The room was rounded out with his son, Rush, as well as Boz, Hound, Speck.
And Joker.
“Where is she?” Joker clipped.
Tyra looked to Joker as she moved to her husband in his seat at the head of the table. Joker had been pacing under the watchful eyes of his brothers. Now he’d stopped, legs locked and planted wide, hands to his hips, secrets still behind his eyes, dark at the surface nearing to black.
But that black could disintegrate in a second. Tack knew it.
It would not ice over.
It would blaze hot in a way that could consume them all.
But especially a girl named Carissa.
Tack knew the minute he saw her that she wasn’t just a girl in a cute dress with shoes that were as sexy as they were ridiculous that Joker helped change a tire.
This girl was something else.
“Elvira’s taking her home,” Tyra told Joker and looked back to Tack. “Hawk let her have the afternoon off. She’s staying with her. Lanie took Nash and went back to work. She and I are going over to Carissa’s after to hang with her and Elvira.”
Tack nodded.
Tyra hefted her round ass in its tight skirt up on the table by his side and twisted her torso to the room but kept her eyes locked to her man.
He read them before she spoke. She’d been his woman a long time. She’d given him two sons. She’d given him a multitude of phenomenal orgasms. She’d given him her love. She’d given him redemption. She’d told him he turned her world to color. She made his life complete.
“Lenny wouldn’t let her back on the road in that car,” she said to Tack quietly, but the room could hear. “He said it’s a heap. Tack, honey, Lenny says it’ll take nearly four thousand dollars’ worth of parts and labor to make it safe.”
“Do it,” he said shortly.
“That car isn’t worth that,” she replied.
“She gonna take a free car from us?” he asked.
“Not likely,” she answered.
“Tell Lenny to do it.”
Her lips curved up.
He knew what that meant. It meant he’d get her appreciation for his kindness for a girl he didn’t know later.
He didn’t do it for that.
But he was looking forward to it.
“What does get down on her knees mean?” Joker asked, and Red twisted to him as Tack lifted his eyes to his brother. “She tell you that?”
When his wife didn’t answer, Tack glanced at her to see her looking at Hop and Boz.
They were closest to Joker.
It was a warning.
Tack came alert.
She gave her attention to Joker. “She was really upset, Joker. She shared a great deal.”
“She share that?” Joker bit off.
“Yes,” Tyra said quietly.
“And?” Joker prompted.
“Brother—” Hop started, beginning to unfold his body from his chair.
“And?” Joker barked, his focus on Red.
“Her ex-husband is fond of filing motions. As part of these motions, and him winning them, it means she doesn’t receive child support regardless that his income is more than triple hers. Therefore, she’s no longer able to pay an attorney’s fees,” Tyra answered.
“That isn’t answering my question, Cherry,” Joker said like a warning.
Tyra’s best girl, his daughter, some of her family, and many of her friends called his woman Ty-Ty. He called her Red. His brothers called her Cherry.
“She met one who expressed he’d like an alternate form of payment.”
Hop and Boz got close. His son, Rush, not stupid, also moved to do the same.
They did it, but they knew Joker better.
He didn’t lose it.
He got cold in the way the entire room felt a chill.
“Name,” he whispered.
Tyra looked to Tack.
Tack looked to Joker.
“She’ll give it to Boz and Hound. They’ll deal with him,” he declared.
“Oh no they won’t,” Joker replied.
“Who’s she to you?” Tack asked.
“Not your business,” Joker answered.
“Saw what I saw in my own club, Joker. Saw it, didn’t like it. No mother should go through what I witnessed today. Saw you watchin’ her go through it. Don’t get it. Who is she to you?”
“Brother, not gonna repeat myself,” Joker returned.
“We got two choices with this,” Tack shot back. “We ignore it, which means we let a brother do what he’s gotta do and not take his back, or we go all in. We go all in, we gotta know why we’re doin’ it.”
