“It was on sale,” she defended as she slid into the front seat and quickly turned on the heat.
“You wonder why? They couldn’t afford to offload these cars at full price. They had no choice but to put them on sale. Otherwise, they’d be stuck with that trash inventory, like, for-ev-er.”
Ava tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She loved her little sister, but teenagers could try the patience of a saint, and she was no saint. She counted to the number ten and then repeated patience, patience, patience to herself.
“So how was your week?” asked Kat.
“Good,” Ava squeaked out, a frown tunneling between her brows. How could the thought of Puck not pop into her head at that question?
“Why do you look like that? Ohmigod, is something wrong with Rita?” Kat called Ava’s mom by her first name.
Ava gave her sister a quizzical sidelong look. “No, what would make you say that?”
“You had a weird look on your face, and only one thing would get your face screwed up like that. Me or your mom. I’m fine, so it’s got to have something to do with her. Did she get any news from the doctor?”
Ava pulled to a full stop at a stop sign and put on her left-turn signal. Click-click-click. “She’s fine.” Her mother was breast cancer-free over a year now.
“Then, what is it?”
Silence. Bothering her lower lip, she mulled over whether she had the guts to bring up the subject of Puck with her teenaged younger sister as she took a slow turn onto a main road.
“You’re starting to worry me. What is it?”
Ugh. Teenage emotion. So dramatic. She should’ve lied, but now it was too late. Kat was onto her. It was easier to simply come out with the truth. “Damien. I saw Damien. In jail. He goes by Puck now. He’s a member of the Demon Squad,” she blurted out.
Kat turned large, saucer-wide eyes toward her and punched her lightly in the arm. “Shut. Up.”
“I kid you not,” Ava confirmed. Kat knew everything there was to know about the clubs in Poughkeepsie and the surrounding area. It was a tight community, even if her father’s MC would technically be considered weekend warriors by the likes of the Squad.
“The Demon Squad,” Kat said in a hushed, awed tone. “They’re a badass club, and those bikers are, like, sizzling hot. Every man I’ve laid eyes on from that club could be on a Harley calendar. One hot biker for each month. Seriously, it’s sick.”
“Tell me about it,” she muttered to herself.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she replied quickly.
“You saw him in Duchess County?”
“Yep,” she grumbled. “He’s an inmate.”
“Did you talk to him? What’s he like now? Hot? I was too young to really notice, although I remember he had kind eyes,” Kat gushed.
“Yes, I did speak to him briefly. He’s…attractive. I-I’m his social worker.”
“He’s a druggie?”
Ava shot her a warning look. “Kat, what did I tell you about people who are struggling with addiction?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, only slightly chastened, but she rebounded immediately with a, “So is he?” Kat knew about her past. Not the details, but she knew Ava had struggled with drugs, got clean, and dedicated her life to helping others fight the same fight.
“No, he’s not. I’m going to have sessions with him for other reasons, related to my job, of course.”
Her sister’s perceptive eyes coasted over Ava’s face. Kat had grown up fast with a deadbeat mom who’d left her. Besides that, the girl was smart as a whip. “How did it feel? Being around him?”
Too good. “Not great,” she replied. Both are true.
Kat flopped her hands on her lap. “Wow. You haven’t seen him since I was what? Eight?”
“Seven.”
“Eight years, then. And he’s an incarcerated biker. What’s he in for?”
“I can’t tell you that,” she responded patiently.
“Is it bad?” she asked in a hushed tone.
“It isn’t a good thing, although there was one redeeming aspect about it. Bottom line is he broke the law and he will most likely do time. He doesn’t have a sympathetic judge. On the other hand, he has an incredible attorney. Her firm has a great reputation.” Based on Sage’s exaggerated concern, Ava bet that Puck had probably banged her. Asshole. Like her father, who at one time had banged anything that wasn’t nailed down.
