Son of a Beard

by Lani Lynn Vale

  Thrust, thrust.

  Smack.

  I gasped, my eyes springing open, and turned my head to glare at him over my shoulder.

  “Fuck, Truth!” I gasped. “What the fuck?”

  My words, however, were lost on him as he picked up his pace.

  Our bodies were smacking together, echoing off the empty walls of our shared bedroom.

  “Come,” he ordered. “Use your fingers if you have to.”

  I didn’t need to.

  He didn’t even need to tell me to come, because I was halfway gone before he’d even finished his sentence.

  I cried out and clamped down on his cock, my face burying in the pillow that was half under my body, half under my head.

  He cursed and bucked wildly as his thrusts became erratic and uneven.

  Then I heard his groan of completion as he followed me over the edge into the abyss.

  “Fucking better and better every single time,” Truth said, letting his sweaty body lean over my naked back. “I love you, Very.”

  I smiled.

  “I love you, too, Truth.”

  His growl of happiness was made against the back of my neck, and I shivered as the words hit home.

  I loved this man. I loved the way he left me for hours on end, and I’d find him building a sword, all hot and sweaty into the wee hours of the night. I loved the way his eyes lit up when I brought him tea, juice, or coke for no reason. I loved the way he would curl me close when he felt I’d gotten too far away from him during the night or even while we were eating dinner.

  But, most of all, I loved how he loved me. Without limits.

  He didn’t care that anyone thought he was whipped or too attentive to me. He only cared about what he and I thought, and that was everything.

  ***

  Two hours and a sated vagina later, I was trying not to fall asleep as I waited for dinner to be ready.

  We were all gathered around the bar eating when something popped.

  The food on the stove. Hot grease that Big Papa was using to fry some chicken. The problem was that there were a lot of people eating, and he had a lot of it to do.

  Aaron and his wife, Imogen. Tommy Tom and his wife, Tally, as well as their daughter who was putting the chicken away just about as fast as Big Papa could fry it. Then there was me and Truth. Seanshine and his most current date—who happened to be Tommy Tom’s sister. The two former prospects who were full blown members of The Dixie Wardens MC now. Their dates. Then Big Papa’s date, whom, I might add, was a complete and total bitch.

  The pop of the fryer caused me to jump and turn. Food went everywhere, and Ghost, who’d been standing about a foot away holding a plate for Big Papa grunted. Then he was moving, turning and twisting at the same time he yanked his t-shirt off over his head.

  I saw that the plate of chicken was on the table, saved by Ghost before he’d yanked his t-shirt off.

  The split-second I saw of the back of his t-shirt before it was on the ground showed oil streaking his back, and dripping down his pants.

  “Oh, shit!” I gasped, coming to my feet as did a few of the other ladies that were sitting surrounding the table.

  Three pregnant ladies, all waiting for food, didn’t make for patient waiting.

  “Ghost!” Tally gasped, already moving around the table.

  I made it around the other way just as Imogen got off her stool, both of us jumping over Tank who looked annoyed that we would dare disturb his sleep.

  That was how three pregnant ladies, all hormonal as hell, were found standing around a practically naked man who was in the process of taking off his pants when their men came in to see what the commotion was all about.

  “Imogen!” Aaron barked. “Step away from the fryer!”

  Imogen obeyed, but only far enough that she could bend to pick up Ghost’s gun that had fallen to the floor in his haste to get his pants off.

  I squatted down and gathered his pants, as well as the phone that’d been in his hand.

  A text message was on the screen, and I couldn’t help myself.

  Ghost (8:30 PM): Don’t let my wife do it. I’ll come get her.

  Unknown (8:34 PM): You can’t come get her, you’re dead.

  Ghost (8:35 PM): Not anymore.

  I hastily placed the items on the counter, and then turned back to the man who was the center of attention.

  And almost blanched.

  He had burns.

  Oh, God did he have burns. They were everywhere. All over his body. They even distended down into his boxer briefs, disappearing from view.

  Holy. Shit.

  “Ghost,” I breathed. “Are you okay?”

  I was breathless for a few reasons.

  One, Ghost had just been burned, possibly badly.

  Two, Ghost was practically naked, and despite his burns, he looked good.

  Three, Ghost had a wife, and he was about to go get her.

  Oh, shit.

  “Jesus Christ, man,” Sean said as he pushed in between us. “You’re going to need someone to look at this.”

  “No.”

  Simple. Direct. That was our Ghost.

  “Sorry, darlin’,” Big Papa’s date, Terril, sauntered up, placing her hands on Ghost’s back. “But I agree with him.”

  “Don’t. Touch. Me.”

  The words, although low in pitch, felt like a scream in the busy, chaotic room.

  Every man, woman, and child felt those nearly whispered words deep down to their souls.

  “Sorry, hon,” Terril backed away with her hands raised.

  I bit my lip and turned to find Truth, who made big eyes at me and gestured at me with his hand.

  I left the commotion of the kitchen and walked into my man’s arms.

  “What’s with that look on your face,” he asked, tilting his head down to study my eyes.

