Victoria Rollins runs the diner in Charming for her uncle. When the Sons stop in one day, she notices a new face among the leather. Tig Trager is new to Charming and soon becomes best friends with the feisty redhead. Everyone around them can see tha...
Vic rolled her eyes as she grabbed a pot of coffee and some menus to take to table full of Sons. "Be right there, Earl!"
She blew a stray lock of hair out of her face as Bobby grinned at her from beside Piney. "Little busy today, aren't ya Vic?"
She chuckled as she put the menus in the middle of the table. "Just a tad, Bobby. Tabby called off at the last minute." She held up the coffee pot. "Who wants java?" All hands went up, making her chuckle. As she poured coffee and the guys passed it around, her gaze was caught by a pair of brilliant blue eyes. "You're a new face."
The owner of the blue eyes chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, just got here a few weeks ago."
Bobby nodded, motioning between the two of them. "Tig, this is Victoria Rollins. Vic, this is Tig Trager. Vic here runs the diner for her uncle."
They nodded to each other as Tig grinned. "I'm sure we'll see a lot of each other then."
Vic winked and nodded. "Welcome to Charming, Tig. I'll be back to get your orders in a second, okay?" Piney told her to take her time as she walked away. Passing a table, she felt a sharp sting on her ass and turned to see Randy Wilkins grinning at her like an idiot. "Do you want to keep your hand, Randy?"
Randy smirked as his buddies laughed at his antics. "Come on, Vic. If you got an ass like that, you gotta expect a man to want to touch it."
Before she could come back with a reply, Tig had a hand on Randy's shoulder as Bobby and Piney stood beside him, glaring at the table. "No, man. What she expects is to be able to walk through her own place without being treated like a piece of meat. Now, I get it. You guys want entertainment, right?" When Randy slowly nodded, Tig did too, smiling at the clearly nervous man. "Right, so why don't you take this juvenile bullshit to The Jelly Bean? Those girls get paid good money to put up with that shit. Vic doesn't." When Randy nodded, Tig pointed to Vic. "Apologize to the lady."
Randy looked at Vic and swallowed hard. "Sorry, Vic. I didn't mean anything by it."
When she nodded, Tig smiled. "That's great, man. You did good. But... Randy, was it?" When Randy nodded, Tig continued. "Randy, you ever put your hands on her ass again, I'll cut them off for you."
Vic stared as the three bikers walked back over and sat down at their table like nothing had happened. She shook her head in disbelief as she walked back behind the counter to grab the orders from the window.
Earl looked at her with a lifted brow and grinned. "Who knew that they were knights in shining armor?"
Vic chuckled and shrugged. "I guess that was their good deed for the day."
Tig watched the woman as she bustled from one table to the next, always pleasant, even to Randy after his little show. She laughed with the families, asked after the older people, and just generally made everyone feel at home. Bobby caught on to where he was looking and grinned.
"Pretty thing, ain't she? Shame about her husband."
Tig frowned. "What? He die or something?"
Bobby shook his head as Piney mumbled to himself. "Nah, he ran off with one of the dancers from the Jelly Bean a few years ago. I haven't seen her with a man since. Damn shame too. She's a great lady."
Tig looked at the flame-haired beauty with the apparently smackable ass and curves in all the right places and shook his head. "Was he stupid or something?"
Piney scoffed and shook his head. "Some men just don't know when they have it good, boy. Bobby's right though. She ain't interested in romance."
Tig snorted and shook his head. "Believe me, neither am I. I'm still paying for a divorce, remember? I'll take my women free of romance, thanks."
Bobby chuckled and nodded in understanding. He himself was still paying out the ass to his ex-wife, Precious. They sat for a while longer before leaving a tip and money for the bill on the table.
Later that night, as Vic sat in the dimly lit office in the back of the restaurant, she counted the cash from the day's take before putting it in the safe to be taken to the bank in the morning. Her mind kept going back to earlier in the evening and a pair of laughing blue eyes that she just couldn't shake the image of.
She shook her head at her own foolishness as she grabbed her jacket and went out the back way, locking up before heading to her rusted-out VW Bug. She grinned at the sight of her bright blue baby sitting all alone under the harsh parking lot lights. She'd had the car since high school and she supposed that one of these days, she'd have to retire it in favor of a newer vehicle but for now, it would have to do.
She wasn't exactly rolling in cash. Her uncle paid her just enough to stay afloat for running the diner for him, but extras like new cars and better houses would have to wait until another time. She ate most of her meals at the diner, so she never kept a lot of food in the house, but with it just being her, she didn't need to. She was only ever there long enough to sleep and shower anyway, spending most of her time at the restaurant.
As she let herself into the tiny one-bedroom house on the outskirts of town, she sighed when she was finally able to kick off her shoes and collapse on the old sofa. She didn't even bother to turn a light on or go back to her bedroom. She just set the alarm on her phone and curled up on the couch, pulling an old blanket over herself. She was asleep almost instantly.
