Centering Kaos: Military MC, Single Mom Slow Burn Romance (Dead Presidents MC Book 10)

by Harley Stone

  “More lies.” Matt clicked his tongue. “Such a disappointment. Maybe I should come over there and have a conversation with Elenore. Let her know what’s really going on. Maybe she can help me get you the psychiatric help you obviously need.”

  My sister had never trusted Matt, and there was no way she’d believe him over me. Especially when she’d been the one to clean me up after his beatings. Still, I didn’t miss the threat in his words. I’d never meant to put Elenore in danger, but now she was in his crosshairs. “I’m not staying with her anymore,” I lied. “I moved out today.”

  The phone went quiet. As I started to wonder if he’d hung up, Matt chuckled, calling my bluff. “You don’t have anyone else,” he said confidently. “Nowhere else to go.”

  “Maybe you don’t know everything there is to know about me,” I replied.

  “You better fuckin’ be at Elenore’s.” Matt’s voice had gone cold and low. He was done playing with me. “And when I come for you and Dylan, I expect you to comply. I don’t care how delusional you are, your place is here. You are mine. You understand? Mine! Your little game is over, one way or another.”

  “You don’t have the right to order me around anymore. I have to go. Don’t bother looking, because you won’t find me. Goodbye, Matt,” I said, hitting the end call button. My hands trembled. Icy, invisible fingers slid up my spine as tears burned my eyes. My husband was going to kill me. I’d been stupid to think this could work… that I could get away from him. Now, he’d be coming for me. Coming to Elenore’s.

  I had to get out of there.

  Elenore’s arm slid around my waist, holding me up when I wanted to crumple to the floor and cry. “What did that bastard say?” she asked.

  Before I could answer, my phone rang again. I was so startled, I almost dropped it. Emily’s name popped up on the caller ID. I sucked down a breath, trying to get my heart to stop racing, and answered.

  “Hey Tina. Great news. Kaos did it. Matt has officially been served. I’ll get everything filed tomorrow morning. Congratulations, you are one step closer to getting your life back. In ninety days, you will officially be a free woman.”

  She sounded so cheerful and encouraging, but ninety days felt like an eternity to me. Especially when Matt was on his way to collect me and Dylan.

  Going back to him wasn’t an option.

  “Tina?”

  I tried to answer, but all I could do was sob.

  “Ohmigod, what happened?” Emily asked. “Is he there? Are you safe?”

  “I’m… he called. He knows where I am. He’s coming. He’s going to kill me.”

  Elenore’s arm around my waist tensed, then squeezed, offering me her silent support. Resting her head on my shoulder, she covertly listened in on the conversation. Her presence was a comfort, and I let her be nosy and didn’t pull away.

  “No, he’s not. We have resources. Just a sec.” She spoke with someone in the background, but I couldn’t make out their words. “My husband says there’s room for you and Dylan at his club.”

  “His club?”

  “His motorcycle club. It’s in an old fire station and—”

  “I can’t take Dylan to a motorcycle club.” I’d watched one episode of Sons of Anarchy, and that had been all the evidence I’d needed that kids didn’t belong in those kinds of clubs. Agitated by the idea, by the whole situation, really, I stepped out of my sister’s embrace and sat at the kitchen table.

  “I can pick them up,” a deep voice said in the background. It sounded like Kaos. “I have plenty of room at my house and my security system is top of the line. They’ll be safe there.”

  “Kaos has a huge house,” Emily said. “And he’s offering to let you stay with him.”

  “I… I can’t.” I didn’t even know Kaos. He seemed nice, but so had Matt, and look how that had turned out. My sister was watching me, her brow furrowed in worry as she tried to keep listening in. She was generous and amazing, and I didn’t want to put her in danger by staying. I couldn’t risk her.

  “You can trust Kaos,” Emily insisted. “He is a good guy, and he’ll take care of you and Dylan. I know you’re afraid, but I promised not to lie to you, Tina. That promise still stands. You are my client to protect and I wouldn’t do anything to put you or your son at risk. Kaos has been vetted. I can send you his background check and his training certificates. He wants to help, and he’s financially in a place where he can. Let him. Please let us help you. You have options. You are not alone. Please don’t go back to that man. I don’t think you will survive, and I don’t want that on my conscience.”

