Chapter 48

Austin
I ride as fast as I can and try to let the road take away my anger. I can typically get caught up just fine in my ride and lose myself in the road in front of me, but not today. I spent all day yesterday angry as fuck over so many things. Candice being the forefront of it all. After we left the hospital I went back to the clubhouse to explain why we no longer needed to tail Candice and her family. The brothers questioned me, but I just told them it wasn't important. I may be mad as all hell at her, but I won't have the guys take out their revenge.
That meeting only led to more questions which I didn't have answers for. No one has seen Psych and I have no clue where the asshole could be. Spoke to Snake as well and he lost his lead on Psych. It's like the bastard just disappeared. I should have kicked Cole's ass yesterday when I saw him, but I knew that would lead to my arrest and his chance at my club. I'm not stupid enough to let that happen.
I pull up to the clubhouse and head inside. I've had the men keep an eye out for Nicholas but so far the dick only goes from his office to his home. He has a piece of ass come and service him almost every night but other than that he is boring as shit. I even had Torque tap into his phone, nothing out of the ordinary. Calls about business is the only thing this asshole gets. I'm lost, and I fucking hate it.
"Austin, I got something man." Torque says meeting me at the front door, Max following along.
"Fucking finally." I follow Max and Torque into Torques little equipment room. When he first asked me if he could have this room a few months back, I told him that it better not be a waste of space and money, glad I was proved wrong.
"So, we thought that Nicholas Cole was just one of those business guys that goes home every night after work and nothing else. His calls are monitored, but it's just business meeting after business meeting. Until this." Torque explains as he types like a maniac on his computer and an image appears of Cole and some shmuck at a dinner table.
"Who the hell is that?" Max asks.
"His name is Craig Delula. He is a notorious criminal. About twenty years ago he was more of a middle man, now he helps run Cole's business. This guy is like the biggest piece of shit there is, rumor is he has a son in prison for something he did, made his son take the fall."
Max and I lean in to see the computer more. The guy doesn't look familiar, but I want to put his face in my memory bank just in case. I tell Torque to keep us informed if they get together again. I don't like the feeling of these two getting together. Could affect our club.
"You still pissed at her?" Max asks, not for the first time.
"Quit fucking asking me that Maximus." If my tone doesn't show how serious I am, my using his whole name should. Max hates his whole name.
"C'mon Austin, you know she ain't like her dad. Yes, she should have told you, but didn't you tell me she wasn't connected to her father? Did you let her explain her situation?"
He knows the answer to these questions. He berated me all day long yesterday with them.
"No, I didn't, and I shouldn't have had to. She is the daughter of the fucker that is trying to kill us. What the fuck did she think was going to happen? She should have been honest with me from the beginning, but she chose to keep that shit from me. I have nothing to say to her, and I damn sure don't have to listen to any of her excuses."
I walk away from Max and head to my bike. I need to get the fuck out of here. My men have been searching for Psych for days and still nothing. It only confirms Snake's accusation. Fucking traitor. My phone rings while on the way to my bike and I pull it up and open, not paying attention to the collar ID.
"Yeah?"
"Austin?" Jesus, just her voice alone is enough to bring me to my knees.
"What do you want Candice?"
"I just, I want to say I'm sorry. You were right yesterday, I should have told you about Nicholas, I was just worried you were going to look at me like I was this ugly human being. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you everything yesterday, he just caught me off guard first." I can tell in her voice she's been crying and as much as it tears me apart, I can't trust her now. I have to think of my club.
"Don't make a difference anymore babe. You fucking lied. You lied every time I told you about him. I made you my old lady Candice. I trusted you with shit I don't tell anyone. You fucking threw that in my face."
"I know, I know I just wanted to tell you about what me and Nicholas talked about yesterday." Fuck, I didn't even think about that.
"Where are you?"
"My grandmother's house."
"I'm on my way." I hang up without a response.
Getting the address from Miles, I arrive twenty minutes later at her grandmother's house and see her standing outside. She is dressed in long sweats and a jacket. Even in comfortable clothes she is still fucking beautiful. I pull up on the sidewalk and cut the engine. When I walk over to her she meets me in the middle. Her eyes are puffy and swollen. Guilt roars its ugly head at me. I feel like an asshole for not letting her speak to me yesterday. I've been pushing her so hard all this time to stand up for herself and as soon as she does, I tear her down.
