Page 12 of Taz's Guards

I frowned. “You were only little when you last saw him. How do you know him so well?”

A blush raced over her face. “Ah, well. I may have used my skills to keep tabs on him. You know… just maybe.”

I nudged her shoulder with mine. “Don’t be embarrassed. In your shoes, I’d have done the same thing.” I sighed. “But, yeah, Taz is not happy with any of us. Although, it looked like he and Mac sorted their shit out earlier over at the bar.”

“Mamamama!”

Lolly lunged from Jacie’s lap at me, forcing me to put all my focus on my little girl to make sure the wriggling toddler didn’t end up on the floor. I rubbed my nose against hers.

“Yes, my darling girl? Did I stop giving you all my attention?”

She giggled with a grin, and my heart melted into a pile of goo. I loved my daughter as much as I loved my husband. My stomach churned as I wondered if I hadn’t destroyed my family with what I’d done.

Jacie spoke quietly, “Why didn’t you tell him?”

I thought that through for a few moments before I answered.

“Well, we didn’t know for sure he was in town yet, but mostly I wanted to save him from having to deal with it all. Not sure if you looked into me, but I’m not exactly helpless. Not that I expected to be able to take out Gordon by myself. That’s why I’d spoken to Scout and Mac about it. With their help, I’d hoped to get the situation dealt with without Taz ever having to know Gordon had come anywhere near him. Especially this close to the anniversary. He struggles enough this time of year.”

Jacie winced. “I always hated that they separated us. When I was younger, I’d beg my foster father to take me to Taz or bring him back to us.” She shook her head before frowning at me. “You had to know it was a pipe dream that Taz wouldn’t find out what you were up to.”

I nodded as the ache in my chest increased. “Yeah, it was naive of me. I just wanted to save my man some pain. But in the end, I nearly got Lolly and I killed.”

I wasn’t going to pretend Gordon had anything other than pain planned for me and my daughter, all to cause Taz as much agony as possible. I’d nearly made his life so much worse.

“Thankfully, Don—I mean Taz—is smarter than you guys gave him credit for, and worked it out. Got there to snipe my bastard of a father and save the day. He totally deserves a reward for that, you know?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “A reward? What, like his long-lost sister moving to town? That would be a great reward.”

A familiar snicker filled the air a moment before Silk plopped down beside me, Raven clinging to her until he saw Lolly. Then he was all about wanting to be put down to play with his friend. I lowered Lolly down to stand on the floor as Silk did the same with her boy.

“Sorry I’m late, I had to finish up a tatt before picking up Raven and coming over.” She leaned around me. “Hi, I’m Silk. You must be Jacie, Taz’s sister, right?”

Jacie’s eyes went wide. “Damn. How’d you know who I am already?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, as did Silk. “You’ll learn nothing spreads quite like gossip in an MC.”

Silk smirked at Jacie. “My old man is Eagle, Taz’s spotter. He was with Taz when he took out the threat earlier. He called me as soon as the danger was over to tell me what had happened.”

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a short hug. “You doing okay, doll?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Jacie scoffed. “Physically, anyhow. My big bro ain’t a happy camper, if you know what I mean, and she’s got a good case of the guilts going on.”

I cocked an eyebrow at Jacie. “You done? Or you wanna keep psychoanalyzing me?”

Jacie just grinned and shrugged. “I’m guessing she’s a friend, so stop trying to pull the wool over her eyes. Let her help. Taz won’t stay away for long, so we don’t have time to beat around the bush.”

“Wool over my eyes?” Silk shook her head. “Yeah, you’re definitely your brother’s sister. Trying to confuse us with Aussie slang already.”

Jacie winked Silk’s way but before she could say anything, her phone rang. She pulled it out and cringed before mumbling under her breath, “Dammit. I’d hoped this call wouldn’t come for a couple more days.”

With a falsely happy voice, she answered, “Hey, Dad, what’s up?”

She winced, then spoke in her normal tone. “Yeah, I’m in Texas. How’d you find out?”

She held the phone away from her ear as she stood and headed toward the back of the clubhouse. Guess she pulled the same stunt with her foster father that I had with Taz, and we were both in the shit because of it.

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