Own the Wind

Chapter Twenty

Stuck with Me

Early the next morning…

I heard my cell ringing, my eyes blinked open as I felt Shy’s hand on my behind give a reflexive squeeze.

I sleepily noticed it was still dark.

My cell kept ringing and Shy growled, “What the fuck? Who’s callin’ at three in the fuckin’ morning?”

I didn’t know but to find out, I had to get my cell, and I also had to get my cell because any call at three in the morning was a call you had to take. Unfortunately, this meant I had to roll off him and away, which I did, reaching toward the nightstand. He rolled with me so his front was pressed to my side, his thigh between my legs. I grabbed my phone, looked groggily at the display, and, at what I saw, sleep left me completely.

I slid my finger on the screen and put it to my ear.

“Natalie,” I greeted.

It was the first time I’d heard from her since we had our big fight.

“Tabby,” she replied, her voice small, scared, a way she never sounded and it sent shivers crawling over my skin. “I’m in trouble.”

Oh no.

I knew Shy felt my panic because I was no longer holding my phone to my ear. Shy had taken my phone and he was pressed into me in order to reach out and switch on the light.

I winced in the sudden brightness as Shy spoke.

“You got Shy. What’s goin’ on?” he said into the phone.

I blinked to adjust my eyes then stared at his face which was scary hard.

“Right, where are you?” he asked and his tone sent my hand shooting up to curl around his jaw. His eyes came to me, they were scary hard too, and I held my breath. He kept talking. “How many are there with you?”

Oh no.

No!

“Firepower?” he asked.

Firepower? God!

“Okay, hang tight,” Shy ordered as he rolled over me and got to his feet. I rolled to my side as he kept ordering. “Do not say anything stupid. Do not do anything stupid. But stall ’em. I’m makin’ the calls, the brothers are rollin’ out. It could be thirty, it’ll probably be forty-five.”

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and searched the floor frantically for my nightie even as Shy wound things up with Natalie.

“Woman, hear me. This phone is comin’ with me so you can’t call and freak Tab any more than she’s already freaked. Be smart, for fuckin’ once in your life. I’m takin’ care of your shit once. This is the only chance you get. Don’t blow it now and know you won’t get the chance to blow it later. You fuck up again, even somethin’ not this big, you’re done for Tabby. Hear me?”

This big?

She must have heard him for he touched his thumb to my screen and commenced dressing.

I had my nightie on, and since he didn’t say anything to me, just started tugging on clothes, I called, “Uh… hello? Freaking out here, Shy.”

He looked at me and did the worst thing he could do at that moment.

He took two long strides to me, lifted his hands and cupped my jaws, one hand still holding my phone. Then he dipped his face so he was all I could see.

Okay, I knew this was serious.

Now I knew it was serious.

“She’s hit bottom, and I’m seein’ from your girl that when she does somethin’, she goes big,” he explained.

“Wh… what? What’s she done?” I stammered.

“Not a lot of time. You need to get dressed and to the Compound, which is where I’ll be takin’ her after I get her ass. It’s also the safest place for you if there’s blowback.”

Blowback! I freaking hated that word.

“Shy—”

He cut me off to lay it out for me. “She got in deep with a dealer. She owes him big. He’s takin’ his money back from her in pussy and when I say that I mean, her eating it, hers getting fucked, and all of this happening on camera. She’s right now dolled up and ready to give her first performance on a porno set.”

“They film pornos in Denver at three in the morning?” I breathed stupidly, focusing on that rather than the fact my best friend was preparing to make her film debut and not in a good way, and Shy stared at me.

Then he said, “Babe, pisses me off fuckin’ more than I am already that you didn’t know that and now you do. This bitch of yours, she’s not teachin’ you any more of these lessons. She shared with me she doesn’t feel like girl on girl or takin’ cock from a guy she doesn’t know and havin’ all that on film. She wants an extraction which means, she’s your girl, she gets one.” His hands pressed gently into my jaws as he emphasized, “One, Tab. I know these assholes, and Chaos is gonna buy a shitload of trouble for intervening.”

Suddenly, I had scores of worries and one was my mind suddenly dredging up the word firepower.

“What do you mean, Chaos is gonna buy trouble?” I asked but I knew.

Crap, I knew.

I was going to kill Natalie.

“That, I’m not gonna take the time to explain,” he replied, yanked me to him, kissed the top of my hair, let me go, turned, nabbed his boots, his tee, and prowled out the bedroom door.

I stared at the opened door. In order not to focus on the matter at hand which had my heart racing, I took in something that never failed to calm me.

I looked around our bedroom, taking in our new kick-ass bedroom furniture (my old stuff was in the guest room, Shy’s stuff was at the dump).

I loved our room. I’d gotten inspired. It was totally biker meets biker babe from birth. Black furniture. Deep purple sheets. Chrome accents. A black-and-white picture of me and Shy on his bike, taking off from the Compound, my arms around him, my chin to his shoulder, Shy looking badass cool in mirrored shades.

