“Yep,” Shy replied, and Tack’s lips twitched again.
He turned to the door, opened it, then turned back to Shy and shared, “Givin’ you honesty, thought that business with Tab over the Club was bluff. The way you bore down on her mom, I knew.”
“Rush or you speak to that bitch again, I’d advise reiterating my message, because I was not f**kin’ joking.”
Another lip twitch, then, “I think she got that, brother. Not sure anyone missed that.”
“That’s good, ’cause Tab isn’t real hip on her mom, but I don’t think she’d like what I have planned.”
“Probably not,” Tack muttered then his eyes locked on Shy’s. “Gotta say it, my duty, gettin’ you know it without me speakin’ the words but, you have a girl, you’ll understand.”
“Say it,” Shy invited.
Tack’s eyes stayed locked on Shy’s two beats then he said quietly, “Make her happy.”
Shy held his gaze as, for the first time in f**king months, he began to breathe easy.
There it was. Tack just gave it.
His blessing.
Shy took it by jerking up his chin.
It was then, Tack straight out smiled a half a second before he disappeared behind the door.
Shy sucked in a breath.
He let it out, muttering, “Jesus.”
Then he pulled out his phone to call his brother.
* * *
“I’m good, Lan, thanks. It’s cool you’re willing to come up, but I’ll be okay,” Shy listened to Tab, who was curled in the couch beside him, her head in his gut and talking on the phone to his brother. “Though, you wanna come up, Shy would love to see you and I promise, I won’t cook. Restaurants and takeout the whole time.”
Shy grinned.
There it was.
She was good.
“Right,” she whispered. “Thanks, Lan. You wanna talk to Shy again?” Pause then, “Okay, I’ll tell him. Later.” She touched the screen, lifted her head, and looked at him. “Lan says he’ll call you later.”
“Cool,” Shy muttered.
She tossed the phone to the coffee table, settled with her head on his gut again, and aimed her eyes to the TV.
His girl took her fall this morning but, as was their way, Chaos as a whole cushioned the landing.
Not surprisingly, there would be no vote. Shy took call after call from brothers who wanted to mend fences. He didn’t make them work too hard. If it was just him, he’d be thinking on things. Even respect and loyalty to Tack and thus, in a twisted way, Tabby didn’t take away the fact not one single one of them took his back. Right now, he needed smooth for his girl. Time would pass and they’d again earn his trust.
Or not.
Tab had sorted things out with her dad, and when she called Shy to tell him she’d talked with Tack, it sounded like it lasted about five seconds before it was all good. He was not surprised about this. She loved her old man, and he’d led the conversation with sharing he’d wasted no time and flown the white flag with Shy. Shy had told Tack he was good if Tab was good. She was good because Shy was going to be.
She’d talked to her grandfather and explained that she couldn’t get off work. He, too, had been cool, asked her schedule, and told her he’d plan the funeral when she had two days off. Shy and Tab were going to fly down for the funeral and fly back up the next day.
She’d met Cherry for a drink after work and that was also good. Again, not a surprise. He knew Cherry didn’t have it in her to be a bitch, hold a grudge, or f**k with a good thing. And she and Tabby had a good thing.
The only person she had not patched things up with was with her brother Rush. He’d called repeatedly and she hadn’t taken his calls. This was a surprise.
“I’ll see him at the funeral and deal then,” she’d muttered.
It was time, Shy decided, to push her to deal with the situation with Rush.
“Babe, you gotta call your brother.”
She lifted her head from his gut, twisted her neck and looked up at him. “Shy—”
He cupped her cheek with his hand. “You lost family, both of you. Do not let this fester.”
She held his eyes a beat, two, then she whispered her admission, “He said things about you.”
“I don’t give a f**k. He repeats ’em and doesn’t get over shit like everyone else is doin’, you got a case to be pissed and hold a grudge. Now, you both lost your grandma. He doesn’t have a woman. He only has a sister. Honest to God, is my girl gonna take that away from him now?”
She licked her lip.
He hauled her up his chest to touch his mouth to hers.
When she lifted her head away, she was grinning a sexy little cat-got-her-cream grin.
“You pull that shit now deliberately, don’t you?” he muttered.
“Actually, no, but it’s a good idea,” she replied, still grinning.
He ignored her sexy grin and looked in her eyes. “Rush,” was all he said.
She held his gaze. Then she murmured, “Oh, all right.”
“Call him now,” he ordered.
She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Righty ho, boss.”
He grinned, then he rolled her to her back in his lap and took her mouth, leaving her clutching his shoulders and panting when he lifted his head.
His eyes went to the mark he put on her neck that morning then to her eyes.
“You get off the phone, you thought the day started good, I’ll give you an ending you won’t f**kin’ believe.”
“I foresee my forgiveness phone call to Rush lasting all of thirty seconds.”
Shy burst out laughing. When he quit, he saw she was smiling up at him.
And it hit him.
All of it.
Waking up to her. Going to bed with her. Making love to her. Eating with her. Laughing with her. Kissing her. Going shopping with her, and when she was in a store and wandered away, he saw her looking over the racks, looking for him, and when he came to her at her back, she’d turned to him, looking lost, and leaned into him the second he got there, suddenly found.
Jesus, he had it.
All of it.
“I never dreamed any f**kin’ dream,” he whispered, and the smile faded from her face as tears filled her eyes.
She understood him.
“Shy—”
“Didn’t dream it, saw it, waited my time, and then you gave it to me.”
“Shy,” her voice broke on his name.
He looked into her blue eyes swimming with tears, feeling her fingers digging into his shoulders, her weight in his lap, the smell of her hair, the taste of her still on his tongue.