“You’re right about it being time for this to be over, but I’m not sure about the rest.”
“Come on, grumpy, let’s get the rest of your clothes on before the police get here and arrest you for being so sexy.” She stood up on her tip toes and kissed as high up on his chest as she could reach before she turned and left him in her doorway.
***
Those fuckers got here quick as hell. That was the thought that crossed Tyson’s mind when they’d been down in the living room for only a few minutes then the door rang. He was put together, but they whisked her to another room before he could get in and stop it. The only good thing he could say is that she was in there with Detective McCullough who was clearly the better of the two.
“We meet again, Tyson,” Detective Johnson said like a cheesy TV character. That didn’t really require an answer, so he just nodded at the man and hoped he wouldn’t have to do much before it was time to tell them what was going on.
“Do you have the plan? You could hear from the phone call that they want this exchange done quickly, but if it’s just about the money, why do they need Ella to come along?” Tyson was really just talking out loud, but if the loud, brass detective had anything to add, he wouldn’t mind hearing it.
“We will be out of range but not out of ear shot, so you will have some coverage.”
“When you say out of range what does that mean? How fast will you be able to get to us if we need you?” Tyson didn’t like being the flunky in this whole thing; he was used to running the assignments, but this wasn’t his assignment, and he was the person being told what to do. He hoped he wasn’t under piss-poor management, but unfortunately he wouldn’t know about that until it was too late.
“You just do what you would do if we weren’t around.”
“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?” Tyson looked at the man who had always been the most talkative as the now quiet man had not a peep to say. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Did you save me from the jail so you could have me killed? Are you thinking I could be taken out for the greater good of the people? If so, leave Ella out of this.”
“We were going to, but they want her there as well. There’s nothing we can do about that without looking suspicious.”
“I don’t want to do this.” Tyson was regretting coming back to town; he and his girl may have been on the run for the rest of their lives, but they’d have lives. It didn’t seem like this cop cared too much about who was going to be alive when the dust settled.
“You forget that. If you don’t then we will be taking your girlfriend with us as you told us yourself she violated her parole.”
“Fucking bastards.” Tyson was going to blow his stack if he kept this up and then he may really have a murder charge on his hands. Knowing what they did to people who killed officers wasn’t even calming him down. He decided that he would just not talk to the aggravating man unless he had to. His emotions were riding too close to the surface. This was new and not good for the situation he was going to be going into.
Tyson stood up and walked to the kitchen to get a beer.
“I’m going to ask that you don’t try to find your girlfriend right now. Detective McCullough is getting a little information from her like I told you on the phone.” The detective remained in his seat, but he could tell that a false move would bring him up and in his face, and he wasn’t in the mood for any of that right now.
Tyson knew he’d been talking to this asshole on the phone earlier. It crossed his mind to tell him about his phone manners when he remembered that he was trying to calm himself down from the homicidal urges he could feel bubbling up every time he thought about this situation and how it may end up with the two comedy cops on the case.
“Calm down, detective, I’m just going to see if there is anything to drink.” Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything in the refrigerator that would help ease his situation, at all. He found a glass and got a drink of water. He wanted much more, but since he wasn’t going to be able to get more nothing was going to stop him from standing in the kitchen to get away from the jackass in the other room.
It didn’t work for long as the guy was standing in the door way watching him. He was just standing there silently.
“I know you don’t think we are trying to take good care of you guys, but we are. This group of guys has been running around this city doing god awful things. This isn’t the same Reapers you left a year ago, and they need to be taken down, but not on your backs. We are just trying to do what’s best for everyone. I know you aren’t going to totally trust us, but give us a little slack. We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we haven’t lost an informant yet.” The heartfelt speech should have made Tyson feel better, but it didn’t.
“There’s always a first time for everything.” Tyson looked into his glass and concentrated on the water wishing he could get this over with. The chuckling coming from Johnson wasn’t something he was expecting. The man had an expression of mirth on his usually blank face. Tyson would have taken a moment to enjoy it, but he was still a bit too stressed for hilarity.
“You’re more like me than you think.” Johnson said as he turned to leave the kitchen.
It wasn’t but a few minutes until Ella came back looking like she’d been shaken and stirred. Not in appearance, but in the look on her face.
“Is everything alright?” He wanted to grill her on what they said to her, but he knew he couldn’t with them in the other room.
“Yeah. They want us to head on over there.” She turned to leave the kitchen, but he didn’t want her to go just yet.
