I stop and turn back to look at him. “Are you serious? He’s your brother, Rod. Neither of us would do anything to hurt you. Now don’t threaten me with that, please.”
“He’d hurt me. He has before. And I’m not threatening you, Jenna. I will be doing something with some woman. Just know that, Baby. And have a merry fucking Christmas!” Then he falls on the sofa and promptly passes out.
I slam into the bedroom and fall on the bed and cry.
Merry fucking Christmas, indeed!
Chapter 5
REED
The first sunrise of the new year and here I am sitting alone in my parents’ backyard.
A swimming pool would look very nice back here…
I’ll make that happen before summer gets here this year. I have a financial secret I’ve been keeping from my entire family. My real estate business has been good.
Well, great actually. I’ve managed to become a billionaire through the sales and investments. But I’ve kept it all very low key.
My mom and dad and even brother aren’t jackals but the rest of my family is and I can see the Manning clan making nuisances of themselves.
Many would think of me as their personal ATM machine. And many would suddenly want to visit me in California. Maybe want to stay at the Bel-Air mansion I just bought a few months ago.
I could see the old trucks driving through the ritzy neighborhood now. Yeah, the neighbors would hate me for sure.
The sliding glass door rumbles open as Mom comes out. Her steaming cup of coffee leaves her in a cloud of fog as she emerges after the nearly all night party they threw for New Year’s Eve.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” I say very quietly because she most likely has a hangover. “Sleep well?”
She takes the lawn chair next to mine and sips her coffee. Bloodshot eyes look at me. “No.”
I smile at her. “Mom, when will you learn not to take shots at your age? Stick with the wine and leave the tough stuff to Rod and his cousins.”
Her lips curve into a smile. “You’ve always called those rowdy boys your brother’s cousins. Never yours. Why is that?”
“They’re nothing like me. All of them are the same. Work only as much as needed. Spend every last dime they manage to make and broke as hell the day before payday. Then drink away half their paycheck on payday. A vicious cycle Rod and his cousins are in.” The sun catches my eye as is rises over the area I’ve decided the pool should go.
“They are your family, Son. You’ve always stayed to yourself so much. You should try to get to know a few of the cousins now that you all are older and all that rivalry is gone.” I watch her sip her coffee and fight a frown.
To become successful, I’ve learned to start each day on positive notes. Thinking about trying to find some common ground with the men in my extended family is not a positive note.
“So, Mom. I’m going to be sending a swimming pool company out here soon. I’d like to have you a pool in by summer. Something nice and large. You have so many parties and I think one would look nice out here in this big backyard.”
“Reed, that would be nice, but way too expensive. I don’t think we can afford it. Not now since your father and I have retired.” She sips her coffee. “Thank you, though.”
“Mom, I have the money to pay cash for it and I’ll pay a pool cleaner to handle the care of it. It’ll be something that doesn’t cost you a cent. By the way, I found this month’s electric bill in the stack of bills you and Dad have. I set up for it to be paid straight out of one of my bank accounts. So don’t go freaking out when no more of those bills come in. I’m taking care of it from now on.” I stretch my legs out and cross them at my ankles.
“I can’t let you do that, Son. Change it back,” she says as she looks over the rim of her old brown coffee mug she’s had since I was a kid.
“Mom, I’m not changing anything back. As a matter of fact, I went down to Doug’s Autoplex and left some money down there. You and Dad can go down this week and both of you can pick out any brand new cars you want. There’s enough money down there for you each to get something you absolutely love. It’s my Christmas present to you guys.”
Her face turns very slowly as she looks at me. “Reed, just how much money have you been making over there in California?”
“Enough,” I say and put my hands behind my head and lean back on them. “I’m going to take care of you and Dad from now on. You need something, you call me. You merely want something, you call me. I’m leaving a bank card with Dad. It’s an account I’ve set up for you guys. I’m having your card sent in the mail. It should be arriving any day now. Use it for all of your expenses. Groceries, whatever you want or need. Got it?”
