Tank (Blue-Collar Billionaires #1)

by M. Malone

  CHAPTER FOUR

  TANK

  I’m about to pull off when my phone vibrates against my side. It's buried in the inner pocket of my leather jacket. I pull it out and stare at the screen.

  Eli Alexander.

  "Hey boss, miss me already?"

  I'm joking but in a way I'm not. My boss and I are pretty tight. He gave me a job when I wasn't sure what the hell I was going to do with myself. My Army Special Forces training doesn't exactly line up with any of the typical job listings. Recon, tracking people, shooting shit, I'm your guy. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit into a typical nine-to-five situation when Elliott gave me a job with his private security firm.

  "Tank? Hey, how are things with your brother?"

  I didn't tell Eli the full truth about why I needed time off. He knows my brother hasn't been doing well and that my mom has been in the hospital. I left out the part about Daddy Warbucks. I figured that was too weird to share.

  "He's doing about the same. I just left his apartment after making him take his meds."

  "Sorry, that sounds rough. If you need more time, just let me know. Actually, I was calling to see if you had time to do a job. Off the books."

  I sit up straight. My boss is a straight arrow type, most of the time. Of course some of the stuff I overheard on our last job has proven that he has secrets just like everyone else. "What's the job?"

  "Kay has a friend who's being harassed by her boss. I just wanted you to look in on her. Make sure she's okay. Bust a few heads if you have to but I'd rather you keep your hands clean if possible."

  "Who's the friend?" I can hear the edge in my voice as I ask the question.

  “It’s Sasha. I know you two don’t exactly get along.”

  "Aw hell. She hates me. Sending me there is bound to just piss her off."

  "I know the last time you saw her things were tense but I think she'll be glad to see you now. Kay says things are pretty bad. I think her boss has been pressuring her to do more than sing, if you know what I'm saying. And he’s doing the same thing to some of the other girls, too.”

  Eli did a background check on me before I was hired so I'm sure he knows my mom was a stripper back in the day. I grew up in and out of clubs like the Black Kitty so I have some personal history with the kind of men who run them. And if Sasha's boss is pressuring her for anything she's not willing to give, I'll consider it a public service to introduce his face to my knuckles.

  "I'll do it," I say quietly.

  “Thank you. Sorry to bother you while you’re off but I’m in D.C. this week wrapping up some stuff and Kay just told me. I’d love to take care of it myself but thanks. I’ll owe you one.”

  "Trust me, it'll be my pleasure."

  After we hang up, I start my bike and strap on my helmet. The Black Kitty is the next city over, Virginia Beach, so it won’t take long to get there.

  The traffic is light and I weave in and out of lanes to reach the club. It’s nothing more than an old warehouse that’s been converted. It looks like a tin box sitting in the middle of a gravel parking lot. I stow my helmet on the back of my bike and walk past the line of people waiting to get in. One of the guys backs up a step and bumps into me.

  “Hey, watch it!” He takes one look at me and holds up his hands. “Oh … sorry dude. My bad.”

  I keep walking until I reach the front of the line. There’s a guy manning the door who’s the size of a mountain wearing huge diamond earrings. His pale head gleams bald under the neon lights over the door.

  “You must be Tank. I’m Lou. Sasha’s in the back getting dressed. Once her number is over, she’ll meet you at the bar.”

  I wonder briefly how he knew it was me, and then realize Eli must have called him. We shake hands and he stands back to allow me to enter. Several people in the long line waiting to get in make disgruntled noises but when I turn to face them, the entire line goes silent.

  “The guy who owns this club, Lattimer, he’s a real piece of work. I’ve seen the way he treats some of the girls and I don’t like it. If you need any help, I’ve got your back.”

  “Thanks man.” I cross through the dim entrance and into the body of the club. It looks like any other bar at first glance, bad techno music, alcohol flowing and guys hitting on girls who aren’t nearly drunk enough to go home with them yet.

