Surviving Storm (Kings Reapers MC Book 7) Page 13

  “Please,” she whispers, turning to look me in the eye. That’s when I see the finger bruises on her chin, and I wince.

  “Fuck,” I hiss. I take her hand and push her sleeve up. She immediately withdraws it when my eyes widen. There are big, ugly, red cuts crisscrossing over her arm. It’s hard to see the skin through them.

  She pulls up her other sleeve to reveal the large bruises I caused. “If these are what you’re looking for, then here,” she snaps, shoving her arm in my face. “But I deserved it.”

  I scowl. “You didn’t fucking deserve that, Charlotte. Don’t say that shit. I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. I’m an ass, and I am so sorry.” My phone rings and I pull it out my pocket to check it’s not the hospital. I frown, confused when I see it’s Ink, the tattooist the club uses. “Yeah?” I answer.

  “Brother, I gotta check an appointment with you. Your ol’ lady booked in later today for a cover-up. That right with you?” he asks.

  My eyes connect with hers and a stab of hurt hits my chest. Of course, she wants the tattoo removing, why the fuck wouldn’t she. “Yeah, thanks for running it by me, Ink. Put it on my tab. I’ll settle it later.”

  “If you’re sure, brother.”

  “One hundred percent,” I mutter, disconnecting. “The tattooist,” I say, and she presses her lips together. “You hate needles . . . you want me to come?”

  She shakes her head. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Butterfly,” I begin, and she squeezes her eyes shut before sighing.

  “Please stop calling me that,” she whispers.

  I nod once. “Lottie, you need to get help. The cutting is out of hand. Stay, see the counsellor. You said you liked her, that she’s the only one you’ve ever liked.”

  “I’m gonna be fine, Storm. I survived before you and I’ll survive after you.” Bently jumps up on her bed, and she smiles, rubbing his neck affectionately. “There’s no room for Bently, since I might have to couch surf for some time. I’d like Seb to have him. Bently’s lost without his BFF, and I promised Seb I’d never take him away.” Her voice breaks and she swipes away her tears. “Please tell him I’m sorry . . . for everything.”

  I nod, and our fingers brush as she hands me Bently’s leash. “Take care, Lottie. If you need anything—”

  “You too,” she says, cutting me off. “And I won’t . . . need anything, that is. Not from you.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  LOTTIE

  One Year Later

  I spin the keychain around my finger. Standing in the centre of the room, I slowly turn three-sixty to take in my surroundings. After leaving the MC, I couch-surfed for three months in Liverpool before going to a homeless women’s shelter, and now, finally, I have my own place. I allow a smile to creep onto my lips.

  “Where do you want this?” asks Kyla, holding up a box.

  “I wrote the room names on the box. You were there when I did it,” I say, rolling my eyes. She grins before dumping it on the coffee table.

  “This place is perfect,” she says.

  I nod in agreement. “Finally, things are coming together.”

  “How do you feel about being back here permanently?” she asks.

  I shrug my shoulders. It’s not ideal. I met Kyla at the women’s shelter in Liverpool, but she’s originally from North London, so when she said she was coming back here, I decided to follow. I figured it was far enough away from the club, and you only really bump into the bikers when you know where to hang out, so I’ll avoid those places at all costs. “I’m far enough away to not bump into him, and besides, I miss my brother. We’ve spoken regularly, but it isn’t the same. I want to see him, and eventually, I’d like him to meet this little one,” I say, peering into my daughter’s Moses basket. Her brown eyes stare back at me, and I sigh. “If he can keep it to himself, that is.”

  “I’m sure he will if he wants you to stick around. You said it yourself plenty of times that he wanted to come and see you.”

  “They’re really close at the MC. It’ll be hard for him to keep this from Storm.”

  “Maybe he isn’t there anymore. He wasn’t originally from London, so could he have gone back to his roots?”

