For You

by Kristen Ashley

  Darryl looked at me but I went right to Colt, Stew watching me move, Colt not tearing his eyes from Stew, Aaron hanging back.

  I stopped in front of Colt. “Yeah?”

  “‘Round here, baby,” Colt said but he was still looking at Stew.

  Shit, what’d he want from me?

  “Colt –”

  Colt’s eyes finally came to me and one look at them I instantly scooted around, lifting the bar up on its hinges, sliding through the opening and dropping it behind me.

  By the time I got there, Colt had turned. His heels were up on the stool’s foot rail, legs bent, knees pointed toward the wall but his torso was twisted toward Stew. The minute I got near, his arm hooked around my waist and he pulled me between his legs.

  Stew turned to watch, his forearm on the bar, his upper body leaning into it, his eyes on my breasts.

  “Ain’t that sweet?” he muttered.

  “Stew –” Aaron started.

  “Don’t you think?” Stew cut him off by asking.

  Colt didn’t give Aaron a chance to answer.

  “Which one of you wants to start?” Colt asked and this wasn’t a conversation meant just for the four of us. Colt wasn’t bellowing but he’d got folks’ attention and he’d kept it. They were listening and he was talking clear enough for those close to hear.

  “Start what?” Stew asked.

  “Colt –” I began but got a waist squeeze that told me to shut up. I decided, seeing the set look on Colt’s face, to shut up.

  “Start apologizin’. For that shit you spread about Feb,” Colt answered.

  “What shit?” Stew asked but he knew; he just wanted trouble.

  “Heard it from your own lips you fucked her. Heard it from hers you didn’t. So I’m thinkin’, since you lied about her, you’d wanna take this opportunity to apologize.”

  Yep, I was right about the trouble, but it was Colt wanting it and now I knew Stew would give it to him.

  “She said I lied?” Stew’s brows went up, giving trouble to Colt just as I suspected. “Hmm…” his eyes trailed me, “maybe I did, maybe I dreamed it,” he turned and leaned both elbows on the bar before he mumbled, “great fuckin’ dream, so great, felt real.”

  My body got tight, Stew was such an asshole.

  “Stew –” Aaron began again.

  Colt cut him off by saying to Aaron, “All right, you start.”

  “Feb knows I didn’t say anything,” Aaron said to Colt.

  “Yeah, though I remember seein’ you at Frank’s and everyone congratulatin’ you on your conquest, you didn’t say anything to the contrary either,” Colt returned and I hated with all my heart that Colt heard that shit.

  I swung my gaze to Aaron and I knew it contained hurt and accusation. I knew this because I wanted it to.

  Aaron took one look at me and shifted his feet.

  Stew turned back to one arm on the bar and declared, right in front of me, “He nailed her.”

  “Colt, this is useless –” I started.

  “Quiet, Feb,” Colt murmured but to Stew he spoke louder, “So, you were there when Aaron fucked her?”

  “Everyone fucked her, man,” Stew looked at me. “Too bad you changed, woulda been nice, you bein’ back, to –”

  I interrupted him. “Stew, don’t be an asshole.”

  “You like that?” Colt’s eyes were still on Aaron. “Would you like it for your girls? To hear someone talk trash to one of your girls like that? Say some dumb fuck got it in his head to spread rumors, say your girls were easy, sweet pieces. Spread it around that they gave it away to anyone who wanted it?”

  “Colt, it was a long time ago,” Aaron said quietly.

  “So, that’d be okay with you?” Colt pressed.

  “Of course not,” Aaron said then looked at me. “It was a fuckwad thing to do,” he told me. “Stupid. I shoulda told folks they got the wrong end of the stick.”

  “So you didn’t nail her?” Colt asked.

  Aaron looked to his boots and mumbled, “No.”

  Colt looked at Stew. “But you did. Asshole like you, can’t get a woman unless you pay for it, you tagged a sweet piece like Feb?”

  Colt sounded incredulous and there was a snicker from somewhere close but I was too focused on what was happening to see who did it.

  Stew had caught the insult, forgetting or not caring that he was lying through his teeth about me and not willing to take that kind of hit to his manhood, he pushed away from the bar. “Fuck you, Lieutenant Colton. I don’t gotta pay for it.”

