Blackout (23 page)

He turns on her. “Shannon, we have nothing, so stop what you’re doing. I’m done with all your drama.”

Dare zips up his suit, dons a helmet, gets into his car, and revs the engine. Other cars have already lined up. He drives into position, which is near the front.

Kami taps my chest while walking in front of me. I’m still in a daze. My lips and cheeks are on fire from his feral passion and his rough beard.

I don’t know how I’ll watch him race while my body wants to finish what we started.

Shannon swivels toward me, and I realize from her clenched fists and surly expression, she is going to kick my ass. Before she gets within a foot of me, Jackson yanks her backward, almost throwing her to the ground. “Stay the hell away from Teal.”

A minute ago, he didn’t want Dare near me, but he must dislike Shannon way more. The Tuckers have always had interesting family dynamics, fiercely loyal, yet painfully mean to each other.

Kami elbows me. “I can’t believe you just did that. I was just messing with you. Lots of psychos kiss really well.”

My focus lies on Dare and the starting line. That kiss. That amazing kiss. It told me a lot about him and about us. “He would never hurt me.”

Concern embeds into her brow. “You better be sure about that because he has a long rap sheet as a juvenile. You weren’t the only one on his list.”

“I remember that he tried to help me, and he made some bad choices because of that day. We both have.” I loop my arm in hers. Dare is complicated, more than I ever thought. “Let’s watch the race.”

We go to the fence to watch, and Ryan walks over.

“Are you still mad?” he asks, gaging her reaction on whether he should caress her or not.

“No,” Kami says. “I’ll come to the races with you the next time, and you can bring your friends and I’ll bring mine.” She grins at me.

“That’s fair.” His arms coil around her. “I love you.”

“That’s debatable.” She kisses him and taps his nose. “And I forgive your lack of judgment.”

Both his arms embrace her from behind while he rocks her back and forth. “Good, because I doubt I could handle you dumping me.”

I like to see my friends happy and in love. Once I’m better, I’d like to be in that same place, serious about a man.

The race starts, and Dare’s car holds position through the first several laps. He’s good. A few of the sponsors talk about him behind us. They like what they see. In the next leg, he pushes the car hard and takes the lead.

On the third to last lap, his car slows down and smoke spills out from the seams of the hood. He pulls the car off the track and into the pit. There’s no way he can make up the time now. The sponsors shake their heads and walk away. Why are they leaving? It’s obviously not his driving but the car.

Dare gets out of his car, cusses at himself, unstraps his helmet, takes it off, and chucks it into the car.

“I told you to take it easy on her,” Jackson says. “Come on. If you wouldn’t have pushed her so hard in the trials, you would’ve won. No one is going to take you now. That was our shot.”

Dare clenches his fists at his side. “We can come back next year.”

“That’s a year lost,” Jackson grumbles.

Sam swaggers over to his brothers. “Well that sucked a big one, little bro. What happened?”

Dare’s gaze flicks over to me, and heat flares in my chest and burns all the way to my toes, which cramp in my sandals. “I was distracted.”

“You can’t afford distractions,” Sam says. “None of us Tuckers can afford an expensive distraction, like a beach house girl.” He glances my way, chuckling.

Dare rests his elbows on top of the car’s roof. “You staying out of jail this time, Sam?”

“I won’t let them put me back in there.”

The Tucker boys swarm. They’re all handsome with varying differences. Jackson is the tallest then Dare. Sam is the darkest and Randy was always the sweetest.

“We should get you to work,” Kami says, checking her watch.

I nod and turn away from the Tucker reunion. As we walk out toward the pit gate, a hand tugs on my arm to spin me around.

“Teal,” Dare starts, “On Monday, I’ll pick you up around eleven or a little after, and we’ll go to the courthouse.”

I’m a little surprised, but this will be good for both of us. “Are you sure?”

“You’re my ticket out now.” He winks at me. “So don’t let me down.”

My lips still burn from Dare’s amazing, rough kiss. There’s a slight redness where his stubble grazed my chin.

Keeping Dare on the edge of my mind, I flip through the wad of bills I’ve already earned tonight from working the back porch. The money here is pretty good, so I’ve put away a few bucks already.

Shannon bumps me into the bar. “Lacey and I will take outside tonight. You and Ella are inside.”

