by Dawn Martens
With that, he walks out, leaving me in the conference room alone. Seeing the pictures of those children, beat to hell, reminds me of my own childhood. That’s why I absolutely will be doing what I told Reaper I needed to do. Time to go home and get drunk to forget.
Chapter 12
Drew
Living with Drew week five
Keller and I head out to the bar with his team. Living with Tara hasn’t been bad, only shitty part is how Keller is around more often. The fucker lives with me when he’s not bed hopping, but this is the most he’s been around. It’s probably the newness of having Tara there. Once he’s out on the road I’m sure he’ll be back to normal. I think this is the longest the idiot hasn’t cheated.
“So fuckin’ hyped to get out on the road, man. New pussy to explore. Tara’s cunt has been pretty epic the last month, but I need variety.” And there it is, the douche has come out.
I don’t bother replying, the fucking moron will get caught eventually. I’m more worried about being home alone with Tara once he's gone. Her and I might have to have some ground rules while Keller’s gone. It’s hard enough keeping my hands to myself at work. Hell, when she first started working with me, I tried to get her to leave, and it wasn’t that I wanted her gone or to lose out on her job, I wanted to fuck her again. And I’ve made it a strong rule to never shit where I eat.
But with Keller leaving with his team for a while, fuck, having her in my house, the struggle to not fuck her against the wall, on my kitchen counter, bent over in the shower, fuck me, that’s gonna be a bitch. I’ve watched her more closely since she moved in. I’ve noticed the way she holds herself when she’s with Keller, and more often than not, half the shit out of Keller’s mouth has her trying not to cringe, except a few times it’s slipped out.
She obviously isn’t all that into him, so why she doesn’t break up with him doesn’t make sense. I heard her on the phone to her friend, and hell, she admitted it to me also, so I don’t get her wanting to wait until his season is over to dump him. Maybe that’s something I can explore more once Keller is gone. Tara can do so much better than him. For example. Me.
Last week when Mason, also known as Reaper, came into the station to ask for our assistance, something changed. Sure, I always thought Tara was hot, but watching her with him, and how certain things were shared, I got a glimpse into her past. She was already scarred. The Angels Warriors helped to rebuild her broken pieces. And knowing what Keller is doing to her has me angrier than I already was.
It didn’t take much to put the pieces of her past together. Not with how she reacted to Reaper at the station, or the little comments that were made.
She already seemed to have a shitty life, full of hurt, and once she finds out what her boyfriend has been up to, she’ll be hurt again. Or maybe not, I don’t have a god damn clue. Maybe she’ll just be relieved.
I grab a beer from the bar and go back to the booth where Keller and a few of his teammates are sitting. The night is still early, since there are no puck bunnies swarming them yet.
“How is it, living with your girl?” Speed, Keller’s teammate asks.
Keller shrugs. “It’s pretty good, don’t know why she won’t let me sleep in her bed though. We fuck and then she makes me leave to go my own room. Thought we’d be living together by now, you know. Maybe I’ll just have to put a ring on it to get that privilege.” He smirks and fists bumps everyone, except me.
I finish my beer and set the bottle on the table just as a group of women come to the booth Sitting themselves down on each of the guys laps, including Keller’s.
“Hey, handsome, you wanna come to my place tonight?” the blonde in Keller’s lap asks seductively.
Keller grins and shoots me a look that says don’t say a fucking word. And I just shake my head at him. Dumb fuck. “How about you get under the table and give me a sample of what I can expect, wrap those perfect swollen lips around my cock, baby.” She gives him a quick kiss and does as he asks. The second I realize he’s actually gonna let her suck him off right here in the club, I’m out of my chair.
“You leaving, man?” Keller frowns as I get up, grabbing my jacket off the back of the chair.
I narrow my eyes at him and then look to the bitch on her knees under the table, with Keller’s cock in her mouth. “Yeah, I’m out,” I snarl at him, giving him a disgusted look.
