TWENTY-FIVE
As soon as the meeting was over, Taco blazed a trail straight to her apartment.
Only to find the place empty.
Son of a bitch.
He’d known what he was going to find before he even opened the door. The ominous feeling had settled on his chest like a boulder, crushing the air from his lungs. Sometimes, you just knew when things weren’t right. And he’d felt it as soon as he pulled into the parking lot. There was an emptiness in his gut, and the way the overcast sky seemed to loom above seemed to foreshadow what he was seeing now.
Taco stood in the doorway, keys in hand, staring at the empty space. The carpet was several shades lighter in places, marking where furniture had been, and the scent of pine sol still hung in the air, though faint.
She’d left? Just like that, without a word, she’d up and fucking left.
What the actual fuck. Taco balled his fists, livid. He’d never—never—seen something so fucked up, and he’d seen some fucked-up shit in his life. Of all the things women had done over the years, he’d thought she was different.
Passionate and a little headstrong, sure. Even a touch crazy at times, but she had been remarkable too. Caught and held his attention like no one before her. Yes, she’d been screwed up when he’d found her, and yes, he knew he shouldn’t have gotten involved—you never got involved with a brother’s ol’ lady—but he had and there was nothing to do about it now.
He had been prepared to stand at the frontline and defend their relationship…and she’d left him.
No word, no message, not even a fucking text? That was some harsh shit, and Taco was having trouble digesting it.
Was this what they referred to as karma? Had all the shit he’d done—no call backs, no texts, just dead silence—finally come back on him?
Unable to help himself, Taco walked through the apartment, needing to see for himself that everything was gone. As if he needed to see every inch of the space to convince himself that she had left and wasn’t coming back.
Was she coming back?
His blood pressure started climbing with each step taken. Where was she? Why had she left him? What was she running from?
When he stopped in the bedroom doorway, he remembered every second they’d spent there together…and black dots speckled his vision.
That’s when Taco got mad. Again.
Fuck this shit. She wanted to bounce? Let her. It was that easy to drop him? Fine. He was done too. Wasn’t like they were serious anyway.
Marching back through the apartment, he twisted the key to the front door from his key ring, dropping it on the carpet on his way out. He slammed the door behind him, not bothering to look back as he climbed onto his motorcycle and peeled the fuck out of there.
No looking back.
Another chapter closed.
Good riddance.
***
“I shouldn’t be showing you these.”
A heavy packet slapped onto the table beside Country’s arm where he was eating a bowl of cereal. It was early, and he hadn’t slept well. He stared at it, then up at Talia who wore an expectant look.
“Well, aren’t you going to open it?” She didn’t wait for his reply. Instead, she grabbed the packet back up and opened it herself. “You have no idea the risk I took to get these, so I hope they help. I think they will, anyway. They’re not the original documents. Just snapshots I took with my phone. I didn’t want to risk anyone finding out they were gone.”
She was rambling. Country placed his hand over hers, stopping her. “Thank you, sweets. I ‘preciate it.”
Meeting his eyes, Talia frowned. “Why aren’t you more exited? I thought you wanted these.”
Setting his spoon down, Country pushed the bowl away and then pushed his chair back and patted his thigh. His woman came willingly, sitting on his lap and curling her arm around his shoulder.
“You’re so beautiful,” he told her, cupping her face. She had that angelic look about her, so soft and pretty. And he loved the way she looked at him, always so sweet.
Concern etched a line between her brows, and she touched his grizzled jaw. “What’s wrong, baby? I thought you’d be happy.”
She knew him so well, could read him like a book. Country smiled and turned his head to place a kiss in the center of her warm palm. “How can I be happy when the woman I love is mixed up in this…shit,” he said, deliberately keeping his voice calm despite wanting to rail. Having her this close to whatever the hell was happening in and around his club scared the hell out of him.
If anything happened to her…
Let’s just say the Southern gentleman in him would be dead.
