“Lena—”
She spun around and threw the keys at his face. “Leave me alone!”
He stepped in front of her. “It’s not what you think.”
“It isn’t? Did I imagine you in my restaurant tonight? That you stood there and let that fucking bastard talk to me that way and take my money? Then you walked out and went to the next vendor.” She placed her hands on his chest and tried to push him away, but he didn’t budge an inch. “I don’t ever want to see you again. Stay away from me!”
He placed his hands on her shoulders. “I didn’t know the place was yours.”
Shoving his hands away, she stepped back, out of his reach. “That’s your explanation? It’s not only fucking stupid, it’s irrelevant. The point is, you’re taking people’s money, and you’re involved with what happened to Gus.” Gasping, she covered her face with her hands, realizing he was a part of that. “God, poor Gus. You and your dirty gang put him out of business.”
“Lena, please. I know you’re upset—”
Her hands dropped to her sides. “Upset? Upset is when I wasn’t picked for a catering gig, or when I don’t win a cooking contest. No, I’m not upset—I’m furious. I’m seething with so much anger that all I want to do is beat the shit out of you!”
Tank stepped back and put his hands on his hips. “Take a punch or two at me, I won’t stop you. I feel like shit about what happened tonight. I’m sorry I’m the cause of your pain.”
Lena glowered at him, clenching and unclenching her fists.
“You have to trust me, Lena.” He reached out to touch her cheek, but she smacked his hand away.
“I don’t have to do anything but get the hell away from you and this fucked-up town. Trust you? You don’t even know the meaning of the word. You’re a liar. I don’t even believe the thing about Quinn now. You probably had her make those calls, and you didn’t answer them. You’re despicable!”
“I already told you about Quinn. Let’s not bring old shit into this.”
“I don’t believe anything you say, so it’s best if you stop talking.”
“There was a reason for me being involved in tonight’s shakedown. I just can’t tell you.”
She looked up at the starlit sky, wishing she could beam herself up to one of the stars to get far away from everything, especially him.
“If you knew the whole story, you’d feel foolish, just like you did with Quinn.”
Her gaze snapped to his. “I thought I told you to go away.”
“Do you really want me to go?” he asked in a low voice as he pressed her against the car.
“So what’s the whole story?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“That’s convenient. If you care about me, you’ll tell me.”
“If you care about me, you won’t ask,” Tank replied. “Just know that I’m on top of it and taking care of shit—that’s all I can say.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Lena, what we feel for each other is real. I’ve never felt this way about any other woman.” He leaned in close. “I don’t want to lose you.”
Lena thrust her body against his, forcing him to take a step back. “I’ve got news for you—you’ve already lost me.”
She bent down, scooped up her keys, and opened the SUV’s door. Tank didn’t try to stop her as she got behind the wheel and started the engine. Backing out of the parking space, she sped out of the lot as tears of heartbreak slid down her face.
Tank
Ten days later
Tank finished the text to Lena, and was about to hit Send for what felt like the hundredth time since that fateful night, when the pounding of the gavel drew his eyes up. Hammer stood at the head of a conference table with Cougar at his side.
“Church is starting.”
“What the fuck happened with Flannigan?” Ice demanded.
Hammer glared at him, then slowly laid the gavel down on the table. “We’ve got an agenda here, and that’s not on it this time,” he snapped.
“Why the fuck not? It’s huge. Some of the brothers fucked-up big at the arms deal” —Ice waved his hand around the room while looking at the members— “and a lot of us here wanna find out why.”
“Flannigan’s never double-crossed the club before, so some shit must’ve gone down that we have a right to know about,” Maniac said.
“Hammer’s in charge, not you,” Cougar hissed. “So shut the fuck up.”
Maniac jumped to his feet, his face crimson, the veins at his temples visibly throbbing. “You wanna take this outside, fucker?”
Tank kneed Maniac’s leg to get his attention. When Maniac looked down at him, Tank gave him a look, as if to say that the timing wasn’t right and to cool the hell down. Breathing heavily, Maniac stood rigid, glaring at Cougar.
Hammer smirked and leaned back against the wall. After several tense seconds, Maniac, cussing under his breath, sat down.
“We still want to know what happened,” Fester chimed in. “The club goes way back with Flannigan. We started doing business with him back when Skull was prez.”
“We all know that, old man. We don’t need a fuckin’ history lesson,” Rubble grumbled, as Hammer and Cougar laughed.
Fester shook his head. “All I’m sayin’ is, a long history without no trouble means something’s fucked.”
“And it’s Flannigan,” Hammer growled.
“Then tell us what happened, because that’s not what we heard, ” Ice demanded.
“From who?” Cougar asked.
“The grapevine. The Insurgents, Angry Disciples, Grim Henchman, Skull Chasers.” Ice paused. “Do you want me to go on?”
Cougar banged his fist on the table. “Fuck them!”
“Seems like a lot of clubs—friendly and rival—are sayin’ we fucked this up. So, for the last time, what the hell went down?”
Most of the pro-Raptor members lifted their fists in the air to show solidarity with Ice. And, to Tank’s surprise, a few members who were staunch Hammer supporters joined in.
This fuck-up may be the break we need to take Hammer down. Tank looked down at his phone and hit the Send button, knowing Lena wouldn’t respond. He’d been sending her texts and calling her ever since that night at her restaurant. It had been the biggest shock of his life. He understood where she was coming from, and he probably would’ve reacted the same as her if the tables were turned. It killed him that he couldn’t tell her what was going on, but it was club business.
“Are we interrupting your social hour?”
Tank glanced up and slipped the phone into his cut’s pocket. “Not really,” he replied, meeting Hammer’s glare.
“You’ve been a nomad for too long—no fuckin’ phones are allowed in church.”
“I missed the memo.”
Cougar snorted. “It’s always been that way.”
What a dumb fuck. He doesn’t even know I’m messing with them.