Shooter (Burnout)

by West, Dahlia

  Chris shook his head but grinned.

  “Who’s Duke Poofy Pants?” asked Emilio.

  “Character in a romance novel,” Hawk answered.

  Emilio made a face. “Shit. I’d never let my woman read that shit. She don’t need anything but me.”

  Everyone laughed. “Emilio,” said Tex. “You don’t have a woman. But if you ever do, you let ‘em read anything they want to read. Probably in your best interest anyway.”

  Emilio snorted. “How do you figure?”

  Tex grinned. “Because if you don’t, she’ll never come to your office wantin’ to play Naughty Secretary.”

  Emilio’s mouth dropped open. “That’s what you were doin’ in there?” he asked Chris.

  Chris rolled his eyes at the kid. “She brought me lunch, kid.”

  “But on the couch?” Emilio asked. “I sit on that couch sometimes.”

  Chris was about to respond when Tex said, “You don’t ask for details, kid. The details are none of your business. Just don’t bother the Boss Man when he’s behind a closed door with his old lady. That’s all you need to know.”

  When they were alone Tex said, “So she’s gettin’ more comfortable.”

  Chris nodded and took a swig of soda. “Finally getting some sass.” Tex smiled. “And today was all her, but she’s letting me initiate things more at home, too.”

  “Well, good,” Tex replied, nodding. “She’s dressing better. Those were some lovely thighs.”

  Chris glared at Tex but couldn’t maintain it. His face broke out into a grin. “God, I know.”

  Chapter 28

  Chris was lost in the best dream ever. Hayley was warm and soft beneath him, whispering his name over and over. His rock hard cock was grinding against her and she was squirming underneath him with anticipation. Just a little more teasing, his dreamself said, work her into a near frenzy of lust before-

  The scream shattered the darkness. Chris’ blood ran cold and his eyes flew open. He was disoriented for a moment. Like his dream, Hayley was beneath him, his large frame covering hers and pressing her into the mattress. And like the dream, she was also writhing, but not because she was horny. Hayley was absolutely terrified.

  Her eyes were wide and glassy with fear and she was having trouble catching her breath.

  “Oh, my God,” Chris blurted out and shoved himself away from her. “Hayley. Hayley, baby, I’m so sorry!”

  A spike of anxiety rose in him as she struggled desperately to get out of the twisted sheets. She was hyperventilating as well as choking back sobs. She stumbled out of bed and lurched for the bathroom door. She clawed at it, tearing it open, and flung herself inside, locking the door behind her. Chris laid his forehead against the wood and listened to her cry on the other side.

  “I was asleep,” he told her. “I didn’t know. I just didn’t know.”

  Hayley didn’t respond.

  Chris left half an hour later after determining that at least she’d stopped crying. She wasn’t speaking to him through the door and he thought maybe the best thing to do was to just remove himself from the situation. He dressed quickly, locked the front door behind him, and headed to the garage.

  Hawk was the first to arrive for work and did a double take at the dark circles under his lieutenant’s eyes and his surly demeanor. “What happened?”

  Chris scowled and tossed a wrench into a metal toolbox. The clatter echoed through the bay. “I fucked up.”

  Hawk snorted. “Not news.”

  “No, I mean I really fucked up, David.”

  Hawk tossed his jacket onto a stool. “How?” he said, more seriously.

  “I was asleep,” Chris announced, repeating the same lame-ass excuse he’d given Hayley. “I was bone-ass tired from working and I was asleep and I....I fucked up.”

  Hawk mulled this over. “How far did you get?” he finally asked.

  “Had her underneath me. Pinning her down. Apparently she’d been trying to fight me off, but I didn’t know it. Scared the hell out of her.”

  “But you didn’t take her.”

  “No,” Chris confirmed. “It didn’t get that far. Thank God.”

  “It’ll probably work out, then.”

  “I can’t bank on probably,” Chris said wearily.

  “It’ll just take some time,” the big Sioux declared. “Time. That’s all.”

  So Chris did as his friend suggested, and took some time. Away from Hayley. The next day when she was at work, he packed up a few clothes, his razor, and his toothbrush, and camped out in the garage’s office. He sent Tex into Maria’s to let Hayley know where he’d be if she needed him. Tex reported that Hayley looked about as bad as Chris did.

  By the fourth night on the old couch, Chris had a kink in his back that he feared may now be permanent, a serious aversion to fast food, and an emptiness inside him that wasn’t getting any better. He hoped to God Hayley was getting back to her old self, even if he couldn’t manage it.

  On Friday afternoon, he heard a sharp knock on the office door and he practically jumped out of his chair. It was a day that Hayley normally brought lunch for them, and though she hadn’t cooked for them this week, and Poker Night had been cancelled, it didn’t stop him from thinking it was her, coming to bring him food and to tell him she needed him back home.

  He opened the door to find, not Hayley, but Tex nearly scowling at him. Chris didn’t know what to make of the expression until the cowboy cum biker moved out of the way to make room for a leggy blond. Chris groaned internally.

  Deanna, apparently oblivious to the fact that neither of the men actually seemed pleased to see her, sauntered past Tex and into the office. Tex turned and walked away, shaking his head. Chris fixed his own features into a scowl.

  “What do you want?” he snapped.

