by Bijou Hunter
“Think they’ll be cool with fixing up one of the Reapers?”
Soso doesn’t answer as she guides me to the tiny kitchen table while she applies a wet cloth to my bleeding eyebrow. I rest my hands on her hips, craving her closer.
I look up and hold her gaze. Soso needs to understand that I’m not playing around with her feelings. But saying the words terrifies me. What if I bare my heart to her, and she stomps on it? Will I turn into a psycho like Griff?
“Explain to me why your father doesn’t end that guy?”
“The Brotherhood has a policy of staying out of relationship drama.”
“That crap wasn’t drama.”
Soso runs her fingers through my hair and lowers her voice. “I can’t prove he was the one who destroyed my garden and got rid of my birds. I have cameras around. Security that my brother put in, but the camera out back got smashed before catching who did it.”
“Did Griff know about the security cameras?”
“Of course. When Dad asked if I thought Griff did it, I said sure, but we both know there’s no proof.”
“He should still pound on him.”
“Years ago,” she says as her voice dips into nearly a whisper, “a guy and his old lady broke up. It was ugly. He cheated over and over for years. Didn’t even hide it either. Then she went to Nashville for a concert and screwed some guy. One of the old ladies ratted her out to her man. Drama blew up. You know how stupid men are, thinking their cheating is normal, but a woman’s cheating is an affront to God.”
Soso pauses to check my eye and seems relieved by whatever she finds. Once the towel is back against my brow, she continues explaining a situation I will never understand.
“Everyone took sides, and Camden got involved. He tried to make peace, but everything got worse. The guys didn’t like how their president was sticking his nose in the relationship. No matter whose side he took, people got mad that he wasn’t picking theirs. Camden finally got fed up and said relationship drama wasn’t club business unless the cops might get involved.”
“What Griff did isn’t cheating.”
“Yeah, but no one around here calls the cops over property damage.”
“He was ready to hurt you.”
“I know, but he didn’t,” she says, holding my irritated gaze with her resigned one. “I guess I could have pushed him to bang me up a little and then dump the problem in my father’s lap, but that isn’t how I was raised. Mom didn’t want me relying on the club or my family’s money to fix everything.”
“But he’s dangerous.”
“Don’t talk down to me,” she growls, stepping back. “I was the one threatening him with a shotgun. I know what he is.”
“But you only did that when he came at me.”
“Because I thought I had things handled at first. When I realized I didn’t, I was afraid to run for the house. Once you got here, I saw my chance.”
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I tug her back toward me. I press my face against her stomach and try to calm her annoyance. I grew up with a high-strung mom, so I’ve seen how quickly that fire can cool with a little affection.
“Seeing you with the shotgun is in my top ten list of sexiest things.”
“What’s number one?” she asks, waiting for me to mention another woman as if I’m twelve and lack any fucking common sense around the ladies.
“Easy, seeing you come in the truck the first time. The second time was my second favorite sight.”
Soso smiles at my answer, and her earlier edginess disappears. “Thank you for saving me.”
“And thank you for saving me. I mean, I didn’t need the save, but it was still hot and much appreciated.”
“This is a handsome face, Bubba,” she says, stroking my freshly shaven jaw, “but it won’t stay that way if you keep getting pounded.”
“I do plenty of pounding too.”
“Yeah, but give it a rest for a few days.”
Reminded of how close that shithead came to putting his hands on her, I mutter, “I will if Griff stays the fuck away from you.”
“And you’ll avoid your brother’s fists too, right?”
Hearing the real question behind the one she asks, I murmur, “I won’t see him for a while.”
Soso gets the message. I’m not bailing on Hickory Creek yet. We have time. Eventually, one of us will need to make a painful decision, but that won’t be today.
THE BOHEMIAN
I fight my nervous shakes more than once after guiding a bloodied Bubba into my house. The tide shifted too quickly outside. I went from hyper-alert dodging Griff to watching him and Bubba violently tango. Now, everything is quiet.
