Chapter Fifteen
Heart pounding so loud and fast, his chest vibrated. Cuss’s gaze followed Tiffany until Beef opened the SUV’s passenger side door and she climbed in, until Beef turned on the ignition and drove away, until the car drove out of sight. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, some of the tension lining his shoulders dissolving.
His girl was safe.
Still, the fear that gripped him the moment he set eyes on the three bikers from Chained MC didn’t release him. The hold, a knot in his gut, too strong, stronger than it’d ever been.
His brothers got there in minutes. He didn’t doubt it though it felt like hours. He couldn’t even think of what could’ve happened to his girl because of him and the club. Because of shit like this, she didn’t belong in his life, in his world. He knew it down to his bones. He’d always known it, and still, he couldn’t imagine letting her go now.
He forced himself to put those thoughts aside. No sense in dwelling on it now. She was safe.
His gaze hit Chip’s, Chained MC’s President.
Prez took a menacing step in Chip’s direction. “What the fuck’s going on here?”
“Didn’t mean any trouble.” Chip held up his hands. “Spoke to you a while back about a sit-down and haven’t heard back. Spotted him.” He nodded in Cuss’s direction. “Thought I’d ask.”
A few weeks back, Chip called Prez, who informed the brothers Chained MC’s President wanted to meet for a sit-down.
The clubs had a troubled history though they hadn’t always been at odds. Before Prez took over the club years ago and completely ended the club’s involvement in criminal activity, namely running drugs and guns, Hell Ryders and Chained worked together. Prez’s decision to get the club clean presented a problem for Chained MC. They wanted to continue running guns and drugs through Wadden. Despite Prez’s request they run their business elsewhere, they hadn’t. For a year afterward, they continued their runs forcing the brothers to post up around town. It ended one night in an all-out brawl, and the clubs severed ties for good. Last they heard, Chained MC took off to Nevada.
For one of their brothers, this was more than club business, it was personal. Chip’s cousin, Emelia, had been Ripper’s old lady for two years. When shit hit the fan with the clubs, she took off. No one knew where she went, not even Chip. A week after the brawl that ended their ties for good, Chip rode to the garage alone, found Ripper out front sitting astride his bike, and beat the living daylights out of him. Ripper let him. When several of their brothers tore Chip away, Chip explained Emelia wasn’t answering any of his calls. Ripper then told them she left three days before. None of the brothers had known. It made perfect sense, too. None of the brothers had seen Ripper for that long.
This went down while Cuss was still a prospect. He hadn’t found out the details until he’d been patched in.
Like every other club decision, when Prez told them Chip wanted a sit-down, they voted. A close vote, but majority decided against it.
Prez’s gaze hardened. “Construed as a threat especially when he’s with his old lady.” His gaze then sliced to Cuss.
He lifted his chin.
Chip shrugged. “Like I said, I meant no harm. Haven’t heard back from you.”
Ripper took a menacing step toward Chip. “’Cause we’re not fuckin’ interested.”
Chip clenched his jaw. His gaze shot from Prez to him then back again. “Meant no dis—”
Cuss already fed up with this shit cut him off. “Say what you came to say.”
“Heard one of your club’s old ladies’ was kidnapped. Heard you hired a PI, and that’s how you found out the man responsible, big time attorney, was payin’ off judges. Wanna know who the PI is.”
Made perfect sense Chip would want that information, made perfect sense he continued to look for Emelia. Obviously, he never found her and had exhausted his resources. Now, he wanted to use theirs.
Cuss understood his pain. Had anyone in his family been missing or left from one day to the next, he’d never stop searching either. He knew most of his brothers would sympathize, too. They had each other as family and their own families as well. If it hadn’t been for the raunchy comments Dick made, he would’ve agreed to give Chip the information.
“You think we’ll grant you any favor after what Dick said to my girl?”
Showing their support, his brothers took several steps in the three men’s direction, the tension surrounding them heightening.
But the relaxed ambiance around Chip never faded. “Like I said, Dick’s been in the slammer for a while. Told you—”
Cuss strode closer to Chip, getting in his face. Dick and the other Chained MC brother closed in around him. Cuss’s brothers flanked him. “Don’t give a fuck. No one disrespects my girl. No one talks ‘bout my girl.”
