“My uncle,” I whispered.
I could certainly see the family resemblance. But why had nobody mentioned him before?
The truth never occurred to me.
“He was killed in a knife fight,” Clay told me.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he told me the story.
“So he was defending the Tyrant’s name?” I asked after he had finished. “He was standing up for my dad.”
Beth nodded. “He died in your mother’s arms. Marcus didn’t know anything about the fight, and he lost it when he saw Dylan’s body.”
“It hurt Jade the most,” Clay added. “You see what Marcus didn’t know, was Dylan and Jade were a lot closer than he thought, than any of us thought.”
“They were sleeping together,” I said, surprised.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t as straightforward as it sounds,” Beth answered.
“Your mum wanted the status as the head of the Tyrant’s woman. Marcus wanted a beautiful woman by his side, at his disposal. Both were looking for trophies, and both found what they were looking for. I’m not sure when it first happened between your mum and Dylan, but it was obvious something was going on.”
“Didn’t my dad care? He must have known if the rest of you figured it out.”
Clay shook his head. “They kept their relationship a secret. Dylan was too afraid of hurting his brother, and I think Jade couldn’t face the truth.”
“She was too chicken-shit,” I spat.
“Hey, she wasn’t the only one playing the field,” Beth injected.
“Yeah, your father was far from being a saint. His rendezvous with other women made it easier for your mum and Dylan to continue their affair.”
“And they lived happily ever after,” I added sarcastically.
“Not at all. They were planning to leave the Tyrants. They were going to tell Marcus. They started to make plans and then Dylan was murdered, by a Wolf called Mud.”
“That’s why your mum and dad left town,” Beth continued. “She testified in court. No one snitches on another gang member, whether they wear different colours or not. It’s one of the rules.”
“Yeah, but the Wolves didn’t play by the rules did they.” Clay slammed his fist on the table, the whisky glasses rattled.
“Your mum got a death threat as she was leaving the courthouse. Marcus knew he had to get the three of them out of town. The Tyrants officially disbanded that night.”
It took a while before I realised what he’d said.
“Three of them? She was pregnant with John, wasn’t she?”
Clay nodded.
I didn’t want to ask because looking down at the photograph I already knew the answer.
“Dylan was John’s father, wasn’t he?”
“Yes. There is no doubt he was,” Clay answered.
“And you knew all this time? Why didn’t you tell me?” I yelled.
“When Jade told me she was pregnant, I figured out the rest. She made me promise not to say anything to Marcus. I gave my word.”
“How could he not know?” I stood up and paced the room. “Why haven’t they told me? Fuck! My life is one big lie. I didn’t know I had an uncle until tonight, now I find out he’s my brother’s father, and he’s dead. This is turning out to be some fucking night.”
“I did warn you.” Clay shrugged.
“Anything else you’d like to tell me? Anything you’ve left out? What about me. Is Marcus my father?”
Beth nodded. “Yes, and he’s still John’s dad. He’s the one that brought you both up.”
“He’s John’s uncle, not his fucking dad,” I screamed, flinging my arm across the mantelpiece. Their wedding photo flew through the air. Shards of glass splintered as it crashed on the floor.
“Give the woman something to calm her down,” Clay said.
Beth jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen. She came back and handed me a red pill. Taking a large gulp of warm, flat beer, I swallowed the pill and then slumped back down on the sofa. I was willing to take anything that would numb my pain. I trusted Beth and Clay not to give me something that would hurt me.
It took ten minutes before the drug started to take effect. I felt relaxed and blissful. My anxiety disappeared, and it didn’t occur to me, I should be feeling miserable after what I’d just been told.
The drug kept me awake until the early hours of the morning. As the effects started to wear off, my thoughts returned, and reality came crashing back.
My father was a property developer. He spent his time sitting behind a desk, dressed in a shirt and tie. I never once saw him get his hands dirty. To think of him greased up, tinkering with a motorbike was absurd. Yet he used to be a bad-arse biker and president of a violent gang. It was as though another world existed aside from the one I lived in, and the more I turned the pages of the book, the more I wanted to experience this world.
And Mum, the apron-wearing housewife; once a biker’s tart, caught in a love triangle. Tragedy strikes and the lover is killed. Jeez, if I didn’t know Clay better, I would have said he made the whole thing up. But the proof was sitting on the table beside my makeshift bed, and the camera never lies. This wasn’t a one-shot deal, a Halloween fancy dress photo. Their lifestyle, the closeness of the brotherhood was evident in the way they stood, dressed, and the expression in each of the bikers’ faces. They were proud of who they were and happy to live the life they did.
I tried to imagine what life as a member of the Tyrants was like. I wondered what had happened to the other members. Had they tried to cling to the image and lifestyle, like Beth and Clay? Or had they all turned into family men like my dad?
I’m a writer for a local newspaper. Writing helps me understand the world and myself better. When my thoughts are all messed up in my head, I can get them to make sense when I put them on paper. When Clay and Beth told me the truth that night, I needed closure. I wrote everything I’d learnt in my diary.
They never once blatantly blamed me for John’s death. But I think Dad felt guilty knowing he should have told him the truth. It makes me wonder whether things would have turned out better if he had. Maybe John would still be alive.
Dad went berserk when he found out I was taking drugs; nothing hard-core, just the odd pill and marijuana joints. It wasn’t a subject that came up at the dinner table.
I think Mum was torn between wanting to shelter me from the lifestyle she had run away from, and blaming me for taking away John, the last link to Dylan, although she never came out and said it.
When they found out who told me the truth about their past, they cut all ties with Beth and Clay. It didn’t matter how much I argued in their defence. Jeez, I was smoking dope way before Clay offered me a joint.
Things were falling apart, and I couldn’t bear to watch two people I loved tear one another to pieces. The grief and shame were too much for my mother and for a while she lost the plot. I remember the state of the kitchen when she finished wrecking it. Her best dinner service, shattered in pieces on the floor. She even managed to pull the bloody cupboards off their hinges; God knows where she got the strength from. Dad took her straight to the doctor’s, and they put her on anti-depressants which seemed to calm her.
I tried to let slide my father’s comments about the way I dressed and my choice of music. I thought he was jealous. He saw a shadow of his former self emerging from his daughter, and I guess it brought back happy memories, as well as tragic ones. I bet he was itching to jump on a motorbike and take off into the sunset. Instead, he carried on his charade as a respectable family man. Didn’t he realise the family he had was breaking apart? Didn’t he care?
I’d had enough. I packed my suitcase and moved down to London to live with Clay and Beth until I could sort something out.
I was determined to learn all I could about the Wolves, about a biker’s lifestyle. Beth and Clay never clued into the motives behind my questioning. What better way to get all the dirt than from two actual bikers? The Wolves had taken my uncle an
d my brother away from me. They’d fucked up my family. I wanted revenge.
More titles by Karina Kantas
OUTLAW series 18+
In Times of Violence
Huntress
Lawless Justice
Road Rage
Heads & Tales
Undressed
Stone Cold
Illusional Reality
Illusional Reality, The Quest
Read a great book today
http://www.amazon.com/Karina-Kantas/e/B0034P98EW
Twitter: http://twitter.com/karinakantas
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExplosiveWriter
Blog: http://urbanhype101.wordpress.com
Book reviews are very important to authors. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
KK
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
A note from the Author
Other Titles by Karina Kantas
In Times of Violence Page 16
