Revolution (The Lone Riders MC Series Book #1)

by Betham, Michelle

  ‘I wasn’t supposed to know he was over there, you already know that. But I found out, didn’t I? And after that there wasn’t much Dad could do. Coby he… he was staying with Dad and Maggie, but…’ Lexi stopped talking, taking a deep breath before she spoke again. ‘He was a familiar face, Mum. I’d been over there for almost seven years but it had never felt like home, not once, even though that’s where I’d spent the first fourteen years of my life. That compound was where most of my early memories were formed, and yet it never felt like home. Not like this place did. So when I saw Coby… he was familiar.’

  Lexi finally turned to face her mother. Angie wore an expression of confusion mixed with apprehension, and a touch of fear. But even Lexi knew that whatever she was expecting to hear, it wouldn’t be anything close to what she was about to tell her. Even though, at first, it might appear to be as simple as that.

  ‘We hung out. I mean, he couldn’t go to the compound or any of the club’s haunts because nobody was supposed to know he was there…’

  ‘Did he tell you why, Lexi? Why nobody was supposed to know he was there?’

  Lexi frowned, cocking her head slightly as she looked at Angie. ‘No.’

  ‘Did you ask him?’

  ‘Of course I asked him. But he wouldn’t tell me, and after a while I stopped caring because I know that, sometimes, it’s best not to know. It’s safer that way.’ She was distracted by Coby and Tay coming out of the garage, walking over to their bikes. ‘He’d go out with Dad a lot…’

  Angie hung her head, looking down at her clasped hands. ‘Is this going where I think it’s heading, Lexi?’

  ‘We slept together.’ Lexi watched as Coby straddled his bike, pulling his helmet on, his shades still covering his eyes. She wanted him so much it wasn’t right. It didn’t feel real, but those feelings were there, all tied up inside of her in one huge mess of emotions she had no way of untangling.

  ‘Jesus Christ! That man was like a father to you when you were growing up,’ Angie sighed, throwing her head back.

  ‘Shane had just died,’ Lexi went on as Coby and Tay sped out of the compound. ‘And I was feeling so fucking confused, you know? I mean, Shane and me, we hadn’t been an item for a while, but the way he died, the circumstances…’ She looked right into her mum’s eyes. ‘The timing…’

  Angie felt a chill run right through her.

  ‘Coby was there for me, Mum.’

  ‘He took advantage of a vulnerable girl.’

  ‘I was almost thirty-four years old. I wasn’t some infatuated kid. He was familiar, and he felt safe.’

  ‘Coby Walker is anything but safe, honey. He’s a dangerous man. The things he’s done for this club…’

  Lexi looked away again. She was painfully aware of some of the actions these men undertook for the sake of the Brotherhood. But thinking about it was something a lot of the women involved with the club chose to ignore. It was just easier that way, to turn that blind eye.

  ‘He’s no more dangerous than any of the others. There isn’t one of them out there who wouldn’t do what Coby has done for this club, and that includes Kip. And Jesse. And God knows we’re all more than aware of what Tay’s capable of.’

  ‘This isn’t about Kip, or Jesse. Or Tay. It’s about the fact you and Coby had some kind of affair…’

  ‘No, Mum. It wasn’t an affair. It wasn’t anything like that.’ She looked straight at Angie. The least she could do was look her in the eyes when she told her what she still had to hear.

  ‘Did you come back for him, Lexi? Is this… is whatever this is between you two, is it… is something still going on?’

  ‘We’ve slept together, a couple of times, since I’ve been back.’

  ‘Jesus…’

  ‘He opened up something inside me, Mum. When he was over in England. And I can’t forget how he made me feel, how being with him calmed me, reminded me of what it felt like to be wanted because, before that…’ She hung her head, closing her eyes. ‘Shane was… he was a beautiful man, a good, good man and I cared a lot about him. But I think I always blamed him for what happened. For the fact I had to leave Paradise. It was so much easier than blaming myself…’ Lexi opened her eyes, looking down at her fingers that were still fiddling with the leather bands on her wrist. ‘And yet none of it was Shane’s fault. None of it. He had nothing to do with…’ She stopped mid-sentence, looking back up at Angie. ‘It’s such a mess, Mum.’

