Chapter Twenty-Six
SHE’D LOCKED THE fucking door.
Goddammit.
He was about to give in to the urge to boot the door in when his phone chimed.
Stop boning your woman and get your ass to work, boss!
Dammit, he was super late. Now he would have to listen to Jinx’s juvenile ribbing all damn day.
If Kelsie had wanted him to follow her, she’d have left the door open. Games weren’t her style.
Her head had to be a scrambled mess of emotions. As much as he wanted to barge in and wipe away her pain, maybe he couldn’t. She’d told him to go to work and locked him out.
Should he ignore his raging protective instincts when it came to her and respect her wishes?
Probably
Fuck.
On my way.
He fired the text back to Jinx.
He placed his palm on the door and started to speak, but the sound of the running shower would have drowned him out. Instead, he bowed his head and took a breath.
“When I get back, we’re hashing this out,” he muttered to no one. Either they’d talk, or he’d exhaust her with orgasms until she no longer had the energy to stress. Regardless, by dinner, she’d be feeling better; he’d make damn sure of it.
With every step he took, his shoulders knotted tighter and tighter. Every instinct he had screamed at him to go back and fuck her until she released all the tension and guilt she was no doubt experiencing. He tried to shove his feelings aside, but it was damn hard.
As he reached his bike, his phone chimed again. This time, the text came from Curly.
I just watched the news. We did it, brother. Take good care of your woman.
She won’t fucking let me.
With a disgruntled grunt, he stuck his phone in his back pocket and fired up his bike.
The first person he saw when he pulled up to his shop was Jinx, standing in one of the open garage bays with a wide grin. “Hey, VP,” he shouted. “Good fucking news today, huh?”
He strode toward his brother and employee. “Yeah. Great.”
“Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise?” Jinx raised a nosy eyebrow.
“Fuck off.” Ty started past him toward his office, but Jinx snagged his arm.
“Hey, I’m just fucking with you. Everything okay?”
Ty sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “I think everything happening is starting to fuck with Kelsie’s head.”
“Uh, yeah. I can imagine it would be a mind fuck. Something happen between you two?”
“Not really. She’s just shutting me out. Said she needed time alone and locked the bathroom door when she went in for a shower.”
“Ahh.” Jinx folded his massive arms across his even more massive barrel chest. “Been there.”
“So what do I do?”
Shrugging, Jinx said, “You give her the space she’s asking for. Sucks, brother, believe me, I know, but it’s what you gotta do. Hearts fly outta Kels’s eyes every time she looks at you. Don’t worry, she ain’t going anywhere. Let her process at her pace. Remember, that girl is used to being alone. Having people who care and want to manage shit for her is going to take some getting used to.”
Huh. He scratched his chin as he thought about Jinx’s words. He’d purposely not shaved because Kelsie loved the way his stubble felt on her skin, but the new growth was beginning to itch.
“When the fuck did you get so mature about this shit? I was the one who was married.”
Jinx tilted his head as he let out a loud laugh. “Yeah, and how’d that work out for you? I don’t know, brother. It’s common sense.”
“Thanks, I feel so much better now,” Ty quipped in a droll tone. Jinx, as always, with the snark.
“Nah, I’m kidding, man.” He slapped Ty on the back so hard that he nearly stumbled, and he wasn’t exactly small. “Just easier to see the right thing to do when it’s not you in the hot seat.”
“True. He returned the pat on the back. Thanks, J. Hey, do you mind getting started on the inventory? I’m gonna make a quick call.”
Jinx hoisted a ruined tire over his shoulder. “No prob. Just gonna dump this one out back, and I’ll get on it with AJ,” he said of another employee.
“Thanks.”
Ty headed for his office as Jinx walked the blown tire to the dumpster. Once a week, they were picked up for recycling, and today was that day.
When he reached his space, Ty locked the door and pulled the blinds. This would be a private conversation he didn’t want interrupted. He sat at his desk and scrolled through his contacts for the number he’d never bothered to memorize.
“Ty! To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” The sultry voice on the other end had his hackles rising with nothing more than a standard greeting. “Have you called to concede the property?”
Laughing, he leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet on his desk. He grabbed a stress ball Brooke had left him a few weeks ago and tossed it in the air. “I gather you haven’t seen the news this morning.”
“No. Why?” Her voice held a note of suspicion.
“Cuz your buddy, Lorenzo, is ruined. He doesn’t have enough money for a gumball, let alone to steal my business out from under me.”
“W-what?” she whispered.
Ty grinned as he caught and tossed the ball again. The shock in her voice was music to his ears. “You heard me.”
“I-um, I hadn’t heard anything.”
“Well, you might want to flip on your television because it’s all over the damn news. But that’s not all I called to say. Trina?”
“Yeah, Ty?”
