Unattainable (16 page)

“
Yeah,” I said quickly.
“I’m fine.”

She took a step inside the kitchen and
folded her arms under her breasts. “Tegen, I may not remember
everything, but I still know when my own daughter is lying to me. I
already knew something was up when it was Eva and Kami bringing me
back my car last night. And then I get a phone call from you from
Cage’s phone telling me you’re at Cage’s house and you need to get
picked up. Not only that, I am well aware of what a woman looks
like after she’s had sex, which is exactly how you looked when I
picked you up from Cage’s house. Now, you have one of two choices;
you can tell me what’s wrong or you can keep lying to your
mother.”

Oh. Well. Now that sounded exactly like
my mother. My mother who, memory problems or not, I absolutely did
not want to discuss my sex life with. Hell to the no.

“
You seem good,” I said,
hoping to build a bridge over last night’s ocean full of confusion
and regret, and head immediately for dry land. “No more
nightmares?”

“
Have it your way,” she
said, sighing. “I’m going to shower then, I guess.”

As she began to turn, she paused. “You
know, baby, I might be older than you, but I still know what pain
is. I only wanted to help.”

I swallowed hard. Of course she knew
what pain was. She’d had nothing but pain, and why would I want to
contribute more to the ungodly amounts already weighing her
down?

“
Mom, I—”

The sharp chime of the doorbell cut me
off.

Glancing to her right, my mother pursed
her lips. “It’s too early for—”

“
D! ANSWER THIS
MOTHERFUCKING DOOR!”

At the sound of Jase’s voice, my mother
turned an unhealthy shade of pale.

The doorbell chimed again, one, two,
three times. This was followed by a demanding series of what
sounded like someone trying to beat a door down with their
fists.

I closed my eyes. Without fail, Jase
loved making my visits home even more miserable.

“
DOROTHY!”

“
He sounds drunk again,”
she whispered, staring down the hallway, her expression one of
sheer terror. “Last time he showed up here drunk, he tried to kiss
me.”

WHAT? Oh, hell no.

“
Go in the back,” I said
firmly, quickly crossing the kitchen, grabbing her car keys off the
counter as I passed by her. “I’ll get rid of him.”

“
Tegen!” she cried,
grabbing my arm. “You know he gets violent when he
drinks!”

“
Fuck that,” I said,
shaking her off. “He’s gonna get a foot to the dick if he tries
anything.”

Shoving her car keys in the front
pocket of my jeans, I grabbed the doorknob and waited for it. The
second Jase started pounding again, I quickly flipped the lock and
threw open the door. I ducked Jase’s fist and went barreling into
his midsection. Caught off guard, he stumbled backward.

“
Fuck!” he bellowed,
grabbing for the railing before he went tumbling down the
stairs.

“
Lock this!” I shouted as
I turned to pull the front door closed.

“
D!” Jase yelled, having
pulled himself back to standing and lunging for the door. I jumped
in front of him and grabbed a handful of his shirt. “Stop!” I
yelled. “Stop it right now!”

Jase blinked down at me through
bloodshot brown eyes ringed in dark circles.

“
Tegen?”

Duh.

“
Yes, Jason,” I bit out.
“Now, turn your drunk ass around and let’s get in the
car.”

“
What?” He blinked again,
looking confused.

“
The car!” I yelled,
pointing to my mother’s four-door sedan in the driveway. “Get in
the damn car! I’m taking you home!”

“
I need to see D first,”
he slurred, slapping at my arm, trying to pull free.

“
Jason!” I screamed. “You
will either get in the car or I will go inside, get a baseball bat,
and use it to beat the shit out of your motherfucking
Harley!”

“
Tegen,” he said hoarsely,
and his eyes began to fill. “Please, please let me see
her.”

Shit.

It was one thing to see a grown man
cry, but it was another thing to watch a six-foot-plus,
two-hundred-and-thirty-pound man covered head to toe in leather
break down in front of you.

Still holding his shirt, with my free
hand I reached up and slapped him across the face.