  ‘Does anyone else know you’re sleeping with Coby?’

  ‘I think Kel might have his suspicions. I haven’t told him anything, other than I… that there’s something there, you know? That I feel something for Coby, but Kel isn’t stupid. He knows me better than anyone. But Coby… he doesn’t want it made public knowledge, and to be honest, neither do I. Because I have no idea what’s happening, what we’re doing… I just know that I came back here to try and sort things out, but I had no idea – I had no idea how much seeing him again would affect me. I had no idea.’

  ‘Listen, Lexi, honey…’

  ‘I got pregnant, Mum.’

  Angie’s face couldn’t hide the shock, her eyes wide as she stared at her daughter. ‘No,’ she whispered, shaking her head as though doing that would cancel out what Lexi had just told her. ‘No.’

  ‘I had a little boy. Ozzie. He’s almost five months old now.’

  Angie took a deep breath. All of a sudden her world was shifting in a direction she didn’t want it to take, because she just hadn’t expected this, nothing like this. ‘Is he… he’s Coby’s?’ Her voice was quiet, shaking slightly as she tried to take in what Lexi was telling her.

  Lexi nodded, her eyes never leaving her mum’s. ‘One night, Mum. That’s all it took. One beautiful, fucked-up night, and I was pregnant. By my stepfather’s VP.’

  ‘Does Coby know?’

  Again, Lexi nodded, although her eyes were back down on her now-clasped together hands. ‘Dad and Maggie, they’re looking after Ozzie. And without them… without the club, I don’t know if I could have coped.’

  ‘Oh, Jesus…’ Angie pushed both hands through her hair, leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees. ‘Jesus!’

  ‘I wanted to tell you, believe me, I did. Because I have never been so scared, never felt so alone…’

  ‘Has… has Coby seen him?’

  Lexi shook her head. ‘He’s only ever seen pictures of him. Because he’s never been back to England since then, has he?’ She felt tears start to prick her eyes and she quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand. ‘Shit! I’m not supposed to do this, I’m not supposed to cry.’ She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. ‘Nobody’s supposed to know Ozzie is Coby’s. Because nobody is supposed to know he was ever in the UK at that time. Because of some stupid, fucked-up secret I can’t tell people who the father of my baby is. Do you know how much that hurts? How confusing it all is? How angry it makes me feel?’

  Angie felt as though someone had just kicked her hard in the stomach, like all the breath had been squeezed right out of her. ‘And… and he really couldn’t be anyone else’s?’

  Lexi stared at her, her eyes wide. ‘No, Mum, he really couldn’t be anyone else’s.’

  Angie sighed. ‘I meant, there’s no chance he could be Shane’s?’

  ‘No. We hadn’t been together for a while, and we certainly hadn’t slept together for a good few months.’ She looked at her mum again. ‘But the story that Dad’s making me spin – the story he and Coby are making me spin is that Ozzie is Shane’s. That we had one drunken night together in the clubhouse, and Ozzie’s the result. And because the story is that this happened just before he died – so the dates add up – my son is being treat like this tiny little miracle, this reincarnation of Shane. And that’s killing me, Mum. Because I want him to know his real dad. I want him to know Coby. I don’t want him to grow up amongst secrets and lies and twisted truths. I want an end to all of that, for my boy.’

  ‘And what does Coby want?’

&
nbsp; Lexi shrugged. ‘He agrees with Dad. That it should all stay exactly as it is. He’s putting this club before his own son, and I will do anything to change that.’

  It was Angie’s turn to take a deep breath as she continued to try and take in this heart-wrenching news. Her little girl was a mum herself. And it was a moment Angie should have shared with her daughter, yet this club and the warped way in which it sometimes worked had seen to it that she hadn’t had that chance. ‘Have you got a picture of him? Of my grandson?’

