Page 63

Rachel

James was quiet the entire drive to Greasy, his mouth set in a thin line.

I didn’t bother making small talk. Out of all the members, he was probably the one I had spoken to the least – probably because of what Dante did to Malfoy.

Talking to the prospects had earned me nothing but trouble so far.

I had more or less avoided the other two.

Not that it would have done any use talking to him. Small talk seemed stupid after what we had just witnessed, and I didn’t know him well enough to ask him anything more in depth. It made for a tense car journey, both of us lost in thought.

He pulled the car into the space in front of Greasy, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed my own car next to us.

Jenna and Bee!

I raced inside, pushing open the door with more force than was needed, my eyes scanning the room. I ignored the shocked, almost panicked looks from the other innocent people who had just stopped off here because they were hungry, and looked for my daughter.

“Rachel!” Jenna called from one of the booths at the back, turning her head backwards as she was facing away from the door. I paused a moment, until a small head with raven black hair poked her head around Jenna’s waist, leaning over her legs and gave me a toothy grin.

I ran over, scooping Bee up into a tight hug, revelling in the feeling of her small arms wrapping around my neck.

“Hey, sweetie,” I breathed into her hair. “Are you okay? Let me see you,” I said, sitting her on the table so I could scan her. “Two arms, ten fingers, two legs… yep, everything looks in order,” I grinned, giving her a small tickle to her sides.

“Do you want something to eat?” Jenna asked, getting to her feet.

“No, thank you. ”

“I’m getting you a burger,” she said, walking over to the counter. My eyes followed her, and I jolted back with shock when I saw Beth behind the tills. Somehow, in all the chaos of the past few weeks, I had completely forgotten about Beth’s existence.

“Have you eaten?” I asked Bee, sliding into the seat Jenna had just vacated and pulling her next to me.

She nodded, curling up against my side. “I’m a bit sore,” Bee whispered. I snapped my gaze down to hers and away from Beth.

“Sore where?”

“My back.”

“Oh, sweetheart. I’m so sorry. I left your medicine behind.

Can I have a look?” She nodded again and allowed me to lift her top up so I could see the burns on her back.

I pulled the bandage off one of them and gently placed the back of my hand on one of them, noticing that it wasn’t warm.

“If you wait here a minute, I’ll go ask James if he can find somewhere that sells some medicine. Is that okay?”

“I can help,” Beth said softly, approaching the table with Jenna at her side. “We have plenty of Calpol in the back to take away the sting. She’s okay with Calpol, isn’t she?”

“I… yes. That would be amazing. Thank you.”

“Rachel… I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I asked, genuinely meaning that. She had nothing to be sorry for.

“For everything. For the way my sister acted towards you. For refusing to serve Dante and Vienna that time they turned up here. For almost… well… you know. With Dante. When you first arrived.”

I waved her worries away. “Honestly, Beth, you have nothing to be sorry about. That is water under the bridge. What happened, happened. There’s no reason we can’t be friends.”

“I’d like that,” she smiled softly.

“So when all… when everything is calm, you should come back around. I’m sure the club misses you.”

“I’d like that, too. I’ll go get the Calpol for you.”

“Thanks.”

She nodded and went away, leaving Jenna standing awkwardly. “I told her not to come over. ”

“No, it’s fine. She hasn’t done anything wrong. I don’t have any bad feelings towards her.”

“That’s a lie,” Jenna grinned, sliding into the booth to sit opposite me. “You have bad feelings towards everyone.”

“Ha, okay, well I don’t have any more towards her than I do anyone else.”

“That’s more like it.”

“What do you think he’s doing?” I inclined my head towards James, who hadn’t taken his phone away from his ear since he arrived.

“Waiting on news about…” she paused, looking at Bee, her face paling. “Well. Just news.”

“Things were calmer when I left. There weren’t many left.”

“Of them or…?”

“Them.”

Jenna looked stricken. “And Shark?”

“He was fine when I saw him. Well… Not fine but—”

“As fine as he can be. I get it.”

“The police are there,” James said, coming over to us and pocketing his phone.

“Well, at least that will put an end to things,” Jenna breathed, shooting a fake smile towards Beth, who was coming back over, Calpol in hand.

Beth looked back and forth between us, noticing the tightness in our faces and the immediate silence that fell over the table.

“Do you know what, Bee? This stuff is so good at taking away the pain, but it doesn’t taste the nicest. How about you and I go over to the bar and make our very own ice cream bowls?

