Taming Bull: A Friends to Lovers Military MC Romance (Dead Presidents MC Book 9)

by Harley Stone

  The dog was watching me, his sad, round eyes pleading for help. I wondered if he knew they were offloading him. “You said the dog’s name is BB?” I asked.

  “Yes. He’s a beabull… a beagle pit bull mix. BB just kind of stuck.” Hope brightened her tone. “Are you interested? You can change his name if you don’t like it.”

  The generosity of Ladies First was the only thing keeping me from being homeless. I’d passed all my knowledge classes and was scheduled to start my paid electrical apprenticeship on Monday, but my starting wage wasn’t even enough to rent a cardboard box in Seattle. Especially not if I had to put down a dog deposit. Monica and Stocks had made it clear I was welcome at the shelter until I got on my feet. We’d even tossed around the idea of me staying longer and renting my room to help them out, but I didn’t think it was the type of arrangement that would allow me to bring home a pet. Still, Stocks had mentioned wanting a boy dog…

  “Are you having a hard time getting rid of him?” I asked.

  “Yes.” She sighed. “He’s a four-and-a-half-year-old pit mix. Everyone wants a puppy—and not a pit—but, puppies destroy everything and need training. BB’s a good boy. He’s well-trained, excellent with kids, and very mellow. He needs a good home where he’ll be loved and appreciated.” Her eyes were heavy with tears, and she blinked and looked away. “I’m sorry. This is harder than I thought it would be.”

  I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she and Johnny were going through. The dog was tugging at every single one of my heartstrings, and I wanted nothing more than to help him and this struggling family out. Promising to return, I excused myself and stepped away to make a phone call.

  Monica answered on the second ring. “Hey, I thought you’d be home by now. I’m all prepped and ready to make the best damn breakfast sandwiches you’ve ever tasted.”

  God, I loved her. “You’re the best, and I will be home shortly, but remember how Stocks was talking about wanting a male dog?”

  “You mean when we were ganging up on him and forcing him to roll over on Bull?”

  As much as we’d denied it at the time, that was exactly what we’d done. “Yeah. That time. Well, there’s a dog outside of Safeway that really needs a home. He’s beautiful and mellow, with these big hound eyes that have melted me into a puddle of goo. There’s this little boy, and his parents are getting a divorce…” Emotion thickened my words, making me turn my back on the sight of Johnny sniffling and hugging BB.

  “Wait. I’m confused. Thirty minutes ago, you were all torn up about some breakfast sandwich. Now, you want a dog?”

  “You don’t sound confused. I mean, you pretty much nailed it.”

  “But how did we get here?”

  “Is that really important?” I asked.

  “Call it curiosity.”

  “Technically, it’s your fault.”

  She chuckled. “Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.”

  “It was your suggestion. You told me to stop by the store. I practically tripped over the dog coming out. It’s like the universe threw him directly into my path to soothe my broken heart. He’s animal therapy. Seriously, Moni, if you saw him, you’d understand.”

  “I don’t know, Lil. This seems like the kind of big decision we should discuss as a group. What if someone’s allergic to or afraid of dogs?”

  “All of the girls fawned over Boots when we went to the fire station. Nobody was allergic to him. I’ll keep Brahma in my room if you want. He’s four, well-trained, and good with kids. I’ll take him with me when I move out.”

  “Brahma?” she asked. “As in Brahma like the bull? Is this about Bull?”

  “No.” Okay, maybe a little, but she didn’t need to know that. “They call the dog BB because he’s a beabull, but his coloring reminds me of a Brahma bull, so I figured he can keep the initials so it’s not so confusing for him. Plus, he’ll have a much tougher sounding name.”

  “Oh, God. Stop. Your logic is beginning to make sense to me, and I’ve never been more terrified in my life.”

  “Don’t fight it. Embrace the crazy. It’s easier that way. You should see this guy. He’s so sweet and lovable and I have a plan to help the little boy feel better.”

  And, Brahma would keep me busy. He’d take my mind off Bull and give me something to direct all my time and energy into.

  “Please, Moni.”

  “How badly do you want this dog? Quantify this decision for me.”

