Aftermath (Dividing Line #6) (23 page)

“Not like my Rachel at all.”

“Our luck’s got to run out one day Ryan. When it does I don’t want you to step outside and get your head blown off or a knife between your ribs. I want it to be me who goes first. If you…I couldn’t…” Tears spilled down her cheeks as she recalled the moment she’d thought he was dying in her arms after being shot in the chest, just like Danny, only the pain had been ten times worse.

He gazed into her upturned face, skin so white it only made her eyes seem even blacker.

“I know, me too,” he said softly.

“I’m so tired of this,” she rasped.

He cradled her to his chest, resting his cheek on the top of her head. “No one’s getting the better of us, you hear me? No one. Remember, they come after us we put them in the ground first.”

“Dad?”

Leah was standing on the bottom step looking small and frightened in her pink onesie. It said a lot that she was clutching the cuddly yellow duck she’d used as a comforter since she was tiny.

“It’s okay Cupcake, come here,” he said, holding his arm out to her.

She ran to her parents and flung her arms around both their waists, burying her face in her dad’s side. “What’s going on? Why are people outside?”

“It’s just Uncle Mikey and Uncle Jez going for a walk.”

She looked up at him, skin as pale as her mother’s, eyes heavy with fear. “Don’t treat me like a silly little girl Dad.”

Rachel and Ryan were dismayed by how grown-up she sounded, how world-weary.

“Sorry Leah,” he said. “Something outside set off the motion sensor and they’ve gone to see what it is. It’s probably just a cat or a fox.”

“Or a person.”

“If it is they’ll catch them. You’re perfectly safe Sweetheart.”

Leah looked to her mum for confirmation, who nodded.

“It’s nothing, really,” said Rachel. “Why don’t I take you back to bed? You’ve got school in the morning and you’re going on that trip to the museum.”

“Okay,” she said reluctantly. “Can I sleep in your bed?”

“Course you can love. Come on.”

Rachel took her hand and Ryan watched them head upstairs, his girls, both scared to death and so sick of feeling that way. He hoped Mikey and Jez found whoever was lurking out there because he wanted to rip their fucking head off.

He turned off the kitchen light and stared out into the darkened garden, unable to make anything out.

“Ow, shit,” whispered Mikey.

“You okay?” Jez whispered back.

“Yeah. Tripped over a root.”

They’d been creeping about in the dark, not wanting to use torches for fear of drawing attention to themselves. If it wasn’t an animal that had set off the sensors it had to be Cole’s men. Mikey thought that would be preferable to facing a wild animal. As he picked himself up he put his hand down in something warm and sticky and realised what he’d actually tripped over was someone lying on the ground.

“Fuck, who’s that?” he whispered.

Jez took out his mobile phone and shone the light on the body. “Leo. He’s breathing. Looks like he’s taken a whack to the head.”

“We’ll come back to him. We need to find who did this first.”

They circled the garden, straining to hear the slightest sound. When they detected a slight rustle to the right they froze.

Mikey indicated for Jez to circle from the right while he took the left and silently they made their way through the bushes, simultaneously pouncing on a big black shape. A bellow of shock and rage made their eardrums throb as they wrestled the figure to the ground.

“Oh fuck,” said Jez, shining his light in the man’s face. “Fletch.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Sorry mate,” said Mikey.

They released him, allowing him to get back on his feet. “I saw someone, I was tracking them round the side of the house,” whispered Fletch.

Together the three of them made their way through the undergrowth until they came to the back of the house and saw one of the bedroom windows half open.

“Oh holy fuck,” said Jez, frantically calling Ryan on his phone as they raced round the house to the back door. “Ryan, they’ve got in through an upstairs window.”

Jez heard the phone drop then running footsteps.

CHAPTER 25

It didn’t take Leah long to drop off, despite how scared she’d been. Rachel thought it a blessing children were so resilient. She sat by her daughter’s side watching her sleep, sunk into their big bed, making her look small and fragile. At least all seemed quiet outside. Maybe it had been an animal after all.

Rachel considered bringing the boys in here too. She didn’t like the thought of them being alone. Both were heavy sleepers, she could carry them in and they wouldn’t wake.

Decided, she got to her feet and opened the door. As she stepped into the hall instinct made her hesitate and she turned her head to the left, towards Leah room. A man was standing there clad entirely in black. A black balaclava covered his face but she was certain it was one of the men who had attacked her and Jules. He seemed equally as surprised to see her as she was him but he soon recovered and advanced on her, halting when she pulled the taser out of her robe and pressed the button, its menacing crackle reassuring.

Rachel was torn about what to do. She could scream and shout for Ryan and he’d come tearing up the stairs, but that would wake the children and having three young kids running into the fray would only make the situation ten times worse. For all she knew the man had a gun, he might threaten them, even shoot them. No, she would handle this herself, nice and quietly.

It was a relief when he pulled a knife and gestured for her to come to him. Hadn’t the pillock realised yet that he needed a better arsenal?