Sheila had taken that picture and I’d had it blown up to nearly poster size, framed in a black-and-chrome frame and it was hanging over the dresser. It might seem conceited to have a big poster of us looking awesome cool on our bedroom wall but I didn’t care. I thought it was the bomb.

Shy did too. I’d kept him away as I was doing up the room and when I unveiled it, he’d shown me he loved the whole thing by starting a marathon session that began on our purple sheets, moved to the floor and ended on that dresser. There was a handprint on the glass of that poster, mine, put there when my hand flew back to steady me as Shy gave me an orgasm. I didn’t have it in me to get out the Windex. I wanted to remember giving Shy a room he liked that much for a good long while. That handprint might stay there forever.

The last touch to the room was a wonky ball of pressed-together Christmas candy wrappers that I’d had put in one of those cases where you normally display signed baseballs. They were the wrappers Shy had cleaned up after my Hitchcock marathon right before what was not officially but still was (kind of) our first date. I’d found that ball of wrappers and saved it. I’d buried the reasons why in my pit of denial but I’d kept it and then had it mounted when we moved into our house. It was sitting on my nightstand.

When he saw it, Shy didn’t celebrate that in his normal way. He just cupped my jaw, slid his thumb tenderly along my cheekbone, held my eyes, his soft and warm as he muttered, “You were gone for me too.”

He was right. I didn’t admit it at the time. It was crazy.

But I’d saved a ball of discarded Christmas candy wrappers.

I was gone for him too

Firepower.

Shy took off with zero word from me that I wanted him to do so. He just went off to save Natalie, dragging the brothers with him.

He was off saving Natalie from a drug dealing porn kingpin.

Firepower.

With trembling but quick hands, I dressed thinking if Shy got hurt, if any of my boys got hurt because my best friend was an idiot, no holds barred, I was going to go apocalyptic on her ass.

Two hours later, I was in the deserted Compound, drinking coffee I’d made and fighting back the urge to mainline tequila when Rush stalked in.

My brother looked like my father, save for the fact he got Mom’s light blue eyes which, fortunately for Rush, were one of the few good things she had to give.

Rush had always looked like Dad but, as time passed, he was looking more like him. He’d always been tall but lean, like Shy. Dad’s frame held more bulk. As Rush matured, and especially recently, being a recruit and spending time with the brothers in the storage room at the back of Ride’s auto supply store that held a bunch of weight equipment, his body was bulking out like Dad’s. It had more power and his muscles were more defined.

He was my brother and I was prejudiced, of course, but I also knew with the amount of dating he did and the fact that if he didn’t want to be alone he simply wasn’t, he was hot. He was also lucky that he was one of those hot guys who was hot young and got hotter as he aged.

Just like, from photographic evidence and memories, Dad.

I hadn’t seen him much recently, because being a recruit for Chaos wasn’t easy. They were on call to the Club 24/7 and still had to do their stints at the store and the garage.

Making matters worse for Rush, he only had one other recruit to help bear the load. The boys had christened the new guy “Joker” mostly because he didn’t smile often and never laughed. Club names were random and often ironic. Case in point, Shy was named Shy by the Club because back in the day, with women especially, he was anything but shy.

Although I didn’t see Rush much, Shy told me he was “settling in,” though he didn’t explain this phenomenon. He just said, “Doesn’t bitch, gets shit done, is always available, and keeps his mouth shut. He doesn’t share but way he’s actin’, it means somethin’ to him to pass that test. Both him and Joker are goin’ all out. They’ll get through, get their cuts, their ink, and, the way they’re showin’ their loyalty, it’ll be good having them at the table.”

This was positive news, so I left it at that, which was good because I knew Shy didn’t intend to give me more even if I wanted it.

But right then, I didn’t feel positive vibes mostly because my brother looked like he wanted to kill someone.

He, also like Dad, had a short fuse, and looking at his face, I knew the sparks were close to the dynamite.

This meant that Shy and Dad were likely close to the blast.

“Your girl,” he pointed at me, stalking behind the bar and heading toward where I sat on a stool, “is a pain in the fuckin’ ass.”

Not a good opening.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, as he reached up to a shelf and brought down the tequila.

He turned to me. “No.”

Crap!

“Are Dad and Shy okay?” I pressed.

“They were when I left,” he answered ominously. My heart tripped and before I could ask another question, Joker walked in.

I’d met Joker but I didn’t know him mostly because when I was around, he was busy.

That didn’t mean I hadn’t noticed he was seriously good-looking in a scary way that reminded me more of Lee Nightingale than Chaos. It wasn’t learned. It didn’t come from dealing with a tough life. It was a part of him.

Joker was tall, built, not bulky but also not lean, just muscled in a powerful way. He held his body and moved like he knew exactly what his frame was capable of and what it was capable of was a lot.

He also had a natural confidence that was kind of bizarre, considering he was younger than Rush, who was twenty-six. He had a thick head of black hair with more than a small amount of wave to it. He wore it long, hanging in his face and down to his shoulders. He also had a full beard that, unlike most of the brothers who sported facial hair, he kept trimmed. The beard made him appear older than his years. The tan he had made him look weathered and again older than he was.

