by Simone Elise
My phone started ringing and I cursed. “Seriously, he is going to be pissed off.” I mumbled and put it to my ear. “Sorry Tae, I took a sleeping pill and was knocked out. I’m up and coming.”
“Ten minutes Amber,” he said, buying my excuse, and hung up.
“I have ten minutes and if you don’t want to be going to my funeral, you will let me change,” I said firmly, planting a hand on my hip.
Adam sighed and left. Cole on the other hand, lingered.
“I want your new number,” he said firmly.
“I told you I’d give it to you and I need you to pass it on to everyone else.” I unlocked my phone and, knowing his number by heart, I sent him a message. “And when I say everyone, I mean Jax as well.”
He nodded his head. “Fine.”
“Thank you.” I waited for him to close my door and then I started to change. Time to face Tae. I knew he would be upset that I didn’t go to his house last night and canceled our dinner plans. I had told him my brothers wanted to spend time with me.
I wasn’t sure what excuse I could come up with today to leave him.
Then I knew I shouldn’t be pulling away from him just because I’d spent one night with Jax. Tae and what he wants should still be coming first and I should be at his house. I shouldn’t be living on the high of what Jax had promised last night.
I needed to come back to earth and I had a feeling I would hit earth hard as soon as I saw Jax again and he went back to being cold.
Last night he was just overcome with seeing me again. Yep. That had to be it. It was the only way to explain his behavior. He would have changed his mind by this morning.
***
“I don’t like trusting them.”
Tae was behind a desk, blowing out a mouthful of smoke. “Bikers can never be trusted.”
“Last night went smoothly.” I inhaled on my cigarette. It was the only thing Tae and I always did when we had a discussion - we smoked and drank whiskey, although this afternoon it was vodka. He said it was all that was in the house.
He nodded his head. “Smoothly enough for me to consider something.”
“That being?”
“You come back to England with me.”
My eyes widened. I knew we were going to get to this topic. “You have been grooming me to take over here. Why would you need me in the same country as you? You are more than capable of handling things in England.”
“You’re strong, Amber,” he complimented me, his eyes holding mine. “Strong enough to lead beside me, not under me.”
I gulped. Right, we were going to do this. “I don’t do relationships.”
I had told him that line every time we talked about the lack of men in my life. The fact that I’d never slept with or showed interest in men.
“Lead beside me Amber.” He rose and walked around the desk. “I know you say you don’t have a heart. I respect that. It makes you great at what you do.” He came to a stop in front of me. “I wouldn’t just pick anyone to lead with me.”
I had to make a logical decision but first, I had to get facts. “So, what are you offering me?”
“A partnership.”
“You actually want to share your empire with me?” I didn’t believe him. Tae didn’t share. He took everything and held it close; with a death grip.
“I want to grow it and you can help me do that.” He kneeled down in front of me. His eyes locked with mine. “A partnership.” The corners of his lips twitched up. “If we cross the line into sex, I’ll be happy, but we can just keep it at business.”
Business. No emotion. That was perfect for me. “And you want me in England?”
“I want you with me. Yes, but if we are doing strictly business, we should think about what benefits you would have by staying here.” His hand ran up my leg. “Like this deal the bikers are offering, is it worth our time? You being permanently here to oversee it?”
He looked torn, like the last thing he wanted was me in a different country than him.
I smiled. “Tae, you are making me think you enjoyed me annoying you for the past month.”
He smiled. “Here I was thinking I could keep that fact to myself.”
“You like me being around,” I grinned. “You like my annoying questions. You like it when I miss my target practice on purpose.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not saying I liked you wasting my time.”
“You’re going to miss our Friday nights, aren’t you?” I couldn’t stop the grin.
“No.”
“Yes you are. You are going to miss me raiding your liquor!”
“I will not miss the empty bottles. Only you would think it was acceptable to empty a bottle and leave it.”
“And you will miss me.”
He sighed. “Anyway, I know this is a big decision for you.” He got back on the topic I had taken us off. “Which is why I’m willing for you to discuss it with your brothers.”
My face was in disbelief. “In order for that to happen, I’d have to tell them who you really are.”
“I’m giving you permission to do so,” he nodded.
“Really?”
“You mean a lot to me, Amber. I trust you, which means I trust your family. So yes, you can tell them who I am and you can tell them what I am offering.”
I was stunned. Literally, could not form words; stunned. Tae was secretive. Hell, he kept such a low profile, his main man couldn’t even pick Tae in a line up. He did that on purpose and the only reason I knew who he was, was because he broke his silence to recruit me.
He wanted me that bad. He blew his cover and, right now, as he stared at me watching me think, he was willing to blow his cover again - for me.
Tae had never broken my heart because I’d told him I didn’t have one for him to break to begin with, but Tae had given me this endless amount of trust.
He trusted me.
“Ok.” I said. “I’ll umm, talk to Troy about it,” I found myself saying.
Troy. He would be the one to go to. Cole wasn’t level-headed enough. Tyler was too carefree. Adam would be too concerned.
