Too Bad So Sad

by Lani Lynn Vale

  I growled in frustration. “Then why the fuck won’t you let this fucking go?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Because I want you to be happy!”

  I stopped with one foot on the floating dock and one foot on the step that was stationary.

  Now I felt like a giant dick.

  “Reagan…” I started.

  She wrapped her hands around my belly and pressed her forehead against my back. “I like you, Tyler. I don’t ever want to see you upset. If I can help, why wouldn’t I want to?”

  I didn’t have anything to say to that.

  But my anger over her questions dissipated in a cloud of dust.

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “This is a sore subject. It’s hard to lose a friend after so long. It’s like losing a limb. Rome and I had never been separated for long. Then, all of a sudden, BAM. He’s gone and I’m lost.”

  She moved her hand up and down my chest, soothing me.

  “Do you think this dock would break if we were both on it at the same time?” she asked.

  What a weird question.

  “We were on it yesterday together,” I pointed out.

  We’d been on it, fishing, as a matter of fact. Well, I’d been fishing. She’d been studying some book that had plants in it and jabbering incessantly about something that I still couldn’t quite grasp.

  She giggled. “I meant, do you think this dock will break if me and you are fucking on it?”

  Instant hard-on.

  I reached around my back, hooked a hand around her waist and pulled her to my front.

  Once she was there, I bent down and lifted her up, then stepped onto the floating dock, heading for the pad that was more like a massive floating bed.

  Laying her down on it, I laughed when she shrieked as the water from the rain we’d gotten the night before soaked her through.

  The material was water absorbent to an extent since it was meant to play on while in the middle of a lake or pool. Meaning it felt like a fucking wet bathing suit times ten.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked as I followed her down.

  She reached up and pinched my nipple, causing me to bellow in laughter as I pulled away, covering the affected nipple.

  “Owwww!” I chuckled. “How the hell did you find it that easily?”

  I mean, surely they didn’t teach women this in school—how to find nipples by pure instinct.

  Reagan pulled me down and bit me on the lip. “I found it because I’ve been thinking about it all night long. You and your fucking nipples. Your cock. Your balls.”

  I growled and leaned farther into her, pressing her deeper into the mat as I traced her lips with my tongue.

  “What else were you thinking about?” I questioned.

  She snaked her hands down my sides and pushed them under my shirt, running those small fingers over and up my back as far as she could reach.

  “I was wondering if any of those guys thought we looked good together,” she whispered, pulling my head down to hers. “About how they would react if I moved to straddle your lap and ride you in front of them. Your fucking hand was driving me insane.”

  I hadn’t been doing anything with my hand but placing it on her thigh.

  “What did I do?” I asked.

  “You kept running your finger along the inseam of my jeans,” she explained. “I kept wanting you to move it farther up—just a little bit—until you were touching a different seam.”

  I stiffened my arms, pushing up until I could look down at her, the only thing laying on her now was my lower half—and my cock was more than ready to have her unclothed.

  “I’m pretty sure that people are out night fishing right now,” I told her. “But…”

  “But you want to fuck me, right here and now, damn the consequences,” she guessed.

  I did.

  I was so going to hell.

  But, at least she would be there with me to keep me company.

  “Take off your shirt,” I ordered.

  She did as she was asked and while she was busy doing that, I followed suit.

  Her back touched the wet material behind her and she hissed.

  “It’s cold,” she cried out.

  I looked down at her breasts—always unbound—and saw how hard and taut her nipples were. Yes, indeed, it was cold.

  “What do you think would happen if I turned you over and pressed these pretty titties to the mat?” I asked. “How hard do you think I could get them?”

  As I spoke, I circled each nipple with the tip of my pointer finger, not quite touching the tips, but just enough that she was straining to get me where she really wanted me.

  “They’d probably fall off,” she teased, shivering.

  Tonight was cool and pairing that with the fact that the material beneath her was wet, she was on the verge of being too cold.

  I lowered myself and placed my warm upper body along hers.

  “Can’t have you getting too cold then,” I murmured as I plastered my body against hers.

  She moaned as my skin met hers and then started to grind up against me.

  “Your pants need to go,” she ordered. “And then so do mine.”

  I laughed and went to an elbow, easily pulling my belt and button loose.

  The zipper, on the other hand, was a little harder due to the stiffness of my cock, but I made it work and pulled my length from my jeans and then pressed it against her.

  “But, if yours come off, then I can’t tease you,” I explained, running the ruddy head over the length of her jeans.

  She moaned. “That’s not fair, Tyler.”

  She tried to wiggle and get her hands up underneath her to pull them off, but I stilled them. “Not yet.”

  She hissed out a frustrated breath. “Why must you torture me all the time?”

  I grinned and moved until my mouth was once again inches from hers. “Because I like to see you fall apart.”

  She laughed. “Why?”

  I smoothed my hand up the length of her side, coming to a stop at her breast where I cupped the perfect little handfuls and then dropped my mouth to the pebbled peak. “Because I also like to put you back together.”

