Revolution (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 1) (32 page)

She opened her eyes, looking up into the dark night sky, focusing on a cluster of tiny stars twinkling away in the blackness above her, like a myriad of minute fairy lights. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. I thought everything was working itself out, that we were finally on the way to creating some kind of stability.’

‘That’s exactly what we’re trying to do.’

She looked at him, right at him. ‘What? By faking deaths and carrying out two-decade-year-old grudges? How does that solve anything?’

‘It’s a fucked-up world we live in, Lex. We’re just trying to sort it out the best way we can.’

She kept a hold of his hand, letting him pull her into his arms, and she held on to him, almost terrified to let go in case he disappeared again.

‘Forgive your daddy, okay?’ he whispered into her hair as he held her close. ‘Know the man that he is, and live with that. Because, deep down inside, everything he does is for his family.’ He pulled back slightly so he could look at her. ‘And forgive Coby. Please, Lexi, after all you’ve been through… forgive him and love him and realize that he’s doing this for you, too. For you, and Ozzie.’

‘He didn’t have me or Ozzie when he came over to
Newcastle
.’

‘And you don’t think part of the reason he came over to
England
was because he wanted
you
?’

‘I wasn’t supposed to be there, Shane.’

He pulled her forward, gently kissing her forehead. ‘But he had hope, darlin’. And sometimes that’s all any of us are left with.’

***

‘I never thought you’d do this to me, Coby.’
Tay
’s voice carried a tone of defeated resignation. ‘I thought we were friends, allies. I thought we were tight.’

Coby kicked the chair at the head of the table out from underneath it, but as yet he hadn’t actually taken his newly appointed seat in front of the gavel. Something still felt strangely odd about taking the place of a man he’d once respected, a man he still loved, despite everything. They were still brothers, still part of this club. It was just that the roles had changed slightly. ‘Shit happened,
Tay
. A mess that got out of control. And this is what we need to do to finally start putting things right.’

Tay
closed the door, leaning back against it. ‘There’re a few shell-shocked people out there.’

Coby looked at his friend – because that’s what he still considered
Tay
to be. ‘I’m sorry it all had to happen this way.’

‘No one’s more sorry than me, Coby. But, hey, I gotta give you some credit here – you played one hell of a game. Because I just didn’t see this coming.’

Coby hung his head, digging his hands into his pockets. ‘I need to do this.’ He looked up, his eyes once more meeting
Tay
’s. ‘At first, okay, it was all for the club. You weren’t… you weren’t treating it with the respect it deserved. And
you
are one of this club’s longest serving members,
Tay
, so that just didn’t sit right with me. But now – now there’s Lexi. And my baby boy. So now I have to do this for them, too. I have to make sure we get out of the shit you got us into. Settle our differences with our rivals. Start building some bridges. Start making a go – a real go – of the garage, The Candy Cave, and the boxing club.’

Tay
lowered his gaze, pushing a hand through his hair, letting out a loud and heavy sigh.

‘Are you with me here,
Tay
?’

Tay
waited a few beats before looking back up at Coby. ‘I don’t have much choice, do I?’

‘I need you on board because you
want
to be. Not because you feel you have to. This club is still as much yours as it is mine.’

‘Which is why I can’t ever walk away from it, Coby. You know that.’

Coby held out his hand, and
Tay
walked towards him, finally taking it, the two men shaking their way to an uneasy truce.

‘You need a good VP. A strong man. Someone who’s willing to go that extra mile for you, Cobe. And Charlie’s right – what better man to fill that role than Shane? I mean, shit! There’s another man who played one hell of a game.’

Coby nodded, letting go of
Tay
’s hand. ‘It’s just all gonna take a bit of getting used to. But I guess we just have to give everyone some time to get their heads around everything.’ He looked out of the window to his right, the one that looked out into the clubhouse. Jesse was sitting on the couch, his head in his hands, and Coby felt a stab of pain cut through him for a man who hadn’t asked for any of this. ‘You go with Charlie.’ He turned back to face
Tay
. ‘Get this meeting with the Mexicans sorted. Take Luca and Blake with you.’

‘What about the sit-down with the Cabos and Black Ravens? Want me to get on to that?’

‘Charlie’s organizing it. We all want this done as soon as possible, so we can finally start to move forward.’

Tay
looked over at the large wooden table that took up most of the space in the room. At the chairs strewn all around it after one hell of a meeting. At the gavel laid down at the top of the table. ‘You’re gonna have to sit in that chair at some point, you know. Now you’ve got that President’s patch on your cut.’

