Chapter 21
Tide
I beat the punching bag like it personally offended me.
I took care of club business, and Mylah is at work.
I’ve called the prospect more times than I care to admit, making sure everything was going smoothly.
He’s probably tired of hearing from me but I don’t give a shit.
I want to know what she’s doing, who she’s doing it with, and that nothing is going down.
I should go over there. I should show up and check for myself, but I promised her a little space, and I’m going to give that to her.
“You mad?”
“No. Frustrated,” I tell Patch when he comes to stand next to the bag.
“Well, you’re about to get mad.”
“Why is that?” I stop punching the bag and look at him.
“Beth is back.”
“What the hell does she want?”
“You. Says she knows somethin’ about Mylah goin’ missin’.” I turn on my heel quick as fuck and storm out of the weight room. I’m down the hall and standing in front of her in seconds.
“What the fuck do you know?”
“Is that any way to greet me?” She snaps at me.
“What do you know, Beth?” She smirks at me, and I lose it.
I completely lose it. I grab her, lifting her off the ground and throwing her over my shoulder before stomping toward the door.
Beth kicks and screams as I throw the door open and march down the steps.
I can hear the guys behind me probably thinking I’m going to kill the bitch. And I might. They might be right.
I’m down the stairs in record time before I drop her ass onto the chair in the middle of the room.
She tries to fight me still, but I’m stronger than she is.
I rip her clothes off while she tries to escape.
I wrap my arm around her waist and drag her back to the chair before securing her with the cuffs and rope.
Patch, Bane, Ranger and Bane all stand there watching me with their arms crossed over their chests.
“You sure about this?” Bane asks. I nod my head. I’ve had enough of her. She needs to learn a lesson, and this is the way I’m going to do it.
“What do you know, Beth?” I ask her once more. Tears leak down her cheeks as she looks at the guys and back to me.
“Fuck you.”
“You think so? You think you’re gonna march into my goddamn clubhouse claimin’ you have information on my old lady and then say nothin’? You’ll talk, Beth or this is where you’ll die.”
“You wouldn’t kill me,” she sniffles.
“I wouldn’t?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. I have no problem killing Beth. None at all. She’s been a pain in my ass since day one, and the fact that she has something to do with or knows something about Mylah being taken? Yeah, I’ll kill her.
“You can’t do this, Tide. I love you,” she cries. I walk over and pick up the knife off the table before stepping back in front of her. I press it to her chest and slowly drag it down, leaving a trail of blood behind it. She cries and screams, trying to pull her bound hands free. It does no good.
“What is wrong with you?” She screams louder this time.
“I warned you. You'd better start talkin’ before I go for that pretty face of yours next,” I warn her as I press the tip of the knife against her cheek. She squirms in the chair, but there’s nowhere for her to go.
“You’ll kill him.”
“Damn right I will. Now tell me who it was!” I snap at her. She flinches from my tone and slinks back in the chair. When she doesn’t say anything else, I press the blade into her cheek and slowly drag it, just like I did to her chest. Beth screams again.
“Stop!”
“Who was it?”
“It was Christian! Okay? It was your son! He knew what you were doing with her. You told him! He couldn’t take it, he couldn’t look at her anymore.
” I step back, knife still in hand, as I look her in the eyes.
She’s lying. She has to be. Christian wouldn’t do that.
He’s not that kind of guy. He isn’t that person. No, he wouldn’t do this.
“You little liar,” I growl.
“I’m not. He couldn’t stand it, Tide.” I glance over my shoulder at the guys, but they just shrug. They don’t know that they believe this either. I turn back to Beth when I hear the prospect hollering, and before I know what’s happening, Mylah is down the steps.
“What the hell are you doing?” She asks, looking between Beth and me.
“She knows shit. Or claims she does,” I tell her.
“I told you the truth, Tide!” Beth yells.
“You’re a fuckin’ liar, Beth. He wouldn’t do this, not to her.”
