Uncover Me (Men of Inked Book 4)

by Chelle Bliss

  We didn’t have much to go on, but I assembled the guys. They were ready to roll at any moment. The waiting was driving me fucking crazy.

  A few hours ago, I’d received a text with instructions for the drop. I’d receive a text tomorrow at noon with details.

  Sitting at the kitchen table, I sipped on whiskey and dragged on a cigarette as I plotted my revenge. Bobby was working on an exact location and a possible cast of characters as Flash kept tabs on her social media and any other possible information that could be leaked from her account. My job: just hang tight.

  Who the fuck could hang tight in this situation? I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t relax. The only thing I could do was smoke and stare at the second hand of the clock while it moved as if it were in slow motion. Tick. Drag. Tick. Drag. Tick. Sip. Tick.

  Getting drunk wasn’t the answer. If something happened, I couldn’t take the chance of being shitfaced and wallowing in self-pity. It would put her life at risk as well as my family.

  As I stubbed out my cigarette, my phone moved against the table like a Mexican jumping bean. I checked my text messages.

  Anthony: You up?

  Me: What the hell else would I be doing?

  Anthony: I’m coming over

  Me: You don’t have to. I don’t need a babysitter.

  Anthony: STFU. I’ll be there in 10.

  I poured another half glass of whiskey, needing an extra dose to deal with Anthony’s grumpy ass at a time like this. After a few sips and about six hundred ticks later, there was a knock at the door.

  “Yo!” I yelled out, too exhausted to even get up and answer the damn door.

  Anthony walked in, stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, and stared at me. “Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” I swirled the whiskey in my glass, watching the liquid hug the edges.

  “You leave your door wide open, you’re drinking in the dark, and you don’t even get your lazy ass up to answer the door. It’s not like you to be so careless, Thomas.”

  I tore my eyes from the glass and glared at him. “You don’t even fucking know me anymore, Anthony. I’m not the same person that I was when we were growing up.”

  He glanced at me for a moment before heading for the cabinet to get a glass. He sat down, pulled the bottle across the table, and poured.

  “Here’s what I know,” he began, and took a swig. “At your core, you are the same man. I can’t imagine what you went through while working for the DEA. I know it was some hardcore shit. But you need to listen to me, little brother.”

  I sighed, rubbing my eyebrows to relieve some of the tension that had settled there. “You’ll never understand,” I muttered, digging my fingers into the inside corners of my eyeballs as I pinched the bridge of my nose.

  “I don’t say much. I watch everyone. I take it all in. Store that shit away for a later date. I’m not the chatty one like Mike or the aggressive one like Joe, but I know everything that happens in this family. It doesn’t matter what went down while you were with the Sun Devils. It doesn’t matter what heavy shit happened. It does not define you.”

  “Some sins are unforgivable, Anthony.” I shook my head, feeling the weight of my actions on my soul.

  “There’s nothing that’s unforgivable in the eyes of your family. You’re still the same man you were when you left for training.” He sloshed the whiskey in his cup before taking a swig, his eyes not moving from mine.

  “I’m not. I have blood on my hands, Anthony. I’m not better than the criminals in the MC.” I closed my eyes, breathing in slowly.

  “We’ve all done shit we regret. You’re a victim of your circumstances. Stop beating yourself up for what happened while you were doing your job. They put you in that position. You needed to stay alive and did what you needed to make that happen.”

  I opened my eyes, looking up at him. I knew his words were true. What had happened wasn’t my fault. Protecting my family, surviving, and getting out alive were the reasons behind everything I had done during the time I’d been a member of the Sun Devils MC. Even though my mind knew it, the guilt ate at my heart.

  “Anth, I feel that what happened to Angel is God’s way of punishing me.” I felt the anxiety clawing at my insides. “There are things I can never tell you. Things that happened that only James knows about, and we both live with the guilt each day. I’m not the same happy guy who walked out the door over a year ago. Some of my joy has been replaced by darkness, the sins of my past unable to be extinguished by my deeds of the future.”

  He wrinkled his nose and snarled. “That’s such a crock of shit. No one defines you but yourself. Your deeds of the past do not weigh on who you are as a man. Fuck what other people think of you. The only people who matter in your life are your family and friends. I know you’d jump in front of a bullet for any of us, and we’d do the same for you. That’s the measure of a man, not the shit they did to stay alive.”

  I stared at my brother as he reached for the whiskey bottle and topped off his drink. “When did you get so wise?”

  “I’m just old. Fuck. I’m older than I care to admit. Forty is creepin’ up on my ass, and it scares the hell out of me.” He blew out a breath and pulled the glass to his lips before taking a slow sip.

  “You still have years until you hit forty,” I scoffed.

  “Whatever. I know who you are, Thomas, and so does the rest of the family. You’re a good man. Case closed.”

  I sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to be able to make him understand.

  No one ever would.

  The only people who knew my dirty deeds were James and Flash, and in many ways, they were just as culpable as I was. James put the bullet in Rebel’s head, but we buried the body and covered up the crime.

  I’d helped the Sun Devils take out members of rival clubs.

  I’d helped secure drug shipments and create distribution channels.

