His lips and tongue teased the soft flesh of her belly before biting the stud she had in her belly button. He tugged just enough straight down that her clit jumped again.
“Clayton,” she moaned as he undid her jeans and inched them down as if they actually had something stopping him. With her hips high in the air, the only delay came from his torment as his teeth bit the lace of her panties to bring them down even slower. “You’re an asshole,” she cried.
His eyes flickered with mischief as they looked up along her body and met hers. “Something you need?”
Him buried deep, but that’s not what she was going to say, no she could torment with the best of them. “Continue.”
A smiled crossed his lips and she’d failed to realize she was completely bare and open to him before he disappeared between her legs and a long lick of his tongue hit her clit already stimulated to the point of pain. The scream could not be contained as he devoured her with glee. Freaking bastard even laughed as she squirmed when his tongue touched her anus with a flick before returning to suck on her outer folds. First one, then two, then three fingers drove inside with one curling up and locating the small bundle of nerves of her G-spot. Stroking the spot, sent her hips up only to be met by the brick wall of his arm trapping her to the bed.
“No, no, no,” she gasped as her fingers clawed the sheets while he sucked harder on her clit. It was too late. Her core clenched tight to his fingers as an orgasm tore through her body as if someone had set a fuse along every inch of her skin. “Oh, my God!” she screamed again. Run…she thought. It was too much, too good, she would never recover and when he plunged himself into her, she spasmed underneath him with her only solace being he was on top and she could grasp him and never let go.
Chapter Eight
“Kiss me,” Clay said as he leaned across the bar.
“I’m working.” Savannah smiled even as her heart was light from the flush of being around him. Damn, he made her feel as if anything was possible.
“I don’t care,” he cooed and reached for her, but she got away.
“Come back here, woman.”
“I’m working,” she replied again with a wink.
“Then bring me a ‘samich.”
“What kind?” she asked as she strode toward him.
“Come here and I’ll tell you.”
“Will you now?” she asked resting her elbows on the bar, so they were nose to nose. “What ever can I get you?”
“I’ll take one of those turkey wrap things.” His lips brushed against hers, but he didn’t kiss her. “How about a beer too?”
Her lips tingled and she had to hold herself back as she got lost in his liquid chocolate eyes. “In a bottle?” she breathed the words out as they shared the air between them.
“Tap.”
“You do keep me on my toes,” she said no longer able to hold back. She gave him a light kiss on his lips before popping back only to run into Carolyn. “Sorry, sorry.”
“Mmm-hmm…” Carolyn snorted. “Izzy is waiting for you at the pass thru, she just had a group come in.”
“I’ll get over there, let me just get Clay his beer first.”
“I’m sure he’d wait for you,” Carolyn warned as she crossed her arms. “You’ll remember his order won’t you?”
“Yes ma’am.” Savannah went to the opposite end of the bar and placed Clay’s order for a wrap before being slammed with twenty orders. “What’s up?” she asked, preparing herself as Izzy tucked a pen behind her ear and shook out her electric red hair.
“Just need a few Buds in bottles.”
“Carolyn said you had a group.”
“Is two a group?” she chuckled. “Well I guess, or she wanted to keep you from seeing that.”
Izzy pointed and Savannah turned on her heel to see a blonde treating Clay as if he where a personal jungle gym. Clay was smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes. It took a moment, but Savannah remembered her from before. She’d seen the two of them talking in the parking lot a few days ago, only that time her hair had been perfect. Slicked back into a ponytail without a single bump. It boggled the mind how a woman could do that.
Savannah’s hair was it’s own creature unable to be tamed.
This woman now had her hair down and somewhat in a shambles like Savannah’s, but not to the extreme. No, there was no way this woman could let it go that much. Not even on her worst day.
Savannah grabbed a beer from the cooler and snapped the top off on the lower counter with one hard slam from her hand. Before she got to the two of them, the woman wrapped one arm around Clay’s neck and had her other hand right above his belt.
“Your ‘samich will be a few,” Savannah snarled and placed the beer on the counter.
“I said tap,” Clay stumbled partially from nerves.
Savannah assumed it was nerves anyway and partially from trying to get the woman to keep her hand out in the open. “Sorry, give me a minute.”
He turned and wrapped the girl’s arms around her back nullifying her ability to strip him right then and there. Not that Savannah was opposed to that, if she was the one getting him naked. It had become quite a regular activity, but not in the bar, or parking lot…Carolyn’s request. He was her man as much as anyone could belong to another. At least that was the thought as this woman giggled as if she was used to being restrained by Clay. Another of Savannah’s newfound past times. She didn’t like being jealous. It ate at her from a primal level.
“Hope,” Clay said. “Stop.”
Savannah then made sure to log the name in her memory bank.
“Oh please Clay, you know you want it. I just figured out what kinda girl you really go for.”
Savannah could feel the judgmental look from halfway across the room. This girl did not just go there.
“Outside,” Clay ordered as he dragged the woman from the bar, still keeping her arms locked behind her. Savannah was soon on the chase only to see Bessie resting comfortably in Carolyn’s hands by the pass through, her only way out from behind the bar except jumping it.
