Knowing Secret
The music thumping in his ears successfully drowned out the noise around him. Not that there was a huge racket going on—no, it was nothing like that. When he entered the gym in the main house, there wasn’t another soul in sight. This early in the morning, there usually wasn’t. Still…just in case anyone did end up coming in, Bull liked feeling alone in his little slice of the world.
Being Charlie’s bodyguard for so long had allowed him to come up with a workout regime he still stuck to long after leaving the position. Gym workout from four to five every morning, followed by a forty-five-minute jog, then a protein shake, shower, and officially start his day. It had worked well all these years. There was no reason to stop now.
Memories of Charlie, Stone, and their son Antoni played out in his mind’s eye. They weren’t just his employers; they were family now. He would die for any of them without a second thought. Now, he had to train others to do the same. Devotion stemming from love was one thing he couldn’t teach. That came with time. Bull knew some of these recruits would never be gifted with that…time.
A chime sounded in his earbuds, disrupting the music. Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he saw a text message from Tabitha come through.
Tabby: Are you up and working out?
Bull: Yes. Why are you up, Tabby? You should still be asleep in bed.
Tabby: I was too excited to sleep.
Bull: Why are you excited, baby?
Tabby: Because I’m coming for a visit! Ellie and I planned it last night!
Bull: Then why didn’t you tell me last night?
Tabby …
Bull: Tabby! Answer the question!
Tabby: Because it was late last night.
Bull: How late?
Tabby: So…it was like 1 a.m.
Bull: That’s not last night, Tabby. That’s this morning when you’re supposed to be in bed sleeping. Why was Elouise awake at 1 a.m.? I highly doubt Tiger would allow that.
Tabby: Because Tiger wasn’t home.
Bull froze in place. He was sitting on the weight bench, staring at his feet. Why the hell hadn’t Tiger come home last night? He would never leave Elouise alone on purpose. Leaving his workout behind, Bull exited the gym and headed straight for Tiger’s office. Something was going on, and he wanted to know what. If he needed to prepare for problems, then someone needed to fill him in.
Bull: Tabby, I’m going to call you later. Be a good girl and go back to bed. And no more texting at 1 a.m.
Standing in front of Tiger’s office door, Bull took a deep breath and knocked. When no one answered, he did it again…and again. Finally, after deciding nobody was coming to open it, he pressed in his code on the keypad next to the door. Hearing a click, he opened it and walked in.
The room was completely dark. Obviously, no one was there, but Bull clicked on the light anyway. Everything seemed nice and tidy. With a small growl of frustration, he clicked the lights back off and headed toward Bullet’s office. A light under the kitchen door caught his attention. Diverting, he headed toward the only room where there was hopefully a human being.
As soon as he pushed through the swinging door, he saw Elouise’s newest bodyguard. He was standing by the sink, eating a Danish and intently watching his phone.
“Finally found me,” Concho mumbled as he took another bite of his Danish.
Bull let out another growl. This asshat didn’t even have the decency to look up from his phone when addressing him.
“What’s going on? Why isn’t Tiger here?” Bull ground out.
With a little smirk on his face, Concho chose to take the last bite of his food before addressing Bull. It wasn’t that he didn’t have respect for the other man—quite the contrary, actually. Concho was just a smartass by nature.
He came from the small town of Concho County, Texas. The entire place only had a little over three thousand residents. When he decided to leave to see the world, Concho put on his Stetson and boots, swung a knapsack over his shoulder, and caught the first Greyhound out of Smallville.
Los Angeles had been his destination back then. After setting his boots down in Hollywood, he decided that level of freakiness wasn’t for him. Continuing north, he found Portland more to his liking. Turns out he was really good at boxing and started to win in the underground fighting world. That’s where he met Logan Tuff. After working for the family for about a year, he was recruited to train under Bull, who then placed him as Elouise’s personal bodyguard.
Finally setting his phone on the counter, he turned around and washed his hands in the sink before telling Bull what he knew.
“Tiger and Bullet got a call around midnight from the Irish. They said they needed some backup for a trafficked girl they were trying to rescue. The two of them hightailed it out of here with about five of your recruits. Last word I got from them was about an hour ago. They retrieved the girl and saved a few more as a bonus. They should be home in a couple of hours.”
Bull didn’t like this. Not. At. All.
He understood the Irish mafia not reaching out to the police. Some of them were corrupt and were being paid by whoever was doing the kidnapping and trafficking to look the other way. But why had Tiger and Bullet voluntarily assisted with this? And why take his recruits without telling him?
“Well, you have a job to do, and you’re sitting here eating instead of doing it,” Bull grumbled.
Concho chuckled and held up his phone to show Bull. He could clearly see the house cameras on the screen.
