* * *
“What’s he blabbering about?” Beck asked Jace when they were finally tucked into their bed.
Jace smiled. “I think he was sincerely trying to thank us for giving him this chance. I’m not sure he knows what kind of potential he has.”
Beck snorted. “I’m not sure I know what this ‘potential’ is that you speak of. I feel like we were just kind of saddled with the kid. He’s not all that bright, his social skills suck, and I could out-shoot and out-ride him with both of my eyes poked out and my sockets bleeding.”
“I might never get used to your colorful descriptions,” Jace said with a laugh. “But you know, I’m not all that bright, my social skills are practically nonexistent, and you can out-shoot and out-ride me too.”
Beck laughed and said, “True. But I love you, and I’m growing your baby in my belly so even if I didn’t, I’m kind of stuck with you.”
Jace reached over and put his big hand over her still flat belly. To him, having a child was surreal and scary...and the most exciting thing that ever happened to him, except for meeting Beck. “What do you think it is?”
“A boy,” she said.
“What makes you think so?”
She shrugged. “The universe seems to have an agenda, proving to me that like it or not, men rule my world.”
Jace slid his hand up, cupped a breast and gave it a squeeze, and then kept sliding it until he reached her face. He turned her face toward him and leaned in to kiss her. He could kiss her all day, every day, and never grow tired of it. Their tongues danced together like snakes in the heat of mating, and the hotter the kiss got, the more he wanted to touch her. His hands roamed underneath the t-shirt she was wearing, feeling the soft skin and the heat from her body, tracing the curves and imagining what it was going to be like when her belly was swollen.
Beck broke the kiss and with a smile said, “You know, once this kid gets here, we won’t be able to have sex two or three times a day. You going to be okay with that?”
Jace laughed. Before Beck, he’d gone stretches that lasted up to a year without it. He was never happy about it, but he didn’t die. Beck was the one that would have a problem with not having it as frequently and they both knew it. But just to humor her he said, “When we build the new house I’m going to make the pantry and all of the closets huge...just in case we have time for a quickie.”
“Perfect,” she said, pushing him onto his back and climbing up on top of him. She straddled his waist and slid her panty-clad pussy back and forth over the growing bulge in his shorts. Jace groaned. She was so fucking sexy. Sometimes he could hardly stand it. He slid his hands back under the t-shirt and took both of her breasts in his hands. Beck reached down and pulled off the shirt and then lay forward so that one of her breasts hovered just over her lips. He brought his tongue out to play, licking all the way around the nipple. Beck wrapped her hands around his head and held him to her chest and Jace sucked the breast into his mouth. Beck groaned as his lips and tongue tormented and teased her. She rubbed her pussy against him harder, pressing down a little deeper each time, pushing the little panties she was wearing up into her slit and soaking them. She was so wet that the front of his shorts were soaked, and he fucking loved it. While he kept one of her breasts in his mouth and scraped at it with his teeth, he slid his big hand down between them until he found the wet crotch of her panties. He groaned around his mouthful of nipple and ran his fingers up and down the wet slit. Beck’s breathing was getting ragged and she was pressing his face into her chest harder. The louder she moaned, the more excited he got. He slipped his fingers underneath the elastic of her panties and shivered as he made contact with her warm, wet skin. Jace reminded himself twenty-five times a day how lucky he was, but it was times like this, every time, that he couldn’t help but wonder what he’d ever done in his life to deserve this kind of happiness.
Jace was overwhelmed with it all suddenly. He put his hands on her waist and lifted her up off him and laid her down on her back. Beck bent her legs at the knees and Jace pulled her panties off, practically ripping them as he did. As soon as he had them out of the way, he wrapped her waist up in his big arms, lifted her butt off the bed, and buried his face between her legs. He licked and sucked for a while and then without warning, he slid two of his fingers up inside of her. He felt her muscles clench down around his fingers and his cock got jealous, throbbing and aching to be inside of her.