“No way,” I say, half considering batting her with my cast. I feel slightly empowered after Dare’s rejection of her.

Ella comes by, nudging me. “That’s okay. We’ll take the inside.”

“Good.” Shannon flips her long hair back over one shoulder. She leans over to whisper, “Dare goes through girls like you all the time. He’ll be back. He always come back to me.”

How many? I wonder. I’ve never really thought about what he did in high school and since then. He dated Lisa Skittleharp in middle and high school, but I don’t know what he did while I lived in Paris.

Shannon gives me one of those I-know-more-than-you-do smirks, and it sends a wave of doubt rumbling through my stomach. Is the kiss about Dare getting even with Shannon for cheating on him? From what he said to her, it didn’t sound that way. His kiss was so full of passion and unspoken promises.

Shannon gives me a little wave on her way out.

“I like it outside,” I say to Ella.

“There’s some bike rally, so Carolina’s expecting a huge crowd, and with the band, they’ll stay inside,” Ella says. “Better tips for us.”

Ella and I split up the tables with the new barmaid, while Carolina and two other bartenders serve drinks. The country and western band warms up. Most of the band members remind me of Duck Dynasty with their long beards and wild hair.

Several of the regular bikers wave hi to me and Ella, and we share a large table packed with old bikers who must be in for the rally. They save several seats, but for whom I don’t know.

Wiggins pats me on the back. “This here is the girl who stole my bike. Can you believe a one-armed bandit got the best of me?”

A few slap their knees, guffawing. One says, “You can steal my bike any day as long as you take me along for the ride.”

I smile and say, “What can I get you boys?”

Whenever the door opens, I startle and watch for Dare. I wonder if I’ll see him tonight. He said Monday.

For the next three hours, Ella and I bust our asses to keep up with the crowd. The inside is wall to wall with bikers and locals. Shannon struts inside to pick up an order. Her mouth gapes open upon seeing the crowd inside. She stalks over to Carolina and gives her an earful. “I want back inside. I have seniority.”

“You gave it up,” Carolina says, filling drink orders. “Get back to work.”

I’d like to switch because I like being outside close to the beach, and I almost speak up until all the Tucker brothers swagger into the bar. They go right to the big table Ella and I have waited on.

Sam gives a hearty back slap to Wiggins and shakes several hands. Randy sits by Dare, but when Dare sees me, he winks.

Dare sets two small jewelry sized boxes adorned with red ribbons on the table. I eye them curiously.

“Damn,” Sam says. “Is it being locked up with a bunch of men or have the waitresses gotten a hell of lot prettier, especially my Carolina.” His gaze lands on me though then Dare.

I avert my eyes away from Dare, but it’s as if they can’t keep away. When Ella and I take their orders, he gives me that cocky half grin of his. My knees almost give out. That kiss hasn’t left my mouth.

Chuckling, he braces my hips. “A little shaky there.”

Is he always going to save me? I need to stand on my own two feet, not let some man unglue me.

Carolina comes over to the table. “Hey, Sam. Don’t be gettin’ all comfy. I need your help.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Sam pulls her down into his lap and kisses her loudly on the lips. “You are the oasis in a desert. I will do anything your heart desires.”

“After you spend some time with your friends, you can get behind the bar,” she says.

“Bring us a few rounds of tequila shots first,” Sam says, eyeing me over real good. “There’s Dare’s nemesis.”

Dare stares at me so intensely heat pumps into my body, like my curling iron burned me. After Ella and I bring them shots, the whole table slams them down.

Sam punches Jackson in his shoulder. “What can we dare our little bro to do before I go off to work?”

Shannon comes in from outside. She immediately spots Dare and struts over to the table. I back away to the bar to wait on my next order. Jackson glares at her, but that doesn’t stop her.

“I bet Darius cannot out drink you, Jackson,” Sam says, slugging down the next shot.

“I know I can do that,” Dare says. “You’re going to have to make it harder than that.”

“You were always the shy one around girls,” Jackson says, slinging an arm around Dare. “You didn’t let Lisa pop your cherry until you were fifteen, and that girl begged for it.”

Jackson searches around the bar, his gaze landing on Shannon. “I dare you to kiss the prettiest waitress in here, excluding Carolina. That would piss Sam off too much, and he’s already been in jail once.”

