A man of wealth and means.
Although he hadn’t felt that way when those stupid, dirty bikers had questioned him. Who knew that Michelle had such friends? Men that were intimidating by just their size alone. And who were they that they could question him, a federal agent?
He didn’t care if one of them had been in the ATF and knew basic procedures. That the man was no longer a part of the government spoke volumes about his loyalty, his determination to set things to right! And to have Michelle choose to have bikers protect her?
Ludicrous!
With one phone call, David could have more men surrounding her, keeping her safe and sheltered than any ridiculous biker club. She deserved federal protection and so much more. As his future wife, she would be assured of having the best of everything. Up to and including all the security his current job could provide.
A job that he’d quit as soon as they exchanged vows.
Standing before the bathroom mirror in nothing but his sleeveless t-shirt and suit pants, David admired his carefully crafted muscles. He couldn’t wait for the moment Michelle saw him, viewed the perfection he’d created by working out with weights. After viewing pictures of her previous partners, of their well-honed physiques, he’d hit the gym and had discovered he liked the discipline of lifting weights. As well as the results.
He’d imagined her spread out on his bed. Naked except for an expensive pair of panties he knew he’d eventually rip off her succulent curvy hips. Her frosted-blue eyes would be half-lidded with desire as he stripped down to his boxers, his fevered hard-on erect and pulsing at her gaze. ‘Take me,’ she’d whisper. ‘Take me, David.’
Laying a hand to press against the firm length in his pants, he closed his eyes to bring the image closer.
He saw her run her hands up her spread thighs, pressing against the gusset of the scrap of silk between her legs before traveling up to the pink-tinted tips of her breasts. ‘I need you. Only you.’
Unfastening his pants, he reached in, tightly fisting his steel-like cock and began to slide it up and down. ‘Oh, yes, David. Like that. Just like that.’
He stepped closer to the chipped and stained sink, preventing his trousers from sliding down further and creasing even as he imagined her pussy engulfing, swallowing the beast he was stroking. ‘Oh, so big,’ she’d moan. ‘It feels so good, David.’
Picking up the pace and squeezing even tighter, he began to thrust his hips, pushing his throbbing meat into his palm. ‘Do me, oh god David, do me hard.’ And, in his mind, he did. He banged against her sweet creamy thighs going deep into her imagined wet and squeezing cunt. Her succulent and firm, full breasts bouncing as he took her.
‘I’m coming. Oh God, you’re making me come, David!’
He opened his eyes, watching as he stroked himself off until he gazed into his own eyes in the mirror just as the jets of his ejaculation spurted out in thick streams into the deep bowl of the sink.
“Fuck,” he whispered on a low, hoarse growl as he yanked himself through the dying spasms of his orgasm. Washing off the hand that was still covered in his own juices, he grabbed a towel while his other hand reached for his trousers.
He knew he’d be doing the same again in just a few minutes.
Just as he’d done in the months since he’d met her.
Because the thought of Michelle Palmer, naked, willing and waiting for him was just too much to beat off to just once.
Chapter Six
The next morning, after Silo had already left for work, there was a knock on the front door.
I didn’t know who would be visiting other than Agent Moore who obviously hadn’t gotten the message that I didn’t want or need to see him. Throwing back the covers, I gingerly got to my feet keeping my weight on my good ankle, determined to let the bureaucrat know he was no longer to be a part of my life.
Dizziness hit for a moment after standing but I figured it was because I’d been basically prone for the last couple of days. That or the heavy-duty drugs were finally making their way out of my system.
“Coming!” I yelled as a second set of knocks sounded down the hall. Using the bed for support, I limped towards the doorway wondering if there was something I could hold on to in the hall. Otherwise it was going to be a heck of a slow journey.
Just as I braced myself on the doorjamb though, I heard a key in the lock and watched the heavy oak door’s handle turn. My breathing, which was a pant from the effort of walking out of the bedroom, got shallower but faster and my heart began booming in my chest. I stood there frozen, like a deer caught in headlights as the door opened with a creak.
