by J Bree
"I'm here, I'll deal with him."
I swallow but my voice still comes out like a rasp. “Tomi?"
His tone changes instantly, from that pissed off snap to the low, smooth tones he uses when I’m a shaking fucking mess. “Sweetness, you stay inside and stick close to Speck. You hear me? Park your ass in my booth and wait until I come get you. I'll sort him out."
Him. He says it with purpose, like he knows exactly who it is out there. “I didn't—I didn't know that you knew about him. I'm... Tomi, I'm scared."
I can hear Paul yelling down the line as well as muffled through the wall so I know Tomi is as close as he says. "Sweetness, do as I say. Just park your ass and forget about it. I've got it all under control."
I take a step away and Speck lifts the phone to his own ear. "Are you close? He's drawn a gun on Diesel and I think all hell is about to break loose out there. I've got Angel though, no matter what… He got his hands on her before she got away. I think her wrist is broken."
When he hangs up Speck leads me through the bar, his body covering me completely the way he has done a hundred times before at The Boulevard. I might not want him touching me but I’m also so fucking grateful for him to be here for me again.
He brings me some water and then stands close-by. My wrist is throbbing but I’m not about to leave the booth to get it looked at. Nope.
I’ll keep my ass here until Tomi comes back for me.
I lose time a little. I lose the ability to focus on anything that isn’t the little burn mark on the table in the booth. That little spot is my entire focus until Tomi gets here for me.
“Angel. I need to get a look at the damage to that wrist, sweet girl.”
I startle and find Keely crouched down next to me, careful to not touch me even as she tries to get a good look at the damaged and mangled mess my wrist is in.
“I can’t move. Tomi told me not to move,” I croak and my eyes come into focus a little more. I find half the MC here at the bar. King and Hawk are both standing with Keely and watching me with careful eyes. I don’t know what I’ve done to get them looking at me like that.
“Don’t worry about them, they’re here to protect you while Tomi and Rue take care of… that disgusting man. Can I check your wrist, sweetheart? I need to touch you to do it. I think it’s broken.”
I open my mouth to answer her when the door swings open so hard it bangs into the wall and ricochets back. Tomi is covered in blood, enough on him that Paul must be in pieces. The relief I feel only lasts a second.
He’s going to be locked up for killing him.
He’s going to prison for me.
The frozen, aloof, empty shell finally breaks and a sob rips out of me. I slump forward, my forehead pressing against the table, broken wrist be fucking damned.
“Fuck! Ma, why isn’t she at the fucking hospital yet? She needs painkillers and the bone reset, for fuck’s sake!” Tomi snarls as he stalks forward, and Keely doesn’t rise up to the bait.
She murmurs quietly to me instead, “It’s okay, sweetheart. Everything is going to be okay. Paul is gone. You are safe. I’m going to splint your wrist enough to move you and then we’ll go to the hospital.”
I can’t stop crying. It’s like all the times I’ve held it together through the worst situations have slowly been adding up and now I’m a mess.
“I can’t do this. I can’t have him go to jail for me,” I mumble, misery choking me.
Keely finally reaches over, slow enough that I could stop her if I need to, and rests a hand on my back. “He’s not going to jail, sweetheart. Our men have it all taken care of so let’s just worry about the mess this wrist is in.”
I nod but I can’t move. No matter how hard I try, my body is frozen to the chair. Keely murmurs under her breath to me as she splints my wrist, all sweet and calming words that don’t make sense to me now but they soothe me nonetheless. Then she takes a step back and Tomi scoops me into his arms and lifts me out of the booth, fussing until my head is tucked under his chin.
“I’ve got you, Angel. Ain’t nothing touching you ever again.”
Chapter Thirty Four
Tomi
Monday morning brings with it a list of shit I need to get done for my girl before I can get to work at The Boulevard. Rue tags along to help out. It starts with sorting out the carpet problem which is a simple fix.
I put a tire iron through the front window of the shop.
