It was morning and that had to mean Kristy had started early.

I engaged my phone and put it to my ear.

“Hey, baby,” I greeted.

“Mom’s a complete, fuckin’ bitch,” was Tatiana’s greeting.

Yes, Kristy had started early.

I sighed.

“Tell me,” I invited, and she did, and she was right.

Kristy was definitely a bitch, and she proved it every day.

Tatiana finished with, “I’m callin’ Dad. I’m done with this shit. No one likes me in school anyway. It’s been years, but most of my friends are there, not here. I can switch schools, no problem. I wanna live with Dad.”

“Okay, but you need to get to school now. I’ll talk to him later and have him call you.”

“No fuckin’ way, I hate it there. I’m ditchin’ today.”

Right.

This was very bad.

She might have acted out, but I’d discovered that grades were important to her.

And grades were important to her because she was charming, but she was also smart. School smart. Book smart. And smart enough to know, if she got an education, eventually, she’d find it easier to gain independence, and she would be able to get away from her mother.

Thus, the only reasons she went home were because she was worried her grades would suffer and, “Gear can’t be with them all by himself. He’ll get the lot of it and that’s not cool.”

Gear getting “the lot of it” further did not make her father happy, or me.

It wasn’t okay Tatie was facing whatever was happening up there.

The both of them?

But, for now…

“No, Tatie, don’t. Go to school, tough it out. Your dad will call you later.”

“Fuck that!” she snapped.

I had learned to pick my battles with Tatie, and addressing her cursing tended not to take priority when assessing the bigger picture.

Like now.

“Tatie, sweetie, listen to me. You know the only person you hurt is yourself if you don’t go to school. Learn. Be smart. Try to ignore the stuff around you. I know it’ll be hard, but concentrate on your teachers, your books, your assignments. Each minute that passes is a minute closer to getting away. When you get home, go to your room, avoid your mom, and your dad will call you the first chance he gets. I promise. Listen to me, okay?” She was silent so I prompted, “Tat? Okay?”

“You don’t mind,” she stated bizarrely.

“Mind what?”

“That I come and live with you and Dad.”

I felt my brows draw together. “Of course not. It’s your house, why on earth would I mind?”

She was silent again, and when she spoke, I had to concentrate to hear her, her voice was so quiet.

“You’re the shit, Toots. I’ll go to school.”

On that, I heard her disconnect, and I turned off my phone, feeling that warm sweetness rushing through me.

I’d tossed the cell aside, and it barely bounced on the seat when it rang again.

I snatched it back up, keeping my eyes on the road, but I chanced another look at the display.

It said Buck Calling.

I took the call and put the phone to my ear.

“Hi,” I greeted.

“Where the fuck are you?” he replied, sounding gruff and sleepy.

And annoyed.

I blinked at the road.

A week ago, he gave the all clear for me to move around without a bodyguard. He told me that Esposito was firmly out of the picture (and fortunately, he didn’t go into detail about that, but I got the gist) and my “shit was cool.”

I was relieved.

I hadn’t really noticed it, but it was nice to be able to get in the car and go to the grocery store or pop out to get donuts for the boys without an escort.

Life felt normal again.

That was, normal for a biker babe.

“Didn’t you see my note?” I asked.

“Yeah, Toots, saw it, can read, so I read it. But, deal is, you wake me, you go down on me, I go down on you, or both, I fuck you, and we go to work together.”

This was the deal, though I hadn’t exactly signed a contract, just fallen into a rather enjoyable habit.

“You got home late last night.”

He had. It was poker night with the boys at the Dive.

These were not scheduled, they were haphazard. He’d had a couple of them before.

And last night was one.

“Yeah, so?” he replied.

“Very late.”

“Right. So?”

“Very, very late.”

“Clara,” he growled his warning.

“I thought you’d want to sleep in.”

“I got a choice between sleeping in and your mouth workin’ my dick, babe, I pick door number two.”

Well, you couldn’t get any clearer than that.

“So noted,” I replied.

“How far away are you?” he asked, and I realized he expected me to come back, and realizing this, I didn’t know whether to laugh or clench my teeth.

Truth be told, I was leaning toward laughing, and if I wasn’t already in Phoenix, I would have turned back.

This was not about Buck being the king of our castle.

This was because I liked having my mouth around his cock.

And his between my legs.

And…other.

“I’m nearing the 101,” I told him, informing him I was in Phoenix proper and nowhere near turning back.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“I’ll make it up to you tonight,” I offered.

“No, you’ll make it up to me when I get to work, blinds closed, doors locked, babe.”

Oh my.

Adventurous.

We weren’t exactly in a rut.

But it was always good to take preventative measures on that kind of thing.

“Okay,” I whispered, then changed the subject. “Tatiana just called me. She’s already been into it with her mom this morning.”

“Fuck,” he muttered again, annoyed gone, frustrated in its place.

One could say Buck felt for his children’s plight.

Like, a whole lot.

And as such, he felt hemmed in that he was powerless to do much about it.

“Buck,” I started, pulled in breath, gathered courage, and stated, “honey, you need to do something about that.”

“Right. You got any bright ideas?”

“Hire an attorney and get custody of your kids.”

“Tried that,” he replied.

“Try again,” I suggested.

“Puts them through the wringer, Toots. They get their hopes up, I get fucked, then they get fucked. I don’t like them to experience that and I don’t like bein’ fucked.”

“Okay, then hire an investigator and then hire an attorney. I’ll talk to Tatie. She can start taking notes. They’re old enough to talk to a judge and tell them where they want to be. She shares how Kristy is, Gear corroborates it, your investigator gets dirt on Kristy or Knuckles, maybe the result will be different.”

“Two can play that game, Toots, and I ain’t dirty, but the MC hasn’t always been clean. We do not wanna go there.”

We probably didn’t.

“Try anyway, just not the investigator.”

“Clara—”

“She’s in a bad way, Buck. You know it, but she trusts me, she shares, and as bad as you know it is, I’m telling you, it’s worse. Try anyway.”