Tak: The A**hole Club Series

by Ivy Harper

  “Tak,” she said my name with a wealth of love I’d never received from those who shared the same blood as me.

  “But I’ve never been this scared.” I pressed a hand to my chest and squeezed. “I don’t think they’re any words to describe how my heart froze when she jumped in front of me or how much I wanted to murder that bastard who shot her.”

  The crinkling sound of the Twinkie package caught my attention before Skittles held it out to me and spoke. “That’s definitely love. I think now you get it. How Pit and I feel about each other. What I was hoping you would begin to see. You’re hopelessly in love, sweetie.”

  I took the Twinkie from her as she continued. “To be honest, it’s scary as fuck to love someone to this degree. I was terrified when I admitted to myself that I was falling. I love Pit with my heart and soul. That man drives me crazy, but I couldn’t go a day without him in my life.”

  “Wow, I feel like I’m listening to my parent talk about her love life.” I took a bite of the Twinkie she handed me.

  Skittles smacked my arm. “Shut up, I’m trying to be serious.”

  “I think I speak for everyone and myself when I say that you and Pit’s love story makes me feel both nervous and fearful for my health.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Fuck it, just answer this. Do you love her?”

  “Yes,” I answered without having to think about it long.

  “Then that’s all you need, just don’t fuck it up.”

  Eating the rest of the Twinkie in two bites, I shot her a cocky look. “I don’t plan on it.”

  We went back inside to find Jazz in the hallway talking to a pair of cops. She looked so tired, she didn’t even notice when we returned.

  “Thanks for your cooperation, we’ll contact you once we have more information.” One of the cops said before he shot us a greeting as he and his partner left.

  Walking over to Jazz, I gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her to my side. “How are you feeling?”

  She wrinkled her nose at me. “We’re talking again. I thought you were mad at me.”

  “I’m not mad at you,” I said, flicking the tip of her nose. “I’m mad that you put your life in danger for me. I don’t like seeing you get hurt.”

  With her wound-free arm, she smacked my hand away. “It’s a part of my job and I don’t like the alternative, which would be you getting hurt.”

  Both of us were so focused on each other, when Skittles cleared her throat, we looked at her in surprise. We’d completely forgotten she was there.

  “Shit, I forgot you were here,” I said.

  Giving a chaffed look, she said, “Wow, and all the warm fuzzies from our heart-to-heart turns to smoke just like that.” She turned her eyes to Jazz, her expression softened. “Sorry, I tried to raise Tak with manners, but he and the rest of the idiots in my crew just can’t seem to use them.”

  “I am the best one out of the entirety of our crew. You’re just bias,” I complained.

  Jazz laughed and said to Skittles, “Yeah, I’ve noticed his lack of manners.”

  “Jazz,” I pouted down at her. “I’ve been very nice to you. Remember the move I did in the shower.”

  “So, your name is Skittles, right?” Jazz nearly yelled over me, giving me a warning look. I shot her a naughty look before I decided to leave her alone and I let her and Skittles talk.

  “Yep, that’s me,” Skittles said.

  “How long have you known Tak?” Jazz asked.

  “Since he was a teenager and he thought it was cool to look like John Bender from The Breakfast Club,” Skittles joked.

  Skittles and Jazz both snickered together. An odd sense of contentment filled me from seeing the woman I saw as my older sister and the woman I’d figured out I loved getting along. The sound of a phone ringing cut in and Skittles reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell.

  “Well, it looks like my ride’s here. Jazz, it was nice meeting you and Tak make sure you call Pit when you get home.”

  “No can do, I’ll be fucking my woman tonight.”

  Jazz smacked my arm. “Tak.”

  Skittles rolled her eyes. “Whatever, we reply to your texts while fucking all the time, make it happen, my man-child,” she said before she left.

  We followed her example, leaving the hospital to head home. It didn’t take long for Jazz to fall asleep. I stayed up thinking about everything I needed to make sure her life was never in danger again.

  Chapter 44

  The Reveal

  Tak

  * * *

  I stood in the meeting room of the JS Records building, looking out the window. I’d debated for two nights after returning home with Jazz on whether I would tell Kole about what was going on or not. After thinking it over, I decided it would be smarter to tell him and the others.

  Especially since I planned on using our concert as possible bait for my wannabe killers. The door opened behind me. I turned around and watched as Kole entered along with Chelsea and my band members. Jay gave me a searching look as he walked over to my side.

  “Do you know how shocked I was when I got a text message from you this morning?”

  “As shocked as I was when you insisted on buying the top you’re currently wearing.” I gave his shirt a disgusted look. It was covered in smiling kittens.

  “Much better than wearing torn pants as a fashion statement,” Jay snarked back.

  I looked down at my jeans. “At least my balls can breathe, how are yours doing?” Clicking my tongue, I gave his crotch a pitying look. “Those poor suffocated balls.”

  “Did you call us all here to watch you and Jay argue?” Chelsea asked from where she’d taken a seat at the head of the table.

  “No, I called you all here because I’m trying to catch the person who’s trying to kill me.”

