My lips curved into a smile.
Then I relaxed into my man, my breath evened out, my weight against him going heavy, pressed deep into his side, wrapped around him, in sleep proving something he was missing in his sleep but that was okay since he already knew.
He was stuck with me too.
Shy felt the vibe, he opened his eyes and felt Tabby’s weight pressed against him.
Carefully, he curled up, kissed the top of her hair, then slid out from under her sleeping body. Finding his feet by the side of the bed, he watched his girl adjust, curl into his pillow, never losing sleep.
He wanted to pull her hair away from her face so he could see it, feel the softness run through his fingers, but he didn’t want to chance waking her. So he left her in his bed and moved from the room.
When he hit the common room, he saw most of his brothers were congregated around the bar. Hop was sitting on a stool, Tack standing close to him.
Shy approached and when he got close Tack asked, “She doin’ okay?”
“Sleepin’,” Shy answered.
“She’s doin’ okay,” Tack muttered.
“She’ll be out awhile, but I still wanna have this shit done and get back to her before she wakes up,” Shy went on.
Tack jerked up his chin, Hop slid off the stool, and they moved out to their bikes, Tack on his phone.
They waited until Tack finished his calls before they started up and roared out, Tack in the lead, Hop and Shy riding side by side behind him.
Tack and his lieutenants arrived at the rendezvous point first. They were off their bikes and waiting when the first vehicle pulled up.
An unmarked cop car carrying Mitch Lawson and Brock Lucas, both detectives with the DPD. Both tight with Tack due to complicated history, this history complicated because it had to do with women and, in Lawson’s case, kids.
Shy watched the men exit the car and approach and it wasn’t lost on Shy that both men, even behind shades, clocked the bandage at his neck.
Lawson looked to Tack. “Word is, last night, you bought yourself a problem.”
“My daughter’s best friend got herself a habit. No supplier is a good one with that habit but she still managed to pick the worst,” Tack confirmed.
Lucas tipped his head to Shy. “She learn a lesson?”
“We’ll see,” Tack muttered as a gray Camaro made its approach and all eyes turned to watch Hawk Delgado park and fold out of his vehicle. His right-hand man, Jorge, folded himself out of the passenger side.
Unlike Lawson and Lucas, as he moved to them, Delgado’s face was not assessing. He was pissed.
When he stopped at the group, eyes locked to Tack, he stated, “After the meet, we have words.”
“Not a big fan of collateral damage,” Tack returned, his way of saying there would be no words after the meet. He did what he did and Hawk had to deal.
“You needed that girl, you saw Elvira there, you knew we were working a job, all you had to do was call me,” Hawk shot back.
“Do not shit me,” Tack bit out. “You’re workin’ a job, it’s about the job, and your job was not about that girl. Fifty-fifty chance you’d let that girl swing and her time was up. She means somethin’ to my daughter. I had to move and I didn’t have the option of takin’ any of the limited time I had to negotiate with you.”
Shy watched Hawk’s mouth get tight which meant he conceded the point.
“Right,” Lucas cut in to change the subject before the mood deteriorated further. “It’s not a secret Chaos has been havin’ problems with Benito for a while. It’s also not a secret DPD has always had problems with him since he’s a piece-of-shit scumbag. What was a secret until last night was that Delgado’s got somethin’ workin’ with this and it was blown. Now Benito’s gonna be more determined to carve into Chaos territory, and Hawk’s out there, seein’ as they’ve probably already traced Elvira to his operation.” Lucas trained his shades on Delgado. “Not to mention, Malik is all kinds of pissed because Elvira was made before you did whatever you’re gettin’ paid to do, you didn’t discuss her involvement with him, and she’s now seriously vulnerable.”
“She’s got protection and part of that is sleepin’ with a cop,” Delgado returned. “The rest of it is me.”
This was formidable. They all knew that.
But so was Benito. They all knew that too.
“Now we know the lay of the land,” Lawson pointed out. “We also know that the time has come to put an end to Benito’s operation.”
“That time came about two years ago,” Hop threw out.
“Not gonna argue that,” Lucas stated. “But that didn’t happen and I think it hasn’t escaped anybody that this shit was simmering. Now the situation is all kinds of hot.”
