“And now you trust him.”
“Oh, Dana, I always trusted him. I just didn’t realize it. He was always there for me even if I treated him like crap. If I asked him for help, he would give it. And I’m a jerk for treating him as less than my dad.”
“Are you leaving because you want to run away from him? From how you treated him?”
“No.” Liam ran his fingers through her hair. “No, not at all. I’m leaving because I need to. I don’t belong here. I don’t know where I belong. Farming isn’t for me. Living in Idaho City doesn’t work either. Boise isn’t the answer. I’m heading for Seattle, and I’ll see what shakes loose there. I have a tech degree now, so I should be able to find something.”
“You could work tech here.” Dana stared at him. “You know you could. There’s something more.”
“I guess that’s why I’m leaving. I’m trying to figure it all out.”
“I wish you’d reconsider.” Dana sighed, laying her head on his shoulder.
“We’ve been through it a dozen and one times, now, Dana.”
“I know.” She exhaled. “I just wish we could make this work. I don’t want my dad to pressure me into marrying someone else.”
“Oh, I’m convenience now?” Liam loved to teaser about this.
“Very convenient.”
He rolled so he was above her. “Let’s see. You could marry…Lonny Dunbeck.”
Dana laughed, running her hands down his sides to his backside. “Lonny Dunbeck’s IQ is room temperature at best, and he has the personality of a warm potato.”
Liam started to nibble his way down her neck. “How about Charlie Farron?”
“Charlie Chaplin?” Dana pulled her hand around to his hardening length between her legs. “With that damn hat and moustache? Please. I’ll have incredible cravings for duck soup all the time.”
“How about Jason Makerny?” Liam let her guide his erection into her.
She sighed as he filled her willing sex. “Jason Makerny is well known to have a pencil dick. And compared to what you’ve gotten me used to…”
“You like this?” Liam pulled back and thrust into her.
“Shit, yes.” She gasped, enraptured. “You spoil me with this cock.”
He nipped at her breath, enjoyed the feeling of Dana’s tunnel gripping him tightly as he moved. He was going to miss this. She was a supple, gorgeous and sexual woman who had at some point moved from a booty call to an exclusive in his bed. Her breasts swayed gently, temptingly as he thrust deep. It was never making love with them, but it was never just a fuck either. With them, it was always good sex. The chemistry in bed connected them.
Dana rolled them so she sat on top of him, the undulation of her hips erotic, pulling him into her. Liam knew what she wanted; he knew her body well. His finger dusted her clit, following as she moved. He watched as her hands wandered to her breasts, and she teased her own nipples, tugging and pinching. Just watching her was enough to pull him close to coming.
He worked his finger over her, Dana’s excited display a tell-tale sign that she was ready for her climax. Liam complied, knowing what she needed. His finger moved more roughly over her as she dropped to her hands and pressed her breasts against him. Her motion became frenetic, dragging over him, and scraping her nipples against him.
“Oh, God, Liam, yes, yes!”
“Coming,” he said, as the feeling of impending release gathered in his sac.
“Please, please.” She panted, throwing her head back.
Seizing the moment, Liam grabbed her hair with his free hand and pulled gently. “Come, Dana. Come on. Come.”
She was driving herself down on him, and he gave her the last key to her orgasm. He pinched her clit firmly. Dana’s climax grabbed her, and she groaned his name, “Liam!”
The grip of her pussy around him was his undoing and felt his climax race first up his cock, and release all the tension in his entire body. He thrust up, into Dana, the sensation of complete delight grabbing him and holding him for a moment.
As he dropped out of the ecstatic heights, Dana lowered herself to his chest, panting. She lay comfortably on him. He stroked her back and just held her. He was going to miss what they had, but it wasn’t love. Not the kind that they both craved. Not the kind they needed to make it work.
Leaving was the right thing to do.
* * *
“Liam Dunfrees.”
With the same sense of mediocrity he had been living in for the past few years, Liam walked the stairs to the platform. The chair of his department stood there, smile and holding a hand out to shake. He shook it and accepted the diploma with a smile of his own. He turned to the audience and found his family there: his mother and Hartley, Tom and his wife, Violet and Anna. All smiling and beaming and Tom letting out a shrill whistle of appreciation.
He waved and headed back down the stairs to his seat. The ceremony was almost over and then it was off to a restaurant for dinner. The dinner was delicious and fun, and it was only a delay tactic to keep Tom off his case. Which failed when Tom followed him to the bathroom.
“You’re really going?” Tom didn’t waste time diving into the tirade.
“Yes, I’m really going.” Liam tried to keep his voice neutral and firm.
“You’re just going to up and leave your mother here?”
“Tom, she’s not alone.” Liam tried to step around him.
“Your mother needs you.”
“Don’t you start with this, Tom. Don’t you dare. Mom doesn’t need me. No one here needs me. I’m an extra in a bad B movie, and with you taking over Hart’s store, Vi going hog wild on her 4C and environmental stuff, and Annie just being damn cute, I have nothing here. I’m a tech school grad with an associates in computer science. That gets me nothing.”
