Fuck. My. Life.
The next day, I get a text from him. At least I think this is him because who else would do this?
Big Sexy Hero: Hey baby, club party tonight, have your ass here early.
Me: Why early, and what time is early?
Big Sexy Hero: IDK, how about five
Me: You don’t know what time, do you?
Big Sexy Hero: I’ll be your hero, baby, I’ll take away your pain…
Me: Okay, fine, I’ll be there “early.” Shut up.
Pocketing my phone, I get back to work at the bar when an angry Jenn walks through the door.
Blade told us that she was back, but also warned us to give her some space until she was ready to be around people again. Jenn has come around more and more, and today she looks better, but still so angry.
Tank kept me in the loop with what was happening with her and asked if I could help her, the same with Cuervo.
The more time that passes, the more comfortable I feel around everyone.
It feels good to have Vegas in my corner. The day she found out I was her cousin, she was proud and excited to have me. Dana was surprised, but, blood or not, she too was welcoming. What scares me most is that one day this will all go away, and I’ll be alone again. I know I will survive, but I don’t want to do it alone.
As promised, the Prez and brothers met up with Cobra and killed him and his men. Even though Battle Born worked together to kill my dad, I couldn’t care less. It’s not a loss I felt because he was never in my life like a father should have been, and it’s hard to forget that the asshole killed my mother. I had a drink, toasted on the day he died to a job well done. Another asshole down, a few more to go.
When Jenn sits down, I set a coke down in front of her and ask, “How are you holding up, Jenn?”
“Like hell has warmed over my soul, that’s how I feel.”
Her face is pale and the dark circles under her eyes show that. In fact, she’s not living in this moment.
“I can help you with that kind of pain, Jenn.”
Her eyebrows perk up in interest. “Do tell.”
“I know where and how to find the man you want to kill most.” I pause for a moment and take the money from the guy up at the front of the bar, trading him a draft beer. After he is gone, I continue, “I want that same thing that you do, revenge.”
“I want torture, not just revenge.” Her gaze lasers in on me, looking for any deceit here, but she won’t find any.
“Jenn, I want that man dead, the one who hurt you, so that his brother can suffer the same hell.”
“Cheers to death.” Jenn holds up her coke and takes a drink.
I don’t say much else to her for the rest of the afternoon. It doesn’t look like she’s ready to tell the whole story, but I have my suspicions of who it was that’d hurt her. If I’m right, it will fit in perfectly to take that bastard, Angel, out right before his brother.
After Emilia comes to relieve me from my shift at the bar, I head over to the clubhouse. Anxiety crawls at my skin from being here.
Walking inside, I see Tank and that he made us dinner. As I get closer, he pulls out a chair for me. “It’s our date night. I didn’t think you would be comfortable at a restaurant, so I made you… spaghetti.” He pushes me toward the table.
He sits across from me and asks, “Beer or wine?” He smiles so big at me that it’s blinding. Damn him, this is so sweet.
“A red wine would be great. Thank you.”
Tank whistles loudly to Solo, “Bring my lady a red wine.” Solo scowls over at him and he adds on, “A beer for me, too.”
Solo brings our drinks. “I’m not a prospect anymore, dick.” He places our drinks down and turns to leave us alone.
“But you are still the puppies in this pack,” Tank hollers at Solo’s retreating back. “He’s so sensitive sometimes. You can only teach them so much, you know?” he comments and takes a large drink off his beer, chugging half of it in one go.
“Sure, Tank.” I’m not even sure what he means, but I go along with it.
After we eat, he takes my hand and takes me on a tour around the MC. He shows me his garage, the MC garage, and I go with it. I tell myself it is more for recon, but really it is Tank. He makes the loneliness bearable.
When we reach the greenhouse, I’m actually very impressed by the pot that Pawn has growing out here and how well he is doing with it.
Tank then shows me every room in the clubhouse. Spider is a jerk and kicks us out with no interest in letting us hang out.
