King

by Gwendolyn Grace

  He also carefully vetted his racers. They all had to have experience and skill on the road, not just be able to get their car down the street the fastest. It was one of the reasons his racers could claim to be the best in the Carolinas. A smile formed on my lips as I watched the activity a little while longer, and when I looked up, Mack was staring back at me with the corner of his mouth turned up in amusement.

  “What?” I asked, feeling a little self-conscious.

  “Nothin’.” He shook his head and slowly looked away. “But I need to talk to you later.”

  “About?”

  He didn’t answer, but his devilish grin made my insides flip with anticipation.

  ****

  “That’s it. Fuck, that’s so good.” Mack groaned as I rolled my hips forward, increasing my pace. His hands grabbed on to either side of my waist, and he moved me up and down on him. Even as wet as I was, his girth was so large that it was difficult to take all of him without feeling stretched to my limits. He was touching every part of me, and it felt amazing.

  He pushed up my shirt and pulled the cups of my bra away from my breasts, then swirled his tongue over each tight nipple. I threw my head back and moaned. I didn’t care if anyone could hear us. Most of the crowd was gone, and Mack had pulled me into the front seat of a pickup truck he said belonged to him so that we could “talk.” The windows were heavily tinted, but we’d fogged up the glass so much that tint wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

  “You have gorgeous tits,” Mack murmured as he pinched a nipple between his teeth causing me to cry out.

  “Mack,” I gasped.

  “Hmm?”

  “I’m going to come.”

  “Yeah, come for me, Firefly.”

  “Mack,” I moaned just as the sensation was reaching its peak. He pushed upward as deep as he could go while he pulled my hips down onto him, and I fell over the edge. I bucked wildly and rested my palms on the roof of the truck for support. Mack’s thumb rubbed circles on my clit, prolonging my orgasm. He pulled my mouth to his and plunged his tongue inside. Soon I was climbing my way to another climax. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let my body move the way it wanted to. His lips were at my ear, his words hoarse as he spoke.

  “Ah, Jonna. You’re close. I can feel how fucking wet you are for me. I love the way you respond when I touch you. Don’t hold back. Let me have it.” His panting increased, and I watched the cords of his neck strain as he held his breath. “Let go,” he commanded, and I did. My body exploded around him as our eyes locked. His lids fluttered closed briefly, as I felt him swell and pulse with his own release. He covered my mouth with his as we rocked together, riding out the sensations.

  When our breathing returned to normal, I lifted myself off him and slid over to the passenger’s seat. I slipped my panties back on and struggled to pull my tight jeans back up, which was difficult in such a cramped space. Mack was also fixing himself and taking care of the condom. I flipped down the visor and tried to fix my wild hair. I rubbed a thumb under my eye to remove the smudged mascara. There was an awkward silence, or maybe it just felt that way to me. So I decided to lighten the mood.

  “So, how much was that worth?”

  “What?” Mack replied, clearly confused.

  “You said I owed you about fifteen grand. I was just trying to check my balance.” I giggled, very pleased with myself for playing it cool, except, my words only seemed to make Mack angry.

  “Don’t ever say that again.” His tone was low but clear. It was my turn to be confused.

  “What? But I thought you said—”

  “I know what I said,” he interrupted me. “It’s just when you say it like that, it sounds like I meant something else. Something you don’t deserve.”

  “Mack, I’m sorry. I didn’t . . . I just don’t know how to do this the way you want.” I looked down and chewed on my lip.

  “Honestly, I don’t even know what I want half the time.” He shook his head and looked away.

  “Is this because of my brother?” I had to ask the question because I couldn’t help feeling like maybe things would be different between us if this weren’t an issue.

  “No.” He rubbed a hand over his face before looking over at me. “Listen, I’ve got a lot going on right now. Shit that I don’t need to get other people involved in. Especially you, Jonna. You’re different. You damn sure deserve so much better than me.”

