“Hey, don’t be bringing any of that trash back with you,” the guy muttered as she opened the door.
She almost hadn’t heard him, the noise from the factory drifting into the room. “What?” she asked, foot holding the door propped open. She barely looked back at him, not impressed and diving down towards pissed-off when he referred to her mother’s property as trash. She restrained herself from saying anything back in response only because her mother needed this job.
“Trash, you know what I mean. We pay people here to work, not get off. No trash and no trailer buddies at the back door, looking to buy junk,” the guy said.
What the hell? He sure didn’t mean her mom’s belongings. He couldn’t be talking about her mom at all because it seemed like he was implying her mother sold something illicit or scandalous?
“Define trash for me. Be real clear. I’m not much for mumblers,” Tess said. She was blocking the only exit unless this guy wanted to duck out the fire door and escape like a coward.
He walked up real close to her, doing his best to intimidate. Shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he sniffed like an allergic bulldog, which is exactly the bizarre thing she pictured while she held her ground.
Laugh at ‘em before they can make fun of you.
“Drugs, you trailer trash addict. Keep them out of here. Are we clear?” the guy said, keeping it to a harsh whisper.
“Fuck you,” Tess said. “You can mail the goddamn boots to me with my mother’s last paycheck. Hope your Saturday’s ruined without someone to work it.”
The guy recoiled from her words like she had slapped him with them. She smirked, something she never did but he deserved every bit of her scorn. Her mother would never deal drugs. She had drunk and then suddenly quit, sobered up to take care of the kids when she divorced. It had been her only vice other than men, and the only addiction that child services cared enough about to choose which parent got custody.
No way.
This guy had the wrong parent.
She wasn’t even going to bring it up to her mother. Tess would tell her that they didn’t have enough work and that was why she got fired. Laid off, whatever. It couldn’t be the only job in town that suited her mother. Tess would find something else.
She was halfway across the parking lot when she realized she was crying, cheeks wet and her nose starting to run.
That lady in the grocery store, the one that had said she worked with mom and had that twitchy look of an addict looking for the next high. Had she, did her mother...
No. Nope.
Not again. Not him. This couldn’t be happening.
Daniels ain’t got me.
Tess walked over to the end of the parking lot, sitting down on a cement block that was shaded by some trees, hopefully out of sight. She pulled out her phone.
Theresa: I need a hug.
Keir: ((hug))pumpkin((hug))
Keir: That’s a twin sandwich hug
Kade: What’s wrong?
Sebastian: Where are you? The twins should be able to come if War is still at practice. I’m stuck at home, unless you need me?
Theresa: I’m wallowing. Don’t come. I just needed a moment.
Warrick: Does someone have to be taught manners again?
Sebastian: Tess, are you safe? I’m coming. Just give me a few minutes.
Theresa: You don’t know where I am, Bastion. Remember, keeping secrets now.
Keir: We know where you were headed. It’s not that big a town.
Kade: I’m going to call you.
Theresa: No, I don’t have that many minutes. Need to save them for an emergency.
Sebastian: What emergency?
Warrick: I’m leaving practice. Where are you?
Theresa: No, don’t leave practice. I’m sorry. This is stupid. Someone just said something bad about my mom and it made me cry, like a girl. I’m fine now.
Keir: You are a girl. Fuck, who made you cry?
Kade: Don’t swear.
Keir: My brother is a dick.
Kade: Your phone screen can be fixed, but your dirty mouth is permanent.
Sebastian: You can mute them from the chat, Pumpkin.
Keir: You can delete Bastard from the chat.
Theresa: I like the chat the way it is.
Keir: Did you change the names?
Theresa: Yeah.
Keir: What to?
Kade: Stop bugging her about it. She told you already it’s none of your business. Are you okay now, Pumpkin?
Theresa: Still pumpkin? And I thought Bastion was calling me Kitten?
Sebastian: I vary your nickname by the situation. Kitten is for when I want to feel your little claws. Pumpkin is for when you need squashing with one of those stupid twin sandwich hugs.
