"Tack a" I started and his eyes cut to me.

"Shut your mouth."

Ouch.

I shut my mouth and took a step away from the bed.

Tack's eyes sliced back to his daughter and he growled, "Tabby, won't tell you again."

I prayed she'd sit up and my prayer was answered. She did and leveled one narrowed eye on her father. The other one was covered up by ice. This was not a good stance to take for a variety of reasons.

"What'd we talk about?" Tack barked at her the instant she got in position.

"Dad a"

"What. Did we..." he leaned in and clipped harshly, "talk about?"

"No lies," she whispered.

"Yeah. No lies. I trusted you. And you lied."

Instantly, her bravado melted, her face collapsed and I started to go to her as tears filled her eyes.

"Do not fuckin' move, Red," Tack bit at me and I stilled.

Then, carefully, I said, "Kane, maybe now's not a"

"You got a voice in this?" Tack asked, cutting me off and before I could answer he did. "No. You fuckin' do not. So keep your mouth shut."

I shut my mouth as I felt pressure build in my head again.

Tack looked back at Tabby.

"Got yourself hurt," he pointed out the obvious.

"Dad a" she whispered.

"Coulda got Tyra hurt," he went on.

"She a" Tab started but got no further.

"She went chargin' in there, he had a bat," Tack informed her, her one visible eye shot to me and got wide. "Eyes to me," Tack growled and she quickly looked back at her father. "Your ass does not leave this house for the rest of the summer," he declared.

"Dad!" she cried, straightening up further and taking the ice away.

This was a bad idea. The swelling was up and the bruising had started to come out.

"Ice on your eye," Tack clipped. "Keep it on. We'll finish this tomorrow when I'm not in the mood to rip you a new asshole."

I pulled in breath.

Uncle Marsh was right. Definitely not father of the year.

But it was none of my business. Tack made that perfectly clear.

"You, bed," he grunted at Rush and then he looked at me. "You, my room."

I pressed my lips together to stop from telling him to go fuck himself. Tab and Rush didn't need to hear that. No, when I said that, it would be for him and him alone.

Then I pulled in a calming breath that didn't calm me in the slightest, looked at Tabby and said softly, "Try to sleep, honey."

She was chewing on her lips and just nodded.

I left the room without looking at Rush or Tack.

I didn't know what he was doing to delay him getting to the room. I just knew when he finally got there I had commandeered my bag from the corner and put it on the bed. My toiletries from the bathroom were already in it and I was pawing through the mess on the floor to locate my stuff.

I heard the door close.

Then I heard, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I would like," I began, not looking up and continuing to paw through the clothes on the floor, "when this blows over, for you to allow me some time to visit with Rush and Tabby so I can say good-bye."

This was met with silence.

I located a pair of shorts, grabbed them, moved to my bag and shoved them in.

As I was doing this, the bag was swept clean out from under my hands and I watched it go sailing across the room where Tack sent it. Then I watched it land.

Then I looked up at him.

"And when I do that," I went on like he hadn't acted like the badass, biker jerk he was, "I'll be doing it just them and me."

Suddenly, with his hand wrapped around my throat, I was moving backwards across the room. My breath had stopped because my lungs had seized but my heart knew what it was doing, it liked it, so it went into overdrive.

I hit wall, not gently, not hard and Tack didn't take his hand from my throat so I lifted mine and wrapped them around his wrist just as he dipped his head and got nose-to-nose with me.

Then he shocked the shit out of me.

"Took care 'a my girl, way you did, I don't know whether to kiss you or smack your ass."

I blinked.

That wasn't what I expected to hear.

"Jesus, fuck me, Tyra. What the fuck were you fucking thinking?"

"Let me go," I whispered.

"Shy told me, way he went at you, he coulda caved your fuckin' head in."

"Let me go," I repeated on a whisper.

"What were you thinking?" Tack kind of repeated.

I yanked at his hand at my throat which, from the minute he placed it there to now was holding me but it was just like how I hit the wall. Not gentle. Not hard.

What it was, was immovable.

"Let me go," I said yet again.

The dragon breathed fire and roared in my face, "What were you fuckin' thinking?"

"Quiet!" I hissed. "Tabby. Rush."

"Don't worry about Tab and Rush, babe. Advice, right now, you worry about you. What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Let me go!" I snapped, still yanking at his hand.

"Tell me what the fuck you were thinking!" he thundered.

"Fuck you!" I screeched. "And let me the fuck go!"

I yanked hard at his wrist. It went down and I let it go. I quickly slid away only for his arm to hook around my waist and haul me right back where he stepped in and pressed one hand into my belly and curled the fingers of the other one around the side of my neck.

And I was immobilized. Again.

"Tonight, you coulda died," he ground out.

"I didn't."

"Or you coulda been made not you, he did damage but didn't take your fuckin' life."

"That didn't happen either," I snapped.

"It could have."

"It didn't."

He got nose-to-nose with me again and clipped, "It could have."

"He hit her!" I yelled.

"She makes that your problem, you call me, I deal with him. You don't go into an uncertain situation armed with goddamned, fucking pepper spray. Strike that, you don't go into an uncertain situation at all!" he ended on a shout.

"Well, next time, I won't seeing as there won't be a next time."

"Damn straight," he bit off.

"So, if you don't mind letting me go, I'll get the rest of my shit and then go."

"What?"

"Let me go, Tack, so I can go."

"You're not going," he growled.

"I'm not?"

"Fuck no."

"Wrong!" I shouted in his face and kept shouting. "Let me go!"

"You need to get this and you need to get it right fuckin' now and you doin' what you're always fuckin' doin', runnin' away and lickin' your wounds means you will not be gettin' this."

"Wrong again, Tack. I don't need to get anything. Not anymore. Badass biker lessons are over because we're over."

His head jerked back an inch and he whispered, "What?"

"We're fucking over!" I shrieked and pushed at his abs with my hands, his middle rocked back but he came right back in.

"Fuck me, not this again," he muttered.

Oh no.

Oh fucking no.

"Step back," I hissed.

"Red a"

"Step back!" I screeched, shoving at him, he did the rocking thing again but I got no shot to get away so I was stuck. Therefore I did the only thing I could. I fought my corner (as it were). "In there," I raised an arm straight out to the side, pointing in the direction of Tabby's room before I poked him in his chest with my finger as best I could in the room allowed, "you made it clear where I stood. Your brunette," I snapped and his face got hard, "also made it clear where I stood and where she stood. And I don't like where I'm standing, Tack, so you need to let me go!"

"What'd that bitch say to you?" he growled.

"Nothing I care to repeat. Now let me go."

"What'd she say?"

"I answered that."

"Tyra, babe, what... did... she... say?"

"You can repeat your question over and over, Tack, but this is going to end one way. Me leaving. So give me one last thing, let's avoid the scary biker dude hassle before I go."

"I see you're pissed, Red, but we can't work this shit out unless you talk to me so I know what the fuck I'm dealin' with."

"This is not a problem seeing as we don't have anything to work out."