Motorcycle Man

by Kristen Ashley

  I stared up at him as he pulled out his wallet, opened it, yanked out some bills and tossed them on the desk in front of me. He was shoving the wallet in his back pocket when my throat unclogged but that itch in my palm intensified.

  He hadn’t said word one to me after barging into my place and pretending to be a decent guy. Four and a half days later, he strolls in and tells me to get him a sandwich?

  “Pardon?” I whispered.

  “A sandwich. Roast beef and swiss. Get me a bag a chips and a pop while you’re at it. Don’t care where you go.”

  “Pardon?” I repeated and his eyes narrowed.

  “A sandwich, Red. Roast beef and swiss, chips and a pop.” When I simply continued to stare at him and said not a word, he added, “Jesus, you want me to write it down?”

  My stare turned into a glare and I snapped, “No, handsome, you wrote it down, I wouldn’t be able to read it and I’m not getting you a sandwich. I have things to do. If you’re hungry, jump on your bike and go get your own damned sandwich.”

  Then I turned to the computer and opened up my e-mail in order to find Lanie’s resignation letter because I was done with Ride Custom Cars and Bikes but mostly because I was done with Tack, the big, fat jerk.

  “Say again?” I heard Tack growl.

  “You heard me,” I bit out and clicked on Lanie’s e-mail.

  “Babe, look at me.”

  “Kiss my ass,” I replied, double clicking on Lanie’s attachment and ignoring the sparking, scary biker dude vibe that was suddenly saturating the room.

  “Red, look… at… me.”

  I looked at him, or, more accurately, glared at him.

  “You got a problem?” he growled.

  Did I have a problem? What a jerk!

  “Yes,” I told him. “I have a problem.”

  “What’s your problem?”

  What was my problem? Ohmigod!

  I didn’t know what to do. I was so angry, I couldn’t think. Anything I could say would expose too much. For some bizarre reason, I fell in love with him over tequila and really great sex. Then I fell out of love with him because he used me and he was a jerk about it. Then I started to fall back in love with him while he was using me again, being the jerk he was. In the meantime, I knew he slept with at least one other woman. And all I got out of all that was a lot of hassle, two beers, two slices of pizza and a number of really great orgasms.

  Without any way to explain it and not put myself out there, I stated, “My problem is none of your business.”

  “You made it my business by telling me to kiss your ass.”

  “If you have an issue with the way I communicate, Tack, fire me,” I retorted.

  “Jesus,” he crossed his arms on his chest then asked rudely, “You on the rag?”

  I felt pressure build in my head and fired back on a near shout, “No! And if I was, that wouldn’t be your business either.” The pressure kept building and it forced me out of my chair, it forced my torso to lean across the desk toward him and it forced out of my mouth, “In fact, nothing about me is any of your business. I’m in a shitty mood and it’s none of your business why. So, if you’re hungry, go get your own stupid sandwich. I’m busy.”

  Then I sat back down, turned to the computer and without reading the letter, I moved the mouse so the cursor on the screen was at the print button and I clicked. As I did this, through the pressure in my head and the thundering of my pulse beating in my wrists and neck, I heard Tack moving through the room. It wasn’t until the room darkened that what he was doing penetrated. But I had no opportunity to react before my chair was swiveled around forcefully making my body sway with the movement. Before I knew it, my head was tipped way back because Tack, hands on the arms of my chair, was leaned deep into my space.

  “Explain the attitude, Red,” he ordered, his voice a low, angry rumble that I felt pulsating against my flesh.

  “Are you insane?” I cried.

  “Explain the fuckin’ attitude, Tyra.”

  “Move away!” I demanded then I gasped because he didn’t move away.

  No, he pulled me out of the chair to my feet. Then, I kid you not, his fingers curled into my skirt at the sides, he yanked it up so roughly my body jolted and my breath caught, then I felt his hands at my ass where he lifted me up, twisted and planted me on the desk. Reflexively, to stop from toppling back, my fingers curled into his tee as his hands left my ass. They went to the insides of my knees and forced them open. I gasped and then my back was flat on the desk. His hips were between my legs. His torso was pressed deep into mine. One of his hands was forcing my leg to curve around his hip and the fingers of his other hand slid into my hair, fisted at the back and his face was so close, it was all I could see.

