“Do you fucking think that matters? Now, what did they look like?” He demanded, glaring at her.
“It was two years ago, Tank. The only two I remember is the tall guy with the tattoo of a snake on his arm and the little one with the spider on his face. The only reason I remember either one of those two is because they were the ones promising to rape my corpse. Which was really fucking creepy.” Annie bellowed, struggling to get out of the bed. Tank refused again to let her move away from him.
“If you saw them would you remember what they looked like?” He demanded.
“No most likely not, just those two made an impression, but I don’t want you going all crazy and try to hunt them down. That’s asking for trouble.” She lay her head back on his chest, wanting to hear his heart beating, needing the comfort hearing it brought her.
“What codes,” He suddenly asked. “You said she needed the codes like that was the only reason she demanded you be left in one piece.” His eyes had narrowed again.
“Oh, that.” She said lifting her head, her eyes sad. Making Tank want to take that question back, hell he hadn’t meant to upset her. “Well, my mother is a little paranoid. She has a single person she trusts hold the codes to the vault every two months. It’s a safety issue. There was a time when everyone knew the codes, but then the robberies started and that was it, she became nuts about changing the codes and only me and the original boys could hold the codes. The person who held the duty that month was the only one who knew that month’s code. That month happened to be my month. That was a good thing…because…well because she’s not really all that motherly, okay.” Annie finished lamely.
“That can’t be the only reason she protected you, Annie.” Tank told her, and he would know. She could have made them let her talk to her daughter, and forced Annie to give her the codes. She didn’t have to make an ultimatum. If she hadn’t cared she would just have told the Jackal’s to get the codes and she could have changed them afterwards. He held no illusions on how they’d have gotten those codes that thought made his fists ball in the sheets.
He could tell by Annie’s expression that she was stubbornly clinging to the idea that her mother didn’t care for her, but Tank had a feeling that she did. No one, even an arms dealer with product on the line, ever made someone they didn’t care about call them every four hours to be assured they were okay. It was unnecessary. But seeing her expression, he held his tongue.
“It is believe me.” Annie assured him.
“Okay, so, your mothers an arms dealer, huh.” Tank said, a slight smile on his face, then he started laughing.
“What’s so damned funny about that?”
“Oh, come on. You’ve seen the basement. Who could be more perfect for a man like me? I was scared shitless that I was going to find someone like Molly, who hates guns.” Tank laughed so hard there were tears in his eyes as they met hers.
Annie picked up the pillow hitting the idiot in the head. “Idiot!” Tank’s arms came up trying to prevent her from hitting him. He tackled her, rolling her beneath him. His thick erection laying against her wet core. Ha, the man was always randy. Of course, she was the one moaning and her hips rose to meet his, but that was only because the man was so good at giving her orgasms.
His lips lowered until they were inches from her making her moan again. Then he whispered as he hovered over her, “I better get the best Christmas gifts ever. I want an AK-47 in case you were wondering.” Then he pulled back, and settled her next to him. How dare he? She was not going to get the man an AK-47 for goodness sakes.
“We should get a nap in before you call your mother.” He murmured, kissing her temple.
“But…” She felt him smile against her cheek.
“Later baby, I’m tired. I’ve had a stressful day, some crazy woman gave me a whole bunch of grey hairs today. Wonder who that was?” He ran a hand down her back again, chuckling when she whispered bastard to him before settling down to sleep.
Annie stared at the phone like it was going to bite her. Her mother was screaming in her ear about the race that she’d been in yesterday. How her mother knew about that race wasn’t as big of a surprise as her reaction. She was yelling at the top of her impressive lungs because Annie was the only one who could open that security vault in the van, and her mother was pissed that if she’d died in a fiery crash they would have been unable to retrieve the merchandise. I mean really, that was her concern if her only daughter had died? The freaking merchandise that was what worried her. Annie sighed, she shouldn’t be surprised. After all she’d lived with the woman for almost thirty years.
“Mother, please. I called you to get you to set up the meet.” Annie said, holding a hand to her aching head. Tank had left a little while ago to head over to help Bone with some issue, that he refused to tell her about, which made her patience with her mother even shorter than usual.
“Ha, fine, but the next time you do this I will not be as willing to let it slide. I’ll call you back in a half hour with the meet time.” Her mother finally answered.
“This is the last time remember, so there won’t be a next time, mother.” Annie gripped the phone hard. Her mother had the crazy idea that her not wanting to work for her anymore was a rebellious phase that would pass. She was twenty five years old for fuck’s sake, and she damned sure wasn’t going through any phases at least not anymore, maybe when she’d been a teenager.
“Sure, sure whatever.” Her mother hung up before she could say another word, and Annie screamed, jumping up and down. Her mother was maddening, and it was little wonder they called her looney.
Chapter 16
“You can’t tell him, and I have to go alone, Tank.” Annie told him.
“Are you out of your fucking mind, Annie? I’m not about to let you go into that meet alone. It’s dangerous, and if you’re in any danger at all I am going to be there. Or your happy little ass will be sitting on this couch while I go and take care of this.” Tank bellowed, his face red and his eyes were filled with disbelief, as he glared at her.
