by Zoey Parker
“We must be going somewhere nice,” she said finally, her tone skeptical. “You don’t have to do anything special for me, Brawn. You know this by now.”
“Just try it on,” I told her, keeping my thoughts to myself a little longer.
She grabbed the dress from me and walked into my bathroom. I had hoped to watch her change into it right there in my room, but I figured she wanted to surprise me as much as I had wanted to surprise her. Whatever. I stood and waited in front of the closet doors while she changed behind the closed door of the bathroom attached to my bedroom.
A moment later she walked back in with the gown on. It hugged her in all the right places. It fit her perfectly. It was tight around her breasts and her hips, following the curves of her figure, but it flowed out as it reached down toward the floor. I immediately crossed the bedroom floor and walked around her, to see her whole figure in the dress. I traced my hand around her waist.
“You look like a million bucks,” I told her.
“You’re just saying that because it’s been a while, and you want some action,” she argued in a playful tone.
She wrapped her arms around her waist in an almost protective gesture, but I ran my hands down her bare skin from her shoulders and wrapped my arms around hers, lacing our fingers together at her sides.
“No, there are many reasons why I’m doing this tonight, and it’s not because of sex,” I said in her ear.
“Then, what is it?” She swayed gently from side to side as she talked, pressing herself against me.
“I feel like you’re worth it,” I told her.
“You’re too sweet, Brawn,” she said as she turned and kissed me on the cheek. “Now, get dressed so we can go. I know you’re not going to go out in your work clothes if you won’t let me.”
“Well, where are you going?” I asked as she walked away with a sly grin on her face.
“I’ve got to finish getting ready.” And, just like that, she was around the corner and gone. At the same time, the light in her eyes told me the night was already a success. The monotony of our routine was already broken.
Chapter 13
Maria
“See, isn’t this nice for a change?” Brawn raised his glass to me across the smooth white table cloth. Our glasses clinked over our dishes.
“Yes, it is. Thank you.”
“No problem. You deserve a chance to celebrate. You’re finally getting the opportunity to pursue your dream. That’s what this was about right? Pursuing our dreams.”
I took another sip of wine and smiled. We kept dancing around the conversation we’d had that night in the cabin, where we had agreed to work together, but we never really addressed what happened that night. It was like it had become our dirty secret. Then, there was the night we’d slept together. I felt the weight of all of it crushing me while I looked into his smiling face sitting across from me. His eyes accused me of ignoring it even though he was just as guilty.
“Thank you again, Brawn,” I said finally. “But you’ve already done so much for me.”
He replied in a very matter-of-fact tone, the kind of tone that said It’s nothing. “I won’t hear it. It’s the least I can do. You know, I’m glad that letter showed up today,” he mused, stopping himself short.
“I am, too,” I chuckled. “I mean, classes start soon, so I needed to know.”
He took another drink from his wine and looked at me over his glass. “Other than that, I think we both needed something to shake things up a little bit. Don’t you feel like things have been very routine and monotonous for us lately?”
“You know, you do this every so often,” I reminded him.
“I know. It’s the biker in me, Maria. I can’t handle letting things get too routine. What’s the point if you can’t break free every once in a while?” He had put his glass down and was looking directly in my eyes. There seemed to be something else on his mind, something else he was wanting to say.
“You sound like you want to hop on your bike and ride somewhere,” I suggested.
“Maybe, but my business partner won’t let me take the time off to do it,” he said.
“I’m certainly not stopping you. I haven’t even seen your motorcycle. I know you have to ride sometimes; you’re in an MC, but I haven’t seen it, not even at the shop.” I cocked an eyebrow, issuing a challenge to him to break out his motorcycle.
“Let’s go out and ride sometime,” he said, taking the bait.
“Sounds good to me.” I smiled and returned to my food.
“Excellent. I’m glad we got that out of the way.” He took another bite of his food.
“Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?” I asked him out of curiosity.
He thought for a moment while he chewed, looking down at the table. It was right on the tip of his tongue, whatever it was. I could see him on the verge of saying what was on his mind. “I just want us to have a good time before you have to leave the office,” he said a few moments later.
“Who said I was leaving the office?” I asked, almost snapping at him. “I plan on continuing to work with you as long as you’ll let me. I mean, this is my baby, too, now. We built this business together.”
“We did, and I couldn’t have done it without you. You know this. But I don’t expect you to work and go to school at the same time. You’ll be studying nursing. That workload alone has to be a lot to handle. On top of that, continuing to work, even part time?” He shook his head and reached a hand across the table to mine.
“Brawn, I know I won’t be able to put in the hours I normally would, but that’s why I’m training Mary and Kelly. They’re going to be able to take over most of the work in a few days, but I want to be able to look over their shoulders to at least make sure you don’t get screwed by any mistakes,” I explained.