  I’d grown up with dogs, so I knew all about their massive amounts of poop to clean up, and I was willing to take on the commitment. I glanced in the bag of groceries, trying to think of the best way to make her understand my obsession. “I’m letting ice cream melt as we speak.”

  “Shit. That is serious.”

  “Yeah. I have four days off before I start my apprenticeship. Four days that I can either mope around the house and drive you crazy, or get to know my dog.”

  “This sounds like blackmail.”

  She was considering it. I had to force myself not to jump for joy. “You call it blackmail, I call it honesty.”

  “I really hate it when you mope.”

  I fought a smile, knowing I had her. I couldn’t believe it. “Yeah, me too. You have the power to keep all that moping at bay. Moni, you could be a hero.”

  “Goin’ a little overboard now, don’t you think?”

  “Hey, go big, or go petless.” Now I just sounded like a dork.

  Monica huffed out a breath. “Promise you’ll clean up after him?”

  Ohmigod, she was going to let me get him. “Yes! Of course.” I couldn’t have kept the excitement from my voice, even if I’d wanted to.

  “I mean it, Lily. If I find one pile of shit in my yard, he’s gone, and I will draw and quarter you.”

  Wow. Her threats escalated quicker than normal. “Isn’t that the penalty for treason?”

  “Don’t question me.”

  “Right. Drawn and quartered. Totally reasonable. I promise.”

  “I can’t believe I’m letting you talk me into this.”

  “Deep down, you’re still going for that purple heart.” Monica had been a fighter pilot who’d been wounded, but not while in action. It was a touchy subject that I poked at every chance I got, hoping someday it wouldn’t be sore anymore.

  “Yeah, yeah. Just get home so I can meet the mutt.”

  Hanging up, I pocketed my phone, adjusted my bag of groceries, and hurried back over to Johnny. Kneeling beside him, I sat my bag on the ground and smiled. “Hey.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “I have an idea that might allow you to still hang out with BB, if you’re interested.”

  That got his attention. He looked up at me with eyes full of hope and swimming with tears. “What is it?”

  I probably should have run my suggestion by his mom first, but screw it. I’d gone too far to back down now. “If you let me have BB, I can give your mom my phone number and we can meet up sometimes so you can still see him. As long as it’s okay with your mom.”

  Shelly watched me from a few feet away. “You’d be willing to do that?”

  “Yes. Absolutely. I don’t want Johnny to have to lose him completely. There’s a park not far from here. I’d be totally down to meet up there once a week.”

  Johnny’s eyes grew round as he looked from me to his mom. “Can we?”

  She swallowed back emotion and nodded. Then looking to me, she said, “Thank you, Lily.”

  5

  Bull

  “WHAT THE FUCK man?” Tavonte asked, his expression full of disgust, like I had some sort of airborne disease and had just sneezed in his face.

  Keeping my gaze on him—and trying my damnedest not to watch the sway of Lily’s fine ass as she walked away—I feigned ignorance. “What?” I asked.

  Over the past two weeks, Tavonte and I had spent enough time together to form a mutual respect. There was a bro-code that clearly stated he needed to let me handle my own business and stay the fuck out of
my personal shit. But the way his eyes narrowed told me he hadn’t gotten the memo. “Lily.” He belted out her name like it was a complete sentence, accompanied by the universal hand gesture for what the fuck? Just in case I still didn’t get his message. I did. Loud and clear. I wanted to punch myself in the face for the way I’d made Lily’s smile falter and hurt flood her eyes.

  I felt like the biggest asshole on the planet.

  But I was only trying to protect her. To protect both of us.

  I shrugged, still pretending I didn’t know why Tavonte was spitting and gesturing like a fucking cartoon character. The situation sucked, but my hands were tied. Lily and I couldn’t be together, and it was high time we both accepted it and moved on.

  But I missed her.

  Over the past two weeks I’d picked up my phone at least a dozen times to text or call her, only to remember that I couldn’t. I had to let her go. Life wasn’t the same without her. She was like an amputated arm I kept trying to engage, only to be reminded that it was gone. I wondered if she felt the same. Then she’d shown up with doughnuts to bridge the ever-widening chasm between us, but I couldn’t let her do that.

