“Maybe.” I squeezed out.
I was in the process of getting a tattoo at a tattoo studio that Elliott had recommended. Blaine was sitting on the chair in front of me. Ember was sitting next to Elliott on the sofa across the main room. Payton was looking through the books at the counter. Cheyenne was reading stupid laws on her phone, and reading them out loud periodically.
“Sucker.” Payton laughed.
“I’m sure he’s going to like this and all, but he’ll probably get pissed when he sees that you had another man so close to his cock socket.” Elliott said with a thick southern accent.
“Cock socket? Really?” Ember asked, bumping him with her shoulder.
“What would you like me to say instead? Tutu? Meat flaps? Cooter?”
The tattoo artist started cracking up and I started getting antsy. “How about we stop cracking this man up while he’s so close to my special parts?”
“Holy shit,” Payton exclaimed. “Can you believe this? This guy has a bar through his dick!”
“That’s called a…” The artist started saying before Payton interrupted him.
“Oh, my God. That one comes out his urethra. How do you piss straight with that in? I bet that hurts like a bitch. What do you think recovery time would be on that? It doesn’t look like it would feel that good. Do you think Max would get one?” Payton asked, spitting the questions out one after the other.
“Probably doesn’t. Yes, it hurts like a bitch. Eight weeks. Feels awesome, from what I’ve been told. And probably not.” Elliott said as he picked dirt out from under his fingernails with his pocketknife.
Crickets.
“What do you mean, from what you’ve heard?” Blaine asked the question we’d all been silently wondering.
“What? I just asked a few buddies that got them done.” He said, not even looking up from the knife.
“Who?” We all asked at the same time.
“Yeah, right. I’m not telling y’all. Y’all have six-year-old abilities when it comes to keeping secrets. All it would take is one tiny look at the person and then you’re going to be asking about his dick. No.” He laughed at us.
Of course, telling us no only made us more interested in knowing who it was.
“It’s not Max.” Payton declared loudly.
Cheyenne shook her head. “Not Sam either.”
“Negative on Gabe.” Ember pouted.
“Well, it sure isn’t Elliott, although it does look quite interesting.” Blaine laughed.
They all turned to me, waiting. “Nope.”
“Who does that leave?” Cheyenne asked and then immediately made a disgusted face.
“Oh, God! It’s James, isn’t it? Oh, eww. Gross. I need some alcohol to knock this image out of my brain. Oh, my God! It’s not going away!” She wailed, clutching her head.
Elliott’s face was blank, not giving anything away. “Somebody needs to ask him.”
At Ember’s comment, Cheyenne started the gagging again.
“Okay, done. How do you like it?” Diablo, the tattoo artist, asked.
I looked down and studied the work.
It was exquisite. You couldn’t even see the scar anymore. “Beautiful.”
“That looks freaking awesome! You can’t even tell there was ever a scar there.” Payton said, scooting close.
The picture that we based the tattoo off was held next to my thigh for comparison.
“That looks almost like Jack’s, but not gross like the skull tearing the snake. Glad you left that part out. This one looks more like a sugar skull.” Ember studied it.
“Can you do one for me, too? Only different colors.” Cheyenne asked enthusiastically.
“Yeah,” Diablo said warily.
And that was how every single woman in the group got a tattoo of their men’s tattoo.
***
The next day
“Where are you?” I asked Jack over the phone.
“I’m still here. Adam left me a few surprises. What did you do last night?” He asked.
It was clear he didn’t want to talk about whatever Adam had left him, so I let him change the subject. Only I didn’t want to talk about that one. I wanted to surprise him.
“Oh, you know. The usual,” I said evasively.
“Uh, huh. Sure. Elliott wouldn’t tell me either.” He laughed.
“We threatened his life if he told. I’ll show you as soon as you get home. I promise. Scout’s honor.” I said, holding up the symbol for scout’s honor, even though he couldn’t see me.
“You’re not a scout. Never have been, never will be. That’s something only a man can do.” He said chuckling.
“I could if I wanted.”
“Actually, you have to get it done by the age of eighteen. And you’re past that age. Plus you have to have a dick.”
“Whatever,” I said ignoring the crude language. “When will you be home?”
“Tomorrow morning sometime. We’ll leave early.”
“We’ll?” I asked.
“Yeah, Sam, James, and Max are here. We’re bringing some shit home.” He muttered.
“I am not shit.” A woman hissed in the background.
“Yeah, well you act like a shit. So same thing,” Jack muttered low under his breath. “Baby, I gotta go. We’re heading in to a rib joint and it’s loud inside. Love you.”
The phone went dead in my ear before I could even say it back. Although it annoyed me to no end that a woman was at a rib joint with him, I felt better that he wasn’t alone with her. What I didn’t like was the fact that he never called last night, nor this morning like he said he would.
“Engine 1, Medic 1, Engine 2, medic 2. Motor vehicle accident four hundred block of Texas Street. Multiple vehicles and injuries.” A disembodied voice said over the loud speaker.
I rushed to Medic 1 and piled into the passenger seat while Allen got into the driver’s seat. With Kilgore being such a small community, it wasn’t unheard of for the chiefs of all departments to get on the street and do the grunt work with the rest of the department.
