Losing Control (22 page)

“I’ll be just a few minutes,” she promised, holding up a finger.

The two of them watched as she walked to the bar, emptying her receipts and the money she had in her apron.

“For real man, sorry you had to wait on us,” Jagger apologized.

The corner of Layne’s mouth came up. “At least somebody’s gettin’ some. Who am I to get in the way of
young love
?” He clasped his hand to his heart.

“Dude.” Jagger blushed. “Shut the fuck up.”

“I’ll leave you alone, I swear.”

Jagger turned on the bar stool and stopped as he saw the man that had caused him to venture here tonight come out of the hallway that he and Bianca had just exited. “That’s him, right?” Jagger jerked his head towards the older man.

“From what I understand, it sure is,” Layne confirmed, turning too so that he and Jagger presented a united front.

“Wonder what the hell he was doin’ back there?”

“Don’t even go there. You’ll never get your head on straight if you do. When the two of you leave, I’ll follow to make sure he doesn’t start anything.”

“Hey,” Bianca said coming over to the two of them. “I’m ready if you guys are.”

Jagger grabbed her hands and pulled her to him, hugging her and kissing her on the temple. When he glanced towards the hallway, he caught sight of Money Bags watching them. Jagger couldn’t help the cocky feeling that overtook his body. He knew he shouldn’t do this, but it wasn’t something that could be stopped. A smirk covered his face as he put his hand on Bianca’s ass and squeezed strongly.

The dark look that appeared on Money Bags’ face told him that the message had been received loud and clear.

“Let’s go.” Layne clapped them both on the back and led them out of the building.

As they made their way to the clubhouse, Jagger couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was going on behind him. He wanted to know five minutes ago if the man was following them. This was one of those times when he actually wished he drove a regular car or truck. The mirror would be big enough so that he could see completely behind him. The suspense was killing him, but he knew that if someone was threatening them Layne would have his back.

When they turned into the drive that would lead them to the clubhouse, Jagger took a deep breath. He hadn’t realized how tightly he was wound until he took that breath. He felt safe here, he knew that nobody would touch them here. Pulling into his spot in the garage, he killed the engine and walked out into the cold night, meeting up with Layne and Bianca.

“Thanks for the tail,” Jagger told Layne as he helped Bianca out of her car.

“Was all good.”

Jagger knew that meant that they hadn’t been followed, and he relaxed even more. His phone at his side buzzed. As he slid the lock on the home screen, he saw a text from Liam.

“They’ve got something on that white van. B, can you go wait for me in my dorm?”

“Sure.” She leaned up, kissing him on the lips before walking into the clubhouse.

Making their way into the meeting room, the two had a seat while they waited for the rest of the members.

“This better be some good info, considering how late it is.” Tyler rubbed his eyes as he had a seat.

“Liam was the one who texted, so I’m sure it’s sound,” Layne said, pushing his leg out in front of him.

“It hurt?” Tyler asked, motioning to Layne’s leg.

“Some days worse than others. It’s this goddamn cold snap. It hurts the screws in my ankle.”

Jagger winced. While some people hadn’t come home from war, Layne had. That didn’t mean he hadn’t come home without scars. The screws in his ankle were just the tip of the iceberg, they were all sure of that.

“Thanks for coming, y’all. Steele’s on his way,” Liam said as he blew into the room.

For a few moments they all sat there, tension high. Everyone wanted to know exactly what these white vans had to do with anything. How they fit into whatever scheme was going on in their town.

Carrying a laptop, Steele came in, shutting the door behind him. “Sorry I’m late. This took a little bit longer than I thought it would.”

“That’s fine. Just tell us what you found out, that way we can make a plan.” Liam nodded to the computer.

Steele opened the laptop and powered it on. “To tell you the truth, I’m not necessarily sure just what the fuck I’ve found. I’m not sure how it fits into anything. What I did do, though, was run a search on white vans registered to people here in the city. One of them is registered to someone that just came on our radar. Raymond Tucker, principal of the middle school that Bianca taught at.”

“Same guy who keeps giving her shit too,” Jagger growled. “What does he have to do with any of this?”

“No idea. I need to check around with some of my contacts. The others are just random people, except for Dino, president of the Vojnik.”

Liam sighed. “How did I know he would be involved in this? Let’s go crazy here. He wants to make sure that I’m really interested in being the leader of this club, he’s gonna find out. Should we let them know just how serious we are?”

Nobody wanted to start a war, but everyone knew that if someone was questioning their president, there would have to be retaliation.

“Maybe we’ve been too quiet,” Tyler said, covering his mouth with his hand. “People think we’re soft now?”

“That’s a definite possibility.” Liam raised an eyebrow. “You know I’ve never been one to do something just for the shock value, but maybe that’s needed here.”

“Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone,” Jagger spoke up.

“What are you thinking?”

“Warn off Money Bags in a shocking way?”

