“I’m not going to argue with your idiot plan,” Preston said.
“Just give me enough time to grab the light and we’re good.”
“Just as insane as ever, eh, Lieutenant?”
“You know it, Cap.” Austin glanced in the direction he thought the gunfire had come from. “Give me a ten-second lead to get to the truck.”
Preston nodded, and Austin took a deep breath. His goal now was to get Preston in the truck with Dana and on the way to the hospital, and figure out where Lola was. Without a warning, he sprinted out from behind the doors and made a beeline for the truck.
There were two shots fired as he got closer to the truck. Both missed him. He yanked the passenger door open as soon as he got to the truck so Preston could get in. He slammed the tool box open on the bed of the truck as two more shots whizzed by in his general direction, but he had the spotlight out and the lid shut in seconds. Preston darted by him and dove into the cab with Dana in his arms. She was dead weight at this point, completely unconscious.
“Go, get her out of here.” Austin slammed the door behind them. He ran for the wall that partitioned off the sidewalk from the grass and dove behind it. Another bullet, still no hit.
The truck tore away from the curb, smoking the tires as it made the right at the end of the block.
“You think I care about that whore?”
“I know you don’t care!” Austin peered over the top. “You don’t givve a shit because you can’t control her anymore! So she’s yours or dead! Where’s the kid?”
“The kid is useless. I got rid of her!”
Austin’s stomach fell out, and he wanted to dive across the street and attack Ryan, choke the life out of him. There was another shot that went over his head. Now, Ryan wasn’t aiming, and was probably shooting from behind something. Using the time he spent in military, he combined trajectories in his head, and he decided the bush across the street to the right was his hiding place. Pulling the light up onto the wall, he held the gun in his less accurate left hand. He mounted the spotlight on his bad shoulder.
“Come out and play, asshole. You raped my girlfriend, you beat my girlfriend, and you probably killed her daughter. I owe you more than one shot to the head.”
“Fuck you, pervert!”
“Mister Peppery!”
Lola! Where was she? He could suddenly hear the patter of her little shoes on the sidewalk, echoing in the plaza. “Lola! Hide, Lo-ler! Don’t come over here.”
“Mister Peppery!”
She wasn’t listening. Her feet were getting closer, and at the same time he realized that, Austin saw the red dot on the building, cutting through the air, seeking the target moving quickly toward him.
He stood and slammed the light on, slashing the dark and destroying the targeting ability of the laser. He saw the glint of the scope on the rifle—and he was right. Ryan was hiding in a bush.
In the spotlight, Ryan stood and gave up the pretense of aiming or hiding. He hiked the gun into his shoulder and started firing at the little shadow running at Austin. He also threw a few shots at the spotlight.
“Little bitch! How did you get out?”
He could hear Lola panting and crying now, getting closer. He managed to get over the wall and walk toward her.
“I’m going to kill her. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill Dana! I won’t be mocked! I won’t be made fun of!”
Austin finally saw the little girl. Her face was filthy. She was sporting bruises and a torn shirt. The dirt on her face was streaked with tears, and she looked near hysterics. Ryan was firing the rifle repeatedly, the laser sight swinging wildly around, and it cut across Lola’s path several times, the shots going wild.
Finally, the little girl made it to him and latched herself to his leg. “Mister Peppery…”
Ryan’s angry, hysterical scream echoed against the buildings. “You’re both dead!”
“That’s my mean daddy. He did bad things to Mommy! She was crying! Don’t let him get me, Mister Peppery!”
“DEAD!” Ryan headed straight for the light, and when Austin looked down, the little red dot was trained on Lola’s cheek, very steadily.
He was really going to kill her.
A cold, frightening calm settled over Austin. No one was going to harm this little girl. No one was going to hurt Dana. He raised the SIG and in that deadly calm, he found his center and aimed.
The last shot rang through the square.
Chapter Fourteen
“You crazy bastard.”
Tally stood at the end of the bed, staring him down.
