Taking a Dare

by J. A. Hornbuckle

  Before I could push out the door, another set of hands pushed it open for me and I heard Pops' voice over my shoulder.

  "Told you we need to talk, princess," he said with one hand on my lower back as the two of us stepped outside. "Saw you talking with him. Told you, Ryley. Told you to stay away from that fuckin' boy."

  I twisted my head to look up at him, feeling my eyebrows as they pulled together in a frown. "What the hell was I supposed to do? Ignore him? He's a Hellion, Pops. It's my job to greet all the Missoula brothers!"

  He stopped us down the building, just beyond the kitchen window.

  "To my mind, your little chit-chat went on for a lot longer than it should have! " my old man mumbled. "Dare is shit, Rye. Always was, always will be. The fact he caused all of us so much trouble way back when hasn't been forgotten. Will never be forgotten."

  "He didn't do anything, Daddy…"

  "Shut it! I know what he fucking did and for you to deny it grates at my last goddamn nerve. So here's how it works, little girl. You stay away from him. No ifs, ands or buts."

  "That's not fair…" I started but as soon as the words started coming out of my mouth his head started shaking from side to side. "I'm a grown woman and you can't tell me what to do."

  "I fucking can and will!" he announced as he hitched up his pants before pointing his finger in my face. "Stay. The fuck. Away from. That boy." He turned and wandered back inside leaving me with a careening heartbeat and so mad I could've spit nails.

  What kind of parent tells a grown-ass woman who she can talk to, for god's sake?

  Goddamnmotherfuckingsonofawhore, my mind yelled.

  I stood there for a moment, processing all he'd said (demanded, my mind screamed) and decided that I didn't need to follow my father's edict. What happened in the past could stay in the past, but I wanted to talk to Dare. Needed to see if what I remembered was real or just a fantasy.

  I stepped outside the clubhouse door and was surprised to find my heart was beating to beat the band again. Was I scared or excited? I wondered silently and used my belt loops to situate my leathers again. I was just meeting an old friend, just a regular ol' catch up session between a couple of people that used to know each other way back when.

  Nothing to get nervous or enthused about.

  Liar! my mind screamed so loudly I flinched at the volume.

  I maneuvered my way across the large forecourt, weaving around the bikes parked right in the middle of the space as my eyes followed the edge of the large HC building. Going around the corner, I saw picnic tables had been tucked up tight against the stuccoed wall and in the low lighting I could make out Dare's large form sitting on top of one. He must've heard me coming because his face pointed my direction and I caught sight of his ear to ear grin.

  I felt my heart clench and my breathing hitch just seeing that smile.

  "Didn't know if you were gonna show, sugar," he rumbled as his grin grew into a full-fledged smile.

  "And miss a chance to talk about your dick some more?" I teased as I climbed up to sit next to him, using the seat as a step. He shot a hand out as if to steady me but I made it safely to the table top without so much as a teeter.

  "What is it about girls and their fascination with my crotch?" he shot back. "A guy could get a fuckin' complex or something. The objectification thing gets old quick."

  I couldn't help my laugh which he joined in on. "Yeah right, cowboy. We're all so fascinated by what you've got in your pants that it's all we can talk about!"

  He threw back his head and let his laughter fly providing me with a gorgeous view of his throat and jaw I'd thought I'd never see again. And the sound of his mirth hit that deep place inside that was reserved just for him. Just as it always had.

  He turned back to me I couldn't help but notice the twinkle in his dark brown eyes. "Betcha ass. But how 'bout we objectify you for a while?"

  "Thought you said it got old quick?" I sent back, trying and failing not to giggle as I spoke.

  His gaze roamed over me, spending time on my chest and then the vee of my thighs as I tucked one leg under me to try and cushion my butt.

  "Don't think it would with you, Ryley. Damn, you grew up nice, girl," he said and I could hear the sincerity in his deep voice and saw the gleam of admiration in his eyes.

  "Thanks," I mumbled and I could feel the heat as it began to creep up into my cheeks.

