Page 21

I sat at the bar, my back to the door. Magnet on one side of me and Fury on the other.

“Jazz has bought another motorbike,” Fury grumbled, pulling out his phone and thumbing through some pictures in there.

“Another bike?”

“Yeah.”

He settled on something, pushing the phone towards us, where his sister stood to the side of a Suzuki Hayabusa. All thirteen hundred cc of engine power.

“That’s a big fucking bike,” Magnet chuckled, taking a mouthful of his beer.

“What’s she got a Busa for?”

“And how’s she fucking paid for that?” Magnet asked.

Fury sighed, taking a mouthful of his pint before continuing. “She’s working at Trouble .”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Bar or stage?”

“Fucking pole. Fucking Tez.”

“Mamma Dot know? She’ll go mad,” Magnet asked.

“Not gonna even ask.” Fury shook his head.

“Now that Tez has added all the extra security to Trouble , she’ll be well protected, at least.” Magnet tried to sound reassuring.

“Like she needs it,” I commented, rubbing my jaw from a memory of getting on the wrong side of her.

“Better get these drinks back to Suzy, or I’ll be getting the same.” Magnet slid the pint of beer and the glass of orange juice from the bar top. But as he turned, he nudged me in the arm. “Who is that with your kid, Chaos?” Magnet whistled his approval.

I turned to the doors, to where my brother walked in, hand in hand with the woman with long, flowing brown hair. I could see her from here. See those light blue eyes even in the pub’s darkness, each step bringing her closer.

I’d never seen her out of those green scrubs, other than when we fucked. Tonight, she wore a tight, black, lace top, with thin straps, tucked into light blue skinny jeans and over the knee boots.

And she was holding my brother’s hand, Caleb guiding her through the busy pub like the fucking cat that got the cream. My cream. My fucking cream.

“Chaos?” Magnet asked from beside me, sensing the darkness spilling from my soul.

But he was too late to stop me. The bar stool clattered sideways to the floor, the men in front of me staggering sideways as I pushed through them. My entire world had gone into slow motion, big, long slow steps carrying me forwards. Now my eyes were only focused on Caleb, and the fucking arrogant smirk on his face.

There was a shout beside me. A warning. An alert. Fury’s voice. But I couldn’t hear the words, anger filling my brain, the space in my ears, every single cavity it could possess. It wasn’t a red mist, it wasn’t even the faintest bit red. It was black. Pure obsidian black.

One stride out from Carnage and I leapt at him like an animal, my body connecting with his, knocking him to the floor, smashing down on top of him. His eyes shut momentarily, snapping open in time just to see my fist coming towards his face. The blow snapped his head sideways. A woman screamed. Caleb scrambled underneath me, quickly freeing his arms to get them up to his face so that my next punch connected with his forearm.

“Cade! Cade! Cade, man!” he shouted from the floor, where I had his body pinned.

I punched again and again, connecting only with his arms, but the last blow I sneaked under his guard, hitting him in his ribs, hearing the heavy thump and the rush of air. Good. I hoped that hurt the fucker.

Hands grabbed my arms, and I flung my body around, flailing, trying to dislodge them.

“Chaos! Chaos!” someone shouted.

Another set of hands, pulling at my other arm, but right now I felt like I had the strength of a seriously fucked off bear. But it was the arm that wrapped round my throat that took hold, another arm folding over the top. I tried to get my chin down, but I’d been too distracted by pummelling my brother’s face to feel it coming on, the arms now pincer squeezing the side of my neck. Now the blackness of anger changed to the mottled darkness of unconsciousness, my body feeling featherlike, wispy, useless.

I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling, the disco ball bouncing lights all over the pub. Faces peered at me. Music thumped in the background, and inside my head. I scrambled to my feet, blood and oxygen not returning quickly enough to my legs, where I wobbled. Caleb sat on the floor, still. Blood running from his nose, soaking into the white t-shirt. Magnet, Fury, Reap and Indie surrounded us.

“Where’s Alice?” I demanded, searching the darkness for her.

“The girl?” Indie asked.

“Yes, the fucking girl. My fucking girl. Where is she?” I growled.

Indie shot me a warning look in answer.

“Suzy and Heidi have her in a booth, Chaos,” Fury answered.

Caleb rolled over, taking a second whilst on his hands and knees and making me want to kick the fucker hard in the stomach. Then he stood, staggering a little.

“You lot, kitchen. Now.” Indie signalled at the five of us.

“Hang on. I need to see Alice,” Caleb muttered.

“No, you fucking don’t, prick.” I took a step towards him, stepping into Reaps tree like arm as it came down in front of me to bar the way.

“I’ll not tell you lot again. Now.” Indie barked.

“Alice will be fine, boys,” Magnet added, smirking. “She’s with the ol’ ladies. She’ll be fine.”

I took a step backwards, taking my chest from Reap’s arm and turned, following Indie into the back rooms of the clubhouse where we were no doubt about to receive a bollocking. Magnet, Fury and Reap surrounded us, ready to restrain or diffuse the slightest situation that might spark back up.

The music still thumped in the big industrial sized kitchen of the King’s clubhouse, but now we were in relative quiet, my ears thick from the vibrations of the tunes I’d been sitting in for the last hour, waiting for my brother to show up. With my girl. How the fuck had he found out?

Indie pushed us into position, one against each counter, opposite each other.

“Now would you like to fucking tell me what that was all about?” he growled at us like an angry dog.

“He’s pissed over Alice.” Caleb started.

“Alice? Alice? Who the fuck is Alice?” Fury grinned at us.

“Who Carnage is fucking, by the looks of it,” Reap grumbled.

“And is Chaos not fucking Alice too?” Indie folded his arms in front of his chest.

“No. Yes. No. Alice is mine.” I was too angry to get the words out.

“As in mine …?” Fury looked as confused as Indie.

“Yes, mine . She’s not for sharing.”

“But you have been sharing by the looks of it.” Magnet joining in the confused biker look.

“Caleb isn’t meant to be fucking her. She doesn’t know about us,” I pointed back and forth between us. Magnet, Fury and Reap exchanged glances, not yet following. “She doesn’t know it’s him who’s been fucking her. She thought it was me.”

“Oh…” Indie’s voice drifted off.

“So, she doesn’t know you and Carnage are twins?” Fury’s face brightened.

“No. Well, she does now.”

“Oh. Fuck. That’s mad.”

“Nah mate. She’s going to be mad,” Magnet added.

“Who the fuck is she, anyway?” Indie asked, not finding the conversation half as much amusing as the others.

“She’s the vet,” Caleb added.

“You’re both fucking the vet. Fuck me!” Fury laughed.

“This isn’t fucking funny, Fury.” I complained.

“No wonder you didn’t want that dog coming home yet. No excuse for you to get your end away with the vet.”

“Yeah, well, that’s probably over now. Thanks to that fucker,” I pointed my finger at my blood covered brother.

“Whatever beef you two have, get it sorted,” Indie grunted. “I don’t have time for this playground shit right now.”

But this wasn’t just playground shit. For once, I’d found someone I cared about. Someone who fascinated and compelled me. Someone who wasn’t just a quick fuck over the bar, or on a club night. This was someone I didn’t want to share, couldn’t share. And Caleb had ruined everything.