Tuck's Wrath (5 page)

“I’m going to hunt him down, Jana,” he said in a hard, frighteningly deep voice. “I’m going to make him suffer for what he did to you.”

She stared into his eyes, at the scruff that covered his cheeks and chin, the darkness of that beard, and the fact this man was not classically handsome, but brutal and hard, and so attractive. “I slit his throat.”

He didn’t say anything at first, but she felt the lightest touch as he brushed his thumb along an area on her cheek that wasn’t marked with abuse.

“He’s dead.” Although she didn’t stick around to see the life draining from him, she knew there was no way he could have survived a cut to his jugular. The amount of blood that came from him had been astounding … real, and she knew enough about things of that nature that having that kind of blood loss would kill someone. “And I’d do it over and over until he felt the suffering I had at his hands for all these years.”

Chapter Six

Tuck stared at Jana after she spoke, wanting to hold her because she was in a lot of turmoil right now, but he kept his distance. He let go of her cheek and moved back a few inches from her, needing to breathe. Right now he was angry about the fact Lucien and the club wanted to have a meeting with him over what he did. Tuck shouldn’t even be telling Jana any of this, but he wanted her to know. He didn’t want to keep anything from her, especially not this.

“But if you came after me, why would the club be so upset?”

“Because the man I made the deal with asked for an open favor in return for his help.” He stared at the cracked and stained ceiling. This place was a piece of shit, but he rarely stayed here, and when he did it was to get some alone time. It didn’t have any warmth, no furnishing aside from the basics, and he never felt more alone than he did when he came here. But sometimes that’s what he needed. “But the favor wasn’t just something I could deliver on my own.” He looked at her again. “He wanted the club’s favor, and I guaranteed it, without asking the MC, because I
had to
have you back.”

She didn’t respond, but did exhale roughly. “I don’t know much about club politics, but I would assume that’s a bad thing you did.” She didn’t phrase it like a question.

“No. It was a pretty fucked thing to do.” He stared right in her eyes. “But I’d do it again, Jana. In a fucking heartbeat, and I wouldn’t care what the repercussions were.” He should care though, because his club was his life. But Jana was different. In the short time he’d known her she made his heart beat faster when she walked by, and had his interest piqued for no other reason than he looked at her. He wanted to know more about her, wanted to keep her close and make sure no one fucked with her.

“But why, Tuck?” She looked at him so sincerely. “Not that I don’t owe you my life, or that I’m not more grateful than you’ll ever know, but why would you risk so much for me? I’m nobody to you.”

He leaned forward and she tensed, but he also saw her breathing had changed. “It’s okay, Jana. It isn’t that kind of kiss.” He kissed her on the forehead, mindful of her wounds. “And you’re so damn wrong, Jana.” He leaned back an inch. “You’re somebody that means a great deal to me, and I’d fight until everyone that meant to hurt you was nothing but lifeless bodies at my feet.”

****

Tuck pulled his Harley beside the rows of bikes that were parked outside of the Brothers’ clubhouse. He cut the engine, removed his skullcap helmet and sunglasses, and stared at the massive building that he considered a home more than any other place in his life. It was the following day since he’d brought Jana to his place, and he knew this shit was bad.

The club would need to know where he’d gone to get the info to find Jana, and what deal he’d made in exchange for that information. He wouldn’t lie, wouldn’t deny what he’d done or regret it. Doing what he’d done made bringing Jana home possible. She was alive, would heal at his place, and when she was well enough and wanted to come back to be with her son … to be with
him
, too, then he’d help her in any way that she needed.

Tuck couldn’t just let her walk away, not now, and he knew not ever. He didn’t even try to realize why he felt like this for her, and didn’t want to rationalize how crazy this might seem to some. He just didn’t give two fucks about what anyone thought, and had no qualms about making that known.

He climbed off his bike and headed inside. The inside of the club was dead, silent, but he saw the meeting room door open, and could see the members sitting around the table through the open doorway. Making his way, past the bar, and glancing to the side to see Tatum standing in the doorway that led to the kitchen, he wondered how much the den mother of the club knew. It didn’t matter to him, but the sympathetic look told him she’d probably heard a hell of a lot.

