I heard Jayden let out a heavy sigh, and turned towards him. "You okay mate?"
He nodded his head, "Yeah it's just fucking difficult."
"How?" I asked confused by what he was saying.
"Is there anything on his record regarding trafficking, prostitution or soliciting?" Jay asked the group.
Both Eli and Finn picked up the paperwork to flick through. Eli shook his head, "Not that I can see but that may just mean he hasn't been caught for it."
"So does that help or do you need the boys to run further checks?" Fallon asked Jayden across the table.
"No that's great thank you, I appreciate your help. Now what can I do for you?"
I knew my brothers would appreciate Jayden's straight talking, and they smirked at his direct approach.
"We just have a few issues with some people who need to learn some respect, we need bodies to help put the frighteners on them, safety in numbers and all that so we'd like you and CJ to come and help us out on a couple of jobs." Jayden nodded his head. I'd already spoken to him briefly about what was involved and he was happy to help out.
"So really we just wanted to put a name to a face this afternoon," Fallon said sucking on the end of her pen. I'd be having a word with her later about the way she was behaving, she'd obviously taken a shine to Jay.
"That's fine I appreciate that, CJ's already explained what you do and I know that you don't usually let outsiders get involved but discretion is my middle name." I could see the approving nods around the table and knew that Jayden would fit in well.
I stood and threw the keys to Jay, "You can go and wait in the car, I'll be out in a minute."
He caught them and stood, "Nice meeting you all." He walked towards the door with the rest of the group saying their goodbyes.
I waited for him to leave and glanced around the table, "What aren't you telling him?"
Eli sniggered, "You know us too well." I raised my brows trying to hurry him along, and Eli let out a loud sigh. "He was arrested for trafficking a couple of years ago but they only had circumstantial evidence in the end and had to drop the case because the main witness disappeared and the rest of the women wouldn't talk."
I stood and walked over to the window and watched Jayden talk to a man outside by the car. "Fucking hell this is bad."
"Yeah, and if Jay's asking questions about trafficking, prostitution or soliciting, that means he already has his suspicions because I didn't mention any of that." Eli stood and walked across the room to stand next to me.
"His new love interest is a prostitute." I stated as I observed the discussion between Jayden and the man getting a little heated. Finn, Fallon and Rian had now joined us at the window to see the bloke shove Jay in the chest.
"Well I'd say she's most certainly being trafficked. I'm giving you this information CJ so you can do some more digging. I know you'll make decisions with your head, rather than your heart like Jayden." Eli nodded towards the office window, we watched as Jayden smashed the bloke in the face, knocking him out cold. Unaware that we'd seen him, Jayden casually straightened his suit jacket before getting into the car waiting for me to return.
We all glanced at each other before looking back through the window as the man picked himself up off the ground with a blooded nose, and scarpered in the opposite direction.
"I think Jayden will fit in just fine." Finn sniggered to the roar of laughter from the rest of the group.
"Yeah, I think he will."
Chapter 5
Jayden
"Hi babe, how you been?" Paige stood from her chair to greet me and air kissed either side of my face.
"What's with the air kissing?" I asked before grabbing Paige and bringing her in for a hug."
"Shit Jay, you'll crease my outfit."
"Fuck your outfit, you should be over the moon that your big handsome brother is home."
Paige rolled her eyes, "Oh I am but can the women of Essex handle it?"
I sniggered at her smart mouth, she was certainly one of a kind and that's why I enjoyed spending time with her.
"What can I get you two?" I turned to see Amy with a bright smile on her face.
"Hi Amy, how are you?" I leaned in close and gave her a kiss on her cheek. She was a good looking woman and had it all going on but she was a forbidden fruit.
"Very well thank you, and you?" she asked out of politeness.
"All the better for seeing you babe," I gave her a wink as I sat down.
Amy smiled ignoring my comment, "So what can I get you?"
"A room!" Paige said in a clipped tone as she sat in the opposite chair folding her arms.
"Amy knows I'm messing," I turned towards her and gave her my biggest smile. "Could I please just have scrambled eggs on toast and a glass of iced water?"
