Unattainable (26 page)

Yeah. Hawk would knock him the fuck
out, if he didn’t knock Hawk the fuck out first. But after one more
glance at Eva, who knew exactly what he was thinking and didn’t
appear to be very happy about it, he shoved his thoughts aside and
gave them both a brisk nod.

“
You’re lucky your dad’s
in the back,” Eva hissed. “Not sure I could have saved you from his
fists this time.”

Cage’s jaw locked up tight. Save him?
The old bastard had taught him how to fight. They were the same
fucking size, had the same hot angry blood flowing through their
veins. Forget that his old man was closing in on sixty
too.

Fuck. Who was he kidding? That tank of
a man could still take out six men if he had to. He’d always looked
up to his father for that shit. Wanted to be just like him when he
was older.

Now he’d just settle for a thank-you or
a “job well done” tossed his way. At least once before one of them
kicked it.

“
Cage,” Eva warned. “Do I
need to make you listen to some Billie Holiday? Because I will, you
know I will.”

His lips twitched. Seeing this, Eva
outright grinned. “Go fix what you just did,” she whispered,
leaning in close to him and shoving him in the direction Tegen had
run off in. “And by fix it, I don’t mean try and get her naked. I
mean actually fix it.”

“
She’s gonna kick me in
the junk,” he muttered, wincing just thinking about it.

Hawk’s hand came down on his shoulder
and squeezed. “Don’t be a fuckin’ jackass,” the man said. “You
sittin’ pretty ain’t gonna win you any favors. You’re just gonna
end up sittin’ alone in the end. And, brother, the way you been
actin’ with the hippie, you and me both know you ain’t wanna be
sittin’ alone no more.”

Both Cage and Eva watched as Hawk
turned on his boot heel and stalked silently through the club. The
brother was hurting bad, it was in his expression, in his voice, in
the way he walked. His shoulders slumped as if the weight of the
world rested upon them.

Cage turned back to Eva. “For real,” he
said. “She’s gonna kick me.”

Eva shrugged. “Take a look around you,
Cage. From chaos, the strongest sort of love is usually
born.”

Chaos. Well, he and Tegen definitely
had that shit down.

But real love, mutual love, the sort of
love Eva was talking about? How did you know if you had something
like that?

Time, he figured. Over time, you would
know. And then it dawned on him…

Wednesday! I have to be
back at work on Tuesday!

Tegen didn’t live in Miles City
anymore. Tegen lived in motherfucking California. She had an
apartment, a job, and probably friends. She’d spent years building
a life there.

Fuck, he’d been so caught up in her,
inside of her actually, he hadn’t given much thought to what was
going to happen when lockdown ended.

He didn’t have time.

Cage stormed off in search of Tegen.
Several short breaths later, he found her closing Danny and
Ripper’s bedroom door with a bundle of clothing in her
arms.

“
Was that fuckin’
necessary?” he demanded, marching up to her. “Actin’ like a goddamn
lunatic?”

“
You have got to be
kidding me,” she said. “You’re mad at me for reacting to what you
did? Groping me like club ass in front of everyone! Then saying
you’d need a crowbar to pry my legs back open? You’re a sick,
sexist motherfucker and, what? Did you expect me to do a fuckin’
jig? Or giggle and swoon and bend over the bar so you could fuck me
in front of everyone?”

Cage opened his mouth, then promptly
closed it. What the fuck did he say to that? She was right. He had
been doing exactly what she was accusing him of.

He just hadn’t thought…

Fuck. He hadn’t thought.
Period.

Snorting, Tegen pushed past him. “You
think I don’t hear half the boys talking about how I jumped beds? I
know they think I’m a slut, but you know better, don’t
you?”

Pausing in front of his door, she
glanced over his shoulder. “You do know better, right?”

Jesus, he was not going to get into
another argument about whether or not Tegen was a club
whore.

“
Get inside the fuckin’
room,” he demanded, stalking toward her. Grabbing her arm, he
pushed open his door and shoved her inside.

