Tickety Tock, page 15
Toad glances around consideringly. “We wait for an hour, then go back inside.”
Raven stirs in my arms and I take it to mean the last place she wants to be is anywhere near the cabin, outside or not, if whatever’s inside has a chance of being disturbed again. Despite her brave words, I know she’s terrified of what she might have awoken by coming back. While I understand Toad not wanting to leave it alone, and I don’t like leaving my brothers in the lurch, I make a decision on the spot.
“Raven doesn’t have to be here for this. I’m taking her back to the clubhouse.”
Toad shoots me a look, an assessing glance at Raven, then nods and is quick to agree. “I’ll send Princess back with you.”
Chapter Seventeen
Raven
My heart seems to take a long time getting back into a normal rhythm after having proof that things really do go bump in the night—or crash, bang, wallop in this particular case. This time it wasn’t just me and Dwarf that heard the commotion and saw the aftereffects. It was his whole club.
And what a show it had been. Such an escalation from the previous evening, which had driven me crazy enough. If I’d have been alone, well, I think I’d have been more than scared out of my mind. I think my heart would have stopped beating on the spot.
After the ignominious exit from the building, I’d looked around at Dwarf’s brothers, somewhat comforted to see at least some seemed as unnerved and as uneasy as myself. As I remember how they’d almost knocked each other over in the rush to get down the stairs, and the—now looking back on it, amusing—fight to be first out of the door, I know there’s no reason to be embarrassed that my original reaction had been to flee. It’s not just me being a typical weak and easily frightened woman. The experience had affected these men just as much.
I’ve a feeling these men wouldn’t hesitate in front of any physical enemy, and not an ounce of fear would they feel. But to be faced with the unknown, the inexplicable, that’s a different matter completely.
Now though, as the sun is rising behind the mountains and beginning to filter through the trees, I want to again find the strong woman that’s inside of me. The woman who overcame her childhood abuse and strived to put it behind her. The woman who learned to stand on her own two feet. The woman who didn’t need any man to support her, financially or physically.
Dwarf wants to take me away, take the little woman somewhere safe, and without even asking me. I disentangle myself from him and take a step away.
I don’t want to hurt him, nor reject his offer that comes from an obvious desire to protect me, but there’s no way, if his brothers are staying, that I’m going to leave.
I approach Toad and speak firmly. “That cabin is mine.” My eyes flick behind him, and I try to keep my voice and gaze steady. “And what we heard last night was all about me. It’s my daddy who’s haunting this place, and it’s him who has to leave. I’m staying right here and I’m going back inside with you.” When he crosses his arms over his chest and raises his chin, I know I’ve got to give him more to persuade him. “Someway, somehow, we’ve got to put my daddy to rest. Else, what’s to say, now he’s woken, he’ll stay here.” I gulp, voicing my nightmare. “What if he follows me when I go home?”
Dwarf’s quickly by my side. “She’s got a point, Prez.”
“Still don’t fuckin’ believe in ghosts,” Toad mumbles. “But if that’s what she believes—”
“She’s right here,” I snap, not letting him get away with thinking Dwarf speaks for me. He might have had the shit scared out of him, but when I leave, he’ll be able to forget anything ever happened. As for me, I’ll always be unwilling to close my eyes in the dark.
Toad gives me a respectful chin lift, then tilts his head. I take it as a sign that I have a moment to plead my case.
I wave toward the cabin. “I concede he might always have been here and that my appearance, I don’t know,” I grimace, “increased his powers?” I shrug, showing I don’t know what I’m talking about. “But that alone raises questions. Is a ghost tied to the place where it died, or have I now set him free?” Even though the warmth of the rising sun is hitting my back, shivers still run down my spine. I have to swallow a couple of times before I can regain strength in my voice. “I don’t want to always be frightened of the dark or be scared to close my eyes. This has to end, somehow. Someway. Right here and now.”
