by Debra Kayn
Nothing worked, because he only wanted her more.
"What's up?" Kurt sat down on the brown leather couch and kicked his bare feet up on the coffee table.
Lee moved over to the matching chair opposite of Kurt. "Risa in bed?"
"Yeah. She's been asleep for a couple of hours," Kurt said. "She reads this book about pregnancy to me every morning, and it says the first three months make a woman extra tired."
Lee leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. "Good that she's taking care of herself."
"I'm sure you didn't walk over here at one o'clock in the morning to talk about how I should take care of my old lady."
Lee shook his head. "I can't do this."
"What are you talking about?" Kurt stood and walked across the room to the kitchen.
Lee watched him from his seat. The open floor plan made the room appear much bigger than it was. Floor to ceiling windows, in the daylight, looked out across the Bitterroot Mountains of the Silver Valley. Risa made the place into a home where her and Kurt could raise a family and be safe within the club.
"I got too much going on. I'm wearing the patch, watching over Shari, and waiting for the right moment to take down Los Li. I should be off, taking care of business."
Kurt opened the fridge, removed two beer bottles, and popped both caps off. "Where'd you go tonight?"
"Some bar in town...Rail Point." Lee accepted the offered drink. "Thanks."
"What can't you take here besides what you just listed?" Kurt returned to his spot on the couch.
"Just being here." He drank deep and then set the bottle between his legs. "Damn mountains are everywhere, shrinking in on me."
Kurt continued watching him without saying a word.
"Need to change the oil in my bike." Lee picked up his beer. "Promised Dad I'd swing by and spend some time with him and Taylor too. Duck and Big Joe are in Pitnam now, and I can check in and see what's going on with the rest of the ex-Lagsturns members. Hell of a deal, them breaking up. They've always had their problems, but they had some damn good guys out of the mess."
Kurt scooted down, let his head rest on the back of the couch, and crossed his feet. Lee took another drink. He should never have taken Shari up to his room.
Tango had no idea what he was asking Lee to do. He didn't belong here. Shari deserved someone who could protect her better, and not someone who only thought of taking down Los Li. His head wasn't straight. He couldn't focus. He couldn't fucking breathe.
"What is it? Five hundred miles from here to Pitnam?" Lee asked.
"About that," Kurt said.
Lee finished his beer and set the bottle on the floor near the chair. "That's a novice ride. I could leave tonight and be there before Dad's even up in the morning. I could go straight through and hop on I-5."
Kurt yawned. "There's road construction this time of year through the Cascades."
"Hey, did you hear that Torque bought the old Laundromat in Pitnam. He's opening a youth center and naming it after Brandy's pop. It'll be somewhere the kids in town can go after school to hang out and box."
"Yeah. Dad told me." Kurt said. "Now stop the bull shit conversation and jumping around to everything you don't want to talk about, and tell me why you want out of here."
He wanted to tell his brother everything, but he'd never dirty his life with what he'd done. Kurt only knew the little details of what he'd shared, not the big picture of his dealings with Los Li, or the level he'd gone to make sure his MC family remained safe. There was no reason to burden him.
"You ever hear of a man named Ted Tango?" Lee asked.
Kurt frowned. "No."
"Back when we were kids, and before Raul slapped on the patch for Bantorus, he rode with Lagsturns MC," Lee said.
"Yeah, I know that." Kurt rubbed his hand along his whiskered jaw.
"Tango was riding as a second-year probate under Raul." Lee stood. "One day, Tango disappeared from Lagsturns MC and was never seen again."
"Traitor?"
"No." Lee picked up his empty bottle and carried it over to the counter. "I asked Dad a few years ago what his story was, and all he knew was that he'd disappeared from the motel in town that had connections to Lagsturns MC, and he left his bike behind. Since it wasn't any business of Bantorus, that's all Dad knew."
Kurt shifted, stretching his back. "Shit happens."
"Except, it doesn't. Not in this case." Lee sat on the coffee table and faced Kurt. "Tango showed up when Los Li came after Crystal the day she reunited with her preacher father."
