Tak: The A**hole Club Series

by Ivy Harper

  Pit, who’d walked toward the back room and paused said, “When did I say this shit was free? All of you motherfuckers are paying.”

  His words were followed by everyone’s groan of pain. Skittles laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s on him or his dick will be dry tonight.”

  Pit looked at her and quirked a brow. “I had you by the throat all morning, I’m good.”

  “Fuck you, Pit.”

  “You want me to.” He winked.

  I joined Luke and Deacon in pretending we didn’t hear them arguing. Some things just never changed.

  Jazz

  * * *

  “Look who decided to come back home,” Trisha greeted me as I entered her apartment. She looked behind me. “Where’s Leonard, didn’t you go by the office?”

  “I had him meet me downtown with my car and sent him back to the office. I decided to drive myself around today, I’m tired of being carted everywhere.”

  “Wow, out of all the times I asked you to let me get a ride in your Lamborghini, you didn’t even offer to take me for a joy ride and to add insult to injury, you’re off today. I see how you are cousin. When I saw your nappy ass at Farmer, did I snitch? No, but now I don’t know what I’ll do since I’m so hurt.”

  “Don’t be that person,” I said as I hauled my newest purchases of Rejected One merch over to her couch. “Julius texted me yesterday and told me Dutch could fill me in on why my father was pushing for me to get to know Harrison’s son. Besides, I was kicked out by my boss last minute. So, I figured I’d come by and check on you and Dutch. See if the brownstone was still standing.”

  “Well, not only is it standing, but it’s also thriving,” she said with humor.

  “Okay, I was starting to worry since you and Dutch are like vinegar and oil. And there’s no one here to keep an eye on you two with Zeno, Julius, and me out.”

  Trisha sent me an annoyed look as she walked into her kitchen. “I shouldn’t offer you anything, but my mother raised me right. Want something to drink?”

  “I’m good, do you know if Dutch is busy?”

  Trisha opened her freezer and took out a container of vanilla ice cream and placed it on the counter. She gave me a blank look. “Why would I know whether he’s busy or not?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh my God, because you are always in Dutch’s business. And you know… you live next door to him.”

  She frowned. “Hey, I’m not that bad. I’ve been staying in my apartment and not driving him crazy for at least a week. Besides, with the guys all focused on your dad it’s been pretty quiet here.”

  “So, Zeno hasn’t been trying to get you to convince me to leave Tak?” I asked as I walked over to her.

  Trisha shrugged. “No, not really. Zeno and Pops probably think it’s better for them if you stay with Tak. It’s not like you’re going to run into anyone you know while you’re with him.”

  Groaning, I covered my face. “You mean, like Gerald Harrison, the son of the man my father seems desperate for me to get to know?”

  There was a beat of silence. “How in God’s name did you run into him?”

  Letting my hand drop from my face, I gave a quick rundown of what happened.

  “I had the Roarke lawyers convince him it was in his best interest to let it go. Lucky for me he saw it my way and signed the NDA.”

  “Well, shit. And you’re sure he hasn’t told your father?” she asked as she made her concoction of banana, ice cream, and milk.

  I wrinkled my brow in thought. “I haven’t heard anything about it from him. You didn’t answer me earlier. Is Dutch busy?”

  “Yeah, he’s been holed up all day in his apartment in a Call of Duty tournament.”

  Her expression turned mischievous. I wanted to hit her. Of course Trisha knew what Dutch was doing.

  Before I could stop her, she’d already made her way out of the apartment toward Dutch’s. The only choice I had was to follow her next door. When I entered his apartment, Dutch stood looking at Trisha like he wanted to toss her out the window. His monitors posted his rank and the sound of bullets flying in the background of the game were a clear indication his game was over, and he was out of the tournament. My guess, thanks to Trisha.

  “Trisha, I’m going to count to three and if you don’t give me a good reason for interrupting me, I’m going to burn every single Birkin in your closet.”

