Among the Chaos: Book 2 of the Soldiers of Chaos MC Series (2 page)

Speaking of avoidance, she listened to the quiet in the house trying to pick up any indication that Tex or Trace were awake. She heard nothing. She glanced over to the corner of her room where three boxes sat waiting to be opened. They were Sheila's and for some reason Rose had insisted Tex save them from her mother's now burnt home and give them to Nikki. They'd sat there untouched since Sheila died.

Nikki had no idea what was inside them and she dreaded finding out. They were probably just filled with paperwork or old clothes or maybe casino chips. Mind you with her mother's love of money if they were casino chips they'd be cashed in and spent not boxed up and saved. Rose had wanted her to have them for some reason though and the more they sat there the more they called to her. Nikki swept back the covers and slowly climbed out of bed.

She wandered cautiously over to the boxes. She wasn't sure what she was afraid of. It’s not like Sheila was gonna jump out of them at her. Well she hoped she wouldn't, having her in her dreams was bad enough. She knelt on the floor next to the boxes as she contemplated which one to open first. She slowly folded the first box open. Clothes. Well that was a letdown.

Nikki reached in and pulled out several items of clothing. An old men’s Harley shirt, a white summer dress, a cut? It looked too small to be for a man. She unfolded it and on the back was a property patch, ‘Property of Reaper’. Wow must’ve been from when they were first together because Nikki sure as hell couldn’t ever remember her mother wearing it. She put it aside and dug further into the box retrieving a shoe box. Nikki opened the lid to reveal a collection of photos.

They were old pictures from an MC party back when the original members had been young. She spotted one shot in particular where Sheila was heavily pregnant arms around Reaper. Reaper's eyes were on Sheila's protruding belly and his body language was tight. Perhaps the idea of his impending fatherhood was getting to him or perhaps it was being tied to Sheila that was the issue. Standing next to them were Rose and King. She smiled as she looked at her surrogate parents. Their love for each other was immediately obvious.

The next picture was similar to the first one only Reaper’s head was turned back over his shoulder. It was hard to tell what he was looking at with all the people in the background. Nikki shuffled to the next one and it became clear what had caught her father’s attention. A slim olive skinned woman appeared on the edge of the photo. Nikki’s first assumption was she was some piece of club ass her father was eyeing off. The more she stared the less sure she was about that.

She was too well dressed to be ass and the way this woman carried herself suggested she was not from their neck of the woods. Nikki went to the next photo in the hopes of getting a better look at the woman but she was no longer in that shot. She continued to shuffle though all the photos discarding them all into a pile until she came across one last picture. Her father was standing on the edge of the party with the woman from the earlier photo. They were half hidden by shadows but even so Nikki could see the tense body language between them. Reaper’s hand appeared to be resting on the other side of the woman’s face and the woman was clinging to his shirt.

She flicked back to the first image of her and stared some more. There was something familiar about her that Nikki just couldn’t place. She felt like she’d seen the mystery woman somewhere before although she didn’t know where. She filtered all the faces of the Soldier’s women through her mind. She was no one’s old lady and she’d be far too old now to be club ass or to work at Eros. Nikki couldn’t figure it out and for some reason it really bothered her. She folded the photo and slid it into her phone case thinking she’d check it later.

Just as she closed the case her phone vibrated in her hand. She flipped the case open and checked the screen. Her heart stopped. She knew who it was. She may have deleted his name from her phone but every time he rang she knew it was him. Every time she declined his call she put another brick in the wall surrounding the darkness inside her. Nikki cancelled the call and glanced over at the clock. Nine am. Nikki headed for the shower. She better get her shit organized and get to the workshop before any of the brothers fucked shit up. Grown men and bikes were never a good idea without supervision.

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Tex woke to the sound of running water and the smell of sex. He cracked one eye open and peered around the room. His bed sheets were twisted around and a bottle blond body lay in the bed next to him. Strewn across the room were various bits and pieces of clothing including a barely there lacy thong. Wait make that two lacy thongs. What the fuck did he do last night? He remembered arguing with Nikki again about that bastard.

She still refused to tell them who the sick asshole was that beat her bloody. Tex couldn’t let it go. It killed him not being able to seek retribution for the injuries done to her.  He wanted to find that bastard and take him apart piece by piece. The fact that he couldn’t do anything about it left him feeling frustrated, angry and useless. When you added to that the arguing with Nikki, it drove him to drink.

After their argument last night he had come back to the clubhouse with some of the boys. What had started out as a few drinks turned into a rager and he knew he’d downed way more alcohol than usual. The sound of water stopped and after a few seconds the door opened. Melanie stepped out of the bathroom still naked. He closed his eyes again mentally cursing himself. It was one thing to sleep with a piece of club ass it was another to sleep with that bitch.

He felt the bed shift with her weight and opened his eyes to see her crawling up the bed towards him.

“Morning big boy,” her voice was the
kinda rough that told you she was working her way towards throat cancer.

Sure it would’ve been sexy after several drinks but right now it just made his skin crawl. She leaned forward to kiss him and he quickly shoved his hand in her face to stop her.

“Morning. Now if you wouldn’t mind collecting your clothes and your little friend here and getting out of my room. I’ve got shit to do.”

She pulled her little pouty face bullshit and it made Tex’s stomach churn.

“Are you sure you don’t want another round?”

Oh he never wanted another round and even as drunk as he must’ve been he couldn’t believe he even decided to go there in the first place.