  Colt leaned back a bit. “I don’t know. I heard you did. Must be true.”

  Darryl slid around the bar to position himself at Colt’s back.

  “Shut your mouth, asshole, you didn’t hear that,” Stew clipped.

  “I didn’t?” Colt asked, feigning surprise. “Might just talk to a few folks about it, see if they heard the same thing. They heard it, it has to be true.”

  Stew straightened away from the bar and leaned slightly toward Colt. “That shit’s not funny, motherfucker.”

  “No, guess it wouldn’t be, havin’ someone say shit about you others might believe,” Colt said. “Then again, Angie Maroni was known for doin’ everyone. Good woman, bad taste. Not so bad she’d give you a shot, though. Saw you my damned self, dozen times at least in this very bar, tryin’ it on with her. Even Angie wouldn’t give it up for you.”

  “I nailed Angie,” Stew announced.

  Colt’s eyebrows shot up. “You did? Like you nailed Feb? In your dreams? Or was Angie real?”

  I watched Stew’s face, already set, grow rock hard and Aaron saw it too.

  “Stew, let’s go,” Aaron said, his voice held urgency now.

  “You think you own this town,” Stew spat. “Cop. Untouchable.”

  “I’m off duty now, Stew, private citizen havin’ a drink at my woman’s bar.”

  “You’re not untouchable.”

  “That sounds like a threat.”

  Darryl got closer. I sucked in breath. Colt waited.

  He wanted it, wanted Stew to make the move. He was itching to wipe the floor with him and the bar waited with Colt, probably itching just as bad to watch him do it.

  “Stew, come on, man, let’s go,” Aaron repeated.

  “I should teach you a lesson,” Stew said and this was definitely a threat.

  “I’ve always been a good student. Whatcha got for me?” Colt taunted.

  Stew moved in closer. Colt let my waist go and then moved me aside. Darryl grabbed my upper arm and pulled me behind him.

  That’s when Morrie showed out of the blue with Dee behind him.

  “What’s goin’ on?” Morrie asked, the shiner Colt gave him the day before having moved toward darker and uglier, which was what it’d do for another day or two before it started to fade. He was positioning Dee well away and getting close to Aaron.

  “Stew here’s gonna teach me a lesson,” Colt said.

  “‘Bout what?” Morrie asked, his eyes never leaving Stew, he’d read the situation and he was on alert.

  “‘Not sure, think it’s about pickin’ vulnerable women, spreadin’ lies about ‘em, sayin’ you fucked ‘em when you didn’t. Stew here says he fucked Feb and Angie, when I know he didn’t do either. Maybe it isn’t a lesson, maybe he wants to convince me,” Colt answered, not talking to Stew but not taking his eyes off him then he started to address Stew. “Angie, she can’t speak for herself. But Feb, now February tells me you’re a liar. What I want to know is, did you lie about my woman?”

  Stew’s eyes were moving from Colt, to Darryl, to Morrie, not, I suspected, assessing the fact that he was fucked but, I suspected, deciding which one to try to take on first.

  “Colt, man, stand down, it was years ago and she wasn’t your woman then,” Aaron waded in, trying to play peacemaker.

  Colt still didn’t look away from Stew. “Honest to God, was there ever a time Feb wasn’t my woman?”

  “Yeah, when she was bonking
me,” Stew pushed it, “then she was all mine.”

  Colt stood and got close, he had three inches on Stew but Stew didn’t back down.

  Morrie and Darryl got closer too.

  Morrie spoke. “Colt, dude, this guy’s not worth it.”

  Colt ignored Morrie and called to me, “Feb, you got anything to say?”

  Damn, now he was dragging me into it.

  “Like what?” I called back.

  Colt didn’t answer.

  I watched the showdown for a few seconds and then I decided I was done. It went without saying my life was shitty enough without Colt confronting every asshole that slid through it. Especially at my bar. I moved around Darryl and stood next to Morrie, close to Colt and Stew.

  “Colt, Morrie’s right. He isn’t worth it.”

  “Did he fuck you?” Colt asked.

  “Seriously?” I answered. “Pete was a dick but at least he was hot. You think I’d do this guy?”

