I liked how much trust we both had in our employees, and how much fun they had working for us. It made everything so much easier.
I got up from my chair and walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close. I lowered my lips to hers so kiss her.
“I’m ready,” I told her between our kisses, and she smiled brightly, running her hands through my hair. “Good, because I think tonight’s the right time.”
I knew exactly what she meant, and I felt the same way. We might’ve been moving too quickly through our whole relationship, but we were ready. Ready for us to grow even more as a couple and a family.
Prologue
Jagger
I felt her hands move over my chest, then, slowly, they made their way down to my stomach. Her fingers hooked into the hem of my shorts, which I put back on early this morning when the sun was barely shining through my bedroom window.
How she managed to slip into my bed is still a question I can’t seem to answer. I thought I was done with her. We had our fun and all I wanted was to move on, not find her next to me completely naked.
I had my eyes still closed, knowing exactly what she wanted to do without looking at her. A blowjob was a nice thing to wake up to, that I wouldn’t deny. But I promised myself last night that it was the last time I let her this close.
We fought too much, and when I tried to end it, she pulled the tears card on me. I hated it when women cried. Especially the ones who played the victim and acted like I was the bad guy in the situation.
But how was I supposed to turn her down in this situation? My cock was already hard, and I thought while she was still here, I could just let her do the job and then make her leave. Because that’s how it worked between us. We had fun, then she’d leave.
“I know you’re awake,” she said in a challenging tone while she slowly pulled down my boxers. I took a deep breath, telling myself one more time that it would be the last time I’d see the sight of her head down there while her mouth worked my cock in a way only she knew how to.
I turned my head, opening my eyes, and looking directly into hers. “Make it quick,” I told her and grabbed a handful of her hair, directing her mouth down to my dick. She smiled a little too excitedly, then lowered her head to lick along my length before she took the head into her mouth.
Starting slowly, she worked my cock with her right hand and moved her lips over my hardness. Then, with my hand pushing her down, she took it all in, making noises which in the beginning were a reason why I wanted to fuck her. She knew what she was doing, and she turned me on more than any other girl ever had. She was experienced. She had many men before she told me that she wanted to date me. But that was when it all started to fall apart. She thought she fell in love with me and I was stupid enough to let her believe I felt just the same. I didn’t. I liked her. She was a friend and I knew she was someone I could trust. But now I was stuck in this situation and I wasn’t man enough to tell her the truth and end it all.
“Fuck,” I muttered through gritted teeth as I felt my cock hit the back of her throat. “Just like that.” I lifted my other hand and grabbed another fistful of her hair. This time, I held her head tight and pushed it down. “Take it all.” I knew it turned her on when I talked like that and it made her wild. She moved her head up and down faster, making my cock throb even more.
I felt the heat rise inside of me and I knew I was close. I also wanted her to leave. I was being an asshole, but I somehow needed to let her know that I had other things to do here, now that I moved to Newton, Kansas. It’s a more than three-hour drive from Hastings, and I hoped to clear my head here, away from all the things that made me leave in the first place.
She was one of those reasons. Yet, I couldn’t seem to stop myself from telling her where I went and giving her my new address.
The apartment I moved into was in an old, industrial building where they renovated the inside and built a few rentals. I liked how some of the walls had bricks showing and the high ceilings and big windows opened up the rooms and let in a lot of sunlight.
Unlike Hastings, Newton was a sunny town. The only problem with that was, ironically enough, on the day Dean died, it was the sunniest day in Hastings, so my thoughts went back to him each time the sun shone through my windows in the morning.
I tried not to think back to that day. Even if I had shot many people in the past, killing Dean made me feel regret and self-hate for the first time.
Shaking off those thoughts, I looked back down to the girl who I wanted to forget just as much as October third. She looked up at me with my cock still deep inside her mouth and I knew she was trying to make me come any second. Lucky her, I only had to relax and shoot my shot. Literally.
“You gonna swallow like a good girl?” I asked, and she immediately nodded, then, enthusiastically moved even faster.
“Fuck,” I groaned and kept her head in place to not miss her mouth. I didn’t want my covers to get dirty, so she had to do what she was best at. It sounded all wrong and made me look like a dick, but she liked it. So why wouldn’t I let her enjoy it?
“Are you at least going to let me get some coffee before I leave?” Her eyebrows were raised, and I gave her an annoyed look as I pulled up my boxers.
“I gotta get to work,” I lied, because even after living in this town for over two months, I didn’t feel the need to work or earn money. I had my money. Well, half of it. The other half I left Harlow. She was hesitant at first, but she finally gave in and told me she wouldn’t use it for anything unless she really needed something.
She also didn’t actually need the money since Hunter basically bought whatever they needed. They didn’t leave Hastings. They re-opened Frankie’s Diner and still lived in our old home. I asked Hunter why he wouldn’t move into another house. One that’s more fitted for them and a baby, but he told me that Harlow insisted on staying in that house until she gave birth. She didn’t want to go through any stressful moving situations and said that it would be bad for the baby. She was almost two months into the pregnancy, but she wasn’t feeling very well. Morning sickness just didn’t stop, and she also wouldn’t stop working at the diner. My sister has always been a hard worker, but I don’t think working that hard was good for the baby, either.
