She pulled back and wiped her eyes. “I know. I’m more angry that they’re so disappointed in me, like because I want happiness, everything I did before that is thrown away. I had a lot of success. I already lived a whole other life, you know?”
“Did you want success because you wanted it, or because you wanted your dad’s approval?” At his question, she glared at him and he held up his hands. “Just a question. I didn’t have to fight for my dad’s approval. I just stole a car and I was in.”
“God, that’s . . . horrible?”
“Father-son bonding,” he replied with a lightness she knew he couldn’t totally feel.
She sighed. “I think you’re right, about trying to please my dad. I never realized that my success was a way to get his attention. I thought it was just a part of me.”
“Probably is. But there are lots of different measures of success.” He ran a hand over her breast. “Like, to me? This is success.”
She giggled, and to Tals it was the best sound in the world. “If you’re going to do that, best get me inside first.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
He got out and was around to her side to open her door, grab her bag and help her slide out. She looked up at the clubhouse, with the painting of the dagger and snake—the one Tals had tattooed on his back, along with the wings, and she asked, “Did you ever want to leave?”
“I did leave, remember?”
She frowned, then, “Right, the Army.”
“See the world. Blow shit up.” He took her hand and led her past Rally and inside the main room. “I had choices. Could’ve stayed in. Could’ve moved to one of the agencies. Imagine me, working for ATF.” He snorted. “In the end, this is my family. It’s where I belonged.”
And then he looked toward the doorway that led to the hall. She turned and saw Hugh standing there.
“I was going to tell you, Maddie,” Tals started. “He’s not staying, but we’re trying to take care of things. I figured you might want to talk to him.”
“I want to kill him,” she said, and watched Hugh’s eyes widen.
“Join the club,” Tals muttered. “I’ll be right outside this door if you need me. Rally’s got that door. In case you were going to try to leave.” He pointed at Hugh as he spoke, and Hugh looked nervous. And angry.
She was all anger. “Tals, please stay. And, Hugh, you lied to me. For years. I can almost understand that, but once I was almost killed, you still kept it up. I could’ve been killed because you didn’t warn me.”
“Look, they came to me,” Hugh started, and her heart sank. “I didn’t go looking for this opportunity.”
“It’s the Albanian mafia, Hugh—how you can think of it as an opportunity is beyond me.”
Hugh scowled. “They’re blackmailing me, okay? I got involved with a woman who turned out to have connections to them. At first it was one of those too-good-to-be-true things. But it was easy—an easy job and easy money, and I didn’t have to do much.”
She couldn’t even feel sorry for him—she really couldn’t. “That’s what you get for putting your dick where it doesn’t belong.”
Behind her she heard Tals’s soft whistle. She was pretty sure it was approving, but she didn’t turn to check. No, because she wanted more information, and dammit, she was going to get it.
“It wasn’t like that, Maddie. It was a business deal. And let’s be honest. You never cared where my dick was—especially once we got married.”
His words hurt, mainly because they hit their mark. “We never should’ve gotten married.”
He crossed his arms. “Probably not. We were a better couple on paper. I think, deep down, we both knew that.”
She sighed at the honesty—and the truth of his words. “We were good friends,” she agreed. “Comfortable.”
“Marriage is more than that. Should be, anyway,” Hugh agreed. “Look, I’ve made mistakes . . .”
“We both have.”
“But yours aren’t putting you in danger.” He gave her a grim look. “Is this really where you want to be?”
She glanced around the clubhouse. “A couple of days ago I couldn’t have said yes. But now . . . I belong with Tals. Wherever that might be.”
“And your grandmother?”
“She’s not happy. She thinks I should’ve outgrown bad boys in high school. But I was too busy looking to the future.”
“Guess it’s never too late to look back.” Although he looked unsure as he said it, which she assumed was because he was thinking that his future was in jeopardy. “I’m going to make sure that you’re kept safe.”
