Chapter Twenty-Two

 

 

 

 

Buck stood in the middle of the closet, rage seething inside him as he stared at the empty hangers and shelves. Empty, the whole fucking house was empty. She’d left. Tessa had left and she hadn’t even told him she was leaving. It was crazy that he thought she would. That he thought she should after he’d barely spoken to her for almost a month—after he’d repeatedly ripped her heart to shreds on purpose. But here he was, his head pounding with his mind raging like an angry beast because she wasn’t where she ought to be.

All his carefully thought-out ideas about what would happen when he did the right thing didn’t mean shit as he stared at the emptiness of the closet. He couldn’t do this. He wasn’t going to allow this because in every scenario he’d come up with about her, none of them had included him not being able to know she was okay. None of them had featured her leaving him when he fucking owned her—when she was his. His body trembled with pent-up wrath and he felt every good intention he’d tried to have shrivel up and die.

He stomped out of the closet, his head clearing as the pain from his hangover was burned away by the knowledge that she’d left him blistering across his skin like flames. His heavy steps coming down the hall must have warned the two prospects that he wasn’t in the mood to be fucked with because they jumped up and stood at attention.

“Put everything back in this house. Call Joker, he knows how it goes.” He didn’t stop, he just walked out of the house to his bike with a roaring in his ears. He jerked his phone free from his jeans pocket, dialing the number with hard stabs of his finger.

“What?” Dice’s rude voice barked over the line.

“Find her,” he grunted.

“Who?” Dice asked after a short pause.

“Tessa. Find her,” he clipped, his hand almost crushing the phone as he held it to his ear, not in the mood for any bullshit.

“Did you lose her?”

“She left. Now fucking find her,” he growled.

“She probably just went home, Buck,” Dice said reasonably and he realized that Dice was likely correct. She’d gone back to that compound where she likely thought she was safe from him. But she wasn’t. Not now. Not when she’d left him. He was going to get his woman and she’d better not try to run again or he was going to paddle her backside.

 

Buck stood outside the gate glaring at the men who’d confirmed that Tessa was here but refused to let him have her. Choke was currently trying to negotiate with the men but they weren’t having any of it. Buck wasn’t taking no for an answer. He glared at Diego, Grant and Dale who stood between the two gates in the electric fence that prevented him from getting to Tessa. She wasn’t going to be safe in there even if these three buffoons thought they could protect her this way.

“You’re not talking to my daughter. She was torn up when she arrived a week ago and I won’t have that asshole anywhere near her. He has no reason to be here because we made damned sure all his shit was returned to him like she asked us to.” Diego was growling as he stood with his legs apart, an AK-47 on his shoulder and a grim expression on his face.

“Look. Property is a debatable subject at the moment.” Choke glanced at him with a little glare but Buck didn’t give a single fuck.

When they had arrived an hour ago he’d asked to speak with her and when her uncle had refused, Buck had told that fucker he wasn’t keeping him from his property and he’d damned well better get his ass out of the fucking way. That had the three men bristling and growling because they didn’t understand. He’d never explained himself to anyone and he wasn’t about to start now. They’d learn that Tessa was his and not a single person on this earth was going to prevent him from claiming her.

“No, it’s not, asshole. My niece is not a piece of land your idiotic friend can claim like he’s landing on Plymouth Rock,” Grant growled looking grim.

“Old man, you need to go get Tessa before I lose my shit,” Buck growled, taking a step forward ready to be done with this posturing contest when Dice grabbed him and jerked him back. Buck turned on him, intending to punch him in the face but Joker grabbed his arms and the two men dragged him back out the gates towards the bikes.

“Stop fighting us, you fucking idiot,” Dice muttered, earning a hard elbow to his side as payment.

“No, damn it, I am going to go in there and get Tessa. She’s mine. They won’t keep her from me and neither will you two,” Buck roared, earning a knock to the back of his head when Chaos came up behind them.

“You idiot. We’re trying to help you fix your mistake. The least you can do is let us!” Dice muttered, rubbing his jaw where Buck had just managed to punch him when he’d jerked his arm free from Joker’s hold.

“Just chill the fuck out so we can.”

“How is dragging me away from the entrance going to help me talk to Tessa?” Buck demanded.

“Dice has hacked their system and found out where Tessa is and how to get you inside,” Chaos muttered, shaking his head. Why hadn’t they told him that to begin with? Buck turned to Dice.

“How?” he asked.

 

Tessa sighed staring up at the sky, watching the clouds drift by in fluffy white puffs. It was something she’d done with her grandmother many times over the years. She felt a little pang in her stomach when she remembered her abuela. She still missed her but the agonizing pain she’d felt the last time she was living here was gone, healed by the time she’d spent with the Grave Diggers MC.