The urge to call my family feels right, but I want to protect Bubba too, and I’m not sure they’ll agree. Dad believes in cutting people loose. Not his people, of course. But Bubba isn’t one of the select few he cares about, and I can’t imagine that’ll change anytime soon.
“Here’s the deal, Bubba Davies,” I say, and he perks up at the sound of his name. His adoring gaze demands I keep him with me forever. “We have two choices. One is that I call my dad and tell him what happened with Griff. Rather than check the security footage on his phone, he’ll show up. Probably bring Keanu. Once he sees Griff’s behavior, my beloved father will focus his anger on you because you’re nearby and he doesn’t like you.”
“I’m shocked to hear I haven’t wowed him with charms yet,” Bubba says, wearing a smart-ass grin.
“You’re a Johansson, and you’re banging his daughter. He can tolerate one but not both.”
“What do you think he’ll do to Griff?”
“I don’t know. How much did you fuck him up?”
“Oh, I fucked him up plenty,” Bubba says, and I know he’s replaying the fight in his head.
“As much as I loved watching him puke, I don’t know if most of his battered face came from Sunday’s fight or today’s. Either way, my dad will talk to Griff. A fight will probably break out. If Keanu is there, it’ll most definitely happen. My brother loves starting shit. Then Griff will behave for a day or two until he remembers how I’ve enjoyed another dick inside me. Everything will start over, but you’ll be back in Conroe by that time.”
“Maybe,” he says, teasing me with the impossible. “Are you sure your dad can take Griff?”
“Did you just call my dad old?” I ask, lowering my voice to emphasize my disapproval.
“Sure, let’s go with that.”
“My father might be a middle-aged man whose best days are behind him, but he’s also very aware of that fact. That’s why at the start of a fight, he always kicks his opponent straight in the nuts. Making a guy’s ears ring and his balls squeal provides Daddy with the upper hand,” I say, full of pride. “Even if Griff managed to overcome his swollen balls long enough to fuck up my dad, Keanu would end him.”
“He’s a feisty little guy, huh?”
Rolling my eyes, I toss the cloth in Bubba’s face. “Bikers are all the same. You respect Cap because of his size, but he could be a giant, lumbering wussy. He’s not, obviously, but he could be. Then you look at Keanu who’s less than your weight class and half a foot shorter, and you giggle at his talents. Well, keep snickering, asshole, because he’ll fuck you up sideways.”
Bubba leans his head back and bursts into laughter. Assuming he’s mocking my brother, I plan to close up my pussy for business. I don’t care if Bubba helped me out today. No one talks shit about my big bro.
“You’re so damn sexy when your bitch meter goes up,” he says, reaching for me. “I saw Keanu take down that biker with a karate chop at the bar. It was a sweet fucking move.”
Once I realize he’s showing my bro respect, I melt against Bubba. “Keanu always protects me. That’s why I know if he gets unleashed on Griff, he’ll end him. Keanu feels no loyalty to the club. He likes some of the guys, sure. Obviously, he’s a huge fan of our dad. He even likes our uncle, who we are contractually obligated to state is less cool than o
ur dad. But in the end, Keanu doesn’t give a fuck if he has to kill a few bikers. He works for the Hayes family, not the Brotherhood. He’s protected by Hallstead money too. In fact, I’m surprised Keanu doesn’t walk around killing people willy-nilly.”
Losing his boyish grin, Bubba hisses, “I’d rather be the one who ends Griff.”
“Do you really want to kill a man you don’t know or is your declaration based on horny bravado?”
“I know he wanted to hurt you. There’s nothing else to learn about the fucker.”
“Then should I call my dad?”
“Wait, what was the second choice?” he asks, sitting on my tiny kitchen chair, arms wrapped around my waist, and smiling like he’s hit the motherload.
“We get naked and blow through the box of condoms I bought last night.”
Bubba lifts my shirt, sighing deeply enough to warm my tits with his hot breath. Then he grins up at me again. “I didn’t hear anything after naked, but, yeah, I vote for the thing where you’re spread out on the bed with your pussy wet and willing. Yes, that.”
