“I'm not sure that I can do that, Buster.” Ace spoke after a pause. “I'm not sure that I can be in the same room with her without strangling her.”
“No one is saying that you can't strangle her,” Train pointed out. “Just saying, play her some first.”
“Train, you're not helping.” Buster told him. “I hate to ask you to do this, but you've got a rapport with her already. Nightshade needs you to do this.”
“She's not leaving this place, no matter what she gives us.” Ace's expression was cold.
Buster had weighed all the options as soon as they got the information from Bones. He'd come to the same conclusion. “Only place that she's going is to hell with her brother and his fucking crew.” The decision to kill someone, anyone, wasn't one that he made lightly, but her collusion with her brother, coming into their place and sliding into their lives, was too much to overlook, even before he took into account all that Jake and The Wild Cards had done. There had been no hesitation in taking them out, and he didn't allow himself any for Tabitha, even though she was a woman.
“She's mine.” Ace cleared his throat. “When this is all said and done, I end her.”
“I'll head in first. Warm her up for you.” Train walked over to the building, opened the door and went inside.
“Bones put together a file on her.” Buster handed his phone to Ace. “Figured you'd want to see it. I'm going to go in, too, give you some privacy.” He walked towards the building and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
Inside the building, in the first unit was where Bones had secured Tabitha. He'd certainly been taking no chances that she'd escape. There was about a roll of duct tape holding her to the wooden chair. Her arms were strapped down to the arms of the chair. Buster was reminded of the way that he'd found Caroline, which only strengthened his hatred.
Train hadn't laid a finger on her. He'd simply taken out the rolled leather he'd brought with him and opened it up. His kit was impressive, even though Buster had seen it a million times before. There were a dozen pointy objects which could be used to inflict unspeakable pain in the right hands. Train was the right hands.
“Hello, Tabitha.” Buster leaned in and pulled the tape off of her mouth with one clean yank. She let out yelp of pain but didn't cry out.
“Buster.” She nodded her head at him. “I'd shake your hand, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment.”
“Don't try and be cute,” he warned. “I'm going to ask you a question. You're going to answer, or he's going to hurt you. I'll make sure he takes your nails first, as you're so proud of them.” Train already had the pliers out. It would only take one look for the man to do it.
Tabitha seemed to realize that. “Alright, if I talk... I get out of here with all my fingernails just where they are now.”
“Talk and we'll see,” Buster replied. The door opened behind him, and Ace stepped inside. “Or maybe you should ask him. After all, he's the one who was damn near your old man.” He stepped back so that Ace could stand in front of her.
“I'm supposed to come in here. Talk to you like I give a fuck, like I understand why you did what you did. Fuck that. Fuck you. You're not stupid. You knew what would happen if we ever found out. So why?”
“Nightshade killed my father. Fuck Nightshade. And fuck you.”
“You already did that, Darling,” Ace reminded her with a grin. “What was the plan, Tabitha? What was the endgame?”
“You should have all died in that warehouse. That was the plan, but the explosives didn't blow the way that they should have. My guess is one of you disabled it. There! I talked. Now untie me and let me go. We're even.”
“No. We're not even close,” Ace replied. “Yeah, we disabled it. And then we killed your brother and all of his friends. Wiped The Wild Cards right back off the map.” He let out a loud laugh. “So everything that you did, it was for nothing.”
“Maybe it was, but it was still fun. Even if it was easy. All it took to get access to everything about Nightshade was some bruises and tears. You all lapped it right up. Bunch of bikers with hearts of gold who....” She didn't get to finish that thought because Ace's hand shot out. The slap sent her head to the side and split her lip.
“Who gave Clark the drugs that night? Was there even anyone else there or was it you? You sure as shit didn't beat yourself up. Let me guess, your brother.”
“Don't talk about him. He was a better man than you are, than you'll ever be. He took care of me. He... He shouldn't have been the one to die.”
“Well, he did. Stapler to the head.” Ace chuckled. “There was blood and brains all over the place.” Tabitha recoiled at the words, well, as much as she could. Bones had done a really good job of securing her to that chair. For the first time since she'd started talking, there was no witty comeback. “He deserved it and more. I wouldn't have let him off so easy. I'd have made it slow. I'd have made it painful. Hell, I'd have kept him barely alive until we blew the place and let him die in the rubble.”
“He shouldn't have been there. He should have just gotten rid of those whores and been done with it.”
“You mean he should have killed them?” Ace asked.
“No. She doesn't.” Train tilted his head to the side. “If she'd have meant that he should have killed them, she'd have said it. She's lying.”
“Fuck you.”
“No thanks.” Train shifted the pliers he was holding from hand to hand. “Time for me to get to the truth yet? There's something she's not telling us. Something she'd rather die than let us know. I'm pretty sure that I can get her to tell me.”
“Not likely,” Tabitha retorted.
“See, she didn't deny that there's something she's not telling us.” Train chuckled.
Buster trusted Train's gut. If he thought that Tabitha had a secret, then Tabitha probably had a secret. She was dead either way. He didn't see the harm in trying to find out. He nodded his head ever so slightly and turned his eyes to Ace.