"I remember that story. Crystal found out her old man was working with Los Li and embezzling money through his church organization," Kurt said.
"Right." Lee blew out his breath, thankful his brother had taken all the club history and absorbed the information. Even when they were children, Kurt was dedicated to becoming the best president Bantorus MC ever had and he never wavered. "One of the Feds that busted in the preachers house and took Crystal's pop down and kept her safe during the arrest was Ted Tango."
"He was working undercover while in Lagsturns?" Kurt put his feet on the floor.
Lee nodded. "At the same time, Raul made a decision to keep his freedom by removing his patches and joining Bantorus. Raul carried Tango's secret with him, seeing as how he was working undercover too. Raul gave me all this information the night he offered me the consultant's job with the Federal government and introduced me to Tango."
"What are you saying?" Kurt asked.
"Ted Tango's my supervisor. I've been working under him for years to bring down Los Li." Lee gazed at his brother, knowing he hadn't heard enough to know exactly what was going on.
Kurt stood and walked over to the floor to ceiling windows at the front of the room. Lee remained sitting on the coffee table. Kurt would send his ass away from Federal to protect the club after Lee finished the rest of the background on why he was here, and then Lee would get the distance he craved to keep everyone he loved safe and away from the destruction of Los Li.
Until this last assignment, he'd thought he'd be able to follow through with the plan he'd started when he was twelve years old. The only thing that mattered was taking out the gang that was responsible for the nightmares that kept Taylor awake at night, and his dad unable to relax.
Over the years, the deeper he dealt with Los Li, his vengeance became more personal and the repercussions of the territorial wars came back harder on Bantorus MC. His desire to end it escalated when Los Li touched Crystal, Brandy, Risa, and Remmy's life. The only way to stop the destruction was to make sure Los li went down, completely down.
The harder he fought and the more men he took out, the bigger and quicker retaliation kicked back at him. Los Li's numbers increased each time, and he had to break them down. He was tired of fighting, and so fucking close to ending the war it was only a matter of time before he could rest.
"Raul, Tango...my brother," Kurt muttered. "Where does it end?"
Lee looked away from Kurt. He understood what his brother was thinking. There were too many loose ends, and too many people involved with the Feds for Bantorus MC to feel secure. That's not what the MC lifestyle was about, and Kurt was thinking ahead on how this affected his family.
If he had the answers, he'd tell Kurt. The problem was he had no idea what kind of new problems would arise if something went wrong. He only knew there was no turning back. Taking down Los Li would happen. It needed to happen, but doing so would change the lives of everyone involved, including Bantorus MC.
"It ends when Los Li is taken out of the picture." Lee stood. "It'll happen soon."
"I want my wife to get up every morning without a reminder of what Los Li did to her, but I know her exposure to Los Li will stick with her forever, the same way it did for Taylor. Every time she looks in the mirror, she'll see the scar. Every time someone talks to her...I talk to her, she'll notice I look at her scar. No matter what happens, the scars will never heal." Kurt pressed the palm of his hand against his temp
le.
"I know," Lee whispered. "I see it in Taylor too, and that's why I'm devoted to ending this, so that you'll know you did everything you could after the fact to make the world safe for Risa. Dad deserves to know that Los Li suffered for what they've done."
Kurt nodded, his gaze jumping around the room as he took in all the information gave him tonight.
Lee approached Kurt and stood before him. "I was sent here on an assignment to keep Shari safe during the take down of Los Li."
Kurt said. "Again, I want to know why Shari? What does she have to do with why you're here?"
"She's Tango's niece. He's raised her since she was little. Five years ago, he fumbled an investigation. Los Li put out a hit on Tango's life. The hit included taking out Shari. Tango brought her to Federal to keep her safe, while he went into hiding, and became commander for the Los Li case."
"Wait." Kurt held up his hand. "Shari worked with Risa before Bantorus rolled into Federal. Does this involve Risa too?"
