Locke (Aces MC Series Book 4) (9 page)

The door swung open wide and a frail lady who looked to be
in her seventies shuffled into the room. Her eyes grew wider as she registered
me sitting at the small table in the corner of the room, and quickly glanced at
Margaret for a way of explanation.
"Mavis, this is Jake Kathy's boyfriend." The lie reeled off her tongue
easily as she sat eating her sandwich. I appreciated what she was doing and
knew that I needed to be family for it to be accepted that I was back here.
Mavis glared at me through narrowed eyes, "Well, as long as
you can continue with your work then I don't have a problem with him visiting
as long as it's not a regular occurrence."
Margaret rolled her eyes before turning towards Mavis, "He'll be gone in less
than an hour."  She stated flatly before turning her attention back to me
leaving the old lady to size us both up. Once Mavis had taken everything in,
she wandered back out of the room.

I sniggered, "I thought she was a lost patient when she
walked into the room."
"If only she were, Mavis does my nut in and just needs to bloody
retire." Margaret scoffed.
"I really don't want to keep you from your work." I stood and pushed
the chair in.
"Don't be silly." Margaret secured the lid onto her plastic container
and placed it into her bag. "I've
gotta get back to work but you'll just have
to keep me company." She stood from her chair and made her way towards the
door before turning to look at me, "Are you any good at making beds?"
I scrunched my nose, "Nah I didn't think so, you look like the sort of guy
that would rather have fun making them untidy!" She sniggered to herself
as she left the room but held open the door briefly so that I could follow. I
shook my head as I smiled to myself at her cheeky comment.

"So what does your job involve here?" I asked
genuinely interested.
" I look after the patients making sure that they are comfortable, and
generally help out and assist the nurses. It doesn't pay much but it gives me a
sense of worth and I feel like I'm making a difference although a small
one."
I smiled as I looked at Margaret, "I think you're selling yourself
short. I'm sure you make a big difference to these people's lives."
She blushed slightly before opening the cupboard door and removed some bedding.
"We'll start in room eight as I know Ian has gone out with his family
today."
I followed Margaret swiftly down the corridor and into the small room ready to
help her with the job at hand.
"So who do they think you've come to visit here?"
Margaret asked as she removed the pillows from the bed.
I leaned over to help her and pulled back the blankets, "My aunt."
"Have you got an aunt?" I shook my head, "What about the rest of
your family? Are they local?"
I moved slightly so that I could remove the bottom sheet, "No, they're all
dead." I whispered as I moved around the bed.
"I'm sorry to hear that darling but your secret's safe with
me." She glanced at her watch, "You've been here a while now, do you
think they've gone?"
I rolled the dirty sheet into a ball and threw it into the clothes basket in
the corner of the room, "Nah, they'll be waiting for me."
"And will you be okay? Do you need me to call anyone for you?"
She was a sweet lady, I didn't know her well but I'd heard that she'd brought
up five kids on her own. That had obviously made her hard and she didn't suffer
fools gladly.
I closed the distance between us and bent down to give her a chaste kiss on her
forehead, "I've outstayed my welcome, I'm gonna make a move and please
don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I winked at Margaret before turning
to make my way towards the door.
"You're welcome here any time."
"Thank you." I stated walking towards the door but turned back around
briefly to see her continue making the bed, "Margaret, can I ask you one
last favour?" she nodded her head and stopped what she was doing to give
me her full attention. "If they return once I've gone could you let me know?
I'll be staying at the Travel Lodge in Enfield."
"Of course I will." Margaret stated sincerely.
I smiled and turned to leave the room, making my way along the
corridor hoping that my words were true.

"Are you boys checking up on me?" I asked as I
made my way across the car park towards my motorcycle. Hustler was leaning on
my ride and glared as I approached, "And you can get your fucking arse of
my ride." I stated as I neared.
Hustler grinned before pushing off and strolled over to join Fix
on the pavement. "And to what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked as I
lifted my leg to sit on the seat.
"Just making sure you're okay," Fix stated as he crossed his arms.
I didn't trust him, he'd moved into Priests' role far too easy as Polar's
confidant over recent years.
"So you travelled one hundred miles to make sure that I was okay." I
placed both hands on my chest close to my heart, "I feel honoured
guys."
  
