Chapter Twenty Seven
“Why the fuck haven’t you been answering the phone?” Indie’s voice growled down the other end of the mobile I’d reluctantly shoved to my ear.
“Cos I was out doing business last night, ya radgey fucker.” I was knackered. By the time I’d got to bed, the sky in the east was morphing into a deep red, the dawn chasing the night over the north east coast. “Club business, mate, before you ask.”
“Thank fuck for that,” Indie sighed, “because your other business is here to see you.”
“Who, and here where?” Fucking cryptic messages after a few hours’ sleep was not helping my mood.
“Heidi is here at the Dog.”
“Heidi is at the Dog?”
“What are you? An echo? Get the fuck down here.”
“She ok?”
“Nah, I’m not sure. Rocked up here asking for you and looking spooked and currently drinking coffee in a booth in the corner.”
“Shit. I’ll be right there. I’ll just get the bike out.”
“Ya bike’s here, ya dafty. How much did you drink last night?”
Nothing. That was half the fucking problem.
*****
I spotted her sitting alone in the corner when I got there, her hands clutching the mug, the thumb of her right hand sliding over the lip, again and again. Her blonde hair was scooped up onto her head. She wasn’t dressed the way I was used to seeing her. A pair of jeans, flat beige shoes and a too-large beige jumper that slipped down one side, the creamy bulbs of a shoulder peeking out, the skin of her slender neck, the angle of her shoulder blade all on show. And I was as mesmerised by her as ever, even though I’d seen that delicious body entirely naked. And I’d touched and kissed and sucked it. It was still like I’d seen her skin for the very first time.
“Don’t stand there getting a hard-on,” Magnet grumbled into my ear, “go fucking talk to her.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked the man with the beard that hung nearly six inches off his chin.
“Bringing breakfast,” he held the tray of covered plates up in the air and still I stood staring at him quizzically. “Mamma Dot,” he shrugged, “wanted to make sure everyone eats this morning. She said she knew we’d all be hanging.”
Behind him, the twins wandered in, looking as fresh as if they’d had a week’s worth of sleep. Fucking youngsters.
“Gan on. And see if she wants a bacon sarnie while you’re at it.”
Heidi looked up, but not until I was right in front of her, casting even more darkness into the booth.
“You ok, doll?”
And even though she’d seen me, knew that I was there, my voice still seemed to startle her.
“I need those cameras putting in at the other office, Fury. Please,” she added quickly, as if she was worried I was going to say no.
“Aye sure. But I need you to tell me what’s going on?”
“Nothing. Just not much sleep.”
I slid into the booth beside her, reaching for her face as I sat down, and guiding her cheek so that I could gaze into those blue eyes. But today there was something else there, something I’d only really seen a hint of before. Today there was genuine fear, no taste of her usual stubbornness, but real vulnerability. And fuck me if that wasn’t even more sexy than the homicidal stare of hers that usually made me want to fuck her all over.
“I know you’re lying to me, doll. So, we can sit here and pretend everything is ok, or you can tell me what’s going on?”
Heidi tried to look away, tried to pull her face from mine. I pushed my hand against the other side, pulling it back to look at me, her teeth raking at the fleshy bottom lip. My bottom lip. Pushing my face to hers, I kissed her, sucking in that bottom lip, and then inserting my tongue in the space she made when she gasped. Her body slumped slightly, the tiniest note of relaxation, of distraction. Good. And then I pulled away again.
She looked up, her eyes wandering over my face.
“You want a sandwich, lass?” Magnet’s voice broke the connection. “Looks like you two are hungry.” He pushed a plate of buns onto the table and walked away.
“I’ll ask again, Heidi,” I said, my voice low this time, my tone a warning.
“Something Father Leverett said yesterday,” she started.
“Aye, we know all about yesterday,” Chaos announced loudly, sitting on the edge of the booth next to us. “I had to be bait for that old bastard just to get your fucking footage off that CCTV system. I want paying for being pimped out. Carnage told me he was wanking over me as I was confessing. Fucking violated I was.”
I sighed.
“Ignore the Kray twins. I got the CCTV. Me and you never happened.”