  His hand had gone to my distended belly, absently running his big, rough palm down over the top of it.

  The baby, the booger who only kicked for his father, nudged his hand, causing Truth to smile.

  I moved until my mouth hovered just over Truth’s ear, though he did have to bend down a little to allow me to do it.

  “I saw Ghost’s phone. He dropped it while all that happened,” I gestured with my hand to the spectacle over my shoulder.

  Now Sean’s date, Ellen, who I’d seen looking at Jessie James more tonight than Sean, walked into the room, took one look at the man who was trying to disentangle himself from the melee of people that were making a fuss over him, and turned around and fled.

  Jessie James (I still don’t know why the hell I called him his entire name, but I wasn’t the only one), followed after her with one look at Sean to make sure he wasn’t paying attention.

  I winced inwardly. That was going to be a mess if it ever went past the innocent stage I could tell it was at right now.

  “And?” Truth asked, oblivious to the soap opera going on around him.

  “And on his phone, it said that he was going to get back his wife,” I whispered just as quietly as before.

  He blinked.

  Then a broad grin broke out over his face.

  “Fuck yeah.”

  Epilogue

  When confronting a woman, you should always make sure her man isn’t around the corner.

  -Fact of Life

  Verity

  7 months later

  Verity (9:34 A.M.): That’s it. I’m selling this kid on eBay.

  Truth (9:39 A.M.): What’d he do now?

  Verity (9:40 A.M.): He shit on my shirt. And my pants. I’m pretty sure I have it in my hair.

  Truth (9:54 A.M.): Take a shower and wash your clothes.

  Verity (10:03 A.M.): He shit on your latest sword, too.

  Truth (10:31 A.M.): Don’t be silly. You made him. You should sell him on Etsy.

  I burst into peals of laughter, rolling over onto my stomach as I did.
>
  The man I loved was a funny one, I’d give him that.

  A cry of anger and pissed off ‘you woke me up laughing’ came from the baby’s playpen that was set up in the corner of my office, and I sighed.

  I should’ve known better, but it wasn’t my fault.

  It was all Truth’s fault. Every last, single bit of it.

  “Do you have a minute?”

  I looked up to find the manager, Brian Staganoff, standing in the doorway of my open office.

  “Sure,” I said carefully. “What’s up?”

  I was about to fire him. In fact, I’d planned on doing that after lunch when Truth had time to come and get his son.

  And yes, I say his son, because he definitely wasn’t my son. There was no evidence beside him coming out of my vagina…and even then I could play that off due to me being delirious and high on the good medications.

  “I need to apologize for my behavior a few nights ago.”

  My brows went up.

  “Oh, yeah?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.

  This should be good.

  Hearing him explain why he called another waitress a cunt in front of the entire fucking bar should entertain me greatly. And yes, I did say another waitress.

  Apparently, he’d done it before, quite a few times. This had been the only time I’d been present to hear it.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said through clenched teeth.

  He really, really didn’t want to be here apologizing to me.

  In fact, he likely wouldn’t have bothered had my husband not been present as well.

  I’d been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, at first, but after getting the fourth complaint about his behavior and deplorable attitude today, I knew that something else had to give.

  He had to go.

  Though, I was willing to admit I hated firing people, even if they were douche canoes like this one.

  “Okay,” I said, ready to hear him explain why in the world he thought it was okay to tell a woman that the only thing she was good for was her warm cunt.

  Though, that had been after he’d called her an actual cunt.

  I listened to him apologize, and barely contained the laughter in my eyes when Truth showed up a few minutes into his explanation and subsequent apology. He listened, rolled his eyes, and made jacking off motions when the sweetness of Brian’s voice made both of us wince.

  “I’m sorry, Brian,” I said. “I was going to do this later, after lunch, but since you’re already in here and you know what this is about, I’m going to have to let you go. I can’t have any employees working at this pub who don’t respect the patrons and their coworkers. Truth’s grandfather cared for his waitresses, and he would never be okay with the way you treated Bonita two nights ago.”

  Brian’s entire body locked. “You can’t fire me.”

  My brows rose, and Truth started to vibrate with laughter as he tried to keep it quiet and not alert the man that he was standing behind him.

  “Yes,” I pushed back from my chair and stood up. My pants, which had been digging into my belly, finally loosened, allowing me to breathe again. I’d gained a ton of weight (over seventy pounds) during my pregnancy, and still, months after having our son, I was trying to lose the weight. Slowly but surely. In the meantime, all of my clothes still fit like shit, and my pants were tight as hell and digging into my belly when I sat down for longer than three seconds. “I can. I’m sorry to have to do this, and I hate that I have to do it, but as of now, you no longer are employed by Breaker Pub.”

  “You’re a fucking bitch,” he said, ripping off his name tag and tossing it.

  The problem was that he tossed it in the direction of our son, who I could hear moving around in the pack and play.

  The moment the name badge hit the wall beside his head, Ernest Junior, better known as EJ, started to really scream.

  I closed my eyes for the next bit.

  That was because I had shit in my hair. I had shit on my shirt and pants. I also had vomit down my back that I was trying really hard not to overthink. And Truth, being the overprotective man he was over his wife and child, struck.

