by V. Theia
His temper rang his fucking bell, but the relief at seeing her almost robbed Tag of strength.
He grabbed the tops of her arms. Stopped short of shaking the answers out of her because she looked so tiny. All he wanted to do was shove her inside his jacket, so he’d know where she was all the time.
“Where the fuck did you go?” He grit through his teeth, “you left my bed in the middle of the night.”
She might looked mildly perturbed, but so the fuck was he.
To say he was obsessed with her was like saying snow was slightly cold.
She pulled from his hold and took a step back, glaring. “If you stopped growling at me like a dog, I might tell you.” She answered with an attitude.
“I thought someone had taken you from me!” He growled. The fire in his belly was burning him alive.
He rarely lost his temper.
Saving all that shit for inside a cage where he could be let loose like a demon. He never realized what level of worry he was capable of until he couldn’t find her.
Tag had known he’d been on the way to falling in love with this woman with her secrets and tears. But the past few hours, when he thought some bad shit had happened to her, he knew she owned him inside and out.
She blinked. “Who… who would do that?”
“I’m part of a MC, Marianna. There’s always the risk of some yokel thinking he can get one over on us by taking what means something to us.” The ground cracked underneath his boots as ice gave way under his weight. Pacing away, he turned to face her.
“I thought you were throwing yourself off a fucking bridge.”
“I wouldn’t know where to find a bridge here.”
“Don’t get funny with me, Marianna.”
“Can we go inside? You look frozen.”
“So the fuck do you.” Her goddamn teeth were clacking like maracas.
“It’s a long walk from the bus stop.”
The fucking bus stop? The fuck.
He followed her in to get her out of the cold.
“I had to meet someone.”
Eyes narrowed. “In the middle of the night?”
“Da. I found someone who could make me false papers.” She pulled a package out of her coat and offered it to him.
Honest to god, he’d never been so fucking livid before. The danger she’d put herself in. Tag grasped the brown package and glared at her. Didn’t matter what she’d been through, she was innocent and naïve. Too trusting of people to do the right thing when most would stab you in the back as easy as blinking.
“Do you know what danger you put yourself in? This guy could have killed you. And I wouldn’t have known a thing. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me, Marianna?”
“If you stop yelling at me like I am a child, I will tell you.”
Inhaling hard, he had to step away or throttle her.
She had no clue what her little stunt cost him.
He propped himself against the kitchen counter, waiting.
“This man. Mister G.”
“Mister fucking G? Not sinister at all,” he scoffed.
“Will you let me finish?” She glared like she was pissed at him.
At him! Women. He’d never understand them.
For now, he shut his damn trap.
“I met him in a chatroom, he said he could get me official papers, passports. We arranged a meeting.”
Blood seeped through his vision. “And you went? For fuck’s sake, Marianna.”
That was her snapping point. Whatever he said made her eyes turn frosty. She came forward with her finger ready, stabbing it into his chest, looking up at him like she was wielding a sword. He might be mad as hell, but he was also a little amused at her fire.
“You listen to me, Luke Drake. You can act bossy when you want to get into my underwear. I like it, da? But you do not get to tell me how… how… ugh, the word, what is it? Stupid! Da, yes. You do not get to tell me I am stupid for doing what a mother needs to do to have her children in her arms again.”
Oh, she was pissed. Her accent was thick, and delicious, he could slop it up with a piece of bread. She went right on poking the fuck out of his chest, stabbing after each word.
“I shall seat myself at the devil’s dinner table and ask for seconds if it means I get what I need. I do not care for danger. I’ve been in plenty and here I am, alive and well. If I am stupid then I am stupid for a reason, da?”
Guess that told him.
It took some steam out of Tag’s sails as he watched her slim shoulders sag. Before he spoke, he worked the buttons on her coat, throwing it over a chair. Next he strode over to the coffee machine and tossed in a vanilla cream pod she liked. Then he turned, found her watching him.
“Did you get what you needed?”
“Yes. Four passports and social security documentation.” She ripped open the package. Sure enough, they looked like passports to him. Didn’t alter the fact they could have robbed and killed her tonight. She didn’t know this Mister fucking G character.
“Look.” She said, passing them over.
He took them without a word, felt her hovering at his shoulder as he flipped through each one. Some of his anger came back as he listened to the gurgling coffee machine spitting out its brew. He tossed the papers onto the table, sidestepped her and sloshed creamer into the cup, added sugar and stirred before he looked at Marianna. “How much did you pay?”
She told him.
He sighed. Fuck’s sake.
“You got conned.” He informed. And for a second it didn’t register to her. And then she paused. “What do you mean?”
“Those things are useless, Marianna. They wouldn’t even get you a six-pack at the liquor store, never mind through customs.”
“No. You are wrong. He said they are good fakes, no one will know, he said.”
“Maybe to the untrained eye. Someone who is desperate enough to meet an asshole in the dark and hand over 750 bucks no questions asked. Then yeah, maybe those things look real. But I’m telling you, they’re useless.”
She started pouring over them.
“Look, it says they are correct. I know.”
