Chapter 10 #3
I stood up, moving to stand at the door, and turned back. “I didn’t ask if he was your man, I asked if you were a thing, but your response is telling me the answer. Get your head clear, Valkyrie, before you end up costing us more than our fair share of women.”
Pushing out of the room, I headed outside to get some fresh air. Today had been eye opening, and not in an altogether good way.
My phone rang in my pocket. I lifted it up to see my mother’s name pop up on the screen. Jesus, how did she know the exact wrong time to call me…every damn time?
I hadn’t spoken to her since I kicked her out of my cabin for speaking down to Orla. I didn’t especially want to speak to her now either.
Especially not after what Dempsey told me.
I didn’t know if I trusted it. My whole life I’d been hidden, unsure of what to call myself.
When Dad had told me I could use O’Leary, and be part of the Rebels, I’d been honoured, and finally felt like I belonged somewhere.
He’d wanted his families to be united, and yet it had never happened.
I’d assumed it had been because of his wife’s insistence, but what if it had been my own jealous mother who wanted my dad to herself?
The doors swung open after a few moments. I’d moved to the side of the clubhouse, away from sight, as I smoked on the cigarette.
“Do we really have to go?” I heard Sheridan ask, her voice filled with terror. “Maybe we need to be here.”
“No, I refuse to put you in danger again. He needs to go down, and I can’t worry about you being in danger. Protect these girls and when you come back, it’ll be over. Once and for all.”
I heard the pain in Ace’s voice. He’d had to say goodbye to Sheridan so many times, and yet, it sounded like it didn’t get any easier.
I put my smoke out and was about to walk out when I peered over to see that Sheridan was busying herself in the van, leaving the girls staring up at him with teary eyes.
“Look, girls. I know I am asking a lot from you lately, but I promise, we’re going to keep you safe. You’ll come back and never have to worry about your dad again.”
Ryleigh nodded, choking back a sob. Shauna was fierce though. I could see the sadness, but she refused to break.
The twins couldn’t be any more different if they tried.
“He’s not our dad,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I wish he was dead.”
Ace froze, realising she was asking him to kill their dad. He’d only needed the word and he would have had it done in prison, but he didn’t want to do that without their permission. How would you broach that with sixteen year old’s though?
“Shauna, it’ll be okay soon. I promise, okay?”
He pulled them into his arms, holding them on either side of him.
They hugged him tightly back. He’d changed since Sheridan and those girls had come into his life.
He was still my oldest friend but he was softer, yet fiercer.
I didn’t know how it was possible, but I know I wouldn't have left Neal alive this long.
He threatened his happily ever after, and like hell I would allow him to hurt us again.
It was hard to believe the devil was the father of sweet and gorgeous girls. He hadn’t poisoned them yet, no matter how hard he tried.
That was because of Sheridan.
I saw so much of her in them it was crazy.
“Look, when it’s all over,” he continued, keeping his eye on Sheridan, talking with Shae at the van. “I want to ask your permission for something.”
They looked up at him, with their brows furrowed.
“I want to ask your mum to marry me,” he said. I should leave. This was a personal moment but I was dragged into his happiness, his family because they were all our family. “Would that be okay?”
They pulled from his arms and faced him. I wondered if they would say yes.
“You don’t need our permission,” Shauna was the one who spoke.
“I want your blessing,” he offered, running a hand down his hair at the back. It was his tell. He was nervous as hell.
The girls looked at each other, then a slow smirk spread over Shauna’s face, as she turned back. “You can have that, on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“When you marry our mum,” Ryleigh said. “You let us take your name.”
The pride that registered on Ace’s face was enough to allow a sense of peace to wash over me. Shauna had been a little rougher around the edges, but she’d come around eventually to calling Ace her dad.
“You can do that now,” he said, pulling them into a bear hug. They laughed as they hugged him back, and I moved back down behind the clubhouse so I didn’t ruin the moment. I felt guilty for feeling happy when Orla was trapped with a maniacal asshole, but I knew she would be happy too.
I just needed her back.
My phone buzzed and I looked down at a photo message from an unknown number. I opened it to find the air being sucked out of my chest.
It was Orla.
She was tied to a bed, her near naked body on display, tears running down her cheeks.
The message that came next told me Dempsey may not have as much of a handle over this as the thought he did.
UNKNOWN
She sure does look pretty all laid out like that. Keep the redhead.
