Revolution (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 1) (33 page)

Thirty-Three

‘Where the hell have you been?’ Angie asked, running out from the kitchen as
Tay
, Charlie and Shane walked into the clubhouse. ‘You’ve been gone all fucking night! I’ve been out of my mind with worry.’

‘Things went on a bit longer than we thought,’ Charlie sighed, sitting down at a table near the bar. ‘Any coffee on the go?’

Angie indicated to one of the Prospects to fetch some coffee over.

‘Where’s Coby?’
Tay
asked, looking around him at the still-quiet clubhouse.

‘He’s in the apartment,’ Angie replied. ‘Stayed over here last night, as did most of the others.’

‘What about Lexi?’ Charlie asked, taking the mug of coffee Red held out for him.

‘She and Ozzie stayed with me.’

‘Jesus,’ Charlie sighed, sitting back in his seat. ‘I told him to make sure she was okay.’

‘She
is
okay,’ Angie said, leaning back against the bar. ‘She just needed a bit of time out. This has messed with everyone’s heads, Charlie. You can’t expect people just to accept it all straight off.’

Charlie ignored her, standing up. ‘I’ll go talk to Coby. Shane, get everyone else over here ASAP. Get them all round the table as fast as you can.’

‘Is everything all right?’ Angie asked, a slight hint of panic creeping into her voice.

‘Everything’s fine,’
Tay
replied, taking a sip of coffee. ‘We just want to bring everyone up to speed, let them know what’s happening.’

Angie looked at her husband. His face was tired, worn. He looked like a man who’d been through one hell of a fight and come out the other end barely surviving.

She waited until Shane had moved to the other side of the clubhouse to make his calls before she sat down beside
Tay
. ‘Are
you
all right?’

Tay
looked down into his coffee. ‘Yeah. You’d think after everything that’s happened I’d be full of hell, wouldn’t you?’

Angie smiled, taking his hand. ‘Nobody would blame you.’

He looked at her, smiling a small smile back. ‘But, do you know what I’m
really
feeling? Relief. All I’ve ever wanted to do was head up this chapter, run this club but, maybe they’re right, you know? Maybe I
had
lost focus, made decisions without consulting everyone else first. I guess my ego had started to get the better of me.’

‘Oh, baby…’ Angie leant over, kissing him gently, stroking his tired face. ‘I love you so much.’

‘Hey, I love you, too. But I’m exhausted, Angie. And I don’t think I realized just how exhausted I was until all this shit started.’

‘You didn’t deserve any of it.’

‘Yeah,’ he sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘I did… anyway, it’s done, baby. Okay? It’s done. I’m not gonna fight anymore, because I don’t
want
to. I’m tired. And now it’s all over… Y’know, I actually quite like the idea of an easy life from now on.’

She smiled again, squeezing his hand. ‘An easy life? I’m not sure that exists around here.’

He brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing it, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. ‘It’ll be a damn sight easier without the hassle of having to look after this lot.’

He’d smiled when he’d said that, but Angie could still see a sadness behind his eyes. And that pulled her heart apart.

‘It’s been one hell of a ride,’ he said quietly, staring down at the table now. ‘But I think this was probably the right time for me to take a step back. Let someone else take the reins.’ He looked at her, right into her eyes and now, alongside the sadness, Angie could also see a spark of fire still burning there. ‘It’s time to let someone else take the responsibility. Let me sit back and have some fun.’

She couldn’t help smiling, but as much as she was relieved to have
Tay
in a role less dangerous than that of President, she now knew her daughter’s role within the club had changed. She’d taken her mother’s place as Queen of the compound. It was
her
man in charge of everything now, and with that power came all the worry, all the sleepless nights; all the danger of never knowing if he’d make it through every day alive. So she could only hope that Coby’s promise to push this club forward into a safer and more secure future was one he was going to fulfil. For Lexi’s sake. For Ozzie’s sake. For everyone.

‘You
will
help them, won’t you?’ Angie asked, her voice quiet as
Tay
’s eyes once more met hers.

‘Baby, Coby don’t need any help, least of all mine. He can run this club with his eyes closed.’

‘For Lexi,’ Angie whispered. ‘Please.’

Tay
sighed, looking down at their joined hands. ‘I don’t think Lexi really needs looking after, either, but… I love the kid, even if it’s been one hell of a battle to get her to love me back.’

‘And she
does
love you,
Tay
.’

Tay
looked back up at Angie. ‘Yeah. I know she does.’

‘She’s always idolized her daddy, darlin’, that’s all. And letting anybody else take his place hasn’t been something she’s found easy to do.’

‘I never wanted to take Charlie’s place in her life, Angie.’

‘I know, baby. I know that. And so does she, but… I don’t think us sending her away helped any, either. We pushed her further towards Charlie – we pushed her towards so many things… so we’ve only got ourselves to blame on that score.’

Tay
sighed again. ‘Yeah. I guess we have. But maybe we can all try and put those mistakes behind us now, huh? Start again. All of us.’

Angie leant forward, kissing him quickly. ‘All of us,’ she whispered. ‘Now go, go on. Go get cleaned up before church.’

***

‘Everything go okay?’ Coby asked, pulling on his cut.

‘Everything’s just fine,’ Charlie replied, closing the apartment door behind him. ‘A deal’s been struck, and we have our money – Kel’s sorting it all out.’

‘The guns?’

‘They’re out of the warehouse. En-route to their new owners as we speak.’

‘And the sit-down with the Cabos and the Ravens? That still happening?’

‘All sorted.’ Charlie walked further into the room, his hands in his pockets as he slowly surveyed his surroundings. ‘It’s done.’

Coby frowned. ‘I thought nothing was happening for a day or two?’