She crossed her arms. “How are you going to do that, exactly?”
Hugh glanced at Tals. “I made a few calls. The smartest thing I can do is testify against them.”
“And get killed,” she said flatly.
“Not if I go into Witness Protection. It’s the best bet. The only bet at this point. Although Vipers is trying to broker a deal, to make sure you’re untouched,” Hugh told her. “I just wanted to say good-bye before I went.”
“Are you really going into Witness Protection?” she asked hollowly.
“I really don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore,” Hugh said honestly. And then Preacher came in and escorted him away. She was left staring after him.
“Preach took a meeting with some of the guys who’re after you and Hugh. They claim they don’t want any trouble from us. They just want Hugh.”
“But you won’t give them Hugh.”
Tals sighed. “Trust me, I thought about it. But he’s not my fish to fry. If he does testify, maybe he can reverse some of the trouble he caused.”
When he said that, Maddie sank to her knees in front of him, tugged at his belt. And smiled.
He touched her hair, asking, “What’re you doing?”
“Trying to make up for some of the trouble I caused.”
“Ah, babe, I’ll never turn this down, but you don’t have to make anything up to me.”
“I know. But I want to. Let me, Tals.”
He nodded. “Go ahead and try.”
A challenge, a dare, a tease . . .
She was up for the challenge. She tugged his jeans down—boxer briefs too—and she dug her fingers into his hips as she swiped the broad head of his cock with her tongue. A low groan escaped him—his hips stuttered a little. She put her mouth around him, swirled her tongue as she sucked. Ran a finger underneath his balls and heard the longest, lowest growled groan—she almost came from that groan.
And he was watching her—that was the biggest turn-on of all. His eyes were glued to hers as she pleasured him. Held him literally in her hands, drove him wild, the way he’d done with her. She wanted to bring him to the edge—and then she pulled back, teasing him, loving the way he cursed under his breath as he tried to regain any sense of control.
She kissed down the rigid length of him, pressing her tongue on a particularly sensitive part near the head of his cock.
“That’s it,” he murmured, and before she knew it, he was picking her up—God, she loved how he just threw her around like she weighed nothing at all—and carried her over to the room with the pool table.
* * *
Tals kicked the door closed behind him. This was typically the place for exhibitionism—usually the young girls who knew what they were getting into and had no problem showing off their bodies while they were being pleasured.
It got as much action from people having no interest in playing pool because it was a good height. And hell, it got cleaned nightly.
Still, he grabbed a clean towel blanket from the closet and laid it down before placing her on top. Moved between her legs even as he tugged her jeans and underwear down. He moved aside only to take them off, and then he was back, his jeans unzipped, condom on, her sex warm and wet against his cock.
She shivered against him, her body taut and ready.
“Used to fantasize about bringing you here,” he told her as he gazed at he
r. Her lips were red and a little swollen from sucking him. Her hair was messed. She looked . . . wanton. Sexy as fuck. Better than any fantasy he’d ever had of her. “Wanted to show you off in my clubhouse. Wanted to mark you here. Used to daydream about you on this table, under me. Just like this.”
Because as much as what happened here on this table ended up as public-club fodder, it was also the place where women went from mamas to old ladies, where the respect of being alone with your woman happened.
To anyone outside the MC, it probably sounded like the most unromantic shit ever, but to an MC guy? They got it.
Maddie’s eyes were a little wide. “Would you have done this here, in front of everyone?”
He grinned. “Why? Would that have turned you on?”
She blushed. “Not actually doing it, Tals . . . but thinking about it . . .” She squirmed, and fuck, he had to have her. Now.
“Trust me, this is better than any fantasy I’ve ever had about you.” He hitched her legs up so her calves were on his shoulders, and it was so dirty and hot: Maddie, with her arms thrown over her head, shirt pulled up to reveal her firm breasts with rose-colored nipples.