"You on a diet?"
I scoffed at Paige's question, "No, I'm sparring with CJ later."
Paige raised her brows, "And how long has CJ been your bestie?"
"He's not my bestie, I'm his sparring partner that's all."
"And what would you like Paige?"
"Sorry Amy, can I have the same please." Amy wrote the order on her pad before walking over to greet a couple that had just entered the cafe.
"So how are things with you? You're looking well." Paige had a healthy glow about her and I didn't know if it was due to her being drug free or because of her busy love life.
"I'm doing okay, I'm still seeing the councillor."
"Well that's a good thing isn't it?" I knew this process wouldn't be an overnight thing, fucking hell she'd be lucky to even go a day not thinking about it.
"It was difficult at first, you know talking about what happened but I've built a good relationship now with the councillor."
"Well I'm pleased things are working out okay, and what about your love life?"
"The love life is okay too."
Paige's facial expression didn't change, she wasn't giving anything away although I was aware of her relationship with Cade through correspondence with Chloe. "Is that all you're saying?"
"Yes. Changing the subject so it's about you and not me, you've upset mum and dad."
"Yeah I know, I didn't mean to but they just need to chill and let us all get on with our lives. You if anyone should know how I'm feeling right now."
"I can see it from both sides babe. I was like you before, bottling up my secrets but it was only when it all came out that I could try and put it all behind me."
I rubbed my forehead, "I'm not sure if I like the reasonable adult Paige?" I said humorously.
"Haha!"
Amy placed our drinks on the table and left us to our conversation. "So what's the gossip, I know you're the hub of anything juicy!"
"Were do I start. Our dear sister is seeing a club member." She said dryly picking up her glass to take a sip.
"No fucking way! Who?"
Paige's excitement grew, "Why don't you guess?"
"I wouldn't know where to start. Who would be so stupid to even contemplate touching Chloe knowing she's a club member's daughter?"
"Well, as far as I'm aware he's been told to stay away and it looks like he is but I just don't know how long they can keep it up."
"The only blokes I can think of are Ramsey and Buster but they're prospects not members." I tried to rack by brain trying to think if there'd been any tell tale signs but I was at a loss.
"Woods!"
"No fucking way."
"Oh yes fucking way, I caught them snogging in the yard so I've seen it with my own eyes."
"Well he's a good bloke but he obviously has a death wish." I couldn't believe that Woods would pursue something so crazy.
"But can you help who you fall for?"
"I suppose not but you should be able to have a little restraint and not give in to every urge." At that moment thoughts of Sam entered my mind making me smile.
"Even if it could be your happy ever after?"
"Seriously, what have you done with the old Paige?"
I asked sarcastically. I'd never known her to be so reasonable before and see the positives in life.
"She's still in here don't worry about that."
"You never would've stuck up for Chloe in the past, not that I ever condoned you slagging her off I just find it hard to believe."
Paige sniggered and picked up her glass to take another sip of water, "I'm the same old Paige but just have a different outlook on life. If Woods makes her happy then I can't see why it's an issue her being with him."
"I agree but it's a respect thing, he needs to speak to dad about it probably to ask for permission but I can't see a sane person doing that."
We both sniggered at my response, Woods was a good bloke and would treat Chloe right but the lifers in the club needed to be a little open minded at times and that wasn't happening any time soon.
Amy placed our lunch on the table, "That looks lovely Amy, thank you." I picked up the pepper pot and sprinkled some on top of the egg.
"You're welcome." Amy turned to walk away and then stepped back as if she'd forgotten something. I looked up registering her confusion.
"Sorry but I overheard some of your conversation, I don't mean to pry but how do you think Frank would react knowing that those two were getting it on?"
"Do you know something we don't Amy?" Paige asked affronted that someone would know more about her sister than her.
Amy shook her hand, "No but if they were serious about each other and you think your dad would accept it, I could at least speak to Mitchell to try and smooth the water."
"Thanks Amy, I'll speak to Chloe and see what the state of play is."
