Tammy produced a blanket out of the bottomless picnic basket and spread it out on the soft grass. Gunner was stripping off his clothes as fast as he could, but Tammy was taking her time, showing him a little piece of her smooth, sexy skin as she did. Gunner watched her in awe of her beauty as she pulled off her t-shirt and let her bra fall off her arms. Then she took the waistband of her jeans into her hands, and bending forward so her breasts hung free in the air, she slowly slid the jeans down. She did the same with her panties and by the time she got them to her ankles, Gunner couldn’t wait a minute longer. He put his hands on her waist, and gentler than he would an opponent, he took her down. She giggled as he lowered her onto the blanket and then gasped as he pushed her legs apart and buried his face in her sweet pussy. He licked her wet slit and then slid his hands up underneath her ass and lifted it up so that he could push his face in further. He held her there while his tongue explored her most sensitive areas and she moaned and whimpered and writhed into his face. When he sucked her clit in between his lips, she grabbed his hair and pulled it as she cried out his name. Gunner lapped at her while she rocked her hips up and down. “Fuck, Gunner! Fuck!” she screamed out. In response, he sucked her clit harder and slipped two fingers back up into her tight, wet tunnel. “Oh my god!” She was pulling his hair so hard that it would be a miracle if he had any left when they were done. “Fuck! I’m coming!” she screamed. Gunner didn’t stop what he was doing as he felt the orgasm slam into her, and she yanked one final time on his hair before collapsing into a wiggling, shaking pile of soft, warm flesh. When she calmed down, he pulled his face up and looked at her. Her eyes were just open a slit and she shook her head slowly back and forth. “Jesus. You’re fucking amazing.”

He grinned and lifted his body up so that he was even with her lips. “We’re amazing,” he said, before he lowered his lips to hers. Tammy attacked him as soon as their lips met, sucking them and clawing at his back. His cock was painfully hard and as he straddled her, it fell against her wet pussy as if it had a mind of its own. He took hold of her legs and spread them wider and let his cock slide in where it was aching to be. They both cried out against each other’s mouths and she dug her fingernails into his flesh as he filled her up. She was so fucking tight that every time he was inside of her was like the first time. He was absolutely in awe of her. He began to pump his cock in and out of her, slowly at first, but rapidly losing the battle with taking his time. In minutes, he was slamming into her and his balls were slapping hard against the bottom of her pussy and the top of her ass. He pulled out of the kiss and looked down at her face while he thrust into her. He loved that look of ecstasy on her face as he fucked her. She looked like she was high, and it thrilled him to know that he was her drug of choice. He felt like he was getting close and as good as he knew his orgasm would feel, he wasn’t ready for it to be over. As if reading his mind, or just having a like mind of her own, Tammy pushed against the blanket and moved so that his cock fell out of her. Before Gunner could react, her hands were on his chest, pushing him back. He rolled over like she wanted him and she slithered down his body until her lips were against his cock, coated with her juices. She smiled up at him and then engulfed him with her mouth. If she thought that would make him last longer, she was dead wrong. Gunner’s balls ached, they wanted to cum so badly. But fuck, did it feel good. She bobbed up and down on his cock, letting her tongue swirl around it and then sucking it into the back of her throat. She looked so sexy, and Gunner grabbed her hair and began to fuck her mouth, almost gagging her on his hard cock with each thrust.

“Fuck, baby. I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to come. Ride me.” She smiled around his cock and looked up at his face as she sucked him all the way back one more time. Holding him in the front of her throat while she swallowed was her final act of torment before finally letting go and climbing up on top of him. She took his hot cock in her small hand and slid it against her slit a few times before finally leading it where it was dying to be. As soon as it was inside of her she began to use her leg muscles to slide up and down on it, taking him all the way in each time. He grabbed onto her ass and held it tightly, digging his fingers into her flesh as she rode him like a stallion. It only took a few minutes before she was screaming out in another orgasm. The sound of her pleasure, coupled with the feelings racing through him, put him over the top. His orgasm hit him like a runaway train and he came so hard that he was dizzy by the time he finished. Sweating, panting, and gasping, Tammy dropped down on top of him and he cuddled her into his chest. When he could speak, he whispered:

“Fuck.”

