“I’m your only waitress, Grace. At least since Elle left.”
“Ah, yes. Elle. I do miss that sweet girl.”
I smiled at her and gave her a hug.
“Yes, well that settles it then,” she said. “I’ll make the sofa bed for you so it’s ready when you get back. And don’t lollygag now. It’s no time for young ladies to be roaming around town unaccompanied.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be back in no time. Goodnight, Grace.”
“Goodnight, dear. See you in the morning.”
I walked down the hall and toward the front door, slipping my shoes on and heading out to my car. I didn’t care if I threw these keys into the trash, but I wanted them out of my house. I felt terrible for not being truthful with Grace, but a little white lie to protect her and me was something I was willing to live with. I couldn’t have Hunter coming around anymore. Just a few hours ago, while I was quivering in orgasm, he’d felt like the best thing that had ever happened to me. Now, I knew that all that was an illusion. A delicious, sexy illusion, but an illusion none the less. He was more like a drug that I needed to clear out of my system. Some poison that gave me a rush of pure ecstasy, but would destroy me and my life if I let him. I wasn’t going to let that happen. No matter how strong his hold on me was, no matter how much I wanted to throw myself into his arms and have him crash inside of me again, no matter how much I wanted to feel his lips pressed on mine like I was the only thing he needed to survive. I sat in my car and thought about touching myself. I thought about Hunter’s hand around my throat while he looked me dead in the eye as he opened up my core like I had never felt. I thought about sinking my teeth into his broad shoulders.
“Kelly,” Grace called from the front porch. “You forgot Dennis’s keys, you silly girl.”
Grace walked down the steps and passed the keys to me through the driver’s side window.
“You all right, baby? You look a little flushed.”
“I’m okay, Grace. I’m just satisfied from a good meal.”
“Yes, well, that is the look of satisfaction now that I think about it. Hurry home, dear. The sofa bed will be waiting.”
I waved to Grace as I pulled out of the driveway. I was going to drop these keys through the mail slot of the auto shop. Hunter would find them there in the morning and I’d be done with this. I’d be done with him. It had only been a day, and it was like he’d taken over my life already. I remembered why I liked being single. The loneliness was a small price to pay for not having my life taken over by a complete animal. Anyway, I had more important things to worry about than this schoolgirl crush on a dangerous, tattooed drifter, and it was time to stop living in a fantasy. I had Lucas to think of.
All of this silliness ended tonight.
Chapter 22
Hunter
I lit a smoke as I parted ways with Deacon at the stairwell to my apartment and started to make my way down the block to the auto shop.
There wasn’t a soul on the street and barely any signs that anyone lived on it. I might have actually been able to get used to this place if I would have kept fucking quiet and minded my own business. It could have actually been okay. I should never have taken work with Dennis and I should never have mingled with civilians. I should have just found a quiet place to crash, drink and sleep. I could have lain low during the day, and let myself out to breathe at night. It’s how I lived back in Boston except that city pulsed just as hard at night as it did during the day. Or at least that’s how it was in the neighborhoods I spent my time in. It was a different crowd than the day, but it was one I was more comfortable in. Hookers, druggies, drunks, criminals, general fucking lowlifes. Those were the people that came out at night and filled my streets. Those were the people I could live with because they minded their own business. No one gave a flying fuck who you were, so long as you kept to yourself and stayed out of their way. Nobody looked twice if you were beating someone down with one hand and chugging a bottle of whiskey with the other in the middle of the goddamn sidewalk. No one gave a shit if you fucked some broad up against the wall in an alley before you dropped her on her ass and you both went your separate ways. No questions asked and every bastard for themselves.
Even that shit grows tired though. Same faces, same bullshit. People are people and most of them get sick of being alone. They want to talk to someone. Even if that person has, Don’t fucking talk to me, tattooed across his forehead, like I did.
I didn’t even know I wanted out of Boston until the night I skipped town. It didn’t even dawn on me until I was pedal to the fucking floor on the interstate, sucking on a bottle of booze. I didn’t belong anywhere and I didn’t give a shit about anyone. That’s what I fucking accepted that night. I’d be there for Deacon in a fucking heartbeat because he’s my fucking brother, but he didn’t need me and I didn’t need him. That’s why we could spend so much time together. We left each other the fuck alone except when it was absolutely necessary.
The general want and need for another human being is something that never made sense to me. People served a purpose and then they didn’t. End of fucking story. I’d been in this shit town surrounded by these fantasy world motherfuckers for almost a week, and they damn near got their claws in me. They had me mistaking myself for some sort of hero. Had me thinking that some piece of pussy was worth fucking up my life for. Fuck that. That’s never been who I was, and it never will be.
Good fucking riddance, Stone Peak, Montana. You almost had me.
I put my cigarette out with my boot when I got to the front of the shop. I made my way around back to the office entrance and peered in the window. Sometimes after a good piss up, Denny would sleep it off on the couch in there so he didn’t have to stumble his drunk ass home the extra few blocks.
No sign of drunk Denny tonight though.