I’ve craved his lips on mine since I drove away from Audrey’s house. This kind of need isn’t like me. I’ve never been the sexually obsessive type. In fact, I gave up dating in high school after a guy roughed me up at a party, forcing me to accept I wasn’t the badass I’d assumed. That wake-up call made me wary of men. I’d opened up to Griff completely, and he made me pay for that decision.
I should be afraid to do the same with Bubba. Some part of me is probably scared. But I want this man so fucking bad that I can’t see past him, me, and the box of condoms.
THE RUNAWAY
Soso hypnotizes me with her belly dancing. I watch her rolling hips as she strips out of her clothes. The floral shirt sails onto a plush chair where her dog lounges. Her ratty blue jean shorts fly toward the couch. Her bra whips past me. When her panties fly in my direction, I catch them.
Moving closer while her hips drop and rotate to a silent song, I’m careful to avoid spooking her and ruin her mating dance. Soon, she reclines naked on the couch, knees up with her pussy in full view.
Soso offers me a gift, and I know exactly how to thank her.
My hands rest on her knees as I sink down to the ground. Her pink flesh glistens with arousal before I even touch it. Soso breathes heavily, nipping at her bottom lip. Her nipples are rock-hard.
“I don’t know what to taste first.”
Then I catch sight of the worry in her deep brown eyes. No one forced her to expose herself completely to a man she’s known for less than two days. Soso removes all barriers, stripping totally bare because she knows I’m not any guy. Just like I’ve known she isn’t any woman.
My lips cover Soso’s, wanting to reassure her. I’m not that asshole Griff. I’m an asshole, for sure, but never like him.
When our lips part, her gaze only reveals arousal. With her worry gone, she gently strokes my jaw and then my throat before tugging my shirt over my head.
I kiss her again, sucking at her lower lip. I nip at her jaw, lick at her throat, moving lower, wanting to taste and tease my way to the sweet spot waiting between her legs.
My teeth nibble at her teardrop-shaped tits. Nuzzling my face between them, I inhale her sweet, earthy scent. Soso’s right hand slides between her legs, hoping to soothe the wet flesh.
I hold her gaze while shaking my head. Replacing her hand with mine, I smile at how her breath catches when my index finger circles her swollen clit.
Her hips flex, wanting more. Sweat breaks out across her body, and her cheeks flush.
Throbbing in my jeans, my dick begs to come out and play with the hot pussy at our disposal.
I keep it locked up. There’s time. First, I want to suck on her pale nipples and make Soso come hard enough to forget anyone’s ever fucked her before. Then I’ll fill her with my cock and make her beg for more.
Soso cries out when I suck her left nipple into my mouth and apply more pressure to her clit. Her hips buck, and her fingers comb through my hair.
I use my free hand to pinch at her left nipple. Her whimpers make my dick hurt. Unable to fit in my fucking jeans any longer, I finally tear open the fly and shove them down to release my cock from its prison.
Soso sees my erection, and that’s all she wrote. Crying out my name, she gasps in a way that’ll feed my ego for a long fucking time. Soso throws her head back and moans overwhelmed with pleasure.
But I offer her no time to recover.
Lowering myself between her legs, I sigh with approval at the sight of her wet pussy spread for me. My fingers open her wider before my tongue savors her juices.
Breath hitching, Soso wears a dazed expression. I don’t know why I find the look so intoxicating, but I’m dying to see her expression after her second orgasm.
“Bubba,” she whispers. “I want you inside me.”
Face wet from her juices, I lick my lips and shake my head. No way am I done. The feel of my tongue fondling her clit makes her whimper again. I promise my dick to hold on for a little longer. Just until I make our woman come undone one more time without its help.
Soso groans with her orgasm, nearly in pain. Her nails dig into my scalp until she’s about to draw blood. Then her hands reach for the couch cushions and fuck them up royally. I swear she throws one of them over my head during her last wild cry of pleasure.
“Hell, Bubba, I need your dick!” she cries, gripping her tits.