  His fingers reached for the hand I had resting on my leg as he said, "still haven't learned to take a compliment, huh?"

  "I said thanks. Isn't that enough? Or do you need something from Hallmark to make it official?" I asked with a head tilt. The warmth of his fingers as they entwined with mine caused my breath to hitch though I tried to keep it quiet.

  In fact, quiet was the word for the moment as our eyes caught and held. It was a gaze that seemed to hold more communication than what our mouths were unwilling to say at that time.

  "Though I could sit and stare at you all night, you said you wanted to talk, sugar," he reminded me with a squeeze of my fingers as the grin returned to crease his face.

  I had asked him for that, had told him it was all I could do with him at the moment but now that I had him alone, I didn't think I could talk to him, with him, like I'd envisioned. Couldn't ask the questions that I'd carried for so many years. Things like, 'do you ever think of me?' or 'was what we had last time real or just a run romance?'.

  "So, uhm. You're wearing a Hellion Construction t-shirt. You still working for them?" I asked, my mind racing to come up with other questions, safer questions than those my heart really wanted to know but was afraid to ask.

  I saw him raise one eyebrow as his face again split into a grin. "You dragged me out here to ask about my fuckin' job, Ryley? Seriously?"

  At my head nod, his laughter again rang out in between the buildings. I couldn't be offended though since I'd even cracked myself up with such a silly, lame query.

  "Yeah, sugar. I'm in charge of the commercial building projects for Montana. Remember how I wrote you they put me on a building crew?" I was becoming quite the bobble-head as I nodded again. "I kept with it and got some fuckin' classes in at night after high school. Got my GC license and for a while was doing both the residential and commercial shit."

  "GC?" I asked.

  "General Contractor," he explained, and I saw his eyes roam over my face. He raised a hand and looped a hank of hair behind my ear. A move so innocent but yet so intimate, it caused a deep throb in my heart as my girlie parts sat up and took notice.

  "What does 'in charge' mean?" When his eyes met mine again, my tummy took a tumble and I got another resounding zing of awareness in some very private places.

  "I'm a manager, Ryley. It's my job to make sure all the pieces of the commercial projects comes together: the plumbing, the electric, the structure of the planned building."

  "Sounds like…it’s a lot of responsibility." I was having to force the words, plain everyday-type words, out of my mouth.

  "Can be," he admitted and another slow grin made an appearance causing a deep throb within me.

  What was it about the man, this man, that turned me inside out on every level no matter how banal the subject?

  Chapter Eight

  "You said you wanted to talk? Just the two of us?" he offered, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. He saw her shake her head, not in a way to signify 'no' but more like to pull herself away from whatever she'd been thinking about.

  Thoughts he'd give anything to know.

  "I see your wearing the HC t-shirt. Are you still with Hellion Construction?" she'd asked. He was confused. Why did she need to get him fuckin' alone, for Christ's sake, to ask about his motherfuckin' job?

  Unless she wanted to ease into things, his heart replied. Yeah, that made sense and was so totally Ryley, the girl he remembered who didn't always approach things head on but rather from the side.

  He'd let her have her play. Shit, he'd let her have whatever she needed just so he c
ould spend time with her, to look at her in the flesh instead of in his memory.

  Although as he explained his role at HC, he knew he was downplaying it. His job, the career he worked so hard for, was a big fuckin' deal and that he held the position before he'd even turned thirty made it even more so.

  It was something he was proud of, very proud. For years, he'd felt less than. No family, known as a trouble-maker and shuffled around so much, he'd been told he was nothing and had bought into that label.

  Until the Hellions had taught him differently.

  "How do you make your green?" he asked in order to turn the conversation and his thoughts to something different.

  "I wanted to be a social worker and even got my degree. But after seeing how they worked sixty hours a week and get blamed for every damn thing that goes wrong in that system, decided I couldn't hack it. Now I head up the Honey Haven, which is kind of like the Youth Program you guys have going here." Her voice was soft in the night air and her glance moved from his face to their shared hand clasp. "I got it set up as a non-profit a few years ago so we could take in teens that either can't or won't live with their parents or in the foster home setting."