“Well enough put, but what solutions have we got?” Toad challenges me. “Seems like we’re on the same side, darlin’. You want to be free of your past, and I want the cabin, but not with the current entity that’s present in it. Sure, it might follow you and I’ll be rid of it, but in the same way as you can’t see how it’s going to play out, I can’t take the risk it might someday be back.” He pauses and turns to Raider. “Am I really standing here discussing how to off a fuckin’ ghost?”
His VP snorts, and it relieves the tension a little. “Seems, Prez, that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“Fuck my life.” But Toad doesn’t seem overly bothered. He looks like a man who eagerly rises to every challenge in life, and this is just one more hurdle to be surmounted.
It actually raises my spirits a little, knowing that we’re on the same side. If anyone’s going to put down my daddy for good, I reckon this man will at least give it a damn good try.
I notice I, and everyone else, are looking to him to take the lead. Instead of seeming fed up with being expected to have all the answers, Toad bows his head and rubs at his temple, looking deep in thought.
After a few seconds, he looks up. “Okay. We’re going to go inside and see if there’s any rational explanation for what happened during the night.” He holds up his hand at the murmurs of protest. “At the end of the day, we may have to admit there’s something supernatural going on, but I want to be sure of that before we take any next steps.”
“Which might be?” Metalhead asks.
Toad shrugs. “There must be a fuckin’ expert we can call on.” He grins, contorting his scar. “There always is on TV.”
While I’ve nothing to add to his plan, I go back to the original point. “I’m coming inside with you. You’re not sending me away.” My tone leaves no room for argument. Ruby, who’s now moved behind Toad, winks at me. I gather she’s giving me her approval.
“Yeah, stud.” She pokes him in the arm. “You’re not getting rid of me, either. I’m down for exiling a ghost.”
“Princess.” Toad turns to his woman. Placing his arms on hers, he gives her a gentle shake. “Ghost or not, you saw what happened in there. It could be dangerous. You almost got hit by a flying book for fuck’s sake.”
“A book, yeah, not a bullet.” She sighs and rolls her eyes. “Welcome to the world of overprotective bikers, Raven.”
Despite the situation, her exaggerated sympathy makes me give a small smile.
“Princess,” Toad says in a warning tone.
Ignoring him, she takes the necessary steps to me and links her arm with mine. “I got your back, sister.”
It’s not an odd thing to say, but her casual words twist something inside me. I’d always wanted a female sibling, someone to have my back and not side with our father like Jack had done. It’s been a long time since I had anything resembling family.
Toad stares at the two of us and then shakes his head. “Okay, but you wait out here while we go and check shit out and until we give you the all clear to come in.”
“I’ll stay with them,” Bonk offers, magnanimously.
“Me too, Brother,” Cash agrees.
“Er, I’m happy staying out here,” Crumb admits.
“You go where you’re fuckin’ told to,” Metalhead thunders. “What the fuck are you, men or mice? You scared of a few noises?”
“I’m not waiting outside,” I state firmly. “I’ve more right to enter than any of you.” I notice how I can see all their faces more clearly as the sun’s completely over the horizon now. “I was here all alone in daylight the day before yesterday, and nothing happened.”
Dwarf steps up beside me and puts his hand on my shoulder. It seems he’s not trying to divert the course I’m on, but instead, offering a tactile assurance he’ll be right beside me.
Toad sighs heavily. “Anyone know what we’re looking for? Apart from assessing the damage?”
“Evidence of a fucking ghost.” Stumpy looks up to the heavens and then back down. “As if bookcases turned over and plates smashed aren’t enough.”
Midnight’s looking thoughtful. He takes the few steps that brings him in front of me. “You know where your grandaddy buried your dad?”
Before I can answer, Raider asks, “What are you suggesting? That we put a fuckin’ stake through his heart?”
“That’s for vampires,” Bonk puts in helpfully.
Before they can go off track, I disillusion them fast. “I have no idea, so that’s a non-starter, whether stakes or silver bullets would even help.”
“I still say burn the place down.”
