Indulgence (296 page)

*****

I slept for most of the day. Kick looked after me, staying
close by all day. At four that afternoon, Mum and Julie came to visit. I’d been
awake for about half an hour then so it turned out to be perfect timing.

“God, Evie, don’t give us a scare like that again!” Julie
said, her face a mask of worry. She’d brought flowers with her and arranged
them in a vase I’d sent Kick to find. Placing the vase on the bedside table
next to me, she bent and gave me an awkward kiss on my forehead. She still wasn’t
big on public displays of affection, and I figured a kiss was hard for her, but
I appreciated the gesture, particularly seeing as though she couldn’t hug me.

I smiled up at her. “I’ll try not to,” I promised, my glance
shifting to catch Kick leaning against the door, arms folded over his chest and
a contemplative look on his face. We held each other’s gazes for a moment and
then I gave mine back to Julie.

“Good,” she said.

“The police said there were a few witnesses to the accident
but none of them can remember the number plates of the car who caused it. One
witness even said the car didn’t have any. I don’t think they’re confident they
can solve this,” Mum told me, seemingly upset with this information.

“Well, I guess whoever it was will get theirs in the end;
karma and all,” I said, keen to change the topic of conversation. “Have either
of you heard from Dad lately?” I hadn’t heard from him or seen him since the
day he told me he didn’t want Kick in my life.

Mum smiled, and that stunned me. She and Dad hadn’t been
close since he left after she cheated on him. “He and I have been in contact
after he called and asked me to lunch the other week. Evie, he told me what you
and Kick did for him and how awful he was to you about Kick. He regrets it, and
he also regrets not following up on the counselling.”

I wanted to believe everything she had said but after years
of being let down by him, I struggled to buy it. “And?” I asked, my voice hard
and guarding. I had to guard my heart from more disappointment.

Julie stepped in. “He’s doing good with the counsellor . . .
I’ve seen him a few times, and I’m proud of what he’s doing.”

My eyes widened.

Shit, if Julie was impressed, it meant Dad really
was
making progress.

“Okay, good,” I said softly.

Mum looked hopeful as she asked the next question. “He wants
to see you. Would you be up for that? He’s worried about you.”

Kick pushed off from the door he was leaning against and
came towards me, concern etched on his face. “Is that a good idea?” he asked
me.

I loved his concern, but I thought it might actually be good
to see Dad. “It’s alright, Kick, I want to see him. Maybe this will be the
fresh start we all need.”

As the afternoon progressed and we all loosened up with one
another, I thought back to that conversation and hoped it really would be a
fresh start for all of us.

An opportunity to put the pain of the last eighteen years
behind us once and for all.

Kick

A few days later, King called Church. He’d put it off,
giving me time to be with Evie, but he was right – we needed to take stock of
where the club was at. I left Evie with her Mum and headed into the clubhouse.

Hyde greeted me with a slap on the back. “How’s everything
going, man?” he asked, his beef with me completely gone.
Jekyll and Hyde
.

“All good, but not holding out hope that Gambarro was
bluffing the other night,” I expressed my concern that Gambarro had indeed made
plans for his crew to avenge his death if it ever were to happen.

His face darkened. “Yeah, I wouldn’t put it past the
motherfucker to have organised something.”

We took our seats around the table and King began. “Has
anyone heard anything from the Gambarro camp?” he asked, looking around the
table. The resounding ‘no’ gave me only a tiny sliver of hope, and it appeared
King thought the same way I did. “Well, keep your ears to ground and let me
know the minute you hear something. We need to be prepared for this.”

Everyone agreed to that, and then I raised my concern from
the other night. “Gambarro said he’d only sent one message to us – the car
accident. But my girlfriend’s house was broken into the other night and
trashed. Nothing was stolen. Now call me a paranoid bastard, but this feels
odd. Have any of you had shit happen recently?”

I looked around the table and from the expressions on
everyone’s faces, I knew deep in my gut something was definitely odd with this.
Nitro was the first to speak. “My sister’s place was ransacked three nights
ago.”

