Page 76 of Crow

Tyrant flies with inhuman speed, tackling Tarynn’s father to the ground from a dead run, heedless of his own safety.He grasps the man’s wrist and bangs it on the floor, over and over until he releases the gun. It’s only her father’s obvious inexperience and Tyrant’s speed that kept something terrible from happening.

What the hell was he going to do? Force his daughter back under his control at gunpoint?

Tarynn tries to surge past me, but I wrap both arms around her waist and tug her into my chest. She throws her hands over her mouth, tears pouring down her cheeks. “No! Dad!”

I don’t know what she thinks is going to happen, but it’s not going to be a biker form of justice. Patti is already on her phone, calling the cops. Her father is going to get real justice. For Tarynn’s sake, I’ll ask Tyrant to do what he can to see that the charges are dropped. He’ll have a detail on him, someone following him and watching him from afar, constantly now. One moment of insanity was all it took for him to lose everything.

This will be all over Hart and he’ll lose his job. What else will he lose? His house? His wife? His community? The one person I know he won’t lose is Tarynn.

She’ll do what I ask her to do for her own safety, but I know that if the day ever comes when her father is truly sorry for what he’s done and how he’s treated her for her whole life, I know that she’ll forgive him.

The bar turns into chaos while her father is picked off the floor and restrained by both Tyrant and Raiden. Bullet confiscates the gun. The women cluster together, Patti tries to calm down her other staff, and through it all, Tarynn stands silently in my arms, watching everything with tear stained cheeks.

***

Even after the cops have come and gone, loading up her father, the tears don’t stop.

Patti comes over to check on us now that the other waitresses have calmed down and gone for a break in the back.

“You gonna be okay, honey?”

Tarynn doesn’t know how to respond. She leans against me, needing my strength. I’m happy to give it to her, but unhappy that the circumstances led us here. I wish that I could absorb her pain. I wish I could fix everything.

Even I wish I could glue it all back together. Me. The one who normally just wants to wreck it all, burn it down, and piss on the ashes.

I think Patti can see how defeated we both look.

“Do I still have a job?” Tarynn’s wavering words cause my throat to close up. It was already halfway there, my misery and distress matching hers, but now it’s nearly impossible to breathe.

“Of course!” Patti is so tough that she has the ability to shake her head and laugh. Fuck. I have no idea what she’s seen, but this doesn’t appear to even have her rattled, so it can’t nearly be the worst of it. “I’m going to close up for the rest of the night. I think what we all need is some air to clear our heads and a good sleep after that.” She gives me a motherly stink eye. “You take her for a good long ride on your bike now, you hear? You can’t outride heartbreak, but what you both need right now is each other. I hope you can find some peace tonight. I’ve learned myself that things might be bad in the moment, but they’re not bad forever.”

“Thanks, Patti.”

As soon as she’s gone, Tyrant and Raiden come over to check in. “How are you holding up?” Tyrant asks.

Tarynn doesn’t really know him, but she knows who he is. Her eyes flick back and forth from my Prez, over to Raiden.

“I don’t really know,” she admits. “I’m just so sorry for all of this.”

“Hey. No.” I don’t know how he does it, but Tyrant has this special aura about him that makes him so easy to trust.

He has a face that says that he won’t allow anything bad to happen when he’s around, and that you can put your faith in him to figure out all of your shit too. He’s got one of those magnetic personalities, and his classically handsome face doesn’t hurt his cause either.

“We can’t control what other people do or think. This wasn’t your fault. We’ve got you both, you hear me?”

Tarynn reluctantly nods. Everything is all wrong and it’s going to take more than a few minutes for her to get over it.

“If you want to leave Connie with Lark tonight, that’s understandable.” He pulls out his phone and shows us both a picture that Lark texted him, of Connie curled up on the foot of Penny’s bed, her bright purple cast standing out against the pink princess bedding. Both Penny and Connie have a look of absolute bliss on their faces. “You could pick her up in the morning, or I could have Lark drop her off.”

“But she might need—”

“You showed Lark how to help her go out. It’s all good, brother. Whatever you want.”

What I want is to create a perfect world where Tarynn doesn’t have to hurt. Where her mother isn’t a zombie, and her dad isn’t a total fucking moron.

“Connie can stay at your place tonight, if Lark’s okay with that. I think I might need to take a pass on the club stuff, unless you’re calling church?”

Tyrant shakes his head. His face is soft, and his natural charisma goes a long way to assure Tarynn that no one is mad at her and that this isn’t her fault.

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