Page 70 of Salvation

“But—”

“Now, Rachel. Find a man named Bagpipes. He’ll show you to our room. There’s a kitchen in the back. Make the kids something to eat, and we’ll join you soon.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, watching as Vienna grabbed Eagle’s jacket and hauled him to his feet.

“We’re going to have a lesson in respect. Nothing more. It’s club business. If he wants to bring up the club guidelines, we’ll follow them to the fucking letter.”

I sighed heavily, knowing he was deliberately choosing his words. Club business meant I could not interfere and I could not ask questions.

That fucking contract!

I walked over to the kids and gently shook Bee awake and signing hello to her, before scooping Axel out of his car seat and walked into the house without another word.

Two hours later, I had forgotten all about Eagle and his ridiculous proposition, and was having a ball with the kids.

Bagpipes had told me they were ordering pizza for the rally, so he had thrown on a couple of pizzas for the kids, as well as getting one of the prospects to drive to McDonald's for them. After eating their body weight in chicken nuggets and burgers, the two of them had started playing some nonsense game on the floor. I couldn’t quite make out what it was they were doing, but they were both laughing and bonding, so I was content to watch.

It was Bagpipes who noticed that Bee wasn’t talking, and it had been his idea to play a game of charades. Obviously Axel didn’t have a clue what was happening, and was happy just running around with the toy cars, but Bee, Bagpipes, his old lady and I had a brilliant time. We weren’t following any of the official rules, and it had ended with us just acting out scenes from the movies, but it had been a hit, nonetheless.

Bee had mimed outShrek. She did an excellent impression of Donkey annoying him, even without speaking. Kirsty, Bagpipes’ old lady, had nudged me and said she imagined that’s what me and Dante were like when we were arguing, which had me howling. Bagpipes had mimed outBeauty and the Beast, and trust me, if you’ve never seen a Scottish giant act out the dancing scene from that movie, you’re missing out. Why he chose to be Belle and hold up his imaginary dress was beyond me, but he had us all laughing until our ribs hurt, which I suppose was the whole point.

Kirsty had mimed outFrozen, and done an excellent impression of Elsa, and I had been givenPeter Pan.

There were the odd screams in the background, but Bagpipes simply raised his voice to drown them out, and before long, we were all ignoring the wails and cries. In fact, I can honestly say I didn’t even hear them.

Dante and Vienna arrived just as I was taking my second round and acting outTangled. I was trying to throw my hair around like Rapunzel had. Dante took one look at the card, grinned, showed it to Vienna, and they had joined in with me.

Dante took on the role of Flynn Ryder, and for some inexplicable reason, Vienna decided to be the horse that hated him. Bagpipes had grabbed a pan from the kitchen (why were these men so familiar with this movie?!) and they had us all howling as Dante and Vienna started fighting.

I took my phone out and recorded it, planning to use it as future ammo. No one would believe these big scary bikers were so familiar with Disney, but I wasn’t missing my opportunity to grab proof.

After a few more rounds, the evening started to wind down. Axel was long since asleep on the sofa, his little hand fisting my shirt, and Bee wasn’t far behind him. She had started off miles away from me, but minute by minute, she crept closer and closer. I had my feet tucked underneath me, and her head rested on my thigh, her hand clutching at my leggings.

Dante grinned at me from the other end of the room and nodded his head at Bee. I gave a small smile back, not wanting anything to ruin this moment. I wanted more than anything for me and Bee to go back to the way we were, but I would take this at her pace and follow her lead.

After Vienna had broken the TV by trying to act out Lumiere singing “Be Our Guest”, Kirsty called the evening to an end and kicked us out of the front room. Dante scooped Bee up into his arms, I picked up Axel, and we said goodnight to the other three as we went to our room. We tucked the kids into bed, and theminute we were alone in our room, the ease of the evening fell away, and we were trapped in an awkward silence.

“Did I hear Vienna say he was going to the rally?” I asked, clearing my throat. I was looking down at the driveway underneath our room, watching the bikers as they drunkenly fumbled across the gravel. As I scanned the area, I saw one biker near the trees, his trousers around his ankles. I squinted and saw he had a woman pinned to the tree trunk, and he was slamming his hips into her.

I quickly let the curtain fall out of my fingers and turned away.

“He might,” Dante said. “He’s been to them before.” He lay on the bed, his legs crossed at the ankle, one arm above his head as he scrolled his phone. He had discarded his leather jacket and cut, and was sitting in a plain white T-shirt and his black jeans.

“Have you?” I asked quietly, already knowing the answer. Eagle had been telling the truth. I don’t know why I wanted to hear it from Dante, too.

“I have,” he replied, watching my face to gauge my reaction. “After Laura died, I went to them pretty often. We have our own rallies in Leeds as well.”

“I’ve never heard of one being held.”

“Yeah, well… A lot of shit went down when you were there. Rallies were the last thing on our mind.”

“How often are they held?”

“For us? Not that often. When Warrior was in charge, he used to hold them weekly. But, I think that was more him making up for lost time during the war. He took whatever lady he could get. Sometimes more than one at a time. When Crash took over, the rallies were reigned in a lot. We’re a bit different from the rest of the charters. Living in the compound, it’s a bit more difficult to get away with shit,” he said, finishing his sentence with a wry smirk.

“What are they like?” I asked, climbing on the edge of the bed and sitting crossed legged in front of him.

“Honestly? They’re chaotic. I’ve never been to one that didn’t end up in some sort of fight. Old ladies would come in and scream at their old men for cheating. Brothers would be fighting brothers. There were more drugs taken than any festival you could go to, and they drink enough to fill the Thames.”

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