“They’re good. This is just how those two are. They never communicate unless they have to. Clara wasn’t too far from Dublin, and that’s a few hours ride each way.”
I nodded, and she moved off to help some of the girls down by the opposite end of the bar. I spotted Caramel staring daggers at me which only made me roll my eyes. Orla sat with Morena and Sheridan in one of the booths, drinking cocktails of some sort from a jug. Ryleigh was lounging with Fury and Viper by the wall. Bear, Ace and Hawk were talking with Brogan by the pool tables. It was a regular night here at the clubhouse, almost like we didn’t have someone trying to kill us.
Being here was so different compared to back in Belfast. Even though the Destructive Sons had been my family, I felt more welcome and happy here, likeI could do anything I wanted. Shona ran this bar, and even though Sheridan was technically the head ol’ lady, she shared that responsibility with Orla and Morena. All three of them took care of this club, as did their men for their brothers.
I just felt safe here.
Bringing the glass to my lips, I was about to take a sip when I heard the doors burst open. I dropped the drink and turned, the glass shattering on the floor around my feet. My mother, Clara, stood in front of two other women who had cuts over their backs with a patch I’d never seen before.
Mothers of Chaoswas written over the top of a medusa looking logo and underneath said Ireland.
What the fuck?
“Mama?”
She turned her head, showing me how time had aged her, or maybe that had been the drugs she’d chosen over me. The men in the club all raised their guns at the intruders but none took a shot. It was only when I saw who the other women had raised their guns that I realised why.
Guns were raised on Orla, Morena and Sheridan, one on Ryleigh, and my mother raised her gun to Shona.
“Darling girl,” my mother’s voice sounded sincere to the untrained ear but this was how she wouldspeak when she wanted me to do something. Something…bad. “Why don’t you come on over here with me?”
“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Shona said, her tone clipped. “Darby, stay where you are.”
My mother turned back to Shona. “She’s my daughter.”
“You lost that right when you left your daughter in a den of misery,” Shona said. “Now, get the fuck out.”
“You don’t speak for us, girlie,” one of the other women said.
“Enna,” I heard Ace say as he came forward, his gun trained on them still. “Why are you here?”
“To make it right, dear,” the woman said. “This club needs to pay for its disservice to Ireland.”
“The club you were a part of until you betrayed it?” he countered.
Shona made a move to me from behind the bar to try and get back, but my mother caught it. She raised the gun back to Shona and shot. I screamed, thinking I’d lost my sister when I looked to see she’d ducked and the bullet had wound up in the wall. I ran to her, feeling someone grab my arm and pull me up and away from her. Shona made a move to grab something from behind the bar when I heard bullets being fired from everywhere. I ducked myhead to protect myself, feeling my body being pulled away, toward the door. I swung around and clocked my mother. The look of surprise on her face was priceless. She never expected her own daughter to turn on her.
Good.
“You ungrateful wench.”
“Ungrateful?” I scoffed in disbelief. “What is there to be grateful for? You left your child with monsters, knowing they would use me in the same way you were escaping from. You never cared for me. You cared about you. It’s always just been about you. It’s funny. The one thing you ever wanted was to be queen, to behisand for him to love you but he used you for what you had between your legs. He threw you at anyone he needed to work with as a prize, as currency, and now, as I look at you now, that’s all I see…is someone who was used and abused and who doesn’t know how to love.”
“You’ll end up like me,whore.”
“No, I don’t think I will…I know what it’s like to be loved. I know what it is to love someone that I would quite literally die for him. You will never know what that is like.”
She scoffed, tears running down her cheeks. I would feel bad for her but it was a waste of an emotion. She didn’t deserve that from me.
“Oh yeah?” she tried to hold back her anger. “And where is this knight in shining armour now, Darby Rose?”
“Behind you,” came Rebel’s gravelly voice. She turned to face him just as he shot at her face. My mother fell back, her eyes wide with shock, but I could see she was dead before she hit the floor.
Rebel ran up to me, checking I was okay. I looked down at her body, the woman had given birth to me but she was no mother. She never had been.
“You okay?” he asked me, checking me over, and then looking me directly in my eyes. I nodded, and he kissed me. It wasn’t passionate, it was soft, tender, like he knew I needed right now. “Stay behind me, princess.”
I did as he asked as we went back inside. The women who had invaded us were on their knees, their arms tied behind their backs as the men stood in front of them. The clubhouse had been shot up, but everyone appeared to be okay. Morena was patching up bullet grazes and non-fatal wounds with Sheridan and Ryleigh’s help. Rebel grabbed my hand and moved me toward Shona who wrapped her arms around me tight. My man stood in front of me, protecting me from what I knew was about to happen.
