by Ryan Michele
“He do this for everyone?”
She shakes her head emphatically. “No, no one. No one but you.”
My heart feels far too many emotions and I do my best to put a lock on it.
“It’s over, Kenderly, let’s just let it lay.”
Before Kenderly can say anything else, the door swings open as DJ, followed by Austin, come through the door. Damn man looks good. I always loved how he kept his face so clean shaven and smooth. Now with all the tattoos and muscles, I’m sure he has every woman at his beck and call.
“Nothin’,” Austin says, shutting the door then coming to us. “Got nothin’ on the guy who took your shit.”
“Well, that’s good. Maybe he’s gone.”
“Bad news,” Austin says, coming closer and bending down on one knee. “Kitten, whoever it was went to the house last night. I’m glad you got out what was important because the place is trashed.”
Oh, god. I have the urge to throw up. Everything my mother has worked for her entire life is in that house. Yes, she brought with her some of the more important things because Austin told us to, but still. My mother hasn’t worked her entire life to lose everything.
“Is anything broken?” I ask.
“More than you want to know.”
I close my eyes as the tears fall. This is all my fault. If I had never left Granville to pursue my dream, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt. I wouldn’t be under the same roof as mom and her things would be safe. The sorrow mixes with anger as my mind reels. It’s not my fault, it’s Austin’s. I was ready to spend eternity with him. I would have never left if he’d had been a different man.
Standing up quickly, the chair falls to the floor behind me and Austin rises.
“This is all your fault.”
Austin looks as though I punched him in the gut on that one, but I don’t give a shit.
“You. I would have never left and started this whole mess if you didn’t turn out to be a dick and not the guy I thought you were. You, Austin. You caused all of this. Like a domino effect, each action making another fall, crash and burn. Well, congratulations, Austin Fletcher, you’ve done it all over again.”
I make a move to get around him, but he blocks me in wrapping his arms around me tight. So tight, I’m having a hard time breathing because I’m fighting with everything I have to get out of his grasp. Kicking, squirming, and banging on his chest when my hands are trapped between us, isn’t helping a damn bit.
“Stop,” he orders, but I don’t listen.
“Fuck you,” I clip out.
“Woman, enough! You don’t stop, I’m tyin’ your ass to a chair,” he warns.
“I’d like to see you try,” I challenge, my fatigue starting to kick in from the exertion. Damn, I hate that my body doesn’t have the energy to keep going, but I don’t stop. I may be a bit weaker, but that doesn’t stop me.
“Obviously, you and I need to talk some shit out and do it now, Drea, because I’m not a patient man. Learned a while back, I want something gotta be up front about it.”
Anger, resentment, heartache, and so many other emotions swirl rapid fire through me like a tornado spiraling down from the sky fighting to touch the land below. “Pussy’s just pussy until it’s that pussy!” I scream his words back at him from all those years ago. Austin releases me and watches me with his head tilting, eyes squinting as if remembering. I wait, giving him a moment. His face turns showing me that he remembers that moment in time. “Yeah, guys, that cunt’s a black widow, so tight, so fucking good she sucked the life right outta my cock. That was worth all the bullshit.”
I look to Austin who blanches at my verbal assault of his own words from so many years ago.
“What? Got nothing to say now?” I look to DJ. “What about you? ‘Cherry poppin’ takes effort and skill, but nothing better.’ Those words ring a bell to you, Dixon? That was your reply after I spent months falling in love with Austin, just to find out it was all to take my virginity and tell everyone.”
The room spins as my emotions have me going over the edge.
“I think you missed the rest of that conversation, Andrea,” DJ replies to me calmly while I can see fury building in Austin’s eyes. “Kenie, baby, let’s go revisit when I popped your cherry.” DJ laughs and whisks away my friend who stands beside him stunned as if this was another day in paradise, while my heart rips open once more.
Austin doesn’t touch me, but he gets in my space, and I back up.
He steps forward.
I back up again.
He moves to crowd me until my back hits the kitchen countertop.
With a hand on the counter behind me to each side, Austin has me caged in.
On a low growl, Austin begins with his face mere centimeters from my own. “You mean to tell me that you left because of some dumbass thing I said to my friends?”
I swallow hard but don’t speak.
“You’re gonna stand here and tell me all of this is my fault because you,” he touches his nose to mine, our breaths mixing hot air onto my lips, “made a rash decision and never talked to me. No, you ran as fast as you could away from me. And what you missed was when I told my best fuckin’ friend that I would never be the same again because, in that moment, when I was balls deep inside you, Kitten, I didn’t know where you ended and I began. In one night, everything changed because that was the night I knew I’d never be the same again.” He backs up and stands with his arms crossed in front of me. “You know why that is?”
Tears run down my face as I try to focus and take in what’s he is saying. I shake my head because I seriously don’t know anything.
“Because pussy is just pussy,” he steps forward again, pressed tightly against me, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me away from the counter, “until it’s this pussy.” He snakes his other hand around my back to trail his fingers against the seam of my yoga pants while keeping my body tight to his. “You’re my black widow, Kitten, because you killed me for all other women. No one, not one single person, has been able to get me as hard as you. Not one single fuck has meant a damn thing since you. What you failed to stick around for, was me telling Dixon Cartwright that I would move heaven and hell to make you my wife and spend my life only having my cock buried inside you. Because, Kitten, it was that fucking good and meant that fucking much.”