Sam smooches on her again.

Shannon grins, like she’s won first prize for best steer at the county fair. “Come here, Darius.”

“I’ll have none of that,” Carolina says. “Dare already takes care of one of my girls as it is.”

“It’s not Shannon any more,” Jackson says.

Shannon glares at him. “Like hell Darius won’t.”

“Then it shouldn’t be too hard for him to decide.” Sam dips Carolina back for another Hollywood kiss, causing her to gasp.

Dare immediately stands, and I back pedal. What if he kisses Shannon instead, it would crush me.

Ella watches me with amusement. “You like one of the Tucker boys, and he likes you back,” she says in a singsong voice.

Dare doesn’t hesitate but walks right past Shannon. His gaze so smoking hot on me that my body smolders.

Shannon goes to him, her eyes narrowed like a predatory cat, but Jackson blocks her way.

“I said the prettiest girl, not the skankiest,” Jackson says.

“Don’t talk to me that way,” she says.

Jackson snorts. “I’ve never liked you.”

“And you like the girl who gave your brother a record?”

“That’s for them to work out. Darius is a big boy. He can handle little Teal, and they are both adults now.”

Shannon sways her hips over to Sam and plops down on his lap.

He pushes her off, and the look on her face is priceless. “Shannon, I do not want my little brother’s rejects.”

Carolina doesn’t appear too happy either. “Shannon, get your ass back to work now.”

Dare marches over to me while I stand at the bar frozen. He sweeps me into his arm and gives me one of those heart stopping, breath-stealing kisses. I taste beer on his tongue. When he finally lets me up for air, my lungs heave in large gulps.

“Happy Birthday, Teal,” he rasps.

The first kiss. The second kiss. Can I handle this? Someone as messed up as me? Someone who has branded my heart.

“It’s your birthday?” Ella and Carolina say in unison.

“I completely forgot,” Carolina says, smacking her forehead. “It was on your application.”

She leaves the Tucker table. “I better get back to work before I have a bunch of angry bikers to deal with.”

Dare snatches the gift boxes off the table, and grabs me by the waist. “Come with me.”

“No, no, no,” Carolina cries. “Leave my waitresses alone. They have work to do.”

“Don’t worry,” Dare calls over his shoulder. “I’ll bring her right back. Maybe.”

He hauls me into the women’s bathroom. After he checks the stalls to ensure they’re empty, he hands me one of the boxes. “Open it.” He’s grinning, innocent and sweet. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that in him.

He’s so close I smell his cinnamon sun-kissed skin. “What are you doing Dare?” The kisses. Is this real?

“Besides remembering your birthday? You know why I’m here, Teal.” His strong hand reaches behind me and presses against my back. “I came to collect on the promise you made in that kiss today.”

I know exactly what he’s talking about, and it glues me to the spot where I’m standing.

It’s hard to breathe. His nearness, his dead seriousness, the sensuality dripping from his body and his tongue. The scent of him on me. The mischievous sparkle in his hazel eyes. I have to stop looking at him.

“I’ll take you home tonight.” His voice is low and sexy.

My mind is practically mush. “You can’t drive. You’re drinking.”

“Three o’clock is a long way off, and who said I was driving. You can drive the Shelby to your house.” His thumb circles on my back, causing me to tremble.

“You know I shouldn’t drive.”

“I steady you in some ways.” He nuzzles my neck. The hairs on my neck stand at attention for him.

His finger wears a hole in my back and my heart. “Now would be a good time to say no to my proposition,” he says into my hair. “Because once we start I won’t be able to stop.” His voice rumbles in my ear and flutters in my stomach.

I untie the box’s ribbon, my heart thumping so loud it drowns out my rapid breathing. Inside the box is a shell bracelet. “What I always wanted,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around him for a kiss. “I love it.”

“That’s the one I made for you when you were eight. I added on a few extra shells since you’re older now. You’re no longer a child but a woman.” He inhales my hair. “I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but then…” His voice sounds suddenly broken, and he shifts his weight uncomfortably.

And then we were separated. My arms tug on his neck. I squeeze my breasts against his chest. His heart races underneath his short sleeved Henley. “I adore the bracelet.”