Together, hand in hand, we walk back outside to the picnic table out in the setting sun. He pulls me down to sit between his legs when he straddles the bench. My back to his front. He wraps me up in his arms and I close my eyes to the brightness of the sunset, resting my head back against his chest.
His nose runs up my neck and he places a few kisses along the way. “K-love, why did you get so many tattoos in the last few years? I think they are sexy as fuck, but they practically cover you.”
I tense for a moment before he licks my skin and nips at my neck. He patiently waits for me, and I fight against the pride that has barricaded me for years. A wall of protection around me that kept me invisible from those who wanted to hurt me.
Tank squeezes me tighter. “Let me in, Kat. I will protect you like I do my brothers, you have my word.”
Releasing a breath, I fight against my instincts. I float back in time and tell him what I can. It helps that he can’t see my face, the window to it all.
“After I left Mexico, I hated the thought of his touch on me, that he had claimed any part of my body. I wanted to erase it all. Katherine Castillo died, the Black Widow was born. I haven’t been called by that name in years. So, don’t ever use it.”
Tank traces over my skin, over the ink that tells the story of the woman who wears them. “Each one means something to you?”
“Yes, for every person I killed, for every woman or child they hurt. I took their pain and misery and killed the demon they wished they could. I replaced every feeling of despair with strength in every kill. To remember why I was still breathing. My purpose.”
He holds me tighter, wrapping his arms around me. “To do what, love?”
“Kill my husband.”
He kisses away a lone tear from my cheek, taking my pain and desperation instead of me taking from others.
“What about you, Tank? Did you have a love?”
“I thought I might have had one at one time, but no, I didn’t.”
“What happened?” The raw exposure of my earlier confession makes my voice crack.
“I was so young, like Solo and Pawn. I met this girl, Ava. Cute, young college kid. She loved riding on the back of my bike and on my dick at night. I was prospecting. The night of my patch-in party, she didn’t show up.”
He rests his chin on top of my head before finishing. “She ditched me because her real boyfriend had proposed. I was just a dirty secret on the side. Hurt like a motherfucker for a while.”
“Then you got over her?”
“Well, you could say that.”
“What does that mean?”
“I put enough bitches underneath me for a while that she became just another face.”
“Jesus Christ, Tank.” I can’t help but cover my eyes. “You did not just tell me that!”
He whispers into my ear, “I only want you underneath me from now on, though.”
He lets his hold around me go and helps me to turn around and face him. My hands roam through the thick hair on his head, then my nails drag through his short beard. Tank’s eyes are a strikingly deep blue.
“You’re light to my dark.”
“You’re my kinda dark, love.”
Chapter 30
Tank
Life could not fucking be better, except that Cowboy invited the strippers out to the bonfire. A very pregnant Vegas and Dana don’t look happy, and Kat turned into a possessed cat as soon as Topaz walked in. It has been
months since our last run in, but apparently not enough time for Kat.
If I could, I would beat the shit out of Cowboy for ruining my date night. Epic retards, these guys.
The girls form an alliance on the other side of the fire, laughing and talking. I keep an eye on Kat and Topaz. I hope Topaz isn’t stupid enough to approach the girls, but you never know.
“You talk your shit out with Kat?” Blade asks.
“Things are better, we’ll see how it goes.”
“What about her Ol’ Man?” Axl questions, taking a chug out of his beer.
“Whatever it is that we have to do, we need to square it up. Soon,” I look over to Blade.
“Aye, we need to get the word out to the other clubs and get Saint on board with getting Jenn together and ready.”
When I look back over to the girls, I see that Kat is gone. I try not to look around for her. Where could she have gone anyway?
I shoot the shit with Axl about his bike for a few more minutes before hands touch my back. Honest to God, had I been able to see what was going to happen, I would have stopped it.
She reaches around my waist from behind, wrapping her arms around me. My arms go up a bit to give her access to my body. Except, this is where it all goes to shit.
