Force: Blacktop Sinners MC (16 page)

Chapter Twenty Seven

“Derek, honey, you don’t have to carry that heavy roast all the way to the table,” Barbara said. “That’s what Tess’s dad is for.”

He chuckled and looked into the living room from the adjoining kitchen. Tess and her father were wrapped up watching the Atlanta Braves on TV and firing off stats at each other with
Rain Man
like speed. “I think they might be busy.”

Barbara shook her head and used a ladle to add extra au jus to the roast even as he carried it to the dining room table. “I think they might be spoiled. I never should have trained them that way. Maybe I channeled my inner June Cleaver too much. To this day, Sarah and Tess always leave their room a mess after they visit. I advise if you ever have little ones to be more disciplined.”

Derek coughed and almost dropped the roast the extra couple feet to the table. That was about the scariest thought he’d ever heard out of someone’s mouth. Him? The Grinder for the Blacktop Sinners with rugrats? Hell, he was a foster brat and didn’t know a damn thing about taking care of himself, let alone kids. However, as he was standing up, his mind flashed to the image of beautiful blonde girls with Tess’s gold-flecked, hazel eyes, and his tension eased.

Would it be so bad?

Barbara channeled her mother’s intuition and chuckled as they went back to the kitchen to get the side dishes in tandem. “I wasn’t implying anything. I hardly try and rope blind dates into wooing my daughters.”

“Oh,” he said, as he set down the green beans and mashed potatoes. “That’s right. Tess mentioned she had a sister too.”

“Sarah’s upstairs, borrowing the relative quiet of the house for a few weeks in the middle of a crazy summer.”

“I see.”

“Yes, but it’s always welcome to have more guests,” she said, setting her own plates down. Rubbing her hands on her apron, she then cupped them in front of her face and yelled out to her family. “Tess, text your sister, and Dan, get your big butt over here, slop’s on.”

Derek decided right then that he liked Tess’s mom quite a bit, and he could see where Tess’s fire and outspokenness had been learned from. Maybe it was just the style of the Everhart household. He smiled politely as Tess and Dan came in first. They all sat, and a few seconds later, like a stampeding herd of elephants, her sister raced down stairs. Sarah Everhart was tall and lanky and every bit as strawberry blonde as her mother.

Right, the biological child
.

He waved and then took Tess’s hand as they all joined together to pray around the table. All of this felt like some strange journey to him or student exchange program, even if he was well grown. He’d heard of this---normal families, real families---but he’d just never lived that. He thought moms that made everything from scratch and saying a quick blessing before chowing down were things that literally only existed on The Hallmark Channel. After they were done, they started to dig in, and that was when he decided he liked Dan as well, in all his cheesy dad glory.

“Mhmmm, mhm, mhm, dang!” Dan shouted and then leaned over and kissed his wife’s cheek. “You’ve done it again, honey. I swear these green beans are the finest ever.”

She chuckled and gestured to him. “It was all Derek, he added some onion flakes and garlic, and it has so much more kick.”

Tess eyed him, and he shrugged. As he did it, his left sleeve rode up and it exposed his tattoo a bit, which just made Sarah’s eyes go wide in response. “I’m not exactly a cook, but we didn’t have much growing up.”
Understatement
. “And I learned to make friends with the spice cabinet. People have a ton of sh…stuff lying around that you can improvise with. You eat the same boring food over on a loop because it’s affordable, you start praising paprika and all the others.”

“Handy then,” Dan nodded. “So, that’s about all we know so far, son. That and her friend Lizzy helped set you up.”

He whistled. “Well, I can say that Lizzy’s got attitude, very piss and vinegar.”

Tess kicked him under the table, and he swore that Sarah was going to pick her jaw up off the floor. He just arched an eyebrow back at her. He could play nice some, but he wasn’t a crew cut saint or a doctor who owned clothes with polo ponies on them for the weekend. If she didn’t like that, Tess needed to say so now.

Barbara surprised him by chuckling too. “She’s definitely feisty.”

“You know she loves to live up to the spicy Latina image,” Tess said, still glaring at him with laser focus. “But yes, we had a mutual hospital love connection.”

“Was he a patient?” Sarah said, nearly choking on her roast beef.

Tess blushed, and he might like her an awful lot, but his potential old lady was a shit liar. “Not exactly.”

“What does that mean, honey?” her dad asked, stroking his snowy white beard.

“It means that he was discharged before Lizzy made a love connection.”

“So, then,” Sarah asked, as she leaned in closer across the table. “What do you actually do then? When Tess dates, it’s usually someone in health care.”