“Cool, bro, don’t wait up, I’ll be home sometime tomorrow to get my shit and hit the road.” He moans slightly as he finishes his sentence.
I don’t reply, but I do smack the back of his head as I walk away.
Pulling into the driveway twenty minutes later, I see the lights in the living room on. Normally at this time at night Tara’s in her room watching TV until she falls asleep.
Tara’s head pops over the back of the couch as I walk into the house. LF jumps on the back of it and starts purring when he sees me. “Hey, you’re back early, where’s Keller?”
This is where I should tell her, but I don’t. Because I’m an idiot. “He’s still out with the guys, said he might not be back tonight,” I lie and hope she doesn’t see it written all over my face.
She frowns slightly. “Oh, you’d think since he’s leaving tomorrow, he’d be home. Wanting to spend time with me or something.” Yeah, you’d think that. Anyone would fucking think that.
I toss my jacket on the chair and round the couch to sit on it. Tara moves her legs quickly, so I don’t sit on them. “What are we watching?” I ask her, as LF jumps onto my lap and starts bumping my hand with his head so I can pet him.
She looks at our interaction and smiles. “Crazy, he barely likes me, hates Keller, but he’s all loved up on you.”
I shrug. “I’m lovable,” I tease and give her a wink.
She blushes slightly and turns back to the TV. “I can change this if you don’t want to watch. There isn’t anything new on right now, so I’m just re-watching some American Horror Story.”
“Sounds good to me, how many episodes did I miss? Wanna give me a quick recap or something?”
She fills me in on some strange shit that barely makes sense, but watching her light up talking about this, I couldn’t give a fuck. Just spending time with her, watching shitty shows she likes, is perfect.
Two episodes later, and Tara’s out. I look over at her sleeping, and I don’t know how it’s possible, but she looks even more beautiful as she sleeps. I quietly move LF off my lap and shift Tara into my arms, carrying her to her room.
“Mhmm, Drew,” she murmurs in her sleep as I set her down on her bed and pull up her covers. I give her a kiss on her forehead and leave, leaving the door to her room and mine open, and go to bed myself. Spending time with her tonight, watching her light up, jump at dumb pop out scares on the show, and just smiling, all while just sitting at home, was better than any night I ever spent out at a club trying to get laid. I could get used to this.
Chapter 13
Tara
Week one without Keller
Tying up my hair into a tight bun as I get dressed for work, there is a knock on my door. “Hey, you almost ready? Figured we could probably ride in to work together,” Drew says.
I’ve been trying hard to avoid him, especially with Keller being gone. I swear every night at home Drew sits and eats with me and then we watch TV together or something. It feels too couplely, especially with the feelings I have for him, and the things he’s said before to me. It’s been hard, and half the time he storms into my bedroom and forces me out. Saying I can’t be cooped up all the damn time when I’m not working.
I couldn’t even get a hold of Tina for the last week. I don’t know if she’s mad still about me moving in with Keller, or the fact that I basically hung up on her last time we spoke.
“Uh, no, you go ahead, I’ll still be a while,” I call back to him and hear him hesitate slightly before muttering something I can’t hear and stomps off. Hearing the front door slam shut, I know he’s gone.
Moving t
o my dresser I open my jewelry box and grab my Angels Warriors MC necklace that was given to me. Angel and Reaper had it made for me, it’s the same symbol they have as tattoos, just mine is in necklace form. It’s a Celtic Shield with a set of Angel wings wrapping around it. Pretty symbolic, and fits who the Angels are perfectly.
I take one last look in the mirror and head out. Grabbing my keys and lock the door. One of the best things about living at Drew’s house is he’s only ten minutes from the station, and if it wasn’t raining, I’d have been able to walk.
When I pull into the parking lot, I see a row of bikes and smile. And the smile doesn’t come off my face as I walk into the building.
“Hey Tara,” the front desk clerk calls as I walk in. I say a quick hi back and give a small wave.
