by Ryan Michele
“Chels, freaking go with the man,” Jenn demanded. “You need to get out for a while. And besides, after the visit from Mom and Grams today, I need to sleep.”
Both of them had come by for a visit. They’d only stayed about an hour, but with the laughter between us, I could see the light coming back into Jenn’s eyes. She was making progress, slow and steady, even getting up to use the bathroom with little to no help from me. She groaned yet kept pushing herself, and seeing the spark that was Jenn coming back filled me with so much happiness … even if right now she was intent on throwing me to the wolves.
I glared at her. She smiled.
“I’m tired.”
Jenn rolled her eyes then winced before bringing her attention back to me. “Seriously, Chelsea. Go. Get out. And if you don’t go, I’ll make farting noises the entire time so you can’t watch the TV.”
Stiff chuckled, and I let out a huff of exasperated air.
I threw my hands up. “Fine. Let’s go.” I bent down and kissed the top of my sister’s head. “I’m gonna get you back, brat.”
“We’ll see. Now go,” she ordered.
“I don’t remember you being so damn bossy,” I retorted.
“Well, you’ve always been a pain in the ass. I don’t remember a time when you weren’t.”
I felt the urge to smack her in the arm then thought better of it.
“Shut up, brat.”
“Back at ya, PIA.”
I chuckled, moving past Stiff who stood in the doorway. Then I heard the slight click of the door being shut.
We walked down the hallway to the living room where Xander sat on the couch, his booted feet up on the coffee table, hands clasped behind his head, elbows sticking out.
He looked over at us. “See, Stiff? You two are perfect for each other. She’s a pain in her sister’s ass, and you’re a pain in mine.”
“I’ll give you a pain up your ass,” Stiff retorted, pulling his boots on and latching them up as I grabbed my tennis shoes and tied them.
“Sorry, buddy. Don’t swing that way,” Xander said, garnering a grunt from Stiff. “Gabby’s gonna come over in a bit.”
I hadn’t met Xander’s woman Gabby yet, and I was a bit excited to meet her. Sounded strange, but Xander had been awesome with my sister, and curiosity had me wondering about the woman he’d snagged.
“No fuckin’ in my house,” Stiff warned. “I mean it, too. You fuckin’ think of gettin’ in my bed, I’ll hang you by your balls. Then I’ll let the brothers at ya.”
I looked up from my shoe at Stiff who stood with arms crossed over his chest, legs apart, glaring down at his brother who began to chuckle.
“You think I want in that bed after you two have been at it like rabbits? No fuckin’ thank you.”
Heat blazed in my cheeks. It wasn’t a secret or anything, but just throwing it out there made me a bit uncomfortable. Therefore, I did what Grams taught me. I faked it.
“Sugar, you surely don’t want in those sheets, then.”
Both Stiff and Xander burst out laughing. It was the best sound ever.
“BAM!” A FEMININE voice I recognized as Trixie’s screamed as pounding came from something hard.
Looking over at it, I noticed she was banging her hands on the table in front of her, her head flapping from side to side with delight.
We’d just stepped into the clubhouse, and even though I’d been there, I’d never really taken the space in fully. My gaze tracked across the wide open space to see a low hum of lights cascading down on the room. Tables were scattered throughout with chairs at each of them. A long bar sat on the other side of the room with loads of liquor and a pool table off to the side. The scents of stale booze and cigarettes permeated the air like a thick haze.
My focus went to the circular table where Trixie’s back was to Stiff and me as she whooped and hollered her excitement, sitting on Spook’s lap. Around the table were Bosco, Boner, Hooch, Dawg, and a couple of other men I hadn’t met yet. They didn’t come into the diner, or if they did, I didn’t recognize them.
“Hey, Stiffie! You gonna get in on this action?” Bosco called out, and heads turned toward us, still smiling.
On the inside, I wanted to shrivel at their assessment of me, but being a Miller, I didn’t. I squared my shoulders and put a smile on my face.
