The Crime of Protection

by Gloria Martin

  She tried not to grin, but his energy was infectious. She whipped around to face him and he did not disappoint. He was tanned and his perfect white teeth dazzled against his bronzed skin. He was wearing a five o’clock shadow proudly and his long tousled hair was framing his boyish face. He looked like trouble and apparently, trouble was making Anna very wet.

  “You look beautiful,” Brody said, tucking her hair behind her ears.

  “Are you usually so forward?” Anna asked, stepping backward.

  “Is forward the same as honest? If so, yes.”

  Anna bit her bottom lip and turned away from him trying to compose herself.

  “So, about all of these walls will be knocked down,” Anna said, jutting her chin to the jigsaw-style walls.

  “Are you changing the subject intentionally?”

  Brody closed the gap Anna created between them and Anna felt her cheeks warm.

  “Look, I know what you’re doing, Brody. I’m flattered, but—”

  “Why’d you come here?” Brody asked with a cheeky smile.

  “To show you the work we’ve done so far.”

  “Ah, I thought you’d say that. So, you won’t mind that I brought Aiden?”

  Anna blanched and felt her eyes widen. From behind one of the obtrusive walls, Aiden walked out looking sheepish.

  “Hey Anna,” Aiden said, waving.

  He looked handsome in a polo shirt and jeans despite his clearly guilty expression.

  “What is this?” Anna asked, crossing her arms.

  “An apology from me,” Aiden said, touching his chest.

  Anna relaxed slightly, looking up at Brody and then Aiden. She was torn. While she was happy to see Aiden, a part of her wanted a moment with Brody. Now that they were both here, she had no idea who she wanted.

  “I’m the mediator,” Brody said, “and I wanted to see your gorgeous face again.”

  “Look, I appreciate the apology, but I’m not—You both—God, I’m not making any sense,” Anna said, touching her forehead.

  “Oh,” Brody said, tilting his head to the side, a grin spreading across his face.

  “Oh what?” Aiden asked, looking confused.

  “I know that face,” Brody said.

  “What face?” Anna asked, knotting her fingers together.

  “You want—both of us,” Brody said, raising an eyebrow at her.

  Anna stepped back, trying to look affronted.

  “Is that true, Anna?” Aiden asked, his expression unreadable.

  “I—well—crap,” Anna said, backing into a wall.

  Aiden and Brody looked at each other and then back at Anna.

  “We’re yours, Anna. What would you like to do with us?” Brody asked, looking at her darkly.

  “What?” Anna asked, feeling chills run down her body.

  “You heard him,” Aiden said, flashing her a crooked smile.

  Anna straightened up, realizing they were serious. She walked closer to them and they approached her—together. She looked left at Brody and then leaned up and kissed him. It was rough and deep. She felt his hands run down her spine and cup her ass gruffly. Then she turned and kissed Aiden. It was soft, smooth like honey. He was touching her face, tangling his fingers in her hair. She could hear Brody unbuckling his pants in the background and she kept kissing Aiden.

  “Take your clothes off,” Anna said to Aiden.

  Aiden winked at her and obeyed. Anna pulled her dress over her head, dropping it on the floor as Aiden pulled her over to the rug.

  “Well, how would like us?” Aiden asked, cupping her chin in his large hands.

  “Lie down,” Anna said, breathlessly to Aiden.

  Aiden obeyed and Anna climbed on top of him, after pulling off her panties. She signaled Brody over. He smiled and came over, leaning her forward and straddling her from behind. Anna could not believe it. She was filled with two of the most beautiful men she had ever seen it her life. She was soaking and Brody took inch after inch of her ass. Anna grinded slow against Aiden, feeling him swell inside of her. Aiden held her thighs, guiding her, holding her steady as she climaxed hard on top of him.

  She was so slick and shaking with pleasure as Aiden pulled her into a deep kiss, and also gave Brody better access. Brody slapped her ass hard as he came loudly behind her. Brody collapsed beside them and Anna looked back down at Aiden. He flipped her over, so she was on her back looking up at him.

