Spike (Aces MC Series Book 3) (4 page)

"Mum can I go to the toilet?" Tommy asked as he
held himself with both hands jigging around on Louise's lap.
I caught her eye as she looked between Devon and I, torn as to what to do.
"I'm not a fucking paedophile or an axe murderer so I think she'll be safe
with me." I spat fucking annoyed. I had just helped save her kids from a
burning car.
Would I have gone to all that trouble if I was such an
arsehole?
"Louise, I'll keep an eye on her." Amy said softly as she placed the
children's lunches on the table.
Louise nodded hesitantly as she escorted Tommy to the toilet.
"Ouch! What was that for?" I asked as Amy smacked me on the arm to a
round of giggles from Devon.
"Her car just blew up and her children were saved by you lot," she
stated gesturing with her hand towards the guy's standing outside. "She's
probably petrified, so cut her some slack."
I nodded my head as I looked at Devon who was still giggling trying to eat her
lunch.
"What you laughing at monkey?"
She stopped laughing and looked at me with a serious face, "I like poppet
better than monkey."
"Oh do you now, well poppet it is."
Amy lightly squeezed my shoulder before she went to get our drinks.

Devon continued to eat her lunch but stopped abruptly like
she had an eureka moment, "Didn't you have paper when you were a
kid?" she blurted out quickly.
I looked at her confused, "What do you mean?"
"The drawings on your arms," she stated pointing at my tattoos.
Her comment made me snigger, she was certainly a breath of fresh air. "I
had lots of paper growing up, probably the one thing I did have a lot of as a
child."
Her face saddened slightly, "I drew on myself once and dad got angry
because I had paper to draw on rather than my skin."
So there was a dad, I had briefly wondered but this intrigued me and I found
myself wanting to find out more about him.
"So where's your dad now Devon?" I asked trying to keep the
conversation light.
"He's too busy at work so mum has taken us on holiday. We're staying in a
hotel and it might have a swimming pool."
Busy at work? More like mums done a runner.
"Can you swim?"
"Yeah! Mum said I should've been a mermaid."
Her statement made me smile, "And what about Tommy, can he swim?"
"Yeah but he's not as good as me," she stated as a matter of fact.
"So how come you're so chatty and your brother is so quiet?" There
must be a reason for this. He was very clingy in comparison to Devon and Louise
handled him with kid gloves. Devon continued to eat her lunch slowly, only
stopping to take a sip of her milkshake.
"He makes daddy angry."
"Right that's enough Devon, stop boring Spike with your stories."
Louise sat at the table with Tommy closely by her side. She quickly picked up a
paper napkin and wiped the strawberry moustache from Devon's top lip.
"Come on you two eat up, we need to get going soon." Louise said to
encourage the children to eat their meals.
"Devon informs me that you're on holiday." I looked at her closely to
observe her reaction, it was none of my business but I'd decided to make it
mine.
Louise fidgeted and couldn't make eye contact, "Yeah that's right." She
said quietly.
I decided not to push her further, I'd received enough information to know that
my hunches were correct.

"It's fucking pissing it down out there," Duke
said walking towards us leaving a trail of water on the floor closely followed
by Diesel. "I'm sorry to say it babe but your car's a write off."
I turned to see Louise rub her forehead trying to control her emotions. She let
out a loud sigh, "I don't care about the car to be honest. I just want to
thank you all for getting the kids out on time. If it wasn't for you, I don't
know what may have happened." She smiled a genuine smile and placed her
arms around both children to give them a squeeze.
"Not a problem, do you need a lift somewhere?" Duke asked sincerely.
"No thanks, I don't think the hotel is far." She stated helping Tommy
to put on his jacket.
I couldn't understand her haste to get the kids ready, they'd been through a
traumatic event this afternoon and hadn't even finished their lunch.
"I feel bad, you haven't got a car and it's pissing down." He stood
glancing at his watch as he continued to push her to say yes. He had his motorcycle
here but he could borrow the keys to my Jeep to take them.
Louise looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car and glanced
towards Amy.
What was that look? Did she need reassurance or support?
"What's the name of the hotel?" Diesel had now joined the
conversation, "You don't have any luggage now, so we could fit you all in
Spike's Jeep."
They looked at her expectantly and I could see that Louise was now breathing
heavily, like she was about to have a panic attack, "Honestly we're fine,
I just need to go." She grabbed for her hand bag.
"Don't be silly, we're offering to help." Duke leaned forward and
placed his hand on her shoulder, she quickly recoiled from what was supposed to
be a kind gesture and tears fell from her eyes.
There was an uncomfortable silence as we watched Louise on the verge of a meltdown.
"I'm going to Somerset House!" She shouted and I could see an array
of emotions on her face. She threw some money on the table and quickly stood
grabbing Tommy and Devon by the wrists as she dragged them out of the cafe.
"Bye Spike." Devon said waving with her free hand.
"Bye poppet."

