by Terri Lane
When Whitney answered the phone, he could hear the crowded bar behind her. “Yeah?”
“Hey Whit. You busy?” He laughed trying to make the conversation light.
“Yeah actually, the dinner rush just kicked in, what do ya need, Jules?” she asked.
“I was hoping to get a ride home from the shop. I’m kind of stuck here. Tara took my last truck for Marco to drive around in until his bike was done,” he said.
“Yeah, the bike’s a hit, and I don’t know where either of them are. I haven’t seen your truck, but the staff came back in!” she said excitedly. “If you give me half an hour, I can come after Ben comes back from his break. He can close up.”
“Yeah, great thanks.” He let out a breath of relief. “I thought you would have been mad that I didn’t show up today, after you left.”
“I would be if it was your job to be here.” She laughed. “But it’s not, and it was extremely selfish of me to just barge into your place of business expecting you to close up shop for me. You’ve always been dependable, even after all this time, I thought of you. So, give me a few minutes and I’ll pick you up. I owe you that much.”
Julian thanked her again before hanging up the phone. He wanted Whitney to be happy she was home, and for them to finally be free to see each other without Tara on the scene.
But he couldn’t help but think that the issues she and Tara seemed to have were because of him. He allowed Tara to manipulate him into a relationship only to find out she was dating him because she thought he was going to be a high-ranking officer in the Shadows.
The motorcycle club had a place in his heart. While he loved being around cars and bikes of all kinds, the politics, and often illegal activities, didn’t sit well with him. He’d told Tara his position on it, but for the first few months of their relationship, she tried to change his mind. Of course that didn’t work. Once she realized it wasn’t going to happen the way she wanted, everything between them deteriorated. Whitney was there for him, but only as a listening ear. That drove Tara crazy and eventually she stopped hiding that she was sleeping with Marco.
There was never an official breakup. When Julian went to visit her the day she had her accident, he discovered Tara had put him on the Do Not Admit list. She refused to see him. He was the only person restricted from visitation.
They were over that day, whether Julian wanted to admit it or not. Then out of nowhere, one of his best friends took off to college without telling anyone. The two women he thought he cared most about, both deserted him within three days of each other. His heart felt like it had been ripped out.
The sound of Whitney honking the horn outside brought him out of his reverie. There was so much he wanted to say to her, and even more that he wanted to do. But for now, he would have to be okay with getting a ride home.
“You okay, Jules?” Whitney asked nervously. “You look a little down.”
“Just got a lot on my mind. I think I just need to get some rest,” he told her nonchalantly.
There was a lot more he wanted to say but there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him keep his mouth shut. They would have to clear the air soon.
***
Whitney couldn’t believe how easily she pulled off being happy when she spoke to Julian. Technically, she had a stellar day at the bar so she had every reason to be exuberant and bright, but when he got in the car, her mood died down at once.
She wanted t0 ask him what was on his mind, but her apprehension came back when she remembered Tara was at his shop today. The evil little witch hadn’t shown her face all day, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t sunk her claws into Julian.
The drive to his house was silent for the most part. Pulling up to the address, she realized they were only a few houses down from her mother’s place.
“Couldn’t get too far away from home, huh?” she joked. Whitney wanted more than anything for the tension to go away. She was sure Julian could feel it too.
He smiled at her. “Yeah, it was a great deal when it popped up on the market. Let’s me stay nearby whenever your mom needs help around the house. We all know how useful my Dad is. Um, you want to come inside?”
“Sure.”
The smile that spread across his face was sweet and endearing. She got out of the car and followed him up to the ranch style home. It wasn’t big with its two bedrooms and small kitchen, but it was cozy. The chill in the air she normally felt when stepping into her mother’s house, wasn’t there, and thankfully neither was Duke.
“You never had anyone here living with you?” she asked absentmindedly, walking around the open living space.
Julian went into the kitchen. “You want a beer?”