“Tara Marie Webb, get your cute ass in here.” I pause before my desk and look down the hall. Zippo is standing there, still looking as emo as ever, his arms crossed as he leans against the wall. I don’t notice Drew behind him as I throw my purse on my desk and run.
Zippo stands up straight, his arms out ready to catch me, as I jump in his arms and hug him tight. “Missed you, girl,” Zippo states into my hair as he hugs me tightly back. He puts me down and looks at me with a grin. “Let’s get in the room, Angel is here too, and wants to see ya.” He pulls my arm and drags me along behind him. “Look what I found out in the hall,” Zippo announces.
Reaper, Angel, and T-bags are sitting around the room and grin when they see me. “It’s about time. What, you don’t call, text, visit since moving, what’s that about?” T-bags asks, standing from his seat, coming to me for a hug.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him. I have a feeling I might be saying that a few times today.
“Nothing to be sorry for, kid, just missed you was all, know you got a life of your own, but doesn’t mean you can cut off family.”
Angel doesn’t say anything, just walks to me, gives me a tight hug and kisses my forehead and moves back to his seat. It’s then I notice Drew was standing off to the side of the room just watching everything happen. Again, he’s giving me a strange look, a look I don’t have time to try and figure out.
“Let’s just get started, and we’ll roll out,” Angel declares and starts telling everyone their role for today. “Tara, you take point with the little girl we’re getting out, you know what to do. Drew, you’ll be our arresting officer if this sick fuck puts up a fight. Normally we take them in ourselves and hand them over at the station, but sometimes these assholes are just that, assholes, so we always have a backup plan.”
Drew nods, skimming over the file while Angel talks.
Reaper stands up from his chair. “I know Tara should probably ride with you Drew, but since it’s been a while, Tara will be on my bike with me, when it’s done, you make sure to get her home safe, yeah.” I smile at the thought of being on a bike again. I always loved riding on the back of their bikes with them, it’s the best feeling in the world.
Drew looks up, as if he wants to nix the idea, but thinks better of it when the rest of the guys stand up and says it’s a great idea.
Chapter 14
Drew
Week two without Keller
Tara is barely holding it together as we get back to the station. That whole situation was fucked up. How Tara had to take care of the little girl, how the sick fuck of a father was bragging about what he’d done. “Come to my office,” I tell Tara as we get out of my car.
She follows me and I shut the door as she takes a seat. “You need to brush that shit off. Part of this job is to not get attached.”
She jolts back in her chair as if I’ve slapped her. “That wasn’t a damn job, that has nothing to do with me being a police officer. I went because the Angels asked me to, just like I’ve gone with them before, you went because for you it was a job. Don’t you dare tell me what I can and can’t feel.”
“I can, especially with you acting like this. Maybe you aren’t cut out to be a cop.”
“Oh, fuck you, do you have any idea what that little girl was feeling in that moment? No, I bet you don’t. You probably had the perfect life growing up. You weren’t a five-year-old little girl getting molested by her father until she hit puberty. You weren’t an eleven-year-old child getting raped through your asshole every night or getting beat all to hell for years on end until you got rescued by the Angels Warriors at thirteen. And even after being rescued, didn’t have nightmares, night after night about all the shit that happened. You probably lost your virginity when you were in high school, probably had a few girlfriends by then, too. But no, not me, I was afraid to let anyone touch me, and was a virgin until I was twenty-five-years old. And then got my very first boyfriend. So go fuck yourself, Drew.”
I stagger back, almost falling to the floor as she shouts those words at me. Holy fuck, I knew her past would be bad, but I wasn’t expecting this. Fuck me, I want to find the sick fucker that did this to her.
“Tara, I…” She puts her hand out to stop me from speaking.
“Just don’t okay, I can’t do this right now.”
I move close to her and cup her face in my hands. “I’m sorry, Tara, I am. I shouldn’t have said what I did, you have every right to feel the way you do. Why don’t you take the day off, go home, rest? I’ll bring home a pizza later, sound good?”
She sighs, her shoulders slumping. “Yeah, and I’m sorry too, for lashing out just now.”