“No one’s askin’ you to go all in.”
“And you didn’t sit in this room and throw in your name to earn your patch thinkin’ you’d ever go it alone without your brothers at your back. So that means my two choices are bullshit. There’s only one. Knowin’ that, we gotta know, who is she to you?”
“No one.”
It was a lie. Everyone in the room knew it. They didn’t like it. But Joker wasn’t done.
“Went to school with her. She was a cheerleader.”
That wasn’t a surprise.
“Remember, twenty years back, the kid on her trike who got crushed by a car in her driveway?” Joker asked.
The air in the room got thin.
They remembered.
“That was her sister,” Joker finished.
“Fuck me,” Hop muttered.
“Far’s I know, lost her mother later too,” Joker went on.
“High school friend you’re lookin’ out for?” Tack asked.
“She has no clue who I am,” Joker answered.
Honey hair. Great legs. Fantastic ass. Excellent tits. Shining eyes.
Tack bet that fucking stung.
“Doesn’t remember?” Tack asked.
“Wouldn’t. And I’m glad. I’m not the kid she knew. She ain’t gonna remember either.”
That said a lot, and Tack didn’t like what it said. But he had no choice. Joker wanted that, he, nor any of the brothers, could make another play.
“Where do you want the Club to go with this?” Tack asked.
“Make sure I don’t get incarcerated after I make an attorney swallow his own balls.”
Tack clenched his teeth to stop a smile before he went on, “Which attorney?”
“Strike that. Make sure I don’t get incarcerated after I make one attorney swallow his own balls and another one do the same with his dick shoved up his ass.”
“You did either of those, her ex has the weight behind him she says he does, she could feel it,” Tack warned.
Joker’s jaw flexed.
“Lotta emotion there for a girl who doesn’t remember you,” Tack noted cautiously.
“Her sister was crushed, man,” Joker bit out, and Tack felt that. He had two young sons, a grown one and a grown daughter. He felt that deep in his gut. And he knew, God forbid, shit happened like that, his kids would feel it too. “And it’s been a long time, but none of us ever forgets that high school kids are assholes,” Joker kept at it. “The ones who aren’t are just tryin’ to make their way without sustaining too much damage. She wasn’t either of those.”
“A good girl?”
“Last person I saw in Denver before I ran away from my old man. She knew I was doin’ it. Probably knew I was underage. Definitely knew I should do it. Kissed my cheek and told me I was gonna have a beautiful life.”
There it was.
And it was more than Joker had ever given them. Out loud at least.
Joker’s voice suddenly went quiet. “I have that life. What she wanted for me. Good around me. She doesn’t. That shit ain’t right. Now, that’s all you’ll get from me, brother. She’s worth it. Carissa Teodoro doesn’t lean against a door like she held all the joy on earth in her veins and it leaked out, not without retribution. That’s what I know. That’s what I’m tellin’ you. That’s what I’m doin’. The Club is either in it wi
th me, or they’re out. But that’s what’s happening.”
He said no more.
He also didn’t wait for an answer.
He stalked out.
Tack looked to his son.
“Rush, on him,” he ordered quietly.
Rush nodded once and followed his brother.
“Baby,” Tyra whispered and Tack looked to her. “There’s a lot more to share.”
“Why am I not surprised?” he muttered.
She didn’t hesitate.
“She’s hurting, Kane. She has a full-time job, it doesn’t pay much, benefits are great, she likes where she works, but what income she has is eaten up by daycare expenses and paying off her old attorney. She’s tight with her dad but he’s in Nebraska. She won’t tell him what’s happening, is insistent he’s shielded from it, and now I have a better understanding of why.”
She paused and Tack nodded.
He understood too.
Tyra kept going, “Her friends migrated to the ex. You know she’s got a shit car. She’s also got a one bedroom apartment in a very bad part of town. And she’s convinced, and it sounds like she isn’t making things up, that her ex is carrying forward a strategy to take her son away from her and get her gone for good so he can set up house with his fiancée and forget she even existed.”
