Dakota's Claim (4 page)

Her
dad exhaled, ran a hand over his short, greying hair, and stared at her with
hard eyes. “Baby girl, you know that I am just worried about you, and that the
punks out there only want one thing.”

The
anger left her, and she looked at the table. She knew her father was protective
of her and
Tarren
, and even though it was one hundred
times more intense because of his bear genetics, it was also because he had
lost an eighteen-year-old son decades ago. They had talked about it as a
family, and Dallas had expressed the pain he had felt, and why he was so
worried about them. She knew he thought they would get hurt just like his son
had, and as much as she wanted to be upset that he smothered her at times, she
couldn’t help but care him more because of his love for her.

“I’m
not stupid, dad, know how to take care of myself, and I just want you to trust
me to handle things.” She stared at
him,
saw the
parental worry on his face, and the fact he wanted to argue the point. He
growled out, and when he opened his mouth, because Tawny knew he wouldn’t give
her slack so easily, her mom reached out and took his hand.

“Dallas,
honey, let’s just talk about this later so we can finish dinner.”

Her
dad didn’t respond right away, but then he finally leaned back in his seat,
nodded once, and they resumed eating. Although they finished dinner in near
silence, Tawny knew that even though at twenty-one she could take care of
herself, she knew her father wouldn’t cave that easily. Hell, he still gave the
“watch your ass” looks to Lucas,
Tarren’s
husband,
and they had known each other their whole lives. Yeah, she had a long and tough
road ahead of her concerning her dad and him not being so protective.

****

One week later

Tawny
held Lola, her gorgeous and absolutely adorable niece, while
Tarren
sat in front of her folding little toddler clothing.

Tarren
picked up her phone and started
texting, and then smiled.

“God,
you and Lucas make me sick,” Tawny said, but smiled at the love her sister had
for Lucas.

“I
know, sometimes I make myself sick with how lovey-dovey I am with Lucas.”
Tarren
grinned, but focused on her phone still.

Tawny
looked down at Lola when
Tarren
went back to texting.
“Have I told you that auntie thinks you are the most beautiful little girl in
the whole world?” Tawny said softly, stroked a finger across Lola’s brow, and
then looked at
Tarren
again. Her sister had since put
the cell down, and was folding laundry again. The little dresses and pants that
were Lola’s had Tawny smiling.

“How’s
work?” Small talk wasn’t really what she did with her sister, because normally
when she came over Lucas was here, but she did want to know how
Tarren’s
job was going since she had just recently gone
back to work since Lola was born.
 
“It’s
okay, I guess. Lucas would prefer I stay home and take care of Lola, but I need
to get out of the house and have some time for myself. It’s only part-time, and
Mom and Dad are excited about being able to watch her.”
Tarren
reached for her cell as it dinged with an incoming text.

“Dang,
tell your overly alpha husband to stop texting.” Tawny snorted knowing that any
Grizzly guy was an over the top alpha, especially when they found their woman.

“Yes,
and he’ll kill me if he knew that I told you, but he has a thing for sexting—”

“Nope,
just hold up right there.” Tawny shook her head. “Heck no do I want to hear
about you and Lucas sex texting.” Tawny made an exaggerating gagging noise.

Tarren
started chuckling and stood.
“Okay, I’ll drop it.” She held her arms out for Lola. “Let me put her in her
bed so we can talk louder.”

Tawny
handed Lola to her sister, and watched her disappear into the hallway and. It
was hard to believe that Lola was so big already.
Tarren
had taken extra time off to be with the baby, but Tawny also knew her sister
and that
Tarren
would go crazy if she was a
stay-at-home mom.

 
Tawny grabbed her cell when it vibrated in her
pocket, and saw the text from Gabriel.

Gabe:
We still on 4 2nite? I don’t want 2 B a
douche and have U cancel.

She
couldn’t help but chuckle at his text, because she could practically see him
saying it.

No,
I won’t cancel, but I don’t want U thinking this is a romantic date, Gabriel.
This is 2 friends hanging out, okay?

She
sent the text, and stared at the screen. The “Read” popped up under the text
she had just sent.

Gabe:
I’m a patient guy
;)

She
didn’t know how she should feel about that text, or if she was stringing him
along. But Tawny knew she had made it clear that they were just friends, and
that her going out with him tonight was in a purely platonic way.

Tarren
came back out a few minutes
after, went in the kitchen to grab them a few drinks, and then came back into
the living room. “So, what’s new?”

Tawny
didn’t wait to tell
Tarren
about Gabriel, just
told her about him asking her out,
about how she agreed to go tonight, in fact, and how she didn’t want to lead
him on because she just wasn’t feeling those kinds of emotions for him.

“Can
I ask why you wouldn’t want something more with him?”
Tarren
asked softly, and brought her mug of hot chocolate to her mouth.

Tawny
looked out the window, saw the small flakes of snow that were starting to fall
right behind the glass, and knew that she didn’t want to keep her emotions in,
or how she felt for Dakota, any longer.
Tarren
was
her sister, and although they were living their own lives, and that they hadn’t
been extremely close while growing up, she trusted
Tarren
more than anyone else to give her an unbiased opinion. “Gabriel is gorgeous and
strong, there is no doubt about that.” She looked at her hands, twisted her
fingers together, and breathed out.

“But
there is someone else,”
Tarren
said without question.

Tawny
nodded and looked at her sister. “Yeah, and the sad part is I have wanted him
for years, but I don’t think he sees me as anything but a kid that he knew when
he was younger.”

Tarren
didn’t respond for several
seconds, and when she finally did her voice was soft. “Is he a Grizzly?”

