Chapter Seventeen
Val
I sat down across from Tate's mother and let out a long sigh. I'd been in a few odd situations, but nothing like the one I'd just gone through. When she had come out of the house crying, my first inclination was to pull her into my arms.
She'd tried to explain what had happened, but something inside of me broke open, and I didn't care about anything but helping Tate get out of there, too. The baseball bat was sitting by the couch as I made my way down the hall, and from that moment on, I simply acted on instinct. Now that it was over and the cops had Tate's mother's boyfriend with them, I was suddenly exhausted.
"He's a good boy. He just loves me and wants to protect me. To save me – or all of us, really," the pretty older woman across me from spoke up.
"I like that about him." My heart fluttered in my chest as I glanced around the small kitchen. It was dilapidated to some degree, but it was homey and smelled like vanilla.
"He seems quite taken with you, too. He rarely brings anyone out to the house. I think it's because of us being poor." She laughed, but the sound fell flat. There was nothing funny about it.
"I don't take anyone home, either." I shrugged as I shared my own situation. "My parents are horrible and usually leave me feeling like I'm nothing by the time I leave. They don't care who's there to witness it, either."
Tate walked in as we both stiffened, like we were caught in the middle of something.
"You girls okay?" He glanced from me to his mother.
"Yeah, I think we're okay." I got up and moved to stand in front of him. "You?"
My eyes moved across him as I tried to assess if he were hurt. Everyone happened too damn fast to figure out what really went down.
"I'm good. I'm so sorry, Val." He reached out and touched the side of my face as sadness brushed across his. "I told you it was going to be bad."
"It's my fault." His mother let out a long sigh before getting up from the table.
We turned to watch her as she pulled a few things from the fridge. "You guys go hang out in the living room and talk. I'll warm up something good for dinner."
"You wanna stay? I can take you back home if you want. I know this has probably been too much." He looked over at me. A part of the tough guy had softened, and I wanted to stay to see where the night led.
"I'm good. I can go home after a while, but I think I would feel better hanging out with you, if that's cool?" I slipped my hands into my pockets and turned to face him again. He was handsome and rugged, so intimidating in appearance, but there was a softie under all of it. I'd seen that part of him and honestly wanted to see it again.
It was insanely inappropriate standing there in the kitchen, but I couldn't help but wonder how he was in the bedroom – if he was sweet and caring or rough and demanding.
"Yeah, that's cool." He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. "You shouldn't have come in this house, you hard-headed thing."
"He would have stabbed you if I hadn't. A thank you would go over well." I smiled and pulled from him before walking into his tiny living room. There was only one couch and no TV. The pictures on the wall were all of him, and I couldn't help but walk around and look at each of them.
"Oh shit," he growled as he stopped beside me. "Come on, let's go outside for a little while. You don't need to look at these."
"What if I want to?" I looked over at him. My gaze shifted down to his lips and back up to his strong gaze. Mesmerizing.
"Then look at all of them. I'm having a hard time denying you anything." He reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ears. "You're a tough cookie. You know that?"
"I'm learning new things about myself all the time." I turned back to the pictures and tried to ignore the fluttering in my stomach. With him not wanting to deny me anything, I wanted to ask for everything.
"Tell me something about you. I want to know everything." He moved in behind me and slid his hands up my arms to my shoulders, stopping them on either side of my neck. "You like massages?"
"If it gets your hands on me, then yes." I turned and smirked as he chuckled.
"And, where did you learn to swing a bat like that?" He moved my hair from one side of my neck, and every muscle in my body tightened as he leaned down and pressed his lips to my skin.
My breath caught in my chest, and I whispered the only words I could think of.
"Please don't." I moved away, catching me more by surprise than him.
"I'm sorry." He gave me a weak smile and lifted his hands. "I'll keep my hands to myself. I just thought..."
"You thought right. I don't want to start anything in the middle of your mother's living room that we can't finish." I touched his chest softly. "I want you too badly for that."
His eyes widened and he nodded. "I know the feeling all too well."
"Tate. Val. Come eat!" his mother yelled far more loudly than she needed to.
"Spend the night with me tonight." He reached out and brushed his thumb over my lips. "Please."
"I don't know." I licked at my lips and moved past him. "I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I barely know you."
His mother smiled at me and sat down at the table. "I hope you're okay with leftovers. We had fried chicken last night and meatloaf the night before."
I smiled at her. "I love both of them. Tate and I have sandwiches from earlier, too."
"I'll get them." He poked his head into the kitchen before walking back out.
"You know that he thinks a lot of you already, right?" His mother reached out and touched my hand.
"Really? He's been a little back and forth about the two of us." I realized how easy it was to talk with her. It was nice. "He's too good for me, anyway. I'm serious when I say that my life is a nightmare that no one should have to deal with."
"Maybe you just haven't met the right man." She squeezed my hand and pulled her back as Tate walked back in the room and sat down next to me.
"Mom, are you trying to marry me off already?" He winked at me, and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Always. If this girl had a handful of magic beans, off you'd go." She smiled and started to talk about her day at the hospital like nothing had happened that evening.
