Chapter Twenty-One
Tigger
My phone going off like crazy wakes me up the next morning. That, of course, is followed by banging on my bedroom door.
“You have three minutes to come out, fucker or I’m coming in there after you,” Thunder shouts between bangs on my door.
He’ll do it too, the fucker has no shame about pulling us out of our rooms. When he finds I’m not in there, he’s going to come looking for me here. He’ll do anything to make sure every last one of us is sitting at our places at the table. I love the man, but sometimes he’s fucking annoying. I really want to open the door and tell him to go fuck himself.
I look over at the woman snuggled tightly against me and curse the day I decided I wanted a place at the Dragon Skulls MC table. Why couldn’t I just have been like Horse and declared I just wanted to be a regular member? I love my brothers, but a spot at the table comes with a lot of responsibilities.
“You know why you did that asshole, so get your ass out the bed,” I say to myself.
Slowly I untangle myself from the beautiful angel still asleep next to me. That woman is going to be out for a while. She had me up half the night fucking me. I never imagined she could go that many times. I’ve never had a woman want my dick that much in one night. Not that I’m going to complain or anything. I actually loved every second of it.
“Go back to sleep, angel, I have to go, I’ll be back soon,” I tell her when she stirs and smiles up at me. She stretches, and the blanket falls away from the upper half of her body, and I bite my lip looking at the door and then back down at her. I seriously think about climbing back into bed with her and fucking her again, but duty calls and I have to go to Church.
“Okay,” she moans softly, turning away from me and covering her exposed body.
“Fuck,” I run my hand through my hair and watch her for a moment longer before I pull my clothes on. Thunder’s voice is coming back, and the last thing I want or need is for him to see my girl naked.
My girl.
I like the sound of that way more than I should. I should be running the other way, or doing something to cause her to run the other way, but I know I’d just follow behind her if I pushed her away, so there’s no point in denying my fate. Even if loving a man like me is dangerous for her. I’m too selfish to let her go.
I just have to figure out what I’m going to do about the nightclub. I’ll still be meeting her there tonight, and now I’m torn about what I should do. Should I tell her or not? I could tell her and end this charade and see where the chips fall or I could continue this and see where this thing between us can go.
“Hurry up fucker,” Thunder bangs on my door again.
Annoyed I pull my clothes on quickly and yank Summer’s door open, stopping it seconds before it slams into the wall.
“I’m coming, you mother fucker,” Thunder turns with his hand halfway to my door again, and his eyes widen when he looks past me and sees Summer in bed and then looks back at me, a sinister smile crossing his face. “Get a life, asshole.”
He chuckles when I push him out of the way and shut Summer’s door.
Ten minutes later we’re all seated in the Chapel and waiting for Drag to come in with Firebird. He just arrived from Oregon with the last two members of his chapter in tow.
“First order of business,” Drag announces once everyone is seated and the doors are locked. “Firebird, Iron, and Thor want to transfer here to our club since there is no one left from the Astoria chapter, so we are going to vote. Everyone in favor of them joining.”
The entire room cheers and whoops.
“That was easy, welcome to the Maple Valley chapter, boys,” Drag stands and hugs Firebird, slapping him on the back several times and shaking hands with the two other bikers in the room. “For now, the three of them will be joining us at the table since they know more about Connoly than we do.”
I don’t like the way Drag looks at me out of the corner of his eye. Almost like to say, if you told them who you were we’d have plenty on Connoly, fucker.
I’m just not ready to tell them yet, and he knows this. I throw him a look that has him quickly looking away.
“Second order of business. Dean, what were you able to find out about Lefty?”
Dean pulls out a file and pushes it down the table to Drag where he quickly opens it and skims the files.
“Shit,” he declares rubbing his beard slowly while he looks through the file carefully. “According to this Lefty has been out for at least the last month.”
“Fuck,” I declare banging my fist down on the table. This isn’t good, that probably means it was him outside the club with Clara.
“We are going to monitor the situation, but Tigger, I need you to beef up security at The Dragon. Hire some extra guys and have them escort every girl to and from their cars. Especially since you’re so busy now at night,” he throws me a look, but I can see the smile in his eyes. Regardless of what he says at this table, I know he’s happy to see me smiling again and moving on with my life. He also never thought I would move on from Kara, so he’ll do anything he can to make sure I have the time with Summer that I need.
Thunder snorts beside me, and I jab him in the side, causing him to growl and jab me back.
“Children, knock it off. Until we have more information on Lefty’s whereabouts, everyone keep a close eye on their families. Dean, bring Kara and the kids here to the compound, it isn’t safe for them out there. I also don’t want Kara working at the club until we locate Lefty. Everyone is dismissed except for Dean, Thunder, and Tigger.”
He waits until everyone has exited the room and locks the doors behind them. He focuses on me when he walks back to his place at the head of the table and even before he sits down I already know what’s about to happen.
“Everyone, guns in the basket,” he throws a basket in Dean’s direction and waits for him and Thunder to put their guns in the basket. “You too, Tigger. I don’t want someone to grab your gun and start shooting. I’m going to put mine in too,” he stands and tosses his gun in the basket.
We watch in silence while he stands and puts the guns in the safe.
