by Freya Barker
“I have the all-clear.”
Her accompanying smile has me lean in and kiss those plump lips, while my hand continues exploring her curves. I taste her deeply, her mouth still flavored with a touch of mint. Lisa’s lean fingers on a path of discovery of her own. She scrapes a nail lightly over my nipple, and I hiss in her mouth as goosebumps break out over my skin.
“Wanna take my time with you,” I mumble against her lips before pushing against her shoulder, pressing her back into the mattress, and partially covering her with my body.
I wedge a leg between hers, sliding my hand over her breast and brushing her nipple with the pad of my thumb. I can feel the heat of her core pressing against my thigh, already so wet, and my cock gets impossibly harder.
“Brick,” she pleads against my lips when I let my fingers trail down between her legs, testing her slick folds. “Don’t make me wait.”
She may have different ideas than I do, because she groans in complaint when I start sliding down her body, my lips and tongue marking every delicious inch of her skin. I spread her legs, wedge my shoulders under her thighs, and grabbing her hips firmly, lift her to my mouth.
Her fingers tunnel in my hair, and I see her back arch off the mattress when I lift my eyes. I flick and roll her clit with my tongue, every so often running it flat along her crease. I love hearing the sounds she makes as I drive her to the brink and then back off.
“Don’t. Stop,” she grinds out between clenched teeth when I do it again.
“Tell me what you want,” I hum against her sensitive flesh.
“Brick…”
“Gotta tell me what you want, Sugar. Give you the world, all you gotta do is ask.”
“Fuck me.”
Jesus. I almost lose my shit hearing those words from her.
“How do you want me?”
Her fingers slide from my hair as I push up on my arms and her eyes blaze in mine. Instead of answering she rolls over, pulls up her knees—so her fucking gorgeous rear sticks up in the air right in front of me—and looks at me over her shoulder.
“Like this.”
There’s nothing fucking sexier in the world.
I nudge her knees wider so mine fit between, and run my hands over the round globes of her ass. Taking my cock in hand, I slide the bulbous head through the wetness gathered between her legs. Then I take a firm hold of her hips and surge balls-deep inside her.
The tight, vice-like grip her body has on my dick has my eyes almost roll to the back of my head.
“Nothing like it, Sugar. Bein’ inside your beautiful body is the closest I’ve been to heaven. Ever.”
“Less talking, more moving,” she complains over her shoulder.
I don’t need to be told twice.
Doesn’t take long to have me hanging on by my nails, waiting for her to let go first. Sliding a hand around her hip and between her legs, I work her clit until I feel the walls of her pussy spasm. She throws her head back, crying out as I pump inside her, grunting my own release.
“Fuck, I missed that,” I whisper in her hair, when we’re spooned under the covers a little while later. My arm is tucked around her and she grabs on to the hand I have pillowed between her breasts.
“Me too. Now get some rest. Your alarm’s gonna go off in a few hours.”
If it weren’t for the snow piling up outside, I’d be tempted to play hooky in the morning.
Seconds later I drift off, my body tired and well-sated.
Lisa
“Why didn’t you stay in bed?”
Brick is standing at the counter, pouring a coffee in a travel mug.
It’s four in the morning; he may have gotten three-and-a-half hours of sleep in.
“Because I can go back to bed and sleep another few hours before the kids wake, but I need to make sure you have some food in your stomach before you go out there.”
“Been takin’ care of myself for a few years now,” he observes, only half-joking.
“I’m sure you have, just like I’ve been looking out for myself for plenty ‘a years, but that hasn’t stopped you yet either, has it?”
“Stubborn,” he grumbles, reaching for me.
“You sure are,” I fire back, leaning into his embrace, just in time to feel the rumble of his laugh.
I receive his thorough kiss and disentangle myself, pulling a bag of bagels out of the breadbox. I pop one in the toaster.
“Butter or cream cheese?”
When his answer is not forthcoming I glance over my shoulder to find him grinning at me.
