Break Down Page 13

  Stepping out of the shower, I wrap my towel around my waist and walk to my bedroom. I think about Asha’s reaction when I walk past her, with nothing but a towel on. I think about dropping it as I climb my stairs. I’m disappointed instantly because the food is gone, and so is Asha. What the fuck? I look around the house, but Asha isn’t anywhere to be found. I haven’t checked her room yet, so I walk to the bedroom she’ll be staying in. As soon as I open the door I’m hit with another wave of guilt, but I’m relieved. I must have upset her when I got up and walked away. Fuck I’m hurting her again, first the accident now this. Hurting Asha is the last thing I want to do. First thing tomorrow I’m going to make it up to her. She doesn’t deserve my guilt being taken out on her. I’m so relieved that she’s asleep in here. I don’t even know what I would have done if she was gone. Would I have gone after her or let her go? I stay in Asha’s room, staring down at her. I don’t know how long, at least until I’ve convinced myself that she’s really asleep. I back out of her room quietly and close the door.

  After I’m dressed, I grab my phone and check the time, it’s 9.00 p.m. I drive over to the clubhouse. Walking in the smell of weed hits me and the pounding of the music reaches my ears. I walk straight to the bar. I know that’s exactly where all of the brothers will be. The first thing I see when I walk in is Poppy spread out on the first pool table, Maps is eating her pussy, fucking great. After being around Asha over these last few days, my dick is begging for some action. As badly as my cock wants to get some action, I only want Asha on my dick. I walk over, slap Maps on the back, “Fine dining there, Brother?” The only response I get is Map’s middle finger and louder moaning from Poppy. I laugh, making my way over to the bar. Bullet, Cash, and Scout are all there. Charge’s old lady, Indie, is serving behind the bar tonight, “Looking gorgeous as ever, Indie, can I get a rum, please?”

  Smiling over at me she says, “Sure, Darling. How are you Cross?”

  Sighing, I say, “Same old, same old. Can’t complain. How are the kids doing?”

  Laughing she says, “Fucking driving me nuts, I can’t wait for school to go back. Two weeks and counting.”

  I laugh with her and say, “They can’t be that bad can they? Why don’t you bring them by my place tomorrow, around lunch? I’ll be taking the buggy out to check over the cattle and dams; the kids will have a ball. We can stop off at the dam, have a swim, and then lunch. After a few hours in the sun and swimming, I’ll drop them home. They’ll be buggered. What do you say?”

  Sliding my rum over, she says, “Are you sure, Darling?”

  Taking a sip of my drink, “Yeah, of course, gives me and them something to do.”

  Wiping down the bar she smiles over at me, “Okay, Darling, I’ll have them out there by 11:00. Honey, you’re a life saver.”

  Nodding my head slightly, “It’s no trouble. Can I have another rum please?”

  As Indie passes me over my second rum, I feel my phone vibrate. Reaching into my pocket, I pull it out. There’s a message on the screen. It’s from an unknown number, but I open it anyway.

  *Unknown number – I know what you’ve done, Pretty Boy. Trust me, when I say this. You will not be able to protect her forever. I will get her. I promise you that.

  Slamming my fist down on the bar, I yell, “FUCKK! FUCKING MOTHER FUCKER!” I’m about to throw my glass at the wall when I realise all of the brothers have crowded around me.

  Cash is the first to speak, “What the fuck, Zeke? What’s going on?” Shaking my head at him, I have nothing to say. I know if I speak at this moment, I will lose my motherfucking shit.

  I pass my phone over to him. After reading the message he growls out, “Stupid mother fucker.” Cash passes the phone around to the other brothers. Once they have a chance to read it, the fuck word gets shouted quite a bit.

  “Do you think it’s him, that fucking psychopath who blew the car up? How the fuck did this fucker find out we took Asha?” Maps growls while wiping his mouth.

