In the Time of the Caveman

by Samantha Leal

  “Jail?” she asked with disbelief. “What for?”

  “For murder, Tammy… Lynx has been inside for over ten years, and he just got out.”

  The whole bottom of her world seemed to drop out in that instant, and she gripped to the side of the couch for support.

  “You must have it wrong,” Tammy said as she sat back down next to her friend and put her head in her hands. “How could he have done something so terrible?”

  Lexi shook her head and bit her bottom lip.

  “King doesn’t think he did…” she trailed off. “He wasn’t part of the riders back then, but apparently he’s protecting someone.”

  Tammy’s head was spinning… If what Lexi was saying was true, Lynx had just spent over ten years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

  “This is too much to take in,” she said and she realized she was shaking.

  “He’s not a bad guy, Tam,” Lexi said sadly. “And I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to ruin this for you…”

  Tammy could feel the tears coming, and she covered her eyes and started to sob.

  “How could I even consider taking this any further?” she cried. “I’ve never even left Slate Springs, I have zero life experience… How could I shack up with a convicted murderer?”

  “He didn’t do it,” Lexi grabbed hold of her hand. “But it’s going to follow him around for life, and I thought you should know. Okay?”

  Tammy got to her feet and pointed towards the door.

  “I need to be alone for a while,” she said. “I’m not mad, I just really need to get my head around all of this…”

  “I’m sorry,” Lexi said as she tried to wrap her arms around her, but Tammy shrugged them off. “I really am. But I couldn’t not tell you. You only would have found out anyway.”

  “It’s fine,” she said as she marched to the door and opened it up wide. “I made you tell me. I just need some time to think, okay?”

  Lexi nodded and made her way out into the hallway. “Whatever is going on with you two… You know if it’s worth sticking with or not. I know it’s a lot to take in, but I honestly don’t think he’s a bad guy. I just think he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Lexi turned on her heel and clipped down the hallway. Tammy closed the door behind her and slid down the wall. She was shaking with nerves and disappointment. When she met Lynx, she honestly thought there was something different about him. Their connection had been so intense, and she had even thought he was The One. She could see herself having kids with him and walking down the aisle towards him. She would have given up anything to be with him, but now, barely forty-eight hours into their relationship and he had already made her feel like a fool twice.

  She looked across at her cell phone lying pointlessly on the table. After rushing over to it, she dialed Lexi and held it to her ear.

  “Lexi,” she said when she picked up. “I need you to ask King for Lynx’s number…”

  “Are you sure?” Lexi asked.

  “Yes,” Tammy said defiantly. “More than anything I’ve ever been sure of in my life.”

  9.

  The time it took for Lexi to respond with Lynx’s number seemed like the longest stretch of time Tammy had ever endured. In the meantime she jumped in the shower and scrubbed her skin raw. Even though she still smelled of him, she no longer knew if she wanted to.

  She had to see him.

  She had to speak to him.

  She had to know…

  When her phone finally beeped and the number flashed up on her screen from Lexi, she copied it directly into her contacts and pressed dial. She held the phone to her ear and waited impatiently for him to answer, but to her dismay it went to voicemail. She didn’t know if it was the right thing to do, but she took a chance. As the line went cold with a beep, she took a deep breath and left him a message.

  “Lynx, it’s Tammy… I’m sorry for calling you so early, but I have to speak to you. Please can you call me as soon as you get this…?”

  She hung up and wiped her eyes. She couldn’t give him any idea what she was about to ask him, or he’d be able to lie to her. He could prepare his story.

  She lay back down on the couch and closed her eyes. Even though she had only been awake for around two hours, she felt exhausted and emotionally drained and fell easily asleep.

  ***

  Waking to the beeping of a horn and the growl of an engine, she opened her eyes. She was still on the couch, lying on her back and baking in the midday sun. She sat up quickly and jumped to look out of the window. For a moment when she saw him there, sitting astride his bike in his sexy leathers and wearing his gorgeous smile, she almost forgot why she had called him there. But it came flooding back within seconds, and her heart sank.

  He seemed to sense that something was wrong and his smile fell too. Lynx climbed from the bike and walked quickly to the front door of her building. Her hands were shaking as she unlocked the door and went out into the hallway. She waited for him there, and she could hear him running up the steps two at a time. When he got to the top, he was breathless, and she swallowed down the tears, willing herself not to get emotional.

  “Babe…?” he said cautiously. “What’s the matter?”

  Tammy walked back inside her apartment and let him follow. All of the fight inside of her seemed to drain the second she heard his voice. Could it all be a lie? What if Lexi didn’t want her to be happy?

  She sat down on the couch, and Lynx entered slowly. He looked around at her little home and smiled at a photograph of her as a child with her mother that stood proudly in a frame on her bookcase.

  “Cute,” he said as he picked it up and ran his finger along the frame.

  “Did you kill someone?” she said it before she had a chance to change her mind.

  Lynx calmly put the photograph back down on the shelf and turned to look at her with hurt in his eyes.

  “I was going to tell you…” he began.

  Tammy jumped back to her feet and held up her hands. “This is crazy,” she said, backing away from him. “I can’t believe I just welcomed you in here!”