“And you don’t even have time for one cup of coffee?” she asked me and put on the little red dress she wore yesterday. I shook my head, then grabbed clean clothes from my closet.
“No, Bliss. I don’t have time for that, either.” This was hard. She always tried to stay. She wouldn’t leave until I stepped out of my front door myself, so this was like a routine for me. Waking up to her giving me a blowjob, telling her I needed to attend a job I didn’t have, and make her leave and go back to Hastings. Not sure why she took on all those hours of driving just to be sent back home in the morning.
She sighed and put her hair into a messy bun, then grabbed her shoes and walked out of the bedroom. “You’re an asshole,” she mumbled, and I chuckled.
“No shit.” I realized that back in Hastings. She was the only girl I fucked around with and it was okay the way it was. Just her and I, messing around in the sheets.
I followed her into the living room and watched her putting on her shoes. “When will you visit Harlow? It’s been a while,” she said.
I leaned against the wall next to the front door and shrugged. “Hunter’s birthday is coming up. Harlow said something about a party. Might come by then.”
Bliss gave me an amused look. “Hunter’s birthday is in June.”
I shrugged. “Yeah.”
“That’s in four months,” she told me. I rolled my eyes and opened the door for her to get out. “Then I’ll be back in four months.”
Bliss watched me for some seconds, then walked up to me and put her hand on my chest. She smiled, leaned over, and kissed my lips. I didn’t return the kiss, but I let her enjoy this little goodbye. She’d gotten used to it a little too much for my liking.
&n
bsp; “I’ll text you,” she whispered. I just smiled, wishing I had the guts to tell her that I didn’t want her to come back here.
Chapter One
Two weeks later
Jagger
I somehow managed to keep Bliss away from my apartment for the last week by telling her that I had shit to do and didn’t have time for her to come around. She didn’t take it personally. Lucky me. But she did tell me to text her as soon as I got time for her again.
I told her I wasn’t sure it would be soon, and I guess that’s a start, right? She’d eventually get bored and find herself another guy to have sex with. Why she was so stuck on me, I didn’t quite understand. I treated her like shit, yet she still came around and acted like I was a saint.
I liked Bliss, but we had our differences, and when they showed it was always me who was at fault. Bliss only saw the bad in what I did when we fought, and to everyone else, it could look like she was the good girl in whatever relationship we were having at the moment.
We fought too much considering we weren’t even in a relationship or dating. I kept up with her bullshit too many times. When I was still in Hastings, and everything started between Bliss and me, I actually enjoyed her company. She was great to talk to and she knew how I felt thanks to Hunter, who did the same shit for a living as I did.
Killing people wasn’t easy, and Bliss calmed me down in a way I didn’t think was possible. She listened to my thoughts and tried to find a way for me to push them aside. It worked until she started acting like a crazy girlfriend, always asking where I was and who I was with. She was jealous of other girls I talked to at bars and I didn’t understand why since she didn’t hold back on flirting with other guys, either.
I should’ve told her what we had was over, but then, the sex was great, and she was naïve enough not to realize that for me it was just pure pleasure. The girl had to fall on her face one day and make those pink glasses fall to the ground to see clearly and realize that I didn’t share the same feelings as she did. Sure, I could just simply tell her, but she would freak out. I was in too deep already and I knew Bliss and her temper. You wouldn’t want to be around when she got mad.
“Need some help there, buddy?” An amused voice broke through my thoughts and I turned to see a girl standing by the staircase with two large bags, one in each hand.
“What?” I asked and got a smirk from her.
“Do you need some help? You’ve been standing in front of your door for several minutes and still haven’t opened it. This is my second time walking up here and you’re still in the same spot.”
Shit. See? Bliss was taking up too much space in my head. I needed her out of there as soon as possible.
I looked down at the keys in my hand and then shook my head, letting out a small chuckle. “Deep thoughts,” I told her and turned back to look at her. “You need some help with that?” I then asked and nodded toward her groceries.
She shrugged and smiled. “I got some beer outside next to my car.”
I pushed the keys back into my pocket and walked toward the stairs. “What apartment?” I asked. “One floor up,” she told me and started walking up the stairs.
I nodded again, making my way down and out to her car, which I recognized by the two full crates of beer. I picked them both up, one with each hand, and walked back inside the apartment complex and up the stairs to the second floor, where her door was wide open.
“You having a party?” I asked and walked right into her home since she pretty much invited me by leaving the door open.
“Yes,” she answered and walked toward me with a wide smile on her face. “Tonight. You can come. It’s gonna be fun.” She grinned and grabbed one of the crates, then walked back into the kitchen and I followed her.
“Unless you’re too busy thinking about whatever you were thinking down there.” She was making fun of me and well, I didn’t blame her.