“Cream cheese,” he finally says. “But I’m gonna have to take it with me. Tse is coming with me. We’re doing the Riverside apartments first. He’s helping shovel the sidewalks.”
“Should I make him one too?”
I’m already starting to pull another bagel out when his arms wrap around me from behind, and a hand squeezes the bag shut.
“He’s a big boy, Sugar. He can make his own damn bagel.”
“If he’s anything like you, he won’t.”
“Then let him get his own woman so she can worry about him.”
I snort just as the toaster pops the bagel up. “He’s already got his eye on one.” I quickly slather it with cream cheese and wrap it in a paper towel, handing it to Brick. “Although I get the sense he’s mucking that up.”
Brick barks out a laugh, grabs his travel mug, and still snickering, presses a hard kiss on my mouth.
“She’ll need to be made of stern stuff to straighten him out. Tough, like you,” he says with a wink.
I give his arm a shove and follow him to the door where he gives me another firm kiss.
“You be careful out there,” I caution him. “I’m gonna need you back.”
“I will. Should be done around noon or one. What are your plans today?” He shrugs on a coat and shoves his feet in his boots.
“Sleep a little more and I promised Kiara pancakes.”
“Save some for me?” he asks, pulling the door open and a burst of cold winter air blows straight through my nightgown. When I nod, he stops for another brush of his lips before stepping outside. “Love you, Sugar.”
“Love you too.”
I stand in the doorway for two seconds, watching him walk toward the clubhouse, before it gets too cold and I shut the door.
Upstairs I climb back under the covers, still smelling of Brick.
_______________
“Now can I have another?”
Kiara shows me her empty plate.
She wanted three pancakes like her brother and I gave her two with the promise she could have another if she cleaned her plate.
“Yes. Boy? You want another as well?” I ask Ezrah, who is keeping Finn busy in the high chair.
I just fed the baby some sweet potatoes—which is fast becoming his favorite thing—and his clothes are still miraculously clean. He’s currently chewing on his spoon.
“I could eat another.”
I load the kids up with more pancakes and head for the laundry room to switch the loads around when the doorbell rings.
“I’ll get it!” Kiara yells.
“Sit your butt down and eat your pancake, child. I’ll get the door.”
The woman on the doorstep is a surprise and I keep hold of the door and block her line of sight into the house. I’m grateful the kitchen can’t be seen from the small entryway.
“Ms. Lunsden. I’m afraid Mr. Paver isn’t home.”
She tries to peek over my shoulder into the house, but I close the door a little farther so only my head is sticking out.
“I’m here to see the baby,” she announces arrogantly.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, but if you give me a minute, I’ll give Mr. Paver a call. Maybe you can schedule a time with him.”
I start closing the door but the woman pushes from the other side and suddenly I’m staring down the barrel of a gun.
“Where’s the child?”
Her face has gone hard
and I fight the urge to look over my shoulder to make sure the kids are still hidden from sight. I look beyond her outside, hoping I can see someone—anyone—so I can yell out. I don’t care what happens to me, but I can’t risk her getting anywhere near my babies. I need to buy time.
“They’re not here,” I lie, praying none of them decide to come checking. I squeeze myself through the door opening, walking straight into the gun, causing her to take a step back. I pull the door almost shut behind me.
“What the fuck is taking so long?”
The hair on my neck stands on end when I recognize that voice, and to my shock, from the rear of her car—which is parked right in front of my door—steps a tall, and all too familiar figure.
“She says the kids aren’t here.”
He pins me with those cold blue eyes and steps up behind the woman.
“She’s lying,” he bites off. “They’re inside. Aren’t they, you black cunt? Remember me? Always wondered what happened to you. Did you miss me?” Bile surges up my throat as he grabs his crotch. “Bet you remember this, though, don’t you?”
I’ll do anything—absolutely anything—to keep this man from my children, but the thought of having this man force me to do something, I never wish to experience again, sends cold fear up my spine. I can’t hide the shiver.