Not exactly subtle but I’m not in the fucking best of moods about this.
Rue starts cursing up a storm behind me and gets on the phone but I’m now made of fucking rage and I need some judgmental asshole to bleed.
There’s screaming and yelling coming out of the store but I ignore it as I step through the giant fucking hole I’ve just made in the glass.
The girl at the reception desk is frozen in fear but when I straighten up she squeals and bolts out the back, brushing past Kyle as he walks through to figure out what the fuck has happened to his store.
I’m a little more pissed about this than I thought because I have him pinned to the wall by his throat before he can blink.
Rue follows me through the hole and says, “Put the guy down, Tomi. You really wanna spend the night in lock-up because you can’t control your temper?”
Without a fucking doubt, I’d do hard time right now if push comes to shove because I’m not fucking leaving without getting this fucking fixed.
“This ain’t about my temper, this is about respect.”
Kyle tries to speak but my hand is tight and he has no fucking air for words right now.
Rue scowls and stomps over to us. “What about respect? What’d you do, asshole?”
“He’s refusing to do Angel’s carpets. Thinks he’s too fucking good to do work for my girl, made her feel like shit in my fucking town. I think he deserves a helluva lot more than a broken fucking window.”
Kyle forces some words outta his mouth, the stream of them like a wheeze, “Look man, my momma took over running the office because Georgia’s been off with the baby. I didn’t know she cancelled your girl’s appointment, I’d never let that shit fly.”
My hands loosen just enough around his throat so he can breathe a little easier and he takes some deep, gulping breaths.
“I’ll look up what she was after and head over there right now with my boys, get the job done this morning. The club has always done right by us, I don’t want no trouble.”
That’s the answer I’m looking for but I don’t feel any fucking better about it, not without being able to really beat the fuck outta someone. I huff out a breath and let him go, watching as he collects himself.
“You tell your momma she so much as side eyes my girl on the street and she’s dead, woman or not. I’m not fucking around.”
Kyle gulps and nods, rubbing at his throat and scurrying off.
Rue huffs at me. “Are you gonna just beat the shit outta anyone who looks at Angel wrong from here on out?”
I shoot him a look as we both walk back through that hole. “You got a problem with that?”
He smirks back at me. “Nope. Guess you’ll just have to quit bitching about me doing the same with Poe though, won’t you?”
Asshole.
We go back to Angel’s place to start the cladding on the exterior walls while the carpets are being laid. Another perk to the place being small, it doesn’t take too much time to get the front done and when we stop for a beer it already looks a million times better.
A little home instead of a shit hole.
When we have one side done as well, we call it quits for the day and ride out to go find a new oven for the kitchen. I don’t want Angel struggling with fucking anything anymore and even though he’d rather poke his own fucking eyeballs out than pick appliances, Rue tags along to help me move shit.
I'm walking through the store when the call comes through.
Who'd have thought there were so many options when it comes to fucking ovens. I want the
biggest and best for her but the kitchen is too small for that shit. Kinda narrows my options.
Rue stares at the stickers on everything like this is all fucking beyond him. The man can rebuild an engine with his eyes fucking sealed shut but looking at appliances is just too much. "You need to look at renovating her place. Stick some more bedrooms on it, bigger kitchen and a dining room."
I give him a glare. "Her house is fucking fine."
He huffs at me. "Her house is fucking impressive. I'm not knocking it, I can't fucking believe what she did. I'm just saying, Sunday nights are going to be there on the regular. We're all going to crash there too, fucking often. That's just how this shit goes so you might wanna look into expanding a bit. If she's down for that. Have you talked to her about patching yet?"
I want to so fucking bad. "Not yet. She’s only just got the house and we’re getting settled in. I'm taking my time for now."
When my phone starts ringing I don't even think about what it could be, I just scoff at the caller ID and pick up. Before I get a chance to say a goddamn word he snaps, “It’s me. Get your ass to Mugshots right the fuck now. Your woman was chased down here on foot by some cop cunt trying to touch her.”
