by Jolie Day
“Does it feel broken?” she asked. Honestly, she couldn’t really tell. It didn’t look swollen or crooked or deformed in any way. Max shook his head slightly as she turned his head in either direction.
“No,” he said. “I feel fine. It’ll probably just bruise.”
Regina nodded and started to pull back, but Max grabbed her wrist before she could and held her there, staring into her eyes. Once he had her attention, he tilted his head and asked, “Why did you leave?” Regina was silent, pressing her lips together. “This morning, I mean,” he said, as if she needed any kind of clarification on what he was talking about.
“Did you really want me to stay?” Regina asked. “Be honest. We both knew what that was.” She pulled out of his grasp and Max frowned.
“You could have at least said goodbye,” he pointed out.
“Why bother?” Regina huffed. “I know the drill, Max. No strings attached. Saying goodbye is unnecessary.” She turned to place the bloody towel into the sink nearby, turning the tap on and wringing it out. The water ran pink.
“But it’s also considerate,” Max pointed out. “I woke up and you were just gone. I thought I’d done something.”
“It’s not like we’re in a relationship,” Regina said, tossing the towel to the side once she realized that she’d done everything she could for it. She turned back towards him. “And what about you, hmm? Where did you go today?”
Max looked away. “Out,” he said. “Do you have another towel? I need to wash this blood off my face.” Regina sighed and reached for the stack of freshly washed towels on a shelf above her head, tugging one down and running it under the tap for a moment before tossing it to Max. He caught it, easily. “Besides,” he went on, his voice slightly muffled behind the towel, “I figured you didn’t want to see me. I mean, you left first, didn’t you?”
“I had work to do,” Regina retorted. “Not all of us can spend all day in bed, doing nothing.”
“I just told you, I went out.” He winced as he pressed on a particularly sensitive spot on his face. “I had business to take care of in town.”
“Looking for Caesar?” Regina asked, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the sink. She lifted one eyebrow as he turned a surprised glance towards her. “Ray told me what happened,” she informed him. “This could be dangerous, Max. You could get yourself killed.”
“What do you care?” Max huffed, swiping all the blood off his face, grimacing through the pain and tenderness. “We’re not in a relationship, remember?”
“We don’t have to be in a relationship for me to not want you to die,” Regina scoffed. “Why can’t you just leave well enough alone?”
“Because, until he’s actually gone, he could come after other people I care about. My mother, my sister, Mary, Ray, Grace…he won’t stop until he’s taken everything from me.”
“They all seem to be in no danger,” Regina pointed out. “How long has it been? He hasn’t made any moves on them.”
“Not yet. But I know Caesar; he won’t stop until he’s gotten rid of everybody that’s close to me. He doesn’t care how much blood he spills to get to them. He’ll keep going until he’s done.”
“And you have to be the one to stop him?” Regina asked, furrowing her brow. “Why?”
“Because somebody has to send a message,” Max said, hopping off the table and tossing the bloodied towel into the sink. “And if it’s me then that assures that my people stay safe. Because nobody’s gonna mess with the guy that killed Caesar.”
“As far as you know,” Regina said. “Loyalty is a strange thing, Max. You don’t know how deep it runs sometimes.”
“I can handle myself, Reggie,” Max insisted, getting closer, his eyes boring into hers. “I’m pretty tough, don’t you think?”
Regina’s eyes flickered down to the muscles bunching under the sleeves of his jacket, before returning to his face. They landed a little bit south of his eyes, however, and lingered on his lips for a moment too long, before raising to meet his gaze. She narrowed her eyes.
“You’re not as tough as you think you are,” she said, a challenge in her voice. “You’re going to get hurt.”
“Better me than you.”
