Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Case
I watch Tessa Harlow walk away, curiously. She’s definitely a spitfire, like those sexy sparkling eyes suggested last night. I should be pissed; she was rude, haughty, and threatening, and had zero right to be, but I’m not the least bit angry. And I certainly don’t want to exert my power and will over her like one of my former MC brothers might. Well, maybe my power, but only if she were willing. Nothing like holding a feisty, but consenting, girl, down. Maybe I’m not angry because Lily warned me. Maybe because I know too much about Tessa’s past. Or maybe because I’ve always liked the feisty ones. Either way, at this point in my life, feisty is exactly the opposite of what I need. Too bad my dick doesn’t agree.
I need to push Tessa out of my head so I can focus on work, but the woman’s firecracker attitude, gorgeous face and hot-as-hell body aren’t the only parts of her that pull at me. There’s something in her eyes, something I connect with on a deeper level—pain, loneliness, pride maybe? And it reminds me of a conversation I had with her grandmother before she died.
Tessa’s grandmother was a no-bullshit, straight shooter who never sugarcoated anything, including what a stubborn diva her granddaughter could be—and her opinion on how to fix that—but there were a lot of good things she’d said too. And there was no mistaking the love in her eyes. Something about her expression when she spoke of Tessa struck a chord. Maybe because, like Lily Harlow would do anything for Tessa, I would do anything for Reece.
I knew the story behind why Lily raised her granddaughter. How Tessa’s parents were humanitarians, who wanted to help the world, but forgot they had a daughter who needed them. I’m sure it’s this that’s the cause of Tessa’s prickly, standoff-ish ways. And maybe that’s where I can relate to the younger Ms. Harlow.
It’s why I became a cop. Law enforcement was a brotherhood. Your fellow officers had your back, and you had theirs, but that loyalty went even deeper in Motorcycle Club life—maybe because you lived and breathed it twenty-four-seven. The bad and often horrific shit they did, and the members that got off on it held no appeal to me, but the guys who were like me, who grew up in loveless families, never having anyone that understood them—they were the reason I was drawn so deeply into club life and why I secretly struggle with betraying them.
I don’t sleep well; I jog every night, and work out for hours. I keep trying to kill the internal struggle. My strong sense of justice is at war with the bad shit I had to do undercover, and the fiercely loyal side of me battles with the cop that betrayed some of the men I’d come to consider brothers.
I shove the derailed thoughts aside, hearing Lily’s voice in my head again.
“She’s a good girl. Sweet, loyal and loving, but she’s often clueless how she comes across and speaks before she thinks. Sometimes my girl forgets how to interact with people outside of the ones she makes up in her head. That’s her parent’s fault. And by the time I’d gotten her, she’d already learned that the world was a disappointing place, and things were much better in her made-up worlds.
She was a feisty one, probably got that from me, but broken too. My girl needed a lot of love, attention and sometimes some good old-fashioned discipline to pull her out of her head—help her see I was stickin’ by her, that I loved her, and that she could trust that I wasn’t leaving her, but that I wasn’t putting up with her shenanigans either.”
Her eyes had darted up to mine as soon as she’d said it. She watched me for my reaction, and when I gave her none, she continued.
“Now I don’t believe in rough-handling, Case Callen. Know that now. What I do believe in is discipline that comes from a place of care and is given only when needed for someone’s own good…” She grinned then. “Or wanted.” Her grin had turned into a wide smile, showing me a gap where she was missing an eyetooth which somehow only added to her feisty old lady look.
“Sometimes a lady wants a stern man to take her in hand, fight for her, let her know she’s cared for and protected, and then she’ll probably want a good roll in the hayloft.”
I’d laughed at that, a belly laugh, and even though I would never lay a hand on a child, I knew things were different in her day. She’d poured me another four fingers of whiskey after that. It was clear in the woman’s expression when she talked of her granddaughter how much she loved her. And admittedly, I was envious. I’d never had a backup. Only my parents and their cold indifference.
“You’ll watch out for her when she comes back, Case Callen?”
I’d only grunted at her words until she snatched the sales contract out of my hands.
“She’s got no one once I’m gone. And I know she’ll be back here sooner or later. She’s married some twat because she gave him traits in her head that he ain’t never had or maybe because she didn’t think she deserved better. But behind his gameshow-host smile, he’s got nothing good. And if you won’t promise right now to watch out for my girl, then I’ll sell to someone who will. You promise me, Case Callen. Promise me, you’ll run off any rat bastard that comes for her.”
I’d agreed then, thinking the rich and famous author would never come back here to Lily Harlow’s little cottage, and that was fine by me because I didn’t need any more complications in my life. Especially because the woman she described was exactly my type and the thought of taming her made my cock twitch. But now, as I watch Tessa walk away, the promise I made weighs heavy on me.
Tessa Harlow needs someone, even if it’s just a friend. I know way too much about her and maybe it’s clouding my judgment or hell, maybe I’m going soft, but promise or not, I suddenly want to be that friend.
I turn, running my hand over my beard, the sight of her round ass swaying as she storms off burned into my mind, making my palm itch and my jeans a little snugger than they were before. The threat though. That was serious and I can’t afford that kind of trouble.
I grab my hammer from my tool belt and start pounding in nails. The work keeps my mind free of the shit that’s constantly clogging it. And that shit just got heavier with my neighbor. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can stop me from winning my daughter back. She’s the most important thing in my life and some sexy-but-feisty neighbor with a very spankable ass and her grandmother’s words cannot distract me from that goal.