Be with Me (Return to Haven 2)
“Think of it as a promise.” Tanner was so done. He didn’t want to be in the presence of this jerk another second, but he needed to drive the point home. “You’re not the only one with powerful contacts. The state attorney general went to school with my stepdad, and they’ve remained friends. I know Melanie has several pieces of evidence that support her claims of abuse, but I’ll pull those as a last resort.”
When Neville’s eyes widened and his jaw clenched, Tanner knew he was finally hitting the man where it
hurt.
“So your options are to back the hell off,” Tanner went on, “or take your chances with your ugly skeletons coming out for all your voters to see. Your choice, but I think we both know who will win this fight.”
Silence settled into the room. Jax remained at Tanner’s side and Neville was no doubt weighing his options. He was stuck and he damn well knew it. Nothing pleased Tanner more than to know he was the one putting Neville out of Melanie’s life. She tried, she’d put up every ounce of fight she had, but she and the baby were his family now, and he’d be damned if he ever let anyone harm what was his.
“Did Melanie send you?”
“She doesn’t know I’m here,” Tanner stated. “She’s home recovering from the accident you got her into. So if you have anything else you want to say, now is the time. When I walk out of this office, your contact with me, Melanie, or anyone else in our lives is over. Are we clear?”
“How dare you threaten me.”
Tanner squared his shoulders and shifted his stance. “You did a hell of a lot more to your wife, so don’t hide behind your political power now. You’re nothing but a lowlife who gets off on manipulating those weaker than you. You wouldn’t have a clue how to handle a fight against someone stronger than you. You’d do best to remember that. I’m not weak and I sure as hell am ready to fight for what’s mine.”
Neville’s gaze darted from Tanner to Jax and back to Tanner. His shoulders slouched just a touch as he shook his head.
“I never should’ve let her go to begin with,” he muttered.
“You didn’t let her go,” Tanner growled. “She was strong enough to leave, and there wasn’t a damn thing you could do about it. If you think she’s hard to handle, you’ve never had to deal with me. So your threats to me are laughable.”
Simply because he couldn’t control himself another second, Tanner swiped his hand across the stack of papers on Neville’s desk, sending them fluttering to the floor.
“We’re done here.”
He marched out the door, Jax at his back. Tanner couldn’t help but roll his eyes and keep walking at the sight of Cash resting a hip on the edge of the receptionist’s desk. The poor girl shouldn’t be working for an ass like Neville, but that wasn’t Tanner’s problem.
“Time for me to go, darlin’,” Tanner heard Cash say. “I’ll give you a call if I’m in town again.”
Tanner knew full well his womanizing cousin wasn’t going to call, and he hadn’t actually lied. He would call if he was in town, but he never came to Atlanta. Cash was too much of a homebody, and Haven was definitely his home.
They all remained silent until they were outside and safely in the privacy of Tanner’s truck.
“I take it things went well.” Cash fastened his belt in the passenger seat and reached up to adjust his vents. “I didn’t hear any glass breaking or screaming.”
“We have a mutual understanding,” Tanner stated as he pulled out into the late afternoon traffic. “But you bet your ass I’m keeping my eye on him.”
“I only had to hold him back once,” Jax stated. “I’m not sure if Neville believes us or if he was just playing stupid, but either way, we’re keeping watch on Melanie, and Tanner has everything else covered.”
“Nobody is touching my family,” Tanner murmured.
He couldn’t get back to Haven fast enough. He wanted to push forward with the next chapter in his life. He wanted Melanie to know that he’d taken care of everything and she had nothing to worry about.
But most of all, he wanted to move her into his house, permanently, and start their life together.
Chapter Twenty
Actually . . . I can.
—Mel’s Motivational Blog
Three days had passed since Tanner and the guys had gone to Atlanta. In those three days, Melanie hadn’t heard a word from him . . . nor had she heard a word from Neville or any of his assistants. Perhaps whatever had transpired had made an impact on her ex.
Still, Melanie was going absolutely stir crazy, because the whole typing-with-one-hand thing was a pain in the ass. This was why she always kept reserve blogs. Life and emergencies always came up. Granted this was a first with being unable to work like she was accustomed to, but still. She had plenty of plan B blogs, and she could always repost one of the more popular topics that had generated the most traffic. The more her blog grew, the more new faces came along, so it was always smart to leave snippets of information about her journey so her followers felt that connection with her.
But not being up to her full potential was frustrating. Wondering what Tanner had said to Neville was frustrating. Waiting for the stubborn man to say something to her was frustrating.