by S. Nelson
Would Sully listen to her husband and leave, or would her curiosity about why her son called her all the way out here win in the end?
Finally, with an audible sigh, Sully gave her husband a quick nod and turned to her friend. “Let’s go.” Tripp leaned down and gave Reece a quick kiss before releasing her hand. Both women moved back toward the front door, but as Sully wrapped her fingers around the handle, Kaden hurriedly brushed past me, stopping only when he was a few feet behind Marek.
“They’re gonna kill an innocent man if you leave,” he uttered, ignoring his ol’ man’s expression, which had morphed from shock to rage in two seconds flat.
4
Never had I wanted to be someplace else than right now. As I watched everyone’s reaction to Kaden’s outburst, I became more uncomfortable, choosing to step back in order to put additional distance between me and the man who was gonna rage at any second. I was simply a spectator, waiting… watching as the scene unfolded in front of me. I had nothing of value to offer to the situation. Let me correct that. I had my opinions, of course, as to what should happen to Tag, but being in such close proximity to a ticking time bomb, aka Marek, I was smart enough to keep my fuckin’ mouth shut.
Tripp’s head dropped in defeat after Kaden spoke, his shoulders slumping forward, as he waited, just like the rest of us, to see what happened. Hawke had moved closer to his brother, but unlike his older sibling, he looked intrigued. I’d even go so far as to say the nomad appeared amused, the edges of his mouth curving upward, his grin frozen in place as he watched everything unfold. Rez, Miles, and Nash looked on with interest, but they didn’t appear to be uncomfortable, and I suspected that was because they’d never witnessed one of Marek’s outbursts. And while I’d only seen a few, they were a few too many, in my opinion. When my eyes finally made their way to Linc, his head was lowered a fraction, but his interest in the outcome of Kaden’s words was high. He peeked at everyone, watching… waiting, mirroring my curiosity.
“What is he talkin’ about?” Sully asked, her focus on her husband before moving to their son. “What do you mean? Who is gonna be killed?” Her attention bounced between both men before she finally looked over at Tripp, and if she thought he was gonna answer instead of Marek, she would be sorely disappointed.
Waiting was the shitty part. Not only did I not know who would say what, but I didn’t know if there would be some sort of physical altercation as a result of what Kaden divulged to his mother. I’d never seen or heard of Marek putting his hands on his son in anger, but his fierce protectiveness for his wife’s emotional state could rival any sense he had over striking Kaden.
Anything was possible at this point.
“That’s none of your concern,” Marek finally said, addressing his wife’s questions. “You just need to leave. Now.”
“I’m not goin’ anywhere.” Her hands found a home on her waist. “I want to know what Kaden meant by that.” Prez opened his mouth and inhaled a deep breath, but Sully kept talking. “You promised not to keep things from me, and I don’t know what’s goin’ on right now, but I know it has somethin’ to do with me. I don’t know how, but Kaden wouldn’t’ve told me to come here otherwise.”
“It’s club business,” Hawke said, moving back a step when Marek turned his glare on him.
“If you involve yourself in my conversation one more time, I swear….” Prez didn’t even have to finish his sentence for any of us to understand the ramifications if Hawke didn’t shut his mouth.
“Fine.” The nomad grunted but clamped his lips shut, but knowing what I did of Hawke, I doubted that would be his last unsolicited comment.
Because Sully wasn’t getting any answers, she approached her son, the one person who would tell her what she wanted to know. But she was only able to take two steps before Marek’s hand wrapped around her upper arm, holding her in place close to him.
“I mean it, woman. Go home.”
“No.” She schooled her expression. “Let me go.” Sully’s statement was filled with warning, but there was also an underlying reservation clipping the edges of each word she spoke. In a lower voice, she added, “You promised.”
“I’m just tryin’ to protect you. I don’t want you to go back there. I don’t need you to remember.”
“Remember what?”
