CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Vee / Nessa
The fucking crazy bitch had tried to kill my man.
It kept running through my head, over and over in a loop that I found difficult to stop as I sat with my back against the headboard of our bed, watching him sleep.
I wanted to crawl in next to him and hold him in my arms but I couldn’t, I didn’t want to hurt him.
So here I was, sitting next to him, but not touching.
It sucked.
I tensed up as a phone started ringing somewhere.
I knew it wasn’t mine because I had ringtone assigned for all my contacts. Gently, so as not to disturb Spider I slid off the bed and started searching.
It stopped ringing while I searched. I finally found the phone in the inside pocket of his kutte.
I almost had a heart attack when it started ringing in my hand. Running out of the room I sat down on the top stair and answered, my voice pitched low.
“Hello.”
“May I speak to Mr Walker, please?” A woman’s voice asked.
“I’m sorry, Mr Walker is indisposed at the moment. May I take a message?”
There came a short silence.
“May I ask, who am I speaking to?”
“Certainly. You are speaking to Vanessa Monroe, Mr Walker’s girlfriend. May I ask who I’m speaking to?” I wasn’t going to say I was his woman or old lady, civilians didn’t understand what it meant in the biker world.
“Ah, Ms Monroe, this is Advocate Bonthuys, Mr Walker’s legal representative in his case against the Rutherfords. I wanted to give him an update on the case but if he’s indisposed I’ll call again later.”
Knowing I wouldn’t get anymore from the woman I agreed to pass a message on to Spider as soon as he woke. Ending the call I sat there staring at nothing before I stood and walked back into the room.
He was still fast asleep and I set his phone on the bedside table then crawled back up onto the bed and lay down next to him. I picked up his hand and held it as he slept and very soon my eyelids became heavy, eventually I gave in and let sleep take me.
I woke to rain beating against the window and lay there watching the raindrops running down the glass. It wasn’t dark yet but the light was fading as I watched.
A groan had my eyes zooming to my man. His eyes weren’t open but he had a massive frown between his brows. His hand was still in mine and I squeezed gently then waited. Not long after his eyes slowly opened and he turned his head towards me.
“Hey, baby.” He muttered sleepily. “My fucking chest hurts like a motherfucker.”
Letting go of his hand I slid out of bed and walked around to his side and took out the pain pill Coal said he would need when he woke up.
“Coal left you some pain meds.”
“Not taking it, it fucks me up. If you look in the top drawer of the dresser there’s a small meds kit, there should be some Paracetamol and Ibuprofen, get it for me, please, love.” He said as he painfully manoeuvred himself up in bed and I jumped to put a couple of cushions behind his back before he gingerly lay back against the padded headboard.
I found the pain pills right where he said they would be. Taking two out of the silver packaging I came back to the bed and put them in his palm, then opened the bottled water and handed it to him when he put the pills in his mouth. He frowned with pain as he lifted his arm to swallow the pills down.
I gently sat down on the bed next to him, took the bottle of water and put it back on the side table.
“You had a call from Advocate Bonthuys while you were sleeping. She said she wanted to give you an update and would call again later. Seeing how late it is I think she’ll only call you tomorrow. It didn’t sound urgent.” I explained.
He nodded then winced as he tried to reach for the water. I quickly handed it to him and when he finished I took the empty bottle and set it back on the side table.
“I have to piss but fuck if I want to move, it fucking hurts.” He muttered as he tapped my hand. “Move, baby, so I can get out of bed.”
I got out of his way and stood close in case I needed to help him. I didn’t. He shuffled to the bathroom and a pained grunt drifted out, most probably when he had to bend to lift the lid of the toilet. He groaned as he peed, my brother did the same when I was looking after him. It was an almost relieved groan. There was a pained grunt as he closed the lid and flushed. I listened as he shuffled to the basin, washed his hands then shuffled back out. He kept his arms at his sides almost rigidly. I knew how much it hurt because Magic complained of the same thing. The feeling that all the muscles in his chest were pulling in different directions and aching. My brother’s injuries were far, far worse than Spider’s but they both handled pain about the same. Stoically.
While he was in the bathroom I had quickly fixed the bed, plumping the pillows and folding back the duvet so he could slide back in easily.
