None of the brothers said a word.
Hammer looked at Molly. “What happened?”
She darted her eyes back and forth from the members to Tank, her brows knitted in a frown.
“Speak up, slut,” Hammer snapped.
Molly shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“You didn’t see who Cougar was fighting with?”
“No. I was at the bar,” she mumbled.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s just a brother fighting another over shit. That’s the way it is,” Ice said.
“Yeah. You’ve had plenty of fights, so what’s the big deal?” Grid asked.
Hammer nodded. “You’re right. This isn’t my business.” Turning, he walked away.
Molly hovered over Cougar, who started to stir. She laid her head on his chest. “Baby, I was so worried.”
Tank turned to Ice and Maniac. “I’m outta here. We’ll meet up later this week.”
Maniac gave him a questioning look. “Have you talked to him?”
“Yeah. He agrees with the interim president. He’s coming back from L.A. sometime this week,” Tank replied.
Ice asked in a low voice, “The treatments?”
“Yeah.” Tank pulled the keys to his bike out of his pocket. “I’ll be in touch.” Bumping fists with his two buddies, he walked out of the clubhouse.
After stopping by his apartment to change his bloodied T-shirt and jeans, Tank pulled up in front of Sterling Rose Florist.
The sweet scent of flowers filled the shop. Tank hadn’t been in the store since his mother’s birthday the year before. She loved any kind of flowers, so when he’d started working in high school, he’d made it a point to save some money to buy an arrangement for her on her birthday. The gift had made her cry—in a good way. And ever since then, he’d bought her flowers for every year for her birthday. He’d never bought them for any of the women he’d known, not even Trish, but she’d never been the flower type of girl. When they went to their senior prom, she’d told him not to buy her a wrist corsage, but to buy her a box of fancy chocolates at See’s Candies instead.
“May I help you?” the woman behind the counter asked.
“Yeah. I’m here to buy my… uh… a friend some flowers.”
The woman beamed. “That’s so nice of you. Women love flowers. Even when they say they don’t, they do.”
The image of Trish tossing the wildflowers he’d picked for her into the trashcan flashed through his mind. It was during a weekend biking trip to the Santa Ynez Mountains in the early part of their marriage.
“Yeah, right.”
“What’s the occasion?”
“Nothing, really.”
“Maybe a thinking of you occasion?”
Tank had no idea he’d have to answer fifty question just to get a damn bouquet.
“Or a just because?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s an I screwed the fuck up occasion.”
The bright smile on the woman’s face morphed into a frown. “So you had an argument, and you want to say you’re sorry, right?”
“You got it, lady.”
She pursed her lips and opened a three-ring notebook filled with photographs of floral arrangements. “Roses are your best bet,” she said sourly.
“I want something with them. Let me see the book.”
“Please,” she huffed, turning it toward him.
“Please what?”
With a slight shake of her head, she replied, “Never mind.” She pointed to a table in the corner of the shop. “You can look at it over there, then come back here to place your order.”
“Cool.”
Fifteen minutes later, he’d found the perfect arrangement for Lena. It was simple, but elegant, with a tinge of romance running through it. He hoped she’d understand that sending her flowers was huge for him, and it meant he cared deeply for her.
He placed the notebook on the counter. “I’m done.”
“Do you know which one you want?”
“Yeah. That’s why I’m at the counter.”
“Just making conversation,” she muttered. “Which arrangement did you choose?”
Tank opened the book to the photograph that had a glass vase with five long-stemmed red roses, an oriental lily, fresh foliage, and lily grass. He tapped the photo with his index finger. “That one.”
A smile spread across her face. “Oh, that’s beautiful. I’m sure she’ll love it, and it’ll get you out of the dog house.”
“I want to send it to her business.”
“Good thinking. It’s always such a lovely surprise to get a beautiful bouquet at work.” She turned to the computer. “Would you like to add any extras, like a stuffed bear, a mylar balloon, or a box of specialty chocolates?”
“The chocolates sound good.” I need all the fuckin’ help I can get.
“Perfect. She’s a lucky lady to have such a thoughtful man. Now, let’s create an order ticket.”
A while later, Tank was on his Harley, headed out to soak in the view of the coastline while devouring a plate of fish tacos and a cold beer. As he rode toward the harbor, he missed Lena pressed against his back. He missed her laugh, her sassy comebacks, and their conversations. He also missed the way her eyes sparkled when she created a new recipe, the way she smelled, her kisses… he missed everything about her.
Gripping the handlebars, he increased his speed and let the roar of the engine drown out his thoughts.
Two days after Tank had sent the flowers to Lena, he still hadn’t heard from her. A part of him wanted to say “Fuck it,” but something deep down inside of him didn’t want that. Lena was the only woman who satisfied him in a way no other woman ever had, or ever could, and he didn’t want her to slip away. Plus, it didn’t help that his mother kept prodding him to keep working to win her back.
He wasn’t the kind of man who pursued a woman after a certain point, but with Lena, everything he did with her was a first. The fact that he could understand where she was coming from helped to keep his temper and impatience at bay. He knew he’d lost her trust that night he came in to collect the money, and he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get it back, but he had to try. If she never came around, then he’d leave her in peace and move on. But he wasn’t at that point just yet.
Trust was big in his outlaw world. It was the foundation upon which the Jagged Outlaws and other one-percenter MC clubs were based, and that was what made the current situation with Hammer so distasteful. At the end of the day, the Jagged Outlaws were going head-to-head with their own brothers. The trust they’d had in some of the members had been destroyed, and it would take a long time, if ever, to get it back.
Tank saw the irony with the problems in his biker life paralleled to the ones in his personal one. Trust took a long time to build and nurture, but it could be destroyed in a heartbeat.
The ping from his phone drew his attention. His breath caught in his chest when he clicked open the text, then released it when he saw it wasn’t from her.
Maniac: Cougar’s collecting tonight. He’s gonna mess with ur woman. He’s pissed as fuck at u. Just wanted to give u the heads-up.