dibs

by Kristi Pelton

  Chapter 16 ~ Mac

  Fuck! I drew a ragged breath through my teeth as she squirmed. This beautiful woman was a wild mustang when I loosened her life jacket eight days ago…now she’d been broken and was ready to ride. I wanted to be the man to ride her…permanently.

  The piece of shit she was married to had her past; I wanted every minute of her future. I wanted to possess her in every way a man could possess a woman.

  I hadn’t put a condom in my jeans. I’m not sure I’d ever regretted anything more.

  “Don’t come inside of me,” she said, my eyes snapping to hers in a matter of a second.

  Was she saying I could fuck her without one? I swallowed slowly.

  “Are you sure?” I asked for clarification, my chest pounding. Waiting for her response seemed like an eternity, but then I got it. She slowly nodded, lust clouded her eyes.

  I dropped to my knees to kiss her breasts…God if she only knew I’d submit to her every demand. The second I swirled my tongue around her nipple, her back arched off the chair.

  “Release my hands,” she whispered.

  “No way,” I groaned, switching to her other breast. “First your control…now all I need is a gag ball and you’d be the perfect woman.”

  A slow smile spread over her perfect lips.

  “Fuck you, Mac,” she moaned.

  “Oh you’re going to, sweetheart. And I’d never gag ball you. I like your mouth too much. I’m quite smitten with it, in fact.”

  With the pad of my thumb, I traced over her bottom lip and then penetrated her mouth. The thought of that being my cock made me harder.

  I knelt between her legs. She pleased me immensely when her legs parted further. My very own welcoming party.

  When the head of my cock began to spread her glistening lips, I wanted to take a goddamn picture to document this moment. I didn’t know if I’d ever go condomless again.

  Her warmth, her wetness…the snugness as I parted her was like nothing I’d ever felt. I fought the predominant urge to close my eyes…I wanted to prove to her that I was a perfect fit. Her missing puzzle piece. Her hips lifted to meet me, and my eyes darted up to hers. A small v was etched between her eyes…a slight grimace touched her face.

  “I’m hurting you?”

  Her lips parted when she barely nodded.

  I didn’t want to stop. I wasn’t going to stop. I wanted to be engrained in her head…in her brain… I wanted to consume her mind. I slid in further. Before this was over, I would be balls deep inside her.

  “Mac,” she gasped.

  That’s when I did it. I thrust all the way until my balls settled against her ass.

  “Ahhh!” she cried out, her hips retracting.

  “Look at us, Doc. Your pussy is clearly above average on all accounts,” I joked. “Doctor doesn’t always know best.”

  Her lips curled upward though she seemed to still be recovering from the intrusion into her body. I was trying to joke with her to make her more at ease, but damn my mind was being blown away by this moment.

  I licked the pad of my thumb and began massaging her clit. Instantly, her hips bowed to my touch. The minute I knew she’d found pleasure again, my hips began to inch back and forth to get her accustomed to me. She seemed to breathe through the movement.

  As much as I loved control, I wanted her hands on my body…on my shoulders and back. Touching me. The belt had to go.

  The flash of light caught my attention at a time I didn’t think anything in the world could. When the guy’s phone flashed a second time, it only took a couple of seconds to pull out of her and barrel over to the chuckling guy and his buddy. Blood surged powerfully through my veins.

  My first thought was to kill them. Both of them. And as I careened straight toward them, I heard her whimper from behind me. My head flicked around to see her fighting against the belt. Fuck. I’d left her exposed. Yet, I had to get this phone.

  “Give me the fucking phone,” I growled. The words ripped through my chest.

  “Dude. Easy. I’ll delete…”

  Before he got the sentence out, I snatched the phone from his hand so quickly he didn’t realize. And without a second thought I pitched the phone overboard.

  “What the fuck?” the guy said as his friend back stepped away.

  “Did you take one too?”

  The guy shook his head. “No, man. I don’t have my phone on me.”

  “You turn around and don’t look back or I will destroy you, you understand?”

