Chapter Six
The dismissal bell screeched through the hallways just as Tessa stepped into Dillon’s classroom. The noise was a shock after twenty minutes of relative quiet in the counselor’s office, where she’d waited for his meeting with the school’s admin to wrap up.
Kids poured out of classrooms like a tide, voices rising, lockers slamming, backpacks thumping against legs. Dillon spotted her through the crowd and his face split into a relieved grin.
“Tess!” Dillon called out to her.
He pushed his way toward her, gangly and bright-eyed, fourteen and somehow taller every week she saw him.
After her first failed visit to the trailer, she finally saw Dillon on her second visit.
She pulled him out of there and social services assigned him a new and decent guardian.
He didn’t look like the neglected kid she pulled out of that hellhole just a few days ago.
He finally looked like somebody who knew he was safe.
That alone made her chest ache.
“You done?” she asked, stepping aside so a group of girls could squeeze past.
“Yeah. Ms. Carter said she’ll email you the form about the weekend program.” Dillon pushed his backpack higher on his shoulder. “We can go now if you want. I’m starving.”
Tessa smiled. “You’re always starving.”
He opened his mouth, probably to argue even though it was true, but his gaze snagged on something behind her. His expression shuttered, light dimming instantly.
Tessa stiffened. “What?”
He swallowed hard, eyes fixed over her shoulder. “Don’t turn around,” the kid blurted. He sounded downright scared.
Her pulse blipped. Ice slid down her spine. This couldn’t be good.
“Dillon,” she said quietly, “what’s happening?”
But she already knew. She’d felt something off the moment she stepped onto the school grounds. A pressure, a prickle at the base of her skull, the sensation of eyes where eyes shouldn’t be. She tried to pass it off as paranoid, that she was overthinking things.
Brick would’ve noticed. Brick always noticed, but she hadn’t seen him. He’d sent her a text an hour ago saying he was “handling something for the club.”
She had tried to believe that she would be safe on her own, even for a few hours.
Dillon’s breath stuttered. “Tessa, he’s coming,” he whispered.
Tessa turned. A man leaned against the row of lockers across the hall. He was wearing a leather cut with the Iron Serpents’ patch. He had his greasy blond hair shoved under a backwards cap.
Threatening tattoos crawled up one side of his neck like a vine of thorns. He wasn’t huge, but he had the lazy, predatory look of amusement most members of the Iron Serpents wore like a second skin.
He grinned when their eyes met. Well, shit.
“Afternoon, sweetheart,” he drawled, pushing off the lockers. His boots echoed sharply as he came closer, weaving effortlessly through the thinning pack of kids. “Been looking for you.”
Dillon moved to stand in front of her like he could shield her, but she gently pushed him behind her. Dillon was sweet to protect her, but she was the adult here. She should be the one protecting him.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said. Her voice came out steadier than she felt. “This is a school.”
“Yeah, well, lucky for me I don’t give a fuck.” His grin widened. “Boss wants a word.”
Her stomach dropped. “Tell your boss to grow a spine and talk to me himself.”
The man’s face twitched. It was just a flicker of temper, but Tessa caught it, smoothing it over with something uglier.
“Cute. But he said bring you back one way or another.” His gaze slipped down her body, slow and deliberate. “Don’t really gotta make it pleasant.”
Dillon sucked in a sharp breath. Tessa’s heart hammered. The hallway was almost empty now, only a few stragglers and a teacher locking a classroom door near the far end. Too far, and there were too many walls.
Too few witnesses who would actually step in when a man with a biker patch started getting handsy. She forced her chin up.
“You get one warning. Walk away,” Tessa told him.
“Ooh.” He took another step. “Or what? You gonna—”
A shadow tore into her peripheral vision.
A force hit the Iron Serpent member so fast she barely registered movement, just a thundering impact as the man was slammed against the lockers hard enough to rattle the entire row. His head bounced off the metal, his breath knocked out of him in one ugly grunt.
Brick. He had one massive hand fisted in the guy’s collar, holding him pinned like he weighed nothing. The hallway seemed to shrink around him, the air vibrating with the violence barely leashed in his shoulders.
Tessa had never been so relieved and so terrified at once.
“I swear to God,” Brick growled, his voice low and lethal, “if you touch her again, I will end you.”
The Serpent gasped, clawing at Brick’s wrist. “I didn’t. We’re just talking”
Brick slammed him again. The lockers dented.
“If you touch her again, you die,” Brick said.
The words didn’t come out loud. They came out like a promise, like a vow carved out of concrete.
The Serpent’s bravado shattered instantly. His eyes went wide, breath coming fast and panicked. Brick leaned in, face inches from his, expression carved from pure fury.
“You don’t come near her. You don’t look at her. You don’t breathe in the same direction. You disappear.” Brick’s grip tightened. “Or I’ll make sure your brothers bury what’s left of you in pieces.”
“Brick,” Tessa whispered.
He didn’t look at her. Hell, he didn’t even flinch.
Brick stood there like pure violence carved into a man’s shape, his entire body radiating a possessive rage that made the air feel heavier, hotter.
In that moment, he reminded her of an animal guarding its territory and its mate. Protecting what was his.
Except she wasn’t his. Was she?
The question flashed through her so fast it stole her breath. Her knees softened, threatening to give out right there in the hallway, and she hated how much her body reacted to him. How much she liked knowing he’d come for her.
