Retribution (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 2) (17 page)

Lennie laughed a low, almost sinister laugh. ‘No, brother. I leave when
I
choose. And I’ve decided that’s gonna be sooner rather than later. I’m tired of you throwing your fucking weight about, treating me like some frigging slave who’s beholding to you…’

‘That’s exactly what you are, Lennie.’

‘No. No, it isn’t. Okay, you told me where Mia was on condition I helped you out, but I’m shifting the goalposts. I’m changing things up. I want Mia, and I want her here in the next couple of days, because we are out of this place. You got that?’

Shane walked over to him, his voice calm and steady as he faced off with the taller, bigger-built man. ‘You fulfil your part of the bargain, Lennie, or you don’t leave here at all. Have
you
got
that
?’

‘Your threats mean shit to me, brother.’

‘Then you’re even more stupid than I thought you were. I know people, Lennie. People more dangerous than you could ever imagine. So, you fuck me about, you mess this up, and you’ll never see that pretty wife of yours again. Do you understand?’

‘Like I said, your threats are fucking empty…’

Shane moved a step closer, his eyes never leaving Lennie’s. ‘You want to call my bluff on this one? You knock yourself out. But I really wouldn’t risk it.’ Stepping backwards, Shane’s gaze still didn’t waver. He had the other man right where he wanted him now. Right where he needed him. ‘I’ll call you when there’s any more news.’ He started to walk away, stopping when he got to the door, turning back around to look at Lennie. ‘Whatever you decide to do when I close this door behind me… I’d think about it very carefully, Lennie. And that’s a piece of advice I sure hope you take.’

Twenty-One

‘The kids are getting restless,’ Lexi sighed, joining Kip in the garage. He was working on one of the Prospect’s bikes, something he wouldn’t normally do but he was trying to keep busy.

‘They’re not the only ones, huh?’ He threw his sister a half-smile as she leaned against the bike.

She gave him a weak smile back, folding her arms, looking out across the compound, watching as Mia helped Callie with Ozzie, the two girls laughing together as Ozzie waved his arms around, attention seeking, as usual. ‘This lockdown’s really starting to get to me.’ She sighed again, a little heavier this time.

‘Why don’t you go join them,’ Kip said, following Lexi’s gaze.

She turned her head sharply to look at him. ‘You accusing me of neglecting my son?’

‘Whoa, sister! Back off, baby. You might want to lose that defensive shield you got going on there, ‘cause it’s fucking unattractive.’

‘Piss off!’

‘You kiss our mother with that mouth?’

‘I do a lot of things with this mouth, believe me.’

Kip just raised an eyebrow, turning his attention back to the Harley.

‘You had much to do with Mia these past few days?’ Lexi asked, her eyes still on Mia and Callie, who’d now been joined by Ben, someone Ozzie seemed to have immediately taken a shine to.

‘Not really. I’ve kind of been giving her and Ben a bit of space. Although, space isn’t something anyone’s got a lot of right now, is it?’

‘No. It isn’t.’

‘Having said that…’ Kip went on, standing up and wiping his hands on his overalls, ‘… if she needs me, I’m gonna be there for her, and fuck what anyone else thinks.’

Lexi looked at him, her heart picking up a nervous rhythm. ‘Don’t, Kip. Please.’

‘Don’t what? Don’t make a move on a woman whose legs I’ve been dreaming of getting between ever since she walked into that clubhouse?’

‘You’re fucking disgusting.’

‘Look, what the hell is wrong with you? If cabin fever’s setting in, sweetheart, don’t take it out on me. Go find our President, get him to fuck that attitude out of you or something, but don’t start on me. If Mia wants to turn to me, I’m gonna be there for her, you got that?’

‘And you don’t care that she’s with Ben? Do you have any idea how contradictory that makes you sound? After everything you said about me…’

‘That was different.’

‘Yeah. Of course it was. It’s fine for you men to fuck around, isn’t it? How stupid of me to forget that rule.’

‘You’re starting to piss me off now, Lex.’

‘Have you slept with her?’

‘Get out of my face, Lexi, I mean it.’

‘Have you?’

He threw down the wrench he was holding, the sound of it hitting the concrete floor vibrating around the garage. ‘None of your fucking business. You hear me?’

‘Leave her alone, Kip.’

‘You don’t tell me what to do.’

‘Leave her alone.’

‘Just get the fuck out of here, will you?’

She held his gaze for a few seconds more, laughing quietly as she stepped back from him. ‘You’re unbelievable, do you know that?’

He just turned around, ignoring her now.

‘What was all that about?’ Angie asked, causing Lexi to almost jump out of her skin at her mother’s sudden appearance.