“You haven’t changed, Maddie. If anything, you’ve gotten more beautiful.” He pulled her hips toward him, which made her full of him, deliciously so with him inside of her.
She held to him fast, with his elbows locking hers in place. “You have too, Tals. Always . . . beautiful to me.”
Chapter 28
The next morning, Maddie woke tired but happy. She knew Tenn was still in town, splitting his time between the clubhouse and Cage and Calla’s, and she knew she wanted to grab him alone for a few minutes. Although he’d seemed happy to see her, and he’d gone to her house to talk her into coming back, she still felt like she needed to clear some things up with him.
He was in the rec room playing a game of pool—or practicing—when she walked in. He glanced up and she said, “I need to thank you.”
Tenn straightened. “We’re good.”
“I know you think that. And I want to believe it. I came back to Tals—I’m not running again. But I needed to explain.” Tenn nodded, took a seat at the edge of the pool table, and so she jumped into her speech. “I wanted to be in charge of my own life. I wanted to make my own way. Make my own money. And I did. I don’t care what my ex says—my record speaks for itself. I got to my position on my own. We worked side by side. I thought I was in love. I think now that I was all about power and the excitement of being in the top position I’d always wanted to be in. I was at the top of my game. I had everything I wanted. And I thought maybe he came into my life now because I was ready. I’d conquered. It seemed like a sign and . . . I was wrong.”
A big admission. She blew out a breath and stared up at Tenn, so opposite in demeanor from his brother. “You probably don’t understand how important being in control is for me.”
He snorted. “No, that I get.”
“I thought I was in control, but while I trusted and worked, he cheated. And the worst part? I was angry. Humiliated. Betrayed, but I didn’t care. Because by that point, I knew we weren’t right for each other. I just didn’t know how to get out of it.” She glanced up at Tenn. “I know how pathetic that was.”
“Maddie, none of that is pathetic—it’s human. But when you were in high school, you let Tals get into trouble. You let him take the blame.”
“I know. I was so scared . . . and Tals . . .”
Tals broke in then. “I knew she didn’t want anyone to know what happened. I told her not to say anything.”
“She didn’t have to listen,” Tenn pointed out.
“I told Earl that I was pissed at him because Maddie wouldn’t give me the time of day, that that’s the real reason I grabbed her from him. I lied to keep my promise to Maddie.”
In the wake of Tals’s confession, they both just stared at him for several long moments. Maddie was up out of her seat before Tenn could react. “Are you . . . ? What did you . . . ? How could you do that? How dare you make that decision for me?”
Tals blinked, stone-faced. “Had to.”
“No, you didn’t have to. I went to the police and told my side of the story after the fact. They didn’t believe me—and no wonder—and I have to live with that.”
Tals shook his head. “I told you that I didn’t want you involved.”
“But I was. I am. Just because you say it doesn’t make it true.”
“I did what I needed to.”
“You did what you needed to.” She was getting more furious by the second. Tenn was cursing at no one in particular. Cage walked in with a frown. Tals just said, “I did what was necessary to protect you. You have no idea what they could’ve done to you. So yeah, I took your choice away. I dealt with things. I absolve you of guilt.”
“I don’t want to be taken care of, Tals. I don’t need to be. What don’t you understand about that? I grew up watching it. I won’t ever let it happen to me again.”
“But you did let it,” Tals told her calmly.
“I tried to do the right thing. It might’ve taken me a little while, but I told the police exactly what happened. Now I know that you sabotaged it.”
“Sabotaged?”
“You want me dependent on you. You’re no different . . .”
“Don’t.” His tone was enough to warn her from continuing. “You wouldn’t know different if it bit you in the ass. And I guess all this time I was fooling myself. Guess I don’t know different either.”
He walked out, leaving her with Tenn. She swallowed back tears, mumbled, “Why is this so hard?”
“Love always is, babe,” Tenn drawled.
“He brought me back here—”
“To keep you safe.”
