Page 26 of Tusk's Fury

“Dammit! Okay get us two suites in town. A large hotel will be a lot more defensible than a tiny, isolated cabin in the wilderness.”

I roll my eyes. My cabin isn’t in the wilderness exactly. Tex is being a bit melodramatic, in my opinion. But what happens next blows my mind. Tex gets on his phone, and I can hear him say, “It’s so much worse than we anticipated, Tusk. Get your ass here right away.”

I can’t hear Tusk’s reply all the way in the bedroom, but Tex replies, “Thirty minutes will be fine. I’ll hold down the fort until you get here.”

I sit down on the bed, and before I realize it, tears are streaming down my face. I’ve been betrayed. They brought Tusk with them. Then Clara explodes on her husband. “You invited him to come as well? How could you do that? We talked about this.”

“He wanted to see her, and what do you know? She’s had his baby. Now sweetheart, I ain’t getting angry at you for not telling me, I know you women like to have your secrets. But they’re both in danger. If we’re gonna be stuck here for three days, then it’s a good thing another brother’s in town. Did you honestly think after seeing how he’s been crying into his beer almost every damn night since she left, that I ain’t gonna tell him we’re visiting his woman? You gotta know me better than that.”

It bothers me more than I care to admit that I inadvertently dragged Clara into my mess, and now it’s causing arguments between her and Tex. The last thing I want is for my problems to spill over onto the people I care about. I can’t imagine how Silas’ men found me. What I thought was teenagers pranking me has been going on for a month or two.

It worries me that the church has been playing games with me, and I was too stupid to see it. Now that I’ve gotten my brain off pregnancy and babies and back on survival, I can see that the flowers and the fruit basket were probably Silas Harper’s version of extending an olive branch. The white handkerchiefs were more like white flags, clearly his way of asking me to surrender to his will. The logs were meant to be intimidating. I don’t think it was a death threat exactly—more like his way of saying he would knock some sense into me.

I get up and begin fast-packing because I have to do something proactive to keep from breaking down. Tusk is the last person I want to see, and he’s going to be here in thirty minutes. That can only mean he’s been waiting at the diner down the road. It’s the only place for miles in every direction.

One glance in the mirror tells me that I look almost nothing like the sexy, biker babe I pretended to be at the clubhouse. If I’m going to town, I need to get myself cleaned up. I get into the shower, resolving to make the best of this situation for my daughter’s sake.

Chapter 10

Tusk

When Tex told me that Clara was in contact with Brittany and they’d been invited to visit her in fuckin’ Alaska, I was shocked shitless. Brittany in Alaska? I never dreamed that she would pick such a remote location to run off to. She wasn’t the outdoorsy type and hated cold weather in general. Her being in Alaska makes absolutely no sense. Yet here she is.

My anxiety is nearing a full-blown panic when my phone rings. I can see by the number that it’s Tex.

I answer immediately, “Did you make contact with her?”

“It’s so much worse than we anticipated, Tusk. Get your ass here right away.”

“I’m leaving right now,” I tell him as I get up from my seat. I pull out my phone as I leave the diner and tell him, “Looks like I’m about thirty minutes from your location.”

He responds tightly, “Thirty minutes will be fine. I’ll hold down the fort until you get here.”

“Hold down the fort?” I say, wondering what the hell has happened.

“I’ll explain later.”

There is a pause, and then he lowers his voice to a mere whisper. “And when you get here, don’t go all caveman and lose your shit.”

“Why the fuck would I lose my shit?”

“It’s a bit of a shitshow here. But the thing is, if you scare her off by coming on too strong, she’s gonna bolt and run again. No matter how many emotions this situation pulls out of you, you keep your fuckin’ cool.”

“What the fuck is going on, Tex? If someone has harmed a hair on her head, I’ll drop them where they stand.”

“She ain’t gonna be needing that kind of attitude right now. You’ll see when you get your ass here. Just promise me that you’ll keep your shit together,” he whispers, clearly agitated.

“Scout’s fuckin’ honor,” I tell him through gritted teeth.

Clamping my phone into its cradle in the rented SUV, I turn on the sat-nav and head off to see my girl. It’s been months since she left, and to say I’ve been missing her would be an understatement. She’s been all I’ve been able to think about. I’ve searched all over three counties and more for her. Guilt about the day she left has been eating me up.

I feel like the world’s biggest idiot for having decided to meet Gina at the clubhouse. I should have known she’d bring trouble, and to think that Brittany was right there, sitting in the back of the bar with Clara, watching it all go down. My irritation level was high that day, but I was determined not to show it. I wanted my kids to have that perfect family experience. What a fuckin’ gigantic mistake that had been. It not only left Brittany with the impression I was getting back with my ex-wife, but it also gave Gina the impression that if she just said or did the right thing, I’d take her back.

That’s probably where she got the wild idea to do IVF again. I thought maybe she was lying to me, playing mind games. I’ve heard of women claiming to be pregnant with a man’s child to get him to come back. I’d been holding out hope that she was lying. That shit is so fucked up, but it’s just the kind of thing my ex-wife would do.

Smoke and I checked at the clinic, and sure enough, she had the procedure. I couldn’t get any more details out of them though, as the donor I had the right to know my sperm had been used, but because of patient confidentiality they refused to tell me more. We managed to withdraw my consent, and they destroyed my sperm samples in front of us. So, at least she can’t have more of my kids without telling me. I was pissed at her, but despite what she’d done, I would support my kid financially. As long as I don’t have to be with their mother, I guess one more is a blessing in disguise.

Before I know it, I’m pulling up to a quaint little cabin beside a frozen lake. I get out of the car and head inside. As I walk past Brittany’s car, I glance over and see a car seat in the back. I guess she’s taken a job babysitting or something. Though, any thought I would have given to that car seat is immediately replaced by the fact that she’s got a broken window and I wonder if this is what Tex was hinting at. What had happened?

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