I hear the chair scraping against the old tiled floor and then his intake of breath. I keep my eyes closed and nestle my head against my mom’s back.
“I don’t know how you got into my house, and I’ll be damn sure to make it so you never can again.”
“Nina left the door open for me so I could wait for her.”
“No, she didn’t, and you believing she did proves how sick you are. Leave now and we’ll forget this ever happened.”
“Don’t be silly, Rose. I’m here with your daughter, she wants me here. If you don’t approve of me, that’s your problem.”
“Oh, you’re my problem alright. Get out of my house or will dig this knife into your heart and call up some people to come take your body away. I’m giving you one last chance to walk out the door and stay alive.”
Call up some people? Who does she know that would do that for her? Then it hits me, the only people in this town with a reputation of getting away with everything is the Lost Souls.
Mom despises them though, she has to be bluffing to get him to leave. I lift my head and peek around her arm.
Vincent catches my movement and he looks like a wounded puppy.
“Florentina, tell your mother to put the knife down. This is all so silly, we’ll all laugh about this one day, you wait and see.”
Mom flinches as he takes a step towards us and my lower back hits the counter top.
“Last chance, get out, now,” she warns, not sounding like the mom I’ve heard all my life.
“Get out!” she shrieks, lunging forward.
He moves fast and is bolting for the door. I can’t be sure if it’s playing out in slow motion, or if I’m watching too closely, but in the ruckus of mom defending us in our home, he stops at the door and blows me a kiss before slipping outside.
I run to the window and he’s shuffling through the back gate. Mom is locking the back door and pushes a chair up and under the handle.
She’s shaking as she darts from window to window and then leans against the front door after locking up.
She’s clutching the knife to her chest and it’s like she’s looking straight through me. A big, heavy tear falls down her cheek as she tilts her head, now looking at me.
“I never thought I’d have to say goodbye to you, my sweet darling,” she cries, and I rush over to her.
“What are you talking about, mom? You never have to say goodbye to me.”
The knife clatters on the floor as she wraps her arms around me and she squeezes so hard she nearly breaks some bones.
“You can’t stay here, it’s not safe and the police can’t do anything to help us. I would rather have you away from here and safe, then worry about you in our home. I’m your mother, and I will not wait for him to hurt you just for the police to step in.”
If I realised this would be my last day with my mom when I woke up this morning, I would have risen earlier to share our first coffees together out on the back porch. I would have offered to do the house chores so she could rest for a moment, something she rarely does. I would not let go of her as she holds me now and I wouldn’t let the next three hours become a blur.
She makes me follow her from room to room as she packs my case with everything she thinks I’ll need. We end up in her room and I sit on her bed and watch her lift the board in the bottom of her wardrobe and lift out a small box.
Inside is a wrap of cash.
“Mom! How much is there?”
“Six thousand, I’ve been saving small bits since you were a little girl.”
“I can’t take it.”
“What do you think this is for? It’s my shit’s hit the fan stash. Shit is hitting the fan, Florentina. You’ll take this, and you’ll get out of town and use it to stay safe. You’re a smart girl, I know you’ll be fine.”
Now my tears are flowing.
“I’m going to borrow Regina’s car, and you’re going to take my car. I’ll follow you out of town and make sure no one follows you. You’re going to keep driving until the gas runs out then get a bus or a train and get as far from here as possible.”
“What if he comes back, you’ll be on your own.”
“I have a feeling his obsession is you, with you gone, I’m nothing to him. You have to go, and you will go.”
I don’t get dinner and I try to remember all the advice she throws at me before we’re scuttling to the cars.
What I don’t think of now but will remember as soon as I’m over the town border is I never got one last hug with the woman who has given everything.
Her headlights shine bright in my mirror and hers are the only ones I see as I leave town.
They flash twice and then she begins to slow. The lights become smaller the further out I drive and then I cry, and sob, and curse as they disappear altogether.
Zachery
I ride behind Slade and debate whether to leave the formation and ride over to Nina’s place or carry on to the clubhouse. I’m tired but I need to see her.
My mind is made up for me when the twins ride up each side of me and block my exit. Pricks.
“Tal messaged me to say your girl is waiting for you at the club,” Mason hollers over the bikes.
“Why message you?” I shout back.
“Because I messaged him first about another girl. He said to let you know.”
I nod back and speed up so I’m away from them. Ten minutes later and her car is the first thing I see when I ride through the gates.
It’s dusk and I can just about make out her still sitting in her car. I ignore Tal and everyone else as I park and head over to her. The closer I get I see she’s asleep and I wonder how long she’s been here. Nothing is stirring her awake, not even me opening her door or the guys behind me with their raised voices and loud laughter as they head inside for a drink.
Her hair is up as usual but loose strands have fallen free and she still doesn’t wake as I push them free of her face.
Running my thumb across her bottom lip, she finally comes to and smiles when she sees I’m back.
“How long have you been here?” I ask her, leaning forward to kiss her.
