‘Am I gonna like the answer he gives me?’
Lexi said nothing, gave no sign, no nod or shake of the head. Instead, she just turned back around and walked away.
***
Ben sank down on to the couch, his head in his hands, a half-empty whisky bottle on the table in front of him. How the hell had he let everything get this far? He’d walked right back into a world he’d tried to leave behind, but if he’d really wanted to walk away, why was he still here? Why had he taken the job as the Lone Riders’ lawyer? Why hadn’t he listened to Sheriff Bailey when he’d told him not to come back to Paradise? The accident should have been warning enough, but he just hadn’t been able to let go. Yeah. He really had been that naïve.
‘Is this is a good idea?’
Ben slowly raised his head to see Kip picking up the whisky bottle. ‘What the fuck has it got to do with you?’
‘It’s not even lunchtime and you’re already on the scotch?’
Ben let out a small chuckle, his eyes fixed on Kip. ‘Like I said, what the fuck has it got to do with you?’
‘When I see you outside, with my nephew, and then find out you’ve been drinking, it’s got everything to do with me.’
‘Just back off, Kip. Okay? You don’t know what you’re dealing with…’
Kip leaned over, grabbing Ben’s arm and yanking him up off the couch, causing him to stagger backwards. ‘I’m dealing with shit, Ben. Nothing. You hold no weight any more, remember? Jesus, even your own father doesn’t fucking want you…’
Ben hurled himself forwards, throwing a punch straight at Kip’s jaw, but Kip was just as quick, catching Ben underneath the chin, sending him reeling backwards again, the wall behind him the only thing stopping him from crashing to the floor.
‘You done?’ Kip asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.
Ben let out another low chuckle, pushing both hands through his hair before he lunged forwards, his fist catching Kip’s left cheek so hard he fell to the floor with a thud that almost shook the room. ‘I haven’t even started. Brother.’
Kip scrambled to his feet, but Ben was ready for him, their eyes locked in a defiant stare. ‘You told Mia everything, huh? Does she know who you really are? The things you’ve done? You tell her any of that shit?’
‘She doesn’t need to know. Nobody needs to know.’
‘Really?’ Kip raised an eyebrow, an action that caused Ben to move forward again, his fist raised, but Kip caught his wrist, squeezing it tight. ‘Then you acting the way you are, that really isn’t such a great idea, is it?’
Ben wrenched his arm free of Kip’s grip, but he stood his ground, staying right where he was. ‘You leave Mia alone. You got that?’
‘You know, I am so fucking tired of people telling me to leave her alone. I don’t go looking for her, she comes to me. And when she does that, I’ve got no intention of turning my back on her, not if she needs me.’
‘She doesn’t need you.’
‘But she needs you. Is that it? She needs a man with secrets, a dark past; a man who’s lied to her in every conceivable way… I mean, Jesus! She doesn’t even know your real fucking name!’
‘Screw you.’ Ben’s voice was quiet, but the sinister tone that lay beneath it was chilling. ‘You might think I left everything I once was behind, but you’d be surprised how much weight I still carry around certain parts of this town. You’d be surprised at what favors I can still pull in. And you have no idea what my father wants. No idea.’
‘Whatever, man.’ Kip turned his back on Ben, dismissing him with a raise of the hand as he walked away.
Ben felt his hackles rise, an anger from somewhere deep within him merging with the frustration he was already feeling until it exploded out of him in an ear-shattering roar that reverberated off the clubhouse walls, causing Kip to swing around in surprise. But he was too slow to stop the punch from hitting the side of his head, too slow to stop Ben from raining more punches down on him as he lay sprawled over the pool table. Because some kind of red mist had descended over Ben now, something he couldn’t control, making him lash out, over and over again.
‘Jesus fucking Christ!’
Coby’s voice rose above the thud of Ben’s fists against Kip’s face, but still Ben didn’t stop. He couldn’t. It was as if someone else was working him, making him do this, and it took for Coby to pull him away before he realized exactly what he’d done.
‘What the fuck is going on?’ Coby yelled, holding out his arm to stop Kip from retaliating, keeping Ben as far away from him as he possibly could. ‘There are kids outside, for Christ’s sake! Your fucking nephew, Kip. My son. And I do not want my boy subjected to this shit, do you hear me?’
