The staff and customers always whispered about the club boys, saying they were bad news, dangerous, drunks, and wrapped in sin with a bow. It should be easy to just believe the rumors, but that wasn’t the kind of woman she was. Everyone deserved a chance to prove themselves, even a man like Tank.
She usually got a vibe from people whether their aura, the tone of their voice, or body language. Tank just made her happy. What could be wrong with that?
After he ate his food, he used a curled finger to beckon her over. The simple action did something twisted to her libido. She craved to obey, to become everything Tank needed. She shook the thoughts from her head as she approached his booth.
“Can I have my check?”
“I have it right here.” She pulled it from her apron. If she wasn’t so desperate for money, she would have paid the bill for him. The best she could do was give him the free coffee.
He reached around his back and pulled out his wallet, opening it up before slapping a hundred-dollar bill on the table. His order was only around thirteen dollars. “Keep the change.”
“That’s too much, Tank. Seriously.”
He ignored her, standing up to his full height. The man was like a mountain, making her feel tiny and delicate when she usually felt fat and frumpy. “You want me to walk you home? You’re getting off soon.”
No, she didn’t need an escort, but she couldn’t refuse him. The truth was she loved his company and missed him on the days he didn’t appear. He was like her little secret.
“Sure. I won’t be much longer. Do you want another coffee?
“No, I’ll be outside.”
She watched him leave, noticing how everyone turned to stare and whisper. It must be hard to be him, being judged just for coming in to eat some food. People should really stay in their own lane and not be so quick to slap a label on a person.
Bell had an extra kick in her step as she finished off her shift. Occasionally, she’d peek out the large windows out front to make sure his bike was still parked out front. The last time she looked, he was pacing while talking on his cell phone.
He may be a beast of a man, complete with tattoos and affiliated with a biker club, but the man was sexy, rough, and handsome. She’d never really had a serious boyfriend, but she was only twenty-three and had been working to support herself since before she could remember. With her alcoholism, her mother couldn’t provide her basic needs. It was hard being the kid with the shitty clothes and unbrushed hair in school. She never had money for field trips or cafeteria lunches. Her entire childhood was a shitshow, but at least she hadn’t let her past pull her into the abyss. Instead, she’d gone the opposite way, steering clear of vices, especially alcohol. Bell refused to become like her mother.
She grabbed her purse from the back room once her shift was over and rushed down the front steps towards Tank.
“Today, we’ll take my bike.”
“What? No, I’m too scared.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I don’t know you.”
“You know me. What you see is what you get. I don’t play games because I don’t have to.”
She believed it. Bell saw the way the club girls called out for him, begging for his attention—but he never gave it to them. He’d be able to get a girlfriend with one snap of his fingers, so he was likely telling the truth when he said he was an open book.
“What if you crash? Every night on the news, I hear aboutsomeone dying on a motorcycle.”
“I’ve never crashed.”
She exhaled. “You’re impossible.”
“Come on, Attitude. Climb on behind me and hold on tight.”
She didn’t want him to get fed up with her and drive off alone, but she really was terrified of bikes. The prospect of touching him, of being so intimately close to Tank, was too appealing.
“You better not kill me.”
Bell watched him straddle the bike like he’d done it since birth. The bike roared to life, and she noticed patrons in the diner look out the windows toward them, like onlookers viewing a car wreck. She put her hand on his bicep as she attempted to lift her much shorter leg over the back of the motorcycle. His arm was massive and solid muscle. She couldn’t pull her hand away.
Once she managed to wiggle up onto the bike, she slid toward him. She was pinned tight to his back, closer than expected, her pussy reacting to their proximity and the vibration of the engine.
“Hold on unless you want to fall off.”