Resurrection (The Lone Riders MC Series Book 3) (11 page)

He felt Sol sit down beside him, felt him gently squeeze his shoulder and he slowly looked up. ‘I don’t understand. I don’t understand any of this. If you knew, then why…?
Shit
! Why the fuck did you let him get away with it, huh? Why’d you let
me
take all that crap…? He almost had me killed!’

‘You were never gonna die, Ben.’

‘Wasn’t I? Were you under that fucking truck?’

‘I was driving it.’

Ben stared at his brother, any words he’d been going to say next stuck momentarily in his throat. ‘Jesus… this is so fucked-up…’ He stood up, pacing the floor, not knowing what to say, what to do; what to feel. How the hell was he supposed to process this?

‘I had to let him think he was in control.’

Ben turned back to look at Sol, but said nothing in reply. He was still trying to get his head around the fact this wasn’t some kind of messed-up dream.

‘Everyone knows the truth, Ben. All the brothers. They know what really happened.’

Ben frowned, but still he said nothing.

‘For years, for too long I’ve known that Dad was running this club into the ground, just as you did. He’d lost focus, started taking risks that were greater than he could handle – Marianna was one of those risks.’ Sol bowed his head for a second, and Ben watched as he took a deep breath before looking back up. ‘We’d been going through a rough time. It happens. She’d just told me she was pregnant, but she was distant. She refused to touch me, didn’t want me sleeping in the same bed as her and I knew, I fucking knew she was seeing someone else. I didn’t know if the baby was mine or not, I had no idea, but I knew there was a chance it wasn’t. Because I knew the kind of girl she was – remember when she first started hanging out here? She was fascinated by Dad, by the power he had. But he showed no interest in her, she was way too young for him back then. So I guess I was second best. Can’t have the main man, try his son instead.’

‘Jesus, Sol…’ Ben sighed, finally finding his voice.

They both sat down again, and it was only then that Ben noticed the clubhouse had all but cleared of people, all the other brothers giving them the space they needed right now. And people said the Dark Angels didn’t have feelings? The thought of compassion and empathy having anything to do with this place almost made Ben laugh out loud.

‘She never lost that fascination, did she.’ It wasn’t a question, so Ben didn’t respond. ‘So I knew what was going on. And I was ready, y’know? To deal with it. To sort the whole fucking mess out, but that night… it happened before I could even begin to do what needed to be done.’

‘Shit!’ Ben sat back, closing his eyes briefly to let Sol’s words sink in. What kind of fucking mess had gone on around here? ‘I caught them, together, that night,’ Ben started, opening his eyes and staring out ahead. ‘Everyone else was at the club, for Hangdog’s party, but I’d left something behind in the clubhouse – I can’t even remember what the fuck it was now, I just remember thinking that I needed it. So I came back here, and I found them. Together. In the chapel.’

Sol bowed his head, clasping his hands together between his knees.

‘Why didn’t you talk to me?’ Ben asked, finally looking at his brother. But Sol kept his gaze down on the floor. ‘If you felt that way, if you knew
I
felt that way, why didn’t you just talk to me? What the hell was wrong with us back then? Were we really so fucking fragmented that we couldn’t see we both wanted the same thing?’

‘I don’t know…’ Sol sighed, ‘in hindsight…’ He broke off. It was pointless even going there. It wasn’t going to change anything.

‘Why didn’t you stop him?’ Ben continued. ‘When he wanted me dead, when he exiled me out of the town I grew up in, made me change my whole fucking life, why didn’t you stop him?’

Sol’s eyes met his brother’s, his stare only just verging on cold. ‘I needed to keep him on side, Ben. If I stood any chance of bringing him down I had to keep him on side.’

