Biker Faith (12 page)

Lincoln isn’t a small guy and has over fifty years of experience in handling himself but
Cas has youth on his side and Lincoln knows this.

“It was disrespectful,
after Michael fucked us over. The least you could do was show ya fuckin’ face. Our clubs have looked out for each other for over twenty years Cas, a little loyalty from the new president shouldn’t be too much to fuckin’ ask for,” he says, and spits to the ground near his boots.

“Whoever I send is loyalty.
I trust my brothers with any deal to make in my place. I’m sure you’ve heard I run things a little differently to Michael. Our business together is important to me and I intend to uphold our arrangement and raise your cut back to the normal fee,” Cas tells him, exactly like Oak told him a couple of weeks ago.

“We’ve hear
d you’re goin’ soft, preachin’ you don’t want violence since your girl got taken,” one of the new faces said.

Lincoln shot him a glare but it was too late, his opinion was spoken.

Cas turned to him and sized him up.

“W
ho’s this fuckin’ idiot Linc?” he asked.

“Newbie, just made the cut last week
.”

As
Cas stepped up to him, newbie stood tall and braced himself.

“Where did you hear I’m
goin’ soft? In fact, where did you hear you could speak to me?” Cas sneered.

From this angle my brothers and I could see
Cas flexing his hand. In the next moment, he landed a solid right to newbie’s jaw and he was on the floor. One sharp kick to his stomach and Cas was satisfied. He turned back to Lincoln and asked, “That soft enough for you Linc?”

“You’ve made your point, let’s get on with it
,” Linc grunted, nodding for his boys to get newbie up off the ground.

“I’m not here to waste my fuckin’ time, I respect you and I want our business
together to return to normal. If you keep fuckin’ us around, I’ll bang up a new charter in your town and squash your club into the ground,” Cas said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Let’s not be hasty about this
Cas, I’m here to sort this too. The money we used to make with you puts food on our fuckin’ tables. Recently the money don’t go too fuckin’ far.”

“What do you want from us
Linc? Tell me, if it’s reasonable I’ll agree,” Cas tells him.

“We want an extra ten per cent per run to make up for loss of earnings on previous runs
,” he said.

“Done. But, that only lasts for twelve months
, after that your cut is back down to five per cent,” Cas warned.

It was a good deal. I
t was always going to hit us financially but we need their club on the runs otherwise it’s a lot more fucking around for us.

“We can live with that
.”

They both shake hands and both clubs return to their bikes. Apart from newbie get
ting cocky, the meet went well until Cas draws his gun and aims it at the newbie.

“What the fuck Cas?”
Linc yelled when he saw what was happening. Newbie, who was on his bike shot up and off in an instant.

“Just
wanna make sure we all know where we stand. I ain’t fuckin’ soft. Your boy is partly right, I don’t want violence if it can be avoided but don’t fuckin’ underestimate me or my club. If needs be, we’ll take any cunt out. You get me?” Cas asks, making sure his point is delivered home loud and clear.

“We get you
Cas, now put that fuckin’ thing down,” Linc roared.

“Good. Now, as planned we’ll see you next week
,” Cas finished.

This time, everyone made it to their bikes without guns on them.

“Let’s go home brothers,” he said, starting his bike and pulling out in front first with everyone following respectively.

Chapter Twelve

Bonnie...

I didn’t think I would be back so soon or at all. Here I am, back in Willows Peak. For a good reason. Now that I am pregnant, I have to take responsibility over myself and my unborn child. Being on my own over the last few weeks, I feel like a different person, or maybe this is just who I am without anyone’s influence over me. I am emotionally stronger. I am in charge of my own life now and I intend for it to stay this way. Four days, with sleep breaks, it has taken me to drive back here and I am exhausted and the morning sickness I read about is kicking in.

“Hello
.”

Alannah picks up on the fourth ring
, sounding bored.

“Hey, how are you?” I ask her.

“Bonnie? Hi, I’m okay, a little tired but good,” she says.

“How are you?
” she asks in return.

“I’m doing
good. I was wondering if you wanted to get a coffee with me?”

“Huh? Where are you?
” she asks in confusion.

“I’m in Hanks Diner
,” I laugh.

“You’re
back!” she squeals.

“Shh, keep it down. Don’t tell anyone I’m here, especially Sparky
.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be there in twenty minutes
.”

A few moments later, I hear
Cas ask where she is going and I hear the lie she tells him of going to the store.

