Motorcycle Man

Chapter Twenty-Four Laid Out

“Tabby, honey, please,” I whispered to the girl lying on her side in her bed, her back to me, ignoring me as I sat on the side of her bed, pleading with her.

Suffice it to say, things were not going well.

On the way up to Tack’s we stopped at a fast food drive-thru and I got her a drink, a water and a shed load of napkins. I instructed Tabby to hold the drink on her face and use the water and napkins to clean up as best she could until we got home. She did as instructed but she did it silently and she didn’t once look at me.

I’d not even come to a complete halt outside Tack’s house when her door was open and she was out. By the time I got fully parked, the car turned off and hustled in, she was behind closed doors in the bathroom.

I decided to wait it out because she couldn’t stay in there forever and it was the right decision. She’d come out, blood free but nose swollen with the fast food cup still pressed to her eye.

“I’ll get you some ice,” I offered.

She looked through me and walked to her room.

I went to get her ice.

Her door was closed and locked when I got back. I called, I knocked and doing so woke up Rush.

This was not good but it was unavoidable. Tabby would have a shiner the next morning. He’d eventually find out.

Trying to take the drama out of it, and failing seeing as it was dramatic, I shared what was happening and then watched Rush morph into a mini-me Tack Dragon.

Then he kicked his sister’s door in.

The good news was, Tabby was no longer barricaded away from those who cared about her who could take care of her after the events of that night.

The bad news was, the door would need to be repaired.

The further bad news was, Rush was weeks away from eighteen and already kind of scary.

I decided to file that away to worry about at a later date (if I was around to worry about it) and instead prioritize.

This led us to now. Tabby took the ice and set aside the fast food cup but she also instantly curled with her back facing me, her face resting on the ice, me sitting on the side of her bed begging her to talk to me. Through this, her brother was standing across the room, arms crossed on his chest, looking like he wanted to murder someone.

I decided pleading wasn’t working so I tried another tactic.

“Okay, I’ll admit, maybe I lost my cool and didn’t handle that too well,” I told her.

Finally, a response.

“You think?” she muttered to her pillow.

“Tab, my beautiful girl, he hurt you,” I whispered.

No response.

“I’m worried about you, baby, and not just because you’re going to have a black eye tomorrow,” I said softly.

Still no response.

I kept at it.

“I’m worried because you have a boyfriend. I’m worried because of his age. I’m worried because you didn’t tell me or your Dad about it.”

Her eyes slid to me and she hissed, “You’re not my Mom.”

“No, but I’m your friend.”

Her eyes slid away while she stated, “You’re not that either.”

Ouch.

That hurt but I kept trying.

Putting my hand on her, I whispered, “Honey –”

Her shoulder twitched to shake my hand off but I felt something new in the room, it wasn’t a good new and I turned to the door just as Tack ordered, “Sit your ass up, now.”

Oh boy.

Seeing as his eyes were on his daughter I knew he wasn’t talking to me but I still got to my feet beside the bed.

“Can everyone just go away?” Tabby asked in a teenage whine.

“Ass. Up. Now,” Tack demanded, coming to stand at the foot of the bed where he crossed his arms on his chest just like his son was still doing.

I assessed him.

Nope.

The dragon had awoken and he wasn’t feeling tired just yet.

This wasn’t good.

“Tack –” I started and his eyes cut to me.

“Shut your mouth.”

Ouch.

I shut my mouth and took a step away from the bed.

Tack’s eyes sliced back to his daughter and he growled, “Tabby, won’t tell you again.”

I prayed she’d sit up and my prayer was answered. She did and leveled one narrowed eye on her father. The other one was covered up by ice. This was not a good stance to take for a variety of reasons.

“What’d we talk about?” Tack barked at her the instant she got in position.

“Dad –”

“What. Did we…” he leaned in and clipped harshly, “talk about?”

“No lies,” she whispered.

“Yeah. No lies. I trusted you. And you lied.”

Instantly, her bravado melted, her face collapsed and I started to go to her as tears filled her eyes.

“Do not fuckin’ move, Red,” Tack bit at me and I stilled.

Then, carefully, I said, “Kane, maybe now’s not –”

“You got a voice in this?” Tack asked, cutting me off and before I could answer he did. “No. You fuckin’ do not. So keep your mouth shut.”

I shut my mouth as I felt pressure build in my head again.

