Taz
Taz never had a woman up to his new place and he had to admit, he was kind of worried that she’d like it. Not that any of that was important tonight—especially after what she had been through. Still, Kai’s opinion seemed to matter to him more than he liked to admit. He had it bad for her and he wasn’t sure what to do about any of that.
Seeing her tonight, crying, and upset, made him want to find whoever destroyed her place and tear them apart. He wasn’t usually a jealous man, but with Kai, he was. He knew that she was right, and that Gabe was probably the person who trashed her place and wrote those two nasty words on her wall, but without proof, what more could they do? He thought about finding the kid and beating the shit out of him, but that would probably be playing right into his hands. If he ended up in jail for hurting the kid, he’d have full access to Kai and that might just be his plan. No, they’d have to find another way to get to Gabe, and they would need to be smart about it.
Taz insisted on leaving her car back at her apartment complex. She was honestly in no shape to drive to his place. Plus, he didn’t want her leaving his side after everything that had happened tonight. While Kai was packing, he called Ryker and filled him in on what had happened. He and Harlow wanted to come over to her place, but Taz told them both to stay put. He assured them that he had everything under control and promised to call if Kai needed either of them.
He helped her gather as much of her stuff as possible so that she’d be comfortable at his place, and when he asked if she had a favorite pillow or blanket, she liked to sleep with, she broke down in tears again, and he felt like a giant asshole for even asking such a stupid question. All of her bedding had been slashed and gutted. He promised that they’d get more stuff for her, after the insurance claim went through and she nodded, sniffling into his shirt. All he wanted to do was hold and protect her and he just couldn’t seem to even say the right thing.
He hauled her bags down to his truck and got her situated in the passenger seat, promising her that tomorrow would be a new day, and praying that he was saying the right things that wouldn’t send her bursting into tears.
She was quiet the whole way across town to his place. Kai let him hold her hand and when they pulled into his underground parking garage, she smiled over at him, putting on a brave face. “Thank you for taking me in like this,” she said.
“You don’t ever have to thank me for something like this,” he said. “I told you, I want you with me, Kai, and I meant it—even before this whole mess at your place. Come on, let’s get you settled.”
He helped her out of his truck and then grabbed her bags. She took one from him and he led the way to the elevator that would take them up to the eighth floor of his building. “How many floors does this place have?” she asked.
“Twelve,” he said. “I heard a rumor that there were supposed to be thirteen, but the architect was superstitious, and he decided to stop at twelve floors.”
“Are you superstitious at all?” she asked.
“Um, not really,” he admitted. “But I try not to step on a crack so that I don’t break my mama’s back.” She giggled and it was the first time he had heard her do that all night. “It’s been a rough night, hasn’t it?” he asked.
“It has, but I have to admit, I’m happy with the way that it’s ending. I’m here with you. I just went about getting here the wrong way,” she said, a small sob escaping her chest.
“Hey,” he said, pulling her against his body. She leaned into him for comfort, and he had to admit, he liked that. “Maybe asking a guy on a date to make me jealous wasn’t the right way to go about it, but that didn’t warrant him breaking into your apartment.”
“I know, but I still feel like an ass,” she said.
“Well, I’m going to say that you just need to get over that, and every time I tell Harlow to do that, she punches me in the gut. Please don’t punch me,” he begged.
“I wasn’t planning on it. Harlow can be pretty tough on you. But you do give her a lot of shit. You’re right about this though,” she said. “I will have to find a way to get over it, and it looks like apologizing isn’t going to work. I mean, I think he owes me an apology for what we think he did tonight.”
“Oh, I don’t just think that he broke into your place, honey. I’m pretty sure that’s the truth. It’s too much of a conscience that all this shit went down tonight at the Smokey Bandits and then your place gets broken into and trashed. Gabe’s guilty as sin, we just have to figure out a way to prove it.”
“Or we could just leave it up to the cops,” she insisted. “I don’t want any more trouble and going after Gabe could mean a lot of trouble for the both of us. Let’s just leave it alone for now. I don’t even want to think about any of it until I have to call the insurance company in the morning,” she said.
The elevator stopped on the eighth floor and when the doors opened, he stepped out. “I hate to tell you this, honey, but it’s already morning. It’s just after two,” he said. She groaned and stepped out of the elevator behind him, following him to his front door.
He hesitated and she seemed to get a bit antsy. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.
“I’m just a bit nervous about you seeing my place. It’s a little messy—don’t judge,” he said.
“I’d never judge you for being a little messy,” she assured. “I’m sure that it’s not that bad, just let me in. I have to pee and I’m dying for a hot shower and bed.” He unlocked his door, taking a deep breath as he pushed it open for her to peek inside.
“It’s great,” she said. “And it’s so much bigger than my place.”
“Yeah—two bedrooms. It’s why I jumped on it as soon as the unit came up for sale. I used to rent a one-bedroom on the fourth floor, but I hated throwing my money away every month. This place just reminds me of the little flat that I had in Paris while I was in culinary school.”
“You don’t talk much about that, do you?” she asked. He walked back to his bedroom and dumped her bags on his bed. He wasn’t going to even ask her if she wanted to stay in his bed—he just considered it a given and when she dropped her bag onto the bed, he had his answer confirmed.
“I don’t really talk very much about it because as I said before, it’s kind of a secret. Only a few people know about my time in France, and I’d like to keep it that way.” He walked across his room and picked up his dirty clothes from earlier that morning when he had a shower.
“Well, since I already know about you studying cooking in Paris, will you talk to me about it?” she asked.
“If you’d like,” he agreed. He really didn’t like talking about his time in Paris because honestly, he missed it. He had spent almost five years in France, and he loved every minute of living there. Taz had even become fluent in French, another fact that he kept secret around his club. It wasn’t that he worried about them tasing him, he just didn’t feel like he fit in most of the time around the Smokey Bandits. If he came clean and told all of his brothers about his time in Paris, it would only set him apart from the rest of them. The guys in the club were from around town, but he knew that most of them had it hard in the past. He didn’t want to rub in that he had a full-ride scholarship to become a chef in Paris. It would feel like he was bragging, and that wasn’t something that he wanted to do around the guys.
“I’d like it very much,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I want to know everything about you, Taz, including the things that you hide away from the rest of the world.”