And a full parking lot, loaded with bikes and cars.
They parked and Pax stepped over to AJ. “Pretty big place.”
“Bigger than it used to be. When I was here last, it was a hole-in-the-wall shack.”
Pax slapped him on the back. “Progress, my man. Everything either grows or dies.”
“I guess.” They headed toward the front door, where the sound of classic rock music blasted them as they opened it.
AJ blinked to adjust to the darkness in the bar. Smoke only added to his inability to see, along with the black leather uniform of the day.
This place was biker heaven, with wall-to-wall bikers lined up against the long bar, crowded around the half dozen pool tables and taking up seats in the TV area. Yeah, the bar had definitely expanded. Where the hell had all these bikers come from? When AJ had lived here, there were a handful of biker groups and gangs, and they’d all hung out at Greasy’s on the weekends. But even when they were all there, the one-room place hadn’t seemed congested.
He muscled his way past the crowd, thankful for a good working air conditioner.
“I’ll get us some beers,” Pax said. “Why don’t you put us down for some time on a pool table?”
AJ nodded and headed toward the tables, the least crowded part of the bar. At least it was cooler over there. He put his quarter up behind three others, so they’d have to wait to play. In the meantime, he grabbed a couple of stools and took a seat, waiting for Pax to find him with their beers.
And then he waited a little longer, but still no sign of Pax. Knowing his friend, he’d found some chick to hit on. It never took Pax long to locate the women. He either zeroed in on them right away, or his good looks would attract them like a magnet. And since they often shared women, that worked to AJ’s advantage, too, so it wasn’t like he minded. And he sure as hell wouldn’t mind a little female diversion tonight.
He stood and spotted Pax leaning against the bar, shook his head and smiled. Figured Pax would hit up a female bartender. By the end of the night they’d probably have free drinks and a bed partner. AJ headed over there and slid in between Pax and another guy, shoving his elbow in Pax’s ribs.
“I’m dying of thirst over there while you’re lining up a date,” AJ complained.
Pax turned to him and passed a bottle of beer his way. “Not my fault this beautiful lady struck up a conversation with me.”
AJ shook his head, grabbed the beer and turned to the bartender, prepared to work her just like Pax was doing.
The gut punch to his memories almost made him drop the bottle on the bar.
This was no stranger Pax had just hit on.
It was Teresa. Teresa Oliveri, the one person he’d really come here to see.
Ten years had changed her, and all for the better. Raven hair fell long and straight over her shoulders and settled over her generous breasts. Her eyes, still as green as emeralds, widened with the same shock and recognition.
They locked gazes, and time stood still. It was ten years ago, and everything they’d ever been together, what they’d done together, came rushing back in a blast of heated memories.
“AJ?” she asked, hervoice unsure and tentative, as if she couldn’t really believe it was him.
He nodded, realizing now what an epically fucked-up idea it had been to come back home. “Teresa.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She had been a beautiful girl at eighteen. Ten years later, she was a stunning woman, the kind of woman men follow with their eyes. Tan, tall, in blue jeans and a midriff-baring top that hugged her breasts, revealed a flat belly and narrow waist, and showed off slim hips and long legs. Three silver earrings dotted each ear, and a piercing sparkled in her belly button.
That was all he had time to see, because she backed away.
“I have customers, guys. I’ll be right back.” Her gaze lingered on his for a second, then she turned to grab some beers out of the ice, bending over to show a tattoo—a tramp stamp on her lower back—a heart, with a dagger through it and blood dripping off the end. And holy shit she still had one fine ass, one that had aged well over the past ten years.
She moved down the bar with beers in hand, and AJ finally blinked.
“Teresa?
The
Teresa? That’s your Teresa, the one you told me about?” Pax asked, leaning over the bar to follow her with his gaze.
“Yeah.”
“Dude. You’re fucking insane for ever leaving that woman. She’s the hottest thing this side of the Red River. Or the Mississippi River. Or any river.”
