CHAPTER 13
Tank
I could feel the rage coursing through my veins as I parked my bike outside the Rusty Pelican. I had somehow managed to convince myself that I had done the right thing by pushing Noelle away, but it didn’t stop me from hurting.
Even though we had just one night of being together, it still felt like someone had ripped my heart and lungs and gut right out of my body. She meant something to me, this woman. I could feel it in my bones.
I had seen the look on Noelle’s face when I said what I said to her. She was shocked and hurt, and I hoped now that she would never want to see me again. I was going to stay away from her, and if she kept her distance from me; then I knew that she would be safe. It was the only way I knew how to keep her safe.
Saying that she wasn’t the right woman for me was a lie.
If Noelle Peters wasn’t the right woman for me, then nobody could possibly be. No woman had come close to making me feel the way she had, in the span of just a few days. And now she was gone from my life, so there was going to be no way that I could find that kind of happiness again. The kind I had found this morning when I had woken up to her by my side.
I burst through the doors of the bar and found Gunner sitting on a stool. He seemed to be working on something, and he looked up at me when I walked in. The bar was empty this early in the morning, just as I was hoping it would be.
He smiled at me at first, and then realized quickly enough that I wasn’t in the mood to smile back.
“Brother! Good to see you here again,” he swiveled around on the stool to face me, and I had no other choice but to stop in my tracks. I just wanted to speak to Axel and be gone. I needed time to myself to figure out everything I was feeling for Noelle.
“Good to be back,” I mumbled, and he crossed his brows at me.
“What’s going on with you? Are you still in pain, man?” Gunner asked, and I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans. Yeah, I was in pain, but not the kind that he was talking about. I didn’t even remember that I’d been shot, that was the effect that Noelle had on me. The pain I was feeling had nothing to do with being shot, and all to do about Noelle. It was the kind of pain that I wasn’t ready to discuss with people, not even my best friends.
“No, I’m fine. Is Axel in?” I asked him, and he tipped his head in the direction of the back office.
“He has me working on the last shipment’s accounts,” Gunner said with a slight laugh and held up the papers in his hands. I stifled a laugh. Gunner was great at organizing shipments, but he wasn’t much of an accountant.
“I hope you aren’t dealing with any numbers. Otherwise, we are in a whole hell of a lot of trouble.”
Gunner laughed. “No, I’m just organizing everything so we know what we have so we can decide what we need to keep and what we need to sell off. Axle is in the back.”
“I need to speak to him,” I said and started walking in the direction of the office. At the door, I turned to Gunner again, who was still watching me.
“You coming in?” I asked him, and he nodded his head and jumped off the stool to follow me in.
I knocked on the door once and heard Axel’s voice, commanding us to come in.
He was sitting behind his desk with his glasses on and going through some papers.
“Tank!” he declared, when he saw me, and he sat back in his chair and squared his shoulders.
Gunner and I filed into the office, taking up our usual positions across from Axel’s desk.
“You look well, son,” Axel commented, and I tipped my head once in acknowledgment.
“Your brothers made the right decision to take you to the hospital when they did. Everything went smoothly there?” Axel continued, and I nodded my head.
When I hadn’t said anything, Axel looked at me and then at Gunner expectantly.
“Is something on your mind, Tank?” he asked, and I clenched my jaw and drew in a deep breath.
“The Dragon Knights have been tailing me,” I said, and Axel knotted his brows and sat forward in his chair.
“Have they confronted you?” he asked, and my biceps flexed as I clenched and unclenched my fists. They had put Noelle’s life in danger.
“They followed me last night when I went out, and this morning they threw a brick through my window. This note was stuck to it,” I told Axel and taking the piece of paper out of my pocket, I placed it on his desk.
Axel read the message, twice or three times…and then looked up at Gunner and me.
“They’re after you,” he grumbled deeply.
“They want to finish what they started,” I supplied and beside me, I could sense Gunner’s rage building up.
“Mother fuckers,” he cursed under his breath. Axel stared at us again, and I glared back at him.
“I want to plan a retaliation. Get them before they get us,” I said, keeping my voice steady. Neither Axel nor Gunner needed to know what my motivation was, that I wanted them gone because they had tailed Noelle along with me. That I wanted to make sure that nobody ever touched her.
Axel sat back in his chair and drew in a deep breath. Then he nodded his head slowly.
“Yes, you’re right. We can’t sit back and wait for them to strike anymore. Especially now that you apparently have a target on your back. Tank, you plan a retaliation and Gunner, and your brothers will work with you on it,” Axel said. “If you need any backup, let me know.”
I nodded my head and turned and marched out of the room without another word. Gunner followed me.
“Tank!” he called after me as he saw me walking out of the bar. I was in no mood to talk. I had said what I came here to say and now I needed to be left alone. Otherwise, I was bound to punch someone.
“Tank!” he called again, by now I had walked to my bike, and he was standing at the doors of the Rusty Pelican.
“I’m fine,” I said to him as I got on my bike. It was a lie.