“Not useful, Bonk.”
“Prez—”
“Nah.” Toad steps forward, sparks flashing from his eyes. “You’ve seen this place. I want it. It would be fuckin’ perfect for us. A self-contained bunker where we could hide off the grid.”
“Perfect if we can evict its current resident,” his VP reminds him drily.
“Ghosts often hang around because they have unfinished business. Give him what he wants, and he may go in peace,” Midnight suggests.
“What he wants is me.” I swallow down the anxiety that rises when I think about what my dear unloving daddy had done to me in the past. I want somehow for it to end here. I hate to think of the damage he’s already done, undoing years of therapy. But this time I’m not a vulnerable child, I’m a woman. And I’ve got a motorcycle club beside me.
“Something else might be holding him here.”
“Like what?” Toad looks interested, but in response, Midnight shrugs.
Bonk scuffs his foot over the dirt. “We need a fuckin’ priest.”
His suggestion is not immediately dismissed as Toad asks, “Anyone know one?”
It seems that they aren’t a religious lot as no one does. And there’s no point them asking me, I’ve never believed in any deity that refused to help to ease the suffering of a little kid however much I’d prayed.
With his hands on his hips, Toad turns back and looks at the cabin. After a moment, he exhales a sharp breath. “I don’t know what the fuck we’re looking for, but we’re not getting closer standing outside. We’ll go in. Search everywhere. See if you can find anything out of the ordinary. If we don’t find anything…” he breaks off, shakes his head and scoffs. “Can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but we’ll go back to the clubhouse and Google someone who can perform a fuckin’ exorcism.” He glances over his shoulders as if to confirm everyone’s with him. “I still think something doesn’t add up. I’ve never believed in the fuckin’ supernatural.”
“Don’t think you have to believe in it, Prez, if it believes in you.” Midnight’s words strike a chord with me. After the last couple of nights, I’ve been persuaded that something outside this physical sphere really exists.
As I shudder, Dwarf pulls me to him, and I allow him to draw me in. I lean against him and take a fortifying breath which seems full of the scent of oil and leather. I’m startled how much it already suggests home.
I can’t lean on him. Not just because I never want to be beholden to anyone, but because my place is far away. Dwarf and I might be able to have a pleasant few days, but at the end of the week, my work will be calling to me.
As he runs his hands up and down my back in a comforting way, I remember how compatible we were in the middle of the night. The sex was out-of-this-world good, at least for me. Even now, I admit, it’s going to be hard to walk away.
But before I can think further about whether there could ever be a me and him, I’ve got to deal with the reason I came to Arizona. The cabin that’s been left to me.
“Let’s do this.”
Having pronounced his intention, Toad puts his hand on the doorknob. Before turning it, he looks back. “Don’t know what the fuck we’re looking for, Brothers, but anything that looks out of place, give a shout.”
When Ruby steps up beside Toad, he enters. Raider and Metalhead are close on their heels. Ruby puts the tiny dog down and waits to see if there’s a reaction. Rolo does nothing more exciting than chase her tail then sit and scratch her ear.
“Obviously her ghost radar isn’t working,” Dwarf whispers into my ear as he pulls me forward.
Making sure I don’t step on the tiny four-legged creature, I take a breath and walk over the threshold. Already, beams of early morning sunlight are shining into the main room, completely transforming the atmosphere of last night. Dust motes dance in the rays of the sun, and apart from the visible damage, nothing seems disturbed or out of place.
Rather than being left behind, even the men who said they’d prefer to wait outside seem not to want to be outdone by women and follow us inside.
At first, the men around me just mill around, but slowly they seem to sort themselves out and decide on what they should be doing. Bonk tests the floorboards by stomping on them in turn, while Scalpel starts knocking on the walls. At first their movements are tentative as though expecting to get a response, but no ectoplasm makes an appearance, and no ghostly voice responds.
