Chapter Seven

 

 

 

 

Moving across the room towards Patty’s office, she entered without knocking and plopped down on the couch with a loud sigh, making Patty raise a brow in question. Tessa didn’t want to complain but she wasn’t having a good week because of a certain asshole who showed up almost nightly to glare at her for hours while she tried to work. Since she was distracted her tips hadn’t been nearly as good because the man flustered her so much she ended up forgetting parts of the orders or totally screwing them up.

“I guess Buck’s here again.” Patty’s face creased into a sly smile that set her teeth on edge.

“Yep.”

“You should just ignore him.”

Tessa wished that she could just ignore him but his eyes tracking her from one end of the bar to the other were like lasers that burned holes into her skin wherever they touched. Over the past few weeks she’d gotten to know Patty and the other women she worked with rather well. She’d even been invited on their bi-weekly shopping trips but hadn’t gone with them yet. Shopping wasn’t something she found fun unless it involved a bookstore or maybe chocolate. Last week they’d invited her to girl’s night. Since girl’s night was just them watching movies and hanging out she’d agreed to come.

“I can’t. He glares at me and it distracts me.”

“I don’t see him glaring but I do see him checking out your ass a lot.” Patty chuckled at her own joke, brushing her hair away from her face.

“I think you’re mistaken. The man sits there glaring at me for no good reason and it’s on my last damned nerve. Can’t you make him leave?”

“Sweetie, you know that’s not something I can make happen. Buck’s part of the club and that means he owns this place just like the rest of them do. Sorry.” Patty had told her that before but it didn’t suck any less when she said it this time.

Tessa stood up. Enough was enough. If Patty couldn’t handle this then she would just go out there and tell Buck to go to hell and be done with it.

“Uh oh, that look is one that’s going to lead to trouble. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not a good idea. Tessa,” Patty said looking wary.

“It’s probably not but I’m doing it anyway.”

Tessa stomped out of the office heading to the table near the back of the bar where Buck sat to glare at her. As she neared the table she noticed he was on the phone but she didn’t give a fuck. She was done with trying to ignore his bad behavior and she wasn’t going to allow it to continue. Stomping over to the table, she didn’t bother to wait on him to finish his conversation, she just snatched his cell out of his hand and muttered Buck’s busy, he’ll call you back before stabbing the end call button. Tessa noticed the suddenly quiet onlookers but she wasn’t finished and she wouldn’t apologize for being rude when he’d been an asshole for weeks every time he spoke to her.

“You need to stop coming in here and glaring at me while I work. It’s not any of your business what I chose to do with my life. You can go somewhere else to drink tonight because I’m not going to take another night of you sitting here glaring at me.” Tessa snapped out the words, her hands on her hips, ignoring the slight gasp from Amber and the frantic hand waving that Lisa was doing to try and stop Tessa from speaking.

Buck’s face creased into a darker glare and his words when they came out were calm but held a coldness that sent shivers down her spine. “I think you better rethink what you just did and apologize before I show you exactly why that was the biggest mistake you have ever made.”

Tessa shifted from one foot to the other trying not to lose her resolve under the coldest stare she’d ever been subjected to. It wasn’t that she was afraid of him because she could lay him out on the floor in seconds. No, it was the death glare he’d leveled on her that made her take a slight step back. She opened her mouth to speak but he interrupted her before she could.

“Little girl, you need to shut up unless the next words out of your mouth are an apology because no one disrespects a Grave Digger without punishment,” Buck grunted as he leaned forward, his hands resting on the table in front of him.

Tessa steeled her spine and opened her mouth to reply, not about to apologize to the arrogant son of a bitch. “I—” she got out, but before she could finish Patty came rushing over.

She gripped Tessa’s arm tightly and hissed into her ear, “Don’t say anything else, just apologize. Now Tessa. Apologize loudly.” Patty’s face was twisted and fear etched thin lines around her mouth. When Tessa hesitated, unsure why Patty was so frightened, she glanced around realizing that she didn’t just have the tables nearest Buck’s watching her but nearly the whole bar. She could almost hear a pin drop in the silence that was filled with such unexplained tension that she felt apprehension rise inside her.

“Tell him you’re really sorry and it won’t happen again,” Patty hissed against her ear. Tessa glared defiantly at Buck, who stood suddenly, practically knocking Patty back, his eyes moving over her from head to toe. Something inside Tessa wanted to stay strong, making her back stiffen, but she muttered the words that Patty insisted she say because something told her she’d regret it if she didn’t.

