Revolution (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 1) (19 page)

Tay
leant against the wall, throwing back his head. ‘What do you want me to say, Coby? If I don’t do this… if I don’t help Emilio, you know what he’ll do.’

‘Jesus Christ,’ Coby sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘Fuck!’

‘Giving them the full story, telling them the whole truth… I can do that. I can go back in there and tell them the real risks involved but if I do, and they vote against doing this, I am in so much shit, Cobe. Up to my fucking ears.’

Coby turned to face him, his expression determined. ‘You tell them,
Tay
. You tell them everything. You got that? Those guys in there, they do not deserve to go into this not knowing the real risks.’

‘Coby…’

‘They can handle those risks,
Tay
. We all can. But we can’t handle shit if we don’t all know the truth. So get back in there, and tell them. Because if
you
don’t, I will.’

***

Lexi watched from the other side of the clubhouse as Coby faced up to
Tay
. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it looked serious. And that did nothing but send a familiar wave of fear washing over her.

‘Any idea what that’s all about?’ she asked Angie as she joined her at the bar.

Angie looked over at
Tay
and Coby, frowning slightly as she watched their exchange. ‘No.’ She knew her husband and his VP were butting heads over something, and she knew Coby was planning to challenge
Tay
for the Presidency, at some point. She just didn’t know why. And she didn’t want to lay that one on Lexi just yet. Not on top of everything else she’d had to face up to today.

Lexi looked at her mum. ‘So, you’ve no idea what this vote is about tonight, then?’

Angie walked behind the bar, grabbing two glasses and filling them each with a double shot of whisky. ‘We’re old ladies, Lexi. We aren’t privy to their private meetings.’

Lexi sat up on a stool at the bar, taking a sip of whisky. ‘Have you
asked
Tay
?’

‘Jesus, Lexi, how long have you been around this shit? I can ask as many questions as I like, darlin’. It doesn’t mean I’m gonna get any answers.’

‘I asked Coby about being over in
England
. And he told me everything. Eventually.’

‘Because that man has been blinded by hot sex and a pretty face.’

‘Thanks, Mum.’

Angie leant over the bar, her eyes locking with Lexi’s. ‘You are gonna have to remember how this works, sweetheart. And that means learning your place, if you’re really serious about being with Coby.’

Lexi narrowed her eyes, downing the last of her whisky. ‘And what if I want to fight against all that, huh?’

Angie filled her empty glass with another double shot. ‘You won’t win.’

‘So, I end up like you, is that it? Because what you’re telling me is crap, Mum. Old ladies don’t
have
to be kept away from the truth – it’s up to them whether they want to know what really goes on or not.’

‘We’ll never know what
really
goes on, Lexi. You know that.’

‘It’s up to
us
what we choose to be a part of.’

‘You still believe that?’

‘It isn’t my fault
Tay
won’t include you… or is it just that you don’t
want
to know what really goes on?’

Angie looked at her daughter. ‘When you have kids that are born into this shit, Lexi, then no. No, I
don’t
want to know what really goes on. Because it scares the crap out of me. What they’re voting on in there, that could be putting my son – your brother’s – life at risk, so, yeah, I really would rather not know exactly what’s involved. And you’re a mom yourself now, honey. You have a son, too, and whether he likes it or not he’s been born into this life. That cycle is never gonna end.’

‘And what if I
want
it to end?’

Angie locked eyes with her daughter again. ‘It won’t ever end, darlin’. And that’s one thing I
can
promise you.’

***

‘All those in favour, say
aye
,’
Tay
said, pulling the gavel further towards him, wrapping his fingers tight around the wooden handle.

‘This really is the last time?’ Kip asked, pushing his cap back on his head, his eyes fixed firmly on his stepfather.

‘It’s the last time,’
Tay
replied, his voice steady and controlled. ‘And I’m sorry, okay? For putting you all at risk because of
my
mess, but…’

‘Hey, we’re all with you, brother,’ Jesse cut in. ‘Aren’t we?’ He looked around the table, at every single man sitting there, all of them nodding. Apart from Coby. ‘We’re all with you.’

Tay
leant forward, picking up the gavel. ‘Thank you, Jesse. That means a lot.’

‘We all stand by each other,’ Kip said. ‘No matter what. That’s what this club’s all about, am I right?’

Coby looked down, breathing in deeply, watching as his hand balled into a fist on the table.