Regina felt her heart flutter at the implication and her eyes returned to Max’s lips, lingering there for another long moment and returning to his eyes for only a split second before his mouth was upon hers, ravaging her lips in a way that made her entire body burst into flame, her arms winding around his neck and her legs locking behind his waist as he lifted her up on the sink, changing the angle of their kiss. Max’s hands ran all over her body, from tugging on her hair to cupping her ass, to holding her cheeks still as he kissed her, taking her breath straight from her lungs.
Regina felt dizzy, her hands reaching to tug at the shortened strands of his hair, holding on for dear life. “Max,” she husked and felt his responding growl throughout her entire body. “Oh, Max,” she sighed and gasped as he nipped at her neck and picked her up, his hands wrapped around her ass as he turned and carried her to the washing machine, setting her down and reaching for the zipper on her jeans. “Max, wait,” Regina husked and he pulled back, looking her in the eyes even as his chest moved with his ragged breathing. Regina was speechless and he gave her a winning smile, leaning down to press a hot kiss to her mouth, his thumb stroking her cheek.
“Let me do this,” he breathed into her mouth. Regina nodded, finally, and he reached again for her zipper, tugging it down and helping her to pull the tight jeans down her legs, the fabric rolling as it moved towards the floor. Once it was pooled at her knees, he pulled her to the edge of the machine and lowered his mouth to her center, tonguing her through the fabric of her panties.
She was already wet. She tasted perfect.
Max moaned as he lapped at her and Regina gasped, her hands grasping at his hair, pulling him closer as her legs pressed against his sides, the fabric of her jeans keeping them from parting completely. “Fuck! Max!” she cried out, her hips pumping against his mouth. He wrapped his fingers around her waist, keeping her still as he worked her up through the thin layer of lace and cotton. “Oh God.”
She could feel his infuriating smirk against her center and she gave him a weak kick, which caused him to chuckle, the vibrations running through her, making her heart pound against her ribcage and her legs quiver. Her hands pulled more tightly at his hair, her hips fighting to move against his firm grasp. “Oh my God,” she moaned. “Fuck! I’m so close!” She could feel the knot in the pit of her stomach tightening and tightening and tightening until…
“YES! OH GOD YES!”
Max replaced his mouth with his fingers, standing up to cover her mouth with his own, smothering her screams and prolonging her orgasm with the thick press of his fingers. Regina mewled against him as she tasted herself on his tongue. Her body was spent and sagged against Max’s chest as she pulled him more firmly against her. He smiled against her lips and stroked her hair, tugging playfully at the braid she’d fashioned it in for work, before pulling away, looking her in the eyes.
“We may not be in a relationship,” he said, after a long moment of just staring at her, “but that doesn’t mean I want any harm to come to you. And it will come,” he promised, “if Caesar continues to live. That’s why I have to do this. Please understand that I would do anything to prevent any more death than necessary.”
“I believe you,” Regina sighed, “but that doesn’t mean that I agree with it.”
“You don’t have to,” Max assured her. “You just have to accept it.”
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving her alone in the laundry room with her pants around her ankles and a wet spot on the inside of her thighs.
*****
Max
It was hard to leave her like that. To leave himself unfinished. To leave them both wanting more. But it had to be done. They couldn’t continue to do this to themselves; not when there could never be anything be
tween them. Max wasn’t planning on staying, even if he did manage to end Caesar’s miserable life.
He couldn’t stay. Things were too complicated here and he was only making them more complicated by doing what he did with Regina. He had no idea why the hell he had done that, either. It was one of the stupidest moves he’d ever made in his entire life. But he hadn’t been able to resist her. There was just something about Regina Carlisle…
No. Focus, Max!
He had to snap himself out of this stupor he’d fallen into whenever he was around Regina. The kind of stupor that made him do stupid things, like kiss her in the bathroom at his ex-girlfriend’s family’s house, or have sex with her in his hotel room, or eat her out in the laundry room of her bar, just feet away from a room full of patrons, all drinking and laughing and stumbling around. Any one of them could have walked in on them.
Hell, Brandy could have walked in on them!
