For Her Honor (5 page)

Eva cut in.
“Karen, this is my husband, Ben.” She looked up at him. “Just did an interview. She’s going to take Cyndi’s place two days a week.”

“Cyndi?”
Another voice outside the slider asked as the man attached to it came in. “Don’t tell me that squirrely little chick is……..” He halted upon seeing Karen as soon as he stepped inside.

Her e
yes zeroed in on his half naked body – at least six feet tall, lean and chiseled from the slope of his hip muscles, past an impressive six-pack and up to his defined pecs where tiny silver rings hung from both nipples. A nice pair of shoulders and muscular arms were laced with tattoos as well. Several rings graced his fingers, one being a silver knotted thumb ring with a chain that attached to a fob on a shredded, black leather bracelet. After getting her fill, her eyes finally trailed up to his face. No two people she met in the last two days could have black hair, black eyes, black pointed goatee and multiple piercings. It was the biker from the gas station. But before she realized who it was, his devilish smile told her he recognized her first.

“That you, sweetheart
?”

~~~***~~~

Taz couldn’t believe it. And from the looks of Karen, neither could she. His hosts, however, were just as confused. “You know each other?” Eva asked.

“
Met
each other,” Karen corrected.

“Yeah.”
Taz was unable to contain his smile. “Meet-cute at the gas station.”

Ben screwed up his face.
“A
what
?”

“You don’t know what that is?”

“I’m surprised you even do,” Eva told him.

Shrugging off the remark, Taz never took his eyes off the woman.
“Unfortunately, you never told me your name.” He’d put her on the spot. No way would she try to get off with the snarky last word.

“Karen.
Hanson.”

Taz touched his fingers to his chest.
“Taz. Morell,” he mocked back in like fashion.

“Okay.”
Eva obviously sensed something weird was going on and didn’t want it going on in her house. “Karen, I’ll show you out the front.”

“Sure,
thanks.” She gave Taz a quick look then Ben a warm smile. “Nice meeting both of you.”

“Nice meeting you too,
Karen
. Again,” Taz mused.

When Eva walked her out, Ben got two beers from the fridge and handed him one.
“Care to explain?”

Twisting off the top, Taz took a swig
then shrugged. “Like I said, we met at the gas station. She was dry and I filled her up.”

Ben almost choked on his beer.
“I’m guessing that’s a metaphor.”

“Empty radiator.
I did the gentlemanly thing. What she doin’ here?”

“Interview.
Eva needs help at the store.”

Eva walked back in mid-conversation.
“Yes, and I don’t want you scaring this one away, too.”

“Hey.
I didn’t force the little twinkie to run off to Charleston with some guy she went all ‘Girls Gone Wild’ with in Aruba.”

Eva didn’t look convinced.
“After you corrupted her first.”

Taz brushed it off while Ben sat there
looking amused by the banter between his wife and friend. “We played footsie. I never got in her pants. You were right, she was too young. So,” he hesitated to take another swig of beer, “what’s the drop on this one?”

“Taz?”

“Uh, huh, Eva?”

“No.”

With that final word, she left the men alone in the kitchen.
Taz looked to Ben for help. “Don’t look at me,” Ben surrendered. “I stay out of my wife’s business.”

He looked out the slider at all the downed trees on the lawn.
“What’s next?”

Ben finished his beer.
“See if Charles can lend me the wood chipper.” He then got up and went to the drawer. “How ‘bout I put some burgers on the grill?”

“How ‘bout……I’m in.”

Ben found the lighter and handed it to Taz. “Here. Go play with fire.”

Taz
smiled and took it. “Fire. Chainsaw. Wood chipper. Bro, you’re spoilin’ me today.” He went back out on the deck and lifted the cover to the new stainless steel grill Ben had bought at the beginning of the summer. His friend really had lucked out. In four months, he’d landed a beautiful wife, a home and now had a child on the way. Big Ben Lawson, who, just last September, had put a bullet in his sister’s brain, was now a husband, homeowner, soon-to-be-father and grill master. The guy found a way to separate his two lives, something Taz wasn’t sure he could figure out himself. Something his ma was constantly pressing him to do.