When he stepped into the meeting room everyone looked at him. The expressions on the faces of the men he considered brothers and family were intense, and a little hesitant. Hell, even Lucien wore an expression that said shit was real, and probably wouldn’t end well.

“Sit down, Tuck,” Lucien said, and gestured for the seat off to the side.

When Tuck was sitting down he leaned back in the chair, felt calm, collected, and knew that whatever was brought up today, whatever decision would be made, would have been worth it. He may love this club, be willing to die for it, draw blood, and even kill to make it safe, but having Jana taken away, and thrust into a life that would have been worse than death, had had everything else freezing inside of Tuck until he’d made sure she was safe.

“You know why you’re here?” Lucien said.

Tuck nodded.

“We want to hear the whole story, because what you told us on the phone didn’t give us nearly enough information, Tuck.”

Lucien stared at him, leaned back in the seat, and the room grew even more silent. He’d only been brief on the phone when he’d initially spoken with Lucien. Then Pierce had called him, clear worry in the newly patched-in member’s voice.

Tuck breathed out, scratched at his cheek, and leaned forward to brace his arms on the table. “I will start off by saying this club is in my blood, and you’re all my family.” The room was still silent. “But I’d do what I did again if it meant bringing Jana home.”

“Brother, just start from the beginning,” Malice said.

“My past isn’t a mystery to any of you. You know I grew up in a crack house, knew I was a heroin addict for a lot of years. But ever since this club came into my life it’s all I’ve ever wanted, all I’ve thought about. I’d die for this club, for every single one of you, but there is something about Jana I can’t deny.”

“You don’t even know her, man,” Malice said. “She’s not your old lady.”

He stared at the other man, anger simmering beneath the surface. “And you knew Adrianna so well?” Tuck wasn’t about to let Malice fuck with him, not when the Sergeant at Arms had claimed a woman he didn’t even know, and one that had been damaged.

“Before you respond to that, Malice, let’s just get this fucking conversation going. I want to get out of here and spend the day with my old lady,” Lucien said, and gave a hard look to Tuck.

“I want Jana, and I’m not about to apologize for that fact. I shouldn’t have gone rogue like that, I admit that, but sitting around and wait for something to fall in our lap was not something I was willing to do.”

“Tuck, man, you should have waited, or at least spoken with us on what you wanted to do. Jana is protected by the club, and we would have helped,” Kink said.

Tuck knew that, of course, but he hadn’t been thinking clearly. He exhaled loudly.

“Who did you go to get the information to find Jana, and what deal did you make?” Lucien asked with a hard tone.

Tuck stayed silent a moment, thinking about how to proceed with caution here. This was serious shit, and he knew that. “I went to see M.”

There was a collective murmur and groan from the men around the table.

“Tuck, fucking hell, man,” Lucien said and leaned his forearms on the table. “You went to see the one person you swore you’d never visit again, the one person that had your life all screwed up all those years ago?”

Tuck ran a hand over his hair and tugged at the man bun at the back of his head. “I didn’t have any other options.”

Lucien slammed his fist down on the table, jarring the wood. “You have
us
, brother,” Lucien all but roared out.

Tuck didn’t flinch, didn’t even move. Yeah, their president was pissed, but Tuck had done what he needed to do, and he wasn’t about to be fucking intimidated … not about this.

“Just tell us what happened,” Kink said this time.

“I went to M, made a deal with him that the club would do a favor in exchange for him helping me find Jana.” He looked at all the men at the table, and their expressions were the same: unwavering. “I showed him the picture of Jana that Bobbie had given us, and after a couple of hours he got in contact with some sex-traffickers he knew that were about to make a run. Long story short, one of them had seen Jana there the previous night.”

“And he asked for a club favor,” Rook said without question.

“You offered a club favor for that lowlife motherfucker?” Lucien asked incredulously. “You know the kind of people M runs with, know the favors he might bring up to the club.”

Tuck nodded.

“It wasn’t your call to make, Tuck. You had no authority to give a club favor without speaking to us first,” Kink said.