“A while,” she says, kissing me back.
She pulls back before I’m ready to end our kiss and sighs. I’m immediately on alert and trouble is brewing in her eyes.
“Vincent was waiting for me on my porch when I got back from the store this afternoon.”
I understand her sigh now.
And I’m pissed. The fucking prick waited till I was gone. If he’s been watching her a lot, he would have seen me coming and going from hers and he’d know when I rode out of town. He would’ve known she was alone.
“Why? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
No wonder she came here and waited so long she fell asleep, it’s better than her being at home alone with him around.
“He didn’t touch me, or hurt me, or scare me.”
Frowning, I don’t get it.
“Okay, tell me what happened.”
“I flew at him and went mad. I kept yelling at him and asking why he was there but then I wouldn’t give him the chance to answer because I kept screaming at him.”
Okay, so that sounds good. Her eyes blaze as she explains how she went off at him and I’m proud of her.
“And then Mrs Peterson came out and threatened to call the cops if he didn’t leave. I got back in my car and came here. There’s a load of food on the backseat that I got for us, everything is probably ruined.”
Her rapid rambles come to an end and I spy the bags she was talking about in the back.
“That looks like a lot of food.”
“I was planning on keeping you around for a while,” she grins playfully, and I take her hands in mine.
I pull her out and onto her feet as I stand and quickly push her against the car, leaning into her as I kiss her until the anger subsides.
“You’re acting like you missed me,” she whispers, between kisses.
“Cause’ I fucking di
d, darling.”
Her tongue sweeps over mine and she’s missed me as I have her, she’s showing me instead of telling me. She hasn’t got to say the words, not when she shows me like this.
She breaks the kiss first and slips through my arms and down to her knees. I’m fit to burst just knowing what she’s about to do, this could be fucking embarrassing.
Throwing my head back, I start to count the stars to distract myself. My hips flex as she undoes my belt, and then pops my jeans button open. She’s two seconds away from finding out I’m good to go when she’s standing up, leaving my jeans hanging open and looking at me like she doesn’t know how much she’s driving me crazy.
“You do know my boxers come down?” I ask, looking at her.
“Yes.” She laughs. “We should go up to your room.”
No one who is still lingering around can see us.
“We’re fine here, no one can see,” I assure her.
“I’m not worried about that, there’s no where for you to…finish.”
It takes a beat, but I click onto what she’s saying.
“What’s wrong with your mouth?”
The slap she delivers to my arm doesn’t register but I was expecting it and I laugh.
“I’ll do many things, but that is a no.”
“But you do suck?”
“Take me to your room and you’ll find out.”
Oh fuck yeah.
I wait impatiently for my laptop to load and dig out the scrap of paper Mason wrote down the plate number of the car that kept on driving by Nina’s the other night.
It doesn’t take long for shit loads of information to pop up and I’m confused when I read through it all.
His name isn’t Vincent, it’s Andrew Smith. Close to Adam Smith who paid the funeral bill, but completely different to Vincent.
His face is drawn in and he screams slime ball. You know the types that wear suits to work and everyone thinks he’s a charming gentleman but then he beats his wife behind closed doors.
He’s a graveyard worker and lives alone. His mom died four years ago and there is no mention of his father.
He’s never been married and what’s more interesting is that when Rose thought he left town a year ago, he actually moved to Salt Bay and lived three streets over from Nina, and he returned when she came back to Willows Peak.
He isn’t just a stalker, he’s dangerous and very much prepared to bide his time.
Staring at his photo on his licence, I commit every detail to memory and dig my finger into the screen between his eyes.
“I’m coming for you,” I silently warn.
Nina
I’m alone when I wake and it’s strange waking up here at the club. Sitting up, I pull the sheets higher around me and take a look around. His wallet and phone are on the bedside table so he couldn’t have gone far. When I see his smoking tin has gone, I know where he is.
There’s a faint odour in the air of weed and it makes me happy he went outside to smoke because he knows I don’t like it.
My clothes are still in a heap on the floor and I dress quickly to go find him. The place is quiet, everyone still sleeping or moving quietly. Zachery hasn’t gone far. He sits just outside the door with his feet up on a stack of old boxes. As I figured, he’s smoking his drugs. I sit on his lap and straddle him as I take the thing from between his fingers and throw it to the floor.
He raises his eyebrows and stares at me.
“I was smoking that.”
“And now you’re not, and I’d kiss you but you reek of something disgusting.”
Little fine lines spread out from his eyes as he narrows them at me but it doesn’t bother me. He can be pissed at me all he likes.
I don’t kiss him on the lips but I lean in and press my lips to his neck. It brings me pleasure to feel him shudder under my touch.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning to you too,” he sighs, his hands grabbing onto my ass.
He squeezes hard and the usual stirrings erupt inside me. A throat clearing behind us has me jumping, Zachery slides his hands up to my hips and keeps me in place.
His dad stands behind us and I can barely see him over him standing in front of the sun.
