Chapter 16 #2
Tally wasn’t sure what bothered her more: the fact that her father’s professional reputation, under the codename ‘Alpha’, was so poor in the eyes of this group of veterans or the fact that her father’s company was known for hiring veterans with dishonorable discharges.
More than one of the Via Daemonia brothers had referred to them as “fucking cowboys” while others call them “bloody mercenaries”, like this was a known fact.
Her father kept his personal and professional lives separate, but Tally had always been under the impression that that was to keep her and her mother safe . Not to hide the gory details of what he did for a living. Worse, what he sent others to do while he sat behind the desk of his high-rise office.
A young man named Keys joined their group downstairs. Tally was introduced to many of them, but honestly, they were a lot to take in all at once. She knew specific voices and titles, like Steel being the President and Keys being the tech guy.
Steel had put Tally and Keys next to each other so Tally could tell Keys everything she knew about Primis as well as her father. It felt less and less like a betrayal the more Keys told her about what he knew about Primis and her father.
Simone was in the kitchen with Jenna, Steel’s wife. Tally got a very matriarchal vibe from the woman.
Keys seemed younger than the others. She hadn’t asked his age, but his voice and demeanor hinted at early twenties. A snarky comment from one of his brothers made it sound like Keys was trying, and failing, to grow some facial hair. At first, Tally had stiffened, thinking the comment mean, but then she picked up on Keys’ body language. He hadn’t found it offensive and his laugh had been genuine.
Like an older brother picking on a younger sibling.
Tally had always wished she’d had siblings, but her parents had decided not to have any other children after her. They knew how much extra attention she would need. Tally felt a pang of jealousy at this close-knit family. Scar’s close-knit family.
He had this, brothers. People who loved him. From the sounds of what was happening across the room, people who were willing to go to war for him.
So why had he let them think he was dead? What had happened in the month from when he’d gone into the river—Keys had filled her in on how they believed Scar had died—to when he’d shown up behind her on the sidewalk in Atlanta?
Simone had also gone to get Scar’s backpack and laptop from her car. Somehow Keys was on his laptop and Scar’s. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how Keys had gotten his nickname. It was probably short for ‘keyboard’ or hinting at the keys on a keyboard.
“Absolutely fucking not!” The words rang out through the entire clubhouse.
Keys stopped typing, his body twisting next to Tally’s on the couch to look behind him. She felt him lift his hand to adjust his glasses.
From discussions early on, Tally knew that the women were not supposed to be in the room. Sorry, the ‘ol’ ladies’ were not supposed to be in the room. The one exception was Scissors, one of the two patched women in the VDMC. The other one, Angel, was at work and trying to finish up as soon as possible to get back to the clubhouse.
Steel had tried to order the ol’ ladies present—Harper, Tessa, Jenna, Abby, and Sissy—but they refused to leave. In fact, more had shown up. As well as other patched members.
It would seem Scar had not only his brothers willing to go to war for him, but his sisters too.
“Who spoke?” Tally asked Keys in a whispered voice.
“Bear,” Keys told her just as quietly. “He’s our Road Captain and married to Tessa.”
Tessa was the doctor who had inquired about her vision earlier. She also knew that Sissy was marrying Scissors. Not only were they the VDMC’s only gay couple, Sissy was also Lucky’s daughter. She must be from a previous relationship, though, because Sissy and Harper sounded too close in age for Sissy to also be Harper’s daughter.
“Bear, stop and think. We don’t know what condition Scar will be in—” That was Tessa’s voice and Tally now recognized Bear’s as the one that interrupted her.
“I am not allowing my wife to go traipsing through enemy headquarters!”
Tessa snorted. “I’ll be far less conspicuous than a bunch of you heading inside! Of the two of us, which one looks like a giant ass grizzly bear?”
A growl echoed through the clubhouse that actually sounded like a grizzly bear. “No. Fucking. Way.”
“She has a point.” That was a new voice, coming from the bar area. It sounded like the speaker was walking over towards where Bear and Tessa were loudly having their discussion.
“That’s Scissors,” Keys informed Tally. “She’s marrying Sissy, Lucky’s daughter.”
Tally knew that, but still appreciated his explanation.
Scissors continued, “I ran into my fair share of Primis mercs overseas. Fucking cowboys and it was always a dick-measuring contest between them. Even if you guys show up posing as new recruits or whatever background Keys comes up with for you, they’re never going to let you wander free. There’s too much testosterone in that place as it is. But, ” she added pointedly, “if we go in, it’ll be much less suspicious.”