“Do you want to sit up for a bit or would you rather lie down?” I asked.
“Sit up.” He said as he stood glaring down at the bed.
I quickly stacked the pillows against the headboard then waited as he sat down on the bed then swung his legs up with a groan and subsided against the pillows.
“This fucking sucks. How is it that one little cut on my chest fucks with me like this?” He grumbled.
“It’s a deep cut, honey, and every time you move your arms or try to sit up or turn you have to use that muscle group and it aches. I promise it will feel better tomorrow.”
“How do you know that?”
I rolled my eyes at his grumbly tone. “Because Magic complained of the same thing and the pain became less as he healed.”
“Ah, yes, he had surgery to his chest.” He murmured, a faraway look in his eyes.
“I’m going to make you something to eat. Nothing fancy or difficult, just a small snack so you can take your antibiotics.” I got off the bed and started heading to the door.
“I’m not hungry, baby.”
“I know, but you have to have something in your belly before you take the pills. It will make you feel awful if you take them on an empty stomach.” I didn’t wait for his answer which was sure to be negative.
In the kitchen I looked through the cupboards and found a can of thick vegetable soup. I opened it, poured it into a saucepan and set it on the stove to slowly heat. While that was going I made toast and found a tray to carry our dinner upstairs. I added two more bottles of water to the tray along with soup spoons, our mugs of soup and toast.
His eyes opened as I walked in and he watched me as I put the tray on the bottom of the bed.
“You don’t have one of those bed tray things so we’re going to have to improvise.”
I said with a shrug. “I’m going to put a couple of pillows on your lap and put the tray on top. Don’t worry, it won’t be heavy.”
It worked like a charm and I was happy to see that he finished the soup and the toast. He looked a whole lot better after eating. When I took the dirty things down to the kitchen he was typing on his phone and I left him to it.
Cleaning up didn’t take long and when I went back upstairs he had somehow managed to remove the extra pillows and taken his meds before falling asleep.
I showered in the guest bathroom, pulled on sleep shorts and a tee and went back to his room. He was still asleep and I closed the curtains checked that he had water close before getting into bed beside him.
I was asleep in what felt like seconds.
Spider
His eyes opened and he lay quietly, not moving, listening to his woman breathing. Turning his head he watched her as she slept, she was on her side, facing him, curled up but not touching him. Reaching out he rested his hand on top of hers, letting her warmth seep into him.
He had no idea what time it was but it felt early, way too fucking early. His phone lay on the bedside table and he prepared for the pain as he reached for it. He was pleasantly surprised when the ache was not as severe as it had been the day before and he checked the time before putting the phone back down. It was just after 6 in the morning, usually when he was up this early it was to go on a run or go surfing with Kellen. He liked sleeping in but he knew if, no, not if, when he got custody of his boy those days would be over.
Gail and Johan’s kids spent a lot of time with their grandparents and as he had lived at home and not at the clubhouse he knew they got up with the fucking sparrows. He was actually looking forward to having his son waking him up every morning.
With a last look at Vee he got out of bed and went to the bathroom. After emptying his bladder he washed his hands then leaned closer to the mirror behind the basins. Very carefully he pulled the bandage off and dropped it in the bin. The cut looked red and ugly but it wasn’t inflamed. In the drawer he found the waterproof bandages Coal had left for when he wanted to shower. He carefully covered the wound, making sure it was properly sealed before he started the shower.
It wasn’t a long or overly hot shower and he wrapped a towel around his hips once he finished.
Taking a smaller towel he dried his hair but not too vigorously, he was very aware of his wound because it had started to ache.
It was time to eat something and take his fucking meds.
His old lady was still asleep as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants, took his phone and went downstairs to start the coffee.
Opening the curtains he was happy to see the rain had cleared up overnight. It was going to be a good day, bright and sunny. It would have been an ideal day to take Vee out to the beach, or maybe just a drive along the coast. Sadly, they wouldn’t be going anywhere as he didn’t think driving would be a good thing so soon after he was stabbed.
And didn’t that just piss him off.
Stabbed by a crazy bitch.
He was never going to live it down, the brothers were going to have fun at his expense for a long time to come.
He was sitting at the kitchen counter eating his cereal when his phone pinged with an incoming text. It was Fish.