But she hadn’t, so they were still safe. From Brandy, at least. Max had no idea what Caesar knew. He could have heard that Max was in town again. He could be planning to take him down or to let him watch the deaths of Grace or Ray or Mary or…
Did he know about Regina?
Max felt his heart begin to race at the very thought of something happening to her. They’d known each other less than a week and he already knew that he would be devastated if anything happened to her because of him. He didn’t know if he’d be able to live with himself and he vowed to do everything in his power to keep her as safe as possible.
Even if that meant losing his own life in the process.
When Max returned to his room, he jumped right into a cold shower, trying to rid himself of the erection that had sprung up when he had a mouthful of Regina Carlisle. Her taste still lingered on his lips and it was making the situation even harder (no pun intended) to get rid of.
Finally, he turned the warm tap on and allowed the hot water to pour over his body, relaxing his muscles and making him sigh out in relief as he took himself into his own hands. Max closed his eyes and tried to picture Regina’s face as he began to stroke himself.
He imagined her standing in this shower with him, massaging shampoo into her scalp and then allowing it to run down the curves of her body, mixing with the rest of the shower water at their feet. He imagined her turning her head to smile at him over her shoulder. He imagined the whip of her dark hair as she turned around and sauntered towards him, the water cascading over her like a waterfall. He imagined her reaching up to press her lips to his as one of her hands reached down to grasp his length in her hand. He imagined her squeezing him even as his own hand tightened around his shaft. He imagined her stroking him as he leaned against the wall.
She stroked him hard and fast, then slowed down as he got too close to the edge. She squeezed her hand around him as she nipped at his neck and ran her tongue up and down his chest, flirting over his nipples and making him groan. Max pulled her hand away from him and reached down to pull her up by the thighs, pressing her against the shower wall and stepping between her spread legs. He entered her as his lips pressed against hers, his hands still holding her up, his body pressing her into the wall with each thrust. Her moans reverberated against the shower tile, her nails digging into his back as she held on for dear life.
Max pressed his face into Regina’s neck, burying his grunts into the hollow of her throat, entering her again and again, listening to the sweet sounds of her erotic moans and gasps and screams. It was like a symphony, encouraging him to thrust faster, harder, deeper. Regina cried out his name and her ankles locked behind his back, pressing him more insistently against her. Max pressed his thumb to her clit, rubbing furiously until he could feel her start to spasm around him and himself start to pump into her. He reached for her lips again and pressed a harsh, heady kiss there, holding her completely still as he finished inside her.
When his body relaxed, Max tried to regulate his breathing with deep breaths and found himself leaning against the cold shower wall, his fist wrapped firmly around himself. He sighed and pushed away, cleaning himself off under the spray of the water and taking deep, calming breaths to steady his heartbeat. He’d never finished so hard before; not while he was on his own. His throat felt raw and his body was still quivering with aftershocks.
Quickly, he shampooed his hair, soaped up his body, and rinsed off before jumping out and reaching for a towel to dry himself, going over the information he’d received earlier that day in his head.
According to the boys on Maple Street, their ex-stepfather’s name was John Tamblyn, and he’d been a member of the Hell’s Seven MC for at least a couple of years. His nickname was “Cobra”, but he’d never told his wife that. The redhead had overheard somebody call him that when they were out one day and John had hushed them. Apparently, he’d hung out at bars all over town, drinking himself into a stupor before returning home to rut against his wife.
“That’s how we got Ellie,” the redhead, Mason, had informed him with an eyeroll. The brunette, Jeremy, had made a face of disgust and Max had laughed, before saying his goodbyes and walking away.
He scoured a few of the bars all away across town, finally ending up at Regina’s, where he was ready to give up. Very few people knew about “Cobra” and even fewer knew where he might have disappeared to. And whenever Max brought up the Hell’s Sevens, people seemed to turn in the opposite direction.