“I’m sorry I snatched your phone, it was rude of me,” Tessa said, unable to apologize for what she’d said because she wasn’t sorry she’d said it.

“Not good enough. You’re coming with me so we can discuss what happened here and your punishment,” Buck growled, his hand landing on her arm in a hard grip that almost left bruises on her skin. Patty let her go without protest and Buck was suddenly jerking her towards the door. 

She dug in her heels and if she hadn’t been so shocked by the reaction of everyone else in the bar, she might have protested or hell, stopped him from jerking on her. Tessa wasn’t sure why Patty or anyone else she worked with wasn’t trying to stop him from manhandling her. She tensed, deciding that she wasn’t going to allow him to take her anywhere for ‘punishment’. Only before she could flip him over her shoulder onto the ground Buck leaned closer to her ear hissing, “Don’t make this worse, just keep walking.”

Tessa didn’t know why she listened to him; maybe it was the way almost every person they walked by had a mixture of pity and fear etched on their faces. Buck shoved open the door and pushed her through ahead of him. Once they were near the bikes parked along the wall of the building Tessa jerked her arm away from his hold, rounding on him with a dark glare covering her face. Buck looked just as furious as he’d looked when he’d jerked her out of the bar. Tessa didn’t care.

“All right, you’ve had your little show but I can promise you that I won’t be allowing you to punish me like I’m an errant child. If you weren’t in here every freaking night glaring at me like I’ve just slapped your elderly mother I wouldn’t have felt drastic measures were in order. Now since my shift is over and we’ve settled this little matter, I’m going home,” Tessa finished her statement, her hand slicing through the air for effect. Unwilling to wait on him to speak, she took a single step away from him but his hand reached out, gripping her arm tightly. She’d had enough of the manhandling but before she could throw him to the ground he got right in her face.

“You little fool. Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?” he demanded, earning a snort from her.

“Oh dear, what have I done? Hurt your pride. Well get the fuck over it because I don’t flipping care!” Tessa roared, her eyes lighting with anger so hot she was surprised it didn’t burst through her skin to burn him alive.

“I’ve killed men for less. You don’t disrespect a Grave Digger and get away with it, little fool,” Buck growled, his eyes snapping fire. Buck shook his head, jerking her towards a red Harley with chrome and black trim. “Just get on the bike. Now.”

“No,” Tessa stated flatly, her arms crossed as she glared at him.

“You will be getting on this bike or I will have to force you on it. Don’t make me prove I can force you, Tessa. You won’t like it if I have to,” Buck muttered, rubbing the back of his neck looking weary suddenly. She just glared at him, waiting on the man to realize she wasn’t going to cater to his whim like some ditzy bimbo. He let out a sigh and reached out, grabbing her by the arm again. Tessa wasn’t about to allow that so she twisted, trying to use his momentum against him only to find herself trapped in a hold that placed her body flush against his. Buck’s lips caressed her ear from behind, sending shivers of desire down her spine without her permission.

“Don’t even try it. I was trained in martial arts too and I can tell you that you won’t win so just get on the damned bike, Tessa.” Buck pulled her to the bike.

Tessa wasn’t sure why she didn’t try to escape again but the shivery almost needy feeling in the pit of her stomach urged her to go with him. She allowed him to climb on the motorcycle before she got on behind him, her heart pounding in her ears as she laid her hands on his shoulders. He snorted and grabbed her hands, moving them to rest around his waist with her palms on his stomach. The heat from his skin seemed to burn through the thin t-shirt he wore. Tessa realized that she was very attracted to him when she felt her body soften and she tried hard not to lean into him. Buck wasn’t having that and pulled on her arms to bring her closer to his body.

“Hold on tight and lean when you feel me lean,” he grunted when he had her arms tightly wound around him like he wanted. He stomped the bike into gear and took off so fast she gasped and tightened her hold even more, pressing her achy breasts into his hard back. Tessa wanted to believe that she could desire him but still not give in to her baser instincts because the man was a total dickhead. Only the longer she pressed against him, the more her body begged her to give in and allow them both to feel those hard abs without the thin t-shirt.