“Hey.” I waved with my right hand stupidly, instantly wanting to take it back yet knowing I couldn’t.
“Fuck no. Trixie cheats!” Stiff roared, but it was in laughter, not anger.
I looked at Trixie. Her beautiful smile lit up her face, including her green eyes that glinted of mischief. Her long brown hair fell below her shoulders and had such a shine to it I wanted ask how in the world she got it that way. Of course, I didn’t, but maybe at some point.
“Don’t listen to him,” she called out. “He has no idea what he’s talking about.”
Her laugh was infectious, and I felt my lips tipping up as we walked closer to the table.
“Bullshit!” Stiff hollered, making me jump. “Don’t fuckin’ believe her. Fuckin’ card shark, this one. Took us all for a ride the first time she was here.”
When the entire table broke out in laughter and Trixie bit her bottom lip, I knew he was right.
“You’re a card shark?” I didn’t know much about her. People talked in the town, but I’d never heard anything about this until now.
“So they say.” She shrugged. “I know how to read people’s tells when they play.” She turned and mock-glared at the table. “These guys just give it away.”
That was pretty cool. I’d never learned to play cards, so I had absolutely no clue about them, but tells had been what kept me going at the diner: a foot tapping when a customer thought I took too long getting them their drinks or the tapping of fingernails on the Formica. I may love the sound of the plates scraping across it, but I did not appreciate the finger tap. When I heard that one, I made them wait just a bit longer because I knew the tip would be shit, anyway.
Trixie turned back to me. “We don’t play for money anymore since I wipe the table with these guys. Felt bad takin’ it all the time.”
“Bullshit,” Boner said. “You didn’t feel bad. You just got tired of hearing us bitch.”
Trixie smiled. “That, too.” Then she lowered her voice and put her hand on the side of her mouth like she was whispering something to me, but she wasn’t whispering. “They’re a bunch of big babies.”
Spook grabbed her ass hard, and Trixie yelped while the guys around the table laughed. I felt a twinge of heat in my cheeks.
Trixie started batting Spook’s hand as he held her closer. The love in his eyes could have busted out. I was happy they’d found that.
Looking around the room, I didn’t see a baby in the mix. No, I saw huge men who looked as if they could crush a car with their hands. However, from the way Trixie talked to, interacted, and joked with them, they did almost seem like teddy bears, even if Stiff and Boner had scrapes on their hands the other day like they’d beaten the hell out of something or someone.
“Shut it, woman,” Spook ordered, gripping Trixie’s hair, pulling her back, and stealing a searing kiss from her.
“Fuckin’ hell. Get a room,” Boner groaned, tossing a poker chip at the two, but they didn’t stop, or more like, Spook wouldn’t let her stop. No, he deepened the kiss, and the hotness factor in the room went up a thousand degrees.
By the time Spook pulled away, Trixie looked dazed and confused.
“Throw somethin’ else at us, and I’ll beat your ass,” Spook warned Boner who laughed.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Boner retorted.
Damn, these guys seemed so down to earth and nothing like the badass persona they put off. Not to say they weren’t badasses, but I liked this side of them. They were in their element exactly like I was at the diner. This was where the real them shined through, and the ease was remarkable.
Stiff pulled up a chair. “Sit,” he or
dered me, and I raised my brow in question. I knew I didn’t look like a dog.
“Oooo …” came from the table. I forgot we had an audience.
I gulped, but I wouldn’t let him or anyone else railroad me. I’d worked too hard to allow that to happen.
“Don’t be a pain. Sit. Take a load off,” Stiff said in a nicer way, so I sat.
I was at the table with the poker players, but there would be no way I would play.
“Two beers,” Stiff called out, but I didn’t know to who.
When I turned to see, that fucking brunette from the first night came strutting out with two beers in her hand. I clenched my hands on the table then immediately moved them under it.
Her eyes met mine knowingly.