More than that, his girl had been terrified half to death, clutching him and trembling behind him. She had every right to be. Hell, he’d been scared for her. It meant that right now, though she was safe, no doubt she was having second thoughts about being a part of his life, about him. For that, Chained MC would pay.
Chip didn’t move a muscle, his stance calm and relaxed, his face devoid of emotion. “He meant no disrespect—”
Fisting his hands until his knuckles cracked, he snapped, “Talking ‘bout sharing my girl is disrespect. Talking ‘bout my girl’s pussy is disrespect.”
Chip’s eyes hardened then sliced to Dick’s. The tension intensified between the two though no words were exchanged. Finally, Chip met his stare again. “What do you want in exchange?”
What? Was he serious? He wanted to beat them until they bled for making his girl that scared. He wanted to punch Dick until his knuckles bled for talking about his girl, and he wanted to kill Dick for giving his girl an out. He wanted it all not for him but for his girl because it was his job to protect, defend, and avenge her.
“One-on-one. Me and Dick.” Instead of saying all he really wanted, he said that because his girl wouldn’t want him killing. Hell, she wouldn’t want him fighting either, but he couldn’t let Dick get away with what he said, what he did.
Chip’s jaw clenched. He met Dick’s gaze again, who nodded. Then Chip met his stare and lifted his chin.
“Another thing, no matter how this shit turns out, this ends here unless he or anyone of your boys comes after my girl, my club, or me. Agreed?”
Chip nodded.
Eyes on the prize, Cuss strode toward the empty grassy lot beside the burger joint, thirty feet from the seating area. Dick mirrored his steps. He took a deep breath, his mind replaying the fucked shit Dick said to his girl. The rage simmering inside him spilled. He attacked.
All rage.
All fury.
All to defend his girl.
****
The door to Thomas’s room at the compound parted. With her heart in her throat, Tiffany spun on her heel and caught sight of him. Right cheek swollen, lip cracked open and bleeding.
Holding her breath, she pressed the palm of her hand against her chest and forced her gaze away.
Her fault.
All her fault.
He entered and shut the door behind him then closed the distance between them.
“What… Why…” she whispered then met his stare.
Because he knew her so well, he knew what she meant to ask. “’Cause it’s my job to defend you. Couldn’t let him get away with what he said. No one disrespects you in any way ’cause you’re my girl.”
His girl. Why did he keep saying that? Why did he feel like he needed to defend and protect her even knowing he could end up hurt? She didn’t need him to, didn’t want him to.
“We haven’t even had sex.” A whisper, the words slipped. True, they both knew this. Still, it wasn’t what she meant to say.
The lines of his face hardened. Clenching his jaw, he snapped, “You need me to fuck you to know you’re mine?”
The fury clear on his face leaked in his tone, speaking to her again in that way she never thought he could. Chest tightening, she swallowed the urge to cry.
“Taking care of you ain’t enough? Protecting you ain’t enough? Fine. Tell me how you want it, and I’ll fuck you.”
What he said, the way he said it, the rage-filled look in his eyes and expression, she couldn’t help it then. The breath caught in the back of her throat. Her eyes watered.
“You wanna quick fuck like I fuck taps? That what you want so you can get me outta your system? That all I mean to you?”
A verbal blow, and it hurt so much the words seared their way into her heart. With tear filled eyes, she looked away and stumbled backward.
Lies. Thomas knew how she felt. He had to know after all this time that what she wanted the most was him, had to know after years of loving him, she’d never been able to forget him.
He closed in. “Tell me!”
She shook her head, trying to erase this man from her mind, her memory. She didn’t know this man, didn’t want to know him. He wasn’t the man she fell for at fourteen, the one who saved her three times, her best friend. That man wouldn’t take his anger out on her, wouldn’t speak to her like he had, wouldn’t say things he knew would hurt.
And still, even streaked in anger, even bloodied and bruised, she couldn’t help but think he was so handsome.
“Tell me what you fuckin’ want!”
She grasped her chest and lost hold of her tears. They slid down her cheeks.
Blazing eyes, he turned, walked several feet, and slammed his fist through the wall. The loud sound echoed around the room. She let out a startled gasp then slapped her hand over her mouth, tears continuing to spill down her face. He took one last look at her, parted his bedroom door, strode out, and slammed the door shut.
Only then did she lean against the wall behind her and let her legs give out. She pulled her thighs against her chest, buried her face in her knees, and cried silent tears.