by Zoey Parker
“Figured why waste the time.” She moved her hands down her legs, smoothing down her skirt just until she reached the hem and pulled it up, exposing herself completely.
“Smart thinking.” I gave her a wink and leaned forward. Not moving her feet from my chair, I grabbed her waist and pulled her hard to the edge of my desk. Bringing her pussy right to my mouth, I dove in. Licking her, tasting her. Her hands wove into my hair, but I pushed them away. She knew better than that, and didn’t try again to control my movements.
Spreading her pussy lips, her clit came into view from its hiding place. I’d get her off in a just a few seconds; sucking that clit would drive Kelly wild. Always did. I’d let her come, then I’d fuck her hard. I needed the release. The fast and hard fuck would clear my head.
“Fuck, Michael.” Her hands gripped the side of my desk, her hips pushed up at me, a silent plea for more. “Goddamn. Fuck.” Her thighs started to tremble, she was close. Pushing three fingers into her wet pussy she came unleashed. Each breath accompanied another curse, another plea. “Cock. I want your cock, please, Michael.”
Standing up, I kicked my chair away and grabbed a condom from the top drawer of my desk. Kelly wasn’t the only girl who hated waiting in the public room. She licked her swollen lips watching me roll the condom down my cock. “Goddamn, I love that thing.” Her hand reached out to wrap around my dick, but I slapped her hand away.
“Not today.” Without another word, I wrapped my arms around her thighs, yanking them apart and up as I drove into her hard. She gasped, but wasn’t put out; she knew what kind of fucking she’d get when she walked into my office; it was the kind she came looking for. “Show me those tits.”
She pulled her tank up, letting her bare tits bounce freely. No bra. This girl wanted it bad. Letting go of one leg, I grabbed her tit, squeezing it hard until she arched her back up at me and squealed. That sound…that fucking beautiful sound. My cock plunged into her harder. Taking her nipple between my fingers, I twisted it this way and that until she was writhing beneath my grip.
“Please. Please,” she begged, but not for me to release her. No, she wanted to fucking come. “Dammit, please.”
The desk scrapped against the floor of the office. I released her tit and moved to her clit. If she thought she was close before, she would be surprised. I pressed the pad of my thumb down on and she nearly bucked off the desk, taking my cock deeper into her pussy. “That’s it. There it is. You wanna come?” I continued to stroke her, letting her lead me to my own release.
“Fuck yes. Michael. Please. No more teasing.” She gripped my forearms hard. I pushed her legs over my shoulders, making her pussy even tighter around my cock.
“Come for me, then.” I watched her face as she tried to scream out her orgasm. Not a sound. Just an open mouth ready to belt out her pleasure, frozen. I could feel her pussy pulsating around my dick and plowed into her even harder, not giving a fuck that the desk had worked its way a few feet away from where we started. The harder I pounded her, the harder she gripped my arms. The slight mixture of pain from her nails mingling with the tightness of her pussy threw me over the edge.
I pumped two more times into her, then froze. Letting the waves of my orgasm carry me away.
“Fuck, Michael.” Her heavy breathing started to slow while she lay on my desk, crushing my papers beneath her.
I pulled away from her, yanking the condom off and tossing it into the trash can. Once she hopped off my desk, I turned back to her, dick already put away, and sat back down in my chair, trying to catch my breath.
She righted her shirt and smoothed down her skirt. “I heard Leroy’s gonna bring a girl to the poker game on Saturday.” I hadn’t heard that, but he probably was. That guy couldn’t go a day without a new chick to bone, not that I had a problem with that. I supported his ruling on keeping women on his dick then letting them go free. I didn’t run as quick of a turnstile as he did, but fast enough to keep my cock well serviced and the rest of my life free of drama. “Maybe she could use some company.”
I checked my phone for messages, and ignored Kelly’s comment. Fishing for an invite wasn’t going to get her anything but a world of disappointment.
“Watching you guys play poker all night maybe would spark some other fun.” Going for the balls, the only way she knew how to get what she wanted.
“Maybe. I’m sure Leroy could use a second girl for his arm. Just give him a call.” I tossed the phone on my desk and pretended not to see the flash of anger in her eyes. It wasn’t my fault. I never gave her a line. I didn’t do long term. Fuck, I barely did short term. A few dates, maybe, several fucks, hell yeah, but never would I stick around long enough to get invested in a woman. That spelled trouble. And I’d had enough of that shit already.
My office door swung open and Tony popped his head through the opening. He noticed Kelly, but ignored her. “That Honda’s ready for you.”
“Thanks.” I waved him off and retied my boot that had come loose. When I walked past Kelly, still looking more like slapping me than kissing me, I gave her a peck on the cheek. “Didn’t think to lock the door when you came looking for your fuck?” Pleased with the proper caliber of humility in her expression, I left her in my office to finish the Honda.
***
The summer heat wouldn’t let up. Even with the industrial fans and garage air conditioners, the shop acted more like a furnace than a work place. The Honda had proven to have more than just a quick fix. The alternator had blown and the AC was completely out.
