Page 14 of Cassie
Tug leaned in and removed her keys from the ignition. He turned to look up at Hoss, then with a grin, tossed the ring to Hoss who caught them in midair and slipped them into his front pocket. Deep. Cassie’s muffled shout of surprise died in her throat when she looked up at him, and he finally saw in her eyes the recognition he didn’t even know he had been wanting.Fuck. She’d ridden with them, only thinking she knew Tugboat out of more than eighty-five men.Jesus. Rough men, one-percenters all.Brave.
“Mr. Rogers,” she said softly, and then she gave something else he didn’t even know he wanted. A smile so sweet and soft that it nearly took his legs from underneath him.A man would do a lot to be worthy of those, he thought, and he nodded at her, unable for a moment to speak.
“Cassie,” he finally gritted out and if anything that smile became more. Brighter, sunnier.More.
“You remember me,” she cried with soft joy, and that took his legs, too, right before it carried his cock to half-mast. Fuck, he wanted to hear her call out for other reasons now, dark and carnal, taking what he gave her and giving back to him.
“Of course I do, gorgeous.” His voice was lower than he intended, coming out as more of a growl than anything and her eyes widened in surprise. “Told you, gal, my friends call me Hoss.” He felt a presence at his back and knew it was Tug. Hoss was finally able to ask the question that had been battering at him for thirty miles. “How do you know this old reprobate?” He threw an elbow back and caught Tug just under the diaphragm with a hard blow, pulling a loud oof out of him.
“Tug taught me to ride,” she responded, like that answer made any sense at all.
“But how did you meet him?” Hoss pushed, seriously wondering what was going on.
“Well, I bought a bike,” she started, then ducked her chin, a blush creeping up her cheeks. “But I didn’t know how to ride.”
“I did the same thing.” An amused shout came from behind them, and Hoss twisted to see Captain standing there. “I dropped twenty large on a bike and didn’t know the first thing about them. Just knew I wanted to ride.”
“Yeah,” she said, “same thing here. Except the price. That much money? That’s crazy.” She laughed softly. “Tug was the one who delivered it, and he made an offer that if I needed anything, I could call. It was a couple weeks later, but I did. And he made good on his promise.” She grinned up at Tug. “Patient is a word I’ve never seen demonstrated before, but I learned the meaning well while watching him deal with me over these past weeks.”
“Weeks?” Captain scoffed. “That’s weak, sister. I learned in three days.” He held up a hand, pointing three fingers at Cassie. “Three days, that’s all it took me.” He gave a fist pump. “Bam. Toasted you. And, I’ve had a ton of concussions.” He pointed those same three fingers at his temple. “Can’t learn anything anymore.” He turned to Hoss, a quizzical look on his face, “Who’re you again?” He grinned. “Plus it was the way to my woman’s heart. Biker chick through and through. Couldn’t woo the woo without the ride, ya know?”
Everyone laughed, as was Captain’s intent. With the attention pulled off her, Cassie stood up and off the bike, stepping closer to Tug, which coincidently put her near Hoss, too. As the men began drifting towards the diner, she leaned over and asked, voice quiet with uncertainty, “Can I sit with you?”
“Sure thing, pretty lady,” Tug said, reaching out and taking her hand in his as Hoss held his breath. He remembered that touch was a trigger for her, but apparently not around Tug, because she folded her fingers around his, holding on tightly as she let him pull her towards the diner.
Just inside the door, Deke stopped Hoss, hand to his chest and they watched Tug walk away, taking Cassie to a booth where he slid in first, letting her take the outside seat. Hoss cut his eyes to Deke, ready for what he thought was coming. He was surprised when instead he got, “PBJ said you might want to split off. I can still take folks to the CHs like we planned. This wasn’t a far detour, Prez.”