  I nod, but deep down, I know Storm will be at the club. He was settled there, and so were Seb and Taya. I make sure I never ask about him when I speak to Lake or Sara, but I must have picked the phone up a million times to call him. I wanted to tell him all about his daughter and the way she smiles just like him, but then I’d remember what happened and how he looked at me that night he found Seb, and it’s enough to make me put the phone away. We’re not good for each other. If we were, it would have worked out.

  It’s almost nine in the evening when I finally sit down and pick up my mobile to call Lake. I smile when he answers. I miss him so much. “Hey,” I say. “How are you?”

  “All good, little sister. How are you?”

  “Same. Guess what?”

  “You’ve seen sense and you wanna return to the MC?”

  I smile again even though he can’t see me. “You say it every time I call, and my answer will always be no. I’m happy where I am.”

  “And where is that exactly?” he asks. Again, it’s the same thing he asks on every call, only this time, I plan to tell him.

  “I’m in London,” I say quietly and hear his intake of breath.

  “Where? I’ll come get you.”

  “Actually, Lake, I’ve been back for some time.”

  “Are you shitting me?”

  “I wanted to tell you, but I wasn’t ready.”

  “You haven’t seen Connor or Leo in a year. Don’t you miss them?” he snaps.

  Guilt creeps in. “Of course, I do, Lake. You know I do. But things have been tough. I had to get my head straight and sort myself out.” I glance at the scars on my arms. I no longer cover them because I’m not ashamed. I still have my down days, and that’s okay, but I haven’t reached for a blade since everything happened.

  “Can I come and get you?” he eventually asks.

  “I was thinking you could bring Sara and Leo to see me, and Connor if he isn’t too busy. I’m in Enfield. You could stop over. I have my own place and I’d love you to see it.” We make plans for them to visit the upcoming weekend. “One last thing,” I add. “Please don’t tell Storm. I don’t want to see him. Not ever.”

  STORM

  “Seb, get back here,” I say playfully. He runs back and grabs his school bag. “Have a good day, kid.”

  His teacher greets him at the door, and I watch their interaction with a grin on my face. He’s so happy at this school, I’ve never seen him so animated. As I turn to walk away, I spot Emily leaning against her car parked directly behind my bike. Her kid goes to this school too. She looks hot in a summer dress and boots. “You waiting for me?” I ask.

  “I don’t have to be in work for another half-hour,” she says, raising her brow suggestively. “Meet you at the club?” she adds, opening her car door. I smirk, throwing my leg over the bike.

  Hannah and Taya are just leaving as I drag Emily past them. “In a hurry?” Hannah asks, grinning.

  “Morning. Emily, wasn’t it?” asks Taya.

  I don’t give Emily enough time to answer because we’re already taking the stairs two at a time. I slam the bedroom door, and she tugs at my belt. We’ve been hooking up for weeks, but I’m starting to notice the way she looks at me—it’s with a longing for something more, something I can’t give her. I ain’t ever settling down again. Not after Lottie. Fuck no.

  Fifteen minutes later, I’m standing in the doorway waving Emily off. Voices come from behind me, and I pause to listen. “He didn’t say exactly, just that she’s in London.”

  “Why wouldn’t she tell him that? He’s her brother, for goodness sake.”

  I pretend not to hear Anna and Sara’s discussion. Instead, I step farther out the door so they can’t see me. “She said she’s been back months. Lake’s missed her so bad, I felt sorry for
him,” continues Sara. “She hasn’t seen Leo in a year. She’s missed so much.”

  “I guess she must have felt really bad after what happened with Seb. Guilt’s an awful emotion. Then there’s Storm, of course. They didn’t exactly part on great terms,” says Anna.

  “I know, and I get all that, I really do, but it doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t have been forced to come back to the club. She could have asked Lake to go see her, but she refused to even say where she was staying. Don’t you think that's weird?”

  Bently whines at my feet, and I pull the door fully open like I’ve just returned from his walk. The women whip their heads round. “Morning,” I say brightly.

  “Morning,” they chorus.

  “Why’d you both look suspicious?” I ask.

  “No reason,” says Anna. “We were discussing Riggs’ birthday.”