“Give me a hug before we go,” he said and was surprised when her face made an expression like she didn’t want to do it. What the fuck had they said to her about him? Now he had something else to ponder. He was called the Ice man when he was working with the Reapers because nothing got to him. Whether it was all those years that just had emotions piling up on each other or it was just one green eyed, red head that got him to tip the scales toward the emotionally havocked, he didn’t know, but he hated it.
“How about a quick kiss and then we have to go.” She walked over and gave him the fastest peck he’d ever gotten from her. He didn’t know what was up or what those douche bags had told her, but he hoped they’d be alive to work everything out.
She was out of the kitchen and by the door before he could say another word. The silent looks she exchanged with McCullough weren’t making him feel any less murderous than he had when he went in to the kitchen to escape the first guy.
“So the plan is to take the money to the deal, exchange it, and go. You don’t really have to get them to say anything else. The fact that you owe them money has been established as well as Ella, and they are demanding more back than you gave. Once it exchanges hands, you guys can be out of the mix.” McCullough sounded like it was going to be a simple operation, and Tyson hoped he was right.
“Are you going to wire me?” They talked about wiring him up so they could get the feedback on what was going on, but now he was getting the bum rush out the door.
“No time, but we’ve got you covered. Your phone should cover most of what we need.” Johnson patted him on the back. The man had the asshole role down to a science, so whether this was the way he normally was or it was a front, the man needed to be shaken or slapped.
“Most? What about the other part?” Just when he was starting to actually trust these guys… well if not trust them at least he was resigned that they were doing the best they could.
“It’s okay, Tyson, let’s just go,” Ella said like she was trying to keep the peace. “I have the money in the bag, and we need to get this over with.”
“Alright, Ella, let’s go.” He gave the side eye to the two cops that held their lives in their hands. When she walked toward the car, he turned to them. “If anything goes wrong, save Ella first.”
CHAPTER SIX
Tyson looked like he was going to self-combust and they didn�
��t have much time before they got to the place. He had his right hand resting on the emergency brake that was in between them, so she grabbed it and placed it between her two hands.
“I know that you are really tense, but I just want to tell you that I wouldn’t change a single thing. The last few days I’ve felt like I’ve really been living whereas before I was just surviving. Whatever happens today, I want you to know that I’ve had the best time I’ve ever had, and I’m so glad I was sent to find you. Not for them, but for me.”
He brought her hands to his mouth and kissed them, but he didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say about how she’d acted in the kitchen. The expression on his face almost broke her heart but she’d been told things that he couldn’t know until later. She sucked at keeping secrets, so the best way for her to keep them would be to be quiet or at least not talk about what was going on in her head, but she couldn’t let him think she somehow doubted him or regretted anything they’d done.
He pulled up at Haymaker’s, and she knew this place from her previous days trying to score drugs before her incarceration. She didn’t know if they were supposed to be going inside or if they were going to duke this out in the parking lot. Tyson picked a parking spot furthest away from the door, and then they waited. It didn’t take long before they heard what sounded like bees swarming closer and closer. There had to be over twenty motorcycles that parked in a row close to the car.
“Stand as close to the door as you get and jump in and go if things get crazy. I’m leaving the keys in the ignition and the car on.” Tyson looked tense, and she was starting to feel how serious this was. It didn’t feel like a drop and go, but what else could they have wanted.
They both got out of the car at the same time, but she tried to stay close to the door like Tyson told her to.
“Here you go,” Tyson was trying to get this over with, she knew he was, but there was no way it was going to work.
Stephen watched her like he knew her personally, and she didn’t think she’d seen him before. “Why so shy, Ella? Come on over here.” The man crooned like they were on a first date not like they were practically being held hostage.
“She’s fine where she is,” Tyson said in the calm voice she loved so much. He seemed jittery in the house and during the car ride, but he sounded like there was no problem now. She knew him well enough she could tell there was a lot going on under the surface.
“You think this all was about the money, Tyson? I’ve been into our Ella here for a long time.” The man walked closer to her, and she began to feel a bit of fear. What the hell was this guy talking about?
“I don’t think we’ve met,” she said trying to give the police a few more minutes to get here because Tyson was right; something was going down.
“You may not remember me, but I was at your trial and I saw the way you got railroaded for something you didn’t do. I apologize for that. On that day I decided I was going to take over this club and make some changes. The guys who let you fall for that are no longer with us. I took care of them for you.”
This man had more than a few screws loose, and it looked like he wanted her to thank him for killing the people who set her up. There wasn’t a hallmark card for that she was sure, and she didn’t know what to say. “Ummmm, thanks?”