But it was his steel-gray eyes that told the tale. That steel was like a shield, holding everyone back from the mysteries that lay within. This was kind of a weird coincidence, since his name was Carson Steele. And I didn’t know him, but I knew from those eyes there was no doubt there were mysteries that lay within.

Watching him stalk in, I thought, although I’d never tell Shy, Carson “Joker” Steele was more than a little intriguing.

At that present moment, however, he was also more than a little frightening.

He prowled around the outside of the bar, eyes glued to Rush, and he stopped four feet from me.

He then growled, “I do not like this shit.”

Uh-oh.

“I don’t like it either, brother,” Rush agreed before he took a slug of tequila.

Joker’s eyes raked through me before he strode across the room and disappeared through the door at the back.

The good news was, his eyes raked through me, and it seemed he was just generally angry, not angry at me specifically because my best friend was addicted to drugs, unfortunately chose a dealer who also made porn films and also unfortunately called me in order to extricate herself from a bad situation that involved cameras, sets, costumes, and fluffers.

The bad news was, I didn’t know what was going on but I did know it wasn’t good.

I turned back to my brother to see he was taking another pull of tequila, and I instantly changed my mind about what I was going to say next. First, I was going to ask for the tequila bottle. Second, after I took a hearty slug (or three), I’d ask what the heck was going on.

I didn’t get the chance. The door to the Compound opened, and I felt my eyes get wide when Elvira walked in.

Uh-oh again.

Elvira.

In normal circumstances, this could mean anything.

In the present circumstances, this could only mean bad things.

I’d known Elvira for years. She was a petite, curvaceous black woman who excelled at three things. She really knew how to dress. She put together things called “boards,” which were plates filled with fruit, cheese, veggies, and other stuff that didn’t sound all that exciting but the way Elvira did it, it was. And if she cared about you, blood, color, religion, politics all melted away, you became her sister in all that entailed and she let you know it. I knew because Tyra had that from her. I hadn’t quite been let in but then again, Elvira usually performed her adoptions when you were in the throes of a serious drama.

Something like what was happening right now.

It was also important to know she worked for Hawk Delgado.

I’d known Hawk for years too. He was a friend of Dad’s and around, not often, but enough.

I didn’t know what he did for a living, but since he routinely wore cargo pants and often sported a loaded gun belt in full view but had no badge, I had a sneaking suspicion he was either a commando or a mercenary. Though I couldn’t say what the difference was between those two, I just knew a man was one or the other. I also knew Hawk Delgado could totally join the cast of The Expendables but it was more likely he would act as a consultant on the film because Hawk Delgado didn’t playact badass. He just was one.

The presence of Elvira wearing a fabulous wrap-around green dress and spike-heeled chocolate brown boots while strolling into the Compound at five o’clock in the morning meant she wasn’t there for the usual reasons she was there: to eat, drink, and raise her brand of hell alongside a bunch of bikers.

Her expression and the phone held to her ear, not to mention the words she was snapping into it said finding fun while dressed to kill was not her current mission.

“I’m tellin’ you, Hawk, Tack kicked me out. I was all set, everything was good, then badass biker boy didn’t hesitate to blow my cover and send me on my way.”

Her cover?

She glanced at me, hauled her ass up on the stool next to mine, moved her gaze to Rush, and slapped her hand on the bar. This meant tequila, STAT.

She also kept talking on the phone.

“Those biker boys strolled in packin’. I knew no good things come to those who suddenly garner Chaos attention at three thirty in the freakin’ morning on a porno set and I was right. They made no bones about stating their intentions. They wanted that new girl. Those boys ambled in full force, the whole freakin’ Club showed, interrupted everything and launched right in, starting negotiations. Not surprisingly, Benito didn’t feel like negotiating. He wouldn’t accept a Chaos marker. He wouldn’t accept Chaos doin’ him a needed favor since you and me know Benito keeps his shit tight and he’s got no strings dangling so he don’t need no favor. He wouldn’t accept anything they were offering. He wouldn’t even accept payment with interest for what the girl owed him. The girl was goin’ to work. Seein’ she owes him thirteen thousand with interest, she’s got a lot of work to do. Therefore, negotiations had reached a stalemate and with those boys, well… you know.”

I closed my eyes.

Thirteen thousand. With interest.

All for drugs.

God, Natalie.

“Told you she was a pain in the ass,” Rush muttered.

My brother was not wrong.

Elvira kept talking and I opened my eyes to watch her.

“That’s when things got hot and I tried to hold my cover by not leavin’. Tack was tryin’ to be subtle then he got impatient with subtle when I didn’t move my ass so he upped and blew my cover in order to get me out of there before negotiations totally broke down. When I left, Benito gave me a look that was uncomfortable. Tack sent me on my way tellin’ Benito that if anything happened to me, shit that was already makin’ plans for the winter would seriously go south and on my heels he sent the Chaos recruits. I’m thinkin’ you know what that means.”

I didn’t know what it meant and I didn’t want to know, but I was going to know because she continued.

