by KB Winters
Damn. Schooled by a fifth grader. “You’re protective of her. That’s good. A man should protect his family.”
He nodded, seeming deep in thought. “It’s always just been me and Mom. She works hard to give me everything I need and plenty of things I want. I just want her to be happy.” He started grating an onion and dumping it in a bowl. “For the salsa,” he said and rinsed the grater before tackling the cheese.
Shit this kid was the absolute fucking best. I would have to be a better man than I thought I could be. For him. “Okay what do I do?”
Jack walked me through what he could remember and the internet helped us with the rest. I couldn’t deny helping out like this gave me a sense of accomplishment I never would’ve imagined, and Jack ate up everything I said like it was the fucking gospel.
“Man, what smells so good?”
“We cooked dinner Mom. Tacos!”
Suspiciously watery blue eyes widened as she took in the spread on the table. “You even made the salsa? Fantastic.”
“Yeah well Jack said the jar stuff had a lot of sugar in it.” Didn’t make sense to me but I took the kid’s word for it.
“Thank you guys. I was completely in the zone and sometimes that means we end up with takeout.” She smiled at our son who rolled his eyes affectionately and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“It’s nice to share the load then, isn’t it?”
She nodded as she took a seat and began assembling a taco. “Delicious. How was your day kiddo?”
I sat back, listening as Jack told her all about the book he was reading about genius kids fighting crime in space. Sounded complicated as hell but he ate up the series like they were comic books. “I’m almost finished,” he proudly declared.
“With another one? Wow you must want something pretty big this year,” she told him casually.
“What?” Catching up on their shorthand took some time but I realized real fast that asking was the best way to find out.
Trina stood at the sound of the phone ringing but I grabbed her wrist as Jack explained, “Mom gives me five bucks for every book I read and summarize but instead of giving me the cash we total it and I get to buy whatever I want. As long as it’s legal. And safe,” he tacked on the last part with an eye roll that told me the kid had hidden depths.
“I’ll get it,” I told her, pulling her down and reaching for the cordless phone on the counter. “Hello?” My whole body tensed at the automated voice asking me if I wanted to accept the collect call. “Yes.” As soon as the smarmy bastard started speaking I shut that shit down. “Listen to me you tiny dick motherfucker, if you call or send someone else to bother either of them, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life eating through a motherfuckin’ straw. Got it?” I didn’t wait for a fucking response because if he called again or Wagman showed up, I’d make good on my promise. Trina looked at me with a mixture of worry and fear but Jack just looked proud. In awe. I just grinned to get rid of the tension in the air.
“So…who wants dessert?” Jack stood and went to the fridge with a wide smile.
Damn I loved my kid.
***
“Did you ever love Mom? Do you still love her?”
Damn the kid didn’t pull any punches. “Your mom was the only woman I ever loved besides my sister and mom and I never stopped loving her. When you’re young you want things how you want them and I was too stubborn to compromise. Trina and I couldn’t, so she left.” I’d kicked my own ass for months after she’d gone. Why had I stayed away for five fucking days? Arrogance. Stupidity. Just plain fuckin’ ignorant.
Jack nodded as though he understood but he couldn’t possibly. “But now you guys are older and you want each other. I can tell.”
I laughed as we sat in my truck on our way to Dagger’s place, where Jack would stay the night with Teddy. “Oh yeah, how?”
“Because you look at each other like this,” he said and leaned forward, batting his eyelashes and looking away coyly before turning back with what I guess was supposed to be a smoldering look. “You both think I don’t see it, but I do,” he told me proudly, crossing his arms like a kid way older and wiser than ten.
Damn he didn’t miss a beat. “Well your mom is a beautiful woman and I’d have to be blind not to notice.”
“Yeah but it’s not just that. Men always look at Mom but not the way you do.”
I had no clue how to handle the fatherhood shit. My own dad didn’t talk, not like Jack expected anyway. He’d only told me to wrap my dick up until I was ready to have a kid so I was way out of my depth with Jack and decided on brutal honesty. “I want Trina and I want you too, but I need to earn her trust again. I need to show her things can be different this time.”