“Family dinner tonight at Leo and India’s.”
That’s it? No hellos.
What’s more awkward is that Zachery doesn’t look at him and doesn’t look like he’s about to answer him.
As I can’t see Slade’s face clearly, I can’t make out how he’s taking his son’s silence.
“Seven o’clock, be there or I’ll come find you.”
The shadow he cast over us moves as he walks off but then he’s stopping and turning back to us.
“And don’t ride alone or I won’t stop Cas from ripping you a new ass.”
Ride alone?
I face Zach once his father has definitely left this time and wait for him to explain but he doesn’t open his mouth, he just sits there looking off over my shoulder.
“Do you know how many kids would die to have someone love them like a father would, provide and guide them. Why do you treat him like that? He looks sad.”
“I’ve already told you why.”
“No, you told what happened. Something else must’ve happened for you to hate him so much.”
His eyes cut to mine and darkness pools in his eyes.
“I don’t hate him. I miss him, I miss how we used to be.”
“You have a funny way of showing it. Are you going to go to dinner tonight?”
“Why do you care?”
He looks down at the half smoked joint and I can tell he needs a smoke. Well, if he needs to smoke more than talk to me, he can smoke on his own.
“I haven’t got a clue, I should go and let you wallow in your self-pity and plumes of weed smoke.”
I push at his hands still holding on to my hips as I lift myself off his lap but I’m quickly crashing back down.
His grip tightens leaving me no choice but to stay where I am.
“I’ll go if you come with me.”
“I wasn’t invited,” I point out.
“I’m not going if you don’t.”
Rolling my eyes, he is impossible.
“I’ll come.”
“Yeah you will,” he smirks all cockily and leans in for a kiss.
I lean back before he can make contact and he growls into my chest.
“From now on, no kisses if you’ve been smoking.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Nope, you don’t know how disgusting you smell after you’ve had a smoke. You’re lucky I really like you or I wouldn’t be here.”
“You drive me crazy.”
“All in the good ways, I hope?”
“Is there any other way with you?” he says softly.
His hand comes up and rests on my cheek. He can be so tender sometimes it takes my breath away.
“What are we doing today?” I ask. Hopefully he can come back to mine and distract me from having to deal with the house and everything that still needs to be done.
His smile falls, and I can’t work out what replaces it. Another shadow darkens our corner in the sun and this time it’s the twins.
“Alright, Neen. Good night?” one of them asks.
“Very good, thank you.”
He nods and turns his attention to Zach.
“Are you ready?”
“Give me ten minutes and I will be.”
The twins walk over to their bikes and Zach adjusts me on his lap before standing and guiding me onto my feet. He keeps my hand in his and walks us into the bar.
India walks into what I soon find out is the kitchen and Zach pushes me onto a chair at the table.
“Do you want something to eat?”
“No, I’m fine.”
What I want is answers but I won’t question him in front of his sister, who he turns to as she prepares bottles for the baby.
“Nina is coming to dinner toni
ght, is that okay with you?”
“Sure, there’s plenty of food.”
His sister seems nice enough, a little young to be a mom but she seems to be handling that well and coping with the responsibility. I don’t mind spending time with her, even if I would prefer to be with Zach.
“Good, I’ve shit to do today, can you keep her busy till I get back?”
What?
“Can you cook?” she asks me.
“Some.”
“Then yeah, I’ll keep her busy.”
I am not liking this. Not one little bit. I stay quiet while he grabs a bottle of water and then he’s holding out his hand for me. I grab onto him and he leads us up to his room. As soon as the door closes, I lean against it while he gets changed into a clean tee and hoodie. He slips his cut on over his hoodie and starts collecting his wallet and keys and everything else he’ll need for whatever he’s doing today while palming me off on his sister.
“I can go home you know, I don’t need to be baby sat while you’re busy.”
“It’s not about babysitting, I want you to spend time getting to know my sister and why not do that and keep safe not going home where last time you were there so was Vincent?”
“So, this is to keep me safe?”
“What else would it be? I’m not some prick just telling you what to do. I don’t want that guy anywhere near you.”
“So, what are you doing today?”
He stops putting his boots on and looks up at me.
“I’ll tell you when I get back?” Is he telling me or asking me? Pushing away from the door, I sit beside him on the bed and remind myself we’re not in a relationship yet, I can’t demand questions under the girlfriend act.
“I’ll spend the day with India.”
It’s not like I’m dreading it or anything. I just wanted to spend the day with this man beside me and I want him to be open with me. Why can he tell me where he’s going after the fact, not before?
Before I know it, he’s ready to go and we’re walking back downstairs. We don’t say anything as he kisses my cheek and heads out on his own.
India is quick to appear at my side carrying a feeding Rayna.
“Do you know where he’s going?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “He barely speaks to me normally, that’s why I jumped at the chance to spend more time with you without him around. There’s no chance he’d tell me his business, especially if it’s to do with the club.”
His Ride or Die : Sons of Lost Souls MC Book Three Page 15
