by Martini, Mae
He let out a long groan when he slowly pulled out of her and brought his lips to hers and crushed them, feeling it deep, deep inside.
They both drank cold coffee but neither of them complained.
Chapter 19
After spending the rest of the day with her, he caught a red-eye home. On the flight he thought about her. His feelings for her grew more and more each time he was with her, each time he was inside her. Logan was right, he was hooked. It ate at him that some other guy was going to fuck her. He didn’t ask who she was shooting a scene with that week, because he knew a fight would ensue. That’s just what happened the last time he asked. She had to remind him that what they had was just fun and games. He didn’t tell her but he was hoping she would walk away from her job. It would do no good for him to demand she do. This was a decision she had to make because he couldn’t commit to her and wasn’t sure he’d be able to down the road even if she did walk away from it. Would he be fine with becoming serious with a porn star, ex or otherwise? His mom once told him ‘sometimes you don’t choose love, love chooses you’ when he questioned his cousin, Will’s, proposal to Bridgette, a twice divorced woman. Things worked out for them. His cousin has beautiful twin daughters and Bridgette was good to him and their daughters. His family adored her.
For the next few days Richie kept busy with the ranch, buying new equipment, stocking up on feed. And laying out new fencing. One night he hooked up with some biker friends and partook in one of their wild parties. He didn’t last the night. When he sobered up and removed the two girls draped across him he got dressed and rode home. Once there he was no better. He couldn’t even get his kickstand down once he pulled into his garage. After taking a deep breath he was successful, and then he stomped to the house, slamming doors and walking over to the cabinet that held the liquor. Grabbing a bottle of fine whiskey by the neck he turned around, ready to go up to his bedroom. All his lights were on dimmers and he kept a dim light in a few parts of the house. He stopped and looked around, really seeing his home for the first time. It was cold and lonely. Nothing warm and inviting about it. It seemed to cry out for a woman’s touch.
He had been with many girls, but only a handful were called girlfriend. He leaned against the banister leading up to his room and mentally pictured every one of them and guess who was in the number one spot?
After putting the bottle down on the hall table, he went upstairs and called Simone. They talked for hours and he felt calm and was able to fall asleep.
*
The sun beat down, not a cloud in the sky. The temperature soared early to ninety-two degrees, and not a lick of wind. Richie lifted his straw Stetson and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his forearm as he stroked Bentley’s neck. He’d been riding half the day now with Logan, Logan’s brother Brett, and a few ranch hands of Brett’s and some neighbors. Their goal? To round up and separate the calves from their mamas for their shots and the castration of bull calves.
Nearing the sorting pens, Richie plopped his hat back on his head and rode on as he and Logan shared a look. Each knew what the other was thinking. Thank God the veterinarian, Doc. Wilson, was there. If there was one chore they hated it was castrating a bull. Every time they cut, scraped, and pulled, they felt it in their groins. Both of them would rather muck stalls all day.
Richie also spotted the chuck wagon and his stomach growled. Okay, it wasn’t really a chuck wagon, it was more like a Cadillac Escalade with the back door up. Trays of grub were lined up with aluminum foil on them, waiting to be ripped off.
Once they got the cattle sorted in the pens, the cowboys rode over to the Escalade and as they dismounted, they greeted Logan’s grandfather, Gabe, who was digging out plates from the backseat.
Richie’s cell phone rang. He whipped it out of his shirt pocket and read the caller I.D., just as he shook Gabe’s hand. He nodded and backed away to answer it.
“Poppy, what’s up?” He squinted and lowered the front of his hat with his other hand to shield out the sun. “What…?” He turned around. “When…? Where is she…?” He blew out a breath. “How bad…? Where is he…? Don’t give me that shit, Poppy. Where is he!”
Logan had overheard Richie and walked over to him. They made eye contact and Richie, with tight lips, shook his head.
“Okay. Thanks,” Richie said then ended the call. “I gotta go.”