Tony had called the owner to get her okay on getting the repairs underway. I wanted to call, to see if that voice would strum a memory for me, but I forced myself not to. I had to forget her. I had to remember why staying away was best for her. The sort of life I found after getting out of juvie for beating that prick of a stepbrother of hers didn’t include her. It was too rough, too hard for a soft girl like Lauren. If the Honda belonged to her, I didn’t want to know.
The plan was to fix the car and hide myself in the back office until it was picked up. No need to put eyes on something I couldn’t have. In case it was her.
“Michael!” Tony called from the doorway of the office. I tightened the last bolt and stood up, shooting him a glare first. I hated being beckoned like some fucking dog. I owned the fucking place. Tony wised up. “Sorry,” he mumbled, and walked over to me. “The Honda ready? She’s here.”
Somewhere in the pit of my stomach a sour twisting started. My eyes instinctively went to the large window, searching her out. If I had thought myself prepared, I had been a fucking idiot.
She was older. Not just in years, but in looks. The stringy blonde hair I remembered always being pulled back in a ponytail hung around her shoulders with a gentle wave from the humidity. Still the same silvery blonde, but there was nothing stringy about the woman standing at my front desk. A backpack hung from one slender shoulder, accentuating her toned muscles. When she glanced my way, not seeing me yet, I could make out the subtle beauty that had captivated me so damn hard when we were in high school. Piercing blue eyes narrowed as she waited to hear back from Tony about her car. Her t-shirt had pinched tight around her chest from holding her bag, showing me exactly how much more woman she was now than the last time I saw her. Full breasts filled out her shirt. Had they always been so beautiful, or had the years of telling myself she was an innocent kid warped my memory of her?
“Michael!” Tony waved a hand in my face, breaking my stare. She still hadn’t seen me, but she was walking to the window, peering into the garage.
“Yeah. It’s done. Discount her. Parts only.” I shoved my way around him, heading to the sink to clean off the grease before shuffling into my office to hide.
“Michael?” A soft voice froze me as I took a step. “Michael.” A firmer voice now. Insistent. Fuck.
I looked over my shoulder, just to verify what I already knew. Lauren stood in the doorway of my garage, holding the door and searching me with her eyes. When I tur
ned around completely, I couldn’t help the smile that started to tug at my lips. Fuck, she was gorgeous. Tears sprung to her eyes, and I shook my head. That’s why I needed to hide. She didn’t need my sort of complicated in her life.
“Lauren.” I forced a neutral tone, and made no move to close the gap between us. I didn’t need to, she walked into the garage, ignoring Shane calling her from the front desk to stay out of the restricted work space.
“You’re here.” She shook her head and grinned. “Of course you’re here. I see you. When did you get back to town?” Her standing in full view now, I could take in the curves of her hips, the tightness of her thighs. The yoga pants she wore hid nothing from me.
“A while ago. Your car is ready. Shane will check you out, and Tony will bring it around front for you. You should still get a full tune up, but you can bring it back another day for that. Or to another shop closer to home.” I turned back to the sink, needing to busy myself and get away from her before I wrapped her in my arms. The urge to touch her, to just feel her under my fingers became too much. I needed the distraction.
“Oh. Uh. Well, I’m only about a half a mile away. So I guess I could bring it back. Maybe next month.” I heard the waver in her voice and knew it for what it was—her shield. She wanted to get to the heart of it all; she wanted to ask me where the fuck I’d been for the past seven years. Why the hell I didn’t call her from juvie, or return any of her letters, but she wouldn’t. Not yet.
“Okay.” I nodded, not looking over at her. I knew what I would see. I would see disappointment, hurt, and I wasn’t ready for that yet. I needed to steel myself against her first. To remind myself it was for her benefit. “Like I said, Shane will get you all set up.” I yanked a paper towel from the holder and nodded toward the door she had just walked through.
“I heard you.” A little more heat in her words, maybe she was recovering quicker than I thought she would. “Michael. Where have you been all this time?”
“Around.” I looked over at Tony. “Can you get the Honda pulled up front? She’s in a hurry.”
“No, I’m not,” she countered, her eyes burned into me. “I’m free the rest of the afternoon.” Her chin went up an inch, and her shoulders rolled back, but she sucked in the left corner of her lower lip.
“Liar.” I tried not to grin and it damn near killed me.
“Well, I could be free,” she mumbled, casting her glance down.
“Lauren, you should go.”
“Michael, I’ve tried finding you for years.”
“Well, you found me. Now you should go.”
Her feet shifted uncomfortably, and that damn lip trembled. “I don’t understand. After you…when you went away, you just disappeared.” The engine of her car started, and we both ignored Tony as he pulled out of the garage.
“It was better that way. Now go, Lauren.” If she took another step toward me, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands at my sides. I knew I would pull her in for hug, and then I’d never fucking let her go. And she needed to go. “Lauren, I never contacted you because I didn’t want to. I didn’t answer your fucking letters because I didn’t want to. Don’t you get that?” I forced the harshness into my voice, ignoring how much the words grated against my conscience.