“Hello? Shelly?” a feminine voice called. I saw a head covered in long auburn hair poke around the edge of the door. The woman smiled when she saw me. “Hey, Shelly. I don’t know if you remember me. We met when Lulu was in the hospital.” She came completely through the door and held it open in the one hand not holding a huge load of plastic bags.
“I’m Carly,” the woman said and turned to look behind her. “And this is Reese.”
Carly moved aside and I saw another girl, also carrying a plethora of bags, enter. “Silo asked us to get you some clothes and, as he called it, girlie shit.”
I remembered both her and Reese although we’d only spent a couple of hours together when my sister had been at St. Pat’s. These were two of the Hellion Honeys, which was the female contingent of the motorcycle club. If I was correct, Reese was married to Brand although she looked considerably better standing in Silo’s house than she had in the hospital room. Back then, her hair had been adorned with cherry red ends and cut in a very strange style. All the red was now gone and her shiny brown locks were styled in a shoulder length bob with sweeping bangs that showcased her big, brown eyes.
“Oh, yes. Hi,” I said once I found my voice. My knees and hands were still shaking from being so scared but my heart was starting to settle.
“Are you supposed to be up?” Reese asked, dropping her bags on the couch before moving towards me.
“Silo told me you’d be coming today but I must’ve forgot,” I explained as I tried to shift to more comfortable position.
“Is that why you look like you wanted to run when we came in?” Carly’s eyes were roaming over me as she came down the hall. I nodded. “Well, let’s get you back where you’re supposed to be, which I believe is in bed, right?”
After helping me back under the covers, Carly pulled a credit card out of the back pocket of her denim short-shorts and placed it on top of the dresser along with some receipts. “Tell Silo, we didn’t max it out,” she said with a smile as Reese began bringing in the bags, placing them at the end of the mattress.
“Although we spent a freaking whack,” Reese added with a twinkle in her eye. “All new stuff, he said. Classy. Enough for seven full days from the skin out.” She turned to Carly and held her hand up palm towards the other woman. “And we did it!”
“We sure as hell did but I swear to Christ I’m not shopping again for months!” Carly yelled as she connected with Reese in a high-five. “That was brutal!”
“How did you know my sizes?” I asked in a small voice. The two women seemed to be really good friends which, outside of Lulu, I’d never experienced. Within our social class, other women were viewed as the enemy and was a girl’s competition in landing a man of wealth and taste. But these were biker girls and I’m sure their qualifications in a man would be much, much different than mine.
“Stealth!” Reese replied and leaned a hip against the bottom rail of my bed. “We got your sister to tell us.”
I felt my eyes widen and my heart go into frantic mode before I saw Reese quickly straighten holding out both hands towards me. “No. No, no. We didn’t tell her you were here…”
“Silo made us swear not to tell Lulu, honey,” Carly interjected, all traces of humor gone from her face.
“But we needed help unless we were going to buy everything in the one-size-fits-most range,” Reese continued. “We
didn’t think you’d go for that.”
She was right.
I wouldn’t have.
At all.
Both of them seemed to be waiting for me to reply. Not using my words, I again nodded.
“So we got Lulu talking about clothes,” Carly started.
“You know how your sister is about fashion!” Reese threw in.
“And I told her that I wanted something along the lines of the navy blue pantsuit you were wearing at the hospital and your girl was off and running!” Carly laughed and it was so engaging, I found a small smile on my own lips. I allowed my eyes to slide down the length of her, noting the tight hot-pink, baby doll t-shirt that had ‘bad ass bitch’ spelled out in rhinestones over her very ample chest; the short-shorts that exposed her long, long legs down to four inch heeled strappy sandals with studded straps.
Oh god. If Carly dressed like that…
My eyes flew to Reese and saw she was wearing a lilac chiffon top over a matching camisole which were tucked into a pair of low-slung, skin tight, boot-cut jeans. The muted purple flower that adorned the toe of her wedged, platformed heels added a note of fun to her ensemble.