As the Ambulance pulled out, the skies opened up. Rain came down in a torrential downpour with lightning and thunder following quickly in its wake.
“Fu- ah, I mean darn.” Allen said and then glanced at me looking guilty.
I burst out laughing. “Oh, Allen. I live with a husband who has the mouth of a soldier. Trust me, there’s nothing you can say that I haven’t heard before.”
He chuckled, but stopped quickly as a SUV with a woman talking on a cell phone pulled out in front of us.
Allen slammed on the brakes and maneuvered around the dumb woman. “Geez, seriously? First, it’s raining, so get your head out of your butt. Second of all, that sign over there said no turn on red, lady.” I fumed.
Allen chuckled. “Every time.”
The scene we pulled up on was one of nightmares. A multiple vehicle accident happened at an intersection. The light had gone out, and from as far as I could tell, the vehicles all ran through the light not noticing and struck each other. There were four all together, and none of them looked anything less than totaled.
The first thing we heard, as we got out, was a woman wailing. “My baby! My baby!”
Downy came up to us with a grim look on his face. He was wearing a reflective rain slicker that covered him from head to toe. KDP was written in reflective lettering on the chest, which glowed in the darkness the rain compelled.
Whatever he was about to tell us wasn’t good. Not in the slightest. “I can’t find a baby. I’ve looked everywhere inside that vehicle, but can’t find anything in there except for the mother. There’s a car seat, but no kid. Also, the people in the other three vehicles need the can opener. Doors aren’t budging. Nothing fatal from what I can tell. Everyone is conscious.”
As he spoke, we followed him to the car that had the woman crying and got to work.
The officers on the scene continued to look for the child, but it wasn’t until the husband of
the woman showed up that we figured out there was no baby in the first place. Two weeks ago, the woman delivered a stillborn child and the husband said she’s been upset about it ever since.
Although her story was heartbreaking, we couldn’t help but be relieved that a child wasn’t hurt in the accident.
Hours later, everyone was horribly exhausted. After hours in the rain, with thirty degree weather, no amount of protection was good enough anymore.
Not to mention my mind kept straying to my own heartbreak. My own little baby that I would never hold. Never smell her tiny baby smell. Never watch her take her first step. Or go to senior prom.
By the time my shift ended, I was in one hell of a mood.
Only one thing I was certain of and that was that I needed to see the box. I needed to know my angel baby.
Deciding I needed to have my stuff pronto, I called my old landlord. We arranged for her to pack my belongings into a Pod and have it all sent to me. However, the box she said she’d send out with the mail today, and have it overnighted to me.
It was clear to me now that I would never be going back and I paid the fee to cancel my lease. I just hoped Jack didn’t get upset with me.
He’d said movers cost too much and that we could get it done in a few weeks. Only, I wanted that box yesterday and I couldn’t wait for Jack any longer. I needed it now.
Little did I know that I opened a door that would have deadly consequences in the days to come, and I would regret the decision of not talking to him beforehand, with my every breath.
Chapter 18
Loud pipes save lives.
-Biker Patch
Winter
“What are all y’all doing?” I asked as I came up behind the ladies that were crowded around the back window of the garage.
It overlooked an open field at the side of the property. It was used by the previous owners as grazing land for their cattle. However, now it was just a pasture that nobody used. It was there as potential land that Free could expand on if the need ever arose.
“We called you so you could witness the stupidity of our men.” Blaine said, a little peeved.
“Jack’s back? What the fuck? He couldn’t even come say hi to me first before he started working?” I asked, annoyed beyond belief.
I hadn’t seen him in nearly three days, and only spoke with him on the phone twice, for less than a minute. Was a little consideration too much to ask?
“Oh, he walked in and Elliott challenged him to a log splitting competition. Nobody else would do it with him, so Jack conceded.” Ember said laughingly.
“At least your husband didn’t come in with some smoking hot woman and leave without even saying hi.” Cheyenne fumed.
The woman in question must be the “shit” Jack said he was bringing home.
Tamping down some of my anger, I walked to the window and my eyes about fell out of my head.
Both men were wearing dark faded jeans, motorcycle boots, and nothing else. Oh, and it was only thirty four degrees out.
They were both chopping away at large pieces of logs. The pile of wood on either side of their spaces was over flowing, and it looked to me that they were both tied.
“What are the rules?” I asked, wiping discreetly at the minute amount of drool that escaped the side of my mouth.
“Whoever stops first loses.” Ember said just before she stuffed a huge handful of popcorn into her mouth.
I watched Jack’s upper body ripple. Each move and bend of his body showed off a different set of muscles in his arms and chest. Even his neck was getting into the action. Steam was rising off his body with each swing, and tracks of sweat flowed down his ridged abdomen.
His strong hands flexed as he brought the axe up high over his head, and then clamped down tight as he let it fly. His abs flexed and rippled as he tightened his core and I felt that familiar tickle down deep.
The one that said if I didn’t take my mind off what I was doing right that very second, I’d embarrass myself.
However, after another twenty minutes of watching him work, I was dying.