He shrugged and worked with the same line he always gave; the best lies were always those based partially in fact after all. It was a belief and practice that had saved his ass on more than one occasion. “Security. I’m not a rent a cop, but I do work to keep certain places in Boone locked down.”

“Are you a bar bouncer then,” Sarah probed.

“Why would you say that?” he asked, not sure he liked where this was going. Tess was well into her twenties; what did it matter who she was dating? Her sister didn’t have a say.

“Because you’re cut like crazy, look like you could almost punch through this here oak table, and the black on black with tats. Definitely not the type Tess used to date.”

“Not that that’s necessarily bad,” Dan said. “Is your job dangerous?”

Derek kept his face neutral. “I’d say it has its ups and downs.” He reached to his side and squeezed Tess’s hand. “Right now, I’d definitely say more ups.”

Sarah shook her head. “I just don’t get it.”

Barbara clicked her tongue at her daughter. “You don’t have to if Tess
does
. Now everyone eat up because there’s pie.”

Poor Tess was quiet the rest of the meal.

***

“Then it’s a day of firsts,” her sister said as she crossed also into Jason’s room and sat on his bed. “I never thought I’d see you in here.”

Tess nodded and shoved the switchblade she’d just fished out of the mug into the back pocket of her jeans. Considering how brutal she’d been to Derek, she was glad that they’d swung by her place before going to Asheville. With Derek standing guard, she’d slipped on regular clothes. Obviously, her sister was big on judging books by their cover tonight.

Of course, she had Derek pegged.

He
was
suspicious, and Tess was still deliberating over whether he was more good than bad, and she still wasn’t quite sure yet where she, herself, stood. She didn’t appreciate the glowering big sister act. It was hard when Sarah was five years older and always felt---no basically assumed that after Jason---she could order her around. It might be with the best of intentions, but everyone knew that old saying about where those got you.

This tension moment between them with her sister’s cold appraisal certainly felt hellish enough to warrant that.

“I had to get over it some time. You’ve been hinting as much. Often and loudly.”

“True, and I’m proud of you, that you could start learning to be better. I know you haven’t dated in about four years, and I’m glad you love Lizzy.”

“Huh?” Tess said, blinking back at her sister and not quite understanding the non-sequitur.

“Lizzy’s judgment isn’t exactly the best. Seriously, ‘in security’ what line of bull is he pedaling? Mom and Dad might be trying to turn a blind eye, but I’m worried. You don’t have to get back into life by going for a guy who screams ‘I have a record.’”

Tess blanched and felt her heart speed up. Sarah really had it pegged, and she should have known she couldn’t get anything past Big Sis. “Don’t be ridiculous. He just does some security consulting. It’s not like he’s up to nefarious plots.”

“With biceps the size of tree branches and a wicked scar, sure.” She sighed and stood up, then walked over to Tess and brushed her hair back from her face. “I want you to be happy, but be safe, too. We’ve already---”

“Believe me I know.”

“Then, seriously, why is Mr. State Pen downstairs? Is he gonna case the joint?”

Tess broke away and started stalking to the door. Sarah tightened her grip on Tess’s arm and spun her around. “Don’t, just drop it.” She huffed, pulling away harder. Sarah might have had the height, but she had the motivation. Tess fell away from her and went into a stumble before she could get herself righted. It left her lingering at the transom. “I don’t always need edicts and advice. We could just talk.”

“That’s what Jason said once, wasn’t it?”

Tess felt slapped. That was beyond a low blow. “I don’t need a damn keeper, Sarah. Just, screw you,” she finished, rushing down the stairs and to her car.

Chapter Twenty Eight

Derek was confused to see Tess rushing down the stairs as if the hounds of hell were after her. She streaked past him, and he ran after her, even before Sarah was stomping after her too.

“Tess, come back. We can talk about this!”

He rounded on the taller woman. “I think you must have said enough.” He paused long enough to offer the other Everharts a befuddled shrug. “I’m sorry, maybe later. Dan, Barbara, it was a pleasure.” Derek spared one last glare for Sarah. “I wish I could say the same for all of you.”

It didn’t take long at all to catch up to Tess’s short steps. She’d already thrown herself into her Beetle and revved the damn engine, however. He leapt in after her and was shocked to feel how fast she peeled out. The girl definitely had the heart for speed, if she let herself. He’d love to see her, all decked out in leathers of her own, on the bitch seat of his Harley. It was the first time the fantasy had popped into his head, but it made him lick his lips and his pants too tight all of a sudden.

