Storm (Storm MC 1)

“Madison.” We all stopped and turned at the voice of our President. Marcus Cole was a commanding presence and I watched Madison shrink a little. She had always had a difficult relationship with her father. He was a man used to being in control and unfortunately for him, had raised a daughter who was too much like him, so they were constantly arguing.

She composed herself. “Dad.”

“Go with J for fuck’s sake. Not sure why you have to always fucking argue with everything.” He could be a bastard sometimes and I squeezed my fists, itching to punch him for being so harsh to her.

“Nice to see you too,” she seethed.

Marcus ignored her and turned to me, “Take her to see Crystal and then bring her back here. I want her staying at the clubhouse until we find where Nix is at.” With that he strode out of the room without a backwards glance at Madison. She looked hurt, and I fought the urge to pull her close and wrap my arms around her. Instead, I silently stayed where I was, waiting for her to make the next move.

“Nothing much changes around here, does it?” she asked no one in particular and threw her hands in the air. “Fuck! Is it any wonder I didn’t want to come home?” She directed this one at me.

Shit, I didn’t want to get into family fucking politics right now. It had been a long day and it wasn’t over yet. I pointed at the front door, “Time to go,” I said, walking towards it and then looked back over my shoulder at Scott, “I’ll check in with you later, see where we’re at.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Later, brother.”

*****

Madison

Well, my father hadn’t changed much since I last saw him; still as controlling as ever. He and Scott were the same; how the hell was I going to get through this visit? And J. Well, that was a whole other headache. I was so confused about him right now, and he was giving me mixed signals. One minute he was bossing me around and the next he was looking at me like he used to.

I followed him outside and walked to his bike while he stopped and spoke with a guy I had never seen before. They discussed something in hushed tones and I could tell from J’s facial expressions that he wasn’t happy with whatever was being said. He muttered something at the guy before shaking his head at him in disgust. This couldn’t be good.

“What was that all about?”I asked as he approached me.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” he dismissed me.

I felt my blood boil. “Why do you, Scott and Dad do that? Why can’t you just answer my questions and tell me what is happening?”

J turned his angry eyes to me, “Not everything is about you, Madison. Seems to be something you still haven’t figured out.”

“Yes, I know that, but with what is happening at the moment, I figured it might be about Nix. And that is about me,” I had raised my voice and was breathless with rage. I didn’t know if this anger was coming from my current frustrations or whether it was old hurt resurfacing. J had cut me deep and I had buried it for so long, not allowing myself to really feel it because I knew the power it held over me. The power to break me again.

“Yeah, baby, that fucking is about you,” J snapped back at me, “But this isn’t. Now get on the back of the bike and let’s go.”

Oh, no he didn’t. “What the fuck does that mean, J? The bit about that being about me.” There had been an ugly tone to his words that I didn’t like and I didn’t know where they were coming from.

He leant down into my face and I was stunned at the anger emanating from him, “Perhaps if you hadn’t dated Nix, all of this shit wouldn’t be happening.”

Tears threatened my eyes, “I can’t believe you just said that,” I breathed out on a whisper, staring at him in shock and confusion. He stayed bent and in my face, just glaring at me. We stayed like that for a minute or so, the hurt feelings and unsaid things from years ago swirling around us.

Finally he stood back and broke eye contact. “Crystal’s staying with Brooke, so be prepared for that.” He changed the subject just like that; just like he always used to do and it hurt just as much now as it had then.

***

Brooke was J’s sister, and we had a long, hard history. Back in school we had been close, but the year after we finished school a misunderstanding had come between us. It was a silly misunderstanding, about a guy, and she had hated me ever since. Bec, however, had remained friends with Brooke, so she had continued to be a presence in my life. We just did our best to keep out of each other’s way. When I started dating J, she had been pissed off and had done her best to break us up. Brooke was the only family J had left after both his parents had died in a car accident and he was very close to her; she was his younger sister and he looked out for her and made sure she was always okay. When she began her campaign against us it had almost worked because J always made excuses for her behaviour. I had often felt like I came second to her and had threatened to walk away from the relationship a couple of times. It all came to a head about a year into our relationship and J had been forced to take a stance. He had chosen me but it was always clear just how much he loved Brooke, and from then on I had tried hard not to put him in the middle again. I think Brooke did the same because she had stopped trying to separate us.

We pulled up at Brooke’s house about fifteen minutes later. J was still shitty, and stalked into the house ahead of me. I watched as he entered the house and greeted Brooke. She looked past him at me, her face a blank mask. I was surprised when she gave me a tight smile and gestured for me to come in.

“Madison, how are you?” she asked as I came through the front door.

Well, shit, I could make small talk too. “I’m okay. And you?”

Before she could answer, Crystal came running into the room. “Madison!” She threw herself into my arms and I was overcome with emotion. I bent down and wrapped her in my arms, smoothing her hair and pressed my lips to her forehead. My heart broke a little more for her and I fought back the tears. I struggled with the knowledge that this beautiful child was now alone in the world, and I was annoyed at myself for not coming to see her sooner.

“Hey, sweetheart,” I said, holding her a moment longer, and then I pulled away to take in her eyes. They betrayed her confusion, her loss and her heartbreak. If I was upset before, I was murderous now. How dare Nix take away her family? I kissed her again and then stood, keeping my arm a

round her.