‘Okay, guys, let’s take this vote,’ Jesse rallied. ‘It’s an
aye
from me.’

As everyone took their turn, all of them standing firmly behind their President, Coby didn’t miss the way the expression on
Tay
’s face changed the second it was his turn to vote.

‘Come on, VP. You’re the last one to do this. It all depends on you.’

‘What you did was thoughtless.’ Coby’s voice was quiet, but harsh in tone.

‘Hey, Cobe, come on, man,’ Kip said. ‘We all make mistakes.’

Jesse glared across the table at Coby. ‘Yeah. We do.’

Coby narrowed his eyes as he looked over at Kip and Jesse. ‘This isn’t about me, or Lexi, or what
we
did. This is about the fact our President is putting all of us in danger for something
he
did. He stood alone, when he should have…’

‘He did it for the good of the club,’ Kip cut in. ‘And we need to remember that.’

‘And we need to remember just who we’re dealing with here.’ Coby leant forward, looking at each and every one of them in turn. ‘These people are dangerous, unpredictable…’

‘And what are
we
?’ Blake pointed out. ‘Fucking pussies?’

‘Jesus Christ, Blake, no. But we’re not invincible either. And we are about to put our lives on the line here. Do you understand that?’

‘When we joined this club, we all vowed we’d stand by each other, through anything. We swore that we would be prepared to die for the Brotherhood…’

‘That is so fucking extreme, Blake.’

‘Are you losing focus here, Coby?’
Tay
asked.

‘Am
I
losing focus?’ Coby couldn’t help another short, monotone laugh from escaping. ‘Jesus…’

‘Yes, or no,’
Tay
carried on, once more twisting the gavel between his fingers as he waited for Coby’s reply.

Coby fixed his friend with a cold, determined stare. ‘I’m in… but understand that I’m doing this for the club, for every one of these guys sitting around this table. I’m not doing it for you.’

Tay
lifted the gavel, bringing it down on to the table in front of him. ‘I’ll make the necessary arrangements. Go on, get out of here.’

As everyone else scraped back their chairs and started to leave the room, Coby stayed put, clasping his hands together in front of him as he continued to stare at
Tay
. ‘You sure you know what you’re doing here, brother?’

‘I’m sure.’

Coby could only hope that he meant that.

Twenty

‘Is something wrong?’ Coby asked, joining Lexi at a table outside the clubhouse.

She looked up as he sat beside her. ‘No. Everything’s fine.’

‘Because I feel like you’re backing away from me here.’

‘I’m not backing away from anything, Coby.’

He reached out and took her hand, holding it tight because, all of a sudden, he needed to feel that small stab of safety just holding someone’s hand could provide. A tiny, almost insignificant action that he was beginning to crave more and more. ‘I know that what happened, with Shane…’

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ She pulled her hand free of his and the disappointment he felt at that shocked him.

‘I really need you right now, Lexi.’ His voice was quiet, his tone serious.

She looked at him, right into his eyes. ‘
I
needed you back in
Newcastle
when you walked out on me less than twenty-four hours after fucking me. I needed you when I found out I was pregnant. I needed you when our son was being born, when my waters broke two weeks early in the middle of the fucking clubhouse and the only people around were bikers with no fucking clue what to do with a pregnant woman in labour.
I
needed
you
when I felt as though I was being ripped apart with pain and the only thing I wanted… the
only
thing I wanted was you.’

‘Jesus, Lexi… I’m so sorry, baby. I am so, so sorry.’

‘I have the most beautiful little boy, Coby –
we
have the most beautiful little boy, and I wouldn’t change that for the world. But the lies and the crap and the fear that will constantly surround him… what we did… what we’ve
done
… I’d change
all
of that. If I could. In a heartbeat.’

He reached for her hand again, and she let him take it. ‘It’s who we are, Lexi.’

‘And don’t you find that sad?’

He searched her beautiful face, her huge blue eyes wide and questioning, asking him for something he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to give her. ‘
This
is who I am, kid.’

‘It isn’t who you have to be,’ she whispered, squeezing his hand.

He looked down at his fingers stroking hers, his thumb running lightly over her knuckles in an almost absent-minded action. ‘It’s who I
want
to be.’

She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and the only comfort he could gain from that was the fact she was still holding his hand.

‘I love you, Lexi. I love you with every fibre of my being…’

‘But not as much as you love this club, huh?’