‘Not before he has to be, huh?’ Ben sneered, wiping his face with the back of his hand, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth.
Coby’s dark eyes blazed as he glared at Ben. ‘You might want to hold back with the attitude, son. Before someone gets really hurt.’ He turned to look at Kip. ‘I don’t know what this is about, and I really don’t give a shit, if I’m honest. Just sort it out.’ He dropped his arms, trusting that the two of them could start acting like grown-ups. And neither Kip nor Ben made any attempt to restart the fight. ‘Okay. Good. Kip, I need you out with Luca this afternoon. The sheriff wants to meet with you both over at the Deli in twenty minutes.’
‘What about?’ Kip asked, tentatively touching his raw cheek, a deep and bloody cut running right across it.
‘Take a guess, kiddo.’
‘Jesus Christ, all right. Don’t bust a gut.’
‘Have some respect, Kip.’ Coby’s eyes were still blazing, his mood darker than it had been in days. Ben took that as a warning to tone things down. Maybe it would be wise for Kip to do the same. ‘Remember who you’re talking to.’ Coby walked over to Kip, taking his face in his hands and turning it this way and that, checking out the results of Ben’s tirade. ‘Go see Kel. He’ll stitch that cut up before you go out. Go on.’
Kip threw Ben a look that Ben tried hard not to let get to him, before he left the clubhouse in search of Kel.
‘I’m guessing that was to do with Mia,’ Coby said, his eyes still following Kip, making sure he left the clubhouse.
‘Partly.’
Coby looked at Ben. ‘Partly? You know, I’m beginning to think it was a mistake, letting you into this club in any capacity…’
‘He was pissing me off.’
‘How old are you? He pisses you off, you ignore him. That’s what grown-ups do.’
‘Because that’s what you all do, right? When someone pisses you off. You ignore them. You walk away. You leave it well alone and go back to cake bakes and charity fetes and…’
Coby grabbed Ben by his shirt, pushing him back against the pool table. ‘You listen to me, son. When I tell you to ignore someone, you do it. You don’t argue, you don’t question. I’m well aware of what you used to be, and I know we’ve had our run-ins in the past, but things have changed. I hold the power now. Not you, or anything you used to stand for. You moved to the other side of the tracks, changed the way you did things, and maybe you should have stuck with that.’
Ben pushed Coby’s hand away, stepping back from the tall, overbearing Scotsman. ‘Everything I did was my choice…’
‘Bullshit! You had no fucking choice! You still think what happened to you was an accident?’
Ben shook his head, his eyes locked with Coby’s. ‘You know nothing.’
Coby moved closer, his bulk once more invading Ben’s space. ‘I know everything, son. Everything.’
A foreboding atmosphere hung heavy in the air, an uneasy silence surrounding them, until Lexi’s arrival interrupted it. Any other brothers who’d witnessed any of that exchange knew better than to interfere with something when the President was involved – the rule was you stood back, let him deal with it until such time as intervention was deemed necessary. But Lexi didn’t always see Coby as the President. He was the man she slept with, th
e father of her baby. She was the only one allowed to blur any lines.
‘What’s going on?’ she asked, leaning back against the pool table.
‘Nothing,’ Coby replied, his eyes still locked with Ben’s. ‘I was just telling Ben what we need him to do. And now he knows.’
Lexi narrowed her eyes as she watched the now-silent exchange between the two men, more than aware that it had involved Kip, too. She hadn’t missed the state of her brother as she’d passed him leaving the clubhouse. But she knew better than to ask too many questions. Coby seemed to have it under control.
‘Is he all right?’ Her eyes followed Ben as he walked away, his head down slightly, his hands in his pockets.
‘He’s fine,’ Coby sighed, slipping his arms around her waist, leaning over to nuzzle her neck. ‘But I am as tense as hell. Your old man needs some loving from his old lady, that’s the only thing that’s gonna fix that.’
She smiled, running her thumb lightly over his mouth before kissing it slowly. ‘Sex isn’t the answer to everything you know.’
‘I never said it was, darlin’. But it sure as hell helps.’
