My body jolted.

So did Mrs. Jimenez’s.

Oh no!

Buck came out last.

“Tatiana, swear to Christ, you get behind the wheel of your brother’s car pissed—” Buck started.

But he didn’t finish because Tatiana got behind the wheel of her brother’s car pissed. She locked the door. Gear banged on the roof, shouting expletives, but she fired up the engine, and with gravel spewing from the back tires, she sped down the drive.

“Take the Charger,” Buck gritted. Reaching into his jeans’ pocket, he pulled out some keys and tossed them to Gear, who caught them. “Track her, calm her ass down and bring her back. You leave one of the cars. She’s not drivin’. We’ll go pick it up wherever you leave it tomorrow.”

“She fucks up my car, I’ll break her fuckin’ neck,” Gear threatened, stalking to the turquoise car.

“Cool it. Track her, get her ass home,” Buck returned.

Gear nodded, folded into the Charger and took off.

Mrs. Jimenez and I stared after Gear.

Then, in unison, our heads swung to Buck.

“Enchiladas are off,” he bit out.

“Sí,” Mrs. Jimenez agreed, and she didn’t shrink back like I did when Buck prowled to us.

He pulled his wallet out, flipped it open, yanked out some bills, lifted my hand using my wrist and slapped them in my palm.

“Take her out to eat, take her home,” he ordered, replacing his wallet but slapping the keyfob to the SUV on the money in my palm then curling my fingers around it all.

“What…?” I swallowed. “What are you going to do?”

“Have a fuckin’ beer, a shot of tequila, and keep on havin’ ’em so I won’t hop on my bike, hunt down my daughter and rip her a new asshole,” Buck snarled.

Oh dear.

Though, I figured the translation of that was: I’m going to stay home so I’ll be here when my daughter gets back so we can talk this out, Biker Dad and Biker Babe Daughter style. In the meantime, just be home should the police call or come around because my daughter was arrested for excessive speeding, or erratic driving, or something worse happening.

My stomach clutched at that last thought.

“That sounds like a good plan,” I whispered, thinking it did for Buck, but when she got home (hopefully safe), it wouldn’t be fun for Tatie.

Buck scowled at me, his scowl sliced through Mrs. Jimenez, he pulled it together enough to dip his chin at her and say, “I apologize for my daughter. We’re havin’ some issues. Have a nice meal with Clara.” And with that, he stalked into the house.

I took in a deep breath and looked down at Mrs. Jimenez.

“It isn’t always like this,” I assured her.

I’d told her about Tatiana and how she felt about me.

I hadn’t shared as much about Buck.

Well, not the uncertain stuff, just the good stuff.

“It’s usually a lot lower-key,” I concluded lamely.

Mrs. Jimenez shrugged, gave my arm a squeeze and said back, “Family. The more love there is, the more friction there can be. I know. My family has a lotta love. My husband Pablo, he frowned on bad language, but I have three sons and one daughter. They fought since they came out of the womb, with each other, Pablo and me. That’s how families are.” She patted my arm just above her hand and finished, “You’ll learn this, cariña.”

I was learning a lot of things this day, but it had to be said, they were a lot of things I didn’t really want to learn.

Just a typical day for Clara Delaney.

“Let’s go eat,” I suggested.

Mrs. Jimenez nodded, and I helped her back to the SUV. Then I helped her into it.

After that, I rounded the hood, and it took everything I had, but I didn’t look at the house.

We went out to eat.

I turned in bed so I was on my back, and my gaze hit the dark ceiling.

Buck was with me, but he wasn’t touching me.

This, I thought, was good.

I thought this because, even though I had been gone a long time, Buck was in no better mood when I got back.

I had dinner with Mrs. Jimenez at The Outlook (Buck gave me a lot of money, so I decided to treat Mrs. Jimenez with it, and even though we didn’t have a reservation, which was usually necessary at posh restaurants like The Outlook, we only had to wait half an hour for a table. Bonus, even posh, The Outlook was in Arizona, so jeans were appropriate attire, though I was glad I had on fancy shoes, and I suspected Mrs. Jimenez was glad she dressed up to meet Buck and his family).

We enjoyed that dinner, though my mind was on other things.

She, with her keen Mother and Grandmother Senses, discerned that.

We started talking about it (some of it, I didn’t share about my Biker Babe Lessons, any of them).

She didn’t make me feel much better, but she did try, and best of all, she listened and that always felt nice.

I took her home and then went back to Buck’s.

When I arrived at Buck’s, the Charger was in the drive, the Nova was not, Gear was brooding in front of the TV, and Buck, surrounded by a plethora of empty beer bottles and a near-empty tequila bottle, was brooding on the deck.

Gear greeted me.

Buck, as I walked to the front door, didn’t bother.

And I decided I should leave him to his thoughts because they didn’t appear pleasant and I didn’t want an unpleasant mood turned on me. I’d learned with Buck unpleasant meant worried, and worried meant angry.

I did not fall asleep with my head on Buck’s thigh.

I watched TV with a silent Gear.

Silent, that was, after he told me what I’d already guessed.

He hadn’t found Tatiana.

He also shared that she “did this.”

As in, took off when she got angry and didn’t come back until she’d burned it out.

She’d done it when she was a kid. She’d run away. And she did it now that she wasn’t so much of a kid and unfortunately had access and legal privileges to take off in a car.

Lastly, Gear shared that Buck wasn’t a big fan of Tatiana’s “scenes.”

I gathered that myself.

What Gear didn’t share, but what I also gathered, was that he didn’t like them much more. Especially when she did them in his beloved car.

When I started to nod off, I went to bed alone.

Buck woke me when he stretched out beside me. Without a functioning alarm clock, I couldn’t know what time it was, though I sensed it was very late.

I did know he didn’t turn into me. He didn’t turn me into him, and he didn’t fall asleep for a while.

I didn’t know if he knew he’d woken me.

I did know, if he knew, he didn’t care, had nothing to say or was simply too angry to speak.

I eventually heard his breaths even out, but my thoughts didn’t even out. So for the first time since being at Buck’s house, my mind didn’t allow me to get good sleep.

Truth be told, I was worried about Tatiana.

I mean, I was a newbie to her scenes, but it was late.

Where was she?

And…

The last time she’d gone out in order to act out, she’d come home smashed.

And the thought of her smashed, in a car, made my stomach ache.

Badly.

Which was why I was staring at the ceiling.