I catch a tear as it falls down her face. “Keller doesn’t know about that shit, does he?” I ask her gently.
She bites her bottom lip and shakes her head. “It’s not really something to tell someone. At least not someone you’re just dating. He knows I had a rough upbringing; he knows I’m close to the Angels, but nothing specific.” Keller is such a fucking moron. I also can’t believe that the first time Tara gets a boyfriend, it’s him. “I shouldn’t have even told you,” she whispers.
I lean in, kissing her forehead, giving her a small hug. “You can trust me, Tara. I’m sorry that shit happened to you. I’m also angry as hell, not at you, but for you. Wanting to hunt down this bastard and kill him. Please tell me he’s locked up.” I pull back and she shakes her head. My body tenses, how the fuck is he not locked up.
“If I tell you something, will you promise not to say, arrest someone, or utter a word to anyone?” she asks me hesitantly. And I don’t even need to think about it.
“Absolutely,” I reply instantly.
“Well, when my father got released on bail,” She starts to say.
My hands tighten on hers. “How on earth was he released on bail?” I almost shout, anger vibrating from me.
She bites her lip. “Well, Reaper posted it. He didn’t think prison was good enough for him. So, he took care of him in a different way. I don’t know all the details, but Reaper told me, even saying if I turned him in, he’d understand, but just wanted me to know.”
I don’t even give a fuck, right now I want to high five the damn man for doing that. Not that murder is good, but this guy deserved it. And I’m glad he’s not ever gonna be out there to haunt Tara ever again.
“What about your mother?”
She removes her hands from me and wrings them together. “I was always told she ran away because she hated me, but T-bags and Angel did some digging, there was literally no trace of her once I turned five. Reaper and Zippo got this strange look on their faces when they were told this and raced out of the clubhouse, two hours later they came back covered in dirt and said they found her. My father murdered her and buried her in the backyard. They were able to get her buried in a cemetery for me.”
“I’m sorry, Tara, I’m sorry your childhood was so horrifying, but you got one thing wrong.” She looks at me in confusion. “My childhood wasn’t as good as you think. I had a loving mother, who was beaten by my father, but she was too weak to leave him. He beat her so bad once, I thought he had killed her, so I called the police myself. When my mother woke up, she finally listened to my
pleading and filed charges. My father is the reason I became a cop. He was murdered in jail by his cellmate a month after being sentenced, no love lost there. And as for my mother, she passed away ten years ago, when I turned nineteen, cancer.”
“Wow, I’m sorry to hear that. Seems we both had shitty dads.”
I give her a small smile and pull her up from the chair. “Go on, get home, take a bath or something, cuddle with LF, I’ll be home around seven with pizza.”
She gives me a grin and leaves.
This whole day was fucked up, but now more than ever, I just want to do right by Tara. The second I can, I’m having a chat with Keller, he’s not gonna destroy her anymore than she already has been.
Chapter 15
Tara
Week three of no Keller
I get home after my shift, pissed. Drew thinks he’s so much god damn better than me, and I’m sick of it. None of the others at the station even understand why he’s such a prick to me. I’m thinking it’s because we fucked, but hell, that was almost a year ago now.
Last week after we had our little heart to heart, I thought maybe we were finally moving past our issues between each other, but today proved otherwise. And hell, I don’t even know what was wrong, he just started yelling at me over everything.
How I had my hair, how one of my buttons wasn’t done up right on my shirt, how I was eating and getting crumbs all over my desk and possibly paperwork. I finally had enough and threw my half-eaten donut at him and told him to fuck right off and get the stick outta his ass. Of course, that went over oh so well, and he started saying messed up shit about why women and men shouldn’t work together.
I was so angry I almost slapped him, which would have gotten me in serious shit since we were at work and the station was full of people. So, I just walked out, not caring if my shift wasn’t over yet. Of course, Drew caught up with me in the hall and tried to apologize, but I just shook him off, needing a break from him.