While he moved his fingers in and out of her, Beck wrapped her fingers up in his hair and pushed his face down deeper between her legs. He sucked her clit in between his lips and flicked it back and forth with his tongue and then he bit her, and she screamed and pulled his hair, hard. She was bucking her hips, fucking his face and his hand, and he could tell she was right there on the verge. He sucked her clit harder and just when he felt her entire body go rigid, he used his teeth again. She called him a “motherfucker” as she came. Jace knew she meant that the same way other women meant “lover.” It was just Beck’s way, and he was more than okay with it.
Once she began to calm down, Jace slowly took his fingers out of her and then stripped off his own clothes and straddled her so that he could line his cock up with her sweet, wet, hot pussy. He took a deep breath before plunging into her. He grunted and sighed and said, “Fuck, baby, you feel so good.” Her pussy wrapped tightly around his throbbing cock and he was just holding himself there, deep inside of her. When they first found out she was pregnant, he was afraid that sex would hurt her or the baby...but he’d done his research and he was relieved to find out that it wouldn’t.
“Fuck me!” she demanded. She wanted him to move and she was pressing her hands against his butt, trying to push him. He was much bigger than her, though, and in the mood to tease her a little. He bent down and began to lick and kiss her neck. Beck kept pushing against him and arching her hips. She was calling him names, but in a sexy, breathless voice. Jace smiled into her neck before biting down on a piece of it and then sucking on it. Beck went wild, scratching at his back like a feral cat and rocking her hips up and down, fast and hard. Jace finally gave in. He needed it as badly as she did. He slid one big arm underneath her, tilted her hips up, and began to fuck her. He moved slowly at first, but it didn’t take long for his body to take over and do what it wanted. He fucked her harder and faster until they were both gasping and panting and clutching at every part of each other they could get a hold of. The sweat that covered both their bodies was mostly his. He hated the heat in Arizona...but loved his new life enough to get used to it.
He felt Beck’s fingernails digging into his skin, and she arched her back and began to cry out again as she came. The feeling of another rush of heat, saturating his cock, put him over the top as well. His orgasm started as an explosion of color in his head and raced through his body, touching and teasing every nerve ending until his tight core exploded and every ounce of energy he had flowed out of him and into the woman he adored.
Afterwards they lay there panting, wrapped up in each other’s arms, until sleep claimed them both. Jace fell asleep with a smile on his face, forgetting for just a few seconds how quickly everything could change.
4
“You really don’t have to walk me to my truck, Tommy.” Tommy felt like he really did. It was his last-ditch effort to get Jessie to invite him back to her place. He had stayed at the bar until Jessie and Rob, the fry cook/bouncer, had ushered every last drunk out of the bar, and then he’d helped her clean up. Once the counters were wiped, the floor swept, the ashtrays emptied, and all of the glasses washed and put away, Rob took off, and it was just the two of them. Jessie had been extra sweet to him all night and Tommy was sure that she’d lock the door behind Rob and do him right there in the bar...at least, he’d been fantasizing about it all night. But although he’d had no such luck, he still wasn’t ready to give up. Tommy wasn’t a bad-looking guy, and in college, the girls had loved him. He had sex several times a week in his dorm room, often with a differe
nt girl each time. But since he’d been home...nothing, and he was going on his second month. It was like torture. The thing was, he was doing it to himself. There were at least two women in that bar tonight who would have done him in a heartbeat...but he hadn’t wanted either of them. He had it in his head that he wanted to be with Jessie, and no one else was going to do.
“I don’t mind. It’s really not a good neighborhood for you to be out here by yourself. Rob should think of that, before he takes off and leaves you here alone.” Secretly he was glad that Rob hadn’t thought of it tonight; it gave him time to give it one last shot.
Jessie waved a hand in the air like it was no big deal and said, “Nobody ever messes with me around here, but thank you for making sure I’m safe. Oh, and thank you for helping us clean up. We got finished a lot faster with three of us working.”