Devil’s vein in his neck twitched as he said, “Fuck, my
brother was broken into a couple of nights ago.”

Hyde was murderous. “Fuck!” he roared, standing. He looked
like he was about to explode from his anger. “My sister owns a convenience
store and it was held up two nights ago.” His gaze zeroed in on King. “This is
Silver Hell, isn’t it? Those motherfuckers!”

If I thought Hyde was murderous, King was positively insane.
He slammed his fist down on the table and looked around the table. “Those
motherfucking cunts!” Giving his attention to Devil, he said, “I want you to
look into this, you and Kick, and report back ASAP, yeah?”

Devil’s eyes met mine, and we nodded. “Yeah, boss, will do,”
he agreed.

“Any other business to discuss?” King demanded, his wild
eyes searching the room. When no one spoke up, the gavel came down and Church
was done.

Fuck.

Shit just got real.

*****

I gazed at Evie sitting in the bed. She’d progressed from
lying down all the time to sitting for a while each day. I knew from experience
how painful broken ribs were, and I also knew how long they took to recover
from.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, keeping her eyes on
mine.

I smirked and pushed off from the wall to walk to the bed.
Sitting next to her, I said, “I was thinking that my dick could shrivel up from
lack of use over the next month or so.”

“Really? Such deep thoughts you have, Kick,” she said with a
wink.

“That was your opportunity to tell me we could work without
your pussy on this.”

“Well, we could . . . you’ve always got two hands to take
care of business,” she responded, with a teasing gleam in her eye.

“Sweetheart, I’d much rather your hands sign up for this
job.”

She laughed and fuck if that didn’t turn me the fuck on.
Jesus, Evie only had to look at me these days and I was almost blowing a load.
Her laugh didn’t last long, though, because it caused her pain and she winced.
But then she grew serious and asked, “Do you ever think we’ll get to play with
your toys?”

I shifted off the bed and threw my hands in the air. “Fuck,
baby, you can’t do that to a man when he’s got no fuckin’ hope of getting a
hard-on taken care of.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to bring your toys up.” She really
did look apologetic, but that was no good to me once my dick was already hard.

I placed my finger to my lips. “Shhh, don’t mention the toys
again. At least not until you can fix
this
shit,” I said, pointing to my
hard cock.

Nodding, she opened her mouth to say something, but we were
interrupted by a knock at the front door. I left her and went to answer the
door. My brother and sister stood on the other side, surprising the hell out of
me. Lina pushed past me before I could stop her, and asked, “Is Evie in her
bedroom?”

I’d forgotten she knew this house; Evie and Lina had been
close until the last time I broke up with Evie. “Yeah, just go on through,” I
muttered, knowing full well my sister wouldn’t listen to me if I told her to
wait.

Braden grinned at me as he took a step inside. “How are you,
little brother?”

“Fuck, man, I’m tired. It’s been a long week. And you?” I
closed the door behind him.

“I’m good. Heard you had a blow up at Mum.”

I raked my fingers through my hair. “Yeah, that woman . . .”
my voice drifted off as thoughts of her cut through me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever
work my anger at her out of my system.

“I get it. I told her not to come around my place anymore,
too,” he admitted.

“Good. She doesn’t deserve a place in our lives.”

We’d made it to Evie’s bedroom and she caught the last piece
of our conversation. She looked up at me and asked, “Who doesn’t deserve a
place in your life?”

“Mum.”

Lina piped up. “Oh, speaking of people who don’t deserve a
place in our lives . . . Dave has been given a transfer for work. He’ll be
leaving in a week.”

I was concerned for her, and what this would mean but at the
same time, I was over the fucking moon he wouldn’t be around to harass her anymore.
“Are you okay with that?” I asked, watching her closely for her real feelings
on the matter.

Her face lit up with a smile. “Yes, because it gives us both
space to move on, and it also gets him away from me and the kids when he’s been
drinking, which seems to be more often than not these days.”

Evie reached for Lina’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “That’s
great, Lina,” she said with a smile.

“Yeah, thank fuck,” I said, meaning every word of it.