“Thought you would say that. I’ve been watching the hallway right outside her door. If she leaves, I’ll know.”
“She escaped before out the window when she was in L.A.,” Bull reminded him.
“Yep. And Tiger made sure the windows in the bedroom don’t open. He’s a smart man,” Concho nodded. “Any other tips or advice you want to share?”
“Fucking asshole,” Bull snarled under his breath. Sometimes just the sound of Concho’s cocky Texas drawl was enough to make him want to punch the kid in the face.
Just as Bull was about to head out of the kitchen, his cell phone began ringing. Pulling it out of his pocket, he saw the number and immediately answered.
“Leave Concho alone,” Tiger demanded. “I can see you on the home security cameras. You look like you’re about to rampage through my house!”
Bull grunted, glaring menacingly at Concho. “What happened? Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
“Last I checked, I didn’t need to run my decisions by you,” Tiger snarled.
Bull was about to bite back with his own retort when he heard a bit of a kerfuffle coming from Tiger’s phone.
“Bull?”
Bullet’s voice suddenly replaced Tiger’s. He must’ve grabbed the phone, knowing the two men were about to come to verbal blows.
“Hey, Bull! Sorry we didn’t let you know what was going on. Also, sorry about grabbing some of your trainees without asking. We just knew you’ve been having a couple of rough days and decided to let you sleep. We’ll do better in the future. I promise—we really were just looking out for you,” Bullet reasoned.
“Hmmpf,” Bull grumbled into the phone. “Put Tiger back on.”
He could hear Bullet mumble something to Tiger before Tiger’s voice growled out, “What.”
“Did you know Ellie was on the phone at 1 a.m. this morning making plans with your sister?”
“The fuck!” Tiger yelled. “Her ass is going over my knee when I get home! I told her to go back to sleep before I left!”
Yeah…Bull didn’t think Tiger would be happy to hear that. He wasn’t worried about Elouise. He knew and understood the Daddy Dom and little girl dynamic that Tiger and Elouise were in. As a matter of fact, he was hoping to have some form of that with Tiger’s sister, Tabitha. First things first, though. He still needed to tell Tiger about his relationship with his sister.
“We’re getting on the boat now. We should be home soon,” Tiger barked, abruptly hanging up the phone.
Bull simply grunted as he placed the cell phone back in his pocket. Looking over at Concho, he pointed his finger at the man. “As soon as Tiger gets back, I expect to see you out at drills, along with the rest of the men.”
“You might be waiting a while,” Concho smiled. “I’ve been up since ten last night. I plan on getting some sleep.”
“And I plan on seeing you there,” Bull snarled on his way out of the kitchen. “Otherwise, I’ll send a few of the men to come get your ass!”
It was midday by the time Bull made his way back to the main house. It was nice living on an island owned by the Tuff family. He didn’t have to worry about strangers finding their way to their homes or any surprise visits from law enforcement. Not that there would be anyway. The Tuffs had quite the reach as far as that went.
He reasoned his one o’clock meeting with Tiger and Bullet was probably about the phone call that morning. He couldn’t help the gruffness. Yes, he wasn’t on top of the chain of command, but dammit, he wasn’t on the bottom either.
Rehearsing what he was going to say, Bull was completely tuned out to his environment as he walked into the house. Just as he was closing the front door, a very upset Elouise stormed her way down the last few stairs and straight for him. When she crossed her arms and stomped her foot on the floor, it took every ounce of Bull’s will not to smirk at the cuteness in front of him.
“Ellie,” he said nonchalantly.
“I’m mad at you, Bull!” Her little eyes narrowed and her lips formed a tight line.
“Why? Did you do something you weren’t supposed to?” he chided.
“You told on me! Now I have a sore bottom because of you! That’s not nice! I’m not going to talk to you anymore!” she informed him.
Leaning down to meet her face-to-face, Bull narrowed his eyes back at her. “You were on the phone way past your bedtime, little one. I’m pretty sure you deserve that red bottom you got.”
Elouise’s decision to stop verbally communicating with Bull must’ve started just after her declaration, because they seemed to be in a silent standoff. She was so intent on her promise that she didn’t notice her husband walking up behind her.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
Bull saw Elouise’s eyes widen for a split second before going back to her mean stare. With a little chuckle, Bull raised himself to his full height, looking over her head at Tiger.
“Apparently I’m being punished for telling you about her phone call to Tabitha in the wee hours of the morning. Now she’s not speaking to me because her backside is hurting,” he smiled.
Tiger rolled his eyes, but the playfulness in his tone let Bull know he wasn’t upset with her or the temper tantrum she was throwing. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to address the situation, however.