  The guy turned around, abandoning his friend. With what I guessed was fear in his eyes, he glanced at me and then at Sam. I was standing completely naked in front of him and didn’t care at all. But, the thought of him looking over at her made me sick. Some sort of rage flashed through my brain, and without hesitation, my fist smashed into his jaw sending him to the ground.

  “Mac!” Sam screamed, which only fueled my need to protect her. As I climbed on top of the douche bag, I saw her bucking against the chair.

  The guy’s jaw lay cockeyed—clearly broken and as I reared my fist back his hands shot up to protect his face.

  “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, and my fist collided with the wood floor. Crushing pain radiated through my hand and up my arm as I shoved the guy away from me. Immediately, he scrambled to his feet and rushed in the same direction as his buddy.

  I hustled to my feet, rushing over to Sam. Her tear-streaked face stopped me. Desperation clung to every feature of her face.

  “Un…untie me,” she sobbed, her voice cracked as snot dripped from her nose. The ache in my chest was nearly unbearable, trumping the pain in my hand as I tried to unfasten the belt. Her hands were cold. With my shirt, I wiped her nose but this only caused her to cry harder.

  As I loosened the belt, her shoulders gave way and her arms collapsed in her lap. A silent cry came from her mouth as she clasped, her hands over her own shoulders curling almost into a ball. Quickly, I grabbed the towel and laid it over her.

  “I’m sorry, Sam. I wasn’t thinking.”

  That moment was a pivotal moment in my life. A sudden realization settled over me that I wanted to take care of this woman, but I honestly didn’t have a clue how or what to do.

  When I tried to wrap her in my arms, her entire body froze into a rigid stiffness. I retracted.

  “Mac, hand me my pants, please.” Her voice shook.

  “Sam, you’re ok. I’m right here. I wouldn’t have let them hurt you.”

  She sniffed, sitting upright. All I could do was measure her response. I knew she was a woman who, when pushed into a corner, came out swinging. I handed her her panties and leather pants. When her hand tried to grip the material, they slipped from her grasp.

  “My hands are asleep, numb,” she whispered.

  I slid on my jeans without putting on my boxers and then hopped over the foot of the chair, picking up her panties. I spread them out so her feet could go into the leg holes, then I worked the leather up her legs.

  “Thank you.” She spoke softly.

  After helping her to her feet, I grabbed her red stilettos. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I tried to help her walk.

  “I think I’ve got it from here,” she said, somewhat pushing me away.

  “Sam…”

  I’m not even sure why I said her name, but I knew a hidden plea hid somewhere in that one word. Her eyes avoided mine.

  “I think I just need a bit.”

  Lowering my head, I nodded, conceding.

  “I’d like to walk you to your cabin,” I said in the least intimidating voice I could find.

  She didn’t say yes…but she didn’t say no. Running my hands through my hair, I knew I’d undone everything I’d accomplished with her in the past few days. Truth is, I didn’t know if I could pull her back.

  Silence accompanied us to her cabin. Once there, I fisted my hand in her hair and pressed my lips to hers, aggressively at first, but then my kiss softened. Initially she resisted but finally succumbed to
our inexplicable connection. Our mouths melted together into one as a groan crept up my throat.

  Gently, she pushed me back, her chin quivering.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, unlocked her cabin door and went inside. Without me.

  ***

  After a night with little to no sleep, I grabbed a spicy Bloody Mary with extra olives and headed straight to her room. I knocked and knocked and knocked.

  “Sam,” I hollered.

  Nothing.

  “She and Kat already hit land. Blake and I are joining them later. You ok?” Juls asked from her doorway across the hall. She took the Bloody Mary from me. “Thank you!”

  I nodded. “Sure. When are you meeting them?”

  “Like two hours. Holy hell this shit is spicy!”

  “That’s how she likes it,” I said flatly.

  “Does she now?” Juls eyebrows shot up and down drawing a slight grin from me.

  I turned and shuffled down the hall. “I’ll see you in two hours.”

