Page 37 of Tess, Property of Blaze

Blaze

“Get the fuck out,” I yell as Rhyder and Tracker start to lift the fallen dresser off my floor. They both stare at me once they’ve set it up against the wall again.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to face Quill. His piercing blue eyes help keep me focused.

“You’re angry right now, I get that.”

“Angry, doesn’t cut it,” I mumble. “Prez, you don’t even know the half of it.”

He nods then looks down at the floor. “May I?” he asks as he glances back up at me. I know he’s looking for permission to read her file.

Shrugging my shoulders, I look down at the file, then back up to Quill. “Be my guest.” I turn away and walk over to Tracker. He turns to face me. “You all right, brother?”

Staring down at the floor, I rub at my bottom lip with my thumb. When I look back up at Tracker, his expression is neutral, and I feel bad about how I reacted earlier. “I’m sorry I pushed you, man, I was just… angry.”

“Yeah, figures. Look, brother, you’ve got nothing to apologize about. We all loved Tess, she was one of our own. Well, so we thought.”

I nod my head, then hear, “What the fuck!”

I turn around and look at Quill, who’s still staring down at the file. He looks up at me, his eyebrows raised.

“You’re tellin’ me, Tess is married to Viper? The very same Viper who’s VP of the Forsseekers? The same Viper that we’re looking into, to see if he’s the one stealing the women on our streets to sell for prostitution?”

“Very same one,” I admit, then walk over to Quill.

“It says here her old man’s Jack Bronx.” He shifts the page toward me, his finger sitting under Jack Bronx’s name. “He’s the fuckin’ president!”

“I know, man. Fuck!” I growl as I turn around and sit on the edge of my mattress-free bed, the padded queen-size monstrosity still on the floor. My head falls down between my legs as my body slumps, and I run my hands through my hair and pull on the edges. I growl out loud, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This whole fuckin’ time she was with me, she was married.” I look back up at Quill, who’s still shaking his head and reading her file.

“You think she was sent here by the Forseekers? But why?” Quill asks, still staring down at the document.

“I don’t know, Prez, I don’t know. I thought I knew her.” I laugh out loud then drop my head into my hands. “She fooled me, that’s for sure. Fuck, I even asked her to marry me,” I say, laughing bitterly. “I guess the jokes on me, hey?”

I feel Prez sit down beside me, and he lays a hand on my shoulder. “Man, the joke’s on us.” He stills then places the file on the floor. “I don’t know what’s going on, and why she kept this from you, and us, but I’m sure she has her reasons.”

I quickly turn to face him. “Reasons? Are you fuckin’ serious? There is no reason behind this—she lied this whole fuckin’ time. Her name is Teresa, for God’s sake.” I get up and storm toward my door, needing to escape this shit show for a bit. “I’m gonna get a drink. I’m sick of thinking.”

“Blaze!” I hear Quill yell out, and I turn around to face him. “Sit this one out tonight.”

I narrow my eyes, looking straight at him. “Ain’t no way I’m hangin’ back here while you boys are out there,” I say, pointing to the outside of the compound. “I’m comin’, and I don’t want to hear another word about it. I’m your sergeant-at-fuckin’-arms.”

“I know,” Prez says, getting up from the bed and walking over to me. He rests his hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t make me stay, I need to be with my boys. Can’t sit here not knowing what’s going on. I’m coming,” I say with an air of finality.

Quill stares at me for a while, then nods once. “Blaze, I promise you we’ll get to the bottom of this. If Viper is the one responsible for the kidnappings, then he will get what he’s owed.”

I grin wickedly. “If he is, he’s mine—promise me that, Prez.”

Prez chews on the inside of his cheek, then taps my shoulder. “Okay, brother, I’ll give you that. Now let’s go and get this drink.”

We walk out front to the clubhouse’s main room and ask Daisy for a couple of beers. “No, scratch that, give me a shot of tequila.”

“You got it, honey,” Daisy replies as she places a beer in front of Quill then a shot glass in front of me. I wait patiently as she fills it, then I bring it up to my lips and swallow it down.

“Another,” I say, tapping the glass on the bar.

Daisy pours another shot, and I knock it back, loving the burn in my chest as it goes down.

---