Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
FREAK
Ienter the room where Toni is being kept. There’s a tray showing that refreshments have been delivered to her. She’s freshly showered and changed, and, as per my earlier instructions, her broken arm has been set and is now in a cast. I’ll have to thank Bronwyn later.
She was sleeping, and she stirs at my approach and awakes. “Freak,” she exclaims. “I’d hoped to see you earlier.”
I wave in her general direction. “You’ve been cared for.”
“A bit belated, but yes. Though I had to suffer for hours before anyone came.” Her twisted expression shows that hadn’t impressed her. Changing tack fast, she eagerly asks, “Can I see Ace?”
My eyes reach for the heavens, then come back down.
“He doesn’t want to see you. What do you think he’s going to do?
Forgive you for lying to him? Kidnapping him?
Taking him away from the only parent he has?
” I’m on a roll now and can’t stop. “Have you any idea how scared he was? He had no way to contact me, no hope of rescue, and then you tried to force him to betray the only family he’s ever known. ”
Her jaw has dropped while I’ve been talking.
Ignoring my first questions, she latches onto the last. “That wasn’t me, it was Candy.
I had no idea that was why he wanted him.
I just thought as my stepbrother, or so I believed, he was concerned.
If what he told me had been the truth, Ace would have been his nephew too.
” Her bottom lip quivers. “Candy hurt me, Freak. Do you really think I’d have condoned taking Ace there if I knew what was going to happen? ”
“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly. “But I do think you’d have taken Ace away from me any way that you could.”
“Because I thought I was doing the right thing by him,” she insists.
“On that we’ll have to differ.” My tone is icy.
Fuck me, I didn’t come here to argue, but that’s what we seem to be doing.
“If you let me explain, talk to him…” Her hands wring together, her broken arm not seeming to cause too much of an issue.
“Right now, hearing how you don’t think I’m a good father isn’t what he needs to listen to.”
She swallows, then offers, “It’s not that I don’t think you’re a good dad, Freak.
It’s the environment you’re raising him in.
If you left the club, got a good job, then I wouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Here,” she waves her hand around her, “he’s subjected to live pornography, men fighting, swearing, and drinking.
You have a club where girls strip for a living, and you deal drugs.
Then there’s murder. You didn’t hesitate to kill Candyman or that other man. ”
“We don’t deal drugs,” I snap, sharply. “We don’t take them or sell them.
” We maybe transport them over the border for more tolerant chapters, but don’t touch the hard stuff ourselves.
“And have you ever wondered how that man you called your brother got his road name? I very much doubt he was handing out the type of candy you’d approve off. ”
“You didn’t contradict anything else,” she throws at me accusingly.
I walk to the window, look outside for a moment, then turn around. “Why don’t we go and have a walk around outside? We can continue to talk. And maybe fresh air will temper our words better than these four oppressive walls.”
Her eyes narrow, then her face relaxes as if she senses I’ve thrown her an olive branch. “Outside would be nice.”
I wait for her to put on her shoes, then open the door and let her precede me.
Then I lead her down the stairs, and out onto the pathway that leads to the clubhouse.
But instead of taking her there, I veer off onto the dry ground.
We’re bikers. We don’t bother with planting grass, not wanting to be troubled with the maintenance.
While some grows during the wetter months, and even flowers spring up during the monsoons, we’re just coming out of May, which is our driest month, so any old vegetation has died away, except for the odd cactus and creosote bushes, jojoba, and the occasional desert saltbush.
Beneath our feet the sand’s been packed down hard.
I lead her away, she startles when a lizard runs across our path, then laughs at herself. She seems lighter out here, maybe it’s because she no longer feels she’s a prisoner.
It’s me who returns to our previous conversation first. “We live this life you’ve got so many issues about, because we’ve all found our place here.
Me, because I served, but when I didn’t re-enlist – when Ace became my sole responsibility – there wasn’t much of a place for me elsewhere.
The skills the Army taught me mostly had no place in a civilian world.
Some brothers have similar reasons to me, others have their own kind of demons.
We were drawn to the Kings because they offered us family.
Are we rough around the edges? You bet. But, darlin’, you’ve never seen a unit of soldiers assigned some R&R.