  “No idea, man, none at all. Cash and I were gone before anyone got there, and you boys were still after him. There’s no way he doubled back, we would have seen him…unless…fuck.” Rubbing the back of my neck, I take a look around. I take a good fucking look at every single one of these guys because the thought that popped into my head only moments ago, gives me the shivers. Could we have a traitor in our midst? Fuck! It’s the only logical thought I can think of. Pointing a finger, “Bullet, Maps, and Cash, I need you with me now. The rest of you, go back to your rooms, party’s over.” They all stand there staring at me, which makes me wild, I roar out, “Get the fuck out of my sight, NOW!” They all scurry off without another word.

  “What is it, Zeke?” Bullet says as he grabs a hold of my shoulder.

  I look him in the eyes and say, “I think we have a traitor, Brother. How else could that bastard know I have Asha? Fuck, this shit just gets more twisted by the day.”

  Bullet’s grip on my shoulder tightens, as he growls, “Are you fucking sure, Boss?”

  Nodding my head, I ask, “Bullet, did Bonkers leave your side at all while you were chasing that bastard? Any time at all?”

  Shaking his head in disbelief, he says, “No, Zeke. He stayed with me the whole time. What are you thinking, Brother?”

  I look around at Maps and Cash, “I don’t know what I’m saying. I…just…” Scraping my hands roughly through my hair, “It could be one of the prospects, the other brothers have been with us since the beginning and nothing like this has ever happened, man. It just strikes me odd, that’s all; that this shit is happening right now…right in the middle of everything else. I’m going to have to tell Pops about this. See what he thinks about it all.”

  Steepling his fingers under his chin, Maps says, “How can we be sure that it’s one of the brothers who has betrayed us? What if it’s one of the whores? You never know, it could be one of them who’s contacted this fucker? Fuck, Zeke, he could have just circled back, following you and Cash. You both would have been too preoccupied with the girl that you didn’t notice him tailing you.”

  I hit Maps with a hard stare because he’s pissing me off. He’s implying that I wasn’t doing my job properly, but he could be right. I’m just not in the fucking mood for more bullshit. I don’t like this, one bit. “Is that what you think, Tracks?”

  Shrugging his shoulders, Maps says, “I don’t know…it’s just hard to imagine that one of our own is in on this...you know. I want to be sure about this, that’s all, Zeke.”

  Nodding I say, “Yeah, mate. Fair enough. I know what you mean, and trust me, we’ll find out for sure before punishment is dealt. The only way I see us finding the traitor is to set a trap.”

  The boys all nod their heads in agreement. Patting them all on the back, I say, “Give me a few days to work out plan. I’m not sure how we are gonna do this, but I’ll figure it out, and we can put the wheels in motion.”

  “I’m in,” Bullet says like a giddy little girl; he’s always ready for action.

  “Righto,” Cash and Maps say in unison.

  After that shit storm, I’m ready to go home, so I turn around and head out to my truck, calling out, “Night, Boys.”

  Arriving home half an hour later, I quietly let myself in and climb the stairs to my room. Stripping my clothes off, except for a pair of black boxer shorts, I walk over to my bed. I’m about to climb into bed, when something moves. “What the fuck?” A slight moan comes from my bed and I lean down to see what the hell. All of a sudden, Asha starts screaming and thrashing. She scares the fuck out of me with her sudden outburst because I’m not expecting to see her in my bed. When I left she was sleeping soundly in her room. Shit, this is going to be fun to explain tomorrow, when she asks where I was when she climbed into my bed. I hope I can come up with a good lie.

  Sighing, I climb into bed, grabbing a hold of Asha to calm her. Bringing her closer to me, I whisper into her ear, “Asha, Sweetheart, it’s me, Zeke. You’re okay, Asha, I’m here. Shhhh,
it’s all okay, now. Sleep now, you’re safe.” Finally, she starts to calm down; her breathing has evened out, letting me know she’s fallen back to sleep. Safe, what a joke. I’m just a selfish prick. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for me. I need to let her go. She’ll be safer back with her brother and his club. Still holding Asha in my arms I notice that she’s dressed in one of my t-shirts. It throws me for a second because I know she has new clothes. Bullet brought them by the doc’s place for her. At the same time my heart does a big fucking flip, she always looks beautiful, but in my clothes, there’s just something about it. Bringing her close, I kiss her softly on the lips, and whisper, “Sweet dreams, Asha.”