At the door, bro
He didn’t answer, just got up and was at the door and opening it. Fish smiled wide as he shook his laptop at him.
“We’ve got them, brother. We found the fucking motherlode early this morning.”
Spider stepped to the side and Fish barrelled into the kitchen and set his laptop on the counter next to his bowl of cereal. He opened and tapped a key and it sprung to life.
“We found multiple offshore accounts. There are incoming and outgoing payments linking them to the Fortunes Gang and The Foundation, they attempted to make it look like real estate business but it’s very obvious it’s not.”
He grinned like an absolute lunatic.
“They’re so fucking stupid they had incredibly compromising photographs and videos saved to what they most probably thought was a secure cloud account. It’s of them with Frankie September and several high profile business men partying at their home. That alone isn’t damning as such, it’s the young girls servicing all of them that is. They look incredibly young and they are given drugs and alcohol on camera. There’s one of the slut, completely naked, eating out one of the girls while being fucked from behind by one of the gang members. Others are of the Rutherfords being fucked by Frankie September, it seems Rutherford likes taking it up the ass and September likes giving it.”
He tapped a key and Spider grimaced at the shit on the screen.
“Fucking hell, Fish.”
“I know.” He said as he clicked through several photos. “I don’t know if you want to have a look at the videos, but, my advice is don’t. It’s sickening, it’s going to take me a while to scrub that shit from my brain.”
Spider shook his head. “No, brother, I don’t want to see any of it. What comes next? Do we send this to my advocate or not? How do we leak this without it bouncing back on us?”
Fish closed his laptop and helped himself to some coffee. Sipping the black brew he pointed at the laptop.
“Rico will be dropping everything we found in the laps of the SAPS’s Organised Crime Unit. They’ve been after those fuckers forever and this will help them make a case against the bastards. You and I are going to select the most compromising photos of the Rutherfords, they will be printed and anonymously delivered to your advocate’s offices. Noe’s crew will be taking care of the delivery. Star told me it’s a piece of cake.”
He tapped the closed laptop.
“We need photos that prove without a doubt that they are deviants who shouldn’t have access to children, least of all your son.”
Sitting next to each other at the counter they chose the photos and Fish created a folder then saved it to a USB. Closing his laptop he stood and clasped a hand over Spider’s shoulder.
“Rico is erasing all traces of us hacking into the fuckers’ accounts. I’m off to take care of my end, I’ll call you later to let you know it’s done. Okay?”
“Thank you, brother, I would never have been able to do this shit on my own and would have lost my son to those monsters. I hope like hell Rush and Josie are safe in that fucking house.” Spider said through gritted teeth.
“Don’t worry, bro, Rico has them under 24/7 surveillance and there’s a team hanging nearby if they need to go in and extract them.”
All he could do was nod because of the rage closing his throat.
Fish left shortly afterward and he felt as if he was suffocating. He needed to ride but because of his stab wound he couldn’t. The next best thing was to drive out to one of the more deserted beaches and sit watching the ocean until he felt better.
But not without his old lady and not without taking his damned meds. He quickly swallowed the pills down, poured his woman a cup of coffee then slowly headed upstairs.
Walking into their room he grinned when he saw Vee had kicked off the duvet and had his pillow pulled against her chest, holding on tight. Setting her coffee on the side table he sat down on the bed and stroked a hand over her hip. He kept stroking not saying anything, it felt so good to be able to touch her whenever he wanted to. Just touching her the way he was seemed to soothe the rage bubbling in his gut.
“Hmmm, that feels nice.” She mumbled.
“I brought you some coffee, love.” He kept his hand on her as she rolled onto her back, his hand sliding over to rest on her lower belly.
“How are you feeling? And why are you up so early?” She rubbed a hand over her eyes while clasping the other over his hand on her belly.
“I’m good baby, not as sore as last night. I woke up early and had breakfast to take the damn pills and I feel okay.” He paused. “Fish came to see me, they got the dirt on the Rutherfords. It will be leaked to the SAPS’s Organised Crime Unit and a selection of incriminating photographs will be anonymously delivered to my advocate.”
Both her hands were now clasped over his hand on her belly.
“How will we know they got the stuff?”