Turning the knob on the grill, he lit the burner
, then leaned up against the railing, surveying the hard labor he and Ben had done all morning. He had to admit this was nice, in a peaceful-commune-with-nature sort of way. Between the clubhouse and his ma’s, he was never without a place to shower, fuck and lay his head. He was only a year older than Ben and understood his brother’s need for something more while they were still young enough.

Biting
the ring in his lip, he looked towards the driveway, which lent a view of the street in front of the house next door. He recognized the silver Focus and smiled. Karen was still sitting in her car, window down, and looking to be on her phone. She had since put her hair up like she’d done that day at the gas station, and his studded tongue twitched to run itself all over that neck of hers.

“
Who are you, Karen Hanson,”
he quietly sang to himself. He continued to watch until she looked up to start her car. She used the back of her hand to blot her cheeks and forehead from the effects of the hot, summer day. “
Come on…..come on
,” he mumbled to himself. And then she looked up.
“Bingo!”
Their eyes locked and he flashed his best panty-dissolving smile. She smiled nervously before driving off. His game of Clue had just gotten more interesting.

The sound of a
door closing across the yard drew Taz’s attention away in time to see Mrs. Bachman, Eva’s neighbor, finally come out. No doubt the old lady had been hiding inside while he and Ben spent four hours operating a chainsaw and ax. He was in too good of a mood right now not to be neighborly himself. “Hey! Mrs. Bachman. Nice to see you again, ma’am.”

She looked past her fence and across the yard
. He knew what he looked like, half naked, dirty, sweaty, covered in ink and hardware. Slapping a hand to her chest, Mrs. Bachman scurried back inside just as Ben came out to witness. “Scaring my neighbors, now?”

“Nah.
Took one look at me and probably went inside to diddle herself.”

Chapter Five

In three days Karen
had gotten two jobs, but nothing ruined the productive day she’d had like the texts she received after leaving Eva’s. One was from her father wishing her luck on her interview. The other was from her mother.

‘
Teller? Card shop? This is what we paid college tuition for
?’

For almost twenty minutes she sat in her parked car on Eva
’s street, staring at Betsy’s esteem-crushing words. This wasn’t the big city. She was pretty much in no-man’s land right now where the need for a high-salaried position in finance wasn’t high. Things were tough all around – the economy and unemployment especially – and, right now, any decent job to keep her from chipping away at her savings was welcome.

Karen’s hands shook as she sat in her sweltering car while holding her phone, her anger wanting to make her thumbs fly in a
furious reply. Instead, she just read that line over and over again before coming to the conclusion that silence was the best reply.

After dropping a quick line to her dad that her interview
had gone fine and that she’d be starting next Tuesday, she blotted her heated face before starting her car, only to find that tattooed biker, that…..
Taz
, staring at her from Eva’s back deck. She swallowed hard, as she was able to check him out better from afar without his intense scrutiny. She had to admit, he had a fine body. Hell, he had a great body, sinewy, taut and inked with patches of unmarked skin here and there. But nothing was more brilliant than his smile, which filled her with a strange warmth that had nothing to do with the weather. Shit, what the hell? Guys such as him were
not
good news. If her pristine-now-incarcerated ex- fiancé had turned out to be trouble, then this Taz’s photo should be under its definition.

She cast him a nervous look before taking off.
It was still early, and her options were few – drive around or hole back up in her motel room. The air-conditioned room won out over wasting precious fuel. She thought of what she had in the mini-fridge for sustenance, which was half a salad and iced coffee. Yeah, if she continued to eat like that she wouldn’t have to worry about her ass spreading from lack of workouts in her old condo’s gym facility.