  Lexi reached into her pocket and slid out a small square photograph, handing it to Angie. Angie looked at it, at the image of a tiny little boy dressed in a baby-sized leather cut and beanie hat, both of them bearing the Lone Riders badge and colors, his dark hair just visible underneath his hat. He was sitting on Lexi’s knee as she straddled a motorbike in Charlie’s compound. Both of them were smiling, but Angie could still see a sadness behind Lexi’s eyes. And that was the most painful thing she’d ever had to endure, to see her daughter so sad when she should have been so happy. ‘Oh, my God,’ Angie gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as tears fell slowly down her face. ‘Lexi, baby… he is beautiful. He is so beautiful.’

  ‘He’s my world,’ Lexi whispered. ‘And I’m not gonna lie to him, Mum. I’m not. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, but Ozzie is going to know the truth. Everyone is.’

  Just the word truth sent a shiver through Angie that she almost couldn’t hide, her hand shaking as she handed Lexi back the photograph.

  ‘Keep it,’ Lexi said, pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail. ‘I’ve got plenty more for Coby.’

  ‘Do you love him, Lexi? Coby, I mean. Do you love him?’

  Lexi looked at Angie as she slid down from the table. ‘I don’t know. I know that I want him so much I can’t even think straight right now. I just don’t know if that’s love.’

  Angie slipped the photograph into the back pocket of her jeans. ‘He… does he treat you right?’

  ‘We’ve had sex, Mum. There is no relationship, it isn’t like it was with Jesse. Or even Shane.’

  ‘Couldn’t you make things right with Jesse?’

  ‘You really think that’d work? After this?’

  ‘You said yourself that nobody is supposed to know about Ozzie.’

  ‘And I also said I want that to change. This situation is messed-up enough without me adding to it. What happened between me and Coby… once the sex is out of our systems then we’ll see what else needs to be fixed. Okay?’

  Angie frowned as she watched her daughter walk away, into the clubhouse. She had no idea what Lexi had meant by that. She only knew that a situation she’d thought was already complicated enough had just got a whole lot more dangerous.

  Eleven

  ‘What the fuck are you playing at, Tay? This deal – we are out of the gun business. I thought we were trying to go legit now, make a go of the movie business, the boxing club…’

  ‘They’re bringing in good money, yeah.’

  ‘And that isn’t good enough for you? I thought we were done with all the outlaw shit.’

  ‘I miss the kick, Coby. I miss the big bucks…’

  ‘Is money all that fucking matters to you?’

  ‘Hey, listen, you’re lucky I told you about this at all, but I had no choice. There was no way I was doing this sit-down alone. I don’t fully trust the Cabos.’

  ‘Yet you throw us head first into another fucking deal with them? Are you out of your fucking mind?’

  ‘I could have left you out of the loop, brother.’

  ‘You just said you had no choice but to tell me about this so, no, you couldn’t. Could you?’ Coby moved so he was right in front of Tay, face-to-face, his tone hard and cold. ‘I’m your VP, Tay. And what’s the point of having one of those if you’re just gonna run solo?’

  ‘That’s right, Coby. You’re my VP, which means you have no real say in what goes on around here. You still ain’t got the right to make the final decisions, and you might want to remember that.’

  ‘This is bullshit! Being maverick is all very well, it’s part of what we do, but you are supposed to be the one who holds us together. Who makes sure we stay safe. And you’re going way off script here.’

  ‘It’s one more time, for Christ’s sake! One more time. And you heard what they had to say in there. We cut a deal with Emilio and the Cabos, store the weapons until they’re ready to be distributed, take the money, and we’re home and dry. With a payout so big it’ll make your eyes water.’

  ‘We’re home and dry, huh? You really believe that? You don’t remember what happened the last time we went into business with the Cabos? You don’t remember the clubhouse shoot out or Jesse and two of the Prospects getting hurt? Your mind suddenly gone all blank on that one?’

  ‘It won’t happen again, Coby.’ Tay’s voice was just as cold, and just as hard, his eyes boring into his friend’s with an intensity so strong, but Coby matched it. ‘You with me, VP?’

  Coby slowly shook his head. ‘You’re on your own with this one. Brother.’

  ‘Jesus Christ! Coby!’

