Bruised Angel (River of Lies #2) (25 page)

Mason nodded and grinned, pushing his fries over to her to finish off. That night she started packing clothes to take to the beach. She had let Mason buy her bikini to wear and a couple of sundresses. Chelsea only let him buy them with the promise that when she sold some more art that she would pay him back. She knew he wouldn’t let her, but she felt better being made believe that was what was going to happen.

Chapter Twenty Three

The next morning they left early to meet Kelly and Lincoln at Lincoln’s house. Kelly had been spending more and more time at Lincoln’s house. Chelsea missed her but she was really glad that she was happy. When Chelsea saw Kelly though that morning, she didn’t look right. Chelsea frowned and went to her friend.

“Are you alright?” Chelsea asked.

Kelly nodded her head and gave Chelsea a weak smile.

“Yeah, I think I just ate something weird, I’m feeling a bit sick” she replied.

Chelsea nodded and smiled at Kelly.

“We can stop as often as you want to puke” Chelsea said with a smile.

“Oh trust me I will be” Kelly replied with a grin.

“We don’t have to go today if you don’t feel well” Chelsea said frowning.

Kelly shook her head.

“No it’s alright, I was sick yesterday too, but by the time I got moving in the afternoon I was fine. I am just a bit tired and need to wake up. Lincoln’s going to drive for me” she said.

Chelsea frowned again but nodded accepting her friend’s explanation. It wasn’t long and they were on the road. They only had to stop once for Kelly to hang her head out on the side of the road and bring up the little amount of food she had in her stomach. When they arrived at the little beach cottage that sat nestled amongst the salt bush shrubs and sand, Chelsea could smell the sea and the air was warm. She followed Lincoln, Kelly and Mason into the cottage and looked out through the big French doors that opened onto a little patio containing a small outdoor dining set and  barbecue but then lead out to crisp white sand and an endless blue ocean. Chelsea breathed in deep and smiled. She had been looking forward to the week so much, she could already feel the ice cold ocean water on her hot body. She had her whole week planned out. Have as much sex with Mason as possible and lay on the beach as often as possible.

Later in the afternoon Chelsea was sitting down on the beach watching Mason frolic around in the water, she couldn’t help but lust over the way the water dripped over his muscles and his long dark hair hung down over his back. As they were walking back to the cottage she could hear Lincoln and Kelly shouting. Mason and Chelsea looked at one another. Suddenly a door slammed and Chelsea heard Kelly’s car rev and bang on the way out the drive way as it bottomed out on the road and squealed its tires up the road.

When they went inside Lincoln was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.

“What was that about?” Mason asked.

Lincoln looked up with tears in his eyes.

“I’m going to be a father” he said with a shrug of his shoulder.

Chelsea shook her head. Kelly wanted nothing more than to be a mother, so she couldn’t understand why they were shouting.

“Shouldn’t that be a good thing?” Mason asked.

Lincoln shook his head and ran his hands over his cropped hair.

“How am I supposed to look after a kid. I can’t give up Uni. My Dad would kill me for a start, but I’ve wanted to be a lawyer for as long as I can remember” Lincoln said miserably.

“So why did Kelly fly out of here?” Chelsea asked concerned.

Lincoln dropped his  head into his hands again.

“I asked her to have an abortion” Lincoln said quietly.

“Oh” Chelsea said dropping her head.

She looked at Mason.

“Come on we better go find her” Chelsea said.

Mason nodded his head and took his keys from the counter. They started to drive down towards the beach, hoping that Kelly would be there trying to calm down. Telling Kelly to abort a child was probably the worst thing Lincoln could have said to her. Chelsea chewed on her nail absently, her mind slipping to what she would do if it were her in the situation. Chelsea knew she would  be happy but she didn’t know if Mason would feel the same as Lincoln.

“Would you ask me to abort if I was pregnant?” Chelsea asked suddenly.

Mason gave her a sideways glance before he shook his head.

“I would support your decision no matter what. My family is a bit different to Lincoln’s. He lives with an expectation to be like them. Get a career and make bucket loads of money” Mason said.

Chelsea nodded and smiled. She believed him. Not that she wanted a baby yet. She wanted to wait until she had established her art gallery and was successful before she even thought about having children. They drove slowly along the boulevard trying to see if they could see Kelly’s car anywhere but it was nowhere to be seen.

“Maybe she started home”  Mason said.

Chelsea nodded her head. Mason turned the car onto the Freeway to head towards their home, they only lived an hour away from the cottage, so it wasn’t a big deal to go home and talk to Kelly before heading back. They got half way down the Freeway when Chelsea saw flashing red and blue lights ahead of them. Chelsea started to shake her head. Her heart fell into the pit of her stomach and the panic gripped at her throat. Mason frowned and gripped the wheel turning his knuckles white. As they approached the lights, they saw Kelly’s car on its roof. Police and ambulance were surrounding the car and a tarp had been pulled across the driver’s door. Mason stopped in the middle of the road and Chelsea flung the door open, jumping from the car.

“No, no, no, no” Chelsea screamed as she ran towards Kelly’s car.

Two policemen grabbed hold of her and swung her away as she fought to get free. Tears streamed from her eyes as she punched and clawed trying to get to Kelly. Chelsea could see her lulled against the steering wheel which was resting on the ground.

“Kelly” Chelsea screamed as her eyes blurred with tears. “Please God wake up Kelly”

Finally one police man was able to get Chelsea to stand still, he bent down and looked into Chelsea’s face.

“I’m sorry, she is gone” he said sadly.

