Chapter 4
TATUM
“Roe, is Hyde home?” I asked my cousin forty minutes later. I’d left Parker’s home and driven to the clubhouse to look for King, but he wasn’t there. No one who knew anything was there, so I’d called Monroe to see if Hyde could tell me where King was.
“No, he’s out with King. Why?”
“I’m looking for King but can’t get him to answer his bloody phone. I also can’t get Nitro to answer his phone. Can you call Hyde and ask him to have King call me? Tell him to tell King I have information he needs today. Not tonight, today.”
“You sound frazzled. You wanna come over?”
“No, I just wanna go home, have a shower, get in the air con, and be with my man. I might just stab someone if I don’t get out of this heat.”
“Okay, yeah, don’t come here if you’re in that kind of mood. No one needs to be with you when you’re feeling murderous. I’ll call Hyde. You go home. Maybe have some Milo.”
Monroe always helped shift my shitty moods. I laughed at her Milo reference. “I’m not even sure if Milo can help me today.”
“It’s worth a shot. I’ll check in on you later to make sure prison isn’t in your future.”
“Love you, Roe.”
We ended the call and I left the clubhouse to drive home. By the time I arrived there half an hour later, after getting stuck in traffic, my tolerance for heat, people, anything, was at dangerously low levels. Today was a shitty day for the air con to die in my car.
Stomping inside, I came to a halt when I discovered Nitro’s niece, Renee, sitting on the couch, crying. Her messy hair, mascara-stained face, and slumped shoulders drew me to wrap my arms around her. “Who’s ass do I need to kick?” I asked as she clung to me and sobbed harder.
She didn’t answer me for a long while. Instead, she cried it out, not letting me go. This was unusual for Renee. She was as stubbornly independent as I was, and didn’t easily ask for help or share her burdens.
When she finally shed her last tear, she looked up and said, “Zed broke up with me last night.”
“Oh, babe,” I murmured, wiping her tears, “I’m sorry.” My heart cracked right alongside hers at this news. Zed was her first love. The guy she’d trusted enough to open up to; the guy she’d given her virginity to; the guy she’d secretly dreamed of a future with.
My words set her off again, and she buried her face in my neck as more tears fell.
I tightened my arms around her, vowing to do whatever it took to get her through this.
I remembered how broken I was after my first love trashed my heart.
And how long I’d stayed broken, especially since I didn’t have a mother who’d been there for me.
Renee had her mum, but Marilyn’s mental state was so up and down that I wasn’t sure how much support she could offer her daughter.
When Renee was able to stop her tears again, I suggested, “How about I make us a Milo and then we can talk if you want to. Or we can just sit here and think nasty thoughts about boys who break our heart.”
A small smile flittered across her face. “Can we do all that? Milo, talk, think nasty thoughts about boys. I mean, do you have stuff to do today?”
I smoothed the hair off her face that had stuck to her tears and gave her the kind of smile I wished my mother had been able to give me when I was her age and heartbroken.
“I have nothing to do today. Well, except at some point I really need a shower. And I need to get in touch with King. But other than that, we can do all those things all day if you want.” I glanced around the living room, noting the silence in the house. “Is Nitro home?”
She shook her head. “No. He wasn’t here when I got here.”
I pulled out my phone and called him again. When he again didn’t answer, I left another voicemail. “Nitro, why aren’t you answering my calls? I really need to get hold of King, so maybe you could take a minute, pick up your goddam phone, and call me back?” God. Men. Fuck.
Renee’s eyes widened. “Ah, okay, what’s going on with you? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk to Nitro like that.”
I threw the phone down and raked my fingers through my hair.
My sweaty fucking hair that I could cut off right fucking now I was that bothered by it.
“This heat is far too fucking much. And I’ve been chasing King and Nitro, and they aren’t fucking answering their phones.
” I held up my hand defensively as I heard the words coming out of my mouth.
“I know I’m being demanding, but too fucking bad. I blame Earl.”
“Who’s that?”
“You might wish you never asked me that question,” I said before launching into a fifteen-minute tirade of all the things I hated about Earl.
When I finished, she said, “Okay, go have a shower. I’ll make us Milo and one-minute banana muffins. When you’ve cooled down, I’ll tell you everything I hate about Zed.”
“And then we’ll make a plan for me to kick his ass?” I was only half joking. I knew where the little fucker lived; I’d maybe swing by and give him a piece of my mind.
She grinned. “I’m not sure how or why Nitro was so lucky to find you, but I’m glad he did. I love my mum, but you’re like my second mum, and I love you for being you. Even when you get a little too hardcore like this.”
I shrugged. “People learn how to treat us by what we allow. I’ve stopped allowing them to walk the fuck all over me, so now they don’t. And I won’t allow them to walk all over you either.”
My phone rang and I quickly snatched it up.
King.
“It’s about fucking time you called me back,” I answered the call.
“Don’t give me hell today, Tatum. I’m not in the fucking mood.” King sounded as cranky as me, but then this was standard for him.
“Good, I’m glad you’re in a mood, because I’ve got someone for you to take care of.”
“Who?”
I shared what I’d heard Earl discussing today about his plans for King. After I’d done that, I added, “Also, he’s a vile human who treats my girls like shit, and I know you’re not a fan of men who have no respect for women.”
“You got a photo of this motherfucker?”
“I can find one.”
“Send it to me. I’ll deal with him today.”
The line went dead when he disconnected the call, and as I placed my phone down, Renee said, “Earl has no idea what’s coming for him, does he?”
I turned to her with a smile. “No fucking idea.” Standing, I said, “I expect Milo when I get out of the shower, and lots of girl time.”
Her smile hit me fair in the chest, and as I walked to my bedroom, I thought about how much I loved having Renee in my life.
Kids had never been on my list of things to do in life, but I couldn’t deny the joy she brought me.
I would do whatever it took to help her through this breakup, because in the short time I’d been with Nitro, his family had become my family. And I’d do anything for my family.