She puts the cup down on the small table beside her and stands up. Her hair is flat on one side where she slept on it. The silver curls pressed in neat circles against her head.
Mom has light blue eyes. They used to be dark but they’ve faded over the years. Her thin lips part as she asks, “Reed, just how much money are you making now. Tell me the truth.”
“Plenty, Mom. That’s all you need to know. And it’s all legal stuff.” I smile at her and get up. “I’ll make some breakfast for you and Dad. You want me to bring you out some more coffee?”
She shakes her head. “I’m coming inside with you. You have to leave in the morning and I want to spend every minute I can with you before you have to go.”
I slide the noisy glass door back open and make a note to have it replaced then a thought pops into my head. “Why don’t you and Dad find a nice lot and I’ll buy it and have you a house built on it?”
“Nothing doing, Moneybags. Your father bought us this home only three years after we married. We’re going to die in this home.” She sits at the bar and I refill her coffee cup.
“Fine. But I’m going to have someone come and do some repairs and replace a few things.” I go to the fridge and take out the bacon and sausage I bought yesterday. “That glass door is the first thing I want to be replaced. Don’t you think a nice set of French doors would go great there? And once the pool’s in then it’ll look very pretty.”
Mom looks at the glass door and nods. “That would look nice, wouldn’t it?”
Pulling my cell phone out of my blue jean pocket, I text Rod to see if he and Jenna want to join us for breakfast. Before I put it back I see he’s responded with a very short answer, -fuck you, I’m sleeping-
I place the phone on the counter and wait to see if he wakes up a bit and changes his mind. Rod’s always been a real grump in the mornings.
Then Jenna comes into my mind. I wonder how she’s doing this morning. She was so quiet last night at the party. Rod was roaring drunk, again, and she was to herself.
I don’t know why she thinks she has to settle for life with Rod. I glance at Mom who’s gazing around I assume looking at things that need repaired or fixed up some.
“Mom, do you think Rod’s treating Jenna well?” I ask as I fill a pan with strips of bacon.
The way her eyes go droopy all of a sudden answers my question. “Your brother is a hard man. You know that. But maybe Jenna can calm him down. He seems very attached to her. Protective over her, you know?”
“Possessive of her is how I see it. I’ve watched her around him. She’s skittish. She never was before. I used to watch her when we were in high school together. She was a sweet girl with lots of friends. I haven’t heard her talk about any of the girls she used to hang out with. Have you?” I form the sausage into patties and fill another pan full of them.
Mom shakes her head then runs her hand through her silver, short curls. “I have not heard her talk about any of them. When she was in my class in junior high school I do recall her having a lot of friends. She and one girl, in particular, Patty Slater. They were very close. But that family moved if I do recall.”
I nod and ask, “Do you think Rod hurts her?”
Mom shakes her head. “No, Son! Goodness, no! Your father would rip him a new o
ne and you know that.”
“What if he is and Jenna just doesn’t want to tell anyone? Rod used to be very mean, Mom. Do you remember how he was about punishing things when he thought they did wrong? The puppy who peed in the living room when he was ten?” I turn the bacon in the hot pan.
Mom nods and sips her coffee. “We found the poor puppy strung up in the string that opens the window blinds. Rod actually shouted at me when I was cutting the poor thing out of the knots he’d made with the string to hold him off the floor. He told me he was teaching him not to use the bathroom in the house and the puppy had ten more minutes of punishment before he was to be let down. And then he was going to spank the puppy until he thought it had learned.”
A shiver runs through me as I think about another time Rod decided punishment was necessary. I was five and had gone into his bedroom to put some laundry on his bed. Mom had asked me to do it and when I was walking out he came up the hallway and the next thing I knew I was punched in the mouth and locked in his closet.
He left me there, bleeding, crying, and very confused. It seemed like forever before Mom found me and set me free. When I told her what he did she talked to him and he told her he was teaching me to stay out of his bedroom.
