by CC Monroe
“You quit? So that means this is happening?” I ask her, my smile widening. I worried that she wouldn’t be able to leave her job or stay here, but with her finding clients and making the cut all without me having to involve myself, JJ must be serious about this.
“Yeah, handsome. It is.” Rounding the island of my kitchen, she lifts herself onto the counter in front of me and brings me to her with her legs around my hips, pulling me right against her. I don’t say anything, still in disbelief that this is the real thing. I’ve known JJ for nearing three months, and in that time, we both changed all our plans and broke every rule, and there is not an ounce of me that is afraid or second-guessing this. Not one part of me wants to put a stop to us.
“So, you’re mine? Forever now?” With tears welling in her eyes, she takes hold of her lip with her teeth and nods slowly. “Why the tears then?” I cup her face.
“Because you make me so damn happy, Brew. I’m terrified, but so happy. I’ve never wanted anything more than I want all of this with you.” She places her hand over my heart, and I swear an electric current moves through my body.
“You made me break my rules,” I tell her.
“You made me break all my plans,” she counters with a smirk.
“Then we must be fucking crazy.”
Nodding, she laughs, then tilts her head to offer me her lips.
“Don’t make me regret it, Brew Axton,” she whispers.
“Not a fucking chance.” With that, I kiss her, claim her, make love to her, and fill her with my cum, praying that she gives me more. Because more seems like it’s never enough, so I will keep taking.
“A girl’s night with tequila, and you look like that. Fuck me sideways. If I find out there is more than just June there, I will march over and tear each man limb from limb.” I look over JJ the following night, who wears some cut-off shorts making her lean legs look edible and a white V-neck shirt, with a black lacy bra you can see through the material of the thin shirt. I know that’s the style, but I still don’t fucking like it. That’s my body. My woman. And I hate that she looks so damn good and I don’t get to drool all over her tonight.
“If I’m going to live here, I need to make more friends than just Chrystal. She and Dom are always so busy, and how awesome is it that she’s your neighbor and I will have a friend that close,” she says matter-of-factly, finishing the last curl of her hair. Wearing barely any makeup but yet still looking as if she spent hours getting ready, she turns to me where I stand in my bathroom doorway.
“True. Besides, you come home to me, and that’s all that matters, and you’re only a couple feet from my house.”
Rolling her eyes, she smacks my arm as she passes, going to grab the shoes she plans to wear.
“That doesn’t sound stalkerish at all, Brew,” JJ teases me, but joke’s on her, because I’m not bullshitting. “You have any plans tonight?”
I nod. “Yeah, Deacon is coming over, and we are going to have some beers and watch the game.”
Finishing with her shoes, she stands and goes up on her tiptoes, getting a kiss from me.
“That will be fun. I’ll be having girl time with tequila, and you’ll be doing dude things with beer. What a time to be alive, Brew!” she hollers, leaving me and heading toward the kitchen. Watching that gorgeous ass sway down my hall as I follow, I take pride that she is all mine.
Grabbing the tequila off the table, she turns, and I’m on her. “I’m watching you walk there.”
She giggles. “Why? Make sure I make it all the way there? It is a long walk and all, and it’s sundown.” Her teasing does the opposite of what I think she believes it does. JJ must assume it will piss me off, but no, it turns me on.
From day one, JJ has stimulated me mentally, emotionally, and physically. “Go, baby,” I growl, taking her hand and making my way out the door, where I stop, give her a kiss, and then watch her like a damn hawk with my arms folded over my chest. She makes it to June’s, and I notice the man June must be seeing in the driveway. He looks pissed as hell, which would make me uneasy, but he leaves just as the door shuts, climbing in his truck and peeling out. There is a story there. Hopefully, this man isn’t going to be a problem for my woman or her new friend. I’m no stranger to handling men who don’t respect women.
