. A huge grey cloud sweeps across the sky and settles above me. Perfect. It fits my mood.
The rain drops fall faster and heavier and I find myself running for my mom’s old beat up car. I fall into the driver’s seat and slam the door shut behind me. The rain belts against the glass windows and I can’t see through the water running down to the hood.
I catch my breath and turn the key in the ignition. The wipers work overtime and I can finally see where I’m about to drive through.
Goodbye mom.
The gates to the cemetery aren’t far and as I drive through, I come to a stop before the turn off and a Lost Soul by the side of road kicking his bike catches my attention.
He must’ve broken down. I make a left instead of going right, going home, and pull over.
Being this close, I can see it’s Zachery, who came to my house to check on me for mom.
He’s soaked through and looks pissed as he looks my way. I grab the umbrella from the backseat and throw open my door.
I’m already wet but I’m not soaked through, I would be if I went out in this rain again. I run over to him as the rain falls around me and flicks up at my ankles.
“Hey, do you need a ride somewhere?” I shout out, so he can hear me.
“Thanks, but I’ve got help on the way,” he tells me, coming to stand under my umbrella.
He’s much taller than me and he takes the shelter from me and holds it over us and looks down at me.
He’s exactly how I remember him. I haven’t seen him in over a month and to be honest, I haven’t really thought about him after he dropped me home.
“Do you know what’s wrong with it?” I ask, nodding to his bike lying on its side from being kicked.
“I have a good idea.” Is all he says.
The rumble of three bikes approaching us sounds like his help has arrived but he tenses and ever so slightly moves in front of me.
“Go get in your car and go home,” he tells me over his shoulder.
What?
“Who are they? Are they not from your club?” I ask, stupidly not doing as he says.
“They’re not my brothers, you have to leave now.”
I hear the concern in his voice, but if I leave him, he’ll be left alone with them. If I’m not safe, he certainly isn’t.
“I’m not leaving you,” I state.
“How very fucking sweet of you, but go, now.”
The three bikers come to a stop and I hear one of them laugh, evilly. Zach subtly pulls his gun from the back of his jeans, that I hadn’t seen, and my eyes bulge.
“What is that for,” I hiss.
“To save our lives if you’re not leaving. Just stay behind me and do not fucking move or say a word.”
That’s all he can say before one of them calls over and I grab onto the back of Zach’s leather.
“Looky looky, what do we have here? A lone Lost Soul and his girlfriend.”
Girlfriend? Assume much?
“You’re a little close to town, what are you doing here?” Zach asks.
“We’re enjoying the wet weather, thought we’d see if we could hunt down a stray soul and it looks like we have.”
It takes a moment, but I realise we’re not under the umbrella anymore. The rain pours down on us all but none of us notice, or care.
Zach brings his gun out in front of him and the three Black Crows are quick to draw their weapons. My heart hammers in my chest and I can’t see any way out of this.
The blood is rushing around my body so fast, I can’t think of anything to say or do that will stop this insanity, when Zach mutters, “Fuck this.”
How can he sound bored at a time like this? This is anything but boring.
As each moment passes, I can feel something is going to happen. One of them are going to kick start the fight and I should’ve listened when Zach told me to leave.
I start backing up and catch the eye of the Black Crow on the end of their little stand-off.
He swings his gun at me and I throw my hands up and freeze on the spot.
“I’m outnumbered, and I seriously couldn’t give a shit about that, however, if you pull those triggers aiming at her, I’ll shove your guns so far up your asses, you’ll be eating your own bullets.”
“Don’t worry about your pretty little girlfriend, it’s you we want. We’ll get a good payday hauling your ass back, dead or alive.”
They’re seriously talking about taking Zach to give to whoever wants him like they’re picking up groceries from the store. This is unreal.
“I imagine we’ll get a shit ton more him being alive though,” another says, and I struggle to swallow.
Zach doesn’t seem bothered and stands listening with a hint of amusement on his face. My fear evaporates, and I step back beside Zach. If he isn’t concerned than I shouldn’t be. Or I’m stupid. Either way, I won’t leave him alone with these assholes.
The faint sound of more bikes approach in the distance and it could go either way. They could be Lost Souls coming to Zach’s defence or they could be more Black Crows, in which case, we’re probably going to die.
I step closer to him and latch my hand on the back of his jeans. He tenses for a beat and then leans back against my hand.
Strangely, I can’t leave him. I should’ve driven off when he first told me to, I should be at home now wondering what the hell happened out here, but when I look at him, I couldn’t imagine any harm coming to him. I don’t assume I can do much, if anything, but I don’t care. I’m here.
Zach completely relaxes and starts to laugh. His reaction still doesn’t help me, are our new arrivals friend or foe?
It’s not until they stop at our side, that I see Lost Souls patches and exhale a breath of relief.
I look over to the Black Crow in the middle of their little group and I see he’s worried before everything speeds up. Unspoken, the Lost Souls work together without having to talk about it.
I recognise Leo from when we were at school and I know the twins from the ride home. They close around Zach and I and he bends down, which I think is strange and then I’m flying over his shoulder. I see the back of his legs and boots moving quickly and then I hear my car door opening.
I land on my ass and I’m sitting behind the wheel. He leans across me and starts the engine. It feels like so long ago since I was last in here, when in fact it was only ten or fifteen minutes ago.
“Go home,” he barks at me.
He slams the door shut and I watch his back as he joins his club. I can’t hear what’s being said but I certainly hear the first shot ring out, I
jump at the warning shot Leo shoots into the air.
A shaky breath flows from me that no one has fallen to the ground and I turn the engine off. None of them care I’m still here and I keep still as not to catch their eye.
Their lips are moving, and their features are reddening and tightening. The tension is tight, I can feel it from in here and I have no idea what they’re fighting about or how this is going to play out.
Then from one breath to the next, all four Lost Souls raise their guns and one Black Crow guy raises his. The Crow guy lets off a shot first and it hits Zach in the arm. Oh my god, he’s been shot, and the impact sends him on his ass.
In the next breath, the three Crow’s have been shot and they are all lying in heaps on the ground. The Lost Souls just killed three men and instead of driving away and running from these murderers, my legs are moving before I consciously make the decision to go to Zach’s aid. I must’ve been watching him closely, I saw the bullet go in and not come back out. Did I see that? Am I seeing things? I have no idea.
Zach has been shot. Oh my fucking god. This is absolutely insane.
I run across the grass verge and drop to my knees beside him. The twins and Leo are busy moving the lifeless bodies and I’m still trying to figure out why I’m not freaking out.
“It’s nothing,” he grunts. “I told you to go home, don’t you ever listen?” he yells at me.
“Suck it up, buttercup, and let me save you.”
I help pull him up with his good arm and he shrugs me off. I grip onto his sweater tighter and pull him towards the car. I swear, I’m not leaving him here, especially when he’s bleeding.
I open the back door to my car, and shove him in. One of the twins appears behind me and looks over Zach and then at me.
“Get him out of here.”
And then he’s gone, helping the others pull the last body off the road verge.
His Ride or Die : Sons of Lost Souls MC Book Three Page 3