“
Goddammit, Cage!” she
screamed as she threw her armful of clothing at him. “Stop treating
me like that! Stop shoving me into rooms, stop talking about me as
if I’m not right there and, seriously, stop acting like your
Neanderthal father!”

“
What are you going to do
about Z?” he demanded, ignoring her. “You need me to make that
call, or you got that shit covered?”

Tegen went still. “What?” she
asked.

“
You dumb?” he shot back,
feeling his patience quickly waning. “You need to tell him the two
of you, whatever shit you had worked out, is done with. Give him
the apartment, whatever, just get it done. We can worry about
gettin’ your shit outta there later.”

Tegen’s eyes flared wide and Cage got
the answer he’d been seeking. She’d planned on returning
home.

“
What the fuck are you
talking about?” Tegen asked. “Why would I give ZZ my
apartment?”

And stupidly, he took it one step
further. “I told you I wanted you to be my fuckin’ girl. You
agreed.”

“
I know that!” she snapped
back. “I still don’t see what any of that has to do with my
apartment?”

Cage lost it. For such a smart kid, she
sure as fuck turned out to be a dumbass adult.

“
Because ain’t no girl of
mine is gonna be livin’ three states over! Especially with another
dude! What the fuck kinda shit you thinkin’, Tegen?”

“
Oh, really?” Tegen
sneered. “Can you tell me what else I should or shouldn’t be doing?
Is there a back-of-the-bike handbook around this fucking dump that
I should be reading?

“
Oh, no, wait,” she
continued, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I forgot. None of you
fuckers even know how to read. Except ZZ.”

“
If you think,” he bit
out, “that you’re gonna be jumpin’ beds again after this shit with
us, you are fuckin’ wrong.”

“
Jumping beds?” she
shrieked. “Before this weekend, we were together once, Cage! Once,
for a whole two minutes after which you basically told me you
wanted nothing more to do with me! I did not jump beds! I was
kicked out of yours and went happily to someone else’s!”

God, fucking, shit! Why was she so damn
crazy all the time? Why couldn’t she manage to scrape together more
than five seconds of normalcy for him?

“
Are you hell-fuckin’-bent
on drivin’ me to blow your fuckin’ skull wide open?” he shouted.
“What the fuck do you want from me, bitch? Fuckin’ tell me so I can
give it to you and you can SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

He was hardly surprised when, out of
clothing to throw, she launched herself at him. He waited a beat
before quickly sidestepping her, then hooked an arm around her
stomach as she blasted by him. He lifted her right off her feet and
heaved her across the ten feet between him and his bed.

“
Cage!” she screamed as
she jackknifed into a sitting position. “Stop manhandling
me!”

Cage suddenly felt drained. She was
exhausting. The constant back-and-forth, he hated it. It reminded
him of his father, of their fucked-up relationship, and that was
the last thing he wanted this shit with Tegen to become.

“
Jesus,” he said, running
his hands through his hair as he turned away from her. “This is not
how I want this shit to be.”

Why the fuck were women so
motherfucking fucked-up?

He knew this shit wasn’t just a weekend
fuck fest. He could feel that truth, knew it in his gut every time
he’d been inside her, working her over, watching, feeling her body
tighten and release, feeling his reaction to her, and what a
motherfucking awesome reaction it was.

He was so into her; she was so fucking
into him. You couldn’t fake that kind of shit. He’d been with far
too many women, he knew what was what.

And yet she was still acting like a nut
job.

Jesus, this bitch was fucking him up.
Had him thinking one thing and then another and then another and
then he was back at the beginning again feeling all sorts of
confused. His brain felt like it had been tied to a whipping
post.

From chaos, the strongest
sort of love is usually born.

When did Eva become motherfucking
Buddha? But…coming from the woman who’d reined in his old man, he
figured there just might be some truth in that
statement.