  The sun was exceptionally hot bearing down on us as we ventured up the beach. Cody, Juls and Blake laughed and goofed around as we searched for Kat and Sam at some tiki bar closer to town. I’d have preferred they stayed on the beach rather than go into town, but she was already upset with me. I’d voice my concerns later.

  Kat waved at us from a table under the hut. As we veered that way, my chest pounded with every beat of my heart. Nerves had never been an issue for me. Jesus, I’d absorbed her anxiety it seemed. She’d get a chuckle out of that.

  “Hey,” Kat greeted us as we found the shade of the hut.

  The waiter carried a tray of drinks and set them down on the table.

  “Sam in the restroom?”

  Kat’s eyes bulged as she whipped around toward Juls. “You didn’t tell him?”

  “Tell me what?” I asked. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.

  “She said not to say anything,” Juls shot back.

  “Tell me what, Kat?” I glanced around the bar for Sam. Blake moved closer to me. I never questioned whether he’d be there. He had been since we were fifteen.

  “She flew home today.” Her eyes flickered away momentarily and then back to mine. “I don’t know what happened last night, Mac. But she was pretty shook up.”

  Sam was gone. She left. Without thinking, I grabbed the table in front of me and flipped it, a mixture of beer and drinks sent into the air before crashing onto the ground. Juls was collateral damage as a drink doused her.

  “Are you kidding me?” she barked.

  “When?” I roared. Blake put his hand on my chest.

  “Mac,” she whispered, flinching. “She left this morning.”

  When I glanced at Blake, I was not at all prepared to see compassion…hurt in his eyes. What the hell was he hurting for? Me? That fucking pissed me off more! Refusing to take it out on Kat, I spun around and hoofed it out of there. The sun’s rays beamed down on me once again. As sweat trickled down my throbbing temples, for the first time in a long time, I thought about the day I was taken from my mother. Fifteen years ago now. I had been lucky, at least that’s what they said.

  There’s a foster home that wants you. That’s also what they’d said. The only good thing about that foster home was that I met Blake. I remember sweating that day standing in the blistering sun by the police officer, out in front of my house. We waited for them to bring out my mother.

  I was never sure why they waited to put me in the back of the police car with the social worker. Driving away with my clothes in a trash sack…away from the only life I’d ever known…was a crushing pain like I’d never experienced in my sixteen years of life. Yet as I walked up the beach, alone, toward the cruise ship, the pain from Sam walking away trumped that pain from years ago. Trumped it many times over.

  Chapter 17 ~ Sam

  Seeing Becca when I stepped off the plane was exactly what I needed for a broken heart. Yet the rush of seeing her and wanting to stay up all night telling her about…everything…didn’t outweigh the heaviness on my heart. Ten days. That’s all it took for my very best friend to become frailer. The sight of her diminished what I’d done…abandoning the cruise…leaving him. There was no doubt he knew now. Whether the girls had told him or Blake or Cody or whoever, the chance was high.

  “So, talk to me,” Becca said, her eyes showing a flicker of life for a second.

  “No. You talk to me. Bec, you seem weaker,” I said, taking her hands in mine as we waited for the baggage. Her lashless eyes batted slowly and then gazed up at me, a silent acknowledgement in them.

  “The MRI wasn’t good?” I asked. My voice trailed off.

  She blinked back tears. “Can we talk about this when we get to your place?”

  I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and nodded.

  Between the airport and my house, I told her everything there was to know about Mac. Absolutely everything. A complete purge.

  “You love this guy?”

  “What?” I squealed in surprise.

  “Sam, we’ve been friends since third grade. I’ve never seen your eyes light up like this. You’re giddy.” She cleared her throat and swallowed like it was painful.

  I lay my head back against the headrest. “Bec, it’s like he gave me my control by taking control. I know that doesn’t make sense, but in a twisted way…I was so caught up in him…my anxieties disappeared.”

  Her dry, cracked lips smiled the best they could.

  “Why’d you come back early?”

  Staring out the window, I wondered the same thing myself—tears stung my eyes.