“Anytime,” Tommy said when they reached her pickup. He knew it was then or never. He opened his mouth with the intentions of asking her back to his place, but instead he said, “So, Jessie, what do you think about you and me maybe going out sometime?”
“Sure, I’d like that.” Tommy swallowed the sigh rising up in his throat. He was going to have to work an extra shift at the store to earn enough money to take her out. He wasn’t happy about working for his parents and living above the store, but he hadn’t been able to find a real job yet. He had applied with Parks and Recreation, the State of Arizona Ranger Service, and he’d even looked into an open teaching position at the community college. So far, nothing had come out of any of them, but he was trying. He hadn’t held off asking Jessie out because he was a cheap SOB, or the kind that had no respect for women. He would love nothing more than to go out with a woman like Jessie on his arm and show her off. Jessie deserved that. She was honestly better than just the girl you fucked in a sleazy bar...but he still couldn’t help that he wanted to.
“Great,” he said. “What day is good for you? We’ll do dinner and a movie, or something.” Maybe she wouldn’t mind Netflix and take-out. Hell, Netflix sounded great right then. Maybe he still had a chance...
“I’m off on Friday nights.” Again, Tommy forced his lip not to curl. It was Sunday night. That meant it would be another week...at least...before he got laid. He was almost desperate enough to go find himself a working girl.
“Friday’s great. How about if I pick you up at seven?”
“Okay. Here, let me see your phone.” She took his phone from his hand and their fingers touched. He felt a thrill run through him and he shuddered. God, he wanted her. He watched as she put her number into his phone and then handed it back. “Call or text me before Friday and I’ll text you my address.”
“Okay, great.” She pulled open her pickup door and he felt like crying. He wondered if your cock began to shrivel after a certain period of not being used. He did masturbate...a lot...and it looked like that was where he would end up tonight too. “Thank you again, Tommy. Good night.”
“Night, Jessie.” He waited until she started her truck to go get on his bike and start pulling on his gloves and bandanna. By the time he was geared up, she was driving out of the parking lot. Tommy felt a weight in his stomach and on his shoulders as he started the Harley. Hopefully the wind therapy on the way home would help him. Maybe he would take the long way home.
* * *
The sound of the gunshot brought Jace and Beck both up out of bed. Beck was instantly alert and on her feet. All those years of Navy training shone through while she dressed and grabbed her weapon in a matter of seconds. She tossed Jace’s gun on the bed while he was pulling on his jeans. He had to run to catch her before she went out the back door, alone. That was where Jace stopped her. He knew he’d probably get his ass chewed for it later, but he wanted her alive to do that. The only two people in the world that Jace knew he could never live without were his little sister Rosie, and Beck. And now Beck was carrying their child. He would die for any of them, and gladly.
He grabbed her around the waist and ignored her cursing as he spun her behind him and went out the door first. He thought he heard an engine, but he couldn’t tell which way it came from. They were surrounded by rocks and hills, set down inside a little canyon, and the sounds echoed from all directions. Once he made sure there wasn’t anyone lying in wait, he let a pissed-off Beck out the door. She was still on alert, however, and silent. She pointed to the left side of the house and Jace nodded. He wished he didn’t have to let her go. He wished that she was the kind of old lady who hid in the house and let him handle things. But he knew that woman wouldn’t be the one who set his soul on fire, and that was what kept him from suffocating her with his masculinity. When Beck started her trek around the left side of the house, Jace went right.
He watched her disappear, gun in hand and ready, and he did the same. It was only seconds later when he heard her say, “Fucking motherfucker!” He knew her well enough by then to know that was her angry voice, and she didn’t sound afraid. But knowing Beck, she could have a rifle pointed at her chest and she’d cuss the guy out as he pulled the trigger. He ran around the front of the house, too quickly if someone had been waiting for him, but he didn’t care. When he made it to the other side where Beck was, he came to a dead stop. She was standing there with her gun pointed at the ground, staring at the side of the house. “Son of a bitch is a dead man,” she said, as Jace stepped up beside her.
