What didn’t look good on her was her still-pretty face twisted in fury.

And Kristy had a type too.

Knuckles was with her and he was big and dark like Buck. He, too, had a good many tattoos on display on his arms and up his neck. And he, too, had been handsome.

At one time.

Now, he was not.

Now, lines scored deep in his face. His gray eyes looked mean. And the once muscle of his big body had turned to flab, evidencing the fact that he didn’t live a busy life working on homes, or cabinets and taking care of an MC. He lived a sedentary life, likely drinking beer, eating a good deal of food, not much, if any healthy if the sallowness of his skin was anything to go by, and smoking way too much.

Which he was doing now, except he was done, and he flicked the butt in Buck’s drive.

A goodly number of the MC brothers smoked, and there were overflowing ashtrays outside every door that was connected to any building at Ace.

Buck didn’t smoke and neither did either of his children. His driveway was a driveway made of gravel, but it was a drive situated next to a fabulous house that was next to a meandering creek in Arizona, for God’s sake. Flicking out a cigarette butt so casually not only was a massive fire hazard, it seemed strangely like giving God the finger.

I shoved this thought aside and my feelings about it, beat back my urge to run out and grab that butt and put it out, because I had a feeling another fire was imminently going to start, and I needed to douse those flames early.

And to do so, I kept my smile steady.

“You must be Kristy and Knuckles,” I greeted in as friendly of a manner as I could muster as they got close.

“Outta my way, bitch,” Kristy non-greeted back, and she made her demand so by shoving me out of the way and pushing into the house.

I hit the very solid doorjamb, unfortunately doing this on my bruised shoulder, which made me flinch at the same time blink in shock as Knuckles walked right by me, his eyes sliding over me from head to toe, making me shiver, and this was in a bad way.

“Fuck, tell me I did not just see you do that,” I heard growled, turned and looked into the house to see Buck in jeans, the top button undone. He was pulling a navy, long-sleeved tee down his cut abs as he stalked down the steps of the landing.

I stepped in the house and closed the door behind me as Kristy spoke.

Or, more to the point, shrieked.

“Gear, Tat, get your asses packed and out to the car!”

Uh-oh.

“Clara, ass over here,” Buck clipped, and I didn’t hesitate.

I moved swiftly.

Giving Kristy and Knuckles a wide berth, I walked to Buck who was now standing a few feet away from the steps to the landing, feet planted, hands on his hips.

I moved to stand behind and beside him, wrapping my arms around my middle.

“Get outta my house,” Buck ordered, but Kristy’s eyes went from him to the landing where Tatie was standing, and her face got red.

Or, redder.

“Fuckin’ hell, fuck…in’…hell,” she snapped. “Girl! What am I always tellin’ you? Fuckin’ hell. Look at your fuckin’ face.” Her eyes cut to Buck. “And I’m always tellin’ you, you gotta get a handle on her. You don’t, she’ll find trouble, and fuckin’ look at her, out findin’ fuckin’ trouble under your watch!”

I turned my head and saw Tatiana looking no less panicked, in fact shrunk into herself.

Um.

No.

Wait.

That would be, um…

Hell to the fuck no.

I looked at Kristy and opened my mouth to speak but Buck got there before me.

“I said it once, I’ll say it one more time, then I’ll do somethin’ about it. Get…the fuck…outta my…fuckin’ house.”

“Eat me, asshole,” Kristy shot back.

Oh dear.

Buck looked at Knuckles. “She had her warning, now you got yours. Get me?”

Knuckles crossed his arms on his chest and scowled at Buck.

Hells bells.

It was going to be me, even though I really didn’t want it to be, who had to be the voice of reason.

In order to do this, I stepped forward and spoke.

“Okay, this is a tense situation and emotional. Understandable that tempers would get frayed. Why don’t we take a second, calm down, and I’ll get everyone coffee?”

Kristy leaned my way and snapped, “Fuck you, bitch, and you can shove your fuckin’ coffee right up your fuckin’ ass.”

“That’s it,” Buck bit out and was instantly on the move, and I knew enough not to stop him, but suddenly, we all heard, “Dad, don’t.”

Gear was there on the landing at the top of the stairs, wearing nothing but his cutoff sweatpants.

Buck stopped and turned his head to his son.

“You get her out or I do it,” Buck stated.

“I’m not leavin’ until my kids’ asses are in the Nova and I’m followin’ them down your drive,” Kristy stated.

I stepped forward again and spoke to Kristy.

“Listen, please. I can see you’re angry, but we’ve had a rough weekend, and this isn’t making it any better. Especially for Tatie. Now, I’m asking you, please—”

“Especially for Tatie,” Kristy mimicked me, her voice pitched high, her face twisted even uglier. “She done a number on you or what? Especially for Tatie. Jesus, that girl is trouble. She was trouble the minute she pushed her way out, squawlin’ the whole fuckin’ time. She acts like she acts, shit is gonna happen. It happened. Practically every teenaged asshole with a dick has hit my daughter here and at home. Now she cries rape? Bullshit.”

I stood in stunned, shocked, furious…no, enraged silence.

Gear moved forward, and I noticed vaguely his movements were quick and angry as he said, “That’s not fuckin’ true and you know it!”

I also noticed vaguely that the snake beside me had awoken, and I could sense enough poison emanating from Buck, it was a wonder we all didn’t drop where we stood just inhaling it.

But me?

Me?

I lost my ever-loving mind.

I lunged forward, and with every ounce of strength I had, I smacked Kristy Hardy Whatever-Her-Name-Was-Now hard across the face.

Her head jerked to the side and immediately jerked back to straight, her hand to her cheek, her eyes huge and incensed, and she stared at me as I stepped even closer and got in her face.

“Take that back!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Kristy did not take it back.

She pounced.

She might have been a biker babe of a lot longer standing than me.

But I grew up in foster care.

Sometimes, it could get rough.

And sometimes at school, kids could be cruel.

You didn’t last long unless you learned how to defend yourself.

It had been a long time, and I was in a robe and nightie, but I knew my way around a catfight.

And she’d underestimated me, so I had surprise on my side.

In no time at all, I got her on her back, straddled her chest, my knees in her biceps, incapacitating her arms (and her nails), and I bent into her face.

“Now, take it back!” I screamed.

“Fuck you!” she screamed back.

I wrapped my fingers around her throat and screeched, “Take it back!”