AJ

by Jessie Cooke

  “I should put my life in order first and see where she’s at?” He knew that’s what he should do, but for some reason he needed to hear it out loud. Rock wasn’t going to make things that easy, however. He laughed and said:

  “You say it like a question, like you think it’s what I’m saying you should do, and not what you want to do. My young friend, I can’t tell you what you should do. The consequences of your choices will be yours, not mine. All I’m doing is asking questions out loud that I know you’ve asked yourself, and trying to remind you that the only person who truly knows what’s good or right for you, is you.”

  AJ left there knowing what he needed to do, and he’d come straight over to talk with Jolene about it. Now he told her he was going to wrap up his business in Arizona and then join her on the road. The look on Jolene’s face when he said that told him she had a different plan in mind, one he wasn’t going to like.

  “Hey,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him in for a hug.

  “Hey.” AJ hugged her back, inhaling the scent of her hair and that was all it took for him to want to beg once again.

  Jolene pulled back first. “You want to take a walk?”

  “Sure.” Jolene took his hand and they walked together back out through the gate and toward the path that led up to the red mountains of the desert that surrounded them. For a while they walked in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. It was Jolene who finally asked:

  “Are you okay?”

  AJ stopped and looked down at her. “No, not really. I can’t make sense of any of this. You say you have feelings for me; then why can’t we make plans for the future? I’m not asking you to get married...”

  Jolene reached up and put a hand on the side of his face. He could see tears swimming in her pretty brown eyes, which confused him even further. “AJ, we’ve been dating for three weeks. Even if I was at home, and not planning on being on the road for the next ten months...it would be too soon for me. I do have feelings for you, but as beautiful as this little whirlwind romance of ours has been...it’s like meeting someone on vacation. We both only saw the best of each other. It’s not enough to build a relationship on, or bind us both to something exclusive when it may be months before we even see each other again. You still have things to take care of before you can move on and if you’ll forgive me for saying so, maybe a little more soul-searching.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you talk about selling your business and traveling with me...but even while you’re here, looking for yourself or your passion...you’re still working every day. You’re out there doing what you’re used to and, I suspect, you enjoy...working with your hands. I just wonder if you’d be happy...”

  “Being with you makes me happy.”

  She smiled again and said, “You make me happy too, but...” She put her hand on his chest and said, “True happiness has to come from in here, first. I think, before two people can make each other happy in a relationship, they have to know what makes their own soul happy. Does that make sense?”

  He swallowed the lump in his throat and said, “It does, and you sound like Rock.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. I like Rock and he’s a smart man.”

  “Yeah, so I guess I have my assignment...get my shit together. But when I’m finished with all that, I’m going to find you.”

  “Atsa...” Before she could say anything that he might not want to hear, he covered her mouth with his. He knew she was right and he was trying to move them along too quickly. He knew she and Rock were both right and he needed to know what he really wanted before he could make her happy. But damn, he still wanted her and it was fucking hard to say goodbye. He wanted to enjoy the little bit of time they had left together and he knew that meant accepting what was, for now.

  As they kissed he let his hands explore her curves and run up her sides, under her shirt. He loved the way her skin felt, he loved that she wasn’t so thin he could feel her bones, and he loved that there was something to wrap his arms and hands around when he touched her. AJ was trying to deepen the kiss further when Jolene pulled back. She was breathless and she took a step back and adjusted her shirt. Looking around she said, “We’re still close to the main road. We should probably keep the clothes on here.” She giggled then and said, “Of course if they found me having wild sex on the side of the walking path on my last day here, they might not ever forget me.”

  AJ smiled. “They won’t forget you. You’re unforgettable.” He took her hand and said, “Let’s get off the main path, I need to touch you, Jolene.” She didn’t argue. She followed him and they spent another fifteen minutes hiking up the trail until they came to a fork in it. Jolene had taken AJ up there once before, to show him a beautiful little cave she’d found. They hadn’t had sex in it that day, but it had been fodder for more than one of AJ’s masturbatory sessions on the days when he didn’t get to see her.