"Okay, I'm only trying to help." Amy smiled and left us to continue with her work.
"Fucking do gooder!" I laughed and spluttered water down the front of my polo shirt. "Well, she does my fucking head in acting the fucking innocent and flouncing around like she's Mother fucking Teresa. Look I can cook, I work in a refuge, I babysit children, I get along with everyone!"
"Could you get any more f's into that sentence?"
"I probably fucking could if I tried. Did you know that she nearly broke my nose a couple of months ago?"
"I didn't but why would sweet little Amy do that?" I asked sarcastically knowing that it would rile her further. See this is the thing, I knew Paige better than anyone and knew how to push her buttons and sit back to watch the show.
"She said she didn't like me but that's beside the point, she fucking head butted me! What sane person head butts another?"
I sniggered at her response, "You must have annoyed her Paige, Amy has a kind temperament and wouldn't go around head butting people for no reason."
"Well I may have said something about her relationship with Recon but that doesn't give her the right to assault me." I rolled my eyes, so there was a genuine reason for Amy to get upset, I thought as much as that was so out of character.
"Anyway enough about me, how are things with you?"
Paige was the only person that I felt comfortable talking about myself to, well tell a lie as I could add Sam to that list. "All good, I've settled in at CJ's and met his family yesterday as I'll be doing a bit of work for them."
"Those boys are hot, Rian especially."
"How do you know the family? I only met them yesterday."
"Face book!"
I sniggered, "You've stalked them on Face book?"
"I'm a girl it's what we do."
"No, I think you'll find that's what stalkers do!"
"Well if they don't want people to see their hot chests and bulging biceps then they shouldn't put images all over the internet for me to see." Paige picked up her phone that was on the table and continued to beaver away looking for something. "Here you go!" Paige smiled as she passed me her phone, I flicked through the images to see Rian in some compromising positions.
"Oh my god, really?"
Paige nodded her head as she chewed on her food, and took the phone off me to place it back onto the table. "He's a hotty in fact they all are."
I shook my head in disbelief that my baby sister was perving over one of my mate's brothers but even more shocked that Rian would set up a Face book page for her to be able to perv.
I glanced at my watch, "Right I better be going I've gotta be at the clubhouse in ten."
"Sparring friend!" Paige air quoted mimicking the Inbetweeners.
"Fuck off!"
Paige sniggered at my response. "It was great catching up, we'll have to do it again soon."
"I agree, give me a call when you're free." I stood to make my way around the table and bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Look after yourself, and stop perving over my mate's brothers!"
"I can only promise to one of them."
I threw a note on the table to cover the cost of lunch and gave her a quick wink before leaving the cafe and taking the short journey over to the clubhouse.
"Come on CJ, you gotta work harder than that!" I was putting him through his paces this afternoon, I couldn't move around as much as I would've liked but I was able to take a punch and duck accordingly in order for him to get a good workout. I'd decided to bring him to the yard this afternoon rather than the usual confines of the gym for a change of scenery, this also gave us a lot more room to move around in like the real fight.
I'd conducted some extensive research over the last couple of days and was more aware of the set up of bare knuckle fighting. I just thought two men would rock up, knock the shit out of each other and whoever could still stand at the end won, more of a brawl then a fight but there was big money riding on this and most importantly pride. CJ needed to keep his fitness up and over the past week he had upped his game and was taking everything more seriously, he'd even drafted Amy in to cook him protein rich meals each day at the cafe to keep his energy levels up.
"What's this? You look like your rehearsing for the fucking ballet rather than training for a fight." I turned towards the voice but already knew that it was Lyric trying to wind CJ up. He had hold of a dog that was pulling on the lead attached to its neck as it got excited by the movement around him.
I shook my head and lifted my arms again to face CJ, he surprisingly kept his cool and ignored Lyric's comment as he continued with his workout.
