Owned (Grave Diggers MC Book 1)

by Michelle Woods

  “Lie down with me,” she demanded, wanting to feel his arms around her even if she was making him up in her head.

  “Not until you agree to come back with me, duchess,” Buck said, his eyes narrowed and a little suspicious. She didn’t know why Buck would be suspicious in her dream and she frowned a little.

  “Okay.”

  Buck nodded and got down on the ground, taking her into his arms and holding her tightly, almost desperately, against him. She could almost feel her face pressing into his chest and his arms tightly woven around her body in a hard hug that almost felt real. His lips moved from her forehead to her eyelids then her cheeks before they brushed against hers softly.

  “I missed you so much, duchess,” pretend Buck muttered, his forehead resting against hers. “I didn’t think you’d forgive me so easily for being an idiot and pushing you away. I didn’t cheat on you, duchess. I know I made it seem like I did, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I just—fuck. I love you, duchess, and you could have been hurt and I couldn’t handle that happening. I couldn’t survive knowing I was the reason you were hurt. I just couldn’t. Those men would have killed you if you hadn’t gotten lucky with those shots.”

  Buck’s words confused her a little because she wasn’t sure but she thought an imaginary Buck would know that she’d killed those men without effort—well, some little twinges of guilt for them being dead, but the actual killing had been easy. Tessa replayed what he’d said and suddenly her feelings of unease drifted away as she realized he’d just told her he loved her.

  “You love me?” she asked, her heart fluttering in her chest as she wished with every part of her being that this moment was real. That he was here telling her he loved her and that she was it for him forever.

  “Of course I love you, duchess. I’ve loved you since you ignored me after we first had sex. Hell, maybe before that even, I don’t know, and I didn’t know it then but that’s why it annoyed me so much,” he snorted, his lips brushing across hers again.

  “I really wish you were real so I could tell you that I love you too. I would of course have to make you prove that you didn’t sleep with that woman but otherwise I would forgive you. Damn, why couldn’t you be the real Buck,” Tessa muttered, almost crying over the fact that he wasn’t really here with her.

  “I am real, Tessa. Are you okay? Did you hit your head?” Buck demanded, his arms tight around her body like vises. That was when the sirens started sounding and she sat up but Buck didn’t disappear as she expected. He kept trying to feel her head, his hands running over her looking for an injury like a mother would inspect a child.

  Holy hell, the bastard was really here and this wasn’t a dream. Tessa did the only thing she could in the moment to respond to the man she loved after everything that had happened.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Ow, what the hell did you just hit me for?” Buck asked while spitting blood out on the ground from where Tessa had just bloodied his mouth with her hard punch to his face.

  “You son-of-a-bitch! How dare you walk in here and act like nothing happened and you didn’t make me cry every night for weeks! How dare you!” Tessa yelled, hitting him in the chest again before he grabbed her hands to stop her.

  Well this was more the reaction he’d expected when he’d broken into the compound through the escape hatch Dice had found that was rigged with electricity and lasers. Dice hadn’t had much trouble shutting it down and looping the feed to their cameras once he’d hacked into the system. Buck was surprised they’d figured out that Dice was even in their system because Dice said they needed a serious upgrade to prevent hackers like him from getting inside without much trouble.

  Holding Tessa against him, he waited for her to calm down a little but if she didn’t, he was going to grab her and throw her over his shoulder to drag her out of here. He wasn’t taking no for an answer even if he had to tie her to his bed for days. Hmm, that idea had merit. His cock, which pressed into her stomach insistently, agreed wholeheartedly.

  “I can’t believe you broke in here. Wait, how did you—the hatch. I told pappy that they needed to upgrade that system. You had someone hack us, didn’t you? Then you waltzed in here—oh never mind. We have to go handle that alarm before someone shoots you again,” Tessa muttered, looking really put out as she turned and headed towards the building.

