Page 78 of Tuck & Roll

“Why are you guys out here? Where’s Kylie?” Tuck moved to push past his brothers only to come up short.

“Slow down,” Race held up a hand to keep him from entering. “She’s inside with Bacon.”

“Okay.” He started to go around them again.

“We need to talk before you go inside.”

“Fine, but make it quick. I want to see her.” His pulse was racing as his mind continued to torment him with worst case scenarios. When they didn’t immediately continue, he asked, “Can you at least tell me how she’s doing?”

Race exchanged a look with Darren before he answered. “About as well as can be expected after being attacked.”

Tuck wasn’t sure he cared for the look his brothers shared. In fact, it made his already strung-out nerves pull tighter. “What does that mean? How bad was she hurt?” If someone didn’t start talking, he was going to knock them aside and find out for himself. And he was getting tired of repeating himself.

“He backhanded her and tried to strangle her so she has bruises on her cheek and around her throat. He also held a knife to her throat and nicked her.” Darren’s body was all but vibrating in anger. His mouth was a flat line and he’d fisted his hands at his sides. “He got in through her bedroom window. It looks like he jimmied the lock.”

Well that answered how the guy got in the house. “Did anyone get a good look at the son of a bitch? Do we know who it was?” He was a dead man walking as far as Tuck was concerned. No one laid a finger on his woman and got away with it.

“Kylie said she couldn’t see him, but she recognized his voice as Chet’s.” Race looked over Tuck’s shoulder and frowned. “Baby, I told you to stay inside and lock the door.”

“I did. Then it looked like you all had it under control and I didn’t hear anymore shooting, so I grabbed my gun and came over to check on Kylie.” Bellamy waved her gun at her side.

“Bellamy,” a hint of exasperation tinged his voice. “While I appreciate that you’re a crack shot, you don’t need to put yourself and the baby at risk.”

“I’m not putting the baby at risk. I would never do that.” Her frown was fierce. She did not like Race implying she didn’t know how to take care of herself and their unborn child.

“What do you call running into a possible shootout half dressed?” He waved a hand in her direction.

Tuck looked closer and saw that she really was half dressed. She was wearing a robe that looked big enough to fit Race and house slippers. He hoped she had a gown on underneath the robe or Race might lose his shit.

Although Race’s wife was a damn good shot with a gun, which she’d proved a couple of times by saving their asses and Race’s daughter, Tuck agreed with his prez. He’d be a little upset, too, if Kylie put herself in that kind of position. It was bad enough she’d been slapped around and choked, but damn, if she’d gotten shot? He couldn’t go there. And that made him think, he needed to get Kylie trained with a gun so she could protect herself if the need should arise. This was the second time someone had gotten close enough to try to hurt her or kill her. That was two times too many.

“Did either one of you get off a shot?” he asked Race and Darren.

“Yeah. I saw his body jerk and he stumbled when the shot hit him, but he kept going. I didn’t chase him because I didn’t want to leave Kylie alone in case he wasn’t working alone.”

Tuck never had a doubt his brother wouldn’t defend Kylie’s life with his own. Even if he wasn’t in the SORMC it was just the kind of man his friend was. It was bad luck that Darren’s shot didn’t take Chet out permanently. The club had been looking everywhere without success to find the bastard. With this attack on Kylie, it confirmed their suspicions that he was still in the area. They needed to double their efforts in finding Chet and taking hm out. Tuck hated this threat hanging over Kylie’s head.

“Thanks for being there for her.”

Darren shook his head and sighed heavily. “It pisses me off the bastard got inside my house and I didn’t get to him before he could hurt Kylie. It fucking kills me that he was able to get to her.” He looked completely torn up about the situation.

Tuck clapped him on the shoulder. “It could’ve happened at my place just as easily. And thanks for taking care of her through all of this. I’m sorry I was a dick and jumped to the wrong conclusions earlier.”

Darren grunted. “It’s Taylor’s fault your head’s a mess.

Tuck fully agreed with the man. Ever since Taylor came back into his life, it had gone to hell. It was complete chaos. He looked forward to the time when she’d be gone and he could get Kylie back in his house. Although, after all of this, he thought maybe getting a new house that held no memories of Taylor might be better.

Bringing their attention back to the matter at hand, Tuck asked, “Do we know why Chet went after Kylie?”

“Told her he wanted his money back,” Race filled him in. “Apparently, they’ve figured out that we’ve taken it back.”

“Fuck,” Tuck ran a hand down his face. He’d been afraid something like this might happen. He had known it was too much to hope for that Chet would leave town and the Phantom Furies would write off their thievery being discovered as a loss. Given who the Phantom Furies were and their reputation, it had been unrealistic for Tuck to even entertain the notion. “If that’s everything, I want to see her.”

“He planned on taking her with him.” Darren rubbed the back of his neck.

“Come again?” Tuck couldn’t have heard him right.

“The fucker told her he was going to take her with him to get his money back,” Darren repeated.

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