  “Tank! What are you doing here?” Sasha doesn’t exactly look happy to see me but at least she’s not hitting me with her purse this time.

  “Eli sent me.”

  She nods and hops up onto the bar stool next to me. She’s wearing a long gold dress covered in some kind of sparkly shit. I know nothing about women’s clothes but I can definitely appreciate that it dips low in the back exposing a ton of caramel colored skin. She’s a beautiful girl with high cheekbones, big brown eyes and long braided dark hair. If Finn were here, he’d be all over her. He’s always been a ladies’ man.

  “Thanks for coming. Things have been pretty bad lately.”

  “So where is this fucker?” I scan the other people at the bar. The bartender is at the other end, pouring colorful drinks and chatting with the two girls leaning over the bar flirtatiously.

  “He’s in the back. He usually doesn’t make his appearance until the end.” She leans closer, glancing around before she says, “He’s been making threats, telling a lot of the girls they’ll be let go if they don’t accommodate him. My friend was backstage on the verge of tears. She’s just waitressing here trying to earn tuition money. She shouldn’t have to deal with this crap. Oh, look here she comes. Emma!”

  I can feel it before I even turn around. Somehow I just know it’s her. There’s a shift in the air and then she’s there, standing next to me, chatting with Sasha. My eyes land on her costume or lack thereof. She’s wearing the tiniest skirt I’ve ever seen and a little bikini top that pushes her breasts up like ripe fruit. It’s covered in purple sequins.

  When her eyes finally land on me, she makes a sound that’s a cross between a groan and a squeak. “Tank? Oh my god.” She crosses her arms over her chest and the tray she’s carrying falls to the ground. Automatically, I bend to retrieve it which puts me right on eye level with the cleavage.

  Hell.

  Time stretches between us painfully as Sasha looks back and forth between us warily. “You two know each other?”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  We both speak at the same time. Emma looks appalled. Her hands are still covering the front of her bikini top and from the death glare on her face, I’ll lose an eye if my gaze drops anywhere below her neck. It requires a remarkable amount of self-control on my part because the one look I got was spectacular.

  Which of course means I can’t help messing with her a little.

  “Emma Shaw. Is that you? You look … different somehow. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

  She growls and points a finger at my chest. “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me now?” The movement exposes the left side of her chest and I’m almost blinded by sparkly purple sequins. I blink and when she notices my gaze, she yanks her hand down covering her chest again.

  “I’m doing what every other red-blooded American guy does on a random Tuesday night. Having a beer at a club. Visiting a friend.”

  Sasha is watching us with a knowing grin. “So how do you two know each other?”

  Emma doesn’t respond so I answer. “I asked Eli to recommend an estate lawyer.”

  Sasha grins. “And let me guess, he recommended Patrick Stevens? Yeah, that makes sense. I’ve done temp work there off and on for several years. That’s how I met Emma, actually. Kay’s family uses him and now Eli does, too. Small world, huh?”

  “Yeah. Small world.” I take another sip of my beer, watching Emma adjust the tiny top shielding her breasts from view.

  A girl wearing a peacock headdress, sparkly red high heels and a red thong runs up to us. “Sasha, where have you been? You’re on next!”

  “Oh crap. I have to g
o. Thanks for coming again Tank. I really appreciate it. Emma, you stay here and keep Tank company while I’m on stage.” Sasha gathers up the edges of her long dress and then rushes after the peacock girl, leaving Emma and I alone in uncomfortable silence.

  The music is pretty loud and for once, I’m grateful for the eardrum splitting decibel level of the music.

  Emma snatches the tray I’m holding. “I’m still on the clock. I have to work.”

  “Okay. Don’t let me hold you. I’m going to stick around until after Sasha’s set. Can you do me a favor?”

  “What?” She narrows her eyes.

  “If you see the asshole who’s been bothering Sasha, point him out to me.”

  Her eyes gleam in the shifting colors of the strobe lights on the stage, reflecting blue, orange, and red. She nods quickly. “I will definitely do that. He always walks the floor around eleven o’clock.”