“Yeah, it’s good you’re haulin’ ass out there, Hawk. Girls in slutty nurse’s outfits and boys with big dicks in patient gowns were scurryin’. They felt the vibe deteriorating but then again, that shit was hard to miss.” She stopped talking to Hawk and looked to me. “Seriously, can they not get more original with this shit? Nurses and patients? That’s been done to death. If I was makin’ a porno, not that I’d make a porno, but, just sayin’, if I was, it’d be all about a UFC ring, sweaty hot guys with tape on their hands and shorts that come off easy, say, with that Velcro stuff at the sides. One yank and gone. You get what I’m sayin’?”

I blinked.

I didn’t get the chance to confirm or deny I got what she was saying before Elvira’s attention went back to the phone.

“I’m here,” she stated, then ordered, “You get there.” Pause, then, “Take that up with Tack, and get this, I’m gonna take it up with him too. Spent two months hornin’ in on that crew for you, such filth, I had to shower about seven times a day. Now all that work is blown with shit to show for it. I don’t care if he can kick my ass, Kane ‘Tack’ Allen is still gonna get a few words from me.”

Then she stabbed her phone with a finger that had a long, perfectly shaped, shiny, eggplant-painted fingernail, slammed the phone down on the bar, and trained her eyes on Rush.

“Uh… did you not get that I want a shot of tequila?” When Rush moved, offering the bottle to her, she shook her head. “Don’t hand me that bottle. I am not a biker babe. I got manners. I drink out of a glass.” Then she turned her head to me and declared, “No offense.”

“None taken,” I muttered.

“And no offense with this,” she carried on, “but your bitch is a pain in the ass.”

I opened my mouth to agree just as the door crashed open and a long, solid, handsome, chocolate-skinned black man with a bald head, magnificent cheekbones, and a thick black goatee surrounding a pair of full lips that had to be sculpted directly by the hand of God walked in, eyes on Elvira, his long legs taking him right to her.

“Oh lordy,” she muttered, her head turned from me, and I knew she was watching the tall drink of chocolate-skinned goodness prowling her way.

“Are you fucking shitting me?” he ground out, still heading toward her.

“Calm down, baby, it’s—” Elvira started.

“You are,” he cut her off. “You are fucking shitting me.” His big frame teetered to a halt a foot away from her and I was a bar stool away with Elvira in between and I still leaned away from his fury. “After I spank your ass for this bullshit, I’ll be kicking Hawk’s ass for sending you into it.”

Uh-oh.

I failed to mention that Elvira was sassy in a way that she pretty much defined it. When women were sassy, men, no matter how hot they were, didn’t threaten to spank their asses. It also didn’t matter how angry they were, this would not be met with gentle, calming words. It would be met with rocketing fireworks and even tall, built-hot guys could not control a rocketing firework.

I knew I was right when Elvira slid off the stool which I thought was a tactical mistake seeing as she was taller on it.

She didn’t seem to mind, tipped her head back and snapped, “It’s my job, Malik.”

He moved closer and retorted, “It’s your job to answer the phones, do computer work, and herd commandos.”

There it was. I was right. Hawk was a commando.

The black guy kept going. “It is not your job to go undercover with a drug-dealing porn producer who targets girls, gets them hooked on junk, and takes payment in pussy.”

Uh-oh again.

“It’s my job to answer phones?” she asked, her voice soft in a way that made me glance at Rush who was scowling at the pair but, wisely, not wading in.

“Yeah, baby, it’s your job to answer fucking phones,” the hot black guy returned, bending a bit to get in her face.

“You don’t get to say what my job is, Malik. Hawk and me decide what my job is,” Elvira shot back.

“Woman, you wake up in my bed and after you give me what I need to start the day, I haul my ass out of bed and bring you breakfast so you got what you need to start the day. So do not even think of handing me that shit. I get a say when my woman puts her ass in danger,” he volleyed.

I had to admit, not out loud of course, that he had a point and also, breakfast in bed sounded sweet. Further, now that it was clear that this guy was Elvira’s man, I thought she did a little bit of seriously all right in landing this hot guy.

Elvira clearly didn’t think this at the present moment. She snatched up her cell from the bar, shook it at him and asked sarcastically, “You want me to get on the phone, big man? Hire a sky writer so all of Denver can know our personal business?”

I thought the appropriate response to this was no.

The gorgeous Malik clearly didn’t share my thought process.

He replied, “Yeah, baby. You do that. If you do, maybe Delgado will read it and get it in his fucking head that he doesn’t send my woman out doing crazy shit with drug-dealing porn producers. I cannot believe you kept this shit from me.” He blew out a breath and his eyes went to Rush. “Do you feel me? Is this shit jacked?”

“Yeah,” Rush answered immediately, male camaraderie and all that, and I knew my brother was hitting serious badass status when Elvira turned her attention to him and he not only didn’t move back a step, he also didn’t flinch. His badass status would be proved when he went on to suggest, “Though, will say maybe your domestic isn’t well-timed. I got brothers out there in an uncertain situation, so maybe you two can suck it up and finish this shit some other time?”

Elvira cut her gaze back to her man, lifted a finger, and wagged it at him. “That works for me but, for you, just sayin’, you gettin’ what you need to start your day just got cut off for an indefinite period of time.”

