by R B Hilliard
“I know we will and, yes, Dr. Parker said what happened the other night was a major breakthrough.”
A shocked look appeared on her face. “You told him?” she sputtered.
“What choice did I have?”
“So…what do you need from me?”
Knowing she was willing to help eased something deep inside me. “I need you not to give up on me. I need you to take it slowly with me. I need you to have patience and know I love you more than anything in this world.” As I twined our fingers together, I said, “I need you to know I would never, ever, in a million years, cheat on you.”
She lifted her beautiful whiskey colored eyes to mine and smirked. “I know. I only said that because I was mad. The bitch didn’t have a chance.”
Finding Ellison’s response both sassy and seriously funny, I burst out laughing. Once I started, I couldn’t seem to stop. Pretty soon, she was laughing with me.
I slept securely wrapped around my wife that night, which was something I hadn’t done since the birth of our son. I may not be ready to touch Ellison in the ways we both needed, but I was definitely making progress. As Dr. Parker explained it, I had to walk before I could run.
* * *
Three weeks later
ELLISON IS OFFICIALLY out of patience and I don’t blame her.
I had milked taking it slowly for all it was worth. At first, I was terrified I wasn’t going to be able to touch her without wanting to vomit. She quickly helped me get past that. By the end of the first week, I could put my hands all over her without any negative repercussions. Boy, did I take advantage of this. We’d spent the past few weeks rediscovering each other’s bodies. We hadn’t had sex yet, but we had done everything else…over and over again. Right when it was time to take the next step, I was called to Kentucky on business. As soon as Gage and I return to Charlotte, she is mine.
“You’re in a good mood. Are things better between you and Ellie?” Gage asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I didn’t want to leave Ellison and Mac, but if this deal panned out, it would be a huge money maker for the business. Ever since Mac’s birth, I had been toying with the idea of selling all of the garages, except for MMG in Charlotte. This deal today would set us up to be able to do that. Also, I’d been playing around with the idea of buying into the protection business with Cas and Garrett. The business had serious growth potential, but Garrett needed more cash. He’d come to me months ago and asked if I would be interested in investing. I was seriously considering it.
“I’m good. After the kidnapping and Mac’s birth, I was pretty messed up,” I admitted. “Hell, you had a front row seat that day in Kurt’s driveway. You saw how it was.”
“Watching you that day motivated me to get my shit together,” Gage confessed.
I glanced over at him. “That bad?”
“Not as bad as you, but I was getting there.”
“I’m thinking about selling all of the garages other than Charlotte,” I told him.
“After all the shit you’ve been through, I don’t blame you, man.”
His response surprised me. “I thought you’d try and talk me out of it?”
“Before the kidnapping, I would have. Look, you aren’t the only one who is messed up about what happened that day. I am still trying to wrap my head around it. I don’t blame you one bit for wanting to stay close to home.” I shot him a surprised look. “What?” he asked.
“I’m just surprised you’re so forthcoming. It took me months to admit how screwed up I was.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“If you ever need to….” He left the rest hanging in the air.
“I appreciate that. Hey, did Piper seem dodgy about their plans tonight, or was I just imagining it?”
“She was pretty vague and seemed to change her story. One minute they were hanging at Dragonfly and the next it was one of our two houses.”
I lifted my eyebrow in question. “You think they’re up to something?”
“I’m not sure. She’s feeling smothered. It might just be her way of exerting her independence.”
“Shit, that’s not good.”
“Tell me about it,” he agreed.
“Why don’t we have the second meeting over drinks and tell them we have to get back tonight,” I suggested.
“Is that a good idea?”
“If we tie the deal up before we leave Kentucky, then yes.”
He smiled. “We’ll have to make sure and do that, then, won’t we?”
Three hours later, we had a new client under our belts and were heading home to our women. About forty or so miles from home, Kurt called.
“Hang on, man, let me put you on speaker,” I told him. Once I had him plugged in, I said, “Talk.”