“But you’re gonna do that, right?”
“Yeah kid, that’s the plan.” I ruffled his hair and he laughed.
“Okay. Good. I’ll help if you want.” Then he hopped from the car and grabbed his bag from the back, darting towards the door with me far behind.
“Hey Jack!” Teddy pulled open the door and they high fived before darting down the hall and leaving the door wide open.
I went inside to check in with Trudy. “Trina wanted me to let you know she’ll take Teddy next week if it’ll help.”
She flashed a grin. “It always helps. How’s fatherhood?”
“Jack is great. And I’m learning.”
“And Trina?”
I raked a hand through my hair with a sheepish grin. “That will take a bit more time.” But I was committed to trying, especially now that we had another night to ourselves. I stopped for beers and burgers, and even fucking flowers on the way home, because that’s how I now thought of Trina’s place. Hell, I didn’t spend as much time here when Cherie lived here but now I couldn’t seem to stay away.
But when I pulled up the only thing I could think of was murder at the sight of Wagman with his greasy fucking hair, leaning into a terrified looking Trina. I was out of the car in a flash, stalking up the walk and snatching a handful of the fucker’s hair. My fist slammed into his face over and over and over, ignoring the blood that sprayed from his nose and mouth. The sickening crunch didn’t faze me one bit, but the sound of Trina shouting my name loosened my hand and he fell to the ground and my foot kept him there. “Stay the fuck away or you’ll end up joining your buddies. Soon.” I kicked him several times in the stomach and once in the face. “Now get the fuck out! If I see you again Wag, I will fucking end you.”
The asshole nodded and crawled across the lawn before pulling himself to his feet, flashing a sinister smile over his shoulder. “See you soon Trina.”
“If you think that’s true I hope your affairs are in order asshole!” Grabbing Trina around the waist I pulled her inside and kicked the door shut. “You okay Sweetness?”
She nodded quickly, too quickly, and those beautiful blue eyes were a tad too bright for my liking. “I am, actually. Thanks.”
“You sure?” I cupped her cheeks so I could look deep into her eyes to see for myself. “If you’re not say so. I’m right here babe.”
Then that lush, kissable mouth spread into a sultry smile. “That was kind of hot, you know. And yes, big guy, I am completely ashamed that I think so.”
Interesting. “You mean instead of flowers, beers and burgers I could have just kicked the shit out of someone to get you all wet and bothered?”
“Don’t you mean hot and bothered?”
I shook my head and leaned in to brush a kiss on her lips. “Depends. If I slide my fingers inside you right now will I find you hot? Or wet?”
She shook her head. “Do I have a choice?” That husky laugh had my dick hard enough to pound nails. “Besides I do need to eat.”
“Yeah me too,” I told her and took her mouth, kissing her hard and fast, eating at her sweet mouth until she jumped up and wrapped those long sexy legs around my waist, urging me to do more. Her warm tongue and eager hips drove me crazy. “Trina.”
“I want
you Baz. Right here. Right now.” She untangled her legs until her feet hit the floor, unfastening her pants and shoving them down along with a pair of sheer red panties. When she bent over the arm of the sofa, exposing that round, heart shaped ass to me, I lost all pretense of restraint.
I smacked her ass. “I missed this sweet ass,” I told her as my cock nudged her opening and I sank in slow and deep. The sounds she made as my cock invaded her were low and strangled, incomprehensible and damn if my cock didn’t harden at that. I plunged in and out, loving how much tighter she felt at this angle, hitting that spot that made her scream out. That flooded her pussy with moisture, coating me so I slid in easier. Faster. Deeper.
We came together hard and fast. Rough and necessary. Everything we both needed to forget about what the fuck had just happened. In no time at all Trina shook and convulsed, milking my cock. Her pussy sucked me in deep until every drop was wrung from me. A long minute later, Trina finally spoke.