I enjoyed the conversation and story after story about Tate when he was a kid. I laughed until my sides hurt, and hated it when she had to get up to get some sleep.
"Well, you kids have fun and behave. No breaking anyone's heart tonight. You're both too precious for that." She opened her arms, and I gave her a long hug after Tate did. I think it surprised her a little, but after all she'd been through, I figured I could continue to extend kindness toward her.
The hug was more for her than me – or so I told myself.
*
"You're too much. You know that?" Tate reached for my hand as we walked toward the sorority house. His bike was parked in student parking just outside the large building and would be covered in snow within an hour if we left it there.
"Me? Just because I saved your ass tonight?" I turned and slid my hands up his chest and clasped them around his neck.
"It's way more than that." He leaned down and brushed his lips by mine. "Did you think about my offer?"
"To spend the night with you?" I pursed my lips to hold back the yes I wanted to scream. We weren't dating and had yet to really do much more than play with each other's emotions. Having known him for no more than a week, I wasn’t ready to commit to anything, though my body screamed for the opposite.
"Yes." He brushed his nose by my jaw and pressed his lips to my ear. "I'd give just about anything to hold you all night. I want to whisper 'thank you' for being so good to my mom and me tonight along every inch of your body, Val. I need to."
I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath as I pressed myself tightly to him. I stifled a groan at the thickness of his erection pressed against my stomach. How good it would have felt to go up to my room and strip down for him.
"I want to so bad, but I can't." I opened my eyes and found a look of understanding instead of the one of condemnation that I expected.
"Then let's sneak into your room and just talk for an hour or so. I don't want to let you go just yet. Don't deny me." He leaned down and nipped at my lips, causing electricity to shoot out from deep inside of me.
"We won't just talk, and you know it." I ran my hands along the sides of his face. "Will we?"
"I promise we will." He kissed me softly before stepping back. "Even if you want something more. I'll play the mature one tonight."
I smiled, unable to help myself. "Alright, but I'm serious. No sleeping together when we're not even dating."
"Let's start dating, then." He gave me a cheeky grin and reached for my hand, pulling me against him as the snow continued to fall.
I laughed and glanced up at the dark sky. "Soon. You've been quite on and off with me. Figure out what you really want, and if you think you can handle dating a Scott, we'll talk."
"Handle it? Don't you know that us biker guys love a challenge more than anything else in the world?" He smiled and my resolve began to melt.
"No, but that's a good thing to know for the future when I want you to do something. I'll just challenge you." I laughed at the cute look that swept across his perfect features. I ran my fingers over the tats the dipped into his shirt. "I wanna see all of these."
"And you shall, but not tonight. I should get home to my mother, and you should get some sleep. I hear a rowdy biker guy's going to try to sweep you off of your feet soon." He lifted his eyebrow at me and smirked.
"I sure hope he does. If not, I'll have to sweep him off his." I lifted to my toes as his hands moved along my face, cupping it softly.
His lips were cold, but the kiss hot and demanding. I breathed in deeply and gave myself over to him as I slipped my fingers under his jacket and shirt, needing to touch his skin.
He inhaled sharply, and the sound of the groan that left him echoed over my nerve endings. It left me in a state of need that I wasn't sure how to deny.
"I want you, Val," he whispered against my lips. "Tell me I can have you soon."
"You can." I kissed him once more before moving back. The door opened behind me and the sound of a gaggle of girls interrupted the serenity I'd been lodged in the middle of.
"Good. I'll wait until that time comes, but don't make it too long, okay?"
"Or?" I lifted my eyebrow and stepped back toward the door as some of my sorority sisters moved around me and gave Tate the once over.
"Or I'll come take what's already mine." He shrugged and zipped up his jacket. "You were incredible tonight. The craziest, bravest, hottest girl I know."
"You don't get out much." I laughed and tried to ignore the stares I got from the other Gammas.
"We should remedy that." He winked at me.
"Night, Tate."
"See you tomorrow?" He watched me intently, leaving me feeling beautiful and special.
"Maybe." I turned and walked to the door, laughing as he referred to me as a tease. I wasn't one, but for him, I was willing to figure out how to be.
I closed the door behind me and pressed my back to it as Katelyn looked up from the couch where she sat.
"Hey, you. What's up?" She tilted her head to the side. "Why are your cheeks so red?"
"It's cold, and I guess I'm blushing. Tate was complimenting me."
"So that's where you've been." Katelyn sat her magazine down and turned her attention on me. "And? Tell me everything."
"There's not much to tell. He took me out for a sandwich this afternoon and then to his house for the evening." I let out a long girly sigh and fell onto the couch beside her. "He's so damn dreamy."
She laughed and tugged at a strand of my hair. "Do not tell me you're falling for the punk biker mechanic. Your parents are going to flip their shit."
"Yep, and I honestly could not care less. I haven't wanted anything for myself quite as bad as I want him." I closed my eyes and replayed the moments outside just before coming in.
"And, he's worth losing everything over?" Her words forced me from my daydreams.
"I'm not sure, but I intend to find out."