by Ryan Michele
He’s not wrong, and it pisses me off that she was even there in the first place.
“Hey, have you checked the newspaper, Ellis News?”
“Nope.”
“Do that for me, would ya? They’re the ones that put her in that position in the first place. And from what she tells me about the wife and calling this David Holloway the devil, I want to know why they sent Drea there.”
“I’ll see what I can dig up.”
“Much appreciated.”
I put the pedal down, drop off Skinny and the van, then head over to Granville Journal Star. Once I enter the door, Kenderly runs up to me.
“She’s been doing a bit of typing on her computer, but it’s sporadic. She’ll type and then stop to rub her eyes.”
“Kenderly, you make a damn fine watch dog.”
She glares at me. “Don’t you call me a dog, Shamus, or I’ll have DJ kick your ass.”
At this, I chuckle. “Honey, I’d like to see him try.” I pull Kenderly over and kiss the top of her head. “Thank you for watchin’ out for her. Appreciate that.”
Kenderly looks up at me with tears forming in her eyes. “Don’t you dare cry.” I try to stop her from letting a tear fall.
“It’s all these hormones inside of me. They don’t know what to do, and they take over…and…”
“Got it. You call DJ and let him deal with you. I’ve got enough on my plate.”
She slaps my shoulder playfully. “Go,” she orders, and I smile.
Making my way to my woman, her head is down and hands in front of her face. Her hair is covering it, but I’m guessing she’s rubbing her eyes.
Chapter 11
What’s more intense: my raging headache or falling in love?
I can’t believe this is happening. I forgot my eye drops this morning. It’s not the first time, but today an hour into my first article, the screen started blurring. The letters ran together, and the burn behind my eyes became a throbbing pain.
I’ve taken too many breaks today. But I had to rest my eyes. The more I strained the more I could feel my eyelids blinking and swelling, trying to protect my delicate pupils.
Austin is here. I look up to see him kiss the top of Kenderly’s head the whole time looking over to me. My eyes blur, but I can still see the emotions in his.
When he reaches me, I stand to which he pulls me to him. Warmth spreads through me in the embrace, and my eyes close as I inhale his scent.
It dawns on me I wasn’t expecting him, and I pull away reluctantly. “What are you doing here?”
“Had to work, been missing you,” he replies, his eyes studying me.
“I’m here.” I smile, feeling like it’s nice to have someone who cares.
“How much longer till you get off?” he asks with his arms still around me.
“As soon as I finish this article, I can go.”
He releases me and takes my seat before pulling me down on his lap.
“Austin, I can’t work like this,” I gasp in shock to which he simply laughs.
It’s the best sound in the world to hear Austin laugh again. When we first started dating, he rarely laughed. He was missing his grandparents and working so much to make ends meet, there wasn’t much he could smile about. Yet, when we were together, he would find reasons to smile and to make me laugh.
Turning to face the computer, I attempt to work only to be stopped when Austin picks up my paper towels.
“Kitten, wanna explain?” he asks in a low voice so that no one else could hear in the cubicles next to mine.
“My eyes were burning a bit. Just needed to give them a little cool water.”
He doesn’t speak, he merely rolls us closer to the desk to which he swats my hands off the keyboard and looks at the screen. “Tell me what to type, close your eyes and just tell me what comes next,” he commands, and my heart swells that he is trying to take the burden off me.
I finish my work with my eyes closed and Austin typing faster than I thought he was capable. I’ve been doing this for years, and he’s practically blown me away. The man is continually full of surprises.
We leave with both of us giving Kenderly a quick hug. Once outside, Austin reaches into his saddlebag. Removing a black rag, I am completely caught off guard when he asks me to turn around.
“Trust me, Kitten.”
Can I? Without speaking, I turn my back to him to which the black fabric covers my eyes.
“You need to rest them. I got you, baby. Close your eyes and let me guide you.”
Once the makeshift blindfold is secured, he puts a helmet on my head and slowly guides and instructs me on getting onto his bike.
“Lean against me, Kitten. Feel the bike, feel your man, and feel the road. Let your mind and eyes shut down and just be free with me.”
With my hands firmly around his waist, I do what he asks. Inhaling, the outdoors smell fresh. Having my eyes covered and closed, I turn everything off and feel the man in front of me and his bike under me.
It’s arousing.
I lose track of time as I find my front pressed to his back and my hands under his shirt tracing the lines of his abs. We come to a stop.
“Take my hand and guide yourself off to stand. If you wanna take the helmet off, okay, but leave your eyes covered, please.”
I do as he asks, wondering why I have to keep my eyes covered. The break from seeing seems to work, and my eyes feel normal as I blink behind the fabric.
Austin takes me by the hand, leading me until we stop. Slowly, I feel him remove the wrap. I blink.
I blink again.
In front of me is a craftsman style house. The blue-gray siding is accented with a stone crawl space, and deep burgundy shutters accent the windows. I look at Austin who is watching me intently.
“It’s ours,” he says softly, still watching me.
“What?” I ask, not quite understanding.
Austin rocks back on his heels then stands straight up again. “Home has never been a home for me. Want us to build something. Starting here, whatever you want, it’s ours.”