“Extreme,” Tack agreed, then declared, “War.”
“Chaos and Delgado,” Shy added, looking at Hawk. “I think, man, Benito’s more pissed at you, and he’s a weasel. Have a mind to your back.”
“I always do,” Delgado replied.
“Then have a mind to everything,” Shy went on. “Weasels are slick motherfuckers who can go underground. He might not come at your back. He might dig up from underneath.”
“Not tellin’ me somethin’ I don’t know,” Delgado said.
“What he’s tellin’ you that you don’t know is this is now a team effort,” Tack announced. “That’s why we called this meeting. You’re a target. Elvira’s a target. Chaos is a target. Benito’s an anything-goes man, so right now it is all eyes, all ears, all hands, all firepower…” Tack looked to Lucas and Lawson and finished, “… all in.”
Shy looked through the men and was not surprised when not one said anything.
Tacit agreement.
Lucas and Lawson might be cops, but their bond with Tack was such that it wasn’t just about taking down a drug-dealing porn producer. With Chaos in Benito’s sights, it was more.
Delgado and Tack were always butting heads, but Tack took Delgado’s woman’s back during an intense situation, which meant he also took Delgado’s. In return, Delgado took Tack’s back when things got extreme with Cherry. Shit like that didn’t go down without ties forming. Ties that bind.
Thus, with no further words, the meeting ended. Jorge and Delgado moved to the Camaro, Lucas and Lawson angled into the unmarked cop car.
The three brothers watched them leave, and when they lost sight, they moved to huddle.
“Rush is not gonna be happy about this shit,” Hop noted, and Tack sighed.
“Already isn’t. We had words,” Tack told them. “He thinks we should lay it on Lucas and Lawson and back off. I told him that’s not gonna happen. He knows this is gonna get messy. Says it proves his point.”
“He’s wrong,” Shy remarked, and Tack looked at him, nodding once.
“He is,” Tack muttered then, “He’ll see.” He lifted a hand, curled it around the back of his neck, looked into the distance and finished, “We’ll all see.”
They would. That message was made clear last night.
Take Natalie, declare war.
They took Natalie.
They had war.
Now it was only deciding who would strike first.
“Need to get back to Tab,” Shy murmured, Tack dropped his hand and looked at Shy.
“Right,” he replied then Shy watched him draw in another breath before he stated, “She’s mine, but I get she’s yours in a way I don’t have anymore. Respect, but I’m askin’ you to carry the burden and let her breathe easy.”
“She’s yours, Tack, which means she’s not dumb. That bitch called her direct.” Shy lifted a hand to indicate the bandage on his neck. “Last night was not lost on her. She knows we bought trouble.”
“I get that, brother. I’m not sayin’ that. I’m sayin’,
you
carry the burden and let her breathe easy. Are you getting me?”
Shy held his gaze before he nodded.
Tack drew in another breath, this one he didn’t hide that, when he let it out, it was relieved.
“Lanie,” Hop muttered, bringing the matter back to hand that they needed to get back to their women.
Tack turned and nodded to Hop.
“Right,” he repeated. “Later, brothers. Have a mind, it’s early, he won’t move this quick, but watch your backs.”
Shy nodded. Hop did too.
They swung on their bikes and roared off to get to their women.
* * *
Tack Allen watched his brothers go.
He didn’t move as he did. He didn’t move for long minutes after they disappeared.
He stood there knowing.
Tyra, Tabby, Lanie, Sheila, the entire family.
Benito Valenzuela was hardcore cracked. Void. Empty. No emotion. No loyalty. No nothing.
Empty of everything but greed.
A man who felt nothing but greed, he gave you only one option for leverage.
But he had many.
“Fuck,” Tack whispered, closed his eyes, felt the pit weigh heavy in his gut and opened his eyes.
It wasn’t over.
It was never fucking over.
“Fuck,” he repeated, moved to his bike, swung his leg over and roared off to get to his woman.
* * *
Shy opened the door to his room in the Compound, stepped through, and stopped dead at what he saw.
Tabby was sitting cross-legged in his bed wearing his T-shirt. Her head was bowed and she was staring at her phone, her profile a mask of disbelief.