“They're not whores. You're the whore. You're the one who was trading your body for something. Not Jillian. Not Caroline and not Amelia.” Ace's voice shook with barely controlled rage. “The things that your brother did to them...” He sucked in a deep breath. “We should do those same things to you.”
Buster hadn't expected that to come out of Ace's mouth. Apparently Tabitha hadn't either, because she went pale and shut her mouth. “We could brand her the way that he did Caroline.” He suggested.
“Or rape her the way that they raped Jillian. One after another. Over and over. Your brother thought it was funny. He laughed. Gave them suggestions for what to do next.”
Tabitha was visibly shaking now. She thought that they were capable of such things. She was right to be scared. It was the first time Ace had spoken of what happened to Jillian. Buster had known that it was bad, but somehow it was worse. “I told him to sell her, but he wouldn't.”
“Sell her?” Ace asked with a frown.
“There's a market for anything and everything. Don't look at me like that. All those containers you got through on the docks for Miller? What did you think was in them?”
“You're saying that Miller was involved in human trafficking? How would you know that?” Train demanded.
“If I tell you, will you make it quick? I know how this ends now. And no one touches me like that.” Tabitha swallowed hard. “Please.”
“You were sexually abused as a girl. Weren't you?” Train dropped the pliers back down on his kit. “That's what you meant when you said that things got bad for you after your father died.”
“After my father was murdered by Nightshade, we went to live with our aunt and a never-ending stream of uncles. Some of the uncles were funny.”
“It'll be quick.” Buster didn't know where the promise came from, but once it was said, he'd do his best to make sure that's what happened. “Talk.”
“Nightshade wasn't my first time undercover ,so to speak. I got close to Joseph Miller. It was before the fire, before Mark went of
f the rails. I know as much about him as I do about Nightshade.” Buster remembered Joseph saying something about the Dodd family and now it was starting to make sense. “Anyway, they dealt in everything that could make money. Drugs, guns, people, animals. It didn't matter.” Buster didn't think that she was lying. This was a problem. There was no way Nightshade was going to have a part in selling people.
“With Miller out of the picture, who did you want Jake to sell the girls to?” Train asked.
“Local guy. Runs a porn company. Vital Video,” Tabitha replied. “Why does that matter?”
“None of your business,” Train replied.
“Why me?” Ace's question might have been out of the blue, but Buster had been expecting it.
“You were the best available choice.” There was no fight left in Tabitha. It was clear. “It was either you or him.” She looked over to Train. “And Jake liked the symmetry of it, me with you and him with Jillian.” She looked back at Ace.
“And I made it easy, huh?”
“Yeah. You did,” she admitted. “You all did.” Ace fell silent. Buster knew that none of this was easy for him, especially hearing that he'd made it easy for her. It wasn't a surprise she saw it that way, though; Ace had been in a shitty place, and she'd fulfilled his need to take care of someone.
“What else did you pick up about Miller's business?” Train changed the conversation. Buster was glad for it.
“I know that the business he did with Nightshade wasn't the only business he did. He's got people all over the place. I kept everything that I knew in a file.”
“Where's the file?” Train picked the pliers back up.
“It's gone.”
“She's lying.” Train moved forward. “Only way it's quick and clean is if you're not holding back.” He gripped the nail on her middle finger with the pliers, tugged lightly but hard enough to make her cry out. “Where's the file?”
“It's gone,” she repeated.
Train took the nail with one sharp yank. There was more blood than Buster had expected; it flowed freely and pooled on the floor. Tabitha screamed but Train didn't even blink. “I'm going to ask you again, where's the file?”
Her answer remained the same. It took five nails for her to finally crack and tell them where she'd hidden the file: in her apartment inside a box set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs. After that she simply sobbed and sniffled.
“Finish it,” Buster told Ace. He shook his head when Ace reached for the knife he wore on his belt. “Not the knife. The gun. Make it quick and clean.”
“She doesn't deserve that. You know that, right? She doesn't deserve anything but agony.”
“You've wasted enough time on her, Brother. End this quick. Go home to Jillian,” Buster suggested. The mention of Jillian seemed to center Ace. He moved his hand away from the knife. The gunshot was almost deafening inside the small room. Buster's ears rang.
“I'll take care of her. Clean this place up. You two go. You got a better place to be. I bet Caroline baked something.”
“If she did, you'll get some of it, Train. Come by the house when you're done for some dinner. And don't tell me that you won't be hungry. I know you will be.”
“Give me a couple of hours,” Train replied. “I really hope she doesn't make pasta and sauce. I'll go to her place, get the files, and I'll make it look like she took that trip she was planning. That should keep us in the clear if anyone starts looking for her.”
<#<#<#<#
Buster found Monroe out in the front yard, nailing a board over the front window, when they arrived back at the house. “What happened?”
“Someone chucked a rock through the window.” Monroe climbed down the step ladder. “There were some kids out here, but I don't think that it was them. I think that it was Harris.”
“You're probably right about that. Where are the girls?”
“Inside. Jillian's making dinner. You might want to head in, Ace, she's a little on edge.”
“Go,” Buster told him. “I'll help Monroe finish up out here.” Ace nodded and headed inside. “How's Caroline been?”