  "How many you got there?"

  "Kids or staff?"

  "Kids," he looked her way and again got caught on her amazing eyes. His heart skipped a beat in response. It almost seemed surreal to be sitting next to her, talking about their adult lives as if it had anything to fuckin' do with what their hearts and eyes were communicating.

  "Right now, twenty-five. But we've had as many as forty," she stated, turning her chin back down to her lap. "We give them a place to stay, enable them to get their GEDs while connecting them to a trade school so they can get a job when they age out of the system."

  "Shit, sugar. That's a lot," he admitted on a low whistle, stroking the back of her hand in emphasis. "You like it?"

  "Love it." Her face was holding a huge smile and Dare felt his heart race when he saw it. That fuckin', fuckin' smile. "Knowing I've played a part in getting then keeping a kid safe is huge. But to see them grow into young adults with skills that will last them a lifetime means the world to me."

  "How'd you pick that? I mean, what made you want to work with teens?"

  She didn't say anything for a bit and Dare wondered if he'd gotten too personal, too fast. Although he didn't think so because back in the day, for that one week, they'd been able (and had) talked about anything and everything.

  But the quiet between them stretched out for more than a couple of seconds, and he saw her gaze roam the alleyway before she spoke.

  "You did." From the way she'd said those two little words, low and slow, he knew she was aware of their potential impact.

  "But I never told you about…" he started, searching his memory for any recollection of him telling her about his childhood.

  "You didn't. But Trey did," she said, tightening her fingers on his. "Back during that week when I was last here. He took me aside before we left and warned me not to break your heart. That you'd been through enough when you were younger. When I pressed him for what he meant, he told me."

  That rotten motherfucker! Trey had no right to go fuckin' spreading his info, his fuckin' life, around. Especially not to Ryley for Christ's sake!

  "Don't be mad, honey," she said, pulling on his hand as she twisted herself in order to more fully face him. "I think…I think he did the right thing. He was only trying to protect his friend, his little brother."

  Dare glared out into the night knowing that if his pres had been within spitting distance, they would've been throwing down. Although, her point about young Trey's guard dog stance about him was pretty much on the money.

  He had to ask, had to know, though. "Did it make you think of me differently? Less of me?" Was that why she hadn't ever written him back?

  "God no, Dare!" He looked at her to check for sincerity and saw it shining bright in her eyes. "If anything, it made you even more wonderful. An orphan with a broken childhood? Damn, it made you even better in my eyes, a hero in some way. That's why I never wanted, why I never want a kid to have to go through their own version of that hell without somebody to give them a hand up."

  He didn't respond but allowed his mind to chew on this new piece of 4-1-1. She knew about his past and it hadn't made one sweet goddamn bit of difference to her. Except to point her in the direction of her career, of wanting to help other kids.

  Christ!

  Sitting on a wooden tabletop, just holding her hand and talking seemed more personal, more intimate than even some of the sex he'd shared with others. Dare realized he didn't want the night to ever fuckin' end.

  "Do you ever think of that week, Dare?" she asked a little while later. She gave a little chuckle. "I mean, it was a long time ago and we were so young…"

  He shot her a glance. Her tone was light, breezy almost. Was that how she thought of it? As just a little bit of flirtatious fun between a couple of kids? He felt his heart hit his boots and turned his head to look out at the forecourt knowing he was trying to hide whatever hurt she might see on his face.

  Okay, I can play it that way, he assured himself, swallowing deep before forcing a laugh out. "You ain't fuckin' kidding! Feels like a goddamn lifetime ago. Shit!"

  "I know, right? Now we're all grown up with responsible damn jobs and everything!" Why did her voice sound hollow in spite of the teasing tone she seemed to be striving for? "Do you remember who finally scored the bottles of Jack before the dance party?"