When she shook her head he advanced on her and she stood poised to fight, her earlier fear gone. This prick had come into her home, he was just a few feet away from her babies. He was fucking dead.

Before she had the chance to make a move the thunder of footsteps coming up the stairs had the man running back the way he’d come, through the spare room Jez had been staying in. Rachel led the charge after him, closely followed by Ryan, who managed to grab her before she ran into the room and pulled her back so he could enter first, just in time to see the man’s legs disappear out the window. He snatched at them but his arms closed around empty air.

In the garden below Fletch made chase but the man had too much of a head start. He moved with the speed and agility of a cheetah and was through the hedge before Fletch could reach him.

“We’ll make sure there aren’t any more of the bastards,” said Jez as he and Mikey rushed into the room. They split up to check the rest of the house.

“It was one of Cole’s men,” said Rachel, gazing down into the garden. “He had a balaclava on but I’m sure of it. He was so close to our children.”

“I’m going to kill Lexie,” seethed Ryan, slamming the window shut.

After checking on Leah and the boys, who were all still sound asleep, they headed back downstairs to the kitchen where their houseguests had gathered, Fletch holding a cold compress to the back of a dazed Leo’s head.

“Let me help,” said Rachel, taking the first aid kit out of a cupboard to tend to the wound.

“I’m sorry, I fucked up,” said Leo, furious with himself. “Bastard sneaked up on me from behind. I never heard a thing. He moved like a ninja.”

“Don’t worry about it. The important thing is everyone’s okay,” said Rachel, cleaning blood from the wound. “But you do need to get this looked at properly.”

“I’ll run him to the hospital if you don’t mind keeping an eye on things here?” Fletch said to Mikey and Jez. “I don’t think they’ll be back tonight anyway.”

“Not a problem,” replied Mikey.

“Rachel thinks it was one of Cole’s men. This is fucking Lexie’s fault,” snarled Ryan. “I want this sorting now. I am not having my family put in danger any longer. I want her gone and I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.”

“Ryan, calm down,” said Rachel. She felt strong and in control again. Facing that figure in the hall had done her the power of good. “I’ve cleaned the cut as best I can,” she told Leo. “Now you need to go to hospital.”

Fletch helped him to his feet, everyone taking a step back when the big man swayed on his feet. Fortunately he regained his balance and Fletch helped him out to the car, Jez locking up behind them. Now they could talk freely.

“I need to talk to Cole,” said Ryan.

“Why?” said Rachel.

“It’s the only way to make this stop. I need to do a deal with him.”

“What sort of deal?”

“That’s what I want to find out.”

“You’re going to hand her over to them, aren’t you?”

“If I have to then yes.”

“You can’t, she’s your sister.”

“No she’s not,” he yelled, banging his fist down on the table top.

“Keep your voice down,” she told him. “Stay right where you are you two,” she said when she spied Mikey and Jez backing out of the kitchen door, her gaze never leaving Ryan. “We all need to discuss this.”

“You Rachel are my family, you and the kids and that,” he said, waving a hand at Jez.

“I got all the charm genes,” Jez told Mikey, who nodded in agreement.

“You are all my priority, not her. She’s some stranger who turned up on our doorstep with a suitcase full of trouble and didn’t even bother to warn us. If serving her up to Cole is the only way to keep us all safe then that’s what I’ll do.”

“That is ice cold,” she said, eyes narrowing. “You know what will happen to her if you hand her over to them.”

“She should have fucking thought about that before.”

“Take it easy you two,” said Jez when they began to raise their voices. “Ryan does have a point Rach. You have to put yourselves first.”

“Lexie is your blood,” she told Ryan. “How can you stab her in the back like that?”

“If we’re not careful we’re the ones who are going to get stabbed in the back,” he retorted.

“This isn’t going to get sorted out any other way except by facing Cole,” reasoned Mikey.

“All he wants is Lexie. He won’t go without her,” said Rachel. “Can you really hand your sister over to be murdered, because that’s what he’s going to do to her or at the very best he’ll lock her up for the rest of her natural life, however long he may allow that to be.”

“At least talk with Cole,” said Jez. “Try and negotiate. Then you know where you stand.”

“He sent his goons after us. He’s not interested in negotiating,” she said.

“Then what do you suggest Rachel?” said Ryan impatiently.

She didn’t appreciate being spoken to like that and gave him a haughty look before turning her attention to Mikey. “Is there any way to contact Cole?”

“Yes. Wait. He’s tried to snatch Lexie twice and failed twice. He’ll contact us. I’m also waiting for a couple of contacts to see what they can find out about him. I’m reluctant to make a move until I know for sure who he is.”

“Brilliant,” said Ryan sarcastically. “Sit on our arses and do nothing. Genius, why didn’t I think of that?”

“I’m right and you know it,” said Mikey, face tightening.

Needless to say Ryan wasn’t best pleased when Cole rang their home phone four hours later. He hated being proved wrong. However Mikey, Jez and Rachel were all in bed, Fletch patrolling the garden with another bodyguard from Battler and Bruiser’s company after Leo was signed off work for a few days with mild concussion.