“Everyone wanted to know why Bruce had to be taken care of, and that was because he gave you a job and then lost you. He was supposed to tell you that you could have a job at the club, but instead he told you to find a guy he couldn’t find.” Stephen was close enough to grab her if he wanted, and she took her eyes off him to see that Tyson had been grabbed and was struggling with about 5 men.
“Look, I don’t know what this is about, but Tyson and I just wanted to drop off the money and be done with this. We don’t want any trouble.” She thought that was going to make the situation better, but the look in his eyes got more deranged if that was possible.
“So you’re with him, now?” Stephen took turns looking between the two of them.
It was like the whole world stopped. She looked over at the love of her life and knew that if she gave the answer her heart wanted, that might be the end of him. The word “no” was coming from her mouth, but she could feel her head nodding yes. Fuck. She was not good at telling lies, but now it was life or death.
Stephen picked her up and carried her to his bike, and she couldn’t fight hard enough. She cursed her petite frame and her lack of muscles. He had her straddle him and held her there with one arm while he looked like he was going to attempt to drive off with the other.
Where was he going to take her, and when he took her there, what was he going to do to her? It was unthinkable, and she was terrified. He started up the bike when the police finally surrounded them, but Stephen was not giving up.
“Hold on, I’ll get us out of here.”
Had he lost his mind? Was he trying to act like he was saving her? She made a last ditch effort to pull away from him. She was on the handlebars trying to kick him in the face because he couldn’t handle the bike. Then she kicked him in the chest, and his head exploded. That didn’t make any sense to her, but then she was falling… the bike and all.
She didn’t know what to do. Life was a bitch if it let her get through all of this only to let her die because she hit her head on the concrete. She turned her head and could see Tyson trying to catch the falling bike, but unless he was Superman he wasn’t going to make it. Dear God, I love that man. If that was going to be her last thought she’d go in peace.
When the bike came to a bouncing stop, she found herself in the humongous plastic shield. It wasn’t often that she cursed her size and then loved it within the same night. She was scooped up into a fierce hug by Tyson as he kissed her face. Well, she didn’t know when she’d gotten such a warm welcome from Tyson; she may have to be chased by a crazed, obsessed killer more often.
The medic asked if they could take a look at Ella, and she didn’t think Tyson was going to allow it. She was enjoying the whole caveman thing too much to stop it, and she felt fine, but in the end, he let her go, and she was happier than she’d ever been. They were free of this whole mess. The Reapers leader was chasing them for something other than money, and looking back at the mess that was Stephen, she knew that problem was solved.
Life was good.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“You wired her?” Tyson had never felt so many emotions at one time. He was glad that this shit was over, but these fuckers took the long way when it came time to help them and then shot the bastard when it was possible they could have shot Ella.
“We knew you wouldn’t think it was a good idea, but we didn’t think they would be on her as much as you. The hard part was getting her out of the house without hugging you. We didn’t want to chance you feeling anything or her telling you.”
“I want to hurt both of you for putting Ella in harm’s way when I told you not to, but I’m going to be okay that this is all over. Since you used her and you heard that they set her up with the drugs, which was the reason she had to go to jail in the first place, how about your do her a solid?” Tyson looked at both men, and they nodded at him, but he wanted to hear some words so he continued to stare until he found some.
“We’ll see what we can do.” McCullough said as he turned away.
It took 45 minutes for Ella to be cleared by the medics, but it was worth it because they said she didn’t have to go to the hospital.
Everything was falling into place, and Tyson wasn’t used to that. From what he could tell they were both alive, they were able to keep their money, and there wasn’t anyone looking for them. He loaded her in the car and backed up into the street. It was so surreal. A few hours ago they were pulling in, and it seemed like the world was coming to an end. Now the bad guy was dead, the other bad guys were locked up, and they were on their way home like they’d just been out for drinks and a movie.
She was sitting on her knees facing him, and he didn’t have the heart
to say she should have her seat belt on. With what she went through today, if she wanted to drive around with her ass hanging out of the window, he’d not have said a word.
“You have nothing to say?”
“About what?”
“Normally you are fussing if I’m not wearing my seatbelt, but here I am on my knees, facing the wrong way and seat beltless, and you have nothing to say.”
“I’m happy you’re alive to do the dumb shit you’re doing. How’s that?”
“Speaking of dumb shit, did you really think you were going to catch me when the bike was falling?” She said with laughter in her voice. He couldn’t believe she would even joke about that; his heart skipped a beat just remembering that she almost fell and cracked her skull on the black asphalt outside the bar.
“Don’t even talk about it.”
Beneath His Ink (Highway Reapers Motorcycle Club Book 3) Page 6
