Shattered (Dividing Line #5) (28 page)

“You were naughty though in there,” he said, pulling back slightly to look directly into her eyes. “You should not have run off like that. Anything could have happened. I am genuinely angry at you for that.”

“I know and I’m sorry. I just really want this to end.”

“Do not do it again.”

“Yes Sir,” she replied with a saucy smile.

He became even more inflamed. “I want to be inside you right now.”

“You can’t, Battler and Bruiser are just outside.”

“Dammit,” he growled aggressively, sending a thrill through her. “Then you’ll come for me.”

“Now?”

“Yes,” he said, sliding his hand inside her black trousers.

“Ryan I…oh my,” she gasped when she felt his fingers inside her. “But the others…”

“It’s tinted glass they can’t see in.” He moved his hand and she moaned louder. “Do you like that?”

“Oh yes,” she breathed.

“Just there?” he whispered, adjusting his fingers slightly, revelling in how wet she was.

“Uh-huh,” she nodded, biting her lower lip in an effort not to cry out.

“Then quickly Rachel, do it for me. Now.”

His fingers knew exactly where to probe and she kissed him desperately, trying not to make a sound as he sent her soaring in seconds. He moaned with desire when she tightened around his fingers. He loved to her watch her like this, eyes tight shut, cheeks flushed, spine arched, pushing her beautiful breasts heavenwards. Knowing he was giving her so much pleasure in turn gave him tremendous pleasure.

When her eyes slowly opened they were filled with peace and love. “You are the most amazing husband. Now it’s my turn,” she said, rubbing her hand against his crotch.

But he took both her hands and pressed them down against the seat. “Not yet. When we get back to the house.”

She writhed beneath him, liking it that she was at his mercy. Despite recent experience it didn’t upset her because she loved and trusted Ryan so much. “That club has definitely brought something out in you.”

“You’re the one that has the effect on me, nothing and no one else.”

The sound of cars approaching burst their very pleasant bubble and they both sat up, drawing their weapons.

Battler pulled the door open. “Don’t worry, it’s just Mikey’s crew come to do the clean-up.”

“That’s a relief,” said Rachel, holstering the gun.

Battler took in their dishevelled appearances. “Glad to see you’ve made up. Sorry for interrupting,” he grinned before closing the door.

CHAPTER 28

“How the fuck did they find us?” bellowed Alex. “Shut it Robbie, I can’t think.”

Robbie lay in agony in the backseat, Katia beside him pressing down wads of tissue onto the bullet wound in his shoulder.

Katia’s eyes locked with Col’s through the rear-view mirror. She knew exactly how they’d found her, Ryan had told her and she knew Col suspected the truth but there was no way either of them were telling Alex.

“Did they say anything to you?” Alex said, turning in his seat to face Katia.

“No. Someone must have betrayed us.” She didn’t like lying to Alex but she had absolutely no problem with it to protect herself.

“You’re right, they must have and I’ll find who it was,” he said darkly. His expression softened into tenderness. “Are you alright Sweetheart? They didn’t hurt you?”

“Rachel hit me in the face but it didn’t hurt,” she said, although it was a lie. She had a horrible headache and Robbie’s groaning wasn’t helping.

“They could have hurt our babies,” said Alex. “This time I’ll put you in a place so safe they won’t get near our boys again.”

Katia frowned. It sounded as though he only cared about the babies and she was just a convenient vessel. She put the treasonous thoughts aside, she knew Alex loved her and she was much more to him than a baby maker.

Robbie’s moaning increased, worsening her headache and she couldn’t stop herself from snapping at him. “Calm down you child, we are on our way to the doctor and it is only a flesh wound, the bullet passed through.”

“Rachel is a bitch,” Robbie managed to say through gritted teeth.

“Too right she is mate and we’re going to eradicate her once and for all,” said Alex. “On the bright side that display convinced the Russians I was telling the truth. Vladimir’s back onside and desperate for revenge at being taken for a ride. He’s got some brutal people who will back us up.”

Apart from making him furious, how close the Laws had got made Alex nervy. He’d thought he was safe in that house, safe to plot his attack. He had somewhere else lined up to run to but he was a little apprehensive about using it. The Russians had offered him a place but the last thing he was going to do was put himself in their debt. He would use his other safe house and shore up security much better, he’d allowed it to get lax. Lucifer’s Shadow were less than useless but then again they were amateurs playing at being criminals, nothing more than mindless bully boys. Unfortunately the Laws had left him little choice.

