Out of Darkness (28 page)

The group was loyal, but William knew they were no longer loyal to him. Somehow in all of the time he had used plotting, these men had become loyal to someone else. It was apparent they were now loyal to Tyler and Liam. He looked around as all of them raised their hands in a show of support.

Looking over at Liam, Tyler motioned for the knife he carried in his pocket. Liam threw it and watched as Tyler cut the President patch off the older man. “You aren’t fit to wear this anymore.” He tossed the patch to Liam and nodded his head. “Looks like your
boy
is about to take his rightful place at the head of this table. Any objections?”

Not one person raised their hands. Tyler walked over to his best friend. “It’s up to you what we do with him, but that piece of shit sittin’ in that chair is mine.”

Liam nodded as Tyler stalked over to the man in the chair. He pulled his head up so that they looked at one another. “Make sure you get a real good look at my face.”

“Why?” the man asked, his words sounding muffled because of the swelling of his lips.

“It’s the last thing you’re gonna see.” Tyler’s ravaged hands pulled out the gun he carried on him and put the barrel to the side of his head. Without a thought, he pulled the trigger, exhaling as the feeling of revenge went through his body. That feeling settled deep in his stomach. It felt like he could breathe again. The first real breath he had taken since Meredith had been attacked.

“Get on outta here. We’ll take care of everything else,” Liam told him.

Without a look back, he exited the warehouse, got on his bike, and headed for home.

Meredith sat in Tyler’s dorm wringing her fingers together. Denise had offered to let her stay at her house, but Meredith had wanted to know as soon as Tyler came through the doors that he was safe. This is the part she hated about this life – waiting on him to come home, wondering if he was dead or alive.

She knew that if she would have been asked months ago if she would be one of those women who would sit around waiting on this, her answer would have been a resounding ‘no’. Things had changed in her life in so many ways that she hadn’t been prepared for. Some for the worse and some for the better. She knew without a doubt the feelings she had for Tyler were the best.

The door to the room opened, and she saw the man who had made everything right come through it. He was walking stiffly, and she knew the punishment he had put his body through this night had been completely for her.

“You okay?” she asked him.

“I’m hurtin’ pretty good, but it’s over. You don’t have to worry about that piece of shit anymore. I’m not sure what Liam is doing to William, I left that up to him, but your rapist is gone.”

A sense of peace settled over her, one she hadn’t felt in months. “I know I shouldn’t be glad that another human being is dead, but I am,” she whispered.

“I am too,” he admitted.

She watched as he went around the room, taking off the clothes he wore and then immediately went to the shower. He was quiet, too quiet, and she was worried. Taking off her own clothes, she followed him, getting into the small space behind him.

“I can understand if you look at me differently,” he told her, not turning around to face her.

“What nonsense are you talking about?” she asked as she put her arms around his waist and hugged him to her.

“You saw me beat a man almost to death tonight. I’m not going to lie to you, I shot him in the head, in cold blood. This is the man you’ve been taking to your bed. How does that make you feel?”

She used her hands to turn him around. It took all her strength, but she managed to do it. “I hold no illusions when it comes to who you are. I’ve known that all along. Regardless of what you do, you are still one of the most amazing men I have ever met. One of the gentlest human beings I’ve ever known. You also scare the shit out of me with your intensity. Those are all parts of you. I can’t love one without loving them all. Do I agree with everything you do? No, but I understand the life you live. I’m not asking you to change. I know what I’m getting into.”

For the first time since he had come home, he opened his arms for her and held her tightly to him, fisting her hair in his hand. “I’m just letting you know, I’m never letting you go. No one in this world has ever understood me more than you do, and I’m not willing to give that up.”

“Good,” she smiled at him as she pulled away slightly from his embrace. “Neither am I. We answer to no one about our relationship. And if you scared me physically, Tyler, you know I wouldn’t be here. I know that you’re dangerous, but I also know that you have boundaries. I know what those are just like you do. If I ever feel that you’re getting out of control, I’ll let you know.”

He nodded and pulled her back into his arms. For the first time he really felt no remorse for taking someone’s life, and that
did
scare him. The only consolation he had was that he knew it was for her, and for her he would do anything.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

T
he next morning, a soft knock sounded on the door of the dorm room. Meredith hadn’t slept well the night before as she watched over Tyler. She knew that he had been very conflicted last night and she hated that. Getting up quickly, she padded over to the door and opened it softly.

