“No, no…it’s fine she isn’t sending him.” Annie held his phone out to him. He took it, still not looking very calm. Annie was surprised that his anger didn’t scare her, maybe it was that her panties were wet. Okay, drenched, but only she knew that.
He was just so damned sexy. But the anger not frightening her was shocking. Ever since the kidnapping she was afraid of large men who got angry, it was because of the beating they’d given her. She’d gotten two black eyes, a broken leg and a busted jaw from those assholes before they’d been told by her mother that if she was damaged they wouldn’t get the weapons they wanted. So, the beating had stopped, and the rape a few of them had promised was coming after the beating had never happened, thank God.
Somehow though, she knew that Tank wasn’t going to hurt her. She might be letting her hormones convince her of that, she wasn’t sure. Or maybe it was Katie’s assurance that he was safe, yep that must be it, she thought.
“Good, I can keep you safe.” Tank grumbled.
“Hey, Annie were leaving in a few minutes.” Katie called from Trick’s lap, still giggling.
“Okay.” Annie called back, making Tank want to kill the woman he thought of as a kid sister. How the hell was he going to get her to come home with him instead of Katie and Trick, he wondered. Then he heard Katie giggling as she moaned and he knew exactly how to get her to stay with him. He leaned down until his lips were pressed against her ear, wanting to nip at her lobe. Only the thought of scaring her off was keeping him from doing it.
He whispered, “Do you really want to listen to the two of them fucking all night?”
She looked up at him with shocked eyes as he pulled back. Horror in her eyes, making triumph spring up in his chest as he watched her look around him at the two lovers.
Annie was shocked when Tank whispered that sentence into her ear. Shivers had rushed down her spine and she’d wanted to lean into him. She wasn’t sure as she peeked around him if it was the horror of hearing those too go at it all night, or the fact that her panties were still drenched with desire that made her look at him and reply.
“No, take me home with you.” To which she got a triumphed grin.
“Okay,” Tank muttered, feeling very satisfied. “Let’s go now.”
“Uh, Katie. I’m going to stay with Tank instead. He has a guest room I can use.” Annie called out.
“What? No, it’s okay if you stay with us.” Katie said, eyeing her with disbelief. Annie knew she had surprised her friend. She wasn’t really the trusting type, and Katie knew that about her. But the idea of hearing her giggling and moaning all night was just too much.
“Nope, I’m staying with Jake.” Annie said.
“Jake? Who’s Jake?” Katie’s brow furrowed, and she looked around the room as if this person was going to jump out at her. Didn’t she know Tank’s real name?
“He’s Jake.” Annie told her nodding at Tank, who smiled.
“Huh, I didn’t know that,” Katie muttered watching him. Annie noticed that he was looking anywhere but at Katie. That was strange, why didn’t she know his name, Annie wondered. “Well okay, but if you change your mind call me.”
“Okay,” Annie replied, even though she knew that even if she had to sleep on the front porch without a blanket, she wasn’t going to listen to them having sex all night.
Chapter 5
Tank opened the door to his cabin and cringed. Fuck, he hadn’t realized that he’d left it this messy. He looked at the beer cans littering the coffee table, the left over pizza he’d made the other night, and the dirty laundry piled on the chair near the kitchen. Annie was following him, but she stopped dead in the doorway her eyes taking in the mess that was currently his home. Double damn, she was most likely wondering if she should call Katie to see if she could stay with them after all.
“Ummm…not to be a bitch, but wow. How do you stand this? I’d be nuts if my place looked like this.” Annie looked at him with apprehension. Tank could feel his cheeks heating. He didn’t normally let his place get this messy, but lately he’d been a little depressed. It was hard when all the friends you had were paired up with beautiful, sexy women that kept them too busy to hang out with him.
“I haven’t been home much lately. I will clean it up when I get back from the clubhouse. I have to head over there this afternoon to talk to Bone,” He watched her as she looked around with a frown. “I’ll just show you the guest room, it’s clean.”
“Okay,” Annie said, and followed him up stairs. “So you live alone?”