He looked up, his eyes staring straight into hers. ‘I love you. So much. I’ve loved you for a lot longer than I’ve dared let myself believe.’

‘But I’ll never come first, is that it?’

‘Baby, you’re a part of this, too. This place is in your blood…’

‘Not out of choice, Coby. You
chose
to be a part of it, I was
born
into it, it’s all I’ve ever known. But what if I want more than that? What if I want a better life for Ozzie?’

‘You want out?’

She let go of his hand again, pushing it through her hair. ‘I didn’t say that.’

‘Then what
are
you saying? Because you’re confusing the fuck out of me right now.’

She turned to glare at him. ‘I’m just getting my head around a lot of serious shit right now. Okay? They say actions have consequences, and I’m just beginning to realize how fucking true that is. Yet you – you don’t seem bothered by that.’

He held up his hands in surrender, climbing off the bench, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette. ‘Go sort your head out, Lexi. Then tell me just what the hell it is you’re looking for, all right?’

He started to head off across the compound, over to his bike, taking a long drag on his cigarette as he walked.

‘Something going on there?’
Tay
asked, looking up from checking the tyres on his bike as Coby approached.

‘Now she knows about Shane, things are changing,
Tay
.’

Tay
stood up, wiping his hands on a rag he’d pulled out of his pocket. ‘She knows about Shane? Shit! Who the fuck told her?’

Coby frowned as he looked at
Tay
. ‘Hasn’t Angie…? Jesus, do you two ever actually talk to each other?’

‘Fuck!’
Tay
sighed, leaning back against his bike. ‘Lexi spoke to her mum? About Shane?’

Coby shrugged. ‘Apparently so.’

‘Am I fucking invisible around here or what? Did
you
tell her?’

Coby threw his cigarette down on to the ground, stubbing it out with the heel of his boot. ‘She asked. I told her. That shit was never gonna stay a secret forever.’

Tay
narrowed his eyes. ‘You reckon? Because that’s how I was intending it to stay. Shane, he was popular around here. People loved him. Explaining to them what he was planning, and how we had to deal with that, you know how nervous that’s gonna make people feel?’

‘For the good of the club, huh?’

‘Jesus Christ, Coby, are we still on this?’

‘Hey, forgive me if I’m a little concerned that clearing up your mess might mean I never actually get to meet my son.’

‘It won’t come to that.’

‘You can guarantee that, can you?’

‘Emilio is getting a couple of his guys to tag along, as extra back-up.’

‘And we can trust them, can we?’

‘As much as we trust any other club around here.’

Coby let out another of those humourless laughs, folding his arms, lowering his gaze briefly. ‘Aye. That makes me feel a hell of a lot better.’

‘It’s all set for Tuesday night.’

Coby looked back up at
Tay
, his friend’s expression suddenly serious. Almost apologetic.

‘I’m really sorry, Coby. There’s some shit around here I handled really badly.’

‘You don’t say.’

‘Can we just try and band together for this job? Please. If we start fighting with each other then that’s only gonna make things worse.’

Coby sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘Yeah, I know. I know.’

‘So, you challenging me for President…’

Coby fixed him with a look, letting a couple of beats pass before he spoke again. ‘I’ll drop it. Okay? I’ve got enough shit to deal with without adding to the crap pile.’

Tay
bowed his head, his fingers fiddling with the rag he was still holding. ‘Thanks, brother.’

‘I want my boy over here,
Tay
. I want Ozzie here, in
Paradise
.’

Tay
looked back up, his eyes meeting Coby’s.

‘I am going to do my very best to make sure we all come out of this job alive, with the money you seem to think we’re all gonna get, and then I am gonna bring my boy over here, where he belongs. With me and his mum.’

‘Then we need to get a story together, don’t we?’
Tay
said quietly, finally putting the rag down on his bike seat.

‘No,
Tay
. We don’t need to get any kind of story together. We need to start getting some truths out in the open. And once this job is over, that’s exactly what we’re gonna do.’

***

‘She talks to you, Kel. And right now you’re the only one around here I feel I can turn to.’

Kel stopped working on the engine he had laid out on a bench in the garage and looked up at Angie.

‘You know about Ozzie, don’t you?’ she said.

‘I spoke to Maggie over in
Newcastle
. So, yes, I know.’

‘We’ve made such a mess of this, Kel. Me and
Tay
. The way we went about everything…’

‘Nobody is gonna blame you for what happened to Shane. That kind of shit, it happens all the time.’