“Ten minutes ago Jed Michaels rolled into Dragonfly with a few friends. He informed me he’d just come from Whisky’s, and could have sworn he saw my wife and some friends drinking at the bar.”
“You’re kidding,” Gage said.
“I wish,” he replied.
“Have you tried to call Joss?” I asked.
“I just did and it went straight to voicemail. She called me earlier and told me they were going to dinner and she’d either call or stop by the bar later.”
“Let me guess, they never showed.” I dryly replied. I thought back to this morning at both Ellison and my sister’s skittish behavior. Shit!
“Call Whisky’s,” Gage said.
“And if they’re there?” Kurt asked.
“Let’s find out first, before we decide,” I told him.
Ten minutes later he called back. “What’s the word?” I answered.
“They are there,” Kurt said.
“Fuck,” Gage said.
Neither of us spoke the rest of the drive home. I couldn’t decide which was worse, Ellison being at Whisky’s where I couldn’t protect her, or that she’d lied to me. I was leaning towards the latter. I am going to ring my wife’s beautiful, lying neck when I see her.
Once we reached our side of town, I dropped Gage by his house to get his truck. We had plans to deal with our women and these plans did not include sharing a ride home together.
When I reached Whisky’s, I threw my truck in park and headed straight for the Dungeon. Right as I reached the door, it flew open and out stomped a very angry Joss. Directly behind her was an even angrier Kurt.
“You suck!” she spat and then stormed for Kurt’s truck.
“How bad?” I asked him.
“Not sure. She saw me come through the door and headed me off at the pass. I didn’t get a chance to assess the situation.” With a slap to my shoulder, he took off for his truck and I stepped inside.
Obnoxious disco music blasted through the speakers and it took a second for my eyes to adjust to the flashing lights. As soon as they did, I began searching for my wife.
A loud squeal in the far right corner caught my attention. I watched my barely twenty year old baby sister scream something to my wife and Piper, before slamming a shot. My wife went next. Last, was Piper.
“I’m going to kill her,” Gage growled from behind me.
“Yep,” was all I managed to get out.
Sarah saw me coming first. I would have found her deer-in-headlights expression amusing, had I not been so pissed off. I watched her elbow Ellison and drunkenly shout something.
Ellison’s head snapped up and her eyes darted all over the bar. When they finally landed on me, she mouthed, “Oh shit.”
Oh shit is right, baby.
“Wait for us at the truck,” I told Sarah, as soon as I reached them. She opened her mouth to argue, but saw how angry I was and apparently changed her mind. In a flash she grabbed her purse and took off for the door.
“Traitor!” Ellison shouted after her.
Her golden eyes turned to me. “Please don’t be mad at her.” As I glared down at my wife, I assessed her state of being. Her hair was all over the plac
e, her make-up was smeared and her red dress had dark stains on it. She looked as if she’d been dragged through the mud…or worse. I glared over at Piper and she shot me a dirty look.
“Where’s Mac?” I asked.
“Spending the night with my dad,” Ellie answered.
“What the hell has gotten into you?”
“You came home early,” she announced, as if I wasn’t aware of this fact. “Don’t be mad, Max. We have been dancing and having the best time.” Normally, I loved a drunk Ellison. A drunk Ellison liked to let go and have a good time. A drunk Ellison was also a horny Ellison, something I thoroughly enjoyed…or I used to. Right now, I didn’t know what to think. My wife felt the need to lie to me, just so she could have a night out with her friends. Is this what we’ve become?
Shaking my head, I snagged her hand. “Let’s go.”
“Okay.” She hopped off the bar stool and wobbled. I reached out to steady her. Even with the black shit on it, her dress was hot…and those heels… damn. She gave a happy wave to Zane and some other guy as we passed the bar.
“Did someone pay?” I asked Zane.
“Yep,” he replied.
“Later,” I told him. As we exited to the parking lot, I could see Sarah standing by my truck. “She is barely twenty years old,” I stated.