Remembering the area from Monday, she retraced streets and landmarks until she came upon Tippitt-Over-Two Plaza.
She needed food. And coffee. And migraine tablets to ward off an enormous Betsy headache. She opted for an eggplant parmesan sub and bottled water from Clarks, then went across the way to Tippitt n’ Sippitt for an iced coffee to satisfy her caffeine urge later on. Looking around for a drug or convenience store, she saw the bakery at the end –
Sugar Me
– and decided something sweet might be a better remedy. Yeah, a nice, fat black and white cookie.

After getting food and drink, she drove down the other end
and entered the bakery. Her senses were immediately assailed by the sugary aroma. The wall behind the counter contained an entertaining array of posters and photos of rock bands in concert and backstage and – judging from the hair and clothes – they looked to be from the eighties. A woman dressed in spandex, denim and midriff-bearing shirts, with ridiculously high hair and garish makeup, appeared in a good deal of them. She looked glassy-eyed, with a cup in her hand and what looked to be a backstage pass around her neck.

“Help you, honey
?”

Karen looked at the woman who
’d come out from the back, and instant recognition hit. She was a much older and tired version of the girl in the photos. Though somewhat relaxed, the hair and makeup was still a bit much – especially for her age. “Yeah, um, couple of black and white cookies, please.”

The woman let out a harsh cough fir
st. “Excuse me. You got it.” Her friendly voice sounded as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper. She placed them in a small, white bag then handed them over. “Three-twenty-five.”

Karen rea
ched for her wallet. “Think it might be dangerous working so close to here.”

“Oh?”
The woman’s eyes lit up. “Where?”

“The bank. Three
days a week. And the card shop for two.”

“You’re going to work for Eva?”

Small town – everyone knew everyone. “Yes. I just interviewed with her a while ago.”

A smile split the woman’s fac
e along with a familiarity that Karen couldn’t quite place. She then reached her hand across the counter, along with a mass of black rubber and jingly metal bracelets. “I’m Janice.”

Karen shook her hand, hoping she hadn’t coughed or sneezed into it.
“Karen. Nice to meet you.”

Janice appeared to size her up.
“Thought Eva wasn’t in the store on Wednesdays.”

“She isn’t.
She interviewed me at her house.”

There was tha
t smile again - and a pair of dimples. “So, you just came from there?”

Okay, not the
‘who are you’,
‘
where are you from’
, and ‘
what’re you doing in my town’
interrogation she’d been getting, so Karen was glad for the change of pace with questions. But Janice looked almost…..giddy. “Yes.”

“Did you happen to
meet
anyone?”

There was a sparkle in Janice’s mascaraed eye.
She looked like a woman on a mission. Now Karen was intrigued. “Such as?”

“My son, Gabri……Taz.
He was there helping Eva’s man out.”

The smile.
The dimples. Now Karen knew why it was familiar. This woman had pushed out that devilish looking biker. Tippitt may very well go down as the epitome of small towns. And Janice’s raspy giddiness was no doubt an attempt at playing matchmaker. Karen had to admit it was kind of adorable. Almost as much as Taz’s real name being - what did she almost say – Gabriel? “Yes, he was there,” Karen replied, before acting curious. “So, why’s he called Taz?”

“Short for Tasmanian
Devil. Earned it a long time ago.”

He definitely had quite a head start.

“So, you’re new here, huh, Karen?”

Here we go.
“Yes, I am.”
Please, no more questions.

Her wish came true
when the phone rang. “Glad to have you around here.” Janice paused for a brief cough, noisily clearing her throat afterwards as she reached for the phone. “Don’t be a stranger.”

With her iced coffee most likely melted in the car, Karen left
with her cookies and headed back to her cool motel room. Maybe she’d pull out her Pilates mat for a quick stretch and workout before gorging on eggplant and baked goods. Maybe she’d think about that parting smile Taz shot her. Maybe she should just take a nice, cool shower, eat and watch trashy television.

One thing
was for sure – she was slowly beginning to not miss the big city.

