And sure enough, Juss and Sparra were back. They were laughing at something, and he looked so happy, a pang of guilt lanced me. He should be doing things with his mates, and I felt bad for maybe shielding him a little too hard.
My face must have said as much, because Davo gave me a nudge. “It’s all good, Dallas. He needs someone looking out for him.”
“Haven’t you two done any work while we’ve been gone,” Sparra joked as they came in through the roller door. “I leave for thirty minutes and the work ethic goes to shit.”
Davo threw his oil rag at him and we laughed as we headed into the breakroom. And all the worry aside, Juss’ smile told me all I needed to know.
He needed to enjoy the good times while they were good, because Lord knew he’d had enough bad times.
We ate our lunch and Sparra gave us a rundown of how things were going with Carissa, and I’d just finished my burger when the phone rang.
I left them to keep talking for the rest of their lunch break and took the call in my office. “Muller Mechanical. Dallas speaking.”
“I need to speak to Justin Keith, please.”
The voice was horrible and familiar and it took a second for me to place it. It was Justin’s mother. I stopped cold; anger ran like ice through my veins. I wanted to do evil to this woman, but I remembered all too well that my temper and yelling at her were partly to blame for Justin’s meltdown. So I kept my voice calm and neutral. “Janet.”
“Hmm, Dallas,” she said, and I could just picture her sneering as she spoke my name. “I assume you’re the reason he won’t answer his mobile when I call it.”
“I don’t care what you assume.”
She was quiet a second and decided to try again. “Don’t suppose Justin’s calmed down enough to speak to his mother?”
“Calmed down?” I asked incredulously. Don’t yell, Dallas. Don’t yell. With a deep breath, I tried to be composed. “Do you have any idea what stress and high blood pressure can do to someone with a brain injury?”
She was quiet for a second. “What?”
“Justin went to hospital in an ambulance after your little stunt last week. He couldn’t speak or do anything. Ever seen someone you love catatonic like that, Janet?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped.
“I’m talking about brain injury. You know, what Justin has, if you even care. Something he has to live with forever, something that is affected by high levels of stress. Like you turning up demanding money.”
“I deserve that money.”
“You know what you fucking deserve?” I began, my jaw clenched.
But then I noticed Juss standing at the door. His smile was rueful. “Is that my mother?”
Goddammit.
I nodded, and he held out his hand for the phone. “Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’ll be okay, Dall.”
I handed the phone over and he put it to his ear. “Mum,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
I shot him a look. What the hell was he apologising for?
“Oh no, don’t misunderstand,” he said. “I said I’m sorry. Sorry I missed your head when I threw my cane at you. I thought I had better aim.”
Shocked, I snorted out a laugh, but Juss wasn’t done.
“If you call me again or if you turn up here again, I will call the cops. I will take a restraining order out against you. You’re not my family. You disowned me.” Then he smiled at me. “I have a real family, Mum, and he chose me. He chose me twice.”
My heart just about burst to hear him say that. I could hear her tinny voice squawking through the receiver but he was done. He’d said what he needed to say. While she was ranting away, he simply disconnected the call and slid the phone onto the desk with satisfying finality. He was done. I stood up and stepped around my desk to throw my arms around him in a crushing hug. I whispered into his neck, “Baby, I would choose you a hundred times.”
“And I’d choose you,” he replied.
I pulled back and put my hand to the side of his face and thumbed the scar above his eyebrow. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I know your mother’s been horrible, but it still sucks that you had to do that. Do you feel okay?”
“Dall, I’m fine.” He smiled sadly. “I actually feel good about telling her that, like a weight has been lifted. I think when she just showed up and started yelling, I was shocked and I wasn’t prepared at all. But I am now. I know what she’s after, and I know you’ll protect me.”
“I will.”
“And like you said, we find our own family.”
I kissed him. “I like the sound of that. You and me.”
“And Squish.”
I snorted. “And Squish.”
“Who is probably wondering where I am and why I’ve missed our nap time.”
“Then you better go let him know you’re okay.”
“I am tired,” he murmured. “And I need all the rest I can get for tonight.”
“For tonight?” Then I remembered as soon as I’d said it.
“Oh yeah, and don’t think you’re getting out of it. It’s doctor’s orders.”
“Pretty sure it was just a recommendation.”
He gave me a lopsided smile, full of cheek and daring. “Well, it’s my recommendation that you don’t hold out on me.” Then he was serious. He whispered, “It’s my first time, Dall. My first proper time without a condom. Not just with you, but ever. I’ve never done that before. I mean, I have, we have, obviously. But I don’t remember it. Well, I can remember that time at Hallidays Point, but I want to feel it now. I want to experience it, firsthand, and make new memories.”
I lifted his chin and kissed him softly. “I have no intention of holding out on you.” Then I winked at him. “I just hope your expectations and my actual capabilities are on par.”
He chuckled. “I hear practice makes perfect.”
“I might need it,” I said with a laugh. Then I sighed. “You sure you feel okay about your mum?” I needed to be sure . . .
“Yeah. Actually, I feel good about it. I needed to say that to her. Whether she listens is up to her, but I said what I needed to say.”
