by Ellie Jean
Two weeks…
And I had seen a change in his ways.
His words told me I was his.
His actions showed me I was his.
My body had known for months it was his.
My mind had accepted it.
I would take Tanner for as long as he allowed me.
Could I be setting my heart up to shatter? There was a strong possibility, but it would be worth it. For the warmth, protection and truthful words, I was willing to go with the flow for as long as my journey lasted with him.
“That’s the last of it?” Tanner had questioned Neville carefully to ensure that no one had been here that could be a threat to me. By the end of the inquisition, Neville was smiling. Tanner was still brooding, because he had his hands on me. He didn’t care that Neville was clearly gay. We went to my office that smelt of sex and we got busy.
Tanner carried all my fabrics, equipment, folders and every other thing I thought I would need to the car. Ten trips in total while I caught up with Neville, informing him my designs would still be on time, but a working weekend may arise if I couldn’t get them made in time for fashion week in a month.
“Are you fucking sure? I think you forgot the kitchen sink, the vacuum? Hang on, didn’t you need the toaster?”
“What would I need with a toaster, you have one at your apartment?” Raising my eyebrows, I smirk and whisper to Neville. “His arms look so edible carrying things.”
“His ass is fucking hot in those jeans too.” Looking over the frames of his glasses, we both burst out laughing. “Bring him back anytime, buttercup.”
Tanner shoots me a warning glare and I laugh again.
“Best be off then, looks like I have everything.” I hug Neville, not lingering because that would be asking for trouble. Trouble I do enjoy though.
“I’ll call in each day.”
“You better. I need to keep updated on the latest gossip.” Flicking his eyes between the both of us, Tanner grabs my hand.
“Bye, Neville.” He growls at one of my best friends. Subtly isn’t his strong point, pulling me out the door while I wave.
Climbing in, I fasten my seat belt and look forward. Tanner starts the car and places a gentle hand on my jaw, turning it to him. Leaning toward me, he kisses me desperately like he hadn’t been inside me thirty minutes ago. There’s no resistance from me and I latch on for the ride.
“You okay?” Concern is evident in his voice.
“The best I’ve been in a long time.”
“I never want to hurt you. You know that, right?”
I don’t know where this is coming from. “Yes. And you haven’t.”
“If I do, it’s because it’s for your safety. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
Staring back to the road, he drives.
“Sometimes you have no control over what takes place though. You can’t be there with me every minute of every day.”
“Can’t I?” He’s challenging me.
“No, you darn well can’t.” I smirk. “And even if you could, life has a way of messing with us no matter how prepared we are. Some things you cannot control.”
And this was the major problem. Tanner wanted to take charge of everything in his life. It was ordered, he managed the danger, eliminated threats before they turned into bigger issues and stayed onto The Savage Shadows’ business ventures. The four men worked exactly the same way. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had a risk management plan for dealing with me by now.
“Perhaps, but I give it everything I have to make my family safe from any enemies we have in this world. I would fight tooth and nail for those I love.”
“Tanner…” I bite my lip and think. “What is this between us?” There, it’s finally out. I take a breath and wait.
“What?” His eyebrows furrow as he drives through the traffic of LA.
“You’ve said that I’m yours.” I wring my hands together while I wait.
“You are.”
“So that means you’re mine?” My eyes look across at his handsome, but rugged face. “Exclusively?” This terrifies me the most. I should be concerned with the body count attributed to him, or that he has people trying to kill him, but knowing that his cock isn’t sliding into any other pussies scares me the most.
“Fuck.”
I jump in my seat with his roar.
“No, no, no.” His hands grip the wheel tight, his posture stiffens and his eyes are on high alert.
Not the reaction I was hoping for.
My stomach plummets and my head thumps. My hands clasp tight in my lap. I try and gulp, but my mouth is dry and uncooperative.
“Crystal.” The car starts to move from one lane to another. My body sways with the pace of the maneuver. “Someone’s following us.” The car speeds up and I’m thrown into the seat.
“Ohh…” Again, with my intellectual responses. My hands hold on to the seat and I swivel my head around trying to see who is behind us.
“They’re quick and skilled. You’re going to have to hold on.”
The items I collected from the office are sliding around the back seat, being tossed on the floor.
“I’m doing that. Thanks for the tip.”
There’s no hysteria in his voice, only calculated calmness. Mine, on the other hand, is shrill. Tanner shifts gears, looking forward, then back in the rearview mirror. The only car I see that could be the problem is a dark green SUV that is changing lanes when we do.
“Is that it? The green one?” I’m trying so hard to sit still but I need to know what’s going to happen so I can prepare in my mind that this could be it. This could be my last car ride. My last look at freedom. The last time I think about my mom and dad. The last time I get to see the beauty and strength that Tanner is.
“Yeah. I’m gonna take this next exit and hopefully we lose them.”
The car accelerates and my blood rapidly pumps, making my head feel faint. Horns honk around us as the Camaro darts into the other lane at the last second, crossing three lanes of traffic to get off at the exit. Squeezing my eyes closed, I wait for us to spin around with another, colliding into the side of us but it doesn’t come.