“Now is the perfect time for beer and burgers.” She groaned when I separated our bodies, pushing her ass back against me. “But I remember hearing something about flowers?”
Laughing at her playfulness I smacked her ass and lifted her in my arms. “First we shower.” We both knew what that meant, another forty-five minutes—at least—before we were dry and ready for food.
And flowers.
“I’m starved, make it fast,” she instructed.
“Hell no, this time we do it nice and slow. And wet.”
She purred in my ear. “I know a little something about wet.”
Fuck she was killing me.
Chapter Eight
Trina
Moving back to Brently was supposed to be a new beginning in a familiar place. It was not supposed to be a repeat of my past life, which included falling in love with Baz. Again. It’s like I hadn’t learned a goddamn thing as an entire decade passed. But the thing was, Baz was still a biker, still an outlaw, and I couldn’t care less. He’d been a good father to Jack, a really great father actually, not to mention he’d taken on the role of protector for both of us. It wasn’t smart and I knew it but the last time I tried to do what I thought was the right thing, the smart thing, it took me away from my home. Away from Baz. And eventually, right into the arms of the fucking psycho currently making my new life uncomfortable as hell.
Jensen had been my attempt at the steady, stable man with a good, reliable job. But he had one fatal flaw prior to the breakup and that was his indifference to Jack. And then his inability to take ‘no’ for an answer had become a huge problem. Such a huge problem, it brought a madman to my doorstep. So, either I had shitty taste in men or I’d been using the wrong criteria by which to judge them.
Right now, I had to go with option B.
So this time, I decided to give my heart what she wanted, and that crazy bitch wanted Baz.
It was something I’d have to deal with later because I worked late last night and rose early this morning because we had errands to run. “Jack come on kiddo, we have to get out of here!” I knew he was still sleeping because the child was incapable of waking up before nine o’clock, so I closed the clasp on my earring as I walked down to his room, giving his door a loud knock. “Jack wake up or you’ll be wearing pants that are too short for the next year!”
“Mom let’s just do it online,” he groaned, from what sounded like under his pillow.
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “We have to try them on.” Baz had gotten up early to help Mick move some things around for Talon so Jack and I were hitting some of the sales at the mall for all the clothes he continues to outgrow. Even though he hated shopping for anything but food, I knew he wanted to make a good impression at his new school next month. “If you think I’m running back and forth to the post office when your jeans don’t fit, you better think again kid!” I heard a loud thud and then four distinctive steps before the door pulled open.
“Fine. I’ll be ready in ten minutes.” He flashed a sleepy smile then brushed past me into the bathroom.
While he showered, I slipped my shoes on and whipped up some egg and bacon sandwiches for us, honey wheat bread was my one concession to eating healthy this morning. I sipped my coffee and waited. And tried not to think about Baz. Or Jensen. Or the greasy asshole who kept darkening my doorstep.
“Breakfast sandwiches,” Jack said as he slid onto a chair and chugged his orange juice.
“Yep. I figured they could hold us until lunch.”
He nodded, chewing fast because he obviously had something to say. “Since we have to get jeans at the mall, Mom, can I get my t-shirts from this cool online store. Please?”
“Fine. Jeans, socks and underwear plus a couple of lightweight jackets today, t-shirts online. Please just be a good sport about it, okay?”
He smiled, looking so much like the little boy who used to climb in my lap and bestow hugs and kisses on me at will. I felt my heart squeeze. “I will. And thanks Mom, for bringing me here to meet my Dad. Love you,” he said as he stood and pressed a bacony kiss to my cheek.
“You’re welcome sweetheart. I’m glad he’s everything you wanted in a father. And I’m sorry I waited so long to bring you two together.” I figured I’d spend a few years making it up to him. “Get your sneakers on.”
The kid never did anything slowly. He ran to his room and shoved his feet into his favorite pair of shoes before running back. “Ready. Can we have subs for lunch?”
“Sure.” I pulled open the door and froze, standing in the doorway was a familiar head of perfectly coiffed russet brown hair and angry brown eyes that I once thought so appealing.
