Storm MC Collection Books 1 - 4 (Motorcycle Club Romance) Page 14

  Indigo was one of the strip clubs that Storm owned, so I could only imagine the kind of trouble they had to go and sort out. I sighed. “Okay,” I agreed, disappointed our evening had been wrecked.

  They both stood and Scott headed outside, answering his ringing phone as he went. J came to me, and held my face with both his hands. He looked genuinely sorry, so I cut him some slack. “I’m sorry. I’ll try and hurry things along so I can get back here soon,” he promised, laying a quick kiss on my forehead.

  And then he was gone. And I was alone on a Saturday night.

  21

  Madison

  J and I settled into a routine over the next couple of months. Mandy no longer seemed to be a threat so life went on as normal. While still his usual bossy self, J backed off a little and gave me some space, which helped cement our relationship further. He dropped me off at work and picked me up when I was finished each day, while he took care of Storm business. Some days we also managed to get lunch together. Our nights were filled with time rebuilding our relationship. Some nights he got called out for club business, but thankfully, those nights weren’t too often.

  It was the weekends that I lived for. J was around for most of them, and along with spending time with our family and friends, we devoted a lot of time to just the two of us. When he said he would do the work to rebuild our relationship he’d been telling the truth, and I was the happiest I had ever been.

  I was also trying hard to be a better girlfriend. This was hard sometimes, because J still refused to tell me much about club business. And it still pissed me off. Mostly though, I managed to keep my mouth shut and not argue with him about it. I was still hopeful that over time, he would come around.

  Crystal was doing okay. J and I spent a lot of time with her and Brooke, and I was surprised at how well we were all getting along. We regularly helped Brooke out, looking after Crystal so she could have some time to herself. We were all still in shock that Bec was gone, and navigating our way through the grief tied us all together.

  It was a Tuesday afternoon that my bubble burst. I was working at O’s, the little boutique dress shop that I loved coming to every day, when a blast from my past waltzed in and blew shit all over my life.

  “Mandy.” I sucked in a breath, and fear sliced through me. The crazy look in her eyes scared the shit out of me, and my hand automatically reached for the phone to ring J.

  As far as I knew, Mandy had disappeared and the club no longer considered her a threat. How wrong they had been about that.

  “Don’t!” she screamed. I dropped my hand. My heart rate picked up and my legs felt shaky. The room began to close in on me as I waited for her next move.

  She stalked to where I was, not stopping until she was in my personal space. Her nostrils flared and I watched the veins popping in her neck. She jabbed a finger at my chest, the force making me momentarily lose my balance. “Nix’s death is fucking on you, bitch! The day he met you, his death warrant was signed, and I’m going to fucking make you pay!” She screeched her warning.

  Not often in life was i rendered speechless. It was, however, one of those times. My immediate reaction was to fight, but I quickly moved through scenarios of how that could play out, and decided against it. Assessing her, I thought she was probably high, and that was not a good thing to go up against. Thank goodness there were no customers or other staff in the store for her to threaten.

  I didn’t have to wait long to see what she would do next. She glared at me, daggers in her look, and then she shoved me backwards, and turned and strode to the door.

  Before she closed the door, she shot one last threat at me, “You better watch your back, cunt. You’ve got no fucking idea!” And then she left.

  I almost collapsed, my legs weak. My breathing all over the place, I struggled to get that under control while I rummaged under the counter for the front door keys. My agenda only had two things on it: lock the door and call J.

  “Babe, I’m kinda busy right now,” he answered with that impatient tone he sometimes used on me. And that just served to piss me off. Being pissed off I could handle. It was an emotion I welcomed any day over terror.

  “Yeah, well, babe, I think you might want to stop what you’re doing and listen the fuck up.”

  Yeah, fear had definitely left and anger had walked right on in, and settled itself down.

  “What the fuck, Madison?” It was J’s turn to get shitty.

  “I’ve just had a visit from Mandy,” I threw it out there, and waited for it to wrap itself around his head.

  “Fuck!” he bellowed, and I had to hold the phone away from my ear for a moment. “Are you okay?” Even though his voice was still angry, I heard the softness for me in there, melting some of my anger away.

  “Yeah, baby, but I need you. Can you come now?”

  “I’m already on my way,” he said, and the relief hit me like a gush of wind.

  “Thank you,” I breathed out, my anger dispersing with it.

  We ended the call and I waited for him. My mind raced with crazy thoughts threaded with fear.

  And then it hit me.

  Fuck.

  I needed a drink.

  22

  Jason

  Fuck!

  Scott, Griff and I arrived at Madison’s work within half an hour of receiving her call, and she was nowhere to be found. The shop was locked and she didn’t answer the door, so Scott had broken the lock. She wasn’t there. And she wasn’t answering her goddamn phone.

  I raked my fingers through my hair. Where the fuck could she be?

  And then Griff voiced what we were all thinking. “Do we think Mandy came back for her?”

  “I’ll fucking kill that cunt if she touches Madison!” I roared and turned to leave the empty shop.

  “Brother, I’ll kill her even if she doesn’t,” Scott promised me, and I nodded at him in silent agreement.

