Karma (Kings of Rebellion MC Book 1) (18 page)

Chapter 44
Ready for my shopping trip, I go in search of the girls while Brandon has to talk
‘business’
with his dad. As soon as I step into the main club room, I hear a squealing and see three women running up to me. When I’m able to have some space, I see that it’s Drew, Elise and Natasha.

“What’s the matter with you?” I ask them with a laugh.

“Are you crazy?” Natasha laughs back.

“You and Grim!” Elise jumps with excitement.

I can’t help but bite down on my lower lip and I feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment. At this they all laugh and drag me over to a nearby table. They all seem to be in some sort of shock.

“I can’t believe he got you up to dance.” Drew exclaims.

“What’s the big deal?” I ask. I need to know why they all stared at us with open mouths and wide eyes.

“Honey,” Elise starts. “Grim doesn’t do this! He doesn’t flirt or kiss.”

“Or dance!” Drew adds. “He’s changed.”

“No, he’s still Grim but with you, he acts different and I like it.” Elise smiles.

“Usually they just claim a woman by grabbing her by the arm and disappear into their rooms. I’m glad he’s different with you.” Drew admits.

“Yeah, so am I.” I grumble. Then her words repeat in my head.
Claiming!?

“Wait! Back up a minute, claiming?” I ask them.

Natasha looks as confused as I do, but Drew and Elise lower their heads.

“That’s the worst part of this life.” Drew grumbles. “The men, once they like you and want you they put a claim on you.”

“It’s so everyone knows where you stand, and the men can get very territorial, so in the long run it actually helps.” Elise tries to soften the blow.

“So you’re telling me that Brandon has
claimed
me?” I ask them in disbelief. I think back to what he said last night. That he wants me, and that I’m his and the reality of it hits me. He really has claimed me.

“Well, by that show last night it looks like it’s a bit more than that.” Drew giggles and I look at her like she’s crazy.

“More?” I ask.

“Yeah, you two were practically telling everyone you were fucking on the dancefloor!” Elise laughs.

“That whore’s face was a picture!” Natasha laughs and I must admit, I really like hearing that.

In fact, the more they tell me about it, the more I feel better about it all. I can see that in this life you need to have procedures because these bikers do look like they can be territorial and I would not like to be in the middle if a fight broke out.

“Wait, is that why Brandon asked me to dance? Because Scrappy was talking to me?” I ask curiously.

Elise grimaces and nods at the same time. “Yeah. Scrappy and Grim like to annoy each other. Sometimes it doesn’t go too well.”

“As in, they fight?” I ask. I did get a little hint of that rivalry between them last night, but I didn’t think it was that bad!

“You ready?” Brandon appears out of nowhere and makes me jump. Fuck I hope he didn’t hear any of that. I look at the girls faces and by their shocked expressions, they look like they’re thinking the same thing as me.

“Yep.” I jump up as Baby and Devlin appear from behind him.

Brandon pulls me away to talk to me in private. “I can’t come.”

“What?” I can’t hide the disappointment on my face.

“My dad needs me to take care of some shit.” He growls. “If it wasn’t so fucking important I wouldn’t go. I don’t like leaving you, but Baby and Devlin will watch over you.”

“Ok.” I nod. I feel so sad. I was mostly looking forward to spending some time with Brandon out of the clubhouse.

Brandon takes my face in his hand, guiding me to look up at him. “I trust nobody else to look out for you, babe. My brothers won’t let anything happen.”

“It’s not that,” I complain. “I just wanted to be with you.”

I feel embarrassed that I admitted that and try to back away, but he pulls me right back.

“We will.” He kisses me. “After I’ve sorted this shit, and you’re safe to go wherever you want to go, we will.”

“Ok.” I whisper against his lips.

“Ok, we need to break this up.” Baby stands beside us and pulls me away from Brandon. “I’ll take good care of her, bro.”

Brandon frowns at him. “Make sure you do.”

