Slider tilted his head at me, and I knew this was going to be more difficult than I thought. “Stay?”
I nodded and pointed at the door, then again shook my finger.
“Don’t leave?”
Hell yes. This was easier than I thought it was going to be.
“Don’t leave unless you have someone from the club with you,” Slider told Marco. “Your mom and I will pick you up tomorrow.”
“Sounds good,” Marco mumbled.
I rolled my eyes and knew Marco was barely listening to Slider. I stomped my foot and pointed at Marco to get his attention. I pointed at my ear and then to Slider.
“Um, I think she wants you to listen to her,” Remy laughed. He had paused his game so he could watch the show I was putting on.
“Yeah, I got that when she stomped her foot at me,” Marco muttered.
“Look, just stay together, don’t leave the clubhouse, and don’t get in trouble. Shouldn’t be hard at all,” Slider replied.
Marco saluted him and Remy unpaused his game. They were both glued to the TV, and I knew they had listened as much as they were going to.
Slider grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. “He’ll be fine, Firecracker. Remy is a good kid.”
We headed back down the hallway, skirted around the bar where everyone had paired up, and ducked out the front door.
Rain pelted us as we sprinted to the truck. Slider held the door open for me to leap in, then he rounded the truck and slipped in, drenched.
“Hell, I thought is wasn’t supposed to rain until tonight,” he muttered before he ran his hand through his hair and stuck the key in the ignition.
I hadn’t known it was supposed to rain at all. I really was out of touch with everything going on. My wet hair was matted to my forehead and the grey long-sleeve shirt I had tossed on this morning was now molded to my body.
Slider cranked up the truck. “You okay?”
I nodded. We had left my pad of paper on the bar, so I was left with head nods and lame sign language.
We pulled out of the parking lot. “You need something to eat?”
We had been munching on chips and salsa while the guys had been in their meeting, but my stomach rumbled, letting me know chips wasn’t a good enough lunch.
“Wanna hit the Kwik Trip on the way back? We can pick up a pizza to bake up at home,” Slider suggested.
I shrugged. Gas station pizza wasn’t really what I was hungry for. I waved my hand at him. He glanced over at me, and I pretended to act like I was writing.
He shook his head and pointed to the glove box. “There should be a napkin and a pen in there you can use. We’re going to have to stock up on notepads and stash them everywhere,” he said, laughing.
I popped open the glovebox and searched for the paper and pen.
“If you don’t want pizza, what do you want?”
I finally found the pen and grabbed a blue, paper, heavy-duty towel. Grocery store. I held up the paper for him to read.
“Really? The store doesn’t have easy food that we can just throw together.”
I want good, not easy.
“All right, all right. The store it is. You got any plans on what you wanna make?”
We’ll see. I’m just tired of eating out.
“No problem, Firecracker.”
I wadded up the paper and tossed it on the floor. The sky was ominous, like it was going to rain all day, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the time than cooking and just relaxing.
Now, hopefully Slider kept his distance, because I didn’t think I would have much restraint if he didn't.
********
Chapter 20
Slider
“Holy hell.” I took another bite and moaned. “This is insane,” I mumbled.
Fayth smirked and took a sip of her wine.
“Why the hell didn’t I know that you can cook like this?” I grabbed my beer and washed down the delicious taste of fried pork chop and mashed potatoes.
Fayth shrugged.
I couldn’t tell you how many times I had groaned and wished I had a second stomach. “Firecracker, you sure are one big surprise.”
She grabbed the pad of paper she had set next to her plate. I like to cook.
“Obviously, Fay. I think what you just did was way more than cooking.”
She rolled her eyes. Are you drunk?
I laughed. “No, Firecracker. You got to be the drunk one today.” After we had wandered around the store collecting all of the ingredients Fayth wanted, we had gone home where Fayth had helped unload everything then passed out for two hours.
After her cat-nap, she had woken bright-eyed and attacked all of the food we had bought. Two hours later, delicious smells were coming out of the oven, and my stomach was growling for whatever she had made.
It was all Meg’s fault.
“It normally is, Firecracker. That woman is a loon and a half.”
But I like her.
“We all do, Fay. It’d be pretty bad if we didn’t like the prez’s ol’ lady.” I finished the rest of my beer and set the empty bottle next to my plate. “So, what did you want to do tonight?”
Fayth shrugged and pushed her food around on her plate.
“Movie? Video games? Pool?”
She tilted her head and mouthed the word “pool.”
“Yeah, down in the basement.”
Her eyes bugged out. She grabbed her pad of paper and frantically wrote. Like water? She held the notepad up, and I busted out laughing.
I shook my head. “Firecracker, you really think there is a pool in my basement?”
She glared at me and tossed the notepad on the table.
“It’s a pool table,” I chuckled.
She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed a breath out.
“Come downstairs and I’ll show you. I guess you really haven’t had time to wander around and see everything.” I grabbed my dirty dishes and stacked them in the sink. Fayth stayed at the table, glaring at me as I grabbed her dishes and set them in the sink. I walked back over to the table and held my hand out. “Come on, Firecracker. I promise not to beat you too bad,” I said with a wink.