  She sounded almost as desperate as I felt. It opened my eyes to the problem I’d created by going to her. Emily was in my corner. If I went back to Matt now, I’d not only be endangering myself, but I’d be spitting in the face of all she and Naomi had done for me. I finally had people who cared whether I survived, and I didn’t want to disappoint them.

  My head suddenly felt too heavy to hold upright. I rested my forehead on the table and replied, “Okay. I’ll get us packed. How soon can he be here?”

  6

  Kaos

  IT WAS A weekend and the fire station was active. When I arrived after serving the divorce papers to Matt, the common area was full of brothers, ol’ ladies, and club girls. The pool tables and dart boards were packed, and Shari was pouring drinks behind the bar. She held one up for me, but I shook my head. The job wasn’t done quite yet, but I had every intention of taking her up on that drink once it was. I slipped into Link’s office and handed off the signed receipt to Emily.

  “How’d he take it?” she asked, her expression worried. She had their toddler, Jameson, on her hip, and was bouncing to keep him moving and content as Link worked at his desk.

  I told them about how Matt had tried to win me over to his side, insulted me, and then backed down.

  “Son-of-a-bitch sounds nuttier than squirrel shit,” Link said, closing his laptop and looking to his wife. “You sure she’s safe with her sister?”

  Emily frowned and plucked her cell phone from the top of his desk. She made a call, and as soon as she started talking, I knew something was wrong. Link could tell, too. He offered up the club as a haven, but Tina and Dylan needed someplace a little more stable.

  “I can pick them up,” I said without giving it a second thought. “I have plenty of room at my house and my security system is top of the line. They’ll be safe there.” My house made sense. It was the logical place to stash them. But more than that, I wanted them there. They’d had a rough shake of things, and I wanted the opportunity to make their lives a little easier.

  Besides, Dylan would dig my house, and I kind of liked the idea of finally impressing that little punk.

  Tina took some convincing, but while Emily talked, Link assembled a team. By the time the phone call ended, the office was full of brothers chomping at the bit and ready to do his bidding. This was my first time being included in a club op, and watching our president’s Special Forces experience in action was pretty fucking impressive.

  “Listen up,” Link commanded. Everyone crammed into the space stopped what they were doing and focused on him. “The ladies have a case, and they need our help.” He deferred to Emily.

  She nodded her thanks and quickly filled us in on the phone call.

  When she finished, Link cleared his throat and added, “So we need to get Tina and Dylan out of there before Matt shows up. This asshole has beat the shit out of his wife twice. It won’t happen again. Not on our watch.”

  “Fuck no, it won’t,” Havoc added. The club’s sergeant-at-arms was a big black man whom nobody fucked with. Projecting menace, he folded his arms across his chest and asked, “What do you need, Prez?”

  “I need you to sit this one out. At least for now. We’ll hit this job with stealth, speed, and tech.” Link looked over the rest of the group. “Tap.”

  Tap stepped forward eagerly. “Yessir?”

  “Go with Kaos to retrieve Tina and D
ylan,” Link replied. “Full stalker protocol.”

  Tap nodded and slid the backpack he’d been carrying over his shoulders. “Yessir. I’m ready.”

  I didn’t know what stalker protocol entailed, but clearly, Tap did. He seemed prepared, and I was glad one of us knew what we were doing.

  “I don’t want to leave the sister vulnerable,” Emily said as Jameson started to fuss. He got a handful of her long dark hair, and Link swept in, releasing the toddler’s fist and taking him from his mom.

  “We won’t.” Link settled Jameson against his shoulder, patting his back as he paced behind his desk. “Since Tina’s told Matt she’s no longer staying with her sister, we’re gonna make that happen. We need to remove any and all traces of her and set up safety protocols that make the sister an unappealing target. Rabbit, you available to join the away team?”

  “To swoop in and save a couple of women? Shit, boss, you don’t even have to ask. Just call me Superman. You know I live for this,” Rabbit said.

  Link cracked a smile. “Yeah. Just don’t go lookin’ for your Lois Lane. We got a fuckin’ job to do.”

