Tank's Redemption: Red Devils M.C. (Red Devils MC Book 4) (5 page)

“Fine, but I will be sending them if you don’t check in every t
hree hours. I want the usual signal. Or they will come to get you. Your fingers is the only one that will open that lock now. That means you call me every three hours, Annie. Or I send the boys.” Her mother hung up without another word, Annie wanted to scream. Fuck, sometimes she hated her mother. Turning she ran into a hard male chest, then she looked up at Tank, who’d been standing behind her.

Tank watched Annie pacing near the door his ear pealed for any signs of distress, something was off with the way she spoke to her mother. He didn’t like it, she seemed embarrassed about something, or worried. He didn’t like that at all, she should never be worried.
He wasn’t able to hear her talking to her mother, because Trick was molesting Katie, again. And her giggling was too loud. He got up, moving closer to her, hearing Annie hissing into the phone.

“I’m fine. I have a friend here. Remember, that’s why I left early, so I could get it done before her wedding next week. If you send Rico it will be an issue.”

Who the fuck was Rico? He sure as hell ho
ped that he hadn’t found his women, only to find out she was with another man. Oh, fuck no, that would not fucking do at all. It was all he could manage not to grab his phone and tell her mother she’d better not fucking send any man she wanted to see alive again after Annie. He was still seeing red when she pulled the phone from her ear and then turned, running right into his chest.

“Oh,” She said, looking up at him.

“Who the fuck is Rico?” He demanded, unable to prevent the growl.

“Ummm…my mother’s lap dog?” Annie replied, shocked at his clenched fists and dark glower. It was a scary sight,
seeing Tank mad.

“Why did she think you’d need him here? I will keep you safe. Do I need to call her and tell her that?” He demanded.

“No, no…it’s fine she isn’t sending him.” Annie held his phone out to him. He took it, still not looking very calm. Annie was surprised that his anger didn’t scare her, maybe it was that her panties were wet. Okay, drenched, but only she knew that.

He was just so damned sexy. But the anger not frightening her was shocking
. Ever since the kidnapping she was afraid of large men who got angry, it was because of the beating they’d given her. She’d gotten two black eyes, a broken leg and a busted jaw from those assholes before they’d been told by her mother that if she was damaged they wouldn’t get the weapons they wanted. So, the beating had stopped, and the rape a few of them had promised was coming after the beating had never happened, thank God.

Somehow though, she knew that Tank wasn’t going to hurt her. She might be letting her hormones convince her of that
, she wasn’t sure. Or maybe it was Katie’s assurance that he was safe, yep that must be it, she thought.

“Good, I can keep you safe.” Tank grumbled.

“Hey, Annie were leaving in a few minutes.” Katie called from Trick’s lap, still giggling.

“Okay.” Annie called back, making Tank want to kill the woman he thought of as a kid sister.  How the hell was he going to get her to come home with him instead of Katie and Trick, he wondered. Then he heard Katie giggling as she moaned and he knew exactly how to get her
to stay with him. He leaned down until his lips were pressed against her ear, wanting to nip at her lobe. Only the thought of scaring her off was keeping him from doing it.

He whispered, “Do you really want to listen to the two of them fucking all night?”

She looked up at him with shocked eyes as he pulled back. Horror in her eyes, making triumph spring up in his chest as he watched her look around him at the two lovers.

Annie was shocked when Tank whispered that sentence into her ear.
Shivers had rushed down her spine and she’d wanted to lean into him. She wasn’t sure as she peeked around him if it was the horror of hearing those too go at it all night, or the fact that her panties were still drenched with desire that made her look at him and reply.

“No, take me home with you.” To which she
got a triumphed grin.

“
Okay,” Tank muttered, feeling very satisfied. “Let’s go now.”

“Uh, Katie. I’m going to
stay with Tank instead. He has a guest room I can use.” Annie called out.

“What? No, it
’s okay if you stay with us.” Katie said, eyeing her with disbelief. Annie knew she had surprised her friend. She wasn’t really the trusting type, and Katie knew that about her. But the idea of hearing her giggling and moaning all night was just too much.

“Nope, I’m staying with Jake.” Annie said.

“Jake? Who’s Jake?” Katie’s brow furrowed, and she looked around the room as if this person was going to jump out at her. Didn’t she know Tank’s real name?

“He’s Jake.” Annie told her nodding at Tank, who smiled.

“Huh, I didn’t know that,” Katie muttered watching him. Annie noticed that he was looking anywhere but at Katie. That was strange, why didn’t she know his name, Annie wondered. “Well okay, but if you change your mind call me.”

“Okay,” Annie replied, even though she knew that even if she had to sleep on the front porch without a blanket
, she wasn’t going to listen to them having sex all night.

Tank opened the door to his cabin and cringed.
Fuck, he hadn’t realized that he’d left it this messy. He looked at the beer cans littering the coffee table, the left over pizza he’d made the other night, and the dirty laundry piled on the chair near the kitchen. Annie was following him, but she stopped dead in the doorway her eyes taking in the mess that was currently his home. Double damn, she was most likely wondering if she should call Katie to see if she could stay with them after all.

“Ummm…not to be a bitch, but wow. How do you stand this? I’d be nuts if my place looked like this.” Annie looked at him with apprehension. Tank could feel his cheeks heating. He didn’t normally let his place get this messy, but lately he’d been a little depressed. It was hard when all the friends you had were pair
ed up with beautiful, sexy women that kept them too busy to hang out with him.

“I haven’t been home much lately. I will clean it up when I get back from the clubhouse. I have to head over there this afternoon to talk to Bone,” He watched her as she looked around with a frown. “I’ll just show you the guest room, it’s clean.”

