“Hey, Nitro,” she said, her voice shaky. She clung to King like she never wanted to let go.
Tension rolled off King’s body while he eyed Tatum. “Can you do me a favour, Tatum?”
“Sure.” She clearly sensed the tension too.
He let go of Jen and said, “Can you take Jen inside and make her some tea. Peppermint if you’ve got it by any chance. I need a minute with the boys.”
Tatum gave Jen a smile. “I’m not sure if we’ve got peppermint, but I’ll check.”
“Thank you,” Jen said softly. Something was very wrong with her. Jen wasn’t a soft woman. Hell, I recalled screaming matches between her and King that had lasted days.
Once they’d left us, King scrubbed his face and swore. “You got a beer, Nitro?”
“Yeah.” I grabbed one out of the fridge in the shed and came back to him. “What the fuck is going on, King? Because from what I can see, something bad is going down here.”
He drank over half the bottle in one go and then took a deep breath. “Only Kick knows this, but the guy Jen left me for used to beat her. Pretty badly. She finally left him and we found her a safe house in Broken Hill. Through Brian. Something got her spooked there so she left and moved in with a friend in Goulburn. The bastard tracked her down a few months ago, and she called me at midnight one night, scared out of her mind. I’ve been spending time with her the last couple of months trying to make sure she was safe. She refused to move back to Sydney, which pissed me off, but I couldn’t force her to come back. Then last night I got a call that he’s threatened her again, so I put my fucking foot down. She’s moving in with me until I can find this motherfucker and fix the problem.”
“So you want us to help with that?” Devil said.
“Yeah, but as well as that, Dragon just gave word that he’s ready to start the attacks on Gambarro.”
The last couple of months had been quiet on the Gambarro front. He’d been dealing with a police investigation into shit that involved his businesses and it had kept him busy, which worked out for Silver Hell and us. It had given us the time we needed to prepare ourselves to take him and his organisation down.
“We’re ready for this, King,” I said.
“Yeah, but not when I need to give my attention to Jen. I told Dragon I wanted to wait, but he’s not listening. He wants this shit to start on Monday.”
Two days.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked. “And what did Hyde say?”
“I can’t get hold of Hyde. That’s another problem we have.”
In my opinion, that was the worst news out of all this. Hyde had been off the radar a lot lately. Devil and I had been covering for him.
When neither Devil nor I said anything, King narrowed his eyes at us. “What the fuck is going on with Hyde and why the fuck don’t I know about it?”
“I honestly don’t know, brother,” I said. “There have been a few times where we’ve needed him and haven’t been able to reach him. Nothing major, though, so we didn’t want to bother you with it.”
“Fuck, Nitro, I’m your fucking president. How the hell am I supposed to run a fucking club if I don’t know everything?”
I raised my hand in a defensive gesture. “It won’t happen again.”
King shoved his fingers through his hair while he scowled at us. Finally, he blew out a harsh breath. “Okay, I’m gonna take Jen home and get her sorted. Then I’m calling Church for tomorrow. And Nitro?” His eyes bored into mine. “Get ready to step up if I can’t find Hyde.”
* * *
King’s words played on my mind all afternoon and night. Tatum had picked up on my uneasiness and asked me a couple of times about it. I’d changed the subject each time and managed to divert her attention with sex. She was smart enough, though, to know something was going on. After she showered that night she came to me again.
“I don’t expect you to give up club business, but can you at least tell me if everything’s okay? Because it feels like it isn’t and I need to be prepared for shit, Nitro. I mean, I can suit up with the best of them. Maybe I can help you. Who knows? But I refuse to be the woman who scurries away to the corner and remains oblivious to problems.”
I sat on the couch and took in the sight of my woman standing before me offering to go to battle with me. And with the family I’d chosen for myself—my club. It was the most beautiful fucking sight I’d ever seen. Tatum was love and loyalty and family all rolled into one.
Standing, I went to her. “It fucking terrifies me, Vegas,” I murmured as I curled my hand around her neck.
She placed her hand on mine around her neck. “What terrifies you?”
“Losing you.”