~~~***~~

The sky told him to stay put, but his head wanted out. Thunder clouds weren’t going to keep Taz in tonight.

After a much needed shower at the clubhouse, he dressed and headed out of his room.
Checking his phone, he saw a text from his ma.

‘C
oming over for dinner?
’

He
’d had a late lunch at Ben’s, then worked most of it off stacking all the cut trees on one side of the yard until they could get the wood chipper. Besides, he had other plans tonight, which included a little detective work involving and chick with dark, red hair.

He
felt a bit guilty, as he usually ate dinner at his ma’s three times a week, but he didn’t want her to fuss either, since she was feeling a bit under the weather.

‘
Can’t tonight. You feel okay?’

‘I feel great!’
:)

Taz wasn’t into all that symbolic texting shit, but knew that little thing at the end was a smiley face.
She sounded good and felt good - making him feel less guilty. ‘
Good. Will stop by bakery tomorrow’

‘Okie dokie’

Wow, Jan
was
in a good mood. And now it was time for him to get into one.

“Taz, baby.”
Stephanie, the brunette he’d tongued the fuck out of Monday afternoon, had that glint in her eye as she shimmied up to him. “In a hurry?”

He rarely ignored the girls, especially ones with double
entendres written all over their faces. “Kinda.” He gave her a wicked smile and pinched her ass. “What’s up?”

“Just,
you know…,” she slid a delicate hand over his fly, “wanna return the favor from the other day.” She kissed him heartily, the tip of her tongue playing with the stud affixed to his own. That tongue was enough to tell him what she wanted to do, and his hardening cock under her hand told her he was game.

Instead he pulled away, t
ipping her chin up with his fingers, then gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. “Bad timin’, Steff. Be back in a few, though.”

She sighed
then licked the corner of his mouth. He was going to get the best blow job later. “I’ll be waiting.”

Wiggling his
brows, he headed towards the door, past the bar where Aero sat. “Did you just pass that up?”

Taz stopped short and though
t. Did he just pass up a sure thing to search out some chick and…..what
was
he going to do if he found her? Probably freak her out for stalking her, that’s what. Whatever, he just needed to satisfy his curious nature. “Just puttin’ it on hold, bro.”

~~~***~~~

Karen had no idea how her mother and sister were satisfied being stay-at-home wives. Shelia and Sam didn’t even have children yet, but she didn’t work. Because she didn’t have to. Instead Shelia lunched, shopped, organized client functions and did volunteer work. Betsy could care less about anything where she had to exert anything but a breath. It was plain as day that Karen had inherited her father’s hard work ethic. She hadn’t gone to school just to be a pampered housewife princess either.

Channel after channel had nothing but dreck
, as low rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance. Great, maybe it would break this heat. Though bored, she was feeling satisfied and accomplished. She hadn’t landed a job with a corner office and expense account, but it was work. Clicking the remote again, she sipped her iced coffee while checking her hair to see that it fully dried from her shower earlier. She then put her coffee down and stretched out on the bed, her body feeling very relaxed. Screw what she
had
to do or
had
to marry.

That little nugget of a town called Tippitt was an escape from all the have-to’s.

~~~***~~~

Pulling off I70 in Wheeling, Taz eyed the clouds thickening the night sky through his goggles. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all. He’d either chance turning around and getting soaked to the bone on the ride back or find some hole-in-the wall to pass the time and ride the storm out. If he was going to try to find the pin that was Karen Hanson in a haystack of cheap motels which littered the border of Ohio and West Virginia, he needed to do some serious weeding out. First and foremost, a chick like that wouldn’t be in some seedy, truck stop dive that smelled of sweat and jizz.

The looming yellow and red Super 8 sign caught his eye
, and he decided to try there first. If it was a bust, he was going to race the storm back to Tippitt. Entering its parking lot, he slowed his bike to a glide as he passed the rows of parked cars. Thunder cracked above, coming from the south, which meant the storm was making its way up. Great, if he had to head back home he wouldn’t be riding into it.

Rounding the building, he scanned the back portion, checking the cars, seeing if……..

There it was. A silver Focus with Ohio plates parked in front of a row of rooms. This one only had only one level, so he didn’t have to figure which one she was on. Okay, he knew where she was staying. Now he could get home before a bolt of lightning fried him.

A drop fell on his riding glove.
Then another on his gas tank. Then another, plink, plink, plink, on his helmet. “Shit,” he muttered. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Well……..