She laughed, despite the dark and dangerous atmosphere that still surrounded them, something that unsettled her, especially when there were kids around. And when one of those kids was hers, that unsettled her even more. ‘What’s going on with Ben?’
‘There’s nothing going on with Ben. Everything’s fine.’ Coby said, loosening her shirt and sliding his hand inside her bra, squeezing her breast.
‘Come on, Coby. I’m not stupid. One minute he’s our lawyer, dressed in a suit and tie, all business-like and professional, and the next I’m seeing all those tattoos and…’
‘He used to be a biker, darlin’. You know that.’ He’d freed her breast from the confines of its bra, bending his head to suck on her nipple.
‘Yes, I know he used to be a biker, but… Coby, come on, baby. Here? Seriously?’
He lowered his hands down to her bottom, pushing her against him, his tongue tracing the outline of her nipple as he continued to suck on her breast.
‘Jesus!’ she sighed, but her attempts to wriggle free were nothing but a token gesture to let him know she wasn’t completely happy with what he was doing. Or where he was doing it. ‘The way Ben’s acting… his behaviour… Look, something just doesn’t feel right…’
‘Aye, well, this feels right,’ Coby murmured, moving his mouth up over her cleavage, brushing her collarbone and neck until it rested on hers. ‘You feel right.’
‘That’s your hard-on talking, soldier.’
‘You should listen to it,’ he whispered, kissing her deep, his thumb flicking over her exposed nipple, causing Lexi to groan quietly, the sound muffled by his mouth resting against hers.
‘Okay, Mister President. You win.’
‘Don’t I always, darlin’.’ He grinned at her, watching as she quickly pushed her breast back inside her shirt. ‘Don’t I always.’
Twenty-Two
‘Jesus! What the fuck happened to you?’ Charlie reached out to gently touch his son’s newly-stitched cheek.
‘Had a run-in with the law,’ Kip replied dryly, pushing his dad’s hand away.
‘And the law won, by the looks of it.’ Charlie smirked. ‘You not gonna tell me I should see the other guy?’
‘He’s over there,’ Kip sighed, jerking his head in the direction of Ben, who was over by the garage talking to Miller, one of the Newcastle Lone Riders. ‘Knock yourself out.’ He hauled himself up off the wall and climbed on to his bike, signalling to Luca to let him know he was ready to go.
Charlie looked over towards Ben, shielding his eyes from the bright afternoon sun. ‘Was this anything to do with…?’ But Kip had roared off out of the compound, Luca hot on his heels, before Charlie could finish the question. ‘… Mia,’ he sighed, knowing only too well what the answer was.
‘Back so soon?’
Charlie swung around to see Angie standing behind him. ‘Still looking good, sweetheart.’ He winked, but she didn’t even crack a smile.
‘What’s going on, Charlie?’
He held out his hands in a gesture of innocence, widening his eyes as he looked at her. ‘You know why I’m here, Angie. I’m here to help Mia.’
‘You don’t need to be here, not with Bear and the boys over from England. There’s something else. Lexi’s acting all shifty, her and Kip are fighting…’
‘Are they? I thought he’d gained those new battle scars from a run-in with our friendly lawyer-turned-bad-boy?’
Angie frowned. ‘He did.’
‘Why’s he fighting with Lexi?’
‘I don’t know, Charlie. Nobody’s telling me anything.’
‘Well, maybe that’s because there’s nothing you need to know. Where’s Coby?’
‘Inside… Charlie! Don’t walk away from me…’
He turned back to face her, his expression more serious now. ‘Don’t push this, Angie. When there’s something you need to know, I’ll tell you.’ Because she would need to know. But there were others who needed to know first.
‘Jesus… Charlie!’
He walked off into the clubhouse, stopping by the bar to grab a beer from Red, flipping the cap off the bottle and taking a long drink. ‘I bloody needed that.’ He gave a long, satisfied sigh before taking a second, smaller drink. ‘Coby around?’
‘He’s out back,’ Red replied, jerking his head in the direction of the apartment.
‘Is he busy?’
‘He’s with Lexi.’
Charlie couldn’t help smiling. ‘Is he now. And my grandson? Is he about?’
‘Callie’s with him outside, Sir. She’s been looking after him.’
