Chapter One #2
looked at my mom.
And I hoped I never forgot.
“Who’s here?” I asked.
“Kane Allen and his old lady,” she said softly.
Damn.
“And also, um, his lieutenant and his old lady,”
she went on.
Damn!
Shy was his lieutenant.
I’d run into Shy and Tabby in a mall not long after he’d
dumped me. I was now over him and not just because I had no choice since he was
not only married to Tab, they also had a baby, but because I just was.
And now I was even more because I’d figured out I wasn’t
over Shy because I’d had Beck.
But because I’d wanted Snapper.
“I don’t want to see them,” I told my mom.
“It’s Hopper Kincaid, not the other one,” she replied
quickly.
Well, at least Shy and Tabby didn’t march their way to my
mother’s house to do whatever Kane “Tack” Allen and Hop Kincaid were there to
do, this after the guy who came next when Shy was done with me got done
with me.
“I still don’t want to see them,” I said.
“Honey, they…” She looked down the hall then back to me. “I
don’t think it’s a good idea to refuse an audience with Kane Allen.”
She was right.
The Chaos Club had left their outlaw ways behind and was now
clean, but that didn’t mean the brothers were men you trifled with. And of all
of them, you didn’t trifle with Kane Allen.
It wasn’t just in the physical (though he was physically
intimidating). It was that the man was known to be killer smart. If he
perceived a slight and wanted to act on it, that could come in so many
different ways, none of them pleasant, it wasn’t funny.
“Right,” I muttered to Mom, then, being careful with my body
because other parts might be healing, but my ribs still hurt like hell, I
rounded her and walked stiffly down the hall, feeling her at my heels.
And there they were. Two fabulously handsome brothers of
Chaos—Tack Allen and Hop Kincaid. They were older, sure, but they were still
crazy-hot.
They were also, right then, the instant their eyes touched
on me, crazy-freaky-scary.
It was not unknown in the Denver biker world that Chaos took
the mistreatment of women seriously, as in, they seriously one hundred percent
did not like it (one of the reasons why I used to hang at their Compound a lot,
where I’d met Shy).
Now I was getting a dose of that in my mom’s living room.
As the keeper of a vagina, I had to admit, it was cool.
That didn’t make it less crazy-freaky-scary.
To avoid the crazy-freaky-scary, I looked to the women with
them.
Tack had had Tyra when I was with Shy. She was gorgeous,
curvy, and had deep-red, beautiful hair.
The tall, slim, beautiful brunette with Hop was familiar,
but for Hop, as far as I knew, she was new.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“How you doin’, darlin’?” Tack
asked.
“Healing. Good. Thanks for checking but it wasn’t necessary.
Every day it gets better and soon I’ll be back to new,” I answered.
Or new with scars, so a new kind of new.
“That’s good,” he muttered, staring intently at me.
“So, well…” I hesitated because I didn’t want to say what I
said next but I’d grown up around clubs, I knew the drill, and respect needed
to be shown. “Do you all want something to drink or something?”
“We’re here to share that we’ve got your place sorted out,”
Tyra spoke up.
“I…” That threw me. “Sorry?”
“Throttle’s still in the hospital,” Hop’s deep voice sounded
and I looked to him. “He’s being released today into police custody.”
I’d heard about my ex-man, this coming from the police who
were keeping me informed about my situation. Thus I knew, before the cops got
to him, someone had carved into his face with a blade.
My guess, Hound. I’d heard rumors when he went to work he
didn’t mess around.
I had mixed feelings about this.
As a human being, I did not condone slicing someone’s face
with a knife.
As the woman who’d been strangled and beaten by her
boyfriend only to be turned over to all his friends to have a go, it didn’t
bother me all that much.
“Doesn’t matter,” Hop went on. “We figure you wouldn’t want
to go back there so the boys went and got your shit, moved it into a new pad.
It’s Chaos. We’ve had it secured. The women have sorted your things. So you’re
good to move in whenever you’re healed up.”
As he finished, Tack walked to me, lifting his hand.
Dumbly, I lifted mine too and he dropped a key ring in it
with a number of keys on it.
I stared at the keys in my palm as my mom asked, “How is it
secured?”
“Security system,” Tack answered. “Doors, windows, garage.
Direct dispatch callout if breached. When you go in, the garage door openers
are on the kitchen counter.”
I looked to him then I turned to my mother.
The relief was practically glowing a golden aura around her
body.
Damn.
“The system is top of the line and those Bounty boys broke
their bond agreements so they won’t be let out prior to their hearing, and now
most of them will be standing trial for more than just the runs they were
making,” Tack continued. I looked back to him to see his attention directed at
Mom. “Still, we’re not takin’ any chances,” his eyes came to me, “so we’ll
continue to have a brother on you.”
