The music was loud, there were pool tables and video games, and even a mechanical bull. There was also a limited menu—burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches—not too much to bog down the waitstaff, but enough so your patrons wouldn’t go somewhere else when they got hungry. Teresa could hear the cash registers ka-chinging away. Her senses were on overload, and she figured she could park her butt on this bar stool, stay all day and never get bored looking at the people.
Even better was the prime location in the center of Main Street and right on a corner. She imagined a lot of people came here, and admittedly she was jealous. She loved her little bar and it got plenty of business, especially from bikers, but to have something major like this would be a dream come true.
They lingered for a while and watched people come and go, until AJ suggested they take a ride and look for the Fists.
Teresa was reluctant to leave the comfortable air-conditioned bar, but she knew they had to find the guy they’d come here looking for. She could almost forget they had an actual reason for being here and use this trip for research on how to make her bar business better.
They climbed on the bikes, and this time she rode with AJ, not wanting either of them to think she was favoring one over the other. She had no idea why she thought about that, or even if either Pax or AJ gave it a thought, but it mattered to her. Besides, she liked switching off.
And didn’t that thought get her mind whirling with all kinds of interesting ideas?
They took the slow ride down Main Street again, and Teresa kept a sharp gaze down every side street, along both sidewalks, searching for any sign of the Fists’ telltale insignias on leather.
Nothing.
Even the open roads leading into the Black Hills were filled with bikers in both directions. They were everywhere—in town and riding the hills. Her head spun trying to track the bikers flying by. How were they ever going to find the Fists?
“Where are we going?” she asked AJ.
“To the main campground.”
Teresa knew about the big campground. It was where everyone camped out and partied for the duration of the bike rally. Plus there were also live concerts every night, as well as bike exhibitions of all kinds, from stunt bikers to hill climbers to burnouts. And all the food and drink you could handle, just like on Main Street.
The campground was what used to be nothing more than a pasture, grown into a venue that now took in millions in revenue every year. Teresa had read about it, heard stories about the no-holds-barred partying that went on there. She was excited and curious as they rode underneath the infamous sign. RVs and tents stretched for miles along the dirt and grass fields, as far as Teresa could see. It was just as crowded with people here as down on Main Street.
Once they found a place to park, they climbed off, paid their entry fees so they could come and go at will from the campground and concert arenas, and started wandering around.
If there was decadence on Main Street, it was tripled here. There were no rules except to have fun, get down and dirty, and party. Loud music, the roar of thundering motorcycles kicking up dust clouds, and the cheering of crowds permeated the air. Teresa didn’t know which way to look, because there was something to gape at in each direction.
And again, bikers everywhere. It would take forever to wind their way between the RVs and tents to look for the Fists. They concentrated instead on the main arena where the entertainment and food were located.
“How would you ever expect to find someone you were looking for?” she asked, exasperated as they walked around, seemingly in circles. Spending hours on her feet was taxing, the heat had grown to be unbearable, the crowds were packing in like sardines, and all she wanted to do was jump in the swimming hole where people were enjoying cooling off on this blistering hot afternoon.
“Needle in a haystack, babe,” Pax said. “No one said this was going to be easy.”
“I think we warned you about this,” AJ added.
She blew hair out of her face, sweat trickling between her breasts. She had too many clothes on; she was hot, tired and sweaty. And cranky. “I know. There’s got to be a better way. We’re getting nowhere doing it like this. For all we know they could have been here while we were down on Main Street, and now they’re down on Main Street while we’re here.”
AJ nodded. “Could be.”
“Come on,” Pax said, linking his fingers with hers. “Let’s go for a ride in the hills where it’s cooler.”
She groaned in relief. “That sounds like a slice of heaven.”
The ride cleared her head and cooled her body down until she could breathe again. She leaned back and simply enjoyed the beauty of the Black Hills—the way the road wound one way then the other, the tall trees that loomed above them, the scent of pine and earth, the imposing rock formations that had stood the test of time and the elements and now showed off their majestic beauty as they zipped by.
She could live here. Easily. Oh, she’d miss her brother and all her friends, but this place was beautiful. So green and untouched. Other than it being packed full of bikers for a couple weeks out of the year, there was a raw and untamed part she longed for, a solitude and fresh start where no one knew her and her history. This place was new, and the scent of something clean and unmarred refreshed her spirit. Maybe she’d lived in the city too long. Maybe it was time to consider making some changes to her life.
Several changes.
She felt renewed as she sucked in great gulps of pure oxygen, the pungent smell of the earth invigorating her.
For the past five years she’d let the world slip by, had stayed where she was safe, had closed the rest of the world out and not let anyone in that could potentially hurt her.
She used to be the kind of person who took chances, who loved adventure, who could take off at the drop of a hat, climb on her bike and go where the wind took her.
After the rape she’d sold her bike, rarely went anywhere but work or to her house—a carefully mapped out journey that she knew was safe. Her circle of friends had become her trusted network of people she’d known her whole life. No one new entered the picture, not without being vetted by Joey or her best friends.
She was always afraid. She hated being afraid.
