Page 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

SOLO

Leaving the clubhouse this morning without seeing Elsie and the kids left a shitty feeling in my gut, but I needed today to hunt that fucker down who dared threaten her and the kids.

Tracer and Shift are with me as we ride to the next town over to meet up with my untrustworthy contact. The fucker had better not piss me off today. I’m already in a shitty mood thanks to not seeing my girl, so he had better have what I want from him.

Last night, I slept like shit. It was like my body was waiting for Elsie to call, or the kids to need me. As soon as I woke up, I got my brothers out of bed and told them to follow me, leaving my newfound family with my blood family, knowing they will be taken care of.

We pull over at a local pub, but stay mounted on our bikes. I remove my helmet, and Tracer and Shift follow suit.

“Where are you meeting this guy?” Shift asks.

He came along because he is the club cleaner. He knows how to get blood out of anything and can dispose of a body in a matter of hours. Apparently, he used to follow his mum around when she was a cleaning lady for some mobster guy, so he knows about getting blood out of clothes.

“There’s a park close by. He said to meet him at the waterfall area in...” I check my watch, “an hour.”

“Good, we have time for food then. I am fucking starving since some fuck pulled me from my bed and a warm body at stupid o’clock this morning,” Tracer whines like a little bitch.

“I could eat,” Shifter says, shrugging.

“There is a café down the road a little bit. We can go there and get some grub while we wait to meet Chris.”

It doesn’t take us long to arrive at the café. I meant what I said, it was maybe four minutes’ ride away from where we stopped. We dismount and enter the food place. Some locals eye us warily, but the older lady behind the counter beams at us.

“Well fucking well, if it isn’t Kane Huskins. How is that sexy man of a father of yours?”

My smile is wide as I close the gap between me and Rhian. This woman likes to flirt like hell with my father when we come here for breakfast after a long run, or a shitty time with the club. It’s our thing. I just hope Pres doesn’t get pissed at me for bringing the brothers here.

“He’s as good as ever. Him and Nadine are still going strong, sorry.” I wink.

“Bollocks. Oh well, maybe when she kicks the bucket.” She grins at me.

“Come on, old girl, get us three full breakfasts, please, and three strong coffees.”

“You sit yourself down, boy, and less of the ‘old girl’.” She smacks my arse before walking away.

“How come we have never been here before?” Shift asks.

“It’s Pres’ favourite place to come for a full English breakfast. We come here when shit gets done. So you don’t say this to him when we get back to the clubhouse. This is for the Huskins’ only.”

They both chuckle and say nothing. Rhian brings us the heavy plates, and we dig in while planning how we are going to handle the little shit we are meeting.

“Mate, that was good. I feel like my gut is going to burst open,” Shift complains happily, rubbing his still flat stomach.

“We have got to come back here, brother.”

I grunt to Trace in a warning tone. “Find a different café, brother,” I warn, straddling my bike.

He holds his hands up in a surrender motion, grinning at me like a fool.

“I get it, you want to keep the good stuff for you and Pres. I see how it is.”

Once we’ve started our bikes, we ride for the meeting with my contact. He had fucking better be clean or I will wring his scrawny neck again.

The entire short ride there, I think about Elsie and the kids. What are they doing? Have they eaten breakfast yet?

Fucking hell... I shake my head at the thought that is lingering in my mind. I knew I wanted her from the second I saw her. Even black and blue, beaten to a pulp, she was still beautiful.

I saw what she was hiding.

We arrive at the destination and park our bikes, shutting off the engines. I remove my helmet and place it on the handlebars, knowing no fucker will ever fuck with Royal Bastards MC property.

Me and the boys walk through the park entrance and head to where I know the waterfall is located. My phone dings in my pocket, and I pull it out and open the message I just got from Una. I smile when I see what she has sent me.

It’s a photo of Elsie and the kids eating breakfast in the kitchen with my family. Everyone has a smile on their face and all look happy and comfortable.