Charlie looked at the young man behind the bar, his messed-up, short dark hair, tough features and myriad of tattoos almost at odds with his soft-spoken southern accent. ‘Quit with the “Sir” crap, kiddo. I don’t go in for all that. So…’ Charlie took another drink of beer, ‘… how long you been a Prospect here?’
‘A little over a year now.’
‘Any closer to being patched in?’
‘That ain’t really up to me to predict.’
Charlie watched Red as he busied himself behind the bar, washing glasses and stacking bottles. ‘You’re not Californian born and bred, I take it. Not with that accent. I’m guessing you come from somewhere close to my ex-wife’s neck of the woods, am I right?’
‘Kentucky, Sir… Sorry. Force of habit, I guess.’
Charlie smiled, trying his best to put the young Prospect at ease. ‘Kentucky, huh? So, what brought you here?’
Red shrugged, grabbing a handful of empty bottles from the counter and throwing them in a bin behind the bar. ‘My momma passed when I was a teenager, and my daddy, well, I ain’t seen hide nor hair of him since I was three years old. I guess I just fell in with the wrong crowd, got myself into so much trouble that staying in Kentucky wasn’t really an option no more.’
‘You always ridden?’
Red nodded. ‘Had a bike since I was – well, I shouldn’ta been riding it, but no one was around to stop me, so…’ He shrugged again. ‘I just wanted to leave a lot of shit behind. This place gave me the chance to do that.’
Charlie liked the vibe this kid gave off. He’d advise Coby to patch him in as soon as possible.
The sound of a door opening down the corridor made Charlie swing around on his stool, and he smiled as Coby and Lexi emerged from the apartment, arms wrapped around each other, not even trying to hide what they’d obviously just been doing.
‘Hey, kids!’ Charlie grinned, but that grin was soon wiped away when he saw the expression on Lexi’s face harden. ‘You told her?’ He directed that question at Coby, who tried to grab Lexi’s hand but she pulled it away.
‘What could I do, Charlie? I had no choice.’
‘There’s always a choice, Coby… Lexi, sweetheart…’
‘Don’t “sweetheart” me. I can’t believe you… After eve
rything we’ve been through, you keep a secret like that…’
‘Okay, okay. Not here, all right?’ He stood up, grabbing her hand. ‘Somewhere more private.’ He looked at Coby. ‘You coming? You need to hear this, too.’
‘What about Mum?’ Lexi asked.
‘Angie can wait. Come on.’
Closing the apartment door behind them, Charlie let go of Lexi’s hand and sat down on the edge of the bed, bowing his head and breathing in deep.
‘Well?’ Lexi’s tone carried more than a hint of impatience, which was completely understandable, given what she now knew.
Charlie looked up at his daughter, Coby standing beside her, both of them with arms folded, waiting to hear what he had to say. ‘Mia’s mum… she was…’ He took another deep breath, standing up and pacing the floor. Somehow it felt easier to talk about this if he was moving. ‘She was the old lady of my then-V.P., Vic Langley.’
‘You had an affair with your Vice President’s old lady?’ The irony dripped from Lexi’s laugh. ‘And yet I was banished for…’
‘This isn’t about you, Lexi.’ Charlie’s voice was hard, his expression even harder. ‘And I’m not gonna stand here and go over old ground, that’s all done now. We’ve moved on. You want to know about Mia? Then listen, okay?’
Lexi’s expression matched her father’s, with an added touch of defiance.
‘Okay,’ Charlie sighed, raking a hand through his hair as he resumed the pacing. ‘It was wrong, we both knew that, me more than anyone. Because I knew what the consequences would be if anyone found out, but we couldn’t help ourselves…’
Lexi couldn’t stop another laugh from escaping, cut short by another look from Charlie.
‘When Freya got pregnant… that was when we had to make a decision. I wanted to end it, wanted her to convince Vic the baby was his because, at the time, that seemed like the best thing to do, for everyone. But she didn’t want that. She wanted to leave Vic, wanted me to leave Angie. She wanted us to come clean, tell everyone what had happened; set up home together and live happily ever after. But I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t give up everything I’d worked so hard for. I couldn’t walk away from my family. I couldn’t walk away from this club…’
Retribution (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 2) Page 16
