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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. She was 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.

“The fuck?”

“They went after Demon. Anyone round the table think we should have left them to it?”

Heads turned left and right, everyone looking at each other.

“No. I didn’t think so. Unfortunately for us, someone tipped them off and not one of those fuckers was in there at the time. Listen to me. The Kings will kill them all. And anyone else who tries to take any of us out. Have a think about that before you side with the Hand.”

“And what about the Notorious?” Tomahawk asked. “We know they’ve joined with the Hand. They’re a risk to you as much as the Aces were.”

“We’ll deal with the Notorious. The Aces were the immediate threat. The Notorious are next. You mark my words,” Indie answered, his voice a low growl, and all of us who knew him knew that the anger was bubbling just under the surface.

“The Hand’s been quiet lately,” Tomahawk’s deep voice filled the room. “We’ve not seen any hint of them in Northumberland. The MCCs haven’t reported in anything lately either. No bike thefts, no random attacks. Something isn’t right.”

“Paranoid much, Tomahawk?” the Heathen’s president quipped. “Don’t you think it’s a good sign that they’re not fucking about everywhere?”

The older men in the room looked about at each other, eyebrows raised and eyes rolling, and even though we were newer to the MC scene compared to a lot of these round the table, even we knew there was something wrong in what Tomahawk was describing.

“Sounds like they’ve gone to ground,” Brie crackled. “The question is where and what is coming next.”

Indie nodded. “Or they’re somewhere else getting reinforcements. If that’s the case, we need to know we have enough to fight them. Because they’ll be back.”

“What are you saying, Indie?” Tomahawk boomed.

“He’s saying we need Cumbria.” Demon added, sitting at the table for the first time.

To everyone else, he looked normal. Strong. Resilient. Immortal. To the others, he was even more frightening. Shot twice in the stomach and still here at the table, ready to take on whoever stepped out of line. But we could see the way he took a breath, slightly out of rhythm, a stab of pain. And that when he did move, he was that tiny bit more careful. He hid it well, to anyone who didn’t know him. To the Kings, we could see how incapacitated he was. The single, most dangerous weapon we had, and he was no longer useful.

“And how do you suppose we get them?” The Heathen’s VP crossed his arms over his chest in defiance.

“We go to the Frostbite rally and get them on board.” Indie explained.

“And if they say no.”

“We’ll make sure they can’t.”

“Cumbria are a big bunch of bikers. You think they’ll be scared of you?”

“Scared of us. All of us. They’ve been fighting amongst themselves for years. We pick off the strongest club, show them how to get a coalition started. Then we recruit the coalition to the cause.”

I watched the room. The reactions. Tomahawk sat back in his chair, a smirk drawing at his lips, nodding in agreement, and Brie was his usual hard-to-read face of passiveness. But the Heathens looked scared. And now I suspected the next club to drop out of the coalition would be them. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Even if it reduced our numbers. Against my chest my phone vibrated, a silent ring in the middle of church.

“Ok, brothers,” Indie wrapped the conversation up. “Drinks are downstairs. See you all at the Frostbite.”

The ringing stopped, but a second or two later, it started again. The room filed out. Chairs scraping, the low rumble of voices. The vibrating stopped again.

“You really reckon we can get Cumbria?” Magnet asked, when every member other than a King had left.

Indie shrugged. There’s only one way to find out.

My phone vibrated. Just twice this time. Fuck, someone was persistent. I slid the device out of the inside pocket of my jacket.

Alice.

Two missed calls and a text message. I wanted to smile, but another part of me was too scared to open it in case it was a torrent of ‘fuck offs’. I deserved it. All of it. I pushed at the side of the phone, the display lighting up.

‘Cade. There’s someone here.’

‘Where are you, Al?’ I typed back.

‘Vets. They came in with Stuart. They’re arguing. I’m frightened.’

‘Ok, Al. I’ll be right with you.’

‘Hurry. Please. Stuart’s screaming. OMG.’

‘Alice. I want you to hide. Do not come out till I tell you to. Understand?’

‘Yes.’

“What’s wrong?” Caleb asked from behind me.

“I dunno. It’s Alice. Have to go.”

“Wait. I’m coming too.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near her.” I turned on him, my face only inches away from his, the room growing silent around us.

“I saw her texts, brother. You want to keep me away from whatever is going on? You’d better knock me the fuck out.”

“Fine. But hurry.”

I bolted, racing down the stairs, Caleb hot on my heels, the fading shouts of concerned members following us.