AJ slumped onto the bar stool and took a long swallow of beer to coat his now parched throat. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” He’d had a lot of reasons for leaving her, the least of which was his stepfather. He’d had enough and had to get away from the life he’d been leading. Leaving Teresa had been part of it.
So why the hell had he come back? To kick himself in the gut again and remind himself of all the things he could never have?
“What brings you back to town, AJ?”
Pax kicked him, and AJ lifted his head. Teresa cast inquisitive eyes at him, seemingly friendly and open, but the spark that used to lift him up was gone.
He’d wanted her like he’d never wanted a woman since. But he’d never had her. He’d been proud of himself for turning down the one thing he wanted more than anything else. Why taint her with everything that was bad about him?
God, he’d hurt her. Even now he wanted to fold her in his arms and tell her how sorry he was for walking away from her, from what they could have had together.
But what could they have had?
Nothing. Not then.
And not now.
He shrugged. “Pax and I are doing some riding. We happened to be coming this way so thought I’d ride through and see if anything had changed. I see Greasy’s has.”
She grinned and put her hands on her hips. “You like it?”
He saw the pride in her eyes. “You own this place?”
“Sure do. Todd got sick about five years ago. I was working for him then, and he said he was going to have to close up. We’d grown so much by then, bikers were crowded in here like sardines. No way was I going to let someone else take all that business, so I got a loan and bought the bar. Made a few changes, things kept going well, so we ended up remodeling last year.”
“You’ve done a great job with it, Teresa. It looks great.”
“Thanks.” She popped open two more beers and slid them to the guy who’d moved in next to Pax, took the guy’s money and made change, smiling at her customer as if he was the only man in the room. No wonder bikers piled in here. Who wouldn’t to spend time with Teresa?
But as she moved on to help another customer, AJ finally opened his eyes to see a couple more bartenders step in. Both women, young and beautiful, wearing tight jeans, cowboy boots and midriff-baring tops. And with great bodies, just like Teresa.
Teresa had always been smart. She had a good thing going here. Bikers with their girlfriends or by themselves having a good time on a Friday night. Music blaring, pool playing, sports on the various TVs set up in the corners, and plenty of drinks flowing. He took a pull of his beer and watched the women work the bar. They smiled at the guys, took no shit from them, in fact threw it right back at them, shoving them and hurling insults at them when they got too close. The men loved it.
Of course they did. Men loved a strong, take-no-shit kind of woman, the kind who could hold her own. She was the best type of biker babe, and those were the types of women men like these guys fantasized about.
Come to think of it, who the hell were all these guys?
“Seems like a pretty small town for all these bikers,” Pax said as he leaned against the bar and surveyed everything around him.
“I was just thinking the same thing. Greasy’s used to get maybe a half dozen, dozen at most on the weekends.” There had to be thirty or forty bikers in the bar right now, and it was still early for a Friday. “I have no idea where they come from.”
“We’ve grown,” Teresa offered, obviously overhearing them talk. She kept her voice low and leaned toward them, which made Pax and AJ move in to hear her. “Joey is managing a club on the south side here.”
AJ’s brows lifted. “Joey leads a club now?”
“Yeah,” she said, laughing. “Hard to believe, but he started riding with the Thorns not too long after you . . . left.” She let the word trail off. “Anyway, he’s been with them ever since, moving his way up as the group expanded. Now he leads the south side.”
“And what about the north side?”
She wrinkled her nose. “The Fists. Tough gang. Into some bad shit.”
“Like?” AJ asked.
“They’re running drugs on the north side. I don’t like serving them when they slide into the territory here, but not much I can do about it since their money is as good as anyone else’s. They’re looking to take over the Thorns.”
“Why?” Pax asked.
“They want territory expansion and they don’t make any secret of it. It’s gotten ugly a few times, but the Thorns try to keep things clean, so the cops have stepped in to keep it cool between the clubs.”
“Here?” AJ didn’t like the sound of this, or that Teresa was in the middle of it.
“Yeah.”
“Not a good position for you.”
She grabbed a cloth and wiped up the bar, her green eyes intense as they met his. “I can take care of myself. Been doing it for a long time, AJ.”