“Okay,” Annie said, and followed him up stairs. “So you live alone?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Tank looked over his shoulder at her.

“Well some of the clothes downstairs were women’s. Wanted to be sure I wasn’t surprising anyone by being here. I hate messy scenes.” Annie wanted to grin at the way Tank’s ears began to redden again. She’d managed to embarrass him again, she realized. Well, the man was certainly messy, not as messy as the boys though. God, those assholes were so fucking messy she wanted to beat them with the messes they created. She cringed, thinking of the onetime she’d had to clean their house. It had given her nightmares for weeks. She still wasn’t sure that the cheese she’d found molded and oozing disgusting goop, wasn’t lurking somewhere, trying to find her. She shivered.

“No messy scenes,
and I will clean up when I get back. Must have been something left here after the last bon fire.” She saw that the tops of his ears where red again, then he muttered. “When I get back I will take care of it, and then cook dinner, okay.” Tank told her as he opened a door. It lead to a room that was dominated by the extra-large bed.

The bedding was a deep b
rown with varying shades. Annie eyed him with apprehension. Was this his room? She was not going to sleep with him, at least not right away. Her lady bits protested this discussion with a wet needy feeling. No, she told herself firmly, she was not going to sleep with him after four hours of knowing him. She was not a slut! Her body didn’t care, and it became embarrassingly wet. With a sigh, she brushed past him then turned looking at Tank standing in the doorway.

“This is the guest room
, right,” she demanded.

“Yes,” Tank replied
, his brow furrowed. “My room’s across the hall. I’ll be back in about two hours. Then I’ll make us dinner. I need to head out, so call me if you need something. Make yourself at home.” After he’d said this he turned, and walked out the door and down the stairs. Leaving Annie standing in the room shocked that he’d just left a perfect stranger in his home without even one stipulation. Didn’t the man know that was dangerous? She could rob him blind.

It only took about a half hour for her to freak over the mess. She’d headed down to the kitchen to get a glass of water to find that the kitchen was worse than the living room. There were dishes piled in the sink and again cans littered the counter tops, and she wasn’t sure how the man cooked in this room. There was just a fine layer of grim
e that seemed to be on the counters and floor. She was disgusted, men were just gross. She started with the dishes and worked her way from the kitchen to the living room. She saved the laundry for last. Since she didn’t know where the laundry room was, she began opening doors trying to find it.

The third door she opened had a set of stairs leading down. She walked down them an
d turned on the light. And got a surprise as she took in the room. Staring at the rows and rows of shelves, and on those shelves were guns. Lots and lots of guns, and other assorted hardware. She walked further into the room, amazed at the shear amount of shelves that seemed to go on and on. She walked to the first shelf, picking up a grenade launcher, wondering where he’d gotten all this hardware from. She turned it and saw the emblem embedded on the side in a shocked surprise. Setting it down on the shelf again she began looking at the others. That small little emblem was on over half of the guns inside the room.

Hell
, how was that possible? She knew for a fact that her mother hadn’t sold any of these guns to the Red Devils. Her mother never worked with bikers. Not since Annie’s kidnapping the first time she’d tried. The Jackal’s had been the ones she’d tried to work with, and that had ended with her daughter getting kidnapped. Working with bikers wasn’t something that she was willing to do after that disaster. Well, except for the Bandits. Her mother did work with one of them. Of course, she hadn’t known that he was a member of a biker gang until after she’d been working with the man for over four years. Lifting another gun, she stared at it in amazement. Because over half the guns in this basement had the sun and moon emblem her mother used to stamp her product.

Tank smiled to himself as he climbed on his hog and headed over to the club house
. He wasn’t sure why he trusted Annie at his home, he wasn’t usually so willing to give anyone the run of his home. He’d never left a woman unattended at his place, not in the six years he’d lived there. It had seemed right with Annie, natural. Which was strange. Shaking his head as he pulled up to the clubhouse, he noticed that he was late. Shit, he hated being late. He was the vice president of the Red Devils, and he shouldn’t set a bad example by being late. Only he’d wanted to get Annie to his place before she could change her mind, and insist on staying with Trick and Katie instead.

Climbing off his hog, he headed inside
. He’d needed to know that she was in his space. Only he hadn’t remembered in his rush to get her there that he hadn’t cleaned the place in over two weeks. Walking in and remembering the mess he’d allowed to pile up had embarrassed him.

She must think he was a fucking slob. He wasn’t usually so sloppy, only lately he’d been volunteering for jobs that would take the newly married men in the club from their women for a
long period of time. So that his brothers could spend time with their women, after all what the hell else did he have to do.

Entering the clubhouse, he tossed his phone into the bin
, and handed his Beretta to the prospect sitting at the table. Then headed into church.

As he entered
, Duck growled, “’bout damned time, boy.”

Ignoring him
, Tank sat down next to Bone, that old bastard was always being a dick. Bone nodded at Tank, a slight smile curving his lips. Fuck, the bastard knew about Annie. Bone didn’t say anything about her, thankfully. When he spoke his voice was hard and the slight smile had left his face, replaced by a grim expression.

“Tank is going to share some information he received today so we can discuss it.” He turned
, looking at Tank who faced the other men in the room.

“I went to meet a contact about the Jackal’s and their new partners
, the Headhunter’s MC, only he never showed. Since, he didn’t show, I decided to head over to grab a bit at a nearby diner where I met a woman.” He was about to tell them about the woman’s insistence that a gun dealer was running guns through their territory.

Only Duck interrupted him,
“Nobody wants to hear about your sex life, get to the important stuff!”

“You’re asking for it old man! This is the important stuff.” Tank
bellowed, glaring at the older man.

“Stop, now!” Bone roared, making both men glare at him instead.