Page 19 of Taming Bull

No. I’d never been much of a talker, and I didn’t see how spilling my guts would improve the situation. “What’s there to say?”

He gaped at me. “That the way you always treat ladies?”

I’d been expecting some sort of confrontation, but it still stung. He should know me better than that by now. He should trust me. “There’s a lot of shit you don’t know,” I replied, hoping like hell he’d drop it.

“Oh yeah?”

His eyes challenged me to fill him in and redeem myself. He didn’t want to believe I was an asshole. In his place, I’d probably do the same thing. No. If someone treated Lily the way I had, I would have just clocked the piece of shit. No words would have been necessary. I wanted to say or do something to wipe the look of disgust off his face, but it wouldn’t help. The story was convoluted and crazy, and I probably couldn’t make him understand if I tried. Instead, I met his glare. “Yeah. Mind if we stop gossiping like a couple of teenaged girls and get to work?”

I watched that mutual respect we’d been building shatter in Tavonte’s eyes as I climbed into the tow truck and buckled up. Yeah? Well, he lost some of mine, too. Guys shouldn’t ride each other’s asses about matters that had nothing to do with them.

The fuckin’ bro-code, man. Learn it. You should have my back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him wage a silent war with himself. He marched toward the truck, froze, and then turned toward the door and took a step. It was like he was torn between ripping off my driver’s side door to demand answers and storming out of the shop.

Why was he so invested? He didn’t even know Lily. Maybe some asshole had once taken advantage of his mom or little sister and he was projecting? Whatever. He needed to get over it and either get in the truck or leave. Just as I rolled down the window to tell him as much, he yanked open the passenger’s door and barreled into the seat. I expected another outburst, but he didn’t say shit, just stared straight ahead. I doubted we were done with the conversation, but I was damn grateful for the respite, no matter how brief it proved to be.

I probably shouldn’t be too surprised he was riding my ass. Tavonte was a good guy who wasn’t shy about pointing out shit he didn’t agree with. Last week, he’d asked Wasp and Rabbit why we didn’t extend our towing operations to twenty-four-seven.

“It’s a financial risk,” Rabbit replied with a shrug.

“It’s an opportunity to expand,” Tavonte countered. “The shop’s busy, and the tow trucks are rarely parked. Want me to look into it? Run some numbers for you?”

I didn’t know what ‘running numbers’ entailed, but it sounded about as fun as a root canal. Tavonte seemed eager for the task. It was like he wanted to prove himself, but that didn’t make a lick of sense. If he wanted to earn the respect of the club, all he had to do was put on the prospect patch. But for some reason, he hadn’t yet.

Wasp gave him a lopsided smirk. “Yeah. Show us what you got.”

Wasp liked Tavonte. He wanted him in the shop with the other mechanics, but Link made it clear that Tavonte was on the truck with me until he committed to prospecting. When Tavonte presented his market research, showing the club could employ two more dispatchers, two more drivers and provided reasonable projections for profitability, Wasp had tried to force the prospect cut over his shoulders.

Still, Tavonte resisted.

Smart, outspoken, and determined, the chances of him letting me off the hook about the way I’d treated Lily were about as good as a hen house surviving a fox invasion. I kept bracing myself for an attack, but it didn’t come. In fact, he didn’t say shit to me until I merged onto the freeway, headed out to pick up our first tow of the day.

“You know what I hated most about joining the Army?” he finally asked.

Suspecting his question was connected to my situation, I didn’t want to answer. But his question got me thinking about all the things I’d hated about the service, and curiosity finally got the best of me. “No. What?”

“The waste. Growing up, Mom worked her ass off to keep the lights on and make sure me and my little sister stayed fed, but shit was always tight. We didn’t waste anything. Some of the kids at school used to get the bread crusts cut off their sandwiches. I asked Mom to cut off my crusts once.” He chuckled and shook his head, caught in the memory. “Thought she was gonna rip my head off. You can be damned sure I never asked her again. When she put something on my plate, I ate every bite. Practically licked the plate clean. She made sure we never went without, but there were times I could have eaten more. Times I went to bed still feeling hungry. Then I joined the service and was blown away by the sheer amount of shit the government wasted. I mean, I understood why they couldn’t fuck around with the chances of food poisoning, but watching all the untouched food go straight into the trash… man, that was rough. My first night on KP, I had to throw away an entire chocolate cake. All I could think about was struggling families… kids going to bed hungry… parents hustling to put food on the table… and here I was dumping a perfectly good cake in the trash. It made me sick to my goddamn stomach.”

The service was known for waste. Thrown out food, trashed weapons and vehicles because it was easier and more convenient to buy new, the waste was unreal. Sure, we created jobs and helped the economy, and only taxpayers lost in the grand scheme of things, but it was still ridiculous. My parents were well off, and I’d never gone to bed hungry, but the government’s waste had been a real thorn in my side, too. I nodded.

“I don’t know what kind of shit you and Lily are dealing with, but the way you looked at her before she saw you…” Tavonte let out a low whistle. “Fuck, man. It felt like we were all intruding. I expected you to run over and scoop her up in your arms and spin around like a sailor who just got off a boat or some shit like that.”

His romantic cliché description threw me off guard. I barked out a laugh and shook my head. “You watch too much TV.”

“Probably.” His tone sobered. “But it gets a little lonely out there. Especially when you’re between action and nobody but your mom seems to care if you come home alive.”

Silence settled between us as I wondered what all Tavonte had seen and done while in the Army. He’d served for ten years, plenty of time to build memories and rack up nightmares. My time had been cut short. I hadn’t seen any real action, and I’d always had someone special waiting for me to come home.

Well, until I didn’t.

“Lily apologized,” Tavonte said, dragging me back to the present. “I don’t know what mortal sin she committed to piss you off. Maybe she cheated on you or blew all your money or something?”

He was fishing. I kept my mouth closed and my eyes on the road, hoping he’d just shut the fuck up and let it drop.

“I always knew I was heading for the service, so I didn’t date much in high school. I fucked around, but I made it clear I wasn’t looking for anything serious. I had a few dates while in the service, but they weren’t what I expected. I wanted to talk and make a connection. They wanted a transaction. Flowers and dinner for a fuck. Buy a gift, get laid. It’s like everyone’s so busy trying to get the best end of the deal they don’t even try to connect anymore. It’s bullshit, man.”

I chuckled. “You sound like a goddamn romantic.”

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