He closed the door behind him, calling, “Tabby?”
Slowly, her head turned his way, the disbelief in her face cleared, her beautiful blue eyes started shining just as her perfect rosy lips started curling up.
Then her body started shaking.
That was when he heard her giggles.
Shy froze at the sight.
There she was, his girl, after a night like last night, sitting in his bed in his room…
laughing
.
Oh yeah.
That was his girl.
On this thought, through her laughter, she forced out, “Shy, darlin’, I just got off the phone with Ty-Ty…” She trailed off shaking her head, giggling some more but before he could prompt her, she continued, “She just gave me the latest scoop on Lanie and Hop and, honey, you… would not…
believe
.”
She then told him what he wouldn’t believe and, in telling, proved she didn’t know Hop all that well.
Because Shy believed it.
Every word.
Two weeks later…
I swung off Shy’s bike, my eyes to the view.
Denver was lit up, sprawling left to right but beyond, nothing but darkness.
All of it beautiful.
I moved to the edge of the mountain road, my cheeks stinging from the cold that whipped them as I rode up to elevation with Shy, me where I belonged.
On the back of my man’s bike.
I felt him move in behind me. He wrapped his arms around my chest, then I felt his lips against the top of my hair.
“What’s on my girl’s mind?” he asked quietly.
He
so
knew me.
“Natalie,” I replied, lifting my hands and curling my fingers around his forearms.
My friend had fallen off the wagon, not that she ever really got on.
It didn’t take long.
It also broke my heart.
After that, I broke ties. It killed, but I couldn’t save her so I had to save my peace of mind. The problem with that was, it wasn’t working.
I felt his lips leave my hair but his jaw replaced them.
We stared at the view silently.
I broke our silence.
“You gave her a chance, she blew it. Went out and scored. You cut her loose and now, I don’t know.” My hands gripped his arms tight. “Shy, I don’t know and as ticked as I am at her, I’m worried.”
I felt him heave a breath, his chest expanding, pressing into my back.
“You know what I know?” he asked.
“What do you know?” I asked back.
“I know you can spend your energy and head space worryin’, and a bitch who was minutes away from being force fed pussy goes out and scores is not worth it.”
I closed my eyes.
He was
so
right.
“You wanna know what else I know?” he asked.
I opened my eyes.
“What do you know?” I asked back.
“No amount of your energy or head space is gonna change her. She’s lost, Tabby, in a way it’s a miracle if she’s ever found. Before you use yourself up, cut her loose. Don’t just say it to her, to me, to yourself.
Do it
.”
I swallowed.
Shy was right again.
Therefore I nodded.
His arms tightened and he pressed his lips into the top of my hair.
“You wanna know what else I know?” he asked.
“What do you know, honey?”
“My girl is gonna marry me.”
I blinked.
His arms broke free from my grip and he turned me. When I was face-to-face with him, he dug into his pocket. When his hand came out, he grabbed mine and slid the marquise diamond on my left ring finger.
I stared.
It was stunning, beautiful. Not too big that it would catch on stuff and make me worry. Not too small it didn’t say what it needed to say.
And what it said was what the sapphire earrings right then in my ears said:
I was loved by a badass biker.
I held my hand in front of my face, fingers extended, Shy’s hand wrapped around mine, thumb to the base of the ring, and I stared through the dark at its beauty.
“You didn’t get to go with but picking this out was too important, so I took Cherry,” he told me and my startled eyes moved to his face.
There it was again.
I was loved.
“She said that would be your thing so that’s what you got,” he finished.
“It is,” I said softly. “It is
exactly
my thing.”
He grinned at me. “And that’s what you got.”
I stared at him then right out of my mouth came, “I’ve wanted you since I was sixteen, Shy Cage.”
Shy’s hand moved to slide up my neck and stopped, cupping my jaw.
“Then I’m slow on the uptake, though wantin’ that would be illegal. But I’ve wanted you since you were nineteen and you stuck your tongue in my mouth,” he returned, then muttered, “Thinkin’ on it, even before.”
“I didn’t stick my tongue in your mouth. I touched the tip to yours to show you what you were missing,” I corrected, and his grin got bigger.