“I’m sure you can. But what happens when a Fist pulls a knife on you?”
She grabbed his wrist and pulled up on his thumb. AJ winced as she lifted just to the point of pain, just to get his attention. Her hold was firm and strong as she hit all the right pressure points, like someone who’d been well trained. AJ knew a countermove that would lay her flat, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to use it on her. She’d made her point. What she knew would take down someone who wasn’t trained.
She let go and AJ shook his hand.
Pax laughed. “I guess you
can
take care of yourself, can’t you?”
She nodded. “Damn straight.”
“Ow.”
Teresa rolled her eyes. “Pussy. I didn’t hurt you. But I could have if I wanted to.”
“I believe you. When did you become a tough girl?”
“When I bought the bar. I was dating one of the local cops who taught me some self-defense maneuvers. They come in handy.”
“So do their handcuffs, when used in the right situation.” Pax waggled his brows and Teresa laughed.
“Yeah, those can be handy, too.”
AJ did
not
want to hear about Teresa dating one of the local cops, or what they did with handcuffs. This whole thing was surreal. She had definitely changed. Grown up. Become a woman. With some other guy, who’d had what he could have had.
Fuck.
“Son of a bitch. AJ Dunn. I thought you were dead or in prison.”
AJ flipped around on the bar stool, then slid off and enveloped Teresa’s brother Joey in a bear hug. “You asshole. I thought the same about you. I even brought flowers for your grave.”
Joey Oliveri took a step back and smirked. “Prick. What the hell are you doing here?”
“Riding through. Teresa’s been filling me in on what’s been going on around here since I’ve been gone. I hear you’ve done well.”
“Yeah. Pretty good.”
“This is my friend Pax. Pax, this is my former best friend Joey.”
Joey snorted and shook Pax’s hand. “Any friend of AJ’s should have his head examined.”
Pax laughed. “I hear you. But somebody has to look after him. Nice to meet you.”
“You’ve gained weight,” AJ said, looking over Joey’s stomach. “Too much pasta?”
“You know how Italians are. We can’t resist spaghetti.”
“Doesn’t seem to have affected Teresa any.”
“She burns off calories working this bar. Me, I just sit on my ass and drink beer and ride.” Joey patted his protruding belly.
Joey and Teresa were twins, though you couldn’t tell it by looking at them. Same hair and eye color, and that’s where the similarities ended. Where Teresa was slender, Joey was filled out all over, and not all of it was muscle. But then again he’d always been a little on the heavy side, and the guy liked his beer.
“So what is this I hear about you leading a club?”
Joey grinned. “Yeah. Imagine that, me at the head of the Thorns. Pretty cool, huh?”
“It is. Teresa told me you have some trouble with a rival gang.”
Joey narrowed his gaze. “Yeah. The Fists are in our business, trying to take over our territory.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re dirty motherfucking drug runners and they want some of the action here.”
AJ stilled. “You aren’t...”
“Nah. No illegal stuff here. We keep it clean and have a good relationship with the law. But our presence keeps the Fists from gaining control in this part of the county, and they see it as a prime opportunity to expand their drug distribution operation. Plus we’re situated near the river, which is good for shipping. We have the best territory and the Fists know it. They’ve wanted it for a while now, but they’re not going to get it as long as the Thorns are here.”
AJ didn’t like the way that sounded. “You need to be careful. Some of these gangs will stop at nothing to get what they want.”
Joey nudged AJ on the arm. “I’m not a moron. I’ve got it covered.”
“You and your guys armed?”
Joey nodded. “We’ll use ’em if we have to. We protect what’s ours.”
Pax slanted his gaze at AJ, a look of concern of his face.
Yeah, AJ knew. In their line of work with the Wild Riders they’d infiltrated plenty of gangs looking to distribute anything from drugs to guns. And once these gangs wanted something, they’d let nothing stop them, including people.
“So what are you up to these days, AJ?”
AJ slid his gaze to Pax, then back to Joey and shrugged. “Nothing much. Odd jobs here and there. Pax and I just ride.”