“I’m leaving now, I’ll see you soon
.”

“Okay
.”

I hang up and order another coffee, hoping this time I will be able to drink it without bringing it back up.

Exactly twenty minutes later, my best friend walks into the diner. When she spots me, she grins and walks over.

“I like what you’ve done to your hair
,” she says, sliding into the booth opposite me.

“Thanks, it’s a fuck you to my father. He never let me dye it so I thought why not now
,” I smile.

During one of my exploration days I came across a little salon and decided to have a few
red streaks put through it and I love the way it shimmers against my dark hair in the sun.

“It really suits you, although the
‘I’m-about-to-throw-up look’ doesn’t have the same effect,” she laughs.

“That would be the morning sickness
,” I say, quietly looking around to make sure no one overhears.

“You’re pregnant!
” she shouts.

“Keep it down will
ya. You’re the first person I’ve told. I don’t want Sparky finding out through someone else,” I tell her.

“So you’re planning on telling him then?”

“Of course I am. It’s why I’ve come back here. I’ll give him the choice to be a father. If he wants to be involved he can be, if not I’ll do it by myself.”

“Don’t forget you have me too
,” she smiles.

“I know. Thank you. How is he?”

She looks uncomfortable, making me feel like she is keeping something from me.

“Alannah, tell me. Has anything happened?”

“Calm down, nothing has happened but Sparky hasn’t been himself since you left. He’s sober a lot more these days but he isn’t the same as he was,” she says.

“That ca
n’t be because of me,” I say, getting angry.

Why is he moping around because I left? He was the one who stormed off to anot
her woman and left me on my own, watching.

“It
has everything to do with you. Now you’re back and pregnant with his baby, you can both sort this shit out,” she says, while waving her hand to get a waitress’ attention.

“You have it all wrong, I’m not here for Sparky. Like I said, if he wants to be a daddy, he can be in the little o
nes life, I won’t stop him. I don’t want him in my life though” I tell her.

Her mouth falls open and she is left speechless.

Not that I would admit it to her or anyone. In an ideal world I would love nothing more than to be a couple with Sparky, having our first baby, buy a house somewhere and be happy. But, we’re not living in an ideal world and to save myself from his world I can, and will, stay away from him.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?
” she stammers.

“Yes, I’ve done nothing but think for days now and I’m not putting up with crap anymore
.”

“Good for you
.” Her phone rings and she presses reject, “It’s Cas, he’s probably wondering why I’m not back from the store yet.”

“You should go.
I just wanted to see you. Please don’t tell Sparky, I want to tell him myself.”

“Your secret is safe with me
,” she promised, as her phone rang once more. Again she rejected the call, then put it on silent. I would have got hurt if I did that when I was with the Ghost Riders. Alannah will probably get shouted out because Cas was worried about her, then they’ll make up and all will be forgotten.

“Where are you going to stay?
” she asks, throwing her phone in her bag.

“I’m going to book into the motel for now and start looking for somewhere more permanent tomorrow
.”

“That’s no good
,” she frowns. “You can stay at the cabin if you like? No one will know you’re there,” she offers.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am. We should get out of here, unless you want word getting back to Sparky you’re in town?”

I didn’t think about that.

“Come on, we’ll stop by the store and get some groceries. You can follow me up after.”

I leave cash on the table and we head out into the midday sun.

We drive for around forty-five minutes
as I follow behind Alannah to the cabin. It is beautiful. I fall in love with the place instantly. She is right, there is no one else around for miles.

Completely private and perfect.

Both of us get out of the cars and begin grabbing the grocery bags.

“It will probably need a clean and airing as it’s been shut up since…”

I immediately know this is the infamous cabin my father took Alannah from.

She finds a certain key on her chain and opens the door.
I follow up the steps to where she’s frozen in place.

She is looking d
own at the floor in the hallway. I hear her breathing rapidly then it forms into gasps, and she drops the bags to the floor and steps back.

“Hey, it’s okay. You should go, I’ll be fine from here
,” I tell her, stepping into her line of focus blocking the sight in front of her.

“I’m sorry, I can’t go in. T
hat’s where your father beat Billy…” she choked off and wiped her eyes.

I couldn’t hate my father any more than I already do watching my friend in pain because of him and his actions.

“Go on, get out of here,” I tell her again, and she listens.

She retreats back to her car and shuts the door. She looks once more at the cabin and starts the engine.

I wave lightly as she drives away. I wish there is something I could do to make it up to her but the scars he left her with are as permanent as mine. 