  He sighed and shook his head. “Will you please let me finish?” He was calm and he sat down on the arm of a chair and stared at her.

  Tammy stood in front of him, unsure of what to do next. Her instincts were telling her that she had nothing to fear, but he obviously knew what she was talking about…and he wasn’t denying it.

  “Tam.” He looked at her with tear rimmed eyes. “I wanted so badly to tell you why you’ve never seen me around here before. But I didn’t want to scare you away.”

  “So you just lied?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “I just wasn’t very generous with the truth,” he sighed. “I did go to prison, but I didn’t kill anyone. And you’re probably the only person I’ve ever admitted that to in my entire life.”

  She shook her head with disbelief and shrugged.

  “Well, Lexi seems to think you’re innocent, too… So if you’ve never told anyone you didn’t do it, why the hell would she think that?”

  He rubbed his eyes and breathed out deeply.

  “King has always suspected I was covering for someone… But I could never tell anyone at the club. It’s not right for the other person to pay for a mistake that’s already been absolved.”

  Tammy could tell he was being honest, but it still didn’t change the fact that he had spent the past ten years of his life in prison. He was a criminal, even if he was innocent… He must have been mixed up in something pretty horrific to be accused of murder.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Tammy said as she sat down and tears began to roll down her face. “I want to trust you… But this is so hard for me.”

  Lynx rushed to her side and wrapped his arms around her.

  “You have to believe me, I’m not a murderer. I’m what you’ve seen, okay?”

  “But the way you were with me the night we met… And now this
…? I just don’t know who you are.” She wiped her eyes, and even though she couldn’t bear to be near him, she knew she couldn’t stand to be apart from him, either.

  She was addicted to him.

  He had pulled her in, and his big, rough hands had a hold on her heart.

  He tilted her chin up so her eyes locked with his and the deep blue swirl of his soul worked her over and made her feel calm and like she was falling into a trance.

  “The second I saw you, I knew I had to have you,” he whispered. “I’ve never been so attracted to a girl before… I’ve never wanted a woman like I want you, and I’ve never felt so fiercely protective and ready to fight for anyone… Do you understand?”

  Tammy felt a shiver roll over her entire body. Just hearing him say those things, knowing that he felt exactly the same way she did, was more than she could’ve ever hoped for.

  “I didn’t do it.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “But I had to go away and protect the person who did.”

  He ran his hand through her hair and kissed her again. She was so confused, but at the same time, everything seemed so clear. She knew in her heart that he was being genuine. She had known it from the second they met, and that had allowed her to open up to him like she never had with anyone before.

  He pushed her back onto the couch and climbed on top of her. Clinging to him, she wrapped her legs around him. The heavy scent of last night’s liquor, stale cigarettes, and gasoline clung to him and it drove her wild.

  “I don’t ever want to lose you,” he whispered as he kissed her ear and down her neck. “When I met you, I knew you were the one…”

  Tammy pulled his face up to meet hers and looked at him dead in the eye. His features were so open and honest, and the fact that she had only been thinking the same thing a few hours before proved to her that this was meant to be.

  She had to believe him.

  She had to give this a shot.

  “I trust you,” she whispered and he kissed her again.

  He lifted her up from the couch, and with her legs wrapped around his waist, he carried her into the bedroom. He lay her down and she watched him as he pulled off his jacket and vest up over his head. His chest was richly tanned and perfectly chiseled. She had never seen a man so godly before—his entire physique was like something she had only seen in her dreams. He moved forward and climbed on top of her. His chains and jewelry jangled against her and she ran her long fingernails up his back. His tattoos were black and aggressive, and it wasn’t until he sat back and turned his head slightly as he took off some of his chains that she caught sight of the magnificent piece of artwork adorning his entire back.

  She gasped and sat forward, holding onto his shoulders and turning his back towards the sunlight.

  “Wow,” she breathed. “This is….”

  “A lynx,” he said with a smile.

  She ran her fingertips over the most wonderful portrait of a wild cat that she had ever seen. Its teeth were bared and its eyes were bright and wide. It looked full of life and vitality, but it was also dangerous and ready to attack.

  “I love it,” she beamed. “It’s amazing.”

  “Not as amazing as you,” he said as held her neck and traced kisses down to the tops of her breasts.

  She lay back and let him remove her clothes, piece by piece, and when she was beneath him fully naked she opened her legs wide and let him see how wet and ready for him she was.

  He grunted at the sight of her pussy and pulled at his belt, ripping it off and jerking down his trousers so his thick, engorged cock sprang free. Tammy whimpered. She was in awe of him, and as he towered above her holding his dick in his hands, she knew he was going to fuck her so hard with it. She almost unraveled right there before he even touched her.

  He climbed on top of her and she wrapped her legs around him. Rolling with her, he pulled her on top of him and held onto her hips.

  Tammy gasped. She was so nervous to have him inside of her, but she also couldn’t wait to feel him in his entirety. He pulled her forward as he pushed the tip of his cock to the opening of her sex and held her there in place. He looked up at her, deep into her eyes, and as she held her breath, he pulled her down onto him, spearing her and filling her up so she felt split in half.

