She pulled his shirt off, unbuckling his belt and nearly ripping his jeans off. She was out of her clothes so fast that he didn’t even see her do it, and his dick was hard and poking her in her flat stomach before he’d even finished stepping out of his pants legs. She kissed down his chest and belly and found the promised land, and goddamn he was hard as a rock when she put his dick in her mouth. She moved her lips up and down a few times and it was like wet silk rubbing up and down his shaft. When she stopped, he felt like the world was ending right there, no shit.
She pushed him gently back onto the bed and his ass hit the rough comforter. He didn’t even have time to squirm his way up the bed before she was atop him, kissing him as she came astride him. He didn’t warm her up at all, but she was wet and ready when she slid down his pole. It happened so fast he didn’t even expect it, and she started to ride him, up and down in a perfect rhythm, her hands on his chest, slipping him almost out of her and then all the way back in again.
It took him less than thirty seconds to cum, overwhelmed by the feeling. It came almost as a surprise, but it was such a thick and rich orgasm that he could feel himself tense and squirt all the way from the bottom of the shaft up to the tip. She stiffened as he ejaculated, tilting her head back and thrusting her breasts out as he climaxed. He had his hands on her hips and just held her there, held her until he was done cumming, and then she slumped down to lay her head on his chest.
His legs were still hanging half off the bed as she curled up against him. In the afterglow, that sense of shame, of unexplainable guilt started creeping up on Hendricks again. He felt a little sick, but he didn’t know why. Instead he just held the redhead against him, stroking the back of her head where it lay against his chest, breathing slowly and steadily in the cheap motel room until he fell asleep.
When he woke to the sound of the phone ringing a few hours later, she was already gone.
14.
The meeting room in the municipal building was dead quiet this time around, and Reeve was grateful for it. He almost felt like he was a couple blocks away, in the town square, sitting with the dead among them instead of in a packed room of living people. There were actually more faces in attendance this time than there had been for the one a few days prior; standing room only, and there was no shouting, no yelling, just sad and lonely faces staring up at him as he said, “I call this meeting to order.” He could have whispered and they all still would have heard it.
“I’m sorry to have to convene this under the circumstances,” he said, looking at the darkness visible out the windows behind the standing room only crowd, “especially so soon after what happened last night, in the square. I’d like to have given us all time to breathe, time to grieve …” He felt a pinch, because damn if he wasn’t thinking about Donna again. “… Time to mourn.
“But we ain’t got time for that right now,” Reeve said, and his eyes swept the room. Dr. Darlington was in the front row, with her daughter Molly next to her, the girl’s head on her mother’s shoulder. They’d come in with Ms. Cherry, and Reeve had a strong suspicion based on the perfume smell he’d caught a whiff of on the doctor as they’d talked for a minute before the start that they were probably staying with the madam. He didn’t much care. It sounded better to him than sleeping in the sheriff’s office on a cot.
“What do we do, Nick?” Barney Jones asked the question right on cue. Reeve hadn’t wanted to go into this meeting as unprepared as the last, even though he was hoping it would take a different shape entirely.
“We’ve known each other a long time,” Reeve said, looking at Jones, who sat in the middle of a small cluster of people he’d seen take up the mantle of the watch last night. Arch was there, looking a little more alive, and Braeden Tarley was nodding faintly next to him. “Midian … Calhoun County … this place is our home.” He scanned past them and saw Father Nguyen and Casey Meacham, as improbable a couple as ever he’d seen, nodding along. “These people in this room … we’re like family.
“And last night … our Midian family got their damned teeth kicked in.” He didn’t spare the image, because the reality of what happened was a hell of a lot worse, and everybody in this room knew it. Just looking around he could tell that there wasn’t a person here who hadn’t been hit by a personal loss last night—spouse, child, friend, parent. He caught sight of Keith Drumlin in the front row, pale and shaking, and he knew the man had lost all of those.
“But that’s not the end for us,” Reeve went on, admiring what a difference a couple days made in the silence as the entire room hung on his every word. “We lost people last night. Friends. People we loved. People we were supposed to …” he swallowed hard, “… protect. But this town … it ain’t over. And those people died … but we aren’t dead. We’re still here.” He caught a glimpse of Duncan in the back row, standing tall, wearing a suit again, black with a white shirt, and staring down at the ground, that new black lady at his side watching Reeve as he spoke. “We’re still here,” Reeve said again, a little harder this time. “And what we do … is we fight for our home. We fight for our family here. We fight for our town, the way a bunch of us did last night when everything went wrong.”
Reeve straightened, clutching tight to the podium, and drew a slow, ragged breath. No one shouted in, no one interjected. This was the sticky part, the one he’d about had a nightmare over only a couple days prior. He swallowed hard, preparing himself for the worst. No matter how it went, it couldn’t be as bad as the last meeting. “Now I want to ask y’all the same thing I asked you the other night, and I’m just hoping … after everything that happened … we get a different answer this time around.”
