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“Been a long damn time, huh?” I turned to fully face him. “I don’t lose my cool anymore. You, of all fucking people, know that. I’m ice-cold calm when I get mad, and when I hunt, I have all emotion turned off.”
Mac shook his head. “In any other circumstances, I’d agree with you. But this was your stepfather, the man who’d killed your family once and was potentially coming for your current one. But it wasn’t even that. Okay, yeah, I was worried you’d lose that well-trained, cool front you have now, but more than that, I didn’t want you to have to face that asshole again. I wanted to be able to step in and deal with it so you wouldn’t have to. Hell, brother, it’s only been what? Six months since you worked over Volt. You’re always the one who does the rough interrogations, and that shit has to be building up in your head. I wanted to be able to take this one off your plate. That was my main reason. Like you said, I know you don’t run hot-tempered anymore. I was just looking for a fucking excuse to cut you a break on this time.”
Aw, fuck. I was struck mute for a minute, trying to work out what to say. The prospect, Gypsy, saved my ass by not only setting our refilled drinks in front of us, but two shot glasses of tequila as well.
“Shots always make a good reset button.”
Huffing out a laugh, I picked up the tequila and held it out for Mac to click his glass against mine. Then we downed them together and while the alcohol was still burning my throat, he pulled me in for a rough, back-slap hug, resetting our friendship before releasing me and slamming his empty shot glass down on the bar.
“You’re more than my club brother, Taz. And no matter what comes your way, I will always have your back. You hear me?”
I nodded and grabbed the beer I’d initially ordered from the Prospect, feeling awkward at the emotion swirling around us.
“Yeah, same back at you, mate. Now let’s get over there to see what chaos my sister is planning with my woman.”
Mac laughed and slapped me on the back. “You’re in so much trouble if those two decide to gang up on you.”
Yeah, wasn’t that the truth. But I was kinda looking forward to it.
I turned to face the women, barely aware of Mac moving. I had my sister back. My baby sister, whom I’d thought was dead was here in the Charon MC clubhouse, sitting next to my old lady with my daughter, who’d now woken up from her nap, on her lap. Fuck, it was enough to bring a grown man to his knees. It really was.
Flick looked over, and our gazes locked for a moment before she winced and shifted her focus back to my sister. I sighed. Life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I had no clue how to process the fact my woman had hidden this shit from me.
Scout came to stand beside me, taking the glass the prospect handed over before speaking to me. “Pretty sure she was trying to protect you too, brother.”
I shook my head, then downed the rest of my beer before responding.
“Yeah, well, that shit ain’t right. I’m supposed to be the one doing the protecting. I don’t need a fucking guard.”
Scout gripped my shoulder, giving a squeeze, but before he could say a word, I shrugged out of his hold. “You ain’t exactly my favorite person right now either, Prez. You sure you want to be this close to my brand of crazy?”
I was feeling on edge and looking for someone to lash out against.
Fucker rolled his eyes. “Quit the drama, Taz. For the record, I wanted to hand you a rifle and wish you luck hunting when I first heard that bastard was coming our way.” He sighed again. “No one believes you’re still that hothead you were when you were younger. Hell, none of us are who we were all those years ago. We all change. Your old lady and child were in danger, so I’d be more worried if you didn’t go a little crazy. Considering I went halfway across the fucking country to wipe out an entire MC when they came after my woman and son, I’m not gonna judge on that one.”
I scoffed and took a drink as I remembered how Scout led the charge to take down the Ice Riders MC after they came and held a few of our women at gunpoint, sending Marie into early labor. Thankfully, both Marie and their son, Joey, were fine now.
“Just tread carefully with her, brother. Don’t go throwing away all you have because of this one misstep, especially when you know full well she did it out of love for you.”
I couldn’t deal with any of this shit right now. I needed to get out of here. To clear my head. Maybe then I could think clearly and work out what the fuck I was going to do about what Flick had done.
“I’m going for a ride. Be back later.”
Turning toward the bar, I handed my empty glass to the prospect before heading for the door. I knew Scout and the other club brothers would keep my family safe, but I couldn’t be here anymore. I needed some time with my bike on the open road.
* * *
FLICK
My heart didn’t just break, it shattered into tiny little pieces as Taz stormed out of the clubhouse. Sniffling, I blinked back tears as Mac and Eagle both slipped out after my man. His club brothers would make sure he was safe and stop him if he tried to do anything too reckless, but damn, it fucking hurt he didn’t even say goodbye to me or Lolly.
“What’d you do to have him running from you? Sorta figured he’d be glued to your side for a while after today.”
Jacie was grinning at Lolly as she played with my daughter, but her tone was serious without any cheer or humor.
“We didn’t tell him we knew Gordon was coming.”
She cringed. “Oh, yeah. With how protective he is, I’m sure that’ll have him raging for a while.”