“Don’t mind my man. He just had to make sure I was safe on the long, arduous, and dangerous walk here,” JJ busts my balls, and I can tell June is fighting back a laugh.
“Well, I’m glad you made it and you brought the drinks. I’m going to kill the man in my life,” June says, exasperated, and that’s my cue to leave.
Before I head in the house, Deacon pulls into my driveway on his Harley.
“Ready to get drunk and see your team lose against mine?” he asks.
“If that’s what you need to tell yourself, big guy.”
We settle in, turn on the game, and pop some tops. My mind is still on my woman, the recent level up in our relationship, and the changes I’ve seen in her. Last night, after her great mood all day, I finally asked her what it was that had her that way. She’s no downer or anything like that on the normal; there was just something extra there, a new side I got to see. As if she was finally free to be herself. Her answer shocked me.
Long moments pass after our lovemaking, the room starting to cool down and our body temperatures returning to normal.
“You seem happier, JJ. I can’t place it,” I finally say.
Turning from her side to her stomach, she crosses her arms on my chest and places her chin atop her hands.
“I told you, it’s us. It’s all of this.” She looks around us.
“Yeah, but I’m seeing this carefree side of you. You don’t seem so—”
“Uptight?” Her answer would normally come with a negative tone, but I’m surprised it didn’t.
“No. You aren’t uptight; it just feels like a part of you that’s been held in for a long while is free. I want to know. Tell me what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours.”
JJ doesn’t answer right away. She hesitates. “You know growing up in my home wasn’t exactly toxic. I mean I had a normal upbringing, but always I always felt like I had to be exceptional, since it was just me. I didn’t want to be the only child who was a waste. So, I put myself in this box that I sometimes felt I couldn’t escape.” She pauses, searching for the words. I play with her hair and rub soft circles on her shoulder and back.
“It made me feel I had to be reserved, couldn’t have fun at all. Always had to have my head in the game and focused. So, I went to college, moved to the city, got a great job and followed the rules. But there was always this woman inside of me—this spunky, carefree woman who just wanted to be herself and not follow all the rules. Ya know?”
I nod, knowing she’s not done. I’m enjoying hearing these parts of her.
“So today when I quit, I just had this epiphany, this feeling washing over me. I’m breaking the rules, and it’s giving me the chances I never had, giving me things I never knew I needed and couldn’t do without.” She looks me deep in the eyes with that one. I’m the thing she can’t do without, and she is mine, but each time she says it, it just reaffirms everything.
“You know I felt that way, also being the only child and all. My parents never pushed me to be anything super great, but the pressure was still there,” I open up, her attention now fully on me. Our deepest conversations always happen at night, when it’s nothing but her and me and our skin against each other’s. Raw and bared to one another.
“I felt I needed to make them extra proud, like you. They had no one else to show off, so all eyes were on me in the small town I grew up in. So, I made a name and made sure I wasn’t just the wild bad boy who ran a biker crew and compound.” No one has ever heard me say these things, not until JJ.
“Did people assume because you were a biker that you were nothing but trouble?” JJ asks.
“Not in words, more so looks and actions. If I’m being honest, that�
�s why I worked so hard to own my own company and why I started dating Lacey. Her parents are known in town as being the good ones. I hate admitting that to you.” It’s true; she was a pawn at first, a shiny toy to make me look good, so I didn’t look like a disappointment to the town and on my family.
“It’s okay. I did it. I hid behind a lot of things to put on this persona of being perfect and not the rebel-without-a-cause type. Hell, my parents kind of looked like they had seen a ghost when I simply put purple streaks in my hair.” We both laugh.
“Oh yeah, you are a rebel. Better tell the church,” I tease.
“Yeah, but I wanted to show some of the other part of me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m smart, a hard worker, levelheaded, and all that, but I also like tequila and being loud and not afraid of who hears me. So, the purple hair was the only thing I could think of.”
Our laughs deepen.