And Jax wasn’t my brother, so he didn’t make the cut.
“Good. And I’ve been thinking of a way to mark our partnership and a way to prove to you I’m serious about you leading beside me.”
He wanted me to lead beside me. That still just blew my mind. I was never considered equal. I was always under someone. Never in charge.
“Amber?”
My eyes snapped to him. “Yeah?”
“I have an idea on a way to mark our partnership.”
“Ok?” I staggered out, trying to think straight. He was offering me an opportunity anyone in the underworld would kill for. “What?”
“We take out The Pythons.”
My mouth dropped open. “But you don’t do wars.”
“I said we take them out. I have no plan of starting a war; just wiping them out of the country.” He stood up. “I’ve done the numbers. We are more than capable to do this.”
“You would let me use your men to take out my enemy?”
“Our men,” he corrected me. “And yes.”
“Wipe them out,” I muttered. I wouldn’t just be doing something I’ve wanted to do since they’d marked me, ruining my body, but I would also be doing my brothers and Jax a favor; they were still at war with them.
I started to think of the facts. This was too good to be true.
“So, if I say yes, I get to take them out?” I asked, trying to see how sweet the deal was. He was tempting me just to say yes now. Wiping out The Pythons was something I really wanted to do.
“I thought we could move on it tomorrow.” He shrugged and smiled. “Take marking our partnership early as my good faith in you.”
“You’re serious?”
“Their Mother Charter is having their family BBQ tomorrow. Most charters are coming in for it. So, we should be able to wipe most of them out quickly.”
This was Tae, alw
ays thinking ahead. He didn’t want a bloody, long, drawn out war. He wanted to do what he always did - set target, and kill and then move on to the next.
“I watched you get that mark tattooed Amber so I know you want this.” Tae lit up another cigarette and then handed it to me. “So, even if we wipe them out and you decide to turn me down on my offer, no hard feelings.”
I took the cigarette. “No hard feelings,” I repeated his words, with emptiness and shock.
“Talk to your brother and then get back to me about whether you want to make a move on The Pythons or not.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need to talk to Troy for this decision. The answer is yes. You have me completely on board for wiping them out.”
He smirked. “Good, cause I was counting on your aim to take those headshots you are famous for.”
I smiled, and nodded my head. He had me on board for this. I didn’t know about the partnership; I needed advice on that, and not a lawyer’s advice, but advice from someone else that had been offered a permanent role in the underworld and taken it.
Troy.
Because I couldn’t turn to Jax on this one.
Chapter 49
It was late when I pulled into the driveway. Tae and I planned tomorrow right down to the fine details; researched where we would set up and got the perfect spots from high ground. Their clubhouse was in the middle of rural land, with lots of trees and hills.
So we had plenty of great spots to pick from.
Tae’s men were already camping out and setting up. We were wiping them out as soon as their yard was filled with members and their party was in full swing.
I knew there would be children there; and women, but sometimes you have to weigh the odds which was something I needed to do now with Troy’s help.
I opened the front door, hearing them from outside.
The boys had set up in the lounge, and were watching football. They glanced at me, but their attention was on the football.
“Jax has been tied up with something at the club,” Adam said, his eyes on the television. “He would have called you, but he can’t. He said he will be back here tonight.”
“Right.” My eyes were on Troy as he reached for his beer. “Troy, I need to speak to you.” And all eyes snapped to me. They knew I always turned to Troy if I was in serious trouble or needed serious advice.
“What have you done?” Cole’s eyes were off the television and on me.
“Nothing. I just need to speak to Troy.”
“Well, go on then, he is listening,” Cole said smugly, knowing very well I wanted to talk to Troy in private. He was going to make me say it, wasn’t he?
“I need to speak to him in private”, I said, being forced to. I rarely turned to Troy in my adult life. When they had left, so had my ability to rely on him.
But when I was younger and he was around; when things got serious, when things got hard, when I got in trouble - I turned to Troy.
And that was what I was finding myself doing now.
Troy got up and told the boys to stop bickering. I followed him out of the lounge and up the stairs.
“Guessing you don’t want to be overheard?” he said over his shoulder.
“You’re right.”
He cracked open his bedroom door and then held it open for me.
“They wouldn’t dare come up here if they want to keep breathing,” Troy said, and gestured for me to head in.
So, how do I go about this? How could I say that one very large underworld figure wanted to go into a partnership with me? That he wanted to share his business with me? His men? His money? Everything? He basically was offering me everything he had.
As if we were entering into marriage.
Troy sat down on the edge of the bed next to me, and I suddenly felt more nervous.
“Ok Amber, you have my attention. Tell me what’s wrong,” he said calmly, like he had all the answers to my problems.
Ok… time to explain my situation.
***
Troy stayed quiet as I told him everything. Every detail. Starting with who Tae was and then everything else just tumbled out somehow.