” I chuckle softly. “Depending on the deployment or missions they’re taking a break from, it can make the Kings look like angels. ”
“You’re not in a war zone now, Freak. You’re not fighting in some far-off place. And your enemies are other US citizens.”
“Nah,” I correct her. “Not citizens, but the cartel, Mafia, other MCs that want what we’ve got.
We don’t go after innocents.” But isn’t that exactly what I’m doing?
Though her actions and affiliations have shown she’s not as lily white as she’d like to believe.
“But it’s certainly not all fighting. We don’t go out looking for trouble.
But, if it comes to us, we sort it.” I swipe my hands through my hair.
“We want a peaceful life as much as the next person. All we want is to work, bring in enough money to keep us fed, and ride our bikes. We just want to be left in peace.”
“It sounds almost idyllic when you put it like that.” Then she places her hands on my arms, looking into my eyes, and says, “Freak, I need to know more about your club, understand this family of yours better. I’m sorry I didn't give you a chance to explain. I’m sorry for all the mistakes that I made.
I know you said no yesterday.” She swallows hard.
“But have you reconsidered? Is there any chance we can start over?”
“Fuck no,” I rasp out. I cock a brow at her. “Even fuckin’ now you’re consumed with ways to keep Ace in your life. It was never me you were interested in. Only your sister’s fuckin’ kid.”
Her bottom lip trembles. “But without Candy telling me lies, I’m starting to see the real you. I could easily fall in love with you. And I already love Ace.” Her hands draw me closer. “You had feelings for me once. That’s why you asked me to move here. You wanted me. You can’t turn that off.”
I look to the heavens as if for inspiration.
“You could fall in love with me? People don’t hurt the ones they love.
You betrayed Ace’s trust in you. And you fuckin’ destroyed me when you took my son.
Have feelings for you? Fuck no. You destroyed any chance of that.
You even lied to me while I was making love to you in my bed. ” I step back out of her hold.
Her mouth drops open. “I didn’t lie. Why would you say that?”
“You faked your orgasms.” Mentally I cross my fingers, hoping the information Trixie gave me was right.
There’s a gasp, a full-face blush, then, in a barely there voice, “How did you know?”
“A man always knows.” A little white lie won’t hurt me, right?
She seems stumped for a reply. Fuck. I’d given her a chance, I’ve heard her out.
There’s no way I can settle for the alternative Prez suggested.
I can’t keep her close. I’d never again be able to believe a word that comes out of her mouth.
And, most importantly, I don’t believe Ace would ever forgive me if I gave her another chance.
There’s a question I need to ask her, knowledge that would be useful to have before I take away her ability to talk. “Tell me the truth. Why did Candyman come to you? How the fuck did he know you were Ace’s aunt?”
She rears back as if not having expected that question, then her shoulders raise and lower, and she starts speaking as if it’s of no consequence.
“Dad had a friend, he’d been around for years.
I don’t have the story about how they met, but he was often about the house.
He was like an uncle to me.” Her face clouds over momentarily.
“He used to ride a motorcycle, like you.” A wan smile appears and goes.
“As he got older, he switched to a trike. Dad used to pull his leg about it.” She shrugs again.
“Anyway, when Dad died, he was kind to me. I had friends, yes, but no one but him had been a constant in my life for most of it. So I told him about the DNA test, and that I’d found Ace.
My excitement played on his conscience, that he knew something I didn’t, something my dad had sworn him to secrecy about.
It was then he told me, Dad had had another child, one who’d been taken from him, when he and his lover had fallen out. ”
How easily this woman is taken in by lies. “The convenient son being Candyman? What’s this friend of your dad’s name?”
“Evan Carter.”
I file that name away. From what she’s told me, I’d place good money that her dear old family friend was affiliated with the MDMC. The bike part sways me the most. It looks like I’ve got my answer. I don’t like leaving loose ends.
Subtly I reposition myself, moving behind her. Unseen I take my gun out of its holster, line it up, ready to fire one single bullet into her head. But I hesitate for too long. She turns around, sees the gun in my hand and immediately drops to her knees, her hands held up in supplication.
“Freak?” Her voice vibrates with shock, an octave higher than normal.