Page 36 of Tusk's Fury

The brothers get me and Victoria settled in the back of one SUV. Zen watches me over his shoulder from the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, Tex loads up his family in the other. It’s good to see friendly faces, and although they’re polite, they don’t say much. At the last minute, Tusk jumps into the passenger seat, and then Zen takes off. We’re going in the same direction.

I ask, “Are we going to the clubhouse, or to Tex and Clara’s house?”

Without looking back at me, Tusk says gruffly, “Tex and Clara’s place.”

Zen starts asking about the weather this time of year in Alaska and how Tusk liked his trip. They chat about club business, totally ignoring me. I don’t know whether they’re trying to be nice by giving me some time to relax with the baby, or if they’re upset that I slept all the way back. I can’t imagine why they would care about something like that. But I’m awake now and alert enough to care about it.

I speak up again, “Did I do something wrong? Why are you ignoring me?”

Zen glances at me in the rearview mirror for a second. “You ran from us and didn’t even tell us why. If you had something to fear, any one of us would have helped you, you know that, right?”

Clutching the baby closer, I tell him, “I didn’t want to bring my problems and lay them on the club’s doorstep.”

Zen flashes me a smile. “Yeah, cause our club ain’t never dealt with any troublemakers before, right?”

I smother a smile myself because he’s not wrong about that. I relax my grip on Victoria, and when they go back to talking, I nurse her until she calms down. Since they don’t glance back or talk to me, I assume they don’t notice. I end up nursing her for pretty much the whole way there.

When we pull up, Clara is already on the porch with the twins, and Tex is unloading their stuff from the SUV. He tells me, “Go on inside. Tusk and I will get the luggage.”

Clara smiles when I walk up the steps. “If you want to give me the damp laundry, I can wash it before mold sets in?”

I guess I’d forgotten that all our stuff had gotten caught under the sprinklers. I suppose compared to everything else going on, moldy clothes was the least of my problems. But I nod and then jump right into my main problem of the day. “I didn’t talk to Tusk like you and Tex told me to. Yesterday was a really long day, and I just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to get into it with him.”

She shuts the door behind us and says, “No biggie. Just talk to him this morning. I’ll watch your little one.”

“To be honest, I’m a little freaked out about those two men trying to get me into their truck last night. If Tusk and Tex hadn’t gotten to me when they did, I dread to think what could have happened.”

We sit down and begin taking the coats and wraps off our kids. She says, “I noticed that you were quiet last night. Tex told me all about the Eve thing. Sounds creepy.”

“It was, even for me, after growing up in that shit. I just kept replaying their words over and over again in my head until I eventually fell asleep.”

When her kids wander off, her tone turns serious. “Look, you know you need to have a conversation with that man. He’s making a lot of assumptions about what he’s seeing, and it’s not fair to let him run with inaccurate information.”

A deep voice comes from the direction of the front door. “I agree. It’s not fair to expect me to just figure this shit out, especially when I don’t have enough pieces of the puzzle to even begin to make a picture.”

“I want to talk,” I make myself say as he walks up to me.

Staring down at my daughter, I watch his face go pale. “You gonna tell me about your daughter? And don’t give me no shit about her being fostered, because she looks just like you.”

I glance over at Clara. “You sure about watching Victoria?”

She reaches out to take her from my arms. “I am. We’ll both be fine for a few hours. I love babies. And your little one is so quiet.”

Tex walks in with suitcases. “It’s ‘cause she’s spoiled.”

Clara chuckles. “You’re always so grumpy. You’re also a big, fat liar. You spoil the twins all the time.”

Tex doesn’t reply. He just drops the bags and comes to stand by Clara. “Yeah, you’re right. They’re real cute when they first come out. They stay where you put them. The trouble starts when they begin walkin’ and talkin’.”

“Well, if you need me to come back, just call me, okay?” I say, grateful for Clara’s offer to look after Victoria for me. I’m all kinds of nervous about talking to Tusk, but it’s got to be done.

He reaches out to touch the baby’s head, his expression dreamy. “I suspect this conversation won’t last long,” he says flatly.

I give Victoria a kiss on her forehead and force myself to turn and walk out the door. I can’t take a chance on Tusk losing his shit in front of the kids.

When he catches up and walks down the sidewalk beside me, I ask, “Where do you want to go to talk?”

“The clubhouse. I need a fuckin’ drink.” His reply is vintage Tusk. He’s not an alcoholic by any stretch of the imagination, but he does love to take the edge off with a stiff drink when he’s stressed.

---