I thought Marek would draw out his response longer than he did, but he responded quickly. “Remember what they did to you.”
Sully’s eyes widened and she yanked her arm away from him. “I don’t know what’s goin’ on right now, but nothing will ever make me forget what happened. I’ve just learned to live with the memories.”
“But—”
Her feet propelled her toward Kaden, moving out of the way when Marek reached for her once again.
“Tell me.”
Kaden glanced at Marek for permission, although I didn’t know why because he didn’t ask for it before his outburst earlier. Instead of resisting this time, however, his ol’ man raised his brow, then nodded.
“You know Tag?”
“Only from what you’ve mentioned of him.”
Kaden took a moment before continuing, reaching for his mother’s hand and taking several deep breaths. “It turns out that he’s related to… his father is….”
“Who?” Sully rushed to ask, her eyes glassing over as her bottom lip started to tremble. “Who is his father?” From her expression, I couldn’t tell if she already knew, although the probability of that was near impossible, or if her mind ran rampant with all the possibilities of how Tag’s father had anything to do with her.
“Vex.”
Sully snatched her hand from Kaden’s and moved back, choking on her next lungful of air. When Marek tried to touch her, she flinched and retreated away from everyone.
“I don’t understand.” She lowered her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she repeated. “What does that mean?” With her question, she raised her head and stared at Marek. “Was he trying to get to me?”
“At first, we thought he was tryin’ to, or at the least take revenge for us killin’ his father, but after checking into him, we came to find out he didn’t really know Vex. His mother sent him to live with his grandparents when he was young.” Marek shook his head. “He wasn’t involved in that life.”
Sully clutched her head and pulled at her strands; her eyes lost in confusion. “But why am I here?”
“Because even though Tag is innocent, not a Reaper, and wasn’t involved with his father in any way, he… wasn’t treated so well by us. And on top of that, he knows this club killed Vex.” Kaden’s shoulders tensed, his eyes drifting between his parents.
“I’m still not understanding my role in all this.” She retreated until her back hit the wall. “What do I have to do with Tag?”
“You weren’t supposed to have anything to do with this,” Marek practically shouted, his anger dripping out of him slow and steady. “But Kaden thought you should have a say in what happens to him because of his relation to the man who—”
“Tortured me,” Sully finished. Prez’s eyes darkened with the reminder, as if he could ever forget something like that. If it was me, and that was my wife standing in front of me, that shit would play on a constant loop in my head every goddamn day. Silence filled the room once again, the tension bordering on suffocating. “So, if I’m understanding this right, because you jumped to conclusions when you found out who he was, you tortured him and planned on killing him.”
“How do you know we tortured him?” Marek’s nostrils flared while he waited for her answer.
“Because I know how all this works. It’s been many years, but I remember.” Suddenly, she turned her head toward the back of the house. “Is he here?” She pushed off the wall. “Of course, he is,” she answered to herself before adding, “I wanna see him.”
“Absolutely not,” he shouted, advancing on his wife before she could take off toward the bedrooms. He stood in front of her, the rest of us shiftin
g into the front room to gain more distance. “You’re not gonna lay eyes on him.”
“I’m not goin’ anywhere until I do.” The two of them stood toe to toe again, neither backing down. Only when Sully placed her hands on either side of his face and leaned into him, did he seem to relax, albeit only a fraction. “I’m safe, Cole. You saved me all those years ago and you continue to save me every day. I’m stronger because of you. I’m alive because of your love. I know you’ll always worry about me, but I can handle this.” Sully stepped into him. “I need this. I need to see him.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he countered, his tone not as angry.
“You said he had nothing to do with his father, right?” Marek nodded, his chest rising and falling in rapid succession. “Then he’s a victim of Vex just like I was. It’s because of his relation to him that he’s even here in the first place.”
“I just wanna keep you safe.” He touched her temple before trailing his finger down her cheek, placing his hand at the nape of her neck, and pulling her impossibly close before she could utter a word in response.