  “Give me your phone.”

  She reaches into her pocket and pulls out an ancient flip phone. I take it from her fingers and dial my own number. Then I hang up.

  “Text me when you see him.”

  She stares at me for a long moment, and then nods. I watch the sway of her hips as she walks away.

  For the next hour, I listen as Sasha sings everything from jazz standards to covers of popular songs. She has a soft, sultry voice that throbs in your blood and makes you think of twisted sheets and a different kind of rhythm all together. My phone buzzes and I pull it out.

  - - - He’s here. In the red suit.

  I look behind me. Emma is standing a few tables away. When she catches my eye, she nods her head to the right. There’s a short man with a tragic comb-over walking on the edge of the dance floor. Two large men follow him. I toss back the last of my beer before I get up. It’s a lot more crowded now so I have to weave in between tables and pockets of people dancing and talking to reach him. He looks up as I approach.

  “Are you Lattimer?”

  He takes a step forward and his goons crowd in closer, too. I stand to my full height and flex beneath my jacket. It only takes a glance to tell that these two won’t be a problem but Eli asked me to keep it clean. So, I’m hoping to avoid a fight.

  “Who wants to know?”

  “I’m a friend of Sasha’s. I’m just here checking things out. I look out for her. Make sure no one bothers her.”

  “Did she say someone was bothering her?”

  “I wanted to see for myself.”

  He comes closer and his goons follow. They’re crowding around me. One of the bodyguards cracks his knuckles. It takes everything I have not to laugh in his face. The most lethal people I’ve ever met don’t need to posture and show off. If you cross them, you’ll be dead and never see them coming.

  “Not so tough now, huh?” Lattimer boasts. He pushes me in the chest and then frowns when I don’t even move. But he recovers his tough guy attitude quickly. “This is my house. You don’t come in here making threats at me in my own damn house.”

  Sasha comes up behind me. “Let’s go, Tank. I don’t want any trouble.”

  Lattimer scoffs. “You don’t want any trouble? You’ve been trouble since the day you started here.”

  I don’t turn around. Men like Lattimer only understand one thing. Force. I hold his eyes. He needs to understand that I have no problem fucking him up. That knowledge is the only thing that will keep him from screwing with her again.

  One of his goons feints at me, trying to see if I’ll jump back. I can’t help it, I react on instinct, punching him in the throat and then following it with a gut shot. He falls back and knocks into his boss. They both crash into the table behind him.

  Sasha gasps and covers her mouth with her hands. I groan and run my hands through my hair. She’s really going to hate me now.

  “Shit. Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Eli said to scare him not to start a fight.”

  She turns to me, her brown eyes suddenly bright with excitement. “Are you kidding? That was awesome.”

  Lattimer stumbles to his feet, knocking into the guys sitting at the table who are obviously drunk. One of them punches wildly at one of the bodyguards. Before long the panic spreads and we’re in the middle of a crowd of people pushing and shoving. I’ve been in enough bar fights to know that most of the people throwing punches don’t even know what’s going on.

  “Ouch! Get your hands off me.”

  Emma is caught between a group of guys who are trying to take each other down. She’s jostled back and forth and then stumbles to the side. I push through the crowd, shoving anyone in front of me out of the way. When I reach her, I push her behind me just as one of the guys swings out wildly, his fist connecting with my side.

  I block his next punch and then shove him back. His buddies apparently want in on the action now because they’ve focused on me. The chill I always feel before a good fight settles over me. The next one charges me. I dip low and catch him at the waist, flipping him onto his back. My arms and hands move in a violent dance, punching, blocking and knocking heads together. After the first three go down, the rest of their buddies back away slightly.

  Emma whimpers behind me. I reach back and pull her against my back, using my body as a shield to block her from the crowd. Fights still rage around us. Sasha appears at my elbow. “Let’s get out of here. This is crazy.”

