Page 62 of Chaos & Carnage

Those words hit me hard in the stomach. Like someone had punched me right in the solar plexus, disabling me. If I could have bent double and vomited on my feet, I would have. And yet, when I’d seen them both tonight, when I realised there were two of them, I’d known then the brother I was with at that very moment wasn’t Cade.

“Don’t come near me, Cade.” I warned.

From my right, a tiny prick of light bobbed.

“Alice. Babe. Please. I’ll keep him away. I’ll make sure he never comes near you again. I promise. All of this,” he waved his hand over his head. “None of this was supposed to happen.”

“No. You’re right.” Anger filled my chest now, heavy and suffocating. “This shouldn’t have happened. You are my client. This was inappropriate. None of this should have happened. It won’t happen again.”

The tiny prick of light grew. And grew and now the headlights lit up the road. Please be the taxi. Please. I turned away from him.

“Al,” he pleaded, gently catching my arm.

“Goodbye, Cade.”

“Please, Al.”

“Kinobi can go home on Monday. Get someone else to pick her up, please. I never want to see you again.”

The taxi slowed, pulling to a stop in front of the pub. I yanked the door open. Not looking back. But I could feel those green eyes on me, burning into my back. And still, I didn’t turn. I didn’t want to see his perfect face, or his perfect lips and the thick blond hair that always flopped over his, their, foreheads. I couldn’t.

The taxi pulled into the carpark, completed a U-turn, and I watched the black shadows of the trees and the bushes that lined the river as we drove away.

Chapter Twenty Three

I watched the taxi leave, taking the woman I loved away from me. I didn’t know what to do next. Or what to think. My head was a mix of emotions. Rage. Anxiety. Loss. I could go back inside and take another swing at my brother, the one who had started all of this. But I’d had the power to stop it before it had even got that far. Maybe if I had been honest with her from the start and made sure she knew about him, knew about how I felt about her. Maybe all this wouldn’t have happened.

We had shared things all our lives, including women. But this time it was different.Shewas different.

The hand on my shoulder made me jolt.

“Nervous much?” Magnet laughed as I spun and scowled at him. “Or did you think I was your brother?”

I said nothing, turning back to face the night, the sound of the River Tyne lapping at the bankside only just audible over the stomp of the music if I strained my ears to concentrate on it.

“You’ve done us all a favour tonight. At least we can tell you and Carnage apart for a while.”

“Not much use to me now, is it?”

“Give her time to cool down. She’ll come around.”

“Will she? How many women have you had, Magnet?”

“Shush,” he cautioned. “Don’t let Suzy hear us have this conversation. She’ll rip my balls off if she thinks I’m reliving my youth, even just through memories.” Magnet paused, then continued again when I still didn’t fill the space in the silence. “I’ve had my fair share. Wouldn’t go back to any of that now I’ve got my Suzy.”

“She had sex with us both, Magnet. Only she didn’t get a choice in that. She thought Caleb was me. And now she knows he wasn’t. He spent last night with her while I was babysitting Demon. The fucker knew what he was doing. He pretended to be me. Reckon she’ll come round after that?”

Magnet sighed and patted my shoulder again. “Give her some breathing space. Then make sure she knows how sorry you are. And just take it from there. But if you let her go. If you don’t try to make it up to her, you’ll live your entire life not knowing whether it could have been any different, mate. Talk to her.”

*****

I glanced at my mobile, at the countless messages I’d left her and the numerous texts because so far, I wasn’t man enough to be rejected in person. Caleb sat next to me; his arms folded over his chest. We’d barely spoken to each other the last two days and unfortunately, the bust nose I’d given him had left little in the way of scarring. He was back to looking just like me.

It was yet another coalition meeting. Because it seemed like we needed one every other week at the minute. The tone was still icy, with some clubs becoming more despondent.

“Who burned the Aces’ clubhouse down?” the president of the Durham Heathens stared at Indie.

“We did,” he answered frankly.