“Don’t got nothin’,” she told her knees, beginning to rock.

I wanted to feel sorry for her, even tried to call it up, but after what she did that day, the other night and that Tate and I were standing out in the dark on his deck dealing with her again, I couldn’t.

Therefore, I said to her, “That’s because you threw it all away.”

She didn’t even look up at me when she repeated, “Don’t got nothin’.”

I opened my mouth to repeat myself too but Tate’s arm gave me a squeeze.

“Gonna be a bit before Wood gets here, Ace, and seen this before. Save yourself the hassle of watchin’ her feel sorry for herself. Go to bed. I’ll be in after Wood gets here.”

I looked up at him, my arms around him getting tighter.

“I’ll stay with you,” I said.

“Ace, she’s gonna sit there, whine and convince herself life just sucks rather than her doin’ shit to make it suck. Trust me, it ain’t interesting.”

“I’ll stay with you,” I repeated.

“Baby –”

“Captain,” I cut him off and then used words he used on me. “Shut it.”

His mouth twitched then his arm curled me closer, he bent his head and he kissed me lightly.

“See you’re comin’ into your inner biker babe,” he muttered.

I smiled up at him. “Yes, well… I’m learning.”

“Then I’m f**ked,” he muttered teasingly.

“Mm. Maybe tomorrow,” I muttered back and he chuckled.

“That’s what I wanted from you,” Neeta whispered and both Tate and I looked down at her. “That’s all I ever wanted from you. Why couldn’t you be that way with me?”

“You missed it, Neet. Too focused on latchin’ onto my dick to lead me around by it, you missed it.”

“You never gave me that. It was always Tate and Neet, the wild ones,” she replied. “I thought you wanted it like that.”

“Like I said, you weren’t payin’ attention,” Tate returned.

Her eyes stayed locked on him then she turned her head away, pressed her cheek to her knee and kept rocking.

Tate and I stood quiet and holding each other. Wood showed and got his stumbling sister to his truck. He came back for the keys to her car which Tate gave to him.

He gave us both a chin lift, obviously a bit more than a little annoyed he was collecting Neeta in the middle of the night and not feeling in the mood to socialize.

He was walking away when Tate called him.

“Wood.”

Wood turned back.

“I shoulda let it go a long time ago and I didn’t,” Tate began and I pulled in a breath because I knew where he was leading with that introduction and I was happy he was doing it but I couldn’t believe he was doing it now. “Had to blame someone ‘cause I couldn’t blame myself for Dad leavin’ me the way he left me. Placed that shit on you. It was a dick thing to do.”

Wood stared at Tate and said not a word.

I held Tate tighter and Tate kept talking.

“Dad thought you were the shit. He wouldn’t have blamed you and he would be pissed as hell knowin’ I did.”

Without a word, Wood looked away and started to turn away.

“Wood,” Tate called and Wood stopped moving, hesitated and turned back. “Thanks for your help today, bud.”

Wood stared at him, his eyes flashed to me and then back to Tate.

“She a miracle worker?” he asked and I blinked, not understanding the question.

“Yeah,” Tate answered immediately, clearly understanding it.

Wood stayed silent a moment then suggested, “Maybe you’ll give it a coupla weeks before you two invite me over to a barbeque.”

“We can do that,” Tate replied and my eyes were on Wood but I could tell by Tate’s voice he was smiling.

“Right,” Wood muttered and turned again but was stopped again when Tate spoke.

“Jonas’ll be here. We have a barbeque –”

Wood started walking but he looked over his shoulder. “Then I’ll be here.” He faced forward again and I heard him say quietly, “Not just for Jonas.”

“Laurie?” Tate called to his back, it was a question for Wood not Tate addressing me.

“She’s got great f**kin’ legs, man,” Wood called back. “Not havin’ ‘em wrapped around my back don’t mean I can’t appreciate ‘em as close as I can get.”

Tate chuckled. Wood jogged down the steps and swung into his truck. I was still confused.

We watched Wood turn around in the drive and pull out. When his brake lights faded to normal and he took the turn out of the drive, I looked up at Tate.

“What was that all about?”

Tate turned me to the door. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Are things okay with Wood?” I asked as he pulled open the door.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“So that was it? Years of bad blood and you two talk about my legs –?”

He’d guided me through the door, closed it, locked it and switched off the outside lights.

“It’s a guy thing,” he stated.

“It’s a crazy thing,” I mumbled.

He headed us toward the hall. “Speakin’ of your legs wrapped around my back…”

“We weren’t.”

I saw his head tilt down to look at me through the dark as we hit the mouth to the hall.

“We are now.”

“Tate, it’s the middle of the night. We just survived another drama.”

“I’ll go fast,” he assured me.

“Right,” I muttered.

“Baby, trust me, I can go fast.”

“I can go fast. You take your time until I go fast.”

We were at the foot of the bed and he stopped me, turned me to him and his hands settled on my hips.

“Okay, babe, let me introduce you to fast,” he invited.

I rolled my eyes.

His mouth came to mine where he didn’t kiss me, he murmured, “And dirty.”

My heart skipped a beat, his hands gripped my h*ps and he threw me on the bed much like he threw Jonas through the air in the pool but except without the distance or elevation.

I bounced, he landed on top of me and then he showed me he could, indeed, do fast.

And he did it dirty.

And it was so fantastic, I wished he’d gone slow.

Chapter Twenty-Two

My Job Was Done

I woke up confused. It had to be morning but the room was way dark and I wasn’t snuggled into Tate nor was he curled into me.