Derek pushed that out of his head and forced himself to focus on Tess. She was hyperventilating, and tears were streaming down her face. They were swerving a lot on the narrow mountain road, and the sun was finally setting, even now in a late July night. He swore and shoved his seatbelt on in double time.

“Tess, honey, you have to tell me what’s going on.”

She swiped angrily at her eyes. The car almost lurched into a ditch on the right side of the highway. He reached over and helped steady the wheel.

“You have to pull over. Please, you can’t drive this angry. We didn’t survive feuding bike clubs to end up pavement pizza. Can you do that for me?”

“I did get your blade, by the way, you can thank me for that later.”

“I don’t care about the damn knife right now.”

“That’s novel.”

“Don’t fight here. Pull over,” he demanded, putting all his authority as an enforcer behind his words.

Tess let out a shuddering breath and parked the car over by a small copse of trees in a place where the winding shoulder spread out a bit more than the rest of the road. “I need some air,” she said, hopping back out of the car and then sliding down against
his
side until she was sitting alongside of the Beetle.

Frustrated and scared for her, Derek slipped out of the car as well and knelt down next to her. He was struck anew by how small she actually was, especially when Tess had her knees curled up tightly to her chest. Running a hand through her white-blonde locks, he waited for her to collect herself. The rays of the setting sun spread out over them in the interim and turned her hair to shades of amber and orange in the low twilight.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Tess raised her eyes up and he hated how red those usually mischievous hazel eyes were. “I feel like I’ve cried too much the last few days. For the longest time, I didn’t do it at all, not even at Jason’s funeral. It was like if I did that, then it was real. Just like today was only the second time I’ve ever been in his room. I hid the knife there because I know my family wouldn’t look over his desk. Mom has never wanted to disturb anything.”

“Then it feels like a shrine?” He asked, his voice low and calm.

She nodded and shimmied around. He was amused by the way she lifted herself onto her ankles with a quick rocking motion so she could unwedge the blade from her back pocket. The switchblade was there, and he let out a long breath. It felt good to no longer have to fear being beaten to death and, worse, to completely lose his place within the brotherhood. Death was one thing, but dishonor, having them all think he’d turned traitor when he fucking well
hadn’t,
burned even worse.

“Can I?” he asked.

She nodded. “It’s yours. I don’t want the gangs after my family or Chief Johnson creating trumped up charges to drag me in. It’s safer. It’s not justice, but it’s safer.”

“Believe me, the Death’s Head crew is going to pay dearly for everything they’ve done.”

“That’s not what I mean and not what I wanted to hear.”

“Because making them sorry is wrong? They cut their shit with anything, get dumb college kids killed with the poison they snort up. They beat their hookers fiercely. They’re a gang, but they’re wannabes, and no one will miss them when they’re muscled out,” he countered, clenching his jaw and trying hard to keep his voice level. Shouting would only reignite Tess harder.

“Will you do the murders?”

“If a big fight breaks out, I don’t know what will happen. I won’t set out to be wet works; I know that Bones and Bullet love that stuff anyway. Ron sometimes too.”

“I don’t know about anything anymore,” she said, morosely. “Sarah pegged you as being a criminal, and she’s not wrong. I care about you so much, so fast that it’s scary, but I don’t know how I can learn to look the other way.”

“I’m not leaving the club,” he said. “I just am about to get my footing back with them. I take them this blade, and I get my cut back and am a full jacketed member like anyone else.”

She nodded and leaned against him. “I like you a lot, but I hate what you do.”

He stroked her hair again; it was soft, like baby duck down and about as golden in the fading light. “Then don’t. We fix this mess and learn to see what we can tolerate. You don’t have to do everything your sister wants.”

“She said I was being like Jason, and she’s not wrong. I’m taking risks, and my family doesn’t even
know
that their lives have been on the line all week. Even once we get the blade to Spike and your group ‘handles it,’” she spat.

He flinched at that. There would be blood. That much was unavoidable at this point. “Even if then what?”

“Then maybe I am taking too many risks.”

He leaned down and kissed her, caressing her tongue with his own. She was soft and supple beneath him, and her lips met his with ferocity and the same hunger. They stayed like that for a long time, their tongues tickling and teasing each other, dancing for their own dominance. Tess moaned like the sly minx she was and nibbled on his lip. He shuddered at the gesture and felt his member harden beneath the denim of his jeans. She continued those efforts, moving on from kissing and, instead, nipping at his lips and his collar bone, letting her teeth graze over the nape of his neck and to the dip by his clavicle.

