15. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen
Tack fixed Sophia’s coffee and picked up a couple of pastries from the box on the counter. This time, though, he’d left her a note saying where he was. He was also going to run her a bath in the en suite tub.
Once hadn’t been enough for him. He’d woken her during the night for their second time, with her on her hands and knees, which she’d been very vocal about loving.
At four a.m., she’d cuddled into him and made him hard in seconds.
He had to admit that the position he’d chosen that time was so if Lake bragged about Stinger doing her against the wall, his woman could say she’d been taken against the wall too.
At the time, he hadn’t considered it had probably been a while since she’d had sex. After the last time, he’d gotten her a warm washcloth to put against her pussy, but she’d still winced.
He might need to give her a break today, but his woman was delectable, each and every pillowy inch. Hopefully, after last night, she realized that.
He walked back into their room, carrying the tray with their coffees and pastries, setting it on the bedside table. Sophia was lying on her back with her hair spread out on her pillow. Her face was relaxed in sleep, and he couldn’t resist leaning close to place a soft kiss on her lips.
Sophia made a quiet noise, scrunching her nose. He’d love to let her sleep longer, but the list Sophia had for them to accomplish today was large.
“Babe, I have coffee and I’ll run you a bath,” he shared softly.
“Hmm,” she sighed. He’d gotten to know her pretty well and realized she didn’t function much until that first cup of caffeine hit her system.
He left the food and drink on the bedside table, heading into the bathroom to start her bath.
He found some Epsom salts in the cabinet and tossed those in.
Hopefully, they’d help her be able to do all the things she wanted to.
Once the temperature and height were where he wanted, he turned it off and went to get his woman.
He grinned because she’d turned on her side, away from the nightstand.
His woman really didn’t want to get up. He knelt beside the bed, raising her hair to trail kisses along her neck.
He tugged the sheet lower, exposing more skin to kiss.
He paused at two marks in the middle of her back between her shoulder blades.
They weren’t brand new, but with the scarring, he was guessing it had happened in the last year.
The marks were such strange shapes, and one side was deeper.
“Babe, time to get up,” he whispered against her skin.
“Hmm, do I have to?” she whined, turning toward him, her full breasts making him want to climb on top of her, but the wince she made as she turned over told him she was way too sore.
“Nope, we can stay in bed, but the list won’t accomplish itself,” he mused.
She sat up, reaching for the coffee, sipping it, but then quickly emptying the cup. Once she finished, she smiled at him, leaning forward to kiss his lips.
“Thank you for the coffee. Did you say something about a bath?” she asked.
“I did,” he replied, lifting her in his arms and carrying her through the room to the steaming bath. “I figured you might be a little sore from last night and need a soak. You get in, and I’ll get you more coffee and bring that pastry in too,” he directed.
He set her feet on the ground, waiting for her to get in.
“Okay, but I need to pee first, and you’re not staying for that. I’ll be in the tub by the time you return and thank you. Do I call you Tack or Ryder this morning?” she asked.
He cupped her face and couldn’t resist cupping her breast with his other hand. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“Oh, I think I’ll save Ryder for when we’re in bed,” she winked.
He nodded. “Back in a second.” He paused in the bathroom doorway. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but those marks were really bothering him.
“Babe?” he asked.
“What?”
“How’d you get those marks on your upper back?
Did someone do that or was it an accident?
” he asked. He turned around when she didn’t immediately answer.
She was staring at him, and he could almost see those wheels turning behind her eyes as she tried to figure out how to answer him.
From her delay, he guessed that he wasn’t going to like how she got them. He stepped closer, cupping her face.
“You can tell me anything,” he urged.
“I was debating filing for divorce, but for a couple weeks, Rufus had been nicer. He’d been hounding me to add him and Jolene to the business and household accounts, but I had a weird feeling.
I was in the barn in my overalls and a tube top because I was cleaning the stalls to be ready for a couple new animals.
He and Jolene walked in and started hounding me about the accounts again.