You can put on whatever toppings you want, so long as you promise to drink all of this. How does that sound?”

“I want to stay with my mummy,” she said softly, clinging to my shirt.

“Your… mummy,” Beth paused, swallowing hard. I almost felt sorry for her. I knew she had dreamed of Bee calling her that. “Will be right here. And we’ll be able to see her from the bar. Come on, you know you love chocolate ice cream. I don’t want to eat it all by myself.”

“I’ll be right here, sweetheart,” I promised. Bee nodded, and I gently lifted her over my legs and placed her on her feet. Beth held a hand out to Bee, and I mouthed a silent “thank you” to Beth as she took her away .

“What do you know?” I demanded to James, not bothering to beat around the bush.

“Crash has been rushed to the hospital. They think the bullet lodged in his lung. Shawn is dead. Hacksaw was shot, but he’s okay. Vienna has a broken wrist. Sunshine has a minor head injury, and Shark managed to escape relatively unscathed.”

“Thank God,” Jenna breathed.

“What aren’t you telling us?” I eyed him suspiciously.

“Nothing.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He sighed. “Fine. I spoke to Tools. He said the police were arresting Hacksaw, Vienna, Shark and Dante.”

“What?” I shouted, then cringed as I remembered there were other people in here. “But they were defending themselves,” I said, lowering my voice so it was barely above a whisper.

“I’m guessing they’ve heard about the fire earlier.”

“Since when did the police take an interest in biker fires?” Jenna asked, a frown marring her face.

“Since biker crime rates have soared through the roof,” Officer Bradley said, making us all jump.

I spun around, watching him as he shrugged off his jacket. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, when the call came in to say there was an… incident,” he grinned as he passed some of the other diners.

“I left my colleagues to go to the Disciples grounds. I knew the ladies would make their way here whenever they got the chance. Figured it was the perfect opportunity to get your stories firsthand.”

“We have nothing to say,” Jenna replied, raking her eyes up and down his body with disdain.

“Shame. You never know what help someone will need when they’ve been arrested for murder.”

I caught Jenna’s eye and discreetly shook my head. She got the message: tell him nothing.

“You couldn’t possibly know what they’ve been charged with. More than likely, they’ve been placed in a cell whilst things calm down, and they’ll be released in the morning.”

“Quite the optimist, aren’t you?” He sneered at Jenna.

“This isn’t my first rodeo. ”

“I’m sure it isn’t,” he murmured, resting his hand on the back of my chair and drummed his fingers. “Do you mind if I have a little word with Rachel in private?”

“I mind very much,” James said.

“Whatever you need to say, it can be said in front of them.”

His smile tightened. “Five minutes. If you please.”

“Five minutes,” I repeated.

“Rachel—”

“I’m fine, James. Honestly. Go and sit with Bee.”

“I’ll be watching,” he warned, getting to his feet and holding his arm out, gesturing for Jenna to lead the way.

“What do you want?” I asked the second they were out of earshot.

Officer Bradley sat in Jenna’s seat, plucking a chip from my plate. “Do you want to tell me what happened at the club this evening?”

“If this is what you wanted to talk about, we may as well call them back now. It won’t take five minutes. I can sum it up for you in a second: I know nothing.”

“I know that you didn’t listen to my warning,” he said casually, reaching for another chip. I slapped his hand away, earning myself a small chuckle.

“What warning?”

“At the hospital,” he shrugged, as though it was obvious.

Jesus Christ, had it really only been a day since I saw him at the hospital?

Yesterday had been one of the best days of my life, getting to bring Bee home. And I had stupidly thought going back to the hospital and being told I was pregnant was the worst I would have to deal with today.

I sighed heavily before I responded to Officer Bradley. “It’s been a long day. Can you just get on with it?”

“I warned you all I’d be watching. And then a day later, what do we have? One club burnt to the ground, a shootout on another, and a whole bunch of dead bodies littered around.”

“It’s unfortunate. But it has nothing to do with me.”

“Mmm,” he said with a sly smirk. “Things have a habit of being nothing to do with you, don’t they?”

“Oh, for fuck's sake,” I hissed, rolling my eyes. “Not this again.”

“Yes. This again. You see, after your little threat— ”

“Wasn’t a threat.”

“After your little threat,” he continued, as though I hadn’t spoken. “I decided to look into your case a bit more. It’s a fascinating one. Tell me, do you know anything about defensive wounds?”

“Why should I?”

“Well, you were a witness to your dad murdering Alex, were you not?”

“You’ve read the files. You tell me.”