Phoenix Rising

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  She sniffed and I ran my hand over her cheek, cupping it and bringing her gaze to meet mine. I gave a soft smile, trying to show her how much I loved her. She nodded and turned back to the dressing room. Crisis averted. I really was on fire today.

  “Hunter?” she said quietly.

  “Yeah?”

  I never saw her purse flying toward me until it was right in front of my face. When I looked up at her from my position on the floor, she was glaring at me and I started to rethink what Derek had said.

  “What was that for?” I asked as I poked at my swelling eye.

  “I was just checking to see if my arms were as lumpy as the rest of me. Turns out, they must still be in pretty good shape.”

  She smiled at me just before she spun around, her dress twirling up around her waist and showing off that fine ass that I had just criticized. I let my head drop back to the floor and stared at the ceiling. I saw something dark fly at me out of the corner of my good eye and felt something metal slam into my face. I rolled and curled into myself, trying to hide from the onslaught of what felt like millions of belt buckles.

  A few minutes later, the last blow struck and I finally uncurled and scrambled to my feet. Little old ladies were circling me with their large handbags. Their scarves that were draped over their silvering hair were disheveled and one lady was even putting her old lady heel back on.

  A woman who seemed to be the instigator of all of it stepped forward, wielding her cane. “Don’t make us come around for another ass whooping, sonny. We may be old, but nobody believes an old lady could hurt someone.”

  As if on cue, the store manager came rushing over, her eyes pleading for me not to sue her. “I’m so sorry, sir. I saw everything and I’ve called the police. I told them you were being attacked by a horde of old ladies and they said they were on the way. Apparently, there’s a group of women that have been going around the city attacking men.”

  “Oh dear,” the old woman said, ringing her hands together. “I’m so sorry, young man. I thought you were trying to attack that woman in the dressing room. My eye sight isn’t quite what it used to be. I just couldn’t stand by while a young woman was attacked. I would have called for help, but there were no sales associates nearby.” She gave the manager a knowing look and then turned back to me. “Please accept my apology, young man.”

  She pursed her lips at me, and in that moment, all I saw was Betty White. She was a master manipulator and damn good at what she did. Even the manager was looking at her with stars in her eyes.

  “It’s fine,” I grunted. “Anyone could have made the same mistake.”

  She shuffled toward me, like she hadn’t just beaten the shit out of me, and opened her arms like she wanted to hug me. I grudgingly opened mine and just barely caught her as she pretended to trip. She gripped onto my arms and leaned in to whisper in my ear.

  “I take down squirts like you for lunch. Keep your mouth shut with the police. I’m sure you’d hate for them to think you were beaten by a bunch of old ladies with purses and canes.” She backed up and fanned herself. “My, my, son. You are quite strong. Thank you for helping an old lady.”

  “Why don’t you ladies take a seat until the police get here and we get this all straightened out?” the manager said.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it straightened out.”

  She grinned triumphantly just as Lucy walked out of the dressing room. “Well, I think I’ll go with this one,” she said, holding up one of the more flattering dresses. She stopped when she saw me surrounded by old ladies and the sales manager. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah,” I cleared my throat. “Just a misunderstanding.”

  Lucy gave them a rueful smile and took her dress over to the register. I pulled out my card and handed it to the leader of the pack. “Let me know if you ladies are ever looking for work.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Derek

  “What are you laughing about?” Claire asked as we got into my truck. I had taken her to her favorite bookstore and now we were short around three hundred dollars. I was glad I had made that bet with Hunter. I would make back the book money plus some.

  “Hunter. He’s dress shopping with Lucy.”

  “Oh, God. That’s gonna end badly.”

  “Tell me about it. I bet him five hundred dollars he would end up with a black eye.”

  “You did what?” she screeched.

  “Relax, babe. It’s Hunter we’re talking about. There’s no way I’ll lose.”

  “I’m just glad I got my books before I knew about this.”

  “Did you get anything good?”

  She just stared at me. “That’s kind of a silly question, don’t you think?” I shrugged. With her taste in books, I never really knew what I was going to get. “So, in this new book, the heroine falls in love with this dashing prince-”

  “Of course,” I rolled my eyes. All of her heroes were dashing something or others.

  “Only he’s not really your typical royal. At night, he rules the underworld, controlling everything from drugs to prostitutes.”

  “And women actually want to read about a hero like that?” I asked incredulously.

  “It’s a dark romance. He’s supposed to be a good guy, but only for her.”

  “Wow, yeah, he sounds like a real prince.”