  Before Trisha completely riled Dutch up, I stepped forward. “I want to know what Julius, Zeno, and Uncle Carter are up to and why my father wanted me to meet with Senator Harrison’s son.”

  Dutch immediately shot Trisha a dirty look. “You better thank God Julius told me Jazz was coming,” he said this as he turned around and sat down at his computer.

  With a few clicks of his fingers, the screen changed from Call of Duty to a bunch of numbers and documents I was barely able to keep up with.

  Dutch continued. “We’ve been keeping track over the last two years of your father’s business dealings. Originally, we were doing it in an effort to see if we could buy his shares in your family’s company and buy his own company out, but last year we noticed a discrepancy in his accounting books. He’s spending at a far higher rate than he’s been earning. It’s not going to take long before he ends up filing for bankruptcy.”

  I frowned. “Let me guess, the one who found the discrepancy was Julius.”

  Dutch and Trisha shared a look. Trisha was the one to break the silence first. “Yeah, since he’s the one leading the investigation against your father.”

  “Okay, so what did you guys find out?”

  “Well, we wondered how he was keeping his own company a float and we discovered an odd flow of money going from the Roarke Foundation to an offshore account. It didn’t take long for us to find out he’d been using money from the foundation to keep his own cash flow in the black,” Dutch explained.

  “Julius believes your father approached Harrison to prepare for the possible investigation. Or he’s hoping Harrison would stop it from happening in the first place. Either way, it’s clear the payment for Harrison to do either is you.”

  A loud alarm completely disrupted the tension in the air. I mentally set aside the information my cousins had given me and turned my attention to the bright red flashing alert that’d popped up on his screen.

  “What’s that?”

  Trisha took a bite of her ice cream as she said, “Since we weren’t sure when those two guys would pop again. Dutch put trackers on their accounts and social media, so if there was any activity we would know.”

  “And by the looks of it, the one called Tony just got a huge amount of money,” Dutch added. All three of us looked at the screen.

  Trisha released a sharp whistle. “How many zeroes is that?”

  “A lot.” Suddenly, A chill ran through me. I took out my phone, opening the tracker used on Tak’s phone. “Something doesn’t feel right. I’m going to go find Tak.”

  “Now?” Trisha asked looking at me with worry.

  I took out my key fob from my back pocket with my free hand. “Yeah.” Turning my attention to Dutch, I asked, “Can you track who sent the money to him?”

  “I can try, but the person who’s been paying them has been using dummy accounts, so it’ll be tough.”

  “Try, if you at least find a trail of any sort that’ll be enough.”

  “Got it.” Dutch’s fingers flew over his keyboard.

  I headed out and heard Trisha call after me. “Be careful, Jazz, don’t do anything too reckless.”

  I rolled my eyes at that. “I’m the best driver in this building aside from Zeno. I’ll see you guys later.”

  I hastily left, heading to the garage. That sudden deposit had me worried. The only reason Tony would have gotten such a huge amount of money out of nowhere is if the same people who’d paid him before had given him another job.

  Even though this was all conjecture on my end, I still felt the need to find Tak right away. I ran down the stairs and exited for my
black Lamborghini. Unlocking the car, I got in and pressed the start button.

  I sped off, following the map on my phone. Silently, I prayed that Tak would be fine.

  Chapter 42

  Shots Fired

  Tak

  * * *

  I listened to Deacon and Pit talk as they plotted out exactly what we’d do to catch who ever had it out for me. Personally, I knew I should have come to them right after my scandal and I wished I’d had the balls to admit I’d been too worried about what they’d say when I told them the truth.

  Fear of not being believed still remained with me from my childhood. I felt shitty. I’d judged my crew as if they were the Nakamuras.

  I watched as Luke said something dickish and got punched in the shoulder by Skittles. The urge to confess about the insecurities that had been haunting me since Pit and Skittle had become a couple rode me, but someone else came to mind when I thought about sharing my worries.

