When he remembered he had children, Tess and Tuck got a short birthday text from him and a stilted phone call every Christmas. But never, not once, had they received an invite to his new home to meet his new wife.
Tammy had trapped him and his two kids flying the coop had set him free.
Some people should never be parents and Tammy was a perfect example. Tessa’s father might have been a great dad if he hadn’t been so damn miserable and held a grudge over Tammy trapping him.
Was that Tessa and Tucker’s fault? No.
Did they pay for it? Absolutely.
Tessa shook her thoughts free as she went the long way around to The Barn, instead of cutting across the courtyard. Doing her best to avoid Easy with Angel.
Instead of entering the double doors on the side, she slipped through the front door. Luckily, not too many people were inside since the night outside was perfect. Not too cold or too hot and no humidity or swarms of mosquitoes yet.
Soon though.
She spotted Jude and Castle playing darts and Shade shooting pool with Dodge.
Other than that, it was empty and pretty damn quiet compared to outside with The Synners playing what was most likely their last set for the night.
She could only guess that Bones was drunk and buried face first in a sweet butt’s snatch in celebration of getting his full set of patches before the run earlier. She was surprised Castle wasn’t doing the same and chose to play darts with Jude instead.
But it was early yet. There weren’t too many unattached brothers for the sweet butts anymore, so they were always on the prowl. Like Angel.
And Tessa knew for a fact that the sweet butts had all been eyeing up Castle just waiting for him to switch out his prospect rocker.
Could she blame Angel for targeting Easy tonight? Fuck no. The biker was easy to look at and super easy-going.
Usually.
Did she give a fuck that the sweet butt had been making the moves on Easy? She shouldn’t. It wasn’t her right to care. She had no hold on the man, the same as Easy had no hold on her.
She sighed as she headed directly to the bar and ducked behind it.
They were only…
Only…
Only risking everything for nothing.
Right? Because it was nothing.
None of it should mean a damn thing.
It shouldn’t and couldn’t.
Or so she told herself.
She growled under her breath and swiped a full bottle of Jack Daniels off the shelf on the wall behind the bar, ignored the stack of red Solo cups and went on the hunt for a cold six-pack.
The cooler under the bar was only full of ice and there was no damn way she was pouring drafts and attempting to carry them all outside by herself.
She would bet she could find more beer in the large commercial fridge in the kitchen. Even as broke as the club was right now because of what happened with the Shirleys, beer could always be found. The guys considered it a staple and one of the necessary food groups.
Tessa froze with the bottle of Jack in her hand as Easy took long strides through the open side doors. Of course, he wasn’t alone. He was holding Angel’s hand and tugging the sweet butt along with a set jaw and a determined look on his face.
Fuck. She had been trying to avoid them and here she was… fucking trapped.
With the Jack Daniels in hand, she hurried toward the door separating The Barn from the bunkhouse. She wanted to get through it before Easy dragged Angel into the bunkhouse and his room. Especially since his room was practically across from Tessa’s destination.
She did not want to smack into them face-to-face, knowing Easy would…
Angel would…
She shoved open the swinging door to the kitchen and ducked inside. Jamming her back against the wall next to the door, she closed her eyes and simply breathed to slow her racing heart.
She could solve this dilemma in one of two ways. She just wasn’t ready to choose either of them.
She loved her freedom, but she also loved…
Sex.
She could get it anywhere. She just didn’t want to.
That was the real dilemma.
Instead of Easy’s suggestion of approaching Trip himself, maybe she should. She should tell her brother that he can’t control her life in any way, shape or fashion and she would do what she wanted, when she wanted and with who she wanted.
She groaned and slapped a hand to her forehead.
Yeah, sure, because Trip was always so damn level-headed.
He had stepped into the role of protector no matter if who he was trying to protect—brother, sister or child, by blood or by bond—wanted it or not.
Whether they needed it or not.
He had claimed the president spot.
Not only did no one else want it, Tessa couldn’t argue that he hadn’t earned it.