  The heat spread through her and she cried with pleasure as she rode him and grinded herself up and down. Lynx grunted and moaned as he held onto her at the waist, but it was only a matter of time before the alpha male in him took over and he had to be in control.

  He flipped her onto her back, and as he held onto her neck he pushed himself deep inside of her, burying himself in her folds as he fucked her hard and slow.

  Tammy had never experienced anything like it. He was such a man, such a powerful, animalistic man who was full of aggression and lust that it was turning her on even more with each thrust.

  She could barely hang on any longer, and as she unraveled beneath him and her orgasm tore through her, Lynx’s thighs tensed and he grunted into her neck as he exploded inside of her. She felt his hot and powerful seed fill her pussy, and her tight muscles gripped onto his shaft as he pumped and emptied himself into her.

  He collapsed down next to her and pulled her close to him. Both of their hearts were hammering in their chests, and Tammy could barely hear anything over the rush of blood that was thumping through her whole body.

  “That was incredible,” Lynx panted as he kissed her forehead.

  Tammy nuzzled into him and breathed him in. In that moment, she realized that she didn’t care what anyone else was saying about him, or even if he had murdered someone ten years ago. All she knew was that she had fallen for him harder and faster than she had ever thought possible.

  10.

  As the day turned into night and they lay together exploring each other’s bodies, Tammy knew she had found her soul mate. Everything about Lynx fit with her perfectly, and there was nothing she didn’t want to tell him.

  She told him of how she longed for a family, and he agreed with her. He explained how he had always felt the same and couldn’t wait to have one of his own. He opened up about his past and his childhood, confiding in her about how he had been treated badly, abused by his guardians, and eventually fled when he was fifteen and found himself in Slate Springs without a penny to his name and not a clue of how to look after himself.

  “What happened?” Tammy asked him with eager eyes.

  “I met one of The Forsaken Riders,” he smiled as he ran his fingertips through her hair. “They took me in, put a roof over my head, gave me a job… They saved my life.”

  Tammy had no idea how it must have felt to be so alone in the world. Even though she missed her mother dearly every day, she had always had the love and support of her father and Dean.

  “I’m sorry that happened to you,” she whispered before she gave him a single kiss on his chest.

  “I’m not anymore,” he said. “If it hadn’t of happened, I never would have wound up here with you.”

  Even though he was right, she still couldn’t help but feel like a lot of his life had been either traumatic or wasted being locked up in jail.

  “Who were you protecting, Lynx?” Tammy blurted the words out before she even knew she was going to say them.

  He sat up and rested his forearms on the tips of his knees.

  “I can’t tell you that, Tam,” he said gently as he turned to look at her.

  She felt herself stiffen and she knew that if he ever wanted her to believe a word that came out of his mouth ever again, then he didn’t have the option… He was going to have to tell her.

  “All you’ve been saying since the moment we met is that I have to trust you,” she said as she pulled herself up. “Now don’t you think it’s about time you trusted me?”

  He looked thoughtful for a moment before he took hold of her hand.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked.

  Tammy searched his face for an answer, but she would never be able to guess. She sho
ok her head and he dropped his.

  “It was Reid, babe…” he said with a sigh. “I was protecting the only man who ever really took care of me.”

  Tammy felt the blood rush into her head, and she felt dizzy. Reid, Lexi’s dad, had murdered someone and Lynx had protected him and done the time.

  “But why?” she asked with confusion.

  “Reid was the one who took me in when I found myself here at fifteen,” he shrugged. “He’d already been away and done time, and he wasn’t well…” He stopped for a moment and Tammy could see the tears welling up behind his eyes.

  “It was my fault he did it in the first place. I botched up a job, we got caught. It was either Reid shot the guy whose shop we were turning over, or we were all going down.”

  Tammy shivered.

  “I couldn’t let him go back inside,” Lynx said. “It would have finished the old boy off…”

  “But he’s sick now?” she said, her confusion mounting.

  “The cancer came back,” he nodded. “I’m glad he didn’t spend the last years of his life rotting away in some jail when it was my fault he would have been there in the first place.”

  He sniffed and then smiled.

  “So now you know everything,” he concluded. “But you can never tell Lexi…or King, for that matter. The code of The Forsaken Riders is one that can never be broken, and King wasn’t around when all of this went down. Okay?”

  She nodded and reached out to stroke his arm once more.

  For a man who had lived on the wrong side of the tracks since he was a kid, Lynx was wise and full of integrity. When he confessed his darkest secret to her, she knew why she loved him… He was just like her underneath it all. Under all of the muscles, the piercings and tattoos, and the scent of booze and smoke, he was a kind-hearted man, and he had won her over with his honesty.

  She looked up at him, and he pulled her close to him. She knew her life was never going to be the same again. She had met the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. He was going to be the father of her children, and she was never going to be looked at the same in Slate Springs ever again. Less than a week before, Tammy had barely even laid eyes on any of the Forsaken Riders, but now she and Lexi were in deep, and they were beginning the lives they had always dreamed of in their own unique ways.