I smile up at her from my tasty spot between her legs. “You didn’t say please.”
Soso opens her mouth, and I sense I’m about to get some attitude. I don’t know what happens in her head. If she sees or feels something that turns off the bitch alarm. I only know her irritation disappears, leaving behind a smile.
“Please, fuck me, Nikolas Davies.”
Hearing her say my real name seals the deal. I’m marrying this woman. No logic about it. I just know I need to spend the rest of my life with Soso. No one else will ever fucking do.
The way she sighs when I finally fuck her says what words never can. She opened herself up to a stranger, tried not to hope too much about my potential, got her heart set on me anyway, and now she knows she’s won the lottery. Yeah, her expression says it all.
I fuck Soso on the couch. It’s quick, hard, and a little angry since my dick’s been in heat since we left her yesterday.
The second time begins when she slides off the couch and turns around so her ass can tease me back to full-staff. She’s come plenty. I ought to be begging her for more, but she’s the one in heat. I don’t blame her. Everything feels better with her, and I see the same realization on her face when I wrap her in my arms. The woman knows we’re the real deal.
Our third round moves to her bed with the elephant looking down at me while she leisurely rides my dick for thirty minutes.
“I can’t believe how good you feel,” she whispers, once cuddling next to me after our bodies wear themselves out for the time being.
“You’re welcome,” I say, and Soso laughs while pinching my belly.
“I’d be mad for such arrogance, but you earned it.”
“I’m staying here tonight,” I announce after she’s quiet for nearly a minute.
“Okay.”
Exhaling with relief, I’d been ready to beg, threaten, and beg again if necessary.
“I brought my crap.”
“I saw that.”
“Would you have let me stay if I hadn’t satisfied you so thoroughly?”
Soso sits up and smiles down at me. “I woke up this morning fully planning on tricking you into hanging out at my house until your vacation was over.”
“Trick me how?”
“Well, you saw my belly dancing,” she says, smiling slyly. “Both saving me with Griff and fucking me into a state of zen were bonuses I didn’t need, but I’m very thankful to have.”
My ego fucking explodes under her gaze. I swear I was a little boy when I arrived in Tennessee. Soso’s made
me a full-fledged man. Not bad for a hippie chick.
“He’s jealous,” Soso says, picking up Freki and resting him on the bed.
The dog watched us fuck. Like just stared at us the entire time. Though I bet some of his curiosity was from the noises Soso made. She sounds so shocked when shit feels good. No doubt Griff was terrible in bed. He’s got the look of a guy with performance issues.
“You don’t seem like a little dog kind of woman.”
“Freki was a gift from Griff,” she says, and I immediately lose my smile. I want that guy erased from existence. The fact that he ever owned a moment of Soso’s time pisses me off to no end.
“What kind of man gets a dog for his girlfriend?” I ask despite knowing I’d buy anything for Soso just to earn a smile from her.
“He wanted me to have a normal pet,” she says, stroking the dog in her lap. “He claimed birds weren’t friendly, but the girls just didn’t like him. He was always hinting that they’d be happier at the sanctuary. Then one day, he showed up with a little dog he thought would be a good pet.”
“The guy’s a control freak.”
“Yes, exactly,” she says, looking relieved to hear someone else say it. “And I was very aware of how he didn’t get me a big dog that might react negatively to his yelling.”
“How often did he yell at you?” I growl, sitting up and preparing to hunt down the asshole.
Soso wants to laugh at my anger. She fights against a smile, finally biting her lower lip while stroking my forehead.
“None of that matters because he and I have been over for months.”
“It matters to me.”
“The irony is Freki was the reason we finally broke up. He bought me this little dog, thinking it was no threat. Then Griff would get pissed when Freki barked at him when we’d argue. Every time, Griff would yell at the dog. That final time, he grabbed Freki as if he was going to throw him. What kind of man would hurt something so small and defenseless?”
“A monster.”
No matter how much Soso pretends she’s unbothered by her past, I see the darkness in her eyes. She nods at my response, relieved that I understand how she saw Griff that day.