“This is not a dangerous run, Tank. I make the drop and then you pick me up, they get their weapons. It’s all pretty straight forward.”
“No, Annie. You are not going alone. Fine, you don’t want me to involve the club, we won’t. But I will be damned if I let you go anywhere dangerous alone. Or have you forgotten that the Jackal’s were planning on raiding the shipment before you broke down?” Tank was still glaring at her, a dark scowl on his face.
“Fine, you can follow me, but you can’t be in the van with me or you’ll spook her client and then she’ll find a way to make it my fault. At which point, she will insist on another job before she lets me out of this dumb business of hers again, and I am not doing another job, Tank.” Annie wanted to beat the man upside that hard head of his. They’d been arguing about the meet in ten days for over an hour.
Her mother had called her about thirty minutes after they’d talked and told her when the meet was set for. Annie had told Tank who’d insisted that the club would handle it, and the arguing had begun. Round and round they went for the past hour, until they were finally almost in agreement about the meet. It was difficult to convince him and the only reason he’d allowed it was because she’d told him she was the only one who could open the locked vault in the back of the van. He’d been really pissed about that one.
He’d snarled, and threw his hands in the air, bellowing about her safety and he needed to take care of this for her. Yeah right, first of all if her mother’s network of spies found out she hadn’t handled this job her mother would find a way to make her do another one, and that was so not happening. And second she’d already told the man she wasn’t made of glass, and he wasn’t going to be able to protect her from everything.
Tank glared at Annie. She was such a stubborn little thing, and she was making him nuts. He didn’t want her anywhere near this weapon’s drop. If he had his way she’d be here and not involved at all in this crazy mess. It was ba
d enough that she knew about it, much less that she would have to be the one to take them where they needed to go.
It was dangerous. It made him want to murder her mother. How dare the woman allow Annie to be in danger? Annie had told him several times that she wasn’t a traditional mother, and he could agree with that, but he also didn’t think that the woman cared little for Annie. She cared, and he was sure of that fact. He had a feeling that Annie would discover this for herself soon. He’d bet that she wouldn’t stop trying to contact her daughter just because Annie had left the business. Then another disturbing thought occurred to Tank. The woman would most likely would attempt to pull Annie back into her dangerous life, but Tank wasn’t going to allow that to happen. No way in hell was her mother pulling his Annie back into her crazy schemes.
She was right about one thing. She was definitely not going to be doing any more jobs for her mother. That was not happening. If her mother needed someone to help her then she’d have to settle for the Red Devil’s helping, not Annie. Not that he was sure how he was going to sell that to Bone. He wasn’t sure what the hell they were going to do about Annie’s mother. After this meet was handled, he was going to have to talk to him though. He was only putting it off now because Annie had freaked when he’d told her he was going to talk to Bone.
He didn’t think that the blow up over this was going to be as bad as Annie seemed to believe, but he’d have to tell him after the meet. There was no way around it, not with Annie freaking like she had. He couldn’t allow them to continue to search for information he already knew, it would be wrong. But he could delay it. Although, Tank did have Tiny searching for a very different type of information, he thought grinding his teeth. Two Jackal’s needed to die, and soon for what they did to Annie.
“We will see. Annie I don’t like it, but I will allow you to do it. I’ll have a couple of prospects follow us.”
“No, Tank-“
“No, enough, woman! I’ve already agreed not to tell the club what’s in the van till we get back, and I also agreed to allow you to be in that van alone. Even though just the thought makes me want to pull all my hair out, but this I will not give on. The Jackal’s were planning a heist on these weapons.” Tank growled.
“That’s crazy! It was weeks ago, and now they will have no idea that the guns are even coming through…”
“ENOUGH!” Tank roared, his nostrils flaring. “You have no idea how they got the information in the first place. It could be from a contact within the people your delivering these guns to. I will not take chances with your life.” Tank held her arms and shook her slightly before his lips crashed down on hers.
Annie moaned, geez the man was turning into an addiction. Her hands buried themselves into his hair, and her body softened. He always seemed to do this to get his way. The way his hands clutched at her, one on her hip and the other in her hair, holding her for his invasion. It was enough to make a girl want to scream. How could he always turn her brain to mush with only a kiss, she asked herself?
His lips slid from her mouth down to her neck, she tilted her head giving him better access, needing him like she needed air. He was her addiction, and she loved him. He nipped her shoulder then pulled away.
“Fuck, you’re killing me woman. This wasn’t supposed to turn into an argument. I had plans for tonight.” He whispered against her skin, his mouth continued to nip her.
“What plans?” Annie asked.
“Special plans, sweetheart.” Tank told her as he kissed her one last time before releasing her. She was about to question him more when he smacked her ass.
“Let’s get going.”
“Wh-what where are we going?” Annie asked, breathlessly.
“You’ll see. Now let’s go.” He took her hand and pulled her behind him out the door. The sun was coming down and the fog of desire that had surrounded her brain was clearing by the time they’d reached his bike.
“Tank where are we going?” Annie demanded.
“You’ll like it baby.” Tank said, climbing on the bike and looking at her expectantly.