  Buck followed behind her for a moment internally debating the original plan to grab her and drag her out of here. He reached out and grabbed her around the waist and landed on his back in the grass with her little foot pressing down on his throat.

  “Don’t even think about it. You are not carting me out the back doorway like a misbehaving child. Now, let’s go inside and calm everyone down before they start getting really worked up and end up filling your ass with holes. I would like to keep you in one piece even if you are a giant asshole.” Tessa stood over him glaring and she’d never looked more beautiful than she did right then.

  His cock stirred because for some reason her tossing him down and placing her foot on his neck was kind of sexy and he wondered if they wrestled if he’d come out on top or if she would. She’d been allowing him to manhandle her, he realized. This whole time he’d thought he had the upper hand with her but she’d been benevolently allowing him to have his way with her. He really should have suspected the truth when he’d learned of the way they’d raised her but he hadn’t. Buck wondered what other secrets she’d kept hidden in plain sight because he’d bet her ability to take him out without much thought wasn’t the only skill she’d learned from her family.

  “Well come on,” she said, shaking her hand down at him when he didn’t respond for several seconds after she’d removed her foot. He reached up and allowed her to jerk on his hand as he rose from the ground, not really needing the help but wanting to touch her. He followed her as she walked towards the opening that led to the underground entrance. She entered the compound and disarmed an idiot who turned a weapon on her.

  “Terrence, you idiot, it’s me,” Tessa hissed at the man she’d snatched the gun from.

  “I didn’t know that and with the alarm blaring I wasn’t sure if it might not be an intruder. What were you doing outside when there’s a breach?” he asked, looking confused. Terrence was a tall man in his early twenties with a lanky frame.

  “I was outside, dumbass,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

  “I didn’t know that, now did I? You’ve gotten really mouthy since you came back, cuz. You didn’t used to be such a mouthy bit—hey, let me go,” Terrence whined. “Ow, that hurt,” he cried out when Buck grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and slammed him into the wall.

  “Don’t disrespect my old lady,” Buck growled, his eyes narrowed and his fists clenched after he released the boy. He wouldn’t allow him to say something like that to Tessa. Nobody talked to her that way.

  “Buck, that was sweet but unnecessary.”

  “What do you mean that was sweet? He just slammed my head into the wall!” Terrence moaned, looking at her like she’d lost her mind.

  “Stop whining. You will be fine and that cut on your face isn’t that bad. I don’t even think it will need more than a stitch, maybe two,” Tessa muttered, rolling her eyes at the boy’s ridiculous protests. Buck moved, stepping around him when Tessa walked away without giving the kid the sympathy he so obviously wanted for the tiny little cut. Buck shoved him again on his way by, hearing a satisfying thump when Terrence hit the wall again.

  Tessa took him down the hall to a room off to the left of the main hall and headed to a panel on the back wall that she opened by pressing a series of blocks, which opened another doorway. She entered that opening and began walking down a long tight hallway. He followed her in, closing the door behind them and wondering where the hell she was leading him. He found out a few minutes later when they came to another door. She punched in a code on the pad outside the door and pushed it open and stepped inside.

  “Which one of you decided to set off
the alarms?” she demanded as she stood with her hands on her hips and a glare on her face.

  “I did,” Jim said, glaring right at Buck who’d entered the room and was looking at the huge monitors and equipment that they had to monitor the entire compound. There were four sets of the monitors with every part of the compound being watched. It was a sweet setup and he knew that Dice would likely have wet dreams about it if he was ever allowed in here.

  “Why? It’s only one man and he isn’t here to cause anyone any trouble except me so a live fire alarm was a bit much, don’t you think, Jim-bo?” Tessa asked. Buck felt a smile tug at his lips when Jim glared at her mutinously before turning his grim look on Buck.

  “No, he shouldn’t be here and how was I to know it was only one of them? They might have been here to try and rob us. They’re bikers, you know,” Jim muttered.