“I know, but I had to do something. We would have never found her on our own, and if by some miracle we did it would have been too late. They were getting ready to ship the girls off that night.” Tuck shook his head. “I couldn’t just sit back and hope things worked out, and by the time I told all of you and we went after her it might have been too late.”

“I can see where you’re coming from, but you fucked up, man,” Lucien said and leaned back. “You went rogue, didn’t let the club know what the hell was going on, and made a deal
concerning
the club, with a fucking piece of shit asshole. And you haven’t claimed Jana, Tuck.” Lucien sounded angrier now. “We all know the reputation of M.”

“I don’t,” Pierce said, the youngest club member and the one that didn’t seem as dark and hard, but he was definitely just as dangerous as the rest of the group, for sure.

They all stared at him.

“M is a lowlife piece of shit that resides in a crappy little fucking town a few hours from here.” Kink was the one that answered.

“It’s known for its drugs, pussy for sale, and overall disgusting atmosphere,” Cain said. “M deals in drugs, pussy, guns, even dabbles in human sex-trafficking.”

“Shit,” Pierce said.

“He’s a motherfucker that should have been put down a long time ago, but the truth is, for how shitty he is, he has a lot of connections, and a contract out that if anyone ends his life there will be a large wad of cash to kill off his murderer.” Cain leaned back in the chair and crossed his big tattooed arms over his chest. “To say that doesn’t put a little bit of fear in the men that want him dead is a big understatement.”

“Because he helped Tuck out means he’ll be hitting us up for something that may be way out of left field and something the club won’t touch, but denying a favor after he helped Tuck out could bring trouble down on our heads,” Malice said, and glanced at Tuck.

“But if he has all of these connections why use the club?” Pierce asked.

“Because he can, and he knows using us will make shit bad for the MC. He’s doing it to keep his hands clean, and because it won’t cost him anything,” Tuck said, hating that he’d put everyone in this situation, but also feeling deeply for Jana. He really would have done this for her again and again if the time called for it.

“I knew what I did would have blowback, and I was going to tell you, but I stand by my decision, and whatever you decide as well.” He looked at each of the members. Pierce was the only on that looked a little uncomfortable with the whole situation, but this was the first real meeting concerning shit like this that the newest member had dealt with.

“We all understand why you did what you did, and we commend you for wanting to handle shit, but, brother, this went way over the line and crossed into betrayal,” Lucien said.

It may not have been the kind of betrayal most people thought of, but it was betrayal nonetheless. Even if Tuck had agreed to do the favor for M instead of the club, the fact was the same. He’d fucked up and put his club and everyone associated with it in danger.

“And I stand by the decision of the club, whatever that may be.” Tuck looked at everyone again, the men, family, brothers he’d give his life for.

“You know we have to vote on this.”

Tuck nodded. Yeah, this was serious, and that meant one of two things, they’d either vote on Tuck being laid out permanently because he’d betrayed the club, or he’d be cut from the club, and all relations and tied would be severed.

“I can say that laying Tuck out isn’t the route I want to go, and I think that if everyone is in agreement with that we can clarify it in Tuck’s presence,” Lucien said. There was a unanimous agreement.

Tuck breathed out, not realizing that there had been this tension in him over that. It was a reality he’d understood when he signed up with the club and gave his blood and sweat to be a member.

“But there needs to be a vote on letting you go as a Brother, man.” Lucien sounded calmer this time, if a bit disconnected.

“I understand.” Tuck slowly stood and took off his cut, setting it on the table and smoothing his hands over it. He looked down at the patch on the back, at the phoenix, the bike, the entire reason he was still alive now.

“Stay in town. We’ll put this to a vote after we’ve talked about it more and let you know the club’s decision.” Lucien’s words were hard to take, because the fact was this could be his last time seeing these men in this room.

Tuck nodded once more and let himself out. He shut the door behind him, breathed out, and felt this heaviness inside of him increase. Tatum stood at the bar, her hands twisting a dishtowel around furiously. This sad, worried expression was on her face.

“Don’t look at me like that, doll,” Tuck said and moved toward her.