Page 48

Rachel

“Where would you like to go first?” I asked Bee as we went outside.

It had taken us over ninety minutes to get ready.

First Bee wanted to change her shoes, dragging me upstairs to her bedroom.

Then she had shown me all the teddies she had and introduced me to them one by one.

Then she wanted to have a quick tea party with one of her dolls.

When I finally got her back downstairs, she got distracted by something on the TV, and then had wanted another snack.

I was exhausted already, but she was practically jumping on the spot with her excitement to get going.

We had packed a picnic to eat somewhere.

It had taken us so long; we were almost at lunchtime by the time we set off.

“The park!” She all but shouted, grabbing my hand and dragging me along before I even had a chance to respond.

“You don’t need to drag me, Bee!” I laughed. “You’re in charge today. If you want to go to the park, then the park it shall be. Although I thought you wanted to show me around.”

“I’ll point things out,” she said, still tugging on my hand.

“Lead the way.”

“At least you don’t have to worry about getting dirty playing in the park. Nanny is always mad when I come home dirty,” she said, looking me up and down.

She wasn’t wrong.

Since my clothes still hadn’t arrived from America, I was left with no choice but to wear the same hideous clothing I had worn to my mother’s house.

They stank of smoke, but there wasn’t a chance I was about to ask Kitty if I could wear something of hers.

I’d rather empty a room with my stench than ask her to spit on me if I was on fire.

I was self-conscious as we walked along, though, aware of the image I presented. I had spent so long meticulously planning every last detail of my appearance, dressing my body in expensive clothes and manicured nails. It was a shock to the system to be dressed so grungy.

Bee didn’t have a care in the world, and definitely didn’t share any of my worries as she happily skipped along beside me, pointing out this person, or this place, and everyone gave a friendly wave back, and then frowned when they saw me with her.

I knew there was a lot of interest in me. Everyone knew who I was, but since I hadn’t been formally introduced, all they could do was guess what mine and Dante’s relationship was like, and how long I would be here for.

The majority of them had been in the pub the night I arrived, but even I knew that the brief glimpse of me didn’t give much away. They knew I was Dante’s old lady – or meant to be; I corrected myself. But outside of that, all they could do was speculate.

Keep them guessing as far as I was concerned. I had no intentions of satisfying their curiosity.

Just like Dante, they’d soon learn I wasn’t going to play along with whatever made up rules they had.

I waved back with a big smile on my face, taking a petty delight in the frowns and uncomfortable expressions I got in return. No doubt they had heard stories about me – places like this always had an impeccable gossip mill, and I knew for a fact I would be the number one hot topic.

“Hey look!” Bee exclaimed. “There’s Shark! Shark!” she shouted at a young-looking man. He stopped and waved back, changing direction to walk towards us.

“Who is he?”

“He’s my daddy’s friend. He has the best cheeses!”

“Cheeses?” I questioned, but she didn’t answer. Instead, she went charging forward to throw herself into Shark’s outstretched arms.

“There’s my favourite mini biker!” He said, bringing her in for a huge hug. “What are you doing out without your nanny?”

“I’m with Rachel!” she said happily, pointing an almost accusatory finger at me. Shark did a double take, seeming to notice me for the first time.

It’s the fucking clothes, Rachel. You’re a far cry from the pretty girl in the beautiful grey dress from a few days ago!

That much was true. It wasn’t even the clothes.

I had changed. My lips were still cut, there were bruises on my face, my hands were cut to shreds.

There were bite marks on my neck from Dante, and my back was still torn to pieces.

Not that he could see that, but it did make me walk more stiff and awkward.

There were shadows under my eyes. My hair was a mess, and I could still hear the hoarseness in my voice when I spoke from the smoke.

“Nice to officially meet you, Rachel.”

“I’ll reserve judgement,” I murmured back.

“Charming,” he grinned back good-naturedly.

“You know Dante, right?” I smiled softly back. “If he’s the precedent of what to expect from you people, I’m approaching everyone with caution.”

“Dante isn’t so bad once you get to know him.”

“So people keep telling me,” I said bitterly. “I believe in first impressions.”

“Fair enough. I believe you might have seen my old lady, Jenna?” he asked, changing the topic. “She works at the bar.”

“I might have. It’s been a busy few days,” I replied with a twist of my lips.

