My good mood is dashed momentarily. I can’t stay and help her even if my heart is telling me to. I need to go home and see my mother and hope that she’s lucid enough for an actual conversation. But I can’t leave Cora either.
Hesitantly, I walk up to her. “Ms. Cartwright?” I ask and her head pops up, wetness falling all over her cheeks. Damn. I can’t believe I’m doing this because no one has seen my mother, but me, Aunt Ruth and a few doctors. Sometimes it’s hell having a heart. “Why don’t you come to my house for breakfast?”
“Really?” She swipes at her face to remove some of the wet only smearing the dirt caking her face. I have to wonder where in the world she’s sleeping or going to get that dirty.
“Yes, come on.”
Chapter 5
Wind me up … you better be ready for me to blow!
Six days on the road and I’m beat. After a solid day of boxing the shipment with Oscar constantly running his mouth just to try to work me up, Lurch and I hit the road. First stop, deliver the AK’s, second stop pick up the AR’s and the 225 brass rounds to fill a different order. While I love what I do, taking care of my club and my brothers, nothing beats your own bed, especially when you never really had one as a kid. All I want right now is a warm shower and to sleep.
Not that my sleep will be without thoughts of that kiss I planted on Kenie. I can still taste her sweetness and remember the feel of her lips. So much so, that none of the road tricks would do. Fucking tried, but got slammed down needing her soft lips around my cock and not some faceless, nameless woman. That hasn’t happened to me in fucking years.
It’s my own goddamned fault for kissing her, but I couldn’t help myself. Seeing her, being that close to her, all I could do was taste her. All this time, if her car is in the parking lot, I’ve kept my ass outside. Pay for gas at the pump and buy smokes somewhere else, all to avoid her. I knew better than to allow myself to get so close. There is no way I can be in the same room with her and not have my mouth on hers and touch her even if every second is agony.
Pulling up to the clubhouse, Lurch honks twice and the gates open wide for us. He pulls in and parks the minivan. No one ever suspects a minivan even when it’s filled with more guns and ammo than one would think possible. Those fucking stow-n-go things are great.
Shamus comes out of the clubhouse and heads directly for us as we get out of the vehicle.
“How was the trip?” He slaps me on the back knowing damn well the package was delivered. He just wants to know about the second leg of the trip.
“Fine. No problems at all.”
“Told you the fucking minivan would work,” Lurch says coming to stand with us. “Fuckin’ cops everywhere and not a one looked at us twice.”
“He’s right,” I shrug.
“Good, good,” Shamus says then looks to Lurch. “Need to talk with DJ for a few. Grinder is waiting to offload ya.”
“Alright. I’m gonna get some shut eye.” Lurch takes off into the clubhouse instead of his bike to go home. He must be really wiped. He’s got an ol’ lady who busts his balls if he doesn’t come home after a run. Lurch doesn’t care, though, he says she can bust his balls every damn day as long as she sucks ‘em when she’s done. Sick bastard, he’s old enough to be my dad, I don’t need to think of that kind of shit. Lurch, he’s a good man, loves his woman. He shows us all if we want it we can have it. Too bad I couldn’t get Kenie to understand that a long fuckin’ time ago.
“What’s goin’ on?”
Shamus shakes his head and I have to wonder what the fuck is going on here. I talked to the man a few hours ago and nothing seemed amiss.
“Your mother.” I close up, not even wanting to hear that word. He holds his hand up in surrender. “Know you don’t want to hear about her, but I gotta tell you somethin’.”
“She dead?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t need to know shit.” I make my move to go around him, the thought of going to my place escaping my head as I just want to get some sleep. If he was anyone else, I might’ve decked him. Shamus and I go way back, before the club. He wouldn’t bring this up if he didn’t feel it was important. The problem is, I don’t see how it could be so vital that I can’t at least get a couple of hours of shut eye first.
“Kenderly took her in.” Those words halt me and I turn slowly on my boot. “Thought that’d get your attention.” Shamus and I have been through thick and thin together. He knows all about Kenderly and our past. He also doesn’t give me any shit about it because he has his own mess to deal with.