‘He wanted to kill me, get me out of the way so his sick, sordid betrayal could remain a secret. He fucking wanted me dead! His own fucking son! He wanted me dead, to cover his own fucking tracks! What kind of a father
does
that, huh? Even for Hector Almeda that was fucking low…’

‘It was never gonna happen.’ Sol’s voice was calm as he tried to explain something that, right now, defied explanation. ‘That’s why I insisted I drive that truck, and he was never gonna stop me. I was the wounded brother, the man who’d been done wrong so I was the perfect choice. But I knew you were innocent. So I was never gonna do what he wanted.’

‘But you were quite happy to see me chased out of town.’

Sol stood up, sighing again, a little heavier this time, pushing both hands back and forth through his hair. ‘It turned into one huge fucking mess, bro. I can’t deny that. But you seemed happy, y’know?’

‘You
know
?’

‘I had people watching you. Over in
L.A.
I wanted to make sure you were doing OK, because you didn’t deserve the shit you were put through…’

‘No, I fucking didn’t.’ His voice had risen, and he took a deep breath, determined to stay in control here. He had to stay in control. The game had suddenly changed, and he was going to have to play it differently now. ‘I didn’t deserve any of it. You should’ve got to me, talked to me; we could’ve brought the bastard down, together, years ago, and saved ourselves all of this…’

‘I think he had suspicions, Ben.’

Ben looked at his brother through narrowed eyes. ‘About you knowing the truth?’

Sol nodded. ‘About everything. So I had to take a step back, let him think he was wrong, that I knew nothing. I had to let him think he was in control. It was the only way. And you were doing better away from here, you really were…’

‘You have no idea what the fuck I was feeling, Sol. No idea.’

‘I’m sorry, Ben, I really am. For everything, but, you coming back here… the second you set foot back in Paradise I knew it was time to put the game back in play.’

‘I’ve been here five years. Why wait until now to start?’

Sol shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I can’t answer that. But the second I heard Michael and Dad talking, about getting you back here, Dad wanting to see you…’ He fixed his younger brother with a warning look. ‘You can’t trust Sheriff Bailey no more, Ben. You hear me? You can’t trust him.’

‘He sorted my life out after you’d helped fuck it up.’

‘You can’t trust him.’

Ben’s eyes narrowed again. ‘And what makes you think I can trust
you
, huh?’

‘I’m family.’

‘So’s Dad. And he didn’t think twice about framing me for something I didn’t do. He was quite happy to see me dead to cover his own fucking ass.’

‘He killed my wife. And he lied to my face. He wanted me to hate you, to turn against you, and pretending to do that – that killed
me
, Ben. I really need you to believe me here. It fucking killed me, but I
had
to do it.’

‘This is crazy. This is fucking crazy!’ Ben turned away, once more pacing the floor.

‘I need you with me now, brother. More than ever.’

Ben turned back around. ‘You’re not gonna start telling me you want to turn this place into some kind of monastery, are you? Turn the Dark Angels good. Sol Almeda gone soft all of a sudden?’ He walked back over to his brother. ‘This club is one of the most notorious MCs in the fucking country, Sol, and even you can’t change that overnight. I doubt you can change it at all.’

‘I never said I was going to change the way this club works, Ben. I’m all too aware of the reputation we have, the kudos we carry. I can’t say I’m proud of it all, but I have a right to keep this club going – the way Dad wanted it, before he became some power hungry despot I barely recognize now.’ His gaze dipped briefly, and he let out yet another heavy sigh. ‘None of this is gonna be simple, brother. There are gonna be things we have to do that we’re not gonna like. Things that are gonna be hard for us – for
you
…’

‘Like what?’ Ben could feel a chill in the air he wasn’t comfortable with.

Sol fixed him with a look that did nothing to ease that. ‘The Lone Riders – you can’t ever go back there, brother. They’re dead to you now, and that’s the way it’s gotta stay.’