“What’s your take on this girl?” Tack asked.
“My take is, she lost a sister, a mother, her ex is fucking with her head, and she still puts on a pretty dress, walks right into a biker compound with a homemade pie and looks at Joker not like he rides astride a Harley but does it on a white horse. If she doesn’t remember who he was from high school, it doesn’t matter. She knows who he is now and went out of her way not to let him forget her. No girl dresses like that if she doesn’t hope to get attention. She likes him. He made an impression, and he did it more than just being a good guy who stopped to change her tire.”
She drew in breath.
Tack held her eyes and his silence.
She continued, “But she broke today, Tack. She is not a girl who gives a blowjob for legal services but she was going to do it. She loves her son. She’s running out of options. She’s running scared. And it’s taking everything she has to keep those pieces together so broken doesn’t become shattered.”
“I know one thing about this, Red, if they’re tight, her dad doesn’t want to be shielded. Got a baby girl. I’d wanna know. ’Spect he does too.”
“Her dad is in Nebraska looking after his mom, who’s far gone with Alzheimer’s, her grandfather has already passed, and her father doesn’t have the heart to put her in a home.”
Fuck.
“We gotta take her on,” Tack murmured.
“You don’t, Elvira’s in a snit. This guy, her ex, has been a dick for a long time. Carissa just put on her game face and ignored it. Her fail, as she calls it. Elvira doesn’t see it the same way. She’s ready to blow. And that means she’ll nag Hawk until he takes it on, and Hawk’s messy.”
Tack felt his lips curl up.
Elvira was Tyra’s girl and Hawk was Elvira’s boss. Hawk was a different kind of brother to Tack for a variety of reasons. And Hawk was a man who got things done and didn’t mind how he had to go about doing that.
Tack looked to the room.
“Boz, Hound, deal with the man who thinks coercin’ head for payment of legal fees is something he can do and convince him he’s wrong.”
Boz nodded.
Hound looked ecstatic.
Tack shook his head.
Tyra gave them the attorney’s name.
They took off.
He looked to Speck. “Go with them. Make sure Hound doesn’t kill anyone.”
Speck shot him a grin and took off.
Tack turned to Hop. “We need whatever we can get on her ex and his father.”
“They got judge friends, we got added problems to the ones we already got, Tack,” Hop warned.
“You watch that girl listen to her replacement tell her she couldn’t see her sick son?”
Hop’s jaw went hard.
“Worth it to you that doesn’t happen again?” Tack asked.
“Don’t ask that shit. You know it is. But it’s my job to point out where this Club is at,” Hop returned. “And, bottom line, brother, this shit is bigger than we think it is, it’s gotta go under the gavel.”
He was not wrong.
“I’ll find out,” Hop carried on. “Then we’ll know if we need a meet.”
Tack lifted his chin. Hop took off.
Tack looked to his wife. “Feel like talkin’ Big Petey into opening a daycare center?”
He heard her soft laughter. “He’s already got two hooligans at his informal one.”
“Pete likes babies.”
It was then, her eyes got soft and they stayed on him. “I’ll give him a call.”
She hopped off the table and he enjoyed the show. Then she bent into him to touch her mouth to his.
He liked that too, but would wait to get more later.
She strutted her ass out, and this time Tack took the time to appreciate it.
Shy moved to him and took the seat beside him to his left, where he sat at meetings, a position he’d earned fast because he was smart, loyal to his brothers, and loyal to the Chaos family.
“Tab’s friendly,” he said.
Tab was Tack’s daughter, the girl Shy had earned the hard way.
And Shy was right. Tabby was friendly and usually open to recruiting new sisters into her crew.
Tack looked at his brother and son-in-law.
“See if she’s recruiting.”
Shy nodded.
Tack looked at the door.
“Gone for her.”
That was Shy. He was talking about Joker.
