The Beats in Rift (22 page)

“I handle our accounts and I have a hand in the running of a few other businesses. The bar you met me in the other night is ours. I won the deeds in a poker game. I play there with the band, we’re quite well known.” He smiles. “But anyway, that’s club business. Stuff you don’t need to know.”

I pull away from him. “If you want me and my babies to move and be a part of your life, I do need to know this stuff.”

“Baby, it’s a different life to what you’re used to, and you need to understand that club business stays within the club. We don’t do pillow talk about this shit. You will be moving with me, no choice, and you’ll gain a whole new family from it. You’ll learn as you go that it’s a good life and you’ll always be looked after. You
and
the girls.”

“Okay, I’ll come to the barbecue. But if I don’t like what I see, I can’t promise I’ll stay.”

I wake to him strumming my guitar, the soft glow from the sun highlighting him like the God he is. He shifts in his seat by my window, roaming his gaze over me. “Do you play this, baby?” he asks.

“Always. I love it and what it represents.”

He strums a few more cords. “What is that?”

I pull the covers away from my naked form. His eyes flash with desire as he soaks me in. “That you’re the music in me, whether we are together in person or not. You’re my soul, my riffs, you’re in every lyric, every strum, and every breath I sing.”

He places the guitar back on its stand and strides towards me. He spends the rest of the morning inside me.

“HIS ASS LOOKs good on the bike, Med. Damn I want one,” Crystal says while looking out of the windshield of my car.

We’re following Rift to ‘his life’. I made Crystal come because she is my family and we do everything together. I need her.

I grin and give her a quick glance. “The bike or the man?”

She stares forward. “The man on a bike,” she clarifies. We both break into a fit of giggles.

The girls’ steady breathing hums from the backseat where they are sleeping the journey away.

“Oh God, I’m nervous,” I say as Rift rolls to a stop in front of the metal gates I fled from four weeks ago. They clank and open. He continues forward, signalling us to follow. My blood jolts through my veins, making me a jittery mess.

Parking the car, I step out on shaky legs. I can hear voices and music even though I am at least twenty feet from the bar. Rift strides towards me with a grin on his face. He drops his head and captures my lips with his. “You ready, baby?”

I bite my bottom lip and shrug, making him chuckle. Once we’ve got the girls out of the car, Rift says, “Come on, baby.”

Taking my hand he pulls me forward, looking over his shoulder and jerking his head towards the club. “Crystal, you won’t get fed standing there, woman. Move your ass.”

She quickly steps in line with us. I take a deep breath as Rift drops my hand to open the door to the club. Holding it open with his foot he re-clasps my hand and pulls me inside.

The space is empty except for a couple of older-looking guys sitting at the bar. They tilt their chins as we walk past. We go through a narrow hall and out of another door into a huge garden. There are people everywhere; men all dressed like Rift, women of various shapes and sizes all wearing jeans and tight tees. Kids’ laughter fills the air, and light rock music plays in the background. It’s like a huge family gathering.

I look over to where a bunch of mean-looking guys are barbecuing on a huge grill. When their eyes fall on us my, stomach clenches.

“Holy shit. I never thought you’d get her back here.” A deep voice sounds through the crowd of people who have gathered around us.

“She took some convincing after being propositioned by your ugly ass, Razor” Rift jokes.

Laughter breaks out, cutting through the tension.

“Sorry, sweetheart. We had no idea you were his actual woman. We thought he’d just got real lucky one night.”

The guy they call Razor bends forward and drops his lips to my cheek. “Glad he finally found you.” He grins and I smile in return. Jules’ face burrows into my neck; she’s shy from all the attention around us.

“Hey,” a blonde woman says, pushing through. “I’m Lou, Digger’s ole lady. Let me show you where we have a play area set up for the babies.”

I look at Rift who nods for me to follow her.

Throughout the day I was introduced to many people whose names I won’t remember, but they were all really great. They had personalities a lot like Rift’s, which meant a lot like mine. We laughed and joked all day. Crystal was content under the watchful eye of a gorgeous guy named Ice. Rift never left my side and I learned that while these people seemed like scary-ass perverts when I first met them as an outsider, when you are on the inside, they are very different. They’re protective of each other. They laugh, joke, eat and drink together. They’re a family, and I’d never had that, neither had Rift so I could see the appeal.

Lou insisted we stay the night at her house because she had the extra room for the girls. She lives in a beautiful five-bedroom house only a mile from the club. I settled into one room with the girls and made Rift take the other as Crystal decided to stay with Ice. I wasn’t happy when Rift informed us that Ice isn’t a settle-down guy, but she’s a grown woman and she informed us that she isn’t looking to settle down, she just wanted to get down on him.

By the time we get back home late on Sunday, it is to an angry Drake sitting on my porch steps. He jumps to his feet when he sees us pull up.