I chanced a look at Malik and saw him scowling down at Elvira.

Then he pulled in breath through his nose as he held her eyes before he muttered, “We’ll see.”

“Yeah, we will,” she fired back and suddenly he flashed a sexy white smile that shone so bright surrounded by that black goatee, it took him from handsome to such a knockout I had to hold on to the bar.

“Baby, you cutting me off means you getting cut off, and I foresee that indefinite period of time lasting about a day.”

I only had the back of Elvira’s head but I fancied she rolled her eyes before she mumbled, “Whatever,” which, translated by a girl who understood girls, meant he was right and she was saving face. Then she slid back onto her stool, trained her gaze on Rush, and snapped, “Tequila?”

Rush looked at me then grabbed a shot glass. He put it down on the bar in front of Elvira and poured.

He barely took the bottle away before she lifted it and threw it back.

She slammed the glass down on the bar and in an effort not to freak out about whatever was happening out there with my man, my father, and my best friend involved, I leaned toward Elvira and whispered, “Your guy is kinda hot.”

She turned to me without hesitation and replied, “Careful what you wish for, girl. One by one my girls went down to badasses, I watched and thought, ‘I wouldn’t mind gettin’ me a little somethin’-somethin’ from a badass.’ ” She tapped her glass on the bar for another refill, Rush gave it to her, she threw it back, then she looked at me again and snapped with emphasis, “Wrong.”

“I have a badass,” I reminded her.

“Yeah,” she returned. “And Tyra told me you two went at it for days over a flippin’ fridge. Badasses are capable of and don’t hesitate to throw down about a fridge. An IT geek does not care what kind of fridge you buy. An IT geek just thanks his lucky stars he’s gettin’ it regular. An IT geek would say, ‘Whatever you want, honey,’ if you told him you were paving the front walk in gold.”

I suspected this was true, but still I leaned back and took in Malik, who was now leaning against the bar. What I took in was a tall frame, lean hips, a flat stomach, big hands, broad shoulders, perfect skin, warm, brown eyes, and a brilliant smile even if it was directed at the bar while he shook his head in a way that said clearly he thought his woman was crazy but all kinds of cute.

I leaned forward again and toward Elvira to point out, “True, but IT geeks don’t tend to look like Denzel Washington circa Training Day. Denzel might have been scary in that movie but his scary was all kinds of hot.” Elvira made no reply so I further noted, “And your man isn’t Denzel Training Day scary. He’s more Denzel Man on Fire intense with a little sense of humor and a goatee thrown in.”

Elvira turned her eyes to me and asked, “You got every Denzel film memorized?”

“Doesn’t everybody?” I asked back.

She looked to her glass, tapped it on the bar, and muttered, “Point taken.”

Rush poured her another shot, she threw it back, and I reached out and took the bottle from him. I was a biker babe and I didn’t mind putting the bottle to my mouth and sucking back, so that was what I did.

I was putting the bottle down on the bar when the door opened again, and all eyes, including mine, went to it. My pulse spiked as Natalie, followed by Hound, Boz, and Speck came in.

She looked freaked. She also was wearing a short, tight nurse’s outfit, white stockings, garters, and white, patent-leather, stripper platform, lace-up knee boots. Her boobs were spilling and her hair was a ratted mess of curls contained in ponytails and a nurse’s cap.

Elvira was right. That whole gig had been done to death, and as a nurse I took professional umbrage.

But I couldn’t think of that seeing, as I felt cold start to infuse my system from the outside in because Nat, Hound, Boz, and Speck were the only ones that came in.

No Shy.

No Dad.

I jumped off the stool and locked eyes with Boz, not trusting myself to look at Natalie. Not yet. Not until I knew everyone was okay.

“Where are Shy and Dad?” I asked.

Hound ordered Rush, “Lock her down. My room.” He had his hand on Natalie’s arm, shoved her forward, and she stumbled on her stripper boots.

Rush moved toward Natalie.

My eyes shifted back to Boz. “Where are they?”

“Tabby,” Natalie called, her voice shaky.

I didn’t move my eyes from Boz. “Boz? Where are Shy and my dad?”

“Tabby,” Natalie called again, her voice breaking halfway through my name and that cold shot through me, freezing me completely.

I looked to her.

“It went bad,” I stated and saw tears sliding out of her eyes, mascara going with them. Rush had made it to her and had a hand on her upper arm, but he didn’t get the chance to move her before I shot forward and stood in front of her.

“My man or my father?” I asked.

“Move back, Tabby, honey, we need to get her locked down then take care of some business,” Boz said from close behind me.

“My man or my father?” I demanded to know, not moving an inch.

“Let’s get you to a couch, get you a drink, and we’ll talk,” Boz went on.

“My man,” I leaned in so I was nose to nose with ex-best friend then I lost it completely, “or my father?” I ended on a screech.

“Shy got winged by a bullet,” she whispered, and the deep freeze shattered, imploding from the inside and the pain was excruciating. So unbearable, I had to do something. I had to try to let some of it go. I had to lash out.

So I did.

