Page 58 of Indie
“We dunno yet. But it’s a signal. A slight against the club. My money’s on another bike club. I just don’t know who.”
“There’s a few around though, isn’t there?”
“Yeah. But none stupid enough to enter Kings’ territory to do this. So, it’s either a club from out of the area, or a brand new one. Either way, it’s not good news.”
The smell of burning leather was now no longer my main worry. And neither was some prank by another bike club. But it was the inference that the Kings were not people to be messed with, and that sounded much more sinister than a bike club.
In front of me, the line of men in embroidered leather vests had swallowed Indie up. But then I heard his voice again. A low rumble at first and then something much more intelligible.
“Suzy. Ciara,” his voice carried across the pub before emerging through the line of leather. “Take Emmie and the kids upstairs.”
He was in front of me now, helping Lily to her feet, gently shoving Luke to his, as Suzy draped an arm around both of them, bowing her head to each and whispering something to them I couldn’t hear. But I couldn’t hear much now, because it felt like someone had put some of Mr Morris’ stuffing in my head.
“What’s happening?” I asked him as he got to me, his hand reaching down to stroke the top of the dog’s head.
“Just something I need to deal with. I’ll explain later. For now, I need you to go with the women and your kids and get upstairs.” He ducked his head, kissing me lightly on the top of mine and then looked across at the other two women. “Ciara. Suzy. Show Emmie where everything is upstairs. I need beds making and the kids need some tea.”
Ciara’s eyes flashed, a stab of defiance, her scar pulling tighter over her face as she scowled. But then she relaxed, nodding, a silent agreement to obey.
“Come on, Emmie. We need to get out of here.” She pushed her hand gently into the small of my back, ushering me towards the back of the pub once more. Beside me Daisy kept pace, silently padding, save for a last little grumble as the door shut behind us.
*****
Upstairs, the place was huge, a myriad of rooms tucked away behind doors that surrounded the landing. Suzy pushed through a door just off to the left of the stairs. I’d expected to see a dated room, a lack of investment like the rest of the pub, a room scattered with single beds, with worn carpets andmismatched furniture. But behind that door it stretched the entire width of the building, with smooth white walls ricocheting daylight that flooded in through a series of floor to ceiling windows.
Suzy’s boots clattered off the wooden floor, that creaked no less than the rest of the floorboards in the place, but that had been stripped back, and smoothed right down, a thick layer of varnish giving the original floor a modern look, the only telltale signs of its age a slight unevenness.
“Wow!” Lily gasped, her head whipping back and forth. “This is huge.”
“Kitchen is this way,” Ciara pointed. “No idea what food Indie’s got in like, but sure we can sort something out for the kids.”
I followed to the left, leaving the sound of Lily’s excited gasps as she explored the space above the pub.
“Ah man!” It was Luke I could hear this time, a little further away from Lily. “Look at this gaming console.”
I turned, looking across from the kitchen of light-grey glossed units to where the nine-year-old boy was dwarfed as he stood in front of the biggest television I had ever seen. It was mounted on the wall at the far side of the room, the kitchen island, a table and chairs, and then a plush corner settee, all in between. To the right, nestled in the corner, was another unit with three flat screen TVs arranged in a horse-shoe shape, a leather gaming chair pushed up against the desk. And between the units were a series of speakers, tall, thick black boxes with four round circles embedded into them.
“It’s like a cinema in here too!” Luke’s voice continued to rise with excitement as he moved towards all of Indie’s high-techgadgets that were stored on the unit just under the television. “Wow, he’s got everything.”
“Think your son and Indie will get on well if they both like computer games,” Suzy smiled, sticking her head back through the door, her arms full of bedding. “Ciara, put the oven on, will ya? The kids’ll like turkey dinosaurs, won’t they?”
“Erm, yeah.”
“Excellent. Stick them some turkey dinosaurs and chips in, Ciara. Me and Emmie will get the beds made up.”
“Indie has turkey dinosaurs in?” Ciara asked, mirroring my own surprise.
“Yeah. They’re his favourite. Tell her Emmie. Indie loves that shite.”
“I…err…I didn’t know.” I admitted, quietly, feeling that twinge of heat on my cheeks.
And what did I really know about him? I’d never asked him much about himself, or his favourite food, or what he liked to do when he wasn’t hanging around hospitals. The tiniest of metallic tastes filled my mouth as I followed Suzy out of Indie’s living room and across the creaky hall to the bedroom at the front of the property.
“It’ll be ok,” Suzy said suddenly, our footsteps making the landing crack and groan.
“Sorry?”
“What’s going on downstairs? You look worried.”