  “Ohmigod,” I whispered. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m teachin’ you a lesson,” he growled. “You do not test a man like me, Tyra. You’ve never had a man like me so you gotta learn. You do not test a man like me.”

  My arms were crushed between our bodies and I uncurled my fingers from his tee and pressed them flat against his chest as I whispered, “Please, get off me.”

  “You want this,” he informed me.

  I pushed harder against his chest. “Please, Tack, get off me.”

  It was like I didn’t even speak when he went on, “I want this.”

  “Please,” it was barely audible, “you’re scaring me.”

  That penetrated and it did it in a way that made him even angrier. I knew it because I saw it on his face, in his eyes and I felt it in the air around us.

  “Do not be scared of me, Tyra. Don’t you ever fuckin’ be scared of me.”

  “Tack, you just manhandled me onto my desk,” I pointed out carefully.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “No,” I answered and it wasn’t a lie but that also wasn’t the point.

  “Right,” he growled. “Now tell me what your fuckin’ problem is.”

  “Um…”

  His chest pressed deeper into mine. “Tyra,” he rumbled his warning.

  “Can we continue this conversation maybe, erm… standing up?”

  “I tried that, didn’t work. Now I’m tryin’ something else so talk to me.”

  I sucked in breath as I stared into his eyes.

  Then I whispered, “No.”

  His eyes blazed into mine when he warned on a scary whisper, “I told you not to test me.”

  “And I told you my problem was none of your business.”

  “If it isn’t my business then keep a hold on that attitude, babe, and don’t make it my business.”

  “Okay,” I thought it prudent to agree.

  “I’m thinkin’ you don’t get this but when you turn off Broadway into Ride, you drive into my world. My world is different than the world you live in. Unless I allow the parts of it I like, you don’t get to live like you live in your world when you’re in mine. And when I’m in yours but you’re with me, you live like you’re in mine. Do you get me?”

  I didn’t, actually, not at all. I still nodded.

  He examined my face then with a suddenness that I again lost my breath, his body was gone. He yanked me to my feet, tugged my skirt back down then turned away.

  I sucked in another breath then nearly choked on it when his eyes hit the computer monitor and they narrowed. Then his head turned toward the printer, his arm reached out to nab the paper on top, he turned it over and in about two seconds, I watched his jaw turn to stone.

  Uh-oh.

  “Tack –” I started on an exhale and then he was on me again, this time he rounded me then moved in. I retreated fast, bumping into my chair which rolled away and then bumping into the wall where he pinned me with his body.

  “I don’t accept,” he growled into my face.

  I stared up into his and stammered, “Wha… what?”

  “Your resignation, Red.”

  Oh boy.

  “Tack –”

  His hand came up, his palm wa
rm against my jaw, his fingers curving around my ear and neck and his face got even closer.

  “You gotta learn,” he told me.

  “Learn what?” I whispered.

  “We play this my way.”

  “Honestly,” I was still whispering, “please hear me, honestly, Tack, I don’t want to play.”

  “I got two Saturdays, Red, two Saturdays that prove that a lie.”

  I clenched my teeth and stared into his eyes.

  His fingers tensed and lifted up, pulling me closer.

  “Gave you four days to play it your way. Don’t like the way you play so we play this my way,” he rumbled.

  Uh… what?

  I didn’t ask. I bit my lip. I couldn’t help it and at that point, didn’t have it in me to try.

  “You got me?” he asked.

  “I got you,” I answered softly.

  His eyes moved over my face before they locked on mine. “Do not be scared of me,” he ordered, his voice still firm but also weirdly gentle.

  “Okay,” my voice was trembling even on that one, two syllable word.

  His eyes held mine captive then he let me go, stepped away, ripped my resignation letter in half and dropped the pieces on my desk.

  I stayed pressed against the wall and watched him, knowing I had just lied. I knew he was a scary biker dude and now I knew he was seriously a scary biker dude.

  “Get your purse,” he demanded as he walked to the door that led to the garage and unlocked it then went on to say unbelievably, “We’ll get a sandwich together.”