"No." Lee shook his head. "I don't have all the details, but from what I understand, Tango placed Shari in Federal to keep her safe, and her ending up being a Bantorus bitch was nothing more than a coincidence."
"Right," Kurt mumbled. "I don't believe in coincidences."
Lee crossed his arms. There were holes missing in the information he shared. There were also unanswered questions on his end that Tango chose not to give him.
Why hadn't Shari tried contacting her uncle? Why hadn't she left Federal and gone back to California when Tango's communication with her stopped? How much did Shari know about her uncle's involvement with Los Li?
Kurt shook his head in disgust. "Now you want to leave Federal. What are you going to do, leave this shit in my lap for the club to handle? What happened to the code of always riding with purpose and not taking any preventable risks or riding in anger?"
The liberation that came from sharing the information with his brother only brought him a few minutes of relief while he was talking. He thrust his hands in his hair. Leaving had never been a real option, and he knew that. He rode to code when home.
He exhaled on a sigh, because tonight he'd added more reasons he had to stay. Shari had him going crazy, unable to think, and all he wanted to do was be near her, because having her in his arms calmed him in a way that nothing else had.
"No, I'm staying," Lee said.
Kurt widened his stance. "You said you're leaving."
He glared, reminded of Shari saying the same thing. "Now I'm saying I won't."
His decision made, he could only move forward. Shari deserved a man who came to her clean, with no blood on his hands. That man wasn't him. His hands were dirty, and no amount of cleaning would get them clean. The most he could do for her was to keep his distance and make sure whatever happened, he ended up leaving her in a better spot than when he'd arrived in Federal.
"Do me a favor and be there for Shari when this is over," Lee said.
"That's a given, considering she's part of the Silver Girls." Kurt frowned. "What's going on between you two?"
"Hell if I know, except I don't plan on leaving her side until this is over. The other members can bite me, but I'm not giving her a chance to be warming their bed while I'm watching over her." Lee walked over to the door, stopped, and faced his brother. "She deserves more than being a bitch for Bantorus."
"You know her that well already that you can come in here and make a decision like that?"
Lee grinned, because the woman back at the club sleeping in his bed hadn't ran away when he freaked out earlier. She'd put him to bed, and stayed. "Yeah, I do."
"Okay," Kurt said. "I'll cover her back, not because she's one of the Silver Girls, but because you asked me to."
Lee opened the door. "Thanks for listening to me tonight."
"Anytime, brother. I've always listened. My whole life was about listening to you. I'm here if you need me."
Lee walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind him. Calmer now that the shakes left him after talking to Kurt, he jogged the path back to the club and entered the back door.
His boots hit the hardwood floor and the kitchen light left on lit his way. The club sat quiet. He stayed longer at Kurt's house than he'd planned, and everyone was already in bed upstairs. He took the steps two at a time and continued straight to his bedroom, looking forward to stripping out of his clothes and lying next to a warm body for a few hours of shuteye.
He opened the door, slipped inside, and the soft click of the lock seemed to echo in the room. He walked quiet. She needed her sleep, and he wanted the relief he was feeling to continue throughout the rest of the night.
In the dark, he felt around the far wall of the room for the chair he knew would be by the window. He sat, removed his boots, pistol, wallet, and stripped out of all his clothes. His cock hardened, knowing he was seconds away from a warm body. He stepped over to the bed, leaned over, and feeling for the edge of the bedspread, frowned.
The bed was cold and empty.
He stretched and turned on the lamp beside the bed. He clenched his teeth until his jaw ached, staring at the spot where he'd left Shari. "Fuck."
She'd left him.
Chapter Eight
Crain walked out the front door of the club carrying a bucket of cleaning supplies. Shari hurried outside. Everyone seemed to be running late this morning, and she had too much to do to get the Sterling Building cleaned and ready to open.
Mainly, she wanted to get far away from the club and escape facing Lee. If she left now and went to town, there was a good chance she could go all day without running into him. Last night had been a huge mistake. She had no interest in talking about what happened between them.