“Hello Trina. You are looking mighty fine this morning.” Jensen raked a hand down my shoulder and I suppressed a shudder.
I took a step forward and pushed Jack behind me. “Run Jack!” The moment I heard the back-door smack shut, I pushed at Jensen’s chest and stepped back to close the door.
“I don’t think so Trina baby.” He sneered and smacked his hand against the door, grabbing my hair and yanking me backwards until I cried out. “I’ve come a long way to get you, baby. How about a little kiss?”
As his mouth descended on mine, bile rose in my throat and I shook my head left and right, dodging his attempts to kiss me. He squeezed my jaw hard and when his mouth touched mine, I did the only thing I could think of, I bit down as hard as I could.
“You bitch!” He pulled harder on my hair until I bent backwards, trying not to puke with his angry glare filling my vision.
At least until his fist came flying right at my face, turning everything black.
Chapter Nine
Baz
“Okay babe, how ’bout that?” Mick spoke with the patience a man uses when his woman is pregnant, hormonal and maybe on the verge of a breakdown. But in fairness to him, we’d moved the big ass hutch at least five times already.
It was hot and I had sweat pouring from my body. I was more than ready to get back home to my own woman and child. “This is perfect for storage and you can use it as a sideboard for holidays,” I told her just to end this torture.
She flashed a shy smile. “It looks great Baz, thanks. Both of you.” She stood staring at the newly placed hutch, smile growing with every passing second. “Wash up and take a seat,” she ordered as she disappeared into the kitchen.
“Thanks man. She’s been a little eager about getting everything settled. Again.”
“No worries. I’m happy to help.”
“Good,” Talon said as she returned with a tray of lemonade, brownies and sandwiches. “I appreciate it and I have another request.”
“For me?” I couldn’t imagine what she wanted me to do but Talon was good people so I’d do whatever she asked if I could.
“Yep. I want you to get Trina over here to sign my books.”
My eyebrows went straight up. “You know what she writes? Let me see,” I demanded a little too harsh but Talon only smiled.
“I do and I love them. Been reading
them for a few years now. I’ll show you,” she said, stopping at the sound of her cell buzzing and ringing on the table. “Hey Trudy,” she smiled but it quickly died and turned to worry and my body prepared for battle. “Hang on,” she said and looked up, silver eyes bouncing between Mick and me. “Jack ran to Two Scoops, out of breath, crying and said his mom’s ex showed up at the house. Go! Go! I’ll be fine here. Go!”
“Call Darlington and let him know Jensen Murray is in town, violating parole,” I told Mick and then I was out of my chair, through the front door and taking off on my bike in a matter of seconds. I headed straight home because I knew Mick and Dagger would check on Jack and keep him safe until I had this shit settled and Trina was safe. Cash texted with a description of this asshole and I pulled out my piece before heading inside.
I checked the front door. Locked. That was odd, so I decided to go in through the back just in case this motherfucker was still here. Though it might be more likely he’d try to take off with Trina. The back door was, thankfully, still unlocked which meant he hadn’t checked the whole house. Inside nothing looked out of place which freaked me the fuck out with just how not out of place everything was. There were no signs of a struggle, not in the kitchen or the living room. Jack’s room was typically messy but nothing more. Our bed, because that’s how I thought of it now, was still made with her silky teal nightgown draped over the edge.
Her office door was closed, which wasn’t all that unusual but one thing the military had drilled into me was trusting my instincts and right then, they told me that’s where they were. I slowed my steps so they weren’t as easy to follow, wrapping my fist around the knob and gun poised at the ready. I ducked as I pushed the door open and thank fuck I did because the bastard let off a shot.
“Go away asshole, she’s mine!” His eyes were wild and wide. “Tell him Trina, tell that motherfucker you don’t want him. You want me.”
She winced at the way his arm tightened around her neck, the way the tip of his gun dug deeper into her head. He was a dead motherfucker as soon as I got my hands on him.