Slamming myself out through the side door, I nearly turned around and went back inside when I felt the cold, blistering wind. Except as I got closer, I got an even better view of his ass and back working, and my nipples tightened into tight, turgid beads that strained against the yoga top that was serving as clothes.
“Hey, Jack?” I called.
My voice sounded husky even to myself, but I couldn’t help it. The man was sex personified, and I hadn’t had anything for going on four days now.
“Yeah?” He huffed right before bringing the axe down again. Splitting the log that was before him like a twig.
“Is there any way we could, um,” I said barely containing my desperation. “Ah, you know, pause this for a second.”
“I’m kind of busy. Can’t it wait?” He asked with a grunt.
Thwack. The axe met the wood and then the two pieces fell like bowling pins on either side.
I walked a wide arc around then and started heading in the direction of our home. As soon as I got to the corner, I turned and pulled out my phone. Recording about a minute and a half of his beautiful body rippling, I shoved the phone back into my pocket and put my arms to my waist.
“Oh, Jack,” I said one more time.
He glanced up, but didn’t stop what he was doing.
“Be careful out here while I take care of myself after this little performance you inadvertently did for me. Love you.” I smiled wide and turned to leave.
Once I rounded the corner, I sprinted towards the house at a flat run and slammed the door open and shut behind me. By the time I hit the hallway, my top was gone and my shoes were kicked off. Once I got to the bed, I bent over and slid my tight yoga pants down to my calves.
Just as I balanced on one foot to remove it from my ankle, two strong hands cupped my hips, and I was pushed over the edge of the bed, ankles still bound.
“Play with fire,” Jack said with his lips against my spine. “You end up burned.”
“Oh, I’m burning alright.” I panted as his rough hands guided my body down to the bed.
My face met the mattress, and I all but came unglued. “Please.”
“I like it when you beg.” He said gruffly
The pop, pop, pop of the buttons on his jeans gave me enough time to brace before every hard inch of his cock slammed inside of me.
My orgasm tore through me, and I screamed into the mattress, clawing with both hands.
“Fuck,” He gritted out.
My channel convulsed around him.
Each plunge of his cock into my contracting slickness spurred him on. Higher and higher he went, until one climax turned into another. Each of his thrusts were emphasized by a grunt, until, finally, he met a release of his own, and poured himself into me.
He collapsed against my back and I could feel the sweat that still clung to him, both new and old.
Involuntarily, I clenched around his length and a hard slap against the outside of my thigh told me that was enough of that.
“Sorry.” I whispered with a satisfied smile on my face.
“It’s okay, baby. I just don’t think I have anything left in me after that.” He said as lifted up onto his elbows and slowly disengaged himself from me and tossed himself to the side of me.
A wet sound followed his exit and I grimaced.
I didn’t have it in me to get up right now either. It looked like we were doing some laundry later, because there was no way I could move right now.
Getting up on my knees, I crawled slowly to the middle of the bed and collapsed into a heap beside him. However, it didn’t make Jack happy that I was so far away, and he hauled me closer until I was plastered against his side.
I cuddled close and rested my head against his big bicep since the pillow was just too far away to contemplate even getting.
His large hand moved from my right hip and traveled down until he was cupping my sex. Two large
fingers found a home in my core and stayed.
My heavy eyes only got heavier, and I surrendered to sleep.
***
Those same two fingers woke me from one amazing nap. Except they weren’t inside me anymore, they were running along the tattoo that covered a good portion of my thigh.
“Like it?” I croaked.
“Yeah. You’ll need to do the other side, too. Just have to wait for the scar to heal from the knife.” He rumbled.
“Who was the girl?” I asked a lot more awake this time.
“Sam’s sister.” He rumbled.
I jackknifed up to a sitting position and stared at him. “What?” I screeched.
His smile slowly overtook his face. “Yeah, she’s a spitfire, too. Hates her dad just as much as Sam does.”
“What the heck is that man’s problem? How did you find her? What’s her story?” I asked.
His fingers went to the stray curl that escaped my low pony tail, pulled it, let it go, and watched it spring up into the tight curl again. “I don’t know much. She was pretty closed mouth about everything. Only thing we really know about her is that her dad did kind of the same thing he did to you. Went to her house and told her she needed to leave. Gave her a wad of cash and brought her to us.”
“You saw him?” I asked excitedly.
I hoped that it meant he got some information on my situation. I was just about sick and tired of having people watching my every move. I’ve felt smothered ever since I’d shot and killed Ben.
His smile died on his face, and he looked at me, gauging my level of togetherness.
“Just tell me!” I burst out.
“He sent me to your sister.”
I blinked. “But you said you’d spoken to her before and that she had no clue. You said she was devastated when I’d been ‘killed.’”
I did the finger quotations when I said killed and he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well she was. Only, it wasn’t just for you. Apparently, your mom was a busy woman that year. Getting a drug fix and using her body to pay for her habit. Your sister’s boyfriend had a lovely little secret and then used that secret to ensure your sister’s cooperation.”
I was beyond confused. I hadn’t thought about my mother in a very long time.
Last Day of My Life Page 20
