by Ryan Michele
Cooper comes up to my side and puts his arm around my shoulder. A noise comes out of his mouth, but he doesn’t finish because the woman speaks.
“I don’t like her.”
This woman, who doesn’t know a damn thing about me, doesn’t like me? Anger burns in my belly, and my entire body tightens.
“And why’s that?” I ask, although she was addressing Cooper. If she doesn’t like me, she should say it to my face, not Cooper’s.
“You’re bringin’ trouble, and we don’t need that around here,” she replies.
I cross my arms in front of me. “I didn’t bring anything to your doorstep.”
She laughs. “Yes, you did. You think this shit’s over?”
“What do you know about it?”
“That you’re usin’ my boy to get out of a bad spot with your family,” she fires back.
“Mom,” Cooper says, shocking the shit out of me.
“This is your mom?” The words catch in my throat. It takes me a minute to spit them out.
“Yep.”
“Great.” I look up toward the heavens, but they have nothing to give me. Guess I’m on my own here.
“She did—”
I interrupt Cooper by putting my hand on his chest. “I didn’t use Cooper. Did my family give me a little push? Yes. But I’m not using Cooper.”
“Where are you going to live?” she charges, hands going to her hips.
“I’m taking care of it, Mom.” Cooper’s tone turns a bit harsh. He’s getting angry.
“I’m going to take care of me. I have my own money and will get a hotel room until I find a place. The fact you think I’m using your boy means you know nothing about me at all. If you’d taken just a minute to introduce yourself and get to know me just a little bit, you would have seen that I care about Cooper. A lot. Do I want this to work out? Yeah, I do. If it doesn’t, then I’ll deal. Any way you look at it, I’m not going back to Crest, Florida. So, whether it’s here I settle or somewhere else, so be it.” By the time I end my little spiel, my breaths are coming in heavy and Cooper’s arm around me has tightened.
“Are you done?” Princess asks. I know her name from Cooper telling me during our many phone conversations.
“For now.”
“Mom, this isn’t any of your business. I’m gonna do what I damn well want. You know this,” Cooper tells her, and a small smile tips the corner of her lip up.
“She’s got grit and a brain.”
“No shit,” Cooper responds, while I say nothing.
Cruz, her man, comes up to her and wraps his arm around her shoulders. “Calm your shit. He’s growin’ up. You knew it was comin’.”
My heart instantly warms. This woman may not like me, but it’s really not for me. It’s because she doesn’t want her boy to grow up. What she doesn’t get is Cooper looks like he’s been grown for a while now.
“Sucks,” Princess says, her eyes going soft for Cooper. “I wish I could smash you small again.”
Cooper laughs. “Don’t think that’s smart, Mom. You gotta chill, though. I want you to get to know Bristyl. Trust me on this.”
Princess sucks in a deep breath so hard her shoulders rise with it. When she lets it out, it’s like a big whoosh. A small tear forms in her eye, but she doesn’t let it fall. It makes me wonder how my mother would feel about me leaving home and coming here. If the circumstances were different and my father didn’t pull what he did and I just left to come up here, how would she have taken it? Would she be happy for me? Angry with me? I just wonder what she would have told me. It makes me sad that I will never know that answer.
Princess takes a step forward and, alert, I keep on my toes. For what, I’m not sure. My gut just tells me to be on them with her.
She wraps her arms around Cooper, and I step to the side as he reciprocates. She whispers something so low I can’t make it out, and the curiosity hits me. Then she pulls away and turns toward me, holding her hand out.
“I’m Princess, Cooper’s mom. Nice to meet you.”
Unsure of what to do, my focus goes to Cooper, who smiles and gives me a small nod.
I hold out my hand and take hers. Princess’ grip is tight, and it takes a bit for me not to flinch. “Bristyl. Nice to meet you, too.”
“Alright, now that the meet and greet portion of this is over”—Ryker claps his hands hard—“there’s some pussy that needs tappin’.”
It’s only after Ryker’s gone do I realize Princess still has my hand. She must notice the same, because we release.