“And you’re going to leave Dana?”
“Stop, Tom. This is hard enough. We’ve tried to make it more than a casual relationship, and it’s not there. Don’t think that I don’t know what I’m giving up with her. But I want both of us to be happy, but lazy afternoon sex and a beer at the bar does not make for an enduring relationship.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Think what you want, Tom. You never liked me. You’ve never liked anything about me, what I do, where I go, who I hang with. I need to get out into the world, away from here. I will only be in the way.”
Tom folded his arm and leaned against the door. “You’re not going.”
“Tom. Really? I’m twenty-one. There isn’t a person on this planet who can stop me from getting on that bus to Seattle next week. And I would bet that no one shows at the bus stop to say goodbye because they have other things that have to get done.” Liam shook his head. “I’m invisible here. An inconvenience at best. So please stop trying to care.”
Tom huffed. “I do care. You know I do. You’re my little brother.”
“I know, man.” Liam stuck his hand out. “Thanks.”
Tom nodded and shook his hand. “I’m proud of you.” He pulled him in and clapped him on the back. “You did it. I still think you’re an asshole for going, though.”
“Hey, we have to hold on to something.”
Just as he predicted, though, only Dana showed up at the bus station. Tom had to open the store, Hart and his mom had to make a trip to the doctor in Boise—it was the only time they could get her in. Violet and Annie had school. All of his friends were either back in class or at work.
He stood with Dana on the platform, in the brisk breeze of an early summer morning. She stood close, tucking herself into his arm. “I really wish we could make this work. Daddy asked me again why we couldn’t, and if you were really leaving.”
“Danes…”
“No, no…I get it. Believe me. I understand. We’re comfortable and that’s all we’ll be right now, and possible forever. You’ve told me before, you feel like there’s something missing from your life, and I respect that.” She looked down at her shoes. “Zander English asked me out.�
�
“And what did you say?”
“Yes.” Her answer didn’t even hesitate. “You didn’t want me to wait.”
“I don’t. You deserve to be happy.”
“So do you, Liam.”
The bus rumbled up and released the air brakes in a loud blast. The doors hissed open. “You’d better email me. I want to see pictures. Of everywhere you go. Above all, Liam, you’re my friend, and I want to see you happy, and settled and complete.” She kissed him sweetly as the driver grabbed his bag from the ground and made room underneath for it.
“Ready to go, son?” the driver asked.
“Yes, I am,” he answered, not taking his eyes off Dana. “Be good, Danes. I’ll keep up with you.”
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but stopped herself. “Promise me you’ll always let me know where you are. Promise?”
“Of course.”
“And promise me that you’ll remember you always have a place here.”
“Promise.”
Liam gave her one more kiss. A tender one, not meant to do anything else but say, ‘I love you in our own little way.’ Dana ran her hand down his jaw. No more words were spoken, and Liam grabbed his backpack. He found a seat near a window and saw Dana had backed up against the building. He wasn’t sure, but he though he saw tears in her eyes. He knew they were the same ones he had in his.
One last time, as the bus pulled away, Dana smiled. It was a pretty smile that Liam had always hoped he could start to really love.
Three
Karim, Texas – Present day
Stepping off the bus, Liam immediately shook his head. The little upscale town was nearly too cute for words. It had that pioneer frontier feel to it, with buildings lining the main street he could see standing on either side of a dirt road with horses moseying around under the command of their riders. The wrought iron railings on the second and third floor showed an odd French influence, as if someone had fled from New Orleans to this sleepy little town trying to recreate the charm.
But now, instead of hitching posts and horseback, there were wrought iron street lamps and modern cars. People hurried from Starbucks and the picturesque Gap to the parking lots where their shiny new Lexus or Corvette waited for them. Mothers herded children into SUVs and Minivans, in a strange reminder of the cattle-ranching days.
The main street was preserved as a throwback, but he could see a few blocks over there were some medium rise buildings, ten storeys, maybe fifteen. A few looked like offices, but there were definitely a few that were apartment buildings.
He turned and walked the other direction. There was no way he was going to find a place that he could afford in that direction. The job he was here to do paid well, but not that well. As he walked down the intricate interlocked brick sidewalk, Liam started to get the feeling that he was going to have a hard time finding a place to stay anywhere near the center of the town. The room he was staying in for a few nights was down at the end of the main street—thank God for AirBnB. He would have wound up in the Shady Pines Rent-a-Room.
There had been too much of that shady hotel crap, thanks.
The temperature in Karim was already on the rise for mid-May, forecast to be nearly eighty-two degrees. Very different from the cool, damp fifty-eight he’d left behind in Chicago. It was going to take time to get used to the heat.
The trees around him were in full leaf as he headed through the town. He started counting the ways it was different from all of his other jobs that he’d held over the past five years. Contract to contract he had gone from Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Atlanta, a little town in South Dakota called Tea, and then to Chicago.
