Bad Seed

by Rye Hart

  “Come on. I found you and Hank a seat so you don’t have to be backstage,” I said.

  I walked out onto the stage and my eyes found hers. She was grinning up at me, her leg crossed over her knee as she clapped for me. I started into my set, beginning with the most painful song I'd ever written, the one I wrote after losing Shannon and Ava. The crowd was singing along as tears stained their faces, my fingers strumming my guitar as I sang to Delia.

  I sang song after song, just me and my guitar. Delia’s eyes were on me the entire time, and my eyes never wavered from hers. I sang my heart out for her. I poured my soul out onto the stage for her. I wanted her to see that I was serious. I wanted her to see that I wanted this with her. Despite our differences we had incredible similarities; loss and addiction, passions and goals. We understood each other’s hurt in a way no other person in our lives could understand, and I wasn’t ready to lose that.

  I wasn’t ready to lose the love I knew she had for me. Even if she wasn’t willing to admit it yet. And I wasn’t ready to lose the love I had for her. I couldn’t help but revel in the miracle of it all.

  As I strummed the last chord of my last song, the crowd went wild. Delia leapt to her feet, clapping her hands over her head as she smiled. Seeing her that happy at something I could do warmed my chest. It spread a grin across my cheeks as I stood, taking a bow right toward her. My eyes left hers for only a moment, enough to dip my head and surrender completely to her.

  Then I rose back up, finding her gaze again as her hands fell to her sides.

  I raced into the crowd and took her by the hand. I handed my guitar over to Hank as a smile spread across his face. I tugged her from the crowd as they chanted my name, cheering Delia and I on as we ran from the arena. My legs carried me as fast as I could as she squealed behind me, trying to keep up as she yelled for me to slow down.

  But I didn’t want to slow down.

  I wanted her all to myself as fast as I could get it.

  I picked her up in my arms as her arms threaded around my neck. I walked us toward my truck that I’d convinced Hank to let me drive. I was glad I convinced him that the bus was overkill. There was no need for it since it was just him and I on the road. But the real reason why I didn’t wanna ride on that bus was because I knew it would be a trigger. All the ragers Stone and Landon and I had thrown, all the women we had fucked in those beds, all the alcohol we had stored in that fridge.

  It would’ve swung me back to drinking in a heartbeat.

  I piled her into my truck as she giggled her little head off. I shut the door beside her and ran around, trying to beat the crowd out of the stadium. I hopped in and pulled her close to me, my lips planting squarely onto hers. Her hand came up and cupped my cheek as her lips allowed me entrance again, and I groaned as I tasted the sweetness of her mouth.

  I pulled back and looked deep into her eyes as her fingers danced along the nape of my neck.

  “You’re kidnapping me again, aren’t you?” Delia asked with a grin.

  “And if I am?”

  She leaned over and planted a kiss to the tip of my nose as my arms cradled her closely to my chest.

  “Better hurry,” she said. “I think your fans have spotted us.”

  I could hear throngs of women chanting for me as I sped out of the parking space. I raced through the parking lot, dodging cars and people as we sped away from the venue. We sped out onto the main road, making our way for the highway with the windows rolled down and the radio turned up high. I looked over at Delia, watching as her long legs spread out over my dashboard as she kicked her boots off.

  She wiggled her cute little toes in the breeze of the night as her hand slid next to mine. I took a chance and threaded our fingers together, the warmth of my skin communicating more than my lips ever could.

  And she squeezed my hand as her eyes watched the world pass us by.

  This was it.

  This was what I had been looking for.

  This was the life I would stay sober for. No matter what it took.

  CHAPTER 34

  Delia

  I woke up the next morning with Drake’s arm and leg squishing me. He had curled up around my body, holding me as tightly as he could. I could feel his breath on my skin, his stubble against my back. His lips were mindlessly pressing kisses on the nape of my neck, like he cherished me even in his sleep. His leg slipped over me, baring his knee as my hands traced the outline of his muscles.

