Tank (Blue-Collar Billionaires #1) (6 page)

“Ouch! Get your hands off me.”

Emma is caught between a group of guys who are trying to take each other down. She’s jostled back and forth and then stumbles to the side. I push through the crowd, shoving anyone in front of me out of the way. When I reach her, I push her behind me just as one of the guys swings out wildly, his fist connecting with my side.
 

I block his next punch and then shove him back. His buddies apparently want in on the action now because they’ve focused on me. The chill I always feel before a good fight settles over me. The next one charges me. I dip low and catch him at the waist, flipping him onto his back. My arms and hands move in a violent dance, punching, blocking and knocking heads together. After the first three go down, the rest of their buddies back away slightly.
 

Emma whimpers behind me. I reach back and pull her against my back, using my body as a shield to block her from the crowd. Fights still rage around us. Sasha appears at my elbow. “Let’s get out of here. This is crazy.”

Lattimer finally gets up, brushing away the offer of help from his other bodyguard. The guy holds his throat while glaring at me. He looks between the three of us and then sneers. “All of you need to get the hell out of my club.”
 

“What? Paul, that is not fair. Emma has
nothing
to do with this. And a bunch of drunks fighting is not my fault.” Sasha glares at him.
 

“I don’t care. I don’t need this shit. Both of you get out and don’t bother coming back.”

Sasha points at him. “This is really messed up and you know it. Just wait, karma is a bitch with a really long memory. And she has your address now.”

Sasha holds out a hand to Emma. “We’re going to get our stuff from the back.”

I follow them, standing guard at the entrance to the dressing room and keeping an eye on Lattimer and his goons. They watch us but don’t attempt to come closer or prevent the girls from getting their stuff. Sasha emerges wearing black leggings and an oversized red sweater. Emma has changed into a plain white blouse with ruffles on the front and hip hugging jeans.
 

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

I follow them out to the parking lot.
 

Emma stops in the middle of the gravel lot. “Crap, I forgot that I didn’t bring my car today. I need to call my sister for a ride. She wasn’t expecting me to be out this early.”

Sasha holds up her keys. “I can take you.”

“I don’t want you to have to drive out of your way.”

I stop next to my bike. I’m suddenly grateful that I bought the extra helmet. “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.”
 

Emma regards me warily. “In Norfolk. Near the shipyard.”

I wave her over. “That’s not that far from me. We’ll follow Sasha home to make sure she gets there safely. Then I’ll take you home.”
 

“Okay. Thanks.” She adjusts the strap on her bag and then takes the helmet I hand her. I adjust the strap for her and then climb on the bike. She eyes it like some strange beast she’s never seen before.

“Climb on. It won’t bite. And neither will I.”
 

Her eyes narrow but she climbs on the back. She’s holding me gingerly around the waist. I start the engine and she squeals and grabs me tighter.
 

Now that’s better.
 

We pull out, following Sasha’s car. I already know her address from when I was on her friend Kaylee’s security detail but it’s been a while since I’ve been there. Plus it’s harder to concentrate on directions when I have Emma snugged against my back, her thighs gripping mine. She catches the rhythm of riding quickly, leaning with me on the turns.
 

All too soon, we pull up in front of Sasha’s apartment building. Emma climbs off and then removes the helmet. Her cheeks are flushed.

“Your first time?”

She looks startled for a moment then her cheeks go red. “Yeah, I’ve never ridden before.”

“If I could only read minds right now.”
 

She flushes again and turns to follow Sasha. I know I should stop teasing her but I can’t help it. It’s so easy.

Emma pointedly turns her back to me. “Are you okay, Sasha?”
 

Sasha shrugs. “I was expecting him to fire me, but I wasn’t trying to get you fired, too. I’m really sorry.”

“I don’t care. I can find another crappy job.”

Sasha turns to me. “Tank, do you mind coming in for a minute. I’m still pretty rattled. I don’t want to be alone just yet.”

“Of course.”

