Page 21

Rachel

I woke, still snuggled up to Dante’s chest. His fingers were absentmindedly drawing circles on my back as he stared into the distance.

“You’re very quiet. I know you’re awake,” he murmured, pressing a kiss into my hair.

“How long was I asleep for?” I asked, clearing my throat.

“About an hour.”

I grew quiet again.

It was after midnight. Which meant the day was over. We were passed it. We were both okay.

“You’re quiet again. I don’t trust you when you’re quiet.”

“Funny you should say that” I smiled. “Because I don’t trust us when we’re talking. Quiet keeps the peace.”

“Quiet means you’re plotting.”

“You’re also quiet.”

“I’m just thinking.”

“About what?” I asked, lifting my body up so that I could look at his face. I rested my head on my elbow and waited for him to start talking. “Dante?”

“I’m tired, Rachel, that’s all.”

“It’s been a hell of a day.”

“You can say that again,” he chuckled softly.

“Why didn’t you sleep whilst I slept?”

“You think I could sleep after what’s happened?”

“Have you even tried?”

“Barely half a day ago, I was throwing you out of the club and telling you to go away with your mother. Do you know, when I was tied up in that basement, all I could think about was you and your safety? I would never have forgiven myself if something bad had happened to you. I can’t sleep because all I can think about are the what ifs. ”

“That’s a dangerous game to play. What ifs aren’t important, and you’re stressing over events that have already happened, and can’t be changed. There’s no room for rewriting history just to appease the guilt.”

“Rachel, you could have been seriously hurt—”

“And yet I wasn’t. So why are you thinking about it? And even if I was, it wouldn’t have been your fault. You’re not to blame for Macbeth’s actions.”

“But I’m to blame for bringing you here to begin with. You had a perfectly fine life before I came crashing into it. I put you in danger.”

“It wasn’t a fine life. I was existing. I wasn’t living. I’m living now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I said softly, before taking a deep breath. “And I do want to be here.”

He stayed silent, but I could tell by the look in his eyes he didn’t believe me.

“Hey,” I snapped, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at me. “When you were gone, all I could think about was your safety. Ask anyone here. I even punched Hacksaw in the face for annoying me.”

He frowned. “What did he do to deserve to be punched?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Rachel…” he said, a warning note in his voice.

“I’m not going to tell you, because you’ll slip into your caveman role and go attacking him.

We were all tense. Tempers were flaring.

It wasn’t a big deal. I handled it, and then Vienna told us all off.

The point is, all I could think about at that moment was your safety.

It took almost losing you to realise that I’d be devastated if you weren’t here.

It’s never really something I thought about before.

I just always assumed you would be haunting me for the rest of my life.

It was a wake-up call to realise how fragile all of this is. ”

“So, does that mean you’re staying?”

“About that…” I paused, sighing heavily. “It also reinforced what I already knew. This place, this life… it’s dangerous. For me, you, Bee… I don’t know if I want to stay around this sort of life. ”

His arm tightened around my waist. “It wasn’t just a wakeup call for you. Trust me. I will never let anything happen to you, Rachel. I will keep you safe. You have my word on that.”

“But—”

“No. No buts. Please. I don’t want this to turn into an argument.”

“And I don’t want to be silenced and ignored because we can’t communicate properly.

” I sat up and looked down at him, pulling the sheet up to cover my naked chest. “I’m not asking you to leave the club, Dante.

I could never ask that of you. I know how much it means to you.

But I am asking you to listen to me and really hear the words I’m saying.

I have a bad feeling. Something is coming, and it’s going to devastate all of us. I just know it.”

“So, what is it you’re asking? If you don’t want me to leave the club, but you also don’t want to be around…”

“Maybe we could leave temporarily?” I asked, a small flicker of hope sparking in my stomach. I already knew the answer, I knew it was impossible, but I had to ask anyway.

He shook his head. “I can’t do that, and I think, deep down, you know that. I’m the vice president. I can’t leave whenever things get bad. What sort of leader would that make me?”

“But you admit that things are bad?”