“You worried about telling your parents everything?” The laughter dies out, and I move on, pressing for more. Getting to know JJ is my favorite thing. It makes everything we share that much more intimate.
“Yes. I’m worried they will think I’m acting out or trying to sow some wild oats.”
“You worried they will think I’m wrong for you?” I didn’t expect to ask it, but I have to know there is no threat or force that could make JJ question us.
“No. You’re the best thing to happen to me, and if they think that, then they don’t know me at all. And they don’t know what happiness looks like on their daughter.”
I can relax a bit, her reassurance all I needed.
“You worried about your parents meeting me one day?” she returns the question.
“No, they know about you. My mother is dying to meet you. And, baby, they had me for a son. You are going to look like a fucking gold medal that I won.”
“Really?” Ignoring the last part of what I said, she latches onto the first part of that statement. “She wants to meet me?”
“Yes, when I told her about you, I swear she almost jumped through the phone.” I wait a minute, gauging her reaction. I can tell she’s really thinking this out. “You don’t have to until you’re ready,” I reassure her.
“No, no, it’s not that. It’s nice. You told your mother about me, and your dad?”
I chuckle. “Yes, they were on the phone at the same time. Like I said, she was dying when I told her.” This gets me kisses from her, soft, gentle open-mouthed kisses.
“I want to meet them. I want to meet the people who raised the most perfect yet crazy man I have ever met.”
I nip her lip the second they connect with mine again and roll her onto her back, tickling the sass right out of her.
Chapter Thirteen
Brew
“Dude, how the fuck do they keep getting the fucking ball!” Deacon hollers at the TV, pulling me back to the present.
“What was that trash you were talking earlier?” I mock him for talking a big game when he got here. He stares me down with a death glare, and I laugh. “Need another beer?” I ask him, changing the subject.
“Yeah, sure.” Standing, I get us another round.
“So… JJ. You guys are really serious now, aren’t you?” Deacon tries to casually bring this up, but he is not smooth with it at all.
“That was subtle,” I bust his balls.
“Listen, I just can’t believe it’s been what? Two, three months?”
“And?” I retort, handing him his beer, rounding the couch, and resuming my position.
“What do you mean ‘and’? This isn’t us, brother. After Lacey, you swore women off, and suddenly she’s here and always around. I heard you drop the L-word the other day at the compound.”
I laugh. “Love. You can say it. You won’t catch it.”
“Bullshit, I ain’t even gonna say it and put that into the universe. I don’t need repeats when I can have someone new every night.”
I shrug, knowing what he’s missing when you find someone who fulfills you in every way. “She’s staying here. Permanently.” I drop the bomb that no one knows but her, Chrys, Dom, and me.
“Wait. She’s just up and leaving behind her life in New York? For a fling?”
I growl, finally looking at him with a scowl. “She’s not a fucking fling, you fucker. She’s it, and when she lets me, I’m going to marry her and start a family.”
Nearly spitting out his beer, he laughs. “Wait, you're shitting me, right?” He keeps laughing, wiping at the few drops of beer that dribbled out.
I don’t blink, not even a hint of humor. “No. She’s mine, and I want her in every way I can.”
“Well fuck me....” He trails off, looking around the room. I let him soak it all in. JJ and I knew people would react this way with us and how fast we are moving, but for us, it’s natural, and we just know it. “I mean, I’m happy for you, brother. I just can’t believe this happened like this and so fast. Congrats.” Reaching his hand out to me, I take it, and we share a handshake, leaning into a half hug the best we can in our seated positions.
“Thank you. She’s meeting my parents tomorrow.”
“Oh, Ma is gonna love that. She will have your entire wedding planned after she sees you two together tomorrow.” We all refer to my mother as Ma. She welcomes all people as if they were her children.
“Fuck me, I know. Hopefully that doesn’t scare away my girl.”
“Nah, if saying ‘I love you’ and moving in after three months didn’t do it, nothing will.”
