TANK: Lords of Carnage MC

by Daphne Loveling

  “Cady. Look at me.” I wait until she raises her head and does what I say. “It’s okay. You said the right thing to Wren. And even if you hadn’t, it’s no big deal. She was half asleep anyway. She’ll probably forget about the entire conversation tomorrow morning.”

  Cady bites her lip and nods. She still looks so shaken, though.

  “Hey. Is there something else wrong?” I guess. “Something you aren’t telling me?”

  She stiffens in my arms. For a second, I think I’ve said something to upset her even more. But just when I’m wondering if I should apologize or something, she relaxes.

  “Yeah.” She lets out a breath, and sinks into me. “I… well, sort of.” She swallows again, then sighs. “But it’s not about Wren, exactly. It’s… a long story.” Cady looks up at me, and I see she’s starting to come back to me again. “I’ll tell you about it sometime, okay? Just… not tonight.”

  “Okay. I can live with that. I think we’ve both got a lot on our minds tonight.”

  “Rough day with the club?”

  I huff out a breath. “Yeah, you could say that. But I can’t really talk about it.”

  “Hmm…” she hums, and snuggles deeper into my arms. “Okay, then. Let’s stop talking.”

  “Great idea,” I murmur into her hair. “Besides, I’ve got other things on my mind right now.”

  “Oh yeah?” Cady gives me an impish look. “What’s in that dirty head of yours?”

  “It ain’t that head that’s the issue.” I take her hand and show her how much I want her.

  Cady lets out a soft moan. “With an offer like that, how can I refuse?”

  Cady’s hand grasps my shaft, which is pulsing almost painfully. “Fuck,” I hiss. “Need you. Now.”

  In seconds, I’ve got her in my bedroom, naked except for her panties. I reach down and slide a finger between her skin and the fabric. She’s soaked, and swollen with need.

  “Fuck, you’re wet. I’ve been thinking about tasting you again,” I rasp against her throat. She shudders.

  “I’ve been thinking about…” she hesitates, and I can almost feel her blush. “Your tongue on me…”

  She’s on my mattress then, panties forgotten on the floor. I slide her close to the edge, pushing her knees apart, baring her gorgeous pussy, a feast for me and me alone. I graze her clit with my tongue, and she bucks, so sensitive that I know she’s already close. I kiss the insides of her thighs, my beard scratching her sensitive flesh, and she writhes at the sensation. “Oh my God…” she whispers.

  I clamp my hands to her hips, to hold her still. Her muscles are taut, her whole body desperate for release. The pleasure is so intense for both of us that taking our time isn’t possible yet, we’re too far gone for each other. I lick her, as slow as I can, starting at the bottom of her entrance and all the way up to her clit, then swirling the tip of my tongue around her, avoiding the spot that I know will make her come. She gasps again, tries to lift her hips closer, but I hold her there. My cock is throbbing, my need for release almost as strong as hers.

  “You like that?” I whisper. Her only response is a strangled moan.

  So I do it again. And again. I sense her start to tremble, know she’s climbing higher. I slide the flat of my tongue against her swollen nub, then plunge it deep inside her pussy, tasting her honey. Cady thrashes, arching her back, every inch of her needful, wanting, mine.

  “So fucking delicious,” I say thickly.

  I lift one hand from her hips and ease a finger inside her soaking entrance. My cock needs attention so bad that it would take almost nothing to make me come, and I can’t wait much longer. I suck softly, gently, sensing her climb, knowing that any second…

  A breathy gasp, and then Cady explodes, her whole body shuddering with the force of her release. I’m up and rolling on a condom in seconds. My hands slide under her legs and yank her body closer to the edge, and I slide into her slick, pulsing entrance with a hiss. “Fuck, Jesus…” I pray, as I sink into her heat. Her walls clamp down on me, pulling me in tight and milking me, and fuck, it’s never been this good with anyone, I knew I was close but holy shit, I bury myself as far as I can go, pull out, thrust again, and then I seize and convulse, emptying myself deep inside her as wave after wave of my orgasm overtakes me.