Tack looked back at Tabby.

“Got yourself hurt,” he pointed out the obvious.

“Dad –” she whispered.

“Coulda got Tyra hurt,” he went on.

“She –” Tab started but got no further.

“She went chargin’ in there, he had a bat,” Tack informed her, her one visible eye shot to me and got wide. “Eyes to me,” Tack growled and she quickly looked back at her father. “Your ass does not leave this house for the rest of the summer,” he declared.

“Dad!” she cried, straightening up further and taking the ice away.

This was a bad idea. The swelling was up and the bruising had started to come out.

“Ice on your eye,” Tack clipped. “Keep it on. We’ll finish this tomorrow when I’m not in the mood to rip you a new asshole.”

I pulled in breath.

Uncle Marsh was right. Definitely not father of the year.

But it was none of my business. Tack made that perfectly clear.

“You, bed,” he grunted at Rush and then he looked at me. “You, my room.”

I pressed my lips together to stop from telling him to go fuck himself. Tab and Rush didn’t need to hear that. No, when I said that, it would be for him and him alone.

Then I pulled in a calming breath that didn’t calm me in the slightest, looked at Tabby and said softly, “Try to sleep, honey.”

She was chewing on her lips and just nodded.

I left the room without looking at Rush or Tack.

I didn’t know what he was doing to delay him getting to the room. I just knew when he finally got there I had commandeered my bag from the corner and put it on the bed. My toiletries from the bathroom were already in it and I was pawing through the mess on the floor to locate my stuff.

I heard the door close.

Then I heard, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I would like,” I began, not looking up and continuing to paw through the clothes on the floor, “when this blows over, for you to allow me some time to visit with Rush and Tabby so I can say good-bye.”

This was met with silence.

I located a pair of shorts, grabbed them, moved to my bag and shoved them in.

As I was doing this, the bag was swept clean out from under my hands and I watched it go sailing across the room where Tack sent it. Then I watched it land.

Then I looked up at him.

“And when I do that,” I went on like he hadn’t acted like the badass, biker jerk he was, “I’ll be doing it just them and me.”

Suddenly, with his hand wrapped around my throat, I was moving backwards across the room. My breath had stopped because my lungs had seized but my heart knew what it was doing, it liked it, so it went into overdrive.

I hit wall, not gently, not hard and Tack didn’t take his hand from my throat so I lifted mine and wrapped them around his wrist just as he dipped his head and got nose-to-nose with me.

Then he shocked the shit out of me.

“Took care ‘a my girl, way you did, I don’t know whether to kiss you or smack your ass.”

I blinked.

That wasn’t what I expected to hear.

“Jesus, fuck me, Tyra. What the fuck were you fucking thinking?”

“Let me go,” I whispered.

“Shy told me, way he went at you, he coulda caved your fuckin’ head in.”

“Let me go,” I repeated on a whisper.

“What were you thinking?” Tack kind of repeated.

I yanked at his hand at my throat which, from the minute he placed it there to now was holding me but it was just like how I hit the wall. Not gentle. Not hard.

What it was, was immovable.

“Let me go,” I said yet again.

The dragon breathed fire and roared in my face, “What were you fuckin’ thinking?”

“Quiet!” I hissed. “Tabby. Rush.”

“Don’t worry about Tab and Rush, babe. Advice, right now, you worry about you. What the fuck were you thinking?”

“Let me go!” I snapped, still yanking at his hand.

“Tell me what the fuck you were thinking!” he thundered.

“Fuck you!” I screeched. “And let me the fuck go!”

I yanked hard at his wrist. It went down and I let it go. I quickly slid away only for his arm to hook around my waist and haul me right back where he stepped in and pressed one hand into my belly and curled the fingers of the other one around the side of my neck.

And I was immobilized. Again.

“Tonight, you coulda died,” he ground out.

“I didn’t.”

“Or you coulda been made not you, he did damage but didn’t take your fuckin’ life.”

“That didn’t happen either,” I snapped.

“It could have.”

“It didn’t.”

He got nose-to-nose with me again and clipped, “It could have.”

“He hit her!” I yelled.

“She makes that your problem, you call me, I deal with him. You don’t go into an uncertain situation armed with goddamned, fucking pepper spray. Strike that, you don’t go into an uncertain situation at all!” he ended on a shout.