  “Mack . . .” I started to speak, but his phone buzzed in his pocket. He swiped a thumb over the screen and put it to his ear.

  “Yeah,” he barked, then turned his face to the window. He listened intently for a full minute before he spoke in a low tone. “I don’t care. No more excuses. Handle it, or get handled.” When Mack ended the call he never looked my way. He cranked up the truck and put it into drive.

  “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.” I wasn’t in the mood to go home, and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to know where I lived anyway, so I gave him directions to Tayia’s house. I really needed to talk to her. She’d already gone home a while ago, but I knew she would be awake. The entire way to her house, Mack and I drove in silence. I couldn’t stop my mind from going over our conversation. I felt so out of my element and didn’t know what to do.

  Handle it or get handled.

  What did that mean? I had a feeling that Mack was into things way out of my comfort zone, and that getting mixed up with him was something I should avoid at all costs. Except all I could think about was how he told me I was different. How was I different to him? And why did the very idea of it make my heart speed up with giddiness? Something was seriously wrong with me.

  Just as we pulled up to Blake and Tayia’s, Mack’s phone rang again. I placed my hand on the door handle of the truck as I waited to see what he would do. Of course, he answered it in his usual abrupt and slightly annoyed tone. I glanced in his direction, but he was staring straight ahead, so I pushed open the door handle and hopped down. When I turned Mack was looking at me, this time with the phone to his ear, but not speaking. It felt like he wanted to say something to me, but either couldn’t or wouldn’t. Or maybe it was me who wanted him to speak. He started talking into the phone, and it was clear that the moment passed. So I closed the door and started up the walk to the house, and I heard him drive away. He didn’t even wait until I’d safely made it inside. My heart sank as I listened to his engine fading in the distance.

  I’d sent Tayia a text earlier letting her know that I was coming over, but she never responded. I hoped that she was awake to let me in; otherwise I had no idea what I would do. I couldn’t call my parents or my brothers. I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with them right now so I knocked on the door and waited.

  Nothing.

  I knocked a second time, a little louder, and waited.

  Still nothing.

  I rang the doorbell quickly as a last resort. Finally, I heard noises on the other side. Then the door swung open to reveal a shirtless Blake glaring down at me while Tayia peeked around him.

  “Jonna?” Tayia called out. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” She stepped forward and nudged Blake to the side, however he looked like he didn’t really want to move or let me in. I’d always gotten along with Blake, which was why his actions surprised me.

  Once inside, Tayia and I went up to her room and I filled her in on my night with Mack. I’d never been so unsure about anything in my life. The one thing I did know was that I’d connected with Mack in a way physically that I never had with anyone else. The rest of it was completely foreign. I had no idea what sort of things he was involved in, but I knew they weren’t good. Here I was, a girl who could throw attitude with the best of them and had no qualms about going after what I wanted, yet when it came to Mack King, I was at a loss. I’d never experienced anything like this before, and suddenly I felt nineteen. And Tayia, just like me, had no idea what to make of this situation either, so instead we watched a movie until we both fell asleep.

  Chap
ter Seven

  We’d managed to convince my dad to let us leave early. The restaurant was dead and there were just a few people sitting at the bar. Drew had the night off and was headed with Woody to a race. I think this was also the reason Harley chose tonight to go to Charleston to pick up her box. While I didn’t like sneaking around behind my brother’s back, I also wanted to be there for Harley. I envied everything about her. She was gorgeous in a natural way. She never bothered doing anything special to her chocolate brown hair, but it always seemed to fall perfectly into place. Her makeup was minimal and she couldn’t care less about clothes or if she wore the same outfit twice in a week. Harley just wasn’t bothered by that kind of stuff. However, my favorite thing about her was that she spoke her mind. No filter and no hesitation. It was the way I wanted to be.