  “Come on, have some imagination!” she admonished me. “Can’t you see us having some fun with this? I would be the innocent woman that fell for the prince, only to find out that you were a fallen angel. Then, I’d be captured and held hostage by your enemies, and you’d have to come rescue me.”

  “Claire, that’s like every fantasy you’ve ever had.”

  “And it always turns out so well. Don’t ruin this for me.”

  It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy our little fantasies, but I wanted more with Claire. I came from a large family and I wanted that with her. The problem was, she didn’t want that. She was perfectly fine to live our lives out belonging only to each other. When I looked at her, I saw my sons playing with their uncles and my little girl reading books with her mom. It was everything I wanted, but something I thought I would never have with her. Hell, I was already getting to the age that my kids would be graduating high school as I was approaching sixty.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  I glanced over, trying to decide if I should tell her what was on my mind or if I should keep it to myself and possibly risk never having what I wanted.

  “I want kids,” I blurted out.

  Her eyes fell and her fingers tightened around each other. “Oh.”

  “Claire, this isn’t the most unusual thing ever. People get married and have kids all the time.”

  “I know, but I thought we would have more time.”

  “More time? Claire, Knight already has two kids and we’ve been together about the same amount of time as him and Kate.”

  “Why do you have to compare us to them? Why can’t we just do our own thing like we have been for the past few years.”

  “Your thing, Claire. We’ve been doing your thing. Shit, I love having you all to myself, but I want more and neither of us is getting any younger.”

  “It’s not like it really matters for a man,” she snorted.

  “Really? Because sperm count decreases as you get older, and not only that, but I’d like to be young enough to still play catch with my kids.”

  “We’re not that old.”

  “You’re not that old. Claire, I’m in my forties. I don’t want to miss out on everything else to wait until you’re done screwing around.”

  “What? Is that all we’re doing?” she asked indignantly. “Because I thought we were spending time together and enjoying each other without the added bullshit.”

  “Bullshit. So that’s what my dreams are?”

  “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  “Do I?” I asked, eyeing her as we came up on a red light.

  She sighed and r
an a hand over her book. “I thought we were on the same page.”

  “And I thought at some point you would get your head out of those books and focus on the life we have.”

  A horn honked behind me and when I didn’t move fast enough, my truck jolted forward from the impact. I slammed my hand out over Claire’s chest to keep her flying into the dashboard and winced when the seatbelt dug into my shoulder. We jolted back and I threw the truck in park, unbuckled my seatbelt, and flung the door open. The guy behind me threw his car in reverse. I knew what he was going to do, but I didn’t have time to get back in the truck.

  “Claire! Hold on!”

  The guy threw the car in drive and rammed into my truck. I saw Claire fly forward slightly, but was stopped by the seatbelt. I ran for the car and pulled open the driver’s side door. I dragged the man out of the car and threw it in park. When I turned around, I was fucking pissed. No one messed with me or my wife. The guy had the nerve to stand up and spit at my feet.

  “Are you gonna take that?” I looked over and rolled my eyes at Claire, who was now standing at the back of the truck and looking at the man with sparks in her eyes. The damn woman was itching for a fight. Not for her. She just wanted to watch me. It was getting old and the anger inside me deflated slightly.

  “Claire, get back in the fucking truck.”

  “Are you gonna kill him? Snap his neck?”

  I sighed as I looked up at heaven and prayed that my wife still had a chance of getting in. She was bloodthirsty and it was gonna get her in trouble one of these days.

  “Is she serious?” the guy asked.

  “Unfortunately.”

  “Over me having road rage?”

  “That was wrong. You definitely shouldn’t have fucked up my truck because I didn’t move fast enough. I was having a serious conversation with my woman, but no,” I said, glaring at Claire, “I’m not going to kill you over it.”

  She rolled her eyes and the guy sighed. “I know how that is. I just got in a fight with my woman. I was pissed and I took it out on you. Sorry about that, man. I was just so pissed. My woman comes home and tells me that she’s changed her mind. She tells me that she doesn’t want to get married anymore. After all that fucking planning, she just drops me.”

  “I get it. Claire and I have been married for years and I’ve been waiting for the moment we’re going to start a family.”

  “Dude, congrats. That’s great.”

  “Yeah,” I snorted. “It would be if she actually wanted a kid.”

  “Um, hey, I’m right here,” Claire said irritatedly. Cars drove around us while this guy and I continued our conversation.

  “Ouch. How long have you been married?”

  I looked up, trying to count back and Claire growled at me.

  “Apparently long enough that I’m gonna get my ass kicked later for not knowing.”

  He nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I wish my old lady would give me a kid. It’s so magical, having someone that looks up to you and thinks the world of you. Eventually, the women start noticing all your flaws, but that kid, you’re always somebody’s hero.”