I open my mouth but no words come out. I don’t know what to say. I need to say something, anything, but I don’t. His lips hit mine, his tongue sliding in.
I see stars and not from my injury.
His arm tightens around me as his fingers slide giving friction to my core. I don’t move but find myself kissing him back without a second thought.
He breaks the kiss, and I find myself whimpering for more.
“Never fuckin’ meant to hurt you. Never wanted you to have an ounce of pain, Kitten. You gotta know that, Drea.”
“Austin, I’m sorry.” It’s all I can say. I’ve misunderstood it all. One miscommunication and I’ve spent years as the victim scorned instead of in love with the man in front of me.
“Had a lot of years to grow up. Found myself a good situation. Learned enough to know when I want something, not to be afraid and have no shame in taking it. I want you, not gonna take that, though. Gonna ask, you gonna give it to me, Kitten?”
Am I? We’re strangers now. Only I look in his eyes, and they are the same eyes that opened my heart and captured my soul so long ago.
“I don’t know what I have left to give, Austin.”
It’s the truth. I don’t know what’s up, down, left, or right. How can I promise this man anything when I’ve made a mess of everything?
“We were young, Kitten. We’ve had time to grow, change, but being right here in front of you again, ain’t a damn thing about how I feel changed. We got a second chance, I’m willing, ready,” he rocks his hips into me, and I feel his erection, “and able. You gonna let me in, Kitten?”
My body quivers in anticipation. Luke died in a ramshackle
house saving my life. He didn’t do that for me not to live, not to take chances. I’m a woman scorned, scarred, and scared, but I’m not a woman who’s willing to walk away from second chances.
I nod my head as Austin reaches up and wipes my tears away with his thumbs before tracing them over my lips.
“Fuck yeah, Kitten,” he says. “Me and you, always.” Then his lips meet mine, and I’m lost.
My emotions bounce all over the walls I’ve so tightly constructed. The ones I built in my mind and around my heart begin to crumble.
“Not in the kitchen,” my mother says with a smile in her voice, causing me to jump as Austin doesn’t move to give me any space.
“Mom!” I say, embarrassment washing over me.
“Hey, I’m not ashamed. I have a beautiful woman in front of me, and I’m gonna kiss her,” Austin says grinning big.
“You’ve never been ashamed of much, Austin,” my mom jokes back like no time has passed at all and we’re teenagers again, getting caught in her kitchen.
I rest my forehead against his chest, exhaling heavily.
“I would like to make some lunch. I’ve been at work, and I’m hungry,” she smiles. “You two obviously are working on some things, so take that to the bedroom.” My mom shoos us away.
“Mom, I don’t think you’re supposed to tell us to go get a room.”
“You’re a grown woman, Andrea. If I was twenty-eight again, with a man I had feelings for kissing me, well, we wouldn’t be in a kitchen, honey.” She winks at me, and I feel the blush rush through my whole body while Austin simply laughs and takes me by the hand, leading me into my bedroom.
“Gonna let me love you?” Austin asks, and I remember the first time we had sex, the only time. The night he laid over me, as he pressed inside of me, breaking my virginal barrier, he whispered, “Gonna love you for my lifetime, Kitten.”
How true is that becoming?
“Gonna love me for a lifetime?” I ask, laying it all out there for the man he was and the man he is today.
“Gave you my word then, giving it to you now.”
He closes the door behind us and guides me to the bed. “Can it be so simple?” I ask, turning to face him with my legs to the back of the bed.
Tipping my chin to look at him, his lips press to mine. “If we let it,” he whispers against my lips, the movement making my entire body tingle in a way I haven’t felt in so long.
Reaching up, I wrap my hands around his neck and pull him to me. I give into what I’ve denied myself for too long. Pressing him to me, I take us both down as I fall to the bed, being careful of my head.
His lips come down on mine as I lay pinned to the bed, unable to move. Shock and longing take over, and I kiss him back. My hands sift through his hair as his tongue enters my mouth. He tastes so good, so right, so home. Just like I remember from all those years ago, except now there’s more. I’m trying to put my finger on the difference, but in this moment I can’t place it.
“Never stopped thinkin’ about you, Kitten.” He brushes the hair away from my cheeks and looks down on me. His weight pushing me into the softness of the bed. He’s bigger than before, solid and delicious. Damn.
His brown eyes stare right into mine, and it’s like I can see the pain he’s endured over the years. The misery that I did by leaving, by misunderstanding.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, his hand on my cheek.
“Me too, Kitten. Me too.” He brushes an ever so soft kiss on me. “Seems we have a lot of makin’ up to do.”
He presses his thighs between mine, spreading me open. I can feel his erection hard and wanting through the fabric of our clothes. Arousal hits me hard. I haven’t felt it in so long that it’s almost foreign to me. Heat overtakes me, and I pull him down to me, crushing my lips to his. The need inside me builds, and Austin begins to move. His jean-covered dick hits my clit repeatedly. So much that I wrench away from his lips and shout out his name, my back arching up in the air.