  Then I dropped my mouth to hers and let her feel the need in my kiss.

  I pinched her nipple, ground my cock against her and pulled her hair.

  Once I was done, there wasn’t a single part of her upper body that hadn’t been explored by my mouth.

  Oh, and she was a jabbering mess full of desire.

  “Tyler.” She quivered in anticipation when I hooked my hand around the maddening jeans and yanked them down without undoing them. “So, help me God, if you don’t fuck me soon, I’m going to scream.”

  I pulled the jeans completely from her legs, tossed them somewhere behind me and settled myself against her bare self.

  “No underwear, Ms. Alvarez?” I teased.

  She shook her head. “Easy access.”

  I growled. “As for the screaming part…it doesn’t matter what I do…you’ll be screaming either way.”

  Then I notched my cock head at her entrance and pushed inside without hesitation. I slid in to the hilt, not stopping until she took everything that I had to give.

  “Oh, fuck me,” she moaned.

  I grinned and pulled out slightly, only to slam back inside.

  She gasped and wiggled. “You’re going to kill me.”

  I winked. “What a way to go, baby.”

  Her eyes went shimmery in the near darkness and I could see the far away light illuminating my porch shining in her eyes.

  But before I could investigate what was there, her eyes closed and she breathed out deeply.

  Her body did a full-on shiver and her legs wrapped around my hips, urging me harder.

  I didn’t give it to her.

  The slow rock of the dock underneath of us swayed with my movements and any harder and we’d be making goddamn waves.<
br />
  I didn’t want to make waves. I wanted to fuck her slow and steady. I wanted to feel her pussy clench around me and feel every single one of her muscles tighten and release, showing me without words how I was making her feel.

  “I’m going to come,” she breathed. “I’m so close.”

  I didn’t stop what I was doing.

  When you were doing something right, you never stopped.

  I closed my eyes and dropped a kiss to her collarbone, ignoring the way there was water sloshing underneath my elbows, as well as the way that my knees were completely soaked.

  I could vaguely hear the sound of a boat motor in the distance, but even that wasn’t enough to make me stop when I felt her start to ripple around me.

  Whenever we came together like this, I was grateful that I didn’t have to wear condoms—that she was protected. I’d never experienced this—the way she made me feel—because I guess on some level, I’d never been able to trust anyone enough to take that step.

  But with Reagan? I couldn’t imagine any it being any other way.

  Her nails dug into my neck and scalp and the sharp pinch of one nail poking into the skin of my neck and causing my skin to break wasn’t even enough to make me slow or stop.

  The moment that my balls were wet with her release and we were making a slippery mess, I finally let loose of my control.

  My body locked and my slow, even movements became jerky and erratic.

  My deep, long strokes became shallow stabs.

  Then, my release took hold and dragged me into the bliss, too.

  I growled into her throat, burying my face deep into the crevice, wondering idly if I’d ever be able to let this girl go.

  And, at that moment in time, I wasn’t scared of the answer that I kept coming up with.

  Hell no, I’d never be able to let her go.

  Nothing but everything with her would do.

  Chapter 13

  Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

  -Food for thought

  Reagan

  “He’s where?” I asked in confusion.

  “On Saturdays, he goes to this house.” Janie pointed to the image on Google Earth. “He stays there for a couple of hours, then comes home when the woman comes home.”

  I frowned.

  “Who does the house belong to?” I asked in confusion.

  “Rome’s ex lives there, but Rome’s paying the rent. His baby mama leaves for a couple of hours every Saturday while he’s there,” she explained. “He also goes over there for two hours on Wednesdays if he’s home and during the week he goes to the hospital for an hour and a half on Monday and an hour and a half on Friday.”

  My Spidey Sense was tingling.

  There was something more going on here. From the stories that I’d heard not only from Tyler but also his sisters as well as Tyler’s friends the other day when we’d gone out to eat with them…what Rome had done just didn’t make any sense. Zero sense.

  There was something more going on that neither Tyler nor I was privy to, but I had a friend—Janie—who was pretty freakin’ kick ass at figuring shit like this out.

  Now I really, really wanted to know what in the hell he was doing.

  “Any of those times that he goes and visits these places, is Tara with him?” I questioned.

  Janie switched over to a different camera feed, which was playing video footage of him entering the hospital and exiting the hospital. “I’ve gone over about fifteen hours of footage for both days. I don’t see any sign whatsoever of her being there.”

  “He’s sick?” I asked. “Why would he need to go to the doctor that much.”

  “His kid is sick,” Kayla said, who’d been silent up until now. “That’s the cancer wing. Says right there on the door.”

  Both Janie and I scooted closer to the screen.

  “How do you know?” I asked, not reading that it was that particular wing anywhere on the doors.

  The wording on the door was barely legible. I knew that it said something, but I couldn’t tell you what it said.

