Chapter Eleven
Tigger
Thunder: She said yes
Those three words change everything. I never thought Summer would say yes to working with the club and agree to live here with us. This will either make or break me. It was one thing to keep her at a distance and only see her in the club, there I could control the setting and what happened between us, but she’s going to be staying in Thunder’s room, right across the hall from me. Fuck me, I’m screwed. I get hard just thinking about having her right there, across the hall from me. Who knows, maybe I can have my cake and eat it too? It won’t be long now until she discovers who I am, and I hope when she does, she doesn’t kick me to the curb. I’m starting to develop feelings for her.
Seeing her at work yesterday and the way she cared for Bella and made sure Natalie and Thunder knew their daughter would be okay, ignited something deep inside of me that I thought was dead. She’s managed to stir the softer side of me back to the surface. Sure, I’m rough with her when it comes to fucking her, but until she discovers who I am, I can show her the softer side of me. I can be both, it just might take me a while to remember how to be both.
“She agreed,” I tell Dean when I find him looking over my shoulder at the text on my screen.
He pats me on the back and laughs at my predicament. He finds it funny, he was there yesterday and saw the way I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She’s lucky I didn’t haul her ass off to the nearest utility closet yesterday and fuck her senseless. If she knew who I was, I would’ve done it in a heartbeat, that’s how much she affects my ability to think straight.
“Are you going to tell her who you are?” he raises an eyebrow at me in question. His hair is whipping around him in the wind out here. We’ve both stepped out of the garage anticipating her arrival. Thunder texted me a few minutes ago letting me know they were on their way.
“Not until the time is right,” I reply, not looking away from the gate.
“I’m glad to see you’ve found a woman who holds your interest,” I glare at him and find him stroking his beard thoughtfully.
For once, I don’t feel like pummeling him. He’s being genuine, he knows how much it hurt me when Kara picked him over me. I want to hate Dean for it, declare my hatred towards him and shoot him on the spot with the gun I have tucked away inside my cut, but I don’t do it. As much as I want to hate him, I can’t, I love him like a brother and Kara well, Kara, I have to learn to love her like a sister. They are my family, I have no family left. Sadness fills me when I think about Emmy and what happened to her after I left.
“There they are,” Dean pushing me forward jolts me back to the present. I push him back, I almost fell face first into the dirt. That would’ve been a lovely way to meet Summer officially for the first time, with dirt and mud all over my clothing. Would’ve been my fault though, I should pay more attention. This girl has me all kinds of distracted. Fortunately for me, my duties for this club only extend to The Dragon, and I run that place like the back of my hand even when I’m not around.
I turn my glare away from him and over to the clubhouse where Thunder is dismounting, and Summer is exiting her car. God, just looking at her draws me in her direction. Dean has to hold me back.
“Let her meet Drag and see her room first before you corner her. There will be plenty of time for you to harass her later. She is, after all, staying right across the hall from you. I don’t know how you are going to do that shit without coming off like some obsessed stalker.”
His words force me to relax my shoulders and take a few steps back inside the garage. He’s right, and I hate that. I’m going to have to take some time and think about how I want to approach this situation with her. I might scare her off if I walk in there guns blazing. I’ll have to remember my goal to show her the softer side of my personality. She’s met the Tiger, I should show her the Tigger side of me.
I want to laugh when I remember how I ended up with the name Tigger. It was a joke, but it just kind of stuck after a while. When I first arrived here in Maple Valley, I was known as Tiger. I told Drag that my friends called me that because I was a Tiger in the sack. He laughed and said that would never stick. Not because I wasn’t a Tiger, but because I am too nice of a guy, so he started calling me Tigger, and soon after everyone else did. I want to hate the name, but after being called Tigger for so many years, I allowed it to stay that way. Makes things easier anyways, Connoly would look for Tiger if he ever came here asking about me so he wouldn’t know my new name is Tigger. Sometimes I wonder what my brothers would say if they knew the truth about my past. It probably wouldn’t matter that I’ve been a member of this club for the past five years. These guys are loyal as fuck, but a traitor is a traitor no matter the circumstances. I remember when they pull their guns on Kara. I cringe at the image.
I sigh and let those thoughts leave my head and instead follow Dean towards the clubhouse when Summer and Thunder disappear inside. I need to mentally prepare myself to formally meet her and dwelling on my past, isn’t going to leave her with the best impression about me.
Walking into the clubhouse, the sight of her laughing with Drag and Thunder makes my heart skip a beat. She has the most beautiful laugh, almost like musical bells. I’m entranced standing there staring at the back of her. Dean hitting me on the back causes me to look away.
“Quit staring, you’re going to scare her away. You do want a chance with her someday, right? Looking at her like that isn’t going to earn you anything besides a serious case of blue balls,” he steps away from me and walks over to introduce himself to Summer when Drag calls out his name.
