Page 86 of Indie

“In his own stupid way, he thought he was protecting me. I just wished he’d thought about that before all the women. I couldn’t stay in the club after that, knowing that the next one who walked through the doors might end up in our bed. I don’t think he could help it. If we’d been normal, I could have just walked away, instead I had to be partially hidden so that those enemies he’d made wouldn’t come after me too.”

I stayed silent too long after that.

“If you’re going to bring Emmie and the kids into this, just make sure there are no more wars. It’s up to you to change things now, Indie. The club doesn’t have to be run the way the Carters always did.”

I wished she was right. But the way the club was run was the least of my worries. We needed to avoid being wiped out by the Bloody Hand first. If we disbanded the club, we were still targets, and while we were the Kings, we still had an army.

****

The last few days in the cottage hidden away on an island were surreal. We talked and reminisced and I spent two hours stood outside, an icy sea wind whipping around us as I passed her brushes so she could capture the anger of the waves attacking the outcrop of rock on which Lindisfarne Castle stood. I was ready to get back to normal now, or at least as close to it as I could get.

The fire in the log burner crackled gently, filling the little lounge with a swell of heat. The soft low lighting glowed a delicate orange, the flowery chintz of the tasselled lampshade in the corner casting animated shadows around the space. I could see why she loved this cottage and the island, locked away from everyone, trapped by the sea.

My phone rang, a noise I’d not heard for nearly two days, the shrill music out of place in the idyllic cottage. Emmie. I smiled and pressed the button.

“Hey Spuggy.”

Silence.

No, not quite silence. There was background noise.

“Emmie?”

I strained my ears. The background noise was a voice. A male voice, one I didn’t recognise. I couldn’t quite make out the words. It sounded like something said through gritted teeth. But I could make out the next noise.

“Please.” Emmie. It was her voice, strained and frightened. I only needed one word to hear it.

And then she shouted out, half scream, half wail.

“What is it, Indie?”

“When does the tide go out?” I asked my mam, knowing she recognised the look on my face, one she had seen before.

“Not till the early hours.”

Fuck.

And down the phone, I heard her cry again.

Chapter Thirty Nine

The door burst open as soon as I’d unlocked it, throwing me backwards, nearly knocking me off my feet, but not quite. There were three of them, but it was the one at the front with the dark hair and cold blue eyes that I noticed the most. The same eyes as Luke and Lily.

“Where are my kids?” he grunted, pushing past me, the two others following and shutting the door behind them.

“What are you doing here, Gaz?”

“I’ve come for my kids.”

“What? Why?”

“They’re coming with me.”

“No. Why?”

“Because you and me need a little chat. And I know you don’t want them to hear that. Now if you wouldn’t mind getting the kids.”

Beside me Daisy grumbled a low warning, the two men that Gaz was with glancing at her and muttering between themselves. I patted her on the head and then went upstairs, gently waking Luke first.