I don’t know what to say. It all seems to be moving so fast. Yet, it feels right. For the first time in a long time, everything feels right even in all the broken.
“Your mom can stay here for a while or forever, I don’t give a shit, Kitten.” He still studies me. “Ain’t never had a home that I looked forward to. Coming off a run and knowing I was coming home to you, shit felt good. Only I don’t want to do it at DJ’s anymore. I want this, Drea. You, me, the house, the life, I want it fucking all.”
Tears fall down my face. “Austin, I’m barely able to help Mom after I cover medical expenses. I can’t afford this,” I admit, looking down in embarrassment.
His fingertips touch my chin and lift my face to look at him.
“Drea, I ever asked you for a dime?”
I shake my head.
“Even when I was sixteen and trying to keep a roof over my head, food in my stomach, and still take you out to the movies and shit, did I ever ask you for a penny? When I was cutting grass while bagging groceries, all so I could take you to the prom, did I ever need you to pay a thing?”
“No, Austin,” I say, feeling hurt that I never thought about the struggles he had when we were teens dating. Not once did he ever say he was struggling. My mom would always send him home with leftovers, but I never thought about why. I was just glad I wouldn’t have to eat them. Really, though, she had to know. He had no one and was busting his butt to make it work. Never once did he let those hardships touch me, though.
“I’m not the kinda man who lets my woman pay for our home. I make good money, not Hollywood kind of cake, but I make money, Drea. The house is covered. The utilities are covered. I just need you to say it’s ours and make it home.”
“Austin, I don’t know what to say.”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key ring, dangling it in front of me. “Say yes, say we’re gonna make this place our own.”
/>
I nod before rolling up on tiptoes and kissing him. He pulls me tight as his tongue invades my mouth, and he takes control.
When we finally break away, I can’t wipe the smile off my face even if I wanted to. He takes my hand lifting it up in front of me. Sliding the key ring on my ring finger, he smirks the Austin half-smile that always makes my panties wet.
“First ring I’m gonna give you, Kitten, but not the last. That’s where this is going. You with me?”
This moment, this single, solitary moment is one I pray I’ll never forget. With tears filling my eyes and clouding my vision, I look at Austin Wayne Fletcher and smile. “I’m with you, Austin, I’m with you.”
His lips hit mine in full-on assault as his hands cup my thighs lifting me up, making me wrap my arms around him to keep us balanced as he carries me like a monkey wrapped around him up the front steps of our house. He doesn’t set me down or stop kissing me as he fumbles to get the key in the front door.
Stepping inside, he presses my back to the entrance wall and takes off his cut and shirt before yanking mine over my head. The passion between us continues to grow, and all thoughts of my day, my eyes, and everything else vanish but this moment.
“Need in so bad, Kitten,” he says with his lips against mine as I rock against him, more than ready for him to take me.
His hand comes down the front of my pants and panties, finding my slick pussy where he inserts his finger only making me want more.
“So ready for me,” he growls as I fumble with the buttons to his jeans.
With my legs wrapped around him, I fight to kick my shoes off finally getting my feet free. I slide my legs down to which Austin follows, dropping to his knees in front of me. His hands grip my waistband on each side, pulling my pants and panties down together. Before I can react, his mouth is between my legs with his tongue separating my pussy lips and flicking over my clit, causing me to have to hold onto his shoulders to steady myself.
“Austin,” I cry out his name as my body builds higher and higher. I toss my right leg over his shoulder opening myself to him. With his thumb tracing my exit, two of his fingers enter me as he sucks hard on my clit allowing his teeth to graze my outer pussy lips.
All of it is too much and too perfect at the same time, causing me to shake as my orgasm rushes through me.
“Austin,” I pant his name as I feel the aftershocks, and he doesn’t let up. “Austin, need you in me,” I half beg.
Moving my hands to his hair, I pull and not softly. “Austin, I need,” I beg as his head comes out from between my legs.
Practically jumping up, he gets a condom from his back pocket holding it with his teeth while he drops his jeans to his ankles. Opening the foil, he covers himself while my body hums in desire for more. Tossing my half limp arms over his shoulders, Austin scoops me up before sliding his thick length inside me, stretching my delicate walls while wrapping my legs back around him.
With my back to the wall, Austin works inside me, building me higher and higher. Unable to kiss him back, I yank my mouth away and drop my forehead to his shoulder as I cry out my release.
“Fuck yeah,” Austin grunts while he continues to pump in and out of me, as my muscles contract around him in aftershocks.
He thrusts until he yells my name before he stills, finding his own release.
With my hands on either side of his face, I make him look at me while I smile. “I wasn’t sure I could handle much more. I’m glad you got there.”
He laughs with me, and I swell with pride hearing the sound. “Fuckin’ love you, Kitten.”
Pausing, I look him in the eye, “I love you, Austin Fletcher, always have and always will.”
He presses his lips to mine softly, sealing our love in our home while his dick still pulses inside me. There isn’t more together we can be than right now.
Chapter 12
The pieces to the puzzle don’t fit!