Kat is standing in front of me and not behind me!
“Fuck,” I look down and pull the woman leached onto me away, only to find it’s Topaz. “Go,” I bark at her and she scampers off with hurt feelings and slumped shoulders.
Kat is hauling ass across the back yard, too. I rub my hands over my face. “Why me?”
“Dude,” Axl points his beer, “you have about thirty seconds to reach her before this goes nuclear and you get shot, this time for real. Run, go!”
I take off running to catch up to her and grip her arm to tug her back right before she reaches the door. She spins around with a vengeance and a fist. I block her hit and catch her knee to my nuts, thank fuck. I turn her around in my arms and pin her to the wall where the guys get a kick out of my distress.
“Calm down, Kit Kat!” my voice growls at her.
“Pinche puta, chinga tu pinche madre, bastardo, asshole!”
“What the fuck was that? Babe, I thought that was you.”
“You lie, Tank,” her voice gets thicker with her accent and it breaks just enough to where I can hear it.
“Don’t hit me, shoot me or cut me, okay? I’m going to let you go, okay?” She doesn’t answer me.
I back up just a bit, but, in the dark, I can’t see her face except for the shadows of the fire that flicker across her face when I turn her around. Some deep-rooted pain flickers in her eyes, just like the flames.
I bend down and pick her up, cradling her to my chest. I take her to my room and shut the door behind us, then sit down with her in my lap.
“Kat, love, that was an accident. I wouldn’t have let that happen if I didn’t think that was you, babe. Only you.”
Kat, the vulnerable woman inside who has been forgotten, looks up at me but won’t speak the words that show her weakness. Has she ever been vulnerable in her life? I kiss her forehead, cheeks and lips.
“You know how to stop that from happening?”
She shakes her head no.
“You claim me as your man, and if you kick one girl’s ass, they will all be scared to touch your man. Easy, babe, you can’t pull guns though. Blade will flip his shit on you, and then on me.”
Her eyes lighten and she shakes her head at me.
“You trust me?”
She bites her lip, “Yes, Tank, I trust you.”
My hands grab her head at hearing her words, and my heart races with the blood pumping through my body as I’m wondering if that means what I think, or hope, that it means.
Kat
He asks the biggest question of all. Of course he wants to know. My heart breaks because I can’t give him what I know he wants, not yet.
“In time, please give me time. Is that enough for now?”
He rolls me over to lie on top of me. “What’s in your head, Kat?” He gently pushes the hair away from my face.
“A lot of regret, pain and revenge. He has to die, Tank, for me to stay alive. Or he will take away the thing that matters the most to me the world.” My eyes flutter shut, not being able to answer beyond that.
“I’m going to be your hero, baby, I’m going to be the man that takes that darkness away and gives you what you want, to be free.”
A knock at the door interrupts the bleak moment of sadness that I am anxious to escape from.
Escape from the prison that has become my life. Revenge.
Tank
“Prez wants you in church ASAP,” Pawn yells through the door.
I kiss Kat on the forehead and push up from the bed while saying, “Head out to the bonfire with the girls, or stay in here, but, Kat, you better keep your ass on the premises.”
I have to leave to take care of business. This is getting old. Every time I get anywhere with her, something comes up.
Doubt creeps into my heart like an old friend. Is she staying with me because her husband will kill her if she leaves here?
For now, I push the thoughts away and go to work. Blade is sitting at the table with a seething Spider and Cowboy. The door shuts behind us all and I open the discussion, “I better not be in here because of you two.” I point a meaty finger at each of their chests.
Spider and Cowboy remain in their standoff, glaring at each other. Blade throws down the gavel and all heads turn to him. He points it at each of them, “Are you two going to fight over bitches? Go to blows over a woman neither of you have claimed? Spider, if Jazz is yours, then you need to claim her, or back off.”