‘Nothing,’ Lexi replied, pulling her hair back into a pony tail.

‘You gonna stand there and lie to your momma?’

‘I’m going to find Coby…’

‘Lexi!’

Lexi slowly turned around to face her mum. ‘What?’

‘You want to tell me what’s going on?’

‘There’s nothing going on. Everyone’s just a bit tense, what with the lockdown and everything. Being on top of each other constantly doesn’t help, either.’ Lexi tried to hold her mother’s gaze, but it wasn’t easy. Angie had a knack of knowing when something wasn’t right – so why hadn’t she realized something was going on all those years ago? That Charlie had cheated on her long before she’d cheated on him. That her then-husband had fathered a child who’d grown up with them all. Why hadn’t she realized any of that was happening?

‘Is there something I need to know, Lexi?’

Lexi felt her stomach dip, her breath catching in her throat as she looked over at Mia hugging Ozzie – her nephew. That baby – Lexi’s son – was Mia’s nephew.
Jesus
! What kind of crazy, fucked-up world were they living in? ‘No,’ she whispered, finally facing her mother. ‘You know me and Kip. We just clash sometimes.’

‘You know your daddy’s coming over, don’t you?’

Lexi nodded, folding her arms across her chest, breaking her mother’s stare, her eyes dipping to the ground.

‘Why?’

Lexi’s head shot back up. ‘I don’t know. To help find Lennie… Why else would he be coming over?’

‘I don’t know, honey.
You
tell
me
.’

Lexi swallowed hard, looking over at the clubhouse. Coby was outside talking to Luca, his eyes immediately meeting hers, his expression carrying more than a hint of warning. ‘Why don’t you ask him yourself,’ Lexi said quietly. ‘He’ll be here soon. I’m going to get my son.’

‘Lexi!’

Lexi threw her head back and sighed, turning to face her mother again. ‘What?’

‘Am I gonna like the answer he gives me?’

Lexi said nothing, gave no sign, no nod or shake of the head. Instead, she just turned back around and walked away.

***

Ben sank down on to the couch, his head in his hands, a half-empty whisky bottle on the table in front of him. How the hell had he let everything get this far? He’d walked right back into a world he’d tried to leave behind, but if he’d really wanted to walk away, why was he still here? Why had he taken the job as the Lone Riders’ lawyer? Why hadn’t he listened to Sheriff Bailey when he’d told him not to come back to
Paradise
? The accident should have been warning enough, but he just hadn’t been able to let go. Yeah. He really had been that naïve.

‘Is this is a good idea?’

Ben slowly raised his head to see Kip picking up the whisky bottle. ‘What the fuck has it got to do with you?’

‘It’s not even lunchtime and you’re already on the scotch?’

Ben let out a small chuckle, his eyes fixed on Kip. ‘Like I said, what the
fuck
has it got to do with you?’

‘When I see you outside, with my nephew, and then find out you’ve been drinking, it’s got everything to do with me.’

‘Just back off, Kip. Okay? You don’t know what you’re dealing with…’

Kip leaned over, grabbing Ben’s arm and yanking him up off the couch, causing him to stagger backwards. ‘I’m dealing with shit, Ben. Nothing. You hold no weight any more, remember? Jesus, even your own father doesn’t fucking want you…’

Ben hurled himself forwards, throwing a punch straight at Kip’s jaw, but Kip was just as quick, catching Ben underneath the chin, sending him reeling backwards again, the wall behind him the only thing stopping him from crashing to the floor.

‘You done?’ Kip asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.

Ben let out another low chuckle, pushing both hands through his hair before he lunged forwards, his fist catching Kip’s left cheek so hard he fell to the floor with a thud that almost shook the room. ‘I haven’t even started. Brother.’

Kip scrambled to his feet, but Ben was ready for him, their eyes locked in a defiant stare. ‘You told Mia everything, huh? Does she know who you really are? The things you’ve done? You tell her any of that shit?’

‘She doesn’t need to know. Nobody needs to know.’

‘Really?’ Kip raised an eyebrow, an action that caused Ben to move forward again, his fist raised, but Kip caught his wrist, squeezing it tight. ‘Then you acting the way you are, that really isn’t such a great idea, is it?’

Ben wrenched his arm free of Kip’s grip, but he stood his ground, staying right where he was. ‘You leave Mia alone. You got that?’

‘You know, I am so fucking tired of people telling me to leave her alone. I don’t go looking for her, she comes to
me
. And when she does that, I’ve got no intention of turning my back on her, not if she needs me.’

‘She doesn’t need you.’