“Who?” Mylah asks, looking between the two of us once more.
“She said it was Christian.” Mylah’s face pales as she looks at me.
She shakes her head slowly before she starts to fall to the floor.
I rush toward her, grabbing her before she hits the floor.
I scoop her into my arms and hold her against me.
The guys rush over to make sure she’s okay.
I walk over and sit her on the work bench, cupping her face in my hands.
“You okay?”
“I…he did this to me?” She asks me.
“I don’t know, baby. I don’t believe much of what she says,” I tell her.
“But why would she lie?”
“I’m not lying!”
“Gag her,” I tell one of the guys. Ranger walks off, and then I hear her yelling through the gag, but my focus is on Mylah.
“I…I don’t understand, Tide.”
“I don’t think she’s tellin’ the truth, Mylah. Christian cared about you.”
“Did he, though? I mean, things weren’t great between us, Tide. Some days he acted like he didn’t even like me.”
“I don’t think he would go this far, do you?” I ask her. She shakes her head no.
“I wouldn’t think so.”
“Then it wasn’t him.” Beth continues to yell through the gag, but I ignore her.
“What if it was, Tide? You can’t kill your own son.” That came from Patch. I turn my head to look at him, an evil glint in my eye. He can see it. I could do it. I could end his life for trying to take hers.
“Wanna tell me why not?”
“He’s your son,” he says once more.
“And that means what? If he did this, he tried to have her killed, Patch. I can’t let that slide.”
“I’m not tellin’ you to either but killin’ him?”
“She could have died at Padgett’s hand. She could have been sold to someone else that would've raped and used her. Tell me again why I can’t kill that motherfucker if it was him?” I stay close to Mylah as I glare at Patch. I will do what the hell I want when it comes to Mylah. She’s mine.
“He’s your son, Tide. Think about it.”
“So that overrides the fact that she was sold?” Patch shakes his head, looking exasperated with me. I get it, I get his point but he isn’t getting mine.
“No. And I’m not sayin’ he shouldn’t pay if he did this. I’m just sayin’ maybe it shouldn’t be by your hand, brother.” I get that. I do. I nod my head and look back at Mylah. She looks sick to her stomach. I pull her head to my chest and hold her there for a long minute before she looks up at me.
“Why would he do this?”
“I don’t know. She said he hated that you were with me. I’m gonna figure this out,” I tell her.
“And if it was him?” My nostrils flare as I think about him doing this. I can’t believe he would want her harmed in that way. I can’t believe that he would do such a thing.
“Then I’ll handle him.”
“How?” She asks.
“You don’t wanna know all the details, baby. Just know that he’ll never be able to do this again.”
“You can’t kill him, Tide.” Now I step back a little and look down at her. Anger surges in my veins as I see the sympathy in her eyes. Does she feel bad for him? For a man that would have had her taken and sold?
“Don’t…just don’t.”
“He’s your son.”
“You’re mine, Mylah!”
“I know that, but he’s blood. He’s family, Tide.”
“You wanna do this now? You wanna tell me that I can’t touch him after what he did to you?
You want me to let that shit go? Let him walk free?
” My fists are balled at my sides as I look at her.
The one fucking woman that I’ve always cared about.
The one that I’ve secretly loved for far too long.
How can she say this? How can she even think this?
“I don’t know what to say, Tide.”
“Then you don’t say nothin’, Mylah. You let me handle this.”
“He’s your son for fucks sake!”
“You love him? Fuckin’ tell me the truth, Mylah. You fuckin’ love that man?” Her eyes fill with tears as she looks from me to the guys for help. She isn’t going to get any. She needs to answer my questions.
“I haven’t loved him in a long time, Tide.”
“Then what the fuck is it? Huh? What’s the goddamn problem?”
“I’m pregnant! Goddamn it, Tide. I’m fucking pregnant and I don’t know if it’s yours or his!”