  As he ducked to avoid the overhead rocks and led her into the cave she said, “We should have brought a blanket.” AJ was already stripping off his clothes and dropping them on the ground. Jolene watched with an amused expression until he’d stripped down to nothing but his underwear and arranged his t-shirt and jeans on the ground. Jace had given him a leather vest. It didn’t have the Skulls colors on it, but AJ wore it when he rode his bike. The vest was now balled up like a pillow and lay in the neck of his t-shirt. Laughing, Jolene said, “You set up camp quick. Were you a Boy Scout?”

  AJ grinned and said, “No, ma’am, I’m a Navajo.” He had spent a lot of time with Jolene on the reservation and at Tommy’s museum, learning things about his own heritage that he hadn’t known. He discovered that the more he knew, the more he wanted to know. The elders on the reservation had told him the stories of how hard his people had fought to survive and rebuild a life for future generations, and about the men who volunteered to be on the front lines and work as “code talkers” in World War II. He learned something about their art and their literature, and his pride in being Navajo was stronger than it had been since he was a kid.

  Jolene pulled off her shirt and dropped it down on top of his. AJ watched her finish undressing and he tried to push away those nagging thoughts that this might be the last time and just enjoy the moment. Once she was down to nothing but her little white satin panties, he took her in his arms and together they lowered themselves to their knees. Once there, AJ pulled her into another kiss. This time it was passionate, hard, urgent. His tongue slid into her mouth and probed every dark, wet crevice. Her tongue pushed back and the two danced and wrestled together in both their mouths. While they kissed he closed his eyes and committed the taste of her to his memory. His hands felt her soft curves and he memorized those as well. Jolene’s hands were massaging the muscles in his back and she was pulling herself up against him tighter so that her breasts and hard nipples crushed into his chest. AJ laid her back gently, onto their little makeshift bed, and his lips went to her long, supple neck. He licked from her ear down to her collarbone and then used one of his hands to move her red hair out of the way and attached his lips to the skin on the side of her neck. He began to suck at her neck and even nibble at it as she whimpered and moaned.

  Jolene brought her hands around to his chest and as he kissed down the front of hers, she let her palms caress him. He moved one hand up to cover one of her breasts and slid the other up her smooth back and gathered a handful of her hair. He tugged on it so she’d drop her head back and he let his mouth continue down between her full breasts and then across to lick one of her sweet nipples. She shuddered in his hands and he licked the other one. He licked all the way around it, and then sucked it into his mouth. Jolene gasped and moved her hands up to his hair. While he moved back and forth, caressing, kissing, licking and sucking her breasts, she pulled at his hair and dug her fingers into his scalp, sighing and moaning and whispering his name.

  AJ finally sat up and looked at her again. She was trembling and her eyes were
hooded as she peeked out at him from underneath her dark lashes. “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed out, letting go of her hair and once again letting his hands feel and caress her sexy body.

  “Thank you,” she said, her voice raspy and thick with lust. He felt her body convulse as his hand slid down in the front of her little panties.

  “No, baby, thank you. If this was just a fling, it was the best fling in the history of the world.” She started to say something but his fingers had found their way underneath her wet panties and all that came out was a deep, sexy growl. He used his free hand to lay her back and she stretched out her legs, flexed her hips, and opened her legs wider for him. AJ kept working on her pussy, playing in the wet, warm folds and letting one of his thick fingers work its way up inside of her, as he pulled her panties down out of his way with the other. Reluctantly he stopped what he was doing, to take them all the way off her, and stand up and get rid of his own shorts. His cock was throbbing as he dropped back down to his knees. He started to fish underneath her for the condom in his jeans pocket and she said:

  “Atsa, can we skip the condom this time? I’m on birth control and I get regular checks...”