With one final heated kiss, Brandon leaves with Franky and Brace as they head out to their bikes. I wave him off, and get into Laura’s car with Devlin and Baby grumbling behind us.

Laura starts to get in the driver’s seat when Baby stops her. “Erm no, I’ll drive.”

“What?” Laura asks in shock.

“You and Lauren get in the back, and I’ll drive.” Baby orders and with a huff, Laura joins me in the back.

While we’re settling in together, I can hear Devlin and Baby begin to argue and I can’t help but laugh.

“No, I’m driving!” Devlin shouts.

“Bro! You drove last time.” Baby sulks.

“Tough shit baby boy, I’m the oldest so get your ass in the passenger seat.” Devlin orders and like a sulking younger sibling who has lost, Baby stomps around to the passenger seat and sits down heavily. Devlin on the other hand has a huge smirk on his face, but Laura soon puts a stop to it.

“You boys better shut up or I’ll tell your dad the last time you drove me around, you crashed the car!” I laugh loudly and Laura joins me. I’m not surprised they’re fighting about it, this car is super sexy and Franky bought it for his wife as a birthday present.

Even though I was upset Brandon could no longer come along, I’m actually having a really good time. I knew Devlin and Baby were funny men, but I had no idea about Laura. The woman is hilarious and I guess you have to have fun whenever you can in this lifestyle. Take me for example, at any point everything could fuck up.

“You promise this shop is going to be the last?” Devlin moans.

“Oh shut up.” Laura softly slaps him and goes to the nearest clothes aisle. “Dev, come here and hold these.”

I giggle as Laura holds out about five hangers for him and walks off to the changing rooms.

“I think this one will make your ass look amazing.” Baby says as he holds up a little black dress. He wiggles his eyebrows and then holds it out towards me. “Try it on.”

“No, I’ve got enough.” I motion down to my many bags on the floor.

“Babe, my brother gave you his card to use as you want. I’d take him up on that offer and spoil yourself.” He answers.

I don’t like using Brandon’s money, but Laura shoved it in my face and paid for everything she thought would look good on me. I tried to refuse, but when you have a strong woman telling you to take it, as well as Devlin and Baby, you have no choice but to accept. 

Baby continues to hold the dress out to me and with impatience, I grab the dress and walk towards the changing rooms. “Watch my bags.” I order.

On my way I see Devlin leaning up against a wall, looking very bored and I laugh as I pass him.

“Laura?” I ask as I close the door behind me and lock it.

“Yes, dear?” She answers.

“Just letting you know it’s me, Baby bullied me into trying a dress on.” I complain as I strip off.

“He just likes to know you’re getting undressed.” She replies. “My son’s a pervert.”

I laugh loudly as I pull the dress over my head. I admire myself in the mirror, this dress does look good. Damn you Baby.

“I’ll wait with the boys.” Laura shouts as I remove the dress.

“Ok!” I reply.

I make sure to hang the dress back up as nicely as I found it and as I fiddle with the hanger, I hear a noise in the next cubicle.

“Hello?” I ask. I was pretty sure it was just Laura and me in here. “Laura?”

I hear footsteps and they stop right outside my door. I begin to panic and quickly get dressed. My heart is beating so fucking fast and I start to sweat. When I’m dressed, I take a deep breath and yank the door open. Nobody is there, but I don’t wait around and literally run out of the changing rooms.

“You ok?” Baby asks when I run into him.

“Yeah, just didn’t like the dress.” I lie. I don’t want to sound like I’m pathetic so I decide to keep my mouth shut.

We decide to finish our trip with some coffee, so after we drop our bags off at the car we go to the nearest coffee shop. I still can’t shake my terror from the changing rooms, but nobody was there and it must have been my imagination. This is the first time I’ve been out since arriving back in the UK.

“So Lauren,” Laura begins when we’re all sat at a table. “How long have you and Brandon been seeing each other?”

Her question catches me off guard and I almost choke on my coffee.

“Jesus.” Baby mumbles.

“Erm,” I stutter. “We aren’t.”

At that, all three look shocked.