I almost stop him to point out the fact that when it comes to Summer, I will never have blue balls. If the way she is with me in the nightclub is any indication, my future with her as the mystery man is a bright one. At least if she doesn’t like me as Tigger, I still have that.
I wait for Dean to finish making his introductions to Summer and then walk over to stand beside them.
“This is Tigger, he’s the Treasurer. He runs The Dragon, a club we own downtown,” Drag gestures towards me, and I plaster a smile on my face and offer her my hand.
“Summer Heslin,” she smiles politely back at me. Her cheeks heat to a light red shade when she takes my hand in hers.
“The Dragon is a strip club,” Dean interjects before I have a chance to say anything else to Summer. I immediately want to reach over and punch him in the jaw. He just had to throw that out there, didn’t he? I know Summer was bound to find that out anyway, but he didn’t have to tell her within the first five minutes of my introduction.
I look down at Summer and find her blue eyes wide with shock. But I can’t tell if she’s surprised because of what I do for a living or if she feels the same bolt of electricity that I feel ignite when our fingers touch. Just as quickly as her shock is there, it’s gone.
“You guys own a strip club?” the guys look offended, but I know she’s not disgusted by the fact that we own a strip club, she’s just genuinely curious.
Thunder takes a step in her direction and opens his mouth to say something, but I quickly cut him off. “Yes, The Dragon is just one of many business ventures we have here in town, the other is the tattoo shop that Thunder owns. We also have a garage out back where we repair not only our own bikes but other vehicles as well, the club has to make money somehow,” I throw Thunder a look, and his shoulders sag in relief.
She was bound to ask what we do for money anyhow, and this just saves the guys a headache later when they have to explain to her how we have so much money and keep things going around here. It isn’t like we have a run every other month to raise money for the club. Other than the standard Thanksgiving and Christmas runs we have for toy and food donations, we don’t actively participate in runs. Kind of surprised we don’t. We probably should have more to throw the ATF off of our trail.
“That’s cool,” she seems to like the idea of there being a strip club here in town. Over my dead body will she be going there with an idea to get a job. It’s one thing if she wants to check it out, it will be quite another to have her working there. I’ve seen that body of hers and those moves she’s capable of, and she will never be getting up on that stage in front of the customers to dance. I’d probably do what Dean did to Kara and drag her ass off the stage.
A smile flickers across my face when I imagine doing just that to her.
“What are you smiling about?” Dean pushes me with his shoulder, and I quickly drop Summer’s hand. I didn’t even realize I was still holding her hand.
“Let me show you where your room is,” Thunder offers, taking her hand and leading her away from us. Thunder throws us a look of disgust when Summer turns away from us.
“It was nice to meet you all,” she says, looking back at me one final time before she turns and trails behind Thunder. She didn’t look at Dean or Drag, just me. I want to hate the way it makes me feel inside, but I don’t.
I watch her walk away, the light blue knee length dress she has on is such a contrast to the girl I’ve come to know over the past few weeks. She’s not wearing anything revealing, and she looks like your average everyday girl. It makes me realize that I know nothing about this girl. She’s like me in a way. By day she’s a conservative nurse who looks completely innocent, and by night she’s a wild girl who throws caution to the wind and lets me have my wicked way with her in the darkness of the club.
“You like her, don’t you?” I look over to find Drag leaning against the door jab of his office, looking me over pensively.
“She’s just a chick,” I shrug and turn my face away so he can’t see the look in my eyes. He can always tell how I’m feeling by looking at my face. That’s the only thing I hate about Drag, he knows me too well. Hell, he knows me better than anyone else does.
“Yeah, one he’d like to get to know better than he already does,” Dean throws his arm around me and shakes me. I’m forced to push him off me when he doesn’t let go.
“Is that the girl?” my eyes fly over to Dean. How many people has he told?
“It is,” Dean confirms with a nod.
“Run a background check on her, make sure she’s clean. We don’t need to make another mistake like we did with Donna,” I stiffen and look over at Drag helplessly. Why do they always need to remind me about that useless bitch and the way she ruined my life? Hell, she almost ruined all of our lives.
“On it, Pres,” Dean leaves us alone after that. I watch him walk off towards the surveillance room we keep hidden in the rear of the club.
“Relax, Tigger, it’s just a precaution, I’m sure she’s great. She has to be if Natalie brought her here. We all make mistakes, don’t let the mistake you made trusting Donna ruin your chances of getting to know this girl. She’s bound to find out who you are soon enough, so make a lasting impression on her as the Tigger we all knew and loved once, and she’ll come to adore you the way the rest of us do.”
He’s right. That is if I can even remember the Tigger I used to be.