  I head for my room. I don’t appreciate the lies, but clearly, I’m not supposed to know Lottie is back in London. The news shouldn’t bother me. It’s not like I still think about her every day . . . well, maybe just for a fleeting minute, but not like I used to. I scrub my hands over my face and pull out my mobile. “Eric,” I growl. I met him at my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting nine months ago, and we agreed to sponsor each other, a decision I regret almost daily whenever I hear his joyful tone.

  “What’s up, bud?” he asks, and that simple sentence makes me wanna reach for the bottle even more.

  “I need a drink.”

  “One of those days, huh?”

  “It’s why I’m calling,” I grate out, irritated by his Mr. Nice Guy routine.

  “Talk me through it, big guy,” he says, and I roll my eyes.

  LOTTIE

  I pace nervously, glancing through the window every ten seconds. When Lake’s car finally stops outside, I let out a nervous breath. Kyla offered to be here, and I told her I’d be fine, but now I wish I had taken her up on it now.

  I wait until they’re walking up the path before opening the door and smiling wide. “You made it.” I embrace Sara, then look up at my older brother, who’s holding their son in his arms. “Wow, he’s so big,” I say. “He doesn’t look that big when we talk on video call,” I add, laughing. Lake hugs me, and I lead them inside.

  “This place is fancy,” he grunts.

  “I moved in last week,” I say, showing them into the kitchen.

  “We’ve missed you so much,” says Sara. “Why didn’t you tell us you were here?”

  I flick on the kettle. “It’s a long story. Tell me all your news first.”

  “We’re here to hear the long story,” growls Lake. “Get talking.”

  I swallow hard. Some things never change, like his bossy tone. “You might want to take a seat,” I mutter, heading back to the living room where Elsie is sleeping. I carefully lift her from the basket and go back to the kitchen. They both stare at me for at least a minute before Sara stands and moves towards me.

  “What the hell?” She whispers, “You had a daughter?” I nod.

  “No fucking way,” snaps Lake. “You had a fucking kid and didn’t tell me?”

  “I wasn’t ready,” I mutter.

  “We’re your family,” he yells, and Elsie jumps along with Leo. Sara takes her son from Lake and moves to the window to distract him. “How the fuck could you hide something so fucking huge from us?”

  “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t find out until I was five months, and then I could never find the right time. I was worried you’d make me come back to the club.”

  “You couldn’t drop it in conversation? We spoke every couple of weeks, and you couldn’t say, ‘by the fucking way, I’ve got a kid’?”

  Sara slowly turns, her eyes wide. “Oh my god! She’s Storm’s?”

  STORM

  I grunt as my fist smashes into the guy’s ribs. He winces but no sound escapes him. I know that fucker hurt, so he’s got a good poker face. I hit the same spot a second and third time, and on the fourth time, he hisses. “Fuck, I thought he was an alien for a second there,” says Blade, sounding relieved.

  “You make me fucking sick,” I growl in the guy’s face.

  “Please, I served my time,” the pussy cries.

  “No, there’s only one place you deserve to go after what you did.”

  “I have a family to go to,” he mutters. “I have kids.”

  “Do they know what you did? The truth of how you raped girls? Have you got daughters? Shall I pass them around my brothers?”

  “Man, they were in it to make money. Those bitches lied about us grooming them,” he argues, and I hit him again.

  Blade pushes his knife into the guy’s eye, and he screams out. “Fuck, brother, a little warning,” I snap. He always does that shit when you’re least expecting it.

  “I’m bored. How many more of these shitheads have we got on the list?”

  “Two,” I say, grinning.

  It’s taken a year to track down every member of the gang involved in the paedophile ring that Lottie was groomed by when she was a teenager. I was mad after we split, but when Brick told me he’d managed to track down some of the gang members, I told myself I was doing it for Lake. After all, it was his sister they hurt, and he’s joined me on every kill so far. Today, he had something on. I suspect that involves Lottie, but it’s not my business.

  So far, we’ve caught up with every single member. Now, we just have the ring leaders left, Rashid Mohammed and Ali Mosafo. Ali groomed Lottie and passed her around to grown men against her will. We’ve saved him until last. For that murder, I’ll be waiting for Lake.