She sighed, and I wondered whether that was because the evidence was destroyed, or whether it was because I’d been a mistake, and she wanted it acknowledged. In truth, she had never been a mistake, no matter what she thought I was. She, us, was every bit intentional. And not once did I have regrets.
“Tell me what’s happened, Heidi?” I coaxed, pushing those intrusive thoughts away.
“Father Leverett mentioned another business Gordon and my dad had. There was no other business listed in all the accounts I’d gone through, nothing that has my dad’s name against it. So, I went to the other office. The one I know Gordon works out of.”
She paused, taking a steadying sip of her coffee like it was a whisky.
“The filing cabinets were all locked,” she continued.
“That’s a good thing, right? Cos you’d want them locked.”
“Yeah, course you would. But I only found the key by chance. Hidden on a hook under the desk, where no one would find it.”
“Seems sensible,” I reasoned, “if someone broke in, the drawers or the desktop would be the first place I would look.”
“Yeah. But having another safe hidden under that same desk is weird.”
“Well, you wouldn’t want a safe in plain view. Wouldn’t be very safe.”
Heidi shot me a look, the stubbornness back in her eyes, the blue smouldering with annoyance, the look I was most used to. And now I didn’t know which one I like the most. Scared, vulnerable Heidi or rip-your-dick off Heidi.
“In the safe were some other documents. The funeral plans, which were pretty hefty, but also some wills of customers. Each will left a small proportion of the estate to Gordon. Not the business, Gordon. And the rest left for the church.”
I thought for a moment, a suspicion forming in the back of my head, not quite coherent enough to grab onto it, just there, lingering, fading in and out of focus.
“Which church?”
“St Robert’s of Gateshead.”
“Fuck.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“That’s Father Leverett’s church. Our church.”
“Bikers go to church?”
“You saw us there yesterday.”
“I know. I thought that was just for a funeral.”
“We go to church. Some of that is to guarantee us a place in the afterlife, but mostly, we need allies, and the church is a good place to start.”
“Why do you need allies?” Heidi cocked her head, her eyes hard again.
“Everyone needs allies, doll. The church has power. In abundance. It’s good to be on the right side of it when you need it. Anyway, you’re getting distracted.”
She shook her head, and then nodded, some internal conversation with herself. “Right. Yes. Father Leverett and Gordon. What do you reckon? A scam?”
“And fraud,” I answered. “But that’s not what made you so frightened, is it? That’s not what you came here for, babe, is it? Not even for the cameras.” Heidi tipped her chin up, a look of defiance, just not quite convincing enough. “What happened after that?”
“Gordon. He caught me in his office rifling about. Told him I was retrieving my shoe from under that desk. And he was just weird. The threats, Fury, I think they’re all him. And now I think they’re all real….”
“And you’re scared?”
Heidi bit down on her lip, a flicker across her face, a sudden glossing of those eyes, clearing in a second, but enough for me to see. Maybe I liked the vulnerable Heidi more? Not the rough executive Heidi.
“How do you want me to help?” I asked. “You want me to confront your brother?”
“No. I. I dunno. I have no evidence. Just those contracts and the wills.”
“Don’t suppose you took a copy?”
She shook her head. Around us, the pub was filling up fast with leather clad brothers looking worse for wear. Many barely out of bed longer than I had been, and most of them only having left here a few hours ago, sleeping off a skinful on the pub floor into the best part of the day. It was church. Again. They’d been every fortnight. After yesterday’s threat from the Hand, they were now every week, more if this war crept closer. But it was already knocking on our doors and hardly any of these brothers knew that yet.
“Ok. I’ll get hold of them,” I squeezed her hand, and her fingers curled round mine in response, and fuck how I liked that feel of her hand in mine. “I need to go upstairs now, doll.” I rose, kissing her on her forehead. “Suzy here will look after you. Eat your breakfast.” I patted her leg. Heidi scowled.
“It’s dinner, not breakfast time. And I don’t need looking after,” she replied stiffly as I waved Magnet’s petite blonde towards us.
“Yeah, doll, in here with this lot, you really do.”
