Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
AYDA
The door had barely swung closed behind Drew when my anger finally flared to life inside of me.
There were a hundred things I could forgive a person for.
Hell, I’d just walked straight over the fact that Drew had almost killed a woman to punish the man who had killed Harry.
What I couldn’t forgive, move past or ignore, was the fact that Eric Tucker had used the situation to his advantage. That he’d manipulated his son.
I’d seen Eric’s face fall when he’d seen me here with Drew. I’d seen the forced smile he’d thrown at me when he’d approached, and I’d seen the tightness in his eyes when he realized I was a full part of this now… Full disclosure.
“You son of a bitch.”
Eric leaned against the railing of the porch as he pulled his riding gloves from his hands. “That in there wasn’t my idea, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me sweetheart, asshole. Don’t pretend to be innocent here. What did you think was going to happen? You and Drew would have a little secret you could keep from the rest of the club? Something to bond over so you could throw him under the bus later?”
“I know you think you have me all figured out, but you don’t, Ayda.”
“You’re right. I don’t know you, Eric. I sure as shit don’t trust you.
You have everyone else believing you were here to say goodbye to Harry, but you’re not fooling me.
” His eyes hardened just the same way Drew’s did, but I didn’t care about him.
I didn’t care what he thought of me, so I stepped right over it.
“If you were concerned about Drew and the guys you’d have been back long before now.
Where were you when Drew was in prison after Pete?
Where were you when he was almost killed inside? ”
Eric opened his mouth, surprise etched on his features.
“Yeah, I know all about that,” I confirmed, shaking my head in true disgust. “And I see that you do, too. Where were you when he was almost ripped apart in that warehouse or almost died from a fever after the fact? Where were you when he proposed to me and was almost dragged under by the Navs? You can’t tell me that you didn’t know about any of that, Eric.
I can see it in your face. Every event in Drew’s life where he could have used your guidance, you just ignored and stayed away.
Not even him almost dying brought you back.
Why now? What’s changed now? What do you want? ”
“I don’t expect you to like me. Don’t particularly care if you do. Hell, I’m even okay with the fact that my own son looks at me like he wants to chain me up and flog me for my sins most days. You have questions. That’s fair. Unfortunately, my answers aren’t available right now.”
“They aren’t available?” I asked, my tone full of sarcasm.
“That’s really convenient. You may not have instigated this shit show, but I know you had something to do with the secrecy.
I know keeping it quiet was your idea.” I laughed once, no ounce of humor in the sound.
“You don’t know your son at all, do you? ”
I rose to my feet, towering over him being two steps up. I was so confident in my distrust and dislike of this man, it gave me more power. I may not have known much about what was going down, but I knew I wouldn’t let him hurt Drew again.
“I didn’t care one way or the other whether you or the whole club knew about Helen.
” Eric tilted his head to one side, the same blue-green eyes of his son shining back at me with a special dose of Tucker arrogance.
“What I do know is that Drew called me for help, and I showed up. I’ll continue to show up while I’m in Babylon.
I’m not here to make friends. Don’t hate me because he didn’t choose to call you. ”
I laughed, my arms crossing tightly over my chest. “You think you see everything. Believe me when I say you’re not hiding shit from me, either.
I see everything you don’t want me to see.
I know you’re up to something. I know it’s not good, and I will use my last fucking breath to make sure it doesn’t come back to bite Drew or the boys in the ass. ”
“It’s a waste of time to look for dirt on a clean conscience but go right ahead.” Eric took a step up the porch, moving slowly before he took another and came closer. “Have fun with that. I’ll be helping Drew and the club in the meantime. Let me know what you find on me if you find it.”
I didn’t back down, didn’t shrink away, just narrowed my eyes, trying my hardest to reign in my personal hatred for this man who’d abandoned his son. Maybe I wanted it too much, but I just felt there was something off in my gut, I knew he was hiding something. I couldn’t be wrong about that.
“You do what you have to, and I’ll do what I have to.”
His sharp huff of laughter was enough to make me want to slap that smirk off his face, but my eyes followed him as he began to move past me. I thought he’d finished with me when he reached for the door, but then he froze and glanced over his shoulder, his eyes burning into mine.
“For what it’s worth, Ayda, I’m glad Drew has you. Drew and the boys. That club was missing a little fire.” Then Eric pushed the door open and began to make his way inside.
The moment the door closed behind him, I let my ass hit the step again and buried my head in my hands feeling more confused about the man than ever.
It felt strange to be doing something normal after an odd couple of days.
Even surrounded by my second family at Rusty’s, all I could think about was everything that had come to light in the last week.
Working seemed like a loose term considering I’d spent the last hour just staring out of the window at the front.
My hands tucked around a mug of tepid coffee as I watched traffic fly by.
It was that quiet before the storm, that hour between breakfast and lunch that always gave us a chance to clean up and reset.
“Penny for them.” Janette slid into the booth across from me, a fresh mug of coffee in her hand. She traded it out for the one in my hands with a grin and slumped on the vinyl.
“You don’t want my thoughts.” I sighed, absorbing the muted heat from the mug.
“Drew’s not…”
“No, no.” I waved one of my hands before replacing it on the mug seeking the warmth. “Things are actually pretty good. I’m just trying to puzzle things out in my head. Trying to make sense of a few things.”
“That anything to do with those two?” Janette asked, tipping her head in the direction of Tate and Libby, who were leaning across the booth looking anything but in love.
Tate was pissed, but Libby was seething.