Austin smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Am I really that crazy?”
“Yes.” She growled at him. “You’re that crazy. I should punch you in that arm.” A moment later her façade fell into one of relief. “But it’s good kind of crazy.” Preston stood behind her with Lola in his arms, and nodded when Tally tossed a look over her shoulder. “If you’re so inclined, we want to ask you to stay on permanently.” She cocked her head. “After your convalescence.”
Laughing, Austin nodded. “I’d be delighted.”
Lola wormed out of Preston’s arms and ran over to the bed, hopping up. “Are you going to be okay, Mister Peppery?”
“Yes, sweetie. I am going to be fine. Did you see your dad yet?”
“Daddy sent me here to make sure you were okay.”
“Good. And your mom?”
Mak shook his head from the doorway. “She’s really fucked up right now, Austin. We kept Lola away.”
“Fucked up how?”
“They had to pump her stomach. There were stitches from her assault and beating. The list is pretty long, and the cops need to talk to you.” Everyone in the room turned and left at that statement, leaving Austin and Mak in the room alone. “The cops are going to come in here and talk to you. Austin, the shot killed him. Straight through his heart. You said it was a random shot.”
Austin’s blood ran cold. “Are they going to charge me?”
Mak paused and considered him. “I’ve talked to the chief. He’s an old friend. They are sure it was a stray bullet that you were using to cover for Lola.” He raised an eyebrow. “Was it?”
Looking down at the bandages on his arm, he shook his head. “I shot to kill.”
It was quiet in the room for just a moment, when Mak finally spoke up. “Good, man. I’ll make sure the lawyer knows you were just trying to protect Lola.”
* * *
Dana opened her eyes. Every part of everything was sore. It wasn’t just beatings sore, but her guts hurt too. Like someone had been poking around inside.
“Hi.”
Turning, she found Austin in the chair with Lola asleep on him. She smiled and felt the familiar pull of stitches in her cheek. “Hi yourself.”
Carefully moving Lola to the chair and covering her with a blanket, Austin stood and walked over, taking her hand. “How do you feel?”
“Hurty.”
He nodded slowly. “What do you remember?”
Dana thought for a moment, and she remembered nothing. She kept pushing back further, and a gray haze with a hateful face passed by, as well as Lola screaming as she was locked in a trunk. The gray haze kept up, but got thinner as she tried harder, finally getting to merely out of focus right about the time Ryan started forcing pills down her throat. The last clear memory... “We were in Black Mariah. That’s the last sure thing I remember. Everything else...” She considered him a moment. “What am I supposed to remember?”
Slowly, Austin told her the whole story, from her kidnapping, Lola’s kidnapping, the rush to save her, right through the fatal shot that took down Ryan for good.
“Tally and I have been splitting duty on the Lo-ler here. She’s taken a shine to Aunt Tally and Uncle Peppery.” Austin tried to distract her from his last statement.
Dana caught it. “Ryan is dead?”
Austin nodded. “Yes. The coroner released his body to his family yesterday. His funeral is in thre
e days.”
“Goddamn it, Austin. Now I’m going to lose you?”
He shook his head. “No charges filed. Self-defense and accidental discharge of the weapon. He was shooting at me and Lola and the prosecutor agreed with the chief.”
“No charges?”
“None.”
“Mak?”
“A little. But he had tied you to the railing, shot me in the arm, raped you, tied Lola in a trunk and then shot at her when she got out. I was just protecting her.”
“I’m...alive and well.”
“You have a long way toward being well. You’re taking this calmly. I just explained what happened and you’re this okay with it?”
“I’m not completely okay with it, no. Ryan raped me at few times. This time, I get to not remember what he did.” She picked at a fingernail. “Sounds awful.”
“Not true. It just sound like a miserable reality.”
Dana blinked a few times. “And anyway, I get to keep you.”
Austin nodded. “As long as you promise to walk me and scoop regularly.”