Motioning her hands in a “tell me more” gesture, Kat asked, “Aannd…what was it like…to see him? Did you still feel something for him?” Kat had kissed a boy, or at least that’s what she’d divulged to Ava, and she was definitely curious about sex. They’d had the sex talk, the how-to-pleasure-yourself talk, the consent talk, the how-to-be-a-badass-bitch talk, and the sexual-assault talk. Ava had made sure to cover all the bases. She wasn’t letting her kid sister walk out into the world of sex without being as informed as possible. Ava also tried to answer Kat’s questions as honestly as possible. Of course, she hadn’t had sex in a couple of years, so she hadn’t had much to answer for in a while.
Ava cleared her throat as she pulled into the café where they always went for their bubble-tea dates. “Well…it was a shock at first. I was attracted to him,” she admitted slowly. “Even in his orange jumpsuit. He’s definitely grown into a man’s body. He was always tall, but he was almost slim back then. Now, he’s bigger and wider. Lots of muscles,” she swallowed around her suddenly parched throat, “everywhere.” She let out a huge gust of breath. There, that was honest.
“Did you touch him?”
“What? No!” Okay, that last question put a screeching halt to honesty. No way was she admitting to touching Puck in a government correctional facility while on the job.
“What if he was out? Would you have done something? Do you want to do something?”
“What’s with the twenty questions?” Ava griped as she turned off the engine, grabbed her purse, and got out of the Clementine.
Kat followed her out, buttoning her coat and clutching her cell phone to her chest as a cold gust of wind flapped at her coat tails. Shutting the car door, she said over the hood, “They’re legitimate questions.”
Ava clicked her fob to lock the car doors and waited on the curb for Kat to reach her. As they walked to the café, Kat admitted, “I remember him. He was funny. Used to play with me. Pay attention to me.”
Yanking the door to the café open, she gestured for her sister to enter and answered bitterly, “Yeah, but then he broke up with me out of the blue, Kat. Out of the blue. You may have been too young to remember that part.” She remembered one time, when she was babysitting Kat at her mother’s house. Puck had stopped by, and she came out of the kitchen with snacks to find him down on the floor, helping Kat construct her newest Lego Friends building set.
They got to the counter and ordered their bubble tea. Oreo for Kat, Black Milk Tea for Ava. She paid, and they slid over to the end of the counter to wait for their drinks.
“In a way, you should thank him for dumping you.”
Ava gave her an unamused look. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, because it started you on the path you’re now on. I know other things happened. Bad things. But you wouldn’t be where you are today without them, and the changes began with him dumping you.”
“‘Dumping,’ hmm…nice choice of word there. You’re right, but I also don’t think you should reward someone for screwing you over.”
They grabbed their bubble tea and took seats at a table by the window. After taking a long suck from the wide straw, Kat continued, “I think it’s because of dad. You haven’t forgiven him, and he’s the first one who ever screwed you over. Even if you wanted Puck, you wouldn’t open yourself to him, because you haven’t gotten over what dad did. Doesn’t help that he piled more crap on top of your abandonment issue.”
“Look who’s so smart, huh? Abandonment issue, she says now. Who’s to say he even wants to be with me?”
&nbs
p; “Really, Ava? You’re a catch, and I’m not saying that because you’re my sister. You know I don’t roll like that. Besides the fact that you’re a great person, you’re, like, hawt. You have the figure of a model, without being too skinny. You still have boobs, and you have a beautiful face.”
“Ha! You clearly don’t remember how I dress at work,” she scoffed.
“Please, that’s bullsh—” She trailed off at Ava’s hard glance. Kat’s eyes turned soft as she asked, “Don’t you want a boyfriend?”
“Of course I do. I just want to make sure it’s the right person. I want what I had with Puck. That connection. The intimacy. But with the security of knowing I won’t get hurt. That my heart will be safe.” For that to happen, it would need to be with anyone but Puck. The irony was not lost on her.
“To do that, you have to take a risk.”
“Easier said than done.” Ava placed her hand over Kat’s. Her younger sister looked a lot like her father, with bright intelligent eyes, although she had her mother’s heart-shaped face and blond hair. Ava had long stopped resenting her little sister and the fact that her existence was the final nail in the coffin of her parents’ marriage. Once she’d turned her back on her misguided anger and embraced the little girl who’d always looked at her with adoration, Ava’s heart filled with love for her sister. She’d never told Kat, but taking care of her had helped Ava pull out of a deep depression after Sasha’s death. “The beauty about you is that your spirit hasn’t been crushed or even dimmed. Not one bit. Even with what happened with your mom, you’re still you. A bright, shining light of laughter and sassiness.”