Rachel knew she was making a lot of noise but she didn’t care. This was about her and Ryan and that lot downstairs could sod right off. He’d always enjoying pushing her to her limits but now he’d broken through the boundaries, taking her to new dizzying heights of pleasure. When he’d started barking orders at her she’d laughed, leading to her very first spanking, which she’d revelled in. It was fortunate she had a high pain threshold. Now she found herself on all fours, Ryan behind her. As he brought her to another shattering crescendo her knees gave way and she flopped face down on the bed, panting and sweaty.

“Get up,” he told her.

“I can’t.”

“Yes you can Rachel. Do it.”

“I’m tired.”

He rolled her onto her back and she found herself looking up into his determined eyes.

“I’m not finished with you yet,” he said.

“I need a drink.”

“Very well.”

She sat up, feeling shaky and a little disorientated.

“Are you okay?” he said.

“Yes, apart from being really tired. I need some rest.”

He recalled how she’d only recently come out of hospital and decided he needed to control himself. “Okay, we’ll take a break.”

“A break? We’ve been at it for…” She squinted at the clock and her eyebrows shot up. “Three hours, bloody hell.”

He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her. “That’s got to be a record, even for us.”

“You hurt my arse.”

“You seemed to enjoy it.”

She broke into a smile. “I did, I really did.”

“So you’d like to try it again?”

“Hmmm,” she replied with a nod. “But not right now.”

“Alright, I’ll let you sleep,” he said, running his fingers up and down her bare back, holding her tighter when she nuzzled into him.

A bang on the door disturbed the tender moment.

“Have you two finally finished in there?” called Frankie. “You’ve turned on Paul and Jamesie and it’s not a pretty sight.”

“Tell them to take a cold shower or a long walk,” Ryan called back. “Preferably back to Glasgow,” he added under his breath, making Rachel giggle.

“Congratulations by the way. We’ve been timing you and we’re calling The Guinness Book of Records.”

“Is there any particular reason why you’re shouting through our bedroom door?”

“Aye there is. Your mobile’s gone off a few times. It might be urgent.”

Ryan’s immediate thoughts were of his kids so he jumped off the bed and strode to the door, Rachel managing to hide her nakedness beneath the duvet just before he opened the door.

Frankie looked down the length of Ryan’s naked body and his eyes widened. “Wo-ho, the beast in the flesh. I’m not sure whether to feel sorry for you Rach or crack open the champagne.”

Ryan took the phone from his hands and shut the door in his face.

“I’ll have the ice packs on standby Rach,” Frankie shouted before charging back down the stairs.

“Who is it?” she asked Ryan.

He frowned at his missed call list. “I’m not sure, there’s a few different numbers.” He called back the latest one and frowned when he heard Taylor’s voice. “What do you want?”

“Where have you been? Everyone’s been trying to get hold of you. I was beginning to think the worst. You shouldn’t have disappeared like that without letting me know where you’d gone”

“Taylor, what’s happened?”

“The spa’s burnt down. Or to be more precise, someone burnt it down. Petrol bombs were thrown through the window. A member of staff got trapped in the building, I’m afraid she’s dead.”

“Who?” rasped Ryan.

“Gaynor Macey, a massage therapist.”

“Oh Jesus. Who did it?”

“We don’t know for sure yet, although I’ve got a good idea.”

“We’ll be right there.”

“What’s happened?” said Rachel when he hung up. “Is it the kids?”

“No, it’s the spa. It’s been petrol-bombed. Gaynor’s dead.”

Rachel shook her head furiously. “No, she’s only twenty five.” She shot to her feet and started to dress. “We have to get over there.”

“Yes we do,” said Ryan, pulling on his clothes.

“Who did it? Alex?”

“I think that’s most likely, although he won’t have done it personally.”

They raced downstairs. The jokes on everyone’s lips about what they’d overheard them doing died when Ryan explained what had happened at the spa.

“We’ll come with you,” said Mikey.

“No, it’s best if you’re kept out of it. This way it remains our problem and doesn’t become anything to do with the Maguires. We don’t want the police getting involved in this war,” Ryan told him. “Come on Rachel.”

After pulling on the bike gear they hopped onto the powerful Ducati Superbike Dane had loaned them. It was bright red and absolutely stunning. Rachel had fallen in love with it the moment she saw it, she was starting to share her husband’s enthusiasm for bikes. They raced it through the countryside back towards the city.

When they arrived at the spa they were shocked by what they saw. The worst of the fire was out but the building had been left a smouldering, blackened shell, just like their home.

Rachel pulled off the bike helmet and gaped at the ruin. Ryan stood beside her, an arm around her shoulders, equally appalled. They were approached by a huge hulking figure streaked with soot.