  As I told her about him, my emotions swung on a pendulum back and forth between happiness and sadness. Regret.

  “Samantha. What did you expect him to do? Let that guy take the picture and walk away? He did the right thing beating the shit out of the guy!” she raised her hoarse voice.

  “I don’t know!” I sobbed back. “In those moments, I felt so vulnerable and scared.” I used my shirtsleeve to wipe snot from my upper lip. “In my head, I saw Jake seeing this picture of his mother naked and tied to a chair. Then…that fear turned to one of those men possibly touching me, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to protect myself.”

  “From the way you’ve described Mac, there is no way he would have let that happen.”

  As my own arms snaked around my center to contain the pain, I knew she was right. Yet, as I lay in bed that last night on the ship trying to make sense of what happened, I knew the only thing left between us was a goodbye. He was a man with his entire life in front of him. After everything, I still didn’t know his age…but I guessed him to be thirty. Regardless of how much I wanted for there to be something more between us—I was the older adult and needed to remember that. There was no way we could work. So, this was the easiest way. Goodbyes were never easy, and in the end, me staying would have only prolonged the inevitable—an unavoidably awkward, stilted goodbye.

  The second most awkward thing was going to be meeting with Becca’s oncologist… AKA Mr. Limp Dick in two weeks with her. That’s when she found out what the MRI said. I didn’t understand why so long.

  Jake was still at his friend’s house when I got home, and honestly, coming home to an empty house was what I needed. Leaving my suitcases at the door, I crashed onto the sofa and grabbed my laptop. Immediately, I logged on to Facebook first and typed in his name, Mac McAllister, ignoring the forty-one notifications. Fourteen Macs. I clicked on each profile. Not one was his. I opened Google and entered his name.

  Nothing that was about my Mac. I scrolled through page after page. I then entered Mac McAllister Nevada. Finally, his picture came up under images. Jesus…just his photo took my breath away. Still photography rarely captured someone’s beauty, yet…holy mother of God, he was as wickedly good looking in the pictures as I remembered. Instantly, regret consumed me for leaving. I was an idiot.

  I clicked on the first image. He wore a gray suit and black tie. Gorgeous.
It linked to a newspaper article. Oh. My. God. He worked at a ladies’ club outside of Carson City? He was a stripper? Quickly, I scrolled the article for a date…he did look younger in the picture. The date on the article was three years ago. As my heart pounded in my throat, I clicked on the back button scrolling through the rest of the articles.

  I remembered back about asking him what he did. His only response was that he ran a business in the services industry. My nose scrunched up. A stripper, really? My stomach flip-flopped.

  What the hell difference did it make? I shut my laptop harder than I intended. Bucket list: Sex with a stripper…CHECK!

  Chapter 18 ~ Mac

  “May I come in?” Blake asked, tapping on my office door.

  “Shut up, Blake. What’a ya want?”

  “I’ll tell you what I want,” he said, slamming the door. “I want you to snap the fuck out of it. You walk around here growling at everyone and biting off everyone’s heads. Get a fucking grip. It’s been two weeks.”

  Glowering at him, I threw the contract I’d been reviewing across the desk. “Wait, I think I give a fuck what you think. Oh never mind. It’s gone, my bad,” I snarled.

  He chuckled, which only pissed me off more.

  “Buddy. If you think for a second…” he didn’t finish his statement. “Look, I gave you her number, her damn address and where she works. Stop dickin’ around. Either shit or get off the pot. But for the sake of fuck—do something.”

  The door slammed after he walked out.

  I pushed the intercom.

  “Rene. Send Blake back in, please.”

  My lips curled with satisfaction and my smile broadened when the door flew open. His shoulders nearly touched each side of the door.

  “What do you want? A fucking tissue to keep crying in?” he asked.

  “I’m selling.”

  “Selling what?”

  “My 51 percent. Do you want it?”

  His hands shot up to his forehead as his head drooped forward.

  “Mac.”

  I shook off his unspoken plea. “I can’t do it anymore. I won’t.”