“Come on, beautiful, let’s go in. I’m beat and need a bit of shut eye.”
Cooper’s arm comes around my shoulder as he leads me into the building.
I glace over my shoulder, and Princess gives a small smile then leans into Cruz. Maybe this won’t be bad after all.
He leads me through the door into darkness. It’s not really dark, but the lights are so dim it can be considered darkness. The smell of stale beer and cigarettes fill the air, but it’s a smell I’m all too familiar with. Tables line the area as men and women mingle around, but that’s about all I see before Cooper pulls me down a hallway then through a door on the right.
The room is small, but from the small bit of light that comes through a window very high on the wall, it looks clean. The bed is made with a black comforter on it, the floor looks picked up, and there’s no laundry anywhere. Hell, even my room at home had clothes on the floor. His room is almost spotless.
“Are you a neat freak?”
He laughs deeply in his gut. “Fuck no. I’m sure this was my mom.” He nudges my arm. “Probably didn’t want you thinkin’ I’m a slob.”
“She clean your room a lot?”
“Nah, not since I was a kid. See? She likes ya.”
“That’s debatable.”
He wraps me in his arms, his face a hair’s breadth from mine. “I like ya.”
I grip his shirt tightly. “Good ’cause I like you, too.” I kiss him hard and wet.
My body sizzles against his, and before I can blink, we are both naked and fully liking each other.
Chapter Twenty
“I’m not staying here,” Bristyl argues with me. It’s damn cute she actually thinks she’s going to win this one.
“Just until we find a place we like.”
“Until I find a place I like,” she retorts, making me smile.
“We, beautiful. We’re gonna get a place close to here, and I’m gonna pay the rent.”
Bristyl’s face turns a shade of red that reminds me of a tomato, except her head seems like it’s about to explode. Her hands in fists, she glares at me. It’s fucking adorable.
“You are not paying my rent, Cooper Cruz. I am more than capable of paying for my own and don’t need a sugar daddy. Now, I’m gonna look at apartments.” She storms out of my room at the clubhouse and down the hall. I follow, because that’s the direction we both need to be going. All the while, a smile plays on my lips.
Rounding the corner, I hear, “If you’re done with him, I’ll take him. He’s an amazing lay.”
Tina. Fuck.
A scream echoes as Tina falls to the ground in a heap.
Bristyl steps back, covering her mouth, eyes wide as she looks from me to Tina, who is screaming on the ground with blood pouring out of her nose. Bristyl’s breaths begin to deepen as I move up to her and wrap her in my warmth.
“What did I do?” she wonders, her words muffled behind her hands.
Suddenly, applause breaks out in the clubhouse. It starts small and ends up in a roar, with whistles and all.
Bristyl looks up at me. “What’s going on? Who is she?”
Tina rises to her feet. “You bitch,” she spits out, lunging for Bristyl.
Instantly, I block her, and Tina’s pissed off eyes come to me.
“What, she your ol’ lady now?”
“Yep.”
“What?” Bristyl asks, her hands finally falling from her mouth.
�
��You’re my ol’ lady,” I respond naturally, then turn back toward Tina. “Spread that shit. No one comes near me or Bristyl.”
Tina’s face turns sour as she storms off and out of the clubhouse.
“We seriously need to talk,” Bristyl says as my father and Pops come up, each wrapping me in a one-armed hug then stepping back.
“About time,” my dad says.
“Whatever, old man.”
My father takes a shot to the shoulder. It stings, but I never let it show.
“Next one, we’re in the ring.”
My father laughs. “Maybe tomorrow. Right now, I’ve gotta get home to my wife.”
He leans down and wraps Bristyl in his arms. She stares at me, wide-eyed, her arms out at her sides awkwardly. When I lift my chin, she puts her small arms around my father, or tries to. She only gets about three-fourths of the way.
“Welcome to the family,” he says.
“Cruz, I don’t—”
“Roll with it.” Once the words leave my lips, I get her glare from over my father’s shoulder.
