Fuck, he was handsome, rugged, beautiful, and sexy; all rolled into one package. His extreme buzz cut was on the verge of regrowth and I could see the blonde fuzz trying to take hold on his head. I’d consider begging him to let it grow, but we didn’t have that kind of relationship. Still, I silently prayed he would.
His arms were formed and muscly, like he’d worked out just minutes ago, and there was a smattering of small simple crosses tattooed on the inside of his bicep—I counted them, sixteen in total. There was a stars and stripes flag underneath it and the word Hope inscribed. Luckily for him, his name held meaning too. My eyes flitted to scars, bullet wounds, and slices, things that probably attributed to his nightmares. He’d suffered at the hands of someone, or a lot of someones.
The muscles on his abs were defined, ridged, and thick, and I knew if I ran my finger from top to bottom, it would bump up and down over every one, until it finally reached a haze of pubic hair just beneath his waistband.
My mouth watered.
His drawstring pants barely fit him, the string loose. And then I saw it, a glimpse, just a peek of his dick. The head pushing back on the elastic of its confinement.
Fuck.
He was hard.
Morning hard and delicious.
I had to get out here now, before I did something that would really cause a problem between us. With a stealth I didn’t know I possessed, I climbed off the bed, headed back to my room, and jumped straight into a cold shower.
Shadow
I’d give her that play.
I’d let her leave, but it was fucking hard, especially when I felt her staring. Cataloging every part of me and it was a damn miracle that she didn’t know I was faking sleep. Dormant awareness was a skill I learned in the army and it had saved my life on more than one occasion. It was easier to gut someone when they thought they’d got the drop on you. Before shock settled in and surprise was given a chance to register, their own dagger could be hilt deep doing the business.
What the fuck possessed me to ask her to stay?
That came from somewhere deep, somewhere I couldn’t silence. I’d had so many years of surviving day to day, or hiving myself away under the guise of protection, not just for my sake, but for others too.
Something inside me snapped.
I was surprised it took this long. This glimpse, this taste of family life was undoing me.
She was undoing me.
At breakfast she seemed nervous, jumpy, and the way it affected her was cute, too fucking cute. I was going to appreciate every bit of her. The loyal, caring side my sister had earned, the motherly way she looked after the kids, and the attitude she gave me. Somewhere under there I knew there was a soft side that she’d got locked up tight. And if the promise of that body, that hair, and all of that combined came together, she’d be fucking electric.
“Right, kids!” I shouted, making her jump, causing me to hide my enjoyment. “Pay attention at school and let the brain magic happen.” I shrugged on my cut and saw her sag, but I wasn’t sure whether it was with relief or disappointment.
“Flick,” I called, and she froze, her eyes nervous and wide, almost terrified as she looked at me. “Have a good day, yeah?”
Her face flashed with irritation and it was all I could do to keep my own straight. I shouldn’t have found this fun, but I did. This game she’d started by coming to my rescue, I was going to drag it out for as long as I could. I felt fucking alive and the last time I’d felt even close to this was when I was removing that option from my enemy. Forcefully.
That night it happened again. I fell asleep in the dark on purpose, praying she come and rescue me before things got out of hand. It was a bit of a risk if she didn’t, I was relying on the fucked-up world in my head dragging me back to consciousness, otherwise the result wouldn’t be pretty.
I felt her soft fingers touch my brow, then heard the click of the lamp, it tore at my heart that she was prepared to sleep in the light for me. Flick lingered and I waited, desperate to see if last night was a one off, and as the breeze of her movement told me she was about to leave, I mumbled, “Stay.” Like last night she sighed, weighed up her options, and then I felt the bed depress beside me. The lump of tired muscle in my chest surged, waiting for her to touch me and then finally settled when she did.
I worked hard to control my breathing, I didn’t want her to sense I was awake, and it was hard to hide my euphoria at her being so close. I inhaled slowly and exhaled just the same, cursing my dick for twitching when she snuggled closer.
Minutes later, I don’t know how many, maybe ten, she sighed, and I knew she was spark out.
Slowly, very slowly, I turned my head until I faced her and felt her breath dance across my cheeks, fresh and minty from her last visit to the bathroom.
Fuck. She was pretty.
And close.
I’d never let anyone sleep with me since I came home. No one. This felt like it was a big deal, more so because I was choosing it. Maybe Wolf was right, and this, she, could be good for me.
If I leaned forward just a few centimeters, our lips would touch and hers looked plump and warm, I wondered just how plump and warm they’d feel. My dick would look amazing between them, plumping them up even more.
The thought of that did things to me in my pants and I felt my dick grow until the drawstring pants I wore stopped its progress. It hurt, I couldn’t move and adjust, so I lay there reciting the alphabet, first in English, then Arabic. Looking down at her did nothing to help my cause, the tank she wore was a little too baggy and her tits were on show. They weren’t huge, I’d had girls with huge tits and in all honesty, they were fun for a while, but unless you were banging the shit out of a girl from behind and you could see them swinging in the mirror, they were a bit of a waste. Anyway, I was an ass man. Flick’s tits were a perfect handful and fuck, those nipples, begging to be nibbled as I squeezed her ass. I reckon they’d look pretty amazing covered in my come too. The best thing about small tits, less mess and lots of scope for complete chest coverage.