  I’d been there for every shady deal and criminal act.

  I wasn’t innocent.

  I’d spend the rest of my life repenting for my sins and trying to reverse the bad I had done.

  “What’s the plan for tomorrow?” he asked, setting the glass on the table and resting his head against the wall.

  “I’ll know more around ten. I’ll get details at noon, and we’ll move from there.”

  “You want us here at ten?”

  “You can stay here if you want. I probably won’t sleep, but the guest room is yours.” I rolled my glass between my fingers, watching the liquid move inside.

  “I’ll stay here in case you need me, Thomas.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he yawned.

  “Thanks, Anth. I know you have your own shit going on.”

  “Family first,” he replied, his mouth set in a firm line.

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, reaching for the whiskey.

  He placed his hand on mine. “No more for tonight. You need your head clear tomorrow.”

  I glared at him. “Fine,” I blurted, a little irritated, even though he was right.

  I couldn’t allow my momentary panic to risk the lives of Angel and the rest of my family tomorrow. That would be something I’d never be able to live with—the darkness would swallow me whole.

  “What’s been on your mind? What’s going on with that woman you’re so hung up on?” I needed to change the subject, even if only for a moment.

  “Fuck,” he groaned, a heavy sigh escaping him. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “We have time to kill.” I gave him a small smile, trying to give my mind a break from the possibilities that kept creeping inside. I couldn’t get the image of Angel suffering to stop playing through my brain.

  “She hides me,” he said, closing his eyes as he spoke. “Her family hates me, and for that, she keeps me in the shadows.”

  “Why would she do that?” I asked, gawking at him.

  He slowly opened his eyes and stared at me. “It’s com
plicated. We come from very different worlds. I’m not accepted by her brothers and her parents.”

  “I take it Ma and Pop haven’t met her?”

  He shook his head and reached for his glass, wincing as he swallowed. “Nope. I’m not bringing her around the family unless there’s a future with her.”

  “So, you’re not sold on her?”

  “That’s the fucking problem. I am. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want her. I’ve never given myself so completely to someone like I have with her. I’ve never been faithful, but it’s only her. I fuckin’ can’t win. She shuts me out and disappears. Just when I think I’m over her and ready to move on, she comes back and my walls come crashing down.”

  “She has you by the balls, Anth.”

  “I refuse to let it continue. Either she fights for us and moves beyond what her family thinks or I need to put an end to it. Women like her are the reason I’ve sworn off love.”

  “Brother, you’ve sworn off love because of the plethora of pussy falling at your feet,” I said, forgetting my panic for just a second before I sobered.

  “That too,” he replied, a laugh rising from his chest as his body began to shake. “It still falls at my feet, but I step over it now and steer clear.”

  “Yeah. I find that hard to believe.”

  “I swear it’s some fuckin’ sick cosmic joke, Thomas. The first woman I want to be with treats me like shit. She yanks me around by my dick, pulling me in and then tossing me out. She fuckin’ makes my head spin.”

  “Sounds like you’re in love.”

  “Um, no.” He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “I’m in lust.”

  “You keep telling yourself that, Anth.”

  “Women are impossible.”

  “It never gets any easier.”

  “You love her, yeah?” he asked, as a smile spread across his face.

  I’d sworn off love besides my family, but she’d crept inside and become part of me. Being without her was like floating through life missing an anchor. She was my tether to a world that was filled with the possibility of happiness.

  “Yes,” I confessed with a shaky voice. “I’ve never loved any woman the way I love her.”

  He scrubbed his hands across his face and pulled in a breath. “Fuck women. Nothing but trouble, I tell you.”

  “Yeah, you’re fucked,” I replied, laughing at the look of sickness on his face. He couldn’t deny any longer that he loved the one woman who’d tried pushing him away. “You need to decide if she’s worth the fight.”

  “One thing at a time. Let’s focus on getting your woman back and then I’ll figure out how to get control of my balls again.”

  I laughed, standing from my chair and slapping him on the shoulder. “You never get it back.”

  “Fuck,” he hissed, grabbing his glass and finishing off the last drop of whiskey in his cup.

  “I’m going to jump in the shower and try to get some sleep.” The clock said two, and I knew the crew would be here in eight hours and ready for action.

  “I’m going to just crash on the couch and watch a movie until I fall asleep.”

  Walking to the sink, I saw Angel’s cup still sitting next to the teakettle. I’d been unable to move it, to wipe away the last trace of her from before she’d disappeared. Placing my cup in the sink, I stared outside and thought about her.

  Let her be okay.

  This wasn’t the time for us to end.

  She deserved better than to go out this way.

  I had to step up to the plate and rescue the girl I’d dragged into this life. If I had left her behind, her life would have been shitty, but she wouldn’t have been in danger.

  “Okay,” I said to Anthony, my eyes starting to sting from the tears I refused to let win. I wouldn’t cry and wallow in pity. I needed to ready myself for an assault on whoever was responsible for her abduction. I’d make sure they wouldn’t come out alive. “Night,” I said, waving as I walked out of the kitchen and climbed the steps to my bedroom.

