The girl at the reception desk is frozen in fear but when I straighten up she squeals and bolts out the back, brushing past Kyle as he walks through to figure out what the fuck has happened to his store.
I’m a little more pissed about this than I thought because I have him pinned to the wall by his throat before he can blink.
Rue follows me through the hole and says, “Put the guy down, Tomi. You really wanna spend the night in lock-up because you can’t control your temper?”
Without a fucking doubt, I’d do hard time right now if push comes to shove because I’m not fucking leaving without getting this fucking fixed.
“This ain’t about my temper, this is about respect.”
Kyle tries to speak but my hand is tight and he has no fucking air for words right now.
Rue scowls and stomps over to us. “What about respect? What’d you do, asshole?”
“He’s refusing to do Angel’s carpets. Thinks he’s too fucking good to do work for my girl, made her feel like shit in my fucking town. I think he deserves a helluva lot more than a broken fucking window.”
Kyle forces some words outta his mouth, the stream of them like a wheeze, “Look man, my momma took over running the office because Georgia’s been off with the baby. I didn’t know she cancelled your girl’s appointment, I’d never let that shit fly.”
My hands loosen just enough around his throat so he can breathe a little easier and he takes some deep, gulping breaths.
“I’ll look up what she was after and head over there right now with my boys, get the job done this morning. The club has always done right by us, I don’t want no trouble.”
That’s the answer I’m looking for but I don’t feel any fucking better about it, not without being able to really beat the fuck outta someone. I huff out a breath and let him go, watching as he collects himself.
“You tell your momma she so much as side eyes my girl on the street and she’s dead, woman or not. I’m not fucking around.”
Kyle gulps and nods, rubbing at his throat and scurrying off.
Rue huffs at me. “Are you gonna just beat the shit outta anyone who looks at Angel wrong from here on out?”
I shoot him a look as we both walk back through that hole. “You got a problem with that?”
He smirks back at me. “Nope. Guess you’ll just have to quit bitching about me doing the same with Poe though, won’t you?”
Asshole.
We go back to Angel’s place to start the cladding on the exterior walls while the carpets are being laid. Another perk to the place being small, it doesn’t take too much time to get the front done and when we stop for a beer it already looks a million times better.
A little home instead of a shit hole.
When we have one side done as well, we call it quits for the day and ride out to go find a new oven for the kitchen. I don’t want Angel struggling with fucking anything anymore and even though he’d rather poke his own fucking eyeballs out than pick appliances, Rue tags along to help me move shit.
I'm walking through the store when the call comes through.
Who'd have thought there were so many options when it comes to fucking ovens. I want the biggest and best for her but the kitchen is too small for that shit. Kinda narrows my options.
Rue stares at the stickers on everything like this is all fucking beyond him. The man can rebuild an engine with his eyes fucking sealed shut but looking at appliances is just too much. "You need to look at renovating her place. Stick some more bedrooms on it, bigger kitchen and a dining room."
I give him a glare. "Her house is fucking fine."
He huffs at me. "Her house is fucking impressive. I'm not knocking it, I can't fucking believe what she did. I'm just saying, Sunday nights are going to be there on the regular. We're all going to crash there too, fucking often. That's just how this shit goes so you might wanna look into expanding a bit. If she's down for that. Have you talked to her about patching yet?"
I want to so fucking bad. "Not yet. She’s only just got the house and we’re getting settled in. I'm taking my time for now."
When my phone starts ringing I don't even think about what it could be, I just scoff at the caller ID and pick up. Before I get a chance to say a goddamn word he snaps, “It’s me. Get your ass to Mugshots right the fuck now. Your woman was chased down here on foot by some cop cunt trying to touch her.”
A cop?
I leave the store at a run, Rue cursing and bolting after me without question. I doubt he knows it's Angel, probably just thinks it's something to do with the rat but I'll take the fucking backup.
I push my hog so hard I practically fucking fly to the bar. It’s a fucking good thing Coldstone is a tiny speck of a town because I’m there before my mind has even come online about what I’m gonna do to him.
I’m going to enjoy this death, replay it in my head every fucking night like a lullaby to get me to sleep.
Rue and I park on the street, just ditch our bikes and stalk down to the bar but there’s no one at the front door. Rue jerks his head at me, signaling the back alley and I nod.
My phone rings again and I curse as I look at the damn thing. Speck. His bike is here though so he must be calling for backup. "I'm here, I'll deal with him."
"Tomi?"
My heart stops in my chest at the sound of her voice. The broken, desperate, scared fucking edges to it. "Sweetness, you stay inside and stick close to Speck. You hear me? Park your ass in my booth and wait until I come get you. I'll sort him out."
"I didn't—I didn't know that you knew about him. I'm... Tomi, I'm scared."
The death I'm going to give this man… fucking biblical. "Sweetness, do as I say. Just park your ass and forget about it. I've got it all under control."
There's noises down the line and then Speck speaks. "Are you close? He's drawn a gun on Diesel and I think all hell is about to break loose out there. I've got Angel though, no matter what."
I owe him. "I'm here. Keep her safe."
He grunts and then says, "He got his hands on her before she got away. I think her wrist is broken."
I drop my phone and I move, too fucking pissed now to think clearly or form a plan beyond blood and pain and fucking rage.
I see him standing there, raging out and holding up a badge like it means something.
"I'm an officer and she's a fugitive, if you don't move I'll open fire."
"Fuck, is that him? Is that Angel's step-cunt?" Rue snarls, and I nod, way beyond the point of forming words.
This man.
This man broke her, gave her those screaming nightmares, made her flinch at my touch, scared her so bad she slept on the fucking streets for years. Put her in the types of situations that destroy little kids’ entire fucking lives and I'm going to do more than fucking kill him.
Nah. I'm going to wipe him from the face of the planet. They aren't even going to find a fucking fingernail from this cunt when I'm done.
I start towards him but he's too swept up in his own little fucking fantasy to realize I'm there until I take him to the ground. He’s a cop, or he was one, so the asshole knows how to fight but there’s no chance he could get away from me or my club right now. No fucking way.