“It’s a power I don’t like to hold, but it’s the same power you have over me.”
Pressing my lips to her head, I inhale the scent of her coconut shampoo and she brings me a calmness I will always crave.
“Let’s go to bed,” I say, and collect all the albums up and put them back on the shelves.
I follow her up the stairs and pull back the sheets. She climbs onto her side of the bed and I cuddle up behind her.
“You’re hiding something from me, you don’t have to tell me now, but you will soon and I’m here to listen when you’re ready,” she says.
I don’t know why I haven’t told her, yet I do. I know once I’ve told her, she will jump on my back about seeking the answers I’ve always wanted.
She’s big on family and I’m not ready to face it. For now, I hold my wife and bask in her warmth that’s real and is mine.
Sparky
“Eat your breakfast, son.”
He’s more interested in playing with his cereal than eating it. I finish my bacon and eggs and watch my son eat.
“What are your plans today?” Bon asks, taking my plate over to the sink and pouring me another coffee.
“I’m not sure.”
Although, I’ll be keeping a close eye on Cas after yesterday for sure. I haven’t got a clue how he’s going to take his mother appearing after forever being a let-down and he hasn’t been answering my calls.
Speaking of calls, my phone rings and Shellie’s name flashes up on my screen. Another person who hasn’t been picking up my calls. I answer and drain my coffee.
“Can you talk?” she asks, before I can say, hello.
She sounds upset and I push out of my chair and slip out of the back door. The last time I saw her was outside the hospital the night John died. She disappeared home before I could track her down again and I didn’t have the time to ride out and see her. I feel bad about it, but that’s the way it was.
“Go ahead, I’m alone.”
“Robert held the police off until after the funeral but this morning, an officer called Jake showed up. I managed to get rid of him before Robert got here. He’s not happy and he wants to bring your club down, he said he’ll be back.”
This was expected but it isn’t needed today. It’s the last thing I need. Her tone is the only unexpected thing I’m hearing so far. She sounds worried for us.
“You should want the same…after John,” I say.
“After John,” she snorts, “I don’t have it in me to fight a lost cause. I just want to mourn my son without any more blood and death on my hands. I’m not stupid, if my Robert becomes a problem for the club, you’ll…” I hear her sigh as she pauses, and then the line goes dead. I need to talk to Cas and as he isn’t answering my calls, I’ll have to go to him. We need to sort out Jake and the sooner, the better.
“Call Alannah and find out where Cas is, then text me. I’ve got to go, I’ll call you later,” I tell Bonnie, slipping back into the kitchen.
I quickly plant a kiss on her beautiful fucking lips and grab my keys. There’s no way I’m letting the club fall now, not after everything we’ve done to keep it going lately.
Until Bonnie gets a hold of Alannah and tells me where my president is, I decide to ride to the club first. If he’s not there, I’ll ride out to his place.
As I ride through town, I’m about to push the speed to the limit when I see Jacqueline unlocking the door to a room at the motel.
Cas made it clear she wasn’t welcome and I sure as shit made it very fucking clear she should leave too.
I slow down and ride into the parking lot and park up beside her car. Looking around, no one is about, and I bang on the door she went through.
I’m waiting too long for her to answer and it pisses me off.
“Open up,” I yell, clear and loud enough for her to hear.
She does as she’s told, and the door opens. She gives me the once over and I barge my way in before she can shut the door in my face.
“I made it very clear you should leave town, Cas made it even clearer he doesn’t want you around,” I bark at her roughly.
“He’s angry with me,” she stutters.
“Yeah, no shit he is and rightly so. He has all he needs now, and he doesn’t want you here. If he changes his mind, he’ll come find you. Leave town.”
I can’t stand to look at her, I’ve said what I needed to say, and I turn for the door.
My hand grips onto the door knob and I can’t will myself to open it.
“Cas spent his life believing he missed out not having a mom, but you’re the one who missed out. If he ever lets you into his life, it will never change the fact you’ve lost the most precious years of his life.”
Now I can open the door, the sun hits me and Bonnie texts me, Cas is on his way to the clubhouse.
“I thought about him every single day,” she calls out.
“I’m sure your thoughts were enough for you, but they did fuck all for him.”
I walk out and slam the door behind me. She thought about him? Fucking pathetic.
Chapter Three
Cas
It’s a new day and nothing is going to fuck me up. Sparky is the first face I see and he’s anxious. Going over to him, he jumps up from the couch and pulls me to the side of the bar.
“I got a call from Shellie this morning, Jake showed up at her house today asking questions she said she didn’t answer.”
I knew this was coming, it was only a matter of time before Jake couldn’t be held at bay and came for us.
“Let’s go,” I reply.
“Where to?”
“You’ll find out.”
This isn’t fucking with me today, Jake has been on my shit-to-deal-with list and he’s been bumped up to a priority. If I’m honest, I thought he would’ve been on our backs a lot more than he has been.
Sparky rides behind me into town and comes to a stop as I pull up outside the cop station.
