Charge to My Line

by Lani Lynn Vale

I’d been sitting on my parent’s couch, flipping through a magazine on home décor and talking with my sister when he’d walked in; now I was standing in front of him, staring in horror at the black eye that was forming on his face.

  Grayson turned his stormy gray eyes to me and glared. “Just get your fuckin’ shoes on. We’re late.”

  I knew that. I was the one who’d called him twenty minutes ago and told him.

  My mother’s party was tonight.

  It was in celebration of her last round of chemo that had taken place earlier in the week. As of today, she was cancer free!

  Boom, bitches!

  Then Grayson had to come in with his panties in a wad and a black eye.

  “I’m already ready. I’m just waiting on you,” I said carefully, slipping my feet into my flip flops.

  He looked me up and down then walked into the kitchen where my father was. My mother was currently being taken to dinner by her boss, who was most grateful to have her back on the force.

  His real role was to bring my mom to Halligans and Handcuffs in less than a half hour, where we’d all be waiting to congratulate her.

  “What the hell happened to him?” My sister whispered loudly.

  I loved my sister to death, but seriously? Didn’t she know Grayson had super hearing?

  I whipped my hand up and put it over her mouth, glaring at her.

  When she nodded in understanding, we both tiptoed down the hall that led to the kitchen, stopping at the swinging door that led straight the kitchen and the hallway.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Grayson said, frustration clearly evident in his voice.

  “Sounds like a bad situation. What’d the Chief say when you brought the problem to his attention?” My father asked.

  What were they talking about?

  My sister shifted positions beside me, then promptly tripped over her own feet, pinning me against the fridge.

  I absorbed the impact with a shallow ‘oomph,’ and panted through the pain as her elbow met my rib. “Jesus Christ. Stay the hell still,” I growled quietly.

  “Sorry,” Reese whispered.

  “He didn’t say anything. He said he couldn’t talk about it yet. Just that Colby served his suspension, and he had no legal leg to stand on,” Grayson sighed.

  “I’ll have to talk to Daniella about it. Most likely, though, Cabe’s already aware of the problem. What’d he do this time?” Dad asked him.

  “He pulled the medic over again. Wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the fucker knocked the back door into my face. I swear to God, if he wasn’t a cop, I’d have seriously…”

  “Mommy, what are doing in the hallway?” Rowen asked curiously.

  Damn, hell, piss, and fuck.

  The door to the kitchen slowly opened, and Grayson’s scowling face took us both in.

  Jesus, but even pissed off he was extremely sexy.

  His face was shaved clean, and he’d gotten a haircut somewhere in between the time I’d seen him during my lunch break and now.

  He was wearing dark washed blue jeans, black boots, and a black flannel shirt. So simple, yet so freakin’ sexy.

  Although, the black eye wasn’t the best look, the rest of him looked damn good.

  “Why wouldn’t you just come in here? I would’ve told you. A little childish, isn’t it?” He asked with a hint of annoyance, but mostly tiredness.

  He’d been working his ass off. Pulling double-time with his shifts at the fire station, and then his mechanic business. Then having to deal with Colby on top of that. The man needed a vacation.

  However, that tiredness wasn’t a get out of jail free card.

  “Are you ready?” I asked coldly.

  He nodded. “Been ready. Just waiting on you.”

  I refrained from saying that no, in fact, I was waiting on him. However, I didn’t want to trigger his man-period that’d been around every corner lately, so I kept my mouth shut.

  “Did you know Aunt Tru rented a house?” Rowen asked Grayson out of the blue.

  Grayson turned his gaze from the little girl at his side, to me with accusation. “She did, did she?”

  “Yep. We went and looked at it today. It’s in the next town over. She said she couldn’t afford to live in one in this town. They cost too much,” Rowen threw a little extra fat on the fire.

  I’d told him that I’d wait on making a decision on the new place, but to be honest, I didn’t want to live with my parents. I was twenty-freakin’-eight. It was damn awkward to get up and see your father in his underwear.