He would know. He had the love of a good woman, gave that back.
Tack knew too. He had the same.
He looked back to Shy. “Before shit went down, he was set on icing her out.”
Shy held his eyes.
“Different cold wind blew, she got that call.”
Shy didn’t say a word.
“He doesn’t keep his shit, Shy, he’ll fuck things for her. And he doesn’t open his eyes and see butterflies, he’ll fuck things for him.”
“I’ll get on it with Rush.”
“Yeah.”
Shy nodded, pushed out of his chair and rounded the table behind Tack.
Tack watched the door close on him.
Then he let the thoughts in.
They didn’t need this shit.
They were at war. They were currently in détente, but that could change in a blink. Benito Valenzuela had a plan, he wanted Chaos turf, and he wasn’t going to sit on his hands for long.
They didn’t need this shit.
What’s it mean, get on your knees?
They were gonna take on this shit.
“Fuck,” he muttered, put his hands to the arms of his chair and folded out.
He had a woman and boys to feed, TV to watch, a wife to fuck, and sleep to sleep.
That was where his head was at.
Tomorrow, he’d see.
CHAPTER FOUR
Tasted as Good on His Tongue
Joker
THERE WAS NO ring. Just cement and a throng of bystanders who got out of the way whenever the fighters got too close.
Bare feet. Bare chest. Bare knuckles.
Joker hit him with a right hook but knew even before he threw the punch the guy would take it and go down.
With a jarring thud, he did.
The crowd roared.
Joker just stood there, staring down at him, taking deep breaths and flexing his fingers.
There was no referee. There was just a promoter, a sleaze named Monk who had a legal business running a local nightclub. But for this business he took bets and had a few of his bruisers act as crowd control and bouncers, ousting anyone who showed who didn’t lay down a bet.
So he waited until Monk
wandered toward him, grabbed his hand, and lifted it.
The crowd again roared.
Joker tore his hand from Monk’s, not liking the little weasel touching him, and he turned away.
He didn’t look to the cinderblock wall, where he knew Rush and Shy were leaning, watching the action through the crowd. His brothers knew he fought underground. Rush and Shy weren’t the first to come and watch him. Hound was at nearly every fight.
No. He looked to the girl he’d clocked earlier, jerked his head, and she grinned huge, immediately moving toward the door.
Then he walked to his shit, tugged on his tee, socks, and boots and grabbed his cut. He went to Monk’s boy and got his pay. He shoved the envelope in his back pocket, shrugged on his jacket, and after that, enduring claps on the back, bumps to his arms and ignoring anyone who tried to stop him, he pushed to the door and out of it.
Up the steps and into the alley.
She was at his bike.
They wouldn’t have company. He was one of the last fights of the night, but everyone stayed until the end. There was blood to be drawn. Sweat to be leaked. Money to be won. Or lost. No one would leave.
Even if there was, he didn’t give a shit. And she was a fighter groupie, she wouldn’t either.
“Hey,” she whispered when he got near and she shifted closer to his bike.
He let his lip curl and grunted. “Wall.”
She looked disappointed but he didn’t give a fuck.
She might have been disappointed but she moved right to the brick wall of the alley.
She stopped, facing him. Joker jerked his head once in a no.
He watched her face change when she understood him, not disappointment, far from it.
Then she turned to face the wall, putting her hands up to it.
He moved in behind her and yanked up her short jean skirt.
He looked down at her bare ass.
Commando.
He didn’t know that’s the way she played it, but the girl she was, he could guess.
Carissa wouldn’t go commando. Not ever.
He put Carissa out of his head and gave the girl the absolute minimum of what she needed to get her ready. He heard her greedy moan when he was done doing that and kicked her feet further apart.
She tipped her ass.
He unzipped, freed his cock, expertly dealt with the condom he pulled out of his pocket, drove in, and fucked her against the wall, barely touching her, just enough to send her over the edge.