Page 4 of Hurricane's House

“Okay, as long as you don’t mind giving me daily reports,” she insisted.

“Not at all,” he said. “In fact, how about we meet every morning for breakfast at the little diner on Sawmill River Road,” he said.

“You mean, Yonkers Diner?” she asked.

“Yeah, that’s the place,” Hurricane said.

“I love that place,” she agreed, “but, it will have to be early. I have to work at nine. Can we meet at seven-thirty?”

“Seven thirty works for me,” he agreed. “I’m sure we’ll get Chasity back to you, Tina,” he assured.

“I hope so,” she whispered. “She’s all the family I have left.” Tina stood and took his offered hand, ignoring the way that he looked at her. It had been a long time since any man looked at her that way. She was just being overly sensitive right now, and reading way too much into the way that the sexy biker held her hand and looked into her eyes. He was a distraction, and that wasn’t something that Tina needed right now. She needed to concentrate on getting Chasity back—that was all that mattered.

Hurricane

Asking Tina to meet him at her favorite diner was a fluke. He took a stab in the dark and chose that one, but he had an alternative motive for meeting her there—he knew that Chasity would still be sleeping in the club, and taking Tina there would only piss off the teen and make her run. He was sure that was the last thing that Tina wanted. Hell, he had only just met the mouthy teen, and he didn’t want her running off and getting hurt, or worse.

He almost breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her pull into the parking lot and walk into the diner. He didn’t really expect her to show up. From what Chasity told him about Tina, she was a total witch, with a capital “B," but he was sure that the teen’s view of her aunt was skewed.

“Hey,” he said as she walked through the front door. “I’m over here, Tina.” He had garnered the interest of the whole diner, and he was sure that the blush that covered Tina’s cheeks was due to him embarrassing her.

She walked over to the booth where he stood and glared at him. “Do you have to get everyone’s attention in here?” sheasked. Tina didn’t seem very happy with him, and that had him thinking that maybe her niece did know her.

“Sorry, I was just trying to let you know where to find me,” he admitted.

“Um, I’m pretty sure that I’d be able to find you in a crowd of people, Hurricane. You’re not a little guy,” she said, looking him over.

“Thanks for noticing,” he teased, flashing his wolfish grin at her. He didn’t seem to have any effect on her whatsoever. In fact, she seemed quite bored with him.

“I think that we should talk about Chasity and how I can get her to come home with me,” she insisted, sitting in the booth opposite him.

“Okay,” he agreed, sitting back down, “you want to stick to the topic at hand. I get it.” He was lying. He didn’t get any of this. Tina seemed cold and uncaring. Did she really want Chasity back or did she have an ulterior motive?

“Did she spend the night at your club last night?” she asked, cutting to the chase.

“She did,” he admitted.

“Good, I’ll go there and talk some sense into her. Chasity belongs at home with me,” Tina insisted.

“Yesterday, you said that you were fine with her sleeping at the club. Why do you want her back now?” Hurricane asked. “I mean, she seems to give you a whole lot of trouble and you seem a bit irritated by the whole situation. Do you really want her living with you?” He knew that she could tell him that it was none of her business, but he had to ask. He was starting to like the kid and sending her back to an unhappy situation would break his heart.

“I want her back because she’s the only family that I have left in the world. I want her back because I made a promise to my brother, James, that if anything happened to him andmy sister-in-law, I’d take care of Chasity and keep her safe. I’m not doing a very good job of keeping my promise, am I?” she asked. Hurricane shrugged, not really knowing how to answer her question.

“That’s not for me to say, really,” he said. “All I know is that your niece has been sleeping at my club every night for a while now and I’d like to get to the bottom of why she’s doing it. She seems like a pretty good kid,” Hurricane said. “Mouthy, but a good kid. Why does she keep running?”

Tina sighed and sunk into the seat across from him. She looked so sad and tired, that he almost felt bad for asking his question. “I’m not sure, really. I mean, it hasn’t been that long since my brother and sister-in-law passed, and Chasity doesn’t adapt to change well. But the biggest factor is that we seem to clash at every turn. I ask her to take out the garbage and she tells me that I’m not her mom. I already know that I’m not her mother, but she likes to point that out every other minute.”

“That has to be rough,” Hurricane admitted. He felt bad for the woman, he did, but teens weren’t easy, from what he had heard, and taking care of one must feel like a full-time job.

“Thanks for saying that,” Tina breathed. “Listen, I will never claim to be a fantastic mom, or even aunt, for that matter, but I’m trying here—really trying. I’m just not sure what my next move should be. I don’t want to screw this all up,” she said. Her voice cracked and Hurricane knew that if he didn’t do something soon, she’d start crying and he knew close to nothing about soothing a crying woman.

He reached across the table and covered her hand with his, not sure if that would garner him a hateful scowl or a smile. When Tina gifted him a smile, he felt a sense of relief that was probably premature, but he would take it as a win.

“How about if you let me help you, Tina?” he asked.

“Help me how?” she croaked. “I don’t even know you—why would you want to help me?”

“Because I think Chasity is a good kid and you two just need a little bit of time to figure this all out. You just said that it hadn’t been long since your brother died. Maybe some time will help Chasity come around,” he insisted.

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