  Growing up as the baby of the family and the only daughter with two older brothers, an overbearing mother, and a father who spoiled me rotten, meant that I had to fight for independence. I learned early own that my attitude would rattle them enough to back off a little. I was constantly trying to prove that I could handle way more than they gave me credit for.

  And sometimes I was even right.

  “So, what about this ex-boyfriend? Is there going to be any drama?” My thoughts went back to Travis. I didn’t know if anything was worth getting from his house if it meant seeing him again.

  “No, he’ll be cool. It wasn’t like we were in love or anything,” Harley replied and looked out of the window.

  “How long were you with him?”

  “Five years.”

  “Five years?” I repeated. “That’s a long time to be with someone and not be in love.”

  “I don’t know.” Harley shrugged. “I wouldn’t say it was love so much as being with someone for a long time and tolerating each other. I think I could have loved him if I’d let myself.” She added the last sentence almost as an afterthought, then let out a long breath. “He could be good when he wanted to, but he also knew how to screw up pretty badly. I’d just had enough of the highs and lows. Plus I never really saw much of a future with him, not the way I do with Drew.”

  “It looks like you made the right decision then.” I smiled at her and turned my focus back to the darkened road illuminated by my headlights.

  We arrived in Charleston just before midnight. Harley gave me directions until I was driving down a street lined with small houses on either side. It looked like a working middle-class neighborhood, not a bad area, but it wasn’t exactly great either. We stopped in front of a one-story brick house with an attached garage with two large industrial-looking black bay doors that was almost as big as the house.

  We got out of the car and walked across a small patch of grass that was in serious need of a mow. All of the lights were off and there weren’t any cars in the driveway. I looked around and whispered, “Harley, I don’t think he’s home.” It was annoying that we drove all the way out here and the guy wasn’t even around. “Didn’t you tell him we were coming?”

  “No,” Harley replied, and then walked past me. “He doesn’t need to be here.” She hurried to the side of the house and lifted the latch to the back gate.

  “What are you doing?” I squeaked, but ran to keep up with her because there was no way I wanted to be caught snooping around by myself. When I found her she was jiggling a small window up until she was able to make enough room for her fingers to fit through.

  “Help me,” she called out, and so I stepped up and worked with her to lift the window. It groaned on the rails as we worked it open. It was in obvious need of a little WD-40, but with enough muscle power and persistence we were able to make enough room for Harley to slip inside. Seconds later she appeared in front of the back sliding glass door. She unlatched it and let me in.

  “You need to hurry,” I said to her as I followed her through the disaster of a house. Beer cans, empty pizza boxes, and ashtrays full of cigarette butts were all over the place. Gross. There were clothes all over the hallway. I followed her into a bedroom, which was surprisingly neater than the rest of the house, but not by much. All of the clothes were thrown into one pile on the floor in the corner, and one half-empty beer bottle was on the nightstand. You could, however, see the brown carpet much better in here.

  Harley pulled open the doors to the closet and then stood on her tiptoes to grab a medium-sized box. She laid it on the floor and was about to close the closet back when we heard keys slide into the front door lock. Harley’s eyes went wide as she looked over at me.

  “Oh, shit,” she whispered. I searched around the room but didn’t see anywhere to hide.

  “Shit,” I repeated as my heart started to pound a hole in my chest. We stood there like statues as footsteps drew closer and walked right past us into the bathroom at the end of the hall.

  “Let’s go,” Harley whispered as she grabbed her box and ran from the room with me right on her tail.

  We’d almost made it to the front door when a loud voice boomed, “Stop,” followed by the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked. We both came to a halt immediately and slowly turned around. The house was dark so I couldn’t see his face very well, but I did make out that he was indeed pointing a gun at us, so I lowered my eyes to the floor.

  “Shit. Harley?” the guy asked. “What the fuck are you doing and what do you have in your hand?”

  “It’s just a box of my stuff,” Harley replied, not sounding the least bit worried. “If you put down the damn gun, you can see for yourself, Brando.”