“Well, next time, I won’t seeing as there won’t be a next time.”

“Damn straight,” he bit off.

“So, if you don’t mind letting me go, I’ll get the rest of my shit and then go.”

“What?”

“Let me go, Tack, so I can go.”

“You’re not going,” he growled.

“I’m not?”

“Fuck no.”

“Wrong!” I shouted in his face and kept shouting. “Let me go!”

“You need to get this and you need to get it right fuckin’ now and you doin’ what you’re always fuckin’ doin’, runnin’ away and lickin’ your wounds means you will not be gettin’ this.”

“Wrong again, Tack. I don’t need to get anything. Not anymore. Badass biker lessons are over because we’re over.”

His head jerked back an inch and he whispered, “What?”

“We’re fucking over!” I shrieked and pushed at his abs with my hands, his middle rocked back but he came right back in.

“Fuck me, not this again,” he muttered.

Oh no.

Oh fucking no.

“Step back,” I hissed.

“Red –”

“Step back!” I screeched, shoving at him, he did the rocking thing again but I got no shot to get away so I was stuck. Therefore I did the only thing I could. I fought my corner (as it were). “In there,” I raised an arm straight out to the side, pointing in the direction of Tabby’s room before I poked him in his chest with my finger as best I could in the room allowed, “you made it clear where I stood. Your brunette,” I snapped and his face got hard, “also made it clear where I stood and where she stood. And I don’t like where I’m standing, Tack, so you need to let me go!”

“What’d that bitch say to you?” he growled.

“Nothing I care to repeat. Now let me go.”

“What’d she say?”

“I answered that.”

“Tyra, babe, what… did… she… say?”

“You can repeat your question over and over, Tack, but this is going to end one way. Me leaving. So give me one last thing, let’s avoid the scary biker dude hassle before I go.”

“I see you’re pissed, Red, but we can’t work this shit out unless you talk to me so I know what the fuck I’m dealin’ with.”

“This is not a problem seeing as we don’t have anything to work out.”

I watched him suck breath in through his nose at the same time watching him get control.

And I knew he had control when he whispered, “Baby,” his hand slid up to wrap around my ear, “we been through this. You don’t get to decide that.”

“Wrong again,” I whispered back, staring him straight in the eye.

Tack ignored that and went back to our earlier topic.

“What’d she say to you?”

“Step back.”

“What’d she say to you?”

“Step… back,” I hissed.

His control slipped and he bit back, “What’d that bitch fuckin’ say to you?”

Right. He wanted to know? I’d tell him.

“We enjoy a tag team with you and, seeing as I’m your old lady, I get your cock or your mouth. In my oh-so-elevated position as a hanger-on of the Club, I get to choose.”

“Fuck, darlin’, she’s fuckin’ with your head,” he stated dismissively.

“She says you like it like that.”

His brows shot together. “Say again?”

I didn’t say again. I shared further.

“And she said she should know since she gave it to you like that.”

“She said she gave it to me like that?” he repeated after me.

“Yep.”

“She said she gave it to me like that.” This was a statement, not a question, but it was still a question, just a question that was a whole lot scarier.

Scary or not, I still answered, “Yep.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know where,” I returned. “Where do you have your threesomes?”

“No, babe, where were you when she said this shit to you?”

“Outside the Compound.”

“Standin’ on Chaos?”

His words didn’t entirely make sense but I still got the jist so I replied, “Yep.”

“Standin’ on Chaos, talkin’ to an old lady, she spewed that fucked up shit at you,” he stated and suddenly, I didn’t know why, but the change in him penetrated my anger and I realized I’d been wrong.

Very wrong.

The dragon might have woken.

But he hadn’t yet breathed fire.

And I was about to learn that when a dragon breathed fire, it wasn’t about noise, heat and flames.

It was about quiet, control and annihilation.

“Yes,” I whispered, staring into his eyes.

He stepped back, his hands moving from me but one went to his back pocket and he pulled out his phone.

Stunned, freaked and now a little more than scared, as the heavy air in the room pressed into my skin, I stood pressed against the wall and watched him hit buttons. I then watched him put it to his ear.

I then watched him speak.