“Your mother has been staying with her for the past week.” The past fucking week? I’ve only been gone six days. How did I not know this before I left?
“Don’t fuck with me.”
“Brother,” is all he has to say because I know that he indeed is not fucking with me even if I want him to be. My fucking mother hit Kenderly up for a place to crash. Like Kenie needs to put up with her shit and her own mother’s shit at the same time.
My hand rips through my hair, giving it a tug.
“What else?” There’s always something else. Always something going to happen or will happen when it comes to my mother. I can’t fucking believe she put it on Kenie’s doorstep.
“Bender is looking for your mother. Owes him money, which I’m sure he was taking out of her ass. Your mother has stayed out of sight, but it’s only a matter of time before he finds her.”
And I don’t want Bender getting his eyes on Kenie. No fucking way. That guy is a piece of shit and it doesn’t surprise me a bit that my mother got involved with him. Bitch.
I pull out my phone and catch the time. Kenderly has been at work for a few hours. Even though I’m dogass tired, I know what I gotta do.
“I’m rollin’ out.”
“Need help brother?” Shamus asks, having my back.
“I got this.” He slaps my back as I walk to my flat black Dyna Wide Glide Harley, turn her over and make my way to the gas station. The breeze hits my face, helping to wake me, which is good considering the fight I know I’m bound to have with Kenie.
Rage fills me like never before when I pull up and find the street bikes parked out front. Three of them, all orange, all Bender’s top enforcers.
I don’t waste time, flipping down my kickstand, turning off the bike and getting inside. “Well, well, well, if it ain’t Larry, Mo, and Curly.” I watch Kenie’s reaction out of the corner of my eye. She’s got that determined look that tells me, my woman won’t back down.
Good to see, since we’re out numbered three to two and I failed to let anyone know, specifically, where I was headed. Shamus knows me well enough to know I would go straight to Kenie. The thing is no one knows Bender already found her before we could get her outta this shit.
Hell, I came here expecting to tell Kenie to send my mom packing and let her know she found her way on a radar she didn’t want to be on. I didn’t think Bender would be closing in this soon.
“Rebel without a cause,” the tallest of the bunch comes back with.
“Nah, I got a cause. Lots of them. Tonight, it’s me wonderin’ why the fuck Bender’s boys have rolled into Granville when you know where the fuck your line stops.” They’re trying to wind me up. They better be fucking ready for when I blow.
My stomach roils when the shorter dark haired guy with a Hitler style mustache reaches over the counter and tips Kenie’s chin up.
“We had to pay a little visit to this sweet thing while we’re looking for someone.” The way the man meets my eyes lets me know too much.
He knows who I am. He knows it’s my mother he’s looking for. He also knows she’s been around Kenie. Them being here and not at her house, though, I wonder if they realize my mother is probably sleeping soundly with a belly full of whatever Kenie or her Aunt managed to cook and not giving them a second thought. Kenderly isn’t the only one who has given up their own life for her mother. Her Aunt Ruth has too.
Kenie backs away while t
he man tisks at her.
The three men are all decent sized, but at six feet, three inches tall, they’re shorter than me. Per Bender’s way of doing business they all wear these black Dickies style work pants with white t-shirts that make them look like if you added an orange jumpsuit they could be from the state penitentiary. I continue to size them up. They don’t seem to be packing, but then again Bender’s crew is always armed with knives and skilled with them too.
Kenie grabs the baseball bat in the corner beside the register. “Y’all need to leave,” she says without a single crack in her voice. She’s firm, she’s strong, and I’ll be damned if she doesn’t make my dick hard. Then again everything about Kenie from top to toe makes my dick hard.
Her honey blonde hair that she always braids to the side makes me want to wrap it around my hand and tug her head back, chin up, and plant my lips to hers, searing her to me. The way her neck is long and when stretched, I can lick from the base to right behind her ear causing her chills and making her pulse pick up. Her shoulders square off in a perfectly symmetrical way that rounds down to her arms which are tone and tan. Her collarbone always protrudes when she arches up wanting more.