Spider’s vicious look turns to Blade and Axl who is sitting next to him. “Really? I remember someone called dibs on Vegas, and,” he looks over to Axl, “your princess.”
I jump in and stop Spider from getting a knife in his chest for challenging the Prez and VP at the table. “Brother, if you laid your intentions out there, everyone should agree to back the fuck off.” I pointily stare at Cowboy. “Aren’t you fucking busy chasing Topaz’s ass around anyway?”
“Not when she’s hanging off of you,” he spits at me.
“Oh, I get it now. You’re being a little bitch and went to the next chick you could use to piss her off. Grow the fuck up, Cowboy. She is a fucking stripper, you stupid fuck, fuck her and move on.” I take a calming breath. “We have a lot more important shit to worry about, not this fucked up grade school shit.”
I turn my attention back to the Prez and VP. “When can we get Jenn on board to move forward?”
“So we can settle Kat’s shit too for you?” Cowboy is pushing me like no other dumbass I’ve ever seen. I lunge forward and slam my fist into his nose. Blood spurts and spatters from the impact. More than likely, the nose is broken.
“I was patient with you, motherfucker, and you kept running your mouth. You need a fucking time out, sit down.”
Pawn tosses him a smirk like, Yeah, bitch, be humble.
I take my seat next to Blade, the anger trying to consume me into pounding out my frustrations some more on Cowboy. Axl looks amused and we’ll high-five later. Blade clears his throat, trying to get back to business, but I know he wants to laugh too.
“Saint, is Jenn ready to come forward? I don’t want to put pressure on her. But this does need to be done.”
Saint looks up, “I think I can get her to come in. Give me a day or two?”
Blade nods his agreement and stares at the room. “Get the fuck out.” He slams the gavel down and the men leave to head back out to the bonfire.
“Tank,” Blade calls for me to stay when everyone in the room has left and the door shuts. “What have you found out?”
It pisses me off that he asks. However, I get it. His loyalty is to the club and not to Kat.
“Her name is Katherine Castillo, married to the Cartel boss. She’s protecting something, a family in Califor
nia. I haven’t made the connection to her yet. Spider is helping me.”
“Did she tell you that her husband has been the puppet master behind all of this? The war, the transport, Johnny, the diamonds, everything. He wants the northern rights, and was going through her father, Cobra, as the middleman.”
I sit there and let it sink in. It doesn’t surprise me, but, at the same time, it does. It’s just another war, but, this time, against the Cartel.
“It’s time we call the chapters in.”
I just hope that, by the end of this, we all survive and there is a club still standing, regardless of Kat, me or the brothers.
The Cartel has been playing us for a long time and wants what is ours.
They will want us all dead for taking her.
Some wars must be won by sacrificing the Queen.
Chapter 31
Tank
After last night’s call to all the chapter Presidents, they are on their way to Reno to have a meeting, as a whole club, with Jenn. Also, the bosses want to go over the plan with Kat. That, no one knows the full details of it just yet.
I’m worried where that leaves Kat, and then us. I know that I can’t run from this, that we have to face what is coming at us. It still scares the shit out of me though.
I park outside of The Black Rose and go in search of Kat. I don’t give a fuck what she has going on, I need her. Crave to feel her and be with her. This decoy job for her is going to have to be put on hold.
Inside the bar, I charge forward to where she’s standing, serving drinks, and plenty of guys are gathered to get a glimpse of those fat tits behind the bar.
“Tami,” I call out. “Call in to Vegas and let her know that Kat has gone home sick.” Tami smiles and pulls out her phone to do as I asked. Smart kid.
Kat stands there stunned as she’s handing over a row of shots to one of the waitresses. Once the tray is out of the way, I pull her to my side and escort her out of the bar. As soon as we reach my bike, I hand her a helmet and jump on. She slides on behind me, not an inch between us.
Escaping From Forever: Tank & Kat's story, Part 1 (Battle Born MC Book 5) Page 17