She growled low and batted my hand away. Pushing past me, she stomped over to the fridge, grabbed the second bottle of wine then looked around. She held up the bottle and acted like she was trying to open it.
I grabbed the corkscrew out of the drawer and two glasses out of the cabinet. Wine glasses were one of the many things I didn’t have, so old fashioned glasses were going to have to do for tonight. “Come on, Firecracker. I promise not to laugh anymore.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You know, if you keep rolling your eyes at me, I’m going to develop a complex.” I moved toward the door that lead to the garage and looked over my shoulder. “Don’t forget your paper, Firecracker,” I called.
I heard her growl again, and I had to assume she was shooting daggers at me with her eyes as I turned left and opened the door that led to the basement. Her soft footsteps followed me down the stairs, and I flipped on the lights and waited at the bottom of the landing for her.
The basement was the one place in the house I had spent time making complete, but I still didn’t spend a lot of time down here. There was a pool table at the far end of the room, a foosball table closest to us, a dart board on one wall, and a fifty-inch flat screen TV on the other wall. On one side of the pool table was a small bar I had stocked with various types of booze and there were eight barstools randomly placed around the perimeter of the room. It was a perfect man cave.
“Slider,” she gasped and took it all in.
“I fucking love when you say that,” I mumbled. I couldn’t lie. My name being the first word Fayth spoke after the shooting made me want to puff my chest out and howl at the moon.
“Ass,” she laughed.
“My second favorite word you say.” I winked at her before I grabbed her hand and tugged her over to the bar where I too
k the wine from her. “Go rack ‘em up, and I’ll open the wine.”
She wandered over to the rack where all the pool cues were and grabbed the triangle.
I popped open the cork, filled two glasses half full, and watched Fayth corral the balls into the triangle.
“You played before?” I asked, surprised she correctly placed each ball.
She shrugged and lifted the triangle off of the table. She hung it on the corner of the rack and looked over the pool cues.
“Here’s your wine, Firecracker.” She chose a cue and rubbed it between her hands. Something about the way she chose the correct pool cue, and the way she held it, made me think this was most definitely not the first time she had played. Part of me felt I was dealing with a pool shark in sheep's clothing.
She grabbed the glass out of my hand and paced back and forth, never taking her eyes from the table.
I grabbed my cue. “You wanna break?”
An innocent smile spread across her lips, and she slightly nodded. She lined up her shot, and I watch as all of the balls scattered, and she managed to sink a stripe and a solid.
“Impressive.”
Fayth smirked and pointed to a solid.
“All right, Firecracker. You’re solids, I’m stripes. Game on.”
Fayth lined up her next shot and sunk another ball.
I grabbed my drink and watched her circle the table, looking for her next shot. I sat down on a stool next to the bar and waited.
I had a feeling it was going to be a bit before I had a chance to play, but I definitely had some good scenery until it was my turn.
Fayth bending over the table, presenting her ass to me, wiggling back and forth while she lined up her shot was a sight I gladly welcomed.
Pool was fastly becoming my favorite past time.
********
Chapter 21
Fayth
“Cheater.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the triangle to rack the balls again.
“You didn’t even give me a chance to go,” Slider whined, leaning against his pool cue.
I hadn’t, but that was because I kicked ass at pool. I had spent many nights in pool halls in Chicago during college, mainly because it drove Leo up the wall. He thought his innocent little sister shouldn’t be spending her time with the dirty lowlifes of the city.
My nights at the pool hall were my chance to feel like a normal person and not like Leo Banachi’s sister who no one wanted to talk to in fear they would piss him off.
“How in the hell did you learn to play pool like that?”
I finished racking the balls and grabbed the glass of wine Slider had poured me. It was actually my fourth glass of wine, and I was well on my way to being drunk for the second time today.
I grabbed my pen and tapped it against my chin. Should I tell him the truth, that I was a rebellious teenager who did anything to piss off my brother? I like pool. I couldn’t help but smile as I held it up to him. Slider didn’t need to know everything about me.
“There’s more to that than what you’re saying,” he laughed. “I bet you did it to piss off your brother, and every time you went out, he sent his goons after you to bring you home.”
Hmm. Now that was the truth. I could count on one hand how many times I had gone out without one of Leo’s men lurking in the crowd, keeping an eye on me. I took another sip of my wine and decided he was just going to have to use his imagination.
“Hold up there, Firecracker,” he called as I made my way over to the end of the pool table. “I know I should be a gentleman and let you go first, but I know if I do that, I’ll never get a chance.”
I motioned for him to go and leaned against my pool cue. I would get my turn, and then I would win, just like I had last time.
Slider broke, the balls scattering everywhere, and he managed to sink a solid. “Now, it’s your turn to stand there and watch how it’s done.” He smirked. He lined up his next shot, and I couldn’t help but notice how his black t-shirt stretched across his shoulders, and the sleeves of his shirt inched up, giving me a better view of his tattoos.