A cop?
I leave the store at a run, Rue cursing and bolting after me without question. I doubt he knows it's Angel, probably just thinks it's something to do with the rat but I'll take the fucking backup.
I push my hog so hard I practically fucking fly to the bar. It’s a fucking good thing Coldstone is a tiny speck of a town because I’m there before my mind has even come online about what I’m gonna do to him.
I’m going to enjoy this death, replay it in my head every fucking night like a lullaby to get me to sleep.
Rue and I park on the street, just ditch our bikes and stalk down to the bar but there’s no one at the front door. Rue jerks his head at me, signaling the back alley and I nod.
My phone rings again and I curse as I look at the damn thing. Speck. His bike is here though so he must be calling for backup. "I'm here, I'll deal with him."
"Tomi?"
My heart stops in my chest at the sound of her voice. The broken, desperate, scared fucking edges to it. "Sweetness, you stay inside and stick close to Speck. You hear me? Park your ass in my booth and wait until I come get you. I'll sort him out."
"I didn't—I didn't know that you knew about him. I'm... Tomi, I'm scared."
The death I'm going to give this man… fucking biblical. "Sweetness, do as I say. Just park your ass and forget about it. I've got it all under control."
There's noises down the line and then Speck speaks. "Are you close? He's drawn a gun on Diesel and I think all hell is about to break loose out there. I've got Angel though, no matter what."
I owe him. "I'm here. Keep her safe."
He grunts and then says, "He got his hands on her before she got away. I think her wrist is broken."
I drop my phone and I move, too fucking pissed now to think clearly or form a plan beyond blood and pain and fucking rage.
I see him standing there, raging out and holding up a badge like it means something.
"I'm an officer and she's a fugitive, if you don't move I'll open fire."
"Fuck, is that him? Is that Angel's step-cunt?" Rue snarls, and I nod, way beyond the point of forming words.
This man.
This man broke her, gave her those screaming nightmares, made her flinch at my touch, scared her so bad she slept on the fucking streets for years. Put her in the types of situations that destroy little kids’ entire fucking lives and I'm going to do more than fucking kill him.
Nah. I'm going to wipe him from the face of the planet. They aren't even going to find a fucking fingernail from this cunt when I'm done.
I start towards him but he's too swept up in his own little fucking fantasy to realize I'm there until I take him to the ground. He’s a cop, or he was one, so the asshole knows how to fight but there’s no chance he could get away from me or my club right now. No fucking way.
Rue stands there and watches as I beat the fuck outta the step-cunt.
There’s a lotta anger issues in me about this man, a lotta rage I need to fucking pulverize into his face and I’m fairly certain he’s already brain-dead by the time I get my knife out and slit his throat because there’s nothing left of his face.
I’ve caved his skull in with nothing but my fists and pure fucking fury.
Rue grunts at me, “We need him in pieces, brother. Hard to move him otherwise.”
Pieces. I can fucking do that.
I’m covered in blood by the time the rage clears a little and my mind comes back online. I glance up from the bloody corpse to see the alleyway blocked with a couple of dumpsters and Hellion’s truck.
“I called for backup. I’ve got Keely in there with Angel, just focus on cleaning this mess up because it’s broad fucking daylight, brother,” Rue murmurs, and Hellion stalks over to us, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
“Cecee is gonna fucking love this shit. You did good work. He got what he deserves, the sick fuck.”
I nod along but I’m too fucking pissed to comment.
We get the pieces of Paul loaded up into trash bags and into the tubs on the back of the truck. Rue grabs a hose and cleans down the side of the building, doing what he can to get rid of the blood.
I wait until this place doesn’t look like a crime scene before I go find my girl.
Angel’s wrist is broken and needs a cast.
Keely watches over her through the whole process, directing people so they don’t touch her any more than they have to, and I keep a hold of Angel’s other hand the whole time, scowling at everyone.