  Everyone looked at me with varying levels of flabbergasted expressions. Not that I cared, it was refreshing to finally be able to say it openly. I walked over to the conference table and took a seat.

  Kole spoke first. “Are you saying you finally remember something?”

  “Wait a minute, what the fuck are you talking about?” Jay says.

  “I told you, my attempted suicide was someone else’s doing.” I took my phone out and placed it on the tabletop and slid it over to Jay. “The pictures on there are of them carrying my body to my room.”

  Pit’s people had finally been able to get the untampered footage from the hotel. Jay picked up my phone and looked at it, his expression turned ashen. “How long have you known about this?”

  “Well, I couldn’t remember anything after entering the parking garage. So, at the time, I wasn’t too sure, but when the studio light fell, I knew something was up. I called in a favor with a friend of mine to look into it.”

  Chelsea looked at me in worry. “Have you figured out yet who it is?”

  “You’re really a fucking asshole,” Ark said.

  I placed a hand on my chest in shock. “Now Ark, if your fans knew just how dirty your mouth was, they’d be disappointed.”

  He glared at me. “How the fuck could you hide this from us for this long? It’s been nearly two and a half months since your suicide scandal. If you even suspected for a second that it was set up, you should have told us.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Did you just say he’s right?” Omar asked, clearly taken a back.

  “Yeah, I’ve been in my own head and I just assumed you guys wouldn’t believe shit I said. I’ve worked through it, which is why I decided today to tell you everything.”

  “We should contact the proper authorities and tell them what’s going on,” Kole said, looking to Jay who had handed him my phone.

  I tapped my fingers on the table. “Well, last night when I went out to meet with some friends one of the guys from that night in Vegas showed up and tried to shoot me.”

  The silence was deafening.

  I continued. “Luckily, Jazz managed to save me, but she put her l
ife on the line to do it. There’s already a police report in.”

  Jay turned to Ark, who’s face had turned red. “I won’t stop you if you punch him. In fact, I’ll hold him down for you.”

  “Okay, I want to know why you decided to tell us now?” Omar said.

  “Because when I initially started investigating, I thought it could be Kole, but I quickly abandoned that idea. Now that I still don’t have answers, I’ve decided to play the role of bait to end this once and for all.”

  “If I wanted to kill you, I’d just cut your brake cables and treat you to my best whiskey,” Kole cut in.

  I gave him a long look. “Thought about it a lot, have you?”

  He just gave me a mysterious smile in answer.

  I squinted my eyes at him. “Okay, well in order to wrap this shit up and get our hands on the culprit, my friends and I have decided to use our concert as the bait. The goal is to give them easy access to me, so they can make a move and from there everything else should go smoothly.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Jay asked. “What if they don’t come?”

  “Then I’ll turn everything over to the proper authorities,” I answered easily.

  “Why don’t you do that now?” Chelsea asked. “If they are willing to shoot you out in the open, that means they’re sure they’ll get away with it.”

  “And that’s why I don’t want to hand it over to the authorities yet. Something tells me they’d get arrested then someone would get paid off and they’ll be back on the street. Like what happened to the asshole who tried to cave my head in. This way, we cut the head off the snake.”

  “What makes you think your friends can do that?” Ark asked.

  I gave him an amused look. “This is the kind of shit they’re good at.”

  Jazz

  * * *

  Tak had left me sleeping and had gone to JS Records without me. I wanted to be angry, but there really wasn’t any point. Especially when I considered the burning pain in my arm.

  Getting out of bed, I walked into my bathroom. Tak had tried to bring me to his room last night, but I was determined to act like I at least wanted my job. Not to mention, with my wound, I knew I would probably spend the night tossing and turning.

  I took a quick shower, while avoiding my arm. When I was done, I came out to my phone ringing. I picked it up and answered, “Hello?”

  “We need to meet,” Zeno answered. “I’ll text you an address, be there in thirty.” With that, he hung up.

  I stared at my phone for a second before I tossed it back on the bed and went to my closet to get some clothes. Zeno had sounded more than a little upset.

  Finished getting dressed, I called an Uber and headed to downtown Vander City.

  * * *

  ***

  * * *

  Thirty minutes later, I sat across from my cousin Zeno in a small coffee shop.

  “Let me get this straight. We told you to lay low, but instead, you go and get shot for some limp wristed rock star. You’ve done some ballsy stuff, but to think that you could take a risk like that without thinking twice about us is disappointing. You could have died.”

  I inwardly cringed at the anger in his voice. “How did you find out?”

  “Julius told me.”

  “I thought he was busy investigating my dad,” I said.

  “He was down at the precinct dealing with another case when he overheard a cop mention your name,” Zeno explained. “If it wasn’t for that, he’d be here with me.”

  Honestly, between Zeno and Julius, I would have preferred it be Julius who’d come to chew me out. Julius wasn’t as passionate as Zeno was. Zeno treated me like a little sister.

  We were supposed to be going unnoticed, but my cousin with his Puerto Rican heritage and good looks had the eyes of every girl in the place on him. He was tall, a little over six-two, muscled, and kept his hair pulled up in a top knot. Zeno had been the one who’d reluctantly taught me how to steal cars and fight.