Taking the bags into the cabin, I set about putting the shopping away. Alannah was wrong,
someone has been here lately. It smells like bleach and polish throughout.

So, this is where I would have been if I made it out the night the Lost Souls blew up my father’s clubhouse? I take a tour of the place on my own and relax as I see as I have everything I need here and more importantly, there is a luxurious tub in the bathroom for me to take advantage of.

Turning on the taps and adding bubbles that are already here, my morning or rather all day sickness hits me like a bolt out of the blue and I make it to the toilet just in time to bring up the coffee I had in the diner.

Sparky...

Pulling on my cut and tying
my boots up, I make a quick getaway from Jilly. She is perfect to come back to after a long run as we had just been on but I am not interested in her post sex chatter. Cas’s message was well received, we had no trouble from Lincoln or his boys.

With no work scheduled, the run done and dusted and
my sexual needs tended to by the always willing Jilly, I only have one more need and that is too get wasted.

Last w
eek I put a ban on myself thinking about Bonnie. So now I tend to drink a bit more to make sure I stick to it…getting wasted makes it easier.

A phone being thrown against the wall gets my attention and I swivel on the bar stool to see what is going on.

Cas is fuming, yelling for someone to get him another phone. One of the prospects hand him theirs and he punches in a number. Must be the same response as before because whatever is going on, he throws the prospect’s phone at the same wall and it shatters to the floor.

“What’s
goin’ on Cas?” I ask, before he demands another phone to smash.

“Alannah took off earlier and now she
ain’t answerin’ her phone. Slade picked up her signal at the cabin,” he said, through gritted teeth.

Oh. This is not good. She has not been back there since it all kicked off a few months ago.

“What the fuck is she doin’ there?” I ask.

“That’s what I want to know.
Slade says her tracker is flashing back on its way here and she sure as shit is fuckin’ explainin’ herself,” he continues to yell.

“I’m sure she has a good reason to go there, you know how she feels about the place now
,” I say, trying to calm him down before Barbie walks back into this.

“Exactly, so why has she gone there? Do me a favour broth
er, can you ride out and see if…”

He’s cut off by Alannah herself walking through the door. She looks completely innocent and stops mid step when she sees all of us watching her.

“What?” she asks.

“Where have you been?”
Cas asks.

“I told you, I went to the store
,” she replies.

Oh, her lying is not good.

“Oh yeah, what did you buy?” he asks, allowing her to dig her own hole a bit bigger.

“About that, I got all the way to the store and realised I forgot my purse
,” she laughs.

I’m silently begging her to stop lying. She’s about to see a darker side to
Cas and between the two of them, I will step in for Barbie.

Cas
walks over to her and opens her bag, it doesn’t take long before he produces her purse and holds up in her face.

“We’re at the lying stage of our relationship already
babe?” he asks, slightly louder than before. “I know you’ve been to the cabin,” he growls.

She looks to me and back to
Cas.

“Let me guess, Slade?
” she mutters, turning her glare to him at the bar.

He shrinks back and holds his hands up in surrender.

“I told you not to track me Cas.”

“I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t lie to me
,” he argues.

Her eyes continually
flick to mine and back to Cas. If she is looking to me for help, she’s on her own. I agree with Cas knowing where she is, it keeps her safe.

“I didn’t l
ie, I did go to the store. I…” she looks at me again. It is starting to make me uncomfortable.

“What do you keep
lookin’ at him for?” Cas asks.

“
Don’t talk to me like this, I’m not lying. I drove to the cabin out of habit, I got there, sat in the car then turned round and came home. That’s it,” she shouts.

Habit? What fucking habit?

She storms across the bar and heads up the stairs, leaving Cas watching her ass disappear. It is taking everything in him not to follow and carry on arguing. He may love her to the point of insanity but not knowing where she was brings back the painful memories he wants dead and buried.

“Want me to go check it out?” I ask him.

I don’t mind, it will waste a couple of hours and I want to know myself what is going on with Barbie.

“Yea
. Something’s goin’ on with her and I’m hardly gonna get the truth out of her now,” he groans, disappearing up to their room.

I’m about to leave when I run in to Kitty. I haven’t seen her since before Michael got taken out. When
Cas told her Michael had been killed she didn’t take it well. Barbie hasn’t dwelled on it because she knows Kitty is grieving but this is the first I know of that she has left the house and she still blames us for Michael’s death.

“Vice President huh
” she snorts.