  “That’s not my problem right now. She still looks at me like the hero and doesn’t want the kid to interfere.”

  “Man, I’d give anything to have what you have right now. I think it’s over for me and my girl, but you hang on to yours. Do whatever you have to so you can have the life you want, because it sucks when it’s over.”

  “I will, man.” I held out my hand to him and he took it, shaking it in his firm grip. “Take care of yourself.”

  “I will, and thanks for understanding about the whole slam-slam thing.”

  “No problem. We all have our moments.”

  I turned and headed back for Claire, who was staring at me in shock. “That’s it?”

  “Yep.”

  I walked past her to the driver’s side and swung myself up inside. She got in on the passenger side.

  “You’re not going to beat him up?”

  “Nope.”

  “No breaking his neck?”

  “No, Claire.”

  I put the truck in drive and drove through the green light as she looked out the back window.

  “No muscles bulging as you take the life from his body?”

  I sighed and pulled into our driveway, putting the truck in park. “Claire, believe it or not, I don’t enjoy killing other people. For the past year, we’ve been on the run and I’m tired of it. I would like a quiet life with my wife and kids. I would like to come home to you without worrying that something I’ve done has put you in danger. Yeah, we’ve had good times and the adventure is a real high, but I want more. And I want that with you. So, maybe you need to decide if you want the same thing with me, or if you’re going to continue to live out your fantasies.”

  I got out of the truck and headed inside. I had said my piece, but she needed to decide now. I couldn’t keep wishing for something that was never coming. I wasn’t sure what I would do if she decided she didn’t want kids, but I knew that I loved her more than life itself. I just had to hope that she loved me enough to want the same things.

  “Okay.”

  I turned around to see Claire standing in the doorway, looking at me warily.

  “Okay?”

  “Okay. Let’s have kids.”

  My eyes brightened and hope filled my chest. “Really?”

  “Yeah, really. But,” she said, holding up a finger. “I want one more adventure. I want the fantasy we just talked about and when that’s over, we’ll have kids.”

  I ran toward her, picking her up just as I slammed her against the open door. I couldn’t get my hands on her fast enough, digging into her panties and tearing them down her legs.

  “You’re serious?”

  I opened my jeans and shoved them down just in time to thrust my cock inside.

  “It’s what you want and I want you,” she panted as she lifted herself off me and slammed back down. “I want it all with you, as long as you’re still my Superman.”

  “Always,” I panted as I fucked her harder and harder against the door. I could hear the door cracking the wall, but I didn’t care. My wife just gave me everything I wanted.

  “Derek,” she panted. “I’m gonna come. Suck my nipples.”

  “Uh-huh,” I said as I moved one hand to grab onto her shirt and rip it open. Buttons flew everywhere and I ripped the cup down to give me access to her perfect tits. She groaned and her body squeezed me hard.

  “Like that?”

  “Fuck, Derek!”

  “Oh fuck!” I groaned as I shot off inside her, filling her sweet pussy with my cum. She was panting hard and grinning at me like a fool. I smiled back and slowly lowered her to the ground. She looked down at her torn shirt and her tits hanging out and laughed.

  “Whoops.”

  I looked behind the door and saw that the doorstop had been broken and we now had a doorknob shaped hole in the wall. “At least it’ll make for an interesting story,” I surmised.

  She slapped my arm repeatedly and then there was a scream. Something hard hit me on the head and I dropped to the floor. I tried to regain my vision, but something was hitting me over and over again.

  “Stop!” Claire shouted.

  The beating ended and I struggled to my feet, feeling like I had been beaten with multiple belts. I was shocked to look up and see a group of old ladies glaring at me.

  “That’s not how you treat your woman,” one of them said.

  “I was-”

  “We know what you were doing. Show a little respect.”

  “You can’t just walk into someone’s home and start beating them,” I said, wide-eyed and completely shocked.

  “We’ve heard about you Reeders,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. “We’re coming for you.”

  I snorted, but backed up when she glared at me, baring her feral, no teeth gums at me.

  “Whoa, what the hell did we ever do to you?”

  “
We’re watching,” she said as she walked back down the path, her cronies following her.

  “What the fuck?” I said, staring at them in confusion.

  “Wait until the guys hear about this,” Claire laughed.

  “They’re not going to hear about it. If anyone asks, I was attacked by a pack of bikers.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, like anyone will believe that.”

  “But they’ll believe a bunch of women beat me up?”

  She shrugged and headed to our bedroom. They wouldn’t believe that. I closed the door and pulled my pants up. Nah, they’d never believe that.