“Let him sort it out.” Carolyn stood firm. “That one’s been sniffing at him since high school. I think she finally popped. Not the first time he’s had to calm her down.”
“They’ve never been a couple then?”
“I wouldn’t say never, but let’s just say those two go back and forth more than a see-saw.”
“But—”
“Don’t cage him. Not that one. You think you’re a runner? You ain’t got shit on what those Longs can do. That’s why they send them off to school. Sow them wild ones, they come back and it’s meant to be. Who you met of the family? Really met?” she challenged. “The hooks you got in him are good, but not permanent. Not yet. Just like he ain’t got ones in you. That report come back wrong about who your daddy is, I bet you’ll ghost faster than angels fly.”
* * * *
“Hope!” Clay barked as he practically tossed her against the wall. “What the hell are you trying to do?”
“Don’t act like this isn’t what you want,” she cooed. “I saw you the other day in the parking lot. You want it public. You want it raw. Well, I can do raw.” An unnatural growl came from her as she continued trying to be the overly sexualized woman. Totally against type. “You want me tied up? I can do that?”
Who did she think she was Sandy Dee? She was stronger than he thought as she fought against his hold. “Hope, what about me makes you act like a fool? Seriously, I’m not that great of a catch.”
“She caught you didn’t she? I can give you a blow job right here.” Somehow, she broke his hold and dropped to her knees.
Jumping back to get out of the reach of her hands, he put his knee up to keep her back.
“Hey Hope,” Cash, a guy they’d gone to school with, called. “Do we just line up and you take us one at a time?” The laughs from the guys he was with made her bury her face in her hands.
Clay wanted to beat the shit out of them. “Back off Cash,
this isn’t the time,” he warned.
“What are you going to do about it Clayton? The pretty, pretty princess here is begging for her mouth to be filled.” Cash shot back while looking at his gang of friends setting off another round of laughs. “Ms. Manners says we should make sure a lady gets everything she needs.”
Clay positioned himself between Hope and the group of guys. His skin rose and he wondered what the chances were his family might magically show to back him up. Six to one weren’t the type of odds he liked. Especially, over a girl who would end up twisting it to being more than him trying to stop her from being gang raped to him defending the honor of the woman he loved. “Cash you know Hope,” Clay tried to reason with him. “She’s had a rough day and is blowing off steam.” He glanced back and saw Hope was now standing and trying to smooth out her hair and wipe away tears that had streaked her thick makeup. When he turned back, he was met with a sucker punch causing the lights of the parking lot to explode with stars as he tumbled backwards. Stabilizing himself, he gazed at Cash and his buddies with smiles on as they spread out.
Clay knew what was coming next. Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups. If even one of his cousins were by his side, they wouldn’t have laid a hand on him. Instead, he was about to be pummeled, all because of Hope Fucking Matthews.
He landed the second blow to Cash’s jaw, but there was no way they would let Clay have a fair fight. When Clay countered with a gut blow, he was met from behind by a second guy landing a kidney punch that dropped him to a knee. Jacking his elbow back fast, he made contact with the side of the asshole’s knee. A crack reverberated against the building that buckled the guy causing a loud howl as he crashed the ground. Cash’s groin was next. He didn’t want to fight fair, so neither would Clay as he pushed himself up led by his right fist, taking out the organ Cash had thought would be pleasurable to Hope. Even though it was only a few minutes of fists flying, Clay was waiting for Carolyn to come out wielding Bessie to stop the assault.
Instead of rushing to get back up, Hope watched, afraid to move from her spot next to the wall. Typical.
Even with Clay’s ability to fight, he soon became a punching bag for the remaining four guys as his head flew from one side to the other shaking his brain to the point, a concussion took him out of the moment.
Yep, he was now in cruise control as his fists flew and his head swam. Even if he were making contact with his attackers, there was no way the punches had much effect. The lights that had been stars were slowly dimming as blackness tightened more and more until he was looking at the world through a pinhole view. A flash of blonde or maybe it was just a street lamp streaked across his vision. He prayed Hope had finally gone inside to get him help.
She wasn’t a bad girl, did she even know what to do in a fight? His muscles ached and he could feel the bruises forming around his body. Why hadn’t he been raised to be like an armadillo and just curl up in a ball and roll away? Nope, not the Longs and their dammed thick heads. They had to fight. No getting punked. Walking away wasn’t in his DNA and as his mind shut down completely, he prayed it’d been worth it and that Hope at least wouldn’t be assaulted.
* * * *
“Help!” Hope screamed as she rushed into the Hard Root.
Little reaction came from the patrons, even Savannah wasn’t about to jump into action because this woman cried wolf.
“Help please? I think he’s dead!”
That shifted the momentum at least for Savannah. Everyone else in the bar had seen Clay dragging her out after she practically fucked him at the bar.
“Damn, her pussy might need to be a registered weapon!” One of the older guys at the bar chuckled. “Who knew a kindergarten teacher could do that to a man? Guess she taught Clay his A, B, C’s.”