  “Stay,” I whisper into her hair as we fall, spent, onto the bed. “Stay the night again.”

  17

  Cady

  The next day, I’m having trouble not grinning like an idiot about my night with Tank.

  I don’t know how the sex keeps getting better and better with him, but oh my God, it does. I’ve never believed in all the mystical “two bodies coming together as one” bullshit that people like to talk about, but when I’m with Tank, it could almost make a believer out of me. His hands, his mouth… he just knows me, somehow. I’m deliciously sore in all the right places, and every time I remember him moving inside me, an ache of longing starts between my legs that only he can satisfy.

  Lord help me. This man is an addiction I never saw coming.

  The Downtown Diner is doing brisk business as I move around my section. I’m covering the counter today, as Erika and Penny are doing the floor. Dick Dawson, the owner, is here, too, though he’s not working. He’s sitting in a booth in the middle of the room, holding court with three of his golf buddies, like he frequently does on Fridays after their morning eighteen holes. I’ve never been very interested in golf, and from looking at these guys in their too-tight checked polo shirts and loud, back-slapping attitudes, I don’t have much of a desire to start.

  Thankfully, their booth is in Erika’s section today. As I pour Floyd, one of our regulars, a refill on his coffee, I hear one of Dick’s friends murmur something to Dick as Erika passes by their booth. He makes a lewd gesture, and the other three men laugh uproariously.

  Erika’s face twists into an irritated grimace. She swivels her head toward me and we exchange the look that women give each other when men are being pigs.

  Penny’s section is in the back today. The three of us work together like a well-oiled machine, and it’s kind of satisfying to keep such a busy diner humming along so smoothly. I’m finally starting to feel like I’ve hit my stride as a server. There’s a sense of pride in working quickly and efficiently. And my tips have improved, too, so I guess the customers have noticed I’m better at my job.

  All in all, I’m working my shift today with a smile on my face that’s genuine, with the sense of a job well done.

  So of course, something would come along to ruin it.

  At first, the man who sits down at the counter barely registers for me. I set a water glass and menu in front of him on my way to give the cook some orders I’ve just taken. I ring someone up at the register, and then come back to the customer, pad in hand and smile on my face.

  “Can I bring you something else to drink besides water?” I ask him.

  “What’re you offering?” he grins, showing his teeth.

  Oh, brother. One of these. I resist the urge to roll my eyes or tell him off. Generally, when I pretend not to notice when male customers say sexually leading things, they back off after a couple of tries.

  “Coffee?” I suggest, pretending not to understand his innuendo. “Coke products? Iced tea?”

  “Somethin’ sweeter,” he leers.

  “Lemonade.”

  “How ‘bout a taste of you?”

  “Not on the menu,” I shoot back, turning away. “I’ll give you some more time to decide what you want.”

  He calls after me, but I square my shoulders and walk off. It’s not worth it to respond. I’ll go back in a minute and let him try again. If he keeps it up, I’ll just keep leaving until he gives me a straight answer about the food.

  Two minutes pass, during which I studiously avoid making eye contact or coming anywhere close to the guy. I do steal a couple of quick glances at him, though. He’s got long hair, and a goatee, looks to be maybe early thirties. He’s got on a worn fla
nnel shirt over a stained tee, and dirt or grease under his fingernails. He’s not bad looking, exactly, but the permanent sneer on his face makes him ugly. He’s chewing on a toothpick, working it between his teeth with the practice of a long-standing habit. I wait until he’s finished looking at the menu, and is glancing around the room, glaring with impatience. Pursing my lips, I go back up to him, sliding a carefully neutral expression over my face.

  “Have you decided?” I ask mildly.

  “Cady. That your name?” he barks, nodding at my name tag.

  “It’s the name on my tag,” I respond. “Are you here to eat, or not?”

  “I’m here to eat something,” he answers. Smirking, he puts his fingers in front of his mouth in a V and sticks his tongue between them, wiggling it around suggestively and making a grunting sound. My stomach turns at the sight.

  “Oh my God,” I mutter in revulsion, turning away. This guy can’t leave soon enough.