I’d managed to stop her from going to the school again, but she spent most of the day pacing and paranoid just waiting for the time she knew he’d be leaving.
“No.” I huffed a laugh. “They have to sort that out for themselves. She’d convinced he’s been flirting with another girl, and he’s sick to his back teeth of hearing it.”
“Is he?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, Jan. He’s sixteen. Don’t they all flirt at that age?” I gazed over at Tate again, his expression filled with exasperation as he spoke animatedly with the girl he’d been in love with only last week.
“Most do.” She paused and looked over at Rusty. When I followed her gaze, he dropped his. “The old fool is worried about you.”
“Why?”
Janette chuckled, her cheeks flaring to life.
“Well, you’ve been sitting here staring out of that window like it holds the secrets to the universe.
Tate just called Libby a name I’d rather not repeat, and you completely missed it.
That normally means the distraction is a big one.
You’ve been here too long for us not to recognize the symptoms.”
“Would you believe me if I told you I was thinking about my wedding?” It was only a white lie because the thought had been there amongst the chaos that constantly circled my mind. It was usually paired with where, when and how, but it was there.
“What about it?” she asked cautiously, almost as though she was waiting for some bad news.
“Nothing in particular. Just thinking about what I want, where I want it, how I want it to go down.”
“And your conclusion?”
“Do I wear white?”
Janette’s laughter startled the only customer in the place, and it had the other occupants gazing in our direction with curiosity. Had I really been than sullen and moody? I didn’t feel like I had, but the guilt that came with the question told me that I had… at least to some extent.
“Yes, you wear white. You’ve never been married before, and it’s not like you have a child together or anything. Plus, times have changed, sweetheart. None of those old rules matter. You wear what the hell you want to wear, and if someone wants to say something about it, you send them to me.”
“I love you,” I said wearing a grin.
“You know I love you, too. Now I’ve fixed that, what else can I tackle for you?”
I shook my head and peeled my hands from the mug I was still clinging to, my aching fingers letting me know I’d been in the same position for far too long.
“How about I get you a coffee now?” I asked, slipping from the booth. “Maybe then I can break those two up and juggle a little world peace while I’m at it.”
“I have some paperwork to do, and Samantha has to go pick her kid up, so if you could man the floor, it sure would help.”
“I think I can manage that.”
Janette glanced at me as she rose from the booth, her humor more than evident. So was the relief. If I was joking with her, things couldn’t be all that bad. She knew me well enough to understand that.
For the next hour, I cleaned, refilled saltshakers and ketchup bottles, and managed to get Libby out so Tate could at least attempt to do some homework.
When the lunch crowd came in, Janette and I dealt with the rush.
It had been so long since I’d put a full day in like this that I felt exhausted when the crowd finally thinned out.
I almost groaned when the door opened again, but I quickly smiled when Howard Sutton strolled in with a petite woman with severely cut jet-black hair, pale porcelain skin, and lips so red they seemed out of place on her.
Maybe inappropriate was the better word.
When she moved to sit in a booth and pushed her blazer back, the badge on her hip gleamed in the dull light.
The last thing I wanted to do was serve the two of them.
I’d heard a couple of things about the woman.
Her tenacity was becoming renowned in The Hut.
“Hey, chief,” I sang as I approached them, resigned to the fact that I was the only one available.
“Ayda.” My name on Sutton’s lips had the woman’s head snapping in my direction, her eyes narrowing before she caught herself and smoothed her features out.
“What can I get you?”
Sutton gave me a knowing smile. “Just coffee. If I eat without the girls, they will murder me in my sleep.”
“For you?” I asked the agent who was still gawping at me. I was tempted to remind her to shut her mouth before she started catching flies.
“Same for me… Ayda,” she said, testing my name on her tongue.
I fought hard not to roll my eyes, and I walked away, purposefully passing Tate’s table as I did. The moment his eyes met mine, he knew. His attention flickered to Howard’s table, and he nodded. No Hound talk.
I pulled the order and headed back to the pair of them, sliding their coffees on the table, spinning on my heel in an attempt to make a smooth exit before I was forced to have a conversation with the woman. I wasn't fast enough.
“You’re Tucker’s old lady,” she said, her voice whiny and grating. I wasn’t sure how Sutton sat and had a full conversation with her. She was already abrasive, and she’d said a total of four words.
“It’s not a secret.”
“And you’re proud of the fact?”
“Goddammit, Winnie,” Sutton exhaled with evident frustration. Apparently, he didn’t handle it well.
“It’s okay, Howard. Let her ask her questions,” I said sweetly.
I was ready for her, everyone in the club was.
She’d driven past the gate more times than we could count.
We even had a nice shot of her on her cell phone as she passed by, setting a bad example.
“I’m very proud of my fiancé, agent. Why wouldn’t I be? ”
“Hmm. Maybe because your fiancé is a bully and a murderer?”
“You’re making quite the assumption there.”
“And you’re making a fool of yourself.”
“That’s rich coming from a grown woman who calls herself Winnie.” I raised my eyebrows waiting for her to hurl another insult in my direction, but it never came. Her cheeks just got a deeper shade of pink and her fists balled on the surface of the table.
“It’s a family name.”
I glanced at Howard, noting the pressed line of his mouth where he was trying his best not to react and shrugged.
“I didn’t ask.”
That’s when I turned and walked away. It was my first interaction with Winnie the ATF agent, but I knew it wouldn’t be my last. I could tell she was only just getting started with all of us.