‘But she needs
you
. Is that it? She needs a man with secrets, a dark past; a man who’s lied to her in every conceivable way… I mean, Jesus! She doesn’t even know your real fucking name!’

‘Screw you.’ Ben’s voice was quiet, but the sinister tone that lay beneath it was chilling. ‘You might think I left everything I once was behind, but you’d be surprised how much weight I still carry around certain parts of this town. You’d be surprised at what favors I can still pull in. And you have no idea what my father wants.
No
idea.’

‘Whatever, man.’ Kip turned his back on Ben, dismissing him with a raise of the hand as he walked away.

Ben felt his hackles rise, an anger from somewhere deep within him merging with the frustration he was already feeling until it exploded out of him in an ear-shattering roar that reverberated off the clubhouse walls, causing Kip to swing around in surprise. But he was too slow to stop the punch from hitting the side of his head, too slow to stop Ben from raining more punches down on him as he lay sprawled over the pool table. Because some kind of red mist had descended over Ben now, something he couldn’t control, making him lash out, over and over again.

‘Jesus fucking
Christ
!’

Coby’s voice rose above the thud of Ben’s fists against Kip’s face, but still Ben didn’t stop. He couldn’t. It was as if someone else was working him, making him do this, and it took for Coby to pull him away before he realized exactly what he’d done.

‘What the
fuck
is going on?’ Coby yelled, holding out his arm to stop Kip from retaliating, keeping Ben as far away from him as he possibly could. ‘There are kids outside, for Christ’s sake! Your fucking nephew, Kip.
My
son. And I do
not
want my boy subjected to this shit, do you hear me?’

‘Not before he has to be, huh?’ Ben sneered, wiping his face with the back of his hand, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth.

Coby’s dark eyes blazed as he glared at Ben. ‘You might want to hold back with the attitude, son. Before someone gets really hurt.’ He turned to look at Kip. ‘I don’t know what this is about, and I really don’t give a shit, if I’m honest. Just sort it out.’ He dropped his arms, trusting that the two of them could start acting like grown-ups. And neither Kip nor Ben made any attempt to restart the fight. ‘Okay. Good. Kip, I need you out with Luca this afternoon. The sheriff wants to meet with you both over at the Deli in twenty minutes.’

‘What about?’ Kip asked, tentatively touching his raw cheek, a deep and bloody cut running right across it.

‘Take a guess, kiddo.’

‘Jesus Christ, all right. Don’t bust a gut.’

‘Have some respect, Kip.’ Coby’s eyes were still blazing, his mood darker than it had been in days. Ben took that as a warning to tone things down. Maybe it would be wise for Kip to do the same. ‘Remember who you’re talking to.’ Coby walked over to Kip, taking his face in his hands and turning it this way and that, checking out the results of Ben’s tirade. ‘Go see Kel. He’ll stitch that cut up before you go out. Go on.’

Kip threw Ben a look that Ben tried hard not to let get to him, before he left the clubhouse in search of Kel.

‘I’m guessing that was to do with Mia,’ Coby said, his eyes still following Kip, making sure he left the clubhouse.

‘Partly.’

Coby looked at Ben. ‘Partly? You know, I’m beginning to think it was a mistake, letting you into this club in any capacity…’

‘He was pissing me off.’

‘How old are you? He pisses you off, you ignore him. That’s what grown-ups do.’

‘Because that’s what
you
all do, right? When someone pisses you off. You ignore them. You walk away. You leave it well alone and go back to cake bakes and charity fetes and…’

Coby grabbed Ben by his shirt, pushing him back against the pool table. ‘You listen to me, son. When I tell you to ignore someone, you do it. You don’t argue, you don’t question. I’m well aware of what you used to be, and I know we’ve had our run-ins in the past, but things have changed.
I
hold the power now. Not you, or anything you used to stand for. You moved to the other side of the tracks, changed the way you did things, and maybe you should have stuck with that.’

Ben pushed Coby’s hand away, stepping back from the tall, overbearing Scotsman. ‘Everything I did was
my
choice…’

‘Bullshit! You
had
no fucking choice! You still think what happened to you was an accident?’

Ben shook his head, his eyes locked with Coby’s. ‘You know nothing.’

Coby moved closer, his bulk once more invading Ben’s space. ‘I know everything, son. Everything.’

A foreboding atmosphere hung heavy in the air, an uneasy silence surrounding them, until Lexi’s arrival interrupted it. Any other brothers who’d witnessed any of that exchange knew better than to interfere with something when the President was involved – the rule was you stood back, let him deal with it until such time as intervention was deemed necessary. But Lexi didn’t always see Coby as the President. He was the man she slept with, the father of her baby. She was the only one allowed to blur any lines.