Chapter 3
Tide
“It’s your son's girlfriend,” Ranger reminds me as I smell my fingers, the scent of her still lingering.
“Yeah? So?”
“So don’t you think that’s a little wrong?”
“No. He’s not hittin’ it right, Ranger. A real man needs to slide between those thighs.” Ranger chuckles as Bane and Cross shake their heads.
“Somethin’ to say?” I ask, looking between the two of them.
“Nope. You make your own choices, Tide. Just don’t fuck up your relationship with your son for some pussy,” Cross tells me.
“I won’t. And I don’t think she’s just some pussy.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think there’s more to us,” I tell them. I can feel it. I know there is. I just don’t know how all of this works. How it all plays out for us.
“You wanna claim her?” Bane blanches.
“In a way, yeah. There’s always been this tension between us. There’s always been somethin’ there.”
“It’s your son’s girlfriend, Tide.” I don’t need the reminder. I know exactly who she is.
“Thanks for lettin’ me know,” I say before bringing my beer to my lips and taking a pull.
“That could get messy.”
“It could. Or it could work out. Who the hell knows, yeah?”
“You think Christian is just gonna hand her over like a piece of mail?” Bane asks.
“I didn’t say it was gonna be easy, brother. Why are you all jumpin’ my ass anyway? I haven’t done shit but finger fuck the girl in the bathroom.”
“You did what?” Storm asks.
“You heard me. Daddy gave her a little sample,” I say with a smirk. Storm smiles and shakes his head.
“You’re crazy, brother. Just crazy.”
“You can’t tell me that if you were in my position you wouldn’t do the same.”
“You’re right. I probably would, but I’m the sick son of a bitch around here,” Storm adds.
“Well then, I guess that makes two of us. I’m not gonna stop,” I say as Storm laughs.
“Didn’t figure you would. You’re not a quitter,” he says, making me smile.
“Damn right I’m not. And this is no different. I don’t plan on stoppin’ till I have what I want.”
“Which is her.”
“Which is her. He ain’t doin’ somethin’ right brother. I mean, she let me finger fuck her. She knew what she was doin’."
“Maybe she was drunk.” Now I laugh.
“She had two shots. She wasn’t drunk. She wants me as much as I want her. Now we just sit back and wait for her to make the first move,” I tell them as I take another pull from my beer.
“You think she will?” Ranger asks.
“I know she will. Then I’m gonna fuck her until she can’t walk outta here.” The guys laugh, but I’m far from playing. She has my cock in a knot, and there’s no way that I’m letting her go any other way. I’m putting my mark on her. I’m fucking taking her and breaking her for any other men.
“I say you do what you want, but don’t forget why we’re here. We have shit to deal with,” Storm reminds me. I nod my head. I know what shit we have to deal with, and I’m ready for it. I would gladly spend another night in prison for taking down a trafficking ring.
“We have any new leads?”
“A few. One right here in Atlanta. That’s the one we’re gonna focus on. Last we heard, there’s a local MC that’s assistin’ in it. I don’t like hearin’ that.”
“I don’t either. That makes an even bigger mess,” I say as I sit back in my seat.
“Heard that. But we do what we do, yeah?”
“Damn right we do. And we do it right,” I say as the guys all agree. Trafficking is a line we don’t cross. We might do a lot of shady shit but that isn’t one of them. We’re better than that, or at least I like to think we are.
“What else is new around here?” I ask as I sit back with my beer in hand.
“Not a whole lot. Just dealin’ with shit as it comes,” Storm says.
I nod my head as I glance around the room at all the guys.
I wasn’t locked up long this time, but still, things change.
People change, and I wonder if any of my brothers are different now.
Time takes a toll on you. I know a lot of them have found new old ladies to heal those wounds for them.
It makes me wonder if Mylah is really what I need in my life.
Would it just be another complication like Christian’s mom was?
Can a woman really fix what’s broken in a man?
“What are you thinkin’ about?”
“Life. How much of it I keep missin’ when I’m locked up. I need to stay out of there,” I laugh as I look at Ranger.