Somewhere down the hall, a teacher yelled for them to stop, voice cracking with nerves, but Brick didn’t even register it. He didn’t budge or loosen his grip.
Brick refused to give the trembling Serpent a single inch. Not until the other biker finally sagged in defeat, stopped fighting, and started nodding frantically, lips shaking with fear. Only then did Brick release him.
He let go all at once, like a man discarding trash. The Iron Serpent member dropped to the floor, catching himself on one knee before scrambling upright. He didn’t risk a second glance. He bolted for the exit like someone fleeing a wildfire.
Brick didn’t watch him run. He was already turning and when his dark gaze, still charged with leftover fury found her, the entire hallway seemed to fall away.
It was just him and her, the thrum of adrenaline between them, and the brutal truth that he’d nearly torn a man apart because someone threatened her.
“Tess,” Dillon whispered behind her, but she couldn’t breathe enough to answer.
Brick moved toward her, every step heavy with adrenaline. Protective and possessive, Brick was still vibrating with the violence he’d barely restrained.
She braced without meaning to when he reached her. He stopped a foot away, chest rising and falling hard, jaw clenched so tight she wondered if it hurt.
“You okay?” he asked.
The words were interestingly gentle.
“I’m fine,” she tried to say, but her voice cracked on the second word.
Brick flicked his eyes over her, to her face, her hands, and the tension in her shoulders. He took in every detail with the intensity of a man checking for injuries he planned to avenge.
“I shouldn’t have let you come alone.” His voice was rough. “I thought I could keep an eye on you from a distance.”
Tessa blinked. “You ... were following me?”
Brick didn’t look remotely apologetic. “Damn right I was.”
Her breath caught. Dillon looked between them like he understood something she didn’t dare put into words.
“You were supposed to be handling club business,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I did.” His jaw flexed. “Then I came back. Couldn’t shake the feeling something was off.”
A shudder ran through her.
Brick stepped closer, lowering his voice. “He didn’t hurt you?”
“No.” She swallowed. “He just threatened me and Dillon.”
Brick’s expression darkened like a storm cloud rolling over the sun. He turned slightly, like he might go after the man again.
Tessa grabbed his arm without thinking. “Brick.”
He froze. The muscles under her fingers were steel, warm and tense. Slowly, he looked back at her. His eyes softened barely, enough to hit her like a bruise pressed too hard.
“Don’t go,” she said quietly. “Please.”
Brick’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. He lifted a hand and slowly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. His fingers brushed her cheek, warm and rough.
“You scared me,” he murmured.
Her breath stuttered.
Brick, who didn’t fear a damn thing, who walked into fights smiling and took punches like they were suggestions, was looking at her like she was the only thing in the world that could shake him.
Tessa’s chest tightened painfully.
“Let’s get you both home,” he said finally. His voice was low, gentle in a way that didn’t match the fury still radiating off him. “We’ll talk after.”
Dillon nodded quickly, still pale.
Brick guided them to the exit, one large hand hovering near Tessa’s lower back. He wasn’t exactly touching her, but he remained close enough to raise goosebumps down her arms. Every few steps he flicked his gaze to the corners, the doorways, the parking lot beyond.
It was as if Brick was assessing threats she now understood too well.
Outside, the cold afternoon air hit her lungs like a shock. She didn’t realize how tightly she’d been holding herself until they reached the parking lot and she sagged against the curb, adrenaline draining so fast it made her dizzy.
Brick crouched in front of her immediately. “Hey. Breathe.”
“I’m fine,” she said again, but it sounded hollow.
“You’re shaking.”
She looked down. Her hands trembled uncontrollably.
Brick reached out then paused, waiting for permission she didn’t remember granting, then wrapped his fingers around hers, steadying them. His touch wasn’t gentle. It was firm, grounding, and warm.
“Tess.” His voice was soft, almost a whisper. “I’m not letting anything happen to you.”
A laugh tried to escape her, brittle. “You can’t promise that.”
“Yeah,” he said, eyes locked on hers. “I can.”
The certainty in his tone made something inside her wobble.
He wasn’t supposed to care this much. She wasn’t supposed to need him this much.
Dillon shifted awkwardly beside them. “Tess? Can we go home now?”
She nodded quickly. “Yes. Yeah, let’s do that.”
Brick stood and offered her his other hand to help her up. She hesitated only a second before taking it. His grip tightened around hers, steadying her as she rose. He didn’t let go right away.
His gaze flicked to the school doors, then back to her.
“That threat he made?” Brick said quietly. “It won’t happen again.”
Tessa exhaled shakily. “You scared him.”
“I meant to.” His jaw tightened. “No one gets near you like that. Not while I’m breathing.”
Her biker was possessive, fierce and dangerous. And God help her, it warmed her more than it should have. She let go of his hand slowly, though her fingers twitched at the loss of contact.
Brick’s eyes softened for half a second before he turned to Dillon. “Come on. We’ll take your car and I’ll accompany you both home.”
Tessa wondered if her heart would ever stop pounding.
Because underneath the sharp fear still clawing at her ribs was something else. Something terrifying in an entirely different way. She was moved deeply.
Because when Brick arrived like a storm and he’d come for her. No other man had ever done anything like that for her before and it was an addictive and powerful feeling.