The ride took about thirty minutes and she was surprised when they pulled up to what looked like a strip mall. It was after ten in the evening and she would have expected all the places to be closed but they pulled into a parking spot near one of the only lit storefronts. She climbed off the bike using his shoulders, trying to get away from him as fast as possible. She didn’t expect the jelly legs that she suddenly had and if Buck’s hand hadn’t shot out to steady her she would have fallen.

“Thanks,” she grudgingly uttered, still angry about this ridiculous “punishment” he thought she was going to allow him to mete out.

“Yep,” he said in a bored tone as he kicked down the stand on the bike and climbed off in one fluid motion that sparked another ember of longing inside her. What was it about him that made her want him despite her dislike? “Now let’s go take care of this little issue you’ve created, shall we.”

He waved in front of him towards the door of the nearest lit store. Tessa spun without a word stomping forward, her hands clenched at her sides. She’d let her runaway libido bring her this far, she might as well go with it. As they neared the door of the store he’d indicated she realized they were headed into a tattoo parlor, making her stop dead in the doorway, almost falling into the glass door when Buck walked into her back.

“Shit, what’d you stop for?” Buck asked even as his arm wrapped around her to prevent her from taking a header into the glass door.

“I’m not getting a tattoo,” Tessa growled.

“You will if I say you will.” His voice was hard and his eyes cold when he looked at her, sending a shiver down her spine. Then he added, “But lucky for you that’s not why we’re here.” Buck shoved the door open and ushered her inside without another word.

Tessa didn’t know what Buck had planned but she knew that he wasn’t going to force her to do anything she didn’t want to do. She didn’t give a shit about his biker club or his pride. She walked into the tattoo parlor with her head high and her mind made up.

“Buck, how’s it going, man?” asked a young man in his twenties with platinum blood hair, a nose ring and almost no skin that wasn’t sporting ink. Tessa didn’t like the way his eyes raked up and then back down her body with obvious appreciation so she glared at him darkly.

“Good. Is Lancaster here?” Buck asked, his hand snagging her arm before moving into the lobby with her in tow.

“Yeah, he’s in the back,” Blondie said, a slick smile on his face as he leered at her. “She can wait with me if you want.”

“No,” Buck said with such finality that Blondie’s eyes jumped to him and his spine snapped to attention as he nodded and went back to looking through whatever magazine he’d been reading when they’d entered.

Buck led her down a dark corridor to a small room with a short counter. This one was similar to the first one except there was no one sitting at it. Tessa stared around the room seeing the wall darkened with artwork, which were numbered like the ones on the wall up front except most of them were in white and looked larger. Her brow furrowed, wondering why they were here and what Buck was planning.

“Lancaster,” Buck called loudly.

A harsh voice answered, “I’m coming” before angry muttering and shuffling feet could be heard. “Damned impatient youngsters. Always in a hurry. Don’t they know I’m too old to be jumping up like a damned jack in the box.” Tessa felt a little grin split her face because that loud muttering reminded her of her uncles and the way they used to bluster about the younger people being useless and impatient all the time.

An older man who had to seventy if he was a day appeared in the doorway behind the counter looking a little out of sorts. His face was lined with age and his hair was white. He held an ornate cane in his right hand and a t-shirt in his left as he stomped to the counter to glare at whoever had the audacity to interrupt whatever he’d been doing. Yep, he was very much like her uncles would likely be when they were the same age as he was.

“What do you need, Buck? I’ve got shit I need to finish tonight,” Lancaster barked, not deferring to him like most people did.

“Need a special and I need it tonight,” Buck said, releasing her arm for the first time since they’d entered, grabbing a pen and paper and writing something down. “Needs to say this. White on black and black on white. How long do you need?”

Lancaster took the paper Buck handed him and snorted. Tessa attempted to see what was written but she couldn’t make it out from the other side of the counter because of the lack of lighting in the room. Lancaster seemed to look at her for a moment with pity in his gaze before he turned, smacking his cane on the floor, his grunted response curt.

“Give me a half hour.”

“Come on, Duchess. We can wait in the break room.” Buck’s voice held a note of dry sarcasm as he began dragging her out of the room and down the dreary hallway again.

“Look, I don’t know what you think is going to happen here but I can promise you whatever it is isn’t going to happen—” Tessa began only to be curtly interrupted.