“Loulou, Bull didn’t cause your spanking this morning…you did. If he hadn’t told me, I would have found out anyway. There’s no reason to cut him off from hearing your sweet voice, baby girl.”
Elouise turned around to face Tiger. “I’m not speaking to Mr. Meanie Head! He is a tattle tale, Daddy, and I’m not friends with tattle tales! If he wants me to talk to him again, then he’s going to have to earn it!”
Seeing she was in little mode, Tiger’s voice softened just a smidge. “Okay, Loulou. What does Bull need to do to earn your friendship back?”
Stomping her foot, Elouise threw her hands in the air. “Well, I can’t tell him, Daddy! He has to figure that out himself!”
Laughing, because he should’ve known that, Tiger knelt down in front of her, holding her hands in his. “I’m sorry, Loulou. How about you go see if Chef needs any help with those cookies he said he was going to make?”
That’s right—Chef was going to make her favorite chocolate chip cookies! With a big smile on her face, Elouise began to skip toward the kitchen. Just before she was about to round the corner, she paused and turned around. With a quick scowl, she looked right at Bull and stuck her tongue out as she gave him the middle finger.
“Lou!” Tiger yelled.
And just like a deer in the woods, she was gone.
Bull burst out laughing, making Tiger join in. When they were both able to catch their breaths, Tiger shook his head. “Don’t fucking encourage her!”
“I don’t try to,” Bull chuckled. “It’s the damn cuteness overload that gets me!”
“She is the cutest, isn’t she,” Tiger agreed. There was a softness in his tone that only came from being around Elouise. No one else got to see that side of Tiger. She was truly his heart.
“I hope I get something close to what you two have,” Bull smiled. “Watching you both together makes me feel like I’m missing something huge in my life.”
Tiger laughed, patting Bull on the back. “Come on. Let’s take this meeting in my office.”
Walking into the office, Bull took a seat on the small sofa. Bullet was already in the room, typing away on his laptop. When he saw the two men enter, he gave them both a wide smile and shut his computer.
“Bull! How did training go this morning for the recruits we borrowed last night?” Bullet asked.
“Terrible. Is this what the meeting is about? You two want to rag on me about my phone call this morning?”
Tiger and Bullet gave each other a questioning look before turning it back to Bull.
“What? No,” Tiger scoffed. “We wanted to talk about some security we need.”
Bull was all ears now. He leaned forward on his elbows, resting them on his knees. “What is it for? Who needs it?”
“Well, my sister for one,” Tiger acknowledged. “She’ll be here next week, and she told me she plans on staying for about three weeks. That means she’ll be here through the Thanksgiving holiday. As far as your men go, I’d like her to have the best of the best. Do you have anyone in mind?”
“Oh! Who was that recruit that came with us last night?” Bullet asked, looking at Tiger. He snapped his fingers in the air as if the name were right on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t quite remember it.
“Francis,” Tiger nodded.
“That’s it!” Bullet exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “Francis was great! I mean, except for when he tripped and crashed down on those rocks, almost giving us away,” he added.
A deep growl started low in Bull’s chest and began to build.
Francis. Are these two fucking kidding? The man was a total waste of space. There was no way in hell Bull was going to let him keep Tabitha safe. There was only one person on this planet Bull entrusted with her well-being—and that was himself.
“Who’s the other one?” Bull asked between clenched teeth.
“The other one what?” Tiger asked, trying to hold back his smile.
“The other person that needs a recruit,” Bull huffed.
“That would be Elouise,” Tiger informed him. “Apparently she has one of her clients who’s going to court against her abusive ex-husband. Lou wants her client to have a bodyguard for the week leading up to the trial and a few weeks after.”
Bull could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He stood up and nodded to both Bullet and Tiger. “I’ll pick the right people. Anything else?” he asked, wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of the suddenly claustrophobic office so he could hit the punching bag.
“Let’s see…” Tiger drawled, tapping his chin. “Anything else you can think of?” he asked Bullet.
“Hmmm…nothing from me,” Bullet answered, shaking his head.
“Then I’m leaving,” Bull grumbled.
He turned and left, slamming the office door behind him.
“That was mean,” Bullet told Tiger as he opened his laptop back up.
“What?”
“You know he and your sister are a thing. I don’t know when he’s going to tell you, but pushing his buttons like that is just insane. You’re taking your life into your hands, pissing him off that bad.”
Tiger threw up his arms and walked toward his desk. “I’ve given him so many opportunities to tell me. Hell, he could’ve said something right now! But he didn’t. How long do you think he’s going to keep this going?”
“Why don’t you just tell him you know?” Bullet asked.
Sitting down in his office chair, Tiger twisted back and forth, seeming to think on the question.
“Nah. This is way too much fun!”