  “Hey, don’t you turn away from me.” He reaches across the counter and grabs my arm, yanking me roughly back toward him. And that does it. I snap, and before I’ve even consciously decided it, I wind up and slap him hard across the face.

  And, as they say, chaos ensues.

  The man rears back, face contorting in fury. A shot of fear surges through me, and before I know what I’ve done, I’ve grabbed a glass sugar dispenser from the counter.

  “The next thing that hits you won’t be my hand,” I warn him.

  He starts to reach for me, but I quickly raise it up and back, ready to strike him in the face with it if needed. It’s enough to make him pause, just long enough to consider whether I’m serious.

  “I swear to God, I will do this,” I hiss.

  Adrenaline is raging through my veins, a consequence of the flashbacks that are flicking through my mind like a slide projector. I’m sucking air as deeply as I can, but still I feel like I might pass out from the fear and rage, the fight-or-flight instinct of the cornered animal.

  Somehow, Penny has appeared at my side. Across the counter, Erika is there, too, her dark eyes flashing in her face, framed by her black pixie cut.

  “You need to leave,” Erika snarls.

  “Fuck you,” the man says in a lazy drawl, but his eyes snap as he says it.

  Behind them, I catch a glimpse of Dick Dawson hustling his friends out of the booth.

  Penny reaches into her apron and pulls out her cell phone.

  “See this phone?” she announces, loud enough for the entire diner to hear. “I’ve got two phone numbers ready to go. One is the police. Two is the president of the local biker club. This is Lords of Carnage territory. And this girl here —” she continues, pointing at me “is the girlfriend of one of the Lords. I can have them here in three minutes flat. And believe me, they ain’t gonna be happy you were groping his girlfriend, son.”

  The man breaks into a low, menacing laugh.

  “Is that right?” he sneers, standing up. “That’s interesting information.”

  “Yeah. You bet it is.” Penny refuses to back down. “So, which is it? Which number you want me to call? Your choice.” She waves the phone with one hand, one red-tipped index finger poised to dial.

  “Fuck you,” he spits again. He turns to me, locking eyes with me one final time. Licking his lips, he gives me a menacing, sexual squint. “Thanks for the service,” he rasps. “I’ll be seeing you around.”

  With a gleam in his eye, he turns and leaves, pulling the glass door open so hard that it bangs against the wall as he exits the diner.

  I lower the sugar dispenser to the counter and set it down with a rattle that echoes my jangling nerves.

  “Oh my God,” I whisper.

  Dick Dawson approaches us now, looking around nervously at the diner patrons. “Everything’s just fine, everyone!” he calls out. “Just go back to your meals.” Leaning in toward me, he flashes me a furious glare. “What the hell do you think you were doing, slapping one of our customers?” he whisper-shouts. “Have you lost your damn mind?”

  But Penny is not having it. “Where the hell were you, you damn coward?” Penny shouts, whirling on him. “You were right there!” She points at the booth. “How dare you yell at Cady for not letting that man put his hands on her! You know she could sue the pants off you for this? And she damn well should!”

  Dawson blanches, backing down immediately at the mention of a lawsuit. “Now, hold on here,” he stammers. “I didn’t do a damn thing…”

  “No, you sure as hell did not!” Penny seethes. “You need to leave this conversation right now, Dick, or I swear to God, I’m gonna quit right here and now! And I will take both of these girls with me. And the cook, and the rest of the staff.” She’s pointing at him now, her index finger mere inches from his face. “And I will tell every single person I know in this town what happened just now. And you mark my words: inside of a month, you will have to shut this diner down for lack of customers. You hear me?”

  Around the diner, a chorus of whistles and claps greets her words. Dawson’s face turns crimson.

  “I…” he begins, but Penny cuts him off.

  “Go.” She gives him a look that would combust firewood.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Dick mutters, and turns toward the door.

  “No we will not!” Penny calls after him as he leaves. The diner bursts into laughter once again.

  “Holy Jesus.” Erika blows out a breath. “Okay, that was scary, and gross. So glad that guy is gone.” She looks at me. “You okay, girl?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I tell her, ignoring the churning of my stomach.