He could practically hear her twirling her hair and plotting how to get back in his good graces. “The moment I hang up this phone, we are finished. I don’t want to see you or hear from you again. Ever.”
“Baby, you can’t mean tha—”
“Oh, but I do. You stay the fuck away from me, but you especially stay the fuck away from Kelsie.”
Trina laughed. “The child? Please, Ty, there’s no way she can give you what I can, and you know it. Remember how we used to—”
“What I remember is the relief I felt the day our divorce went through. I mean it, Trina. I’ve played nice up until now, but that’s over. You come near what’s mine, and I will bring the full power of my club down on you, and trust me, you don’t want that.”
“Ty, you don’t mean that.” She went for a verbal pout that time.
“Goodbye, Trina.”
Before his finger hit the end button, he heard a shrill, “You fucking asshole,” but the words rolled right off his back. He ended the call, set the phone on his desk, and then booted up his computer.
It”s time to get his work done. He had a woman to get back to, and he didn’t want to arrive home a minute later than he had to.
CRYING JAGS ALWAYS left her weak and exhausted—this one was no different. Add to it the mountain of guilt she had over locking Ty out of his bathroom and the complex feelings over the information she hadn’t processed from that morning, and Kelsie was a general mess. She went through the motions of dressing, styling her hair, and applying her makeup as though walking through a fog.
The drive to the community college’s administration offices in southern Tampa went by in a blur of jumbled thoughts and rampant emotions. At least she hadn’t thought to be nervous about her meeting, which was as easy as possible. She only encountered women and ended up registering for two classes this semester.
After the information in the news and the successful solo outing, Kelsie should have been on cloud nine. Instead, she was a distracted, guilt-ridden mess. She wanted Ty. She wanted him to kiss her, touch her, and help her forget her worries. She could have had all of that if she’d been smart enough to keep the bathroom door unlocked.
“Idiot,” she muttered.
Was he mad? Disappointed? Did he think she’d acted like a child?
Ugh, more insecurities to add to the pot. What did he even see in her?
“You have got to stop this shit.”
She shook her head as she reached her car parked on the street in front of the building. There she was, walking around and talking to herself like she’d lost it. Enough was enough. Moping wasn’t her style, and she hated it. She’d pull into her favorite coffee house drive-thru, grab a drink for her and Ty, then visit him at work with an apology. She could take him to his office if he resisted and try a different tactic.
A shiver of delight ran through her. Yes, that’s what she’d do. Hell, maybe she’d try getting on her knees in his office, even if coffee was enough to have him forgive her.
As she reached for the door handle, a heavy weight hit her from behind, slamming her into her car. She yelped in pain as her chin slammed into the car.
“Shut the fuck up. Not one sound.” Something hard poked into her side.
A gun?
Her knees went weak and not in the exciting way Ty made them feel.
“M-my w-wallet is in my purse. T-take it.”
A sinister laugh rang out next to her ear. “That’s not what I want from you, Kelsie Carver.”
Oh God. He knew who she was. She shook so hard that her knees bumped the car in a rhythmic thump-thump knocking almost as fast as her heart raced behind her ribs.
“Now, be a good girl and get in the car. Climb into the passenger seat. I’m driving.”
She tried to open the door, but her feet were frozen in place, and the rest of her trembled so hard she couldn’t grab hold of the door handle.
“The fuck are you waiting for.” He dug the weapon into her side until she whimpered in pain and managed to pull the car door open. The man didn’t wait for her to climb in. He shoved her hard. She fell forward, hands landing on her seat.
The guy grabbed her hips and yanked her back against an obvious erection.
Bile flooded her mouth.
No. This could not be happening to her. Not again.
Her mind started to slide away, curling in on itself the only way it knew to protect her from what was about to happen.
“I said get in the fucking car.” He released her hips and shoved her again. The bridge of her nose hit the center console, making her cry out. It hurt like hell, but the pain kicked her into gear, and she scrambled across the car into the passenger’s seat.
A second later, she got her first look at her kidnapper.
Andrew Tinsley.
She gagged.
He slammed the door, locked it, and turned to face her with the barrel of the gun no longer in her side but now pointed at her chest. “Do you have any fucking idea what you have done? Your stupid, greedy fucking father said you’d say no. He said no matter how much money he threw at you or how he tried to bribe you, you’d say no.”
To a marriage to him? It looked like her father had known one thing about her after all.
Andrew had a handsome face, but something about it had always bothered her. He had a pompous expression that never left, no matter the situation. Maybe it came from playing with diamonds in his crib and sucking on a golden pacifier as an infant. More realistically, it came from having a father who indulged his every whim and spoiled him rotten.
Literally, Andrew Tinsley had a rotten soul she wouldn’t wish on anyone.
“One more day. I needed one more day. You have no idea how much work we put into capturing you and keeping you hostage. Fucking Hell’s Handlers ruined everything. I was supposed to be the one to save you. I was supposed to be the white-fucking-knight. Not some old-ass biker who can’t get it up.”