“Anna,” he said softer. “The cards aren’t even the same material. The markings are all wrong on the passports. If you handed them in at the airport, they would get you and your family arrested.”
“No. It can’t be. He said.”
“He fucking scammed you, Anna!”
Tag hated being right, hated seeing her dejected face when she’d been so relieved only moments ago. He went to a drawer in his living room, grabbed what he needed and took it to the kitchen. Using his own passport as proof against one of the fakes. “See? The marks are all wrong. This part here has a spelling error. Look at the difference in SS cards.” Standing behind her, he laid a hand on her shoulder. Hating he was the one to pop her hope.
She looked at them for a long time and then she shrugged off his hand. The pain of it stabbed him deep. She pushed back the chair, grabbed her coat, and slid it on. “You were right, Luke. I am stupid.” He would have coped better had she been angry with him.
“You’re not stupid for trying, Anna.”
“Then what am I? I feel stupid. I thought this was it, my one chance to have my family back. And all I’ve done is throw money away that I can’t afford, and waste time.”
As she inched toward the back door, he felt every thread of progress between them start to burn away. Moving across the floor, he caught her face in his hands.
“I could have helped, Anna. Why didn’t you tell me what you were doing? I would have looked into this guy, wouldn’t have let you go to some unknown location alone, that’s for damn sure.”
“This is my problem to fix. I did this, don’t you get it?”
Things were in the works in the background, but until it was concrete, he didn’t want to build her hope.
“I’m the woman who let her idiot ex make me believe coming to the States would be lucrative for the children. I
believed it when he’d only ever been a liar, Luke. I believed it because I wanted better for Pasha and Lily. I was foolish to think he was trustworthy when he was using me to get a foot in the Bratva door by supplying them with women. Selling me like cattle, selling me to become a pet.” With each word, her voice became strangled.
Not wanting to push her for details, he’d waited for her to share her ordeal in her own time. He already had a fair idea.
“I had to watch girls being drugged. I guess I was lucky that it was only Grigori who used me for his pet. But I am stupid. I trusted and trusted, kept on hoping it would work out. That these bad men would follow through with their lies. I did not come to the States to build a new life. They brought me on a boat of dishonesty. Fed me lies every day until I broke. Because I was thoughtlessly hopeful enough to think it might change if I kept my head down and did as I was told. I was so afraid I’d be drugged and beaten like the others, so it was easier not to cause waves. I still believed I’d be let go.”
Oh, his poor girl. He tried to pull her in, but she held him off.
“I wanted you to think I was strong, Luke. But I am stupid. I am weak. I gave in. I cannot fix this, the same as I could not fix what happened to me. I was lucky only in that they left me alone most of the time, Grigori was a busy man and called on me rarely. That day you saw me…” she swallowed, and he wanted to stop the words from coming so they wouldn’t hurt her. Standing like a statue in his own kitchen, looking at the woman he cared for—because she needed someone to care for her more than ever.
His woman was far from weak.
She was everything he could want for a partner, and she couldn’t see it.
Her pain was too deep, festering inside her.
“That day your MC came to the warehouse, Luke, was when he was tired of having a lifeless pet. I didn’t fawn as his other women did. I couldn’t. It resigned me to that life, but I couldn’t pretend what I did not feel. That day, he tired of me and decided I had to pay my keep another way. I was fortunate for your MC’s intervention.” The smile didn’t reach her eyes. “My savior in leather. You have, how you say here, set your hat at perhaps the wrong door. I am all wrong.”
The saying was wrong, but he got the meaning. Frowning, he set his feet to moving and caught at her arm before she could leave.
“Quit that bullshit, Anna. A setback doesn’t mean you quit.”
“I will never quit. If I have to hand myself into the embassy as an illegal immigrant, they will send me back home, and though it might mean I go to jail, or the Bratva find me. I will be with my children, eventually.”
The thought put ice in his veins.
Over his dead fucking decomposing corpse, he’d let that happen.
“Stay. I’ll rustle up some breakfast and we can talk about this.”
“I find I have no appetite. I want to go home and regroup. And I need to do that alone, Tag.” At least she was brutally honest, didn’t mean he liked that shit one bit.
Her ex was a cunt. Grigori fucking Kuznetsov was a cunt - albeit a dead cunt - he owned that title wherever the fuck he was in Hell. He’d chew them both up and spit out their bones if he could.
“Baby, stay.”
She didn’t turn around. It was his boss-like voice she liked that did it when he asked, “what happened to your ex?”
Swerving her body, she blinked before answering. “I wasted four months on that man, but he gave me Pasha and Lily. For that I am grateful. For everything else, I am glad he’s dead. He’d come around every few months looking for a handout. He thought he had amazing ideas.” She rolled her eyes. “Look where it got him. Who desires to be a gangster? Who longs to be part of the Bratva? That was his one dream, and he saw me as his meal ticket by collecting women to bring across the sea. But as all men,” she went on, “his dick ruled him, and he started an affair with Grigori’s mistress, and he fathered her baby.”
“The Russian boss found out he was playing with his toy and killed him?”