Whitney thought about her day. One beer couldn’t hurt.
Half a case later, they were sitting together on Julian’s couch reminiscing about their childhood together, and even their budding romance. Whitney couldn’t forget how she felt when they first met. Both awkward with their hormones raging, not too much of a stretch from what she was feeling in that moment.
“I’ve missed this,” Julian said to her, moving closer.
Whitney’s heart fluttered as the space between them shrunk. “You mean the goofy, teenage, can’t control myself, feeling?”
“No.” His hand stroked the side of her face. “This.”
Julian brought her face close to his, kissing her tenderly at first. As the passion between them grew, their bodies reacted as if they’d been craving one another. Soon, there were clothes flying off and Julian was pushing Whitney onto her back on his couch. The look in his eyes, as his gaze travelled the length of her body was magnetic. His hands followed wherever his eyes went. She could feel him playing with her nipples before allowing his mouth to then follow his fingertips.
It didn’t take long for his fingers to reach her slit. Sliding one inside, he brushed her G-spot. Whitney’s back arched into him as he fingered her soft walls with one hand while still fondling her breasts with the other. She wasn’t sure if what they were doing was right, but it certainly felt that way.
Whitney’s first climax was great. Her inner thigh began to tremble as Julian smiled bringing his head down between her legs. The first lap of his tongue over her clit was rougher than she expected but it still made her hair stand on end. Goosebumps prickling all over her flesh was a direct reaction to his tongue. His amazing tongue, that twisted, turned, and slurped at her warm pussy. She came again.
Panting and out of breath, Whitney believed she wouldn’t be able to take much more. The pleasure was incredible as Julian fingered her and licked her simultaneously. The orgasms were rolling in waves, continuously, with every one stronger than the last.
By the time Julian had his fill, he brought his head up slowly toward hers, leaving a trail of kisses behind him. She smiled and he grinned seductively as he pressed his hardened tip at her lips. Rubbing the smooth head between her folds made Whitney close her eyes in pleasure.
The strength and thickness of his cock sliding inside of her for the first time made her gasp for air. He moaned. She grabbed at his back, reaching under his arms and dragging her nails down his shoulder blades until she reached his waist.
She looked up at him just as he rolled his hips, and pushed himself deep inside of her. They moved rhythmically together on his couch. It seemed like time slowed down with every thrust into bliss. She felt him arch his back as he continued to move in and out of her as if they were two pieces to a jigsaw puzzle that finally fit together.
The questions circling her mind in that moment were endless, but her thoughts were silenced when he bent down, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in closer to him. Her hard nipples pressed against his chest. Their racing pulses were in sync, as he dug himself deeper and deeper inside of her walls. It was as if he was trying to touch her very soul.
As sweet as this it was, there was a side to Whitney that she wanted to show him. She groaned and pulled his face closer to hers so that she coul
d whisper in his ear, “I need you to fuck me, Jules.”
The words were like striking a match near a can of gasoline. He didn’t hesitate as he pulled back from her. Whitney smirked as she spread her legs as wide as she possibly could, giving him room. He pressed his palms on the couch beneath her, anchored his arms against her waist, pulled his cock out slowly and then pushed inside of her faster, quicker than she anticipated. The thrust made her cough and made him laugh, but Whitney she was ready for a wild ride. She took every inch of Julian’s long dick into her with excitement and ecstasy.
The room grew hotter. Sweat began to coat their bodies. Julian pumped into her faster and faster until he was ready to come. He barely had time to pull out as he thrust in her one last time before reaching his climax.
He pulled out of her. “Holy shit,” he gasped and trotted off down the hall to what she assumed was the bathroom.
Whitney was stuck. She lay on her back with one leg over the top of the couch and the other stretched out. She didn’t want to move and as a matter of fact, she was gearing up for another round.