For the first time in a long time, it felt like our families
were healing and growing, and good shit was happening.

It had been a long time coming.

Evie

Excitement bubbled through me at the fact I was finally
getting to meet Kick’s friends. As we walked into the clubhouse, I let my gaze
roam over it, taking it all in. I’d imagined something similar, but not exactly
the same. The non-descript brick building didn’t scream biker to me, however
the high fence surrounding the large building, and the obvious presence of
security and a guy manning the front gate, did tell me something. The club took
their security and protection seriously.

Once inside, I noted the dated paint on the walls, the worn
carpet and the tired furniture. This clubhouse had seen better days, but I
doubted the guys even saw it. The front door led down a long hall that was
lined with framed photos of members. A quick glance told me some had passed,
but mostly it appeared these photos were of current members. Once we were about
halfway down the hallway, Kick turned left and walked through a wide doorway
that led us into the bar area. And shit if I didn’t get a surprise in there.
This room had been freshened up, and it seemed to me it had been done by a
woman. It had a lick of new cream paint, the carpet had been pulled up, and the
cement floor had been polished. The lighting in this room was also different,
brighter. Not to mention the furniture. New wood tables and chairs were
scattered throughout, and today they were all occupied as bikers laughed and
drank. My eyes narrowed on the couches. They were the only things in the room
that did not look new, and by the quick glance I took, they didn’t look like
anything I would ever sit on.

Kick’s arm came around my shoulder and he pulled me close.
“You okay? Are your ribs giving you grief?”

Always looking out for me.

It had been a few weeks since the car accident and while I
was still in a great deal of pain, I’d assured Kick I was up for today. A
barbeque with the boys . . . no way was I turning that invitation down.

“This must be Evie!” a voice boomed from behind me.

Turning, I found a tall, built guy coming towards us. His
dark hair hung down to his shoulders, and although it was messy looking, and he
had a scar running down the left side of his face, and even though the glint in
his eyes seemed crazy, I had to admit, this man was hot. Scary hot. Scary as in
crazy, fucked-up, but hot nevertheless.

“Evie, King,” Kick introduced us, and I gave King a huge
smile. I didn’t care if he came across as scary, he was the man who helped save
battered women from their abusive husbands, and he was the man who helped Kick
take care of the asshole who tried to kill me.

“Hi,” I greeted him.

His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Fuck me, how the fuck did
Kick score a woman as beautiful as you?”

“Fuck off,” Kick said, and I practically felt the possessive
vibes circle me.

Shit, my man’s caveman side had kicked in.

And I kind of liked it.

King laughed, and Jesus, if that man was hot before, he was
fucking sexy when he laughed and his eyes lit up.

Another guy entered the room and zeroed in on us. Shit,
another good-looking dude. This one had short dark hair and a beard. His arms
were covered in tattoos and his brown eyes held a sadness to them. He smiled at
me, but it was like his mouth was pretending because the smile sure as hell
didn’t hit his eyes.

Kick introduced him, “Nitro, this is Evie.”

“Hi darlin’,” he said, his voice deep and husky.

Good Lord, he would make some woman very happy one day. Kick
had sent him over to look out for me once but he’d stayed outside so I hadn’t
gotten to lay eyes on him, and what a damn shame that was.

“Hi,” I said, watching as his gaze on me changed from
looking at me to pretty much looking through me. His eyes turned vacant, and I
wondered where he went. My arms wanted to circle him in a hug and make it all
better for him, whatever
it
was.

He excused himself to go and get a drink, but almost as soon
as he’d left us, another two guys wandered in and came straight to us.

Huh . . . turned out Kick’s friends were mostly all hot. Out
of these two, I found one of them extremely attractive with his almost bald
head, tattooed muscles and piercing blue eyes. It turned out his name was
Devil, and I instantly liked him the minute Kick introduced us. The other guy
scared the hell out of me. Sure, he was good looking, but I couldn’t get past
the hard, cold eyes that tracked my every movement, or the indifference I heard
in his voice. It was like there was no feeling there, and as far as I was
concerned, people who felt nothing were the scariest of them all.