“I’m not mixed up in anything,” she assured him. “I’m as far on the outside as I can be, given the situation.”
And he heard what she wasn’t saying: he was the one who had sucked her in by asking her to dig up dirt in the first place.
He touched the papers. “This isn’t standing on the outside, sugar.” It was smack dab in the middle.
“I don’t see it that way. You’re the one who is going to go into the thick of it,” she informed him. “And if this is some war that everyone keeps whispering about, then you’re the one who will be mixed up in it. So, if anyone has cause to worry, it’s me.”
Country rubbed her arm, as much to comfort her as it was for himself. He needed to touch her, to know that she was still there and wasn’t going anywhere.
“Nothing will happen to me,” he said. God, how many times had he told her that? Countless. And he was no closer to believing it than she was. He could see it in her eyes. She was scared. If anything, she should be afraid for the people behind this attack. Because he was going to put them all in the ground. Their own personal grim reaper.
“You can’t promise something like that.” Her voice wavered, and when Country looked up into her eyes again, he could see the fine sheen of tears glossing them.
“Sugar,” he said, tucking her hair behind her ears, “I can. If those assholes cross my path, I can assure you I’ll be the only one walking away.”
“Tucker…” She sighed, withholding whatever it was she had been about to say.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. Never mind. Just…be careful. I don’t think I could handle it if anything happened to you.”
Grasping the back of her neck, Country pulled her down to him and pressed his forehead to hers. She closed her eyes, and he could feel the emotions vibrating through her body. He held her tighter, wishing he could find the exact words to alleviate her fears.
“Nothing will happen to me,” he promised her again. “And thanks to you and whatever is in these papers, we have an advantage.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so.” He patted her leg for her to stand up, and he followed. “I’m going to look these over, and then I’ll be riding out to Blake’s. You shouldn’t wait up.”
“You’re not going to wait until the morning?”
“No. Every minute counts, sugar, and we don’t have any to waste.” They were all holding their breath, waiting for the break they needed to move on this. There wasn’t a man in that club that didn’t have the taste for blood on his tongue.
And come hell or high water, Country was determined to make sure they all got that taste. And Talia might have just given them the firepower they needed to pull the trigger.
“I wish you’d at least stay for dinner,” Talia expressed. “You need to eat. I wasn’t going to make anything special, but…”
Now Country felt like an ass, but this was more important than food. “Thank you, but you don’t have to cook tonight, sugar. Besides, I just had cereal. I’ll be good for a couple hours.” Hopefully, just enough time to give Blake the rundown on whatever he found and come up with a plan of action.
“Eating is beside the point,” she said a little more forcefully, capturing Country’s attention. “Tucker, you’re always so distracted lately, and I understand why, of course. This whole thing has everyone on edge. But it’s consuming you. I feel like I hardly see you anymore, and we hardly talk.”
The more she spoke, the more animated she became, making Country realize this was something she’d been wanting to say for a while.
“Sugar—”
“No, hear me out.” She held up her hand, cutting him off. “I’m trying to be understanding and supportive, and I know you don’t intend to get yourself hurt, but the way you’re going now? That’s exactly what is going to happen. I can see it in your eyes—this is all you think about. That’s when mistakes are made. I’ve seen it too many times in the field to count.”
“So have I,” Country informed her, referring to his time in the service. “I know exactly what it takes to work a job like this.”
“I know you have, and I know you do, but you didn’t have as much to lose then as you do now. It’s different because this is personal.”
“My head isn’t clouded. I know what I’m doing.” He wouldn’t make a mistake. Because it was personal, he would be even clearer than he’d ever been. He had to be. That’s what she wasn’t understanding.
“Your skillset and resources make you the perfect person to go after these guys. I get that. But you’re not going about this as carefully as you should be,” she said with compassion. That soft look in her eyes should have eased his growing nerves, but instead it was having the opposite effect. Earlier it was the motorcycle, and now this. She had a knack for pushing his buttons today.