  But Coby was tired of Tay’s games now. Of the way he’d started to run this club. He might be one of his oldest friends, but he needed pulling into line before shit started kicking off that nobody could control. It had almost happened once. It could easily happen again.

  Coby climbed on to his bike, not looking back. He had phone calls to make, and they needed to be made now. Before any more shit got out of control. But whatever he’d just told Tay, he hadn’t meant it. He couldn’t mean it. He had to back his President on this one, whether he agreed with what he was doing or not. He had to back him. But for how much longer, only time would tell.

  ***

  Lexi pulled on one of Jesse’s t-shirts he’d left lying around in the apartment at the clubhouse, lay back on the bed, and closed her eyes. She felt like hanging around the compound today, even though she knew she was going to have to be right on her game to avoid another conversation with her mum. But she’d opened up that can of worms now, and she couldn’t really expect Angie to just take that information and not want to know more about a grandson she’d been kept away from for months. Right now, though, Lexi didn’t feel much like talking about it anymore. Which was why she’d escaped to the apartment.

  She’d had a shower, washed her hair, tried to scrub everything she didn’t want to feel off her skin, clean herself up. And now that she had her head as straight as it was going to get for now, she just wanted to lie there and think about things. Try and work out what her next move was going to be. Where she wanted her life to go. Where she wanted her son’s life to go.

  Keeping her eyes closed she moved her hand down, sliding it inside her panties, gently touching herself. She needed to speak to Coby, that’s what she needed to do. She needed to get this straight, tell him what she’d told her mum, and although she knew he was going to go ballistic that she’d spilled their secret to someone so close to Tay, he was just going to have to understand that she’d missed her mum. She’d needed her mum. Angie may have been the one instrumental in making sure Lexi had left Paradise with her reputation in tatters, but Lexi had never stopped needing her mum. Right now, though, she needed Coby more.

  Just the thought of Coby sent a shiver running right through her, and she arched her back, biting down on her lip as she wriggled out of her panties, tossing them aside, spreading her legs wide. She needed the relief, the calm this was going to bring her. Before another storm hit Paradise.

  ***

  Coby strode into the clubhouse, his head all over the place, but with only one thing on his mind.

  ‘Coby…’

  ‘Not now, Ange.’ He stood still for a second, looking around before he turned to face Angie, who was standing in the kitchen doorway, her arms folded. ‘Where is she?’

  ‘If you mean Lexi, she’s in the apartment.’

  Coby turned away without saying another word, striding purposefully alo
ng the corridor that led to the apartment, pushing open the door.

  She was there, but she obviously hadn’t heard him come in because she didn’t even flinch when the door opened. He leant against the doorpost, watching as she lay on the bed, her beautiful legs spread wide open, her fingers touching herself, and of course his dick automatically stood to attention. What the hell else was it going to do?

  He watched as she arched her back, stroking herself to a climax that made her body jerk and caused a small cry to escape her lips, and it was only then, when she finally opened her eyes, that she saw him.

  ‘What do you want?’ she asked, sitting up, pulling her legs back together, not in the least bit bothered that he’d seen that happen.

  ‘You,’ he replied, kicking the door shut behind him as he pulled off his cut and his jacket, throwing them down on the chair.

  ‘You not going to ask first?’

  He didn’t reply. And she didn’t need him to. She was never going to deny him whatever it was he needed from her. Not now.

  So she lay back, let him pull off her t-shirt and lower his head so his mouth was covering her breast, his fingers intertwining with hers above her head as his knee nudged her legs apart. He was inside her within seconds of walking through the door; pushing, thrusting, quite obviously getting rid of some kind of frustration that had invaded his head since she’d last seen him. Which hadn’t been all that long ago.

  He was almost brutal in the way he was taking her, but she found it was giving her a strange sense of calm, an almost familiar feeling of normality, and she responded by pushing back just as hard, pulling him into her, taking him just as violently as he was taking her.

  ‘Jesus, Lexi…’ he groaned, pausing for just a split second before she felt him spill out into her, flooding her body, reaching into her soul and taking everything he could from her. Because she was allowing him to do that.