Logan threw him a questioning look.”
“That bastard beat her up, Logan… Oh, geez, he beat her up.” He paced back and forth. “Oh, fuck.” He blew out a breath. “I gotta go… I gotta go. I’m sorry. I gotta go.” He turned around and started walking to his horse.
Logan caught up with him. “I’ll go with you.”
“No… no, I got this. You’re needed here.”
“Brett will understand.”
“Thanks, Logan, I got this.” He mounted Bentley.
“Brett will understand what?” Brett asked as he came up to them.
Logan mounted his horse. “I’m going with Richie to Los Angeles. His girl needs him.”
“The porn star?”
If eyes were daggers, Brett would have been dead with the way Richie stared at him.
Brett’s smile faded. “I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect. Go. You too, Logan. We have more than enough hands here.”
Logan looked to Richie who nodded then the two of them rode off. On the ride to Logan’s stables, Richie made arrangements to use the family jet. After they dismounted and gave their horses to a stable worker, they drove off in Richie’s car and headed for the little airport in Austin where they met the pilot.
For the first time since getting the news that Simone was in trouble, Richie laughed. All he had to do was look over to Logan as they were taxing down the runway.
“Your knuckles are white, brother.”
Logan managed to swing his head in Richie’s direction and Richie reached for a paper bag, noting all color had drained from Logan’s face.
Logan succeeded in cracking a smile and shook his head slowly. “I’m okay. I’m good.” He took in a deep breath as they began the ascension. “I hate these little jets. I was thinking maybe a little first class action on a seven forty-seven or something.” His color started to come back.
“No time. Drink?” Richie undid his seatbelt and brought up and out a tray table. He stretched to reach the bottle of bourbon that he had placed in a holder on the shelf on the side wall after retrieving it from the wood cabinet in the forward galley before takeoff. He snagged the two crystal, old fashioned glasses he placed there also, and poured.
As soon as he handed a glass to Logan, Logan downed it and handed it back to Richie. “Hit me.”
Richie let out a roar of a laugh and filled it.
As they settled, Logan relaxed, but Richie stayed tensed, his insides felt like a hive of hornets. As they descended into the John Wayne airport in the middle of Orange County, Richie began calling Poppy. His first order of business was finding Danny.
The limo that was waiting for them whisked them to Richie’s parents’ house and they quickly jumped into the red Ferrari then Richie drove over to the Velocity Studio.
“That’s his car.” Richie pointed to a yellow Corvette in the parking lot as he parked a row behind it. “Poppy said he’s inside cleaning his shit out. He fired him.”
With a wide stance, Logan folded his arms in front of his chest and nodded. “You, okay? You want me to take this?”
“Oh, hell no. I got this,” Richie said as he flexed his hands.
The door opened and out walked Danny carrying a duffle bag and a little box. He walked with his head down and he walked right into Richie.
Danny’s eyes shifted from Richie’s boots. “Hey, watch it, bro.” He lifted his head and his eyes grew wide.
“I ain’t your bro.” Richie’s fist connected with Danny’s face.
*
“Any better?” Lolita asked Simone as she came back into the living room with another ice pack.
Curled up on one end of the couch, Simone set the now warm ice pack that she held on her left eye on the end table and shook her head when Lolita presented her with the cold one.
“The Doctor said to ice it,” Lolita said as she bent down to get a better look. “He said to watch out for any bleeding in the eye. Wasn’t he cute? I gave him my number.” She tenderly touched just under Simone’s eye, and Simone winced and pulled back. “It’s becoming black and blue, sweetie. Keep icing it.”
Simone took the pack.
How’s your head?” She placed her hand on Simone’s head and felt the knot there.
“Hurths like a moffafuther.” She winced again.
“Sorry, checking for blood. All clear.” Lolita giggled. She didn’t mean to, but it looked like Simone had botched lip injections. “Girl, Nikki Cox has nothing on you.”