  Brando? That name sounded familiar. When the light flicked on a man with tattooed forearms and tousled black hair stepped forward and I recognized him as the guy I’d seen with Mack the other night. Harley’s ex-boyfriend was Brando?

  “Let me see.” Brando lowered his gun and grabbed the box from Harley. “Sorry, I gotta look. You know how it is.” Harley nodded as he ripped the tape off the box, then rifled around in the contents. I immediately thought it was strange. I didn’t know what he would be looking for, but I did know for sure that any man who felt he needed to hold his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint and then insisted on looking through her box was definitely up to no good.

  From what I could see, the box contained picture frames, papers, and some sort of material with a cherry pattern. It was exactly what Harley said— items from her Gram’s house.

  “See. Happy now?” Harley huffed and pushed Brando away from the box and began to reorganize the items so the box would close again. He moved away without much fight, then stood with his arms crossed, glaring at her. Just as Harley closed the flaps on the box, the front door opened and in walked Mack. He stopped midstep with one foot through the threshold and the other still outside. His eyes scanned the room as he assessed the situation. His gaze went from Harley to Brando and then to me. It was obvious by the way his eyes grew wider at seeing me that he was just as surprised as I was.

  “Mack,” Harley said as she lifted the box into her arms and straightened.

  “What are you doing?” he asked and narrowed his gaze at her.

  “Getting my box.”

  “So, this is it then?”

  “Yep.”

  “No coming back.”

  “I don’t plan to.”

  Mack’s expression was unreadable as he pushed the door open all the way and gestured his hands for Harley to leave. She threw me a look that meant that I should follow, but I was frozen in place at the exchange between the two of them.

  Why did I feel like I was missing something big here?

  Harley walked past Mack and spoke to him in a low voice, but I couldn’t hear. Mack hesitated before jerking his head into a nod. She placed a kiss on his cheek before stepping outside and into the darkness. My feet were moving, but I was unaware of who was controlling them. I was stunned by the scene before me, because I was one hundred percent certain that Mack was Harley’s ex-boyfriend, not Brando. This unexpected realization was like a knife to the gut. There were so many things wrong with this s
cenario, but as I tried to make my way past Mack he grabbed my hand gently.

  “Jonna.” I stopped walking but kept my eyes to the floor. “Look at me.” Slowly I complied with his request, somehow hoping that my conclusion wasn’t true, because it hurt too much.

  “You and Harley, Mack?” I asked, my voice coming out small.

  “You didn’t know?” Disbelief flashed across his face, and I shook my head. “Jesus.” Mack looked to the ground and shuffled his feet from side to side. “Listen, we need to talk but now is not a good time.”

  I nodded again, although I felt numb. There were so many things to digest. So many questions, so many emotions to sort out.

  “I’ll come and pick you up tomorrow night, okay?” Mack stated, but I didn’t respond. “Say okay, Jonna.” I shook my head and shrugged.

  “Mack, I don’t think I can . . .”

  “Catch the midnight ferry tomorrow night to the mainland, and I’ll be there to pick you up.” When I remained silent, he added, “Say yes, Jonna.”

  “Bye, Mack.”

  “I’ll be there tomorrow night waiting for you.” I didn’t respond and instead walked past him and out to the car just as Harley was closing the trunk and walking to the driver’s side.

  “See, easy.” She grinned. “I’ll drive back. Throw me your keys.” I was in no mood to argue, so I tossed my keys to her and settled into the passenger’s seat. The entire way home all I could think about was how I’d made it my goal in life to know everything I could about Mack King, yet I failed to learn that he’d had a girlfriend for five years. And that girl has been working with me every day for the past month and a half, and never once did her face provide any sort of recognition to me. I looked over at her and she seemed so carefree as she hummed along with the radio. How could I ever tell her that I’d been fucking her ex-boyfriend. Suddenly, the idea of her learning that terrified me, and I didn’t think I ever wanted her to find out.