“Don’t worry about it. Anything that impacts work can be ironed out. Maria, I promised you I would help you get into school and help you through school. I’m a man of my word. And that is the biker in me talking,” he said.
“We’ll see. You can’t keep me from work altogether,” I told him, pulling my hand back and grabbing my wine glass.
“I know. I’ve learned that much about you.” He sat back in his chair and pulled out his phone, glancing at the screen briefly before putting it back. “Let’s drop all this talk about work and finish eating. I still want to go dancing.”
“You’re taking me out, as well? You really are going to miss me, aren’t you?”
His eyes sparkled, and a thin smile spread across his face. “You might be leaving the office, but you’re not going anywhere,” he said.
“You really are going to be doing too much for me,” I told him.
“How do you mean?”
“Putting me up in your guestroom while I go to school, helping me pay for school, and I’m sure you’re going to be handling all the day-to-day finances like you do now.”
“Yeah, of course, but you’re forgetting something. I can only help you pay for school because you have helped me make as much money as I have. So, don’t put this off on me like I’m some kind of saint. I’m just honoring our agreement. You help me, and I help you.”
“Yeah, our agreement,” I said quietly. I finished my food. Suddenly, I wasn’t really in the mood to celebrate anymore. I had wanted him to approach the topic of the night in the cabin, the hotel room, or even the night we’d passed out together on his bed. So far, he’d failed to mention any of it. It was starting to seem like it was just an agreement, and once I was finished with the nursing program, it was all going to be over.
“Everything okay?” he asked as he finished his dinner.
“Yeah. Let’s go dancing,” I said dismissively, shrugging off my worries. We were business partners. We hadn’t agreed to more than that. It was best for the sake of our partnership, I figured, to ignore those other stray moments.
He paid the bill and held his hand out to me as he stood up from the table. We left the restauran
t and took a cab to a nightclub. We rode in silence. I kept my face to the window, watching the lights pass us by as we drove across downtown.
He seemed to be trying to win me over, but his words emphasized our agreement and our partnership. He didn’t talk like he wanted to make more out of it, but he acted like he did. It had been hard to get a reading on him the whole time we’d known each other. He seemed like a big burly biker with his rippling arms, his tattoos, and his surly demeanor, but then he was as nice as he could be to me.
He stopped the cab at the entrance to an alleyway and handed the driver a few bills.
“We’re here,” he said, sliding out of the backseat and holding his door for me to follow.
“Here?” I asked, nodding down the dark alley.
“Trust me. Come on.” He took my arm and walked with me past the pool of light created by the street lamp at the corner. I could hear the thumping music before I saw the door to the club.
The name was written above the door in neon script, but I couldn’t read it. There wasn’t a line, like there was for most places I’d ever been. There wasn’t anyone standing at the door. If I hadn’t been with Brawn, I would have figured that the music was from a car or apartment nearby, and I wouldn’t have even noticed the door.
“It’s cool,” he said as he knocked on the door. A large bald man opened the door and stepped aside to let us in, spilling the music from within the club into the night air.
“What is this place?” I asked as we entered through a hallway with black walls.
“It’s a club the guys from the MC frequent,” he said.
At about that time, the room opened in front of us. There were guys in kuttes with their colors on, men in suits or just in dress shirts, and women everywhere. I told myself it was just like any other club. It just catered to very exclusive clientele.
“In case you’re worried, this place is totally legit, and it’s safe. No one’s going to mess with you here, unlike some more public places. People still think it’s the seventies sometimes, and they’ll try to start shit with us when we go out. Here, we don’t have to worry about it. Come on.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him.
That single gesture untied the knot in my gut. I felt a spark between our palms when they touched. He grabbed my hand like it belonged to him, and I started to think maybe the night at the hotel hadn’t been a fluke after all. I followed him to the bar where he ordered us a couple of drinks. I reluctantly released my grip on his hand. He handed me something fruity, and very stiff, and he toasted me with his beer bottle. I was only going to need one of whatever concoction he’d just handed me.
“Let’s dance,” he said after we’d finished a good bit of our drinks.
“Sure,” I said. I would have been happy to sit there and enjoy my drink while I watched the lights from the club dance on his face and listened to the rhythmic bass thumping through the air around us.
The next thing I knew, we were on the floor, in the middle of countless strangers. I didn’t see anyone else with a Twisted Ghosts patch on their kutte. There were other women in jeans and leather vests, in short skirts and low-cut tops showing off cleavage, women in work suits, and a couple of women dressed in reserved evening dresses like I wore. There were people from every walk of life there, it seemed.