  Scott pulled out his phone and called Marcus to break the bad news to him. They came up with a plan of attack and we began our search for Madison.

  Two hours later, we still hadn’t located either of them. Desperation was setting in and Scott was beyond a state of rage. I didn’t think he loved anyone as much as he loved his sister.

  We arrived back at the clubhouse to regroup. All the boys were there. Madison meant so much to all of them, and it was a sombre mood that permeated the room.

  Marcus took control. “I want every fucking person tied up with that bitch to be grilled. One of them has to know where she is. Scott will coordinate,” he directed, and then left the room. I wasn’t sure where or what he was doing, and even though it was odd that he would leave us to do this on our own, it wasn’t my concern. Finding Madison was my only priority.

  I got my directions off Scott and headed out. My first stop was only ten minutes from the clubhouse, and as I pulled up, my phone started ringing.

  It was Brooke. “Hey, sis,” I answered, hoping she was okay.

  “J, are you with Madison today?” Nervousness laced her voice.

  Unease hit me in the gut. “No. She got a visit from Nix’s crazy sister, and now we can’t find her. Why? Have you heard something?”

  “I think she might be at Hyde’s.”

  “What?” I struggled to make the connection.

  Brooke sighed. “J, I think she’s been drinking. One of my friends just called me and suggested I get you down there to stop her.

  Unease slid right through me and fury took its place.

  “Thanks, I’m on my way now,” I bit out and hung up.

  I walked through the doors of Hyde’s pub ten minutes later. A combination of the struggle of watching Madison lose herself to alcohol years ago mixed with the burning anger and resentment I still held towards my alcoholic mother, meant that I lost it.

  She sat at a table with some guy and a drink in front of her.

  I saw red and stalked to where she sat. “What the fuck are you doing?” I yelled at her.

  When she turned
her face to look up at me, the conflict I saw in her eyes hit me in the gut. However, my anger and disappointment with her were too far gone to slow me down.

  I met the dude’s eyes. “Get the fuck out of here!” I roared. He shrugged and left. Yeah, smart move, motherfucker.

  “I’m sorry.” She shifted her gaze away from mine as she uttered the words.

  “Have you had any yet?” I demanded, clenching my fists by my side.

  She shook her head but refused to meet my eyes. “No,” she whispered and I could hear the agony in her voice. And still I couldn’t dial my disappointment back. Alcoholism was something I struggled to understand and I thought she’d moved past these kinds of setbacks.

  I thought she was stronger.

  I picked up the glass of alcohol and carried it to the bar. Depositing it there, I stalked back to Madison.

  She finally turned her face to me. “Please don’t be mad, J.” Her eyes begged me in the same way her voice did.

  I didn’t want to be mad, but, shit, I couldn’t stop the emotions as they rolled through me. Rubbing the back of my neck, I grit out, “It’s time to go.”

  She stared at me for a long few moments and right when I thought she was about to say something, Scott rang. While I took his call and filled him in on where Madison was, she slid off her seat and walked outside without saying a word.

  I followed her in silence. It was better that we didn’t speak; with my conflicted thoughts, I wasn’t sure I could be trusted not to say something we couldn’t come back from.

  23

  Madison

  I waited for it.

  Whatever he was going to say was nothing compared to what I was screaming at myself. I hated myself. Hated that I had let myself almost drink again.

  The energy instantly changed when he entered the house. He seemed to be filled with rage and disappointment. It was the disappointment that pierced my heart the most. To have a loved one disappointed in you, was one of the worst feelings in the world. I wanted to run from him and never look back. Never have to experience the look he was giving me.

  We stood there, watching each other for what felt like eternity. I crossed my arms, as if by doing so, I could shield myself from him. He clenched and unclenched his fists, and I noticed the muscles in his neck twitch.

  Finally, he spoke. “Why?”

  Out of all the things to ask an alcoholic, that was maybe the one thing we never wanted to be asked. For me, anyway. Because, it was the one question that I sometimes couldn’t answer. Or maybe, it was the one question I didn’t want to answer.

  I sighed, and fell into the couch behind me, dropping my face into my hands.

  “I asked you why!” His voice boomed throughout the room.

  Shocked, I jumped in my seat. I looked up at him. “I don’t know.” My words were pathetic, and he knew it.

  “That’s not a fucking answer, Madison. Tell me why.”

  Fucked. I was fucked. The situation was fucked, and I wondered if J and I were fucked. Again.

  Resentment at what was happening flared in me. I stood and came face to face with him. “Have you ever made a mistake in your life that you felt like you couldn’t come back from?”

  “Yes.” That was all he said, but it was enough for me to run with.

  “I don’t know if I can come back from what we did to Rob,” I admitted. Finally. It had taken me years to say those words.

  He looked confused. “You haven’t had a drink in over two years, and then today you want a drink because of Rob?”

  I shook my head. “Today wasn’t because of Rob directly, but can’t you see, J? Everything bad that has happened since then has been because we killed him.”

  “I killed him. Not you. And I still don’t see what you’re saying.”

  “You only killed him because of me. And then, because of that, I started drinking. We broke up. I dated Nix. And the shit we’re in now is because of all that!” I laid it all out for him. Why couldn’t he see it?