“Dog, find BeeBee. I don’t know where the fuck she is but find her. When you do, tell that bitch her ass doesn’t get near Ride or Chaos. Not again. Not ever. Make that clear in a way she does not mistake it. Then you share that shit wide, brother. BeeBee is gone. She shows her face again, you or any of the brothers, make a statement.” He paused to listen to Dog as I caught my breath at his words. “She got hold of Tyra. Filled her head with shit. Lied about what she gave me. On Chaos. To Tyra’s face.” This was an explanation that led to another pause. “Yeah, brother, on Chaos direct in the face of my old lady.” Again a pause then, “Right. Later.”

He disconnected, shoved the phone back in his pocket and locked eyes with me.

“You will not see Beebee again,” he declared and I sucked in dearly needed breath.

When I accomplished this feat, I asked, “What does ‘make a statement’ mean?”

“It means, that bitch is stupid enough to come back, shit will rain down on her and she will not be stupid again.”

Oh boy.

“What does that mean?” I whispered.

Tack did not whisper. “Whatever it needs to mean to get that message across.”

It was then I realized I was shaking.

But Tack wasn’t done. Far from it.

I knew this when he kept talking.

“Earlier, you pissed me off because you made assumptions and you hung up on me. I don’t like to get hung up on. Don’t do it again.”

I didn’t move except to keep shaking.

Tack didn’t care. He kept speaking.

“I already told you once, no good woman deserves that shit. I’ve fucked BeeBee, you know it, we do not need to go back there and you sure as fuck are not gonna drag me back there every time something crawls up your ass. Now, with the shit she did, that will not be a problem. She didn’t corner you on Chaos without someone at your back, which, if you had someone taking your back she would not have said dick or even fuckin’ looked at you, you’d see her again. Now, you won’t. And I’ll be havin’ words with Hop about takin’ off and leavin’ you behind, knowin’ he left you open for that bitch to get at you.”

I was glad I wouldn’t be present at that conversation.

“But, bottom line,” Tack continued, “I don’t do that shit. I told you that about me right off the fuckin’ bat. You got stung when that shit went down when we started, you didn’t get over it and you took that shit out on me. Now this is twice you’ve taken that shit out on me. Don’t take that shit out on me again, Tyra. Face it, process it, deal with it, set it aside.”

He was wrong, in a way.

I didn’t inform him of that.

I just swallowed but said not a word.

Tack kept going.

“As for Hop, he don’t tell me where to put my dick, I return the favor. Mitzi can be a pain in the ass. She can also be a ball-buster. Hop does not like gettin’ his balls busted. They got problems at home. How he deals with that is not my business. It’s not yours. It’s theirs. They deal with it, we roll with it. That said, he is not the only member of Chaos who gets his rocks off when he wants with who he wants and that might not be his old lady. You workin’ at the garage, bein’ with me, you might see shit like you did today. You ignore it. You don’t share it. You can tell me, anyone else, no. That’s an absolute, babe. Never. Every woman connected to the Club knows it. This is a brotherhood and we have each other’s backs in everything. Everything. But there are boys in that Club who don’t mind bein’ claimed. Brick, when he’s got a woman, is one. Dog is another. I’m another. By that I mean, we got a woman, we don’t stray. Get that now so we don’t have to talk about this shit again.”

I held his eyes and remained silent.

“Now’s the time where you assure me you get me,” Tack prompted.

“I get you, Tack,” I whispered.

“Good,” he returned instantly. “As for tonight, because Naomi’s a bitch, rides Tabby’s ass and always has, we’ve had problems. Tabby acts out. Her and me, we had a deal. I get her clear of her Mom, she gets her shit together. She did not do that, she bore the consequences of it, you nearly bore unacceptable consequences of it and I had to clean up both of your messes. That did not make me happy. My daughter gettin’ hit by some motherfucker way too fuckin’ old for her did not make me happy. Bein’ called away from what I was doin’, which was important, to deal with your and her shit also did not make me happy. In there,” he pointed toward Tabby’s room then his arm fell, “I was pissed. Serious as shit. When that happens, you gotta roll with that shit too.”

I again didn’t move or speak.

Tack again didn’t care and kept going.

“As for the shit you pulled tonight, you didn’t duck, I’d be in an ER right now hopin’ to fuckin’ Christ that you made it out at all much less you makin’ it out as you. I think you get you mean somethin’ to me so the threat of that is not somethin’ I like either. Do not let that shit happen again, Tyra. You got a situation, you call your man. You do not call in the boys and use your position to pull the shit you pulled tonight.”