“Cas? What are we doing here?” he asks, his tone tinged with anticipation.
“We’re going to have a little chat with our friendly sheriff.”
I hear his long sigh, but he follows me inside and I ting the bell at the front desk to get someone’s attention.
I haven’t been inside this building before and I doubt I’ll ever come back after today. We’re told to take a seat, Jake better not leave us waiting too long.
“This place makes my skin crawl,” Sparky mutters.
“We won’t be here long then we’ll be gone,” I promise him.
“The last time I was here, they thought I’d hurt Bonnie.”
Fuck. That was a long time ago. They also thought he had killed Bonnie because Kitty, on her revenge quest, had smeared their home in pig’s blood and set Bonnie up to be stuck in the middle of nowhere so no one could find her until Sparky had been arrested. I admit, I despised the sight of my best friend’s old lady when she first showed up at our door and it took a long ass time for me to trust her, but that day when no one could find her, I felt helpless.
We’re waiting for ten minutes before Jake decides to show his face. Most of the time, he doesn’t bother me, and we don’t bother him. Today, he looks at us like he has us over a barrel and I want to slice his eyes out of his sockets.
“Look who has finally decided to grace me with his presence,” he smirks.
“You were told I would come to you, all you had to do is wait,” I smirk back and stand.
“I’m done waiting, come with me,” he huffs, and turns his back on us.
I can feel multiple sets of eyes following us as we follow Jake up to his office. It’s nothing special and too formal for my liking.
“I have a lot of questions, Cas,” he says, taking his seat behind his desk.
Sparky and I make ourselves comfortable opposite him and I hold my hands out.
“Then start asking, I’m not sitting here all day.”
He takes out his notebook and pen and asks, “Who atta
cked you and the club the night of October ninth?”
“There was no attack.”
“Tell me your version of events then,” he sighs.
“Did it occur to you that you weren’t called that night because nothing happened that needed assistance from the law?”
“There was an explosion, two people died, Cas. Don’t sit here and take me for a fool.”
“Two?” I question, treating him however the fuck I like.
“One died from his injuries and there was a body in the driver’s seat in the van. Only when I drove by the next day, the van and body were gone.”
I start to laugh, and he frowns, narrowing his eyes.
“You mean, Bobby?”
He writes the name down and looks up at me, “Does Bobby have a surname?”
“No, cause he was a fuckin’ dummy, it wasn’t a body. We were fucking around, and it backfired on us. Nothing more, nothing less. Unfortunately, John got caught out and it cost him his life.”
Jake sighs, throws his pen down and sits back in his chair.
“You’re feeding me bullshit,” he grunts, “We both know you were attacked, and then the diner was hit, that certainly wasn’t an accident.”
“I’m feeding you what happened, it’s not my problem if it’s not what you want to hear. As far as the diner is concerned, you’ll have to find out what hides in Hank’s closet, cause the incidents are not connected.”
“I arrived at the same time as the EMT’s, that wasn’t an accident and it wasn’t a dummy in the van. It wasn’t an accident and I’m not going to stop until I get to the truth.”
I’ve had enough, I stand up and Sparky stands beside me.
“If you really thought it was dodgy, why did you leave and not call it in? It was an accident, there was no body and if you follow us back to the club, I’ll give you permission to take a look around.”
I don’t wait to see if he follows, I know he will. I’m giving him an in into the club, he won’t pass up the invitation.
We make it outside and to our bikes when we hear, “There won’t be anything for me to find.”
I spin around, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Why are you still coming then?” Sparky calls out, saying exactly what I was going to say.
“As much as it will waste my time, it’s wasting yours too.”
We stand there as he walks over to his patrol car and I laugh again.
“After jack-off Jake is done, we’re going to pay Shellie a visit.”
“She isn’t gonna want us showing up,” he sighs.
“I didn’t want her boy showing up, but we don’t always get what we want,” I grunt.
“What about you? Your mom is still in town, do you know what you’re gonna do about her?”
Rolling my eyes, I can’t believe how he’s referring to her as my mom. A term, that to me is personal, she is far from being a mom.
I’m not dealing with her now, between Jake and Shellie we have enough on our plate to sort out. Jacqueline can fucking wait, like she made me wait all my life.
Sparky swings his leg over his bike and pulls out his phone. He hits a couple of buttons and goes to press it to his ear.
“Hang up,” I order.
He’s quick to end the call and looks questioningly over at me.
“Who were you calling?” I ask him.
“Pope, I was gonna give him a heads up to our visitor who is on his way.”
Shaking my head, I say, “Jake isn’t going to make this easy for us, if he searches deep and finds you made a call to Pope a half hour before we get back, he’ll find it suspicious for sure.”
Fatigue crosses his face and he slides his phone in his cut inside pocket. I climb on my bike and bring it to life, relishing in the thunderous roar of the engine. It’s pretty warm out today and the soft breeze begins to whip around the back of my neck as I pull out and catch up to Jake’s patrol car.
Sparky doesn’t take long to ride up behind me and together we cruise behind Jake until we near the club. I lean right, and Sparky leans left, we ride around Jake and ride side by side through the gates.