Not trusting it, he nodded slowly, waiting. Deke gave him a chin lift, then said, “Can’t let you just wing it with Tug. I’ll leave you Tequila and Mojo. Cool?” Hoss nodded again, eyeballing Deke still, which earned him a brusque, “What? I like Cassie. Been picking Tug up at her house. He’s told me about her.”
With a scowl, Hoss said, “Seems everybody except me knew he was teaching her to ride.”
There wasn’t a question in there, but he got a response anyway. “Didn’t know you knew her, boss. We all saw how you were today, though, so I think every man Jack of us sees it now. We weren’t tryin’ to hide shit, brother.”
Saw how I was with her today?Hoss frowned and waved off Deke’s words. “Tequila and Mojo seems a bit much. Just give me a prospect.”
“Fuck that noise,” Deke scoffed. “Prez ain’t riding with his woman without a corps of color at his back. Three is hardly a show of force, but I figure it’s all you’ll give on.”
“Ain’t my woman,” Hoss said softly. His gaze cut to where Cassie sat next to Tug, her posture stiff and tense, hands on either side of a tall menu with a hundred choices.Fuck. Too much. That’ll be tough for her.He took a step in that direction.
“You’re a fool, then. Didn’t take you for one, not knowing in your gut what it’s like to have that.” Deke’s words snagged his full attention, and he twisted on a heel to stare at him, confused.
“The fuck you mean by that?” Hoss scowled, lines etched in his face from sorrow and the elements settled deeper, and he had to work to keep his shoulders down as anger began to build inside him.
“Saw you with Hope, brother.” That hit Hoss like a punch in the chest, the open reference to Hope so unlike Deke it went beyond unexpected. His patch brother had always been careful around the topic, tied tightly to his own old lady, Hope’s sister. “Always loved how you were together. She was family to my woman,” Deke’s words continued low and slow, each one soft with care. “Brother, I know you remember what that’s like.” He paused, and Hoss waited, unsure how to respond. Then Deke hit him again. “What I saw today, I know you see the possibility again.” Deke paused a moment and glanced away from Hoss and across the room at Cassie. “Least I fancy you see it. Want that for you, brother. My whole heart wants you to have that again. Have it good, and sweet. Woman who’s pleased you remember her, who’s easy with your friends. Woman who wanted to be remembered but didn’t expect anything. Sweet worth working for when it smiles at you like that.” Hoss turned to stare at her again, surprised that Deke’s continued sharing was changing his pain, smoothing it away from the surface. Something about having a man he trusted like Deke recognize this ethereal thing between Hoss and Cassie gave it weight it didn’t have before. Hoss stared at Cassie while Deke finished, his voice rough. “Want that for you so fucking bad, brother. Do anything to give it to you.”
“Yeah, well, she ain’t my woman,” he said again, just as soft as before. He paused, then with a hard swallow, took a leap he hadn’t ever expected to make again in his life. Not after his Hope died. “Might could be, though. You got that in one.” Her eyes were jittering across the menu and he took another step in her direction. “I want that for me, too, brother. Want to be inside that kind of sweet again in my world. Thanks, man.” Deke clapped a hand to his shoulder and gave him a shove as he turned to sit at a different table.
Hoss walked to the booth and sat down, reflexively reaching out to touch Cassie’s hand but pulled back before making contact. He gave Tug a chin lift and then tipped his head towards her, pulling the man’s attention to her tension. “Cassie,” he called, watching as her eyes flicked up from the menu, rising only to his throat then stopping on his chin. He smiled, and her gaze darted higher, resting on his lips now. “You got any allergies?”
Her head shook side to side, but her gaze didn’t leave his mouth.
“You a vegan or some shit like that?”
That earned him a snort along with a tiny grin, there and gone in a moment. And even though it faded fast, when she shook her head with a lilt in her voice, she said, “Nope.”
“Lemme order for you, yeah?”
Her gaze flew up, locking with his. He saw the moment she realized he had recognized how tough this was for her. Her lips trembled, and with a tortured whisper she told him, “There’s just somuch.”