  “I thought you were going to talk with me about this?” He asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah. But they needed an answer today, and you weren’t here.”

  His hands tightened into fists.

  “I was working,” he said carefully.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  And I was. I didn’t know what he wanted me to say though.

  “Alright, guys. We’ll meet y’all there,” I said jovially, trying to stay positive, even though I could tell Grayson wasn’t really happy for me, or with me.

  It wasn’t like he was offering me a place to live! Something I’d have taken had he just asked! Why was he so mad?

  We walked out into the night, me slightly behind him, as he led the way to his bike.

  The entire ride there I could feel that he was tense, which only served to make me incredibly uncomfortable.

  He drove faster than normal, too. Taking the turns a little tighter, and being a little less cautious when he was changing lanes. As in, a car was going too slow, he’d cut in between two cars to get around them.

  It would’ve been exhilarating if he weren’t so mad.

  It almost felt like he was doing it to punish me.

  Well, he had one thing wrong. This wasn’t a punishment; it was the ride of a lifetime.

  We arrived a whole ten minutes before my sister, Rowen, and my father.

  I sat on the back of Grayson’s bike, my helmeted-face leaning against Grayson’s back.

  Grayson was stiff, but he didn’t move away from the touch, and I had to fight the urge to laugh at the absurdness of it.

  Spotting my father’s truck pulling into the parking lot, I relished in the fact that he’d be caught off guard by my next statement.

  “Grayson,” I said against his back.

  I felt his rumbled ‘what’ more than heard it.

  Closing my eyes, I smiled before saying what I’d wanted to say for weeks now.

  “I love you.”

  ***

  “What’s going on with Torren? His eyes haven’t left you since the party started,” Baylee asked curiously.

  I didn’t bother to turn to the man that seemed to be shooting out beams of superheated sex through his eyes and every pore in his body.

  I could feel it.

  My vagina could feel it, too.

  I’d never been one to have spontaneous orgasms before, but there was a first for everything.

  If anything else, Grayson would have no problem talking me into sex. If the man had come over right now, he wouldn’t even have to ask me. I’d be offering my body up to him in a heartbeat.

  And that sure would look bad in front of my mom and nearly all of her coworkers that weren’t currently working a call, since virtually all of the on-duty cops had joined the off-duty ones.

  “He’s emotional,” I replied, taking a handful of cinnamon roasted nuts out of the bowl I was standing next to.

  I was a compulsive eater, especially in times of stress.

  Sex vibes counted as stress, right?

  “Well, Torren’s always been the happy one. It’s only been since you two have met that I’ve seen him something other than happy. Or at least appearing to be happy. I want to say it’s nearly to the point where I’d call him broody. Sexy broody,” Viddy said, waving her hand in front of her face to fan herself.

  Yes, the man knew how to make a woman sweat.

  “And look at the two of those brothe
rs together. They look like they’re getting close,” Rue said lightly.

  I did turn around at that comment.

  Ross could be Grayson’s twin in every way. Both had the signature Trammel cleft chin that they’d inherited from their father. Both had the black hair, and dark stormy gray eyes.

  The only difference between the two men was the tattoos covering Grayson’s arms compared to the clean virgin skin of Ross’.

  The two had been spending a lot of time together this past week, and this weekend, the two men planned to ride over to Tuscaloosa, and somehow it’d turned into a ‘run’ or whatever that meant, which had nearly the entire club going.

  “They’re like two peas in a pod. They have so much in common,” I said to the group. “They’re both paramedics. They both ride motorcycles; Grayson spent the entire weekend trying to convince Ross to patch in.”

  I’d only just learned the term ‘patching in’ when Grayson had started to explain the process to Ross while I was making dinner for us all.