“We won’t until we’re contacted. I think we should go out for a drive and spend the rest of the day relaxing on a beach. It will get us away from the clubhouse and get our minds off the case.”
“Fresh air, that’s a good idea, I like it.” Scooting up and resting her back against the headboard she picked up her coffee and sipped. “You make really nice coffee.” She complemented.
Leaning forward he kissed her lips softly then stood.
“Let’s get ready and get out of here, baby.” He coaxed.
An hour later they were driving through the gates in one of the club’s bigger SUV’s. The windows were darkly tinted and it was almost impossible to recognise those inside it. Spider had fought against having an escort but Kid wouldn’t budge. If they left the compound they had to have at least two brothers with them. That’s why Wrath and Coal were with them. Wrath was the muscle and Coal came along in case for some unknown reason his wound started bleeding and he needed to be patched up. Not that he was going in the water or getting physical with anyone, but it seems his brothers weren’t taking any chances.
Coal was driving and he had put their destination into the GPS. Spider had talked to Kellen before they left and he was going to be surfing at Big Bay, a beach between Melkbos and Blouberg because there were big swells coming in. It meant the experienced surfers would be out there taking advantage of the good conditions. He wanted his old lady to watch some of SA’s best which was why they were heading there first. It was about a thirty minute drive but it would be worth it.
There was a south easterly blowing and it was whipping up the swells. There were quite a few people on the beach, all watching the surfers. He had packed two of his club hoodies for them when he checked on the weather and before they walked down to the beach they pulled them on. His was zip fronted and he allowed it to hang open as he wasn’t feeling the cold, not yet anyway.
They found a spot high up on the beach from where they could watch. He pointed Kellen out to his woman and brothers.
“Damn, he’s so good. He could be on the circuit if he wanted to surf competitively.” Vee said admiringly.
“He’s happy with his life as it is.” Spider shot a glance her way and caught the small smile.
“I know, when I met him he told me the same thing. He said he was a man who is content with what he has.” She said as she leant her head against his shoulder.
Wrath leant forward and pointed. “It looks like he’s coming out.”
Spider nodded. “Ja, he did say Gideon was working today and he was going to catch a few waves before going home to hang out with Rose.”
Kellen rode a wave close to the beach then jumped off his board into thigh high water, picked up his board and tucking it under his arm starting wading to shore.
Spider stood and waved and his friend returned the wave with a big smile.
They all stood and slowly started making their way towards where Kellen walked through the ankle height wavelets.
He was a little ahead of Vee and not taking much notice of the surfer walking onto the beach to the right of his friend, his eyes were on Kellen. He glanced over his shoulder when Wrath gave a pissed off snarl.
“Spider! Watch the fuck out!” Wrath called out.
But it was already too late. The threat wasn’t behind him, it was in front of him.
A wet weight slammed into him, wet suit clad arms wrapped around his neck and then cold wet lips were pressed to his mouth. He jerked his head away, meeting the eyes of his assailant. And froze.
Fucking Strange.
The pain in his chest became excruciating as the salt water from her wet suit soaked his shirt and sank into his wound.
With a pained shout he pushed her away and grabbed for his chest, pulling his shirt away from his chest. The moment she had body slammed him he had felt the pain and burn as his stitches ripped. Looking down he saw his white tee was alarmingly quickly turning red.
Coal shoved the bitch even further away from him, gently pulling up his shirt to inspect the damage. Vee stood next to him, white faced with worry.
“It fucking hurts like a son of a bitch, brother.” He said through clenched teeth.
Reaching a hand out to Vee he gently pulled her close to his side. “Stop worrying, love, I’ll be okay.” He tried to reassure her as Coal helped him out of his hoodie, slit the front of his tee, pulled it off and wadded it up to press to the heavily bleeding wound. She helped Coal undress him to ensure he didn’t move around too much.
“Three of the stitches were ripped out, the fourth started tearing out so I have to redo all four. The fifth one held, I’ll have to redo the butterflies as well, they were ripped off and the wound has reopened. The bandage is fucking soaked. Let’s get you to the cage, brother.” Coal’s voice was calm but his body language was tense.
As his brother was taking care of him he heard Kellen raging in the background. He heard Wrath’s angry grumble as well but with the crashing of the waves, the wind and listening to Coal he didn’t hear what they were saying.
