Unexpected Love (South Coast Brothers Book 5)

by Kacey Hamford

  ***

  I had the fastest shower ever and it still wasn’t fast enough for the Prez. He had come banging on my door two minutes after I kicked Missy out, luckily I was just throwing on my leather jacket and slipping my feet into my boots.

  We had just arrived at the Devon Destroyers clubhouse and Blade and Heather came out to meet us. The Prez and Blade started talking and Heather waltzed over to greet us, her long, wavy brown hair blew in the breeze and she had a bright smile on her face as she wrapped an arm around me and Tat.

  “How are you both?” she asked.

  “Good,” we both answered together. She took a step back and looked at us both in the eyes.

  “Found love yet?” she asked. This was always the first thing she asked us when we saw her, she was determined for us all to settle down.

  “Na.” I laughed.

  “No way. I ain’t giving up an endless amount of pussy for just one.” Tat chuckled, straightening his cap on his head. He was in his usual attire of ripped jeans, a black sleeveless t-shirt underneath his leather cut, biker boots, cap and mirror sunglasses.

  “I’ll be reminding you of this when you meet her. And trust me when you do, it’ll knock you for six,” she told him. Christ, does it knock you for six. I knew the first time that I met Jasmine that she was hot and I was attracted to her but I didn’t think that after a year I’d still be feeling the same way and more. Was it love? No. I just really liked her, she was kind and compassionate and I wanted her to have everything in life that she wanted. I wanted to be the one to deliver her son back home to her.

  “Come on in, guys. Let’s get to church,” Blade called out. I snapped out of my Jasmine daydream and Heather had a smile on her face. Could she know what I had been thinking?

  “You found it,” she whispered as she walked beside me, hooking her arm in mine.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrugged.

  “Yeah, yeah.” She giggled as she walked away and I followed Blade, Prez and Tat into church.

  We were greeted by the Devon brothers and our Prez took a seat at the table while Tat and I stood leaning against the back wall. Blade slammed down the gavel and started the meeting.

  “Our charter brothers are here today as they need help. They need to find Parker Haines.” I glanced around the room and saw that Riz had straightened up in his seat. “Riz, I know you’ve had some dealings with him. Any idea where he is?”

  “Na, sorry, Prez,” he answered, shaking his head.

  “Speak to Beauty, she may…”

  “No,” he cut Blade off, “I don’t want her having to deal with his fucked up arse again.”

  “I know, but this is important.” Blade continued to explain about Jasmine’s son going missing and I could see the internal battle going on through Riz’s face. He wasn’t happy with this Parker guy and I wanted to know why.

  “Ice, go and find Beauty,” Blade demanded.

  “No, wait, let me talk to her first?” Riz asked.

  “Fine, do it now. We’ll be waiting.” Riz pushed to his feet and headed out of the room. Small talk had started around the room and I dug my phone out of my jeans pocket to send Tyler a text.

  S: How is she?

  “Do you think we’ll get to hang around and sample some pussy?” Tat asked.

  “We didn’t come here for that,” I snapped.

  “Whoa, chill out, man.”

  I was about to apologise when my phone vibrated in my hand.

  T: She hasn’t come out of her room yet. Should I check on her?

  S: Give it an hour and then check on her. She needs to eat.

  T: Ok man.

  “Sorry, I just want to get this shit sorted.” I ran my hand over the top of my short brown hair and sighed in frustration.

  “You like this chick, don’t you?”

  “Which one?” I acted like I didn’t know who he was talking about.

  “Don’t play games with her, if you like her, tell her. Don’t mess her around, she’s going through some shit.”

  “You don’t think I know that?” I boomed, which caused the room to go silent and all eyes to fall upon us.

  “Problem, guys?” Blade asked. His eyebrow was raised as he waited for an answer.

  “No problem,” Tat answered just as the church door flew open and Riz waltzed in.

  “Here it is,” he grumbled as he placed a piece of paper down in front of Blade.