  Apparently, when a person wanted to become a member of The Dixie Wardens MC, they had to go through a year of being what they called prospects. A current member of the club would be their sponsor, and they’d spend the next year licking boots and eating shit. Or at least that’d been what I got from the entire conversation.

  Once they’d done enough time as a prospect, or they’d earned the club’s respect and loyalty, then they’d become fully patched in.

  “Wow, that’d be fun. Then all three members of the Trammel family would be members of The Dixie Wardens,” Adeline observed.

  “Uh-oh. He’s glaring at you again,” Channing mumbled around a mouthful of peanuts.

  I tried not to look.

  I really did.

  But I couldn’t help it. I had to look. He compelled me to do what he wanted.

  Knowing the man was mad at me was killing me.

  I didn’t like making him mad. Hell, I hadn’t intended on making him mad.

  I’d just been tired of waiting to have the discussion on where I was going to live.

  I’d been secretly hoping that he’d ask me to move in with him, but even I could see that it was too soon. I didn’t blame him. Moving in together was a huge commitment, and we’d only officially been dating for going on three months now.

  What I saw when I finally looked up made my heart pound.

  “Shit,” I groaned, letting my head fall into my palm.

  “What? Who’s that standing next to him?” Adeline asked.

  I wanted to beat my head against the table.

  “That’s Mance. He’s a cop and a patient of Iliana’s. I met him a couple of weeks ago, and he asked me out. When I told him no, that I was involved with someone, he told me that he hoped it wouldn’t work out so I’d take a chance on him. He’s nice and all, but he’s not Grayson. He doesn’t make my heart pound and give my vagina butterflies.” I didn’t mean to speak the last part out loud, but I’d been so nervous taking in the look on Grayson’s face, that my filter had malfunctioned.

  “Vagina butterflies?” The group asked as a whole.

  My face flamed, pure red hot.

  “Uhh,” I said smartly. “You know, when you get those tiny little flutters…down there…when you catch their eyes on you. Or when they only touch you in the most innocent of ways. Or when they whisper to you really deep and seductive like.”

  “I kind of like that I do that to you,” a deep, silky voice said at the back of my head.

  Grayson’s breath touched the base of my neck, causing electric sparks to shoot through me, causing my nipples to harden and my core to clench.

  “Yeah, I’m sure you do,” I replied huskily without turning around.

  Shit. When did he leave where he was standing? I’d been looking at him not thirty seconds before, for God’s sake!

  And if the look on the girls’ faces was anything to go by, his eyes were promising delicious, naughty things just like his voice had been only moments before.

  “Come for a walk with me.”

  It was a demand, pure and simple.

  There was no request at all, but my ass still slid off the bar stool I’d been occupying for half the night.

  My mother, who was across the room, clocked my movement instantly.

  She’d been told by my father about the discussion that happened in the kitchen moments before we left, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen my mother so mad before.

  I waved at her and she nodded, acknowledging that I was okay, and went back to her conversation with her boss.

  Grayson grabbed my hand and skirted through thick crowd.

  People moved out of his way as he went, pulling me along behind him.

  “Jesus, Grayson, slow down. My legs are about a foot shorter than yours,” I groaned as my feet tripped over themselves.

  As an answer, he stopped, turned, bent forward, and then tossed me over his shoulder like one would a duffel bag.

  “Oomph,” I groaned as his shoulder hit my belly, causing all the air I’d managed to save up in my sprint behind him to leave me in a whoosh.

  The last thing I saw as we rounded the corner to the back hallway that led to the offices were my new friends’ smiling…and knowing…faces.

  “What are you doing?” I groaned as he led me into the familiar office we’d been in quite a few times before.

  Seemed Grayson had a phobia of using public bathrooms, so we always came to this one.

  He set me down on the desk, and then started pacing the room.

  “I’m having a really hard time holding onto my temper right now,” he said, lacing his fingers on his head as he paced the room.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at him. “Why?”