I look at the documents in front of me, not one damn thing giving me anything. No trace, no ways to go nor angles to take. It’s like a puzzle that the pieces just don’t fit. No matter what way I turn them—nothing comes up and grabs my attention.
“Shamus?” Lurch calls from the doorway of the open office at the clubhouse. I normally don’t spend any time in here, but I needed a place to go over all this shit again and see if I could make sense of it. I know I should do this at home with Andrea at my side, but there are some things, such as her photos being carved out, that I’m keeping from her.
It’s all for her protection. She knows there is someone out there, but she doesn’t need to know the extent of what this asshole is trying to do. Not yet anyway.
“Yeah.” I toss the papers to the desktop and run my fingers through my hair resting my hands on the top of my head, leaning back.
“What’s got you here this late? Don’t you got a warm body to be wrapped around?”
“Can say the same thing for you, old man.”
He chuckles, stepping into the room and coming closer. “This shit eaten’ at ya?”
I look at the man who has been my father figure for more years than I can count. The one I’ve depended on and has my back through everything. The one who took in a runaway and gave me a different life than the one I was destined to have.
“It is. I can’t figure this shit out. Gilly’s looked everywhere for clues. Skinny’s stepped in to help, even Triple Threat’s reached out to his connections, and still we’re coming up with nothing. I’ve got no more leads or ideas on where to go. I just want this shit done with. Want peace.”
“I get that, brother. Need to live life, though, and not get stuck. Know you want answers. Fuck, we all do, but don’t let it suck you in so it becomes your obsession.” He sits in the chair in front of me as he leans in. “Been there before myself, Shamus.” He pauses before continuing, “Never told you about Cosmo.”
My ears perk a bit at the sound of his name. From his reaction in church, I knew there was history there. History that has stayed locked up inside of him because none of it has been spilled, or I would have heard.
“He wanted my ol’ lady, bad.” He leans back in the chair and briefly looks up at the ceiling and back down. “Fucker kidnapped Gloria’s sister and used her to lure my woman to him. She listened to him for fear of him hurting her sister. We were young, and I’d just started out in the club. We had a sense of family, but it wasn’t as tight at that point. He almost took my woman out of the country. Had her hogtied and drugged in a fucking bag of luggage. Rebels made it there in time—thank Christ.”
His eyes come directly to mine as I let his words hit me like a lead weight. I couldn’t imagine that shit happening to Andrea. I’d rather gnaw off my own arm and die a slow and painful death than ever think of anything bad happening to her. She already has so much with her health, this other shit needs to go.
“Anyway, my point is—I get you want to figure this out. I get you want to find the asshole responsible. But you have her—safe and sound in your home.” He shrugs. “Well, DJ’s home for now.” I smile thinking of the house I bought but need to put new flooring in before we fully move in. “Need to be grateful she’s here with you. Don’t be wasting time looking over and over the same shit when you’re what she needs right now.”
“I get it, Lurch, but there’s this place in my gut that says shit ain’t right. Drea and I had something good, and we got that back. I can’t lose it again. I just need to stop it before anything else happens.”
“Stop what, exactly? You have no indication that something is going to happen. Alert, always, but don’t wish your life for something to happen. It’s a waste of time. Get your ass home and be with your woman.”
“And you’re here late because?”
“Gloria went to spend time with her sister. So it’s just me and the clubhouse.”
“Thanks, Lurch.” I rise from the chair putting all the sheets of paper with nothing useful on them back in the envelope and go the fuck home, wrap myself
around and in my woman.
“Kitten, just pick one. I don’t give a fuck what it looks like. As long as you like it, then I like it.” Drea rolls her beautiful eyes at me and turns back to the tile samples for the bathrooms in the new house. We’ve already done the carpet, and this is the final thing. I’m ready to get the hell out of here and be done with this shit. “Tile is tile, just pick one.”
“You have to live with it, too.” She points to a marble-type one and then turns to me. “This one.”
“Done,” I tell the salesman who already has our dimensions of the floor. I hope we can get this shit on the road.
“You know, you could be a little excited about this.” Her hand goes to her jetted out hip, and she’s pretty fucking cute. “We’re moving in together.”
I wrap my arms around her and pull her flush with my body so she can feel my erection.
“Kitten, sooner we get the fuckin’ tile done, sooner we can move in.”
“You’re not getting my point.”
I squeeze her. “Get your point, Kitten. You wanna know why the damn floor covers don’t mean a thing to me?” She nods, her arms coming around my body. “Because you’re home. Wherever you are, that’s home. You wanna live in a van down by the river, it’ll be home because you’re there with me. I want you to have nice. I want you to have what you want and dream about, but babe, none of it matters. You matter. You’re the only fuckin’ thing that matters.”
I pull her lips to mine, kissing her hard. Damn right I know I’m in the middle of a store. And hell yes, I know that I’m devouring my woman—do I give a fuck? Hell no.
I pull away as she gasps for breath, tears stinging her eyes. “I’ve missed you,” she says, finally able to form words. This confuses me because we’ve been together nonstop so I raise my brow in question.
“All those years. I missed you, even when I hated you. Missed…”
A throat clearing has us turning in that direction. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have the tile in stock. If you’d like to come to my register, I’ll get you set to go.”
