Page 73 of Ink's Devil

When Jeannie walks off and is out of hearing, Mom turns to face me. Her lips thin. “Take me through it again, Bethany. Starting with why you didn’t tell me Connor was in trouble.”

My lips, copying her expression, press together and I shake my head. “I don’t even know if that was a lie, Mom. Maybe he knew the cops were staking it out and didn’t want to be caught himself.”

Mom frowns. “I don’t have any time for your father, you know that. But I thought Connor would come to his senses one day, not that he was beyond redemption. If he set you up, Beth, then there’s no hope for him. I can’t believe my son would do that.”

Neither can I. “Perhaps he’s an addict himself, Mom? Perhaps he’d do anything to score.”

“Score?” An incredulous laugh escapes. “He doesn’t need to score. Not with ten spare kilos of H he can leave in his old room.”

She’s got a point.

“You okay?” The older biker with ginger hair comes over and sits down. Like Demon, his concern is for my mom. “Still feeling shaky?”

Mom shakes her head. “I’m notokay,but I’m starting to deal. I’m just so pleased you’ve taken that stuff away.” She shudders. Rusty leans forward and puts his hand on her arm, then moving his fingers down feels her pulse. She lets him. He’d introduced himself as a medic. He doesn’t appear to have much time for me but does for my totally innocent mom.

Anxiously I watch his face, but he doesn’t seem worried.

It’s been a shock for us both. For a week we’ve stored an incredible amount of drugs in our home. What if the police had come searching? Or rival criminals? Or disreputable friends of my brother who’d left it there? He must have known he was putting both of us in danger. There are so many unanswered questions. Who do the drugs belong to? If Connor, where the hell did he get the money to buy them? And if, more likely, it’s someone else, who, and what lengths will they go to, to recover them?

My thoughts prompt me to ask, “What did the club do with it?”

Rusty’s eyes narrow at my question. He rests back in his chair. “Don’t you worry about that.”

“Has it been destroyed?”

He doesn’t deign to answer. Instead he gives Mom such an intense look, she shifts a little uncomfortably. “You’ve had a shock, darlin’. You start to feel rough? You just say.” With that he stands and moves off.

“I wonder what they’ve done with the drugs?” It seems I can’t get that off my mind.

Mom considers for a moment. “They might not destroy them immediately. Might need them as leverage, I don’t know. Offer them up to the cops, perhaps? Plant them on someone?”

I stare at her, my eyes wide.

“What?” she shrugs. “I watch crime shows. You know, where bad guys are set up.”

Just like that she’s reminded me of Ink. “Like I set Ink up,” I say, glumly.

“I still don’t know why you did something so crazy, Bethany. You should have informed the police as soon as you found that Connor might be in danger, and definitely when you found what he had stored. Then Ink wouldn’t be in the position he is.”

“What would you have done, Mom?” I challenge angrily. “Connor could have been, might still have been, telling the truth. His life could have depended on me doing what he said. I didn’t have any time, I was too scared for him to think of myself. Of course I knew what was in it as soon as I’d opened that damn box. The last thing I thought of was calling 911. It didn’t even cross my mind. I couldn’t take the risk that Connor would have been killed.”

“Or that’s what he told you.”

“That’s what I believed at the time, or if those drugs are his, he could have been arrested.”

“Then the right man would be sitting in jail.”

I gasp. Her blunt statement is the truth. Trust Mom to give it to me straight. “I’ve been so, so stupid.” She’s right. If Connor’s dealing heroin, he’d deserve a long sentence, much more than the man who is locked up.

Her hand comes out and rests on mine. “You’re a good sister,” she says, her tone gentling. “What would I have done?” She thinks about it for a few seconds, her brow creasing. “If I had been put on the spot, needing to make a fast decision while being told it was a matter of life or death, I’d like to think different, but have to say, I’d probably have done the same thing as you under the circumstances.” She pauses, then looks straight into my eyes. “Ink must think one hell of a lot about you, Beth, to do what he did.”

I could tell her Ink’s a good man, that he’d have done it for anyone, but I’m pretty certain that’s not true. He did it for me, even though I didn’t ask him to. “I think he must,” I reply at last.

“And what about you? What are your feelings for him?”

“I think I could love him, Mom.” I might even be there already. What more could a girl ask for but someone who’s as good as Ink in the bedroom, fun out of it, and prepared to do anything to keep her safe?

“You’re not someone who’d be happy with a brief fling, Beth. You might have tried to kid yourself you could have walked away if he asked you to, but I reckon your heart would be broken. I was scared, I admit, when you started this relationship, not about him being who he is, but that I thought you would get hurt.”

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