  “Let’s ride. Buzz and Itch you’re with us.” Blade slammed the gavel down and the room emptied fast.

  Tat and I were standing by the front door waiting for the guys, Blade headed straight for Heather and gave her a steaming kiss before he came to join us. I watched Riz head over to a chick with long dark hair, she was sitting at the table the furthest away from the bar and her arms were crossed over her chest as she refused to look at him. I was curious to know what was going on there, Riz was always one of the guys that liked to drink, fuck and have fun. Did he change and get himself an Old Lady?

  “Let’s go,” Blade said as he strolled back towards us. We all headed out of the door, mounted our bikes and followed him, Buzz and Itch to see a man about a boy.

  Jasmine

  I threw the duvet cover off of me five minutes ago, questioning what the hell was I doing? Laying around in bed all day, crying, wasn’t helping anyone. I needed to be proactive. I’d get my son back, I had all the faith I needed in the Cornish Crusaders, and most importantly, Solar. My son was the top priority in my life, he always would be, but I felt a little sadness knowing that I wouldn’t get to see Solar every day. I hadn’t had a relationship after Harvey died, I put all my time and focus into Nathan. This was the first time in four years that I had wanted to be with someone else. Could I put my heart on the line and be with him? Especially as I didn’t have a clue about being… what did Ashlyn call it? Being an Old Lady? I loved my life the way it was; caring and looking after Nathan and my teaching job. But I couldn’t deny the feelings that Solar had awoken in me, the possibilities of falling in love, having someone to help me and someone to lean on for support.

  I jumped when there was a knock on my door.

  “Jasmine?” Tyler called out.

  “Yeah?” I answered weakly. The door slowly pushed open and I glanced over my shoulder to see the young, blond guy standing there.

  “You ok?”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. “I’ll be out in a minute. I just need to change.” He nodded before pulling the door closed.

  I threw on some leggings and an oversized jumper before scraping my hair up into a messy ponytail, high on the top of my head and began sorting out the house. I flung open my bedroom curtains and pushed the window open, it was stuffy inside and although I wasn’t too happy about losing Solar’s scent from my room, I knew he’d be back to replace it later tonight. I slept better when he was by my side, he made me feel like things could be good again.

  I made my bed, straightened out the clutter covering my bedside table, picked up any dirty clothes and threw them in the washing basket, folded and put away my clean clothes and then headed out to the kitchen to start on the dishes and the mess that covered the rest of the house.

  “Do you want something to eat?” I asked Tyler as he was sitting at the kitchen table playing on his phone.

  “I can do it,” he said as he went to stand. I placed my hand on his shoulder and shook my head.

  “You’ve been stuck with the job of watching over me. Though I have no idea why, I don’t need to be looked after. I’m not in danger,” I told him as I routed through the fridge for something to cook. “Omelette ok?”

  “Yeah, that’s great, thanks,” he replied just as his phone started ringing. “I just gotta take this.” He waved his phone at me before walking towards the front door and answering it. “Why are you calling me?” I couldn’t help but listen carefully to his conversation, he didn’t sound happy at whoever had called him.

  I carried on chopping veggies and grating chee
se ready to make the omelettes for when he came back. The house was a mess and I needed to get it clean and tidy. I washed and dried all of the dishes, wiped down all of the surfaces and now I was hoovering and dusting. Tyler had been outside for a little while and I began to worry about him, I was going to see if he was ok when the front door opened and he walked in looking deflated.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Cleaning.”

  “Why?”

  “I need to keep busy, the house needs to be cleaned for when Nathan comes home. I’ll do that omelette now.” I hurried back to the kitchen and started cooking. I felt like the energizer bunny, my theory was that if I kept busy then I wouldn’t notice the gaping hole that was in my heart as much. Who was I kidding? Nothing would ever make that disappear.

  After we finished eating, I went to stand up to finish cleaning and Tyler grabbed hold of my arm.

  “You should rest. Just take five minutes to relax.”