He laughs, apparently satisfied with just my reaction to his threat, as he takes the gun from the woman’s hand. With the hard touch I recognize, he grabs me around the neck and presses the barrel to my head.
“Move,” he growls, as I claw my fingers into the forearm he holds pressed against my throat. He doesn’t even seem to notice.
The social worker pushes open the door, walking in, and I’m pushed inside behind her. My eyes fill with tears as I’m led straight through to the kitchen.
To my surprise it’s empty.
“Where are they?”
“I told you; not here.” My voice is hoarse, the sparse air burning my throat.
The woman looks at me disbelieving. Their half-eaten pancakes are still on their plates.
He presses the barrel into the side of my skull and his arm around my neck squeezes tighter.
“Where?” he barks in my ear, the foul smell of his breath wafting up my nose.
“Not…here…” I repeat, forcing the words out.
I feel him let go of my neck, but before I can register what he’s doing, a sharp blow hits the side of my head and I start falling.
“Look for them!”
Right before I hit the floor, a gunshot rings out.
Then everything goes black.
CHAPTER 27
Brick
“FUCKING FLOOR IT, brother.”
Tse, who refused to let me behind the wheel, is driving through the snow like a fucking maniac, but it’s still not fast enough for me.
We’d just been finishing up the parking lot of the club’s bar/restaurant, The Brewer’s Pub, when my phone rang. I about had a fucking heart attack hearing Sophia’s voice on the other end. She told me Michael had come running into the kitchen at the clubhouse, where she’d been alone; warning her there was trouble at the cottage. That’s when she’d heard a shot. I instructed her to call 911 and then dial Ouray’s house right away.
I’ve been trying to call Lisa’s number but there’s been no answer. I don’t want to think what might’ve happened to her or the kids. I try Ouray again; he’s not been picking up either. Just as I get kicked to voicemail again, Tse’s phone starts ringing. Maneuvering the heavy truck with one hand, he pulls his phone from his pocket with the other and tosses it to me.
“It’s Ouray,” I tell him and hit speakerphone before barking, “Talk to me.”
“Lisa’s here. We’ve got a situation, brother. CPS chick was in cahoots with Nowak. Nosh walked in on them, armed, and hit Nowak but the bitch took off running. Fucking old coot must’ve gone after her. Her car’s still here so I’m guessing she ran into the woods.”
“Lisa okay?”
“She’ll have a goose egg, but she’s got a hard head she says.”
“And the kids?”
The silence that follows lasts too long, and dread creeps up my spine.
“Brother…”
Tse turns right onto County Road 205 and makes an immediate left up the Arrow’s Edge driveway.
“Can’t find the kids,” he finally answers, but by then we’re already blowing past the clubhouse and are pulling in beside Ouray’s SUV.
I’m out of the truck before the wheels stop turning and storm into the house, finding Luna on her phone, barking orders at someone, and Lisa sitting on the couch with Ouray pressing a towel against her head.
“Shit, baby…”
I drop down on my knees in front of her and only then do I notice the body of a man lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor.
“Who the fuck is that?”
“Victor Nowak,” Lisa says in a flat voice.
Pissed off I turn to Ouray.
“You make her sit here and look at that?”
He gets to his feet and shrugs. “She won’t leave. Besides we have some more pressing issues.”
“My babies,” Lisa reminds me.
Shit.
“We figure they could’ve gone out the back, maybe the CPS woman took off after them,” Ouray suggests. “Luna is getting her team up here to track them. Cops are on the way. All our guys are heading in as well. Yuma is already out there going after his old man. Paco is a good tracker; if they’re out there he’ll find them.”
I don’t think they’ve gone outside at all, but I don’t say anything. I don’t want to get Lisa’s hopes up to then disappoint her. As I get up off the floor I hear sirens in the distance.
“Stay with her,” I tell Ouray, as I head into the kitchen.