  Rabbit threw his hands up, as if appalled that Link would even suggest such a thing.

  Link picked up his phone and started mashing buttons. “I’m texting all three of you the address. Get there, get them out, make sure the sister’s safe. I want Tina’s car back here at the station. Tap, if you find a tracker on the car, keep it on there. It would make my day if that fucker shows up here looking for her.”

  “Yours and mine both,” Havoc agreed, his expression dark and foreboding. The big guy didn’t seem to care for being benched.

  Tap nodded. “Ten-four.”

  “Morse, Hound, you’re leading support. The club and all of our resources are at your disposal.”

  “Thank you, Prez,” Morse said.

  Emily typed something into her phone. “Morse, I just sent you a link to Tina’s file. It contains everything we have on the ex.”

  “Got it,” Morse replied, his fingers flying over his tablet. “I’ll share the pertinent information with the Away Team, and the Home Team will come up with a plan to—”

  “I don’t want to know,” Emily said, cutting him off. “Whatever it is, leave me out of it. And this time, don’t put any new information in that folder.”

  Morse chuckled. “Knowledge is power.”

  “It’s how you obtain your knowledge that the courts take exception to,” Emily fired back. “You keep your knowledge, and I’ll keep my plausible deniability.”

  Link met my gaze. “Thank you for volunteering your house, brother.”

  I nodded. “Not a problem. Whatever you need.”

  His expression hardened. “We’ll iron out the details and let you know what’s going on once Tina and Dylan are safely tucked away. Matt said he can get to her in thirty minutes, I want you there in ten. Go. Don’t let that son-of-a-bitch reach her before we do.”

  He didn’t need to tell us twice. Tap, Rabbit, and I ran for the door.

  “Who’s driving?” I asked as we hit the hallway. “All I have is my bike.”

  “We can take one of the loaners,” Rabbit said.

  He and Wasp ran the club’s shop, Formation Auto Repair. The shop kept vehicles on hand for customers in need of a loaner while their car was being worked on. I’d spent some time with Rabbit, and he seemed like a bit of an odd duck with more energy than any grown man should have. It surprised me when Link chose him for this mission, but now, I got it. Rabbit had access to transportation, and if there was a problem getting Tina’s car back to the club, he knew who was on duty and could call for a tow.

  We could have easily run the few blocks to the shop, but since we were in a hurry, the three of us hopped on our bikes and burned rubber down the road. Before joining the club, I’d never been much of a motorcycle guy. Sure, I had a dirt bike I liked to do tricks on as a teenager, but I never would have picked two wheels over four. Navigating Seattle traffic and parking had converted me, and as we wove through the bunched-up cars waiting for the light, I was damn grateful for my Harley.

  Rabbit skidded to a stop beside a little Jetta that had to be at least twice as old as Dylan, barely turning off his engine before racing to the building. Tap and I parked next to his bike, and when Rabbit emerged, he tossed a set of keys to me. “You’re drivin,’ Kaos. Tap will need to work, and I’m gonna take my bike. I can get there faster in case the motherfucker shows his face.”

  With loud, colorful tats covering both arms, and dressed in jeans and a dingy white T-shirt under his cut, Rabbit was a lot to take in. My size had intimidated Tina, but at least I didn’t look like I was fresh out of the slammer and packing heat. To the best of my knowledge, Rabbit had never done any hard time, but he did usually have a 9mm holstered at his waist and kept a knife in his boot. If Tina found him standing on her doorstep, chances were she’d probably never open the door again.

  “She spooks easily,” I said.

  Rabbit smiled. “Relax. This ain’t my first rodeo, prospect.”

  But it was mine, and I was nervous enough for both of us. I gave him a nod.

  “Morse already sent us his photo,” Tap said, holding up his phone. “You see that piece of shit, I want one of his teeth as a trophy. Fuckin’ wife beater.” Shaking his head, he slid into the passenger’s seat of the Jetta with his bag in his lap.