  Penny purses her lips. “You’ll want to tell Tank about that guy, Cady.”

  “Why? He’s gone now,” I protest. “And thanks to you, I doubt he’ll back. Thank you, by the way.”

  “Don’t mention it,” Penny says, raising her hand and pretending to blow on her finger like a gun barrel. I chuckle shakily.

  “And by the way,” I add, “I’m not his girlfriend.”

  Penny throws her head back and lets out a peal of laughter. Erika starts to snicker.

  “What?” I say, reddening.

  “Okay,” Penny continues to snort, rolling her eyes at me. “Really, you’re gonna pretend there’s nothing going on with you and Tank?”

  “I…”

  “What are we calling it, then? You’re still babysitting for Tank’s kid. Is that what we’re calling it?”

  “I have been babysitting her,” I protest lamely.

  “Yeah. Okay.” Penny smirks at me, shaking her head. “If that’s the way you wanna play it. In that case, Tank isn’t gonna like that some sketchy guy was in here groping his babysitter.”

  “Maybe,” I shoot back, conceding that Tank probably would get mad if he knew about what just happened. “But I don’t want Tank to think he’s gotta be my savior or something. Besides, it’s not that big a deal. You know as well as I do, things like that happen all the time when you’re a female working in a restaurant.”

  “Not all the time, and definitely not like that,” Penny says firmly. “That was more aggressive than usual. And that guy just had a bad look to him. There was something off about him. He was not just a run of the mill creep.”

  “Maybe,” I admit, lifting a noncommittal shoulder.

  But the truth is, in my gut I feel like Penny’s right. There was something extra-creepy about that guy. His leering pervyness felt almost personal. I have to be imagining it, though. I’ve never seen him before in my life.

  I suppress a shiver, and shake my head to clear the thought.

  “The MC would wanna know about him anyway, Cady,” Penny continues with a frown. “You know they like to keep an eye on things in town. That guy looked like bad news all around, and he definitely wasn’t one of the locals. You should at least mention him to Tank.”

  I consider her words. It’s always seemed kind of slimy to me that the Lords of Carnage collect protection money from the diner and other busine
sses in the area. But for some reason, right now I sort of get what Tank said about the MC being able to protect Tanner Springs better than the police can.

  “Dick didn’t seem to think the guy was a problem,” I point out lamely. “He was more upset that I slapped him than anything.”

  Penny lets out a dry laugh. “Dick doesn’t have the sense God gave a duck,” she scoffs. “Besides, you know the only reason Dick himself isn’t pawing at you girls is he knows I’d slap a lawsuit on his ass faster than he could say ‘sexual assault’. He was just pissed because you caused a scene. Screw him.”

  “Okay,” I sigh. “I give up. I’ll tell Tank about it. But I really don’t think that guy will be back.”

  That seems to satisfy Penny, and I slip away to tend to some new customers, before she or Erika can circle back and ask me more about what’s going on with Tank and me.

  Because I wouldn’t really know what to tell her, anyway.

  I mean, yes, I’m clearly more than a babysitter for Wren. But that doesn’t mean I’m Tank’s girlfriend.

  I mean, I guess there’s a possibility I could be Tank’s girlfriend… but wouldn’t I kind of know it if I was?

  Does Tank want me to be his girlfriend?

  More importantly, do I want to be his girlfriend?

  Yes, I realize with a mixture of giddiness and worry. Yes, I do.

  Toward the end of my shift, I’m still ruminating about all of this when I get an unexpected visit.

  “Cady!”

  I had been so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t even heard the door to the diner open, but I turn to see an excited Wren barreling toward me like a tiny torpedo. With a grin, I kneel down to envelop her in a hug.

  “Well, hello, you!” I exclaim as my arms go around her. I inhale the baby shampoo scent of her hair. “What are you doing here?” I look up to see Tank staring down at me with those smoldering eyes of his. He’s not wearing his cut today, just a dark blue henley that deepens and accentuates the gray of his eyes. A flutter starts up in my stomach. Speak of the Devil himself.