“He’s making decisions for me.”
Tenn narrowed his eyes at her. “To keep you safe.”
“Because that’s what Tals does,” Cage explained. “He protects. He doesn’t want you to know. He wanted to make the bad disappear for you. For everyone.”
“But he can’t always do that.”
“Not going to stop him from trying,” Cage pointed out. He clapped Tenn on the shoulder. Tenn, who’d been strangely silent during Tals’s confession, caught her gaze now.
“What do we do now?” Maddie asked.
“Hell if I know,” Tenn muttered.
“Just love him. S’all he’s ever wanted,” Cage told them both calmly. “Don’t shut him out.”
* * *
“Now you’re the one who’s running,” Maddie pointed out.
“I’m not running—I’m getting my space.” Tals had gone to the roof, assumed someone would point her in his direction.
She walked over, sat down next to him on the double lounge chair. “Do you come up here a lot?”
“Top of the world, babe.”
She nodded. Wrapped her arms around her calves as she pulled them to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. “I don’t want to fight with you anymore.”
“So don’t.”
“It’s that easy?”
“It should be,” he muttered, and then he turned to her and kissed her, catching her off guard. But after a second, she opened her mouth to him easily, moaning into his kiss, uncurling her body and wrapping herself around him as he lay back. “See?”
“I can’t decide which one of us you’re calling easy.”
He laughed. “Me. Definitely me.” Then he sobered. “I get why you’re pissed. I just didn’t see a better way to keep you out of it. Part of it was the truth, that I was into you. And then I went further, told him I’d been trying to get into your pants for years and it was a no go, and there was no way I was going to let him have you first.”
Maddie took his hand in hers and he sighed, continued. “I wasn’t going to let Jessamine—or your grandmother or father—know about what almost happened to you, Maddie. You told me you didn’t want anyone to know at all, that you weren’t going to the police, that you’d avoid Earl.
That you were lucky and you would just put it behind you.”
And then she’d told him, that next morning, that they couldn’t be together. But it hadn’t changed his plan at all. There was no other way to get rid of the anger than to take it out on Earl, and several other members of the football team who’d just happened to be there.
“I didn’t want you to do anything—I never meant for you to get in trouble. He deserved to be in trouble.”
“I’m okay, Maddie. I’ve gotta take some responsibility too. I could’ve fucking killed him. I almost did,” he told her.
“And I went along with the story you told Earl . . . I thought it was Earl’s version. And all the while you were setting it up. Setting me up . . .”
“Did you think Earl would tell the truth?” Tals asked her. “I knew you couldn’t.”
“I tried,” she admitted. “It wasn’t until the next day. I didn’t sleep for days afterward. I was a mess. And I realized that, even though you might never forgive me, I had to do the right thing. So I went to the police, without my family knowing. At least I thought they didn’t know. Turns out the chief of police called Grams and told her what I was trying to do. She put it together, told me I was going to throw my life away, and it would be way worse than what happened to my dad because I was a woman. That I had fewer choices. She told me I’d ruined things, that I couldn’t stay in Jessamine. I told her I’d never planned to. It was a huge fight. The next day, I left for the spring program at college and I didn’t come back home for a year.”
He nodded, because he’d known where she’d gone. He could’ve gone to see her too, but things had ended with a brutal finality that, even though he’d orchestrated it, devastated him.
The Army—and Tenn and Cage—had helped to put him back together. It’d been a long road, and he’d always assumed he’d just never settle down, be content stealing cars, screwing around and having Vipers as his all-knowing family.
He’d never counted on the fact that Maddie had taken a piece of his heart with her when she’d left.
“You know, leaving Skulls wasn’t just about leaving you behind—it was like escaping my own conscience. Because you knew me better than I knew myself. Back then—and probably even now. You saw right through me, and I liked it, but then I hated it. Because it interfered with my plan. It was too good. And when something seems too good to be true . . .” She stopped.
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