  Hurting her now would save us both a world of pain in the future.

  As Tavonte followed me back through the waiting room’s side door to the auto shop, I could practically feel the heat of his anger simmering just beneath his skin. This thing between me and Lily had nothing to do with him, but he was fully engaged. “You got nuthin’ to say for yourself?” he asked.

  No. I’d never been much of a talker, and I didn’t see how spilling my guts would improve the situation. “What’s there to say?”

  He gaped at me. “That the way you always treat ladies?”

  I’d been expecting some sort of confrontation, but it still stung. He should know me better than that by now. He should trust me. “There’s a lot of shit you don’t know,” I replied, hoping like hell he’d drop it.

  “Oh yeah?”

  His eyes challenged me to fill him in and redeem myself. He didn’t want to believe I was an asshole. In his place, I’d probably do the same thing. No. If someone treated Lily the way I had, I would have just clocked the piece of shit. No words would have been necessary. I wanted to say or do something to wipe the look of disgust off his face, but it wouldn’t help. The story was convoluted and crazy, and I probably couldn’t make him understand if I tried. Instead, I met his glare. “Yeah. Mind if we stop gossiping like a couple of teenaged girls and get to work?”

  I watched that mutual respect we’d been building shatter in Tavonte’s eyes as I climbed into the tow truck and buckled up. Yeah? Well, he lost some of mine, too. Guys shouldn’t ride each other’s asses about matters that had nothing to do with them.

  The fuckin’ bro-code, man. Learn it. You should have my back.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him wage a silent war with himself. He marched toward the truck, froze, and then turned toward the door and took a step. It was like he was torn between ripping off my driver’s side door to demand answers and storming out of the shop.

  Why was he so invested? He didn’t even know Lily. Maybe some asshole had once taken advantage of his mom or little sister and he was projecting? Whatever. He needed to get over it and either get in the truck or leave. Just as I rolled down the window to tell him as much, he yanked open the passenger’s door and barreled into the seat. I expected another outburst, but he didn’t say shit, just stared straight ahead. I doubted we were done with the conversation, but I was damn grateful for the respite, no matter how brief it proved to be.

  I probably shouldn’t be too surprised he was riding my ass. Tavonte was a good guy who wasn’t shy about pointing out shit he didn’t agree with. Last week, he’d asked Wasp and Rabbit why we didn’t extend our towing operations to twenty-four-seven.

  “It’s a financial risk,” Rabbit replied with a shrug.

  “It’s an opportunity to expand,” Tavonte countered. “The shop’s busy, and the tow trucks are rarely parked. Want me to look into it? Run some numbers for you?”

  I didn’t know what ‘running numbers’ entailed, but it sounded about as fun as a root canal. Tavonte seemed eager for the task. It was like he wanted to prove himself, but that didn’t make a lick of sense. If he wanted to earn the respect of the club, all he had to do was put on the prospect patch. But for some reason, he hadn’t yet.

  Wasp gave him a lopsided smirk. “Yeah. Show us what you got.”

  Wasp liked Tavonte. He wanted him in the shop with the other mechanics, but Link made it clear that Tavonte was on the truck with me until he committed to prospecting. When Tavonte presented his market research, showing the club could employ two more dispatchers, two more drivers and provided reasonable projections for profitability, Wasp had tried to force the prospect cut over his shoulders.

  Still, Tavonte resisted.

  Smart, outspoken, and determined, the chances of him letting me off the hook about the way I’d treated Lily were about as good as a hen house surviving a fox invasion. I kept bracing myself for an attack, but it didn’t come. In fact, he didn’t say shit to me until I merged onto the freeway, headed out to pick up our first tow of the day.

  “You know what I hated most about joining the Army?” he finally asked.

  Suspecting his question was connected to my situation, I didn’t want to answer. But his question got me thinking about all the things I’d hated about the service, and curiosity finally got the best of me. “No. What?”