“She's okay. She's tough. I might have fucked up a little earlier, though.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I said something about when she has her bakery. It just slipped out and she caught it. She hasn't asked me anything, but she keeps giving me this look like she wants to.”
“I'm glad that you're being upfront with me, Monroe. But how could you be that stupid? I thought that it was pretty clear it was supposed to be a surprise.”
“I told her that I was high and confused. Oh yeah, that reminds me. They asked for some weed. I told them that I'd get something when the two of you came back.”
“Why don't you do that now?” Buster suggested.
“Yeah. I'll do that. Sorry, Brother. I didn't mean to screw anything up. Maybe I'm wrong and she hasn't been looking at me any kind of way.”
“I don't think that you're wrong.” Buster could see inside the house through the windows along side the large broken pane. He could see Caroline, and the arch of her eyebrow told him that she had something she wanted to talk about. “Is that the look?” Monroe nodded. “Thought so.”
Buster smelled something cooking as soon as he walked into the house. He realized it was meatloaf. His stomach growled. “Smells delicious in here.” Jillian and Ace were nowhere to be seen, but Caroline greeted him with a smile.
“Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. No vegetables. Apparently you don't even have a can of corn.”
“There's a bag of peas in the freezer. I use them like an ice pack sometimes.” Buster slid his cut off, hung it on a hook on the wall. “Monroe took off to get the two of you something to smoke.”
“Great. I think it'll calm Jillian down some, though she might be calmer now that Ace is here. He looked upset.”
“It was a long day,” Buster told her. “I'll fill you in on everything later.”
“Okay,” she replied. “You want a beer or something?”
“I'll get it.”
“I'm going to make brownies later. Special brownies.”
“Make extra for Train. He's been pining away for your baking. I told him that we'll save him some dinner, too. He's taking care of something but he'll be here later.”
“Monroe said the craziest thing earlier. He said when I open my bakery. Can you even imagine that?”
“Actually, I can.” Buster grabbed two beers out of the fridge, carried them over to where she sat. “Which is why, you're going to have a bakery. I'm going to buy you one.” The shock on her face made him laugh. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but Monroe said he'd spoken out of turn. So, I guess that you'll just have to be involved in the process, which is probably the best thing to get you what you want.”
“You can't just buy me a bakery.”
“Why not?” Buster handed her one of the beers and sat own next to her. She opened her mouth and started to speak but stopped herself several times. He resisted the urge to laugh but couldn't keep from smiling.
“It's too much. That's why. And I already have a job. Or are you firing me from Nightshade Construction?”
“Not firing you. Figured that you could do both, hire some help in the bakery or whatever. We can find a location where we can have two store fronts, one for the bakery and one for Nightshade.”
“It's too much. Do you realize just how much it would cost?”
“Do you realize just how much money I have, Caroline? I can afford it.”
“That's your money. I don't expect you to do things for me with it. Especially not things like spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy me a bakery.” She set the beer down on the table without even taking a sip. “I should check the meatloaf.”
“I know that you don't expect anything. You're telling me you don't want to have a bakery of your own? How many times have you said that you miss Baked and a proper kitchen?”
“I have a proper kitchen now.” Sh
e walked into that kitchen, over to the oven. “Are there really peas in the freezer?”
“Yes but I hate peas, which is why I pretty much just use 'em as an ice pack.” Buster didn't know what about him wanting to spend money on her made her so uncomfortable, but he was going to find out. “So, maybe tomorrow we'll take a ride and see if there's any place that catches your eye.”
“What did I just say?” She slammed the oven shut with force that surprised him. “That's too much, Buster.”
“I'll decide what's too much.” Buster got up from the couch. “Why are you getting so angry about this? It's a nice fucking thing to do.”
“I'm not angry. I'm just not interested.”
“And I don't understand why you're not.”
“Because I'm not with you for your money. That's why! And if you start buying me bakeries, it's going to seem like I am. Like I'm with you to get things. And I'm not. We should also figure out other things like how we're going to split household expenses.”
“Split household expenses?” Buster had to struggle to keep a straight face. If she thought that he was going to take money from her for anything, she was out of her mind. “Caroline, there is never going to be a day where I sit down and start dividing bills with you. It's not happening.”
“That's not fair.”
“How is it not fair?”
“We're both supposed to contribute.” She huffed. “I'm not looking to be a kept woman.”
“And I'm not looking to keep you. I'm just trying to take care of my family. You are my family, Caroline. I will never let you go without anything that you need.” Buster closed the distance between them. “And that includes the bakery. I know why you're with me. I love you.”
“I love you too. The money just makes me feel weird.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It probably doesn't make sense to you, but it makes sense to me.”
“I don't get it.” Buster wasn't ashamed to admit that he still hadn't fully figured out how Caroline's mind worked. Maybe he never would. She was unlike anyone that he'd ever met before, with her odd practical side a sharp contrast to the way that she could get lost in her own mind. The practical side made it easy to forget what had happened to her just days ago. “Let's leave this alone for now. We've got other things that we need to focus on.”
Through The Weeds (Nightshade MC Book 2) Page 28