“
How many bikers am I
going to have to slap this weekend?” I yelled. “Get your shit
together! Do you really think she wants to see you like this? No!
She doesn’t. You look like fucking shit, you smell like fucking
shit, and you’re a babbling, crying mess! Nobody wants to see you
like this! Now, get in the car before I call Deuce and he makes you
sit in the corner for acting like a douchebag!”

Jase’s mouth flattened. “Don’t call
him.”

“
I will,” I said,
releasing him with a small shove. “If you don’t walk your ass off
this porch and get IN THE MOTHERFUCKING CAR!”

Jase lost his balance and his boot slid
backward off the top step. Any other time, under any other
circumstances, I would have found humor in watching Jase fall off a
three-step porch and land on his ass. But this was just
sad.

“
I’m fine,” he said,
struggling to get to his feet.

“
Great,” I muttered,
grabbing his arm. “I can rest easy tonight.”

Once I had him buckled into the
passenger seat, I glanced back at the condo and found my mother
standing at the window, staring at Jase, tears streaming down her
cheeks.

What a fucking mess.

• • •

“
Where the fuck is the
Patrón?” Cage demanded from behind the bar.

Cox, who was seated opposite him,
jerked his thumb over at Blue. “Wake the fuck up, you old drunk!”
he yelled. “You’re sleepin’ on top of the Patrón!”

Blue cracked an eyelid and gave Cox a
toothless grin. “Get outta my face, ya fuckin’ crazy little spic,”
he slurred. “This baby’s mine.” Then the old bastard fell promptly
back to sleep.

Cage remembered his father saying once,
a long time ago, that Blue had been around seventy-five, but that
he wasn’t really sure and could very well have been eighty-five or
ninety-five, for all he knew. Which, if that were true, Blue could
be well over a hundred now and looked it. Still drank like a damn
fish, though.

“
Fuck,” Cage muttered as
he headed back around the bar and took a seat on the stool beside
Cox. Pulling a pack of smokes out of his cut, he shook several out
and offered one to Cox.

Accepting, the man nodded his thanks
and lit it up.

“
So, you gonna spill?” Cox
asked after blowing out a ring of smoke.

Cage glanced at him. “Spill
what?”

“
Brother, you took off
gunnin’ after the hippie bitch last night and ain’t never came
back. I ain’t stupid, so fuckin’ spill. I ain’t gotten ass in
almost two months. Gotta live vicariously through my
brothers.”

Cage made a face. “You and Kami?
Fuckin’ seriously, dude? Since when aren’t you two maulin’ each
other like pit bulls in heat?”

“
She wants another kid,”
Cox muttered and Cage raised his eyebrows.

What was with all these old fuckers
wanting more kids lately? Eva and Kami were nearing forty. But
seeing as Eva was pregnant, it made sense that Kami would want to
be pregnant too. Whatever those two did, they always did it
together.

“
I got three damn kids
already,” Cox continued, “and I ain’t wantin’ no more. So she cut
me off. Says I ain’t gettin’ pussy until I agree to shoot her up.
And my little dudes ain’t gettin’ near that hungry-ass pussy of
hers, not until she stops actin’ crazy. So, motherfuckin’
spill.”

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head,
Cage stubbed out his smoke on the counter ashtray. “I fucked her.
The end.”

Cox gaped at him. “The fuckin’ end?
Seriously, brother? No fuckin’ details?”

Cage glared at him. “What the fuck
kinda details you lookin’ for? Dude, you’re old enough to be her
fuckin’ dad, you’ve been knowin’ her since she was just a little
kid, and you really want to be hearin’ about her pussy?”

Cox stared at him, unfazed.

“
This is Tegen we’re
talkin’ about,” Cage continued, starting to feel his temper rise.
“Tegen? D’s little girl? Am I hittin’ a nerve yet,
fucker?”