  AJ didn’t, normally. But after he’d met Jolene, he’d gone to a clinic Finn suggested, just in case. He was clean and the idea of being inside of her, feeling his skin next to hers...it almost put him over the top on the spot. He forgot the condom and returned to what he was doing before. He liked watching her face while he moved his fingers in and out of her. She was so soft, and at the same time her muscles clamped down so tightly around him that if not for all the lubrication, he might be caught. He pulled his fingers out and tasted them, one more thing he wanted to remember until the next time he saw her. When he opened his eyes she was watching him and he smiled and said:

  “You’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.”

  She growled again, like a hungry little tiger. “Fuck me, Atsa. Now.”

  Grinning at her, he used both of his hands to turn her over. Once she was on her belly, she brought her bottom up on her own and AJ used one hand to press on her lower back, angling her in just the right direction. Then he lined himself up with her soaked pussy and pushed. Jolene gasped and pressed her palms into the ground and dug her fingers into the dirt alongside the t-shirt she was lying on. AJ put his hands on her hips and slid them up to grab her breasts. He squeezed and manipulated them in his hands while he moved in and out of her.

  Their movements were becoming rhythmic now and he was beginning to recognize the pattern of her breathing and the sounds she made when she was excited or satiated. He took his time, wanting this to last forever...then she couldn’t leave. But she felt so good and she was moving with him until his thrusts became faster and harder almost on their own. He used his hold on her breasts and pulled her body up so that she was almost sitting backwards on his lap. He let go of one of her breasts and wrapped his big arm around her waist and held her there while he sucked on her neck again. Jolene was bouncing up and down on his cock now. Her breaths were ragged and her muscles rigid. AJ knew she was almost ready so he moved his now free hand down to her pussy, found her clit, and began pressing on it, pinching it and pulling on it until she screamed out in an orgasm that he practically felt move through her. The vibrations of her body as she came and actually being able to feel that rush of warm liquid was too much for him. Seconds before she was even finished with hers, he was in the midst of his own climax. It was so good and it seemed to last forever. It made him dizzy and then it made him feel complete, like there was nothing in the world he couldn’t do while he was high on her. She was like a drug; every time he was with her he got just a little bit higher. He loved that feeling and he knew that being away from her was going to be one of the hardest things he’d ever done. But if it meant having a chance to be in a real relationship with her one day, he was willing to man up and do it.

  15

  Phoenix, Arizona

  The new meeting room in the clubhouse wasn’t quite finished, but it was close. Finn and Bubba had just picked up a load of folding chairs the day before and Jace waited now as they finished setting them up. Once everyone had a seat he called church to order and said:

  “First, I’ll introduce our guest. This is Lion, he’s one of our nomads.” The biker with the flowing blond hair nodded at the other men. Jace had worked with Lion on several occasions when he was a nomad, but since neither of them were talkers, nor fond of sharing their personal information with strangers, he still didn’t know a lot about the other man. He knew that Dax trusted him, though, and that was all he needed to know. Dax had called ahead and told Jace what was going on and why he was sending Lion out—and Dax, like Wolf, was someone Jace never said no to. “You all know by now that the girl we picked up in Lake Havasu a few weeks ago and have been keeping an eye on around the clock is Hawk’s daughter. Some of you newer guys might not know who Hawk is, but what you need to know is that he’s been a Skull longer than anyone in the club...”

  “Are we counting his stint as a Sinner?” Boots asked. The guys laughed until Jace gave them “the look” and then there was instant silence in the room. Jace waited a beat and went on:

  “Angelo Garibaldi and the rest of his clan are still unaware that the girl they’ve been looking for has any connections to the Skulls as far as we know. Hunter has been searching for Anthony, the murderer and Madison’s former boss, on the down-low. Wolf loaned him several of his guys to help and they’ve quietly torn up Las Vegas in the past three weeks, but they’ve come up empty. Then a few days ago Hawk got word from a connection he has in Atlantic City that Anthony was there in Jersey, staying with the Lombardi family. He decided to go take care of things himself.”