I studied his eyes for a moment. They were a clear brown, tired, but there was no blankness, no sadness. “Okay, baby. I’ll just be here. If you need anything or want to talk, I’ll come straight up.”
He glanced around to make sure no one could overhear. “What if I need help watching porn?”
I laughed and gave him a light smack on the arse. He smiled as he made his way upstairs, and I got back to work, grateful for the distraction. I didn’t need to be thinking about what we might be doing tonight. The last thing I needed was to be working with a semi.
But between bikes, ATVs, and the never-ending phone calls, I was more than distracted. It was good, though. It felt . . . good.
Like maybe—and I didn’t want to jinx myself—that life was beginning to look up. Maybe we could plateau for a bit and find our new normal. Now that we’d identified some of Justin’s triggers, we could avoid them and manage them. Hopefully, his mother would now leave us alone, and he could just concentrate on getting better.
I knew it had only been a week since his last episode, and I knew it could all be different in another week. But I wanted to believe the worst was behind us.
I wanted to make sure it was.
Juss came back downstairs just before closing. I was finishing up some paperwork and heard his laughter in the workshop. God, it made me smile. He helped the guys clean up and lock everything down for me, and Davo said he’d lock the gate as they left. Juss pulled the roller door down and came to lean against the doorframe to the office.
“They said they’d see you in the morning,” he said.
“Oh, okay. I’m just getting things ready for Toni. It’s her first day tomorrow.”
“Yeah, the boys were talking about it. Davo reckons you’re too much of a control freak and you’ll still be trying to d
o everything and driving Toni mad.”
I laughed incredulously. “A control freak?” Then I thought about that and how I’d run everything my way for years. “Yeah, okay. So maybe he’s not entirely wrong. But I gotta say, Juss, I’m looking forward to handing things over.”
“You are?”
“Yep. The creditors, debtors, inventory, phone calls . . . my God, the phone didn’t stop ringing today. Now I’m used to the idea of someone doing all that for me, for us, I think I’m really gonna like it.” I sat back in my desk chair and sighed. “I just want some time to breathe, ya know? So it’s not a madhouse every day, trying to get everything done. I’ll still have all my responsibilities, of course, but I want to be able to enjoy working on some bikes, having a laugh with the boys, and spending time with you. We’ve talked about cutting back on stress for you, and it’s about time I cut some stress from my life too.”
He smiled. “That sounds really good to me.”
“We ready to go upstairs?”
“Babe, I’m so ready for you to take me upstairs.”
I barked out a laugh. “Right, then.”
“No, I mean it. I’m ready ready. I took care of the pipes, if you know what I mean.”
It took me a second. “Oh my God, right.”
He chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “Are you having second thoughts?”
“Hell no.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
I shut down my computer and stood up. “Absolutely nothing.” I walked to him and kissed him soundly. “Get your arse upstairs.”
He grinned. “That’s more like it.”
I followed him up, getting a perfect close-up view of his arse, and it didn’t take my dick long to notice either. The anticipation was going to kill me. He’d wanted this for weeks and I was beginning to think I might not live up to his expectations.
When we were inside, he took one look at me and laughed. “Dall, you’re overthinking this.”
“You have expectations now. You’re probably thinking this is gonna move both heaven and earth, and I’m seriously thinking it’s gonna be over in like, five minutes. Maybe four.”
He laughed again and took my hand, pulling me close. “Babe. You know me, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“You know what I like, and you know how I like it. You’ve had years of experience with me, and I have none with you. It’s the only time I’ll let you use my amnesia against me.” He chuckled and pulled me down for a kiss. “I have no expectations, honestly.” Then he made a face. “Well, that’s not true. I have two expectations. One, that you’ll take it easy on me. My body isn’t as flexible as it used to be. And two, that you will come inside me. I need to know what that feels like.”
I gasped, his words sending a jolt of desire to my balls that almost buckled my knees. I crushed my mouth to his, using his surprise to claim his mouth with my tongue. But he was right . . . I knew him. I knew his body, what he liked, and how he liked it.
His smile broke the kiss. Grinning now—because he knew he was getting what he wanted—he pulled on my hand and led me to the bedroom. He stopped inside the door, where I could see the bed.
Which he’d already prepared. There was a pile of pillows across the middle of the bed, covered with towels. The perfect height for me to bend him over. The lube was lying on the bed covers.
Justin smiled proudly. “I told you I was ready.”
I laughed and kissed him again. “First, we need to get you naked.”
The days of ripping our clothes off and fucking, rough and demanding, were done. I couldn’t even pull his shirt over his head without considering his arm, and getting him out of pants had to be slow and careful because of his leg.
But I didn’t mind one bit. It gave me time to kiss every reveal of skin, to savour every moment. And getting him onto the bed was an exercise in caution. Once upon a time, I’d have just thrown him on the bed and crawled on after him, but not anymore.
He needed to trust that I would take care of him and make this good for him. But I also knew he couldn’t endure too much for too long, so timing and endurance were important. There was a happy medium in there somewhere, and I was determined to find it.
Once I had him into position, bent over the pillows with his arse high up in the air, I rubbed his back and skimmed my hands over his arse. I poured lube onto my fingers and ran them across his hole.