Fifteen

Kip leaned back against the wall outside the diner, smoking his third cigarette in ten minutes. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and he’d spent most of the night indulging in hot, heavy sex and first class weed with a naked Cat. He’d never felt so pumped! There’d even been a small part of him that had wondered, just for the briefest of seconds, as he’d watched a bare-assed Cat make him a breakfast of French toast before giving him a blow-job that had made him come so fast it had taken him ten minutes to get his breath back, whether he really needed to do what he was doing now; whether it would just make an already almighty mess worse than it needed to be. But then he remembered
why
he was doing it. To protect Mia. He might not be able to love her the way he wanted to love her, but he could still protect her. He was her brother, that was his job – to protect her from men like Ben Salter; men like Benjamin Almeda.

He turned his head as the door of the diner opened and a slight-built, extremely pretty woman with short, light-brown hair and pale skin exited the diner. She was wearing a waitress’ uniform underneath her jacket, and there was a name badge attached to the front but Kip couldn’t make it out from where he was standing. She seemed to be about the age he assumed Carrie would be now; she just didn’t look the way Kip had expected her to look.

Pulling himself away from the wall he walked towards her. ‘Hey! Hold on a second… Your name Carrie?’

The woman stopped walking and turned around, looking Kip slowly up and down, an expression on her face he couldn’t quite read, but it resembled something bordering on distaste. ‘Who wants to know?’

‘I’m Kip. Kip Hart.’

Her expression showed no sign of softening. ‘You one of Charlie Hart’s kids?’

‘Yeah… look, you
are
Carrie, right?’

She said nothing for a beat or two, just continued to stare at him, her eyes narrowing slightly. ‘What do you want?’

‘Is there somewhere we could talk?’

‘I’m not going anywhere with no biker. Had enough of you bastards to last me a fucking lifetime. Anything you got to say, say it here.’

Kip sighed quietly. She was one tough bitch, but that was probably understandable. Her wariness towards him shouldn’t be a surprise. ‘A few years back, were you involved with a guy called Benjamin Almeda?’

He watched as she tried not to react to that name, but he hadn’t missed the way she’d flinched, just slightly. Enough for him to know the answer to his question without her needing to say a word.

‘Why are you asking me this?’ Her voice had suddenly lost that hardness it had carried before, to be replaced by a tone tinged with a nervous edginess.

‘Are you the Carrie who was engaged to Benjamin Almeda?’

She folded her arms against herself, a defensive action that, again, didn’t surprise Kip. ‘I know he’s back, in
Paradise
,’ she said, her voice barely rising above a whisper now. ‘I’ve known for a long time. Which is why I moved out here, and maybe I should have moved further but I need my family, y’know? I wasn’t gonna let him push me so far away I lost everything.’

Kip watched her as she spoke; the way her expression changed from fear to nerves to relief, and back to fear. It was almost painful to witness.

‘He’s involved with my sister.’ Kip kept his eyes on Carrie as hers darted this way and that, the nervous edginess she’d displayed before ramping up by the second.

‘Then she should run.’ Carrie finally managed to lock eyes with Kip, a slight hardness returning to her voice. ‘People tell me he’s changed, that he’s a lawyer or something now…’

‘He was
our
lawyer.’

All of a sudden she let out the sharpest of laughs, brief and loud and riddled with cynicism. ‘He’s a lawman for an MC? Jesus! Guess he couldn’t ever really leave it behind, could he?’ Her expression turned stoic again. ‘You said he
was
a lawyer. Past tense. So, what’s he doing now, huh?’

Kip waited a couple of beats before he answered that question, knowing he needed to steer this back to the reason he was here before she walked away, which he feared she could do any second. And he needed her on side. He needed her. ‘He was patched in to The Lone Riders MC, a couple of months back.’

Her face didn’t even flicker. ‘Well. There you go. He really
couldn’t
leave it behind. Let’s just hope he doesn’t allow every piece of history to repeat itself, huh?’

‘That’s why I need your help on this one, Carrie.’

She stared up at him, her eyes icing over with a coldness Kip wasn’t sure he’d be able to penetrate, if he left this much longer.