“Hey,” she greeted Liam. “He’s still asleep.”

“Just have him come up to the house whenever he gets up. Some major shit went down last night after he left.”

She took a good look at the man standing in front of her. Her keen eyes noticed that he now wore the president patch. “Congrats Pres,” she grinned at him.

“Thanks. I’m sorry about what William did to you, and I’m glad that we got it taken care of.”

“I don’t hold it against you at all. I’ll let him know when he wakes up that you wanna talk to him.”

She closed the door and quickly went back over to the bed, crawling in beside him and cozying up to the warmth of his body. He slept deeply, much deeper than she had ever seen him sleep before. It was almost as if this sleep healed him.

“You’re not a bad person,” she whispered, running her hand up and down his stomach as she listened to the beating of his heart.

“I’m a cold blooded killer,” he argued, his voice rough with sleep.

This confused her. This couldn’t have been the only man he had ever killed. The way he was reacting worried her.

“No you’re not.”

“Yes I am. I’ve killed before for my club, don’t get me wrong. I
always
had sympathy for those men. I said a prayer for them after they died because I did feel bad. I had to do what I had to do with every one of them. With all of those it was either kill or be killed. Last night? I did it and enjoyed it.”

She grabbed his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. “Because this was personal. If I had been there, Tyler, I would have done the same exact thing. You didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t think of you any different. I swear.”

He nodded, pulling her to his body and holding her close. “That would kill me if you thought of me differently. You know I would never hurt you.”

“I do,” she nodded. “Liam was here earlier, he wants you to come see him. Apparently it has something to do with what they decided about William.”

He sat up, running his hands over his eyes and sighed. This was definitely not something he wanted to deal with today. “Okay, I’ll go see him and see what’s up. Was he wearing a new patch?”

“Yeah, he had a President patch on. So I guess William got voted out.”

“Or killed,” he mumbled.

She ignored those words and went about finding his clothes for him. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“Nah, I gotta do this myself. My new Pres has requested my presence.”

“Are you excited about Liam taking that role?” she asked as she watched him dress.

He shrugged. “It’s something that’s needed to happen for a while now. William was getting sloppy and complacent. We need new ideas. I think this might light a fire under everyone’s asses.”

Leaning down, he kissed her cheek. “I’ll be back.”

Tyler was not looking forward to this. Having not known what went down after he left was a huge disadvantage. Did Liam hurt William? Had he had to kill him? Was William allowed to even be a part of the club anymore? So many thoughts swirled in Tyler’s head as he made his way into his new president’s house.

“Hey,” he called, seeing Drew sitting at the kitchen table.

“Hey, Dad’s in the shower, he should be down in a few.”

“What are you doing?” Tyler asked, having a seat next to the younger boy.

Drew had a magazine and a pad of paper in front of him. “Comparing protein powders. Mom said she wouldn’t spend a ‘gazillion’ dollars,” he used his fingers to make quotation marks, “on stuff I might not like or might not need. The compromise is that I do my research and she’ll get me two of them. If I make bad decisions then I’m just shit out of luck.”

“Language,” Liam warned, coming into the kitchen, rubbing a towel through his hair.

“I know, I know.”

“You wanna go have a smoke?” Liam asked Tyler as he motioned for the door.

That was the universal code for they needed to be alone and talk business. “Sure, good luck with your research. If you want any help with that protein powder, I’ll stick around after I talk with your dad. I’ll show you what I used to help build me up. They may not have the same brand since I’m older, but we’ll try to find the correct percentage of vitamins you need.”

“Would you really help me with that?” Drew asked, surprise showing on his face.

“Dude, we’re buds. It’s totally not an issue.”

Tyler and Liam walked out of the house and had a seat on the front porch. “My son is hero worshiping you, and I’m not sure if I like it.”

Tyler laughed. “Go ahead, be jealous.”

They sat there blowing smoke for a few moments before Liam spoke. “We turned William over to Rooster.” Funny how learning that he wasn’t really his dad was okay.

“No. Shit?” Tyler said the statement in two words, slowly as he tried to absorb the words that had been spoken.

“Yeah, needless to say, he’s doing some hard time for the shit that was on that cell phone.”

“And this isn’t going to blow back on the club.”