by Naomi West
“Got it. Be there in thirty.” Tanner hung up the phone and stuffed it away in his jeans.
“What's going on?” Star asked. “Where are you going?”
“To meet the guys.”
“Well, I'm coming with you.”
“The fuck you are,” Tanner said in a raised voice, brooking no argument. “This is club business.”
“Your brother didn't look like a member when I saw him!” Star yelled back. “This is your family, here.”
“I don't care,” he shouted back. “This shit's dangerous, and I don't want you in the middle of it.” He turned and stalked out of the room. He made his way into to the living room and had his hand on the door already by the time she came out of the bedroom with the bed sheet wrapped around her like a makeshift cloak.
“So now you care about me, then?” she yelled. “Is this what affection looks like in your fucked up little world?”
He didn't have time for this. His brother's life was on the line, and every minute might count. He needed to get with Blade and figure out a plan. He just looked back at her, his mouth tight, his jaw working overtime. Rather than argue with her, he did what he thought was sensible.
He just left.
Chapter Sixteen
Tanner
Tanner pulled up at the clubhouse and parked his bike next to the crew's bikes. At a glance, he could tell most of the patched members were there. Hopefully, with all their heads together, they could come up with a plan.
Blade was waiting for him just inside the large steel building, half-seated on one of the bigger industrial folding tables set out in the front entrance. “Morning,” Blade drawled, cup of coffee in hand.
“Yeah,” Tanner replied. “Morning. Guys all here?”
Blade nodded, solemnly. “Yessir. As many of 'em as could get away on short notice.”
Tanner gave a curt nod. “Good. This shit's getting out of hand, and we need to deal with it. I'm sick of those Roaming Wolves bastards using Brendon as some kind of fucking pawn.”
Blade nodded again. “Your ol' lady holding up through this? She getting scared off yet?”
Tanner glanced down at his boots before looking away. He still wasn't sure how he felt about her involvement in all this, or about being in a relationship. On the one hand, the whole thing felt right, like the way her arms clung to him when they were out riding. But, on the other hand, he knew he wasn't good enough for her. She didn't want a man like him, a man wrapped up in the honor of his club. A guy who'd be out drinking all night with his buddies. She deserved better.
“Ain't ready to call her my ol' lady,” he mumbled. “Not yet.”
The old president smiled a little behind his mug of steaming coffee, his big mustache pointing up at the edges. “Well, ain't just you needs to agree, anyhow. Right? We all come eventually to the roads we're meant to ride down.”
He was right, to a degree. But, it was easy for him to say. Blade didn't have to find that road, or ride down it.
Tanner snorted. “Yeah. Right. You ready?”
Blade nodded and stood up from the edge of the table. He led Tanner back into the packed meeting room. Surly, salty voices overflowed past the double-doors, rolling over them as they pushed inside.
“Alright, alright,” Blade boomed as they entered the room and circled around to the head of the table. “Good on y'all for coming so quick.”
Tanner stalked along at his side, his arms crossed. They stopped at the head of the table and took their seats.
“I'm giving Tanner the floor here,” Blade explained. “Even though it's his family, it's still club business. In fact, they made it that way, not us. Tanner?”
Tanner took a deep breath. “This isn't about me, or my dad. It's about my brother, Brendon. Most of you know him. He used to be patched, but then he left. Well, we've been looking for him since he was spotted a while back, and a few days ago I managed to find him.”
Without any more preface, he launched into the story of Brendon, about finding him, about the drugs, about everything.
“Now,” he said, “I'm getting text messages from the Roaming Wolves. Motherfuckers are taunting us, talking about how they're trying to get Brendon to overdose.”
There was murmuring around the table. The words bullshit, motherfuckers, and cocksuckers were tossed around. Tanner gave a grim smile, despite himself, satisfied at their reaction.
“Think they're somehow angling on us here?” Tyke asked from up on the left.
“Don't know,” Blade replied with a shrug. “Maybe? Who knows? I mean, you ask me, this shit sounds like there's a hint of a personal nature to it.”
Tanner nodded at the president's comment. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But, that doesn't mean the rest of the gang isn't trying to leverage it, too. Wolves are some mean motherfuckers.”
A dozen or so biker heads nodded in agreement.
“Whatever the case,” Blade said to Tanner, “you need to get your brother back. Besides it being your brother and all, it won't look good for the club to leave one of our own out in the cold, even if he's not wearing a patch anymore.”
Tyke pounded his fist on the meeting room table. “Agreed. We gotta show these shitbags they can't pick on none of us. Motherfucking cocksuckers!” A chorus of agreement and nods went around the room.
Tanner found himself frowning on the outside, trying to keep his demeanor, but inwardly relieved that the Blood Warriors were with him.