He bucked his hips and reached out to squeeze her shoulders closer. She broke away from him and grinned, and he saw those teasing flecks of gold glittering in the low light. Tess’s playful side was back. She got to her knees and inched herself lower so that she was leaning over his zipper.

“What do you have in mind, blondie?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she said, licking her lips, and he loved the glimpse of that delicate, pink tongue of hers. Deft hands were unzipping him then, and she helped free his cock from its confines within his jeans. “My, my, what a big dick we have, Mr. Wolf.”

“The better to come all over you, my dear,” he promised, letting his voice take on a mock growl for effect.

Her soft, sensual fingers wrapped around his length while her other hand cupped his balls. Derek let out a long groan as she began to jiggle his testicles, passing them back and forth between her thumb and forefinger. She leaned lower and shoved his cock in her mouth, swallowing up the bulk of the shaft, coming so close to his balls.

He appreciated that. This was impromptu and with no lube, the friction---while heavenly---would get to be too much.

Derek watched, eyes half-lidded as she arched her neck back and forth, her large, pillowy lips stretched over his dick. She pulled her head completely away from him, letting his cock fall from her succulent lips with a dull “thwack.” Her other hand joined the first and both were now kneading his balls deeply, and he felt them grow taught under her ministrations.

“You’re stopping?”

“No, baby, just wanted you lubricated,” she said, grinning again. Tess leaned back to his cock and this time stuck her tongue out just the tiniest bit, so it was no more than a tiny triangle. At first she just teased his head, just barely touching it. Then she stuck her tongue out further and took a deliberate, languorous lick of his slit. Pre-cum pooled from him, and his cock jerked under such a talented touch. She continued by flicking her tongue up against that sensitive collection of nerves at the tip of his cock.

Meanwhile, she’d changed her strategy with his testicles. Now, just a little, she was using her nails to accentuate her grasp, to dig just the most miniscule bites and hints of pain into her embrace. He shuddered under her deliberate antics and stretched his arms out so that his fingers could find and play with her nipples through the fabric of her thin cotton t-shirt.

She mewled, and his cock grew harder still, his balls pulled taught almost to the point of being ready to go.

“So close, baby, so close.”

Tess grinned, and then she went back to deep throating him even as her fingers manipulated and massaged his testicles. He bucked and writhed under her, enjoying the warm heat of her mouth as she fucked him, the crazy magic of her fingers as she cupped his balls.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of bliss, he came, shooting his come deep inside her mouth. He was practically driven mad, as the pleasure arced through him like lightning and his green-eyed goddess swallowed every drop like a pro.

Hell, better than some.

He should know; it wasn’t like the roadhouse ever ran in short supply.

But those women were nothing, so ordinary and also ran compared to the living, breathing deity before him. He finished coming and slipped further to the ground, his head hitting the long grass. His bones felt melted, and he couldn’t move then if he wanted to. Derek roused himself just enough to shove his member away and zip up his pants, and he noticed that Tess cleaned up after a fashion by wiping at her mouth.

He kind of wished she hadn’t. The few drops at the corners of her lips were reminders he’d been there, that she was truly, deeply
his
.

Holding out his arms, Derek commanded. “Sit with me, don’t hold back any longer, Tess. Let me protect you, and let’s rest. We’ll get back on the road to Boone soon.”

She collapsed onto his chest, burrowing up tightly against him. “I trust you that far, know that tonight nothing can happen to me.”

He laughed and kissed her lips, noting the tang and salt still present on them.

How interesting
.

“It’s a start, and you have my promise, blondie, nothing bad is going to happen to you. I’ll get this fucking blade to Spike, and then we’ll keep an eye on you. Smitty won’t have a reason to harass you anymore, and the Death’s Head crew will have to go through me.” Sighing, he reached out and stroked her cheek, and Derek frowned when she winced at his touch. “Fucking bastards never should have touched you, and I swear to God that they never will again.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” he said as his goddess burrowed even more deeply into him and picking up his arm to position over her hip. He squeezed the flesh there and loved feeling her, ripe and ready, beneath her grip. “Let me protect you. That’s what I’m good at and that’s what being an enforcer means to me. It’s always been about loyalty, about saving what was mine.”

Tess nodded and kissed his chin, ending the gesture in a playful nip. “Then I do feel sorry for everyone in your way. I can’t imagine you’re called ‘Grinder’ for a good reason.”

“It sure as shit isn’t because I love hoagies, blondie, not at all.”

***