Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SPIDER
“First thing I want to clear up is are you two fucking sorted with your bullshit now?” Ghost snaps at Acid and I.
I smirk. “Yeah, Pres,” I confirm.
“All good,” Acid adds.
“Thank fuck for that. Right, on to the problem at hand. Dean. I don’t know who he thinks he is coming into our club and speaking to my woman, but that shit has to stop now,” Ghost states.
“Agreed,” Cash says. “You should have just shot them on fucking site.”
“Couldn’t. We didn’t know enough about him then, but now that he’s approached us, it’s fair fucking game. We will hunt him down and end him. Any objections?” Ghost asks, looking around the table. No one objects. “Good. Cash, look into him and find out where he is staying, or if he has any connections to anyone in the area we need to worry about,” Ghost states.
“If he has any connections, they may side with us when they realise he’s after one of our own,” Beast points out.
“Good point. I don’t think Dean the dick realises how many connections we have around here, but he will get a fucking shock when he finds out,” Ghost adds. He turns his attention back to me and Acid. “One thing I need to address with you two is the fact I’m guessing neither of you have told Nova the story of how her house got fucking burnt down?” Ghost asks.
I look at Acid and he shakes his head no. “No,” I answer, the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. Not that I had forgotten about it, but I had pushed it to the back of my mind. I was just relishing in the moment with Nova.
“Then you do it today. I don’t not want this shit hanging over our heads, because when she finds out and she will, it will cause some kind of fucking hell. She could either do what she did again; steal your bike or fucking worse, get taken by Dean. And if we are going after him, I don’t want anything hanging over our heads. Do I make myself fucking clear?” Ghost snaps.
We both nod and I turn to Acid. “I will tell her tonight at mine,” I tell him.
He shakes his head no. “I should be there,” Acid points out.
“Fine. Come over and we will sit her down and both tell her,” I sigh. “But know this, whatever she says, I am not letting her out of my house. I will be locking her fucking in there until she can forgive me. I ain’t losing her again,” I state.
“And another one bites the dust. More women for me,” Scar gloats.
“Hey, you ain’t the only single brother,” Acid protests.
“Yeah, don’t forget about the fucking rest of us,” Buzz adds.
“Alright, fucking hell. I’m just saying the number of available brothers is dropping fast, which means the bunny ratio goes in my favour.” Scar grins, rubbing his hands together.
“You’re going to end up with gonorrhoea or some manky dick disease.” Cash smirks.
Scar shakes his head. “Hey, you know what they say, don’t hate the player, hate the game. I always wrap my shit up tight. There is no manky dick here.”
Ghost slams the gavel down. “Fucking all agreed. End of fucking church. Now all of you just fuck off before talking about your manky dicks. It makes me ill,” he sighs, exasperated.
The brothers all laugh and we all file out. As we walk into the bar, Ghost holds his finger to his lips. I frown and follow him.
“I will always say that anyone can threaten me, but when it comes to Enzo, I will be the one murdering, not Ghost,” Star says, unaware that Ghost is stood behind her. “Like I said, if Ghost had heard what Dean said earlier, he would have slit his throat there and then. And it’s not just Ghost that’s like that. They all are. They are the possessive protectors.”
“What did he say to you?” Ghost growls.
Star jumps in her seat and turns around to face him. “Hey Casper,” she greets him awkwardly.
“Tell me,” Ghost demands.
Star turns around to face him, kneeling on the couch. “It’s nothing, I promise,” Star says, trying to reassure him.
Ghost places his hand around her neck possessively and leans down, his face just millimetres from hers. “Darlin’, are you mine?” he growls.
“Yes,” she whispers.
“Do I protect what’s mine?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says with affection.
“Then tell me what he said so I can continue to protect what’s mine,” he demands.
“That I’m next,” she confesses.
I don’t need to see Ghost’s face to know it’s turned ice cold. “Office, now,” he orders Star. She gets up and scurries to the office. He turns around. “Cash, I want that fucker’s details by morning. I don’t want him breathing another fucking day,” he barks before storming off after Star.
I hold my hand out to Nova. “Come on, sweetheart.” She takes my hand and follows me out. She watches as I grab the helmet, smiling as I begin to put it on her. “Nash is coming back with us for bit,” I tell her.
“Oh, okay,” she says, shrugging.
We ride to my place with Acid riding alongside us. I can’t help but be on edge as I look around, making sure we aren’t being followed.
As we pull onto my drive, I press the button for the garage and gesture for Acid to park his bike in with mine. Switching the engines off, Acid looks around and whistles.
“Someone was saving.” He smirks.
“You haven’t seen this place?” Nova asks.
“Nope, I was away nomad when he bought it,” he replies.
“Well, come on. I will show you the rest of the house. If you’re excited by the garage, you’re about to piss your fucking pants with excitement when you see the rest of the house,” I mock. Taking Nova’s hand in mine, I lead them through the house.