“Cole, I was hoping to speak to you,” he smiled, a plan already forming in his mind.

As he talked he failed to notice Rachel, roused by the ringing of the phone, hovering at the bottom of the stairs. She buried her face in her hands as she listened to her husband talk.

“How have they been?” said Ryan when he and Rachel arrived early the next morning at Lexie and Jules’s makeshift prison. They’d collected Dane from the hotel and brought him with them and he walked in behind Rachel looking tired and hangdog. They’d left Mikey and Jez fast asleep, worn out after the previous night’s adventures.

“Pretty quiet,” replied Battler, throwing Bruiser a warning glance. “They’re in the living room. We thought it best to keep them in one place.”

“Good thinking,” said Ryan before heading for the door.

“Err, I don’t think they’re awake yet. They hit the wine pretty hard last night,” called Battler.

He was too late. Ryan had already opened the door and was staring in amazement and disgust at the two naked figures asleep on the couch entwined around one another.

The noise of the door opening disturbed Jules and she raised her head and gave them a bleary smile. “Morning,” she yawned. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, completely unabashed by her nakedness. In fact she was proud of it, tilting back her head to better display her bare breasts.

In stark contrast Lexie released a shriek and wrapped her arms around herself.

Ryan shook his head and walked out, followed by Rachel.

“What’s wrong with you Jules?” exclaimed Dane.

“I was horny and you weren’t sticking around. I did ask Bill and Ben in there but they were unwilling to satisfy me, poofs.”

“What planet are you on? Have you any idea of the shit you’re in? You should be trying to get on Ryan’s good side, not having sex with his sister.”

“I can’t believe it,” whispered a shell-shocked Lexie. “I’m not gay.”

“Me neither love. Oh get over yourself, you enjoyed it,” tutted Jules when Lexie’s eyes filled with tears.

“No I didn’t.”

“For someone who didn’t enjoy it you had a lot of orgasms.”

Lexie turned beetroot red and buried her face in her hands.

Jules turned her attention back to Dane and smiled. “Admit it, you’re turned on.”

“I am not. Get upstairs and put on some clothes.”

“Fine,” sighed Jules, getting to her feet and walking to the door.

“I meant put these on first,” he said, picking up her clothes off the floor and hurling them at her.

“You really should make your instructions clearer,” she smiled. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

Her smirk so enraged him he thought the top of his head might explode. “God you’re arrogant.”

“Just honest Dane.” Confidently she sauntered up to him while he desperately tried to keep his gaze off her exposed body, the red eyes of the snake on her shoulder fixated on him. “You want to throw me down on the floor right now, don’t you? Go on. I’ll even let you tie me up.”

For a second he looked sorely tempted, sucking in a breath when her hand pressed against his crotch.

“The Great Dane’s awake,” she whispered with a wicked smile.

“I’ll throw you down alright Jules, down a fucking cliff if you don’t put on some clothes,” he snarled, taking a step back.

With that he stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

“Love you too,” Jules called after him mockingly. She looked to Lexie. “Stop snivelling. It happened and I don’t know about you but I enjoyed it.”

“I am not gay,” she repeated forcefully.

“Me neither. I love men, frequently, but it’s fun to have a change.” She bent over Lexie, who shied away. “You were great by the way. If you ever feel like a change again I’ll be waiting,” she said, running her hand up her thigh.

Lexie shivered with pleasure before recalling herself. She jumped to her feet, wrapped the throw from the couch around herself and rushed upstairs.

“Something I said?” Jules called after her.

She pulled on her clothes, ran a hand through her hair in a futile attempt to untangle it then walked into the kitchen to find the others gathered around the dining table, drinking coffee in solemn silence.

Jules threw herself into the empty chair beside Dane and smiled. “I like Devon, I’m having a great time. I think I’ll visit more often.”

“You bloody won’t,” said a furious Ryan.

“Have I done something to upset you big brother?”

“No man should have to see his sisters shagging on the couch.”

“Technically we weren’t shagging, it was more of a post-coital nap. Neither are we sisters. We’re both free and single. Well I am anyway. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You only did it to wind me up.”

“Wow, someone’s self-obsessed. As I explained to Dane, I was horny. He wouldn’t oblige, neither would that pair,” she said, pointing at an embarrassed Battler and Bruiser. “So I was left with the sexy blond. Much more fun than my hand.”

“Stop being filthy,” he glowered.

“That’s just me being me. Any coffee going?”

“There’s some in the pot,” said Battler, nodding at the machine steaming on the counter.

Jules got to her feet, whistling a happy tune, the sound piercing Ryan’s brain. Rachel took his hand and gave him a look instructing him to contain himself.

“Is she always like this?” Ryan asked Dane.

“Pretty much.”

“It’s a wonder she’s still alive.”

“She’s had a few close calls, especially when I’ve had my hands around her neck,” he replied, drawing a reluctant smile from Ryan.

“So what’s the big pow-wow about?” said Jules, retaking her seat, warming her hands around the coffee mug.