“Give me some of that,” Pops says, and my father releases her as Pops steps up. “The way you’re breathin’ fire, you’ll be a good match for our boy here.”
“Pops …” I warn, hating being called a boy more than anything, even from our president, which he knows and which is why he’s doing it with a smile.
“I know, I know. Welcome in the fold.” Pops gives Bristyl a squeeze on the shoulder, then turns toward me. “Son, you’ve turned into a damn fine man. I’m proud of ya.” Pops wraps me in his arms, giving me a very brief hug, then walks off.
“Cooper, we need to talk—like now,” Bristyl says, her hand on her hip, foot pointed out. “I mean, I just punched someone I don’t know. That’s not me. I don’t hit people. Then this whole business with the ol’ lady—”
I toss her up over my shoulder and head back to my room, having heard enough of her yapping.
“Put me down!” She smacks my ass.
“Beautiful, fuckin’ love it when you slap my ass.” My hand connects with her ass hard, and she screeches as we enter the room.
I kick the door shut then toss my woman on the bed and lay on top of her, my weight pressing her into the mattress.
“Cooper, you did not just do that.”
“Beautiful, I did. Get used to it.”
She begins to sputter words, but I put my finger over her lips. She glares, but stays quiet.
“Told you I wanted this. One thing you gotta know about me is, once I make a decision, I stick with it. You’re mine, and there’s no going back from that.” Only then, do I remove my hand.
“Do I get a say in any of this?”
A chuckle escapes my lips. “As long as you say what I want.”
She tries to wiggle, but I have her captured. “You weren’t an arrogant jerk on the phone or when we met.”
“Never had a reason to be, but this is me.”
“I don’t like it.” The twinkle in her eye tells me she’s not being truthful.
“Yeah, you do.”
She shifts again. “What do you mean, I do?”
My thigh is rubbing the heat between her legs, and she lets out a sexy as hell moan.
“Your body tells me so. It’s your brain we need to get on board.”
“Cooper, I didn’t come up here for you to take care of me. This is exactly what your mother accused me of doing. That’s not the intention. If we do this—really do this because I want to—then we’re equals. We talk about things before decisions are made. We go fifty-fifty on everything that comes our way.”
“I get where you’re comin’ from, but beautiful, gotta tell ya, certain things, I’m not budgin’. I pay for the rent on the house we get.” She starts to argue again, and I shake my head. “I mean it. This is not negotiable. I take care of you. Now, you can pick out whatever the fuck you want in the place, and I’ll live with it. I leave grocery money on the table, you get the food. That’s my idea of fifty-fifty.”
“What, so you’re going to let me actually talk now?”
Smiling, I answer, “Sure, beautiful, just know some things a man won’t let his woman do for him.”
She lets out a very heavy breath like the weight on her shoulders is too tough to bear. This makes my gut twist. She doesn’t need to stress about this. I got it, and she needs to know that, but I let her say her peace.
“Cooper, this is going way too fast for me. Yes, I care about you very much. Yes, I want to be with you. But just jumping into a place together and you taking over paying the bills … That’s just not how it works.”
“Says who? You got some instructional manual?” ’Cause I sure as shit don’t. They don’t exist.
“No.”
“Didn’t think so. We do this the way we want. I want to take care of you. That’s the man I am inside. I don’t want to run your life, or tell you where to get a job, or no, you can’t. Hell, I couldn’t give a shit if you paint our place pink, though it would suck. We’re doing this, and we’re gonna make it right.”
“Don’t you think this is warp speed?” she whispers.
I roll off her and pull her body up to mine, our chests inches apart and feet tangled. “This is an eternity compared to my parents.”
“Oh, come on. An eternity? Exaggerate much?”
I chuckle at her quick tongue then peck her on the lips. “My father held a gun on my mother the first time they met.”
She sucks in a deep breath. “No way!”
“Yep. They exchanged some words, and it got a bit heated. He claimed her right then and there, on the spot, and didn’t look back.”