"I'll take it." Shari nudged Crain's arm.
Crain held the supplies out of her reach. "I said, I'd carry it."
"You're following on your bike and can't take the supplies." She yanked on his arm, and grabbed the bucket before he could stop her. "We're late, and if we're going to get everything done in one day, I need to get the girls to town."
She hurried down the steps, passing Carrie. "Hurry up. Let's get going."
"What's the big rush?" Carrie followed her. "Today's Tuesday. We're not opening until Friday."
"It's going to be hot today. I don't think anyone wants to work this afternoon when it gets too warm." Shari put the bucket in the back of the truck. "Hop in."
"What about the others?" Carrie set the broom and dustpan in the back.
"Risa's dropping them in town once they get done taking their showers and getting dressed." Shari walked around the side of the pickup toward the front.
She opened the driver's door and shrieked. Her heart raced, and she pressed a hand to her chest. Lee sat behind the steering wheel.
"What are you doing?" she blurted. "Kurt said I could borrow the truck today."
Lee's gaze swept the length of her body before returning to her eyes. "Get in. I'm taking you. That's the deal."
"But I'm not dancing today. Carrie's going with me. We're only cleaning and getting the building ready for customers," she said, stepping away from the truck.
"Doll...get in. Now," he said, his voice deepening.
She searched for Carrie and found her on the other side of the truck. Hurrying around the front, she grabbed Carrie's hand. "You get in first."
"Oh—kay." Carrie screwed up her mouth and rolled her eyes. "Wrong time of the month?"
"Something like that," Shari muttered.
Already the heat of the morning infiltrated the cab of the truck. She rolled down the window all the way, and hung her arm out, sucking in the outside air.
On the way to town, Carrie talked to Lee about her morning and how she couldn't wait to start dancing again to lose the five pounds she'd gained on her ass. Shari's head pounded. She didn't want Carrie talking about her ass or her body or the fact that she'd be stripping off her clothes in three more days.
Especially not with the man who'd had his hand in her pa
nties last night and left her alone in his bed for over an hour until she'd left, woke up Sawyer, and had him escort her to the cabin. She closed her eyes and let the wind hit her skin, but nothing cooled her off. Last night was a mistake and an embarrassment.
She worried she was going insane. Maybe whatever was bothering Lee infected her by hanging around him. After the bar, he'd become a different person. Hard, agitated, and restless. Much like she was feeling this morning.
Before that, he talked and tried to at least keep the conversation flowing. She leaned her head farther out the open window. When he tried to get along, she fell for him hard and ended up in his bed. Then boom. He was gone.
"Shari," Carrie nudged her with her elbow. "Are you listening?"
She turned to look at Carrie. "What?"
"Lee asked if you slept well last night," Carrie said.
Shari glanced at Lee and wanted to tell him exactly how she slept. Crappy. "Wonderful, and you?"
"Like shit," he said.
She glanced at Carrie, who leaned forward to put on her lipstick in the rearview mirror, leaving the space to view Lee wide open.
The muscles in his jaw twitched and he stared at the road. Shari hooked her hair behind her ear to keep it from blowing in her face and blocking sight of Lee. His goatee, shadowed by the unshaven whiskers along his jawline, and dark half circles deepened his eyes and attested to his restless sleep. He wasn't lying.
She had no idea where he'd gone after leaving her alone. He wasn't with the girls. She knew that, because she stayed up most of the night to question each one of them as they stumbled into the cabin happy drunk after leaving the other bikers.
"Dude, you should've joined me, Cutter, and Muff." Carrie sat back and grinned. "I imagine they slept like a baby. I know I did."
"God," Shari muttered, going back to looking out the window.
The last thing she wanted to know about was Carrie's adventures with the bikers last night. She wiggled her fingers in the current of the wind whipping along the truck. The girls weren't exactly secretive about what happened between them and the Bantorus members, but Carrie's out of character admittance rubbed her the wrong way this morning. Carrie used to keep her private life to herself.