When Tegen had yet to respond with
another smartass comment, Cage turned around and found her standing
only inches away from him. She went instantly up on her tiptoes and
slung her arms around his neck, bringing his face down to
hers.

“
I’m sorry,” she muttered,
kissing him softly. Her tongue slid inside his mouth and tangled
with his own as her hands dropped from his neck to his shoulders
and then traveled lower, over his chest and stomach and
then…

“
Wait,” he said, grabbing
her wrists and holding her hands still. Startled, she glanced up at
him.

“
Did you just say…you’re
sorry?”

Her forehead wrinkled.
“Yeah.”

He gaped at her. “You, Tegen Louise
Matthews, just said…you were sorry?”

Her upper lip curled. “Yes,” she bit
out. “I figured if the world’s most renowned man whore can
apologize, so can I.”

It was his turn to grimace. He was
really sick of all her digs in reference to his sexual history but
he didn’t want to fight anymore, so he kept his mouth shut and let
it slide.

“
Can I resume taking your
pants off now?” she asked.

“
If I let you, will you
wipe that dirty fuckin’ look off your face?”

“
Maybe.”

“
Babe, I’m gonna need a
guarantee or it’s a no-go. I can’t be fuckin’ some bitch who’s
lookin’ like she’d rather be doin’ laundry. Not sure my man-whorin’
ego could take a blow like that.”

It started out with just a mere twitch
of her lips but quickly escalated, and Cage found himself staring
dumbfounded at the woman in front of him. She was
giggling.

Tegen.

Giggling.

He went insta-hard.

“
Keep laughin’,” he
growled, walking her backward. “That shit looks good on
you.”

“
Shut up,” she said,
grinning. “And fuck me.”

He shoved her back on the bed and
jumped on over her.

“
Way ahead of you,
Teacup,” he said, fumbling with his zipper. “While you been bein’
crazy, I’ve been fuckin’ you for the past twenty minutes at least,
might even finish before I get up inside that hungry pussy of
yours. And I ain’t the little engine that could; when my shit is
outta fuel, that bastard is in for the night. So, fuckin’ sucks to
be you.”

Giggles turned into full-on hysterics
and Cage stopped what he was doing and just watched her laugh.
Hell, she looked young. Her nose scrunched up, pink-faced, and
trying to breathe in between bouts of full-bellied
laughter.

No scowl. No angry lines. No narrowed
eyes or flat lips. She looked young, fresh, and fucking
beautiful.

Cage propelled himself into action. Not
knowing when he was going to get a chance like this again, he
wasn’t going to miss it. After undressing her as fast as he could,
he reached over, grabbed a condom off the nightstand
and—

Tegen gasped at his harsh entry. Then
her surprise bled quickly into a smile.

“
Better, babe?” he asked,
grinning down at her.

“
Your dick should become a
United Nations dignitary,” she said. “That fucker could put the
smackdown on the world peace holdup.”

Cage’s body shook with
laughter.

“
I love you, Teacup,” he
said, smiling. “Always have,” he said. “Just didn’t realize it
until now.”

Her surprised whimper made him
grin.

“
Now, about that fuckin’
apartment in Cali?”

Beneath him, Tegen’s body trembled
violently. When her chin began to shake, he cupped the side of her
face and held her still.

“
Babe?” he asked
gently.

“
What am I going to do
here?” she whispered.

“
You know exactly what
you’re gonna fuckin’ do here,” he whispered back, pulling out of
her slowly and then sliding just as slowly back inside.

“
You’re gonna put your
skinny ass on the back of my bike, you’re gonna move into my
fuckin’ house, you’re gonna cook and you’re gonna clean and you’re
gonna fuck me whenever the fuck I want it.”

When her eyes flared with anger, he
growled, “Shut up.” After a pause, during which he managed to glare
tenderly at her, he continued. “Other than that, you can do
whatever the fuck you want. Get a fuckin’ job, or fuckin’ don’t, or
start writin’ those books you were always talkin’
about.”