“Part of that is your fault,” she teased.
“Thanks, sweetie. I try my best.” Looking out the window, she confessed, “You know, in my heart of hearts, I believed Puck was my person. That he saw me and would love me forever.” She pressed her lips together. “Turns out I was wrong. I’ve been wrong twice, and I’m not sure I could survive another disappointment. If I go for a guy, it should be someone who’s the opposite of Puck. There’s a CO at my job who’s nice. Someone like him might do. But Puck,” she shook her head as she chewed on the tapioca bubbles, “that’s a no-go.”
Kat took a long sip and chewed thoughtfully. “That’s what you need to do. Get out there. At least hook up with someone.”
She shoved Kat’s shoulder. “Oh, you know a lot about hooking up, do you?”
“I know it’s something you do when you want to have sex, and I think sex might help. Break the curse you’ve been under since Rita got sick.”
It’s true that after her mom’s diagnosis, Ava had dedicated herself to her family and her job, leaving little time for fun and play. “Okay, Ms. Know-it-All, and on that note, this discussion is officially closed. Now, tell me about your week.”
Enough about her private life. She loved sharing with Kat, but there was still a difference in maturity between them. Kat needed a mother figure, not a friend. While their relationship might transform over time, Ava was supposed to be there for Kat, not the other way around.
Chapter Nine
CO Dipshit was the one to bring him to Ava’s office this time. This CO, above all others, annoyed the hell out of him. Puck side-eyed him as they walked alongside each other from Puck’s housing unit to Ava’s office. Perhaps it was because Dipshit was so damn obvious about crushing on his Ava. It pissed him off to no end that he couldn’t shove his fist into the fucker’s mouth and let him know, in no uncertain terms, whom she belonged to. This woman was his property, dammit. A woman he couldn’t get out of his head. Seriously, with the monotony and boredom of life behind bars, he was fucking obsessed.
At the same time, he was trying to get close to Kingpin. They were in the same housing unit, but it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. The man had protection; he was always surrounded by his minions. Puck didn’t know if it was because he was connected to someone with serious clout or if he was the clout. Either way, he had to try, for Ava’s sake. It was clear as day that she felt responsible for Sasha’s death, and if keeping the bastard behind bars made her feel better, then he was all in. Kingpin manned the card tables, where much of the gambling went on in the unit, so that’s where Puck found himself most of the day.
As Dipshit knocked on Ava’s office door, Puck’s heart thumped against his ribs. Boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom. After waiting so many days to see her, it was nerve-racking as fuck to be seconds away from seeing her. He awkwardly rubbed his clammy palms, stuck in manacles, against the trousers of his jumpsuit.
Dipshit swung the door open to reveal her shutting the drawer of a metal-gray filing cabinet. Was it his imagination, or did she look different? Why, yes, she did. For one, she was wearing a skirt. Even though it fell just above her ankles, it was a vast improvement to the bulky, shape-hiding clothes she’d worn previously. At least he could see her silhouette. His gaze skimmed down her figure. He never would’ve thought that ankles, covered in black tights no less, would be sexy, but there it was. More proof he was obsessed.
Puck swallowed and licked his parched lips. Damn, but she was fucking gorgeous. Long, thick waves of hair toppled over her shoulders, begging to be wrapped around his fist. Her wide hazel eyes were like two jewels, outlined in dark lashes. Was that lip gloss covering her full lips?
Dipshit did a double take. Puck wasn’t the only one who’d noticed a difference. Swear to God, he was going to fuck that man up for the audacity of lusting after his woman.
Nodding toward Puck’s handcuffs, she greeted them. “Good afternoon, Derick. Mr. Rossi. Please take his cuffs off for our session.”
Derick looked up at her sharply but did as she asked. Rubbing his wrists, Puck took a seat and waited for the asshole to leave.
“You don’t have to call ahead. I’ll be back in exactly an hour,” Dipshit declared. Then he turned to Puck and gave him a hard stare. “Behave yourself.”