Coby looked down at the patch on his chest, then over at the chair that had yet to feel the presence of its new occupant. ‘It still doesn’t feel real.’

‘Hey, you wanted the reins, brother,’
Tay
said, opening the door. ‘Now take them.’

***

‘You okay, son?’ Charlie asked, sitting down next to Kip at the bar.

Kip shrugged, taking a swig of his beer, not looking at his father. ‘Everything’s fine.’ He turned to face Charlie. ‘I mean, I’m a Sergeant-at-Arms now, aren’t I? Thanks for the promotion, Dad.’

His sarcasm wasn’t lost on Charlie. ‘Shane is the best man to be Coby’s VP, Kip. It’s not a snub to you, believe me, kiddo. It’s just that – he’s the best man. Okay? He’s coming back to this chapter, and he’s gonna help get it back to where it needs to be. Things really will start to settle down now, I promise. With Coby at the helm, and Shane on his left.’

‘But everybody knows it’s still gonna be
you
running things, isn’t that right? Even from all those miles away it’ll still be you pulling the strings, sending out instructions. Coby’s just your puppet.’

Charlie’s stare grew colder, his voice low and tough. ‘I know you had a great deal of respect for
Tay
, son. I know how you feel about your stepdad, and I understand that. But he was killing this chapter, this club. And in doing that he was killing your future. You and Lexi, you are the most important people in the world to me, and this – this place,
this
is your future.’

‘Whether we like it or not, huh?’

‘Listen to me, okay? You get your relationship with your sister back on track, do you hear me?’

‘She knew it was a set-up, Dad. Her and Shane, me finding them… Jesus! Were they even
having
sex when I walked in on them?’

Charlie shook his head. ‘No.’

Kip took another swig of beer, his eyes staring straight ahead again. ‘I don’t know how Jesse hasn’t gone fucking crazy over this. The shit you put him through…’

‘Jesse will be fine. He’s a good man, a strong man.’ Charlie stood up, looking over at
Tay
as he walked out into the clubhouse, closely followed by Coby. ‘Deal with it, Kip. In whatever way you have to. But deal with it. Because it’s happened, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. I’ll talk to Jesse later. In the meantime, go see your sister.’

‘Let me go first,’ Coby said, leaning back against the bar. ‘I need to talk to Lexi.’

Kip drained the last of his beer, slamming the bottle down on the bar as he slid down from his stool. ‘Knock yourself out. President.’

Charlie caught Kip’s arm, swinging him around to face him. ‘I said, deal with it.’

Kip just glared at his dad before pulling free of his grip and heading over to Jesse.

‘He’ll come round,’ Charlie said, watching as his son put his arm around his best friend’s shoulders, saying something to him which made Jesse smile a weak smile. ‘I guess some people have been hit a lot harder than others by all of this.’ He turned his attention to Coby. ‘Make sure my daughter’s okay. She might turn all angry bitch on you, in fact, I almost guarantee it. But she loves you. And she’ll forgive you. But for now, just make sure she’s okay.’

Coby nodded, folding his arms as he glanced over at
Tay
.

‘Shane’s over there at the minute,’ Charlie continued, his eyes meeting
Tay
’s. ‘Send him back here, will you? There are a few things we need to sort out before we head off to meet the Mexicans.’

‘Are you gonna be okay there?’ Coby asked, pulling his sunglasses out of his cut pocket and slipping them over his eyes. ‘If you need me to come with you…’

Charlie patted him on the shoulder. ‘It’s all under control. Now go on. Go see Lexi.’

Coby started to make his way out of the clubhouse.

‘Coby?’

The sound of Tay’s voice made him turn back around.

‘We’ll make this work.’

Coby just nodded, before turning away and walking out.

Thirty-Two

‘She’s out back,’ Angie sighed, opening the door and standing aside to let Coby through.

Coby looked at her as he closed the door behind him. ‘I didn’t want it to be this way, Angie.’

‘And what way
did
you want it to be, Coby?’

‘I love
Tay
. Deep down he’s a still a good man, one of the best.’

‘And he loves you, too. Which is why this stings so much deeper than it ever could have done if you two had been enemies.’

‘It’s for the good of the club, Angie.’

She let out a loud and cynical laugh. ‘And fuck who it hurts in the process, is that it?’

