ZEKE’S BABY

by Evelyn Glass

Can’t tonight, she responded, not wanting to give up her time with Katrina. Sunday after work?

  She was putting her phone back in her purse when it buzzed in her hand with a message. See you then. She smiled and dropped the phone in her purse, shut her locker, and returned to the bakery, smiling as Wade helped a customer, two more standing in line.

  “Who’s next?” she asked as she walked up.

  ***

  Royal and his brothers looked around the now gutted clubhouse. Everything they could do, they’d done, and all that was left was cleaning up the mess they’d made. The contractor was scheduled to start early next week rebuilding the inside to make the empty shell into their home.

  “What do you think, brothers?” Doc asked. “Can we do something with it?”

  “If it comes out as nice as the drawings, it’ll be nicer than our clubhouse in Charleston,” Hot Rod said.

  “Smaller, though,” Scratch pointed out.

  “Who cares? There’s only the ten of us at the moment anyway. It’ll be a long time before we outgrow this place,” Doc pointed out.

  “All I know is, I’m ready to get this shit cleaned up and get a beer. Who’s with me?” Moose asked.

  The men began haul out the debris. “You okay?” Doc asked as he and Royal muscled a section of wall out.

  “Fine, why?”

  Doc grunted as they stood the wall section up at an angle and eased it through the door. “Last night. Picking up a random woman then waking up hung over. That seemed a little familiar to me. You?”

  Royal sighed. “Yeah, I guess it did.”

  “Is it coming back to Greenfield?”

  Royal didn’t answer until he muscled the wood and sheetrock into the dumpster. “Not so much that. Remember the diner?”

  “Yeah. That was her?”

  “Yeah.”

  Doc nodded. He knew Royal had beaten himself up over leaving Stella, but he thought he was past that. It sucked they’d been in town only a few days and he’d already run into her. “You okay? Did you know she would be there?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay, and no, I didn’t know she worked there. She used to work at On A Roll.”

  “You knew she might still be in Greenfield. If it was going to fuck you up, why’d you come back?”

  “I don’t know. Greenfield’s still my home. I thought I was over it. I guess not.”

  Doc put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You’re young. Give it time.”

  “Yeah. I know. Last night, after seeing her, it kind of reminded me of what I don’t have, you know? Not like you and Holly.”

  Doc nodded. “I know. But remember, I’m quite a bit older than you. I didn’t meet Holly until I was, let’s see, thirty-five. When I was twenty-five, I was still fucking whatever pussy I could find. You’ll find your Holly when the time’s right.” Doc gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I don’t know what you’re bitching about, though. You’re the only guy I know who can have a witch ride up beside him, end up fucking her twenty minutes later, and live to tell about it.”

  Royal laugh as they stepped out of the way so Jaunt could toss a load of ceiling tiles into the dumpster. “I suppose so.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Stella hurried into Carolina Diner just minutes before six. Sunday morning was the toughest day of the week. She had to get Katrina up and to Grammy’s early enough to be back at the diner by six, when the breakfast rush began. She always made it, but sometimes, like this morning, it was close.

  She pulled the six to two shift on Sunday, catching both the breakfast and the after church lunch rush. In the thick of the two rushes it could get hectic, but the extra tips made up for it.

  Around ten she was taking a breather, enjoying the relative calm between the two big crunches, when Gabriel and his friends walked in. Susan sat them in her section because she was the only one with enough open tables close enough together to take all ten men. She made up her mind that Gabriel was just another customer and she would treat him as such.

  The men were boisterous, but friendly, ordering coffee by the carafe along with eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and potatoes. Tara helped bring the food out, but allowed her to pass it around.

  “Thank you,” Gabriel said as she slid his Famer’s Omelet in front of him.

  “You’re welcome,” she replied pleasantly, but continued with her task of passing out the food. Finished, she picked up the two trays and hurried away, returning a moment later to top off all the mugs.

  They took their time eating, laughing and kidding each other, lingering over their coffee. Finally, ninety minutes after they arrived and just before the big lunch crunch normally hit, they got up and left. She made sure she was busy at another table when they began to leave to avoid another ugly scene.

  As the last few men were paying, she began to gather her tips and clean the table. There were the usual three and four dollar tips, but where Gabriel was sitting, there was a crisp, new, fifty. She snatched the bill up and hurried out the door, certain the tip was a mistake. Nobody tips fifty bucks on a ten-dollar meal.

  She burst through the doors, but paused, not seeing any bikes. She heard the hogs bark to life behind the building and she hurried around the corner just in time to see them pulling away in a peloton of sound. She paused, trying to decide what to do, then returned to the diner, pocketing the fifty. She would hang on to it, and if she saw Gabriel again, return it.