Nobody had liked the look of the man at the club tonight, and it went without saying that he did need to take his obsession down a notch.

“Do we have anybody who’s opposed to this idea?” Liam asked as he looked at the group around him.

No one raised a hand in opposition, and Jagger couldn’t help but feel vindication for that. He wasn’t the only one who got a bad feeling when it came to this man, and it did him good to see that his brothers felt the same way.

“We’ll meet here tomorrow night and come up with a plan.”

Jagger raised a hand. “Whatever it is, it can’t come back on Bianca. That’s my only stipulation.”

“Trust me, when we’re done with him, he won’t have anything to say to anyone,” Tyler promised. Since Meredith had been violated, he didn’t take too well to men who threatened women. To say he hadn’t liked what he heard or saw was putting it mildly.

“Then agreed, we’ll meet back here tomorrow.”

Liam adjourned the meeting, and the group of them went their own separate ways.

Jagger got to his dorm room and stopped, his hand on his doorknob. He felt just the least little bit guilty. He wouldn’t be able to tell Bianca about any of this. If she didn’t know, then she wouldn’t have to lie, but it wasn’t a great feeling after all they had shared. Shaking his head, he told himself that above all he had to keep her safe, and sometimes that would mean keeping her completely in the dark.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

J
agger quietly let himself into his dorm, surprised to find Bianca still awake.

“What are you doin’ still up?” he asked, shutting the door behind him.

She sat in the chair facing his bed, a textbook in her lap. Grinning, she answered, “You forget that I’m a complete night owl. Usually I don’t go to bed until 2 a.m. It’s the nature of having the job I do.”

“When you actually get into a full-time teaching position, it’s gonna be rough on you,” he laughed, taking his cut and shirt off.

“Don’t I know it? How’d your meeting go?”

“Good,” he nodded, not elaborating on anything. It was best to just leave things open ended.

Bianca watched as he continued taking his clothes off and then pulled the covers of the bed back. “Are we going to bed?” she asked, her eyebrow raised.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired.”

She stood up and divested herself of her clothes too, leaving her naked. “Can I have a shirt?”

“You know where they are.” He pointed to his dresser and watched as she walked over and picked something out that she liked.

Putting it over her head, she sauntered over and got in next to him, cuddling up to his side. She sighed as she sank into him, feeling his arm come around her shoulders and holding her tightly against him. “You tired?” she asked.

“Why?” He couldn’t help the shit-eating grin that spread across his face.

“Not for
that
!” She smacked him on the arm. “I just want to talk.”

“Talk about what?” He was genuinely interested in what she had to say, but he thought that maybe this would be about him.

“I want to know about you. I feel like you know so much about me, and really all I know about is that your parents were assholes, Jagger isn’t your God-given name, and you’re part of a motorcycle club.”

“That’s really all you know about me?” he teased.

“You’re sweet as pie and fuck like a cast member of
Magic Mike
,” she deadpanned.

Jagger laughed. “I see what you did there. You work in a strip bar and then you paid me a compliment by saying I could be a stripper. I’m just trying to decide if I should give you what you want.”

“How do you know what I want? I just told you I want to talk.”

He sighed again. She was right, almost everything about their relationship was open – except for the past. He loved this woman, he had to trust her.

“Alright. Ask me something.”

Bianca debated. Did she really want to ask what was on the tip of her tongue or not? She didn’t want to put him out or piss him off, but she was curious, she couldn’t help it.

“What was so bad about your childhood?”

He looked at the ceiling as he obviously tried to figure out what and how to tell her. His fingers twisted in her hair, the motion seeming to soothe him. “It’s not that my childhood was
bad
,” he admitted.

“Then what was it?”

“Strict. No love. Trouble. God. Those are the things I remember.”

It was confusing to her – what he was talking about? “I’m not sure that I understand.”

“I learned to care more about being what my parents interpreted as ‘Godly’ than care about who I was as a person. I grew to hate church and anything having to do with organized religion because it was always force-fed down my throat,” he explained, swallowing hard and tightening his arm around her shoulders.

“Was that hard for you?” She got the sense that it was.

“Yeah, because as a child, you’re groomed to believe that your parents know what’s right for you, what the right thing to do is. I was being groomed to preach. I knew the Bible back to front, front to back. When my eyes were opened to the fact that while these people were ‘Godly’ they were at the same time batshit crazy, it hurt. I floundered until I turned eighteen, and then I had no direction whatsoever until I met Tyler and Liam.”

“How did your parents take it?”

He laughed. The sound was rough and hollow. “I haven’t spoken to my parents or any other member of my family since I left on my eighteenth birthday. I got my GED and started working odd jobs. What really hurts is that I have a little sister I haven’t been able to get in contact with. I just have this vision of her, barefoot and pregnant, bowing to a man. Ya know, being a good servant because that’s all she’ll ever be. In their minds, women aren’t meant to be more than that.”