We step inside and Sasha locks the door and slides the chain in place. Then she turns to Emma. “Em, your mascara is running. Why don’t you use my bathroom? I have makeup remover beneath the counter that you can use.”

As soon as Emma turns the corner out of sight, Sasha grabs my arm and drags me into the kitchen. “Look we don’t have long so I just needed to warn you.
 
Em lives with her sister but I think something happened. She’s crashed on my couch a couple of times but I think she’s worried about being here too much. It’s a pride thing. Knowing her she’ll probably let you drop her off at home and then leave as soon as she thinks you’re gone.”

A door opens in the hallway. Sasha lets go of my arm just as Emma turns the corner into the kitchen.
 

“Wow, I really did look like a raccoon. Thanks for warning me, Sasha. I would have hated to go home looking like that. I’d never hear the end of it.”

“Why don’t you stay here? You can crash on the couch and then I can drive you to work in the morning.”

Emma smiles tightly. “No, I need to get home. Ivy will worry otherwise.” She glances at me. “Ivy is my older sister.”

“Oh, well, okay then. I guess you guys should get going then.” Sasha gives me a look as soon as Emma turns around. I nod, so she knows that I got the message.
 

I’m not sure if Emma would try to trick me but if she does, she won’t get far.
 

E
MMA

As soon as Sasha closes the door behind us, I stop walking. Tank stops too and stares at me. I cross my arms and try to drum up some bravado.
 

“You’re not going to tell Mr. Stevens, are you?”

“What? No, why would I do that?”

Relief sweeps through me. It’s not that I thought he would tell, it’s just that I can’t take any chances. Mr. Stevens is a conservative guy and he’s already gone out on a limb by hiring me in the first place. The last thing I want to do is give him any reason to question that decision.

“I don’t know. I just had to be sure. I need that job. Especially now that I just lost my second income.”

Tank’s face doesn’t change but somehow I sense that I’ve offended him with the question. “I wouldn’t do that, Emma. It’s your secret to keep. Although you haven’t done anything wrong and have nothing to be ashamed of. Now where am I taking you?”

I give him the address and then climb on the back of his motorcycle. He waits for me to adjust the helmet before he pulls out. I can tell he’s holding back for my sake. As strange as it seems, I wish he’d go faster. Really let loose. I want to know what it feels like to do something a little crazy. But true to form, I don’t ask him to. I just squeeze my arms tighter around his middle and lean against his back.
 

He pulls up outside of the house. My heart sinks when I see the blue muscle car sitting next to Ivy’s silver sedan. Jon is here.
 

I climb off the bike, awkwardly and hand Tank the helmet. “Thanks for the ride. And for what you did tonight. I know Sasha really appreciates it.”

He flips up the front visor on his helmet. “I wish things had gone differently. My goal was to scare him, not get both of you banned.”

I kick a loose pebble near my foot. I wish I could pretend that losing the job didn’t matter. But the loss of that income is even more important now. Mr. Marshall’s offer looms in my mind. One conversation with Tank and all my troubles could be over.
 

“I had to deliver a package to your father today.”

His face immediately closes up. “Did you?”

“He’s a nice old man. He always asks me about school and how things are going.”

“Yeah, he’s a model citizen all right. I’ll wait until you get in the house before I take off.”
 

Something must show on my face because his eyes narrow. I can tell he’s about to say something else so I wave and walk toward the house. All I have to do is go inside and wait until he drives off. Then I can walk back to the law office. As soon as I close the front door behind me, I hear the sound of the motorcycle as he races off.
 

I take a quick shower and then stuff some fresh clothes in my bag. There’s a soft thud against the wall that separates my room from the hallway. The door to my room is slightly ajar. I tiptoe to the door and peer through the crack out into the hallway.
 

Ivy stands in the living room, staring at her phone. Jon comes up behind her and she suddenly puts it in her pocket. I can’t hear what they’re saying but when Jon grabs her wrist and yanks her toward him roughly, I gasp. I cover my mouth with my hand but they don’t seem to have heard me anyway. Ivy shoves Jon away and stalks back down the hall. He follows and then I hear her door slam.
 