“Pretty sure I can do without.”

Tex got up out of the bed in a hurry flicking Melanie off him and onto the st
ill sleeping body next to him.

The bottle blonde woke with a start, “Hey what the fuck?”

Melanie gave Tex daggers but didn’t respond to his insult.

“C’mon Brenda we
gotta go.”

“What?
Really?”

Brenda rubbed her eyes and made a very half assed attempt at sitting up. Honestly some people were so fucking pathetic and he was one of them.

“I’m going for a shower and I expect both of you to be gone by the time I get out. Got it?”

He needed to scrub all traces of that dirty skank and her friend from his body and fast. He and Trace were pulling workshop duty with Nikki today and there was no way he was going in there smelling of that bitch.

“Don’t worry we’ll be gone,” Melanie replied trying to hustle her friend up and out of bed.

At least the bitch knew the score. He didn’t want to leave that skank unsupervised in his room but if he looked at her any longer he was in danger of puking.

“And if I find any of my shit missing you’ll be the one paying for it.”

Melanie shot him a dark look then turned back to her friend. Tex stomped off to the bathroom locking the door behind him, no reason to give the bitch any ideas.



Nikki rode into the compound on her Harley. She was getting back into the routine of her life before Sheila and before Cole. Just thinking his name had a shiver running down her spine and she didn’t like that, not one bit. Nikki was working the shop with Tex and Trace today and she was kind of dreading it after last night’s confrontation with Tex. They’d got into it big time over Cole. Despite what he’d done to her she couldn’t give him up to the boys. What you reap, you sow. That had definitely been the case with Cole. She’d known all along it was going to end badly for the both of them and in her mind she deserved no better than what she’d received.

Nikki parked up glancing around the empty forecourt. She’d arrived early in the hopes of ducking into the workshop and getting busy before either of the boys could corner her again. The club house door squeaked open catching her attention. Melanie walked out with one of her pathetic friends in tow. That bitch still made Nikki’s blood boil and she just couldn’t help but want to stomp the pavement over to her and punch her right in her face. Melanie’s friend was looking rather seedy struggling to put one foot in front of the other. Melanie on the other hand looked fresh from the shower her hair still wet. Looks like one of the boys or several showed them a good time last night. Melanie spotted Nikki and a smug smile spread across her face. Bitch.

She turned her attention back to her bike. As she placed her stuff into her saddle bags the clubhouse door squeaked again. Someone really needed to oil those hinges.

“Hey Tex thanks for last night.
Brenda and I had a great time.”

Nikki’s head flew up to see Melanie blowing Tex a kiss and throwing him a little wave. She watched as Melanie turned back towards her.

“Hey Nikki,” she gave Nikki a sweet smile.

Nikki had to fight hard not to go over there and give that skank the flogging she deserved. She felt the hum of the monster way down inside her. She would not let it out. Nikki turned away no longer able to look at Melanie’s face and glanced at Tex. He was standing rigid by the door staring at Nikki. She couldn’t believe he would sleep with that bitch. They weren’t in a relationship and she didn’t expect him not to sleep with people, but Melanie? Nikki despised that bitch and after the disrespect Melanie had shown her she expected that at least he, and Trace, would be freezing her out if none of the brothers were. She couldn’t help but feel that maybe he was punishing her for her refusal to talk about Cole.

The boys were desperate to punish the person who hurt her and she was desperate to keep it from them. Last night’s argument had been particularly heated and Nikki had felt the monster stir. She’d ended up slamming her bedroom door in his face and locking it behind her. She was locking him out as much as she was locking the monster in.

She’d already been dreading working with him today as it was. For him to stoop so low? She was so disgusted she couldn’t even look at him. Nikki turned quickly and spotted Trace standing in the doorway of the workshop. Shit just what she needed. She pounded the pavement with her boots and pushed straight passed him into the workshop.

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Fuck. That’s all Tex could think. That and how he was going to punish Melanie for being such a bitch. He saw the hurt in Nikki’s face even if she masked it well. Why the hell did it have to be Melanie? He could’ve had anyone of those women last night but for some reason he’d ended up with her. He knew what it looked like too. It looked like he’d purposely sought out Melanie to punish Nikki for their argument last night and maybe he had.

He was angry at Nikki, frustrated at not being able to punish that bastard who hurt her but mostly he was hurt. He was hurt she wouldn’t confide him now but he was also hurt she hadn’t confided in him before. He’d thought he was that thing she needed, the one she could trust, that she could turn to. Instead she’d chosen to let some sick bastard she barely knew beat her. What did that say about the pair of them?

“Well done Brother!” Trace yelled at him the sarcasm in his comment obvious.

Like he needed to be told?
Time to try some damage control. Although at this stage he wondered if it wasn’t too late for them anyway. Tex crossed the forecourt towards the workshop.

“You really are a dickhead sometimes,” Trace chastised him as he too pushed past him into the workshop.

He ignored Trace and kept moving into the office. There he found Nikki shuffling through some paper work.

“Ok so today we need to finish that bike for the Preacher.”

So she was
gonna ignore him.

“Ace?”

“The parts have come in for the custom job on that Night Train I don’t care which one of you takes that one.”

He tried again louder, “Ace?”

“I’m
gonna take that rebuild on the pan head.”

This time Tex made sure he made himself heard, “Nikki?!”

She stopped fussing with the papers and moved over to the computer.