by Cee Bowerman
“They are all really huggy people. All of them. You get used to it after a while.” She smiled at me as she said it, then took a bite of donut.
I just quietly sipped my coffee.
“You marrying this one, Bird?” I spit my coffee out and unfortunately sprayed Kale along with Bird when I did it. “Maybe not, if she doesn’t swallow. But, that’s just me.”
Bird put his elbows down on the bar and then put his head in his hands. “What the fuck do you want, Kale?”
“You missed breakfast. You’re not answering your phone. Clem’s been fielding calls since three am, he handled things, but when you didn’t show for breakfast, we were worried. Mama sent me to check on you. Last she heard you left the bar with a strange woman wearing ‘fuck me’ shoes. Mama wanted me to make sure she didn’t kill you and sew new luggage out of your skin.”
Bird looked at Terra. “You’ve got to stop sharing those books about serial killers with Mama. She was already a scary woman, but now she’s getting new ideas. It’s not right.”
Terra shrugged one shoulder and focused on her donut.
“So, Blueberry Bird, are y’all getting married and giving Mama some grandbabies? Because, and you know this is true, that is the only reason to miss Saturday breakfast at Mom’s place.”
“Fuck. I didn’t even realize I missed it. I’ll call her and suck up later. She’ll forgive me.”
“She might. But you’re going to have to do a lot of explaining.” Terra looked at me and leaned in. “She’s not really that bad. Scary as hell at first, but once you’re in, you’re in.”
“We’re not… I mean, we’re just…” I sputtered as I tried to explain what exactly we were doing. For some reason I didn’t want to admit it was a weekend fling, when I was starting to hope it could be so much more.
“Yeah, but you’re here in the house. That’s huge.” Kale turned to get a coffee mug and then realized the coffee pot was empty. He set about making another pot and knew exactly where everything he needed was. Once he was finished, he turned back around and grabbed another donut from the box. “I think I talked her out of coming over, but I’m serious. Call her real quick. She’s worried.”
Bird leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. “I’m going to run give her a call. Don’t let the asshole scare you off.”
I watched Bird jog up the stairs to his room for his phone and when I looked back, Kale was staring at me.
“So, Bird tells me that you guys recently met?”
“We did. In September. My friend Lisa introduced us.” Terra smiled at me as she perched on the chair that Bird had vacated. “Have you met Lisa?”
“No, I never have, but I’ve heard Drea talk about her. She sounds like a sweetheart.”
“Oh, she is. She introduced Kale and I.”
“She is the one with the baby, Brighten, I think Bird said her name was?”
“She’s my Goddaughter.” Kale smiled with pride. “Sweetest little thing. Love her.”
“She really is a little doll. Loves Kale like he hung the moon and stars.” Terra hopped up to fill a coffee mug for her and Kale as the pot beeped that it was finished brewing. “Do you want a warmer?”
I pushed mine and Birds cups toward her and smiled. She filled both of our mugs back up and put the carafe back on the warmer.
“So, what do you do?” I asked Terra.
“I’m an accountant. I work for the guys, taking care of the books for a few of their businesses.”
“I’m an accountant too! I work at Book Ends.”
“Oh, I’ve seen their stores here in town. Is it a good place to work?”
“Well, I think it mostly is. Not in my department. My boss is one of those guys that you pray doesn’t catch you alone in a room without a secondary exit, if you know what I mean.” I saw Kale stand up a little taller as I spoke, and I could feel him staring at me. “I’m sure he’s harmless, but it gets old. I’m trying to move over to Drea’s department, but it’s not really my specialty. I would have to take a pay cut, but I could learn something new at least.”
“It sucks that you have to move departments to get away from a weasel.”
“Well, that weasel has been with the company for twenty years. It’s not like he is going to go anywhere. His behavior is common knowledge around the office. I’m just doing my best not to stab him in the throat with my ink pen every day.” Terra nodded in understanding. “But I need the health insurance, so I stay there.”
“That’s some bullshit. How long have you been in accounting?” Kale asked me.
“I got my degree seven years ago. I stopped working when I had my kiddos, but I went back when I moved to Rojo and got the job at Book Ends.” I sipped my coffee before I continued. “It’s good experience, and it’s gotten me back on track as far as new software and such. It’s a job.”
I saw Terra raise her eyebrows as she looked at Kale and he shook his head quickly. Some sort of silent communication was going on that I didn’t understand.
“So, kids?” Terra asked.
“Three boys. They are four, three and two years old and they keep me on my toes. They’re out of town with my Mom, visiting my brother and sister this weekend.”
“Wow. Three little ones. I bet it’s loud and crazy at your house!” Terra looked over my shoulder, and I turned to see Bird coming down the staircase closest to his bedroom.