“I’m sorry, you can’t be here,” the fire officer told them.

“We’re the owners,” replied Ryan. “How bad is it?”

“We managed to contain it to the main building. The cottages and business centre round the back are unaffected.”

“I don’t care about the building,” said Rachel. “What about our staff?”

“One fatality, two injured but nothing serious. They’ve been taken to hospital. I’m sorry,” he added when Rachel’s eyes filled with tears.

“Did she die of smoke inhalation or did she…was it the fire?”

“She got trapped upstairs. We found her by the fire escape, it had been barricaded shut. I’m afraid the flames got her.”

Rachel turned away, a hand clamped to her mouth, shoulders shaking as she started to cry. Ryan pulled her into his chest and she gazed up at him with watery eyes.

“Gaynor’s worked here since it opened. I hired her myself.”

“I know Sweetheart,” he soothed, stroking her hair.

“They could have attacked the casino, it’s still closed for repairs after the water damage but they wanted somewhere that was full of people. They wanted to hurt and kill.”

“You’re right. Let’s go to the station and talk to Taylor. Someone might have seen who did it, even though we already know who is ultimately responsible.”

They drove to the police station and walked into reception to find four members of the spa staff sat there looking dazed, faces covered with grime from the smoke.

Linda, a very capable brunette they’d hired as manageress, started to cry when they walked in. Rachel swallowed down her own tears and hugged her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” replied Linda, voice quavering. “Alice and Meg are at the hospital, they got hurt by flying glass when the petrol bombs came through the window. Gaynor…she…”

When Linda began to sob a little hysterically Pierre - the head chef of the spa restaurant, still in his chef whites - pulled her into his barrel chest.

“I know about Gaynor, I can’t believe it,” said Rachel.

“We could hear her screaming,” said Sally, one of the beauticians, wrapped in a blanket, trembling. “We tried to reach her but we couldn’t, it went up so quickly.” As she spoke she rocked back and forth in her seat, eyes wide and unblinking.

“Pierre’s a hero,” added Kerry, the receptionist. “We were all screaming and crying and didn’t know what to do. He came out of the kitchen, he was so calm, and he picked up Alice, who’d fainted when she saw she was cut, and carried her out of there in his arms. He led us all out the back way, through the kitchen.” The beautiful blond twenty-something gazed adoringly at the overweight, middle-aged balding chef who seemed a little embarrassed by her adulation.

“I didn’t really do anything,” he blushed.

“He was incredible,” added Kerry.

“Why did this happen?” said Sally, staring straight ahead. “Gaynor never hurt anyone in her life. Why did she have to die like that?”

“Who would do it?” said Linda. When she saw the scar on Rachel’s neck her mouth fell open. The others followed her line of sight and Sally released a shriek.

Rachel, in her haste, had completely forgotten about the scar and her hand went to it self-consciously.

“I didn’t know they did that to you,” said Linda, starting to cry again.

“Did the same people who kidnapped you start the fire?” said Kerry.

“We think so,” replied Rachel.

“You’ll get them, won’t you?”

Rachel looked to Ryan, unsure how to reply.

“You,” said a voice.

Their attention was drawn by a tall gaunt woman who looked even more gaunt because her skin was a ghastly white, her eyes swollen and bloodshot.

“That’s Gaynor’s mum,” Linda told Rachel.

The woman shuffled more than walked up to Rachel, as though the death of her daughter had drained every last drop of strength from her.

“Mrs Macey, I’m so sorry,” said Rachel.

The woman slapped her hard across the face. “Don’t give me your words. People like you are full of meaningless words. I’ve just been down to the mortuary but they wouldn’t let me see my little girl because she’s too much of a mess. I know this wasn’t some random act of violence, it’s because of who
you
are. I’ll never get to see or hold my baby again because you’ve pissed off someone you shouldn’t.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

Her eyes settled on the scar on her neck. “I wish whoever did that had killed you. At least then my Gaynor would still be alive.”

With that the woman marched past Rachel, who nursed her stinging cheek.

“She’s upset, she doesn’t know what she’s saying,” said Ryan.

“She’s right thought, isn’t she?”

“No, she’s not.”

Their staff, who had witnessed the spectacle, looked away, pretending they hadn’t noticed.

They were saved from the awkward situation by DCI Taylor making an appearance. “Mr and Mrs Law, if you would come this way?”

Before they followed, Rachel said to her staff, “you’ll be paid in full until the spa is rebuilt or we can get you other work.” Her heart went out to this bedraggled bunch who would have to deal with a severe trauma for the rest of their lives because of who their bosses were. “That’s if you want to continue working with us. I hope you do.”