Julian returned with a warm towel and he wiped his juices off of her. She’d never had any guy do that for her. Julian was special, thoughtful and considerate. It made her wonder where he’d gotten those qualities from because Duke didn’t possess them at all. But her thoughts wouldn’t let go of the guilt over what she’d done. She knew that it would come out eventually and after what they’d just done, she’d rather tell him now than wait for Tara to tell him later.
Breaking the silence of their bliss, Whitney spoke softly into the dimly lit room. “I have something to tell you. I just have to be honest about this, and it’s not easy for me,” she continued, “You know this thing between Tara and me?”
Julian sat up on the couch. “Yeah, what about it?”
The nerves trickling down her spine made Whitney hesitant, but the liquid courage she’d been imbibing gave her everything she needed to be completely honest. “I did something terrible, Jules.”
“What could you have possibly done to her?”
“About a week before her accident, I was at the bar doing a favor for Pawpaw. I heard some noises coming from the back office, and went to check it out. I saw her and Marco in there having sex. I wanted to tell you, but you were so in love with her, I thought I could talk to her about it. When I confronted her and told her what I saw, she took a swing at me. We tussled for a bit, and she got in two good hits, but when I pushed her away, she tripped into the bikes and the one landed on her.” Whitney refused to look him in the eyes as her voice cracked and a tear trickled down her cheek. “The worst part about it was, I went to see her in the hospital to apologize and I overheard one of the doctors saying, ‘You should be able to get pregnant again’. When I went inside the room, she looked fine, but I wasn’t. I was a mess. I begged her to forgive me and said I never meant for anything like that to happen. All she did was stare at me and tell me that I was the reason you weren’t gonna be a dad. I’m sorry Julian.”
Her tears came faster and she couldn’t look at him. She heard Julian’s deep breath as he pushed himself off the cushion. She could feel his anger bubbling, “You should have told me. You should have told me before you left! I had to hear about that Marco shit in front of the club. In front of everybody! Whitney, I can’t believe you. After everything, from our parents? I would never keep something like that from you. Tara was fucked up for that, but I deserved more from you. I thought you cared about me, Whit.”
“Julian, I do,” she cried. “I just didn’t have the heart to tell you. I couldn’t tell you that it was my fault you weren’t going to be a father.”
“That’s not your fault! The events leading up to that—at the very least you should have told me about Marco. And then you bolted. I think you should go.” He took a deep breath trying to rein in his temper.
“But Julian…” She made every attempt to stop herself from blubbering. But the look in his eyes, so full of pain and anger, wouldn’t let her stay where she was. There was nothing else for her to say other than a quiet, “I’m sorry.”
She got dressed and left Julian’s house with tears burning down her cheeks. They’d waited for so long to be together, and now Whitney was certain she’d messed that up for good.
***
The sun shining so brightly mocked Whitney’s mood in the days that followed. It had been over a week and Julian still refused to speak to her. The guys at the bar all gave her knowing looks, but she attributed that to her paranoia. They didn’t care about her secrets. The only thing she wanted to know was how to make things right again.
The sound of her phone ringing brought her out of her funk. Ben was on the other end, wondering where she was. “You alright, Whit?”
“You haven’t spoken to Jules?” she questioned.
“Of course I have, he’s not mad at me,” he joked.
“Not funny!”
Ben laughed anyway. “Sure it is, but just give him some time and it will pass. There’s no way what Tara did, or what happened to her after, was your fault. He knows that and just needs some time to cool off. He cares about you, kiddo. He’ll come ‘round.”
“Can you talk to him for me and help move that part along?” she wondered.
“Absolutely not!” he asserted. “Ya can’t tell people how or what to feel, let alone when to tell ‘em to stop feeling it. Everything will work out on its own time. Speaking of time, you think you’ll be in any time soon? They got some kinda meeting going on down here, and we can use the extra hands.”
“Yeah, I’m on my way.”