  “Because I accidentally parked there when I took my baby to his first pediatrician appointment. I think the moment I walked through those doors, every single one of those ladies up front moaned at seeing my boy. I felt bad for even putting them through that. But once they learned that I was just lost, they pointed me to the opposite tower and told me to go there. I only know that place by the outside. The bear statue out front? That’s in honor of a little girl who lost her fight with cancer—the first one to die there in that new building,” Kayla explained.

  I felt something in the vicinity of my heart wrench.

  I didn’t want to feel sorry for Rome. I wanted to hate him.

  I wanted him to be the asshole that Tyler, Henley, and Alana said that he was.

  But honestly, I was thinking there was a whole lot more to the story than just what Tyler had told me.

  I didn’t think Tyler even had the full story.

  Which meant I was going to have to get it.

  ***

  Meeting the big, scary biker enemy of my not-calling-himself-my-boyfriend boyfriend should’ve scared me silly.

  It didn’t.

  Why?

  Because I knew that a man that was friends with Tyler for so long would never hurt me—or him for that matter.

  Every time I came up with a solution in my head, trying to explain what had happened between the two, I came up short.

  I just couldn’t see how this could have happened without wires being crossed.

  From what I’d researched about Rome—or what Janie had found for me and I’d read—I couldn’t figure out how the man currently standing in front of me at a popular eatery—again Janie’s doing because I would’ve had no hope in hell of finding him—would’ve done something like this to Tyler.

  Not when everything pointed to him actually being a really good guy.

  And, on top of all that, he cared.

  Everyone that I talked to—mainly Tyler’s sisters and a few of his buddies when Tyler had slipped off to the bathroom the other night—had said that they were just as surprised by Rome’s actions as Tyler.

  As I’d said before, nothing was ever as it seemed.

  And I wanted to know the freakin’ truth.

  Rome ordered and I stared at the material on his back.

  Coming from a long line of motorcycle riders in my family, I knew what the leather vest on the man’s back was—a cut.

  He was in a motorcycle club.

  The top rocker read Bear Bottom Guardians.

  There was a second rocker on top, just under the top rocker, that said ‘Dixie Wardens MC.’

  Then there was the wraith-like woman that I’d seen on the other Dixie Wardens members backs.

  The bottom rocker said Bear Bottom, Texas.

  There were a few other patches here and there, one on the bottom that said ‘lost cause.’

  And I felt my heart break.

  This big man in front of me thought he was a lost cause—and maybe he was.

  But I wouldn’t know until he talked to me.

  Which he would.

  My ears perked up when I heard him order one more thing. “I need a piece of pie—the lemon meringue, too.”

  The woman nodded. “Anything else?”

  Rome shook his head once. “No.”

  “Are you okay?” the woman asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

  Rome shrugged, but didn’t answer. Then he took his number and turned, heading straight for the drinking fountain and not once looking behind him to notice me.

  Good.

  I waved at the young woman behind the counter, but her eyes were trained on Rome and she looked at him with concern.

  “Something wrong?” I asked softly.

  Her eyes turned back to me and she smiled sadly. “He comes in here a lot. He doesn’t look good today.”
/>   She didn’t elaborate and I wanted to know more.

  But it’d be weird for me to question her about him, to be honest. I was new here and they obviously saw each other quite a bit. I was the outsider…not him.

  Instead, I just gave her a sad smile—which was genuine—and ordered a small drink and a couple of street tacos.

  Once I had my order number, I filled my drink up, then looked around for Rome—who’d taken a seat in the corner of the room with his back to the doors.

  Which surprised me.

  He didn’t look like he was the kind of guy who’d allow anyone to take him by surprise. He looked like the type of man who would want to see shit coming—such as me.

  Carefully I maneuvered myself between the tables and took the table directly next to Rome’s. However, instead of stopping once I was behind mine, I kept scooting until I was directly in front of Rome.

  He looked up with a bored expression and the moment he got a look at my face, his entire body went solid.

  “Leave.”

  I smiled. “I’m not really good at following directions. You should ask Tyler.”

  Rome’s eyes went electric. “I’m not doing this. You need to leave or I will.”

  I smiled, but I didn’t move. “I’ll just continue to follow you until you talk to me.”

  Rome sat up from where he was leaning against the table and gave me a hard glare. “I said leave.”

  Instead of replying to his order, I shook my head. “I’m not leaving. Mostly because Tyler misses you and he needs you.”

  Everything inside of Rome seemed to deflate at that news.

  I saw the devastation on his face clear as day.

  He was broken.

  “I…I’ve done enough. You should take your food and go. Don’t come back. Tyler doesn’t need my problems and I’ve caused him enough hurt.” Rome crossed his arms over his chest and I looked to my left to see not just the lady behind the counter staring at him with avid fascination, but also a couple of other women in the restaurant.

  “Tyler talks about you like you’re still his best friend,” I murmured. “I don’t know what happened on your end, but I know what it looks like on Tyler’s and it’s not good. But…something I’ve learned since I started seeing Tyler is that what he talks about when it comes to you and whatever went down…the man he described to me doesn’t sound like the type of man who would do him like you did him.”