  Chapter 25

  Vince

  I wake up and look at my phone; it’s been just over a week, and still nothing. I do the same thing every day. I wake up and check my phone. Every damn day, it’s the same disappointing fucking result, zero, zilch, nothing. No news on Asha or the fucking prick that did this. Rolling out of bed, I climb into the shower.

  While I’m getting dressed, I hear a loud banging on my door, I’ve been staying in my room at the club; I haven’t been able to go home just yet. It doesn’t feel right staying there without my baby sister. In some ways, I don’t want to face my parent’s home until I can bring my sister home. Finishing the zipper on my jeans, another loud bang comes from the door and I shout out, “Just wait, mother fucker, I’ll be out in a minute.” Tucking my phone in my pocket I open the door to Saint standing on the other side.

  “Morning, how are you doing?”

  Shaking my head, I say, “What the fuck, Brother? I should be asking you that question, not the other way round.”

  Letting out a heavy breath, Saint says, “I’m doing okay, Vince. Still fucking hurting, man, but I’m going to be okay. I miss my girl. Fuck, I miss her. Half of my heart died with her, Brother and it fucking hurts knowing I’ll never be able to get it back. I need to get back into things here. The moment I have nothing to do is when I start to feel myself losing it, man. It feels like I’m gonna lose my fucking mind, I swear I’m slowly going crazy. I need to work.”

  Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, I say, “Got it, man, anything for you, Leo. We start today. I need to speak with the girls, and see if they can remember anything, or anyone, over the two days they were gone. Gwen and Cassie are still in the local hospital, but Tilly is home. I’ve had to put guys on them because of information we received. Asha seemed to think it was Gwen’s ex-boyfriend, Dexter, who could be behind all of this mayhem. He beat the absolute shit out of Gwen, one night. Asha and the rest of her friends found her and called the ambos. They took her straight to the hospital with a suspected broken cheekbone, lucky it turned out to be bad bruising and swelling. The cops searched for him, but never found him, the fucker was using a fake name.”

  “Fuck, Brother! I can’t believe you fuckers have been dealing with all of this shit without me. I’ve missed so fucking much over the last week. You need to catch me up.”

  “Right, yeah I do.” Scrubbing a hand over my beard, I say, “We rode to the motel, where the girls stayed that first night. I spoke to the woman behind the desk, asked if she remembered the girls. She did, but she had no new information to give. She told us that the girls looked like they were having a great time, and that she hoped Asha was found. The girls paid their fees, left their room clean, and checked out on time. Asha told me they went to the local pub for dinner, so we went there. No one could really tell us anything, except the girls we described had eaten there, and met up with a few blokes. Now, this is the part that interested me, because I’m wondering, if they were just some random blokes that were out that night, or were they sent in there by this Dexter character? This prick isn’t stupid. He wouldn’t go in there himself, so it’s fucking possible that he sent those guys in for him. I asked the chick behind the counter if she could describe the blokes the girls were with, but she just shrugged her shoulders and apologised. Said the blokes weren’t locals, or regulars, so she had no idea. This leads me to believe he sent them in, or they were just passing through. After leaving the pub we rode all the way to the crash site, and had a look around. We couldn’t find much, man; it was disappointing as fuck. We passed a rest stop on the way there. It wasn’t far back from where they were hit with that explosive. If that fucker was following them, it would have been the perfect spot for him to blend in. All he had to do was sit and wait.”

  “Fuck! So have the cops called with any new information?”

  “Nope, nothing, Brother. The only new bit of information we got, was that they think another vehicle was at the scene, because…fuck…”

  “What, Brother?”

  Looking into Saint’s face, I speak quietly, “They think someone else was there because Mel’s body was covered, and Gwen’s leg had a scarf stuffed in it to stop the bleeding. They have no leads on who did it, or why. The only conclusion they can come to is, the witness didn’t want to be found, so they took off right before the emergency services got there. No finger prints were found on the car, or windows, except the girls’.” I shake my head and say, “I just don’t know anymore, Brother. Is my sister even alive or has that fucker done something to her?”