“You’d never know it by how she acts,” Ellie replied.
This was true. Our mother died when Sarah was a baby. Our father, who was a drug addicted scum bag, was shot and killed in our house. Sarah was twelve years old and hiding in her closet when it happened. She saw the face of my father’s murderer, which sent us into hiding for five years. For safety purposes, I agreed to send her to Scotland, where she entered University a year earlier than normal. Instead of finishing out her last year, she’d decided to come back early and move in with us. I knew something was up, but hadn’t pushed for a reason. I had enough to deal with. At the moment, my sister was the least of my worries.
“We are responsible for her, Ellison.”
“You forget, Max, Sarah has been drinking since she turned eighteen. Anyway,” she flipped her wrist in the air, “your sister is not why you are mad. Piper wanted a bachelorette party. You guys took over and decided how it was going to be.” She flipped her hand through the air again. “We didn’t like your plans, so we altered them a bit.”
Placing my hand on her arm, I stopped her. “I admit. Selfishly, I did not want you to have strippers at Piper’s bachelorette party. However, the reason for wanting it at Dragonfly was to keep you safe. The thought of something happening to you makes me crazy. You lied to me tonight. The rest, I can get over. That, I cannot.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Max, I had to lie! The only way I was going to be able to go out with my friends without you breathing down my neck was to lie about it! Do you think I like lying to you? No, I hate it! I hate everything about it.”
“So do I!” I shouted.
I watched her flounce around the back of the truck and tried not to pull my hair out in frustration.
“I’m sorry, big bro. If I’d known it was going make you this angry, I would have tried to stop it,” Sarah quietly interjected.
Without considering why, I laid into her. “As soon as I settle things with Ellison, you and I are going to have a little chat.”
“About?”
“Why you are really here.”
“I told you,” she clipped.
“And I don’t believe you,” I snapped back.
“Fecking hell,” she quipped. “I don’t know why yer pissed at me. Yer wife lied to ye, not me!” She opened the passenger door and slid in before I could say anything else.
“Thanks a lot, Sarah!” Ellie exclaimed.
With a snort of disdain, Sarah folded her arms across her chest and gave us her best eat shit look.
The drive home was done in complete silence. As soon as I put the truck in park, both girls were out the door and in the house. I entered the house to the sound of slamming doors. Well fuck.
After locking up, I made my way back to the bedroom. Ellison was standing at the foot of the bed with her dirty red dress halfway off, but her sexy heels still on. Suddenly, none of it mattered anymore. I wasn’t thinking about what happened in that room at the farmhouse. I wasn’t thinking about her lying to me. I wasn’t thinking about anything but what I wanted to do to her right at that moment.
“Stop,” I said. She froze and her dress dropped from her body, covering the tips of her heels. Her eyes lifted to mine and when she saw the intent smoldering there, her lips parted and she let out a surprised gasp. Slowly, I walked across the room and pressed my body against her back. I smiled when she shivered. “I should spank your ass for tonight,” I whispered in her ear. Her breath hitched. “You like the thought of that, don’t you?” Oh so gently, I rubbed both of my hands over her panty clad ass cheeks. “Would you like a spanking Ellison? Or would you rather I bend you over the side of the bed and take you?”
“Take me,” she whispered.
Without any hesitation, I unclasped her bra and let it drop to the floor. Kissing her neck, I cupped her breasts in my hands. They were bigger and so much better than I remembered…if that was possible. It had been so long since I had touched her like this. My cock was hard enough to pound nails, and my heart was racing out of my chest.
I stroked my hands over her taught nipples and she moaned. “I’ve missed these.”
“They’ve missed you.”
“Yeah? What else has missed me?” I whispered against her ear.
“Everything,” she growled.
Pulling her back around to face me, I cupped her delicate chin in my hand and dropped my lips to hers. She opened up and I drank her in. It had been so long, too long. Tilting her head a little more, I deepened the kiss. Without taking her lips from mine, she kicked her dress away from her feet and wrapped both her arms around my neck. Before she could take control, I snagged her hands from my neck and broke away from the kiss.
