by Rebel Farris
I swallow. “What?”
“Nothing. You’ve got a healthy appetite, for sure. But, do you even realize all the little moaning noises you make with each bite?” His chest is shaking with silent laughter.
“I do not.”
“You do,” he responds and takes a bite of his sandwich, then swallows. “It’s cute, though.”
Whatever, I grumble internally and return to enjoying my food. I keep thinking about what he said about trusting him. Maybe he’s onto something because I realize that I’m completely at ease with him now. And thinking back to when we first met, I wasn’t comfortable at all.
Dex finishes his food before me, digs quarters out of his pocket, and starts flipping through the tabletop jukebox next to us. I’m curious as to what he’ll play, so I silently watch and finish off my meal. The beginning of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” starts to play over the speakers in the ceiling. Dex looks at me, and his hand crosses the table until it’s lying palm up in front of me. My eyes track up to his grinning face.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the first day you came into the tattoo shop.”
“You like David Bowie?”
“Who doesn’t?” He shrugs. “You heard the man—let’s dance.”
He grabs my hand and pulls me from the booth. He starts leading me, dancing around the diner. My cheeks feel hot, but I realize he’s a pretty good dancer.
“Where did you learn how to dance?”
“Juvie provides all kinds of reform programs. I never thought it’d come in handy until I saw you dancing around the tattoo shop.” He looks down at me. “I’ve been waiting for my moment.”
He starts singing the words of the song. He’s definitely not a singer, but the effort is sort of adorable. I find my heart melting on the spot as he spins me around the tiny strip of floor space. A group of college kids, obviously well into the drink, walks in and joins our little dance party. Dex and I break apart, and he starts doing some strange dance moves that are a combination of the robot and something else as he shakes his hips. His face is nothing but serious. I crack up laughing and completely lose my rhythm. He grins and keeps at it until the end of the song.
We move back to the booth. I notice that the waitress has cleared our plates and his file is also gone. He stands next to the end of the booth, pulling his wallet out as he grabs the check off the table.
“Let me,” I say. “I can write this off since we were out for business earlier.”
“No way,” he responds. “This isn’t a date unless it’s my treat.”
He tosses cash on the table and pulls me out of the booth, leading me out of the restaurant. I’m still in shock over his last words. This was a date?
Then
Just when I thought that I was actually getting my shit together, the evil powers that be who controlled my life decided to throw a monkey wrench into my plans. I never got a chance to talk to Sloane that night, because she didn’t come home to the dorms.
Instead, I received a call from the General. It was strange, mostly for the reason that he’d never called me before, but also that I didn’t think I’d ever seen him speak on the phone. He was one of those stoic reticent figures that led with a silent air of authority.
“Maddie, are you sitting down?”
“Uh, I can be?” I said as I fell back on to my bed. “What’s up?”
“I have some news. The boys’—” He took a breath.
My stomach plummeted to my toes. I’d thought I could prepare myself for a call like that, but I really couldn’t.
“Their convoy was hit by an IED. They’ve been flown to a hospital in Germany. Evan is stable. But Jared’s condition is listed as critical. As of my last update, he was in surgery. We’re flying out to Germany tonight. I thought you might want to come, too. We plan to take the girls, just in case…”
I nodded but realized he couldn’t hear that. “Okay, yes. Yes, I want to go.” My voice squeaked out the reply.
I wasn’t going to let the girls meet their father for the first time in an overseas hospital without me.
“Maddie?”
Plus, I was sure that John and Diana would want to fully focus on their son and not have to wrangle preschoolers.
“Yeah.”
“He’s going to be okay.”
I couldn’t speak to form a response.
“Pack your bag. I’ll send Nic by to bring you to the airport. We’ll meet you there. Don’t forget your passport. You still know where it is, right?”
“Yeah.”
I ended the call and rushed around my room, stuffing things blindly into my duffel bag. After a few minutes, I realized I had no idea what I’d packed. I upended the contents on to my bed, but I couldn’t see anything through the stupid tears that had filled my eyes.
I finally had my bag packed properly when a knock sounded at the door. I opened it without looking and turned back to the search for my passport.
“I’m ready to go. I just have to find my passport. It wasn’t in the shoe box where I thought I’d put the damn thing. Can you look through the desk drawers while I check under the bed?”
“Where are you going that you’re packing a bag and in need of a passport?”
I whipped around to face Law. His jacket was askew and his hair even messier than usual. Dark circles shadowed his eyes.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked. I turned back to the storage tote I’d drug out from under my bed.
“I couldn’t sleep without you. And after what we talked about tonight, I didn’t think you needed to be alone.”
I spied the offending document at the bottom of the tote.
“I gotta go—”
“Goddammit, Laine,” he growled as he grabbed my arm, halting my frantic movements. “Where the fuck are you going?”
I stood up and turned around to look at him. I couldn’t get into this now. Nic would be here any second.
“There’s been a family emergency. I have to go.”
“I thought we covered this tonight. You don’t have a family. So why don’t we start with the truth? Just talk to me, Laine. Just please, please don’t run away from me, from us.”