  For some reason it felt wrong to tell anyone other than Jazz about them. Oddly, I felt like she’d understand me better than anyone else. I wanted to see her.

  “Hey, where did you go?” Luke waved his hand in front of my face. “Earth to Tak.”

  I smacked his hand away. “I was thinking, so we’re going to use my show as bait?”

  Deacon and Pit nodded. Pit expression was serious. “As long as you’re okay with us setting up a trap at the Ol’ Bull. It’s the perfect opportunity to create another accident. We’ll be ready to catch them if they make a move.”

  “Okay, that makes sense,” I agreed.

  “If they show, we’ll catch them,” Skittles said. “Either way, I get beer and a concert. I think we all win here.”

  Pit shook his head. “I’ll get Roman to get us maps and details of the bar and area around it and we’ll start planning from there,” Pit said to Deacon and Luke. “Depending on how they move, my guys will be ready to adapt immediately. My uncle is on it. Since things have been happening outside of Vander he’s casting a wider net to see what we come up with.”

  My phone vibrated in my back pocket. I was going to ignore it but with the slim chance it could be Jazz, I pulled it out and checked the name only to find it was Kole. I answered it only because I was sure he was calling about my family.

  “What happened between you and the Nakamuras?” Kole inquired before I could answer.

  Knowing this was going to be a long conversation, I stood up. “I’ll be back.”

  I walked out of the back room and through the casino to the bar.

  “What happened?” Kole asked again.

  “Simple, they didn’t stick to the agreement. When I arrived not only was it more than one person, but Sakai was a little too hands on,” I said.

  “What, he touched you?”

  Sure, he only touched my shoulder but Kole’s protective ass didn’t need to know that.

  “Yep, and I laid his ass out because of it.” If I could go back, I would beat him all over again.

  There was silence for a moment. When he spoke again his voice was cold. “You no longer have to worry about doing the advertisement for Nakamura. Seeing as how they’ve violated the agreement; they will be paying us for their companies breach of contract.”

  “I wonder what should be said in a moment like this. Wait, I know. We shouldn’t have accepted their offer in the first place.

  “Let me make this clear, Kole. This will be the last time you push something like this on me. If you do this again, no matter how much you’re respected in this industry, I’ll accept your two weeks’ notice with a fucking smile. Our partnership has always been convenient for me, but don’t make me start to think it’s more trouble than it’s worth,” I said.

  I’d been playing his good artist since he’d discovered me. I never argued with how Kole ran JS Records or bragged about the fact I owned the record company. Back then, when I gave him the demo, I’d been too busy plotting my own demise.

  As usual I’d failed at trying to off myself by climbing the tallest tree on campus, only to end up in the newspaper for saving a cat. The next morning, I woke up to a phone call from Kole, begging me to sign with him. At first, I’d told him to fuck off, he’d been working for a bloodsucking label and I wasn’t interested in being controlled.

  The next thing I knew, he’d quit his job with them and came to me with lint in his pocket and a heavy list of connections in his notebook, still asking for me to work with him. Twelve years later, not many knew it was my money that had created the foundation of JS Records.

  “I’ll forget to be polite and treat you like the rest of the shitty label execs out there,” I added.

  “Understood, I’ll keep it in mind.” He hung up.

  I stared down at my phone, feeling like I’d regained some form of control over my life.

  “Aren’t you Tak Jensei?” someone asked from behind me.

  I turned around and squinted when I saw a man standing a few feet away favoring his shoulder with one hand. “Yeah, what about it?”

  It took a full second for me to realize he had lifted a gun with his other arm. “They said they don’t care how, they just want you dead. So do me a favor and die this time.”

  Time seemed to slow down as he pulled the trigger.

  “Tak.” I looked right and saw Jazz running toward me. She hit my body just as the bullet exploded from the chamber. I felt her body jerk as we fell together and hit the ground hard.

  “Shit,” the stranger shouted as he turned to run.