Amy joined us at the table, "Fucking hell guys, you
didn't handle that very well."
"I just didn't think." Duke said in his own defence.
"Clearly!"
"Alright smart arse. I just assumed that when she said hotel, that's what
she meant regardless of the bruises."
We all knew what Somerset House was, Amy had worked at the women's refuge
for a few years now, helping out where possible. If Louise was going there,
then things had to be serious.
We all clearly saw the bruises on Louise but I was starting to have my
suspicions that Tommy had also been knocked about by his dad.

"Louise lost everything in that car so I contacted a
couple of the ladies at the club earlier and asked them to have a whip round. I
also asked Tyler to pop to Primark to pick up some essentials for the kids, I
hope you don't mind Mitchell?"
"Would it matter if I did?" he asked with humour in his voice.
"No!" Amy answered with a smile, "He just text me, he'll be here
soon and then I'll ask Tia to hold the fort while I drop the clothes off to her."
"Well, as much as I'd like to stay and help further, I've gotta get back
to Ink." Diesel stood throwing some money on the table for the food he ate
earlier.
"And I've gotta get back to work, one of us needs to be bringing money into
the club." He said looking at us with humour in his eyes.
We said our goodbyes and Amy moved so that she was now sitting next to me at
the table.
"What do you think Ames?" I asked referring to Louise and the kids.
"I see it all the time Connor, doesn't make it any easier though."
She let out a loud sigh, "The good thing is that she got away as that's
the first big step and always the most difficult."
We turned to the sound of Tyler coming through the door with an array of bags
and bin liners filled with clothes.
"I'm gonna need to get these to her today. Can you give me a lift over
there?"
"Yeah I'm not going back to the shop now, chuck them in my Jeep."

We arrived outside the women's refuge. It obviously wasn't
advertised as that and from the outside it looked like a new development of
apartments which in turn was a safe haven for many women from all walks of
life.
"They won't let you in Connor so you're gonna have to wait here." Amy
stated as I was about to open the door.
I didn't think anything of it when we pulled up outside but her comment made me
contemplate just what some of these women must have been through, in order to
be scared of a bloke just turning up unannounced.
"Not a problem Ames, I'll wait here."
Amy left the Jeep, leaving the bags of clothes as she made her way across the
street. It had finally stopped raining and the sun was trying to come out
through the clouds leaving a glistening effect over the field. As I looked
through the window across the road at the park, I noticed two children playing
happily on the climbing frame. On closer inspection, I could see that it was
Devon and Tommy laughing and joking around on the apparatus and oblivious to
their mothers tears.