Slowly, I open my eyes and look around out the window. Tanner backs off the accelerator, but we are still going faster than what is legally acceptable.
“Are they gone?” My neck is like a rock with tension, my fingers are still tight on the cushioned seat.
“I can’t see them. I didn’t see if they made the turn or not. I can’t fucking believe this. I knew you weren’t safe outside yet. I should have listened to my gut.”
“We can’t stay inside forever.” Sighing, I wipe a hand over his brow, sweat drips from it.
“Who said we? You need to be inside for now. I’d prefer that over you dead.” Always the dramatic one. He flashes me an I told you so look which I ignore. There may have been some truth in his concerns.
“If you were staying with me, I may consider it.” I try to lighten the heaviness cloaking us. Observing the streets and cars around us, he is like a hawk.
“I have to call the guys. This isn’t some random attack. It will be Liza’s work.”
“Okay.”
I expect him to pull over so he can speak in private, but he hits the car phone system that is on speaker. It rings a few times before it clicks with someone answering it.
“Man. Someone just tried to take us out.”
“Fuck.” Slate’s answer is almost as proficient as mine. “Get a look at who it was?”
“Green SUV. It wasn’t Liza, but one of her men doing the dirty work for her.”
I’m unsure what to do. Do I keep quiet, say hello? Be the lookout to scan if they are coming for us again?
“We are two minutes from the workshop, but I’ll—”
A sharp agitated voice cuts Slate’s off. “Hey babe…you okay?”
“Yeah…thank God Tanner knows how to drive this metal contraption. I’m rattled.” Rattled wasn’t th
e word for my erratic beating pulse minutes ago, but I won’t let on how petrified I was.
“Girl, besides me and Slate there is no better driver than T.”
Tanner nods his head. “That’s debatable. We haven’t raced for a while, sugar. Last I recalled, I beat S and you wouldn’t race me.”
“Stop that fat head of yours from swelling anymore and get my girl home safe. I gotta go, I can see Kyle’s waiting for me to fix his fucking problem, again.”
I hold back a laugh. Cars and the stupid need to be the fastest, I don’t get it.
“On our way. I’m not taking another chance.” Glaring at him, I can see another battle will be on the horizon tonight.
“Once Wildcat’s done here, we will be back to the apartment.” There’s a click of the door on the other end.
Her voice sounds like she’s moving. “How about dinner in tonight, all of us?”
“Sounds like a plan, I’ll organize our apartment since you’re busy.”
“See you there.”
“Wildcat, keep that sexy ass here while I get off the phone. I’ll be a second. Get the message to the others that tonight we find as many vermin we can to torture. Fuck… Can’t she do one motherfucking thing I say?” Slate draws in a deep breath and I laugh. Nothing changes. Permanently defiant. “This needs to be dealt with. No more niceties.”
“Emerald…” Panic in Slate’s voice has me rigid instantly. “Keep going, get out of the way, run.”
There’s a twangy sound like a motorbike engine revving and then muffled sounds, but I cannot hear anything more. Tanner pulls the handbrake so the car spins one hundred and eighty degrees so we are facing the opposite direction and he is flooring it.
“Get me to her.” I need answers. My best friend has to be alright.
“On my way.”
We were under attack.
With nothing to lose, it wasn’t a problem. But now, we stood to lose everything.
Our women.
If they were hurt, our whole fucking world would cease to exist.
The four of us had come into this underground world knowing the threats and devastation. It’s what drew us in from the beginning.
Reds and oranges burst through the black night sky. A fireball erupts at the HQ of Jimmy’s—an illegal and vile place, where women are traded at. The four of us stare back in a trance, as Slate revs the engine.
“Fuck me…We did it.” Ocean’s eyes reflect what all of ours looks like.
Wild, alive, and determined.
The Savage Shadows were making their mark in the LA underworld.
“No one will doubt us after tonight.” Slate puffs on his smoke and drives us twenty minutes to the next destination, the warehouse of our competition—Burke Bros Chop Shop. Driving slowly, tossing alcohol infused bottles from the car, we set their building alight. Destroying their equipment and boosted cars. No one boosts cars in our area without our consent and due payment.
We continued that night, burning up many businesses who weren’t on the same page as us. Eradicating enemies and problems, sending a powerful message.
We were ready to take down whoever thought they could eliminate us.
Our last stop was an underground drug ring who was stealing business from one of our associates and hence from us.
“We go in, find Ben and rid this world of his infection. If others get in the way, then they will become collateral damage.” Grabbing our firearms, this was our first cull. Solid and commanding, we take their small building by storm without a second thought. That night we killed. The first lives taken by our hands. The first of much blood spilled.
All the planning, playing, and manipulating would pay off. Discussions were made with other key players and they all came to the smart realization that the four of us were here to stay.
Being called loose cannons, kids, unpredictable, jackals, unworthy, no-good, and evil at the end of our school years hardened the four of us. An unbreakable, trusting bond formed. We were committed, relentless, and fucking ruthless.
Car boosting was only the beginning of our empire. One that would grow and fucking command. Nothing would stop us from achieving our goal.