Nobody wanted to even mention them, as if the very thought would cause one to materialize right before their very eyes. That was fine, Max thought bitterly as he walked away from each bar in turn, he’d find Caesar by his own damn self.
Carlisle’s was the only bar in the area that he never got a chance to canvas, due to the circumstances he’d found himself in. He wondered if there would be enough people there tonight to make sense of anything. Perhaps even a few friends of John Tamblyn would show up. Maybe even Cobra himself—but that part he doubted.
He changed into a clean shirt and his old jeans, throwing his jacket back on before he descended the steps to the bar.
The place was not packed—not even a little bit—but there was a decent amount of people still lingering at the pool tables and bar. Regina and Brandy were taking orders, making drinks and serving them with movement that was almost fluid. The younger woman didn’t even look shaken from her earlier ordeal. She was laughing with a few of the younger men at the pool tables. They seemed respectful, but Max kept his eye on them, just in case, as he walked up to greet them.
Brandy turned just as he got close enough to hear her. “There he is!” she exclaimed. “My hero!” She threw her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug and Max stiffened, patting her back with his hand.
“Um, it’s no trouble,” he assured her. “Really. I was just, you know, doing the right thing.” He sent a meaningful look to all the other men gathered around. They were self-aware enough to look ashamed, refusing to meet his gaze as they took sips of their respective drinks.
When he pulled away, Brandy was still beaming up at him. “Let me get you a drink,” she said. “On the house.”
“You sure Regina will be okay with that?” he asked and Brandy scoffed.
“Please!” she said. “She’s ready to give me anything I want right now. Besides, a drink is the least I can get for you after what you did. I don’t care what you say; that was heroic and you deserve a treat, so go ahead; pick your poison.”
“I could go for a Whiskey Sour,” he relented and Brandy nodded.
“Coming right up, Superman.” She patted him on the shoulder as she moved past, sauntering towards the bar. Max smiled after her for a moment before turning to the group of men before him.
“So,” he said, “do any of you know a man named John Tamblyn?”
*****
Regina
“What was that all about?” Regina asked Brandy as the woman approached the bar.
“Oh, nothing,” Brandy said, turning to look at Max over her shoulder. “I was just thanking him for
saving my ass earlier. Literally. Can I get a Whiskey Sour, please?”
“Coming right up,” Regina said, reaching for the whiskey and a glass. She had the drink mixed in no time and handed it over to Brandy. “Another one on the house?” she asked, knowingly.
“He saved me,” Brandy reasoned. “It’s least you can do for my personal hero, right?”
“I suppose,” Regina relented. “But this is the only one, okay?”
Brandy nodded and gave her a playful salute, before turning and ambling toward Max, handing him his drink with a bright smile. He grinned back and turned to meet Regina’s eye, giving her a tiny smirk and raising his glass at her. She nodded, unable to hide her blush, and cleared her throat as she turned to her next customer, taking his drink order.
“You look like you’ve just been thoroughly fucked.”
Regina sighed deeply as she turned to see Pauline smirking at her, chin cupped in her hand, elbow resting on the bar. Regina rolled her eyes and huffed.
“You look like you’ve been drinking,” she retorted.
Pauline scoffed. “I’m sober, actually,” she replied. “I’d like to remedy that, however. Give me a dry vodka martini, huh?” She slapped her hand on the bar top. “And, in the meantime, you can tell me who put that glow on your face and your entire…” she motioned, “being.”
“What glow?” Regina scoffed, refusing to meet Pauline’s gaze as she made her martini. “I don’t have a glow.”
“Oh, please,” Pauline snorted. “I know a glow when I see one and you definitely have it. I mean, just look at you! You’re practically vomiting rainbows over there. And the only thing that can do that do a person is a good lay. Now, spill; who is he?”
“There is no ‘he’, Pauline,” Regina grunted, rolling her eyes as she set the martini glass down in front of her.
“Ooh, so it’s a ‘she’ then? You switching teams, Miss Carlisle. How scandalous!”