Her brain short-circuited. “Y-you, w-what?” She stared at him, brain spiraling.
“It was a damn good plan. It fucking worked. Tear you down to nothing, then bring in the man who’d put you back together.” He pointed to himself with his free hand. “But the wrong fucking man walked in one day early.”
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
He was responsible for her kidnapping, and it sounded like her father knew too.
“I’m going to throw up.”
“Don’t you fucking dare. My fault,” he said with a sardonic laugh. “He thinks it’s my fucking fault. I’m taking all the blame.”
Who, his father?
“He cut me off. ‘If you don’t find a way to marry that bitch, you’re done,’ ” he said, doing a perfect impression of Congressman Tinsley. “Well, I’ll fucking show him. I’ll show them all.” He started her ignition without taking the gun off her. “All I have to do is get rid of one old fucking biker.”
Ty.
Andrew spoke as though he’d almost forgotten she was in the car. He muttered to himself, crazy and almost incoherent.
But then he turned to her and grinned a smile that rivaled Batman’s famed rival, The Joker. “Buckle up. Can’t lose you before we get to the tire shop.”
No.
“H-he’s not there. Ty’s not working today. I don’t know where he is.” She rushed the words out as fast as possible.
Andrew laughed. “Nice try.”
“I’m serious. Take me somewhere else. Ty doesn’t need to be involved. Just drive. I won’t put up a fight, but you have to promise to—”
“Shut the fuck up!” He whipped the gun in a backhanded motion, cracking it across her face.
Kelsie yelped and doubled over, cradling her face. The explosion of pain made her nose and eyes water. Warm wetness filled her palm, and the metallic scent of blood made her unsettled stomach lurch.
“Keep your fucking mouth shut while I drive, and if you try to jump, I’ll shoot you.”
Tears poured down her face as she straightened and huddled against the window as though she could make herself small enough that he’d forget about her.
It wasn’t the first time she’d been hit. The kidnapping he and her father had apparently planned had taken that honor, but the prior experience didn’t make this any less awful. The right side of her face ached as though she’d been stung by twenty bees at once. The skin felt stretched like an inflated balloon.
Ty was going to lose his mind when he saw the state Andrew had her in.
And to think, she’d felt a modicum of guilt for her role in her father’s financial ruin. If she’d had the morning to do over again, she’d have popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate instead of snapping at the man she loved and running off like a coward.
Familiar streets passed by as Andrew sped toward the tire shop. The scenery blurred more than usual, thanks to her swollen eye. Blood ran down her cheek and onto her shirt, but there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it short of stripping off her top to press it against the wound. She’d rather bleed out in the car than expose an inch of her bare skin to the psycho beside her.
With each mile they drew closer to the tire shop, Kelsie’s anxiety ramped up until she was once again trembling.
What the hell was he planning?
Would he hurt her to hurt Ty?
Would he hurt Ty to hurt her?
Would he shoot up the tire shop to make a point before taking off with her as his hostage again?
The horrible possibilities seemed endless, and her brain wouldn’t quit spinning up worst-case scenarios.
But then he pulled into the parking lot of Ty’s shop, and everything inside her seized. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t blink, couldn’t move. But she could scan the area for Ty, which is what she did. Back and forth across the open garage bays, she scanned and scanned but caught no sight of him.
Relief swamped her. At the very least, Andrew couldn’t lean out of the car window and shoot the man she loved.
“I’m getting out. Sit there until I come around to open your door, or I’ll shoot you through the windshield.”
While the anxiety remained, anger worked its way in as well. “What the hell do you think you’re going to do? You’re on their turf. They’ll tear you apart.”
He smiled a grin so big and evil it made her question his sanity. “You’re going to be my wife. I’m going to make sure Tyler knows you’re mine.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Her veins turned to ice.
“Now, don’t fucking move.”
She couldn’t if she wanted to. She’d frozen in place, rooted to the leather seat, paralyzed with fear of what was to come.
Andrew stomped around the car and yanked her door open before training the gun on her. “Get out.”
It was as though the words went in one ear, swam through her brain, and fell back out without registering. She blinked, unable to move a muscle to follow his command.
He reached in and grabbed a fistful of her hair with his free hand. “I said, get out,” he snarled, yanking with all his might.
Instinct had her reaching up for his hand as her legs kicked into gear, and she climbed out of the car. Once outside and standing, she caught sight of his maniacal expression.
“Get ready to see how a real man takes care of the competition.” He jammed the gun into the small of her back. “Walk!”
She stumbled forward on shaking legs with a brick of dread low in her stomach.
“Now, here’s what you’re going to say when we get in there…”
He rattled off a script that answered her previous question—Andrew Tinsley was not sane.