  “You’re so beautiful,” Aiden said, biting her bottom lip.

  Anna grinned into his kiss as he dove inside of her again.

  “I hope you enjoyed that because I’m never sharing you again,” Aiden whispered in her ear.

  Before Anna could answer, he sucked on her nipple hard, forcing her to arch her back. He stroked harder and faster inside of her until her body was coated in sweat. Anna moaned loudly as every nerve in her body was awakened under Aiden’s touch. They came together and Aiden collapsed on top of Anna. Brody laughed and Anna sat up, suddenly remembered they weren’t alone.

  “And they say I’m not a romantic. Your welcome guys. Nothing like a little jealously and experimentation to bring two love birds together. Now if you’d excuse me, I have a date,” Brody said, plopping on wet kiss on Anna’s lips. “It was fun, Anna.”

  Anna grinned and shoved him playfully. Brody winked at Aiden and walked away.

  “No hard feelings,” Aiden yelled after him.

  “Nope. I knew what you were doing with this penthouse. I get it, man. You’re ready to grow up and be a big boy. You have my blessing to do whatever you need to do. I’m just not ready yet,” Brody said, offering a mock salute and leaving them.

  Aiden nodded understanding.

  “What was that about?” Anna asked, turning Aiden’s head to look at her.

  “Long story. I think it will be okay though.”

  “I see. Do I still have a job here?”

  “Of course. You can have a little more if we can start over.”

  Anna looked at him, appraising him cautiously.

  “Anna, I like you. It was just Brody is my best friend and we have different views about what being an adult is. I knew he liked you and I didn’t want to cause any grief between us. Can I have another chance?”

  Anna took a deep breath and looked back at the space where Brody stood and then back at Aiden. He seemed sincere and truthfully, she only wanted to hook up with Brody to get back at Aiden for storming out on her. She nodded and proffered a weak smile.

  “Good, I can take you to lunch if you still have time?”

  “Or—Well, Brody has food here and it would be a shame to put our clothes back on so soon. I mean it is my company and you are my client so technically we’re working, right?”

  Aiden grinned down at her and before she could say another word, they were tangled in each other’s arms again.

  THE END

  Bonus Story 16/40

  Stallion MC

  Laura

  “Same again, Brian?” I asked the older guy sitting lazily at the bar. He’d been sitting in the same position for the last few hours, drinking himself into oblivion, in the same way he did every single day.

  He was one of the regulars at the dive bar where I worked. I saw him all the time. He spilled his guts out to me over and over again. I knew all about his divorce, his children that wouldn’t see him, and the leaky roof in his apartment. Yet all he knew about me was my first name. He didn’t know my full name – Laura Marie Jays. But then again, no one did. I kept to myself, locked the real me away, and never let anyone in. It was the only way I felt I could survive.

  I wouldn’t be here forever anyway, so it didn’t really matter what anyone knew about me. I was only working this crappy job and living in my dingy apartment while I tried to get enough money together to really start my life.

  Although… I’d been thinking that for a very long time and it hadn’t gotten me anywhere. I was still here, nowhere near closer to getting away.

  When I’d left my ol
d life behind, escaping all the issues I was facing, I’d taken nothing with me. I went in such a hurry that I simply didn’t have time, and now I was making up for that, working every hour I could get, for a wage that I was barely surviving on.

  Maybe it had been a mistake to leave, but at the time I couldn’t see any other option.

  “Yeah,” Brian answered in a grunt, shaking me from my thoughts of the past. “Ale.”

  “Coming right up,” I said. I plastered the bright fake smile across my face, and poured his drink. There was no point in thinking about my former life – that was all far behind me anyway. I hadn’t seen any of the people from those days for years – not even my parents – and I would only upset myself if I continued to dwell on those thoughts.