“They’re… difficult. But listen, we’re prepared.

We know this isn’t the end of it, especially with Macbeth still out there plotting away.

I need to clear things with Crash before I can tell you anything, but with Macbeth under the protection of the Rough Riders, we have to be careful how we play this.

We don’t want war with them any more than they want war with us, but it doesn’t mean it’s not an option. ”

“And what will that mean for the club?” I asked, a frown deepening my brow.

“Hey,” he said, sitting up himself and resting his forehead against mine. “It’s not your job to worry about any of this.” He cupped my face and placed a gentle kiss against my lips. “Listen to me, Rachel. Don’t let any of this club business worry you. You are safe.”

“Okay, who are you, and what have you done with the real Dante?” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

“You must bring out the best in me.”

“Well, I don’t like it. I prefer the big, bad kidnapping wolf. ”

“If you’re up for a bit of role play, I don’t mind staging another kidnap. Just say the word.” he grinned at me.

“I’m good, thanks. My wrists still hurt from being tied up the first time. Speaking of kidnapping, though, can I ask you a question about your motives without you biting my head off?”

“It depends on the question.”

“Nah, I’m not having that. It’s either a yes or a no. I just want to clear something up. Please, Dante.”

“Fine.”

“I just want to know why you did it. And yes,” I said quickly as he opened his mouth to interrupt. “I’ve heard all about wanting a mother for Bee, but that doesn’t make sense. You barely spend any time with Bee. Your mother has been raising her. Why did you need someone else?”

“You think I don’t spend much time with her?” He asked, his head pulling back as shock flared into his eyes.

“I don’t think either of us spends as much time with her as we should do.

There’s been a lot going on, and it’s easier to keep her with your mother than risk her seeing or hearing things she shouldn’t.

But I’m new here. This is your life all the time.

You’re always busy, and when you take over as President, you’re going to be even busier. ”

“So that sort of answers your own question. I’ve always wanted Bee to have a more permanent mother figure in her life.

You were right when you lashed out at me and said it wasn’t fair for my mother to be raising her.

It’s not and never has been. But it was convenient.

It was never meant to be a forever thing.

You know what time is like. It has a habit of flying by, and before you know it, years have passed in the blink of an eye.

There was never any doubt that I’d have another old lady in the future, and I swore to myself I’d bring someone home to take on a motherly role for Bee.

Someone who would be a good influence in her life, especially as I bring a lot of darkness and bad with me.

I wanted my old lady to bring stability. ”

“Wow, you must be really disappointed in me then.”

“Not even a little,” he said firmly. “You’re not what I expected at all, and yet I wouldn’t change a single thing. Even if you can start an argument in an empty room.”

I laughed at him and swatted his arm. “You want the same treatment as Hacksaw? Because these fists have got a few punches left in them tonight. ”

“I’ll pass,” he smiled before frowning at me.

“You know, you’re right. I need to spend more time with Bee.

She’ll be a teenager before we know it. How about this?

Once a week, no matter what is happening in the club, no matter what other obligations we have, we promise that we take her out for a day of fun.

Once a week, just me, you, and Bee. I’ll make an effort to do more with her through the days, even if it’s just helping her with that god-awful homework. ”

“That’s another thing I wanted to ask. Why doesn’t she go to school? I know I’ve asked before, but—”

“She does go to school. Technically. She’s remote learning, I think they call it.

The teachers send work home, and we have a meeting every couple of months to discuss her progress.

She attended school for the first few weeks, but it didn’t suit any of us.

She doesn’t have a normal childhood – you’ve seen that for yourself.

Those early mornings weren’t helping her at all.

She does the same work as all the other children, but just on her own time.

So, I guess she is technically home-schooled, just not in the traditional sense. ”

“How did I not know any of this? I spent two weeks helping homeschool her, and your mother never said a word.”

“Probably because you’ve spent your entire time here insulting my mother,” he laughed. “She was probably trying to impress you by letting you think she arranged all the work herself.”

“You still should have told me.”

