Page 32 of Tuck & Roll

“Um,” she looked at Race to see if it was okay or if he needed her to stay and work on this some more.

“You go on, hon. This can wait until later. Go get something to eat, buy yourself some clothes and pick up a computer while you’re out. We’ll get you a room cleared out here for you to use as an office.”

“I could just work from,” she almost said home, but she didn’t actually have one anymore. She wasn’t sure where she was going to be working or where she was bringing her new clothes. Where would she sleep tonight? Maybe she could borrow some money and get a hotel room for the night? Could she even get one without a driver’s license or debit card?

“Darlin’, we’ll set you up an office here. There’s always someone around and you’d be better protected here. We want to keep you safe while you’re digging into whatever the hell Chet is up to.”

She wanted to argue, but couldn’t. Everything he said about her being safer here was true. “Thank you, Race. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, sweetness. Now get out of here. We’ll catch up in a day or two.” He then instructed Jed and Darren to follow them until Tuck got her home.

Damn it. She hated how out of control her life had become. She had no way to take care of things for herself until she made it to the DMV and bank on Monday.

She followed Tuck out to his bike and climbed on. He took her to eat Mexican food before hitting the mall. At the first store, she picked up only the bare minimum that would get her through until her insurance paid out, but Tuck wasn’t having it, not even when she explained that she didn’t want him spending his own money.

“If you don’t load up on clothes, I’m going to pick stuff out for you and I might not get the right sizes. Or I can let Jed pick out your clothes and you’ll be dressing like a hooker.”

She’d frowned at Jed thinking Tuck had to be joking. Jed smiled and wiggled his eyebrows up and down while Darren shook his head.

“Okay. Fine. But I’m paying you back when the insurance money comes through.” She didn’t wait to see if he agreed because she figured he’d argue about that, too.

She went back and bought three more pairs of jeans, six pairs of shorts, socks and several shirts at one store. Jed had been heartbroken when he realized all the hilarious t-shirts her sister and her friends had bought her over the years were now gone. He’d gotten a kick out them and always looked forward to seeing what the next one would say.

Their next stop was Victoria’s Secret. She purchased a dozen bra and panty sets with the help of Jed, much to Tuck’s displeasure. If it was up to Jed, she would have bought all lace g-strings and see-through bras. She couldn’t decide between an emerald green bra with black lace trim or a sapphire blue satin bra and panties. Jed’s comment that the sapphire blue set would look amazing with her eyes earned him a punch in the arm that knocked him to the side and an angry scowl from Darren. She ended up buying the sapphire blue set and enjoyed the way the muscle in Tuck’s jaw ticked. From there they hit a shoe store where she purchased tennis shoes, flip flops and a pair of work boots.

As they made their way through from store to store, she couldn’t help but notice the amount of attention they were getting. At first, the way people were staring at them made her very uncomfortable, then it dawned on her that it wasn’t everyday people saw three big, badass bikers following a woman around, carrying her shopping bags. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t loved it.

On the way to Tuck’s house—yes, he decided she was staying the night with him since she couldn’t be around Beth and her family—they’d stopped at a local drugstore to pick up toiletries. It was a quick in and out. She got to the counter and waited for Tuck to pay for everything and burst out laughing as Jed dropped a box of condoms on the counter with her stuff. Tuck cursed and told him he could pay for his own damn condoms.

From there, they stopped to buy a new laptop. Despite the humor they’d had at the drugstore, she could see the numerous stops for shopping were wearing on the men. None of the said a word of complaint, but it was obvious they were anxious to be done.

They’d all gone inside, the three men hovering while she geeked out on all things computer related. As she checked each one out for the specific features she was looking for, she absently rattled on about what she’d have in her dream office if she had limitless amounts of money. At one point, the men had gone so quiet, she’d had to look behind her to make sure they were still there. They were and they were grinning like idiots again while she talked about computers. She couldn’t help it. Computers were her thing.

After Darren and Jed helped carry everything inside, they’d taken off, leaving her in Tuck’s care at least for the night. Looking at the multitude of bags on Tuck’s couch and in the floor, the high of shopping she’d been riding was wearing off and a list of all the things she still needed to get done paraded across her brain, causing her shoulders to slump. All of it was equally important, but she felt she needed to further investigate the two sets of books for Bottoms Up and see what she could find out about Police Chief David Whitener first.

Tomorrow, she’d talk to Race and see if she could get a couch in her office so she’d have somewhere to sleep. She couldn’t go back to Beth’s and she couldn’t stay here indefinitely. She didn’t think it would take too long to get her money, but what did she know? She’d never been involved with a fire before. What she did know was she couldn’t get a new debit card until Monday. Maybe she could take out enough cash to check into a hotel room until the insurance money came through? Crap. She had no I.D. to present at the bank. She’d have to give them copies of her account information and hope it worked. Ugh. That was in the safe she left at the clubhouse. She’d have to swing by there first. And then there was the issue of getting around. She couldn’t expect Tuck to cart her ass around until she got a new car.

“Hey, take a deep breath.” Tuck’s hands settled on her shoulders, gently kneading her tight muscles around her neck. She hadn’t realized how tight they’d gotten until his big hands started working their magic.

“We’ll get through this a little at a time. All the stuff you were thinking about can wait until tomorrow. Why don’t you go take a hot bath and I’ll fix us dinner? Nothing fancy. Just fish sticks, mac-n-cheese and applesauce.”

She grinned at the thought of Tuck making a meal she fixed her nieces, for her. “That sounds nice.” She dug around the bags and came up with her toiletries, but for the life of her couldn’t find a single thing to sleep in. “I don’t think I bought any pajamas.”

“No problem.” He left her standing in the living room, surrounded by her bags and came back with one of his t-shirts. “It’s not funny like the ones your sister buys you, but it’s comfortable.” He held up a Sons of Redemption MC t-shirt for her perusal. She loved it and she was never giving it back.

“Thank you.” She took it from him and held it to her chest. It was all she could do not to put it to her nose and take a deep breath to see if it smelled as good as he always did. She didn’t know if he wore some kind of cologne or if it was his natural scent. Either way, it turned her inside out. “I won’t take very long.”

He pointed her in the direction of the bathroom in the hall. By the time she was finished and getting dressed, she realized she didn’t have any panties to put on. She wasn’t about to put her new ones on until they’d been washed first. His shirt was long enough to cover all the good stuff, but if she bent over, Tuck would get an eye full.

Following the smell of fish sticks, she found him in the kitchen, pulling a pan from the oven. He laughed at her stomach growling. She rolled her eyes and laughed.

“I guess you’re ready to eat?”

“Yes, but do you have some shorts or boxers I can borrow? I’m not wearing any of the new underwear until it’s been washed.”

“Sure, follow me.” He led Kylie down the hallway, past the bathroom she’d used and into his master bedroom. She’d passed two other bedrooms on her way here. One had a bedroom set in it and the other had workout equipment.

His bedroom was done in dark wood furniture, a black padded leather headboard, with a dark brown, gold and cream-colored comforter. He had a picture of a topless redhead stretched out on a Harley above his chest of drawers and a few pictures of him and a gorgeous blonde woman who looked like she could have given the Harley motorcycle model a run for her money. Looking closer she thought she recognized her. If the woman was who Kylie thought she was, it was Taylor Green. She remembered them dating their senior year and through the summer after, until she took off for California.

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