“A nick,” he clarified.
“But—”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“But, Shy—”
His thumb pressed against my lips lightly.
“Tabitha, I’m not leaving you.”
I held my silence and his eyes.
Then I lifted a hand, curled it around his wrist, pulled his hand away and whispered, “You better not.”
He grinned and whispered back, “You’re stuck with me.”
God, I hoped so.
I took in an unsteady breath.
Then I told him, “Sorry my ex–best friend got you nicked by a bullet.”
His grin turned into a smile. “Shit happens.”
It was kind of forced but I grinned back.
He pulled against my hold so his hand could come back, his thumb gliding along my lips as his eyes watched. His smile was gone when his gaze again met mine.
“Always and forever, baby, you’re stuck with me.”
I drew in a deep breath that miraculously was calming and I nodded.
Shy studied me then dipped his head, brushed his lips against mine, and then rolled to his back, taking me with him, tucking me to his side.
“Wiped, sugar,” he muttered. “Rest with me.”
“Okay,” I muttered back, snuggling closer, knowing, after as much caffeine as I consumed, all that had happened and all that I’d learned, I wouldn’t sleep a wink.
I was right. I felt Shy relax under me, his breath even out, his arm around my waist going heavy.
I stared at his tee, the pendants resting at his throat, my mind bouncing from thought to thought, not any of them happy.
Then it bounced and landed on, You’re stuck with me.
My lips curved into a smile.
Then I relaxed into my man, my breath evened out, my weight against him going heavy, pressed deep into his side, wrapped around him, in sleep proving something he was missing in his sleep but that was okay since he already knew.
He was stuck with me too.
Chapter Twenty-One
All In
Shy felt the vibe, he opened his eyes and felt Tabby’s weight pressed against him.
Carefully, he curled up, kissed the top of her hair, then slid out from under her sleeping body. Finding his feet by the side of the bed, he watched his girl adjust, curl into his pillow, never losing sleep.
He wanted to pull her hair away from her face so he could see it, feel the softness run through his fingers, but he didn’t want to chance waking her. So he left her in his bed and moved from the room.
When he hit the common room, he saw most of his brothers were congregated around the bar. Hop was sitting on a stool, Tack standing close to him.
Shy approached and when he got close Tack asked, “She doin’ okay?”
“Sleepin’,” Shy answered.
“She’s doin’ okay,” Tack muttered.
“She’ll be out awhile, but I still wanna have this shit done and get back to her before she wakes up,” Shy went on.
Tack jerked up his chin, Hop slid off the stool, and they moved out to their bikes, Tack on his phone.
They waited until Tack finished his calls before they started up and roared out, Tack in the lead, Hop and Shy riding side by side behind him.
Tack and his lieutenants arrived at the rendezvous point first. They were off their bikes and waiting when the first vehicle pulled up.
An unmarked cop car carrying Mitch Lawson and Brock Lucas, both detectives with the DPD. Both tight with Tack due to complicated history, this history complicated because it had to do with women and, in Lawson’s case, kids.
Shy watched the men exit the car and approach and it wasn’t lost on Shy that both men, even behind shades, clocked the bandage at his neck.
Lawson looked to Tack. “Word is, last night, you bought yourself a problem.”
“My daughter’s best friend got herself a habit. No supplier is a good one with that habit but she still managed to pick the worst,” Tack confirmed.
Lucas tipped his head to Shy. “She learn a lesson?”
“We’ll see,” Tack muttered as a gray Camaro made its approach and all eyes turned to watch Hawk Delgado park and fold out of his vehicle. His right-hand man, Jorge, folded himself out of the passenger side.
Unlike Lawson and Lucas, as he moved to them, Delgado’s face was not assessing. He was pissed.
When he stopped at the group, eyes locked to Tack, he stated, “After the meet, we have words.”
“Not a big fan of collateral damage,” Tack returned, his way of saying there would be no words after the meet. He did what he did and Hawk had to deal.
“You needed that girl, you saw Elvira there, you knew we were working a job, all you had to do was call me,” Hawk shot back.
“Do not shit me,” Tack bit out. “You’re workin’ a job, it’s about the job, and your job was not about that girl. Fifty-fifty chance you’d let that girl swing and her time was up. She means somethin’ to my daughter. I had to move and I didn’t have the option of takin’ any of the limited time I had to negotiate with you.”
Shy watched Hawk’s mouth get tight which meant he conceded the point.
“Right,” Lucas cut in to change the subject before the mood deteriorated further. “It’s not a secret Chaos has been havin’ problems with Benito for a while. It’s also not a secret DPD has always had problems with him since he’s a piece-of-shit scumbag. What was a secret until last night was that Delgado’s got somethin’ workin’ with this and it was blown. Now Benito’s gonna be more determined to carve into Chaos territory, and Hawk’s out there, seein’ as they’ve probably already traced Elvira to his operation.” Lucas trained his shades on Delgado. “Not to mention, Malik is all kinds of pissed because Elvira was made before you did whatever you’re gettin’ paid to do, you didn’t discuss her involvement with him, and she’s now seriously vulnerable.”
“She’s got protection and part of that is sleepin’ with a cop,” Delgado returned. “The rest of it is me.”
This was formidable. They all knew that.
But so was Benito. They all knew that too.
“Now we know the lay of the land,” Lawson pointed out. “We also know that the time has come to put an end to Benito’s operation.”
“That time came about two years ago,” Hop threw out.
“Not gonna argue that,” Lucas stated. “But that didn’t happen and I think it hasn’t escaped anybody that this shit was simmering. Now the situation is all kinds of hot.”