I told him I was busy and the subject was closed.
I turned my back and started shoveling again.
All I heard was a whoosh, and then a fiery pain spread across my back.
Before I could turn, it happened again. I dropped to the ground, dizzy and a little nauseous from it.
Jolene walked over and grabbed my hair, dragging me out of the stall, saying that I was going to sign the papers.
I’d just gotten Pudding, and he was still scared of people, but he came running out, headbutting Rufus in the crotch, then he hit Jolene in the side, knocking her over.
While they were distracted, I ran to the truck, got in, and locked it.
I stayed in there until they left. I cleaned myself up as much as I could.
I went in the house and changed clothes, grabbed my checkbook and wallet, and went to see a lawyer,” she finished.
Tack swallowed and worked to keep his cool.
“Babe, I will make sure something like that never happens to you again. I’m so sorry they betrayed your trust,” he vowed, pulling her against him and just holding her in his arms. All he wanted to do was go beat those two to a pulp, but right now, Sophia needed reassurance that she was safe.
There’d be time enough later to make his point that Sophia was off-limits in a very satisfying way.
“Love you, babe. Now, I’ll go grab your coffee because I know you’re craving that caffeine,” he pointed out, touching her nose and working on maintaining his calm demeanor when what he really wanted to do was punch his fist through the wall.
“Love you too. Now go, I really have to pee,” she muttered, motioning him toward the door.
“You got it,” he shot back, striding out of the room and down the stairs. He walked into the kitchen. Stinger and his mom were there, sipping coffee and chatting.
“What’s wrong?” Ruthy asked, standing up.
“Why?”
“You’re so angry, you’re almost vibrating. What do we need to do?” Ruthy pressed.
“Those wastes of space across the street whipped her back with something that left marks,” Tack muttered through clenched teeth.
His mom laid her hand on his arm. “We’ll make them pay.”
Tack nodded. Hell yes, they’d make them pay, but he needed a little more information into why they had terrorized Sophia.
“Make who pay?” Lake asked, walking in. “If it’s more than one person, you probably need a protein shake, Tack, because you burned a lot of calories last night.”
Tack didn’t think anything could make him smile just then, but Lake’s jealous tone did.
“Hey, I burned a lot of calories last night,” Stinger whined.
“You burned some calories,” Lake sighed.
“But when I tried to wake you because hearing Tack and Sophia going at it for the third time had me, umm, horny and hot, you bellyached that you were too tired. So nope, Tack deserves a protein shake because he gave Sophia an obviously A-plus night. B-minus or lower don’t deserve protein shakes or a chance for a repeat performance,” Lake teased.
“Oh, come on. I gave it to you against the wall like you wanted. That deserves at least an A-minus,” Stinger countered.
Tack chuckled at the two arguing on grading Stinger’s performance. He ignored them and fixed Sophia’s coffee before dropping a kiss on his mom’s head and hugging her.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, son. Oh my goodness, we have an overabundance of breakfast pastries. Maybe I should drop some at the neighbors,” Ruthy suggested.
“Mom,” Tack cautioned.
“Okay, I’ll leave them alone for now, but only because it’s your right as her man to decide the retribution. Don’t make me wait too long or…” Ruthy warned.
Tack nodded, knowing exactly what his mom was talking about.
When she and his Aunt Charlie had been left with their men dead and had to protect their children, his mom had invented Ruthless, a masked figure who exacted retribution from their enemies.
As the legend grew, his mom and aunt let anything scary be attributed to Ruthless, even if it hadn’t been.
The threat of what might happen if someone got on Ruthless’ bad side had kept the remnants of the MC safe.
His mom might be willing to wait, but her alter ego needed to exact retribution for the pain his woman had gone through.
Tack headed upstairs. He was usually pretty good at figuring out situations, but this one, with Rufus and Jolene, had him a little stumped.
He couldn’t figure out their motive or what they hoped to achieve as an endgame.
What did they want from Sophia, and the bigger question was why had they wanted access to the accounts?