***
Stepping inside The Shock Bar wasn’t as devastating as she expected. As a matter of fact, her mother was there, standing alongside Duke and Marco, speaking to the large group of bikers. Whitney passed by Julian, who was still icing her out. She stood as far away from him as possible as her mother, Molly, spoke, “Thank you all for coming out this early in the morning for this meeting of the Shadows. As you all know, my Paw owned this bar and a few other properties around town. I know that you all wanted me to sign it over to Duke and the club so that it could stay in the Shadows, but I had to figure it out for myself if that was the best thing to do. I’ve had my darling Whitney running the place and even though you fellas gave her one hell of a time, she hit the ground running and has done a good job keeping this place in order. With that being said, I’m happy to announce that I’ve come to the decision to sign the place over to Duke.”
“You can’t do that!” Whitney shouted from the back of the room. All eyes turned to her as she shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you’re doing this! You always let him manipulate you. I’m done!”
Whitney bolted through the doors toward the car. She folded her arms across her chest, wondering how in the hell Duke was able to talk her mother into that decision, when she was sure her mother could sell the place for a pretty penny.
Julian wasn’t far behind her. He ran his fingers through his loose black hair, flopping it over to the side.
Even with their rift, it seemed that Julian was more than aware of how hard Whitney had been working to run the bar. Everyone saw it.
“I need to get out of here,” she whispered to Julian while fighting back her tears. But before they could leave, both Duke and Molly came out of the club. She glared at them with red eyes, wondering how her mother could betray her.
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. I’m done. I’m done trying to help. I’m done trying to prove that I’m not going to run away from the family. I’m over it. Do what you want, I’m going back to school.”
“Of course you are,” Molly said sweetly, irritating her. Molly sighed and stepped closer to her. Julian moved out of the way and Molly stood eye to eye with Whitney. “Whit, I’m sorry if this wasn’t the decision you thought I was going to make, but please believe me when I say that I made it all on my own with no convincing from Duke whatsoever.”
“Forgive me
if I find that hard to believe,” Whitney scoffed and turned away.
Molly pulled her daughter around to face her again, “Think about it. How often do I do anything I don’t want to do? Where do you think you get that temper from girl?”
Whitney actually did run through all of the times her mother complained about Duke, and what he wanted. There wasn’t any time in particular where she could remember her mother being outsmarted or forced into doing anything she didn’t already want. She shrugged.
“Exactly,” Molly smiled, kissing her cheek.
“Besides, you left quicker than a priest getting caught in a whorehouse. You missed the part about you staying on to run the place weekends when you are home from school.” Duke chimed in.
“What?” Whitney’s eyes darted back and forth between them. Molly smiled and nudged Duke.
He sighed and rolled his eyes as if being nice was hard work. “Yeah, so I want to apologize for that first day when I had the guys walk out on ya. I will admit that was a bit childish of me, and could have ruined things because I wasn’t seeing the bigger picture. You did good taking control of the situation and getting them day workers to come in to help you out. You got all the walkouts jealous enough to come back without having me tell ‘em to. You really showed that you can handle this place. And you won’t get any more trouble outta me.”
“Thank you Duke,” Whitney said, pulling the tall biker in for a hug. It was awkward but still felt like the right thing to do. He deserved to be hugged. “I’ll try not to be such a pain in the ass when I come home too.”
“Appreciated,” he said pulling away. “Enough of this mushy crap. Last thing I need is the fellas coming out here thinking I’m being soft and what not.”
The three of them watched Duke walk back into the bar. Whitney couldn’t help but smile as her anger subsided. She stared at her mother wondering what was next, “So what happens when I go back to school?”
“That’s exactly why I opted to do things this way. Paw had a few other houses that he owned and I want to rent them out. So, dealing with that whole process along with running the bar seemed like it would be too much for me to take on. Duke and the club can have my share. Ben will keep things going during the week and if you’re serious about sticking around, I expect to see you down here on weekends, picking up your shifts.”