"Spike!" Devon shouted as she climbed down the
wooden steps and ran at speed, her tiny legs looked like they were on spring as
she jumped into my arms. I swung her around and felt a warm feeling inside at
the sound of her giggles.
I placed her gently on the ground, "Why don't you go and play with your
brother for a minute while I speak to your mum." She nodded animatedly and
took off skipping toward the apparatus.
I stalked towards Louise and could see her frantically trying to wipe her
tears.
"How you doing babe?" I asked as I sat next to her, stretching my
arms to rest them on the back of the wooden bench taking a casual stance.
Louise let out a loud sigh, "There's no room at the Inn!" She stated
shaking her head. "They haven't got a bloody room until Saturday. What am
I going to do until then?" she wiped her eyes again with a tissue that
looked like it was about to disintegrate where it had been used so much.
I delved into my pocket to get a hanky that I carried around for such an
emergency and passed it to her, "It's clean but don't go thinking you're
special, just because I've shared my hanky."
She cracked a small smile which was my intension before wiping her tears.
"Why did you come here Louise, if they didn't have a room available?"
I knew that you had to make contact in advance and that you couldn't just turn
up unannounced.
"I was due to come here Saturday but I couldn't wait any longer," she
explained in a small voice.
She sat quietly and I could see her internal struggle trying to think of a
solution which meant that her children would be safe. This wasn't my issue to
deal with but I was a sucker for a damsel in distress, especially a fit one.
"What about I pay for a hotel for you and the kids until Saturday?"
That would help her out a little and stop her worrying. I even knew the bloke
who ran the Bell Hotel so I'm sure he'd give me a discount.
She looked horrified and I couldn't understand her expression. Louise shook her
head, "No way! I'm grateful but I couldn't possibly accept your
offer."
Although a little pissed at her refusal, I totally understood, she was probably
wondering why I was offering to help and what I wanted in return.
I nodded my head, "Any other suggestions?" I asked trying to think of
a solution as I chewed the inside of my mouth pondering.
"She can stay at mine."
We turned to see Amy standing behind us with concern on her face.
"I've spoken to the refuge and they've apologised profusely but they really
haven't got the room until this weekend. You and the kids can stay at mine and
I'll move into Connor's for a couple of days."
"I can't ask you to do that!"
"You haven't asked Louise, I've offered. Please accept you really won't be
putting me out."
Louise stood and paced around the playground, I could see her contemplating
Amy's proposal and the internal struggle it was causing.
What other options
did she have?
"Connor will love having me stay with him."
Louise turned with a look of embarrassment, "Oh I didn't realise you were
together." She stated with a slight blush to her cheeks. Her reaction
intrigued me and I could see how she misconstrued our relationship.
"Fucking hell no! She's my baby cousin." I said roughing Amy's hair
enthusiastically to try and hide the fact that I'd explained myself so quickly.
Amy smacked my arm away and tried to straighten out her hair with an
unimpressed look, "Only by two years Connor, you make it sound like you're
so much wiser and worldlier than me!"
I turned back to Louise who had now stopped pacing and was looking at me with an
unreadable expression. I was usually good at reading people but Louise was very
guarded which is something she probably had to do to survive.

"Spike can you push me?" Devon shouted from across
the park pulling me from my thoughts.
I glanced over at Louise who was slowly nodding her head as she continued to
observe me.
"Yeah coming poppet," I shouted back as I jogged over to Devon as she
was mounting the swing. I waited for her to get comfortable, "Hold on
tight." I pushed her higher and higher. She was giggling, clearly enjoying
herself and the sound was like music to my ears. I remember only ever being
this happy as a child when I was with Helen. She used to take me to the park
because we could spend hours there enjoying each other's company and if the
weather was good we sometimes took a picnic.
I was pulled from my thoughts again by the tugging of my cut. Glancing down I
saw a sullen little face with big blue eyes that matched those of his mother
and sister.
"What's up little man?" I asked moving out of the way of the swing to
crouch down beside him.
He started to talk but it was so quiet I couldn't hear him, "You're gonna
have to speak up Tommy."
"Can you push me on the swing too?" he asked fidgeting and twisting
his hands together nervously.
"I certainly can little man, get on the swing." I held the seat still
so that he could climb on easily and noticed the genuine smile the boy had
which was the first I had seen.
What could've possibly happened to such a
small child to make him so fucking miserable?
But I'm sure deep down that I
already knew the answer to that question.
"Spike push me!" Devon shouted as her swing started to slow.
"Give me a fuck...minute!" Both children giggled at my slip of the
tongue.
Shit! I'd have to remember to watch my mouth around the kids, they probably
weren't used to any kind of swearing but realistically would I be seeing them
again? The thought saddened me which surprised the shit out of me. There was
something about Louise that intrigued me and I found that I wanted to get to
know her better but she had enough going on without me complicating things. At
least she would be around for the next couple of days if she was going to stay
at Amy's and I planned on finding out more about her.