Page 7 of Heart Mended

“This is how it’s going to work, Vida. Drummer’s on his way with some of the boys. You’ll go out in the club with them, point out your buyers. My brothers will let them know in ways there can be no misunderstandings that there won’t be any more buys in Angels. You hear me?”

“I—”

“A nod will suffice.”

After her head’s dipped down and up once, I continue, “You give us the name of this dealer, and we’ll pay him a visit. Let him know both you and your brother are under Satan’s Devils’ protection. Get him to back off.”

“But the money he says we owe—”

“Ain’t worth his life, sweetheart.” I wait until that’s sunk in. She sees us as fair employers, probably hasn’t thought what we can be like when the full force of the MC meets the like of this two-bit dealer. I reckon we’ll make him see sense with no cash changing hands. I notice the tone of my voice has her paling.

Seeing her biting her lip again, I tilt my head to listen.

“My brother…?”

“Yeah. This is the deal. He agrees to go to rehab. We’ll help get him a place to go, and you keep your job. He refuses? Then we’ve got to part ways. Hate to say it, Vida, but something’s got to break this cycle, else this shit is just going to happen again.”

Her lips purse, then slowly, she nods.

“Heart, I didn’t expect that. You of all people. I thought… I’m sorry for what I said to you.”

“Vida. People can and do change. Can move forward. Ain’t always easy. I’m not the man I was when Crystal was alive, got the stuffing knocked out of me when I lost her, but I’m not the man I was immediately afterward either. We don’t stand still. We take opportunities that are handed to us and seize them, albeit reluctantly at times.”

“I hated you that night,” she admits. “The way you came in and talked to the girls, then using Tink that way. But here you are now. You have changed, moved on. If you can do it, maybe Sheldon can too.”

“That’s your brother?”

She nods. “Yeah.”

I notice she’s less broken, more hopeful. “We got this, Vida. Trust us. Now, you go back to work.”

She leaps up as if wanting to go prove her worth. My eyes follow her as she exits the office, realising I feel good about myself and the choice I made tonight. Everyone deserves a second chance.

Even with music playing loudly, the thunder of eleven Harleys arriving shakes the club. Going outside, I clasp Drummer’s hand, slap the backs of the six brothers, who’ve gotten off their bikes. Then lead Joker, Lady, Beef, Jekyll and Hyde inside. It seems Prez has already had words with them, knowing what to do and aiming straight for a still stunned looking Vida. Satisfied they’ll clear out any undesirables as the woman points them out, I leave and go back outside with Drummer. There I greet Wraith, Peg, Blade, Beef and Rock.

“We going to bang some heads?” Beef slaps his meaty fist into the palm of his hand a couple of times, looking enthusiastic, his manner suggesting he feels it’s a good way to spend a Saturday night.

“Yeah, Brother.” I grin.

Blade, still sitting on his bike, is cleaning his fingernails with a knife. “You want me to find this dealer and gut him?”

Drummer swipes him around the back of his head as he walks past.

“We’re going to threaten him, not kill him.”

“Spoil all my fun, Prez.” The enforcer sighs as he re-sheaths his knife.

I get onto my bike and fall into formation with my brothers as we ride through the darkened streets of the city. There was a time I walked away from all this and never thought I’d look in my rearview or miss it. How wrong I’d been to turn my back on my family. Now I was glad I survived to come out the other side.

We found our target quite easily, persuading him to back off was a little harder, but he seemed to get the message. Though it was hard to understand him speaking with his broken jaw. His nose looked a little different to how we’d first found him as well.

Back at the club, I leave Drummer looking into a suitable rehab for Sheldon and my brothers celebrating a job well done at the bar. I walk up to my house and my family feeling easier within myself now another part of my past has been confronted and put behind me.

Chapter Three

“What’s up with your hand?” Marc’s eagle eyes spot my reddened fist as soon as I walk in through the door. She turns away from the steriliser where she’s just placed the babies’ bottles ready for the morning.

Sucking on my knuckles to remove the sting and the blood, I tell her, “Hit something a bit too hard.”

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