  He grabbed Brian by the coat collar, yanked him to face him, and then decked him.

  “Mother. Fucker.”

  ***

  Four hours later, I was fairly sure that I’d talked Brian out of pressing charges.

  Though, to do that I had to offer him a severance check that was quite substantial.

  And did Truth care one single bit that he’d cost the pub over four thousand dollars? Hell no.

  He was sitting there, EJ in his arms, staring at the game on the TV with Sean sitting next to him.

  A recently broken up Sean, who was less Seanshine and more Seanstorm.

  Though, I didn’t call him that to his face.

  “Would you stop pacing?” Truth growled without breaking away from the stupid fucking game that he was watching.

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “The quarterback gets hurt, and they lose the game in the fifth.”

  Truth froze, then calmly leaned over, handed EJ to Sean who was trying not to laugh, and stood up.

  Carefully, he turned around, rounded the couch, and then started in my direction.

  Me, being me, never knew when to shut up.

  Had I known, I wouldn’t have continued to bait him.

  “And they also lose a wide receiver because he tore his ACL. They lost in overtime,” I sneered at him.

  Truth didn’t even stop.

  He bent low once he reached me, snaked his arm around the backs of my thighs, and stood.

  “Ommph,” I grunted, trying to push up.

  Truth wouldn’t allow it. The moment I started to push against his shoulders to alleviate the pressure on my belly, he smacked me on the ass. Hard.

  I shrieked.

  Sean grinned at me the entire way into our shared bedroom, and right before the door slammed on his laughing face, I flipped him off. Because I was mature and shit like that.

  Sean’s laughter was shut off the moment the door slammed shut, and I gasped because I was then flying through the air and landing on the bed.

  The moment my back hit the comforter, I gasped and started to roll away.

  Truth followed me down, though, refusing to let me move away from him.

  “You wanted my attention, baby,” he growled, getting so close to my face that his beard tickled my chin. “And you have it.”

  I gasped, instinctively opening my thighs to the man, and licked my lips when Truth’s hard cock immediately ground into me.

  I was wearing a pair of leggings which seemed to be the only thing that fit my ass and belly well enough for me to wear them for long periods of time without wanting to slice my belly fat off with a paper cutter.

  The look in Truth’s eyes, the one that showed me that I was sexy no matter what I looked at, was my undoing, though.

  “I’m mad,” I said breathlessly.

  He grinned, his mouth dropping down to my lips.

  “I can tell,” he said. “What are you mad about?”

  His hand was on the move, starting at my side and moving down until he was at the top of my leggings, his hand delving under my shirt.

  I sucked my belly in when he plunged his hand inside my pants and widened my legs, allowing him complete access.

  He grinned as he pulled away from me, watching my eyes as he let his fingers play along the folds of my sex.

  “I’m mad,” I swallowed thickly, trying to concentrate. It was nearly impossible with the way his finger was circling my clit, though. “Because you just cost us four grand.”

  “Four grand well spent,” he said, bending down to bite my nipple through the tunic I was wearing.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and moaned.

  “I…I…”

  “You what?” he rasped.

  I couldn’t think.

  �
�It was uncalled for,” I told him bluntly, trying to gather my thoughts and finding myself unable to.

  He growled against my breast, causing my entire body to tingle. Then he was up and moving, yanking my leggings down just far enough to expose my ass.

  Then he started working on his belt—which didn’t take too long.

  Thank God.

  And when he was plunging that hard cock inside of me, pressing my legs forward to my chest, I really didn’t care about much of anything any longer.

  “It was totally called for,” he told me as he buried himself inside of me. “Any time I feel that you or my son are being disrespected, you can expect the same results.”

  Then he pulled out and thrust back inside. Hard. And I lost all ability to care about anything else but him.

  That’s, of course, when the baby started to cry from the living room, and I started to laugh. EJ reminded me that there were other people in the house other than us.

  “He’s going to be pissed,” I informed him breathily. “If I don’t come get him and feed him ASAP.”

  I’d found that EJ was a whole lot like me, in that when he wanted to be fed, it’d better happen on his time schedule or I’d regret it.

  Truth grunted, not stopping.

  I ran my hands up his sides, causing him to shiver. Then his eyes moved to mine.

  Seconds later, he started to come, and I watched him give me everything he had to give.

  My eyes fell closed, and I gasped, trying to catch my breath.

  Something that was much easier when Truth’s heavy weight removed itself from my body.

  “Stay,” Truth murmured as he got up. “I’ll go get him.”

  I rolled onto my belly, feeling the hardness in my breasts that signaled a feeding was imminent.

  I got up anyway. I had to go clean myself up.

  EJ was a grazer. He took his time eating, and since we had a party to go to tonight at the club, I didn’t have time to waste.

  Not to mention that I’d just had sex with my man and had to clean up before I held my kid. That was just gross.

  I hurried to the bathroom, grabbing a towel off the rack above the toilet. My eyes caught on the decorative metal, and I smiled. That’d been the newest addition to Truth’s effort to fix up my old home.