  Rabbit looked far too excited about the prospect of beating someone senseless. Worried any altercations we started would affect Tina’s case, I would have cautioned him against it, but as he’d pointed out, I was just a prospect. Questionable mental stability aside, Rabbit outranked me. Link trusted him, and I would, too. Besides, I kind of wanted one of Matt Parker’s teeth, myself. Of course, I would have preferred to be the one to remove it. Rabbit hopped on his bike and rocketed out of the parking lot. I slid behind the wheel of the old Jetta and tried my best to keep up, but he lost us before I made it to the end of the block.

  Chuckling, Tap started up the navigation on his phone. Pointing in the direction Rabbit had gone, he said, “Speed,” pointing at me, he added, “Stealth,” and finger on his own chest, he said, “Tech.”

  “Ah.” Now, I understood. Rabbit was to get there quickly, my job was to get the targets out safely and without a tail, and Tap would do what he did best. “Thanks.”

  Tap nodded, rummaging through his backpack. He pulled out a couple of gadgets and kept typing out stuff on his phone. I was tempted to ask what he was doing, but figured it was probably over my pay grade if not my head. If I needed to know, he’d clue me in. He pulled out a new cell phone, still in its box, and started fiddling with it.

  In addition to Formation Auto Repair, the club owned the Copper Penny Bar and Grill, and had their hands in several businesses owned and run by club members and their ol’ ladies, like Ladies First. Tap, Morse, and Hound worked a side hustle that had to do with internet security, but fuck if I knew anything about it. I was only privy to the limited information I needed to complete the tasks I was given. If I wanted to know more, I had to earn my member patch by proving my loyalty and commitment to the club.

  The problem was, none of their businesses had any use for my unique skill set, which made proving myself damn near impossible.

  When I first arrived, I decided to try my hand at driving one of Formation’s tow trucks. Havoc took me a safe distance out of town and let me get behind the wheel. I’d never driven anything bigger than my Escalade, and I struggled with the additional controls and wide turning radius, almost landing us in a ditch. The thought of navigating that beast through Seattle’s narrow streets and insane traffic had me sweating buckets and made my ass cheeks clench so hard I thought I’d turn into one giant hemorrhoid.

  Turned out a tow truck driver, I was not.

  Determined to find something I didn’t suck ass at, Link moved me to the Copper Penny. Flint, the bar manager, didn’t really need me, but he had a couple of the guys train me to work security anyway. Now
, I filled in on occasion, but keeping the peace by bouncing drunks out on their asses had gotten me no closer to earning my patch. Before Naomi asked me to help out at Ladies First, I was feeling pretty fucking useless to the club and wondering how the hell I’d ever prove my loyalty.

  Over the past two days, I’d done more for the club than I had in the entire six months I’d been a prospect. It was nice to feel like I was part of something important again.

  “You guys do this often?” I asked, watching Tap out of the corner of my eye as I drove.

  He gave me a wry smile. “Do what?”

  “Help Ladies First hide a woman.”

  He shrugged. “Some. Usually their clients don’t have kids, so we stash the women at the fire station. Any dumbfuck stupid enough to try the club would be in for one hell of a surprise. You saw what it was like in that office. We have no love for women beaters. Emily keeps us on a tight leash for legal reasons. She has good instincts. She only calls us in when shit’s about to go sideways. We’re always prepared and uh… enthusiastic.”

  Most of my club brothers seemed like hotheads to me, but Tap painted them in a different light, making them seem experienced, competent, and able to follow orders. I hoped he was right. “Good to know. What’s the plan? Anything special I need to do?” I asked.

  Tap shook his head, but his gaze didn’t leave the screen as he continued to work. “Focus on getting Tina and Dylan out of the condo and to your house. We’ll do the rest.”

  I wanted details, but Tap was busy, and I didn’t think he’d appreciate me distracting him with questions. Keeping my speed somewhere just south of reckless endangerment, I made good time. Tap gestured me into an underground parking garage, using his cell phone to snap pictures of the security cameras and other seemingly random things. It struck me once again how big time some of the Dead Presidents were. Sure, I’d been a professional hockey player, but there were rumors that this man used to work for the CIA. Link and Havoc were former Special Forces, and Morse… Morse had been a drone pilot and I didn’t even know what else. He sure as hell hadn’t picked up his insane hacking skills from flying remote-controlled aircraft for the Air Force.