Tawny
shook her head, even though Dakota had been around Grizzlies before any of the
kids were even born. “No, but he is a biker.” She stared in her cup, watched
the cocoa swirl around the top, and brought the mug to her mouth to take a long
drink.

“It’s
Dakota, isn’t it?”
Tarren
asked, and Tawny looked at
her sister again, but didn’t respond. “I remember seeing you look at him one
day at the clubhouse, and wondering if there was something there at the way he
watched you, too.”

That
had Tawny swallowing hard. At the way he watched her, too? She shook her head.
“No, I don’t think Dakota watched me anyway,
Tarren
.
He hasn’t said more than a handful of words to me whenever we are in the same
room.”

“He
might not know what to say, Tawny. These bikers are really tough and show it to
everyone. But the truth is deep down when they are really into someone, love
them, too, they are vulnerable. They act like they are living behind this wall,
like they don’t want to show anyone how they really feel.”
Tarren
stared at her, let the silence stretch for a minute. “Lucas was like that,
stayed away for years because he thought I was too good for him, and that being
in my life would ruin me somehow.”

Tawny
let those words play in her head. She wanted to think that maybe Dakota had
been keeping away because he was afraid of his feelings, but she pushed those
thoughts away as soon as they entered her mind. No, he had never given any
indication that he wanted anything from her.

But what about him being where you
are at all these times? What if he wants to say something, talk to you and tell
you that he also has feelings, but he is afraid to?

Yeah right.
If that wasn’t wishful thinking
she didn’t know what in the hell was. She remembered seeing him at Alexis’s wedding,
about wanting so much more with him then, but staying away because he had never
shown her that he was interested.

“I
don’t think that is how things normally work,
Tarren
,
as much as I’d like them to.” She shrugged, not knowing what else to say. But
could what her sister said be the truth? Could Dakota want her, too?

The
sound of a truck pulling in told her that Lucas was home, and that it was time
for her to head out anyway.

“You’re
going?”
Tarren
asked when Tawny stood.

“I
should get ready for when I go out with Gabriel tonight, and I have some
errands to do anyway.” Tawny gave
Tarren
a hug.

“Sometimes
you are the one that has to put yourself out there,”
Tarren
said and pulled back.

The
sound of the front door opening had her turning and watching Lucas come in. He
wore his Grizzly cut, had his cell pressed to his ear, and grinned at them.
Tawny waved to them both, showed
herself
out, and when
she was in her car she thought about what
Tarren
had
said. Could she actually put herself out there with Dakota and tell him how she
felt? It was a frightening thought, but one she wasn’t going to ignore either.
It was time for her to grow a set and go after what she wanted, but there was
still fear that held her back. She’d need to work around that, or back up and
forget about anything that had to do with Dakota.

Chapter
Four

Gabriel
pulled his SUV into the driveway of Tawny’s parents’ house, and although he
might be assuming things, he cut the engine, ready to walk her to the front
door. They had gone out to get some dinner, and despite his better intentions
in keeping the distance because she wanted nothing more than a friendly
relationship with him, Gabriel wanted more. He glanced over at her, saw that
she was staring at the house, and although he didn’t want to think that this
was just a friends hanging out night, it had pretty much ended that away. Yeah,
she may have told him this was strictly platonic, and he respected the hell out
of her feelings, but this desire he felt for her couldn’t just be one way. It
wasn’t like they hung out all the time, but they had known each other nearly
their whole damn lives. Surely she could look at him and feel a small amount of
emotion that wasn’t just being friends?

Fuck
. He cursed in his head, looked
at the front of the house, and knew her father, a hardcore bear shifting biker
named Dallas, was probably waiting up. “I had a good time tonight, Tawny.” He
looked at her.

She
glanced over at him and smiled genuinely.

“Me too, Gabriel.
And thank you for not being a
pompous asshole and trying to feel me up during the movie.”

He
started chuckling, remembering the story she told him during dinner about the
prick that had done that to her. This hadn’t been a date, per se, even though
he had wanted it that way. Gabriel was just sick as fuck of the club pussy that
he surrounded himself with, and wanted something more meaningful. He was young,
and marriage was most definitely not in his near future, but he wanted a woman
that could be only
his
, not a piece
of pussy who whored herself out to all of the brothers. He wanted an old lady
that wanted him because of
him
, and
not because he wore a Brothers of Menace cut, or had power and was feared.
There were plenty of women in River Run that would be more than happy to give
him what he wanted, or the façade of that. But what Gabriel wanted was a woman
like Tawny, one that had been in the club life, knew how it was firsthand, and
didn’t care about cuts or status. He wanted a woman that would look at him and
see Gabriel, not the son of Lucien Silver, a feared MC President. For some
reason that shit turned on the female population, and before now, he had liked
it, had liked that he got pussy on demand because of
who
and what he was. Yeah, he was only twenty-two, and got a lot of shit from the
other guys on how he should be living his life up. But Gabriel just wasn’t in
that mind-frame.

Trying to go after a girl who
clearly said she didn’t want anything more from you is a good start, dumbass.

 
“Can I walk you to the door?” He stared at
her. Gabriel might only be twenty-two, really fucking young to be honest, but
he knew what he wanted out in life. He didn’t plan for the future, didn’t count
on what would happen tomorrow, because he knew that living the MC life meant
things usually didn’t go as planned. But he wanted Tawny, with her smoking hot
curvy as fuck body, her quick wit and smart-ass mouth, and also because she
knew the lifestyle. She had grown up in it, and he could relate to her. Did he
think he’d marry her? No, he wasn’t even thinking about having an old lady for
long-term like that. Right now he was just worrying about the here and now.