“Don’t fuckin’ mess with that scene,” Luna barks at me, all business.
I step over the body, vaguely recognizing blond hair in the bloody mess left of his head. The laundry room door is closed, but when I open it and look around the corner to the built-in shelving, I see the right side of the framing protrude a little and am able to pull it open. The only thing I can see is the first stairs going down, but beyond that is nothing but inky darkness.
Taking a few steps down, I can hear muffled crying and a sharply hissed shush. My chest expands with relief, as I pull my phone from my pocket and flick on the flashlight.
“It’s okay, guys. It’s me,” I call out.
“Papa!”
I make my way over to where all three kids are huddled on one of the bunks, Ezrah shielding them with his ten-year old body, in complete protector-mode. Kiara is trying to struggle free, but her brother will not let her move.
“It’s okay, Son. I’ve got you,” I mumble, carefully touching his shoulder. “You did good, Ezrah, keeping them safe. I’m so proud of you.”
Slowly I feel the tension draining from his tight muscles, and it’s not until he finally releases his arms and turns around I see Finn, wedged between the boy and his sister. Kiara flings herself at me and I can barely catch her, but my eyes never leave Ezrah’s, filling with tears.
“You did good, Son. You kept them safe.” I prop Kiara on one arm and hook a hand behind the boy’s neck, pulling him close. He presses his face in my shoulder and I feel his body shaking.
“Ba!” Finn announces loudly, as I hear footsteps coming down the stairs.
“Here you are.” Luna walks up to our huddle, relief clear on her face. “Thank God.”
“You wanna take Finn? I’ve got these two.”
I wait until she’s picked up the baby, who is blissfully unaware of the ordeal they just went through. Then I hoist Ezrah on my other hip without a word of protest from the boy.
“I need you both to push your face in my shoulder, okay? I will explain later, but I need you to do as I say.”
With their faces averted, I rush up the stairs, walk into the kitchen where several officers are standing around the dead man. I ignore
them, carefully step around the lifeless body, and move into the living room.
“Thank you, Jesus,” Lisa whispers, when she sees us.
Blue, one of the EMTs, just enters the front door as Lisa jumps to her feet, holding out her arms. Kiara throws herself at her nana, but Ezrah’s hold on my neck doesn’t let up.
“Let’s get them out of here first, Sugar.”
Blue nods her understanding and grabs coats from the coatrack in the hallway, tossing them over the children as we pass her.
Lisa
“Are you sure?”
Blue puts the last of the butterfly bandages on the small cut the butt of the gun made on my head.
She would’ve liked me to go with them to the hospital to get checked out, since I did pass out briefly. Other than a bit of a headache, though, I don’t feel any ill effects, and I think the kids have been through enough of an ordeal today.
“Positive. If I feel anything weird at all, I promise I’ll go in, but for now I think we need a break from upheaval.”
She nods her understanding, smiling at the kids plastered to my side. Brick is across the kitchen table from me, feeding the baby his bottle. I don’t think any of us will let any of the others out of their sight for the foreseeable future. Except the next minute Detective Ramirez—Blue’s husband—and Special Agent Gomez walk into the kitchen.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we’d like to ask you a few questions.”
Right, I should’ve known. Hopefully this’ll be the last time I need to give a report to the cops. The absolute last time. I’ve given enough statements to last me a lifetime but this round I’m telling it all. It’s not going to be pretty.
“Can you give me a minute to get the kids settled?”
“Of course. Why don’t you join us in Ouray’s office?”
“I’m coming with you,” Brick announces.
“What about the kids?”
“Sophia’s here and Lissie is on her way to wait here for word on Nosh and Yuma. Trunk is coming too,” he clarifies. “They can wait until we’ve got the kids sorted.” He reaches over and brushes a curl from my forehead. “You okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” I assure him with a tight little smile. I’ll be fine when that woman is caught and the men after her are back safe and sound.