  I tossed and turned all night. My mind was a clouded and tangled mess of emotions. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I rested my elbows on my knees.

  I needed to get my head on straight.

  Angel deserved a clear mind and me at my best.

  I couldn’t let her down. I wouldn’t let her down.

  I cracked my neck, rolling it from side to side to ease some of the tension before I stood. Then I grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, put them on, and headed to the bathroom. Not bothering to shave, I stared in the mirror as I scrubbed the night from my mouth.

  The circles I had under my eyes had grown darker in the last twenty-four hours. The scruff on my face matched what I felt inside—wild and raw, and I sure as fuck looked it. Spitting the toothpaste into the sink, I washed away any self-doubt I had and decided I’d face the day with a new outlook. Today, I’d get my fuckin’ woman back.

  Anthony and I spent the morning carrying the weapons we’d need downstairs and placing them on the dining room table. We checked each one to make sure they were in working order. By the time we were finished, the guys had started to show up.

  Joe and Mike arrived first, guns in hand and ready to kick ass. Pop showed up, cool as a cucumber, just before James strolled in the door looking like his badass self. Around the table, we devised our plan and bullshitted until the information started to roll in.

  Just past ten, Bobby began texting me. He had been able to determine a location based on Angel’s phone because it had been left on and in use during her capture. Cell towers weren’t as easy to pin down as television crime shows liked to make the public believe, but with time and resources, it was possible.

  She was being kept in a tiny ranch outside of Orlando.

  We were able to pull up the location on Google Maps, so we studied the surrounding area. With a clear plan of attack, we loaded the guns and climbed in Pop’s Escalade. The back was loaded with some of the most kickass weaponry available to the public—along with some that might have the tracking numbers scratched off, courtesy of me.

  The one thing we had going for us was the element of surprise. I watched the minutes tick by as James drove. The car remained silent, each man staring in the distance, fidgeting, or watching the world go by as we came closer to our destination. Everyone was on edge, even if they didn’t admit it.

  We all had something to lose. My something was Angel, but theirs were their lives. Even with their ultimate demise possible, they had still agreed and willingly gone into battle for me. No matter what happened, they had my back. This was how a true family should operate. We were a unit.

  If someone fucked with one Gallo, they fucked with us all.

  Chapter 21

  As we pulled down a side street near the location we had been told Angel was being held, the tension inside the SUV had grown to a fever pitch. The air was electrified to the point where the sparks were almost visible. Everyone was humming with anticipation and fear, ready to face whatever lay inside.

  The fear I felt wasn’t for me, but for the ones I loved—including Angel. If something happened to any one of them, it would be my fault. I’d never be able to forgive myself. The only person to blame for the entire situation was myself. I’d brought Angel back with me. I’d introduced her to my family.

  Listening to their chatter, I noticed a man watching us through tinted windows in a car nearby. I studied his build, trying to figure out if I knew him. Only a select few knew we were coming here. Slowly, the car door opened and the man climbed out. My heart was racing as I waited to see who the mystery man was—until I saw his face.

  Flash.

  “Fuck,” James yelled from the front, noticing Flash as he walked toward the Escalade.

  “What?” Joe barked, looking around before homing in on Flash. “I fucking hate him.”

  “Cut him some slack,” I responded as I opened the door and stepped out.

  “Thomas,” Flash said, giving me a quick chin lift.

/>   “Flash,” I replied, holding out my hand to him. No matter how the other guys felt, Flash had been there in the end and helped bring down the Sun Devils. He’d kept his mouth shut about what happened with Rebel.

  “I thought you could use a little more help.” He shook my hand, looking over my shoulder and into the vehicle.

  “I appreciate it.”

  “I couldn’t just sit there and wait to hear what happened. I needed to help out. You got everything ready?”

  “Yep,” I said as the others piled out of the SUV and James popped the back.

  Without another word, everyone grabbed weapons, jamming them in the waists of their pants and filling their pockets with ammunition.

  “What’s the plan of attack?” Flash asked, standing behind us as we finished grabbing everything we could possibly carry.

  “First, I’m going to go ahead and check everything out while everyone waits here. I don’t want us going in totally blind. You stay with the guys and make sure there’s no one watching us.”

  Before he and the others could respond, I took off in the direction of the house where she was being held. I studied my surroundings as I walked, looking for anything that was out of the ordinary, but there was nothing. If this were a professional kidnapping and extortion plot, they would have had guards outside. Plus, they probably would’ve known better than to leave her phone on during her captivity.

  It took everything I had in me not to charge the door and find her. My heart was beating faster than it ever had, pounding against my ribcage. Sweat dotted my brow as one drop trickled down my face. My palms began to feel clammy as my stomach filled with butterflies—but not the good kind. Within the next ten minutes, I’d either be happy or… I couldn’t even think about it. I wouldn’t let myself.

  Peeking through the windows on the side of the house, I was able to see through tiny openings in the sheer drapes. The first two bedrooms I checked were empty. The third bedroom had the drapes drawn, so I couldn’t tell who was inside. Leaning against the glass, I placed my ear on the exterior, listening for any movement…but there was nothing.