I had to admit, I felt like a voyeur witnessing such an intimate exchange between them, but I rarely saw this side of Prez, so I had to keep watching.
“I know,” she responded, leaning up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. “Now, take me to see him.”
Without another word of protest, Marek turned to face Miles, holding out his hand, the corner of his lip raising in either annoyance or impatience. Then again, the tic could’ve been a combination of uncertainty mixed with fear. All I knew was I was grateful I didn’t have to worry about someone so much that I was all over the board emotionally.
Even as the thought barreled through my head, I realized how ridiculous it sounded. Plainly put… a lie. I did have someone I cared about but, depending on the day, she couldn’t care less about me.
Choosing not to dive down that proverbial rabbit hole right now, I focused on Prez as he inserted the key and pushed the door open. I edged closer as did Kaden and Linc. The rest of the guys stayed put.
Peering over Marek’s shoulder, I saw Tag standing next to the window, the curtain he pushed to the side falling back into place when Prez walked inside, followed by his wife.
The man’s appearance had become frailer from the last time I saw him. His hair was messed, sticking up in places, while his eyes appeared sunken in, his skin sallow, a drastic difference from his otherwise tanned coloring.
The second Tag’s eyes locked on Marek, his body bristled with anger, his gaze swooping over our leader before he sneered at him, completely ignoring Sully altogether.
“What the fuck is goin’ on?” he yelled, not a care in the world he raised his voice to the president of the Knights Corruption. My inner voice shouted, “I don’t blame ya, buddy,” while my good sense wanted to warn him to shut his mouth. In the end, however, Tag wasn’t a part of our club. He was an outsider, someone affiliated, to no fault of his own, to a ruthless and evil member of our enemy. All that didn’t matter, though. All that we were concerned about was how this situation was gonna unfold now that Sully had become involved.
Sully stepped around Marek and closer to Tag, reaching out to touch his arm.
“I’m so sorry for whatever happened to you. It’s inadvertently my fault.”
“Sully—”
She ignored her husband and continued to speak. “You’re the son of someone who hurt me a long time ago. And my husband was only trying to protect me, and the club. They thought you were one of them.”
“Yeah, they’ve told me. And I told them I didn’t really know my father. I left here when I was young and only came back when my mom got sick. But that didn’t stop them from doing this to me.” Tag raised his T-shirt to his collarbone, a nasty-looking X shaped on his torso, slicing through the artwork etched into his skin. Because of all the tattoos, it was hard to see what stage the healing of the wound was at, but if nothing else, I could see he’d been stitched up. Then he pointed to the nasty raised wound on his side, releasing the material only after Sully gasped. She turned to look at her husband before her eyes landed back on Tag.
“I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t wanna hear how sorry you are. I wanna know what’s gonna happen now.” Tag retreated away from her. His words were filled with strength but the fear behind his eyes shone brightly for everyone to see. “You gonna stand by and watch as your husband kills me?”
“No one is gonna kill you,” she said, taking a step back toward Marek. A fleeting sense of relief passed over Tag’s face but was once again replaced with anger, the transition happening so quickly I doubted most saw it. Sully turned into her husband and placed her hand on his chest. “You know what you have to do, Cole.”
Prez’s eyebrows tugged together as his wife leaned in to whisper something in his ear.
“Absolutely not,” he grated, pulling further back so he could study her face. “No way that’s happenin’.”
“I don’t think you have any other choice.”
Marek shook his head at Sully’s words, his hands balling into fists the longer he stood there in silence, clearly contemplating whatever it was she whispered to him. Then he glared at Tag, his shoulders slumping in a sign of defeat, which was an unprecedented sight to witness.
“Fine. But I’m not gonna be held accountable if this shit blows up in our faces.”
“It won’t,” Sully countered, a slow smile of relief creeping across her face as she squeezed her husband’s arm.