  "I think it was Bish who snagged them after watching me and Trey get caught red-handed on both tries. Called us a couple of sure-bust pussies too if fuckin' memory serves." Yeah, this was good. Find the fun stuff in the shared reminiscences to keep everything airy. "Do you know if Blaze and Lock hooked up that first time?"

  "Yep, they did. And they'd better have too for as much covering we had to do for them." She let out a giggle that ended on a sigh. "God, can you imagine the shit that would've exploded if they'd gotten caught?"

  He laughed and found it was more genuine than before. "Blaze would've been fuckin' pushing up daisies if Pagan had found out. That boy protected Lock's cherry with his goddamn life!"

  "Fat lot of good it did him! She told me he was still giving out beat downs long after the deed had been done and gone."

  "Fuck! She never told Pagan?"

  "Nuh-uh," Ryley said with a head shake. "Said his attitude and fists kept the assholes off her tail."

  As their eyes again caught and held, they couldn't help the laughter that burst up and out of them.

  Anymore than Dare could help bringing his mouth to hers thereby ending their laughter and their talking but taking them in a direction it seemed they'd always been destined to go.

  *.*.*.*.*

  One minute we were laughing at a shared remembrance and the next his lips were on mine as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It sure felt like it was with the easiness of how our mouths initially touched without hesitation or any measure of reluctance on either side. And maybe because the kiss started when our laughter ended, it was sweet. Soft and gentle. Although it didn't stay that way for long.

  The press of our mouths soon changed to something that was more yielding yet demanding all at the same time. And that included a gentle sucking in between the wet gliding passes as our lips moved against each other.

  It was slow.

  It was deliberate.

  And it was everything a 'welcome back' kiss should be.

  Becoming even more so as he licked his way inside my mouth until his tongue suavely caressed mine with such slow, lazy passion, I moaned aloud. I felt his mouth firm and knew he was trying to restrain a grin at the noise I'd made, but I couldn't help it. Any more than I could help how my hands had wandered up and threaded themselves in his hair, holding him to me.

  Or how his arms had wrapped themselves around my waist, pulling me until we were pressed chest to chest. That was, until he twisted and brought me to par
tially lay across his lap, taking our endless kiss even deeper and allowing the intensity of it to grow.

  I couldn't tell how long it went on for. It could've been simply minutes or even hours for all I knew or cared. But it was like our mouths had ten years to catch up on and were determined to get it done all at one time…all with one kiss.

  And still it went on, gaining momentum while turning hot and sexy causing us to swallow each other's moans and groans even while hands grew restless to feel and to touch. Soon the wanting turned to need and we again shifted our bodies, craving more contact, seeking more areas to caress and have stroked.

  When we did finally come up for air, I found I was flat on my back on the tabletop with Dare leaning over me one of his thick thighs shoved between mine and he was pressed tight into my side. I was using a huge bicep as a pillow and felt his other hand on one of my ass cheeks between the leathers and my panties. One of my hands was still twined in the hair at the back of his head while the other was underneath his t-shirt, rubbing the smooth skin of his back.

  I wondered if my face showed the same evidence of desire as his did with half-hooded eyes, swollen but well used lips and flushed cheeks. If my heavy breathing bordered on panting like his did. Or if my hips movements on his thigh where I was rubbing myself on him was echoed in the hard, thick length he was grinding against my hipbone.

  "I need to go, cowboy," I whispered as his lips came back to sweep over mine.

  "Christ, what you do to me," he mumbled thickly even as he moved his hand from my ass to sweep his palm over my side, his thumb grazing my breast. Looking deeply into my eyes, I felt the tension between us ramp up again. "Ten years, Ryley. Ten fuckin' years I've waited to kiss you again."

  My grin only mirrored his but his fervently murmured words hooked and landed in every throbbing part of my body.

  "Come home with me, sugar." It was a supplication, pure and simple in its request.

  My eyes searched his face again and I felt my arms tighten around him. I wanted to. God knows how I yearned to. At that moment, I would've followed Dare anywhere just to remain with him in order to finally be with him.