Dammit!
I had to stop this, it was killing me. Praying she was asleep, I pushed a hand underneath her and lifted until she got with the program and turned over for me.
Christ! There was a god looking down on me tonight and giving me all the gifts.
There was no better sight than her ass poking from the bottom of her booty shorts. Shorts that were less of a barrier than the stupid bra she wore that night and now I wanted to slap, then nibble her ass as well as those nipples.
I spooned up behind her, which was a really bad, torturous idea. I was so turned on and hard, it felt like I was purposely teasing myself.
It was going to be a long, beautiful, painful night.
But I’d take it.
She snuck out again before first light and this time the bed felt cold and lonely without her. The minute she pulled my bedroom door closed, I reached inside my sleep pants and tugged. The groan I couldn’t hold back had been bubbling up inside me since she first came into my room. The prolonged gratification was not something I was a fan of. If I didn’t get inside her soon, it would kill me. I needed this release, and she’d been lucky that I hadn’t nutted up her back hours ago, I’d had to talk myself out of it a number of times during the night. With a grunt I covered my gut and smiled knowing she’d probably go nuts if she knew what I imagined doing to her.
Even if Felicity Peters didn’t know it, but she was already mine.
Just a little more priming and I’d bring her in on it too.
When I walked in from work, she was just serving dinner. It smelled amazing and my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn’t each much at lunch. We’d had a rush job come in and time was always money, a lot of money. I washed up, said hey to the kiddos—who were already embroiled in homework, or art, or in Lila’s case sticking shit with glue, completely missing the paper and straight to my dining table—and sat down.
Flick came over with three plates and put the
m down. “Right, enjoy, I’ve got dinner plans of my own.” I looked at her, and she looked away sheepishly before quickly disappearing.
“Any idea where your aunt is going?” I nonchalantly asked, daubing my chicken, potatoes and green beans in ketchup.
Ben shook his head, while Lila mumbled, “Date,” around her potatoes, which caused her to lose half of that mouthful back to the plate. Not surprising really, the potato in my own mouth had congealed solid.
The kids had to be wrong.
“Watch your sister a minute.” I didn’t wait for Ben’s response; I was storming to the staircase. Like fuck she had a date, she only went to the grocery store, school and the center and that place was full of distressed women and kids. Any guy that turn up there should be avoided like the plague, not fucking dated. I rapped my knuckles on the door.
“A minute, just getting changed.”
If she opened the door and was wearing that fucking see-through shit and a designer bra again, I’d tie her to the fucking bed, lock the bedroom door and then barricade the windows and doors downstairs shut. Losing my mind wouldn’t cover it. Actually no, I wouldn’t wait a fucking minute. So, I just opened the door and strolled the fuck in, catching her in the middle of rubbing lotion on her thighs, dangerously close to those ass cheeks I loved so much. “Beckett!” she shouted as attempted to dive under the covers. “What the fuck!”
“You have a date?”
“Dammit, Lila!” she mumbled and looked away embarrassed. “I do.”
“With?”
“None of your business.”
Once again, Flick was making my blood race, only this time it was for all the wrong reasons. Her frustration tickled my anger. “Talk. And I’m not leaving until you tell me, and for that matter, neither will you be.”
“That’s insane.”
“Talk,” I growled.
“Clark.”
Who the fuck was called Clark in this day and age? Apart from superman, and I’d know if there was another Superman in town. “Keep going. Where did you meet him?” I had to ask, but I hated that we were even having this discussion.
“The grocery market.”
“And?”
She wrapped her duvet around her and stood up, “And what?”
“What does he do?”
“Not that it matters.” She paused. “He’s a bathroom salesman.”
I let that sink in and saw her face change as the grin spread across my own. “You’re going on a date with a guy that met while doing my grocery, who sells shitters?”
“He sells more than toilets.”
“Urinals?” Her rage brimmed and I loved it, “and who the hell is called Clark these days? A toilet salesman, that’s who. Have a nice night.”
I walked out of her room and back to the kids, determined to be ready for when she came home, but Clark would be no fucking threat to my plans, I’d make sure of it.
Four hours later, I tiptoed to the front door, using my full suite of Shadow skills, and peered through the spy hole.
He even looked like a fucking Clark. Perfect side parting, glasses, a bit of muscle, but on the verge of being chubby if he didn’t run his prescribed seven miles every morning on his state of the art treadmill, but his body was no match for mine. Clark’s shirt was probably a size too small on purpose and to top it all off he wore, a fucking sweater vest.
I lurked and waited for him to lean in for the kill, with my hand poised on the handle, peering through the door peephole like a sniper in waiting. When his lips were nearly on top of hers, I yanked the door opened rapidly.
“You’re late, honey, brought home a toy for me, have you?”
“Beckett! What the fuck?”
“Uh, Flick?” Clark looked between us confused.
“I’ve got the rubber sheets ready,” I continued, knowing I was royally fucking this up for her and she was going to go insane.
“Don’t listen to him,” she urged.