We park up in our usual spots and Jake comes to a stop by the bar. Brothers begin to gather around and watch our dutiful sheriff climb out of his car.
Only the breeze can be heard, and Jake has every set of eyes on him as he strolls over to the spot where the explosion took place.
He sweeps his booted foot over the gravel, hoping to disturb something. If he thinks he’s going to find anything, he’s shit out of luck. The guys cleaned up real good.
“Huh, it’s like it never happened,” he says, taking his shades off.
“What? Did something happen?” Ricky asks, acting the complete innocent.
“Nothing’s happened today that I’m aware of,” Slade says.
“Unless he means yesterday? You know, when Dex puked exactly where our fine Sherriff is standing,” Pope grunts.
Jake isn’t being fooled, he turns to me, holding his hands on his hips.
“Where’s the van?”
I step in before anyone else can answer him.
“I haven’t got a clue, I’ve been pretty busy lately.”
“Did you bring me out here just to mess me around, Cas?”
He’s losing his cool and it’s exactly where I want him.
“If I wanted to mess you around, I wouldn’t have brought you here. I would’ve made sure you didn’t step one foot on my land, I would be throwing all sorts of shit your way to throw you off. But, as we had fuck all to do with the explosion at the diner, and had an accident here, I’m letting you in as a curtesy in good faith to show you we have nothing to hide.”
The corner of his mouth pulls up on one side, and he slides his shades back on.
“Why don’t you show me around the back first,” he says.
“Let’s go.”
He leads the way, and I stay a step behind him. His eyes flitter around everywhere, trying to take in as much as he can. Beads of sweat speckle the back of his neck, the gravel crunches under his boots with every step he takes, and his hand keeps twitching, wanting to go for his gun. I too, can take in everything.
His pace fastens when he sees the old beat up cars and trucks. I’ll allow him to do his thing and let him believe he’s onto something.
He should know better, I wouldn’t have invited him in if there was a remote chance of him finding something to implicate us.
He takes his time walking around each vehicle, checking them out and I stand back, knowing my brothers have followed us without having to look around.
“So, you’re telling me that a van blows up, causing death and destruction and you don’t know where it is?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you, I’ve been recuperating myself from the accident and haven’t been around here much. Cars and trucks come and go all the time.”
“You could at least give me some respect and not call it a fucking accident,” he spits out.
“I call it as I saw it, and it was a fuckin’ accident. Just because it isn’t what you want to hear isn’t my problem. If you wanna keep investigating something that isn’t there, be my guest but all you’ll be doing is wasting your time and your precious resources. You’ve had your look around, now I’m asking you politely to leave. If I see the van again, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Shaking his head, he exhales and takes one last glance around, before settling his eyes on me.
“We’ve always had a working peace between you and the town, fuck me, most of the town think you’re the best thing since sliced bread, but it’s gone too far this time. This goes beyond me, Cas. John has parents who want answers and don’t know your reputation, and his father, believe me, he wants answers. I don’t know why he was here, but I will find out, for his family.”
Time to play this problem to our advantage. I’m not going to let one fuck up be our downfall.
“John was our family, in fact, he was more family than mo
st of our brothers.”
“What are you talking about?”
“John was Oak’s son. He came looking for his father cause his mother lied to him his whole life and he stayed for a while.”
“His son?”
“Yes, did you not hear me correctly? You see, there is a reason why we let people on our land, and John was with us because of his father, his real father.”
“Always an answer…”
“Because it’s the truth, ask his mother, if she’s not too busy grieving.”
“One of these days, Cas, you’re going to come unstuck and everything around you will fall and everyone around you will fall, and your brotherhood will mean nothing.”
Flexing my jaw, I grind my teeth together until the seething, blood boiling, urge to smash my fist into his jaw passes.
Sparky’s shadow crosses with mine as I take a step forward and he stops me.
“Fuck off, Jake.”
The burning in my blood is grateful when he leaves without another word being said. I’ve got another shit storm to fix today and she’s called Shellie.
I bang on her door and wait. Sparky is anxious. The muscles in his biceps are tense and he can’t stand still at all.
He knocks again and still no answer. After Jake taking his time at the club, there isn’t many hours of sunlight left.
Her car is on the drive and the curtains are open in the living room. I jump down off the porch, and peer through the window.
Shellie is asleep on the couch and judging by the numerous empty wine bottles surrounding her, she had help.
I pound on the window for a full minute before she starts to stir. I keep knocking until she sits up and blearily looks around until her eyes land on me. At first, she slowly blinks like she’s trying to work out if I’m really standing here or not then she stands.
I point towards the door and then I walk around and back up the porch steps.
“Is she in there?”
“Yeah, crashed out on the couch, she’s awake now.”
We both hear something crash in the hall and then the door opens, and we see a lamp broken on the floor.
“What are you two doing here?” she asks, squinting against the sunlight.
Biker Salvation: The Lost Souls MC Book Nine Page 2