  “I can’t. I’ve got too much to do.” I pulled away from him and finished cleaning the kitchen. Once I was satisfied that it was gleaming, I headed for the bathroom.

  Chapter 9

  Solar

  We had turned up to the address that Riz had given us and Parker Haines was there with his wife and four kids; three girls and a boy. He was dressed in a business suit, his black hair was slicked back and his face was covered in fading bruises. He claimed he knew nothing about buying a child and that he had never heard of Martin Clarke.

  I climbed off my bike once we had entered the Devon Destroyers compound, hung my helmet on the handlebars of my bike and threw my fist into the nearest fence.

  “That’s not going to help anyone,” Prez said behind me.

  “I hate that we have hit another dead end. We were just sent on a wild fucking goose chase.” I growled out my frustrations into the air and clenched my fists.

  “We will figure this out. Come on, let’s get a drink.” He slapped me on the back, guiding me towards the clubhouse doors and I shrugged off his hand.

  “I just wanna get home to my…” I stopped myself from saying my woman, she wasn’t mine. She couldn’t be. “I just wanna get back.”

  “Blade and his club have helped us out today, the least we can do is show our gratitude and stay and have a drink with them.”

  He was right.

  “I’ll be in soon.” I sat down at the outside bench and placed my head in my hands. I didn’t want to see the heartbreak on Jasmine’s face when I showed up without Nathan once again.

  “Uncle Solar!” I looked up to see Blade and Heather’s daughter, Kelsey, running towards me. Her blonde hair was bouncing around her shoulders and her dress was blowing in the slight breeze. I caught her as she flung herself at me.

  “Hi, sweetheart. How are you?” I sat back down, placing her on my lap. Heather walked closer pushing Liam and Tegan in their double pushchair.

  “I was at school today.” She beamed. “Cuz I’m a big girl now.”

  “You are a big girl. Did you have fun?”

  “Yes. You hurt your hand.” She frowned as she looked at the hand I punched the fence with, I had managed to scrape some of the skin off my knuckles and a little bit of blood had come through, which was now drying.

  “I’m ok,” I told her, kissing her on top of her head. She giggled.

  “Your beard tickles.” I ran my hand over my growing beard. It was getting longer and needed a trim.

  “Come on, Kelsey, we need to go upstairs,” Heather said once she approached us, out of breath after pushing the pushchair up the hill.

  “I want to stay here and play. Please?” she pleaded.

  “What are you asking for, princess?” Blade asked as he sauntered over towards us. He stopped by Heather and gave her a kiss before looking back at us.

  “I want to stay outside and play. Please, Daddy?”

  “Go on then.” His head nodded towards the park area that was built within the compound and she jumped off my lap and ran at full speed away from us. “It’s nice weather, let’s have a barbeque for lunch,” he added.

  “Blade, it’s almost three o’clock, man.” I chuckled.

  “Well an early tea then.”

  “I’ll go round up the bunnies so they can get the food sorted. You ok with them? They’re both asleep,” she asked him before turning away.

  “Of course, sugar.” He kissed her once more and watched her strut into the clubhouse. “You coming over?” he asked, nodding his head towards the park.

  “I’m gonna grab a drink.” As I stood up and headed towards the main door, it opened up and everyone filed out. I carried on in and up to the bar but there was no one stood behind it. I looked around and it was dead quiet. I slipped around the bar and poured myself a generous whiskey and coke. As I looked up, I noticed that I wasn’t alone in the room, the chick that Riz was talking to earlier was sitting at a table by herself. I lumbered towards her and sat in the seat opposite her.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “I’m… I’m not a club bunny,” she answered with a shaky voice.

  “That’s good, cuz I ain’t looking for one.” She stared at me not saying a word. “You know Parker Haines?” I asked. Her body froze and her eyes widened, was that in fear? She nodded her head slowly. “What do you know about him?”

  “Not a lot,” she mumbled, looking down at her hands, which caused her long dark hair to cover her face.

  “Is he really this great family man?” She shook her head.