‘I know what he did to you,’ Kip went on.

Carrie shook her head, slowly backing away. ‘You have
no
idea what he did to me.’

‘Carrie, please… He’s with my sister. And she doesn’t deserve any more shit, believe me. Her husband, he did to her what Ben did to you, and she doesn’t need to revisit that. She needs to be free of men like that.’

‘What do you want me to do, huh? Sit there and tell her how he beat me, hit me, told me I was worthless? Is that what you want?’

‘Yes. That’s what I want, because she needs to know just what kind of man she’s involved with here.’

Carrie stood completely still, her eyes dipping to the sidewalk. ‘I thought I’d got past this. Re-living it all, I didn’t ever want to go back there.’

‘If it helps save someone else from going through what you’ve been through – Carrie… my sister, she’s already been through it. And you know how that feels, so I’m asking you to, please, save her from going through it again.’

‘What happened to her husband?’ Carrie raised her gaze to meet Kip’s.

‘She killed him.’ He didn’t miss a beat.

‘Then let her kill Ben, too. She’d be doing me a favor.’

She turned to leave, but Kip wasn’t giving up. ‘Carrie, please, I’m begging you here.’

She stopped walking, but didn’t turn around. ‘A big, bad biker boy begging me for help, huh?’ She slowly turned to face Kip. ‘What’s her name, your sister?’

‘Mia.’

‘Pretty name… How long have her and Ben been together?’

‘Not long. A few months. But she’s in love with him, Carrie. And that means she’s blinded by a man she shouldn’t be anywhere near. I had my suspicions about him, about his past, but nothing really became clear until recently. And yes, the guy seems to have changed in some respects – he’s always been good to Mia, so far. He’s given us no indication that there’s a darker side to him, but he was a Dark Angel. He grew up a Dark Angel. And nobody who’s lived that life could’ve survived without a dark side, you know that. I just needed to know exactly what kind of a man he was. I mean, yeah, he’s killed people, broke laws, got up in the faces of those who wanted to do his club harm but that –
that
I could have lived with. Mia, she grew up in this world, just like me, just like Ben. But what he did to you… that’s different. No one deserves that shit, least of all my sister.’

Carrie stared straight at Kip. The iciness in her eyes seemed to be thawing slightly, and Kip hoped that was because she understood why he needed her to talk to Mia. If
he
was to try and explain what he’d found out, she wouldn’t listen, she’d dismiss it as nothing more than him trying to sabotage her and Ben’s relationship. She needed to hear it from Carrie.

‘When do you want me to talk to her?’

The sigh of relief that racked his body was all-consuming.

Benjamin Almeda would soon cease to exist. Ben Salter was about to become history.

***

Mia leaned back against the bike, her eyes nervously scanning the disused rail yard. It was quiet, the silence almost more terrifying than what she was doing right now, but she hadn’t been able to say no. Hadn’t been able to resist the pull – the danger.

The roar of a familiar Harley engine caused her head to shoot around, a slow smile spreading across her face as he pulled up in front of her. ‘You said we couldn’t do this now. You said we had to stay away from each other.’

He pulled off his helmet and climbed off his bike, saying nothing in reply. He just pulled her against him in a forceful, hot-as-hell hold, her body thudding against his as he kissed her long and deep. And she held on to him, sighing inwardly as his tongue entwined with hers, his hard-on already making its presence known, pushing against her thigh. She felt her nipples harden instantly, straining against the thin material of her shirt, a low, drawn-out groan escaping as his palm pressed against her breasts, the feel of his fingers touching her skin causing her to burn up.

‘I can’t do it, Mia,’ he murmured, unfastening her shirt, pulling it open to reveal her naked breasts, rock-hard nipples and all. ‘I can’t stay away, I can’t do that.’ Because he might never be able to come back. He just didn’t want to think that far ahead yet.

She looked at him, all deep green eyes and rough skin. She couldn’t stay away either. She’d tried, and failed miserably. ‘You said it would be dangerous, if they saw you with me.’

