Resurrection (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 3) (4 page)

Six

‘You getting used to the transition?’

Ben looked up as Coby straddled the chair opposite him. ‘Transition?’

‘Lawman to law breaker.’

Ben chuckled quietly. ‘Not so much a transition as coming full circle, huh?’

Coby just raised an eyebrow, signalling to Red to bring them over a couple of beers.

‘It’s taking a bit of time, if I’m honest,’ Ben sighed, sitting back and downing a long mouthful of the beer Red had just handed him. ‘Still feels a little strange, coming in here without the suit and the briefcase.’

‘That shit never did look right on you.’ Coby bit the top off his own beer, spitting it out on to the table. ‘It wasn’t your world.’

Ben wasn’t entirely sure it was Coby’s place to tell him what his world was or wasn’t, but he was probably right. He’d never really been cut out for ordinary. The world he’d been born into was the only world in which he knew how to survive. ‘Maybe.’

‘Listen, Ben… I need to talk to you.’

It was Ben’s turn to raise an eyebrow. ‘Oh yeah? What about?’

‘I need you to do something, for me – for the club.’

Ben frowned. ‘Do what, exactly?’

Coby hesitated for a couple of beats. ‘I think Shane is still out there, Ben. He’s still out there, and he isn’t done. This club – me – we’re unfinished business as far as he’s concerned.’

‘OK. And… what’s that got to do with me? I mean, how am
I
supposed to help?’

‘The Dark Angels – they could be hiding him. And we need to find out if that’s true.’

‘What?’ Ben almost laughed the words out, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. ‘Oh, I get it. You want me to just waltz back into their clubhouse after all this time, after everything that happened, because, y’know, I used to be one of them, so that’s not gonna look odd at all – and casually ask if they’re hiding Shane Randell?’

‘Don’t get smart, son. This is serious fucking shit we’re dealing with here. Your father’s club, they’re about to start something we need to be ready for. And I need to know if the man who tried to kill me is fucking involved.’

Ben stared at Coby. ‘What exactly is my father about to start?’

‘He wants to bring us down. Just as much as Shane does. For different reasons, but they both want to bring us down. Which is why I think those rumors about the Dark Angels harboring him – I think there might be some weight to them.’

‘Do you think they’re working together?’

‘I have no idea. That’s what we need to find out. And that’s where you come into it.’

Ben sat back, eyeing Coby warily. ‘There’s been no bad blood between this club and the Dark Angels for a long time. Why would my dad suddenly want to bring the Lone Riders down?’

Coby’s expression bordered on cold. ‘Because
you
became one of us.’

‘Jesus!’ Ben sighed, throwing his head right back.

‘Your father, he’s been recruiting new members from all over the country. Did you know that?’

‘Yeah… the thing is, I haven’t really been paying all that much attention to what my father’s up to these days.’

Coby was choosing to ignore the sarcasm now. ‘From what we can gather he’s brought a fair few of those new recruits right here, to his chapter. More members. More power. And he wants
us
out of our territory; out of this town. He wants the Dark Angels to take over. He wants a war, Ben. He wants a fucking war. Maybe it wasn’t a planned act, I have no idea. I can only assume it’s something kick-started by you becoming a Lone Rider, and whatever unfinished business it is you and your family have yet to resolve.’

Ben leaned forward, his voice low, his tone measured. ‘I can’t help what my father wants.’

‘But you can help
us
. You could get closer. You could help us get some kind of an idea as to what Hector’s planning, because, if this is happening, we are in trouble. We could be way out of our depth here.’

‘And you want me to do this, how?’

‘By telling your father becoming one of us was a mistake.’

Once more Ben couldn’t stop a short, almost derisive laugh from escaping. ‘Sorry? Are you fucking serious?’

Coby stayed silent for what felt like two very long, loaded beats.

‘
Shit
!’

‘I know it’s a lot to ask of you, but the only way we can do this is for you to go back, Ben. Go back, and become one of
them
.’

‘This is fucking dangerous, Coby. You’re asking me to put my fucking life on the line here…’

‘I know. I know… Look, you do this, you don’t do this, either way it’s a dangerous game. But, somehow, with or without your help, we need to know what’s going on, where Shane is; what his connection to the Dark Angels is. What he did – what he tried to do, it isn’t gonna go unpunished, Ben. I want him taken out. And I want to keep this club alive.’

Ben swallowed another mouthful of beer. What could he say to that? His head was fucking spinning here.

‘You gonna help us, brother?’

Ben’s eyes locked with Coby’s. ‘Do I have a choice?’

‘You always have a choice.’

Ben wasn’t sure that was true. Not in this case. ‘I’ll do it.’ The words were out before he’d had time to think about his response; about what the consequences of him agreeing to this could turn out to be.

‘OK.’ Coby’s sigh was one of deep relief. ‘OK. That’s good, but… there’s something else I need you to do for me.’ His eyes dipped, focusing on his beer as he twisted the bottle round and round on the table top. ‘Something I need to know. Before you do anything.’ He raised his gaze, his eyes once more meeting Ben’s. ‘I need to know your history with the Dark Angels. I need to know what happened between you and your father.’

‘No, you don’t.’ Ben broke the stare, looking down at his clenched fist.

‘Aye.’ Coby leaned forward, waiting until Ben looked up. ‘I do. And I need to know the truth. Nothing can get in the way of what I need you to do, Ben, do you understand that? So I need to know what happened between you and Hector…’

‘Why? Huh? Do you think you can help sort out our little domestic, is that it?’ Ben’s voice was still low, still quiet, but he couldn’t hide his growing agitation. ‘You couldn’t help shit, Coby. What my father made me do…’

‘What happened, Ben?’