Simone tried to smile but it hurt. She looked at the wrist of her other hand and let out a sigh and shook her head again. It too had blown up.
After spending the whole day in the emergency room, Lolita had taken her home and stayed with her. She tried getting Simone to eat, but she didn’t have an appetite. Her whole body ached and all she wanted to do was fall asleep.
“Do you want that slice of pizza you have in your freezer? I can pop it in the oven.”
Simone barely acknowledged her. Her thoughts were of Danny beating the shit out of her. For the life of her, she couldn’t understand why he had it in for her, even before Richie decked him a while back.
They had just finished shooting a scene together. Not her idea, she made it known to Poppy she didn’t want to film anything that involved him, and up until that point she hadn’t. Unfortunately, Poppy wasn’t calling the shots that week. The studio thought he was in Hawaii with his wife, and he left Lou Grossman in charge. She protested but when he threatened to call Poppy, she caved. Not because she was afraid of losing her job or anything, she didn’t want to bother Poppy because she knew he was really at a rehab facility in Florida, drying out. She also knew he’d be gone more than a week and she needed to make the best of it.
The scene called for Danny, a horny stranger, coming out of a video booth in the back of an adult store she had worked at. He saw her bending down putting some cock rings on a pegboard hook with her ass sticking up in the air, displaying her thong under her hiked-up skirt. He looked all around and didn’t see anyone else in the store. He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist as he dug his dick into her ass. Her part called for her to wiggle into him and smile, and they were to get it on. But then he yanked her hair hard and she screamed. And before she could catch her breath, he swiftly turned her around and pushed her up against a wall of shelves with all kinds of lubes on them, and peg hooks displaying some nipple clamps and chains. One of the pegs dug into her back. He held her there with one hand as he unzipped his pants. As the pants fell to around his ankles, the director yelled cut so Danny could put on a condom. She had voiced her complaints to both Danny and Lou about how rough Danny was and threatened to walk off the shoot. Danny agreed to go easy when Lou told him to tone it down?
When Lou resumed the filming Danny pushed aside her thong and violently shoved himself inside of her and he didn’t stop pounding until he came almost fifteen minutes later. Lou kept panning to her face, capturing the agony there, pleased because it would work well for this dark film he was shooting without Poppy’s permission or knowledge. Danny was the only one who knew what Lou was up to.
When that scene was over, Simone spit on Danny’s smug face, and shoved him. He smacked her face, the sound echoing in the large room and the sting brought tears to her eyes. She looked from him to Lou who was walking away with the cameraman and knew she wasn’t going to get any help. She stormed off toward the lockers, not even stopping to put on her robe. She was angry, she was humiliated, and she hurt.
After a long shower which did nothing to wash away the dirtiness she felt, she left the building, and as she clicked her key fob, near her car, she felt hands grab her and pull her to the side of the building. As Danny manhandled her he spoke dirty to her, calling her a dirty slut and telling her he was going to give it to her good for spitting on him. She fought him and got in some good slaps to his face, and she even was able to claw his neck, drawing blood, but it only made him angrier. When she kneed him in the balls he let loose and whaled on her.
All the while they were wrestling, she was screaming, trying to draw attention to them, she was no match for him. Finally Kenny ‘Bang Bang’ drove into the parking lot and spotted them. He pulled his car to a screeching halt, jumped out, and pulled Danny off of her as Diamond D and Lolita came running out of the back door. Of course Lou and the cameraman were nowhere to be found.
She wasn’t hungry and shook her head when Lolita asked again if she wanted the pizza. She brought her hand up to the bruise on her neck and shuddered just as she heard jiggling at the front door. Less than a second later it swung open and in walked two dusty, dirty looking cowboys. Lolita let out a scream and though it initially startled Simone, she quickly recognized Richie and Logan.
She locked eyes with Richie and noted hard lines on his face while his eyes pierced her. Tears ran down her cheek and she put her head down.