“We’ll see.” Devlin smirks.

I decide that I need to escape this awkward conversation and head to the toilet.

Devlin immediately stands but I wave him off. “I’m going to pee, you can stay here.”

“Nope,” Devlin shakes his head. “I’m coming with.”

I must add, I do like him right beside me. He takes away my weird feeling of being watched. As soon as my ass touches the toilet seat, I hear Devlin shout from the corridor.

“You ok, Lauren?” Bless his heart.

“Yes, just weeing!” I shout back laughing.

Just as I finish and flush the toilet there’s a loud bang from somewhere.

“Devlin?” I shout.

“Yeah? You ok?” I hear him from the other side of the door.

I open my toilet door and begin to wash my hands. “Yeah, be right there!”

As soon as I speak the words, I hear another loud bang from behind me and look up to see what it is through the mirror’s reflection. From a toilet cubicle, I see Strike walk out like he belongs here. I don’t have a chance to react and his hand comes over my mouth before I can even scream. From behind his back he pulls out a gun and I try to struggle against him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you.” He quietly laughs and presses the gun to my temple. “You wouldn’t want me to finish you off right here would you? Your friend from outside would run in and I’d kill him too, do you want that, bitch?”

I shake my head, hoping to god he’s not going to take me away with him. Or worse.

“Well, it’s nice to finally find you, Raven.” He pets my hair like I’m a fucking dog.

I keep thinking I should make a noise to get Devlin in here, but I’m afraid he will get hurt. I don’t want anyone to get hurt but I just told him I will be right out, soon he’s going to be wondering where I am.

“Did you buy the black dress?” He asks. “I thought you looked better without the clothes.”

All of a sudden he rips away my thin blouse and I make a loud gasp.

“Lauren?” I hear Devlin shout.

Strike points to the door and nods. Giving me permission to answer Dev, but then he holds his gun to my face making his threat very clear.

“Yeah, one sec!” I reply, never taking my eyes from Strike.

I really wished that I would’ve never seen his face again. 

“What do you want?” I ask him in a whisper.

“Isn’t that obvious?” He spreads his arms. “I want you back where you belong, my little bitch.”

“No.” I back away and Strike holds up his gun, level with my forehead.

“Careful.” He warns and makes me jump when he lunges for me. I fall to the floor with him on top of me, trying to get my jeans undone. “Get them legs open bitch.”

“No!” I scream.

“Lauren?” Devlin shouts, pounding through the door.

As soon as he sees Strike, he swings a punch that hits him with enough power to land Strike on the floor. Devlin looks down at me, crouching down and helping me up.

“Shit, are you ok?” He asks.

“Yeah,” I answer but when I look down to the floor, Strike is no longer there. “Dev?”

Devlin looks around, trying to find where Strike could be. “Fuck!”

Finally away from Strike and safe, I break down and Devlin is right at my side. He gets out his phone as he tries to calm me.

“Baby, get mum in the car and wait for us.” He listens to what Baby has to say. “Do it now!”

As soon as he hangs up, he dials another number and within seconds I discover its Brandon. He lets him know what’s happened, and I hear him shouting down the phone. Shit he sounds furious.

“No, I can’t see him. Baby is getting mum into the car and looking out at the same time.” He listens to Brandon calmly. “Yeah, I’ll wait.”

Devlin hangs up the phone, and then quietly walks me out and towards the car. Baby leans against the car but quickly runs over to us when he spots us. As soon as he reaches us, he sweeps me in his arms.

“Fuck, babe.” He grumbles. “I’m gonna fucking kill him.”

“Brandon said for you to drive mum and Lauren back, I need to wait here for him.” Devlin adds.

“Sure thing.” Baby ushers me into the car and Laura holds me all of the drive back while I continue to cry. I’m not hysterical, but I’m emotional and why shouldn’t I be? I thought The Devil’s were gone, I thought they were in America! I’ve tried to put them behind me and I was making great progress but now I’m scared that seeing Strike will send me back to the beginning.