“Yeah, why do you ask?” Tank looked over his shoulder at her.
“Well some of the clothes downstairs were women’s. Wanted to be sure I wasn’t surprising anyone by being here. I hate messy scenes.” Annie wanted to grin at the way Tank’s ears began to redden again. She’d managed to embarrass him again, she realized. Well, the man was certainly messy, not as messy as the boys though. God, those assholes were so fucking messy she wanted to beat them with the messes they created. She cringed, thinking of the onetime she’d had to clean their house. It had given her nightmares for weeks. She still wasn’t sure that the cheese she’d found molded and oozing disgusting goop, wasn’t lurking somewhere, trying to find her. She shivered.
“No messy scenes, and I will clean up when I get back. Must have been something left here after the last bon fire.” She saw that the tops of his ears where red again, then he muttered. “When I get back I will take care of it, and then cook dinner, okay.” Tank told her as he opened a door. It lead to a room that was dominated by the extra-large bed.
The bedding was a deep brown with varying shades. Annie eyed him with apprehension. Was this his room? She was not going to sleep with him, at least not right away. Her lady bits protested this discussion with a wet needy feeling. No, she told herself firmly, she was not going to sleep with him after four hours of knowing him. She was not a slut! Her body didn’t care, and it became embarrassingly wet. With a sigh, she brushed past him then turned looking at Tank standing in the doorway.
“This is the guest room, right,” she demanded.
“Yes,” Tank replied, his brow furrowed. “My room’s across the hall. I’ll be back in about two hours. Then I’ll make us dinner. I need to head out, so call me if you need something. Make yourself at home.” After he’d said this he turned, and walked out the door and down the stairs. Leaving Annie standing in the room shocked that he’d just left a perfect stranger in his home without even one stipulation. Didn’t the man know that was dangerous? She could rob him blind.
It only took about a half hour for her to freak over the mess. She’d headed down to the kitchen to get a glass of water to find that the kitchen was worse than the living room. There were dishes piled in the sink and again cans littered the counter tops, and she wasn’t sure how the man cooked in this room. There was just a fine layer of grime that seemed to be on the counters and floor. She was disgusted, men were just gross. She started with the dishes and worked her way from the kitchen to the living room. She saved the laundry for last. Since she didn’t know where the laundry room was, she began opening doors trying to find it.
The third door she opened had a set of stairs leading down. She walked down them and turned on the light. And got a surprise as she took in the room. Staring at the rows and rows of shelves, and on those shelves were guns. Lots and lots of guns, and other assorted hardware. She walked further into the room, amazed at the shear amount of shelves that seemed to go on and on. She walked to the first shelf, picking up a grenade launcher, wondering where he’d gotten all this hardware from. She turned it and saw the emblem embedded on the side in a shocked surprise. Setting it down on the shelf again she began looking at the others. That small little emblem was on over half of the guns inside the room.
Hell, how was that possible? She knew for a fact that her mother hadn’t sold any of these guns to the Red Devils. Her mother never worked with bikers. Not since Annie’s kidnapping the first time she’d tried. The Jackal�
�s had been the ones she’d tried to work with, and that had ended with her daughter getting kidnapped. Working with bikers wasn’t something that she was willing to do after that disaster. Well, except for the Bandits. Her mother did work with one of them. Of course, she hadn’t known that he was a member of a biker gang until after she’d been working with the man for over four years. Lifting another gun, she stared at it in amazement. Because over half the guns in this basement had the sun and moon emblem her mother used to stamp her product.
Tank smiled to himself as he climbed on his hog and headed over to the club house. He wasn’t sure why he trusted Annie at his home, he wasn’t usually so willing to give anyone the run of his home. He’d never left a woman unattended at his place, not in the six years he’d lived there. It had seemed right with Annie, natural. Which was strange. Shaking his head as he pulled up to the clubhouse, he noticed that he was late. Shit, he hated being late. He was the vice president of the Red Devils, and he shouldn’t set a bad example by being late. Only he’d wanted to get Annie to his place before she could change her mind, and insist on staying with Trick and Katie instead.