Someone had been busy, painting the side of their house. It was a painting of what could have been a man, or a woman. It was hard to tell, because whatever it was didn’t have a head. Red paint came out of the neck and ran down the body, smearing the colors of the black vest the body wore. A circle with a crudely drawn skull in the center of it was splattered with the red paint and the rest of the body wasn’t visible, as it looked like the “artist” had used his hands or fingers to make a pool of blood that the headless corpse was floating in. To the side of the picture was a note, painted in white. It was only two words, in capital letters: “GO HOME.”
“Fuck me,” Jace whispered.
Beck nodded and with fire in her blue eyes she said:
“He’s a dead motherfucker.” Jace didn’t say anything. As soon as Beck calmed down, they would call the cops. As much as he knew his old lady would fantasize about killing the asshole that did this, and decapitated a rabbit, she wouldn’t do it. Beck was no killer. She’d defend her own life and the life of her “family” to the death if she had to, but when she caught this guy, he was only going to wish that he was dead.
“I should go get my phone,” Jace said, finally speaking. “We need to take pictures of it and call the cops.” Beck nodded. Her eyes were still on the wall. As Jace started to walk away, she stepped closer and put her hand out, touching the headless neck with two fingers. She gasped then and Jace turned back toward her. “What, baby?”
“That’s not paint,” she said.
Jace frowned and reached up and touched the wall himself. The red “paint” was sticky. He rubbed it between his fingers and brought it up to his nose. One sniff told him that Beck was right...it wasn’t paint. “Jesus,” he whispered. “Whatever he killed to do this had to be a hell of a lot bigger than a rabbit.”
“Piece of shit,” Beck said. On impulse, Jace leaned down and kissed the top of her blonde head. With a sigh he said:
“I’ll be right back.”
He was worried the entire time he was in the house. He knew that his beautiful woman was more than capable of taking care of herself, but he’d never forgive himself if anything happened to her while he wasn’t there. He jogged through the house, grabbing his phone off the dresser and his wallet from the nightstand. On his way back out the door, he scooped all the keys off the key holder by the door, just in case. He was almost out of breath when he got back to Beck and he breathed a huge sigh of relief when he saw her still in one piece. He handed her the handful of keys and his wallet. She cocked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as he looked up the number for the police department. He found i
t on Google and pushed the call button just as Beck let the keys fall to the ground, along with her gun, and doubled forward. She covered her belly with her hands and let out a strangled cry.
Jace dropped his phone and had his hands on her arms in a second, keeping her from going down to her knees. “Baby? What is it?”
He could feel her shaking and she started saying, “Oh shit, oh shit...fuck...”
“Beck! What?”
In a voice thick with pain she said, “I’m having cramps, and I’m bleeding.”
Jace didn’t ask any more questions. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the van that Wolf had given them when they moved out to Phoenix. He put her in on the passenger side, pulled the seatbelt across her and buckled it, and jogged back over to dig around on the dark ground and find the keys. He picked up his phone too. He was only gone for seconds, but when he made it back to the van and pulled open the driver’s side door, Beck was slumped down in her seat and she was as white as a sheet. Blood covered the front of her sweatpants and the sight of it made Jace’s own blood run cold. His hands were shaking so violently that he had to try twice to punch “911” into his phone.
“911. What is your emergency?”
“I need an ambulance,” he said, forcing the words out around the lump in his throat. He kept his eyes on Beck’s chest, watching the rise and fall of it as she breathed. The closest thing he’d ever felt to what he was feeling at that moment was the night his sister disappeared with a gangbanger and he didn’t know what they might have done to her. His heart physically hurt. His gut was twisted into knots and he was afraid to breathe, or maybe it was reluctance. If Beck was leaving him, he didn’t want any oxygen in his lungs. He didn’t want any blood in his veins. If she went, he was going too.
5
Rise of the Phoenix: Phoenix Skulls Motorcycle Club: (Phoenix Skulls MC Romance Book 1) Page 3