“You do. And we’re gonna make sure you do this time. No unnecessary bullshit, Tide. We need you here, brother.”
I like to think that they need me, but in reality, I know that club life goes on, whether I’m here or not.
“Where the fuck is Patch anyway?”
“He’s on a call with Blue Smoke MC. They may have information we need to hit the assholes in Atlanta.”
“No shit? I didn’t think BS would help anyone,” I say. At least that’s the way it used to be.
“They didn’t. But the traffickin’ shit hit close to home for one of the members. That’s probably the only reason they’re willin’ to help us out.”
“Heard that. Which member?”
“Snake. His sister went missin’ not too long ago. From what they can gather, it was the traffickin’ ring.”
“No shit? And they haven’t moved on them themselves?”
“Nope. Not enough manpower to move on them. Not like what we have,” Storm tells me.
“Fuck, that has to feel like shit. Knowin’ one of your own is there, and there’s nothin’ you can do about it,” I say, shaking my head.
That’s what makes me glad to have a son.
He’s not a small man by any means and can handle himself if the need arises.
I made damn sure he had that in place for him.
The rest of his life? Well, that’s on him.
At first, I wanted him to be a part of this club, but the more I was around, the more I saw that he didn’t need to be.
He was better than this. He has a brighter future than what I had.
“You still don’t want Christian to patch in?” Bane asks me. I shake my head.
“No. He has a life outside this club. It’s good for him. I don’t think the man has a killer bone in his body. He didn’t get much from me in that department,” I tell him.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. He isn’t into this shit,” he adds.
“He’s good where he is. He makes a good livin’ doin’ his uptight accountantin’ shit.”
“You don’t like what he does?”
“He’s a fuckin’ accountant, Bane.”
“So he’s good with numbers. That isn’t a bad thing,” he tells me.
I shake my head. Of all the things I could have raised, he's an accountant. I’ll give him that, though.
He is good at what he does. It just surprises me that that’s what he wanted to do with his life.
How he got a girl like Mylah is beyond me. They are complete opposites.
“No. It’s not, I guess. Just wish he was more like me than his mom.”
“You seen her lately?” I shake my head.
“No. She came to visit me once. Said she heard I was locked up again and reminded me why she left me in the first place. I’m not all that sure why she came to begin with.”
“How long has it been since you saw her?”
“At least six years before that visit.”
“And Christian?”
“He talks to her off and on. They don’t have the best relationship. I don’t even know why they talk to begin with.” Just as I say that the door opens, she walks in. I can’t believe she came here. I can’t believe we were just talking about her and now here she is.
“Speak of the devil. Damn, she looks good, Tide.” That comes from Bane as he eyes her up and down.
“Never said the woman was ugly,” I tell him as Beth walks toward me. Her eyes are bright, just like they were the day she came to see me.
“Hey,” she says cheerfully as she takes the empty seat next to me.
“What are you doin’ here?”
“Heard you were out.”
“And?”
“Don’t be like that, Tide. I heard you were out and wanted to see for myself.”
“You talked to Christian.”
“He told me.”
“What are you two best friends now?” I ask her. She looks at me strangely before shaking her head.
“You know I’m trying with him.”
“You shouldn’t have left him to begin with.”
“I know I messed up, Tide, but I’m trying here.”
“And that’s what you’re doin’ here?” She shakes her head no before she sighs.
“I just wanted to see how you were.” She’s never cared before. Why now? I want to ask her, but I also don’t care. She walked away from me when Christian was little and never looked back until now. That has to mean something.
“I’m good, as you can tell. Got my brothers as always. You know the ones that don’t leave me,” I tell her. I want to pick a fight with her. I want her to leave, but there’s another part of me that wants her to stay.
“I don’t know how many times I can say sorry, Tide. Just forget it,” she says as she shoves to her feet and starts for the door. I stand quickly, grabbing her waist and spinning her to face me.
“What the hell is this, Beth?”
“It’s me trying, Tide.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little late for that?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“Tell me what you want and let’s finish this shit,” I tell her. I’m in no mood to deal with drama. I just got out, and I want to relax.
“I want you.”
Fuck me.