“No!” she panted.
The week after we got married, Ellison went out and bought us a kick ass king bed. The fucker was a four post monstrosity. Right now, I loved that it hit her waist high. Flipping her back around, I placed my hand in the middle of her back and gently pressed her onto the mattress. As my sexy-as-fuck wife panted for me, I stripped off my shirt and kicked off my boots.
“Please, Max,” she pleaded. I ran my hands gently over her ass and up the length of her spine. Arching against my hand, she moaned, “Please.” Like a rubber band stretched too thin, my previous self-control completely snapped. Without a second thought, I ripped her panties from her body, unbuttoned my fly, released my cock and plunged in. She was so warm and so very, very tight.
“Yesss!” she shouted. Grabbing both of her hips, I stroked in and out several times. I could feel her tighten and quiver around me, but instead of letting her come, like she wanted, I pulled out and flipped her over onto her back. With make-up smeared across her face and her hair a tangled in knots, my wife was a gorgeous mess. My gorgeous mess.
“Don’t you dare stop now, Max McLellan,” she growled.
“Fuck no,” I snarled, and sank back in.
“Touch me,” she commanded. Cupping her beautiful tits in my hands, I captured her mouth with mine and began thrusting in and out of her gorgeous body. It had been so long. There was no way I was going to last. This time, when I felt her squeeze around me, I tilted my hips and gave it to her. Harder and harder I pounded into her. Hungrily, she met me stroke for stroke. Finally, not able to stand it any longer, she arched her back and screamed her orgasm into my mouth. Not stopping there, I pinched her nipples and pumped even harder. I was a man possessed. I was exercising my demons. I was finally fucking my wife. The next thing I knew I was coming harder than I’d ever come in my whole life. I must have blacked out for a minute, because when I came back to reality, I was draped like a blanket across her body.
“Thank you,” she drowsily whispered.
<
br /> Kissing the side of her neck, I pulled her tightly to me and whispered, “No, baby…Thank you.”
Chapter Eight
Ellie
‡
“WHY DO YOU have to dress him like a sissy?” Max huffed. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting on me to bring Mac down so we could leave for our first annual Fourth of July party at MMG. Piper, Joss and I had gone wedding dress shopping yesterday. While we were out, we stopped by a cute baby boutique and I found a precious blue onesie covered in American flags.
I mentally giggled. Wait until I whip out the matching hat and booties.
As I reached the bottom step, I handed Mac over to Max, so I could grab the diaper bag and my purse. I was excited for today. Not only were all of our friends going to be there, but so was my dad, and he was bringing a date.
“Sarah, get your ass down here! We’re ready to go!” Max shouted.
“All right, all right, I’m coming!” she screamed from somewhere upstairs.
Max gave me his classic “What-the-hell” eyebrow raise and I shrugged. Ever since Sarah arrived in town, she’d been extremely moody. Something was up, or should I say someone. Cas. If my husband caught wind of this, he would lose his mind. I planned to speak to Sarah about it, but wanted to wait until after tonight. Like a thunderstorm, she rolled down the stairs past us and out the kitchen door. With a sigh, I followed after. As I passed by Max, he slapped me on the ass and I inwardly cheered. My man is back.
The night Max retrieved me from Whisky’s was the breakthrough Doctor Parker had been waiting for. He told Max there were two ways his situation would most likely go. Either it would become more debilitating or something would happen to get him past it. Max’s anger because I’d lied, mixed with a boat load of sexual frustration, ended up being the ticket. I have absolutely no regrets about that night. Things were now better than ever between us.
When we arrived at the garage, I immediately started setting everything up. Pretty soon the gang began trickling in. I was talking to Piper about where to put the bean dip, when I spotted my dad. His blonde haired, blue eyed date was attractive…and very young looking.