Choosing not to dive down that proverbial rabbit hole right now, I focused on Prez as he inserted the key and pushed the door open. I edged closer as did Kaden and Linc. The rest of the guys stayed put.
Peering over Marek’s shoulder, I saw Tag standing next to the window, the curtain he pushed to the side falling back into place when Prez walked inside, followed by his wife.
The man’s appearance had become frailer from the last time I saw him. His hair was messed, sticking up in places, while his eyes appeared sunken in, his skin sallow, a drastic difference from his otherwise tanned coloring.
The second Tag’s eyes locked on Marek, his body bristled with anger, his gaze swooping over our leader before he sneered at him, completely ignoring Sully altogether.
“What the fuck is goin’ on?” he yelled, not a care in the world he raised his voice to the president of the Knights Corruption. My inner voice shouted, “I don’t blame ya, buddy,” while my good sense wanted to warn him to shut his mouth. In the end, however, Tag wasn’t a part of our club. He was an outsider, someone affiliated, to no fault of his own, to a ruthless and evil member of our enemy. All that didn’t matter, though. All that we were concerned about was how this situation was gonna unfold now that Sully had become involved.
Sully stepped around Marek and closer to Tag, reaching out to touch his arm.
“I’m so sorry for whatever happened to you. It’s inadvertently my fault.”
“Sully—”
She ignored her husband and continued to speak. “You’re the son of someone who hurt me a long time ago. And my husband was only trying to protect me, and the club. They thought you were one of them.”
“Yeah, they’ve told me. And I told them I didn’t really know my father. I left here when I was young and only came back when my mom got sick. But that didn’t stop them from doing this to me.” Tag raised his T-shirt to his collarbone, a nasty-looking X shaped on his torso, slicing through the artwork etched into his skin. Because of all the tattoos, it was hard to see what stage the healing of the wound was at, but if nothing else, I could see he’d been stitched up. Then he pointed to the nasty raised wound on his side, releasing the material only after Sully gasped. She turned to look at her husband before her eyes landed back on Tag.
“I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t wanna hear how sorry you are. I wanna know what’s gonna happen now.” Tag retreated away from her. His words were filled with strength but the fear behind his eyes shone brightly for everyone to see. “You gonna stand by and watch as your husband kills me?”
“No one is gonna kill you,” she said, taking a step back toward Marek. A fleeting sense of relief passed over Tag’s face but was once again replaced with anger, the transition happening so quickly I doubted most saw it. Sully turned into her husband and placed her hand on his chest. “You know what you have to do, Cole.”
Prez’s eyebrows tugged together as his wife leaned in to whisper something in his ear.
“Absolutely not,” he grated, pulling further back so he could study her face. “No way that’s happenin’.”
“I don’t think you have any other choice.”
Marek shook his head at Sully’s words, his hands balling into fists the longer he stood there in silence, clearly contemplating whatever it was she whispered to him. Then he glared at Tag, his shoulders slumping in a sign of defeat, which was an unprecedented sight to witness.
“Fine. But I’m not gonna be held accountable if this shit blows up in our faces.”
“It won’t,” Sully countered, a slow smile of relief creeping across her face as she squeezed her husband’s arm.
“You better be right.”
5
“Anyone care to fill us in on what you two are jabberin’ on about?” Tripp asked, stepping into the room with Marek, Sully, and Tag. “Or are you gonna keep talkin’ in code?”
Our leader never answered Tripp. Instead, he approached Tag, his steps slow and steady, his posture ready if the guy tried to attack him, probably in self-preservation, seeing as how we all still didn’t know what was gonna happen.
“My wife seems to think we only have one choice as to what should be done with you. I’d go a different route, but I’m man enough to acknowledge she might possibly be right in this instance.”
“I’m tired of waiting to find out what’s gonna happen to me, so if you’re gonna kill me, just do it already.” Gone was any show of strength and anger I’d witnessed moments ago, defeat curling around him as he stood there, his eyes bouncing to everyone else in his line of sight.
Marek dismissed what Tag said with a wave of his hand. “As I said, there’s only one option on the table.”
Tag released a heavy breath and lowered his head. “Just get on with it.”
Prez glanced back at Sully one more time before returning his attention to the beaten-down shell of a guy standing before him.
“You have to become a prospect of the Knights Corruption.”
A barrage of murmurs erupted around me as Tag snapped his head up, the frown he formed so deep there was no way he wouldn’t have some sort of headache soon.
“What did you say?” He shook his head before Marek had a chance to respond, his refusal written all over his face and laced within his rigid posture.
“You heard me. I’m not gonna repeat myself. It’s either that or this.” Marek pulled his gun from his waistband and held it at his side.
“Those are my only two options?” Marek didn’t answer in any way. Not a nod, not a flick of his eyes in response to what I believed to be a rhetorical question. Tag took a single step toward Prez. “What guarantee do I have you won’t change your mind and put a bullet in my head?”
“You don’t.”
“I guess I don’t have much of a choice now, do I?” he asked, wincing when he twisted his body the wrong way, his hand rising to cover his wounded side.
“Not unless you wanna leave this world.” Marek turned and walked out of the room, snatching Sully’s hand in the process and practically dragging her behind him. I heard her mumble, “At least he doesn’t look like his father,” moments before the front door slammed shut, the roar of the motorcycle’s engine soon after slicing through the silence of the night.
“What the fuck!” Hawke shouted. “What is happening to this club?” He stomped off into the other room before his brother could stop him. I didn’t know why he was pissed off at the turn of events. Was he that hungry for another death, even though he knew Tag to be innocent of any involvement with the Reapers? I made a mental note to keep my distance from him because if he ended up doin’ or sayin’ the wrong thing in front of me, I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t clock him.
“What’s his problem?” Linc asked, looking at Tripp for answers.
“Hawke’s got a lot of demons he’s still workin’ through. Don’t mind him,” his older brother stated, wrapping his arm around Reece’s waist, and kissing her temple. “You drove, right?” She nodded, molding her body to his as she looked around the room one last time. “You ready to leave?”