  “So did someone finally kill the old lunatic?” Vic asked. Jace knew he was referring to Hawk and not one of the gangsters. No one liked Hawk much, and they all thought he was crazy. The last time the Southies were out, he and Vic had words, and Vic was one to hold a grudge.

  Before Jace answered him, Streak chuckled and said, “Some say that the old bastard has a deal with the devil and should have been dead decades ago.”

  “Hawk’s not dead, and neither is Garibaldi,” Jace said, bringing them back to the business at hand. He looked at Lion and said, “You want to take it from here?”

  Lion nodded and said, “Y’all are right about Hawk being a lucky bastard. He went all cowboy on the fucking mob and the only reason he’s not floating in the Hudson right now is that the first person he contacted turned out to be an undercover Fed. They had to let Garibaldi go, but they’re still watching him. They managed to get Hawk off the Lombardis’ property before anyone knew he was there, but he gave them so much shit that they actually locked him up. Dax had to go out to Jersey and get him, and Hawk was told in no uncertain terms to stay the fuck out of the investigation by the Feds, and Dax. They also said that Anthony wasn’t even with the Lombardis, but who knows if that’s true or not; it’s not like the Feds are going to tell us shit. Anyway, they all may have just as well pissed into the wind, for all the good it did where Hawk is concerned. He tried to take off on his own again, but Dax stopped him before he got off the ranch. He has him on lockdown now.”

  “Then why take the girl to Boston?” Boots asked. “Dax isn’t worried that having her on the ranch will bring that war to his front door?”

  Jace took that one. “Dax’s motto from the day he took over that club was family first. I’m sure he’s not interested in getting into a war with organized crime over this, but like him or not, Hawk is part of that family. He’s part of this family. That makes Madison the same. This isn’t about the job we’re doing protecting her, it’s about a father who needs to lay eyes on his daughter and know she’s okay. I can’t say I wouldn’t want the same. So, we’re not here to argue Hawk’s virtues”—a few men in the room chuckled at that. Jace ignored them and moved on—“or the pros and cons of this plan. We’re here to follow orders and our orders are to turn her ov
er to Lion, who is going to escort her back east, and to free up a couple of our men to ride with them. Once she’s in Boston, we’ll be out of it, and in terms of the manpower we’re using to watch her 24/7 and the possibility of the Garibaldis finding out she’s here somehow, it’s a win for us.” Jace looked around at the men, who were looking around at each other. “I’ll consider volunteers first, and we’ll go from there.”

  Gaston raised his hand first. He was the newest patch in the club and Jace wasn’t sure he was up for this kind of assignment. Finn raised his hand, and then Bubba...who seemed to shadow everything that Finn did. But Bubba was also an SA for a reason and that was because Jace had witnessed firsthand that although he might not be skilled in the social graces arena, he was tough and determined and fearless.

  “I’ll go,” Vic said aloud. Jace wasn’t sure that was a great idea, considering how Vic felt about Hawk. Toad nodded then and said:

  “Me too.”

  Jace took stock of the men in the room who were volunteering. He wasn’t fazed by the ones who weren’t, either. Some of the men, like Boots, had jobs that would suffer if they were gone for over a week, and that was probably how long the assignment was going to take. “Alright, well, I appreciate you all volunteering. I’m thinking since we only need two, I’ll send the SAs. Toad and Vic, you can both take care of anything that comes up while they’re gone.” He looked at Gaston then, thoughtfully and said, “You know, it might not hurt to let you break your cherry on this one, Gaston,” The overeager kid smiled as Jace went on, “You’ll ride front point with Finn. Bubba, you’ll bring up the rear.” Once that was taken care of, Jace wrapped up church with a few minor matters and then told the three who would be going with Lion to stay behind for the planning portion, and he excused the rest. He could see by Vic’s demeanor that he wasn’t happy about his choices, but Jace wasn’t explaining himself to anyone and thankfully Vic was smart and loyal enough not to ask him to.