  “Where’d you go?” Tara asked as she entered the diner again.

  “One of the guys left a fifty for a tip.”

  “So? That’s a good tip, but there were ten of them.”

  “No, you don’t understand. One guy left a fifty. Everyone else left a tip, too.”

  “Wow! Fifty bucks! I’ll wait them next time. Which one?”

  “Gabriel.”

  “That the guy you were talking to the other night?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I think he’s sweet on you.”

  Stella snorted. “Yeah, well, he can just get over it. It was probably a mistake.”

  Tara grinned then moved away to check on her tables. “Somehow, I don’t think so.”

  Stella paused at Tara’s comment. No, it was a mistake, no matter what. If he left it on purpose, he’ll find out he can’t buy his way out of what he did, the shit.

  “What’s good here, besides you?” Tony asked as Stella stepped up to his table.

  She grinned. “Aren’t you the flirt today?”

  “Sorry about Friday. I was out with the guys.”

  “Guys?”

  He grinned and held up his hands. “Swear to God. I was at a buddy’s house playing poker. I forgot and left the phone in the truck. It wasn’t until I was ready to leave that I even missed it. We spent a half hour turning his house upside down before I found it in the truck. Boy, did I catch some shit over that. By the time that fiasco was over, it was almost two and I knew you’d already be in bed.”

  “Likely story,” she teased.

  He grinned. “You know you’re the only one for me.”

  She burst into laughter. “Now I know you’re lying.”

  His smiled softened. “Well, you could be.”

  She felt her heart sink a little. She knew he wanted more than she could give him, but she’d been up front and honest with him all along. “I know. I’m just not ready.”

  He smiled and nodded. “I know. But when you’re ready…” He held his fingers up to his ear in the shape of a telephone and mouthed Call me.

  “I have ten more minutes. You want anything?”

  “Other than you?”

  She grinned. “You can have that later. I meant now.”

  “No. Just a water.”

  “One water, coming up.”

  ***

  Having taken care of herself Friday night, she wasn’t itching to go like she had been, but she’d called him and she knew once they got started she would be into it.

  “Ready,” she said stopping at his table.

  “Wh
at do you want to do?”

  “How about what I wanted to do Friday?”

  He smiled. “I like the sound of that. Dinner afterwards?”

  She smiled, knowing they weren’t going to dinner. “We’ll see. Let’s see how much appetite we work up first.”

  He followed her back to her place, since it was closer, and she called Connie while on the way.

  “Grammy! I’m going to be a bit later picking up Katrina. I should be there before dinner.”

  “Okay. You want to eat here? I have a roast in the fridge I need to cook.”

  Stella thought a moment, her mouthwatering at the thought of Grammy’s roast beef with potatoes and green peas with carrots. “That sounds perfect. Thank you.”

  “It’ll be ready about six.”

  “I’ll be there well before that.” She smiled, now having the perfect excuse to weasel out of dinner with Tony.

  As they tromped up to her apartment, she broke the news. “I called Gammy to let her know I was going to be late picking up Katrina. She invited me for dinner. Another time?”

  Tony smiled, but there was a sadness there. “Sure.”

  As she opened the door she felt a bit like a heel. She was using him, plain and simple, but he knew the arrangement and accepted it. She’d made it clear, several times, this was all she wanted from him, an occasional tumble to satisfy a need, and nothing more.

  There was no seduction. They both knew why they were there, and they wasted no time. He followed her to her bedroom where they undressed. He watched as she stripped out of her clothes and underwear. Stella was nothing other than stunning. Average in height, her mother’s Latino heritage was clear in her dark hair and eyes, and her sun-kissed skin. She wore her hair short, just above the shoulders, and cut to frame her face. She had the typically lush figure of many Latinos, but by far her best feature were her eyes. Large and a deep, rich, brown, her eyes spoke to him.

  She threw the covers into the floor with a flourish, then lay down on her side, one knee bent as she twisted her hips and propped on an elbow, her other arm draped casually across her hip. She smiled at him then curled her finger at him, calling him to her and making his cock tingle in anticipation.

  He joined her on the bed and she smiled as she pulled him down into a kiss. They kissed slowly, her passions swelling and taking her. When he slowly pulled away, she pushed him back onto the bed and began to kiss down his body, working her way ever lower, teasing him with anticipation as her lips danced and caressed. Finally, she reached his manhood, and began to cover it with butterfly kisses, cooing and purring as she licked and tickled with lips and tongue.

  She smiled to herself as he hissed, taking him into her mouth. He wasn’t small, but he wasn’t huge either, and she could take all of him in if she focused. She knew he liked it, and she wanted to please him, so she did this for him. He pushed his hips up, forcing himself deeper into her mouth as he held her head firmly but gently.