Fix and Hustler glanced at each other with an unreadable expression
before turning their attention back to me. "How's your aunt?" Hustler
asked placing his hands into his pockets.
"Forgetful!" I didn't want to discuss my imaginary aunt, if I told
too many lies I was worried that I'd eventually slip up.
Fix laughed at my comment in reference to her dementia,
"Come on Hustler, I don't want to be standing around here all day. We've
got a long ride ahead." Fix tapped him on the back before he made his way
over to his ride.
Hustler stepped forward and prodded me in the chest, "We're watching your
every move Saviour, don't forget it."
I sniggered and glanced down at his finger on my cut, "And
what do you think I'm up too? Help me out here Hustler because I'm a little
confused." I opened my arms wide goading him as I stepped forward to get
in his face. My movement made him remove his finger from my chest and his eyes
widened at my confrontation. I wasn't scared of his threats, I wasn't scared of
anything these days. I'd become hardened over the years almost blasé of the
consequences of my actions with just one thing etched on my mind.
"Something ain't right but I'll get to the bottom of
it." He regained his composure and puffed out his chest.
"Hustler, leave it be. Come on I want to go home." Fix shouted over
the roar of his Harley.
"Yeah Hustler, listen to your mate." I sneered.
Hustler narrowed his eyes and stared in silence before turning on his heels to
walk towards his motorcycle.
I nodded towards Fix before I mounted my ride and took my time to
sort myself out trying to stall for time to make sure they left the car park
before I set off. Now that I knew they'd followed me I couldn't go home for
sure, I couldn't risk them finding out where I lived.

I rode around for a while trying to get my bearings and find
the hotel that I now needed to stay at. I didn't do public settings if I could
help it but I need to in order to keep myself safe.
"Hi Locke, how are things?" CJ asked almost sounding
surprised that I'd called him.
"Shit but I'll tell you about it later. I need picking up."
"Are you in town then?" CJ asked excitedly.
"Yeah. Bring a clean vehicle and meet me on Lindon Lane a
couple of roads down from the Travel Lodge in Enfield. How long before you get
here?"
"Well if I leave shortly I can be with you in thirty minutes."
"Great." I hung up and threw my mobile onto the mattress
as I sat holding my head in my hands. What the fuck had gone on this afternoon?
Polar was a complete fucking arsehole and I needed to end it sooner rather than
later or he'd go on hurting and killing people that I cared about. I needed to
drown my sorrows this evening and take a well deserved break for the next
couple of days but had decided that when I returned, I was going to step it up
and kill the mother fucker. I couldn't keep
living like this it was doing me in and I
couldn't move on and see any type of future for myself while I had this shit
hanging over my head.

The bleeping from my phone brought me into the here and now.
I lifted my mobile to see that CJ had just left, which meant I didn't have long
to take a quick shower and get changed for the night
ahead where I planned to get absolutely shit
faced and try to get laid because I was currently on a drought.

Once I was cleaned up, I removed the side panel from the
bath and hid my notepad inside so that if the hotel room was ransacked the book
would hopefully be safe. I didn't want it falling into the wrong hands as it
revealed too much.
As I stood I caught sight of my reflection, it was a great feeling to remove
the scruff from my chin and chest as I'd never been one for the natural look.
I'd purposely grown my beard when returning to the Midlands, Polar and Onyx
probably wouldn't have known it was me just from seeing the scar on my face but
it gave me my own piece of mind knowing that it was covered up.

I glanced at my watch and saw that I needed to get a move on
if I wasn't going to be late for CJ. I grabbed my leather jacket and wallet
from the chair, and opened the door slowly so that I could
glance down the corridor to see whether
the coast was clear. I didn't want to risk being caught and worse of all being
followed this evening although the vehicle CJ was picking me up in would be
clean.