I drew back a hand and slapped her with everything I had. Apparently everything I had was a lot since not only her head but her whole body shot to the side and she again lost her footing on her stripper boots. She only stayed standing because Rush had a hold on her and kept her that way.

I looked up at Boz. “How bad?”

“Clipped, not bad. Tack took him to Baldy to have a look, stitch him up if it’s needed,” Boz replied.

“What does that mean, clipped?” I snapped.

“Nicked, Tabby, in the neck,” Boz answered and I felt my pulse pounding in my wrists, my temples, my neck. “It was a ricochet off a warning shot. Made a bad situation worse. Still, didn’t hit anything important. It’ll leave a scar but he’s fine. Everyone’s just pissed ’cause we bought a new problem.”

“We bought a new problem,” I stated and swung my gaze back to Natalie.

She dropped hers to my shoulder.

“Look at me,” I hissed and it took a few beats before her eyes lifted to mine. “You called me tonight knowing. Knowing that for me, they’d swing their asses out there for you. Knowing this was bad shit. Knowing they’d be in danger. And without a thought, for me Shy swung his ass out there for you. He called his brothers and they swung their asses out there for you. My man, my dad, my brother, my family, all getting out of bed to take on your shit. Now, my man bled for you. Now, my family has a problem because… of you.”

“Tabby—”

I shook my head. “No, you don’t get to talk. I gave you chance after chance to talk for months, and you didn’t take me up on any of them. You left me hanging until you fell so far, you were buried and needed help digging yourself out. I offered you my hand months ago, Nat, you refused to take it. Right now, you are dead to me. Dead. The only way you get resurrected is if you kick that shit, for good, Natalie, pay your dealer with your own fucking money and figure out a way to make this good for my family. You pull off that miracle, you breathe for me. Until then, you do not exist.”

“Tab, you were right, you—” she started, leaning toward me beseechingly, but I stepped away from her and turned to Boz.

“Take me to Shy,” I demanded.

“Honey, shit’s hot and Shy wants you at the Compound where you’re safe,” Boz replied.

“Take me… to my man!” I shrieked, losing it. I needed Shy, needed to see for myself he was okay.

Boz opened his mouth but Hound moved in.

“Yell, scream, scratch, slap, bite, woman, whatever you do, not gonna happen. We get you, you lost a man, you’re tweaked. But we’re tellin’ you, he’s fine and we’re yours, Tab, you’re ours, we would not shit you about something that important. Now, Shy says you stay here. You stay here. You wanna be away from this bitch, you’ll get that. We’re lockin’ her down so they can’t get to her and she can’t get into more trouble. What we are not gonna do is take you to our brother when he told us to keep your shit safe. You try to go, woman, you’re locked down too. Your choice, sit your ass down and have a drink or find yourself locked in your man’s room. Make it. Now. We got shit to do.”

I glared at Hound, but even angry I took in the look in his eyes and knew I could throw a fit and not get my way. Anyway, they had shit to do, and I was no old lady if I kept them from that. Since I was Shy’s old lady and my behavior reflected on him, I backed down.

But, since I was Tabby and he was Hound, I didn’t do it gracefully.

“You’re off my Christmas card list,” I announced.

To which he replied immediately, “Didn’t know I was on it.”

My eyes narrowed. “You don’t open my Christmas cards?”

“Tab, you want me to stand here talkin’ about Christmas cards or do you want me to take care of business?” Hound fired back.

I kept glaring then I declared, “I need a drink.”

“Color me a bartender,” Elvira stated, hopped off her stool, aimed a look at Malik, who was still leaning casually into the bar, then she strutted her round ass covered in a designer dress around the bar.

“Lock her in Hound’s room and get Joker. Speck’s here to help out. You boys lock this place down and patrol Ride. You’ll get reinforcements soon,” Boz said to Rush. Rush jerked up his chin and led a pale-faced, silently weeping Natalie away.

I ignored my best friend’s emotion (which was hard) and hitched my behind up on a bar stool.

Malik slid close while Elvira poured coffee.

“Scared straight works, honey,” Malik said, and I looked at him. “Seen it time and again.”

“Not sure at this moment I care,” I replied.

“At this moment, no. I see that.” He leaned closer. “Get to that point though, girl. Your man might have shed blood but he’s breathing. You need to find forgiveness because you care about her. To get her out of a porn movie nurse’s outfit and on a healthy path, she’s going to need all the help she can get.”

“Not to be a bitch or anything, but what are you, a drug counselor?” I asked.

“No, I’m a vice cop,” he answered.

Well, that explained that.

I looked to Elvira. “You’re seein’ a cop?”

Elvira, done with the coffee, was now pouring shots of tequila. She glanced at Malik then looked at me. “I was.”

I turned to Malik to see him grinning at Elvira like he thought she was adorable.

I turned back to Elvira to see her slugging back a shot of tequila. She then chased this with a sip of coffee.

