I knew for a fact when I got up there later, it would be a slippery death trap that could likely have me risking life and limb.
I turned back to the woman and offered her my hand. “My name is Conleigh.”
“I know who you are,” the woman said with a soft voice, taking my hand for a quick second. “Linc talks about you all the time.”
I frowned. “Are you part of the MC?”
She shrugged. “Benson is my brother.”
“Benson?” I asked in confusion.
“Bayou,” came Hoax’s grunted explanation. “This is his little sister, Brielle.”
Oh. Well, they couldn’t be more complete opposites.
Where Bayou was big, Brielle was tiny. Where Bayou was dark, Brielle was light.
“Y’all don’t look like brother and sister,” I pointed out.
“Basket!”
“I was adopted.”
I looked up to find the basket lowering down.
Once we had it in place where we needed it, Brielle took charge.
“You grab one end, and I’ll grab the other. We’ll lift on three,” she ordered.
I shrugged. I’d done this a million and one times. I could do this in my sleep. Yet she was looking at me like I was the weak link in this scenario and couldn’t possibly do it.
Well, she was freakin’ wrong.
I may be small, but I was mighty.
“Let’s go.”
“One. Two. Three.”
On three we moved him and set him in the basket.
The snake came with him.
Brielle made a gagging sound as she had to buckle the straps up around the snake.
“Disgusting,” she gasped.
I giggled and patted Hoax on the shoulder. “Careful there. If you drop it, she might very well have a heart attack.”
“I hate snakes,” she muttered as she did the final buckle. “All right,” she called out. “Ready!”
It took all of ten seconds for the basket to move.
All the while, he kept hold of the snake. Which, as it turned out, ended up being a water moccasin. A poisonous snake that would’ve been the cherry on top of Hoax’s very shitty sunday.
Brielle deftly climbed up the incline, not sliding once.
Me, on the other hand? Yeah, with every step up I made, I slid down two more. Linc eventually took pity on me and came down to help me despite my assurances that I could probably, maybe, eventually get up on my own.
Having him at my back, pushing me up by the ass, was definitely the highlight of my night.
Chapter 10
I need to lose weight. I know how to lose weight, but losing weight means giving up cookies, and I’m not sure that I’m that committed yet.
-Text from Conleigh to Linc
Linc
The way she took charge turned me on.
The way she was fawning over Hoax? Not so much.
Every couple of seconds he’d toss me a knowing grin, and I’d narrow my eyes at him.
She rode to the hospital with him. She started an IV. She cleaned up his face.
Basically, she fawned all over him until he was taken to surgery to remove the fish hook-shaped piece of rebar from his side.
It was then that I ordered Conleigh to come home with me so we could shower and change.
“But I don’t have any clothes,” Conleigh explained.
“I have an extra pair at the clubhouse if you go there,” Brielle offered softly.
Brielle didn’t look happy to be offering up her clothes, either.
But since she’d already changed at the hospital—she kept a change of clothes in her locker on the PICU—pediatric intensive care unit—she had no immediate need for her spare change of clothes at the clubhouse right now.
“Perfect.” I nodded, tugging on Conleigh’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Conleigh came willingly, both of us squishing and squelching our way out of the hospital.
All of us had drawn curious looks as we’d rushed inside—or at least Bayou, Brielle, and I had. Conleigh, in her no-nonsense way, had climbed her ass into the ambulance and rode with Hoax to the hospital.
The volunteers who came in the rescue truck had followed. The rest of us had departed in our personal vehicles—Brielle in her car, and Bayou and me on our own bikes.
When we’d arrived, Conleigh had Hoax’s cut and was holding onto it like she was holding something sacred.
The moment that Bayou got to her, she’d thrust it into his arms and had said, “He told me if I lost it or damaged it in any way, he’d kill me. I don’t think he was joking.”
“Well,” she sighed as we finally made it outside. “Do we pick my car up first, or do we go change and then go get my car?”
I walked up the front entrance and paused as I waited for the doors to slide open. Once they did, I threw my arm around her shoulder and tucked her in close to my side as we walked. “We don’t need to get your car. A couple of the guys went and got it. It’s at my place. They met the wrecker out at the ravine to show them where the bike was.”
She sighed. “That’s good. I was thinking we should probably get it now since I had to practically park halfway on the road, but I really didn’t want to get mud all over my seats. I just got the thing detailed when I got my oil changed last week.”
It wasn’t really that far in the road, but with the way the road curved right where she was, it might as well have been. It worried me enough that I was glad that they had moved it. I didn’t want anyone else hurt by running into it.
“I don’t think any of us have thanked you yet…but thank you.”
We both turned to see Brielle standing there, looking like she’d tasted something sour.
Conleigh grimaced. “I’d do that for anyone, but I’m really glad that I was able to find him. I’m just sorry he was hurt.”
Brielle smiled as if it pained her and walked away, heading back into the hospital.
“Nice girl,” Conleigh teased.