“Well, whoever's doing this shit, we got your back,” Blade said, voicing the opinion of the whole club. “We gotta make sure these asshole don't take anything we do as a sign of weakness. Tanner, you gotta go out there and grab your brother, bring him back. Keep it small, so you don't spook him. But, if I see you tomorrow and he ain't back at your mom's, I'm gonna be fucking pissed.”
Tanner nodded. “Got it. Need to make sure they don't spot us right off the bat, though. I better take one of the newer guys. Tyke or you, they're gonna know you're with me, if they're as involved as they claim.”
“He's got a point,” Blade said to Tyke when a hurt look crossed his face. “Take one of the recruits that ain't patched yet.”
“Which one?”
“I dunno, just pick one.”
“Cam,” Tanner said, turning to one of the freshest. “You ready to step up, man?”
Cam, one of their newest recruits, a tall, lean guy with a crazy mop of curly brown hair, looked around from side to side. “Me?” he asked.
“Yeah, you dude,” Tyke said with a laugh as one of the guys beside Cam smacked him in the shoulder.
“Shit, Tanner. I'd be fucking honored.”
“Good,” Blade said. “We drive out there, after this. We find our prodigal. We bring him home.” Blade turned his attention to the rest of the club. “Anyone got anything else?”
Heads shook. There may have been other business to be raised, but the whole club recognized that this was priority one for Tanner and Blade.
“We'll have a cold one waiting for you,” Tyke said as the whole crew broke and exited the meeting room.
Tanner went to leave with them, but Blade touched his shoulder and told him to stay behind for a minute.
“What's up?” Tanner asked him as the room finished thinning out.
“Didn't wanna say this in front of the others, cause I didn't wanna put you on the spot. But, we've all seen you hanging around a lot with Star -”
“Said earlier, she ain't my ol' lady,” Tanner interrupted.
Blade held up a hand, calling for peace. “Ain't what I was gonna say. My point is, if we've seen you hanging out with her, the Roaming Wolves may have, too. Ol' lady or not, that might not matter to 'em.”
Tanner gritted his teeth. “Think they'd do something like that?”
“Normally? No. But, man, they got your brother hooked on smack. Think they wouldn't come after Star, too?”
Tanner looked away for a moment and thought about his words. “Nah,” he said, turning back to Bla
de, “you're probably right. I'll ride out and take care of her, get her situated. Then, meet you guys here.”
“We'll take my truck,” Blade nodded. “Got plenty of seating.”
Tanner nodded. “Sounds good. Meet you here in an hour or so.”
Blade clapped him on the shoulder and shook it. “Cam and I'll be waiting.”
Chapter Seventeen
Star
Star had just stepped out of the shower when she first heard the knocking at her front door.
“Star?” the visitor called. She took a moment to recognize his muffled voice through both the bathroom and front door. “Star? Come on, open up!”
She hadn't expected him to be back so soon, especially not after the urgent phone call with Blade, all the stuff happening with Brendon, and, of course, the argument they'd just had. He'd picked a hell of a time to come over, too. Not that she was upset, but a little bit of forewarning would have been nice.
She poked her head out the bathroom door and yelled for him to hold on. She grabbed her towel and wrapped herself up, then wove one around her hair and headed for the door.
“Coming,” she called as she unlocked the door and opened it to him.
He was through in a flash, pushing past her. “You need to pack up some clothes, we gotta go.”
“Well, hello to you, too,” Star said, sarcasm dripping from her words as she shut the door after him.
“I'm not fucking around,” he said, his eyes and the tone of his voice deadly serious. “You need to pack up some stuff and come with me.”
“Come where with you?”
“My mom's house, so I can keep you safe.”
She held a hand out in front of her, beckoning him to slow down. “Safe from what? Or who?”
“The Roaming Wolves, babe. I'm worried they might come after you if you stick around here.”
She crossed her arms across her half-naked body. “And you think your mom's place will be somehow safer? You think they came after Brendon, but your mom is in the free and clear?”
“Look,” he said, “it's easier to watch you both at the same time, okay? It's just going to be for a couple days.”
“Look, mister, you're buying yourself a baby, not me. You can't just order me around like this.”
The look on his face changed a little. He still looked like a hard ass, but something almost imperceptible softened just a bit. He crossed over to her and wrapped his arms around her.
God, those arms of his still felt amazing, even after their argument that morning. And the way he looked down at her, the way she felt safe with his hands on her. She didn't pull back, she just let herself be pulled to his warm body.
“Star, babe, I'm sorry. But, I just need you to be safe. Blade and I, we're going back to get Brendon, and I don't want to have to worry about you. But I will worry if you’re here.”
She sighed and looked away from those hypnotic eyes of his. Even though he'd only worked on her for a minute with them, she'd still felt her knees go weak.