Only after that did she reply, “To get a badass I had a choice. Biker, commando, military, or cop. My clothes do not say back of a bike. Commando screams ‘messy’ and, trust me, I know this from experience. I do not wanna spend my days learning the different ways of getting blood out of cargo pants. And military men are deployed and I’m sure not takin’ out the trash for months and worryin’ myself sick while he’s off somewhere gettin’ shot at, even if it is to keep my people safe. So I got stuck with a cop. He gets shot at and keeps people safe, but at least he’s home to take out the trash.”

“I’m not sure you did that bad, Elvira. Just saying, breakfast in bed?” I pointed out and her eyebrows flew up.

“Girl, don’t tell me. I’ll remind you, you held a grudge for three days over crushed ice. You witnessed his transgressions. For that, I get at least a week and you know it.”

She was not wrong. He yelled at her in front of an audience. Shy would buy a freeze-out for that, definitely.

To communicate that, I sipped coffee.

“You go a week, baby, we got problems,” Malik said low.

Elvira rolled her eyes at me but didn’t reply.

“You talk to your girl any longer like I’m not standing right here, we also got problems,” Malik carried on.

Elvira transferred her eye roll to him.

“You roll your eyes one more time, you lose my mouth,” he warned.

Elvira glared at him.

What she didn’t do, I will note, was roll her eyes or talk about Malik like he wasn’t there.

I kept sipping coffee.

I watched Rush and Joker walk through the Compound giving Malik looks to which he gave an affirmative, nonverbal, macho man, I got this chin lift. I didn’t know what he had, but I was guessing what he had was his woman in a biker Compound, so even as a vice cop he was going to do his bit to make sure the Compound was safe.

Then I watched my brother and his brother walk out the front door.

Then I waited patiently for my man to get to me.

As any biker babe from birth would do.

“Babe, I’m fine.”

“Let me look at it.”

“Tabby, sugar, I’m fine.”

I leaned away from Shy and planted my hands on my hips, staring up at him. “And I’m a nurse, Shy Cage. I’m also your woman. And I’m gonna look at it.”

“It’s all good,” Shy replied. “Baldy knows what he’s doing.”

Dr. Baldwin, a man I’d known for years, did know what he was doing but he did it for cash and he didn’t come cheap. This meant that even though he owned a Harley, needed a haircut, had tattoos, and looked like a bruiser, he also had an extremely well-equipped clinic whose back door saw more action than the front.

Regardless of the knowledge that Baldy knew what he was doing, I took Shy in with a professional eye.

He’d returned about ten minutes before, which was about ten minutes after Malik performed a miracle, got Elvira to lose the attitude, and by the time Shy, Dad, and the rest of the boys strolled in, all seriously pissed off, Elvira was standing between his spread legs as he sat on his stool and they were bar-stool cuddling.

It was cute.

Now, Shy and I were in his room at the Compound. He looked like what he said he was except for a small, white bandage at his neck and discoloration on his black tee under the bandage which I knew as dried blood. His color was good. He didn’t appear lethargic, and he’d had stitches with only a local anesthetic.

Still, I wanted to see.

“Honey, sit on the bed and let me see,” I requested quietly.

He held my eyes for a few beats before sighing and sitting on the bed.

I got close, gently peeled back the tape and looked.

The boys told no lies. It was just a nick that took only a few stitches. My man was fine.

Thank God.

Carefully, I pressed the tape back and sat on the bed beside Shy.

“Happy?” he asked me.

“That my best friend is an idiot that led my man into a situation that included an exchange of bullets and the Club buying problems?” I asked back. “No.”

Shy moved, gathering me in his arms and hauling me onto the bed.

When he had us arranged, him on his back, me mostly on him, he slid his hand into my hair and informed me, “As much as I don’t wanna let anything slide with that bitch, Club’s been havin’ problems with Benito for a while. We got Chaos territory around Ride that’s drug and hooker free. This message is clear to everybody, but lately Benito’s been encroaching.” He held my eyes, took in a deep breath and stated, “You tell him, I won’t be happy, but this is why Rush was undecided about the Club.”

“I don’t get it,” I told him.

He rolled me to my back, pressing into me, hovering close. “Right, Tab, the people who keep Chaos territory clean are Chaos.”

“Okay,” I stated.

Shy studied me then explained, “The brothers, babe. Not the cops.”

I blinked then too little sleep, too much tequila mixed with too much coffee cleared away and it hit me.

“Are you saying you’re vigilantes?” I breathed.

Shy nodded. “Our territory, our rule, our law, all in our hands. Five-mile radius around the shop and garage. All the shops. All Chaos territory.”

Oh crap. I didn’t know this.

I mean, I wasn’t stupid, and I heard my mother and father fighting all the freaking time, so it wasn’t like I didn’t know the Club had a rocky history. Furthermore, it was a motorcycle club. That right there said a lot. Dad had plans from the start to get the Club clean. I’d been mostly shielded from what it took to get Chaos clean, but stuff was extreme when he went about doing it so it wasn’t like it was lost on me.

But Dad did it. He got the Club clean.

“Shy—”

His hand cupped the side of my head and his face got closer. “Baby, leave it be.”