Acid takes a look around before coming back to the living room. I hold out a beer for him and he takes it. “So,” he sighs, looking at me. We both know this is a conversation that needs to be done, but neither of us want to relive it.
“Sit down, sweetheart. We have something to tell you,” I say to Nova. She frowns as she looks at each of us.
Acid sighs before he takes a seat next to Nova. I stay standing, letting them have their moment together. As much as I want to hold her through this, I’m not stupid enough to think that she will even want me near her.
“When we ran from the child’s home we were both put in, we lived on the streets for a while, living off what we could find; scraps out of bins, begging for work, or just begging in general. Not much worked out for us. People don’t like giving money to young guys on the street. They just assume it will be for drink or drugs, when in reality, all we wanted was some bread so we didn’t fucking starve,” Acid explains. “I was angry, so fucking angry at what Mom and him put me through. What I thought they put you through. I wanted to end them. I wanted them to feel pain like I felt. I wanted them to fear for their lives like I had.” Acid pauses.
Nova wipes the tears that had begun to fall down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.” She sniffs, holding his hand in hers.
Acid looks away from her. “We stole some gas from various cars and trucks. We went back home and poured it everywhere we could. We chained them to the bed, and then we lit the match,” Acid confesses bluntly.
“What, what do you mean?” Nova asks, snatching her hand away from his.
Acid grips his fingers through his hair.
“We burned your family home to the ground with your mom and step daddy inside,” I state, cutting in. Acid looks up at me, unable to look at Nova.
“You killed Mom?” she asks in disbelief, her voice breaking. She looks from Acid to me. “You helped him?” she whispers.
“I cuffed them to the bed, and I lit the match, sweetheart,” I tell her, and as the words leave my mouth, I want to take them back. I want to continue to live with it buried, because the way she is looking at me with devastation and horror shreds my fucking heart.
She shakes her head. “No, why? Why would you do that? That’s evil, it’s... Just why?” she asks erratically.
“Sweetheart,” I say softly. I reach to take her hand in mine, but she snatches it away and jumps to her feet, moving away from us to the other side of the room.
Acid stands. “Have you forgotten what Mom was like? What he was like?” Acid fumes, not saying his name. He never has and he never will, because saying his name makes him real. It makes what he went through real.
“Of course I haven’t. They were on drugs. I know that. But being an addict is an illness. They could have gotten clean at some point, and there were those days when she wasn’t so bad. She would be like a mom again. Our home may not have been perfect, but I was surviving. I was working. I was going to go to culinary college. I was going to have my own business,” she rasps as tears stream down her face.
“You got your own business. You made it without all of that bullshit,” Acid points out.
“I made it by stealing my pimp’s money, after I was forced to suck dick and fuck his clients!” she snaps. “You ever been held down while a man twice your age fucks you in the ass? So roughly you bleed, and no matter how much you protest, no matter how much you beg, they still continue because those sick fucks get off on it?” she sobs. Reaching up, she angrily wipes her tears. “But no, you are right. I fucking made it all the same as if I went to college.” She lets out a cynical laugh. “I was on my own. I had no one. You had each other. You could have just got on with your life, but instead, you decided to destroy mine.” She sniffs.
“Tell her!” I snap. Both of them look at me, and Acid immediately shakes his head no. “Fucking tell her! Tell her what that sick son of a bitch did to you. Tell her how every minute of every fucking day you have punished yourself thinking that you had accidently killed your sister! Fucking tell her!” I roar.
Acid holds his head in his hands. “Nash?” Nova whispers, sniffing and wiping her tears away.
“Fuck,” Acid sighs. “I know how it feels,” he grits out as he looks up at a confused Nova. “I know how it feels to be pinned down and fucked until you bleed. Too weak and too small to fight them off,” Acid rasps, his voice breaking. “I don’t regret burning the house to the ground. The only thing I had regret over was the thought that you were in there with them. They deserved to suffer. They deserved to burn alive,” Acid spits out as anger and emotion rips through him.
“I, I didn’t know,” Nova whispers. “Maybe Mom didn’t know,” she suggests.
Acid laughs. “She knew. She fucking knew, and she chose to do nothing about it. She just continued to pump her body full of fucking drugs and block out what was happening, while I had to continue to live through it!” he snaps.
I place my hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. I know how hard it was to talk about. He’s told no one; no one but me.
“I need to get out of here,” Nova says, anxiously. “I need fresh air to clear my head,” she adds as she paces back and forth.
“Back yard,” I say, pointing to the door.
She shakes her head. “I need to get away from here.”
“That ain’t happening, sweetheart,” I say softly. Reaching out, I trail my fingertips down her arm.
“Stay away from me,” she snaps, flinching away from me. “I can’t deal with you right now.” She turns away and storms through the house, disappearing out into the back yard.