  “He used to come into the club a lot…”

  “Club? Here?” I asked, cutting her off.

  “No, Skins. I used to dance there and waitress. Until one day he demanded that I went to the back room with him. Some of the girls did that for extra money, I never did. I had fallen in love with someone else but they weren’t interested in a relationship with me.”

  “What happened?”

  “He paid off the bouncer to the back rooms and he dragged me in there, kicking and screaming. He raped me and beat me until I passed out.”

  “Shit,” I swore.

  “I gotta go.” She stood up and hurried away from me before I could say anything else. I stayed sitting there in the same position, thinking about everything that had happened to me in my life. I liked to think that I was capable of loving someone, unlike my parents. I always wanted to be a good person but that flew out of the window when I made my first mistake and ended up in prison.

  ***

  It had just gone nine in the evening when we arrived back at our clubhouse and Prez called church so he could clue in all the brothers on the newest dead end that we faced. When no one had any suggestions on what we could do next Prez slammed the gavel down and told us all to go home and get some rest.

  I sent Tyler a text as everyone filed out of the room.

  S: Hey, I just finished at the club. I’m on my way. How is she?

  T: She’s fast asleep. She’s been on a mad cleaning session all day. I can stay. You get a proper night’s sleep, man.

  A proper night’s sleep? The first one I had of those in a long time was when I fell asleep with Jasmine curled into me the other night.

  S: Alright, man. I’ll be over in the morning.

  I climbed on my bike, secured my helmet and slowly rode down the hill waiting for Jono to open up the gate. Once I was through, I nodded my head at him and took off down the road. I loved the feeling of being on the back of my bike, what I didn’t like was riding in the opposite direction of where I felt I should go; where I was needed.

  I pulled up to the apartment block that the club owned, that overlooked the harbour, parked my bike and climbed off. I stuffed my helmet under my arm as I dug my keys out to unlock the communal door. Once I was inside, I climbed the first set of stairs until I came to door number two; I pushed my key in and turned. It was good to be stepping foot into my home, everything was familiar here. It was a two bedroom apartment overlooking the harbour. It had a decent size kitchen with a bre
akfast bar and no kitchen table. I hardly ever ate here, I wasn’t great at cooking. Both bedrooms were a similar size, neither had an en suite, just a shared bathroom, which was fine with me as no one else had ever stepped foot in here, except my brothers.

  I placed my leather cut over the back of one of the breakfast bar chairs and headed towards the bathroom. It was all tiled in black and white, the sink, bath and shower cubicle were white and I kept to the theme by having black towels. I stripped off my clothes, threw them in the washing basket and climbed into a scolding hot shower. I placed both of my hands flat on the tiled wall, dipped my head so the water would pound on my back. Images of Jasmine flashed through my mind and the blood started pumping around my body, I grabbed my body wash and started lathering up my skin. When an image of her perky full tits invaded my mind, I slipped my hand down my body until I was grasping my rock hard cock. I stroked and stroked to the images filling my mind of Jasmine; the way her tummy was flat but her hips flared, her toned legs that I wanted wrapped around me and, most of all, the way she smiled when I entered the room, the touch of her skin on mine when she held my hand or pressed her palm over my beating heart. I groaned and let my head fall back as my body spasmed from my release. I needed to be inside of her but I needed to find her son first. Shit, what sort of Jerk was I? Here I was getting off to images of my pretty little flower when her son was still missing. She was going through hell and I was coming over my own hand. I rinsed off my body, grabbed a towel and quickly dried myself off before heading to my bedroom to try and sleep.

  Chapter 10

  Jasmine

  It had been two more days and there were still no new leads on finding my son. He had been missing for eleven days and his fifth birthday was in four days. I wandered into his room and sat down on his bed like I had done every day since he had been gone. Was I going to have to try and find a way to carry on without him? I’d have to go back to work soon, I couldn’t afford to lose my job and I had this house I needed to pay for. Electricity and food were not free, oh but how I wished it all was. The thought of moving on with everyday life terrified me.