  Lattimer finally gets up, brushing away the offer of help from his other bodyguard. The guy holds his throat while glaring at me. He looks between the three of us and then sneers. “All of you need to get the hell out of my club.”

  “What? Paul, that is not fair. Emma has nothing to do with this. And a bunch of drunks fighting is not my fault.” Sasha glares at him.

  “I don’t care. I don’t need this shit. Both of you get out and don’t bother coming back.”

  Sasha points at him. “This is really messed up and you know it. Just wait, karma is a bitch with a really long memory. And she has your address now.”

  Sasha holds out a hand to Emma. “We’re going to get our stuff from the back.”

  I follow them, standing guard at the entrance to the dressing room and keeping an eye on Lattimer and his goons. They watch us but don’t attempt to come closer or prevent the girls from getting their stuff. Sasha emerges wearing black leggings and an oversized red sweater. Emma has changed into a plain white blouse with ruffles on the front and hip hugging jeans.

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

  I follow them out to the parking lot.

  Emma stops in the middle of the gravel lot. “Crap, I forgot that I didn’t bring my car today. I need to call my sister for a ride. She wasn’t expecting me to be out this early.”

  Sasha holds up her keys. “I can take you.”

  “I don’t want you to have to drive out of your way.”

  I stop next to my bike. I’m suddenly grateful that I bought the extra helmet. “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.”

  Emma regards me warily. “In Norfolk. Near the shipyard.”

  I wave her over. “That’s not that far from me. We’ll follow Sasha home to make sure she gets there safely. Then I’ll take you home.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” She adjusts the strap on her bag and then takes the helmet I hand her. I adjust the strap for her and then climb on the bike. She eyes it like some strange beast she’s never seen before.

  “Climb on. It won’t bite. And neither will I.”

  Her eyes narrow but she climbs on the back. She’s holding me gingerly around the waist. I start the engine and she squeals and grabs me tighter.

  Now that’s better.

  We pull out, following Sasha’s car. I already know her address from when I was on her friend Kaylee’s security detail but it’s been a while since I’ve been there. Plus it’s harder to concentrate on directions when I have Emma snugged against my back, her thighs gripping mine. She catches the rhythm of riding quickly, leaning with me on the turns.

  All too soon, we pull up in front of Sa
sha’s apartment building. Emma climbs off and then removes the helmet. Her cheeks are flushed.

  “Your first time?”

  She looks startled for a moment then her cheeks go red. “Yeah, I’ve never ridden before.”

  “If I could only read minds right now.”

  She flushes again and turns to follow Sasha. I know I should stop teasing her but I can’t help it. It’s so easy.

  Emma pointedly turns her back to me. “Are you okay, Sasha?”

  Sasha shrugs. “I was expecting him to fire me, but I wasn’t trying to get you fired, too. I’m really sorry.”

  “I don’t care. I can find another crappy job.”

  Sasha turns to me. “Tank, do you mind coming in for a minute. I’m still pretty rattled. I don’t want to be alone just yet.”

  “Of course.”

  We step inside and Sasha locks the door and slides the chain in place. Then she turns to Emma. “Em, your mascara is running. Why don’t you use my bathroom? I have makeup remover beneath the counter that you can use.”

  As soon as Emma turns the corner out of sight, Sasha grabs my arm and drags me into the kitchen. “Look we don’t have long so I just needed to warn you. Em lives with her sister but I think something happened. She’s crashed on my couch a couple of times but I think she’s worried about being here too much. It’s a pride thing. Knowing her she’ll probably let you drop her off at home and then leave as soon as she thinks you’re gone.”

  A door opens in the hallway. Sasha lets go of my arm just as Emma turns the corner into the kitchen.

  “Wow, I really did look like a raccoon. Thanks for warning me, Sasha. I would have hated to go home looking like that. I’d never hear the end of it.”

  “Why don’t you stay here? You can crash on the couch and then I can drive you to work in the morning.”

  Emma smiles tightly. “No, I need to get home. Ivy will worry otherwise.” She glances at me. “Ivy is my older sister.”