Even turning my head back to the group around us, I still saw out of the corner of my eye as that woman brushed her tits that were practically falling out of her low-cut, hot pink shirt against Stiff. I hated it to a point where my leg started bouncing up and down uncontrollably like I’d eaten a shit-ton of sugar and the high had taken over.
“What the fuck?” Bosco asked, his hands flat on the table. “Who’s shakin’ everything?”
I snapped my head up and controlled my leg. His eyes met mine then looked to the side of me, and then they narrowed. I found this act strange and didn’t know how to read it. When the terse, “Stiff,” came out of his mouth, everyone turned to him then to Stiff. I kept looking at the table, pretending the cards were the most exciting thing in the world.
Bosco knew I didn’t like the woman. He knew I had a hard time with her being around Stiff. He’d read me like a book, which made me a bit unnerved.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stiff lift his chin to Bosco, waited a beat, shrugged, and then took the bottles from the woman.
“Thanks,” he muttered as she grabbed his arm.
“Wanna go back and play?” she asked, and my leg started bouncing again uncontrollably.
My nails dug so deep into my palms I wouldn’t be surprised if I had blood coming from the wounds.
Are you fucking kidding me right now? She wanted him to go “play”? Was this place like this all the time?
Heat traveled through my veins like hot lava ready to erupt.
Fuck it. I might only have him for a short time, but I had him now, and she was not going to take what was mine.
I rose from the chair, the scrape of the wood to wood contact had eyes coming to me. I didn’t give a shit.
I turned, facing the woman and Stiff. Then Stiff’s eyes flashed to me as I tilted my head.
“Oh, fuck,” Stiff muttered as I walked closer to him. He had that right. He must have seen the fire breathing, seething out of me. “Fire, it’s all good,” he said, but my eyes were focused on the bitch in front of me.
“If you rub your fucking tits on him one more time, I’ll get out a knife and pop them,” I warned then heard Trixie’s laugh behind me.
The woman’s lip turned up in disgust. “And you are?” She cocked her hip snottily.
“Chelsea. I’d say nice to meet ya, but my grams always told me that lyin’ isn’t right.”
Stiff placed his hand on my arm as he pulled me against his hard body.
The woman smirked. “Oh, I get it. You’re the woman tonight.” She flipped her hand in the air. “Whatever. There’s always another one.”
My stomach dropped as my temper flared.
“Bitch, you’ve got one thing right. He’s mine for right now, which means keeping your damn hands and tits off of him. When it’s done, have at it; use my sloppy seconds.” The words flew out of my mouth before my brain even registered what I was saying.
When the grip on my arm tightened and I looked up at Stiff, something told me I’d fucked up.
His eyes blazed with anger, and a tick came to the right side of his jaw. I reran what I’d said in my head. Maybe I had gone a little too far with the sloppy seconds thing—he wouldn’t be sloppy for anyone. However, for this level of anger, I didn’t know what I’d done.
“Rita, out,” Stiff barked without looking away from me. He pulled my arm, not hard, but determined, and I followed as he led me through the hallway and into the room my sister and I stayed in that first night.
He slammed the door behind us, and I knew I was in trouble. Shit.
WHEN IT’S DONE, have at it; use my sloppy seconds. Her words rang through my head like alarm bells on a fire truck. I couldn’t put my finger on why they pissed me off so much, but they did, and I rolled with it and let it feed me.
Chelsea turned to me, her eyes a mask of confusion.
The burn inside ached, and it slammed me in the gut like a two-by-four.
“You ready to get rid of me?”
Her eyes widened as I took a step closer to her, and she took a step back. Smartest thing she could’ve done at that moment, but I didn’t let her get far.
“Ready to throw me out?” I asked.
Her face held the same confusion as her eyes squinted, but she kept her mouth closed. For me, though, this was an old wound that, until this moment, hadn’t arose since I was younger. Something about Chelsea had made it come to the surface and seared me just like it did all those years ago.