I snorted and hooked my arm around her neck to drop a kiss onto her head. “She’s thought she knew Hoax, and you just shattered everything she thought she knew about him.”
“What?” she asked, looking up at me. “Why?”
She had a smattering of mud on her cheek, and there was flecks of it in her hair.
“Hoax is normally a really serious guy. The fact that he was allowing you to poke fun with him, especially at a time like that when he was in pain, means he’s obviously extended a certain amount of trust to you. That, in and of itself, is huge for him. Women literally make him run in the opposite direction.” He paused. “Touching is a definite no-no. Not to mention you didn’t just do a little of the touching thing, but a lot of the touching thing. Something that Brielle has never, not ever, been able to do.”
“Well, shit,” she sighed. “She probably hates me. I thought it was because I touched your penis in front of her, and she had a crush on you.”
I chuckled. “Nope. I don’t think that’s it. Other than her cousin was laying there hurting, I think she was probably more relieved that you were fondling my junk and not his.”
She gasped. “I was trying to save you, not fondle your junk!”
I snorted. “That’s true, but she didn’t know that at the time.”
We reached my bike and both of us paused, staring at it. “What is that?”
My whispered question made her laugh. “That’s the snake. Hoax asked me to save it so he could stuff it.”
“How did it get there?” I continued.
“The medic put it there. We had it placed in a biohazard bag while I was getting the IV started since that was the first time he actually opened his hand to release it,” she explained.
“It’s still twitching,” I remarked with a curl of my lip. “And it’s huge.”
It really was, too.
It was huge in the water, and it was huge when he dragged it into
the ambulance, but all rolled up like that, it was still bigger than a goddamn large-sized pizza box. We had to send a runner to surgery for one of their large body part biohazard bags.
“Goddamn,” I muttered, picking up the bag. “He so owes me for this.”
“He wants us to drop it off at the stuffing place, too,” she explained. “Can we do that in the morning? He made me promise.”
I just shook my head as I dropped the snake into one of the saddlebags. “Yeah, that’s fine with me. The only problem I can see is that I have to keep that shit with me until then.”
I mounted the bike then held out my hand for her, loving the way she easily fit up against me.
Despite her utter filthiness, she wrapped her hands around my body and plastered herself to me.
Which was, of course, when the damn flashes started to go off.
“Hold on, darlin’.”
I started the bike and took off, and I still had to do some evasive driving to ditch the four reporters following us, hoping for Conleigh’s sake that they didn’t get the huge splash of mud on her ass in the pictures they took of us.
When we arrived at my place, Conleigh was leaning on me heavily.
Her arms were so loose around my waist that I’d locked one hand around her wrists and hadn’t let go.
When I pulled the bike into my garage and shut it off, I expected her to stir.
She didn’t.
Letting her wrist go, I gave her leg a shake and said, “Come on Sleeping Beauty. Let’s go shower.”
“I’m so tired,” she said. “I feel like I just ran a marathon,” she said without moving her face away from my back.
“Adrenaline crash,” I explained.
I got up, forcing her to either move or fall.
She moved, then gave me the cutest glare ever.
She glanced around and frowned. “I thought we were going to the clubhouse?”
I’d intended to, but when she’d started to fall asleep, I’d decided to come to my place. I had a shower at my place and a t-shirt she could slip on.
What did it matter if she didn’t have any clothes? I could go get her some tomorrow.
“We were, but then you fell asleep against me while on a motorcycle, I remembered there were only two bathrooms at the clubhouse to share between whoever wants to be there at any moment in time and remembered that I have an interview at seven tomorrow morning. I can go get you clothes afterward,” I explained, knowing she was curious.
She stood up while still straddling the bike, and then leaned over to grasp the handlebars.
I felt my cock twitch at the sight of her bent over so pretty and took a mental picture for my spank bank vault.
She threw her leg over once she was holding on, but her balance was still off and she started to teeter. I was there before the wobble could turn into a fall and helped her off the bike.
She slumped into me when I didn’t move away, the helmet on her head nearly knocking me in the chin in the process.
“Whoa,” I said, pushing her head away before she could give me a concussion. “Let’s get this off before you mess up my beautiful face.”
She laughed and started to fumble with the straps.
It took her a few tries, but eventually she got it, setting it gently on the seat.
“Sorry,” she murmured around a yawn, then straightened out of my arms and started a side shuffle toward the garage door that led into my kitchen. “Jesus, I’m tired.”
“After the day that you had.” I followed closely behind her, flicking on lights as she moved slowly in front of me. “I don’t blame you for being a zombie.”
She groaned. “I’m not getting any studying done tonight. Or tomorrow. I’m literally going to wake up and go. Make sure you get me something appropriate to wear to school for an hour. Something that at least covers my ass,” she ordered.
I bit my lip. “Yes, ma’am.”
Her issuing sleepy orders was the best thing since sliced bread.