‘But it shouldn’t. Should it?’

‘If he really was a threat, Angie… if he really was gunning for Charlie and the Mother Chapter then you had no choice.’

‘Nobody will blame us for
what
we did, Kel, you’re right. But
how
we did it – keeping it from everyone, when a vote should have been taken…’

Kel sighed, leaning back against the workbench. ‘Well, yeah. Those decisions aren’t usually made unilaterally. But this one, it was different. It involved Lexi.’

‘It’s such a mess,’ Angie sighed. ‘Coby should have just come straight home, then none of this would be an issue. Nobody questioned Shane’s death when it happened, not really. Okay, maybe a couple of the guys over in
Newcastle
had their own opinions, and I know Charlie had to calm things down to some extent but, in reality, it was just one of those things. And deep down inside everyone knew that.’ She looked at Kel. ‘You know how much it puts chapters on edge when shit like this kicks off. Betrayal by a brother is the worst betrayal of all. That’s why we tried to keep it low key.’

‘I know,’ Kel said quietly, his eyes never leaving Angie’s.

‘But what happened between Coby and Lexi, that’s complicated everything.’

‘Everyone here will understand, Angie. Really. They will. You’re worrying over nothing.’ He walked over to her, gently tilting up her chin so her eyes met his again. ‘Do you want me to talk to
Tay
? Try and…’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘No, it’s fine. I’ll talk to him. We’ll work something out. We have to. Because I want to meet my grandson, Kel. I will not be a stranger to that child.’

He smiled. ‘Yeah. I think once everyone finds out about the little guy they’re all gonna want to meet him.’

She returned his smile. ‘I hope so.’

‘For Lexi’s sake, though, let’s try and make this happen sooner rather than later, okay?’

She nodded. ‘I’d better get back to the office… Kel?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Keep all this to yourself for now. Please.’

‘Consider it done, sweetheart.’

***

‘I saw you and Coby earlier,’ Jesse said, joining Lexi outside the clubhouse. ‘Looked like something was going down there.’

‘Me and Coby are just fine, thanks.’

‘You sure?’

She fixed him with a look as he sat down on the table beside her. ‘I’m sure.’

Jesse stared straight ahead, clasping his hands together. ‘I’m sorry, Lexi.’

‘You’ve got absolutely nothing to be sorry for.’

‘Yeah.’ His eyes met hers. ‘I have. I never meant to push you so hard. To make you hate me so much.’

‘I never hated you, Jesse.’

‘You had every right to.’

She shook her head, turning away from him. ‘Things were messed-up back then.’

‘Things are messed-up now.’

She looked at him again. ‘Yeah. Yeah, they are.’

Neither of them said anything for a few beats, their eyes locked together.

‘I really didn’t mean to hurt you, baby. Not like that.’

‘All it did was make me stronger,’ she whispered. ‘Teach me to fight back. Make me realize I could hit just as hard as any of you lot could.’

‘You shouldn’t
have
to hit back, Lex.’

‘In this life it’s a necessary evil.’

He stared out ahead of him once more, watching as Luca and Blake’s bikes roared into the compound, skidding to a halt just outside the clubhouse.

‘We should’ve talked a lot more,’ he said quietly, his fingers fiddling with his watch strap.

‘I think I talked too much, Jesse. That was the problem. I was confused, didn’t know what I wanted… laid too much shit on you. All the crap, it just got out of hand.’

‘Why didn’t you tell anybody?’ His eyes locked on hers again.

‘Because Angie would’ve sliced your balls off with a kitchen knife, if Kip hadn’t got to you first.’

Jesse couldn’t help but smile. ‘Jesus, Lex, you really knew how to throw a punch, kiddo.’

‘I still do. Ask Deena.’

‘Yeah… that right hook was something else.’

‘I had a good teacher,’ Lexi said quietly, once more looking straight ahead, out into the compound.

‘I really am sorry.’

‘We’re going round in circles now, Jesse. It’s over. Done.’

‘I drove you to do what you did. I made you run to him…’

‘Nobody
made
me do anything,’ Lexi sighed, pushing both hands through her hair before jumping down from the table. This was a conversation she really didn’t want to get into. ‘I’ll see you later.’

She turned to go, heading towards the clubhouse.

‘What is it he’s got, Lex?’

She stopped in her tracks, turning slowly around to face him.

‘Our Vice President. What suddenly made you fall for him just a few days after walking back into town?’