I jump from the car and rush to him. “What the hell? No phone call, no texts?” he asks.

Rift’s bike pulls up behind my car and Drake’s eyes flick to him. “You jump straight back in with him without even a phone call to me. We were starting something, Beats, and I had to hear him talk about fucking you when I called you!”

I look from him to Rift.

“What? When did that happen?”

Drake grabs me by the shoulders forcing me to look at him. “You couldn’t phone me to talk about this?”

“Get your fucking hands off her,” Rift growls.

“This has nothing to do with you,” Drake spits back.

“You’re insane if you believe that.” He shoves Drake backwards, forcing his hands to drop from my shoulders.

“Stop!” I order as Rift steps towards him again. “Drake, why didn’t you tell me you knew where Justin was? You knew I was looking for him.”

He looks at me. “He was going down a dark path, Beats. You didn’t need that in your life.”

“You had no right to decide that for me.”

“I’ve only ever looked out for you.”

“Only if it benefitted you. You wanted in her panties, and why the hell would you give Justin her address after hiding it from him all that time?” Rift snaps.

“You had already got her address, I know how when you and your brother are together fighting for her attention you both end up fucking it up for each other! And I won’t deny I’ve always had a thing for her, but I helped her when I wasn’t getting anything out of it. She got a shit load of money writing for me.”

Rift laughs but there is only intent to harm in the tone. “You got a number one single from her writing for you. Don’t think you did her any favors.”

Drake turns to me. “We’ll talk more when the tour starts and I have you to myself without him polluting your mind.”

Rift lunges for him, grabbing him by the collar and getting right in his face. “Watch it, Drake. You’re already on my shit list. I don’t want to mess your face up in front of my woman. That’s the only reason you’re still standing right now, but there’s only so much restraint I can show.”

I reach for Rift’s arm. “Let him go.” He looks at me, a softness taking over his features as he releases Drake.

“Drake, I told you I can’t do the tour. I have the girls.”

He points his finger towards me, his chest heaving from being manhandled by Rift. “It’s in the contract, Beats. You have to do it.”

My stomach drops. “Why would you do that? You said I could trust you. You knew I couldn’t go on tour with you.”

“Well, we could have worked that out when you were my girl, but you dropped me for him; the guy who passed you to his brother whenever he got itchy feet and left town.”

Drake’s feet leave the floor as Rift gives him an almighty punch in the face. I yelp as Drake spits out a mouthful of blood. “You son of a bitch. I have a gig tonight.”

“You want to write for him, baby?” Rift asks me.

“I think we should part ways,” I tell him, and Drake’s eyes meet mine.

“Don’t look at her, you look at me,” Rift says. “Lose the contract, Drake, or lose the ability to use your jaw. You can’t tour if the lead singer can’t talk, let alone sing.”

Drake stumbles up to his feet and pushes past us, retreating to his car.

IT HAD BEEN two weeks since we sent the DNA tests. We paid extra to have them rushed through so we were waiting every day for the postman. Rift had spent those weeks with us, getting to know the girls who were smitten with him as was Crystal. She had told me she’d ever seen me this happy and she was right; life seemed right again.

Rift brought back so much that was missing in me. We completed each other, so when the postman came and delivered the news that Justin Fathered the girls and he fled the house, my heart stopped and an old familiar dread crept into my veins.

He was gone for four hours and thirty one minutes before he walked back in to my house and told me it didn’t matter. That we were still a family and he would be the best uncle the girls would ever have, want or need.

I shattered into a million fragments as my heart combusted in my chest. He wrapped me in his embrace, bringing all my pieces back together but I still felt a sadness deep in my soul that he isn’t their Father.

I RAP MY
knuckles on the wooden front door. Max seems confused when he opens it and sees me and Beats standing there.

“Hey,” he mutters, bewildered.

“I take it Justin didn’t tell you he’s back in contact with me?” Beats asks him.

“Nah, but it makes sense now. He was waffling about you the other night.”

My fist clenches. “Well, are you going to stand there and gape at her or let us in?” I ask, pushing open the door and stepping around him. He moves aside, letting Beats follow me.

“Come on in,” he says sarcastically.

“Where is he?”

“He’s out. He’s only been back here a few weeks. How did you even know?”

“We’ll wait, and it doesn’t matter how I know.”

Beats’ phone chirps and as she slides the screen, a smile creeps over her face. I raise an eyebrow and lift my chin to communicate my intrigue. She flashes the screen to me to show a picture message from Crystal of the girls curled up asleep together.

“Shit, you two got kids?” Max asks, looking at the picture Beats is holding up to me.

My stomach twists and Beats’ face falls.

“Justin really hasn’t told you anything, has he?” she asks.

“I can’t get much out of him apart from drunken bullshit about you.”