After the way Jon behaved this morning and what I just witnessed, this is the last place I want to be. I stand in the doorway, for a moment, listening. They don’t come back out so I grab my bag and head out. It’s exactly twelve minutes later when I lock the front door behind me and skip down the front steps.

I want to weep at the thought of walking a little over a mile at this time of night. But my mind flashes back to this morning and I suddenly would rather be anywhere else. Jon has never been quite that blatant before. It’s usually just the lecherous looks and the comments. I made the mistake of telling Sasha last week that Jon was hitting on me and wish I hadn’t. She wasn’t exactly subtle with her offer to crash on the couch tonight. But I don’t need charity or to impose on my friends.
 

Contrary to what she thinks, I’m not all heartbroken and depressed because my sister is being such a bitch to me lately. There was a time when Ivy would have stood up for me.
 
Before our parents died, she would have told Jon he could take her or leave her. But ever since then, she’s been different. I’ve been different, too. I can hardly fault her for changing when I’m not the same person either.
 

It’s eerily quiet as I pass the dark houses on my street. There’s no one out this late. I hook the long strap of my messenger bag over my head so it doesn’t get in the way. No doubt I’ll have blisters by the time I get there but I should be able to curl up on the sofa in the waiting room and catch a few hours of sleep before Mr. Stevens comes in for the day. It’s embarrassing enough that he knows I do it but to have him catch me would be even worse.

I turn the corner onto the main road. It borders a wooded area that always gives me the creeps. So when a dark shape moves out of the corner of my eye, I whirl around, my bag slapping me in the back of my thighs, fists at the ready.
 

“Going somewhere?”

Once it registers who it is, I scream in frustration. “Tank! What in the hell are you doing? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Where are you going, Emma?”

“None of your business.”

He taps his fingers against the helmet resting on his thigh. “Is there some reason you don’t want to go home?”

He’s going to make me say it out loud. “Do you just get off on annoying me or what?”

“Something like that.”

It’s the lack of pity in his eyes that tears the words from my mouth. It’s the understanding. Like he’s been in my shoes a time or two and knows how much it sucks.

“My sister’s boyfriend is there and he’s just … I just, don’t want to be there, okay?”

He nods, a quick perfunctory motion, like he was just waiting for me to finish so we could move on. “Get on.”

“Wait, what? I just told you I’m
not
going back there.”

He starts the engine and the loud sound startles me in the stark quiet of the night. “I know. You’re coming home with me.”

At any other time I would have a million arguments ready. I’d rail at him for making assumptions or make a joke about “what kind of girl do you think I am?”

But it’s late. It’s dark. And he represents the only safety I’ve had in a long, long time. So I do something that makes no sense.
 

I get on the back of his bike and wrap my arms around his waist.
 

“Okay. Let’s go.”

He pulls out and this time he’s not holding back the way he did on the way here. Maybe he can sense the wildness growing inside me, the restless need I have to just feel.
Something
. Anything other than helpless. We arrive at an apartment building on the other side of town. He takes the helmet from me and stows it on the back of the bike. I follow him into the building and up several flights of stairs. We stop on the third floor. He unlocks it and then punches buttons on a keypad next to the door.
 

As we enter, his eyes are constantly moving, surveying the room and the hallway behind us. I can see why he’s so good at his job. I get the sense that he’s always on the alert for trouble.
 

“I like your place.”
 

He narrows his eyes at me, as if searching to see if the comment is sincere or snarky. “There’s nothing in here but a couch and a television.”

I shrug. “Yeah, but it’s yours. There’s no one here to take your stuff or kick you out. I like it.”

He sets his helmet on the kitchen counter and then drops down on the couch. “When you put it that way, I like it too. Do you want something to drink? I’ve got some sodas, fruit juice and I’m sure there’s some bottled water somewhere. Or, are you hungry?”