“Mom’s fine. I talked her off the ledge. She forgives me as long as I don’t let it happen again.” Bird gave me a peck on the lips as he sat down beside me. I pushed his coffee mug in front of him and looked up at Kale.
“Okay, well, let’s get out of your hair. I delivered Mom’s message and you took care of it. My work here is done.” Terra hopped down from her stool and took their mugs to the sink. “It was nice to meet you, Summer. I hope to see you again. Bye, brother.”
Bird said his goodbyes and I just smiled at him and raised my hand to wave at Terra. I didn’t know if he would ever see me again. If Bird stuck to our agreement, my time with him would be over in two days. I shook off that thought before I tried to analyze why it made me feel so sad.
“What are we doing for the rest of the day?”
“Well you have no clothes, and I like having you naked. I thought we could swim a bit, get some sun, I could lick you until you scream a few times, we can nap and then get up and do it again.”
“I think that sounds like a fine plan.”
“Want to start now?”
I looked down to see that his pants were tented out. Just by talking to me he already had an erection.
I hopped off the bar stool and slid down his body to my knees.
“Only if I can be Monica.”
5.
“Funny guys are dangerous. They’ll make you laugh and laugh and laugh
and then, BOOM. You’re naked.”
Drea’s words of wisdom for Summer
BIRD
I heard my phone buzz on the nightstand and lifted my head to look down at Summer. She was sleeping soundly, her face on my chest, one leg draped over me. I moved slowly to untangle myself from her and then sat on the edge of the bed to open my phone.
There was a text message from Kale, telling me to come out by the pool.
I stood up and looked back to Summer. She was still asleep, so I went to the closet and shut the door behind me before I turned the light on. I quickly got dressed and then turned off the light before I came back out into the room.
I pulled the door to the frame but didn’t shut it all the way for fear that the noise would wake her.
She and I had spent the entire day yesterday in bed, by the pool, or on the couch. We had talked about everything and nothing, eaten food off each other’s bodies, and had more sex in twenty-four hours than I had experienced in the last five years.
Already one time since we came to bed, I had kissed her awake with my mouth on her clit, bringing her to orgasm with my tongue before she returned the favor. I knew that as soon as I got finished
with my conversation with Kale, I would crawl back into bed with her and make love to her again.
I felt like I had to get in all I could right now, our time was running out and she had been adamant about this only being a wild, weekend fling.
I let myself out the back door and saw Kale and Clem sitting over on the couch, Daughtry was starting a fire in the pit, and Fain was leaning back on one of the chaise lounges asleep.
“What’s going on?”
“Well, I know it’s three in the morning and you’ve got a beautiful woman in your bed, but we need to get some input from you on how to proceed with something. It’s not something we can talk about by phone.” Clem leaned up with his elbows on his knees as he spoke to me, his face worried.
I sat down next to Kale and waited on him to speak.
“Spit it out guys, what the fuck is going on?”
“Grunt was on patrol with Lout and some men took a shot at them from an alley. Grunt was hit twice but stayed upright until they could get somewhere safe. Lout got a couple of shots off and thinks he hit one of the men. Not positive about the damage, but he saw one of them fall.” Kale took a deep breath. “As they turned the corner about a block away heading back out to the clubhouse, they heard a siren and saw red and blue lights behind them. They hauled ass to Brenda and Sonny’s to hide in the garage. Lout is bringing Grunt here from her house now, he’s using her truck. He called just a little bit ago and said that there are fucking cops everywhere. Chandler got on the radio and listened, and they are looking for two white men on motorcycles. They didn’t see Lout, or they’d know he’s black. We need to get Grunt here to let Doc take a look at him. We’ll have to find somewhere that he can go until he heals enough that the wound won’t show. We can’t take him to the clubhouse, we can’t do anything to lead them to mine because, well, you know. Clem lives at the clubhouse but doesn’t have an alibi for tonight to say he wasn’t driving around and neither does Fain.”
“Everyone else is covered as far as an alibi goes?” I asked Kale as I stood up.
“Yeah. But Clem and Fain need to stay here in case they come looking at the clubhouse. Grady, Stoffer and Bear are all three there now. They have women with them that they picked up at the bar earlier. They were visible and a lot of people saw them leave together.”
“Okay.” I moved to the back door. “You guys try and keep it down. Summer is sleeping in my room and the longer she stays out, the less I have to fucking explain. I’ll get the kitchen set up for Doc to take care of Grunt. Daughtry, Kale, you guys take one of my cars and make sure that all the bikes are stowed away in the garage. Call me if you see anything.”
“We’re going to walk over to Mama’s house and ride into town with her. I’ll have Terra come in and pick us up from the diner.”
“Okay. Get gone before it gets any lighter outside. I’ll take care of things here.”
Kale and Daughtry moved to the fence and went through the gate to walk across the field to our parents’ house.
“We’ll stay outside and listen for anyone coming up the road, be here and ready when he brings Grunt in.”