“You better be right.”
5
“Anyone care to fill us in on what you two are jabberin’ on about?” Tripp asked, stepping into the room with Marek, Sully, and Tag. “Or are you gonna keep talkin’ in code?”
Our leader never answered Tripp. Instead, he approached Tag, his steps slow and steady, his posture ready if the guy tried to attack him, probably in self-preservation, seeing as how we all still didn’t know what was gonna happen.
“My wife seems to think we only have one choice as to what should be done with you. I’d go a different route, but I’m man enough to acknowledge she might possibly be right in this instance.”
“I’m tired of waiting to find out what’s gonna happen to me, so if you’re gonna kill me, just do it already.” Gone was any show of strength and anger I’d witnessed moments ago, defeat curling around him as he stood there, his eyes bouncing to everyone else in his line of sight.
Marek dismissed what Tag said with a wave of his hand. “As I said, there’s only one option on the table.”
Tag released a heavy breath and lowered his head. “Just get on with it.”
Prez glanced back at Sully one more time before returning his attention to the beaten-down shell of a guy standing before him.
“You have to become a prospect of the Knights Corruption.”
A barrage of murmurs erupted around me as Tag snapped his head up, the frown he formed so deep there was no way he wouldn’t have some sort of headache soon.
“What did you say?” He shook his head before Marek had a chance to respond, his refusal written all over his face and laced within his rigid posture.
“You heard me. I’m not gonna repeat myself. It’s either that or this.” Marek pulled his gun from his waistband and held it at his side.
“Those are my only two options?” Marek didn’t answer in any way. Not a nod, not a flick of his eyes in response to what I believed to be a rhetorical question. Tag took a single step toward Prez. “What guarantee do I have you won’t change your mind and put a bullet in my head?”
“You don’t.”
“I guess I don’t have much of a choice now, do I?” he asked, wincing when he twisted his body the wrong way, his hand rising to cover his wounded side.
“Not unless you wanna leave this world.” Marek turned and walked out of the room, snatching Sully’s hand in the process and practically dragging her behind him. I heard her mumble, “At least he doesn’t look like
his father,” moments before the front door slammed shut, the roar of the motorcycle’s engine soon after slicing through the silence of the night.
“What the fuck!” Hawke shouted. “What is happening to this club?” He stomped off into the other room before his brother could stop him. I didn’t know why he was pissed off at the turn of events. Was he that hungry for another death, even though he knew Tag to be innocent of any involvement with the Reapers? I made a mental note to keep my distance from him because if he ended up doin’ or sayin’ the wrong thing in front of me, I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t clock him.
“What’s his problem?” Linc asked, looking at Tripp for answers.
“Hawke’s got a lot of demons he’s still workin’ through. Don’t mind him,” his older brother stated, wrapping his arm around Reece’s waist, and kissing her temple. “You drove, right?” She nodded, molding her body to his as she looked around the room one last time. “You ready to leave?”
“What about your bike?” she asked.
“Hawke can drive it back.” Tripp glanced quickly at Tag. “I doubt he wants to ride back with the new prospect.” Then he directed his attention on me, Linc, and Kaden. “You three take Tag and the van back. Then go home and get some rest. I’m sure the next few days, weeks even, are gonna be stressful. Add in, we still haven’t heard anything from those bastards.”
“What are we gonna do with… you know?” I wanted to come out and ask the blunt question, wondering if everyone else present forgot about the dead Reaper in the basement, but had to watch what I said because Reece was still here.
“We’ll take care of it tomorrow.” Tripp pulled his wife toward the front door after responding.
It seemed the club had gone from one way of life to another in the blink of an eye. We had to carry weapons now in case anything unexpected happened, and people were dying around us, one almost losing his life because of a rash conclusion. Even though it was the right decision to allow Tag to live, I had no doubt Marek was gonna have some choice words for his son for involving Sully the next time they were alone together.