  “Babe, your thinking is fucked up. I get what you’re saying, but it’s fucked up. Everything in life has a consequence. If we all started analysing shit like you are, we’d all be screwed.”

  “Alcohol takes away the shittiness I feel in my soul about it all. I haven’t felt like that for a long time, but Mandy brought it all back to me today. In answer to your question, that’s why.”

  “Not fucking good enough, babe. You could have come to me, talked it through—”

  I cut him off. He just didn’t get it; he probably never would. “I don’t want to talk about it, J! Talking doesn’t solve anything; the problems won’t go away just because we talk about it.”

  Pacing, he ran his hands madly through his hair. “I think you should go to bed. This is obviously not the right time for us to discuss this,” he said.

  My heart sunk and my shame almost swallowed me. I wanted desperately to help him understand but he was right – this wasn’t the time to talk. We both needed some space and some time to calm down and get our thinking straight.

  I nodded. “You’re right,” I agreed softly and with one last look at him, I turned and left the room.

  Tomorrow was another day and hopefully he’d give me a chance then to explain myself.

  I need him to understand.

  Without his support, I wasn’t sure how I’d move past this setback.

  The next morning, I woke up alone. J didn’t come to bed. My head pounded from the stress and my heart was bleeding. I didn’t know where our argument had left us.

  I showered and got ready for the day. I also wasn’t sure if I still had a job since I had just left the shop in the middle of the afternoon. The house was so quiet, and I wondered if J had already left.

  When I made it out to the kitchen, I found a note on the bench. J had left early, on club business. I felt a reprieve, if only for a short time. But it gave me the space I needed to get my head together, and start sorting through all the crap in there.

  I had some toast for breakfast and guzzled some water. I also popped a few painkillers to try and ease the massive headache I had. Christ, what a mess I had gotten myself in. I resisted the urge to call Serena or Blake; they didn’t need this shit dumped on them. I would deal with this myself.

  My day took another dip in the crappy direction when I walked outside to go to work. Someone had slashed all the tyres on J’s Jeep. Fuck! Not what we needed! I called for a taxi and then phoned a tyre shop to come and organise the replacement of all the tyres. J didn’t need to be bothered with this; I would sort it out for him. He already had enough on his plate.

  A couple of hours later, I was at work, my boss not even aware that I’d left early the previous day. She hadn’t come in that morning, so I was able to get the shop in order so she never even realised anything was wrong. At last, something was going my way. My headache was starting to ease, so that was another positive to my morning. At that point, I needed to count all the positives; otherwise, I would drown in the negatives.

  My senses went into overdrive when I heard the rumbling of a bike. Shit. J.

  I took a peek outside, and sure enough, it was him. He cut the engine, yanked his helmet off, and strode into the shop.

  “Do you care to tell me why there are men changing tyres on my Jeep?” he snapped.

  I met his eyes, refusing to bow under his anger. “Oh, go to hell, J. I was trying to do you a favour.”

  “I appreciate that, but why didn’t you call me?”

  “I was trying to help you because I know you’ve got a lot on at the moment. You didn’t need to be worried with anything else to take care of.”

  He took a deep breath, holding it in. Then he blew it out on a frustrated exhale. “That’s a problem for me,” he stated, his jaw clenching.

  Oh, good God. What was his fucking problem? “Why?” I maintained my calm.

  “Babe, we’re together, are we not?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “No buts. We’re together. So,
when something like that happens, we handle it together.”

  My stomach fluttered, and want pooled there, leaving me stunned. “Okay,” I half whispered.

  “Good,” he said, and then his features softened. “I’ve got a long day today, but I want us to talk tonight.”

  I nodded, the fight gone from me. “Yeah, baby.”

  He reached out and curved his arm around my waist, pulling me to him. “I love you,” he murmured, and his lips met mine in a hard kiss.

  “I love you, too.”

  I watched him go, my thoughts and feelings in turmoil. J had not reacted at all how I thought he would. A glimmer of hope peeked out; maybe there was a chance for us after all.

  24

  Madison

  J arrived home after ten that night. I’d been sleeping on the couch on and off, waiting for him. He came into the house and headed straight into the bedroom. I waited silently for him to come back out; I had absolutely no idea where our conversation was headed.

  “You’ve had dinner?” he said, as he came back into the lounge room.

  “Yeah. I made you some if you haven’t eaten.”

  He smiled at me. I let the gesture settle over me and wrap itself around my heart. If we were going to get anywhere, I would need to keep a hold of that. I feared we were in for another tense discussion.

  “Thanks, baby. I ate with the boys, so I’ll put it in the fridge for tomorrow,” he said as he went to the kitchen to take care of it.

  I got up and followed him, the need to be near him overwhelming. He turned to me when he heard me enter the kitchen behind him. I stepped into his space, and wrapped my arms around him, inhaling his scent and brushing his neck with my lips.

  A groan escaped his lips, and his arms encircled me too. He bent to lay a kiss on my head, and then he murmured, “I was so worried about you yesterday, and relieved when I found out you were okay. But babe, you scared the fuck out of me by almost drinking.”