“If I could just get rid of you and your worthless brother, life would be so much better!” my mother spat at me while Xander backed up against the wall, me in front of him.
I kept silent, knowing a single word would set off her fury more, and that wouldn’t be good.
“All you two do is cost me money!” she continued.
She was totally wrong because I worked my ass off to keep us boys fed. However, instead of disagreeing with her, I remained quiet, still protecting my brother.
The slap across the face came hard and fast. My head whipped to the side, and I could feel the tear to my chapped lip. Again, I stayed quiet, hoping that she would run out of steam.
Two more slaps came before a pounding on the door.
“Go to your room and shut the door. Don’t you dare come out,” she ordered as Xander slinked across the wall, trying to get out of the living room.
Then I saw it. My mother changed from angry to calculating, and I knew a man was on the other side of that door and what my mother was about to do. I didn’t give a shit as long as she left me and my brother alone.
“Stiff, I didn’t …” Chelsea started, snapping me out of the thoughts of the past. “I didn’t mean anything bad.”
“You didn’t? Wanna get rid of me? Throw me to whoever wants me? Is that it?” I asked, unable to stop myself, the control I normally had flying from me. “Give me to Rita because I’m your nasty, sloppy seconds!” I roared, and she took another step back.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Didn’t mean, what? What you said?” I barked.
She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her tits up, the V-neck exposing them. “Stiff, I know this is a short fling. I get it. Pretty soon, when this mess is cleaned up, I’ll go to my mother’s or my place, and it’ll be done.”
That felt like a blade to the heart, which I couldn’t understand.
“So, what? You’re already writing me off when we’re just getting to know each other, Chelsea?”
Her face turned alarmed as she shook her head. “Okay, wait.” She put her hands palms up out in front of her. “Let’s talk about this, because we aren’t on the same page, and we need to get there.”
“No shit,” I barked out. We were on different fucking planets, it seemed. “Somehow, you got it in that pretty, little head of yours that once this situation is over, you’re going back to your life the way it was before … without me. So, let me educate you.” I had no idea where the hell all this shit was coming from, but I felt it and it needed to be said. “When this gets done, I’m not goin’ anywhere except in your bed in that trailer. You’re at work, expect to see me. Expect that you’ll be with me on your days off. Expect that our nights will be together either at your place or mine … every night.”
/> She gasped in a breath and clutched her neck with her hand, her jaw dropping open. Guessed it was good she’d seen me with Rita, because this shit needed to come out.
“Don’t know where this is goin’, Fire, but get this … I like it, you like it, and neither one of us is gonna fuck that up.”
She blinked, but it was so slow her eyelids actually fluttered open. When she kept quiet, I kept right at it.
“Yeah, Rita brushed her tits against my arm. I get that you don’t like that shit, so it stops.”
She came unstuck. “Ya think?”
“Think what?”
“You think I liked her tits touching you? Brushing against your arm and the smile you gave her? She wants you, and it pisses me off!” Her voice rose with each word she spoke until the last one almost came out on a roar. “You’re inside of me at night, not her. She shouldn’t be touching you!”
It made me the biggest dick on the planet, but I liked this—the jealousy. It proved to me that she was really in this. She felt what I’d been feeling. She was willing to fight. That was what I needed—a fighter. In this life, in this world, only the strong survived, and Chelsea was that—a survivor.
“Exactly, so fuckin’ words like someone havin’ me when you’re done better never cross those fuckin’ lips again, woman. You’re the only fuckin’ pussy I want,” I said, my control seriously slipping.
Not sure how we got to that point, but my cock throbbed, and when Chelsea charged me, her arms going around my neck and our lips crashing together in the fiercest fucking kiss I’d ever experienced, I lost the last shred of control I had.
I turned her then pressed her hard against the door. She tore at me, and my body left hers long enough to take my shirt and cut off then hers. Our lips were then in a tangle, both fighting for superiority, but I wasn’t backing down. No, my control had been severed, and Chelsea was going to find out who I really was.