  “You hear that? She said she didn’t do you,” Colt said to Stew, leaning in closer, pushing it, they were nearly nose to nose and Stew held his ground.

  “Who’d you do?” Morrie asked, sounding curious and glancing at Aaron.

  “We already established I didn’t do Aaron, you missed that,” I told Morrie.

  “Did you do Willie Clapton?” Dee called. “He’s hot and he said he did you.”

  “No, I didn’t do Willie either. He might be hot but we made out and he’s not a good kisser. I’m talkin’ bad. I didn’t wanna go there.”

  “Euw. Nothin’ worse than a bad kisser,” Dee noted.

  “Willie’s a bad kisser?” Morrie asked.

  “Don’t make me relive it,” I said to Morrie.

  “That bad?” Morrie asked, I made a face and Morrie whistled low before saying, “Sheds new light on Willie.”

  “Why’re we talkin’ about who Feb did?” Darryl asked.

  “I think the point is Feb didn’t do anyone,” Colt said. “Am I right, Stew?”

  Before Stew could answer, I offered helpfully, “I think the rumors got started because I necked a lot after I broke up you,” I told Colt. “Most of the time I was pretty drunk. Though I never made out with Stew, drunk or not.”

  “You didn’t do anyone?” Morrie asked me, looking slightly shocked and I would have kicked him or at least punched his arm if the situation was a little less tense. However, the situation was very tense and I didn’t want to be the one to send it over the edge.

  “I did Pete,” I answered.

  “You were married to him,” Morrie returned.

  “Don’t make me relive that either.”

  Aaron moved in closer and tagged Stew’s shirt, giving it a tug before dropping his hand. “Come on, Stew, let’s just go.”

  Morrie was focused, however. “You just made out with all these guys?”

  “Not all of them, for example, not Stew,” I replied.

  Stew’s eyes moved to me and then he made his move to Colt, but verbally. He wanted Colt to start it, likely because if Colt did, he’d get in worse trouble than Stew if it got ugly. There were a lot of eyes, a lot of witnesses. Stew started it, Colt could say he was defending himself. Colt started it, he would be fucked. Stew wasn’t like Pete; he wouldn’t back down and do the right thing with a little pressure from people. Pete did the right thing not because he was a good guy but because he was an outsider and he’d had a goodly taste of Colt’s fury backed up by a goodly amount of pressure to get the fuck out of Dodge. Stew would push it and make things difficult for Colt at work. It was frowned on, cops getting in bar brawls and beating the shit out of guys who wronged their girlfriends, no matter who the dickheads were that did it and how much they deserved it.

  So Stew made his move by repeating to me, “Bullshit, Feb, I nailed you.”

  Colt didn’t miss a beat before telling him, “I know you didn’t.”

  Stew’s eyes went back to Colt. “And you know that how?”

  “Because I have nailed her and trust me, you had her once, you’d go back for more.”

  “Aw,” Dee said, “that’s kind of sweet.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  Colt suddenly sat down.

  Then he said, “Finish your beer, Stew, then I wanna see you in here again never. I never wanna see you in here again.”

  Stew stared at Colt, denied his altercation and with Colt unwilling to play finding himself in a position that he was unable to escalate it. Though, he tried.

  “Backin’ down, Lieutenant Colton?” Stew taunted.

  “Yep,” Colt replied casually, turning toward his beer, “I gotta bust your lip, I might split my knuckle and I want free use of my fingers tonight.”

  That’s when I rolled my eyes again at Dee who was grinning at me.

  “Jesus, Colt, her brother’s standin’ right here,” Morrie muttered, sounding only half-disgusted, the other half was amused and noting the standoff was over he started to walk behind the bar, finishing, “You’re off, Feb. Me and Dee are closin’.”

  This shocking announcement took my mind off the tense situation.

  “What?”

  “Morrie’s gonna show me how to use the cash register,” Dee proclaimed, like Morrie was going to strap her into a spacecraft and take her on a tour of the stars. She was still grinning and following Morrie behind the bar.

  “What?” I repeated to her back.

  Dee turned and her face was awash in excitement. “And he’s gonna teach me how to mix drinks.”

  “What?” I said again.

  “You good, boss?” Darryl asked Colt.