Keeping our heads down, ears alert, and being fucking smart, LA became our city.
Four misfits…
Four boys…
Who turned into four vicious and feared men.
Our rules dominated.
LA is ours to protect and to manipulate.
The Savage Shadows became the judge, jury, and punisher.
Sitting in the hospital waiting room, my girl in tears, trying to find out any news about Emerald slams me in the face again with the knowledge it’s no longer just us four. Which meant a nuclear bomb was set to erupt in the LA precinct that would annihilate any threat coming for us.
“I need to see Emerald.”
My arm around her shoulders holds her sobbing body together. “They’ll let you in when Slate comes out.”
“But he won’t leave her side.” She could have a point there, but he hates hospitals more than any fucking thing. Then again, he would move fucking mountains for this woman. “Did they say anything about when she would wake up?”
“I didn’t get anything from him.”
Pushing up on her heeled shoes, she sways her tight little ass over to the nurse’s desk. Her shirt stained from my cum up the back, but she wears it with pride or she’s oblivious. She’s so classy. Too good for the likes of me. Tears still slide down her cheeks. I turn and cast a gaze at Kyle, who is looking at his phone. He came with us to the hospital. No words were said on the ride over.
“But I am her family, just not by blood.” I could hear her voice raising above the whisper everyone used in hospitals. “I need to know what’s happening.”
Walking over, I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her head to my chest. “Come and sit back down. We just have to wait.”
Slowly we shuffle back and sit.
“We didn’t finish that conversation in the car earlier.” My hand runs through her hair, and I kiss her head, taking in her raspberry smell. I wish I could put her back together.
“I told you Neville was gay and that he had no interest in me. That was it.” She sniffles and hiccups, holding tightly onto my shirt.
“Not that one.” Tracing my fingers down the side of her neck quietens her sobbing.
“I’m not keen on car racing, so going to watch you and Emerald race is going to torture me and do you really want to do that? I mean, there are other ways. It makes me feel nauseous thinking about the speed, smell of tires and the clothes the girls get around in at those race meets, there isn’t anything that could rid me of that sight for as long as I live.”
“Crystal, I have many ways I’m going to torture you and you are going to enjoy every single minute of it. But that’s not the conversation we didn’t finish.”
“Spit it out, will you, I’m looking like a mess over here, mascara running down my face so I look like a freaking raccoon, worried about my best friend and if her overbearing boyfriend is going to allow anyone else to go in and see her.”
“Exclusivity?” I breathe the word in her ear.
Her body stills, her eyes search mine without leaving my chest. “Oh, that conversation.” Her thin fingers tighten on my shirt, and the other hand clasps.
“What did you ask me?” I shouldn’t toy with her, but she will give it back to me later tenfold.
“It doesn’t matter now.” She closes her eyes and her lip trembles.
“We matter, Crystal.” My finger lifts her chin so she is looking at me. “Point one. You are mine and I won’t have anyone else touching what’s mine. Point two. That makes me yours. Exclusively.”
She gasps a fraction, then breathes.
“Last point. You won’t get rid of me. And it’s too late for you to change your mind. If you want to leave me, it won’t happen. This is it, Tiger. Does that answer your question?”
“Yes.” It’s small, but her
eyes tell me her fears have been put to bed. My lips land on her wet ones, and I kiss her reverently. I wipe the excess moisture from her cheeks with my thumbs, deepening the kiss so it’s only us in the hospital waiting room.
I’d always assumed this day was out of my grasp. One woman, only for me. My father taught me women were dispensable, easy, and interchangeable. Women tempting me with each new day. I was strong, living through hell, a leader at the top of the food chain. Yet, I was weak. It had taken Crystal walking away from me, and a friend to put me in my place to realize it.
“Crystal.” Slate’s deep rumble makes her jump. “Can you keep Em company for a while? I’ll organize security on her room, but she wants you to stay with her. Can you do that?”
Fuck…I need my woman by my side, but we do need to take care of business, so my dick will have to wait.
“Sure.” She lifts her body up, straightening her skirt. “What about Kyle? He can come though, can’t he?”
“Hotcakes?” She pushes me to my breaking point so quickly.
“Stop your nonsense. His twin sister is laying in a bed, and we don’t know when she will wake up. He’s coming in with me.” She lifts on her tippy toes and plants a long kiss on my mouth. “I have my phone. Call me with updates. Otherwise you will find me here.” She turns and strides toward Kyle, taking his hand. He looks like the walking dead. The hurt is etched on his features. One last look over her shoulder, and she blows me a kiss before she flaps the door closed, shutting me out.
Shaking my head, I need to focus. “How’s Emerald?”
“The bike ran her down, breaking her leg and she has some internal bleeding, but the gunshot he fired, missed her.” He’s chewing something that smells a lot like grape.
“The bitch is playing hardball. Targeting our women.” I take out my phone. “I’ll message Ocean and Caden to meet at Obsidian. We need to end this fast.”
Slate takes out something from his pocket and unwraps it. “Grape gum. Don’t ask. I’ve got extra security at her room. No one besides the one doctor and one nurse that I have run background checks on will be able to access the girls.”