Thinking about them brought to mind Buck and she let out a shaky breath because thinking about him still pained her. He’d given up on them without a second thought and she still didn’t know why. Coming here wasn’t the answer to her pain as she’d hoped it would be. Yes, seeing her sisters and the rest of her family had helped to ease some of her pain but she wasn’t happy here today any more than she had been when she left. Tessa had already decided to go back—not to Buck but to the place she’d made her home. Her friends were there and a life. Maybe it wasn’t the one she’d thought she’d created but it was still her life now. She’d been happy there even before she’d begun having mind-blowing sex with Buck.

Besides, her uncles and father seemed to think they should throw men at her to try and help her heal. It wasn’t helping and their current candidate was more annoying than a flea on a dog’s backside. He’d petitioned to be a part of the compound for several years and a few months back he’d managed to win a bid and get a job working as a water reclamation and purification specialist. That job came with a spot at the compound. Her pappy and her uncles had thrown the man at her at every turn because they thought he would be good for her. Mostly because he wanted to be a part of the compound, unlike her previous lover.

She smiled a little despite the pain thoughts of Buck caused her because she couldn’t imagine a man like Buck, who liked to roam on his bike when he was a little blue or just because it was a nice day, living trapped behind electric fences. She knew he’d never make it more than a week before he’d be running to his bike to escape. Carlos, the man they were pushing on her, was good at his job, which made him an arrogant son-of-a-bitch—one who thought she would love him just because he was handsome. Maybe if he’d talk about something besides how awesome he was she might be able to like him.

She didn’t want him, or any man other than Buck for that matter. She just wanted to spend some time healing her heart before she worried about finding the right soul mate—what a cheesy name for a lover—not that she thought there was one out there for her. She might have believed she’d found him and was going to live out her days with him a few months ago but she’d apparently been wrong. Buck had never loved her as he’d proved time and time again over the past few weeks. It was sad and it hurt—a lot. Watching a cloud morph from a bunny into a dragon with a missing leg, she knew that she’d eventually move on with her life and find the right man but for now she was content to just be.

A dark shadow fell over her and she glanced at the male figure standing above hoping like hell it wasn’t Carlos. To her shock and surprise, it was Buck. She must have fallen asleep and dreamed him up, she surmised, because there was no reason for him to be here.

She smiled. “Hello,” she murmured.

“You left me,” her imaginary Buck said harshly, glaring at her darkly in a fashion she’d seen many times before.

“No, you tossed me aside,” Tessa argued, even though there was no point because he was just an idyllic dream she was having.

“I was trying to protect you but you left me and I can’t allow that,” her vision insisted, making a smile spread across her lips.

“Lie down with me,” she demanded, wanting to feel his arms around her even if she was making him up in her head.

“Not until you agree to come back with me, duchess,” Buck said, his eyes narrowed and a little suspicious. She didn’t know why Buck would be suspicious in her dream and she frowned a little.

“Okay.”

Buck nodded and got down on the ground, taking her into his arms and holding her tightly, almost desperately, against him. She could almost feel her face pressing into his chest and his arms tightly woven around her body in a hard hug that almost felt real. His lips moved from her forehead to her eyelids then her cheeks before they brushed against hers softly.

“I missed you so much, duchess,” pretend Buck muttered, his forehead resting against hers. “I didn’t think you’d forgive me so easily for being an idiot and pushing you away. I didn’t cheat on you, duchess. I know I made it seem like I did, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I just—fuck. I love you, duchess, and you could have been hurt and I couldn’t handle that happening. I couldn’t survive knowing I was the reason you were hurt. I just couldn’t. Those men would have killed you if you hadn’t gotten lucky with those shots.”

Buck’s words confused her a little because she wasn’t sure but she thought an imaginary Buck would know that she’d killed those men without effort—well, some little twinges of guilt for them being dead, but the actual killing had been easy. Tessa replayed what he’d said and suddenly her feelings of unease drifted away as she realized he’d just told her he loved her.

“You love me?” she asked, her heart fluttering in her chest as she wished with every part of her being that this moment was real. That he was here telling her he loved her and that she was it for him forever.

“Of course I love you, duchess. I’ve loved you since you ignored me after we first had sex. Hell, maybe before that even, I don’t know, and I didn’t know it then but that’s why it annoyed me so much,” he snorted, his lips brushing across hers again.

“I really wish you were real so I could tell you that I love you too. I would of course have to make you prove that you didn’t sleep with that woman but otherwise I would forgive you. Damn, why couldn’t you be the real Buck,” Tessa muttered, almost crying over the fact that he wasn’t really here with her.

“I am real, Tessa. Are you okay? Did you hit your head?” Buck demanded, his arms tight around her body like vises. That was when the sirens started sounding and she sat up but Buck didn’t disappear as she expected. He kept trying to feel her head, his hands running over her looking for an injury like a mother would inspect a child.

Holy hell, the bastard was really here and this wasn’t a dream. Tessa did the only thing she could in the moment to respond to the man she loved after everything that had happened.