Dana smirked. “Maybe if you’re good, I’ll tie you to the posts.”
Austin tried to look shocked, but his instant erection gave him away. Dana laughed. “Come here. Give me a kiss before the kid wakes up and declares us gross.”
“Anything for you, Dana. Anything at all.”
Epilogue
Three Years Later
Dana put the tray of lemonade on the table. She stood up and stretched, the motion feeling amazing.
Tally raised her eyebrows. “Bladder dance?”
Dana laughed. “No, just stretching. Feels good. The bladder kicks won’t start for another month or so. Now, I just run out of room.”
Tally laughed. “You know, Dana, you can take the time off. I’m not going to fire you. I hate having to find someone to take your place, but that’s just me being selfish.”
Dana nodded in thanks. “I know. I will stop working when we get to that point. But...I might have some good news on that front. I’m going to be starting a little cleaning business. I have a degree in business management and now that I know how this cleaning stuff works, I was thinking about it.”
“That’s awesome!”
“And of course I’d offer you prescreened cleaning personnel who understand the need for privacy.”
Tally gave her a huge grin. “That would benefit everyone! Though, it means you won’t be there anymore.”
“Just to inspect.”
“I’ll miss catching you two fucking like rabbits everywhere you can.”
Dana turned bright red and giggled. She pointed to her now round stomach. “There’s not much rabbit-humping going on right now.”
“I’ve heard pregnant sex is really amazing.”
The Frisbee swished by them, and in unison, Dana and Tally turned to the yard, “Lola!”
“My fault!” Liam yelled, coming to his daughter’s rescue. “Sorry. Tossed it too high.” He trotted over and sat, grabbing a glass of lemonade. “I’m beat. It’s hot.”
“Mama, come play!” Lola yelled while running for her. “Come on. Toss the Frisbee with me.”
“Lola, I can’t keep up with you right now. Your sibling is sucking the energy from me.” Austin walked over with a tray of grilling and placed it on the table. “Enough Frisbee, Lo-ler. Go wash your hands for lunch.”
“Peppery.” Lola whined his nickname.
“Hands. Lunch.”
She looked at her father, who raised an eyebrow. She conceded defeat and walked off to wash her hands.
“So, I heard you got some good news,” Liam said, sitting next to Tally.
Austin smiled. “Everything is done, settled, over with. All the lawsuits, all the civil suits, all the stuff they wanted to pursue with regards to me being charged.”
Dana laughed. “And to their shock, I gave them everything in Idaho. There was nothing there I wanted, especially not that farm, so I just transferred it all to them. Done. Over with!”
“They were idiots, weren’t they?” Tally asked, sipping the lemonade.
“Completely. I didn’t want anything from Ryan. I don’t know why I would. I have a whole life here now with Austin and Lola.”
“So glad to be done so now we can get on with other things.” Austin placed a hand on her baby bump.
Lola tumbled back out of the house and grabbed a chicken leg, plopping into the seat. “Tally, will you play Frisbee with me after lunch?”
Austin, Dana, and Liam tried not to laugh. The very idea of Tally running around trying to catch a Frisbee with a seven-year-old was the absolute definition of absurdity. Tally indulged her step-daughter with a smile.
“Oh, Lola. Maybe another time.”
“Come on, Tally, it’s fun.”
“Well, I can see it is, but you see”—Tally’s eyes locked with Liam’s—“I’m afraid your little brother or sister has already started to sap my energy.”
The End
Teach Me To Sin
The Third of
THE FIRE TRILOGY
Chapter One
“You need to find yourself some religion!”
Gramma Bitsy had always been a giant cunt. Her declaration that her granddaughter needed Jesus at seven a.m. while throwing open the curtains to let in the sun just added another reason to the list.
“Gramma.”
“Hush your mouth, girl. You were out drinking and carousing all night. I told you we were going to church this morning.”
“No, you didn't. You said you were leaving for church at nine. You didn't say anything about ‘we.'”