But still.
Neither of them were wearing anything I would ever consider dressing myself in.
Never in a million years.
“Don’t worry, honey,” Carly stated as my eyes went back to her. “He also told us to get you classy shit. Even though I don’t think he even knows what that means.”
I cleared my throat and felt my cheeks heat at having been caught out both staring and passing judgment. But I was very conscious that when it came to my attire, I’d always worked to send the right message regarding my station in life. One that was much higher than the one they were in.
Much higher.
“So what’d you get me then?” The smile I tried on felt false somehow but I was hoping they wouldn’t notice.
“You want the clothes first or the girlie stuff?” Reese asked.
“Let’s do it in order,” Carly suggested when I didn’t immediately respond. She opened one of the bags marked with the logo of one of the local chain drugstores. “Bath stuff, body lotion, cologne, shampoo, conditioner…” her voice droned on as she began to empty the bag item by item.
I pulled the bottle of shampoo towards me and saw that it was labeled, ‘for curly hair’, even though it was a brand that I would’ve never lowered myself to use.
Opening the top of the body lotion and bringing it to my nose, I was surprised it had almost the same soft floral scent as the expensive brand I’d worn in Albuquerque.
“…eyebrow pencil, mascara, eyeliner…”
I snagged the packages from where she’d tossed them in my lap and noted the colors. How had she and Reese known that black would be too harsh with my coloring and had bought brown instead?
“We didn’t get you any lipstick because everyone knows a girl has to pick out her own. But, we did get you some gloss,” Reese announced. “One with shimmer and one without.”
I looked up from the wide toothed comb I was holding in shock. Even though their purchases would never have been mine due to how inexpensive they were, I was still touched that they had tried. “Thank you,” I whispered, feeling my eyes fill. I blinked to try and keep the tears at bay but one slipped out anyway. I saw both women’s eyes follow its track down my cheek. “I don’t know how you knew…this is all so much,” I stammered on a sob, not really knowing why I was crying. “B-but thank you.”
“Ah, honey,” Carly murmured coming to my side and running her hand over my shoulders. “That’s just how our club rolls.”
“If one of us has a need, we try to fill it,” Reese said softly, pushing the bags away to sit on the edge of the mattress. She patted one of my blanket covered legs. “Even if it’s not at the level you’re used to.”
I used the edge of the sheet to wipe my face, trying to keep my crying jag under control but I was fast losing the battle. “B-but I’m n-not one of you.”
“No. You aren’t. But you do belong to Silo,” Carly corrected.
“And that’s good enough for us,” Reese added with another pat as punctuation.
I wanted to correct them, to tell them I wasn’t really ‘with’ Silo, not in the way they thought, but I was afraid if I opened my mouth it would let loose the storm that had built inside me. And a portion of that thunderstorm had to do with my conflicted feelings for the big biker that had dragged his butt to New Mexico and moved me to where he lived without delay.
All in order just to keep me safe.
And had taken pains to ensure I had ‘girlie shit’ and clothes to wear.
It was more care and concern than I’d had in months from anyone but my sister.
Carly leaned down and pressed the side of her face against mine, her lips right next to my ear. “If you need to cry, honey, go right ahead. We’ve got you.”
And that was all the approval my tear ducts needed to let go. With a mighty hitch, I pulled the sheet to my face and allowed all the emotions I’d been holding in for so long, for absolute months, began to spring forth. I cried and sobbed, unable to stop the keening that came up out of my mouth. At one point, I’m sure I even wailed.
And through it all, the two Honeys never stopped touching me, comforting me as I let out all the hurt, the snubs and loss of my former life as I’d known it.
I don’t know how long it took but eventually, my bawls turned to sniffles before slowing to occasional deep-breath hitches. Pulling the now sodden sheet away, I glanced at each one in turn, noting the soft concern and empathy on each of their beautiful faces. “Guess I needed that,” I mumbled as I tried to find a dry spot on the cotton in order to wipe my nose.