  But then they fumbled over the scars left behind from his accident.

  I opened my eyes and began studying them. He’d told me about it the last weekend we spent together, but I hadn’t asked to see the scars. I’d never taken the time after our nights of passion to seek them out. But now that I had, tears were rising to my eyes.

  The scars were long and thick, shining but faded, marking the fact that he’d lived with them for years. I smoothed my fingers along their edges, trying to imagine the horrific pain he must’ve been in. I could only imagine what the weight of a tractor would feel like crushing my leg.

  I felt Drake nuzzle his nose between my shoulders. His hands ran up and down my curves as my fingers continued to trace his knee. He jerked underneath my movements, quickly removing his leg before he understood what was going on.

  He placed a sleepy kiss to my shoulder, pulling my mind away from his knee and onto other parts of his anatomy.

  I could feel his cock pressing into my ass, sliding between my cheeks as I rocked back into him. His hand migrated down to my stomach, cupping the small paunch I had sitting behind my belly button. I felt my body coming alive for him. I felt my nipples standing at attention. His lips nipped at my skin as his muscles pressed deeper into my back, his hips rolling as his cock slid between my legs.

  Trembling, I realized I was giving into him with every jolt of electricity that surged through my body. I tilted my head back, capturing his warm lips in a sloppy kiss. My hand reached back for his hair, tangling my fingers in the tendrils he kept growing out. I loved the shaggy hair on him. I loved the leverage it gave me to pull his face closer to mine.

  His hand drifted down my body, then slid up my thigh. My panties created the only barrier between us, and I knew he wanted to rid me of them. I could feel it in the way he kissed me. The way he buzzed for me. I could feel it in the way he pulled my ass closer to his body as his dick pulsed between my thighs. I slid my leg over his, opening my body to him as I sighed into his lips.

  Then, I felt him pull my panties off to the side.

  “You’re so warm for me,” Drake said.

  I shivered as his words caressed the shell of my ear.

  He slid into me, every inch slowly penetrating my body. I moaned and groaned, my body arching into him as I clung tighter to his hair. His teeth sank into my shoulder, freezing me in my spot as he sank to his hilt. I felt his fingertips playing with my folds, teasing my clit as his cock melded with the fluttering walls of my dripping slit.

  “Drake,” I said, breathlessly. “Good morning.”

  “It is a good mornin,’” he said.

  He slid back from me, my body aching for him as he emptied me. He slipped back in, torturously slow as I shook against his hewn muscles. He left me breathless. With every stroke of his fingertips against my clit I struggled to catch my breath. Our movements were melded into one, a natural rhythm set between the two of us as his free hand cradled my stomach.

  I rolled my hips back into him, feeling his curls scrape against my ass. His arms cloaked my body, wrapping around me and pulling me into his strength. Never in my life had I felt this way. Never had I felt cherished and beautiful in the arms of a man. His cock grew thick against my walls and his teeth marked every inch of skin he could find. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as my body opened for him, begging him silently for more. I could feel our electric pulses syncing. I could feel his heartbeat racing against my back. I could feel his quickening breaths as we sped up our pace, writhing and bucking with the morning sun s
treaming through his bedroom windows.

  “Fuck, Delia. Holy shit. What a way to—wake—up.”

  I could feel my body rising as he pressed deeper into my clit. His hand slid from my stomach to my aching nipples, tugging at their peaks as I moaned. My juices were dripping between my legs and I could feel his thick streams of precum pouring into my body. He was about to explode, simply waiting for me to milk him dry and leave him wanting more as my pussy clamped around him.

  And that was exactly what happened.

  “Drake. Yes. Oh, don’t stop. Never stop. Please”

  My body caved to him, giving him what he wanted as my breath left my lungs. He clung to me, his fingertips curving into my skin as I panted his name. He whispered his passion for me like a secretive prayer, coating my skin with promises of more and forever as he shook against me. I could feel his cock pulsing as his threads of cum danced within my body.