She sighed, “I would have liked having multiple orgasms, too”
Tank let out a laugh hearing her grumble about not getting to head up to bed early. Damn, he really loved this woman. She accused him of being a horny bastard, but she was just as horny. Which suited him just fine. Grinning, he felt her arms sliding around his waist, he cranked his hog, before saying, “Don’t worry baby you’ll get those, too.” Before he took off.
Annie sat in the firelight leaning on Tank. He’d brought her up to the waterfall where they’d had their first date after they’d stopped at Aunt Mae’s for a basket. A basket that held delicious food that had already filled their bellies. She was content for the moment to watch the fireflies flying around lighting up the sky, and feel the warmth of Tank’s big body behind her. She realized sitting there that this was the most romantic date any man had ever taken her on. Not that she’d had many dates, really. It had mostly been hookups she was ashamed to say. It was hard to develop a relationship when you were constantly moving, or afraid that someone would discover your secrets.
She was glad for that for the first time in her life, she didn’t have to worry about someone discovering her secret. Tank already knew about her deep dark, messy secret. She felt Tank’s mouth caressing her neck, and she knew that he was the reason she was glad. Meeting him, even though he made her nuts with the overprotectiveness, had been the best thing to ever happen to her. She loved him so much it hurt sometimes. She didn’t want to admit that he’d become her anchor, but he had. He’d somehow wormed his way past her defenses in a matter of weeks. And for someone like her that was not an easy feat. She still didn’t know how he’d managed it. Perhaps it was the mind numbing orgasms, and the way her who-ha jumped for joy every time it thought it might get some.
“Lift up, I have something else I want to give you, sweetheart.” Tank whispered, helping her to sit. Annie wondered what in the world he was doing. She turned seeing him remove a package that he’d carried over with the blanket and the food. She’d forgotten about it. He handed it to her.
“Open it.” He said, looking a little worried.
Annie stared at him for a long moment, then grumbled, “This better be worth you making me get up.” Tearing the wrapping, she was stunned at what fell out. It was soft leather and it brought tears to her eyes. Was this, shit…shit. What was she supposed to do with this? She couldn’t accept this, could she? Her eyes rose to meet his. She wanted to keep this so bad her whole body ached, but could she make this promise to him. Because taking it was a promise, she knew that without him telling her. It was almost marriage that was what a patch meant. Even loving him she wasn’t sure that this was something she could commit to.
“Well?” Tank asked, looking at her. Seeing the astonishment on her face and the tears in her eyes, he was worried. Fuck, was she not ready for this, had he misjudged her affections. No, he said stopping that train of thought. She was ready and he knew she was. Telling him that she loved him at the track the other day wasn’t a whim. She was just scared.
“Wait, before you say anything I want you to know that I love you. I will be here whenever you need me, and you might as well take it because I’m not ever letting you go.” He told her gruffly. His hands fisted at his sides, he stared at her.
“You really think you get to make that decision for me?” She demanded.
“No, but I can follow you. It will hurt my brothers, but I won’t let you walk away without a fight, and if that means I have to follow you to the ends of the earth then I will. I love you, Annie.” Tank watched her hold the leather patch to her face, rubbing her cheek with it. A few silent tears fell from her eyes.
“Tank,” Annie whispered. Her heart ached. She wanted this, and she wasn’t going to allow her fear of what this meant to stop her from getting what she wanted. And she wanted to keep Tank. “Okay.” She said simply making her choice, feeling the relief that flooded her.
She knew when he smiled and moved towards her, with a look of love shining from his eyes that she hadn’t chosen wrong. They were good together, and she was going to enjoy every minute of that she could stand.
Tank tackled her to the blanket, making her giggle as he tickled her. He growled, “You naughty minx. You’re giving me grey hair. I thought you were going to say no.”
“It’s good for you, you big brute. Just cause you’re the big bad biker doesn’t mean you always get your way.” She laughed as he began to kiss her.
“Baby, you’re going to pay for that comment.”
“I can’t wait to see you try to make that happen.” Annie laughed, pulling his lips down to meet hers.
“Mmm…I will enjoy proving it.” Tank whispered against her lips.
Chapter 17
Tank stood holding Annie, with his arms around her waist at Tammy’s the next morning. They were talking to Molly and Bone. Annie was laughing at Molly, she was telling a story about Racheal and Doc from yesterday. Molly had gone with her to confirm her pregnancy. She was definitely pregnant and Tiny had been over the moon excited. Racheal on the other hand had hit the doctor with a heavy right hook. Not because she was pregnant, but because he’d likened her to a dog when he talked about her being with child.
Molly was laughing too. She’d also taken the test to see about her own fertility while she was there. Tank could tell that she was a little worried about the results to the test that would tell her why she and Bone couldn’t seem to get pregnant. Bone had told him that Doc seemed to think that it could be because of the drugs they’d given her while she was in the city. The one to prevent pregnancy sometimes caused a problem. They were too strong according to Doc. They used something that could actually damage the woman’s ability to produce any viable eggs. Although, that was rare side effect, it was still possible that they had caused this issue with Molly.
Tank's Redemption: Red Devils M.C. (Red Devils MC Book 4) Page 12