  “Quiet in here,” Brian commented. “You gonna be closing up early?” The manager always left closing time to me when it was my shift. He knew I wouldn’t hang around if the place was empty, but also that I’d stay open if necessary.

  Well, it was either trust or laziness. Maybe he just couldn’t be bothered to come and lock up himself.

  “Yeah maybe,” I murmured, already thinking about climbing into bed early. A nice night’s sleep was just what I needed.

  But then the doors to the bar swung open, and a large group of leather-clad guys strolled in as if they owned the place, completely taking over.

  I sighed deeply, my fantasies of an early night vanishing into thin air as I now knew that it was going to be a very late night.

  This was a biker gang. I could tell by the matching patches plastered across their vests. I knew firsthand how much those guys liked to drink. We often had gangs like that in here, although this was a new one that I hadn’t seen before.

  “Hey doll face?” One of them called over to me, in a smarmy, sexist tone. “Can we get a round?”

  “Sure,” I said, acting far sweeter than I felt. “What do you all want?”

  But before they could speak their order aloud, my eyes fell on one of the bikers, and I felt my heart freeze in my chest. Finally, after all these years, my past had caught up with me.

  I gasped as it hit me that I couldn’t do anything, that I was stuck. That I was going to have to face up to all that I left behind.

  *****

  Mac

  “Laura?” I gasped in complete and utter shock. I hadn’t seen Laura in a very long time, and I couldn’t believe that she was here now.

  But it was her, of that I was certain.

  We were childhood best friends. We were next-door neighbors from birth, and as we grew up we quickly became inseparable. I adored her, and I always assumed that she did me. I thought that we would end up together, married.

  But it seemed that she didn’t feel the same way. It seemed like my love wasn’t reciprocated.

  When we hit our late teens, she started to be swayed by the attentions of an older, extremely charismatic guy. Fenton. I couldn’t blame her of course, we all fell under his spell in one way or another, but it hurt like hell to see her share her first kiss with him, then slowly fall in love with him.

  I was tossed aside, placed firmly in the friend zone, and that was the way it stayed until she vanished out of my life and into thin air – leaving everyone behind her, including Fenton.

  And I never heard from her again, until now. I’d spent a lot of time trying to push any thoughts of her to the back of my mind, but staring at her again had it all flooding back – the memories, the feelings, the love…

  This was definitely the girl I’d loved for most of my life – she had the same flock of red hair, the same piercing green eyes, and the same smile. But she was different too. She’d grown into a beautiful woman, with the most curvaceous body I’d ever seen. She was even better now than she had been then.

  Wow, she still had the same effect on me, after all this time.

  “Mac?” she gasped, looking completely blindsided. “Fenton?”

  Of course, in all of my surprise, I’d forgotten that he was here too.

  After Laura left town, I was completely lost. I didn’t know what to do without her anymore, even if she was never technically ‘mine’. I began to rely on Fenton, who was the only one who could understand how I felt – not that we ever really discussed it – and in doing so, I allowed him to draw me into the Stallion Motorcycle Club, and the associated lifestyle.

  And that was where we’d been ever since – travelling like a pack of wolves, working odd jobs to make ends meet, and frequenting crappy bars like this one.

  It wasn’t the life I thought I’d grow into, but it was the only one I had. It felt right.

  At least, it had done until Laura gave me that disbelieving look.

  *****

  Fenton

  “Still smoking hot, I see,” I said to Laura. I leaned towards her, kissing her lightly on the cheek, as a blush practically consumed her whole body. It may have been a shock to see her, but I was always quick to recover, and this time was no different.

  As time had gone past, I’d all but forgotten how fun it was to wind Laura up. She was all coy and sweet in public, but get her in the bedroom and… well, that was a whole different story!

  Our youthful romance had been a hell of a lot of fun. She’d been experimental, up for anything, and always horny! I’d loved it. She was the first chick to ever keep me interested for longer than a couple of nights, and to me that was something special.