I’ll feast on your whore.
F.
Fucking Flynn.
I marched in through the back door to the office in the clubhouse. Maree was standing there at the computer, sucking down a vape. Her eyes widened in surprise before she pulled me inside and closed the door.
“Don’t fucking tell Donny,” she said, hiding the vape under the table.
“I don’t give a fuck about this.”
“What’s up?” she asked, her eyes searching mine. I showed her the message. Her eyes widened and then her brows knit together in confusion.
“F?”
“Flynn fucking Beasley,” I replied.
Her eyes closed for a moment, realising just how fucked Orla was.
“I have to ask you a favour.”
“Name it, Alex.”
“He has a secret family. I need you to find them.”
“How do you know? Flynn has never shown interest in a serious relationship before.”
Flynn had been a member of the Rebels until we’d kicked him out for betraying us. He’d flown the coop so fast to the Wolves, who took him in with open arms when they realised how dark and twisted he was.
Exactly what they needed.
“Tierney told me.”
“Your sister?”
I nodded.
“Does she know anything else?”
“You need to contact her. Tell her it was from me, she’ll tell you what she knows, I’m sure of it.”
Maree didn’t question it, rather she just nodded and set down to grab her phone. “Number?”
I pulled it up on my phone, remembering the day she’d sent it to me, thinking we would have a relationship.
I rattled it off and left the room, hellbent on finding something to take my rage out on.
Hawk was handing Morena off to Shae in the van with the others.
I could see the tension in his shoulders as he said goodbye. Ace and Hawk’s women were safe.
Mine wasn’t.
I headed into the shed off to the side of the garage.
The one I was going to do up for Orla when she got back, her new studio.
Grabbing the sledgehammer, I yanked down the wall, pulling the sheets of formwork down until I couldn’t swing again, tears had fallen over my cheeks without sobs. I was losing her all over again.
No one came in here, no one tried to stop me from taking my anger out on the walls. We could fix whatever I fucked up.
Nothing would fix me if Orla was gone.
Orla
Dempsey returned, his shirt removed as if he was showing them that he came in here for a piece of me. My blood ran cold at the thought but he’d kept everyone from touching me, claiming to be taking me as his.
People listened to him when he told them to leave. I knew the likelihood of me getting away from here without being touched was unlikely, but he could soften the blow by taking up more time sitting on the edge of my bed and telling me what he knew.
He sat on the edge of the bed, like he usually did, and I took in the tattoos on his body.
He didn’t have as many as Bear, but I did see a large Reaper on his side, telling me he was a Reaper but it wasn’t the club tattoo, it didn’t have the club name around it.
A large text tattoo on his back with the word Outlaw in an old western style script made me wonder why he had that.
“I went to see Alex today,” he said, softly.
I sat up straighter, hating that the ropes on my wrists were rubbing against my already sensitive flesh.
“What did he say?”
“He doesn’t want to believe me,” he said, a wry smile making its way to his face. “He looks so much like dad that it’s mind blowing, but he’s angrier than Dad ever was.”
“Can you blame him with a mother like Louise?”
He chuckled. “You know her?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I was a bad influence on her son. She’s tried to keep us apart a long time.”
“You’re his high school sweetheart?”
“I was,” I replied.
“Tierney told me he spoke about you, a few years ago, as the one he never got over.”
“Who is Tierney?”
“My sister. She tried reaching out to Alex a few years back, to reconnect, but it didn’t last long. Louise put a stop to it.”
“What is that bitch’s problem?” I huffed.
“Jealousy,” he said, simply. “She wanted to be number one, and my Dad never gave her the time of day.”
I snorted, rolling my eyes. “Would you? She’s a skank ass whore. Especially around Peter. Alex was always embarrassed having to clean her drunk and high ass up after a bender.”
Dempsey shrugged. “I guess she never felt loved.”
“I guess not,” I replied. “She’s got another kid, you know?”
His eyes shot over to me. “What?”
I nodded. “A daughter. I can’t remember her name for the life of me, but she was born when Alex was ten. She was just a kid when we were dating back then, and then all of a sudden, she’s living with family in Wales.”
“Fuck,” he ran his hands over his head. “I had no idea.”
“It’s not your dad’s,” I told him. “She tried to make Peter jealous from what Alex told me. It was another biker’s, but no idea who it was. I don’t even think Louise knows.”