"Hey, sorry I just thought you would want to know what went down between me and him." I nod my head in her direction.
"Yeah, I do, the whole thing darlin." I need to know what their relationship was and why she tried to keep it from me.
"There is an old bench in the backyard we can sit on and talk if you want." I nod my head again and follow her as she walks past the yard to the side of the house.
"So, you're a Cole huh?" Fuck, I'm being a dick, I know, but I'm still fucking pissed. Candice bundles herself a little more and looks past the horizon.
"Everything I said about my mother was true. She started seeing this guy, knew he was married, and got pregnant with me. He left right away, and she never tried to pin him down for any kind of support. After the fire at my mom's café, I hunted him down. I knew that years ago my grandmother hired a private investigator to find out who he was, so I took that paperwork and went to him to demand he help my mom."
I stare at her as she tries to continue the story. She is struggling with the next part and I assume it's because she has never really dealt with it.
"I went to his office and told him who I was. I thought, no, I was hoping he would tell me he never knew about me, that my mother never told him, and had he known he would have wanted me. Just like in the movies. Except it was nothing like that. He didn't even flinch. It's as if he just didn't care. He told me that if I wanted the money I had to work for him. He wanted me to put the drugs he was smuggling under prescriptions, so that he had another fall out for his business. I felt like such a fool."
Damn, this woman has been through it with that asshole. My father was always around, even when my parents divorced. I can't imagine craving that father figure and then when you finally get him, he only wants to use you.
"What happened after that?"
"He told me that if I told anyone about his other business, that my mother and I would have to worry about lot more than a simple fire. He began showing up at my work, my mother's physical therapy appointments, even at my home. My mom was so afraid of him at first, that I mostly dealt with him. I told him no every time, but he never stopped.
"So what happened yesterday?"
"He knew. He knew I was with you. I don't know how, but he knew. He told me I was disgracing myself for staying with you. I told him off for trying to kill me, but he assured me that he wasn't behind the attacks. What's funny was he actually sounded surprised when I told him that those guys had beat me and dropped me off at your compound. You came in after that."
I stare at Candice as her tears stream down her face. Every fiber of my body wants to be threw for her, but I can't. She may have been stuck in a shit situation, but she didn't turn to me. She didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth and I don't know if I can ever forgive that.
"Thanks for telling me. I don't know what's going on, but you and your family should be fine. We're not on lockdown anymore, seems like no one is after us right now and the traitor seemed to disappear."
Candice looks toward the setting sun and nods her head. A tear escapes and it's taking everything for me not to hold her. I walk away with regret as I get on my bike and head home. I need a drink, or ten.


"You need some company handsome?" Jesse asks while putting her hands all over my chest.
I'm sitting here wallowing in my drink thinking about my conversation with Candice. I'm drunk. Fucking beyond drunk. Most of the men around me are. There hasn't been any word on Psych and we still have people on Nicholas. Fucking Nicholas. Just the thought of him makes me think of Candice. I'm an asshole for leaving her the way I did. She expressed everything she has been through with her father and all I did was gather the info and leave. I acted no better than her fucking father.
"Fuck off Jesse." I slur my words. I'm sitting on one of the armchairs watching a game with some of the brothers.
Jesse ignores me and sits on my lap. Her tits are right in front of my face because she is wearing the world's smallest shirt. She wiggles her ass a little, but it does nothing for me. Seems even my body only wants to react to a certain red head. Before I can blink Jesse has her mouth on me and as much fight as I'm putting up, I have to stand just to get the bitch off me. Fucking spider monkey. I hear a gasp coming from my left and when I look, my heart, for the first time since my father died, stops beating.
Candice stands there in a tight black dress with her hair down and curly, and has red lipstick on. Fuck she looks hot. I look at her hands and she is carrying some kind of tray. Max walks over grabs the tray from her and leads her back outside. I can feel Jesse get off the ground and when I look at her I see a smirk growing on her smug ass face. She knew Candice was right there. I grab her arm tightly in my hand and whisper in her ear.
"You're a fucking virus Jesse. Get your shit and get the fuck out of this club. You will never be an old lady for a Warrior." I walk to the front door in hopes of seeing Candice but when I open the door I'm only met with Max and a tray.
"You, my favorite brother in the whole wide world, are a dick." Max says handing me a tray of chocolate chip cookies with Hershey's kisses on them. Fuck, I messed up bad.