“I’m not sure—”

His hand pressed gently into my head. “Not bein’ a dick, you know it, but still gotta say it. Sugar, you don’t get to be anything. This is Club business. Just know your dad is no fool. He has it goin’ on. But Rush is his father’s son. He didn’t live the nightmare your dad lived with the Club’s past history, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a mission. Tack pulled the Club through some serious shit, but he’s still Chaos and is used to doin’ it his way, takin’ care of Club business, lookin’ after what’s ours. Rush thinks Tack’s job is not done. He wants us to protect what’s ours and get our hands clean of all the dirt we gotta rub up against to keep our patch clean. Rush thinks that’s the job of the Denver Police Department and our job is to look after our own, not everything within a five-mile radius. My guess is, he talked with your dad about this, Tack knows that shit can encroach if you don’t keep a safe perimeter, and they didn’t see eye to eye. My other guess is, instead of keepin’ his distance and makin’ his statement by stayin’ out of the Club, he decided to take his chance at making change by joining us.”

This did not sound good.

Like, at all.

“You mean, overthrow Dad?” I asked, my voice shaky.

“I don’t know what it means,” Shy answered. “I do know your brother is no fool either. I can tell by the way he’s taking his shit as a recruit that the Club means somethin’ to him and, gotta say, Tab, that shocked the shit outta me. If I had this as my legacy, I turned eighteen, I’d be workin’ toward my cut. He jumped on board when he was twenty-five. But there’s no denyin’ he’s all in. Dog and Brick are in Grand Junction, Hop and me have Tack’s ear and he shares. Which is somethin’ you don’t do. As far as you’re concerned, you don’t know this. You gotta watch it play out just like everybody. You don’t intervene. You don’t have words with either of them. They’re your dad and brother but bottom line, it’s Club business, Tabby, and you know what that means.”

I did.

I also knew not long after the business went down with Lee Nightingale and the boys had Shy’s back, Shy approached Dad to ask if his offer to be lieutenant was still open. Dad shared he was holding the position for Shy until he was ready for it, no one else was even a consideration. This meant Shy was in the inner sanctum, an elevated position within the Club and, at his age, that was huge.

Therefore, as his woman and with his position in the Club, I had to stand by his side.

This meant not getting into his face about Club business.

So I simply stated. “Shy, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“You wouldn’t ’cause you’re a daughter and a sister. What you aren’t is a son or a Chaos brother. They might not see eye to eye but your brother loves his father, he respects him and, when he earns his cut, they’ll add a different relationship to that. We all don’t get along all the time. There’s friction, differences of opinion, politics, even clashes. But there’s always the brotherhood and we all know it. That will never die.”

Well, at least there was that.

I backtracked, my eyes moving to his bandage then back to his face.

“How big is this problem with the porn guy?” I asked quietly, and I got what I expected.

“That’s not somethin’ you worry about.”

This was something, as his woman and him my man with a bandage on his neck, I had to get in his face about.

“Wrong, Shy,” I whispered.

He dipped his face close. “Your bitch is a mess. She hit bottom but, stuff she’s into, that won’t mean a thing. She might be shaken up and get her shit sorted but she might not. It isn’t cool she called you, dragged you and, because of you, Chaos into her mess, but this was going to happen, it just came sooner. You were dragged in, now you know. But that’s all you know and you don’t worry.”

“That’s impossible,” I informed him.

“If you think this Club hasn’t weathered worse storms than this guy, you’re wrong.”

This was not welcome information.

“Shy, you got shot and you’re okay but—”

His head moved, his mouth touched mine and when he lifted his head, his thumb slid to my lips. “Tab, baby, after what you lost, do you think for a second I’d do anything, your father would do anything, to make you lose me?”

This made me feel slightly better, because I didn’t think that, not for a second, but that didn’t mean I didn’t repeat, even with his thumb still on my lips, “Shy, darlin’, you got shot.”

“A nick,” he clarified.

“But—”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“But, Shy—”

His thumb pressed against my lips lightly.

“Tabitha, I’m not leaving you.”

I held my silence and his eyes.

Then I lifted a hand, curled it around his wrist, pulled his hand away and whispered, “You better not.”

He grinned and whispered back, “You’re stuck with me.”

God, I hoped so.

I took in an unsteady breath.

Then I told him, “Sorry my ex–best friend got you nicked by a bullet.”

His grin turned into a smile. “Shit happens.”

It was kind of forced but I grinned back.

He pulled against my hold so his hand could come back, his thumb gliding along my lips as his eyes watched. His smile was gone when his gaze again met mine.

“Always and forever, baby, you’re stuck with me.”

I drew in a deep breath that miraculously was calming and I nodded.

Shy studied me then dipped his head, brushed his lips against mine, and then rolled to his back, taking me with him, tucking me to his side.

“Wiped, sugar,” he muttered. “Rest with me.”

“Okay,” I muttered back, snuggling closer, knowing, after as much caffeine as I consumed, all that had happened and all that I’d learned, I wouldn’t sleep a wink.

I was right. I felt Shy relax under me, his breath even out, his arm around my waist going heavy.

I stared at his tee, the pendants resting at his throat, my mind bouncing from thought to thought, not any of them happy.

Then it bounced and landed on, You’re stuck with me.

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.