“You brought this on yourself, Duchess. So sit down and shut the fuck up for once,” Buck grunted, shoving her down on a small couch that looked like it had seen better days. Tessa glared at him.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Yep, now sit and be silent,” Buck said. He pulled his phone out and without another word began to make a call. “Sorry we got cut off earlier, there was an issue I had to handle but it’s settled now.”

Tessa felt her anger boil up and before she knew it, she was leaning forward intending to snatch the asshole’s phone a second time but he stood and walked to the door after sending her a dark glower. Tessa wasn’t sure what she would have done if the door behind her hadn’t opened and two people with dark clothing and tattoos hadn’t walked in.

“He’s an idiot—oh, hello there,” the woman said, her pierced eyebrow raising as she took in Tessa sitting on the couch.

“Hello,” Tessa said, unwilling to be a bitch to these two newcomers just because Buck was a dick.

“Aren’t you a sweet looking morsel.” Tessa couldn’t help but stare at the spiked blue hair and nipple rings connected by chains that weren’t covered well by the thin mesh shirt the man wore. His leather pants were so tight she wondered if he had any blood flow left in his junk from the pressure they must put on it.

“If you’d like a closer look I’m willing to slip off to my booth with you, sweetness.” Feeling heat rise to her cheeks when she saw his leering grin, Tessa didn’t know what to say after that comment. Despite her interest in his tight pants cutting off necessary circulation, she wasn’t interested in the man at all.

“No.” The hard word didn’t come from Tessa’s lips, making her look up to see Buck holding his phone away from his ear while looking darkly at the man who’d entered.

“Whoa, I was just offering. Didn’t realize you’d called dibs.” The man grinned, his tongue darting out to wet his lips revealing a tongue ring that made Tessa stare harder at him. It wasn’t that she’d never seen people with piercings but it was still mesmerizing to her because it was new. No one at the compound had anything like those piercings or near the amount of tattoos the man was sporting. Buck held his gaze for another moment before he went back to his phone call. The woman laughed as she moved to sit beside her on the couch.

“I’m Sally. That oversexed moron there is Alex.” Tessa saw on closer inspection that the eyebrow ring wasn’t the only adornment that the woman wore. She also had about ten earrings in one ear and five in the other with a barbell. Sally smiled at her and winked. “Don’t mind him because he can’t help being a whore.”

“I’m only doing what nature intended. Men should be oversexed, otherwise we’d be boring and that would be a crime, Sal. Just a crime,” Alex said, his brows wiggling up and down. Tessa couldn’t help the slight snort that escaped her at his unrepentant response. 

“Yes, well not every woman is interested in notching your belt, dumbass. I for one wouldn’t be willing to risk it,” Sally chuckled out, holding her hands up when he moved closer to wag his hips at her.

“You’ll never have to worry, Sal. I wouldn’t take you even if you offered because Nipper would rip my head off and shit down my windpipe if I even thought about touching you.”

“True,” Sally said laughing. Tessa shifted a little on the couch looking at Buck who still stood in the doorway on the phone.

“Don’t fret. If he was paying enough attention to tell Alex no in such a deadly tone, he hasn’t forgotten about you,” Sally whispered near her ear with a little grin that Tessa didn’t understand.

“I would rather he didn’t pay as much attention to my business. That’s the whole reason I’m here. Otherwise I would be off and halfway home by now,” Tessa muttered, a spark of anger making her tone sharp and earning her a glare from Buck.

“Ah, like that, is it.” Sally’s grin widened and she let out a throaty laugh. “I remember those days when I hated Nipper more than I liked him. It’s hard to like a man who thinks he can own you.”

“I think you’ve misunderstood our relationship,” Tessa politely told the other woman, not sure what else to say because she was sure the woman was implying that she and Buck were together in a romantic sense and that was far from the truth.

“Okay, hon. If you say so.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Sorry I can’t stay and chat some more but I have a client who should be here any minute.” Sally got up and headed to the front of the room with a knowing grin still firmly plastered on her lips. After she exited Alex handed her a remote for the large flat screen TV with a little wave.

“I have to get to work too. Have fun.” He then followed Sally out the door, leaving Tessa with Buck who was still talking to whoever was on the phone, leaning on the wall beside the door watching her with a dark look. She wasn’t in the mood for a fight anymore so she decided to turn on the TV and ignore his piercing gaze. She flipped through channels until she found a show she’d been watching about two girls who worked in a diner and proceeded to ignore him.