Page 51 of Then and Now (The Edge of Retaliation 3)
“I’m sorry,” I say, genuinely. “For everything, Tanner. I just want you to know that.”
“Know you are,” he murmurs, his voice thick. “I know you were drownin’ and scared and you thought there was never goin’ to be a time where we could be happy. I know that.”
“I wanted to be happy with you,” I whisper, my voice too tight to work. “I really truly did.”
“Yeah,” he says, “Me too.”
“Are you happy with Madeline?” I ask, my heart racing in anticipation of his answer.
He doesn’t say anything, and I wonder if he’s thinking about his answer or if he simply doesn’t want to answer. I go to prompt him when he says, in the quietest voice I’ve ever heard him use, “No.”
I feel like my heart is going to launch out of my stomach, my head spins and my hands shake. No. He said no.
Oh god.
He said no.
I don’t know what to say. I really truly don’t.
In the darkness, his hand reaches out and finds mine, and then everything just moves so effortlessly. I turn toward him, his hands go around my waist, and then I’m hauled onto his lap, my lips crushing down on his, my fingers tangled in his hair, everything in the whole world stopping for a beautiful second.
It is a feeling I’ve been craving, more than I realized.
His hands slide up my shirt, running smoothly against my skin, and our kiss deepens, he grows hard beneath me, and everything just feels … so incredibly right. I’ve missed him so much, more than he’ll ever know.
He pulls back, breaking the kiss and rasping, “I can’t. Fuck. I can’t, Callie. I’m not a cheater.”
His words feel like a slap to the face, a sting that goes deep, burning me right to my core. “Oh,” I say, climbing off his lap.
Of course he’s not the kind of man to sleep with another woman in a relationship, I wouldn’t want him to be. I respect that he’s a good type, but it doesn’t take the sting out of his words. It doesn’t make me feel any less stupid right about now. I drop my head, even though he can’t see it, and we sit in silence for a moment.
“She’s a good person,” he says. “She’s good for me. You’re …”
“I’m not,” I whisper. “I know.”
“Fuck, didn’t think you’d make this so damned hard on me, but fuck, you are.”
“I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention.”
“We should go.”
I hear him stand, and I get up, too. I exhale and follow behind him back up to the truck.
When is anything going to go right?
Anything at all?
19
JOANNE
“You’re bringin’ a club into the mix?” Ethan asks, glaring at Alarick.
We’re all standing in the shop after Alarick ordered me to call them all in because the situation was getting out of control. His words, not mine. So, I told Tatum and he brought everyone in. The only problem is that Ethan and Tanner aren’t overly fond of the idea. They think bringing the club in is going to cause more harm than good.
“Yeah,” Tatum says, “because they know what they’re fuckin’ doin’ and clearly we don’t. If we did, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.”
He makes a valid point.
If we had done more research, we never would have put ourselves in such a stupid situation. We would have realized that if our plan went wrong, which it absolutely did, then we would end up in more danger than we first started out with.
Tanner looks to Ethan when Tatum says this, and I can see in his face that he agrees. It’s hard not to. I mean, it’s the truth.
“We deal with this kind of thing all the time,” Alarick says, crossing his arms. “We will deal with it for you now, because these fuckers are gettin’ too close for comfort and I don’t like this shit happening in my town.”
Tanner studies him, and then nods. “I just want it to be fuckin’ over. So whatever works.”
Ethan exhales and shakes his head. “This is a bad fuckin’ idea. We’re goin’ to cause more problems if it goes wrong.”
“You don’t think we’ve got what it takes, boy?” Alarick says, his eyes steely. “We’ve dealt with far fuckin’ worse, more often than I can count. You let us deal with this, and you’ll walk away clean. You don’t let us deal with this, you might not walk away at all. Your choice.”
Ethan’s jaw ticks, but he doesn’t argue any further.
Alarick looks back to Tatum and says, “Give me all the information you’ve gathered, including your brother’s name. I’ll get the club members to start askin’ questions, find out who is new In town and where they are. When we find them, we’ll go from there.”
“You think my brother is dead?” Tatum asks, and my heart aches for him. Poor Chase has been with these guys for about a week now, and god only knows what they’re doing to him. Death would probably be kinder than if they’re torturing him. I do feel for him, because he seems to keep getting the raw end of the deal.