  The door behind me burst open and two shots were fired. “Get him,” Pit shouted.

  Roman and Ox took chase. I barely paid them any mind. My eyes were focused on the woman in my arms.

  “Jazz,” I shouted.

  Sitting up, I watched her press her hand against her arm. Her face screwed up in pain. I felt my heart freeze at the sight of the blood escaping from between her fingers.

  “I didn’t think I would make it,” she forced out.

  Skittles walked over to our side. “We need to get her to the hospital.

  “No shit,” Jazz said with a pained laugh.

  I moved to a kneeling position by her side and picked her up. “Can you drive?” I asked Skittles.

  “Sure.”

  Jazz released a pained wince. “Don’t worry, it just hit my arm.”

  “Shut up, don’t talk right now or I may really fucking lose it.”

  I carried her over to my truck. Skittles ran ahead and opened the back door for me. “Thanks.” I put Jazz inside and quickly got in behind her and pulled her into my arms.

  Skittles walked to the driver’s side and got in and tore out of the parking lot. My mind was a fucking mess as the image of Jazz getting shot repeated in my head over and over again. If the bullet had hit her somewhere else.

  I gritted my teeth and told myself to focus on getting her to the hospital. I’d let myself think once she was safely in the hands of a doctor.

  Chapter 43

  His Story

  Jazz

  * * *

  I held back from flinching as the doctor gave me a shot of anesthetic. I looked over to Tak who sat across from the bed I was on. Since he’d brought me here, he hadn’t said a word.

  The silence had grown almost cold. It would have been difficult to talk anyway. The minute we entered and the nurse saw my bleeding arm I’d been dragged off.

  The doctor kept telling me I was lucky the bullet hadn’t hit a major artery as he stitched me up. I closed my eyes. Even if the wound had been a bit worse, I wouldn’t have changed my decision to save Tak. He suddenly stood up and with a dark expression he stepped out.

  “Okay, you’re good for now,” the doctor said once he finished bandaging my arm. “We’re going to have to ask you to stay and wait to speak with an officer. We have to report it when anyone comes into our building with a gun wound. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

  “No, I understand.”

  I avoided his gaze. Speaking with the police coul
d put me in an iffy spot. As long as they didn’t do any sort of background check on my identity, there shouldn’t be any problem.

  Just in case, I texted Dutch for help. The doctor left the room, leaving me alone with my gloomy thoughts.

  Tak

  * * *

  As I stormed out of the room Jazzy was in, I ran into Skittles in the hallway. Seeing my expression, she grabbed my arms and stopped me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Where did I begin? There was so much going on in my head, I felt like I would explode at any minute. I’d watched as the doctor had exposed Jazz gunshot wound and the sight of her blood spilling down her arm had tapped into something I’d long ago learned how to pretend didn’t exist.

  Fear.

  Skittles looked me over. She finally said, “Let’s go outside. It took some work, but I got you this.” She lifted her other hand and in it was a Twinkie. “Does this work?”

  I looked from the Twinkie to her before I said, “It’ll have to do, let’s go.”

  Together we walked out of the exit that led to the break area. I made a beeline for the bench and slumped down and pressed the heels of both my hands to my forehead.

  Skittles eventually took a seat next to me. “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really, but if I don’t I feel like my head will fucking explode.”

  “Been there,” Skittles said. “Let me guess, you’re in love with the girl who saved you. Jazz, is that her name?”

  I stilled and dropped my hands so that they rested on my thighs as I turned my head to look at Skittles. “Is it that fucking obvious?”

  “Sure is, if you saw the way you looked at her, you’d make fun of yourself.”

  I groaned. “Fuck.”

  “Trust me, I completely understand.”

  I looked away from her and thought over my next words. “Skittles, I… I never gave a shit about my own life. I tried. I don’t know how many fucking times to see just how much the universe was against me dying. I tried my best to test it over and over again, even the fucking night I met you and the others I was playing poker with the cards I’d been dealt.”