  “You know damned good and well that they aren’t here to rob us. They operate by a code. As long as we don’t fuck with them, they’ll leave us alone. You’re just pissed that he upset me and so you tried to get him killed. I can’t believe you.”

  Buck saw Tessa move and winced when she went for the dude’s balls. She kicked him good and hard making him scream and cry out as he slid from his chair to the floor, his hand covering the offended area. Ouch. He was glad she hadn’t done that to him in the meadow outside because that shit looked like it hurt, a lot.

  “Send out an all clear before someone hurts someone by accident.” The other men in the room were watching Jim writhe in pain on the floor and didn’t do her bidding fast enough. “Now,” she snapped and the men all reacted, turning back to their stations and sending out another series of alarms but this time in another tone. Apparently, they had different tones for different situations. It was a smart idea, one that would have everyone on the same page but keep the enemy guessing.

  Jim pulled himself up from the floor having finally recovered by the time the tones stopped, his glare hot as he tried not to move. Buck couldn’t blame him because he would bet Jim’s balls were going to be bruised for at least a week after that kick she’d given him. He didn’t think his setting off a live fire alarm had deserved that punishment but who was he to decide.

  “He shouldn’t be here. I don’t like him but then I never did. I told Uncle Diego that we shouldn’t have left you with the no-good biker but he wouldn’t listen. Said he liked him and then a few months later you come back all teary-eyed and upset just like I thought you would. He’s not good enough for you,” Jim grunted, earning a little respect from Buck for his backbone.

  “It’s not any of your business who I’m dating, Jim-bo.”

  “Marrying,” Buck said, setting that little detail straight. She was going to marry him this time around because he wasn’t having her running off like that again. If she married him she’d have to stay because he’d never allow her to have a divorce. Just wasn’t fucking happening.

  “What?” Tessa asked, looking bewildered.

  “He doesn’t get a say in who you marry,” Buck said, talking to her slowly so she didn’t misunderstand again.

  “I’m not marrying you. You haven’t even asked me to.”

  “You’re marrying me and I just did ask you,” Buck growled, crossing his arms and glaring at her.

  “See, he’s clearly insane. He thinks he can command that you do what he says,” Jim muttered, sticking his nose where it didn’t belong by adding his two cents into their conversation, earning a loud shut up from both of them as they glared at one another.

  “You didn’t just tell me that I’m marrying you without asking after you ditched me for over a month while you pretended—and I’m still asking Cindy about that by the way—that you were sleeping with another woman, did you?” Tessa asked, her brows rising to her hairline.

  “We’re already married, it’s just not official on paper. I’m telling you that there will be papers this time. You’re mine, duchess. Best thing for you to do is deal with it because that’s not going to change.” Buck didn’t know what freaked him out more, the way she glanced down at his balls or the way she fingered the gun she’d take from Terrence earlier. He gulped as he waited for her to speak, man enough to say he was really hoping she didn’t shoot him in the balls.

  “We will discuss this later when we don’t have an avid audience that includes my father and uncles.” Tessa was looking over his shoulder when she said the last bit and Buck turned, realizing that somehow while he’d been focused on Tessa and his argument they’d snuck up behind him.

  Fuck, he was getting soft.

  “Boy, you really fucked up this time.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Tessa didn’t speak as she entered the bedroom, removing the bracelet she’d worn that day and placing it onto the tray where she kept her jewelry. She reflected on what she’d learned today and felt a little tug at her heart when she realized that Buck hadn’t lied to her. He hadn’t slept with anyone since he’d shared her bed.

  “Well?” Buck said from behind her.

  “She confirmed your version of the story with a few additions.”

  “What? I never touched her or tried to do anything with her or any of the other women, Tessa, and if she said differently she was lying. I couldn’t even get hard for another woman because my cock isn’t interested in any woman except you. I promise, duchess. I wouldn’t lie to you about this and I’m so fucking mad that I even led you to believe I ever could or would do that to you.”