“You could say that again. I’ll take you to meet her now, if you want?

It would be nice for her to have some female friends for a change.

” His eyes flicked to my hair and the outfit I was wearing, and I knew what he was offering.

Jenna might be able to help out with some clothes.

At the very least, she might have a brush for me.

“We’re going to the park!” Bee said, almost stamping her foot in frustration.

“We’re going to the park,” I repeated.

“I’ll come with you,” he said quickly. “Maybe Jenna can meet us there.” Then again, maybe I was wrong about the hairbrush. I eyed him suspiciously, alarm bells ringing.

“No, it’s okay—”

“Yes!” Bee grinned. “Will you teach me to do the monkey bars again? I can do it this time, I promise!”

“Sure thing, little Bee.”

I frowned at him as Bee rushed forward and he began walking with us, always a step behind me.

“Either you’re checking out my ass, or you’re about to murder me. I’ve seen the documentaries.”

He gave me a tight grin.

“You know I have permission to be with her, right?” I almost kicked myself. Why did I feel as though I had to explain to this man? But I couldn’t stop the blaring alarms ringing in my head. Something wasn’t right here.

“I’m sure you do. She’s got quite the family around her. I know they wouldn’t have let her out of their sight if they didn’t know exactly where she was going.”

“Right… so why are you playing bodyguard?”

“Because if I know Dante, he’ll be looking for you when he’s finished with club business. Once he finds out you’re not at base, he’ll start searching. I don’t want Bee upset when her park trip ends early. I’ll stay with her whilst you sort things out with the boss.”

“Look,” I said, stopping dead in my tracks. “I’m not sure what you’ve heard—”

“I’ve not heard a thing.” He mumbled, refusing to make eye contact or even look my way.

“Sure you haven’t. That’s why you’re acting as though if you step too close to me you’ll catch Ebola. I know you had… what the fuck do you guys call it? Church?”

He nodded.

“Right. I caught Macbeth on his way there, so I know you’ve seen Dante. Which means I’m guessing he told you about Mal…Noob. You’re a shitty liar, Shark. Has he told you to follow me?”

“Bee is waiting,” he said, trying to continue walking, but my hand reached out and snatched his arm before he could go anywhere.

“You’re not moving until you tell me what the problem is and why Dante has sent his spies after me.”

“I don’t have a problem and he hasn’t.”

“Are you always this evasive, then? Because you’re giving off the vibe of a man who has something to hide.”

“Rachel… For the sake of honesty, I’ll admit I know you burnt his clothes, but that’s it.

Nothing more, nothing less. He has club business to attend to, and I don’t.

I figured I’d go and see Jenna, and then get some work done.

I happened to bump into you, and here we are.

That’s it. You don’t always have to think so suspiciously of him.

You could try being nicer to him, you know? ”

“And make things easier on Dante? Not a chance. What’s the worst that could happen? He’ll burn my house down? Oh… wait… Hey, were you there?” I asked.

“I’m a member of this club. Do you really have to ask?”

“Well then. You see why I don’t want to be nice to him. What can happen that’s worse than my mother losing her entire home?”

Shark looked as though he had a very good idea of what Dante was capable at his worst, but if he had any specifics, he didn’t elaborate.

“I’d really rather take you back to the pub, Rachel. I don’t think the park is a good idea.”

“I’m not going back to the pub. I promised Bee and I keep my promises. You either follow, or you don’t. Either way, we’re going.”

“I’m leaving the second Dante arrives. I have enough arguments at home,” He mumbled again, looking back down at the floor, and heading towards where Bee was waiting to cross the road.

“So me and Dante will be arguing then? So he is in a bad mood?” I shouted after him with a laugh, but he didn’t answer me.

I hurried to catch up with him, and once I had held Bee’s hand over the crossing, I tried again to draw him into conversation.

“What’s the deal here? Why are you so scared of Dante? Aren’t you both members of the same club?”

“Dante isn’t a member. He’s the VP.”

“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

“So you can see why he’d have an issue with me discussing him behind his back with his new old lady? I don’t want to look like I’m playing happy families with you. I know what happened to the last bloke.”

“Happy families? By taking his daughter to the park? You people need to get out more, you take things way too seriously. Am I just supposed to never speak to anyone again without a chaperone?”

“If you know what’s good for you, you won’t. Not until you’ve been formally introduced to everyone.”