“I thought we agreed you’d tell them before you got them here after last time.”
“Tell me what?” I saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed nervously.
“That three isn’t a crowd.” I waggled my eyebrows and smiled manically he dropped her hand like a stone.
“Stop! No! Clark, he’s just being a jerk, he has a shit sense of humor and is fucking with you.”
“Am I?” At that very apt moment, I presented my secret weapon… her black stallion dildo.
“Don’t panic, handsome, we’ve got lube and oil.”
Flick gasped and Clark stepped back, way back. “This probably isn’t going to work.” Clark couldn’t get down the drive fast enough and Flick turned her icy glare on me.
“Come on, look, it’s not that big!” I shouted after him, waving the stallion in the air. When he turned to look back, his face paled and he tripped.
“Give me that!” After Flick snatched it off me, she socked me around the head with it. “You fucking asshole! He was nice and stop waving that thing around in front of the neighbors.”
I burst out laughing at her indignant face, and a few minutes later she joined in with me. “Admit it, he was as dull as fuck and I saved you.”
“He was nice.”
The humor fled from my face. “Nice isn’t for you.”
“I’ll quite happily take nice, if it gets me …” she stopped.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Finish what you started.”
“Gets me laid, okay? You’ve got your whatever, club whores, what have I got?” Flick’s face changed, hating to use the word whore.
“My what?”
“You know biker groupies.”
I finally closed the door to the outside world and was stunned that she thought I was hooking up when I’d actually been pretty damn decent and hadn’t fucked anyone since she’d come to live with me.
Right now, my life was my club, my brothers, the kids and most definitely, her.
Finally, she sighed. “I’m lonely.”
I’d never really thought about that; I was a selfish asshole.
She gave up a whole life for this, for my family. “I know what you gave up to do this for them. Tracey knew you’d be the best person to look after those kids, but don’t settle for wannabe Superman and his sweater vest.”
Flick chuckled. “He was bursting out of it.”
“Silly fucker should buy the right size then.”
We looked at each other and the atmosphere changed, it felt odd, charged.
“You were going to kiss him?”
“He was going to kiss me.”
“Don’t kiss fuckers that mean nothing.”
“Sure, dad,” she joked, completely unaware that I was unraveling before her, barely holding it together.
I let her walk off, and by accident she flicked the dildo on. “Dammit!”
I laughed and watched her head up the stairs. In the kitchen, I finished the beer I’d been nursing a while ago and decided that Flick was never going to kiss someone who wasn’t me. It was time to up my game, but I’d give her the night off from sneaking in my bed. Partly because I didn’t want her next to me after she’d been on a date with someone else, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, things were getting tense. But more so, because I wasn’t sure I could trust myself to be alone in a bed with her.
For that reason, I didn’t go to my room, I sat in the chair in the living room and shut my eyes. The lack of comfort would wake me before the nightmares took hold and the demons that inhabited my soul could get a grip. I sat there and knew that one day I’d have to talk about this, and if I wanted to be with her, she’d need to know everything I’d done.
If I wanted to claim her forever, I owed it to her.
Flick
“What’s up, Kiddo?”
Ben not only looked grumpy, but with the way he was slamming things down, it was obvious he was very grumpy. Something was on his mind and I was worried about him; I thought we’d made progress.
We still talked about his mom and made sure he knew he was loved and safe, but something had triggered this bad mood. “Nothin’.”
He dropped his cutlery again with a clatter and a huff, just from the sheer annoyance of being asked about it. “Come on, something is up.”
Ben glared at me, just like Beckett did and if I wasn’t concerned about what was wrong, I would have laughed.
“Aunty Flick asked you a question, it’s rude not to answer.” Beckett appeared from the backyard silently, making me jump, he was good at that, appearing and disappearing and reappearing when you least expected it. He walked to the coffee pot, grabbed himself a fresh cup and sat down. “Well?”
Ben paused and started to fidget. “Miss. Cairney told me off because I didn’t do my homework and if I don’t have this stupid project in by this afternoon, I’m gonna get a D.”
“And why haven’t you done it?” I asked gently.
“Because it’s stupid,” he ground out, losing his cool.
“Ben.” Beckett’s tone was gentle too, but serious, laced with concern and warmth.
“It’s a family tree. I don’t have a stupid family. Everyone else has a big family and I’m gonna look stupid if I just put me and Lila and Uncle Beckett on a piece of stupid paper.”
My heart broke, immediately gutted that he wasn’t going to include me, and I had to turn away, suck in air and compose myself before I spoke again. I also wanted a moment to figure out what the hell I was going to say to him, but Beckett got there first. Good job really, I was still hurt over being forgotten. It wasn’t Ben’s fault, he wasn’t old enough to even consider my feelings, but I’d given up my life for him.
“Families come in all different forms, Ben. Just because they don’t share the same blood, it doesn’t mean you don’t have one. And you forgot about Aunty Flick.”
My heart smiled inside me, he’d fought my silent battle for me, and it made me wonder whether he saw what Ben’s words had done to me.
“Yeah, I know that, but you’re not married, and Miss. Cairney says that not allowed.”
Flick (The Black Sentinels MC Book 4) Page 10