I moved away from her, signalling to the other brothers to finish their drinks and get upstairs, pushing through the door behind the bar and into the corridor behind. I hadn’t seen or heard her move in behind me, but I felt a hand wrap round my arm, too gentle to be a bloke. Turning, I expected to see my blonde looking at me, but it wasn’t her. She was drunk, unsteady on her feet, her lips freshly plumped, pouting like a duck who’d been slapped in the mouth.
“What you doing, Tori?”
She moved closer, pushing a hand in my jacket, pushing her body against me. There was alcohol on her breath, stale alcohol from last night, and the sweet scent of what she’d just drunk.
“I don’t want you to be lonely tonight, big guy,” she cooed.
“Won’t be, Tori.”
“No, I know you won’t.” She slid that hand down my stomach, pushing it into the waistband of my jeans, her fingertips brushing at the hair of my groin, and I recoiled. “Commando. I like it. Makes it much easier when we get those pants off. Meet you upstairs in one of the rooms after church.”
It wasn’t a request. Her hand dipped lower, and I caught her wrist. The door behind her opened. Big Red looked at me, his brows pulling together in a frown. Fucking great. I yanked her hand free, thrusting it back to her.
“Church is this way, Fury, if you’re joining us?” the big man growled, pinning me a stare as he walked past.
“She’s coming after you now,” Magnet mumbled in my ear as we took a seat at the table. “She tried me last night. Had to take Suzy home before she laid her out.”
“Not seen Suzy knock someone out for a while, Magnet,” Demon cut in. “Would have made the end to a great night. Particularly if it was Tori.”
I grimaced, glancing at Indie, who sat at the head of the table looking as tense as ever. And then he stood, and we all stood with him.
“May the heart of the Harley beat eternal,” Indie started.
“May the roar of the Kings never die,” the entire table responded.
And then we sat. And Church began.
“You’ll all be aware the Hand were at the funeral yesterday,” Indie started.
“Well, at least they were invited,” Barry the Blade spoke up from the far end of the table.
“Aye they were. Everyone who attended yesterday was invited.” Indie stared at him, then continued. “They want us to be patched over.” Mutters erupted, a buzz in the room. “I told them no.”
“Don’t you think you should put it to the vote?” Barry challenged again.
“Fine. All in favour of becoming the Hand?”
I watched, feeling the silence heavy around us. Barry’s fingers twitched. A couple of the other members looked at each other. The gavel hit the table like a bomb exploding.
“Next bit of business,” Indie continued, his stare fixed on Barry the Blade, the other members who’d looked like they’d had twitchy fingers for a moment staring down at their hands. “If we don’t accept their offer, they’re coming after us.”
Everyone around the table seemed to take a collective breath.
“They’ve already started that,” I added. “We found Beanz. The Vandals have been hiding him.”
“Why’ve they been hiding one of ours?”
“Because he was scared he was going to get a hiding,” I continued.
“What’s the fucker done now?” Sicknote asked, feeling mighty confident in his first church meeting as a fully patched in member.
“He was fucking Tori,” Magnet answered, the room full of mutters again.
“To be fair, Tori’s been rubbing her pussy up against all the brothers since Ste died. Looking for her next meal ticket,” Big Red folded his arms across his chest, his stare pointed at me.
“Nah mate,” one twin spoke. “This was going on when Ste was alive. When our president was dying, one of our brothers was knobbing his ol’lady.”
“Stupid fucker,” Big Red turned, his eyes on me. “Everyone knows the President’s ol’ lady is off limits. Who beat the shit out of him?”
“That was the Aces,” Indie continued now. “Apparently, they’ve been going after the Vandals. Thought he was one of theirs. That’s if we believe the story. Either way, the Hand are already going after bike clubs.”
“Aye. Reckon it’ll have been them going after Ciara a few weeks back too,” Tony Cannelloni’s voice popped up from the other side of the table.
“What the fuck did you just say?”
Fucking great. Now Demon was in full Demon mode and Big Red was still eyeballing me, as if he’d caught me fucking Tori not defending my honour from her. This meeting had gone to hell in a handbasket.