He moaned.
I pushed a fingertip inside him and slowly worked him, getting his arse ready for me. Yes, I’d been inside him since the accident, but I hadn’t fucked him. I hadn’t thrust and stretched him like I was about to.
God, just thinking about it . . . My cock ached to be in him right now.
I worked in another finger, and then I added my tongue. He gasped and gripped the bed covers. “Oh fuck,” he groaned. “Dallas, what . . . oh God.”
I chuckled. “I know what you like, remember?”
He groaned, a deep guttural sound as I tongue-fucked him some more. When he began rocking his hips back and forth, I knew he was ready.
I lubed my cock and poured more over his hole, working it in with my thumb before lining my cockhead up and swiping it over his slick entrance, pushing just a little. “You ready, baby?”
“Yes. Dallas, please . . .”
So I pushed inside him, slow, so torturously slow, and he fisted the blankets and whined as I pressed in. He gasped as he took me into his body. I stilled, holding myself right there while he got used to the intrusion. I leaned over him, lay down on top of him with my cock fully seated inside him, and whispered in his ear, “Breathe, baby.”
It took a moment but his breaths deepened and he relaxed, then began to roll his hips. I followed his tempo, slow and intense. He began to groan, gruff and gravelly.
That sound, so familiar and so new, told me he loved it, told me he was ready for more. So I listened to him, to his body, and set my pace in tune with his grunts, his groans, his mindless pleas for more.
I thrust in deep and pulled back slow, gently gripping his hips and giving him every inch. Giving him exactly what he wanted. Slow, tender, and so fucking good.
He was tight and hot, slick and welcoming as I took him. Pleasure building so thick and strong, I could taste it. My cock felt like steel, so hard, my balls needed release.
“Baby, I can’t hold on,” I ground out, my hips thrusting of their own accord, seeking more, more, more.
“God, Dallas, do it,” he panted. “Come inside me.”
I thrust in one last time, every inch, and my orgasm barrelled through me. Pleasure and love overwhelmed and consumed me as I came, spilling deep inside him.
He gasped and cried out as I groaned through my release, thrusting with every pulse. I collapsed on top of him, still inside him, while the world around me spun. He gave me time to catch my breath before he began to rock his hips.
This was what he loved.
He loved my spent cock inside him, my come inside him. He loved to stay joined, coupled and close. He slid his hand underneath himself and began to fuck his fist. “Dallas, I need . . .”
“I’ll give you everything you need, baby,” I murmured, reaching under him. I replaced his hand around his shaft and gave him a few hard strokes.
“Oh, God.”
I kept my semi-hard dick buried in him while I jacked him off, and knowing which words would send him over the edge, I whispered into the back of his neck, “Can you feel my come inside you?”
Juss stilled; his cock surged and swelled in my hand before spilling onto the towel beneath him. He cried out, trembling and convulsing with the power of his orgasm until he collapsed on the mattress.
I pressed my weight on his back, still in him. I never wanted to leave. But he’d probably overdone it and was going to be sore tomorrow. So I slowly pulled out and he whined. “Stay.”
I chuckled and kissed his shoulder and behind his ear, but I kept my length pressed against him. “Baby, I don’t want
to hurt you.”
“I can feel how hard you are.”
“Because you just jerked off with my cock in your arse. It’s hot as hell.”
He ripped the pillows out from underneath him so he was flat on the bed. He spread his legs wider and raised his arse. “I’m not kidding, Dallas. I want more.”
Fuck.
There it was. That demanding, sexual side of Justin that had been absent for so long. So I gave him what he wanted. I knelt between his thighs and gave myself a few long strokes before I pushed back into him in one, sharp thrust. He was so slick, so inviting.
He was home to me.
He moaned as I thrust in and out of him. I kissed the back of his neck, his shoulder, as I drove into him, balls deep and rocking, and I was at the edge already.
Being inside him, making love, was everything familiar and brand new all over again.
His eyes went wide when I came, and he gasped as he felt it. “Oh, God, yes. Dallas, yes.”
I collapsed on top of him again, and this time I did pull out. Before he could protest, I rolled us onto our sides and wrapped him up in my arms. I kissed him, deep and with all the love and passion I had in me. And for a long time, we just lay there, kissing, holding each other, basking in what we’d just done.
He was tired though, and when he nuzzled into my neck, I stroked his back, his hip. “You’re going to need that massage,” I murmured. “And a hot shower. And dinner.”
“Mm.” He was almost asleep. “Just wanna stay right here.”
I held him a bit tighter. “I love you so much,” I whispered.
“Love you too, Dall.” After a few moments, I felt him smile into my neck. “Love what you did to me, love how you did it.”
I chuckled and traced lazy circles on his back. “You’re going to be sore tomorrow.”
“Worth it.” He sighed and snuggled in some more. “So fucking worth it.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Are you sure you feel okay?” I asked. The guys were about to arrive for work and I was making sure the office was somewhat tidy for Toni before she arrived for her first day. But I needed to make sure Juss was feeling okay after last night. Again.
Pieces Of Us: Missing Pieces Series, Book Three Page 13