  “Fuck, Stella,” he growled as she pulled back then plunged him deep into her mouth again.

  She smiled to herself, enjoying his pants, growls and hisses as she pleased him.

  “You’re going to make me come,” he warned.

  She began to ease off, slowly letting him down. He was good for one shot a night, and she didn’t want to waste it. She pulled him out of her mouth one last time and moved up to kiss him slow and deep. She wanted to give him time to unwind. She’d discovered if she took him right to the edge, then let him cool, it took him longer to get wound up the next time, and when he did, he came much harder. It was a game they both enjoyed.

  She put a condom on him as she kissed and stroked so he would be ready and they wouldn’t have to stop, then he began kissing down her body, pausing at her breasts, before moving lower again. She sighed as he settled between her legs and began to flick and probe with his tongue. She purred and cooed, gasped and moaned. She could take or leave his kisses down there, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so when was doing something good, she let him know with a soft gasp or a low moan. She rarely came from his tender ministration, but that was okay. It served its purpose to allow him to cool his ardor while still keeping him interested.

  After a time, she realized she wasn’t going to come that way tonight so she pulled him up. “Take me,” she breathed. He settled between her thighs and entered her slowly. She sighed out a breath with his passage, the feel of his hardness inside her exquisite. “Yes,” she breathed.

  Tony may have not been at his best while eating a woman out, but he did know how to kiss, and she’d learned how to get the best out of him while fucking. They moved together for several long moments, his slow deep thrusts as they kissed working their magic on her.

  “Harder,” she begged, feeling her orgasm stalking her. If he fucked her hard and fast now, and didn’t come too soon, she would orgasm.

  He began to drive into her hard and fast, grunting in passion and effort. “Shit, baby, you feel so good,” he gasped. “I can’t hold it. I’m going to come.”

  She ignored him, focusing on her own orgasm. She was close, so close, and all she needed was a little more.

  He lunged into her hard and deep, holding himself there as he grunted softly. She spurred him with her heels, encouraging him to keep fucking her as she tried to hold onto her orgasm, whimpering as she squirmed, teetering on the edge of the abyss. He thrust into her hard and fast several times, paused as he gasped in pleasure, then pounded into her hard again, burying his face in her neck.

  Her orgasm rippled through her, a rush of warmth and blessed relief as she held Tony’s lips to her neck.

  His breath was warm and relaxing as he panted softly. “Did you come?” he asked.

  “Mm-hmm,” she murmured as she nodded her head. She didn’t always come, and she knew it hurt him when she didn’t, but she always enjoyed the act and the closeness she felt, especially after she had an orgasm.

  He sighed in satisfaction and flopped to the bed beside her and she curled up in his arms. She could feel herself sliding into sleep and she welcomed it, though she would have to be careful to not sleep too long. Her lips quirked into a small smile as she again dreamed of the day when someone she loved would make love to her then hold her in his arms as they drifted off to sleep. She sighed in contentment. She didn’t love Tony, but he would do until her true love came along. Still smiling, she slid softly into the dark blanket of sleep.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “You’re a hard person to track down,” Gabriel said as he stepped up to the bakery counter at On A Roll.

  “What are you doing here?” Stella demanded.

  “I came to see you. I couldn’t leave it the way we did in the diner on Friday. I’d still like a chance to talk to you. Dinner after you get off work? Just to talk. If you never want to see me again after that…” He shrugged.

  “How’d you find me?”

  “Started at the diner. I went by there yesterday and they told me you didn’t work Mondays, but to try here. I came here and asked about you. Found out you work Tuesday through Saturday. So, it’s Tuesday and here I am.”

  She looked at him a moment. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, but I have something for you.”

  “What?”

  “You left a fifty on the table Sunday.”

  “So?”

  “Wasn’t it a mistake?”

  “No.”

  She stared at him a moment. “Why? You can’t buy me, Gabriel.”

  “I’m not trying to buy you, Stella. I left it because I wanted to, not because I thought it would change anything. If you would just talk to me, give me a chance to explain, maybe you would understand. I know what I did was…messed up,” he said, obviously changing what he was going to say at the last moment, “but I would like a chance to explain why I did it. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I would like you to know the reason why I left.”

  She looked at him, her resolving weakening, wondering if she owed him at least that much,
if for nothing but old times sake. “No,” she finally said. “That’s behind me now. What’s done is done.”

  He nodded. “I understand.” He turned away and took one step before he turned back. “Just know it wasn’t you; it was me. I was trying to do the right thing, but I didn’t understand until later that I had thrown away the best thing that had ever happened to me.”

  She watched over the bakery case as he turned on his toe and walked out without a backwards glance, wondering what he meant when he said he was trying to do the right thing.