Coby took a step forward, lowering his voice as he spoke. ‘You want to talk about hurting people, then look in the mirror. You were willing to live without your daughter for eight fucking years because of some twisted, pathetic manufactured rule. Don’t pretend that had nothing to do with where we are now, Angie, because it had
everything
to do with it.’

‘If you hadn’t touched her…’

‘But I did. And I didn’t just touch her, I fucked her so hard she cried when she came, and none of that should have been a crime.’

‘She was Jesse’s old lady.’

‘And the shit they were going through at the time all but negated that relationship. For Christ’s sake, Angie, we’re going over old ground here.’

‘She didn’t even love you,’ Angie whispered.

‘Not then she didn’t, no. And I didn’t love
her
. I fantasised about her, don’t get me wrong. But show me a brother in this club who hasn’t. Once I got past the images and the memories of her as that ten year old tomboy, the one who used to bug the crap out of me in the garage most weekends; once I saw her only as the adult she now was I used to close my eyes and imagine what it would be like to strip her naked, spread those beautiful legs of hers… I used to imagine touching her, with my fingers, my tongue…’

‘You should have walked away.’ Angie was doing her best to keep her voice steady, but this was unnerving her.

‘How could I walk away when your daughter – your heartbreakingly sexy-as-hell daughter – was showing me her tits, inviting me to suck on them. When she was whispering shit in my ear that made my dick stand to attention so fast my fucking head spun. What man can walk away from that, huh? So no, I couldn’t walk away – instead I tore off what little clothes she had on and did everything she asked me to do. Everything she
allowed
me to do. So what I
should
have done, and what I ended up doing, none of that really matters now. Does it?’

Angie’s face was hard and cold as she stared at the man in front of her. ‘You stole the presidency of this club from my husband.’

‘No, Angie. Charlie
gave
it to me. There’s a difference. Where’s Ozzie?’

Angie stepped back, folding her arms. ‘He’s asleep, upstairs. I’ve got the baby monitor on, in case he wakes up. But right now I think it’s best you leave him to rest.’

Coby looked at her. ‘I’m going to talk to Lexi.’

‘Coby?’

He turned back to face her.

‘Is
Tay
… is he okay?’

‘He’s dealing with it all a whole lot better than you are, darlin’.’ He turned back around and headed outside. Lexi was leaning against the wall, talking to Shane, and for a few seconds Coby just stood there in the shadows, watching them together. She was smiling, but her face was tired, and for a fleeting moment he wished with all his heart that everything was normal. That they lived an ordinary life surrounded by safety and family who didn’t lie and manipulate. But he knew they’d never settle for that – for normality. Whatever that was.

He started to walk towards them, their chattering stopping as they sensed someone else was there, and the expression on Lexi’s face when she saw him almost broke Coby’s heart.

‘Charlie wants you back at the clubhouse,’ he said to Shane. ‘Now.’

‘Okay.’ Shane turned to Lexi. ‘You gonna be okay?’

‘What do you think I’m gonna do to her, Shane?’

‘It’s been a shitty day, Coby. I’m just checking she’s holding up, that’s all.’

‘I don’t need either of you to fight my battles, thank you.’ She looked at Shane. ‘I’m fine. Get back to the clubhouse, go on.’

‘I’ll see you later?’

She nodded, throwing him a small smile.

Coby’s eyes followed Shane as he walked across the yard, back into the house, before he turned to face Lexi. ‘Everything all right here?’

‘As all right as it can be when a man you think is dead suddenly walks back into town.’

‘Sorry isn’t even gonna cut it here, is it?’

‘You got that right, soldier.’ She moved closer to him. ‘You sat there, and you lied to me. You had your dick inside me and you
still
lied to me.’

‘It’s over now, Lexi. We’re moving on.’

She laughed, taking a step back. ‘Because you say so? I’m not a member of your club, Coby. You don’t reign over me. You don’t tell me what to do…’

He grabbed her wrist, pushing her back against the wall, kissing her hard, his grip tightening as she tried to fight him. But he was stronger than her, his body a heavy weight against hers.

‘You bastard,’ she hissed, staring at him.

‘Tell me you don’t want me, Lexi. Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want me inside you, right now.’

‘I don’t want you inside me,’ she whispered, his grip on her wrist still tight, verging on painful.

Coby laughed, his eyes burning into hers. ‘I don’t believe you.’

‘Fuck you!’ she spat.

He laughed again, reaching up under her short denim skirt, pulling her panties down over her thighs, and she didn’t stop him. ‘If I slide my hand between your legs, you telling me you aren’t gonna be wet?’ His mouth was almost touching hers now, his breathing as heavy as hers was fast becoming.