“Now, before we get started, I want the two of you -especially you Thunder- to keep an open mind and listen before you get upset and start throwing punches. Tigger, move to the other end of the table, please,” Drag gestures to the other of the table by the door, and I reluctantly get up and move that way.
He waits until I’m seated before he tosses the notebook Kara brought us in my direction.
“You’ve been waiting for this moment to look inside, so go ahead, the time has come for the truth,” he gives me a pointed look, and I reluctantly open the book and nod.
He’s silent while he watches me flip through the pages looking for the page on the Captains MC. There, in clear print, is my father’s name and Connoly Peppers. Under the family tree, only TR is listed along with stats and weapon locations.
I look up at Drag confirming I’m on the right page before he turns to Thunder.
“Thunder, keep calm, yes? Tigger, go ahead,” he gestures in my direction, giving me to floor.
I sigh and fold my hands in front of me on the table. “My biker name here is Tigger, but the thing you guys don’t know is that my real biker name before coming here was Tiger.”
“Why does that name sound so familiar all of a sudden? I know Tiger is common, but for some reason, I’ve heard it around this club,” Thunder strokes his beard.
“I’ve seen that name associated with The Captains MC,” Dean confirms, nodding and throwing me a dirty look. The wheels in his head are already turning, and I know the moment he knows the truth. His hands banging on the table confirm it. If the table weren't so strong, it would be broken right now.
“Let him tell the story first, Dean,” Drag orders when Dean stands from his seat at the table, the chair tumbling to the ground behind him. The murderous gleam in his eyes tells me I’m damn lucky the table is in-between us, and he’s unarmed right now.
“What the fuck is going on?” asks Thunder who still hasn’t put two and two together.
I sigh and stand from my chair, pushing it back and going to stand by the door. I need as much space from them as I can get right now.
“This isn’t my first motorcycle club. I came here as soon as I was old enough, needing to get away from my family. My father was murdered when I was a teenager, and my mother remarried a monster that took my father’s place. My name isn’t Tom Young,” I confess.
“Well, then what the hell is your-” Thunder stops, all of a sudden fire lighting in his eyes.
“That’s right, my name is Tom Rayo. I am the son of the former Captains MC president, and Connoly Peppers, more commonly known as Pepper is my stepfather. But you have to understand, I don’t work with them, I came here to hide. Connoly killed my sister, Emerson, and I think my mother as well. When Drag figured out who I was, he suggested we change my name to Tigger.”
“So the position of Treasurer was bullshit. I knew it, I always suspected that. Is that why you gave him ownership of The Dragon instead of me?” I can tell things are starting to make sense to Thunder now.
He doesn’t look as upset as Dean does, however. Which is interesting because I would’ve thought he’d be the one I’d have to worry about the most. Dean looks like he wants to jump over the table and murder me.
“He’s a victim of circumstance, Dean. We couldn’t tell you before now. We have to now because I know Tigger suspects just like I do that Pepper could be involved in this. The camera inside the club was mysteriously unplugged last night, and we have no evidence of who was in the club last night distracting the bouncers. We have to keep that possibility open. Nomad Jokers barely have any member left so it would make sense for Lefty to go to the Captains for help, especially since they don’t like us,” Drag pats Dean on the back, but that doesn’t seem to appease him.
“The TR in the book is me. I don’t think Filthy knew for sure what TR stood for. Most people don’t, my background was erased by Drag to prevent Pepper tracing me here. If he’s here, I have to stay hidden as much as possible. These markings in this book indicate gun warehouse locations. I can write down the addresses if you guys would like to go and check it out, but I cannot go with you,” I relay, closing the book and pushing it back in the direction of Drag.
“Let’s take a little while and let that sink in before we tell the rest of the club,” Drag stands from his chair and heads for the door, walking past me and unlocking it.
Thunder does the same, however, stops short when he sees Dean advancing towards me.
“I guess I can tell her now if I want, huh? Since the cat is out of the bag,” I tell Thunder when he stops beside me.
I’m so distracted by thinking about the possibility of telling Summer and talking to Thunder that I don’t see the punch coming and blood comes flying out of my nose. Thunder curses and restrains Dean, shouting for Drag to come back.
I run from the room, going to the kitchen and grabbing a napkin to cover my wound. There’s a lot of blood, but lucky the fucker didn’t break the damn thing.
“What happened?” I look down to find Summer rushing towards me, she’s now wearing gray sweatpants and a pink shirt. Genuine concern is on her face when she reaches for me. “Let me see,” she moves my hands and the napkin so she can examine me.
She turns my face to the left and the right and sighs in relief, guess it isn’t broken.
“Looks like it’ll be fine, let me go and grab my bag,” she runs past us and off towards her room.
“Who is the hottie,” Firebird asks, tilting his head to the side and watching her ass shake when she runs down the hall.
I punch him in the stomach, and he groans, “Hands off, she’s taken.”
“Don’t fuck with that one, he’ll cut your balls off,” Thunder confirms.
I don’t allow her to come back out to the kitchen, I instead follow behind her and over to her room where she cleans me up, and we spend the rest of the afternoon together. She makes me forget about the pain in a real hurry.