  I swallowed and my mind raced for excuses why I couldn’t get a sandwich with him because I needed him to go out and get his own sandwich so I could get in my car and drive to Vancouver.

  “Uh…” I mumbled, he turned, his eyes slicing to me and then the sound of someone trying the handle of the door to outside could be heard.

  Tack’s eyes went to it and my eyes went to it.

  Then we both heard a girl’s voice from outside. “Dad! Are you in there?” The handle turned again, its sound desperate. “Dad! Open up! God! Open up! Mom’s bein’ a bitch!”

  I stared at the door.

  Tack moved to it. Then he unlocked it and opened it.

  Then two teenagers were in my office. Two teenagers that were most assuredly of Tack’s loins. Two teenagers who were visibly in the throes of a serious drama.

  Oh hell.

  Chapter Seven

  Tabby and Rush

  “Mom’s bein’ a total bitch!” Tack’s daughter cried again, approximately a second after she cleared the door.

  I stared at her. She had Tack’s hair except long, its glorious waves cascading down her back well past her bra strap. She also had his sapphire blue eyes, hers were flashing because she was pissed way the hell off. She was petite and slim but rounded, wearing jean shorts, a sweet Harley Davidson tee and flip-flops. Her blemishless skin, every inch of it, was tanned a beautiful brown. She was a teenage knockout. And she was pacing with extreme, teenage girl agitation.

  “She is, Dad, totally,” Tack’s son stated and I moved my stare to him.

  He was near to the spitting image of his father. The same height though Tack’s son didn’t have the muscled bulk of his father but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a lean, sculpted body. Like his sister, he had his Dad’s hair and olive skin tone. He was wearing his Dad’s uniform of faded, fitting-too-well-for-peace-of-mind jeans, motorcycle boots and t-shirt, his announcing he was a fan of Black Stone Cherry. He didn’t have the goatee and he had his mother’s light blue eyes but other than that, Tack was written all over him. Unlike his sister, he wasn’t pacing. He was standing, his hands on his hips but he looked angry, if not as angry as his sister.

  “This isn’t somethin’ you both don’t know,” Tack’s voice rumbled into the room.

  The girl whirled to face her Dad and leaning in, she declared, “All right, then she’s bein’ more than the total bitch she normally is!”

  “No joke,” the boy put in. “She’s all over Tab like a rash.”

  “Why?” Tack asked.

  “Because she’s a bitch?” the girl asked back.

  “I need more than that, Tabby,” Tack told her.

  “She took the keys to Tab’s car and grounded her and swear, Dad, totally swear, there’s no reason,” the boy informed Tack and Tack’s gaze went from his son to his daughter.

  “Is there no reason, Tabby?” he asked.

  Hmm. The way Tack asked that it seemed maybe Tabby was a bit of a wild one.

  “You know I’ll tell you like it is, Dad, but Rush is right. She’s off on one and… again… because she’s a total, freaking nutcase… she’s takin’ it out on me,” Tabby said.

  My eyes slid to Tack to see his jaw was clenched.

  Tabby kept talking. “I can’t live with this shit anymore. I kid you not, no more. I never know when she’s gonna blow or freak out about something or get in my face or… or… whatever. And that douchebag of a husband of hers, he gets in on the act –”

  “How?” Tack barked. He said that one word so forcefully, so abruptly and so angrily, it startled me so much I jumped. Both Tack’s kids went still and their demeanor instantly turned cautious.

  “He’s just a dick, Dad, you know that,” the boy said quietly and carefully.

  “How’s he a dick, Rush?” Tack asked curtly, only a slim edge of patience in his tone.

  Rush and Tabby looked at each other then back to Tack.

  “He’s the one who took my keys,” Tabby stated softly. “Says I don’t pull it together, he’s gonna sell my car.” I held my breath when Tack’s scary biker dude vibe filled the air again but Tabby went on, “The problem with that is, I don’t know what I gotta pull together because I didn’t do anything wrong!”

  “He just wants to sell her car because he’s a lazy fuck,” Rush muttered under his breath, eyeing his father who was at that very moment yanking his phone out of his back pocket.