Cox lifted his shoulder in a
halfhearted shrug. “I get what you’re sayin’, brother, but look at
it from my point of view. True, I watched that crazy-haired,
shit-talkin’ little fucker grow up, then she took off for college
and when she showed back up, she looked nothin’ like she used to.
So from where I’m standin’, that ain’t Tegen, not our Tegen, that’s
a hot piece of ass.”

Cage’s already rising temper flared to
life and his arm shot out. Gripping Cox’s shirt collar, he pulled
them nose to nose. “My hot piece of ass,” he growled. “Which you do
not fuckin’ talk about.”

Cage froze.
What?

What the fuck?

Why the fuck…

Where in
motherfucking-shit-fucking-hell-fucking bullshit had that come
from?

Cox started laughing and Cage abruptly
released him.

Forget that he’d called her “his,” he’d
actually gotten upset to the point he’d just nearly knocked Cox out
for talking about her like she was a club whore when in reality
she’d treated him like the whore.

Suddenly, Cage was feeling things he
wasn’t used to feeling. He was pissed, yeah. He felt kind of
slighted too, and most definitely annoyed. But…

Disappointment. Yeah, when it came to
women that was a new one.

Inadequacy. Fuck him. Had he been
horrible? Had she not been as into him as he’d been to
her?

And…jealousy.

Did she have someone else in Cali? Had
she taken off because she’d felt guilty?

Suddenly he was hoping like hell she
had someone back home. Because that meant it hadn’t been him that
ran her off and…

FUCK.

No, no, he was getting pissed off again
thinking about her going home to…who? Her boyfriend? He wracked his
brain, trying to think if he’d heard Eva or Danny mention a
boyfriend and, shit, he didn’t know, he didn’t pay attention to
that shit.

The sound of Cox’s hysterical laughter
brought him up short.

“
Dude,” Cox choked out,
clutching his stomach. “Ripper said once you were hard up for that
little shit and I didn’t fuckin’ believe him, but holy Mary, Mother
of God, you are! Straight up! You should see the look on your
face!”

Cage was considering knocking him out
when out of nowhere a hand slammed down on the counter between them
and they both glanced up to find Deuce glaring down at
them.

“
That little shit you’re
talkin’ about,” Deuce growled, “is at the fuckin’ gate.”

Both Cage and Cox glanced over at the
security monitor and sure enough, there was Tegen’s angry face on
the screen. It was obvious she was yelling but since the sound
button wasn’t being pressed, nobody could hear what she was
saying.

“
Jase is with her,” Deuce
continued, pointing. He sure was. Slumped face forward into the
dashboard and all.

“
I ain’t gettin’ him,” Cox
said. “That motherfucker is heavy.”

“
What fuckin’ good are
you,” Deuce demanded. “You sit around, drink my fuckin’ booze, eat
my fuckin’ food, you’re always talkin’ about Kami this and Kami
that, and makin’ my fuckin’ head hurt.”

Cage didn’t hear the rest, he was
already out the front door, headed for the gate.

The moment she saw him, Tegen jumped
out of Dorothy’s car. “Get this motherfucker out of my mom’s car!”
she screamed. “He’s already puked twice and I can’t be certain but
he might have shit himself too!”

“
Calm the fuck down!” he
shouted back as he punched in the sequence of numbers that would
open the gate.

“
Calm the fuck down?”
Tegen shrieked. Cage winced. Jesus fucking Christ, this bitch
needed to be strangled.

“
He shows up drunk,
scaring the crap out of my mom and making her cry, and now he’s
puked and possibly shit all over her car, and you want me to calm
the fuck down?”

Nostrils flaring, Cage stormed through
the open gate and right up into her face.

“
Do you ever shut the fuck
up?” he growled. “Ever?”

Tegen closed the remaining inch between
them. “Only when I’m taking it up the ass,” she hissed.

He was so used to Tegen’s dirty mouth
that he’d thought nothing she said could faze him, but he’d been
wrong. That statement caught him so far off guard, he nearly fell
over. It also made his cock twitch. And a little pissed off. And,
why the fuck did she smell so good? Like soap and…breakfast. Damn.
He was seriously hungry. For both food and pussy. Her
pussy.