I made my way through the staff quarters thinking that this
would be my best opportunity to be able to slip away undetected should the guys
have followed me here.
"Excuse me, you can't be back here."
I turned to see where the voice had come from and saw a scrawny
looking man further down the corridor behind me.
"Well stop fucking talking to me and I'll just happily make
my way out. Fucking jobs worth!" I turned on my heels and made my way through
the corridor towards the exit and pushed the door open slowly to step into the
darkness of the staff car park. Smelling smoke, I glanced to my right noticing
two staff members having a
cigarette deep in their own conversation to notice me. I strolled past them and
made my way from the car park onto the main street breathing a sigh of relief
when I noticed that the road was clear of threat and mingled quickly with the
passing pedestrians.
 

"Fucking hell I need to get drunk." CJ sniggered
as I slumped into the front seat of the 4x4.
"Where do you want to go?" CJ asked as he started the ignition and
looked at me.
I pondered his question, I didn't know where I wanted to go. "Not sure but
it must have alcohol and lots of fit women."
"Well it's gotta be Bar Form and then Azure."
"I'm not eighteen."
"Well, I'm assuming that you don't want to be recognised
this evening and I know that none of our associates would be seen dead in
either of those places." He continued to stare at me waiting for a
response. That's one of the reasons CJ and I got on so well. Although ten years
apart in age, we hit it off straight away and had built a close relationship
over the past three years. He just gets me, when
I'm in a mood he is happy not push me but
when I'm being an arse he's happy to pull me up on my shit. CJ was a true
friend that I didn't even have to tell him what was up this evening, he just
knew that I needed to get away from things and was happy to do just that.
I chewed the inside of my mouth and nodded as a smile spread across CJ's face.
He was a good
looking
guy, ex-army and boxer so he was ripped in all the right places. Shit! I
probably hadn't thought this through, he'd be pulling before me.

We arrived outside the pub, CJ parked the vehicle and turned
towards me. "You're quiet this evening. Do you wanna talk about it?"
CJ had been my friend for three years and although we were close
he still didn't know the full story as to why and where I would go. I purposely
didn't tell CJ as to protect him, I knew that if I told him what I was up to
he'd probably try to stop me or even get the Aces involved which I didn't want
him to do. As far as he was concerned I was leading a double life but I led him
to believe that I had a love interest in Birmingham and that's why I shared my
time between the two places.

I let out a heavy sigh, "No."
"Is that no, shut the fuck up or no but maybe I'll talk to you later when
I've loosened up after a few beers?"
I sniggered, CJ could always bring me out of my mood. "You know
I'll start talking when I've got alcohol in my system."
"Right before you tell me that you love me."
I punched CJ playfully in the arm before I left the vehicle, "Fuck
off!"

"She's fit." I pointed across the bar to a young
lady in her twenties sitting with a guy.
CJ followed my eye line and smiled as he stood from his stool trying to get a
closer look, "You're out of luck, she's holding that bloke's hand."
I scoffed, "He's got nothing on me."
CJ burst out laughing at my comment and slapped me on the back. The beauty
glanced around the room and smiled as she caught my eye before returning her
attention to her male company.
"Bartender." I shouted gaining his attention, the young bloke nodded
and strolled over to our side of the bar.
"What can I get you?" he asked.
"See that couple over there," the bartender glanced in their
direction and nodded. "What are they drinking?"
"One of them has been drinking Martini's and the other beer
all night."
I nodded in their direction, "Send a Martini over to the lady." I handed
him a note but became suspicious as his face lit up as he poured the drink.
"What's with the bartender?" I asked CJ as I sat back
on my stool and knocked back a shot.
He shrugged, "He's probably surprised that men still send ladies drinks
from across the room." I nudged him playfully making him spill his drink
before it reached his mouth.

We watched as the bartender left the bar and walked across
the bar towards the red head, interrupting her conversation as he placed the
drink onto the table. He pointed in our direction and I lifted my drink letting
her know that I'd sent it over, not giving a shit that she was sitting with a
guy.
I'd already checked him out, he
wasn't as big built as me and the way I was feeling this evening I knew that I
could take him.