  If Tak was the one who woke me up from my living coma. Zeno was the one who’d pulled me out of the ditch. He’d taken me under his wing and showed me the ropes of the world he lived in. So, I couldn’t bring myself to look at him now. I hated to see the look of disappointment in his eyes.

  “When Trisha told me what you were up to, I almost killed her and fucking Dutch, but I let it go. After we learned about some of the Ripaldi boys getting involved, I figured it was better to leave you with that guy. But now, this shit is getting too dangerous.

  “Once people like that start using guns in public, it’s a clear sign they don’t care about who the fuck gets hurt. It’s time you hand everything over to the police and bolt, Jazz.”

  “The same police who said my mother died by accident?” Indignation filled me at the fact he would even tell me to do such a thing. “I know the police well here in Vander City and Bridge Lake. They’re the ones my father paid off to shut down the investigation into my mother’s death as well as my accusations against him. I can’t trust them.”

  “I’m sure they would actually do their jobs when it comes to your star,” Zeno said, muttering something in Spanish.

  I glared at him. “Is it so wrong wanting to protect someone I…” I trailed off.

  Could I even say I loved him? Wouldn’t Zeno say that my obsession had gone too far? He’d think I was crazy dragging a high school crush into adulthood.

  “Look, I’m not going to leave until he’s safe,” I finished.

  He weighed his words as he considered me with his dark gaze. “Okay, fine, I see you’re going to be stubborn about this. I’m just going to ask you one thing. Does he still not recognize you?

  “The guy you’re doing all this for doesn’t even remember you, Jazz. In my opinion, no matter what happens, he’s not going to forgive you for lying to him.”

  I winced. His words hurt me far more then he knew. I looked away from him.

  “Like I said before. I’m not doing this for him to remember me and as long as he’s safe, I don’t care if he doesn’t forgive me for lying to him.

  “I know I’m being selfish by insisting that I stay with Tak, but for the first time I can think of something outside of my father. I need this. I want to be near him.”

  “Do you love him?” Zeno asked.

  I paused and looked away from him. “It doesn’t matter how I feel.”

  “Dammit. If you’re trying to live out some fantasy stop now. If you think he’ll wake up one day and be madly in love with you, give that thought up. I’ve seen the gossip columns. Your singer isn’t worth your loyalty.”

  “Good thing I’m not trying to make him my man then,” I said, shooting him an annoyed look.

  He didn’t know anything about Tak. The one who was in the wrong here was me. I was the one who felt like I was playing with him.

  “Zeno, it’s not going to last more than another month. Once I get my hands on whoever it is trying to kill him, then I’ll leave, don’t worry.”

  He frowned before he suddenly stood up and pushed his chair back. “I’m going to give you a month to figure it out and after that, I’m going to drop a tip off to the police.”

  I followed his example and stood. “A month is fine. I’ll figure it all out in a month.”

  He gave me a nod. Reaching out, he placed his hand on top of my head. Something he’d done since he’d taken me under his wing. “All right, don’t get hurt and stay out of the cameras.”

  I smiled. “I’ll try,” I said, knowing things were good between us now.

  Feeling my phone vibrate, I pulled it out of my pocket and saw it was Tak.

  “Hi.”

  “Where are you?” he asked.

  “I’m downtown at a café. I decided to meet with one of my friends.” I walked with Zeno outside.

  “Text me the name, I’ll come and pick you up.”

  “Okay, I’ll be waiting for you outside,” I said before I hung up.

  “Alicia, is that you?” I imme
diately lost my smile when I met the amused gaze of my half sister, Gloria.

  I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen her, but that was nearly impossible with her standing right in front of me. Zeno had walked off, not bothering to acknowledge her. As the Liberius usually did when it came to my other family.

  “I thought that was you. I almost didn’t recognize you with these clothes.” She looked over my cheap athletic wear. “And when did you cut your hair? Not to mention the contacts.”

  I looked around, trying to keep a low profile, and probably would have if she’d been dressed in nondescript clothes, but she was dressed from top to bottom in brands that drew the eye of everyone walking past. I glanced behind her and noticed a few men in suits who were just as eye catching. Feeling the growing attention coming in our direction made me nervous of being discovered.

  “Do you know that dad’s been driving himself crazy trying to get in touch with you?”

  “No,” I answered, replacing my phone in my back pocket.

  She squinted her eyes at me. “You’re making your life more difficult avoiding him like this.”

  I gave her a scornful look. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about your life than mine?”

  “What does that mean?” she demanded.

  I shrugged, glancing at the road. Not seeing Tak’s car yet, I looked back at her. “Nothing.”

  “Don’t bullshit me, I know something’s up. Let’s be honest between sisters. Originally, Dad didn’t seem to care about whether you were dead or alive.

  “Now it’s like all of a sudden he’s become obsessed with getting back in your good graces. Personally, I think you should contact him and put him out of his misery. Then he’ll stop stressing Mom and the rest of us out.

  “It’s been peaceful since you successfully ran away to your cousins, I want it to stay that way.”