  Chapter Seventeen

  LOTTIE

  “You have to tell him. Secrets like that never go down well in the club, Lottie. This is fucking huge,” gasps Sara.

  I shake my head, alarm in my expression. “No, please, you can’t tell him. We’re not good together. We’ve learnt to live without each other, and I can’t have him back in my life.”

  “It’s not just about you, Lottie. Fuck, he’s her dad and he deserves to know about her,” she argues.

  I take a deep breath. I knew this was a bad idea. “I’ll run,” I mutter. “I’ll leave London completely.”

  Lake’s eyes burn into me. It’s a low blow, but I’m desperate. “That’s a shitty move,” hisses Sara. “We haven’t seen you in a year, and you know we’ve missed you. Now you’re threatening to up and run?”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t deal with Storm.”

  “Seb has a sister. You’re being selfish,” she hisses. “Don’t you care that your daughter has a whole family and you’re keeping her from us?”

  “I’m protecting us all. You saw how I was before—”

  “That wasn’t Storm’s fault,” snaps Sara.

  “We were both dependent on something. I self-harmed, and he drank himself into oblivion. Together we’re a mess.”

  “He doesn’t drink anymore,” mutters Lake.

  “But he will. With me on the scene, I’ll drive him to it.”

  Lake shakes his head in disgust. “You have no clue what he’s done for you. The lengths he’s gone to.” I frown because I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I don’t want to get into it right now. “I can’t keep this from him, Lottie. It’s too big. He’s my brother,” Lake continues.

  “And I’m your sister. Your actual blood sister!”

  “You know the bonds of the club. I have to tell him.”

  I grit my teeth. “Fine,” I mutter. “But let me do it.”

  Lake takes a pen from the worktop and scribbles something on a scrap of paper. “This is his number now. He changed it after you left.”

  I smirk. “That’s how happy he’ll be to hear from me. He went to all that trouble to change his number.”

  “He’ll want to hear this,” says Sara.

  “Is he,” I pause, “seeing anyone?” They exchange a glance that tells me he is. “Won’t this mess it up for him?”

  “I don’t think it’s serious. It’s only
been a few weeks, but she’s nice. I think she’s into him. They both have kids, so maybe it won’t make a difference,” says Sara, shrugging.

  “Come back with us to the club. Tell him face to face,” Lake commands.

  I shake my head. “I don’t want an audience. I’ll tell him, and as soon as I do, I’ll let you know.”

  I smile gratefully at Kyla. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” I ask for the hundredth time.

  She rolls her eyes. “You know I love being with this princess. You go do what you have to do. Call me if you need me,” she says. I kiss Elsie on the head and grab my keys.

  I haven’t called Storm, but I know where he’ll be, so I’m not surprised when I pull up in the yard where he once took me to cool off and see his bike outside the rusty old caravan. I check my hair and makeup in the mirror before stepping out and heading to the caravan. The door is open, and I stop in my tracks when I spot Storm with his jeans around his ankles and a woman on her knees practically choking on his erection. I gasp, which gets his attention, and when his eyes land on me, he visibly scowls. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he growls.

  I turn my back on the pair, giving them time to compose themselves. My face is on fire with embarrassment. “Sorry, I just wanted to talk to you,” I mutter feebly.

  “Jesus, you finally see Lake after all this time and you’re straight back here to see if I’m still pouring whiskey down my throat over you?” he scoffs.

  “God, no,” I say a little too quickly. “I have something to discuss with you.”

  “I’ll get someone to come get you,” Storm mutters to his lady friend.

  I turn back to face them. “I’ll go. I should have called.”

  “I changed my number,” he mutters, tapping out a text message on his mobile phone. “Blade’s gonna come and take you back to the club,” he says, gently taking the woman by the back of the neck and pulling her to him so he can kiss her. I avert my eyes again. He looks really into her, and I can’t help the stab of jealousy. Since him, there’s been no one. It took me this long to stop crying every time I remembered what happened to Seb.