“I’m just asking you to slow down a little,” Talia continued. “If something were to happen to you tomorrow… I need time with you now, Tucker. I need you here as much as they need you there. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Talia…” Tucker released a weighted breath and scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Look, this is a tough time for everyone. I’m doing all I can to resolve it as quickly as possible. A lot of people are counting on me, and when it’s all over, we can go back to normal.”
“You’re talking as if the weight of all of this is on you. It’s not. You have brothers to share the burden with.”
“They don’t even know where to start. They don’t have the resources that I do. I can get more done.”
“You’re a team,” Talia argued. “We’re a team. Act like it!”
He didn’t like when people raised their voice at him, and he especially hated the way those tears hovered on her lashes. Scowling, Country turned and headed into the living room. He needed to read those papers and see if there was anything useful in them. He didn’t have time to stand around arguing.
“Don’t start crying just to get your way,” he growled. “You know that shit doesn’t work on me.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Country knew he was wrong. Talia wasn’t like that. She was the type to hold everything in, so if she was ready to cry, it was because she was feeling something strong. He should be comforting her, not accusing her.
He cringed, now mad at himself. “Look, I didn’t mean it to come out that way.”
“Oh, and how did you mean it exactly?” Talia snapped.
He didn’t turn around. Tightening his hand on the papers, Tucker stared at the floor, unwilling to fight but unwilling to give in. He needed to do this, and she would just have to understand.
“You know what, go. If you can’t spare time for me, knowing they could be some of your last, then get out. Clearly this is more important to you than us, so I won’t hold you back.”
Shit. He’d really stuck his foot in it this time. But she was being unreasonable, and when Talia came at him with that much attitude, well, Country didn’t respond well.
“Look, you want to be mad, then be mad. I can’t stop you. When this is all said and done and the threat is gone, you’ll see that I made the right choice here.”
“You’re not, Tucker,” she insisted. “I understand that those men are your family, but so am I. I’m the person you’re supposed to be sharing your life with, so doesn’t that give me some say here? Or don’t I rank high enough to matter.”
Country spun around, baring his teeth. He pointed a finger at her. “Don’t try to manipulate me with that bullshit. You know exactly where you stand.”
She lifted her arms out to her sides. “Clearly not very high, or you would be hearing me right now. Which you aren’t.”
“I’m fucking hearing you!”’ he shouted. “You just need to understand that I’m doin’ this for everyone. You’re important to me, but you’re not the only one who matters here.”
“I understand that—” Her words choked off, and she looked away, taking a deep breath and visibly pulling herself together. Country wanted to go to her, but he was so pissed off, he couldn’t make his feet move. “Look, I’m not going to argue anymore. I don’t want to fight with you, and I can see your mind is made up anyway. So just go.”
“You want me to stay, fine. I’ll stay.” Country had no intention of staying, so he didn’t even know why he put the option on the table. Maybe it was because he was so full of anger and resentment and a need to do something that fighting with her was the only way to blow some of it off.
“Oh, don’t do me any favors,” Talia threw back at him. She stalked away, her hips swinging hard. “I hope you find all your answers in there.”
“Where are you going?” he called after her.
“To bed. Alone!”
A moment later, she slammed the bedroom door and Country snarled profanities under his breath. Damn women. They always had to get the last word in.
But she had a point. They both needed some time alone tonight.
Feeling the weight of the papers in his hand, Country made a decision. He wasn’t hanging around to smooth ruffled feathers. He was going to stick to the plan, but there was one thing he was going to change: he was going to Blake’s now. They could look through the documents together.
Looking toward the bedroom, he had an inkling that he should probably try to talk things out before he left…but nah. Talia was a hothead just like him. She wouldn’t hear anything he had to say until she had some time to cool down.
So, he was going to give them both the time they needed to do just that.
Grabbing his jacket and keys, he walked out the door without another thought.