Climbing off his hog, he headed inside. He’d needed to know that she was in his space. Only he hadn’t remembered in his rush to get her there that he hadn’t cleaned the place in over two weeks. Walking in and remembering the mess he’d allowed to pile up had embarrassed him.
She must think he was a fucking slob. He wasn’t usually so sloppy, only lately he’d been volunteering for jobs that would take the newly married men in the club from their women for a long period of time. So that his brothers could spend time with their women, after all what the hell else did he have to do.
Entering the clubhouse, he tossed his phone into the bin, and handed his Beretta to the prospect sitting at the table. Then headed into church.
As he entered, Duck growled, “’bout damned time, boy.”
Ignoring him, Tank sat down next to Bone, that old bastard was always being a dick. Bone nodded at Tank, a slight smile curving his lips. Fuck, the bastard knew about Annie. Bone didn’t say anything about her, thankfully. When he spoke his voice was hard and the slight smile had left his face, replaced by a grim expression.
“Tank is going to share some information he received today so we can discuss it.” He turned, looking at Tank who faced the other men in the room.
“I went to meet a contact about the Jackal’s and their new partners, the Headhunter’s MC, only he never showed. Since, he didn’t show, I decided to head over to grab a bit at a nearby diner where I met a woman.” He was about to tell them about the woman’s insistence that a gun dealer was running guns through their territory.
Only Duck interrupted him, “Nobody wants to hear about your sex life, get to the important stuff!”
“You’re asking for it old man! This is the important stuff.” Tank bellowed, glaring at the older man.
“Stop, now!” Bone roared, making both men glare at him instead.
“So, like I was trying to explain before that geezer interrupted.” Duck snorted, but a glare from Bone silenced him, he sat back with a huff. “She was acting a bit odd and I’m not sure how accurate the information is, but she told me that the Jackal’s were planning to raid a weapons convoy sent out by someone I’d never heard of. His name is Looney Louie. Anyone heard of him?” He looked around the room seeing heads shaking and furrowed brows. It was disturbing for them to know that a weapons dealer was running guns through their territory without their knowledge.
“We’ve been wondering where they keep getting all the hardware. Now we have a name. We need to find out if this man is supplying them with guns, or if the Jackal’s are just stealing them from him, like they are planning to do with this shipment.” Tank finished, seeing nods of agreement around the table.
“Humm…we need to figure out if this is a single person or a group, too. We also need to be sure that whoever this is doesn’t supply the Jackal’s with any more hardware. I for one don’t want the Jackal’s having access to that kind of weaponry. We’ve already been hit with bombs twice. We don’t want them shooting us with missile launches next time.” Bone thundered, standing up to pace beside the table. “We were damned lucky that they weren’t expecting us the last few times we raided them. Those raids could have went very differently if they had used the weapons they’ve been collecting.” Bone’s face was grim, and every man in the room knew that this war was about to get serious.
Shit was about to hit the fan in a big way. If the Jackal’s decided to start attacking with the hardware they’d been finding they weren’t going to be able to keep their family safe. That was something none of them was too happy about. That meant that they needed to nip this shit in the bud, quickly.
“We need to start working our contacts. We need to see if we can find out who this Louie person is. We can’t allow the Jackal’s to gather anymore of this kind of hardware. We need to get to this Louie and impress upon him the understanding that the Red Devils are not going to allow him to keep selling these guns to them if he is doing so. We need to show him the error of his ways. And if he’d not selling these weapons to him we can help him clean up his house. Them knowing about the drop means he’s got a leak.” Tank grumbled.
“Damn, I really wish that we could just use one of those rocket launchers in your basement to take out those asswipes.” Tiny complained, receiving nods of agreement from several of the other men crowded around the table.
“Yep, it’s too damned bad that they tend to surround themselves with a bunch of innocent people.” Log piped in.