‘Why do you think we’ve only just got back to the compound?’ Charlie leant against the sideboard, folding his arms. ‘I quite like meetings in the early hours of the morning, when it’s all quiet, no distractions. I always feel I can concentrate so much more on what really matters.’

Coby’s frown deepened. ‘Shouldn’t I have been there?’

‘You weren’t needed.’

‘I’m President of this chapter.’

‘And your duties in that role begin today. I’ve called a meeting for this morning. Shane’s rounding everyone up now.’

Coby pushed a hand through his hair, pulling a cigarette out the top pocket of his cut, lighting it up and taking a long drag. ‘So, are we good with the other crews?’

‘The Cabos and the Ravens have agreed to work together as far as the gun business goes. They have joint contacts that could prove quite lucrative for both crews, and once they’d talked everything over, sorted out something that worked for the both of them; something that meant we could just walk away from it all, everyone was happy. We got our money, the slate’s been wiped clean, they can carry on doing whatever it is they’re gonna do now, and we can finally start moving on with the changes this club needs. I wanted it all sorted out as soon as I could, Coby. That’s why we decided to get everyone together last night.’

‘You still should have called me.’

‘You had things to sort out with Lexi.’ Charlie took another look around the apartment. ‘But it seems you spent the night here, alone, whilst my daughter was with her mother.’

Coby let out a heavy sigh, turning his head to blow smoke out of the window. ‘She needed a bit of time, Charlie. To get her head straight.’

‘My daughter’s head will never be straight, Coby. That’s something you’re gonna have to deal with.’

Coby turned to look at Charlie. ‘She doesn’t trust me. She doesn’t trust
you
.’

‘She will. In time. She isn’t going anywhere, and she knows that. You should know that, too.’

‘I just want her with me,’ Coby said quietly, his eyes on the floor.

‘That’s why I wanted the gun business all tied up and finished with as soon as possible. Because, before I go home, I need to make sure Lexi is settled. That you and her are good. You’ve both got new roles to get used to, and I need to know you’re both okay before I head back to
Newcastle
.’

‘I think we’re big enough to sort ourselves out.’

‘You need to start thinking about setting up home together, Coby. Making a life together. Ozzie needs stability, and I know that isn’t something this club can always give – not in the conventional sense, anyway – but in terms of a mum and a dad who love each other, he can have that. He needs that.’

‘That’s all I want for us, Charlie.’

‘Then make it happen. I told you she’d probably throw the angry bitch thing in your face, because that’s exactly what Angie used to do. And Lexi, she’s more like her mother than she thinks she is. So, yeah, she was never gonna fall straight back into your arms. We don’t do happy ever afters in our world. But we
can
try and start to build the foundations of a solid future.’

‘I love her. I really need you to know that. I love her so much.’

Charlie smiled, walking over to him, giving his shoulder a friendly pat. ‘Yeah. I know you do.’

Coby looked at him. ‘Thanks, Charlie. For helping sort all this shit out.’

‘We’re getting there,’ Charlie sighed, walking over to the door. ‘Give it a few weeks and it’ll be like you were always sitting at the head of that table.’

Coby tried to smile back, but he was still finding it hard to get his head around everything. The changes that had happened in the past few weeks had been fast and painful, but in a way, given what he’d known, what he’d helped create, he should have been a hell of a lot more prepared than he had been.

‘Make it right with my daughter, Coby. And I promise you, everything else will just fall into place. This club, it needs you. But Lexi, she needs you more.’

***

‘Here. Let me help you with that,’ Kel said, taking the stroller from Lexi, allowing her to lift Ozzie out of his car seat.

‘Thanks. It’s ridiculous how much stuff such a small person needs.’

Kel smiled, watching as Lexi crouched down and settled Ozzie into his stroller, kissing him gently before she stood back up. ‘You okay?’

She looked at him. ‘Still a bit shell-shocked. Shane was one person I really wasn’t expecting to see again, so, to find out he’s alive, and that he’s coming back here, to Paradise… to find out he’s gonna be VP to the man who covered up his fake death… Christ, Kel, saying it all out loud doesn’t make it any easier to understand.’

Kel fell into step beside her as she pushed the stroller towards the clubhouse. ‘Yeah. I can’t argue with that, kiddo. So… how are things with you and our new President?’

She stopped by one of the tables outside the clubhouse, sitting down on a bench. ‘I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. But, when I think about all the crap our wanting to be together has caused, how can I walk away from him? How can I waste all that time? And yet, I still don’t know what I’m gonna do. I don’t know what I
need
to do.’

‘Do you love him?’ Kel asked, sitting down beside her.

‘With every inch of me, I love him. So much it hurts.’

‘Then it’ll all work out.’

‘You make it sound so easy.’

‘You’re the one making it sound hard.’

She looked down at Ozzie, his tiny fist balled up by his head, his eyes closed, his other arm wrapped around a cuddly teddy bear. ‘He’s got so much of Coby in him already,’ she said quietly, her hand tightly gripping the stroller. ‘His eyes, especially. He’s really got his daddy’s eyes… You know, sometimes, when I was back in Newcastle, I used to just lie there and look at him for hours, watching him sleep, studying his face, and all I could see was Coby. And I missed him so much, Kel. But there were times when I hated him, too. Hated him for leaving me, for making me go through everything on my own.’

‘You were never really alone,’ Kel said, taking her hand and squeezing it gently.

She continued to stare down at her baby son. ‘He wasn’t there with me, Kel. He’d walked away, again, and I was so angry with him for doing that. So fucking angry that he missed Ozzie being born. So angry that he wasn’t there. And now that he is…’ She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before exhaling slowly. ‘There was a point last night when I seriously thought about going back to
Newcastle
with Dad. Just a split second, a moment of weakness. Because the shit that’s been happening around here…’