I changed clothes before we came in.
I’m too fucking twitchy after the step-cunt shows up to let her outta my sight so once she’s fixed up I take her home for a shower and then we both head into The Boulevard so I can work while she naps in my office.
Diamond left the place in a fucking mess and when I work my way through the inventory I start to wish I could kill the fucking bitch all over again. Rue actually comes down to help me out and Speck shows up with him, looking just a little more alive.
Angel lights up when he slumps into the chair next to hers in my office.
“Miss me? Fuck, I didn’t think I’d be seeing you down here so soon. Though I gotta say, I’m glad I’m not in danger of having my balls ripped off around you anymore.”
She giggles at him and I give him a glare. “Think twice, asshole, because if you keep sweet talking her I’ll risk Keely’s wrath to knock your front teeth out.”
Angel shoots me a glare and I leave them to it, focusing on the pile of work I have to deal with instead of them both gossiping about which strippers Speck is chasing after now.
Rue runs inventory on the bar stock and then interviews the new bouncers, scowling and being a fucking nightmare to everyone who crosses his path. It’s a good thing, every last one of the girls is tiptoeing around us all now they’ve seen what happens when you overstep the Unseen line.
Rue’s attitude just reinforces that shit.
We leave together after the sun comes up, Angel yawning and looking fucking edible even with the cast on her wrist.
We make it out to the motorcycles out back, laughing and joking around, and even keeping an eye out for shit we miss the slight woman hiding in the shadows.
"Jazmin?"
Angel stumbles a little, tucking into my side. Speck turns to look at the woman and startles. I know who she is before I turn to get a look at her but when I do there's no hiding she’s Angel’s mom.
"I know it's you, baby, I've had everyone looking for you."
Angel glances up at me but I’m too busy frowning at her mom like she's a fucking demon. I read that fucking file. I read it, I know exactly what this woman has done.
Angel doesn’t exactly know that though.
"Can we leave? Can we get out of here?" she whispers, and I finally look aw
ay from her mom and back down at her.
Her mom steps forward and I move in front of Angel on instinct. “Jazmin, please. I kicked Paul out. I kicked him out so you'd come home. I didn't know! I didn't know what was going on."
Angel’s hand slips into mine. “Tomi, I really need to leave."
I’d rather kill this woman but instead I nod and sling an arm over her shoulders, pulling her into my body as we walk. Speck takes up Angel’s other side like a shield but Rue stays behind, meeting my eyes with a nod.
I swing onto my hog and Angel gets on behind me with ease now she’s had enough practice, her arms tight around me as Speck grins at her from his own hog.
"You don't look like a Jazmin. Angel, through and through."
Her giggle is a little choked but it still sounds better than the thready tone she had before. "Words like that'll get you killed, Reece."
I huff like I’m pissed but really I’m happy Speck can get her laughing. "Stop fucking calling him that or he really will get fucking buried."
Rue stalks up behind us all and gets onto his bike. He meets my eye with a scowl.
Angel’s arms tighten and I ask, “Anything important?"
He shrugs. "Just a whole lotta regret that's too fucking late and a warning about Paul so she doesn't know we have that covered. C'mon, it’s late and I’m fucking beat.”
Regrets.
It’s too fucking late for regrets.
When we get back to the clubhouse the guys all wait around until Angel is off of the bike and then Rue hesitates for half a second before pulling Angel into a quick hug. He’s slow enough that she can stop him if she wants to but she is so shocked that she lets him. Then he stalks up the stairs, the clubhouse quiet this early in the morning even with some stragglers still drinking from the night before.
"Jesus Christ, are you going to cry over a fucking hug? Angel, you're killing me here," Speck says, and I glance down to see that Angel’s lip is trembling just a little as she shoves at Speck when he goes in for a hug too.
He clutches at his chest like he's wounded, cutting a little too close to home with that one action, and then jogs up the stairs after Rue.