She’d stopped living. She’d let the bad guys win. They still controlled her life. They still touched her. Maybe not physically, but they still lived inside her, eating away at her very soul, at who she used to be.
How could she have let that happen?
It had to stop. It had to stop now. She had a right to live, to be happy and wild and adventurous like she used to be. The rape hadn’t changed her—she had changed herself. She refused to do it. Not anymore. Five years was damn long enough.
The old Teresa was coming back.
Starting now.
TWELVE
SOMETHING HAD GOTTEN INTO TERESA, AND AJ COULDN’T FIGURE out what the hell it was.
But there was a difference. Something raw and angry, a telltale edge about her that hadn’t been there before.
The weather had shifted from cool to hot, and maybe that made her cranky, though he didn’t think it had been just the weather. After they got back from the ride in the hills, she announced she wanted to go to the Harley dealership and buy a new bike.
She’d bought a Harley. Just. Like. That.
He knew she loved to ride, had loved having her own bike before she’d been attacked. He didn’t presume to understand all the psychological shit she’d gone through after, other than that she’d told him she’d gotten rid of her bike and hadn’t ridden since.
Then, suddenly, she wanted her own bike again.
As a rider, AJ understood that riding on the back of someone else’s bike was nothing like being at the controls of your own. And once you had your own bike, typically you never wanted to ride behind someone else again.
But he understood why Teresa associated riding with what had happened to her.
“Are you sure this is what you want?”
She nodded, her jaw set in a determined line. “This is definitely what I want, what I need.”
AJ looked to Pax, who shrugged as Teresa finished signing the papers on her new Harley, a sweet Softail Rocker C in a hot red color she’d chosen for herself. Not too small, not too big, just perfect for her height and leg length. She’d just whipped out her checkbook and paid for it, said she had plenty of money and it was damn time she started riding again.
Once everything was signed, sealed and delivered, she climbed aboard her bike. AJ had to admit she looked damn sexy.
“Honey, that bike fits you like it slid out of the factory with your name on it,” Pax said, walking around Teresa’s new bike.
She slid her palm over the handlebars and grinned. “She purrs. Damn, it feels good to straddle a bike again. It’s been too long.” She lifted her gaze to Pax and AJ. “Let’s ride.”
They did, taking a tour of the Black Hills again, this time on another route that would give Teresa a chance to test her bike along the steep curves of a winding mountain road. AJ was out in front at first, but then he drifted back and let Teresa take the lead. He figured after all this time not riding, she’d want a full face of mountain air and the chance to run along the switchbacks.
Besides, he liked watching her braid flipping behind her back as the wind blew it, and the way her body seemed at one with the bike on the curves. She hadn’t forgotten how to ride. No real rider ever did, no matter how long they’d been without a bike.
She led them up the hills, from one peak across another. It grew colder up here, and as AJ pulled up alongside Teresa, her cheeks were red. Her gaze drifted to his and she had a wide grin on her face. She goosed the throttle and tore off ahead of him.
Yeah, it was in her blood again. He knew the feeling.
She finally brought them back down, ending up on Main Street.
It was dark now, and the party was going full swing on the street and in the bars. They parked and Teresa’s face was flush from the cold, her cheeks bright cherries as she sported a wide grin.
“Feel good?” Pax asked.
She stretched, putting her hands on her back, then grinned. “It was amazing. I can’t believe I waited so long to get a bike again.”
“It’s about time, then, isn’t it?” AJ slung his arm around her shoulders. Pax took up position on her other side.
“Yeah. It’s about time I started doing a lot of things,” she said, her gaze skirting over both of them. “Let’s go back to that saloon we were in earlier today.”
She already knew where to go and led the way, Pax and AJ behind her.
“Something jazzed her up,” Pax said.
“Yeah. Don’t know what it is, but she’s happy about something.”
“I like the change in her.”
AJ nodded. “Me, too.”
The bar was even more crowded at night than it was during the day. Pax moved in front of Teresa so he could be the lead when they wedged their way in. They found a corner, which was going to be the best they could do until a table or spot at the bar opened up.
“I’ll go get us some beers,” AJ said.
“I want to dance.” Teresa turned to Pax. “Come on.”
AJ laughed. “Lucky you. I’m fetching the beers.”
“Shit.” Pax followed Teresa out on what was definitely not a roomy dance floor. A group of sweaty bodies crammed together like cattle in a pen wasn’t his idea of a good time. But Teresa wanted to dance—so they were going to dance.
She somehow found an inch or two of open space and raised her arms over her head, moving her hips to the beat of the music. Pax did his best to get his feet moving, but all he was really interested in doing was watching Teresa. He’d seen her dance in her bar that first night. Watching the way she moved her body, the way she got lost in the music—man, that really got to him. He could sit back and watch that all night. She did the same thing now, only she was dancing with him—for him. Her hips locked with his and she wound her arms around his neck, sliding her body from side to side. He gripped her hips and held on, his gaze roaming every square inch of her exposed flesh as she undulated against him. Denim against denim, her breasts brushed his chest as she hung on to his shoulders and dipped her head back.