“Yeah, that sucks.” Tiny muttered. “I’ll have to put the word out we’re looking for information on this Louie guy. Damn, I hate leaving Racheal.” He frowned.
“Good, now we need to talk about the Headhunters. They need to be watched too. With them joining the Jackal’s we need to keep our eyes out for trouble from that sector. They seem to be gathering in a town near Titus. I want more men sent to keep our numbers in that area high. I don’t want any surprises. They could attack and before we could get the man power there they could take over. We need to be prepared if they attack.” Bone told them.
“What about the farm?” Trick asked.
“I don’t know what the hell’s going on there either. It’s strange, even with the equipment being old there shouldn’t be so many break downs. Tick’s working on it, but I’m sending him some extra men as well.” Bone replied. Earning nods and grunts of agreement. Why did those Jackal’s always have to cause problems? The whole club was on edge because of it, and it was pissing them all off.
When were they going to realize that the Devils weren’t going to allow them to take over even a tiny part of their territory?
Tank watched the other men file out of the room twenty minutes later. Bone had asked him to stay for a moment. From the gleam of amusement in the other man’s eyes he was sure he knew what it was about, but he stayed put on the off chance it was important. When the last man, Tiny, left he shut the door behind him. Bone smiled and the first words he said made Tank pissed that he had stayed.
“So, heard you took a stray home.” He teased.
“She’s not a damned pet, asshole.” Tank growled, angrily. He wasn’t surprised that the man already knew about Annie. He knew how the rumor mill was with this family. Hell, half the time he was one of the ones moving that gossip along, but it was a pain in the ass when it involved him. His and Annie’s…whatever it was they had wasn’t something he wanted bouncing around in the rumor mill.
“Well, no, she’s not. We both know what it means when a man gives a women his real name, and then takes her home in this club.” Bone laughed, wiggling his eye brows suggestively.
“Shut up! I don’t know why I gave her my name. She didn’t like the name Tank, and it just popped out.” Tank roared.
“Uh-hum…I see. That happens all the time…wait, no it doesn’t” Bone chuckled, falling into his chair he was laughing so hard.
; “Dickhead, if that’s all you’re going to talk about I’m leaving.” He stood, storming out the door hearing Bone’s loud laughter and his last cutting remark follow him.
“Yep, better get home, your property’s waiting!” Tank threw a bird over his shoulder at the other man as he stormed out, heading home to Annie.
Chapter 6
Tank entered his house, surprised and not a little embarrassed to find the living room clean. He shouldn’t have left it for so long. If Aunt Mae had seen his place a few hours ago she would have skinned him alive. Heading upstairs to Annie’s room, with an apology ready. Prepared to offer to cook her dinner, he was surprised that she wasn’t in his guest room. He began searching for her, she couldn’t have left the house. Fuck, unless she called Katie. Damn, he thought, standing in the kitchen. He happened to look over at the basement door and saw it was ajar, oh fuck. Hopefully she hadn’t gone down there. If she had then she most likely called Katie to come get her away from the crazy gun fanatic.
He headed down the stairs. Finding Annie standing in the middle of his collection, holding a rocket launcher, correctly. Huh… that was surprising, most people held that wrong. He fell just a little bit in love with her in that moment. She must be the one for him, and that was what the universe was telling him. Staring at her holding the gun made his guts clench in desire. Fuck, she was sexy as fuck holding that launcher.
He must have made a sound because she whirled around to look at him. Holding the launcher pointed at him for a moment before she dropped her guard. Yep, she was sexy as fuck. He thought, feeling his dick throb with the need to grab her and thrust her against the nearest wall to fuck her blind. Shaking his head in order to clear that hot visual, he walked a few steps forward.
“Where did you get these?” Annie demanded, they were her mother’s guns and she needed to know how they were getting them. Shit, she really hoped that the Devil’s weren’t the ones who’d raided her mother’s warehouse six months ago. Her mother had nearly shot the top of her head off over that one. She could remember her ranting for hours on end.
Tank's Redemption: Red Devils M.C. (Red Devils MC Book 4) Page 4