  It was a shame it all got fucked up.

  We’d been caught having sex in her school, across one of her teacher’s desks, on her last day. It had been funny at the time, but the aftermath was bad – her whole (very religious) family went crazy and her graduation was put on hold pending an investigation.

  That was when she’d upped and bolted, not even waiting for the outcome, leaving me to pick up the pieces.

  I didn’t blame her, but the truth was it hurt me when she left. One of the guys said I should get another girl to forget her, so I did; and then another and another. None of them could hold my attention for very long the way Laura did.

  But now, with my old Laura standing in front of me, as if nothing had ever happened, I wondered if she would be willing to pick things up where we left off.

  *****

  Laura

  “H… hi,” I stammered, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole. How was this fair? I hadn’t seen anyone from back home for years, and now I had to face the two most difficult people at the same time? My ex-boyfriend and my old best friend. “How are you both?”

  Fenton’s ‘smoking hot’ line had me embarrassed, but the fact that he hadn’t changed since the old days was oddly reassuring too. That confident, cocky nature was what had attracted me to him in the first place, and there was something quite nice about the familiarity of it.

  As I discretely looked him up and down, I realized that time had treated him well. This new bad boy biker image really suited him – the muscles, the leather, the scars… it all managed to fit in with his persona really well. He was almost hotter than ever – and teenage me had seen him as practically a god!

  As for Mac… well that was a different story.

  The Mac I knew was always so sweet and sensible. He had a cute preppy image, which had made him look even lovelier, so it was weird to have that gone. I imagined that he would be a banker or lawyer by now, not a member of a motorcycle gang. Seeing him dressed like that was a little mind blowing to be honest! He’d grown up absolutely gorgeous as well, which wasn’t surprising because he’d always been a hottie, but there was something about his new biker look that didn’t quite suit him in the way it did Fenton. It was odd, and a little unnerving.

  “We’re good babe,” Fenton dragged my attention back to him in the way that he was very good at. “How’s life here? It feels like forever since we’ve seen you!”

  “Yeah I know,” I murmured, the embarrassment coming back. Fenton simply laughed, blowing past any awkwardness. “My life is pretty crazy right now.”

 
“Tell me about it,” he commanded, sliding into the nearer bar stool to me. I handed him a bottle of beer, and prepared myself to open up a little for the first time in a very long time.

  *****

  Mac

  As I watched Fenton happily chatting to Laura as if no time had passed at all, the familiar pang of jealousy overcame me. This was the way it had always been – Laura, captivated by Fenton, and me in the shadows, ignored. In that moment it felt like I was always destined to be a victim of unrequited love.

  I hated it; it drove me crazy to see them enjoying one another’s company. I felt my fists pump angrily, as I wondered what the hell I could do about it. I really didn’t want history to repeat itself. I didn’t want to get left behind all over again. I was a man now, and Laura was a woman. I didn’t want to end up in the childish rut I’d been in before. I wouldn’t be able to stand it again.

  No, I wouldn’t allow that to happen. I wasn’t the same shy person I once was. I would fight for Laura; make my feelings known this time. I was not going to be a pushover. I was going to make a stand.

  I felt my heart pound heavily at my decision, and much as the nerves were there, so was the knowledge that this was the right thing to do. The only thing I could do!

  I stepped past Fenton, shoving him slightly, and took her hands in mine, completely interrupting their conversation. I said, “So Laura, you’ll have to tell me all about what you’ve been doing since we last saw each other. It feels like it’s been forever.”

  The way her eyes lit up as we lapsed back into the easygoing air that had always been between us, I felt something inside. Something strong and powerful.

  Maybe this time it would be me that got the girl!

  *****

  Fenton

  Mac was challenging me, I could sense it emanating off of him before he even opened his mouth. He wanted Laura for himself this time, just like he always had. He’d never been very discrete about his feelings. And now, he was determined to make a stand.