Brawn pressed himself against me and grabbed my waist as we moved to the music. His touch wasn’t forceful or demanding, but it certainly let me know where I was supposed to be, and I was supposed to be right there with him. I didn’t mind one bit. I let go of myself for him. I followed the beat and the melody and let his movements guide me until I could feel my desire tingling inside me.
I rested my hands on both sides of his face. Our lips were a breath’s length away. I could taste the beer on his mouth. I looked down and saw the flashing dancefloor lights alternating colors between us.
Finally, he kissed me. His lips sought mine out with confidence. I buried my hands in his hair and accepted his tongue in my mouth. I started grinding my hips against his, and I could feel him growing thicker and harder within his pants.
“I wondered how long it was going to take for us to do this again,” I panted as I pulled back, breaking our kiss.
“You should have said something,” he said, taking my face in his hands and kissing me again.
Our bodies were somehow still moving to the music, but it was time to make our own. I could feel his desire growing stronger with each thrust of his hips. My whole body was charged with pleasure and a longing to have him inside me again. It had been too long. He had been right earlier in the evening when he said our routine had just become too monotonous. It was time to shake it up.
Chapter 14
Brawn
Holy shit, her body was exquisite in that dress. Feeling her against me on that dancefloor, something woke up inside me, something that had been lulled to sleep by the daily grind. I desired her. I had wanted her since the first day I saw her. I knew she was somehow going to be mine eventually. And to think, I had allowed myself to become complacent in my pursuit of her simply because I was supposed to be helping her go to school.
No way. I decided on the dancefloor that I was going to put a stop to my complacency. I was going to stop simply going through the motions with her. Get up, go to work, come home, repeat. Day in and day out, we were simply business partners with a history we were both afraid to talk about and a future that waited to be determined.
“Let’s find someplace to go,” I said in her ear, letting my lips brush her skin gently as I spoke.
“But we just got here,” she almost moaned as she pressed her ass harder against the bulge between my legs.
“We can dance another time.” I kissed her neck, her shoulders. Our bodies still moved together to the music.
She turned her head back to me and smiled. “Let’s go,” she said. Her delicious lips formed the words perfectly. She didn’t have to say anything at all. I read the words as she spoke.
She started to pull away from me, grabbing for my hand, but I pulled her back to my side and slid an arm across her waist. Outside, we stopped as we moved into the darkness past the door. We kissed again, standing in the middle of the alleyway. I had one hand on the small of her back and the other buried in her hair. Our lips worked furiously together. Her hands grabbed my arms, and I could feel her fingers gripping me, as if she could pull me any closer to her.
Passion had overtaken us. The façade we had maintained for the sake of our daily life together had fallen away, finally. It was a welcome departure from the norm.
The door opened behind us, and the music spilled into the night, along with a couple of patrons shuffling away from the club and into the darkness of the city. I pulled away from our kiss and managed to step us both to the side as the revelers passed us by.
“We should go home,” I said.
“Then, let’s go,” Maria agreed. I could see the sparkle in her eyes even in the darkness.
We walked side-by-side, my arm around her waist, her arm under my cut, reaching up my back. I hailed us a cab and held the back door open to let her in. The backseat was dark, and once we told the driver where we were going, he kept his eyes up front, on the road.
I put an arm across the back of the seat, holding her close to me as I let my hand wander along her dress. She opened her legs, and I pressed the fabric of her gown in until I could feel her through it. I started to rub my fingers against her, gently. She bit her bottom lip and arched her back in the seat, grabbing my arm with her thin hand to hold me in place.
She breathed through her nose, keeping her mouth closed to stay quiet. She rocked her hips against my hand in the backseat of the cab.
We couldn’t get home fast enough.
She shuddered and pushed my hand away. She opened her eyes and looked at me through eyelids heavy with pleasure. Her hand slid up my arm and grabbed me by the back of my head. She pulled my face down to hers and we kissed again.
A few moments later, a
s our faces worked to become one, our driver cleared his throat. “We’re here,” he said.
“Thanks, keep the change,” I said as I pulled out a bill and handed it to him. I reached behind me and opened the door as I slid out of the car, bringing her with me.
“Thank you. Have a good evening,” the driver said as the door closed and we drifted up to the door to my home.
I fished out my keys and unlocked it quickly, so as not to interrupt our movement.
We did a kind of dance to the bedroom as we both worked to pull off my clothes. I pulled my dress shirt out of the waist of my pants and unbuttoned it while Maria’s hands worked to unbuckle my belt and open my slacks. I kicked my shoes off while she pulled my pants down from my waist, revealing my boxers and my desire pressing hard against them, reaching for her.