When I come down and open my eyes, Austin is staring at me. “My name on your lips. Nothin’ better than that,” he chuckles. “Haven’t dry humped a woman since that first time with you.”
I remember back to then and smile with him. We were so young and dumb. Neither of us knew what was what, and we learned together.
“Me either.”
His laughter dies. “Kitten, I need to be inside you. Need to feel you wrapped around me tight. Need to.” His words are a plea that I want to give him.
“Yes, Austin.” He kisses me quick and is up off the bed stripping himself of his clothes. I go to remove my shirt, but stop dead at the sight of all his tattoos. I’d love to inspect all of them, taking my time, relearn him over and over again.
He assists me in removing my clothes and stares down at me, giving a loud whistle. I have scars. Ones that I don’t let others see, and my hand goes directly to covering them. The light in his eyes fades a bit, and every bit of self-consciousness kicks in.
I move to sit up on the bed and grab something to cover my body with, but Austin is right there.
“Still so damn beautiful.”
My heart squeezes. “I have scars.”
“So do I. Scars are tattoos that tell a story. Your scars, Kitten, only make you more beautiful.”
Tears slide down my eyes. “That has to be the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You repeat it, I’ll deny it.” I burst out laughing. This is the Austin I remember. The man who made me laugh and brought me so much joy. I want that back. I want to feel that happiness again. Can I?
“Need, Kitten.” He comes to the bed and climbs on.
“Condom,” I tell him. “I’m not on the pill because of my medicine.”
“We’ll figure all that out.” He lifts from the bed and goes to his jeans, pulling out a condom. “Gonna need to stock up.”
“Ya think so?” I challenge as he climbs on top of me, my arms going around his body.
“Kitten,” he presses his dick inside me so slow I close my eyes as he stretches me. When he stops, I open them. “Now that I’m in here, I’m never leavin’.”
Austin begins pushing in and out of me, so painfully slow. His eyes, though. His eyes shine, telling me what I need to know. He’s back. My man is back. But for how long?
Chapter 8
She’s got a hold on me … and I won’t let go!
Closing my eyes, I can still feel her cunt squeeze tight around my cock. I had to move slow when I was inside her. I haven’t felt the need to make myself last in years. Anyone but Drea, I have never given a single care to whether they got off or how long I could endure. Inside her again after so long, I don’t want to ever stop. If I died and went to hell right now, the only burn I would feel is the need to have my cock in her one more time.
Drea lays naked on her side with me spooned around her while she sleeps. Moving her hair back, I run my fingertips over her creamy skin, the blush still on her cheeks from her orgasm.
“My beautiful, Kitten,” I whisper so I don’t wake her. “Never had much precious in life but you. Don’t know what’s going on, why a fucker took your shit, but you got my word, baby, he ain’t gettin’ to you.”
As much as I want to wake her, she needs rest. As much as I need to be out there finding the asshole who fucked up her house, I don’t want to leave her without an explanation. So I lay here and watch her sleep. My mind goes back to a time before Andrea.
“Gramps, what made you fall in love with Granny?” I ask him. I’m fourteen-years-old, and the lovestruck girls at school want to have a boyfriend and hear the words I love you. What really makes love at this age?
“Austin, your Granny is a strong lady. I first fell in love with the challenge, then I found the woman inside ran deep. Find yourself a deep woman, Austin.”
“What’s that mean, Gramps?”
“You want more than surface, Austin. Look for what’s deep.” He ruffles my hair, and we push the boat into the water to do some fishing at th
e lake.
There is so much beyond the surface of the woman in my arms. It runs deep because she runs deep.
I don’t have a lot to hold onto in life but this right here.
The door closes as all the patched members of Rebels settle in. Thumper is at the head of the long table with Lurch to his right. DJ and I both stand against the far wall as the officers take their seats.
“Old business,” Thumper begins, looking to Lurch for the updates.
“Clyde’s shipment went without hiccup, and coming back we picked up with ease. I swear the minivan shit works.” Chuckles are heard throughout the room. Lurch came up with the idea to take our shipments in a minivan, using the stow-n-go in the bottom. We all laughed at the idea but went with it. Turns out to work like a dream. No cops look twice.
“New business,” Thumper looks to Triple Threat.
“Cosmo wants us to take a load of angel dust to distribute,” Triple Threat informs to which Lurch’s head whips around in surprise.
“No,” the VP, a man who has been a father figure to DJ and me, replies first.
“Is the money right?” Gilly asks Triple Threat. “For the right money, my vote is aye.”
DJ and I automatically reply our, “nay,” at the same time. If Lurch isn’t for it, neither are we.
Thumper raises his hand, silencing the room while he leans back in his chair. He looks to Lurch then Gilly.
“Cosmo, he made contact?”
Triple Threat nods. “Sure did. Guess he’s desperate or figures enough time has passed.”
“A lifetime is not enough time for that fucker!” Lurch roars, standing and pacing the area behind his chair.
The normally calm man is turning red as his emotions take over.