Keir: ((hug))pumpkin((hug)
Kade: Don’t be jealous, Bastard.
Kade: I still like Pumpkin. My first taste of your lips before the rest of these guys got involved.
Theresa: Is Kade or Keir short for anything?
Kade: Kayden
Keir: Keiran
Theresa: I knew it. And Bastion is short for Sebastian, right?
Sebastian: Yes. Let me guess what you chose for the nicknames in the chat ^-^
Theresa: It was the simplest. Where else do you guys use your full names? It is practically like nicknames. I’ll update Keir and Kade now that I know their full names for sure.
Warrick: I still prefer Luce
Kade: I don’t want tweedle-dee
Keir: Seconded.
Bastion: What was my nickname? Before you got boring.
Theresa: Bossy.
Theresa: Fine. I’m changing all of them.
Warrick: Ha. Just so you know, I plan to live up to mine with devilish delight.
Sebastian: Lame. I’m happy to show Tess who is boss.
Keir: I refuse to answer to tweedle-dum.
Kade: Seconded.
Theresa: Bossy suggested ‘ass’ and ‘tits’ once, but he didn’t tell me who to call which so I’ll have to always call you both over together.
Sebastian: You are getting sassier, Kitten. Does this mean you’re feeling better?
Theresa: Yes. Thanks.
Kade: I’ll take Blue or Bluebell instead, but you’re welcome to call my brother an ass. It’s accurate, at least.
Keir: Better than a flower. How the heck did you come up with that one, Smurf?
Kade: Tess did.
Theresa: Keir is Keir.
Keir: Well, that’s creative.
Theresa: Don’t worry, I call you lots of names in my head.
Keir: Like what?
Theresa: Trouble. I call you trouble all the time.
Keir: My nickname is trouble?
Sebastian: You do like to shake things up.
Theresa: Everyone has a nickname. It’s done. I’m updating the chat and then I should go.
Kade: Are you going to be okay?
Keir: Want us to come get you?
Warrick: I left practice. I can skip the shower and leave right now. Are you still close to school?
Tess hovered her thumbs over the phone. Her group chat with the guys really had helped calm her down but she couldn’t have the guys showing up yet. She needed to do something that they wouldn’t understand. Now, with what her mom’s work had said about her, hard as it had been to face that kind of accusation, Tess knew she had to look in the kind of places the guys didn’t want her going to get her answers.
Drugs were the perfect fit for a motorcycle bar.
Theresa: Nope, I took the bus. I’ll be back home in about an hour and a half. Let’s meet up there to study.
She closed her phone, ignoring the beeps as the guys texted her. They were so easy to talk to, she could sit here all day and chat, avoiding going to Daniels. It wasn’t an option, not a good one, at least.
Bad options were all that she had left.
Chapter 23
War
“SHE’S UP TO SOMETHING.”
&
nbsp; “I know,” War said, talking through his earbuds as he pulled on his socks. He hoped the change of clothes was enough of a substitute for a shower. Speed was more important than washing off the sweat of his hockey practice.
“It has to be Daniels. Go there first.”
“I’m on it, Bastion. Get out of your stepmom’s party and over here with a car, pronto. I don’t fancy yanking Tess out of the bar and dragging her home on the bus. Something had her worked up earlier and blocking her from checking out Daniels is going to be the icing on the bad-day cake.”
“She’s like one-hundred pounds soaking wet. Carry her out if you have to but get it done,” Bastion demanded. “I can’t leave. Mommy Dearest has posted fucking guards at the door.”
“Damn it, Bastion. Open a window and shimmy down a drainpipe. I don’t care, but back me up or get the twins to come.”
“The twins got caught by their dad when they tried to leave the house. He came home early and demanded they eat dinner together. He’s got a client coming over and you know he has to put on a show. You’re the only one with a family that isn’t putting shackles on you tonight. I’ll call you back in five.”