With most of them staying, for now, in the main room, I take a step toward the stairs. I’m determined to go into the room I’ve avoided up until now—my childhood bedroom at the end of the hall. The seat of my nightmares and where the damage to my body and soul was done.
Dwarf follows me as though he’s going to stay glued to my side. Even with my independence raising its head, there’s something comforting about not being alone.
He pauses outside the room we’d been sleeping in as something catches his attention. Taking out his phone, he clicks on the flashlight function and starts examining something on the door.
“Well I’ll be fuckin’ damned.” The first words are said to himself, the next are shouted down the stairs, his voice bellowing so loudly it makes me jump. “Metal, get your ass up here.”
In response, multiple footsteps thump up the stairs, more than just belonging to one man. But it’s Metalhead who steps up to Dwarf and looks at what he’s pointing at.
“Fuck me,” he exclaims. Then he smartly does a one hundred and eighty turn, and steps to the door across the hallway. After he examines it, his hand comes up to smash into the wall, and when he swings around, fire flashes in his eyes. “We’ve been fuckin’ had, Brothers.”
“What is it?” Toad pushes through the brothers who’ve accompanied Metalhead upstairs.
Pushing myself closer, I want to see as well. From where I am, all I can see are a few splinters, and a hole where the latch used to fit into the door.
Metalhead draws his finger down the wood and shows his prez some black residue left behind.
Toad goes completely still, his face as dark as a thundercloud. Then suddenly he roars. “I knew something didn’t make fuckin’ sense. We’re not dealing with the supernatural, we’re dealing with a fuckin’ prankster.”
“A clever fuckin’ bastard who knows what he’s doing,” Raider confirms, leaning in to study the evidence.
“What’s going on?” Bonk shouts from the back of the crowd.
“Fuckin’ doors must have been simultaneously blown open with an explosive. No ghost responsible at all.”
My jaw has dropped to the floor. I squeeze Dwarf’s hand as though to anchor myself. While I’m pleased there’s an explanation for the horrors that chased me away, there are still questions to answer. Like who’s behind it.
“What about the voice?” Midnight asks. “And the footsteps?”
I find myself nodding. What they’ve discovered doesn’t explain that away.
Cloud seems to grow a foot taller as he takes charge. “We all heard the fuckin’ voice and footsteps moving around. We’re looking for speakers, Brothers.”
As soon as he speaks, flashlights come out, and the men begin searching crevasses and crannies.
“Sorry about this, Raven,” Raider shouts as he pulls off a piece of panelling. Then follows it up with, “Fuckin’ got you.”
I wince as he hits the adjacent dry wall, putting a massive hole in it.
“Hey,” Dwarf starts, his tone angry.
Placing my hand on his arm, I stop him. “It’s okay, Dwarf. I was almost persuaded to burn this place down. I want answers.” As I stare at the small line of speakers that have been revealed, my teeth clench together.
“Got some under the floorboards too,” Scalpel calls out.
Turning, I can see he’s pulled a board up.
Stumpy runs up the stairs. He’s breathing heavily when he gets to the top. “Miniature explosives brought down the bookcase and blew out the kitchen cupboard.”
Cloud’s standing with his chin in one hand, his other arm propping up his elbow. His eyes are narrowed. “This is some sophisticated set up.” He pauses, then eyes me. “Elaborate and meant to chase you out. Someone certainly doesn’t want you to have your inheritance.”
“Someone who’s either an explosive expert or one who has good connections.” Toad shares a glance with Dwarf. “Any idea who that could be, Raven?”
Chapter Eighteen
Dwarf
There’s a certain relief in knowing I was neither going mad, nor that spirits inhabit the world which I know and love. But as Raven blanches in front of me and seems to need the strength of my arm to support her, I wonder for her what’s worse.
Her father coming back from the dead to haunt her, or someone who’s very much alive and wants to scare her out of her mind? Someone who doesn’t want her to claim this cabin for herself. Not that there’ll be much left of it by the time my brothers have finished with it from the way they’re tearing it up.