Looking down at his chest he grimaced to see how fast the shirt pressed to the wound was turning red. Coal was right, they had to get back to the cage. He put his hand over Coal’s taking over for him to keep pressure on the wound. His brother stepped back then tipped his head towards the top of the beach.
“Let’s go, brother.” He said. “Nessa, babe, stay close to him. I’m going to run ahead to set up.”
He turned and shouted. “Wrath! We’ve got to move. Now!”
Coal took off up the beach and that’s when he saw what was going on a few steps away from him. Wrath and Kellen were having a shouting match with Strange.
Both men turned and Strange’s eyes met his. Her eyes dipped down to where he was holding the rapidly reddening tee to his chest. The next moment she pushed past the men and stormed to him, slowing as she came close.
“Babe, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were hurt and now I’ve made it worse. Put your arm around my waist and we’ll get you to the car. I’ll take you to the emergency room.” She reached out to put her arm around him when Vee stepped in.
“Bitch, got no clue who the hell you are but you get your skank ass away from my ol’ man. If he needs help I’ll be the one givin’ it to him, not you. You got me?” Vee snarled, her accent out in full force.
“Who do you think you are, ordering me about? Spider’s mine, has been for a very long time.” Strange leant forward, getting right into his woman’s space.
His old lady wasn’t fazed at all, she rolled her eyes and slammed a hand on her cocked hip.
“Bitch, you better get your ass to walkin’ before we have us a problem. My man is hurt and you’re wastin’ our time with your bullshit.” She looked past Strange to the two men watching, ignoring the bitch in front of her.
“Kel, darlin’, please give Gideon and Rose our love. I’ll call to arrange a day for you guys to come over for dinner.”
Kellen of course played along with her.
“Great, I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys have done with the house. Let’s make it when you have Rush again, that way he and Rose can play while we visit.”
Vee smiled wide. “Perfect. Our boy loves playin’ with your little Rose. Now we’ve got to go, my man is bleedin’ somethin’ fierce and I want Coal to fix him up. See you soon, Kel.”
She gave Wrath a chin lift and his brother nodded, biting down on his lips not to laugh, he walked up to them and pushed Strange away from them.
“Walking through the sand is going to be a shitty experience, bro, but let’s get you back to the cage so Coal can do his thing. We’re attracting too much attention.” He finished quietly.
Spider nodded and reached for Vee’s hand with his free hand.
“Kel, bro, we’ll talk soon.” He gave his friend a chin lift to let him know he was fine.
Looking at Strange he saw the fury in her eyes and in the stiff way she held her body.
“You replaced me with this?” She threw a hand out towards his woman.
He didn’t answer her, his silence was answer enough.
“What we have together is special, Spider. We have to talk, I have so much to tell you about why I had to leave when I did.” She pointed at Vee. “How can you choose her, a club slut, over me?”
“My old lady isn’t a club slut, Strange. She’s mine, that’s all you need to know. I’m not interested in anything you have to say. We were done the day you disappeared without a word. I’ve moved on, it’s time for you to do the same.”
With that he turned painfully and made his slow way up the beach.
“So that’s the bitch you were goin’ to put on the back of your bike.” Vee growled.
Spider started to smile but thought better of it when she glared at him.
“Baby, it was a momentary lapse of sanity.” He bit his bottom lip when her eyes narrowed.
His old lady was pissed as hell, and he liked it.
“Don’t think I’m not aware that you’re likin’ me bein’ angry with you over her. She’s beautiful but, dear heart, she’s a man-eater through and through and how you never clocked her is a mystery.” She leant forward to look at Wrath who shook his head from side to side.
“I’m staying out of this discussion, Nessa. Brother, I’m going to help you up the steps because you’re not walking, you’re shuffling. Let’s get to the cage and get home. You need to get seen to and back into bed.” Wrath ordered.
As they climbed the steps Spider glanced back over his shoulder. Strange was standing next to her board, watching them.
The look on her face was worrying.
It was a mix of fury and what he thought looked like crazy.
He’d been around enough crazy bitches to recognise the look.
He hoped for her sake she backed off.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep his old lady, his son and his club safe.
Regardless of the fact that she was some kind of a government agent.
He would end her.