Her hand was on her hip. “I told you way back when that if you stay here with me, we go to church.”
“Why so damn early?”
“Mouth!” Grammy snapped the sheets off the bed. Claire tried to grab them before she did, but it was too late. “What in the name of the Good Lord happened to you?!”
*Damn.* “There was a fight, gramma. I got a little roughed up and--”
“A little?” Gramma was winding up .”A Little. You have the marks of the devil all the way up your back!”
*Only if the devil's name was Master Maddox.* “Gramma, it's really not that bad. It looks worse than it really is.”
“Get your backside out of bed and get dressed. You are going to church, and you will respect my direction.” Bitsy slammed the door behind herself and left her granddaughter laying on the bed.
Claire sighed. She knew there were bruises. She had planned to wear pants all day. It would take a day or two for them to lighten up, and she could go back to skirts.
Desperately, she wished she has slept on her back. But it had been sore, despite her assuring Sir had not been. And now all the bruises from the flogger and the paddle were completely exposed.
“Damn it, Franny, why couldn't it be you who lived closer to the university?” Claire pushed herself up off the bed and trotted to the bathroom. She missed Mamere Franny and her happy go lucky world. Living with her had been the best salve for the loss of her parents. Franny missed her son and daughter-in-law, and the two of them helped heal each other.
Claire wanted to stay with Franny in the bayou, but Franny wanted her to get a good education. So, off to Gramma Bitsy's house, and her cuntish attitude toward anyone didn't pray for two hours a day, and eight on Sunday.
Didn't save her daughter or son in law from being mowed into the highway wall by an asshole.
The only redeeming quality to the town of Greeley was it's proximity to Karim, Texas. Just a half an hour down the road to an amazing kink club, and one of the best Sirs she had ever had the pleasure of playing with.
Claire smiled, thinking about the wonderful scene from the night before and how many times Sir had brought her to climax. He'd found his too, deep inside her. Supremely controlled, Sir had been hard all night but didn't seek his release until the end.
Then, his tender care brought her safely out of subspace and back to reality. Once they
were both sure she was safe from subdrop, they parted ways, and Claire found her way to bed. She was pleased, sated and comfortable.
Until Cunt-zilla had tossed the windows open.
Walking into her bathroom, Claire pulled the night shirt off and glanced in the mirror. Two bright red paddle marks with on her ass, with some light bruises. Flogger stripes on her upper back and legs. And two hand prints on her hips. That made her grin. Good, rough sex.
While she and Hunter had discovered they both liked it rough, since meeting Sir, Claire had found a whole new level to it. It wasn't just rough sex. It was elegantly kinky, and she had fallen so easily into the role of submissive at The Club.
The water in the shower felt prickly. It hurt a bit, which wasn't bad, and at the same time, soothed her skin.
If only Gramma Bitsy knew just how much of sinner her granddaughter really was. How much the paddle and flogger got her excited. How much she loved being bent forward on the bench and fucked hard from behind. The plugs, the nipple clamps, the ropes…
Claire's hand found its way to her clit and she stroked a finger over herself gently.
*I don't want you masturbating, Pretty. That little clit is mine tomorrow night.*
Claire pulled her hand away. Sir wanted to play with her. She wasn't supposed to. She wanted to be a good submissive for Master Maddox.
And now, because she hadn't remembered that directive, she was probably going to have to go to church with a sopping wet pussy.
Her forehead hit the stall wall. *Damn it.*
“Claire? Claire! We're leaving soon. Get your sinning backside downstairs. Now.”
“Yes, gramma!” Claire stuck her middle finger up.
* * *
“So you're being a good girl, right, cheri?”
“Not even close, mamere,” Claire laughed.
“Now that's the girl I know.” Franny's infectious giggle was a welcome sound. When Franny's number appeared on Claire's phone two hours into what seemed a service that was never going to end, she took the opportunity to leave the pew and take the call outside.
The Fire Saga (The Club) Page 18