  “Dad –” Tabby started.

  “Quiet,” Tack ordered, beeping buttons on his phone.

  “I wanna live with you,” she ignored him in order to continue. “And, just to say, I’ll lose my freakin’ mind that douche sells my car.”

  Tack put his phone to his ear and scowled at his daughter. What he didn’t do was reply to her. Instead, he spoke into his phone.

  “Shut your fuckin’ mouth,” he growled into the phone. I held my breath again at his vicious tone and he went on, “That shithead thinks to sell my girl’s car because he’s a lazy-ass motherfucker and can’t pull his finger out to get himself a fuckin’ job, he buys himself trouble. And I’m warnin’ you, Naomi, it’s trouble he don’t wanna have. I gave Tabby that car, that car belongs to her. It don’t belong to you and it sure as fuck don’t belong to him. You get his shit sorted and you get your shit sorted and you do not use my kids to sort it. Are we clear?”

  He listened for approximately two point five seconds then went on.

  “Bullshit,” he bit out. “I hear you, or him, talk that way about Tab again, swear to Christ, Naomi, both your asses are in front of the judge. Do not use my daughter to work out your shit. Your life ain’t what you wanted it to be, that ain’t Tabby’s problem, it ain’t Rush’s problem and it ain’t my problem. I’m sick of your games and I’m done playin’ ‘em. You stop this shit, Naomi, or honest to God, I’ll make you wish you never started it and I’ll be creative in how I do that. Now, are we clear?”

  He listened this time for approximately point five seconds before he carried on.

  “I don’t wanna hear your shit. I asked you a question. Are we clear? There are two answers to that, woman, but only one smart one.” There was a pause then, scarily, “That wasn’t the smart one. Kiss your kids good-bye.”

  Then he flipped the phone closed, shoved it in his back pocket and his eyes sliced through his children.

  Then he asked, “You guys have lunch?”

  “No,” Rush answered.

&nbs
p; “Right, then you’re goin’ for a sandwich with me and Tyra,” Tack announced.

  My lungs seized and I felt my eyes get wide.

  “Tyra?” Tabby whispered then both kids turned their heads and looked at me for the first time.

  Oh boy.

  “Uh… hey,” I greeted.

  Tabby looked me up and down. So did Rush. Their looks couldn’t have been any more different. Then Tabby grinned. So did Rush. Their grins also couldn’t have been any more different.

  “Sweet shoes,” Tabby told me.

  “Erm… thanks,” I replied.

  “Shoes?” Rush muttered. “Didn’t get that far. The skirt’s burned on my brain.”

  My eyes moved to Tack to see now he was grinning.

  Tabby looked at her father. “This your new woman that Mom’s in a tizzy about?”

  Tack didn’t answer, Rush did, “Duh, Tab, you saw her skirt.”

  Tabby looked back at me and grinned, murmuring, “Right.” Then she informed me, “Tyra’s a cool name.”

  “Um… thanks,” I said. “Is, uh… your name Tabitha?”

  “Totally,” she replied.

  “That’s a pretty name too,” I told her.

  “I hate my name. Mom gave me my name and I hate my Mom ‘cause she’s a total bitch,” she replied.

  I couldn’t argue with that and I couldn’t agree with it. I also couldn’t make myself vanish in a puff of smoke and reappear in Siberia even though I was using every fiber of my being to try.

  Since my body wouldn’t disappear in a puff of smoke and a response was required, I said, “Well, once a gift is given, no matter how you feel about the person giving it, it’s yours. And even though you’re angry at your Mom now, she still gave you a pretty name. So you shouldn’t think about her giving it to you. You should just think of owning it and you do so, um… own it.”

  “Dig it,” was Tabby’s response made through a widening smile.

  “I’m Rush,” Rush stated. “My name’s Cole but no one calls me that. They call me Rush.”

  “Hey, Rush,” I said to him.

  “He’s always in a rush,” Tabby explained. “Dad says even when he was a baby, the minute he could crawl, he was rushin’ everywhere. And it’s the God’s honest truth, let me tell you, and he’s got the speeding tickets now to prove it.”