Okay.
That wasn’t happening.
“That isn’t necessary,” I murmured.
“We’ll agree to disagree on that,” he returned firmly.
That meant: You’re moving into the space we’re offering you
and accepting our protection and there will be no discussion on either.
I, however, was feeling a discussion was necessary.
“Mr. Allen—” I started.
“I’m Tack to you, darlin’,” he cut me off, now speaking
gently. “Always have been, nothin’s changed that.”
I stared him right in the eye.
“Mr. Allen,” I repeated resolutely, watched his jewel-blue
eyes flash and his mouth set tight but I didn’t care, and this time he didn’t
interrupt me. “I’m sure you can imagine that I’m keen to move on from all
that’s happened and I appreciate your concern. But if you’ll tell me where you
took my stuff, Mom and I’ll go get it. I’m not Chaos’s problem anymore.”
“’Fraid at this point that’s not
something that’s ever gonna change,” he replied. “Not
that you’re a problem, sweetheart. Just that you’re ours and we take care of
our own.”
That felt good but I couldn’t let it feel good.
So I didn’t.
“I appreciate your loyalty but what I’m trying to
communicate is that I’m out.”
“Rosalie,” Hop said in a quiet tone, “you know, honey, once
you’re in there’s never an out.”
I’d hoped for that…once.
I’d hoped to be a part of their family and never let go.
But I didn’t get it.
And now I didn’t want it.
(Okay, so I was just telling myself that but I hoped to get
in that mindset in, say, five days to fifteen years.)
“I’ve never been in,” I returned.
“Sweetheart.” It was now Tack who was giving me the quiet.
“You’re Chaos and you know it. You know how you are. But I’m guessin’ you know how deep that goes now, am I right?”
“Because I put my neck out for you and nearly got it wrung?” I asked, watching some of the crazy-freaky-scary
come back at a reminder of what happened to me.
“There’s that and there’s more, and I ’spect
if you don’t know what that more is now, it won’t be long before you find out,”
he answered.
That was definitely not going to happen.
I opened my mouth to share that when Tyra stepped forward.
“Kane, why don’t you and Hop step outside?” she suggested.
He turned his head toward his woman. “We’re not steppin’ outside.”
“Okay then.” She gave in immediately, but didn’t give up.
“How about you back off?”
“Red—” he began.
“Tack, let me,” she whispered.
He studied her.
Then he backed off.
She came closer to me and the brunette approached with her.
Mom got closer to my side.
When she did, that was when I wanted to cry.
We’d lost Dad three years ago and I, honest to God, to that
day, did not know how either of us had survived it.
But I knew there’d come a time, and I prayed it would be far
in the future, when I’d face a world without my mother in it and I didn’t know
how I’d manage it.
“Hey, Rosalie,” Tyra greeted like she’d just walked in.
“Tyra,” I replied.
She tipped her head toward the brunette. “You remember
Lanie?”
Right, yes, I remembered then. Her name was Lanie and she
was Tyra’s best friend, now Hop’s old lady.
I checked out the other woman and noted again she was
incredibly beautiful and had my body structure, with more length and less
breast tissue.
“Yeah, I saw you around the Compound,” I said, then gave her
a “Hey.”
“Hi, Rosalie,” she responded on a small smile. “Nice to
officially meet you.”
I nodded and gestured to my side. “Did you guys meet my
mom?”
“Yes,” Tyra answered. “We introduced ourselves when we came
in.”
“Great,” I said, not meaning it, and that sounded in the
word.
“I think I need to explain something to you,” she declared.
“I’m not sure you do,” I retorted.
Mom got closer and linked her pinkie with mine.
I held on tight.
Tyra kept talking like I hadn’t.
“They’re feeling this.”
Damn it.
Now I was getting mad.
“They are?” I asked sarcastically.
“They made you a promise and they didn’t keep it,” she
pointed out.
“I made my own decisions and I knew the consequences,” I
returned.
She kept on her bent.
“They are not men who don’t keep promises.”
I shut up in order to let her finish so this could be done.
“They need to keep that promise now, Rosalie. They need to
look out for you,” she shared.
“And what if I don’t want them to look out for me?” I asked.
She gave me an amused smile, a short shake of her head, and
replied, “That doesn’t factor.”
I stared at her. “That’s crazy.”
She then gave a slight shrug. “That’s Chaos.”
Okay, I was fed up with this.
“Listen, the police are involved,” I informed her, though I
knew she knew. “I’m done with Throttle. Throttle is way done with me.
They meted out their brand of justice. I contacted the authorities to mete out
mine. I don’t know if there’s anything more to play out but that doesn’t matter
for you guys. Chaos has no part in this anymore. When Throttle took me to his