“I think I’ll come by and grab a beer,” I told her and looked around. Her apartment was the same as mine, yet she had way more furniture and decor around the place. I should ask Harlow if she’d like to help out with my place. It was almost empty, and it looked sad with all the spaces I could fill.
“I’m Sage, by the way.” I looked back at her and shook her hand. “Jagger. Nice place. I like the paintings,” I told her and took another look around.
“Yeah? My cousin made them for me. She’s super talented. She also takes requests,” Sage explained with a proud smile. “She’ll be here tonight. In case you want to ask her about more of her work. I got a glance into your apartment once and it looks a little…boring.”
I laughed and looked back at her. “It is boring. I’ll make sure to ask your cousin about her paintings.”
“Perfect. Now, get out. I gotta get ready for tonight. People will be here around nine.”
Attending a party was exactly what I needed. In the end, that’s what I came here for, right? To meet new people and keep the bad thoughts out of my mind. Sage seemed like a nice girl and going to that party would help me make some new friends.
It was almost nine. I pulled a black t-shirt over my head as my phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. Please don’t let that be Bliss, I prayed. When I reached my phone, I saw Harlow’s name on the screen and relaxed a little before picking up.
“Hey, sweet girl. How’s the baby?” I asked and leaned against the counter. Harlow’s calls always made me happy.
“It’s growing too fast,” she told me with a smile I could hear in her voice. “Hunter jokes about my belly being too big for two months and he says he’s not sure if I’m actually pregnant or just eating too much.” She chuckled.
I laughed, shaking my head. “Tell that idiot he should watch his mouth, or I’ll come over there and make sure he won’t be able to walk straight for the rest of your pregnancy.” I was obviously joking, and I knew Harlow didn’t take it seriously, either.
Her laugh lit up my whole mood. Thank God she was doing okay. And Hunter was being good to her. “I wouldn’t mind you coming here for a day or two, you know?”
I sighed, knowing a visit was long overdue. “I promise I’ll come by soon. I just need some more time here, all right?”
She was silent for a while, then she finally spoke. “We miss you, Jag. But I understand your hesitation. Take your time, okay?”
“I miss you too. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m ready. And if you can’t wait to see me any longer, let me know and I’ll have my guest bedroom ready for you and Hunter. I know it’s a long drive and you don’t want to leave the diner, but I’d love for you to see my apartment. You’ll love it.”
“I’ll talk to Hunter about it. I gotta go. We’ve got a sixteenth birthday party here at the diner and it’s time for cake,” she told me, and I smiled, knowing how much kids liked the diner. Harlow and Hunter had a lot to do every day since people filled that place from the early morning on.
“Have fun. And tell Hunter not to let you work so damn hard. That baby and its momma need a rest too,” I said into the phone.
“I will. I love you,” she replied and then hung up. I was happy for them. But all those hearts and flowers made me feel sick to my stomach. The only love I felt was for my sister and admittedly, I loved Hunter too. He’s officially part of the family now. Not just my best friend.
I heard music coming from speakers upstairs and I knew it was time to meet some new people. I was ready and I intended to make friends tonight.
Sage was a good start. She was kind enough to invite a stranger to her party, so that must’ve meant people in Newton were more open-minded and welcoming. Not judging by appearance or wealth. So, I was ready. Ready to meet new faces.
Chapter Two
Jagger
The door to Sage’s apartment was open and I heard voices and music coming from the inside. Since she did invite me earlier, I decided to just enter and look around. Before reaching her living room, two girls came out of the bathroom and almost bumped into me. They laugh
ed, then gave me flirtatious smiles and made their way back to the almost overcrowded living room. If those girls wouldn’t have smelled like a full bottle of vodka, I might’ve smiled back. I wasn’t into those kinds of girls. Sure, they were easy. And I did sometimes like the easy kind, yet a challenge was far more fun and intriguing. But at the moment, I didn’t have the time or need for women anyway.
I made my way over to the small bar that was probably built by someone Sage knew. It wasn’t perfectly built, and it didn’t look very stable, either, but it held bottles and cans and also some buckets with ice, so it did the trick.
I grabbed myself a beer and opened the bottle by holding the cap of it against an edge of the piece of wood from the bar, then slammed my hand over it so the cap fell off easily. It was a dick move since there was a bottle opener right next to me, but hell, I was allowed to have some fun.
“Impressive.” Sage’s familiar voice chimed from behind me and I turned to look at her. “Is that your party trick?” she mocked. I laughed and shrugged before taking a sip of my beer.
“Gets lots of girls’ panties wet,” I explained sarcastically. Luckily, Sage had a good sense of humor and didn’t take my stupid response seriously.
“I see. So, you came. There’s some finger food over there and I ordered pizza for later. Make yourself at home.” I looked around the living room and noticed now how much she actually put into this party. She decorated some walls and furniture and the music was coming from an old jukebox. Impressive.
“Thanks. I will,” I told her and looked back at her. She was about to say something when she turned to look at a guy walking into her living room with a bottle of Jack in his hand and a huge cocky smile on his face. He reached Sage and picked her up by wrapping his free arm around her back.
The Hastings Series Page 31