"What's the matter baby, are you getting excited about the silly boys learning how to fight?" I assumed Lyric was talking to his dog as there was no one else in the yard but continued to press CJ by stepping closer to apply pressure on him and make him change his footing. The dog was barking loudly and I started to lose a little concentration but I pursued closer to CJ only stopping at the look of horror on his face.
The dog had stopped barking and silence fell around me, I spun my head around looking at the worried faces of CJ and Lyric before I noticed some of the guys had come out of the clubhouse to see what was going on. Everything seemed to be in slow motion again, like it had the day of my injury. I returned my attention back to CJ and followed his eyes down to my leg to see the dog gnawing on my prosthetic limb.
I tried to shake it off but its jaw was locked and the weight of the dog was slowly pulling me to the ground. The silence quickly lifted and with it, a hive of activity as the group surged towards me to get the dog off my leg. I saw their confused faces but they went about trying to prize open the jaws of the dog.
Whack! Justice punched it square in the face but it clamped harder and shook it's head aggressively pulling me to the ground in the process.
"Don't fucking hit her." Lyric rushed forward to try and get to the dog but was held back by Duke.
"We've gotta get her off Jay, don't make matters worse." Duke growled obviously annoyed by the situation.
The guys continued to grapple with the dog but it wasn't letting go.
"Stick your finger up its arse!"Everyone stopped what they were doing including myself to look at Ramsey. "What?" he asked shrugging. "I read it in an article once."
"I don't know if I'm more shocked that you can read or that you're asking me to
stick my finger up a dogs arse." Justice sniggered to the roar of laughter from the group.
"Trust me, lift her hind legs and insert your finger."
Through the commotion, I saw Justice screw his face as he slowly lifted its hind legs and looked in the region of the dogs arse. "I've fucked some dogs in my time but this takes the piss!"
"Move out the fucking way." Before I knew what was going on Recon stomped over to the group pushing people out of the way. "Cover your face Jay." I looked towards Recon's hand and saw the glock briefly before he lifted it to the dogs head and pulled the trigger.
The noise echoed around the yard as the guys all stood in a state of shock. I immediately wiped the shit from my face as I didn't have time to cover it before he pulled the trigger. I was also struggling to hear as the close proximity of the gun being fired sent a ringing in my ears.
"You fucking prick!" Duke still had hold of Lyric, and there was no way that he'd be able to free himself unless Duke wanted him to but he tried by twisting and turning, trying to get to Recon.
He stood tall and slid his glock into his back pocket, "Tell me something I don't already know." Recon kept his cool and slowly walked over to Lyric, "If Tommy or Devon were running around this yard, it could've been them rather than old peg leg there. This is your fucking mess, now clear it up." Recon pointed to the dead dog on the ground and turned on his heels walking slowly towards the clubhouse.
"You'll pay for this you son of a bitch," Lyric shouted after him. Duke loosened his grip and Lyric broke free and collapsed at his dog's side. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Recon turn back around probably wanting to have another go but Duke stuck out his arm to halt him.
"Duke brought me here as the Sergeant at Arms which makes me the enforcer. Now if that were a crazy bloke attacking one of our guys I wouldn't have had to shoot him because you would've done it before I arrived. It's no difference that it's a fucking dog, it's just a godsend that Nemo here, has a lucky fin."
The guy's roared with laughter as CJ helped me to my feet. I continued to wipe the dog off my face the best I could but I was only making it worse. I breathed in the smell and it immediately made me feel sick, I doubled over and heaved, vomiting onto the ground. The retching eventually hurt my throat and I couldn't bring any more up but it was all that I could smell. I pulled my t-shirt up over my head trying not to wipe anymore onto my skin and threw it to the ground. My tracksuit bottoms were flapping around in the wind around my prosthetic leg, visible for everyone to see where the dog had ripped them apart so I had nothing to hide. I simply pulled at the waistband of my joggers and brought them over my thighs, as I went to step out of them CJ came to my aid but I shooed him away, as I was more than capable of undressing myself although it was a little difficult. I stood in my boxers feeling the wind swirl around me as the guys couldn't help but stare.
Jayden (Aces MC Series Book 4.5) Page 8