Rod’s always been into teaching and not in a good way!
“She asks him before she does anything, Mom,” I say as I pull the cooked bacon out of the pan and place it on a paper towel lined plate.
The sound of Rod’s truck is heard pulling into the driveway and shortly thereafter the front door opens. “Is it ready?” Rod shouts.
“Not quite,” I shout back. “And I thought you were sleeping.”
“So you didn’t make enough?” he asks as he comes into the kitchen, Jenna is quiet and a step behind him. Her head lowered, and she looks pale.
“I’m making more than enough,” I say then look around him at Jenna who’s staying just behind him. “Morning, Jenna. Think you can help me out and put some biscuits on a baking sheet and get them in the oven for me? My hands are kind of full right now.”
She whispers, “Is that okay, Rod?”
Before he can answer, I say, “Of course, it is. Come here.”
“Go,” he says with a gruff voice. “Get me some coffee first.”
“Yes, I will,” she says in a very quiet voice without looking at anyone.
Mom gives me a sideways glance telling me to stay out of it, but I can’t. “So, what have you two been up to this morning?” I take the coffee from the counter before Jenna can and hand it to my brother who looks at me with a slight glare in his steel-blue eyes.
“Not much. It looks like you’ve been up for a while. All showered and dressed. Jenna got up at the fucking crack of dawn too. It bothered the shit out of me as she made racket going in and out of the house. Looking at the fucking sunrise, she said.” He takes his coffee and walks out of the kitchen and into the living room where I hear him turn on the television.
I turn around to say something to Jenna and find her backing up with the tray of biscuits and hit her accidentally on her back with my arm. She doesn’t make a sound but flinches like hell and quickly steps away from me.
“Sorry, Jenna. Did I hurt you?” I take her by the shoulder and gently turn her back to me.
She doesn’t look up at me as she answers, “No, I’m fine. You startled me is all.”
Rod shouts from the living room. “More coffee!”
Jenna hurries to put the biscuits in the oven then grabs the pot and nearly runs to the living room with it to fill the asshole’s cup.
“Lazy, bastard,” I grumble under my breath.
Mom gets up. “I’m going to shower and dress before breakfast. I’ll get your father up too.”
As she leaves the kitchen, Jenna comes back in and places the nearly empty pot in the coffee maker. She takes out the filter full of old coffee grounds and throws it away then gets a new one and fills it with fresh grounds.
I place a jug of spring water on the counter. “You want to use this? It makes better coffee.”
She nods and pours the water into the reservoir. “Thank you.”
I make sure to keep my voice quiet as I ask, “Everything okay, Jen?”
“Yes.” She walks over to check the biscuits. “Would you like me to get the eggs out for you?”
“That would be nice. Thank you.” I try hard not to stare at her as she takes them out of the fridge and places the carton on the counter top. “Can you crack them into a bowl and scramble them for me?”
She nods and gets to work on that. When she reaches up into the overhead cabinet were the bowls are I see her wince again and pull her arm back to her side.
This time, I go to her and run my hand over her shoulder and move her shirt back a little. She kind of freaks out and steps away from me. I take her by the wrist, stopping her and she winces again.
When I look down I see it’s red and I take the other one and see it’s red too. “What’s this about?”
“Nothing.” She looks away. “Normal stuff. I’d rather not discuss it. Rod would hate that.”
I let her go and turn away. “Cuffs?”
“No,” she answers as I reach up and get a bowl and place it on the counter.
“What then?” I ask as I take a whisk from the drawer and place it in the bowl for her.
“Bungee cord. You know a little bondage. Nothing odd.” Her cheeks go pink and she still won’t look at me.
“I don’t think anything is supposed to be so tight it leaves marks and you hurting, Jenna.” I go back to the stove and get the sausages out of the pan and take the empty pan to the sink and grab a new one for the eggs.