  He buried his face into the crook of my neck, cloaking my body as he slid from between my legs. I rolled underneath him, his face finally coming into view as I smiled up at him. I raised my hand to cup his cheek and felt his day-old stubble against the palm of my hand.

  There was something different in his eyes this time. Something weak and pleading.

  “Mornin’ Delia,” Drake said.

  “Good morning,” I replied.

  He dipped his lips down to mine, capturing them in a tender kiss as his body sank between my liquid legs.

  “Got any plans for your Sunday?” he asked.

  “Not that I can think of. You gonna keep me captive?” I asked.

  “Only if you want it.”

  “Say I did. What would you have us doing today?”

  “Figured I could take ya on a horseback ride. Saddle one of my horses up. We could go walkin’ through the woods.”

  “Wouldn’t that hurt the baby? All that jostling around and stuff?” I asked.

  I saw a look of confusion come over his face before he reached for his phone. He fell to his back as I rolled into him, sliding my leg over his hips. I perched my chin on his chest as he opened up his phone, trying to figure out if horseback riding was something I needed to refrain from. I watched his eyes dart around the screen before that telltale grin crossed his cheeks. Then he turned his phone toward me so I could see exactly what he was reading.

  “Long as we aren’t jumpin’ around or doing tricks, looks like you should be good,” Drake said.

  “Well, no preparing me for horse shows then. Bummer.”

  “Come on. Let’s get you some breakfast, then we can get going. You ever been on a horse?”

  “What kind of asinine question is that?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. You city girls don’t get out much.”

  “Did you just call me a city girl? After I mucked stalls, handed you tools, and ran after a calf that was headed for the woods?”

  “Okay, maybe not a complete city girl. But you got some city girl in you.”

  “And there’s nothing wrong with that,” I said, as I rolled over onto my back.

  Drake came along with me, his lips tickling my neck as I giggled. He kissed me over and over, peppering my lips and my nose and my cheek with his warmth. I threw my arms around his neck, holding him close to me.

  He captured my lips one last time, our tongues intertwining as I moaned into his skin.

  “Nope,” Drake said hotly. “Nothin’ wrong with that at all.”

  CHAPTER 35

  Drake

  After loving on Delia one last time that morning, we rolled out of bed and got some breakfast. A quick bowl of cereal and banana, eaten side by side at the kitchen table. Delia brought up a good point about the jostling of her hips on a horse’s saddle, and although the internet said things would be okay, my brain was still whirling. I had two hundred acres of land for us to ride around on instead of us having to trek through the woods, so I altered the plans a bit and decided to take her on a tour of the outskirts of the farm. Show her around. Talk her through all the things Paul and I did on a regular basis.

  We left the house and walked for the barn, her hand slipping sweetly into mine. She pressed against me the whole way, my arm sliding around her waist and tugging her close. I saddled up my sweetest horse I had. Pixie, we called her. All white horse with a blond mane and tail and the prettiest blue eyes anyone had ever seen.

  I saddled up my trusty stallion, Lightning. A dark brown horse with a jagged white line running down his nose that looked like a lightning bolt and accented the black mane and tail he had. He was my rough and tumble horse. The moody one. There were times where I was the only one who could handle him, and I preferred it that way.

  “How many acres do you have?” Delia asked.

  “Two hundred,” I said.

  “And it’s all surrounded by forest?” she asked.

  “It is. Horses get their own space, chickens are by the house. Cows got their own space as well, then the rest is for hay bailing and growin’ crops. I got enough land to rotate my twenty-acre patches, so only one hundred acres are used in a given season. Paul takes care of the tilling of the soil and readying it for the seasonal hires to sew seeds, and I take care of replenishing the unused acres with nutrients it needs for the next season.”

  “Sounds like a lot of work.”