And it was. It was still dangerous, to be seen with her, to be seen with any Lone Rider, but Ben was willing to risk anything to be here. Because he loved her, so much it fucking hurt. Every day and every night he wasn’t with her it hurt. But Sol had laid down the law. The rules had changed, and now Ben’s world had started to spin on a dangerous, confusing axis. With Sol and his Dark Angel brothers behind him, believing him, things were different, there was no doubt about that. They were all fighting the same battles now – bring Hector Almeda down and put the club under Sol’s control; bring the Lone Riders down, and make the Dark Angels the most powerful MC for miles around. One of those battles he was happy to fight. The other, he didn’t want to fight at all. Family loyalty or his love for a woman who would always be a Lone Rider – that was the choice he had now. A choice he’d never once thought he’d ever have to make.

‘I needed to see you, Mia,’ Ben whispered, taking her face in his hands and kissing her again, loving the taste of her, the feel of her soft lips brushing over his mouth. ‘I can’t do this, if I don’t see you. But you can’t tell anyone, baby, do you understand? You can’t tell anyone that you’re seeing me. Not even Lexi. You can’t tell anyone.’

She looked up at him, reaching out to touch his cheek. ‘What’s going on, Ben?’

‘Just – just know that things aren’t how I thought they’d be. OK?’

She frowned, cocking her head to one side, her eyes fixed on his. ‘In what way?’

‘Mia…’

‘How?’

‘Please, Mia. I didn’t come here to be interrogated. I came here to see you, to be with you…’ He kissed her again, longer and slower, his tongue exploring every inch of her mouth as though it were the first time he’d ever tasted her. ‘I came here to fuck you.’

She laughed a low, dirty laugh, pushing her breasts out at him, reaching up under her skirt to tug at her panties and he sank to his haunches, helping her slide them down, watching as she kicked them away, widened her stance. Running his hands slowly back up her long legs he pushed her skirt up over her thighs, taking in her tanned skin, her newly-shaved pussy.
Jesus!
His hard-on was throbbing like hell now. Leaning forward he kissed her, his tongue running lightly along her slit before it sank into the warm, wet heaven waiting for him. He dreamed about this, every fucking night, to the point where self-relief was the only option. And, oh, God, she felt so fucking good! Her tiny moans and gentle thrusts towards him as he sucked her dry only aided his own arousal, until he had no choice but to pull away, set his aching dick free and ram it into her, pushing her back against the bike as he sank deeper inside her. This was worth the risk, to feel her muscles gripping him tight, her wetness soaking him, the taste of her on his lips something he didn’t want to lose. She was his world, and he loved her beyond anything he could comprehend. He’d never felt this way before, never wanted to protect someone so badly, never wanted to
be
with someone the way he wanted to be with Mia. When he was with her his past was a blur, a forgotten time he was in no hurry to remember. But he knew, the second he walked away from her, that his past would, once more, come hurtling forward. And he was just going to have to find a way to deal with that.

Bending his head to suck on her nipple he felt that glorious pressure start to build, his dick throbbing as it pumped away, finally exploding inside her in what felt like never-ending waves that sent his body into violent spasms. And he held her tight, keeping her close until he’d given her everything, until his body slowed down, although his breathing, like hers, remained heavy. Shallow. Because neither of them were finished. He hadn’t come here for a fast five minute fuck only to get on his bike and ride out of there, satisfied and done. He was here to take as much as he could, to give
her
as much as he could.

She looked at him, her beautiful face flushed with pleasure, her dark hair hanging in loose, messed-up waves over her naked shoulders, her shirt pushed back to expose her breasts. ‘You call that a fuck, biker boy?’

He smirked, sliding her skirt down until it fell to the floor, leaving her in nothing but her shirt and boots. He was one lucky son-of-a-bitch, to get to play with this woman. ‘You want more?’