“My position?” I asked quietly.

“I’ve got my cut, I’ve got the gavel and you’re my woman. Those were recruits. You call and they don’t haul their asses outta bed in the middle of the fuckin’ night to do your bidding, they might answer to me. They know they don’t wanna answer to me. You gave them zero choice and swung their shit out there a lotta ways. Silver linin’ for you, the boys, even the recruits, save Shy who’s sharper than the rest of them, think that stunt you pulled is the shit. But those brothers do not have the cloud of the possibility of you permanently suckin’ your food through a straw still hangin’ over them. They can think it’s the shit. I do not.”

At that, I strongly suspected it was Shy who called in the boys.

I didn’t ask for confirmation though.

I didn’t say anything.

When I didn’t, Tack asked, “Now, are we clear?”

“We’re clear,” I answered softly.

He held my eyes and he did this a while.

Then the dragon went to sleep and I knew this because the hard went out of his face, it softened, the air lightened all around us and the edge was gone from his voice when he said gently, “All right, baby, now come here.”

“No,” I whispered.

“What?” he whispered back.

“We’re clear,” I repeated then continued. “Very clear, Kane. So right now I’m going to bed and I’m doing it on the couch. Tomorrow, I want to be here in case Tabby’s not still pissed at me so I can look after her. And tomorrow, after I sleep on it, I’ll decide what I’m going to do about you.”

He lifted a hand toward my neck but I jerked my head away and stepped swiftly to the side and out from the wall.

He pivoted with me, his hand dropping.

“Red, baby, what the –?”

“I told you, I needed time,” I whispered. “You’re going to give it to me.”

“I just laid that shit out,” he reminded me.

“Some of it, yes,” I agreed and his head jerked slightly but I kept talking. “And I need to process that. I’ll tell you my decision tomorrow.”

“Babe –”

“Tomorrow, Tack.”

The softness shifted out of his face right before he declared, “You are not sleepin’ under my roof on the fuckin’ couch.”

“Okay, then, I’ll go home.”

“You are also not goin’ home.”

I held his eyes.

Then I whispered, “Fine,” tore my gaze from his and walked to the unmade bed. I flipped off my flip-flops, pulled down my jeans, stepped out of them and shoved my hands under my shirt to yank my bra off with my tee still on.

Then I climbed into his bed, pulled the covers up and settled on my side, my back to him.

I heard nothing for a while then I heard movement. I saw him round the bed and rolled to my other side, away from him. The bed shifted when he sat on it and I heard boots dropping. The bed shifted again when he got up and I heard the whisper of clothes and a belt buckle hit the floor. And last, the bed shifted again when he got in it.

Then the room was plunged into darkness.

About a second after that, just as I expected he’d do, he rolled right into me and pulled me snug and tight to his front, his body curving into mine, forcing mine to curve with his.

I let him do what I expected he’d do anyway and stared through the dark at nothing.

“What else you need laid out, Red?” he asked the back of my hair quietly.

I didn’t reply.

“It is not cool BeeBee got to –”

I cut him off, begging, “Please don’t say her name in this bed.”

“Fuck,” he muttered. “She say somethin’ else to you?”

I again didn’t reply.

“It’s clear she marked you, babe, what else did she say to you?”

“She was bleeding,” I whispered.

“That bitch was bleeding?” Tack asked.

“Tabby,” I pushed out then my breath hitched.

“Fuck,” Tack repeated and his arm got tight as his body pressed closer.

I felt the tears fill my eyes but I took deep breaths through my nose to fight them back and while I did this, Tack’s hand searched and found mine. When it did, he forced his fingers through mine, lacing them and he pressed our hands close to my chest.

“Took care of my girl,” he murmured.

I deep breathed.

“She’s safe, you’re safe, he’s taken care of, baby. It’s all good now.”

I kept deep breathing.

I felt his face in the back of my hair where he whispered, “Tyra, it’s all good now.”

I wasn’t so sure about that.

Still, I whispered back, “It’s all good now.”

“Sleep, we’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Goodie. Something not to look forward to.

Tack’s fingers tensed in mine as his arm gave me a squeeze.

He relaxed both and urged, “Sleep, baby.”

I sighed.

And, surprisingly, I fell asleep before Tack.

But I didn’t have good dreams.