Page 21 of Centering Kaos

Tap held his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. “You have my word. Man to man.”

That seemed to appease Dylan. He followed Rabbit to the door as I grabbed the rest of the luggage and joined them, stopping to give Tina one last reassuring smile before I slipped out.

8

Tina

TAP WAS A handsome, muscular man with caramel-colored skin and a kind smile. The guys hadn’t been there long, but he’d already equipped my sister with a Taser, leveling the playing field so she wouldn’t feel quite so helpless with strangers invading her home. It was a brilliant move, really, and I could tell Elenore was warming up to him already.

“You should see the stuff he has in his backpack,” she whispered to me as we followed Tap into the kitchen. “These guys are legit.”

Her endorsement put me at ease, and I sat across the table from Tap. Elenore played host and got us all water.

“Thank you for trusting us. I know this can’t be easy for you,” Tap said.

“I don’t have much of a choice,” I replied. God, I sounded like an ungrateful hag. Shaking my head, I tried again. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong. The way you’ve all jumped through hoops to help us is… I can’t thank you enough. I’m just angry and frustrated that Matt put us in this position.”

“He’ll get his.” Tap rifled through his backpack. “They always do in the end. Especially when we intervene. Look, I’m not good at small talk, and quite frankly, we don’t have time for it, so I’m going to jump right into the thick of things. Your cell phone is the easiest way for Matt to track you. I’m sure you don’t want to give it up, and we won’t make you, but it’s the smart thing to do.” He pulled a boxed iPhone out of his bag and set it on the table. “I won’t leave you without a phone. I’ve added contact information for me, Kaos, and our club leader, Link, into this one. It’s prepaid for the month with unlimited data. I can have your contacts transferred over. We just ask that you only share the number with the people who absolutely have to have it.”

I nodded, eyeing the phone. It was a much newer model than my refurbished one. “That’s very generous of you.” Still, my phone was the way I stayed connected. Since leaving Matt, I’d been rebuilding friendships with the women I’d previously neglected, and the idea of disappearing on them again made my stomach sink. Pulling my phone out of my jacket pocket, I hesitated. In addition to the contact information for my friends, it held priceless pictures of Dylan and Elenore. “Will I get this phone back?”

“Yes. And I’ll backup all your photos and texts in a secure location just in case something happens to it.”

“Thank you.” It was just a phone. A possession. I wasn’t emotionally attached to it. I handed him mine, and then squeezed the boxed phone into my purse.

He nodded, tucking my phone away into a pocket of his backpack. “I’ll keep this one charged and active at the club headquarters. Trust me, if Matt tracks it there, he’ll regret it.”

“I have a request,” Elenore said, joining us at the table. “Any altercations your club has with that asshole… I want them recorded. Seriously. Watching a bunch of bikers beating the crap out of him is all I want for my birthday next month.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” Tap said with a smirk. “Tina, I’d like to take your car to the station as well.”

“My car?” My hard-earned independence felt like it was slipping away. I’d done this before—giving up my freedom because some man wanted to take care of me—and that had blown up in my face. I didn’t know if I had it in me to trust like that again.

“She just got a car. You can’t take it from her,” Elenore said as if reading my mind. She grabbed my hand. “That’s the kind of shithedid to her.”

Tap’s eyes softened. “I understand, and I won’t be taking anything away. I only want to park it at the fire station until we get this situation under control. Tina, you are still technically married, and Washington is a community property state. I’m sure Matt knows about the car. He can report you missing and have the police search for it. If they find it at the club, we can handle the fallout, but we don’t want anything to lead Matt to you and Dylan. Kaos has a very nice Escalade that I’m sure he’ll let you borrow whenever you want. Hell, he let Spade use it last week to chauffeur his little sister and her date to prom. If he’s using it, the club can loan you a car. This isn’t about taking away your freedom. You won’t be locked in the house or any of that bullshit.”

“I want to know where she’ll be staying,” Elenore announced.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Tap fired back. “No offense, but I doubt you’ve been trained to watch for a tail. We have. Any time you want to see your sister, we can bring her to you and keep you both safe. Then we can make sure nobody follows her back to Kaos’s.”

Elenore frowned. “Good point.”

“Tina, I also want to check your purse for tracking devices, if that’s all right.” He removed some sort of electronic contraption from his bag.

Elenore squeezed my hand. “You don’t have to do this, T. You and Dylan can stay here, and we can call the cops if Matt shows up.”

My sister meant well, but she didn’t know how shady Matt could be. “Until he jumps me in our parking garage and finishes what he started outside of work?” I said flatly.

Elenore’s expression fell. “I wish I would have been with you that day.”

I didn’t. Who knew what other tricks Matt had up his sleeve? I couldn’t live with myself if he hurt my sister to get to me. “You’ve done enough, El. You’re amazing, and I don’t know what I would have done without you for the past seven months. Tap here seems like he knows what he’s doing, and I trust Kaos.” Which was odd considering I’d never felt safe with Matt. Living with him had been like walking on eggshells. One wrong step, and he’d grow quiet and withdrawn, milking the codependent guilt he elicited. Or he’d become passive aggressive, his nasty barbs and tones making me feel like a horrible wife. I’d spent so much time tying myself in knots to keep him happy and maintain the peace. And for what? So I could end up here, relying on the kindness of strangers to keep me safe?

“T?” Elenore asked, squeezing my hand again to draw me from my thoughts.

Frustration made me want to scream. This was the bed I’d made. I’d laid in it when I decided to stay with him and make things work for Dylan’s sake. Now, the bed was burning, and the firemen had arrived. I could either trust them to get me out of danger, or watch my world turn to ash.

And most likely take Elenore and Dylan down with me.

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