“Lotta emotion there for a girl who doesn’t remember you,” Tack noted cautiously.
“Her sister was crushed, man,” Joker bit out, and Tack felt that. He had two young sons, a grown one and a grown daughter. He felt that deep in his gut. And he knew, God forbid, shit happened like that, his kids would feel it too. “And it’s been a long time, but none of us ever forgets that high school kids are assholes,” Joker kept at it. “The ones who aren’t are just tryin’ to make their way without sustaining too much damage. She wasn’t either of those.”
“A good girl?”
“Last person I saw in Denver before I ran away from my old man. She knew I was doin’ it. Probably knew I was underage. Definitely knew I should do it. Kissed my cheek and told me I was gonna have a beautiful life.”
There it was.
And it was more than Joker had ever given them. Out loud at least.
Joker’s voice suddenly went quiet. “I have that life. What she wanted for me. Good around me. She doesn’t. That shit ain’t right. Now, that’s all you’ll get from me, brother. She’s worth it. Carissa Teodoro doesn’t lean against a door like she held all the joy on earth in her veins and it leaked out, not without retribution. That’s what I know. That’s what I’m tellin’ you. That’s what I’m doin’. The Club is either in it with me, or they’re out. But that’s what’s happening.”
He said no more.
He also didn’t wait for an answer.
He stalked out.
Tack looked to his son.
“Rush, on him,” he ordered quietly.
Rush nodded once and followed his brother.
“Baby,” Tyra whispered and Tack looked to her. “There’s a lot more to share.”
“Why am I not surprised?” he muttered.
She didn’t hesitate.
“She’s hurting, Kane. She has a full-time job, it doesn’t pay much, benefits are great, she likes where she works, but what income she has is eaten up by daycare expenses and paying off her old attorney. She’s tight with her dad but he’s in Nebraska. She won’t tell him what’s happening, is insistent he’s shielded from it, and now I have a better understanding of why.”
She paused and Tack nodded.
He understood too.
Tyra kept going, “Her friends migrated to the ex. You know she’s got a shit car. She’s also got a one bedroom apartment in a very bad part of town. And she’s convinced, and it sounds like she isn’t making things up, that her ex is carrying forward a strategy to take her son away from her and get her gone for good so he can set up house with his fiancée and forget she even existed.”
“What’s your take on this girl?” Tack asked.
“My take is, she lost a sister, a mother, her ex is fucking with her head, and she still puts on a pretty dress, walks right into a biker compound with a homemade pie and looks at Joker not like he rides astride a Harley but does it on a white horse. If she doesn’t remember who he was from high school, it doesn’t matter. She knows who he is now and went out of her way not to let him forget her. No girl dresses like that if she doesn’t hope to get attention. She likes him. He made an impression, and he did it more than just being a good guy who stopped to change her tire.”
She drew in breath.
Tack held her eyes and his silence.
She continued, “But she broke today, Tack. She is not a girl who gives a blowjob for legal services but she was going to do it. She loves her son. She’s running out of options. She’s running scared. And it’s taking everything she has to keep those pieces together so broken doesn’t become shattered.”
“I know one thing about this, Red, if they’re tight, her dad doesn’t want to be shielded. Got a baby girl. I’d wanna know. ’Spect he does too.”
“Her dad is in Nebraska looking after his mom, who’s far gone with Alzheimer’s, her grandfather has already passed, and her father doesn’t have the heart to put her in a home.”
Fuck.
“We gotta take her on,” Tack murmured.
“You don’t, Elvira’s in a snit. This guy, her ex, has been a dick for a long time. Carissa just put on her game face and ignored it. Her fail, as she calls it. Elvira doesn’t see it the same way. She’s ready to blow. And that means she’ll nag Hawk until he takes it on, and Hawk’s messy.”
Tack felt his lips curl up.
Elvira was Tyra’s girl and Hawk was Elvira’s boss. Hawk was a different kind of brother to Tack for a variety of reasons. And Hawk was a man who got things done and didn’t mind how he had to go about doing that.
Tack looked to the room.
“Boz, Hound, deal with the man who thinks coercin’ head for payment of legal fees is something he can do and convince him he’s wrong.”
Boz nodded.
Hound looked ecstatic.
Tack shook his head.
Tyra gave them the attorney’s name.
They took off.
He looked to Speck. “Go with them. Make sure Hound doesn’t kill anyone.”
Speck shot him a grin and took off.
Tack turned to Hop. “We need whatever we can get on her ex and his father.”
“They got judge friends, we got added problems to the ones we already got, Tack,” Hop warned.
“You watch that girl listen to her replacement tell her she couldn’t see her sick son?”
Hop’s jaw went hard.
“Worth it to you that doesn’t happen again?” Tack asked.
“Don’t ask that shit. You know it is. But it’s my job to point out where this Club is at,” Hop returned. “And, bottom line, brother, this shit is bigger than we think it is, it’s gotta go under the gavel.”
He was not wrong.
“I’ll find out,” Hop carried on. “Then we’ll know if we need a meet.”
Tack lifted his chin. Hop took off.
Tack looked to his wife. “Feel like talkin’ Big Petey into opening a daycare center?”
He heard her soft laughter. “He’s already got two hooligans at his informal one.”
“Pete likes babies.”
It was then, her eyes got soft and they stayed on him. “I’ll give him a call.”
She hopped off the table and he enjoyed the show. Then she bent into him to touch her mouth to his.
He liked that too, but would wait to get more later.
She strutted her ass out, and this time Tack took the time to appreciate it.