Chelsea screamed incoherent words, again fighting to get to Kelly. She looked around for Mason who was slumped on the ground, his head buried into his knees. Chelsea broke free of the policeman’s arms and went to him, falling to her knees she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into her. They sat on the road amongst twisted metal and glass crying to each other. After some time Mason looked up at her.

“I need to tell Dad and Lincoln” he said.

Chelsea nodded and hiccupped her sobs. She looked back over her shoulder to see the ambulance officers freeing Kelly from the wreckage, blood covered her face and her arm lulled lifelessly from the stretchers.

“She’s dead Dad” Chelsea heard Mason cry down the line.

His whole body shook with tears, he looked up just as the ambulance officers slipped Kelly into a large black body bag.  Mason screamed a guttural roar. Chelsea had never felt so helpless.

“The baby” she cried to the policemen.

The policeman looked at Chelsea with a confused look. He shook his head.

“There was no baby there” he said starting to look panicked.

Chelsea shook her head and touched her stomach.

“She was pregnant, you have to save the baby” she cried.

The policeman shook his head.

“I’m sorry Chelsea we can’t, she wasn’t far enough along to save the baby” he said gently, putting his hand on Chelsea’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

Chelsea nodded sadly. She knew that was the truth, she knew before she even suggested it. The baby wouldn’t have even had a heart beat yet, she just wanted to cling to something. Once they had put Kelly into the ambulance the coroner came to where Chelsea and Mason stood. Mason was pale and tears streaked his face.

“We are going to take her to the morgue” he said “we will need someone to make a formal identification, usually that’s done by the next of kin, are you that person?”

Mason nodded his head.

“My Dad is” Mason croaked through tears.

The coroner nodded his head.

“If you tell him to meet us at 135 Riverdale Road and just press the buzzer he can make the identification” the coroner said.

Both Chelsea and Mason nodded numbly. Mason fumbled for his keys but dropped them on the ground. The policeman frowned and looked between Chelsea and Mason.

“I’ll drive the two of you there” he said holding his hands out for Mason’s keys. “I don’t need two accidents tonight”

Mason handed over the keys and they both climbed in the backseat.  The police man drove them to the morgue in silence. Mason had texted his Dad when they left and by the time they pulled into the carpark of the morgue there were a group of Harleys and Choppers parked throughout the parking lot. The police man looked at them in the rear view mirror, as he parked the car. He buzzed the bell and the door unlocked. The police man led them into a big room which was filled with Kings of Darkness members. The police man looked around the room frowning as he left. When Knox saw Mason he ran to him and wrapped his arms around his son, sobbing into Mason’s shoulder. Blade stepped forward and gently took Chelsea into his arms. She suddenly felt numb and broken as Blade stroked her hair and she wrapped her arms around his large girth.

Soon all the men that stood around either hugged Chelsea and Mason or clapped them on the shoulder squeezing them lightly. After a short wait the coroner entered the room looking around at the men that stood around.

“Who is the father?” he asked with a frown.

Knox raised his hand and stepped forward. The coroner nodded his head.

“Come with me” he said as he left the room.

“Do you want me to come?” Blade asked

Knox nodded gently as they both left the room to follow the coroner. It was only a few moments later when they heard the guttural roar of Knox float down the hallway. The door swung open and Lincoln flew in with his parents close behind. They stopped and looked around at all the men. Lincoln fell into Mason’s arms, sobbing.

Tracey came towards Chelsea and pulled her into her arms. Chelsea sobbed into Tracey’s chest. She didn’t know how to do life without Kelly. She wasn’t just a friend, she was a sister, a protector. Chelsea couldn’t do life without her, she didn’t want to do life without her. Tracey didn’t say a word while she held Chelsea. Everyone was silent as they went back to Mason’s house. Chelsea that night slept in Kelly’s bed, holding her pillow to her nose, smelling Kelly’s scent. Mason tucked himself tight in behind her. In the middle of the night Chelsea heard Knox come into the room and felt him stroke both hers and Mason’s faces, tears dripping down onto their cheeks. Chelsea kept her eyes closed, pushing her own tears away. She reached out and took Knox’s hand in hers and held it tight. He knelt on the side of the bed and put his head onto her shoulder, crying deep thunderous sobs.

Chapter Twenty Four

Every day was a blur leading up the funeral it was a sea of people filing in and out of the house, each bringing flowers and paying their respects. Chelsea even met some of the member’s women, not that she remembered their names. They were just a sea of faces that drifted into Chelsea’s mind. She wanted to lock herself away and not think about any of what was going on. She wanted to believe that Kelly was just around at Lincoln’s house. The only thing that stopped her from being able to believe it was that Lincoln was at the clubhouse, his eyes stained red and puffy from the tears he didn’t seem to be able to stop crying.

The night before the funeral, Chelsea was having a look through Kelly’s belongings, tucked at the back of her closet was a frame containing the picture that Chelsea had drawn of Mason.  Fat tears rolled down Chelsea’s cheeks and splashed onto the glass. Chelsea knelt onto the soft carpet of Kelly’s room and cried silent screams into her knees, her grief overwhelming her. She brought the picture out of Kelly’s room once the tears had dried and went to find Knox, when he saw her approaching he looked up at her curiously.

“What have you found?” he asked.

Chelsea silently handed the picture that Kelly had, had framed as she promised. Knox took the picture and stood from his chair nodding and allowing his tears to fall down his face, splashing on the glass where Chelsea’s tears had dried. He went to the wall and took the picture of the motorcycle that hung above the television and replaced it with the picture. Knox kissed two fingers and placed it on the picture.