  “Calm down. She added that you were spending most of the night watching my place and that when you weren’t doing that you were too drunk to even move off the bed, much less have sex,” Tessa assured him, almost laughing at his panicked voice and the way he’d rushed to let her know how much he loved her. She hadn’t really needed Cindy to confirm his story after the past week and a half with him but because she wanted him to know she wouldn’t buy every line he sold, she’d gone over there and asked her. She’d wanted to be one hundred percent sure before she agreed to marry him.

  “You’ll marry me then?” he demanded from behind her on the bed. This question had been asked over and over every night for the past week.

  After her father had entered the control room at the compound Buck had paled and they’d all argued. Thankfully the outcome of that argument was better than she’d expected. Despite the way she’d arrived, upset and broken inside, her father had forgiven Buck because he’d risked his life coming inside the electric fence to get her. Her dad had always respected a man willing to put his life on the line for someone he loved.

  It helped that Buck had told them all that he loved her and that they couldn’t keep her from him because he wouldn’t allow it. You would think something like that would have set them off but instead it had reassured them that he was serious. If he was telling them that they wouldn’t stop him while they had five guns trained on him, then he must be telling them the truth. Tessa didn’t understand men sometimes. They had an illogical way of looking at things.

  It had taken him four days to convince her that he’d been stupid enough to think letting her go was protecting her. She’d used those four days to show him she wasn’t a woman who needed protection. She’d taken him to the gun range and used a submachine gun to blast through targets, hitting the head and the heart dead on for a full clip. He’d realized that luck had had nothing to do with her killing the two men in their house that night after they’d accidentally shot him.

  “I want you to tell me if the part about you watching me through the window is true.”

  “Yes, it’s true. I did watch you through the window,” he muttered, relaxing back on the bed as she turned to walk toward him.

  She enjoyed taking in the view, feeling her body soften in response to seeing him bare-chested while lying on the bed watching her. He’d had the TV on when she’d entered but now she had his full attention. She paused and stripped off her shirt, watching his eyes drop to her breasts encased in a pink lace bra. He licked his lips and swallo
wed hard.

  “You know what that says about you, don’t you?” she asked, unbuttoning her leather skirt and letting it drop to the floor to reveal the matching pink lace panties.

  “No,” he croaked, his hands clenching on the bedspread, likely trying to hold himself back because she was sure he wanted to rush off the bed and attack her. He’d been insatiable since they’d gotten back together. Anytime she was within reaching distance he would make love to her like he hadn’t had her in weeks. It was sexy as fuck and she was loving it. It was as if having denied himself for those weeks he felt the need to make up for lost time, not that she minded because sex with him was like crack.

  Tessa crawled onto the foot of the bed on her knees with her legs slightly spread and her breasts pressed forward, looking at him with a little smile. She slowly reached behind her back to unclasp the bra and languidly removed it, watching his hunger grow as his teeth sank into his lower lip and his hands clenched harder on the covers. She cupped her breasts hiding them from his sight as she watched him, noting his heavy breathing and the way his eyes seemed transfixed on her hands.

  “It makes you a pervert—a peeping tom. You’re a naughty boy, Buck. Do you like to watch?” Tessa asked him as she slid her hands from their position cupping her breasts to reveal the heavy globes, her fingers pinching her nipples as she arched her back toward him. He groaned and licked his lips.

  “Yes,” he whimpered, his body tense as he attempted to wait while she teased him. Her fingers continued to circle her tightened nipples, pinching them every few rotations.

  “Um, do you like to see my tits all flushed with my nipples hard and needy like this?” she asked him, her fingers flicking against her nipples almost making herself moan because it felt so good—so damned hot.

  “God, yes. I like seeing your tits like that,” he muttered, still watching her rub her nipples. She moved her hand away from her breast, slipping a finger in her mouth and sucking it for a second while she watched him reach out towards her but stopped himself and gripped the headboard behind his head instead making it creak.