  “The waste. Growing up, Mom worked her ass off to keep the lights on and make sure me and my little sister stayed fed, but shit was always tight. We didn’t waste anything. Some of the kids at school used to get the bread crusts cut off their sandwiches. I asked Mom to cut off my crusts once.” He chuckled and shook his head, caught in the memory. “Thought she was gonna rip my head off. You can be damned sure I never asked her again. When she put something on my plate, I ate every bite. Practically licked the plate clean. She made sure we never went without, but there were times I could have eaten more. Times I went to bed still feeling hungry. Then I joined the service and was blown away by the sheer amount of shit the government wasted. I mean, I understood why they couldn’t fuck around with the chances of food poisoning, but watching all the untouched food go straight into the trash… man, that was rough. My first night on KP, I had to throw away an entire chocolate cake. All I could think about was struggling families… kids going to bed hungry… parents hustling to put food on the table… and here I was dumping a perfectly good cake in the trash. It made me sick to my goddamn stomach.”

  The service was known for waste. Thrown out food, trashed weapons and vehicles because it was easier and more convenient to buy new, the waste was unreal. Sure, we created jobs and helped the economy, and only taxpayers lost in the grand scheme of things, but it was still ridiculous. My parents were well off, and I’d never gone to bed hungry, but the government’s waste had been a real thorn in my side, too. I nodded.

  “I don’t know what kind of shit you and Lily are dealing with, but the way you looked at her before she saw you…” Tavonte let out a low whistle. “Fuck, man. It felt like we were all intruding. I expected you to run over and scoop her up in your arms and spin around like a sailor who just got off a boat or some shit like that.”

  His romantic cliché description threw me off guard. I barked out a laugh and shook my head. “You watch too much TV.”

  “Probably.” His tone sobered. “But it gets a little lonely out there. Especially when you’re between action and nobody but your mom seems to care if you come home alive.”

  Silence settled between us as I wondered what all Tavonte had seen and done while in the Army. He’d served for ten years, plenty of time to build memories and rack up nightmares. My time had been cut short. I hadn’t seen any real action, and I’d always had someone special waiting for me to come home.

  Well, until I didn’t.

  “Lily apologized,” Tavont
e said, dragging me back to the present. “I don’t know what mortal sin she committed to piss you off. Maybe she cheated on you or blew all your money or something?”

  He was fishing. I kept my mouth closed and my eyes on the road, hoping he’d just shut the fuck up and let it drop.

  “I always knew I was heading for the service, so I didn’t date much in high school. I fucked around, but I made it clear I wasn’t looking for anything serious. I had a few dates while in the service, but they weren’t what I expected. I wanted to talk and make a connection. They wanted a transaction. Flowers and dinner for a fuck. Buy a gift, get laid. It’s like everyone’s so busy trying to get the best end of the deal they don’t even try to connect anymore. It’s bullshit, man.”

  I chuckled. “You sound like a goddamn romantic.”

  He shook his head. “I sound like a lonely mother-fucker who’s sick and tired of having to pretend I’m just lookin’ for pussy because that’s what society expects from me. And because assholes like you give me shit for it.”

  That wiped the grin off my face. “I’m not an asshole.”

  “I didn’t think you were. But then Lily got all dolled up, brought you donuts, and asked to talk. She’s trying to connect. That girl showed up and she’s willing to fight for you. Do you have any idea how rare that is? Everyone’s so fuckin’ jaded and scared of getting hurt, they don’t put themselves out there like she did. And you turned her away. I can’t tell you how many men—including myself—would kill for a woman willing to fight for them. She’s like that perfectly good chocolate cake. You look at her like you want to eat the whole damn thing, and you don’t even know what’s inside. I bet it’s your favorite filling. Whatever you like: raspberry, cream, mint, whatever. But instead of digging in, your dumb ass is throwing her away. Don’t fuckin’ waste that, man. You may think another will come along, but I’m tellin’ you, it’s rare as shit.”

  I wanted to argue but couldn’t. Lily had nothing to apologize for. Her only mortal sin was in her striking resemblance of my dead ex-girlfriend, an offense we could never overcome. Lily didn’t deserve to live in the shadow cast by Amber’s ghost, but life wasn’t fair.