The bar erupted with laughter, but Savannah and Carolyn weren’t amused. “Go,” Carolyn ordered. “I’ve got the bar.”
Savannah pushed past Carolyn, grabbing Bessie from the counter where Carolyn had laid it. She thought she might’ve heard Carolyn protest, but she wasn’t going outside without protection.
“Awe shit, Savannah’s bringing a gun to a cat fight,” another patron said then a second round of laughs traveled through the bar like a wave.
A truck was pulling out of the parking lot kicking up rocks as tires squealed and Savannah saw it was loaded with men. Scanning the lot, she looked for Clay. What if they took him? Panic over powered logic as she cocked the shotgun and pulled the trigger. The loud blast from the gun as she shot at the truck sent her stumbling backward and on top of Hope.
“He’s over here,” she said.
Savannah tried to find her footing.
“Oh, my God she’s killed Hope!” Carolyn cried as the door burst open and patrons filed out.
“No, she didn’t,” Hope said.
Then Savannah became lost to the world as she saw Clay’s lifeless body on the pavement. Blood dripped from his nose and lips. There was a cut above his left eyebrow and she tried to calm the shaking enough to see if he was still breathing.
“Savannah you didn’t shoot him, did you?” Carolyn asked as she uncurled Savannah’s fingers from Bessie. “Savannah. Savannah. Savannah honey? Hope is he still alive?”
“He’s breathing. Have you called nine, one, one yet?”
Carolyn stepped in front of Savannah. Her warm hands came to Savannah’s cheeks as she pulled her close. Savannah saw Carolyn was talking, but couldn’t hear what she was saying. All she could comprehend was Clay not moving, the blood, the bruising already making his normal chocolate coloring black. Black like death. Savannah was numb, she was checking out of the world around her because if she wasn’t here, she wouldn’t have to feel the pain she did now. The pain of loss. Why did she have to lose Clay? Was she losing Clay? Oh, my God. Savannah lost feeling in her legs as she dropped to the ground. Carolyn held Savannah close to her chest and Savannah could hear her heart beating. It echoed through her skull as red and blue lights flashed around her.
“Savannah, honey, we need to get Clay to Urgent Care.”
“Urgent care? He needs an ER,” Savannah spit. “A hospital. Not some clinic that’s open late.”
“Thank heaven she’s back with us,” Carolyn said.
Savannah then saw them loading Clay into an ambulance. She bolted from Carolyn’s arms and into the back of the rig.
“Can’t have you in here ma’am,” the EMT said as he held out his hand to stop her.
“Where’s Bessie?” Savannah asked. “Give me Bessie.”
“Bessie?” the EMT asked.
“It’s my shotgun,” Carolyn clarified as she pulled on Savannah. “Now, let these boys do their job. Can she ride up front? She doesn’t know the town well.”
“Fine,” the other EMT said. “Just no guns.”
“What about me?” Hope cried. “He was defending my honor!”
Savannah spun on her heels and shoved Hope to the ground.
“Oh shit,” Carolyn groaned.
“It’s because of you, he’s like this! Who were they? Those assholes in the truck and why the hell would he need to defend you?”
“Savannah, honey.” Carolyn had a hand on each of Savannah’s arms as she stood in front of her and pushed her to the passenger door of the ambulance. “Not the time or place.”
“The hell it isn’t!” Savannah cried.
“Go with Clay, take care of him. He’s gonna want to see you when he wakes up.”
The click of the seatbelt brought Savannah to the realization Carolyn had shoved her in the ambulance and locked her down.
“Murray get him there quick.”
“I called Walt, the Longs will meet us there,” Murray said.
“He doesn’t need to go to El Paso does he?”
“That’s for the doc to say, but it doesn’t look like it.”
“Good.” Carolyn patted Savannah on the knee. “She’s a good girl, just a bit attached to Clay.”
“Am I supposed
to act surprised by that?” Murray chuckled before sirens blared and he tore out down the street.
“What did you mean by that?” she asked as the EMT in the back began giving his report. “Why aren’t you surprised about me being attached to Clay?”
“I was a few years behind him in school, but every girl wanted to be with him.”
“And every girl was huh?”
“Rumor or fact, never could tell the difference with him. Was that Hope Matthews crying in the parking lot?”
“I guess, I’m not from here.”
“I bet she’s pitchin’ a fit right now. Carolyn puttin’ you in here and not her. I bet she’s the one tailing us right now.”
“Her and Clay?” Savannah asked.
“Again, rumor or fact, I’ll never know. I’m not really one to hang in the cool crowd.”
They pulled up in front of a building that said Medical Plaza above it. Savannah was already nervous. This was a small town, so it wasn’t surprising they didn’t have a hospital, but an urgent care.
Murray was already out of the vehicle and helping unload Clay.
She followed and didn’t know why she was even there. Unlike an ER, she was allowed to be in the room as they woke him up and got him around.
His first reaction had him swinging until he saw where he was. Peering up at the large man in the lab coat, Clay shook his head. “Dr. Matthews, I swear I never asked her to the dance.”
The Last to Know Page 10