Her being in my house, on the way to my shower, while she made those orders?
Priceless.
“Let’s go get you clean.”
She shuffled into the bathroom that was closest and slammed the door.
I closed my eyes and then leaned my head against the cool wood.
This woman had absolutely no idea what she was capable of doing to me.
None.
Chapter 11
Technically speaking, there is a lot of food in the house. Unfortunately, none of it is sweet or sounds good. Therefore, there is no food in the house.
-Text from Conleigh to Linc
Conleigh
I woke up alone in a strange bed, but I wasn’t too worried.
I remembered everything that had happened last night. Everything.
From the sweet way that Linc never let go of me, to the way he’d practically doted on me.
He’d luckily had the spare bathroom fully stocked with showering essentials—which I did find odd seeing as he lived alone and had no need for spare shower essentials—and I’d been able to take a shower, rinsing the day off of me along with the stupid swamp mud that felt like it’d never go away.
I was fairly sure that I still had clumps of mud in my hair, but I would worry about those later at my own place.
After my shower last night, I’d gotten out only to find that at some point Linc had deposited some clothes for me to wear—a gold and brown t-shirt that had the team’s logo on it, as well as a pair of boxer briefs that were snug despite them being made for Linc’s shapely ass.
After donning the t-shirt and the too-tight underwear, I rinsed my panties and bra out and hung them over the towel rack to dry. I went into Linc’s bedroom and belly flopped on his bed while he was still in the shower.
And that was the last that I’d remembered until just then, waking up in an empty bed with the house almost completely silent around me.
The only thing I could hear was the air conditioner blowing through the vents in the bedroom.
That’s when I started to notice the smell of the pillow, and my brain started to fire on a few cylinders. Those few cylinders all centering on one thing—my vagina.
Linc could control me whether he was in the room or not. Whether I’d talked to him that day, or whether it’d been weeks. All I really had to do was think about him and things started to get out of control—down there. But having his scent in my nostrils? Yeah, it was a recipe for disaster.
Not that I really thought about what I was doing.
After glancing once at the clock to see that it was barely eight in the morning, I decided that I had time.
Had time for what, you ask?
I had time to masturbate to the smell of the man that I’ve had a crush on for so long that it was getting downright ridiculous. I should’ve moved on years ago. I should’ve ignored my feelings and pursued other more attainable men.
But I didn’t.
Because I was a goner.
I loved the stupid man.
I let my hand skim up the t-shirt that I was wearing, and felt my nipples tighten.
The t-shirt was old and soft, one that had been worn and washed probably a hundred thousand times.
It was one of the ones that he worked out in. I knew because not only had I seen him wearing it before, but I’d also looked at photos of him online—I had him set up as a Google alert—working out with the team in it.
It felt like silk against my hardened nipples.
My legs shifted restlessly under the same covers that Linc curled his body up in every night.
I turned and buried my nose in his pillow, smelling the scent of his shampoo, as well as the beard oil that he put in his beard to keep it shiny and pretty.
I’d bought it for him for Christmas and sent it to him.
He’d sent me nightly pictures for a week showing me how well it tamed his once-untamable beard.
I groan
ed and let my hand slip underneath the large down comforter I was covered with.
I groaned at the thought that he’d seen me last night and again this morning with so little clothing—possibly seen things that I’d wanted him to take advantage of for a very long time.
I wasn’t a naïve girl anymore.
I knew my body’s wants, likes, and dislikes. I knew that it craved him more than it craved anything else in this world.
All I had to do was think about him. His mouth. The way he would taste. And I was ready to come on the spot.
Kind of like right now, I thought dreamily.
My hand slipped under the band of his boxer briefs, hurriedly finding that tiny little bud between my labia that begged for his touch.
It was distended and swollen. Ready.
I licked my lips as I circled the tiny nub.
Then I started to daydream about what he would do to me. What he could’ve done to me last night—what I would’ve liked for him to do to me last night.
He walked out of the shower and saw me laying there, sprawled out on my belly in his bed, stopping momentarily to enjoy the sight.
The towel that was wrapped around his waist wasn’t the least bit effective at hiding his erection.
The t-shirt that I wore had ridden up just slightly, putting the bottom curve of my ass, and the faintest hint of pussy lips on display.
It was enough for him to get ideas.
Ideas that I wholeheartedly wanted him to act on.
He dropped the towel without a care and stalked toward me, his hands planting in the bed as he crawled up between my slightly-parted thighs.
The moment that he was close enough, he dropped down and pulled the boxers down while caressing one ass cheek, stopping once he reached that dimple between both cheeks to bite it.
I shivered in longing, partially asleep, but also semi-aware of what I was offering him by keeping my silence.
I lifted my hips slightly, an invitation for him to do more.
And he took it.
Crawling the rest of the way up, he covered me with his body, and I felt the crest of his cock prodding at my untried entrance.
Talkin' Trash (The Bear Bottom Guardians MC Book 2) Page 9