She shook her head, their eyes still locked together in a stare so intense she could feel herself burning up. ‘I want to fuck you, Lexi. I
need
to fuck you. I want to take you so hard it hurts, come inside you so fast then watch as it spills out from between those crazy long legs of yours.’ His mouth was resting on hers now, her breathing shallow and laboured as he kissed her, more gently this time, his tongue pushing its way inside. ‘Let me fuck you, Lexi. Say yes, baby. Say yes.’

She threw her head back as his lips moved down to her neck, his hand sliding inside her shirt, covering her breast, his thumb flicking over her nipple. And she couldn’t stop the groans from escaping, her stomach contracting in the most beautiful way as he touched her. ‘I can’t…’

He looked at her, his fingers now stroking her cheek as his eyes once more stared into hers. ‘Let me fuck you,’ he whispered, his grip on her wrist still tight, but loosening slightly.

She nodded, and he let go of her wrist, picking her up, her legs wrapping around him. She was ready to accept him now; the pain, the warped and twisted pleasure she was going to feel when he hurt her, she was ready to accept it all. And when he finally pushed into her with a force so violent it felt as though he was ripping her in two, she cried out loud, screaming his name, clinging on to him as he continued to thrust into her. It was fast, and it hurt like hell because she was nothing more than a vessel for him to take his frustration out on, but that’s what she was here for – she was his old lady. It was her job to do this, to take the shit and deal with it.

‘Jesus
Christ
!’ he yelled, and Lexi closed her eyes as she felt him come, hard and fast, her fingers buried in his hair as he emptied himself into her. And it was like he’d pressed down on that syringe again, pumping life into her, shooting his poison into her veins, letting the toxin run right through her until she was once more under his spell.

She held on to him, waiting until he was ready to pull out of her.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly, putting her down, his arms holding her close, his thumb stroking her cheek. ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

‘You said you loved me,’ she whispered.

‘I do. Baby, I do. Jesus, Lexi, I love you more than you know…’

‘Yet you could still lie to me like that. Let me think you’d killed Shane… I mean, if you knew… if you knew he was alive all along, then you must have known that the truth about Ozzie, about you being his dad… you must’ve known all along that that had to come out at some point. You… I don’t understand this, Coby. Why did you still back away from me, still try and deny what we had when you knew this was going on?’

‘My head was all over the place, Lexi. Yes, I knew this was all happening, that it was all gonna come out and I knew I had to face up to it, but…’

‘You were still too fucking weak, huh?’

‘I didn’t handle it well, darlin’, no. And I’m so sorry, baby. So sorry for what I…’

‘How the hell can I trust you now, Coby? How can I trust my dad? How can I believe a word any of you say?’

Coby closed his eyes, resting his forehead against hers, his thumb still stroking her cheek. ‘Nothing I did or will ever do is intended to hurt you, Lexi. And I’m begging you, kid – I am
begging
you to trust me now. Please. For me. For our boy. For our future. For the…’ He stopped talking, his eyes staring into hers.

‘For the club,’ she said quietly.

‘For the club.’

She pulled away from him, folding her arms against herself as she walked back towards the house. ‘I need a shower.’

‘Lexi… are you coming home?’

She turned around, her expression impassive as she looked at him. She couldn’t feel anything anymore. All emotion had been wiped away, drained out of her. ‘
We
don’t
have
a home, Coby.’

He hung his head, digging his hands into his pockets, breathing in deep before looking back up at her. ‘Where are you staying tonight?’

‘Here. With Mum. Me and Ozzie, we could really do with her help.’

‘And what about
me
?’

‘What
about
you?’

‘I’m Ozzie’s dad.’

She stared at him, saying nothing for a second or two. ‘We managed without you for long enough before. Another night won’t kill us.’

‘Lexi…’

He moved closer, reaching out to her but she shook him off. ‘Don’t touch me!’

‘Jesus! Baby, we need to talk…’

‘Is that what we were doing just now, huh? Talking? Is that what
that
was?’

‘Lexi, please…’

‘I just need some space, Coby. Can you give me that?’

‘We need to…’

‘Can you
give
me that?’

His eyes met hers. He knew when he was beaten, and pushing her really would be a bad idea. ‘I’ll be at the clubhouse.’

‘Yeah.’ She folded her arms tighter against herself, her eyes still locked on his. ‘Where else would you be?’