Ben’s eyes turned cold as stone as they bored deep into Coby’s, his mouth tight, his heart beating like a million drums, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles were turning white. ‘You want to know what really happened? What drove me from the Dark Angels?’

Coby stayed silent.

Ben wavered for a second, turning away, closing his eyes as he tried to gather his thoughts. He’d never told anyone the truth. There was only one other person, apart from his father, who knew what had really gone on that night. Michael Bailey. And he’d held up his end of the bargain by keeping his mouth shut for all these years. So telling Coby everything, it was only going to throw more fuel on the fire.

‘Ben?’

He turned back to face Coby, taking a deep breath before he spoke. ‘My father… he’d been having an affair.’

‘An affair?’ Coby frowned.

Ben held his gaze, taking one more deep breath before he carried on. ‘With Marianna. Sol’s wife…’

Five years earlier…

Hector kicked the door of the chapel shut, his eyes blazing. ‘What you just saw, Benjamin, you wipe that from your mind, do you hear me?’

Ben stared at his father – a man people feared, looked up to; tolerated. And despite being his son, it was that last category that Ben fell into. ‘He’ll kill you. He’ll shoot you dead, just like that. Snuff you out like the piece of shit you are.’ He turned to look at Marianna, his brother’s wife. His brother’s pregnant wife. ‘When were you gonna tell him, huh? That the baby he thinks is his is really his fucking father’s!’

‘We’re getting rid of it.’ Hector’s tone was ice-cold, devoid of any emotion. ‘We’ll make it look like a miscarriage…’

Ben swung back around to face his father. ‘Wow. You’ve got this all planned, huh?’

‘It was a mistake.’

Ben looked at Marianna again. ‘You agree with this, do you? You all for aborting your unborn child, getting rid of an innocent victim who never asked for any of this crap, because my father thinks it’s an inconvenient bastard?’

‘I’m so sorry, Ben… none of this was supposed to happen…’

‘You’re sorry?’ Ben’s almost manic laugh filled the room, which only served to fuel Hector’s agitation. He lunged at his son, but age was on Ben’s side. He was too quick for the older man, grabbing him by his cut and throwing him back against the wall. ‘You tell him, you got that? You tell my brother – your
son
– you tell him you’ve been fucking his wife, you tell him she’s carrying
your
child, not his, and let’s see how he ends this. Because I for one won’t shed a fucking tear when he rips you apart.’

‘Ben, please…’

He swung around, glaring at Marianna. ‘Why, huh? I mean, what the fuck has he got? Or are you so turned on by his warped fucking power that your legs just fell open…’

‘That’s enough!’ Hector instructed, but Ben was on a mission now. For too long he’d been finding a way to rid this club of his father. One of the most notorious MCs in the country, the Dark Angels bore that black diamond all one-percenters were proud to display, and Ben had no real intention of ever changing that, but his father was becoming more of a loose cannon as each year passed. He was killing the club, hammering it into the ground, and all Ben wanted to do was save it. He just couldn’t do that with Hector in charge. And it was terrifying to think fate may now have played a part in handing Ben the perfect way to rid them of the poison at the helm.

‘No. No, you don’t get to tell me what’s enough. Not anymore. You’re done here, old man. It’s over.’

‘I don’t want this, Ben.’ Marianna’s voice was shaking, but Ben was out of sympathy. Any real emotion had been stripped from him as soon as he’d stepped inside this clubhouse as a child all those years ago. It was the only way to survive the life.

‘You should have thought about that before you spread your legs and whored yourself out to
him
.’ Ben almost spat the words out. He was finished here.

‘I said,
enough!
’

Ben was only slightly aware of Marianna’s screams rising above the sound of Hector’s roar, and as he slowly turned around to face his father a faint, somewhat twisted smile crossed his face, despite the sight of the gun aimed at his forehead. The gun Hector Almeda held steady, his cold, emotionless eyes boring deep into his son’s.

 
Ben felt nothing. He’d shut down, he’d had to. If he didn’t do that, if he didn’t shut down his father would win. ‘Because this is how we deal with everything. Isn’t it?’

‘You have no right to talk to her that way. You show your sister-in-law some fucking respect.’

Ben let out another hollow, humorless laugh. ‘Jesus Christ, are you kidding me?’ And in a movement so swift the older man never saw it coming, Ben pulled his own gun on his father. It was a terrifying stand-off; a situation with no predictable ending, both men going for the finale they wanted as fingers slowly pulled back triggers. And it was then that Ben became vaguely aware of another scream coming from somewhere, he didn’t know where, but it was only when the sickening sound of a bullet hitting flesh echoed around the room that he realized it had, once again, come from Marianna. It was only when the scream ended suddenly, to be replaced by a horrifying silence, that he realized his bullet hadn’t been fired.

Slowly raising his head he saw his father staring down at the smoking gun in his hand, his face an emotionless mask. And then Ben’s eyes dipped, and he didn’t want to look down because he knew what he was going to see, he just didn’t want it to be real. But there she lay; face down on the cold stone floor, blood slowly pooling around her lifeless body.

‘It’s for the best,’ Hector muttered, his voice barely audible.

Ben couldn’t say anything, no words were coming, nothing to describe the horror that was happening right now.

‘You killed her, Benjamin.’

His eyes locked with his father’s, disbelief clouding his features. ‘It was you.
Your
gun…’

‘You killed her.’ Hector stepped over Marianna’s body like she wasn’t even there, his expression verging on manic as he approached Ben. ‘I can’t take the fall for this one, Benjamin. Fucking her was one thing, but killing her… You’ll take the blame…’

Ben backed away, shaking his head, tucking his own gun down the back of his jeans. ‘You’re crazy. I’m not gonna take
shit
for this! Sol – he’ll kill me! He’ll hunt me down, it’s an eye for an eye in this world, remember? And I’m not taking a bullet for you. Not for you.’