“That’s not what this is. It’s just—it’s complicated, and I don’t have time to explain.” I rushed around, grabbing stuff to put away, trying to reduce the mess I left for Sloane.
Nic appeared in the open doorway. His eyes darted back and forth between Law and me.
“I hate to interrupt, but we’ve got a flight to catch. You ready?” Nic said.
Law looked back at him and then at me. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw ticked.
“You’re going away with him?” Law demanded.
“Law, you’re looking in all the wrong places for an explanation,” I said. “There’s one, but it’s not that. I just don’t have time to explain it to you. I’ve got a flight to catch. We have to leave, right now.”
“You know what? Fuck this. I can’t do this anymore.” Law started for the door.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. “Don’t say something like that and leave.”
“Why? Does it not feel good to be on the receiving end of cryptic bullshit?”
“Fuck! Law, stop, I’ll tell you everything. All of it. Just not now. There really is an emergency, and I have to go.”
“Whatever. Too little, too late.” He punched the wall before passing through the doorframe.
My body gave out, and I crumpled to the floor. He’d never walked away from me before. Not like that. I wasn’t sure if he meant it to be forever.
What was I doing? Was I throwing away the man who loved me for the man who left me? My heart split in two. Weariness invaded my bones. I was too young to have to deal with all this, and the only thing I wanted, at that moment, I could never have again for as long as I lived. I needed my mom. A sob racked my body as Nic wrapped his arms around me.
Now
The newcom
ers put on more music and are dancing again, which means we have to dance our way out of the restaurant. We stumble out of the diner, laughing. Dex catches my hand and pulls me toward the car.
I try to break away and move toward the driver’s side, but he pulls me back with a spin. He backs me into the hood of the car, and I have to lean back on my hands to look up to him. My keys jingle as he pulls them out of his pocket. A smile creeps on to his face.
“I’m still driving,” he says.
“I don’t think I’ll survive another ride in the car with you,” I counter.
He leans down over me. “I’m a good driver.”
“Yeah, a good driver for inducing heart attacks,” I scoff.
“Not a heart attack, just your heart racing,” he whispers as his hand curves around the back of my neck.
“What would give you that idea?”
“This.” He pulls my head up to meet his halfway.
His lips press to mine, caressing. Then his teeth tug at my lower lip. I grip the top of his shoulders and climb his body to deepen the kiss. My tongue tangles with his, and he pulls me into him when my legs wrap around his waist.
He tastes like a fruity mint and smells like a woodsy, manly cologne. My hands curl into his hair and tighten. He moans in answer. A wave of desire sweeps through me with that sound. He starts carrying me to the passenger side of the car. I know this is a distraction, but I don’t care. He can drive the car every day if he does this.
Muffled banging and yelling startles me back to reality, and I look over to the restaurant. The group of college kids inside are waving their phones around with smiles and giving us thumbs-up. I shake my head as laughter bubbles up from my stomach.
“We have an audience,” I say, turning back to him. “You should probably put me down.”
With my focus back on him, our faces are only an inch apart. He captures my lower lip and sucks it into his mouth, letting me slide down his body to the ground. The car door opens. Dex stands back with a grin and sweeps his arm in front of him, bowing slightly.
“After you, m’lady.”
The smart-ass inside of me can’t help herself. “Such a gentleman.” I roll my eyes. “Who says chivalry is dead?”
I get in as he chuckles and shuts the door behind me. As he walks around the car, I’m tempted to slide across the bench seat and be in the driver’s seat when he gets there. But a bigger part of me is curious about where he’s taking me next, so I stay put and buckle my seat belt as he slides into the car.
“Where to next?” I ask.
“I’m going to test this theory of yours on patience now,” he responds. “So be patient.”
He pulls the car out of the parking lot, driving way more sedately this time. At least I’m not gripping the seat in terror.
“Patience is only extended when I know the end result is getting what I want.”
“What do you want?”
“For you to fuck me,” I say simply.
He chuckles. “You’re not making this easy on me, you know.”
“I’m pretty sure that statement was accomplishing the opposite.”
“I want to take things slow with you, Maddie,” he explains. “Do this right.”
“What’s the point?”
He starts to talk, but I reach out and cover his mouth with my hand. “I get what you’re saying, but what I’m saying is that I never understood the bases bullshit. If you’re willing to suck someone’s cock or their clit, why’re you then unwilling to fuck? That just makes no sense. Oral is way more intimate than fucking.”
He pulls my hand away from his mouth. “You’re going to make me crash this car if you keep talking to me like that.”
“Good. Let’s keep this drive short.”
I turn the radio on, and we drive. My mind wanders. I find it funny that I feel comfortable talking to him like that. I never thought I’d feel comfortable with another man like this again, but here we are. It doesn’t feel awkward at all. I can only think that it has to do with him opening up to me. I feel like anyone with a story like that won’t judge me for what I am.
“You don’t tell that story to people often, do you?” I ask.
“You’re the only one,” he says. “Though Marcus knows. He’s been my partner in crime for as long as I’ve been committing crime. He got the same offer as me.”