Tally must have missed a hand gesture, but she could infer Scissors’ meaning. She wanted the women to go in after Scar.
“I’m going too—” another voice declared, only to be interrupted again.
“Fuck no!” That was Lucky. “I am not sending my daughter?—”
“I am no longer just ‘your daughter’, Dad. I’m Scissors’ ol’ lady. You can’t stop me under your own goddamn bylaws. Only she can—and she won’t if she ever wants to have an orgasm again that’s not self-induced.”
There was a low chuckle and then what sounded like a quick kiss. “That’s my girl.”
Sissy continued, her voice a lighter tone but just as stern. “Scar is my friend , Dad. I won’t be kept out of this.”
Tally stiffened, not liking the claim Sissy had just made over Scar. Mark had many female friends, but Tally had never felt the raw jealousy over his relationships with them as she did to Sissy’s relationship with Scar.
“Motherfucker,” someone murmured.
“Steel! Put a fucking stop to this!” Tally was pretty sure that was Bear.
Rather than reply to Bear, though, Steel said, “Keys? Can you get a look inside? What do you know about their security and protocols?”
“It’s a closed system, Steel. I need to get inside to get to their systems.”
There was a low rumble of masculine voices.
“I can get him inside.” Tally did not recognize that voice.
“Are you sure?” Steel questioned. “If you’re caught?—”
“This is Scar, Steel. He’d do the same for us. Fuck, he has done the same for us. We owe him this.”
This wasn’t the first time one of them had referred to Scar with such reverence. Tally was picking up on the respect and the loyalty this club had for Scar, but there seemed to also be a distance. Like Scar was one of them, but also not. She didn’t understand it and now wasn’t the time to question it.
“Keys, get ready to roll out. Ghost will get you where you need to go.”
She felt Keys nod, but Tally also heard him grumble under his breath, “I don’t need a fucking bodyguard.” Making him definitely sound like the baby of a family.
“Once Keys is inside, we’ll come up with a plan,” Steel announced loudly to the group. “ But ,” he said sternly, “I am not ruling out the women going.” He cut off the immediate protests with a loud whistle. “Angel and Scissors have just as much experience as any of us. As for Tessa, I agree that sending a doctor in is best. We don’t know what condition he’ll be in. We don’t know why Primis has him or why Alpha wants him?—”
“I think I know.” The room seemed to pause again as Tally sensed all eyes turned to Keys, who was still sitting next to her. She heard him clear his throat and felt him push his glasses up his nose again, like he was nervous. “I’ve been doing a lot of research into Scar after learning his name in April. Bulldog, are you aware of what happened to him in Afghanistan?”
“I know some,” Bulldog answered gruffly. “No one knows all except Scar, and he wasn’t talking.”
“Scar was Delta Force,” Keys told the room. “For those of you who haven’t seen the Chuck Norris movie, they’re the Army’s elite, the best of the best. They have a ninety percent washout rate during training. His entire team was held captive in Afghanistan for nearly three weeks. Scar was the team’s only survivor. He was taken from Afghanistan to Germany, where he went through extensive reconstructive surgery and therapy. He received his medical discharge and then disappeared for nearly two and a half years before Bulldog brought him to Mount Grove to join up with the club. So, I’ve been questioning, where was he for those thirty months?
“After Tally told us that her father took Scar, I started looking through where Alpha was around the time of Scar’s hospitalization.”
“Let me guess,” Bulldog said dryly. “He was in Germany.”
“Winner-winner,” Keys answered without humor. “What are the odds that less than two months later Primis made a big stink in Afghanistan and that exact same mountain was destroyed?”
“Holy fuck,” someone breathed.
Bulldog’s voice was pained as he said, “You think Scar signed on with Primis.”
Keys shifted uncomfortably next to Tally on the couch. “It’s not like I found a contract, but yeah. There’s more. I mean, nothing I want to go into now,” he added evasively, “but I have a pretty good idea. What would you have done if the devil showed up at your hospital bed offering you the chance for vengeance in place of your soul?”
Throughout the entire exchange, Tally listened silently. She was learning so much about Scar, but she also had more questions now too. What did Keys mean that he hadn’t known Scar’s name until April?
Her heart broke at what Scar had suffered through, and Tally now knew where the scars on his face and neck had come from. She couldn’t even imagine. And to top it all off, Tally didn’t flinch when Keys referred to her father as ‘the devil’.