“You’re right, but in my defence, it never occurred to me. I just assumed you would either figure it out, or my mother would tell you once you started taking over as Bee’s main caregiver. We suck at this communication thing, don’t we?”

“We’re not the worst,” I said with a tight smile.

“So, speaking of withholding information, why didn’t you tell me about Callum?”

“Callum?” I asked in surprise. “Why would I tell you about Callum?”

“Well, you told me about Alex and—”

I interrupted him by shaking my head. “I don’t…

No, Callum was never involved with Alex.

This is a very new thing. I mean, I saw him a handful of times when he was hanging around Alex’s club, but I always got the impression that Alex scared him.

He never showed any interest in anything that they we re doing.

I never even saw him speak to any of the girls.

That includes both the girls that were groomed, and the girls working for the club.

He didn’t seem to have a lot of patience for anyone and had this nasty sneer that said he was above all of us, and we could all rot in hell.

He said all of five words to me in those years I was around.

Alex and Ben used to constantly take the piss out of him because he was so focused on college and university.

They would brag that they had all this money, without a qualification between them, and that Callum was wasting his time. ”

“So, what do you think brought about the change of heart?”

“His parents, probably,” I said with a shrug. “That family has watched one too many movies. They think they’re the leading mafia gang of Britain. I’m guessing they’ve filled his head with thoughts of retribution and vengeance.”

“How much of a problem are his parents going to be when they find out we’ve got Callum locked in the garage?”

“I’ve no idea,” I said, raising one of my shoulders.

“My mother told me that they had some trouble, which is why they’ve all moved away.

I can’t see them all coming back. They’re powerful in the small corner they network in, but that small corner is also full of people who wouldn’t hesitate to sell them out the minute they stepped foot on British soil.

And they would know the second that happened, too.

These people treat their best friends like their enemies – usually because they are, so they’re watching their every move, constantly.

” I paused for a second and then asked, “Why? Were you planning on telling them?”

“Why wouldn’t I? It serves as a warning in case any of them get any dumb ideas and come looking for him.”

“In that case, I’d say they’re probably going to cause a lot of trouble.

They know some evil men. Men who won’t hesitate to jump into a fight if it means they can see some bloodshed.

But it’s also easy to betray them. You just find the next loser family looking to be powerful. There’s no loyalty there.”

“Right. I’ll see what Hacksaw can find on them.

But just to be safe, we prepare for an attack from both sides.

The Riders and Alex’s family. I need you to think and try to remember everything you possibly can about them.

I can get Hacksaw to do whatever it is he does on the laptop and find some stuff out, but it would be nice if you could give us some insider information, too.

The more knowledge we’re armed with, the better we’re able to protect ourselves. ”

I nodded my agreement but stayed quiet and chewed on my lower lip as I thought about our situation.

It seemed we had a new fight coming from all angles, and it was honestly exhausting.

I knew this wouldn’t be forever, and we just had to get through the current blip, but how much damage would be done before this blip was over, and what repercussions were waiting for us?

Dante almost seemed blind to the fact that there were a lot of enemies after us right now.

He wanted to continue life as normal. On one hand, he’s saying to be prepared, and on the other, he was talking about taking Bee for days out.

As much as I wanted to continue life as normal and explore this new phase in mine and Dante’s relationship, I could think of nothing other than the danger that was waiting for us.

Visions started plaguing me of all the ways the club could be hurt, of who would be the fallen ones when all this was said and done. It was an unspoken truth that not everyone could or would survive this latest battle.

Dante smiled at me, and I beamed back at him, putting just enough of my mask in place that he wouldn’t see the dark thoughts lingering beneath the surface. He seemed satisfied with my smile, and pulled us both back down to the mattress, wrapping his arms around me, keeping me close.

Was there a chance I was going to lose him? Did our relationship have an expiration date, before it had even really begun?

It was a terrifying thought, and one I didn’t want to entertain any longer. This is why I hated to let my guard down and let anyone in. You started relying on their presence for your own happiness, and in this world, Dante’s world, that was a dangerous way to live.