Page 66 of Demon
“Hmmm, a spicy one,” he said, moving closer, his arm snaking around my waist.
“Hey. We’re Kings,” Suzy shouted. “That’s Demon’s ol’ lady. Get your hands off her.”
His arm dropped from around me immediately, and for a second there was a glimmer of shock on his face as he took a step back, creating distance between us once again.
“Uh huh, buddy. You’d better not stick those hands on her again.”
“Demon’s ol’ lady, huh?” He looked me up and down again, this time not letting his eyes stop on any one part of me.
“Fuck’s sake,” I spat, “I’m no fucker’s old lady, ol’ woman, woman, or any sort of property. Now kindly fuck off.” I waved an arm in the air for effect as one of the other bikers moved to Red’s side.
“Come on, mate,” he said, and Red obeyed immediately, following the older man with the long grey hair and trailing grey beard. He looked like a grandpa. A heavily tattooed grandpa.
I pulled Suzy away, pushing up the last metre of the godforsaken hill. We made it to the top in a further five strides and I turned to look at the men moving to the bottom and towards the horse-shoe of food vans. Red and the grandpa walked side by side, but their back patches were not the same. Red’s was all white, an angry bull staring straight back at us. But on Grandpa’s back was a hand punching the air, with blood running down the fist, dripping down the arm.
“Shit!” Suzy hissed beside me, her face turning pale, and if I’d thought she’d looked frightened before, she looked terrified now.
Chapter Thirty Two
Demon
“We have all the gear here?” My Dad asked Magnet, who was now three cans into the rally already.
“Aye. The prospects are in charge of selling it.”
“Is that wise?” Indie asked.
“If they want to get patched in, they’ll not fuck up. Reckon they’ll do just fine.”
I glanced around at the twenty Kings members who were stood in a circle in front of my father’s tent, trying to count how many shared mine and Indie’s reservations that leaving a shit load of party drugs in the control of the prospects was a good idea. Not that it would make any difference, as knowing Magnet, he would come out stinking of roses, anyway.
The group dispersed, returning to tents to drag out more beer, and the twins looked like they’d been popping party pills since the moment they’d arrived. It surprised me they hadn’t brought a girl with them. Just the one girl. They took the ‘all for one and one for all’ motto way too literally. My Dad hadn’t moved. He stood, watching the Kings wander away, a faraway look on his pale face. This was his last blowout; he’d told me last night. His last hoorah before he started the treatment that would only buy him more time, but never cure him.
And now that he’d told us, I could see the greying illness plaguing his skin, his face gaunt, the once rounded belly no longer protruding over the waistband of his bike trousers. How had I been so blind to it? How could I not have seen he was so ill? He claimed he hadn’t known either. That the night we’d rushed him to hospital was the first time he’d suspected it was more than a rebellious virus that had been hanging around. And we just hadn’t seen it. None of it.
He turned, his eyes catching mine, and a faint smile pulled at his lips. It was sad and lonely and knowing. Knowing it was too late to be the father I’d always hoped he’d be. For him to see me the same way as he saw Indie. For him to look at me with anything more that resignation that I was actually the other son. And even those times, when I’d done his bidding, and people had drawn their last breath as a result, when I’d carried out his orders blindly, ruthlessly and cruelly, he’d never thrown me a tidbit of appreciation. But now he looked at me with sadness, not love exactly, but maybe, maybe there was an ounce of regret on his face.
I caught them in my peripheral vision. And so did some of the others. Suzy hurrying up the hill from where the food and bands were located, almost in the centre of the field. She was pushing Ciara, who didn’t seem to share in her urgency. Indie rose to his feet, his eyes catching them, and then looking back at me as if I somehow knew what the fuck was going on. I shrugged, pointedly.
“Magnet,” Indie called, “Magnet. Get out here!”
The girls made it to the top of the hill. Suzy’s cheeks flushed pink whilst Ciara looked barely out of breath, her long legs coping with the steep bank. Reaching out for her, I scooped her into me, protectively, but not knowing what I was supposed to be protecting her from.
“Suze?” Magnet’s voice was calm, yet the look on his wife’s face was anything but. “What is it, babe?”
“I… we…saw them.”
“Who, babe?”
“The Notorious.”
“Yeah. We knew they’d be here. We can’t really keep them out, we’re supposed to be at peace….” Indie started, but Suzy was shaking her head vigorously.
“No. No. It’s not that. Not them. Not exactly.”
“Fucks’ sake, Suzy! Spit it fucking out.” Fury’s patience was almost as good as mine.
“Fuck off talking to my lass like that!” Magnet let go of her, making a beeline for the tall, dark-haired beast of a man that stood to my side.