I tried the door handle and hoped he had at least forgotten to lock up. No such luck. I took a step back and kicked the fucker in, sending it crashing against the wall.
No alarm. No guard dogs. Nothing. You have to love a sleepy town’s security systems.
I fumbled around in the dark until I found the light and flicked it on. The office was a goddamn mess, but I knew the keys to the tow truck were in there somewhere.
Jesus Christ, Denny. I’m a fucking slob, but at least I don’t own a lot of shit.
There were half eaten sandwiches, open porno mags, paperwork from God knows how long ago. I noticed an unopened can of beer sitting next to the antique machine Denny called a computer. I picked it up and cracked it open, taking about half of it down in two gulps. It was piss warm, but tasted good after swilling whiskey with Deacon for the last few hours. It’s always good to switch it up from time to time. I finished the can and threw it over my shoulder on some pile of shit that was lying around.
I was tossing anything loose off the desk when, all of the sudden, I heard the familiar jingle of a keychain hitting the floor.
There they were. I’ll have her back in a few hours, Denny. Keep dreaming of burnt bacon and young pussy you could never catch.
I made my way to the front of the shop just as I saw and heard Deacon pull up out front in his vintage Camaro.
Jesus Christ, Deacon. Bring a louder fucking automobile next time. Dickhead.
I walked toward the entrance, unhinged the lock, and threw up the sliding door. No sense in being quiet since old Deacon was driving a roaring machine in a town where you’d hear a pin drop.
“Nice car, asshole. Real fucking subtle. Why don’t you hit the horn? I don’t think everyone is awake yet.”
Deacon just leaned toward the passenger side and smiled as he revved the engine and made the car roar.
“Subtle like beating two motherfuckers to death in a small town diner at noon? That kind of subtle?”
“Yeah that same kind of subtle, dickhead. And they lived. So, I guess for me that is kind of subtle.”
Deacon laughed as he sat back and took a pull of the whiskey bottle.
“Move that fucking beast back so I can pull the truck out. This place isn’t far. Just follow me.”
He saluted me as he reversed.
What a dick.
Chapter 23
Kelly
I pulled my car in front of the diner and shut the engine down. I rarely left the house at this time of night and the streets were eerily silent. Not that Stone Peak was ever a busy place, but there was always a familiar face around to give a smile or, at the very least, someone in a window going about their day in a comforting way. I was the only person on the entire street and I suddenly felt very aware of that.
Relax, Kelly.
It’s been a day to forget and it is almost over. Lock up the diner, drive around the corner, drop the keys, and you can go home to the people you love. You can do this. Your life is under control. You’re safe. You have everything you need. You don’t need to go mixing things up.
I felt silly for having to give myself a pep talk to do such simple things, but more had happened to me in the last day than the entire last year. I took off my seatbelt, opened the door, and got out of the car.
When I got to the front of the diner, sure enough, the door was open an inch or two. You had to really hold it closed when you locked it and clearly Grace hadn’t been herself when leaving today. I could see that the bolt was out, but she just hadn’t pulled the door tight enough for it to latch.
Poor, Grace. I knew that what had happened this morning at her diner wasn’t my fault, but I still felt guilty, like I had somehow been responsible for bringing this beast into her life. It was ridiculous and I knew it wasn’t true, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. I refused to deny the connection that I knew Hunter and I had. Although it might not have been my fault that he came crashing into our lives, I could make damn sure that he didn’t have a reason to stay. I had to put everything I felt about him aside and realize what was good for me and the people I cared about. And that’s just what I was going to do.
I pulled the diner door tight and made sure the bolt slid all the way in, locking the place up for the night. There was no real need to lock the door in this town, but getting that done felt like I had taken a step toward piecing myself and my life back together. It only took one day for Hunter to tear it apart, and I was going to get it back on track tonight.
I walked back to my car and opened the door. I could hear a ridiculously loud engine roaring somewhere close by.
Kids, I thought, don’t they have anything better to do?
I sat in the driver’s seat and took a moment to laugh at myself. I was the oldest twenty-three-year-old on the planet. Here I was out at a perfectly reasonable hour for someone my age, scolding someone in my head for having a little fun. Sometimes I wondered about myself, if I was missing out on some things, letting my youth slip by.
Well, you had your fun this afternoon, Kelly. How did that make you feel after all was said and done? Was it worth it?
I had no answer for myself.
A big part of me wished I had never met Hunter. He flipped my life upside down in one afternoon and left me with this painful rock sitting in the pit of my stomach. I missed him and hated him at the same time, and I had never been more confused by anything or anyone in my entire life. I wanted nothing more than to be rid of him and the ache he caused in the pit of my stomach. At the same time, there was an equally big part of me that couldn’t imagine him leaving my life as quickly and effortlessly as he had entered it, and was terrified that I might never see him again. He made me feel more alive than I ever had, and he did it with hardly a word. He just looked into me with his sharp, deep, blue eyes, took me in his worn and powerful hands, and made me feel things I’d never felt in my life. With one movement of his tongue or lips, he had me questioning everything about myself. When he pinned me down on my kitchen floor and plunged himself so far into me, he did more than open me physically, he opened up my eyes to a whole new world. It was a world of intensity, of primal desire. He’d needed me and I’d needed him. There was nothing that was going to stop him from crushing our bodies together in a sweaty and blissful union. I still ached from him and I still ached for him.