He managed to sink another solid, but the white ball followed behind, right into the pocket.
“Son of a bitch,” he mumbled. He grabbed it and handed it to me. “Be gentle, Firecracker.”
I rolled my eyes and set the white ball down. I had grown up with Leo Banachi, whose philosophy was take no prisoners. Slider was going down again.
I lined up my shots, making sure I was going to sink all of my balls, and managed to beat Slider again.
“Five. Five fucking shots was all it took to wipe the floor with me.” He shook his head and looked at the table that only had solids on it.
“Darts? Foosball? Can I beat you at any of those, or are you ringer at those, too?” He filled his glass and drained the bottle of wine.
I shrugged. I sucked at both, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“I think it’s time for a bet.” He hung up his cue. “If I win the next game, you need to say my name.”
I rolled my eyes. Like that was a big loss. I pointed at myself.
“And if you win, I’ll do whatever you want me to.”
I tilted my head. Did he know what he was doing? My prize was way better than the one he would get if he won. I could say his name right now for him, and it wouldn’t be a loss to me.
I nodded, agreeing with his terms and walked over to the foosball table. I figured foosball was the best chance I would have at winning. I sucked at darts and was barely able to hit the board most of the time.
“No, no. I get to pick the game. For all I know, you could be the world foosball champion.”
I snorted and shook my head. That was far from the truth.
Slider opened the cabinet around the dartboard and turned it on. It was one of those fancy ones with all the lights and it kept score. He handed me three darts, and I couldn’t miss the smirk on his lips. “You ready to know what it feels like to have your ass beat?”
I rolled my eyes and looked at the darts. I doubted any of three he had given me were going to make it to the board. I hoped he was okay with holes in his drywall, because that was where these were headed.
“You think you can beat me in this, too, Firecracker?”
No, I didn’t. I was about to lose the bet, but did it really matter? I nodded at the stereo he had in the corner.
“You think putting on music is going to distract me?”
I shrugged. It couldn’t hurt.
Slider walked over to the stereo, hit a couple buttons, and then we were surrounded with the thumping of AC/DC pouring out of the speakers.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his choice of song. “Big Balls” was not exactly the song I thought he would choose.
“What’s with the smile?” he asked. “You don’t like my song of choice? AC/DC is classic.”
He stood about ten feet away from the dartboard and motioned for me to stand next to him. “Now, are you going to act like you have no clue about darts, or are you going to just tell me you are going to kick my ass?”
I shook my head. There would be no ass-kicking from me this time.
“You go first, Firecracker.” He motioned to the board.
Slider moved to the left, and I stood squarely in front of the board. I had played darts maybe a handful of times, and that was it. Flying projectiles just didn’t appeal to me.
I held up the dart, squinted at the board, and mentally pictured the head sinking into the board. I exhaled, said a silent Hail Mary, and let the dart fly.
It didn’t even make it all the way to the board before it nosedived and stuck into the carpet.
Slider busted out laughing, bent over with his hands on his knees, and wheezed. “Oh Christ, that was horrible.”
I rolled my eyes and bumped him with my hip as I walked by him. He grabbed my hand before he tumbled over, and we both ended up on the floor, me on top of Slider.
“That wasn’t very nice, Firecra
cker,” he said softly. His brown eyes shone up at me, and his hand cupped my head. “Don’t tell me you’re a sore loser.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t, except when I got laughed at. “Slider,” I said sternly.
“Ah, I didn’t even have to win for you to say my name. Although, after that throw, it was inevitable that I was going to win.” He ran his fingers though my hair and gently tugged my head down. “I’m gonna kiss you, Fay. Tell me to stop if you don’t want me to.”
I smiled. “Ass.”
“And there is my other favorite word,” he chuckled. “But I’m assuming I’m an ass because you can’t tell me to stop, but I know you don’t want me to.”
I gently pulled back, and he instantly let go of the hold he had on me. I couldn’t say stop, but I knew if I made any move that I didn’t want this, he would let me go without hesitating.
Slider looked up with concern written all over his face. “Stop?”
I bit my lip and shook my head.
“Go?” he whispered, hopeful.
I leaned down, my body covering him and my lips hovered above his. “Yes,” I barely whispered.
“Jesus Christ.” He pushed up, his lips touching mine, and he delved his fingers into my hair.
His lips claimed mine, sucking and licking as I braced my arms on the plush carpet. One hand snaked around my waist and held me close. My lips moved against his, feeling and tasting what I had been craving since I had met Slider. The man had driven me crazy, but I couldn’t fight the attraction I had to him.
“Slider,” I moaned against his lips as his hand drifted over my ass and gently squeezed.
“Say yes again so I know I wasn’t hearing things,” he whispered.
I opened my eyes and looked down into his face. “Yes,” I said clearly.
“Fucking perfect,” he breathed out. He rolled us over, his body covering mine with one of his knees between my legs. “Tell me to stop,” he growled. “If you don’t, I’ll take everything I want.”
I slightly shook my head no. I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted him to do everything but stop.
Devil’s Knights MC Box Set 2 Page 61