  “Yeah, Darryl,” Colt said, taking the final pull of his beer. Aaron had moved Stew a couple of feet away. The standoff was over. Colt backed off and sat down but everyone knew, even Stew, that Stew ended up the loser. We were all still the focal point of a lot of eyes but I wasn’t paying attention, something more important was happening.

  I followed Dee and Morrie behind the bar.

  “Who’s lookin’ after the kids?” I asked.

  “Mom and Dad came over, just to wind down a bit. They decided to spend the night. I’m spellin’ you so you and Colt can get some shuteye,” Morrie told me.

  I turned to Dee and said, “But –”

  “Family bar, family’s workin’ it,” Morrie answered even though I spoke to Dee. It was then it hit me that Morrie looked happy, happier than he’d been in ages and Dee did too.

  I felt my mouth drop open. Then I felt a happy tingle hit my chest. Then I thought I was going to start crying.

  I had a feeling the trial was definitely gone from the trial reconciliation. And more than that, I had a feeling my brother worked a miracle. Because if Dee was coming in then Dee was going to be part of the bar, part of the family and life was going to go the way it should go. With Colt in his seat and in my life and the family running the bar, all of my family.

  “Do we have…” I started, scared to say it out loud, like a pin would prick this fragile bubble of a dream if I spoke the words but I took in a breath and then finished, “somethin’ to celebrate?”

  I felt Colt’s arm hook me around the waist and he pulled me from the back of the bar saying, “Yeah, honey, it’s ten o’clock and we can be home by ten fifteen if you get your ass in gear. That’s worth celebrating.”

  I pulled against Colt’s hold but he kept tugging me toward the office.

  “Morrie?” I called.

  Morrie looked at me. Then he smiled. It was big, it was more than happy. He had his family back. Then I knew that a heavenly light, for that moment, was shining down on all of us.

  “Go home Baby Sister,” he called back.

  I smiled back at my big brother then Colt tugged me into the office then I moved my smile to him. He shared my smile as he lifted his hand to touch my jaw and my smile got even bigger, so big, it hurt my face but I couldn’t stop doing it and I didn’t want to.

  Then I grabbed my purse, shrugged on my jacket and went home with Colt.

&nbs
p; We were home by ten fifteen.

  * * * * *

  “Alec,” I gasped

  “Say it again,” Colt groaned.

  “Alec,” I repeated, “harder, baby.”

  He gave me what I wanted and he gave it to me harder.

  My shoulders were to the wall, my ass in his hands, my legs were wrapped around his hips, the fingers of one of my hands was gripped in his hair, the other hand was locked on his ass. Colt was on his knees and he was fucking me so hard I was certain the Harry’s print was going to come crashing off the wall. And I didn’t care.

  “Give me your tit, Feb,” he demanded and I took my hand from his hair, cupped my breast and offered it to him.

  Colt drove in deep but bowed his back, his lips latched around my nipple and he sucked in hard. I felt it from my nipple straight down between my legs, the path so sharp and true, I could have drawn the line down my own body.

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  His mouth released me and he started driving inside me again, his lips moving to mine and my arm wrapped around his shoulders.

  “You’re gonna come, baby, I feel it, fuckin’ love it, your pussy’s ready.”

  He was so right.

  It hit me, I clutched harder at his shoulders and my legs tightened around him in a spasm.

  “That’s it,” he growled as the moan ripped from me, my head shot back, slamming against the wall next to the print, making it vibrate.

  I was coming down when he hefted me up an inch and rammed in harder and so fucking deep, pulled out and rammed in again, staying put, his face went into my neck and he groaned against my skin.

  It was when I felt his tongue tracing my necklaces, something he seemed to do a lot, something which I liked a lot, that I whispered into his hair, “You still owe me.”

  His tongue went away but I felt his lips smile against my skin as he started sliding slowly in and out of me. I loved it when he did that too, giving it to me soft after he fucked me hard, staying inside instead of pulling out and moving away. There was something about it, Colt keeping our connection and doing it like that. There was something that I couldn’t put my finger on but, whatever it was, it was beautiful.

  “You forget, honey, that first time, I gave it to you with my mouth before I gave it to you with my cock,” his head came up and he looked at me, “we’re even.”