My Kenie, she always wanted more.
Her tits were more than a handful, but not one bit of it a waste. Her quarter shaped areolas fit in my mouth with ease and always I could suck her hard to release with a pop. Kenie would take it and beg for it again. I used to trail my tongue under the swells to tease her rib cage and the soft skin of her stomach. At her belly button, I would always flick her belly ring with my tongue before I made my way to the sweet heaven below.
Yes, Kenderly Marie Hanson is my dynamite in disguise. And she’s about to blow.
“Alright Stooges,” I address the men. “Time to go. I can tell you, while a lot of shit may pass through this store, she,” I point at Kenie and make sure my eyes meet hers so she’s knows I got her covered, “knows not a damn thing about anyone y’all are looking for.” I look back to the men in front of me. I give them the one sentence I know will get them the hell gone … at least for tonight.
“She’s off limits,” I say firmly.
“Is that so? The word on the street is she’s on the market,” the tall one answers back, letting me know that Bender has looked into Kenie. Fuck!
“You got misinformation, fellas,” I remain cool even while my mind races.
“Who she belong to?” the middle one who has remained impassive this whole time speaks. “I was looking forward to watchin’ that pussy bleed as I pound into her.” To this Kenie visibly jumps back.
I step up, looking down at the man. “She’s mine. That pussy is mine, been mine since before you bastards ever got your dicks wet,” I say gritting my teeth and trying not to gut the man in front of everyone. Reaching into my pocket, I retrieve my blade within a nanosecond and have it to the man’s throat before anyone can react. “The only blood you’re gonna see, if you talk like that again, is gonna come from your asshole when I rip you wide the fuck open and let her shove that baseball bat up your ass till you feel it in your motherfuckin’ throat. You got me?”
The other two raise their hands in surrender backing away from the situation and leaving their man standing toe to toe with me with my blade at his neck. “Didn’t realize this was Rebel property.” The man swallows slowly in front of me.
“Now you know,” I say calmly as the man steps back.
“We came looking for Cora, she’s been here. She’ll be back,” the tall one challenges me by stepping back up. “We’ll be here for her.” He looks to Kenie. “You see Cora Leigh, you better call us. Bender finds out you’re hiding her,” he looks to me, “there’ll be a war; a war none of us want and none of us can stop.”
“Cora Leigh ain’t shit to me, she ain’t shit to Rebels. You got beef with her, find her; don’t come here. You want war, bring it the fuck on then. You don’t want war then find your way out and don’t come back here for shit.” I don’t back down as the men slowly back away from me, giving me a wide berth and make their way around me and to the exit door.
The shortest one speaks just before he leaves. “Didn’t come here prepared.” His eyes meet mine. “That shit won’t happen again.” He follows his crew outside and I don’t move as I hear them crank their street bikes. The heavy whine of the engines assaults my ears before they take off.
Moving at a steady clip, I cross the employee only line to get behind the register with Kenderly. She looks up at me eyes wide open with both anger and fear in them.
“I got you,” I whisper pulling her against me. With my hand cradling her head I push her to my chest. “I got you, Kenie. Always,” I vow, knowing I just changed everything between us in the blink of an eye. One event and my life is forever changed.
Slowly, she lifts her arms and wraps them low around my waist. “I’m up shit’s creek aren’t I, DJ?”
“You got my mom at your place?” I ask her while softly rubbing her back.
“You gonna be pissed if I do?”
“Yeah, babe, I am.”
She sighs as I feel a slight tremble run through her body. No doubt, she’s realizing how serious shit is now that the adrenaline is calming down from her system. “Then you should go ahead and get mad.”
She doesn’t let go of me which I wait for. I don’t reply. As angry as I am, this is who Kenderly is. This is what I love about her, the woman has a heart bigger than an ocean. Leaning back, I tip her chin up so she has to look at me. She licks her lips. I don’t speak, I just drop my head and press my mouth to hers. When she doesn’t fight back or pull away, I pull her bottom lip into my mouth, scraping it softly with my teeth before opening my mouth over hers and allowing my tongue to claim what my mind already has.