“They don’t hurt and the lines will go away in a few hours.” She starts cracking the eggs and putting them into the bowl.
I move next to her and start stirring them with the whisk as she puts them in. “You two do that kind of stuff a lot?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Special occasions, I assume.” I look over her shoulder and try to see down the back of her shirt.
I’m sure I’d see something on her back if I could just see down it.
Then she looks up at me and her lips part. Then they close again and she looks down. “Yes, only now and then. You know, normal fun. Nothing odd.”
She’s said normal and odd way too many times so I push it a little more. “You still have my number if you need anything. And I’m going to be sending you some information on Arizona State University. Rod doesn’t have to know a thing. You can do the classes while he’s at work.”
She takes the now empty carton and goes to the trash then comes back to my side and whispers, “Okay.” Then she walks away leaving me feeling off balanced.
She comes back with Rod’s empty coffee cup and as she’s refilling it I deiced to make a daring and risky move. I walk up behind her and run my hands from her shoulders down her arms and lean in close. “This will be our secret, okay?”
Without turning back, she whispers, “Okay. Thank you.”
I step back and she leaves the kitchen and I find my hands buzzing from the contact with her soft skin.
My body reacts to her more than it ever has to anyone. And I am left with such a want for her. I have to readjust my jeans as my cock sprang to life with the electricity that shot through me when I felt her skin beneath my palms.
Why does she have to be with my brother?
Chapter 6
JENNA
The porcelain is cold against my cheek as Rod has me bent over the sink in the men’s bathroom at the garage he works at. He called me thirty minutes ago and told me to come over here or he was going to fuck the new girl here who answers the phones.
Apparently this man will put his dick into anything with a fucking pulse as that woman is on the heavy side and completely unattractive.
He holds me down with one hand and with the other he holds my waist as he pounds into me from behind. I don’t know what set him off, but he’s in a terrible
mood and didn’t want to talk.
Just fuck!
I cut my eyes up and see him looking into the mirror as he pounds into me. He’s watching himself and gritting his teeth as he grunts with every hard thrust.
He’s filled with angst for some reason and it fills me with sorrow for him. I close my eyes and try to find some pleasure in this.
I’ll be expected to climax and at this point, I’m nowhere near it. I listen to the guttural noises he’s making and focus on how his hard cock is moving in and out of me.
Our skin slaps against the other’s with every hard thrust and then he moves his hand off my back and runs it over my ass. My skirt is flipped up, and he ripped my panties off me earlier. They lay in the trash can only a few feet away from me.
He smacks my ass three times, and it sends my body into a shiver as it knows he’s about to cum. And my body knows it has to join him.
Then he leans over me as he slams into me. His teeth graze my neck. “You like this Bitch? You like my hard cock filling up your tight pussy?”
“Yes, Master.”
“You’re lucky you came when I told you to or this thick cock would be buried in the fat pussy on the other side of this door. You want that?” He bites my neck hard then sucks it and I know it will leave a purple mark.
“I do not want that, Master.” My legs begin to shake as for reasons I cannot understand my body wants to climax with how he’s talking to me.
Heat fills my ear with his breath and then his wet tongue goes into it. “When I tell you to come, I want you to scream my name out as loud as you can and pant loud too. I want the whole shop to know I’m fucking you in here.”
My body freezes. That’s too humiliating. I shake my head. “That’s not in our contract. Please don’t ask me to do that.”
His cheek is pressed to mine, the whiskers rake my tender flesh as he says, “If you don’t do as I say then I will string your ass up for three hours when I get home. I bought some nipple clamps and a new collar. A full collar and I’ll make you hang there with those on for three fucking hours. Now do as I say and know when I come home today, I’m putting you over my lap and spanking that ass while I finger fuck you for talking back to me.”
Hot Nights in Sturgis The Complete Series: A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Motorcycle, BDSM, Romance (Billionaire Romance Novels) Page 29