I felt a hand pressed a wad of toilet tissue into my fingers. “Your big guy doesn’t have anything but paper towels or toilet rolls. Figured you prefer the softer stuff,” Reese offered with a wry grin.
“Men…” I sighed, with a twisted quirk of lips at her summation.
“Can’t live with them,” Carly started.
“And can’t legally put a cap in their ass,” Reese continued, causing all three of us break into laughter.
“Let’s get through the clothes, then I’ll help you with your hair, Shelly, okay?” Carly said when our chortles had died away.
Without thinking, I reached up to the knotted rat’s nest on top of my head. “I don’t think…”
“We got a great de-tangler…” Reese cut in.
“And nothing but time,” Carly finished. I saw her looking at my hair. “Don’t think you’re gonna be able to do it all on your own, honey.”
“Erm.” I didn’t want anyone else to see what had happened to me, of the bald patches my fingers had discovered. “It…it’s pretty bad.”
Reese looked at me, her head tilted. “You remember my hair when I first met you? Well, it actually looked pretty okay then but if you’d seen it when I first came to Missoula, you would’ve been shocked as shit at my appearance.”
“She looked like something out of a futuristic horror movie,” Carly explained.
“I had to hide, Shelly,” Reese went on after sticking her tongue out at her friend’s assessment. “Brand had me color my hair, my whole head in that bright cherry red stuff and then buzz-cut the sides so I wouldn’t be recognized.”
Carly snorted. “It was a rooster-red Mohawk no matter how you looked at it.”
Reese rolled her eyes but seemed to take Carly’s teasing in stride. “It’s taken over a year to get it back to normal.” She leaned towards me, her brown-eyed gaze holding mine. “There is no way the hair you’ve got is worse than what I sported.”
I swallowed thickly. “I was climbing under a chain link fence…” I licked my lips determined to get through the rest. “And it got caught somehow. Trying to get it out of the metal, I yanked and yanked until I was clear.” God, it hurt to admit that my hair was the result of my own foolishness. “I have bald spots.”
“Shit! Is t
hat all?” Carly groused. “I think we can work to cover any missing parts. If not, we’ll get some of them extensions from the beauty supply place or something. Bald patches aren’t anything to worry about.”
“Really?”
I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that before. Maybe it was because I’d seen those bald spots as shameful, as a reminder that I’d been scared and on the run from a life I no longer recognized, pursued by people I didn’t know and couldn’t grasp any measure of understanding with either circumstance.
“Absolutely, girlfriend,” Reese affirmed with a firm nod. “And while there’s no guarantee, I’m pretty sure it’ll grow back in time.”
Her words surrounded my heart in hope.
“Tell you what,” Carly said eagerly. “I’ll get started on the tangles while Reese shows you the clothes and shoes, okay?”
I know that should’ve sounded great to me since I had nothing to wear and I tried to smile when I nodded my agreement. But my sense of style and what was acceptable to be seen wearing in public just wouldn’t let me. “What sizes did you get?”
Reese laughed as she opened some of the other bags. “Well, Lulu said even though you looked like an eight, you actually wear a size twelve.”
That was true. Because of the configuration of my boobs and hips, I appeared to be a smaller size than the one I fit into.
“She also said that you prefer jewel tones to pastel colors,” Carly added, spritzing the detangler stuff onto one side of my head before reaching for the wide-toothed comb.
“Yeah, I do,” I answered, trying not to wince as Carly worked through the first of the knots as my stomach clenched with the thought of what they may have picked out in their idea of ‘classy’.
“Then you’re gonna love-love-love the stuff we got you,” Reese said with a beaming smile.
I could only hope she wasn’t wrong.
*.*.*.*.*
“Shelly, I’m home,” Silo called, juggling the cardboard box of Chinese food in one hand as he removed his key from the lock with the other.
“Hi, Si. Did you have a good day?” he heard her say and glanced up to see her standing in the doorway of where the hall met the living room.
A Civilian for Silo Page 6