“Wow, you’ve known each other that long?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you,” I say.
“For what?” he asks, glancing over at me.
“For telling me. It couldn’t’ve been easy. I know it’s not easy for me to talk about my past.”
“You can anytime,” he says softly and then pauses. “I want to know all the parts of you, Maddie. The good and the bad. I’ll never judge you for it. Just like I knew you wouldn’t judge me for my past.”
The words pour out of me easily as I tell him about my parents. It actually shocks me a little. I tell him all about my dad and my mom, growing up with Evan and Nic. He drives past the entrance to my neighborhood and into the main entrance to Zilker Park. I keep talking.
“You shouldn’t feel that way, you know.”
“I know,” I say. “Believe me, it took years of therapy to admit that I shouldn’t feel guilt for my parents’ deaths, but it’s hard not to think of it that way still.”
He pulls off the meandering road that winds through Zilker Park on to a dirt path that is blocked by a gate. The trees are so thick that once he cuts the lights and the engine, someone would need to know the path was there to see us. I read the sign next to the gate and laugh.
“Girl Scouts? How did you even know this was here? I’ve been out here tons of times and didn’t know there was a Girl Scout camp out here.”
He shrugs as he unbuckles his seat belt and moves toward me. “I’ve had to come out here a time or two for work. The place is vacant during the school year. Well, at night, at least.”
I quickly undo mine and lean into him.
“You know we’re adults and I’ve a house with a bed we could go to right now. Are we seriously going to do it in the car like teenagers?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” he answers. “Do you want to move this back to the house where the girls are?”
“No,” I answer. I run my tongue up the side of his neck and trace it over the shell of his ear. “Enough talking, Dex,” I whisper. “It’s been four years for me. I want you inside me now.”
His head falls back as he groans. “You’re not making this easy on me.”
“I’m making it more than easy.” I reach out and squeeze his cock through his jeans. He’s hard, and it feels big. I bite my lip to stop the moan that wants to escape my mouth. “I’m making it hard,” I whisper in his ear as I move to straddle him.
He stops me with a firm grip on my hips. He kisses me, his tongue slipping past my lips to tangle with mine. I try to move and grind against him, but he holds me still. I pull his hair, tipping his head back as my kiss becomes more aggressive. He moans and pulls me down on to him, grinding into me. My heart races and my pussy throbs, I want him so badly. I rub myself back and forth across his lap, but with my jeans on, it’s not enough. His hands still my hips once more as he pulls back.
“Get in the back,” he says, his voice deep and rough.
My whole body tingles at the tone of his voice. He can’t be into the same stuff I’m into.
“Will you spank me if I don’t?”
“I’ll do anything you want me to if you get in the back of the damn car.”
I rise to my feet as much as I can, hunching over him with a smirk, and make sure he gets a face full of every indecent body part I have as I climb over him. It isn’t graceful at all, but effective, as I throw myself into the back seat.
His move to join me is much more graceful and fluid. I watch the rippling muscles in his arms and swallow. He kneels in the cramped space of the floorboard and leans over the s
eat. His eyes are heated, and his smell fills the car like he’s throwing off pheromones.
I pull my shirt over my head. He grabs his by the collar and pulls it over his head the way boys do. He’s got ink all over his torso, but it’s too dark to make out what they are. We both sit there looking at each other, our tangled breaths the only sound in the space. He makes no move toward me, so I reach back and pop the hook on my bra and let it slide down my arms.
He still doesn’t move, but I’ve the urge to touch him. I want to rub my body up against his and feel his bare skin touch mine, but I choose to strive for patience and wait.
I run my hands over my breasts, rolling my nipples between my fingertips, and let one trail down farther. I reach the top of my jeans, pop the button, and let the zipper pull apart as I slide my fingers into my underwear.
“If you won’t touch me, I’m just gonna have to do it myself.”
His eyebrows inch up. “You’d do that?”
“Of course. I like being watched. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to ride your cock in a bit,” I say before my brain can catch up with my mouth. I suck in a breath, waiting for him to tell me that’s wrong, but it never comes.
He blinks. “I’m just trying to figure out if I’m dreaming.”
“You’re not dreaming,” I coo, trying to suppress a smile. “Touch me.”
He releases a shuddering breath, and in a blink his lips are on mine, his hand roaming over my bare flesh. I pull him until our bodies press together. He’s warm and hard. My hands trace the contours of his shoulders and arms, memorizing. His lips trail down my neck, nipping and licking a path to my breasts. He sucks a nipple into his mouth. His hand follows the same path mine had traversed earlier. His teeth lightly clamp down on my nipple as his finger runs over my sensitive bundle of nerves. My back bows and I release a throaty moan.
I yelp as a loud tap on the glass sounds. I open my eyes to see a light trained on the dashboard. The windows are already fogged up, so it’s not likely whoever is outside has seen anything.
Dex pulls his shirt off the ground and covers me with it. The other hand goes behind his back, and I hear a click before I see the gun in his hand. He reaches over the seat and rolls down the window. It’s a slow mission since this old car is only equipped with manual windows.