  “Where should I begin?” He asked. “How about the part of the day where I find out you have a new place, even though you promised you’d discuss it with me. Or how about when I got the ambulance door smashed into my face by the fucker that’s obsessed with you, but refuses to admit it? Or how about when your friend from the police department came up and told me you were hot, and that you were working on him?”

  My back went ramrod straight. “First, I didn’t tell you about my place because I haven’t seen you, and they needed to know immediately because there were people in line wanting to get it. Secondly, it’s not my fault that Colby has an unhealthy obsession for me. I try to discourage it. And as for the cop with the crush, he’s not my patient. The moment he asked me out, I asked my boss to transfer him over to Iliana on a day that I’m not there, so I wouldn’t get this very reaction from you.”

  He scowled at me, not ready to admit defeat.

  “I wanted to be involved in the decision on your place. I want you to be safe,” he replied finally, explaining away his reasoning.

  I didn’t know what to tell him, and sadly, I didn’t think anything I had to say would make a difference.

  I still had the apartment, and would for one more year unless I wanted to pay my first born to break it.

  “I’m sorry,” I replied, hesitated, and then went for it anyway. “I do love you, though. From the tips of my toes to the dead ends of my hair.”

  The lazy grin that spread across his face as he paced nearly made my heart melt.

  The dimple in his chin became more pronounced, making me want to lick it.

  A temptation that I got to do in the next moment when he took two long steps toward me, flattened me against the desk, and kissed me hard, climbing over the top of me and pinning me down.

  His tongue dueled with mine, and when my hands came up to latch onto his hair, he pulled my hands up and over my head, pinning them down to the desktop with one large hand.

  “Did I tell you that you look good in my shirt?” He asked, skimming his nose along the swell of my breast.

  I was wearing my own clothes, but at one point, I caught myself rubbing my arms because of the cold that kept drifting in each time the bar’s door was opened.

 
Grayson, witnessing the act, came over and offered me the black flannel shirt he’d worn underneath his cut.

  I’d taken it instantly, relishing in the warmth and smell of the super soft shirt.

  Baylee had told me it was because my nipples had been poking out, and he didn’t want anybody to see them, but I didn’t mind. The gesture was sweet, even if he had ulterior motives.

  “I like wearing your shirt,” I said against his lips.

  His finger trailed down, until he reached the top of my shirt, skimming it along my skin where flesh met fabric.

  “I forgot to tell you that you looked beautiful,” he said hoarsely.

  My face went soft at his admission. “Thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself.”

  Bending down, he let his tongue dip down my cleavage, thrusting his tongue between both of my breasts as he’d done the night before. Although it’d been his cock thrusting between my breasts last night, and not his tongue.

  “Your breasts are beautiful, too,” he admitted, leaning backward.

  Taking both breasts into his hands, he pressed them together and flicked his thumbs over the pebbled tips.

  “Last night had been on my top ten fantasies with you,” he admitted softly.

  My face flamed at the reminder of last night.

  It’d been perfect. And intense. It’d been on my top ten sex to-do’s as well. I hadn’t thought that having my breasts fucked would’ve been nice. However, with the view I had of Grayson, it’d been inevitable. His balls and cock, as well as his powerful thighs straddled my chest. I’d held my breasts together for him to thrust into, and tried my hardest not to get the cops called on me by holding in my screams of ecstasy to a dull screech as he worked me with his fingers.

  “And what else is left on your fantasy list?” I asked huskily.

  He grinned and then stood up completely, leaving me bereft.

  Walking to the office chair, he undid his belt buckle, followed shortly by the button and zipper of his jeans.

  “I want you to fuck me in my boss’s chair. Although this isn’t the one that Sebastian uses at the station, it’s still his,” he grinned devilishly.

  Watching me closely, he pushed the jeans from around his hips, and let them fall to the floor.

  I swallowed tightly as I took in his powerful thighs. The patch of curly dark hair that surrounded his large, jutting erection.