Deacon has a point. However, that’s not what I focus most on. Instead, I get more lost in the idea of the one woman I’ve loved my whole life meeting the woman I plan to love the rest of my life.
Everyone loves JJ. She attracts good energy and can make friends with anyone she comes in contact with. I can only imagine what she will be like with my mom.
That thought plays in the background of my mind for the rest of the night, until my woman comes home drunk and filled with laughs. It takes less than ten minutes to get her into bed, and I dose off shortly after. Tomorrow is the day she meets my family.
“Remind me not to get wasted the night before I meet your parents,” JJ groans over her cup of coffee, her head slumped.
Working on breakfast, the bacon sizzling, I cross my arms over my chest when I turn, smirking at her. “We have a few hours, and my hangover remedy should work. You had fun, right? With June?” I ask.
“Yes, but shit does she have drama with her man. Poor girl. We thought we were crazy. She referred to what we had as this thing her family calls ‘the boom.’ She and her man married fast without telling her family. So, we seem pretty normal if you ask me.”
Little does she know I’m planning to make her mine in every sense of the word.
“The boom, huh? And I’m glad you had fun. You have plans to hang out again?” In an attempt to keep her from focusing too much on how hungover she is, I keep asking questions.
“Yes, she wants to have a girls’ night with her sisters. They all have names like hers, like months for their names.”
“Oh really?” Adding some bacon on the plate with eggs and a shot of the hair of the dog in a glass, I bring it to her.
“People always thought JJ was unique, but she and her sisters have me beat. We are going out next Friday. If that’s okay? No plans for us, right?”
Shaking my head, I put the spread I made for her on the table. “Nope, you go out and have fun, but this time, I will not let you leave the house wearing something I will have an aneurysm over.”
She giggles but grabs her stomach just as fast. “Oh no, I’m going to puke.” Standing, she stumbles down the hall, and I’m on her tail. “No, I’m not going to vomit in front of you. I’ll be fine.” It’s too late then. Dropping to her knees, she leans over the toilet, and I grab her hair, pulling it back just in time.
“You sure you are feeling all right? You said you don’t usually get hungover.” This is the first thing I ask when she finishes, and I help her to the sink
to brush her teeth. Feeling her forehead, I notice it feels fine, but I see it in her eyes—even she is worried its more than the liquor.
“No, I think I may be getting a bug.”
“Fuck, I’m sorry, baby. Let’s get you back in bed, and we can call the doctor.”
“No, no! I want to meet your parents, and I think it will pass. Lunch did taste funny yesterday. Maybe the salad I had at that place wasn’t right.”
“We can reschedule. I need you resting and feeling better.” Reaching in my pocket, I pull out my phone and hit Call on Ma’s contact. A few rings later, she answers just as JJ spits out the toothpaste.
“Hey, Ma, I think JJ has a stomach bug or food poisoning. We are going to have to reschedule.”
“No, Brew, I told you I’m fine, sweetie. I really want to go. It’s noth— Oh no!” And just like that, she is back at the toilet, and I end the call with my mother, her worried voice telling me she understands.
“Okay, you win. Looks like couch and chick flicks for me,” she mumbles after another bout of vomiting. I don’t argue that, and take her to our room and start her a bath first.
The rest of the day and afternoon, I spend it taking care of her and thank the stars above that she stops puking after a couple of hours. We are about to start another one of her favorite movies, 10 Things I hate About You, when the doorbell sounds. I won’t complain. I love spending time with my woman, but I’m dying after nearly eight hours of back-to-back chick flicks.
“You expecting someone?” JJ questions as I stand and head to the door.
“Nope. Maybe it’s June or Chrys?” They both texted her today, and she let them know she was sick, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up with some sort of get-well-soon necessities.
Opening the door, I’m surprised to see it’s neither. Instead, it’s my parents, my mother’s hands wrapped around a crockpot of food, and my father with ginger ale and other things for JJ.