“We all know the rumors.” That was the man who had volunteered to take Keys into Primis Headquarters. Ghost, she was pretty sure. His voice was low, like he hated what he was about to say. “War is profitable, and Primis cashed in. They shot first, never asked questions, and left a lot of blood in their wake. Scar would have been in a very dark place after what happened to him. Hell, he probably still carries that darkness with him every damn day. Before any of you start judging him, put yourselves in his shoes. His entire team , his brothers , had just been murdered, and he was the only one to walk away. Think what you would do if something happened to the rest of us and you were the only one left standing. I, for one, would have felt like I didn’t have a soul left to bargain with, therefore the devil could take it so long as I had my vengeance.”
A sniffle sounded.
Tally felt a tear fall down her own cheek and she quickly wiped it away.
“Steel,” Lucky said between gritted teeth. “What if Scar didn’t finish his agreement? What if he left and Alpha has been looking for him all this time?”
Someone cursed, but it was muffled, like their hand was raised to their mouth. It wasn’t until he continued that Tally recognized Bulldog’s voice. “The river. They pulled him from the river. That’s why we never found him.”
“But he was shot!” someone else said. “How could he have survived the fall in the first place?”
“It’s possible,” Tessa said carefully. “The mountain runoff would still have been extremely cold that time of year. I mean, it would have taken a number of miracles and the right conditions, but it’s possible.”
“Then he’s been with Primis all this time?” Sissy asked. “We thought he was dead and Primis has been holding him captive?”
“It couldn’t have been the whole time,” Scissors reminded her fiancée. “He’s been with Tally for a month.”
“Well, that would explain these pictures,” Keys added. “I’m assuming this is your apartment?”
Tally waved her hand in front of her face. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen my apartment.”
“Oh shit,” embarrassment radiated off of the young man. “I am so sorry!”
“It’s fine,” Tally smiled at him, feeling bad she’d embarrassed him. “I was kidding. But honestly, you’re going to have to ask Simone.”
Tally heard a door open and then Simone come out of the kitchen. Tally wondered if Jenna had taken her in there to keep her from hearing the nitty-gritty of the conversation the club was having. It certainly wasn’t a legal conversation.
After a quick word with Tally, Simone looked at whatever was on Keys’ computer and confirmed that the pictures were of Tally’s apartment.
Tally’s stomach rolled. “He was taking pictures of me?”
“No,” Keys argued. “The pictures of your apartment are the only ones on his camera. There’s none of you.”
Something slammed by the bar. Tally jumped.
“Motherfucker!” Bulldog roared. “What is the one thing, the one fucking thing , that would keep Scar away? What has kept him away since the day he turned in his fucking cut and walked out that fucking door!”
Keys shifted uncomfortably as someone else sighed.
Finally, Steel said, “Protecting us. If Primis learned where he was and pulled him from the river, then they also know about us.”
“That motherfucking warmonger threatened us to make Scar behave!” Bulldog roared.
Tally flinched at Bulldog’s description of her father. She was desperately hoping that Keys and the VDMC were wrong and her family’s money wasn’t blood money .
“And if Alpha threatened Scar’s family,” Bear continued, “then Scar would threaten his . Only…” his voice trailed off.
Tally’s mind and heart felt like they were spinning in opposite directions. This , this was why he’d come to Atlanta. This was why he’d stayed with her. Her father had been right: Scar had been there to harm her.
Except, he hadn’t. Hell, he hadn’t even taken pictures of her. And what harm were pictures? Other than proof that Scar knew where Alpha’s family was?
So why hadn’t he? Why were there no pictures of her? Why hadn’t he taken a picture and vanished? She might not have even known he was there. Her echolocation didn’t have an infinite range. If he’d kept his distance, she’d have never known. And it wasn’t like he had to be in her personal bubble to take a picture of her.
He’d stayed . He’d stayed with her . Tally’s heart pounded thunderously in her chest. That had to mean something. It had to.
She was so lost in her head that it took her several long seconds to feel that everyone in the room was staring at her. Her cheeks heated. “What?”
Bulldog cleared his throat. He was closer than before, having approached her when she’d been spaced out in her thoughts. “You must truly be an extraordinary woman, Tally Meacham, to have won the heart of my best friend.” She felt something be placed over her hands on her lap and immediately recognized the warmth of Scar’s leather cut. Her fingers gripped the tough hide. “I hope you are worthy of him.”