The timing was perfectly terrible. War slammed his locker shut after shoving his equipment in and making it fit. Normally, he carried it with him but the big gym bag stood out. He wasn’t exactly dressed incognito for going to a biker bar. He had on his spare sweats and a t-shirt, with a school hoodie over top. They weren’t going to stay long at Daniels anyway if Tess really was there, just whatever time it took for him to find her and pull a caveman carry unless she went quietly.
Not likely. Bastion might be able to intimidate her into behaving and Kade could intimidate anyone that dared interfere with him taking Tess out of the bar. Keir would bribe or tease Tess into doing what he wanted, easy manipulation a part of his repertoire. War, he was a bit shyer around the ladies, especially ones he liked.
He blushed just to think about pushing Tess around without it being sexual. Good thing his skin was dark enough to hide the warmth in his face. Talking to her was fine when they were keeping it light-hearted or doing school work, but ever since they had all played with Tess together, making her orgasm, War found himself fighting a constant hard-on around her like the biggest pervert.
Yeah, that would be fun to deal with while yanking an unwilling girl out of a dangerous bar, trying to hide his erection. Just what the hell were people going to think? Taking Tess home on the bus would only prolong his misery.
He didn’t normally drive to school because it was close to his house. Da had insisted they get a house in town for the convenience, buying up half a block of lots and tearing down the original houses to build their current monstrosity. At least it was hidden from view, set back and enough trees for privacy. It was tempting to go home and get his car, but Bastion made it sound like Tess was in imminent danger.
That girl thought he was Lucifer only because of a fun nickname? Just wait until he rained hell on her for risking herself if he caught her in the very bar they told her not to go. Anger might be the only thing that stopped War from wanting to fuck her in the bathroom like the fast and easy girls that frequented Daniels for a quick fix: drugs, sex and alcohol were all plentiful. Show her the side he had only hinted to her previously.
He wasn’t an angel. That was for certain, much as it might break his mum’s heart to hear anyone say otherwise. The girls at school treated him like he was a meathead that was good for one thing. So he had fucked. He could have all the sex he wanted but nobody wanted a second go once he scored the touchdown. Unlike Bastion, who had to peel the girls off and did so without regrets, War couldn’t get one to stick around.
It was enough that he had begun to question what he was doing wrong. He second-guessed his moves, got a bit shyer instead of developing the confidence his athletic body and smarts should have earned him. Now Tess was after his Achilles heel, saying she was interested in his brain first, and she had kissed him back when they had all seduced her on her bed. The moans coming from her lips had tasted like pleasure, as addictive as a good fifty year whiskey. She was too good to waste one moment.
Bastion was a kinky bastard, but he knew how to get a girl wet and screaming. This group dating might be the best thing that had happened to War’s sex life since he figured out that a girl’s soft hands felt a hella lot different than his own rough jerk off.
He’d been getting a lot of his own hand action the last week. No cheerleaders, no other girls at all for him, not since Tess entered their lives. War sure wasn’t going to mess up his chance at dating a special girl like Tess, sweet and smart and so beautiful that he counted himself blessed that she even talked to him that first day in religion.
His mum already knew it, teased him for falling head over heels, and then warned him not to screw up. She said it lovingly but his mum must have noticed something, his lack of girlfriends that he brought home perhaps? War had a chance, and he couldn’t afford to waste it.
The phone rang loudly in his earbuds. He quickly answered with a tap.
“War.”
“Are you there yet?” Bastion asked.
“No, almost,” War answered. He had been making steady progress, the street the bar was on was in sight. He had cut across the football field to get there faster, ignoring the practice and the coach’s shouts to get out of the way. Just let one of those first-year idiots try to tackle him.
“The twins aren’t answering their phones. I think their dad took them.”
“Wanker,” War said, cursing soft enough that Bastion shouldn’t make it out. He wasn’t much for swearing out loud, corrected by his mother enough times with a good ear yank, just like he told Tess.