Her fingertips press firmly into my back as she returns the kiss. She’s hungry, I’m hungry. We’re both devouring each other as if this was our last breath, our last moment and neither of us can get enough.
My phone rings on my side and I pull away as we both are breathless. Her lips are red around the edges, swollen, and her eyes glassy in a haze of need. My cock painfully presses against my zipper wanting inside the prize it’s gone too long without.
Yanking the phone from my side, I answer on a clip, “Talk!”
“Didn’t have your back. My bad, brother. I didn’t know the goons had rolled in on her already.”
“She’s fine,” I growl back at Shamus. “I’m fine. We’re fine. The three stooges are bottom feeders and gone.”
“Talkin’, they’ve already been talkin’.”
I pull out of Kenie’s hold and immediately feel like I’ve lost a piece of me. “It’s not even been five mother fuckin’ minutes.” Moving to the far side of the store, I can still see her while I talk to Shamus. She’s shaken, it shows, but is it from our kiss or from Bender’s shithead lackies?
“Guess they wanted verification Kenderly is Rebel’s property.”
Fuck, I run my hand through my hair in frustration.
“They’ve got their confirmation from Thumper. Gotta know what we’re doin’ next brother.”
Shit, I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing next. Hell, I didn’t come here thinking they would already be here. How am I supposed to know what comes next?
“Not sure yet. Sit tight,” I give the only answer I can.
“Clover and I’ll be to the store in five. We’ll make some calls, get Nichole to come in and cover the rest of her shift.”
“Ten-Four,” I say on a clip before hanging up.
When I look up, Kenie starts making her way to me. Stopping in front of me, my woman doesn’t back down which only makes me need to fuck her more.
“What do we do now, DJ?”
“Where’s my cunt mother?” I answer her question with my own.
“At my house,” she firmly replies, “sleeping.”
I want to laugh at how casually she answers me rather than letting the fear run her over.
Lifting her chin, she stares
me down. “What do we do now, DJ?” she asks again.
I smile. I can’t help it. She brings out the best and worst in me. “We,” I stress the word, “finish your shift, boys got Nichole coming in to cover the last half. Then we go to your place so after I fuck you till you pass out from exhaustion, I can get my mother gone. After she rides out on the broom she flew in on, I climb back in your bed to fuck you again, then we’ll sort some shit out.”
“DJ, we’re not having sex!”
I pull her to me, and drop my head to her neck where I bite at the sweet spot where her neck meets her shoulder. “Baby, we’ve gone far too long apart. I’m gonna get in there and I’m gonna be in there for a while. Get ready because when I get you outta here, I’m in.”
“DJ, it’s not gonna be like that.”
“Well, I can fuck you here, but Kenie, you’re not the kind of woman I wanna take in a bathroom.” I nibble on her earlobe making sure my hot breath hits her neck before I whisper, “I wanna spread you wide over your bed and eat your pussy until you can’t even remember your own name. Then I wanna slide inside you nice and slow until I fit all the way to the hilt. I wanna put my hand between us and pinch your swollen, throbbing clit, while I pull out to slam in hard and fast. I wanna send you over the edge so many times, Kenie, that you can’t even see stars; you only see blinks of light before I send you over again.”
Her breathing has changed to pants and I know I’ve won.
“We can finish up here since your replacement is on the way and my brother’s are gonna watch the house so you got nothing to worry about, baby, but how many orgasms I can get outta you before you pass the fuck out.”
When I pull away and see her bite her lip with her pupils dilated, I know I’ve gotten somewhere. Now to get her home so I can show her I mean every fucking word. I’m done waiting. I’m done watching from afar. I’m ready to claim my woman. It’s been too long and my body craves hers in a way no one has ever been able to come close to.
Shamed (A Ruthless Rebels MC Novella Book One) Page 4