I had just finished telling him about the partnership, and I was waiting for his words of wisdom. God, I needed him to say something! Not just prompt me to keep going and explaining.
“So, Jax knows?” Troy finally said something!
“He knew I was working for Tae, yes.”
“Explains our gun deal and why he was so firm on it.” Troy dragged his hands down his face and sighed. “Well, have you told him about the partnership?”
“Tae said I could tell my brothers. When it comes to Tae, a detail like that is important.”
“So, you aren’t going to tell him?”
Why was he so focused on whether I told Jax or not? “Why does it matter if he knows?”
“Because he loves you,” Troy said matter of factly. “More than I thought he was capable of.”
I swallowed hard. Hearing Troy say he thought Jax really loved me, well that had my head spinning for a second. “Still doesn’t impact the decision.” I tied my hair up.
“Tae is basically offering you marriage, Amber.”
“It’s a partnership, not marriage.”
“You told him you didn’t do relationships?” Troy said, arching an eyebrow at me.
“Yes.”
“This is Tae’s way of getting you to be his wife, without being his wife. This is his way of locking you down on his terms.”
I didn’t think of it like that. “He said it was just business.”
He scoffed. “It isn’t business and a man like him doesn’t just offer a deal like that. Unless...”
“Unless what?”
Troy looked me in the eye. “Unless he is in love with you.” He groaned. “Why do you attract bad men!”
“I really don’t know.” I was dumbfounded. I had no idea why I seemed to always fall in love with men that had the power to hurt me, but I didn’t love Tae, did I?
I respected him. I admired everything he had done. I looked up to him, but had our closeness turned into something more? Was Troy right when he said this was Tae’s way of locking me down to be his?
“So, what do I do?” Right now I needed to be told what to do. “Tae said I can go back with him and lead, or stay here. I think he knows it nearly killed me, being away from you lot.”
“Would he stay if you did?”
“I don’t know. I think he would travel back here more if I was here.” I spoke the truth of what I thought of the situation. I could see Tae’s business trips here increasing if I was here. I don’t know why I thought that… I just did.
“Well, he is the first man to put you as equal. You should factor that in before you make a decision.”
I nodded my head.
“And tell Jax, Amber.”
My eyes snapped up. I couldn’t do that. If I looked at mine and Jax’s relationship logically, considering our history and how he’d behaved; well, with no emotion, it made sense for me to take this opportunity with Tae and wipe Jax out completely.
“It makes more sense to leave with Tae than it does to stay.” I found myself speaking my thoughts out loud. It did make more sense to leave if I put how I felt about Jax aside. If I could think clearly; make a logical decision.
“You never do what makes sense.” Troy gave me a pointed look. “Talk to Jax. I think he will help you make a decision.”
“I really didn’t want to rely on him,” I sighed and almost groaned. “He will just yell at me.”
“Nah, I don’t think he will Amber. If anything, he will be begging.”
“Begging?”
“For you to not marry Tae.”
I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling. “I’m not marrying him.”
“You are. What he is offering is marriage. Maybe even more serious than marriage, considering his position.” Troy’s hand landed on my knee. “Sorry I couldn’t help you.”
My li
ps twitched into a smile. If there was one thing Troy always did, it was help. “You did help.”
“If it makes any difference, I never wanted you to have this lifestyle.”
“I was dragged into it.” I shrugged. “And now it is all I know.”
And that was the cold hard truth. I wasn’t the girl who flinched at blood. I wasn’t the girl that had the captain of the football team following her around. Instead, I had one man who was considered the King of the underworld saying he loved me, and, on the other hand, I had a man whose name struck fear in people, offering me a life with him.
So, who would I pick?
Tae or Jax.
Or should I do the cop out and take Tae’s business offer and stay here and keep a relationship with Jax?
But, for some reason, that felt like I was betraying Tae.
God! Why could I never just have a normal problem! Like should I wear my hair curly or straight? Or should I wear makeup today or not?
I groaned and fell back on Troy’s bed. “Why does life have to be so hard?”
I heard him laugh but I knew, as much as I wanted Troy to fix the problem, to tell me which choice to make Tae or Jax, he couldn’t. It was a decision I was going to have to make on my own.
Jax
All fucking day. All fucking day I was dealing with bickering bikers about money! All complaining that they hadn’t got their share as soon as the deal had been settled. Then when I finally sorted that out, a fight broke out about why I wasn’t telling them whom we’d sold to.
I didn’t have to give them answers.
Still, that caused an almighty argument and fight. Troy got pissed off and left, leaving me to deal with the backlash of the other President’s shit.
I think it was his way of paying me back for forcing him to do my work, as well as his, for the last month.
I walked up the hall. All I wanted to do was be with Amber. Cole passed on her new number, but I literally hadn’t even had a minute spare to call her.
I frowned, seeing light under her door. It was after five in the morning. Why would she be up?
I opened the door and I had been so quiet, she hadn’t even realized. Her eyes were glued to a map in front of her, which, by the looks of it, was covered in maths.
“You’re up late?”