Puck gave him a fuck you stare but provided a simple, tight-lipped, “Yes, sir.”
Ava gave Dipshit a smile broad enough to have Puck grinding on his back molars. Hell, if she kept that up, his molars would be pulverized to dust by the time he was released. “We’ll be fine. I can handle Damien.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Dipshit muttered under his breath. Gripping his knees, Puck kept his eyes cast down. If he looked at the cocksucker, there’d be a smackdown of epic proportions. He waited until the door closed behind him. The instant Dipshit’s footfalls receded down the hallway, he let out a hissed curse. “The man’s a fucking asshole.”
Ava was back in her chair. “He’s not so bad.”
Puck gave her a look that had her hurrying to add, “At least to me. The system is based on an adversarial model, Puck. Believe me, it’s not easy to work here, and there are people who’ve committed heinous crimes.”
“Don’t defend him,” he ground out.
She raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m not taking sides. I’m quite aware of the failures of the criminal justice system.”
He nodded stiffly. Puck wasn’t about to waste their precious time arguing, and if he hadn’t been suspicious of the man’s motives, he might be grateful someone was looking out for her. Fact of the matter was he was straight-up jealous. That man was free to come and go into her office anytime he wanted. He was free to see Ava. Hell, he was just…free, period.
Puck’s spine hit the back of his chair. The realization struck him hard that, for the first time, he felt insecure. He was always proactive, decisive, even if the decision was to kick back and do nothing for a bit. He couldn’t exactly ask her to strip and lay herself out for him, like he wanted to. He wanted his hands on her like he wanted his next breath, but this wasn’t one of his random hookups. Nor was it a date. Not that he dated. But he would’ve made an exception for Ava.
While it was awkward and artificial, he had to find a way through the morass of the past and the minefield of the present to a safe, neutral place. “How’s Kat?”
Ava jolted slightly, an expression of surprise tattooed on her face, but she graciously answered, “She’s good. Really good, in fact. Her mother actually left her and my father a few years back, but I stepped in to help raise her. By then, I was clean for a few years and back in college. I scheduled my classes in the mornings and evenings so I could pick her up from the school bus and take care of her in the afternoons. Helped with homework, made her and my father dinner, and then left when he got home from the dealership.” Her face broke into a wide smile, full of love, that almost brought him to his knees. If she’d only look at him that way again. “She’s fifteen now. A teenager.” She rolled her eyes. “She has an opinion on everything.”
“Impressive.”
Her smile slipped, and he wanted to make a joke, do anything to get that bright, authentic grin back on her face. “Not really. You did much more for Sammi. In a sense, I have you to thank for my relationship with Kat. The way you took care of Sammi was a model for me. You re-arranged your entire life to take care of her. I wasn’t required to do nearly half that. How is Sammi, anyway?”
It was Puck’s turn to smile broadly. “Great. She’s fucking great, although she’s stubborn as hell and drives me up the fucking wall. She started her own business as a personal stylist two years back. I was able to front her the start-up money, and she’s blowing up. The first year was a little rough, but she has a good eye for the stuff she does. Talented as hell. Sweet and caring. Well, at least to her clients, she is. Me, not so much.” He ended with a satisfied chuckle.
“How old is she again?”
“Twenty-one years old. Legal to drink. Can you fucking believe it? There were days when I sat at the kitchen table with a past-due rent notice in my hand, thinking, ‘What in the hell am I going to do?’”
Her eyes softened, building an urge in him to yank her into his arms and kiss her silly.
“But you did it.”
“I did it. Me and a helluva lot of luck. Going to the Squad saved our asses. Prez took me under his wing like the son he never had. Took good care of us until I got patched in and could get my hustle on. Then it was game fucking on. I stuck my hand in any pot of money there was to make. No lie, it was tough as hell. Took me another year until I was comfortable bringing her around the club. The Squad is like a family. They pitched in to look after her so I could focus on making real money. Bought us a small house so I’d never have to hold an eviction notice in my hand again.”
Puck's Property: A Bad Boy Biker Romance (The Demon Squad MC Book 5) Page 6