The anger radiating off his body was palpable. Lolita retreated back.
“Richie.” Logan softly spoke, feeling his friend’s anger, as he watched his friend flex his hands, noting he was having a hard time opening and closing his right hand, it was so swollen.
Richie brought his left hand up to his face and scrubbed it then blew out a breath. “You all right?”
Simone nodded.
Lolita let out a breath, understanding that Simone knew them.
Richie slightly nodded once, then looked to the dark-haired beauty. “Lolita?”
She nodded.
He dug in his pocket and pulled out a Montblanc money clip and slid out a fifty. “Lolita, would you mind running down to Trudie’s and bringing back a large chocolate malted milkshake for Simone, please?”
Lolita looked from him to Simone as Simone picked up her head and looked to Richie. He gave her a small crooked smile as Lolita took the fifty from him.
“Can I borrow your car, Simone,” Lolita asked. She was without wheels because she had driven Simone’s car to the hospital and to Simone’s home. She’d call for a cab when she was ready to leave, or she was sure Simone would tell her to take her car.
Wanting to be alone with Simone, Richie held out his car keys to Logan. “Why don’t you take her? I’m sure she knows the way.”
Lolita nodded as Logan took the keys.
“Oh, baby.” Richie tossed his hat on the coffee table when they were alone. He went over to the couch and sat down next to her, trying to pick up her head to study her face.
She hesitated but picked it up and closed her good eye, her left eye was so swollen she couldn’t close it but she only saw a slit of light with it anyway, as she felt him scrutinizing her.
“I didn’t do enough,” he mumbled as he brought a hand up to her neck and lightly traced her bruise.
His touch eased her as his touch always tended to do. “What?” She opened her eye and noticed the hardness in his face again.
He blew out a breath. “Nothing. I’m getting your couch full of dirt.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s easy to clean.”
He nodded as he leaned in and gently brushed his lips against her head then he brought an arm around her shoulders and leaned back, settling her against his chest. “What happened?”
Without leaving anything out, she told him, feeling embarrassed and self-conscious as she lisped along.
“Where else are you bruised?”
“The left thide of my back and I have a little lump on my head.”
Even before she finished, his hand was tenderly feeling around and when he hit the sore spot on her head she sucked in a breath. He brought her head down to look at it, then he kissed it.
“How
did you find out about it?” Simone asked.
He raised her head again and resettled it on his chest. “Poppy called me.”
“He did? I thought you couldn’t have contact with the outhide world in those facilities?”
“Not the one I got him in to. That’s why he went there.”
She nodded. “Who told him?”
“That guy Bang, Bang, or something.”
“Kenny?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, I remembered him helping me.”
They grew silent. Thoughts of beating Danny again played on Richie’s mind. He left him a bloody mess and yet he felt he didn’t do nearly enough.
“Why are you and Logan dressed like cowboys, Richie?”
“I got Poppy’s phone call while I was helping Logan and his brother, Brett drive cattle.”
“You really are cowboys?”
He nodded with a smile. “I reckon so, darlin’,” he teased.
“Oh, so there is no chance you two will thrip for me?” She giggled then winced.
He let out a boisterous laugh. “Thrip? I don’t think so. We just might strip for you later.”
She laughed and winced some more.
“So listen, I think you—”
The door flew open and Lolita and Logan walked in, cutting Richie off.
“One large chocolate malted milkshake coming up,” Lolita said.
It looked like they hit it off, the two of them were laughing at what could only have been a private joke.
Richie blew out another breath.
“Thank you,” Simone said as she took the large cup. Richie snagged the straw and opened it for her then stuck it in the little cross on the lid.
“What happened to your hand?” Simone addressed Richie. “Does it hurt? It thwollen.”
Richie flexed it as he glanced Logan’s way. “No, I don’t know. It must have happened when I was pulling rope for Logan while he was preparing for a ride.”
She looked from him to Logan who had nodded.