But it couldn’t be. He was like a wildfire and I knew there was nothing I could do to contain him. I knew what I had to do and why. I couldn’t let him swallow me up in his raging flames. No matter how much I wanted and needed to be there.
I put the key in the ignition and turned the engine. Nothing.
No, no, no. Not now. Please, not now. Stupid, beat up, old car.
I stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. I tried the engine again.
Nothing.
I placed my hands on the wheel and rested my head between them. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I wasn’t far from home. I didn’t even need to drive. But here I was, alone on the deserted streets, with an engine that wouldn’t turn.
The perfect end to the perfect day.
You have got to be kidding me. So much for reclaiming control over my life.
I lifted my head and pounded my fist on the steering wheel.
“God damn it,” I cried.
I immediately felt bad for taking the Lord’s name in vain.
I leaned back against the headrest and thought about what I was going to do. I could just walk the few blocks back to my house and end this mess of a day right now, or I could walk around the corner, drop Hunter’s keys, and be done with this whole mess forever.
I tried the engine again with no luck and pounded my fist on the steering wheel one more time like it would magically spring the vehicle into action. It did not.
Okay, Kelly. Just keep your head up and get this done.
I reached for the door handle when I heard a vehicle approaching slowly from behind.
Whoever you are, keep going. Please, just keep going. I can’t do this anymore. No more today.
But the vehicle didn’t keep going past. It stopped and I heard a voice call out to me from its driver’s seat.
“Looks like you’re having a little car trouble there, sweetheart. Anything I can do to make your life a little better tonight?”
I could have looked out to see who it was, but I already knew. When he spoke, his voice echoed through me. I felt the electricity. I felt my stomach jump. I felt scared.
It was Hunter, once again, staring down at me, ready to save me, ready to take me.
And I prayed he would.
Chapter 24
Hunter
Why did you just stop? Why the fuck did you just stop?
I didn’t realize it was Kelly until I pulled up slowly beside her car, but man, there she was looking just as fucking sexy and pure as that morning at the diner. Her hair was tied back and she was out of her waitress’s uniform and into a tight blue tank top and shorts that barely covered her up. Sitting above her in the truck, I could see just how well everything clung to her body. Her tits pushed together under her shirt, her smooth legs pressed closed like she was trying to convince herself she didn’t want me between them. There wasn’t much left to the imagination and I was fucking losing my mind. The booze usually got me fired up, but this was something else.
I wanted her again.
I fucking needed her again. Just like earlier, but it was worse now. This time I knew what her pussy tasted and felt like. I knew how beautiful she looked when she came on my rock hard cock. I could feel myself rising at the memory of fucking her and I started to white knuckle the steering wheel of the truck.
Jesus Christ.
Kelly just stared straight ahead.
“Hey. Sweetheart. You all right?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. You can go.”
She kept looking dead in front of her, barely acknowledging I was there.
“Yeah? Fine, hey? That why you’re sitting here so late, all alone, in a car that’s not fucking moving?”
She leaned her head back against the driver’s seat of her car and shut her eyes, not saying a goddamn word. She was breathing heavy and I couldn’t help
but watch her perfect breasts moving up and down. My cock kept growing and moving down my pant leg.
“So you’re just going to sit there? I’ve got a tow truck and you’ve got a busted car and you’re just going to sit there and not say a goddamn word?”
She just sat in the seat with her eyes closed, doing her best to pretend I wasn’t there.
Fucking open your eyes, darling. I’m not going anywhere. No matter how much I fucking want to, I’m going to sit right here until you show me those eyes.
“Kelly, fuck. I’m just trying to,” I started but never finished the sentence.
“Trying to what?” she shouted.
Up to then, I had barely heard her speak, let alone shout. Except for when I filled her tight pussy with my cock, that is. Then I heard those lungs open up.
“The diner, this afternoon, right now, just what are you trying to do, Hunter?”
She stared up at me and I could see tears were welling up in her gorgeous green eyes. She was pissed, but the type of pissed that wanted me to open up that door, spread her legs, and make her scream again.
Be careful what you wish for, darling.
“You dropped your keys today. After we,” she stopped and sighed. “You dropped your keys at my place.”
She threw my car keys through the window of the truck and they fell between the two front seats. She couldn’t bring herself to meet my stare.
Well. That was a lot fucking easier than breaking and entering. Thanks, sweetheart.
“Yeah, I was going to drop by tomorrow and pick those up. I had a few other things to take care of tonight. Figured you’d be busy too.”
“Ha,” she cried. “Yeah, you wouldn’t want to have to have an actual conversation. Wouldn’t want to have to explain why you,” she started to trail off. “Just go, Hunter. You got what you needed. Now you can just go.”
She could barely choke the words out and that was just fine with me.
That’s exactly fucking right, sweetheart. I don’t want to talk to you. I never fucking did.
First Time Lucky Page 97