He took a deep breath, and said, “Are any of y’all ready to believe me now … and ready to fight … and help to save this town any way you can?”
The next moment was like an eternity of waiting. He had a flash, thinking it was going to be worse than last time, that everyone would just sit there silently, like an audience of stones, judging him, before it all came apart.
But that didn’t happen.
Barney Jones raised his hand first, but only by a little. Arch Stan had his up there just after, and so did Braeden Tarley. Hendricks in the back, shuffling around, raised his, too, though he was covered over a moment later by other hands, rising all over the meeting room, a few at a time.
Reeve stood there as they went up one by one until he couldn’t see anyone sitting in the room without at least one hand in the air. He looked out over the townsfolk and felt a hard pang of regret. If only it had gone like this last time, maybe … maybe Donna would still have been there.
Reeve put that thought out of his mind until later; he knew he was gonna be thinking about her a lot for the near future. Probably the far future, too, because damn if he could ever see himself forgetting about her. But she wouldn’t have wanted him to dwell, not now. Not while there was this work to be done.
Because this was her home, too. And even if he couldn’t save her … he’d do this in her memory.
He stared out at the hands raised in front of him, and gave them all a quick nod. “All right, then.” In spite of all that had happened, and all the bitter, stinging losses that had lashed him hard as a whip over the last few days, there was suddenly just a hint of hope shining through, like a beam of sun on a damned cloudy, autumn day. “Let’s get to work.”
Return to Midian in
STARLING
Southern Watch
Book 6
Coming in Late 2016!
Author's Note
If you want to know immediately when future books become available, take sixty seconds and sign up for my NEW RELEASE EMAIL ALERTS by CLICKING HERE. I don't sell your information and I only send out emails when I have a new book out. The reason you should sign up for this is because I don't always set release dates, and even if you're following me on Facebook (robertJcrane (Author)) or Twitter (@robertJcrane), it's easy to miss my book announcements because…well, because social
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Cheers,
Robert J. Crane
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Editorial/Literary Janitorial duties performed by Sarah Barbour and Jeffrey Bryan. Final proofing was handle by Jo Evans. Any errors you see in the text, however, are the result of me rejecting changes. Because I'm a special snowflake, obviously, and the rules of spelling and grammar mean fuck-all to me. I'm trying to tell a story here, people, don't let this petty bullshit get in my way. (I'm mostly joking about that.)
The cover was masterfully designed (as always) by Karri Klawiter from photographs taken by Taria Reed of The Reed Files.
Heidi Schweizer did the first read on this one, and muchas gracias to her! Nicolette Solomita also gave it a read, assuring me that after this particular book, I am guaranteed a prime fireside manor in hell.
Once more, thanks to my parents, my kids and my wife, for helping me keep things together.
Other Works by Robert J. Crane
The Sanctuary Series
Epic Fantasy
Defender: The Sanctuary Series, Volume One
Avenger: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Two
Champion: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Three
Crusader: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Four
Sanctuary Tales, Volume One - A Short Story Collection
Thy Father's Shadow: The Sanctuary Series, Volume 4.5
Master: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Five
Fated in Darkness: The Sanctuary Series, Volume 5.5
Warlord: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Six
Heretic: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Seven
Legend: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Eight* (Coming June 14, 2016!)
The Girl in the Box
and
Out of the Box
Contemporary Urban Fantasy
Alone: The Girl in the Box, Book 1
Untouched: The Girl in the Box, Book 2
Soulless: The Girl in the Box, Book 3
Family: The Girl in the Box, Book 4
Omega: The Girl in the Box, Book 5
Broken: The Girl in the Box, Book 6
Enemies: The Girl in the Box, Book 7
Legacy: The Girl in the Box, Book 8
Destiny: The Girl in the Box, Book 9
Power: The Girl in the Box, Book 10
Limitless: Out of the Box, Book 1
In the Wind: Out of the Box, Book 2
Ruthless: Out of the Box, Book 3
Grounded: Out of the Box, Book 4
Tormented: Out of the Box, Book 5
Vengeful: Out of the Box, Book 6
Sea Change: Out of the Box, Book 7
Painkiller: Out of the Box, Book 8
Masks: Out of the Box, Book 9* (Coming July 12, 2016!)
Prisoners: Out of the Box, Book 10* (Coming September 27, 2016!)
Southern Watch
Contemporary Urban Fantasy
Called: Southern Watch, Book 1
Depths: Southern Watch, Book 2
Corrupted: Southern Watch, Book 3
Unearthed: Southern Watch, Book 4
Legion: Southern Watch, Book 5
Starling: Southern Watch, Book 6* (Coming in August 2016 – Tentatively)
Forsaken: Southern Watch, Book 7* (Coming Late 2016/Early 2017!)
*Forthcoming and subject to change
Legion (Southern Watch Book 5) Page 50