“This fucker clean or what?” Shift asks as we walk.

I pocket my phone and answer him. “The last time we talked, yeah. I warned him that if he turned up high, I would kick his arse clean. He’s got a fucking young baby, and he spends their money on dope and other shit. I had to buy his woman nappies and milk for the baby, so he couldn’t take her money. I have told her to fucking leave the runt, but she has some sort of loyalty to him.”

I see a change in Tracer’s eyes as I talk about the young mother. He came from a shit home, where his dad would gamble their money away and leave both him and his mum starving for days at a time.

We arrive at the waterfall and I see the guy we are meeting pacing back and forth, biting his thumbnail.

Fucking cunt. I knew he would be high. This is a tell for him. He is agitated by the looks of it. His eyes meet mine as we get closer, and they widen when they see my brothers at my side.

“Solo, man, why you got to bring people with you?”

“Why is none of your business. Now, what do you have for me?” I growl.

“Whoa, man. Fuck, chill out, will you?” He sniffs, scratching his eyebrow.

“Speak.”

“Fuck, okay, man. The guy you wanted me to follow, well, I did. Then I fucking bolted when I saw who he works for.” He sniffs again, his eyes darting around the area.

Both Shift and Tracer leave my side, doing what they need to do: making sure no one disturbs us. They have my back in all situations, and I them.

“Who, Carl? Fucking hell, you are wasting my time.”

“Shit. I’m dead if they find out I ratted their name,” he says hurriedly.

I move forward, making him yelp, and grab the front of his jumper, pulling him to me. The smell on his breath makes my stomach roll, but I hold firm.

“WHO?” I bellow.

“Adrian Dyer.” The name makes my blood boil.

I have had run-ins with him in the past, back when he was a scrawny little runt when he joined the ranks of the Oxford drug ring. Now it seems the little cunt is running shit.

“He wants everything south of Oxford.” Carl sniffles, fear flashing in his eyes. “Your guy works for him. I heard him say that he wants some chick and her kids. Fuck, man, Dyer ain’t into that shit with kids and women, but Alan doesn’t care.”

I throw him to the floor, snarling at what I have just heard.

This cunt wants my woman and kids. Well, he has another thing coming, my fucking knife straight across his throat. No man, or anyone, will cause them harm anymore.

“This Alan bloke, is he a man of his word or what? Will he fucking go through with hurting my woman?” I snarl. His face blanches in fear, and I scoff at him.

“He’s a dick; he will do anything to make good with Dyer.” His voice trembles.

Shaking my head, I try to calm my boiling blood. My fists clench at my sides as I step forward. Before he can open his mouth to speak, I swing my fist, connecting directly with his jaw. He falls to the floor, screaming in pain and cursing up a storm.

“You bastard!”

“Thank you,” I chuckle as I tower over him.

“I told you what I know. Fucking hell, Solo, man. I got you what you wanted. Why you got to hit me like that? I thought we were tight.”

I laugh but there’s no fucking humour to the sound. Leaning down, his eyes spring wide with fear.

“We are nothing, fuckface. After today, and from what I have heard about the way you treat your girl, we are less than fucking nothing.” I look over my shoulder and give a chin lift to Tracer.

“He is all yours, brother.” I slap him on the back as I walk past, ignoring the way the little rat is calling my name. I hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh, followed by groans of pain, and I smile, knowing he is getting what he deserves.

“What did you hear about his girl?” Shift asks, catching up to me.

“He beat her. She fell and knocked the baby’s crib over. He is fucking lucky they are both fine. The old lady in the flat below them called the police.”

“Then he deserves everything he fucking gets, the rat cunt.” I nod in agreement as we sit on our bikes, waiting for Tracer to dole out his punishment.

It gives me time to think about Elsie and what she went through. No woman ever deserves the kind of shit she went through, and I can’t wait to show her that not all men are the same.