Wait. He vaguely remembered something familiar that involved Danny Murphy’s wife. They adopted a Russian kid. Was it the same?
“Da. Yes. I have no sympathy. Pasha and Lily didn’t even know him. I feel bad only for Galina’s sake. She held hope her son would change.”
“Good fucking riddance, baby.”
She half-smiled. He was pleased there wasn’t an ex to get in his way. Not that he’d let it, he’d plow the fucking guy into the dust if he’d tried to stop Tag from being with Marianna.
“Stay.” He said again, rough, and desperate.
“I can’t. Please understand.” And then, “goodbye, Luke.”
A goodbye? Fuck that.
“Wait, I’ll take you home.”
She shook her head and closed the door with a quiet snick.
That goodbye sounded too damn final for his liking.
Their relationship was fresh and tender—still in the early stages of learning about each other. He could slay her dragons if that’s what she needed. He wasn’t a knight, far from it, but he’d play the part to get shit done.
The Dix problem and training were still pending for the day, but something else trumped everything. That was how it was when a biker found his old lady.
Their skilled enforcer was behind bars, serving time for a crime he fabricated himself so he could kill a man, but it didn’t mean Lawless was without means.
He had it pretty cushy inside.
All the recreational time he wanted. Access to the internet, thanks to a middle-aged secretary enamored with the kinky bastard. And because Lawless had persuasive ways, especially with a prison guard, he now had a cell phone for when the boys didn’t have time to ride across the country.
If anyone could figure out a way to get three people illegally across the waters, it would be Lawless, with experience in most every illegal endeavor there was.
He left his friend a text message, knowing Lawless would call when he could.
A shower didn’t put Tag’s head to rights, but he emptied his mind while the scalding water sluiced down over his head. With possibly the biggest fight of his life upcoming, his mind would usually have been deep in the zone.
Marianna changed his focus.
He was fucking bruised inside without her.
Try to cut me loose, Anna. See what a biker will do.
He’d put her over his lap and listen to her cries of pleasure and submission.
He growled her name while he shaved.
And rumbled it again while he prowled through the MC.
Be ready, Marianna. I’m not going easy now.
Easy-going Tag was yesterday.
Now he was determined as fuck to get what he wanted.
And that was Marianna Yahnotov.
TWENTY-FIVE
“Out with the old. In with the new.” – Tag
It was one of those uncommon moments when a club problem solved itself.
Tag strolled into the clubhouse that morning—tired as hell, still cranky—and bumped into Hawk.
Not literally.
The VP would have ripped Tag’s head off had someone touched him without prior warning. Hawk wasn’t touch sensitive, but he was part-asshole and hated anyone in his space unless he wanted you there.
No back slaps or bro hugs for him.
“What’s up, VP? You look less murderous this fine morning, you had your Lucky Charms?” Tag half grinned.
Hawk only rolled up a fair eyebrow.
“My Gia said I can’t bury you in the mountains, but I can make it look like an accident, Prince Charming.”
Tag burst out laughing at Hawk’s monosyllabic tone. The bastard meant it too. Gotta love the VP. It was better to have him on side, that was for damn sure.
“Thank god for Gia.” Tag teased, only to watch the darkness seep into Hawk’s peepers. Such a possessive bastard.
But then, wasn’t Tag the same way over Marianna?
Even now he had itchy fingers to yank her close and bite her on the nec
k.
He worked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans to stop the jittering.
“Dix is out.” Hawk announced.
Surprise caught Tag. “When?”
“Snake brought him in this morning. It was his choice. Handed his prospect vest back with a thanks, but nah.”
What a waste. “Did he get banned?”
“Nah. Rider said he’s welcome as a hangaround.”
“Shame to lose him.” Tag remarked, “but he’s been fucking up for a while. Guess he decided he couldn’t cut it.”
Hawk shrugged unbothered, “easy come, easy go.”
Tag laughed, the VP was all about the emotion. Not.
They parted and Tag headed down to the gym. He needed to work out some of his aggression before he went to his place.
Three sparring partners later, sweat running down his face, he was still trying to reach peace.
One more round, he decided.
“You next, prospect.” He pointed, bouncing on his toes.
* * *
Marianna thought evading Tag would help clear her thoughts.
But it didn’t.
Not at all.
She craved him like a teen girl worshipped a popstar.
For two days he prowled around her—silent as a ghost, like he was marking his territory.
She’d pissed him off by leaving.
Two days of awkward smiles before she scuttled off to work on invoices and gym upkeep.
Marianna still made sure he got his lunch and vitamin water.
Two days of Tag’s scent following her wherever she went.
It was pretty apparent she had no will of her own when he was around.
Craving his nearness and his calming influence.
When he was close she didn’t feel so alone.
As far as she could see, all Marianna had left was to take what Anatoly offered her.
That thought put vomit into her throat.
If it were just her, she’d rather die than do it. But this was for her children.
Every possibility had to be considered carefully.
Needing to apologize to Tag for her behavior, she came through the gym doors carrying a baggie of I’m sorry cookies she’d baked for him this morning, shivering from the frosty morning.