“Fine,” she said with a groan. “Let me put some stuff together, okay? Like clothes?”
He gave her a reassuring squeeze, saying, “We'll get this worked out, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
# # #
“Mom? You here?” Tanner asked as he pushed open the front door and led Star inside the small house.
“Tanner? That you?” his mom called from the kitchen. The sound of a chair pushing back across linoleum sounded at the back of the house and a somewhat frail-looking old woman came into the living room. “Who the fuck's this?” she asked, not sparing Star's feelings.
“Star Bentley. The, uh, woman I told you about yesterday. The one Blade told you about?”
So, his mother knew about them. But, Star couldn't tell how much she knew. She didn't exactly want to tell his mother how they'd originally met. And, she imagined Tanner hadn't told her either. No one wants to tell their mom that they're paying to impregnate some woman.
Her eyes widened an almost imperceptible amount as she appraised Star and simply said, “Oh. Heard some about you, Star. Not much, though. My boy's not the talkative type, is he?”
Star could feel the judgment already, in the way his mom looked her up and down, in her tone of voice. She was silently weighing whether or not Star could handle their world, could handle being with a man like her son.
“This is my mom.”
“Call me Tova.”
Star raised a weak hand in a wave. “Hi, Tova.”
“Mom, I gotta leave Star here with you, okay?”
“What? Why? What the hell have you gotten yourself into?”
He put his hands out in an almost placating gesture. “Look, Mom, we're going out to get Brendon back. Things have sort of escalated, and the less you know the better. Meantime, Star needs to stay here with you. Make sure you stay safe.”
Tova Rainier snorted, clearly an old hand at this kind of thing. “I remember hearing shit like that from Pops all the time. Should've known I'd be hearing it from my own son one day.”
He gave a lopsided, half-hearted grin. “Well, you were right, I guess.” Tova harrumphed and turned to go back into the kitchen. The chair scraped again in the other room as Tanner turned to Star and grabbed her hand. “Alright, babe, I gotta go. Once this is all sorted, I'll come get you, okay?”
Star nodded. There wasn't much of an option to do anything else.
He gazed into her eyes. They had changed. Gone was the icy blueness. Instead, there was longing and a hint of fear. Fear that she might be injured, might be hurt by these other men. Fear that he might lose her.
She squeezed his hand.
He leaned down, kissed her softly. This wasn't a kiss like before, a kiss like when they were pawing at each other's clothes, desperate to get out of them. This was soft, sensual, caring.
Her heart leaped, sped up as his mouth brushed hers so softly.
He clenched her hand back, holding back his strength so he wouldn't hurt her. Their kiss broke and, still holding her hand, he touched her cheek. “I'll be back, okay?”
She knew he would be. She nodded, smiling, wondering how things had changed from their original pact. This was supposed to be just about getting her knocked up. He wasn't meant to touch her like this, to hold her hand so tightly and warmly.
“Okay,” she whispered back. “I'll be waiting.”
What the . . .? Did those words just come out of her mouth?
He smiled and left, shutting the door behind him.
Her knees were almost knocking together from weakness. Star turned, and looked at the old house she was going to be staying in for the next couple days. Tanner's childhood home. She leaned back against the front door and touched her cheek.
This affection, this caring . . . none of this was supposed to be part of the deal.
Out front, he started his bike up and rode away.
# # #
Tanner
“This the place?” Blade asked as Tanner signaled him to pull the pickup over.
“Yeah,” he said. He paused a moment, waiting for Blade to park the pickup, before continuing. “He was in that back alley over there.”
Outside, the rain was coming down in sheets, and the streets were deserted. Which was a problem. If they were going to try and find Brendon, they needed people they could actually ask.
“Lemme go inside this hardware store and ask if they've seen him around,” Blade said. “Maybe someone will recognize him.”
“Sounds good,” Tanner said, as Blade got out and ran through the rain to the front door of the hardware store, arms up protectively over his head.
“Don't worry,” Cam said encouragingly from the backseat, “we'll find him.” He was dressed up in what he thought a college kid would wear. Jeans, the local school's t-shirt, and normal sneakers. His hair wasn't tied back, but instead was a unruly mob of long, brown curls.
Tanner bit the cuticle of his thumb and grunted. “This rain's just not going to
help, that's all. Goddamn weather.”
He'd promised his mom they'd find Brendon and bring home, but the odds looked like they were against that. He felt dead inside, to have come this far, just to not be able to find him because of some fucking downpour.
They sat in silence in the cab of the truck, waiting. Soon, Blade came tumbling out of the hardware store and ran stomping through the puddles of water back to his truck. He was dripping with rain and the smell of wet biker filled the air when he climbed back in the cab.