Her eyes widen in surprise. “You’re shitting me.”
“Do I look like I am?” A lone hair brushes against her forehead, and I swipe it off.
“Holy shit, that’s crazy.”
Shrugging my shoulder, I ask, “How’d your folks meet?”
“At a party. My mom came to the club with a friend of hers. She met my dad, and the rest was history … I never thought of that before.”
“Life has opportunities come and go. It’s if you take them and make them what you want, that’s the key.” And you, Bristyl, are my opportunity.
“When’d you get so smart?”
“I’m me. Take me as I am.”
“Arrogant ass and all?”
As answer, I crush her lips with mine. She responds instantly, our tongues warring as we move. She threads her fingers through my hair, then farther down to pull the tie out. Pushing her on her back, my hair falls over both of us, putting a shield around us, all the while our lips take from each other.
The heat in the room begins to turn up as I roam her body, grabbing her tits and touching every inch of her. Her lips rip away from mine, and she gasps for breath.
Trailing kisses down her neck and behind her ear, she squirms relentlessly under me. With one hand, she pushes at my chest, while she holds me in place by my hair with the other. She doesn’t know if she’s coming or going. Me, I know she’s coming.
Reaching down, I make quick work of unbuttoning her jeans and reaching below the fabric. It’s a tight fit, but I find her clit and begin stroking. The little nub is hard, but I want it pulsing and throbbing, begging for release.
“Cooper.” Her gasps are music to my ears.
I slow down the pace and strum it slowly, lifting her shirt and kissing her waist. Using my tongue, I lick around her belly button, then down to where my hand is, stopping and moving back up. She clutches my shoulders, her nails digging in.
“You’re gonna come so hard that everyone in this fuckin’ clubhouse will hear you scream my name.”
She whimpers, “Please.”
“Not good enough.” Releasing her, I pull off her jeans and underwear, tossing them to the floor. She helps with her shirt and bra.
As she lays in my bed, blonde hair splayed over my pillows, all I can think is, this is mine. She is mine, always. I want this vision to be there e
very morning when I wake up and every night when we sleep. This right here.
Lust, desire, passion, and so much more plays behind those eyes. I’m going to dig it all out of her.
I kneel on the bed, grasp her hips, and pull her pussy up to my face. She’s at an awkward angle, resting on her shoulders, but she manages. I support her all the way, taking the pressure off.
Her taste explodes in my mouth as I eat, and eat, and eat, making sure to stay away from her little nub. Without placing my fingers inside her, she doesn’t have enough to get off. Her cries only make my dick harder.
Opening my mouth, I take her entire pussy between my lips and suck hard.
“Oh, God!” she screams, clutching the bedding in her fists.
When I pull away and step away from the bed, her head pops up. “Don’t stop!”
The laugh bubbles over as I strip down my clothes and grab a condom, holding it in my hand. “Lips on my cock.”
To my utter pleasure, she moves quickly to the edge of the bed, then to her knees before me. Her eyes flutter up to mine as she grips my cock hard. I jolt from the pressure, then let out a moan. Damn, that feels good.
I watch with avid fascination as her tongue darts out, and she licks the underside of my cock from base to tip, then swirls the top. It twitches, making her smile. Then her lips surround me, and my knees buckle just a bit.
Beauty. That’s what this is. True beauty.
She fits me as far as she can, using her hand to help. Her suction is perfect, and the way she uses that damn tongue … hell.
Pulling away abruptly, her eyes meet mine. “Bed, now,” I tell her.
“Is that so?” she taunts, rising gracefully slow to her feet. “Maybe I want to suck you off.” She brings her fingers to my lips, tracing them seductively.
“Don’t give a fuck. My dick. Your pussy. Now.”
Hell, I’ve resorted to only short sentences as I slip the condom on my painful cock.
She falls to the bed, and I follow right behind her, kissing her. In only seconds, my cock is inside her, and her back arches as she tries to pull away, but I hold on tight. I have one mission here … Okay two, and I will succeed in both.