He felt her body shake in a giggle and she said, “Mm-hmm.”

They lay there like that for a long time—so long that Gunner felt himself falling asleep at one point. Tammy pressed her lips against his ear and said, “Gunner?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I’m going to see Tommy and then I’ll meet you in Massachusetts.”

He pushed her up so that he could see her face. His now softened cock slid out of her when she moved and they both paused for a second while Tammy shivered. When Gunner regained his composure once more he said, “What did you say?”

“Please don’t get upset.” He picked her up and sat her on the blanket next to him so that he could sit up.

“What am I not supposed to get upset about?”

“I asked Zack to take me to see Tommy.”

She might as well have stuck a knife in his heart, it hurt so bad. He pushed up off the ground and grabbed for his shorts and pants. “Gunner, please listen to me…”

“What’s to say, Tammy? You already asked him. You had this planned without even discussing it with me or thinking about how it was going to make me feel. You tell me this guy means nothing to you but who was the first person you thought of when we needed help? Zack. And now, who is the man you want to protect you when you go see your brother? Zack.” He pulled on his shorts and was starting on his jeans when she said,

“It’s not like that. Let me explain, please.”

“I get it. He’s a big, badass biker and I’m just a wannabe…a kid, as Zack likes to call me. No explanation necessary. I can understand why you’d feel safer with him by your side rather than me. Thanks for waiting until after I got off to tell me.”

She rolled her eyes and reached for her clothes. As she pulled her bra on he looked down at her. She had tears in her eyes. Part of him wanted to comfort her, and the other part wanted to be pissed off that she was hurting him and she had the audacity to cry. She pulled her t-shirt over her head and he tossed her jeans over toward her before he pulled his shirt on. She quietly finished dressing and then in a shaky voice she said, “I don’t feel safer with him…at least not in the way you think. Gunner, you got shot for me. You could have died. You didn’t need to prove anything yet you did. You proved that you are the most courageous, big-hearted man I’ve ever met. But…”

“Not as badass as Zack?” He gritted his teeth.

A tear rolled down her face and he felt a twinge of guilt. “We should get back,” she said.

“You’re not going to bother denying it?”

“I already tried to tell you it’s not that, but you won’t listen.”

“Your words say one thing but your actions are saying something completely different.”

Tammy started packing up the picnic basket. Gunner waited, almost desperately for her to say something else. He wanted her to argue with him and make him believe her. She didn’t, though. She quietly finished cleaning up their mess and with the basket on her arm she said, “I’m ready.”

Gunner remembered crying once in his life. It was the day he realized his mother was dead and social services was coming for him. He’d packed a small backpack and then before leaving the apartment, he’d gone back into his mom’s room to get the vest. He pulled it down off the hanger in her closet and as he turned to leave, he caught sight of her lifeless body for the second time that day. That was when he realized she was gone and that no matter how shitty a job she’d done as a parent, he still loved her. He had gone over and sat on the bed next to her, clutching the vest to his chest and sobbing uncontrollably. Nothing had made him want to cry like that in the twelve years in between, until now. He fought the sting in his eyes and picked up the blanket. Without looking back at Tammy, he walked over to the bike and straddled it. He felt her get on behind him and waited while she put on her helmet before he took off. The hour-long drive did nothing but give him more time to think about what she planned to do. When they got back to the clubhouse, he parked the bike and in three strides made it to the door. He heard her calling out to him, but he ignored her. He charged into the clubhouse and sought out his target like he was playing one of Billy’s video games. When his eyes landed on Zack’s face they stayed there until Gunner reached the edge of his table. Zack was smiling, but his eyes held a hint of confusion.