  Saint pats me on the back, “Listen here, Brother. We are never giving up, ever. Asha is like a little sister to me, too. I won’t stop until we find her. I want justice for my girl, too, Vince.”

  Nodding my head I say, “Yeah…yeah, I know, you’re right, man. It’s just fucking hard, and she’s my responsibility. Mum and Dad would be rolling over in their graves right now, looking at the fuck up I’ve let happen.”

  “No way, Brother, they’d be proud as punch. Take a good look around you, Vince. You have stuck to your Old Man’s plan. He wanted to keep the club clean, and that’s what you’ve done. It’s fucking perfect. The strip clubs are booming, Brother; the best in Australia, maybe even the world. World-class pussy, Brother, that’s what we have. Everyone loves a pair of tits, and a fine pussy, he knew that. He knew what he was doing, and so do you.”

  We both nod at each other and stand there in silence. I’m about to say let’s get going when Saint shouts, “Fuck, why didn’t we think of this earlier.”

  “What the fuck? What are you thinking, Brother?”

  “If that fucker, Dexter took Asha, then he would have already killed her and let you know. Even if he didn’t kill her, man and was just keeping her with him, then he would have made contact by now. He would have wanted some kind of recognition or ransom. It can’t be him Vince.”

  “Shit! You’re fucking right. Why didn’t I think of that? But…wait…where the fuck is my sister? Who the fuck has her?” I spin around and start walking quickly down the hall, calling out over my shoulder, “C’mon, Brother, let’s ride.”

  “What? Where that fuck are you going, Vince?”

  We need to have a chat with the girls, see if they can tell us anything about those blokes they were hanging around with at that pub.”

  Saint and I ride over to Tilly’s place, first. When she opens the door she looks so fucking sad. Her nose is still bruised, but the colouring isn’t as dark anymore, it’s turned more green and yellow now. She was fucking lucky that’s all she got from the explosion, a broken nose. It’s the emotional scars that these girls will have for the rest of their lives that scares me. Gwen and Cassie are still in the hospital. Being Asha’s brother, I should have made time to speak to the girls sooner. As soon as she sees us, she runs into Saint’s arms and starts crying. He hugs her tight, and says, “Hey, Babe, it’s going to be okay. It’s fine, let’s go inside, alright?” Too upset to say anything, she nods her head. We all sit down on her couch.

  I don’t want to bring anything about the incident up while Tilly is in this state, but I need to know if she knows anything. Looking over at her, there are still tears streaming down her face, but she has calmed down a bit. Clearing my throat, I say, “Hey, Till, you okay, Darlin?”

  Liftin
g her head up from Leo’s chest, she wipes her face, and softly says, “Not really, Vince. It’s been so fucking hard. I want both of my friends back. I want to turn back fucking time. I want to scream and break shit, because, this…this is all so fucking unfair. What did we fucking do to deserve to lose two people, at once? Huh? I just keep thinking; if we stayed here and not went away, or what if I could have dodged that fucking explosive, I would…”

  I take ahold of her hand, cutting her off mid-sentence. Shaking my head, “Shit, Tilly. There’s nothing you could have done, Darlin, nothing at all. If you girls stayed here, then that fucker would have just found a way to do something to you all here. I’m still worried he’s going to come after you girls. Each of you has two of my guys, one for the day and one for the night. I have guys at the hospital, too; so Cassie and Gwen are safe. Nothing is going to happen to you girls on my watch. You got that?”

  With a small smile, she nods her head, “Okay. Thanks, Vince. Thank you both, so much.” Looking up at Saint with sad eyes, Tilly places a hand on his arm, “How are you doing, Leo?”

  Saint looks away from both of us, and says, “Don’t worry about me, Babe. I’m doing as well as I can be. It’s fucking hard, really fucking hard. I fucking miss her, so God damned much, all the time, but I’ll get there, I know it. I’ve got my brothers.”