She blinked a few times. “You blame me for what happened.” I almost didn’t hear her; she spoke so softly. “It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t—”
“No. I told you how many times to stay clear of that fucking asshole if he came home. Didn’t I? I said if you see him, wait in the house. Lock yourself in your room until I got there. But you didn’t. You stayed on the fucking porch.” Everything I said was true, but I never once in all the years of my going in and out of the system did I blame her for what happened. She had been too innocent. Had given too much credit to the wrong people. “Your car’s out front. Forget the bill. Just go.”
Walking away from her at that moment had to be the right thing to do. I needed to put distance between us, even if I had just torn open wounds for her. It was best she knew what sort of man I had become since we’d last seen each other. I wasn’t that loving, caring little boy she loved. I didn’t need that shit.
I heard the soft sob escape her as I walked by, but ignored it. I walked into my empty office and slammed the door. Fuck. Once I was sure she had left the garage, I looked through the blinds of my office to check, I went out to let Tony know to write off the parts for her job.
I saw her pull out into the street, her wheels squealing as she took the turn too damn fast. A loud roar of an engine caught my attention, and I ran out into the front of the garage. She drove through the green light, but the engine I’d heard belonged to a Challenger, going too fucking fast and not even trying to stop at the red light. I screamed out to Lauren to stop, but my words were lost in the sounds of metal crunching, a high-pitched scream from within her car. The Challenger plowed right into her passenger side, pushing her several feet into the intersection.
My lungs burned as I sprinted to her. Please let her be okay.
Chapter 3
Lauren
He was there. Michael was there, not more than a mile away from my apartment. How long had he been there, working and hating me? Whatever dream I had of our reunion, being kicked in the gut and tossed out hadn’t been it.
“Lauren!” I heard him yelling, and I wanted to get away. Everything seemed hazy, dust clouded around my car. “Fuck! Hey!”
I needed to get out of the car. I needed to get home. I needed to go crawl under my covers. Everything in my body hurt when I tried to move. Michael yelled at me again to stay still. But fuck him. He’d just told me how much he didn’t want me in his life, how much he blamed me for what happened to him. He could just screw off.
My door opened, and then he was there, squatting down and looking me over. He lifted my arms slowly, felt around my torso. There had been a time when having his hands on me like that would have ignited a fire inside of me, but when he did it then it just hurt. I tried shoving his hands away, but he told me to knock it off.
“Fuck you.” I groaned and tried to swing my legs out of the car. He stopped me, shoving them back in.
“Wow. Big words for such a little thing.” He held my legs inside the car and pressed his hand to my shoulder. “Stop trying to get out. Just stay the fuck still until the ambulance gets here!” I knew that tone. I’d heard him using it before. People jumped when he used it––not me, though.
“Let me go, Michael. Shouldn’t be too hard for you.” I tried to see his face, to witness if my words had any impact on him, but the tears flooding my eyes made everything too blurry. For once I wish I could get my body to listen to me and not cry. But it was Michael, I’d never had to hide my emotions from him. Not until that moment.
“Just stay put.” Sirens blared behind him.
“Is the other guy okay?” I asked, suddenly aware that I wasn’t the only person involved in the accident.
Michael snorted. “Just like you to think about someone else. No. The fucker took off. Stop talking. And stop fucking moving around.” His heavy hand rested on my knee to keep my legs from moving around. The familiar sensations all flooded back to me, as though the past seven years hadn’t happened. I wanted to look at him, to memorize the man before me, but the pain in my shoulder kept me obedient to him.
“I don’t want to go to the hospital.” I rolled my head toward him. The ambulance doors flew open and several men jumped out the back carrying medical cases over to me.
“I know, but you have to.” I wasn’t prepared for the tenderness in his voice.
I closed my eyes for a minute, letting Michael do what he did best—take care of me. I didn’t want him to, I wanted to shove him away and scream, but the pain in my shoulder started to shoot down my back, and my face hurt.
The paramedics made quick work asking me too many questions to answer, and prodding me everywhere before they agreed to let me out of the car. When I tried to stand up on my own, the hulky men
quickly pushed me onto a gurney and started strapping me down. I fought against the restraints, but quickly let them subdue me when I heard Michael arguing with one of the paramedics.
“Like hell I’m not going with.”
“Follow us to the hospital. You can see her there.”
I wanted to argue with him, to tell him to just go home and not to bother following me, but my head hurt too much and I wanted to close my eyes just for a second, rest my eyes for just a minute.
***
An annoying beeping pulled me from sleep. My eyes fluttering open took more energy than it should have to make such a simple movement. Moving my head turned out to be a bad decision on my part, a blinding pain shot through me.
“Lauren.” That soft voice. So familiar. “Lauren, don’t move too much. They haven’t come back in yet with the x-ray results.”
The vision in front of me slowly came into view. Michael. His hair was longer than the last time I saw him. That horrible morning so many years ago. Shaggier, too. It took away some of the fierceness of his square jaw and firm set eyes, but he still looked like a force to be wary of. He always had that look. Everyone else saw it, hallways would clear for him in high school. I never saw anything but the gentle side of him; then again, he’d never turned those dark eyes on me before.
