It was late, but she had a feeling he’d still be up, knowing without a doubt he was probably thinking about all the shit going on. Grabbing the thin blanket off the bed, she wrapped it around herself and opened the bedroom door. She could hear talking down the hall from the main room, even the semi-soft thumping from music. But she had no idea where to even find Tank in this place.
Just then a woman came stumbling out of a room, adjusting her top and skirt, and looking drunk as hell.
“Excuse me?” Bunny said softly.
The woman stopped and braced her hand on the wall. “What?”
“Can you tell me what room Bre—I mean Tank—is staying in?”
The woman didn’t speak for several seconds, but she finally straightened and moved closer. Eyeliner and mascara was smeared along one side of her face, and when she smiled she had a large gap between her teeth.
“You new club pussy or something?”
Bunny held in her disgust. “No, I’m just a friend of his.”
“Friend? Ain’t no pussy around here that’s ‘just friends’.” The door the woman had come out of opened, and a big, tatted up biker came out. He was zipping up his jeans and fixing his belt when he stopped and looked between them.
“Kat, get the fuck out of here. Go pass out or sober the hell up,” the man said, his voice deep. He stepped up to where Bunny stood, and she retreated.
“You looking for Tank?”
She nodded.
“I’m Ruin. I’ll take you to him.” He tipped his chin toward the main part of the club. They started walking, and he glanced over his shoulder at her. “Don’t mind the club whores around here. Some are decent, but others are sluts and only here for some dick.”
His crude and gruff demeanor shouldn’t have been a surprise, not when she’d grown up around it with her father, and because Tank was on the hardened side. So, she just nodded and continued to follow him.
“But no one will fuck with you. You’re here for club protection, and anyone that tries to give you a hard time you just let one of the Brothers know.”
“I can take care of myself.”
He looked at her over his shoulder and eyed her up and down, but not in a sexual way. “I’m sure you can.” He grinned and then turned back around. He continued to lead her through the main room where everyone was still partying, and up a set of stairs. Once at the top she took a second to look down from the landing at the top of the stairs. A few people were looking at her, and one guy was even getting head while he watched her.
“He’s staying in this room since he gave you his.”
She faced Ruin. “He gave me his room?”
Ruin nodded and pointed to the door. It was the last one down the hallway. “I’ll leave you to it.” Ruin walked past her, and she watched him descend the stairs, feeling so nervous all of a sudden. Facing the door that Tank was behind, she smoothed her hands over her legs and breathed out of her mouth slowly.
Truth was she didn’t want to talk about all of this, about the past. She’d wanted to talk to him, explain it back then, but after she’d left she’d been humiliated, felt like a failure for running away from the only good thing in her life.
And it just took seeing him again for everything to come rushing back, for me to realize how much I missed him, how much I … love him. God, I am still so in love with him.
Whether he told her that he didn’t want her anymore, she needed to tell him how she felt, that even if she was scared she cared about him. It didn’t even matter if he’d moved on, which he had every right to. No, this was about her finding that closure, giving Tank the explanation he deserved.
He deserves more than a broken girl like you.
But she’d had this feeling in the pit of her stomach every time she thought about him over the years, this feeling of being the biggest failure to him, of not giving herself a chance with him. It had grown over time, until it consumed every part of her, until she felt like a huge piece of herself was missing.
And that huge piece is Brendan.
Chapter Nine
She was all he could think about, that and the fact he needed to keep his three girls safe.
Fuck, this needs to work out.
Tank set down the gun he was cleaning and leaned back in the chair. He stared at the wall, thinking about the meeting with the club, that he couldn’t have waited until they had backup to go after the fucker. Going right for the asshole was what was key, but fortunately they’d gotten word again that the other charters, and even the Grizzly MC, had their back if need be. They planned on heading out first thing in the morning and he knew he needed to tell Lila and Bunny, but here he was, cleaning his weapons and avoiding his emotions. They were worried. At least he could tell they were. Lila and Bunny were strong women, always had been.