In all of those places, he’d searched and searched for a reason to stay, but he couldn’t find one. He didn’t hate any of those places. All of them had been interesting and filled with interesting people. The jobs had all been good, the pay had been generous. His nomad lifestyle didn’t allow him to accumulate things; he never knew where he would end up next.
Next, for now, was Karim.
The main street had turned from a busy commerce center into a tree lined residential area. Dotted along the street, between newer houses, were the Gothic and Victorian and Edwardian mansions. Floor-to-ceiling windows, wrap-around porches, grand sweeping driveways that would have allowed for horse and carriage in an earlier age.
The address he’d been given by AirBnB was across the street, and he spotted the house. A Gothic mansion, probably close to a hundred and seventy years old. It had a sign out front declaring that it was a Guest House, and that made Liam feel a little better. There would be people coming and going, and probably breakfast.
In less than an hour, he was back out on the street. He had to find his new work place, so that when he had to be there the next day at nine, he wasn’t meandering through the quaint town. He had been informed that there was no sign, but the building was prominent and there was a street number by the entrance.
There had been quite a few questions asked, but the answers were elusive at best. Still, the money was right and the information had all come back clean. The job was fairly straight forward: install a better biometrics and tracking system. The budget was ‘get it done’. He was one of the best with advanced biometrics, it had been his first contract in Seattle and he followed with it as he moved from place to place. The job in Atlanta had been pure biometrics, and he loved it.
And now he was here. He still wasn’t completely clear on what the company did, but they had sought him out and offered him unlimited budget and very good bank. Perhaps enough to finally start all those important retirement accounts that he kept hearing about.
The oddest thing about the job, though, had to be the NDA. He hadn’t expected to find that in the paperwork packet. He was always discrete anyway, but that they wanted it signed in triplicate was a bit of a surprise. The money was good; he’d put his name on it and sent it back.
Liam found the address and was underwhelmed by the building. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. The building was gorgeous, with false windows shuttered on the first level, and two balconies above them, wrought iron wrapping around the building. The windows that he could see on the second floor were real windows with the shutters closed. The door was on the main street, and it was solid wood, giving it an almost medieval look.
There was a sign on the right of the door with some hours and a door bell. But the sign explained that the door should be open for happy hour. Liam grabbed the handle and pulled, and was rewarded with the door swinging open.
He could use a beer after the ride.
To say that the entrance of the place was intimidating was probably a gross understatement. Everything was done in blacks and gold and dark woods, and the woman at the hostess desk was dressed in the tiniest little outfit he’d ever seen, completely pulling his attention away from the rest of his assessment.
“Good afternoon, sir. How can we help you?”
“I’m just looking for a beer.”
The woman looked him up and down. “You’re really not dressed for The ClubThe Club, sir.”
“Oh.” He looked down at his jeans and button-down. “What is the dress code?”
“Business casual for happy hour, sharp and smart for evenings.”
He wasn’t getting in for a beer right now. “Let me ask you then, what door do employees use? This was the only one I saw.”
“Sir, unless you’re a member here or an employee…”
“I am an employee, sort of,” he said. “Liam Dunfrees. I’ll be starting Monday on upgrading the security systems.”
“Ah.” She nodded and picked up the phone. She turned away from him as she spoke, her voice quiet and difficult to hear. It was a short conversation, and she replaced the phone a moment later. “Mister Dunfrees, please feel free to enjoy our Happy Hour. A dress code exception will be made this time, but please be aware that we do have one and do try to enforce it.”
Liam nodded and stepped into the re
st of The Club.
He was speechless.
What the hell have I gotten into?
* * *
Liam Dunfrees was a man.
Tally was delighted as he stepped into The Club, his jaw dropping as he looked around, giving her a wonderful view of the whole package. There was nothing nerdy or geeky or techie about him—he was six foot one of pure, well built, trim male. She had truly been expecting something like a lost relic of the early ‘90s who clicked his pen and screamed, “I am inveencible!”
That this contractor she had hired was easy on the eyes was all bonus. He walked to the bar, staring around, agape at what The Club was. That reaction was what she and Jet had planned for the main room.
Sitting down, he finally turned around and looked at her. “Hi.”
Tally smiled. Even of the timbre of his voice was smooth and warm, and she was delighted to see that his eyes were that comfortable, vivid chocolate that caught hers and pulled her in. “Hello. A little underdressed for The Club, aren’t you?”
“I was warned,” he answered. “I had an exception made for me.”
Tally was so very glad that she did. “What can I get you?”
“Something cold on tap,” Liam said, nodding at the taps.
“Strong or mild?”
“Midrange to strong,” he answered. “Preferably local.”
Tally nodded. “Velvet Hammer.” She pointed to the tap. “Local, strong, imperial red.”
“Red?” His voice was surprised. “I’ve only had Imperial stouts.”
“You’ll like this, then.” Tally held the cooled glass under the tap. “I haven’t seen you around town before. New?”
“Just got off the bus about two hours ago,” he said. Shit, she wanted this man to keep talking. His tenor hit all the right spots in her body.
“Where were you coming from?”
The Fire Saga (The Club) Page 3