  “And takes a lot of money. Paul’s my only full-time hire, but I do a lot of seasonal hiring so he’s got help when harvest time comes. It’s one of the many reasons why I started my music career. You know, besides the fact that I enjoy singing.”

  “I still don’t know how you juggle those two lives,” she said. “They seem so different.”

  “They are. It’s what I love about ‘em. The ranch and all the farm work here is nice. Tedious. Repetitive. Hard work, but always with wonderful rewards to reap. Then there’s the touring and the fans and the music. That’s my party hard life. You know, for workin’ so hard on the ranch. Least it was.”

  “You know you can party and enjoy yourself without alcohol, right?” she asked.

  “I know. It’s just gonna take some time to convince me of it. The booze and the women and the music went hand in hand for years. But I’m learning that there are much better things in life,” I said.

  We rode the edge of the ranch and it gave me time to look things over. Paul was out in the middle of one of the fields doing something and he raised his hand to wave. Delia giggled and waved back as I tipped my hat to the man. But then a sound caught my ear.

  A sound that made me divert off our beaten path and into the woods after all.

  “Where are we headed?” Delia asked.

  “You’ll see. Come on,” I said.

  We rode the horses half a mile back into the forest. The creek was running higher than it usually was this time of the year and the horses stopped to drink. I dismounted and went to help Delia down, taking her in my arms as she slid off the saddle. She dropped down and stumbled, falling into me with giggles dripping from her lips.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  “No need to be. It’s why I came around to help ya,” I said.

  “This creek is beautiful. Is it always flowing like this?” she asked.

  “It’s not usually this high. I heard it all the way from the edge of the property. That doesn’t usually happen.”

  “Do you come back here often?”

  “Not as much as I used to. My momma and I came back here a lot. Reminds me of her whenever I do venture out here.”

  “Do you want to go back to the house?” she asked.

  “Nope. Consider this as me introducing you to one of my parents. My momma loved it back here. It’s covered in memories of her.”

  “I bet she was a beautiful woman.”

  “She was. Beautiful, smart, and strong as hell. Ran this house on a schedule, and we paid a price if we didn’t keep it. She was tough, but always forgiving. Kind, but blunt.”

  “Blunt?” she asked.

  “My momma always told ya like it was. She was k
ind. She would always make sure you had what you needed. But when it came time to get real, she always did.”

  “Sounds like a strong woman indeed.”

  I wrapped my arm around Delia as we stood at the edge of the creek. The water was flowing and her body was thrumming with excitement. The horses were drinking and resting on the edge of the water while my hands kept cupping the small globe of her stomach. I dipped my lips to the crook of her neck and tasted her, grinning as she giggled at me.

  “If you don’t stop, you’re gonna get yourself into trouble,” she said.

  “Oh really?” I asked, as I nipped at her ear. “What if I sank us right onto the ground and showed you the kind of trouble we could make?”

  “Drake,” she said, breathlessly. “What in the world?”

  “I could take your beautiful body against mine and—drop my hands between your legs.”

  I ran my hand up her thigh as her body began to quiver.

  “I could leave little marks on your growing breasts as I—lapped my tongue around your nipple.”

  I licked the edge of her neck and listened to her sigh.

  “I could sit you right on my lap, our legs danglin’ in the water as I took you. Hard. Fast. My hips pounding against yours as I hold you inches away from the water’s surface.”

  Nipping at the nape of her neck, my hand cupped her breast. I could hear her breathing tick up, her mind allowing itself to wander. I chuckled into her skin, proud of how Delia was finally embracing her lust more openly. I could feel her grinding back into me, no longer fighting the touch of a man she truly wanted.

  Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment as I pulled my lips away from her.

  “What a sight,” I said. “But maybe later. We gotta get back to the ranch and get you and this youngin’ some lunch.”

  Beckoning to the horses, they came over and I helped Delia back onto the saddle and watched her grind down into it. I grinned as I mounted my horse, watching her try to get any friction she could obtain. I’d riled her up something fierce, but she wasn’t the only one struggling.