“One of you stay out here and listen. The other go up in the hallway and look out the windows on the landing upstairs. You can see quite a way from there, we’ll know well in advance if someone is coming down the main road, let alone turning toward us.” I opened the back door and walked quickly up the stairs to check and see that Summer was still in bed. She was in the same position I had left her in, so I moved to the dresser to get some clean clothes for Grunt.
When I left the room this time, I slowed down and carefully pulled the door all the way shut so that our talking wouldn’t wake Summer. I turned and saw Clem standing at the windows on the landing at the front of the house, watching down the road to see if there was any traffic or law enforcement headed our way.
When I got downstairs, Lout and Grunt were both in the kitchen and Doc was at the sink washing his hands. I laid the clean clothes on the couch as I walked by it and moved into the kitchen to help Doc as much as I could.
By the time we were finished in the kitchen, the sun had risen, and I was worried that Summer would be down any minute. I got Grunt settled in the guest room on the other side of the house, Clem in the room next to him and Fain in the one beside that. All of us could sleep now that the heat had died down, and there was no word from Chandler that they were mentioning any of us on the police band.
I got back to my room and crawled into bed with Summer, happy that she was still sleeping soundly.
I just hoped she would give me at least an hour before she woke up and I needed to explain my house guests that had arrived in the middle of the night.
~*~
I felt Summer moving around in the bed and I reached out to pull her closer to me.
“I’ve gotta pee, babe. I’ll be right back.”
I dozed while she was out of the bed and opened my eyes when I felt her crawl back up beside me.
“What time is it?” I asked her. She picked up her phone that was on the nightstand and looked at it.
“Wow. It’s almost eleven. I haven’t slept this late in years.” She snuggled up beside me and laid her head on my chest. “Can I make you breakfast in bed?”
“I would love that, baby. But, three of my brothers showed up last night. They’re sleeping in the guest rooms. They might want breakfast too, and I’m not willing to let you serve it to them in bed.”
“Hmmm. Okay.” She snuggled up against me and I felt her hand start to roam down my chest. “Can I get something else instead?”
I felt myself start to get hard whit just a few words and her soft touch on my stomach.
“I’m sure I can come up with something. Let me hop up and brush my teeth really quick. How about we work out the breakfast situation in the shower together?”
“Oh, shower sex. That sounds fun.” Summer watched me get up and walk to the bathroom. As I turned to shut the door so I could do my morning business, she called out, “Let me know when you’re ready for me to come in there.”
I stared at her for a second as she stretched her arms above her head, her breasts jiggling with her movement.
It was going to be damn difficult to pee now, unless I did a handstand in front of the toilet.
~*~
Summer
Once we finished our shower, Bird and I went downstairs to find some food. I looked through the refrigerator and found something to cook and ordered Bird to go sit down and drink his coffee while I worked. Something had happened while I was asleep last night that had him stressed. I assumed it had something to do with his house guests.
“I’m going to make a few phone calls, babe. I’ll be outside.” Bird left me in the kitchen and went outside with his cell phone.
I took that opportunity to pick up my own phone and give my Mom a call. She had sent me a few texts with pictures attached, telling me about their trip. All was going well, and they were thinking of extending their visit through the rest of the week.
I had never been away from my babies for more than a night or two at a time, and I wasn’t sure I would be okay for five more days without them.
“Hi, Mom.” I said after she picked up the phone and greeted me. I could hear my boys yelling and laughing in the background. “You busy? Can I talk to my three little musketeers?”
“I’m never too busy for you, sweetheart.” She put her hand on the phone to mute her voice, but I could hear her yell at my kids that I was on the phone. After hearing the phone fumble for a few seconds, my oldest son’s voice came on the line.
“Mama?” His voice was so sweet. I felt a little teary, even though they had only been gone for two days. “We’re playing in the pool. Can we get a pool? I want one. And a puppy. I want a brown one with white spots like Uncle Atlas has. And another puppy that’s brown and black with pointy ears.”
“Hi baby.” I interrupted his pet wish list. “You’re having fun?”
“Yeah! We had ice cream
for breakfast this morning and it was great. Uncle Atlas said we didn’t have to tell you, but I don’t want you to give me a lemon for lying.”
“Okay sweetheart. You’re on vacation. You can have ice cream for breakfast at Uncle Atlas’s house.”
“Good. Can I have it at our house?” Always one to test his boundaries, my little Hawk had to ask.
“No. Our house is home, Atlas’s house is vacation.”
“Okay.” He sounded heartbroken for just a second and then pepped right back up. “But we can have puppies at home, right? They aren’t just for vacation.”
“We can talk about it when you get back.” Like all parents, I was hoping he would forget about this conversation by the next time I saw him. Knowing Hawk, that was unlikely. “I love you, my son.”