“I’m going to keep you on the line. I can’t be there but I’ll hear everything and if Tess gives you trouble, put her on the phone.”
War smiled. Pumpkin would learn not to lie to Bastion real fast. Bastion told them all, they had to give her enough rope and see what she did with it. She was going to end up tangled and bound, leaving herself at Bastion’s dubious mercy. The worst part was she would have done it to herself and none of them would be able to help her. No interference, if it might cockblock one of them, a rule they had all agreed to at the start.
“Fine, just keep the screams down if you decide on your usual party tricks. Don’t need Tess hearing that crap,” War said, finally on the right street. He could see that Daniels was plenty busy despite the early hour, a full rack of motorcycles lined up front.
“I’ll use a gag,” Bastion dryly replied.
War choked back a response. Fuck, if Bastion might do just that. Not much would surprise War after their icecapades with Tess. For only getting to third base, Bastion had made it as sexy as possible. The smack of Bastion’s hand on her bare ass when she had been straddling War afterwards had been a revelation of how even vanilla girls could get off on a bit of dark and dominance in the bedroom.
Of course, it had left War thinking about how it would feel to have his own hand smack her sweet bottom. He was a big guy, always took it easy on girls, careful of his large body, and well, proportionate equipment. Tess looked like she had been turned on by a little rougher treatment and that had War wondering if he could let go more with her than he had risked with other girls.
Would Tess like him wild and untamed, unlike those girls that never spent the time to get to know him? He wouldn’t hurt her, and as long as she trusted him, he could give her all the dominance she wanted.
“I’m here,” War announced to Bastion, crossing the small parking lot. It was motorcycles only. Time to stop thinking with his dick and focus on the task the others were relying on him to get done.
“Do you see Jensen’s bike?”
“No,” War said, looking up the row of motorcycles. All of them were shiny and cared for better than half of those guys would care for their mothers or girlfriends. Not one dented, rusted piece of shit dirt-kicker amongst them.
Jensen’s bike was a fuckin
g joke. He could afford a Harley but drove something equivalent to a junkyard rescue. It was supposed to be a symbol of how he was part of the regular players, someone who worked his way up through hard effort and ambition.
For a filthy rich drug kingpin, he sure had a Robinhood vibe going on.
“Good. That’s good. Go look for her,” Bastion said, unable to keep the relief out of his tone. He almost sounded scared, and that made Bastion seem as young as he really was, the vulnerable teenager that hadn’t outgrown his daddy’s reach yet.
War walked into the bar, blinking away the last of the sunlight from outside. It was dark inside, but no smoke. Thank fuck for ‘no smoking’ laws that the police loved to enforce. Easy money. In the back, no doubt, cigarettes would be the least of the drugs handed out and used but that shit had to stay off the front doorstep.
Nobody tried to stop him despite the school logo on his hoodie. He walked in and headed towards the bar. He didn’t really want a drink but near everybody must head there first when they entered, so it seemed more natural than standing like a doofus and looking for Tess.
“What will you have?” asked the female barkeeper.
War had a couple of seconds to decide before the awkwardness of his indecision would make his age apparent if his appearance hadn’t already done that for him.
“Order a Heineken. Makes you seem like a preppy college first year trying out the local dive,” Bastion said.
“Heineken,” War repeated. He could hold his beer. Da had him drinking ale by the time he was ten, a little here and there, but enough to give him an idea of his tolerance as he got older. He preferred harder liquor if he was going to drink, but the beer was fine.
The barkeeper named a price. War slapped a ten on the table and walked away with his illegally acquired beer, no ID needed. Yeah, this was a fantastic place for Tess to hang out.
“Where is she?” Bastion hissed into the earbuds like he was right beside War and was having the same difficulty with finding her familiar form.
“It’s crowded,” War explained and kept his eyes moving. It was busy and it wasn’t even late enough in the evening for the real customer base. Some of their customers might still be crawling out of bed at this time.
Impetuous (Victory Lap Book 1) Page 33