“Get up.”

Zack raised an eyebrow. “What’s up, kid?”

“Don’t fucking call me that! Get up!” A couple of the other bikers approached from the sides of Gunner but Zack waved them off. That only pissed Gunner off more. Zack was saying that he wasn’t a threat.

“Gunner, please don’t do this,” Tammy said from behind him. He ignored her. Zack’s eyes went to Tammy and suddenly it clicked.

“Oh, she told you she asked me to take her to Texas, did she? Don’t worry, if we stop to sleep I’ll get a room with two beds. Will that make you feel better?” Gunner saw red as he threw the punch. Zack didn’t take that one like he had the others, though. He used his arm to deflect it and the momentum pushed Gunner backwards. Zack stood up and Gunner could see out of the corner of his eye that the bikers Zack waved off were back now, with their guns drawn. Zack looked at them and then back at Gunner. “You’re either the stupidest man I’ve ever met, or love is frying your brain. This shit right here…your fucking lack of impulse control, the way you do before you think…this is why she wants me with her instead of you.”

“Zack, please stop,” Tammy said. Gunner wouldn’t look at her but as his face burned up he could see her out of the corner of his eye. “Gunner, let’s go to our room and talk, please.”

“Where’s my money?”

Zack reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. He handed it to Gunner. The men with the guns hadn’t moved an inch. Gunner turned, but slowly. Billy was sitting at the bar, staring at him with wide eyes. Patty was behind it, pretending to wipe out a glass. “I’m leaving in an hour. Be ready if you plan on going with me.” He finally looked at Tammy. Tears stained her face and she looked so pathetic that he wavered…just for a second. “I don’t think we have anything else to talk about,” he told her. He started to walk toward the hallway to go to his room and pack. He felt the men with the guns at his back. When he got to the doorway he turned back around and looked at Tammy again. “Be safe in Texas.” He headed down the hallway then with his chest burning and his stomach in knots. He heard the men start to follow him, but the sound of Zack’s voice called them off. Fuck him. One of these days Gunner would have a patch and that nomad motherfucker would need something from his club. It was a day Gunner planned on looking forward to, with anticipation.

* * *

Once Gunner was gone and Zack’s brothers had calmed down and put their pieces away, Zack looked at Tammy and said, “Why didn’t you tell him why you asked me to take you?”

She wiped the tears off her face. Zack hated to see a woman cry, but he wasn’t about to try to comfort her. If she didn’t kick his ass, Gunner might come back with a gun. “I tried. He didn’t want to listen, so fuck him.”

Zack raised an eyebrow. “You don’t mean that. You’re still going to Massachusetts when we’re done in Texas, right?”

“I’m a grown-ass woman with a nursing degree. I can go wherever the fuck I want.” She turned to head for the front door and before she got to it, it was pushed open. The short, stocky man with the grizzled white beard looked her up and down and then turned his gray eyes on Zack.

“Shit,” Zack muttered under his breath. His president, the man before him named Jackson Stone, and the tall, thin man who stood next to him, his VP who went by the moniker “Skid,” weren’t supposed to be back in town for another week. Zack was hoping by that time he’d be back from Texas and the two men would have forgotten that he’d pissed off Spider and that meant the Defenders as well. He could tell by the way Stone was looking at him, nothing was forgotten, and leaving for Texas in the morning was going to be tricky. He pasted a smile on his face and said, “I’ll be damned, I didn’t think y’all would be back until tomorrow.”

Skid shook his head, but Zack thought he saw a smile tugging at his lips under the black Fu Manchu mustache he wore. “In the meeting room,” he said. Stone didn’t say a word; he just stood staring a hole through Zack. Skid looked over at the bar and told the prospect that had taken over when Patty and Billy followed Gunner, “Get us some drinks…and bring me something good to smoke.” Stone, Skid, and one of the sergeants at arms of the club, a guy named Justin Moore, headed for the meeting room. Reluctantly, Zack followed them.