  “I don’t want anything,” she replied. “I just heard that you were having some trouble with Betty Crocker and I thought maybe you were tired of this lumpy couch.”

  He scoffed. “Forget it. I’m not trading in this couch for yours, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “Oh, we both know I had another place in mind,” she cooed.

  “Leave, Deanna,” he ordered. “I don’t know how many ways I can say it. I’m. not. interested.”

  Deanna ignored him and stepped toward him, closing the distance between them. It was obvious that she thought she was sexy, swinging her hips like she was. It was all Chris could do not to roll his eyes.

  “You sure you’re not interested? I’m betting you’re awful lonely these days.”

  Chris didn’t want to be reminded that he was in the dog house and he sure as shit didn’t want Deanna sniffing around his relationship with Hayley.

  “Look, Deanna, I don’t-”

  “Maybe you just want to take the edge off,” she offered suddenly. “I can do that. Like I said, I’m sure that couch is awfully lonely.” She started to kneel down in front of him. He grabbed her arms and hauled her to her feet.

  “Jesus, Deanna. This is just getting fucking annoying.”

  Deanna, undeterred, unsnapped the buttons on her too-small western blouse. “Who’s going to begrudge you a quickie? Her? Well if she’s not going to put out, she’s got to know that a man like you is going to get it from someplace else.”

  Chris didn’t know if he was more annoyed at her persistence or the implication that he would ever do that to someone he was sharing a bed with (well, metaphorically speaking at the moment). He grabbed Deanna and pushed her toward the desk. He bent her forward over the edge.

  “Is this what you want?” he demanded.

  Deanna squirmed, pushing her ass against his pelvis. “Mmmmm. This is more like it,” she declared.” She snaked her hand behind her and took hold of his arm.

  “No,” Chris growled as she tried to twist her upper body toward him. He placed his palm in the center of her back. “Face down. You will never look at me while I’m inside you,” he informed her. “It’s not your face I want to see.”
He lifted up her skirt and his stomach rolled that she wasn’t wearing panties. He couldn’t put a name to this feeling other than it had the exact opposite effect as it had when Hayley had bent over in front of him in this exact spot.

  Slowly, letting her hear what he was doing, he unbuckled his belt, but left his fly buttoned and zipped. She shivered with excitement. He leaned down, placing both hands on either side of Deanna. Into her ear, he said, “I will never look you in the eye. I will always call out her name instead of yours. I will always want her more than you. Is that what you want, Deanna?” he lingered on her name, as if to emphasize to her what she wouldn’t be getting from him. “To always be reminded that you’re my second choice? The one I settled for when I couldn’t have what I wanted most?”

  Deanna nodded. “Yes. I’ll take it. If I can have you, I’ll…I’ll take it.”

  Chris reared back and stared down at the half naked woman sprawled on his desk. Well. That hadn’t been at all the response he’d been hoping for. He’d hoped that by showing her she’d never get what she really wanted, him, that she’d get royally pissed and storm off in a huff. Fuck. Easy was right. Hand to hand combat with women was damn hard when you couldn’t hurt them. Especially when you couldn’t even seem to hurt their feelings.

  “You’re pathetic,” he told her. “You’re-”

  “I want you!” she cried. “I want you so bad. Look! Just look!” She pulled up her shirt and Chris nearly vomited into his mouth. She had a tramp stamp just above her ass. One word. Shooter in black scrolling letters.

  He reeled backward so fast he toppled the chair behind him. “Jesus. Jesus God, Deanna. That’s fucked up. You’re insane!”

  At that moment the office door opened and Tex stepped into the room. He took in the sight of Deanna still prone on the desk, ass in the air. From his position he couldn’t see the tattoo. He also took note of Chris’s belt hanging loose around his waist. “Well, now. Looks like a party to me. Can anyone join in?” His tone was light, but he glared at Chris intensely.

  “Get. Out.” Chris snapped. No one moved, but Chris grabbed Deanna’s shoulder and hauled her up off the desk. “Get. The fuck. Out. Now. You are certifiably insane. Stay away from me. Stay away from everyone I love.”

  Something in Chris’s ice cold demeanor must have gotten through to her, because she wiggled her skirt down, grabbed her purse off the desk and fled past Tex who barely inched out of the way so she could pass by.

  “She’s nuts,” Chris told Tex while fastening his belt.

  “Uh huh.”

  “She is! She’s got my fucking name tattooed on her ass!” Chris shouted, still bewildered at the sight of it. “My name! Who does that?”

  Tex leaned against the door frame. “Two kinds of women. Crazy ones and ones in love. Sometimes they’re one in the same.”

  Chris tucked the end of his belt into the loop and came around the desk. “She’s god damn insane,” he repeated. “Coming here, dressed like that, with my name on her ass.” He shook his head. “I don’t even know what to do with that.”

  “Hmm,” Tex replied. When Chris got closer to the door, Tex shuffled out of his way. Then punched him in the face.

  “Fuck!” Chris yelled, staggering to the side. He brought up one arm to ward off his friend but Tex appeared to have said what he wanted to say on the matter and leaned back against the door frame.

  “What the fuck?!” Chris demanded.

  “You know what the fuck.”

  Chris looked from Tex to the open door. “She’s crazy!”

  “Really? And in all her craziness she managed to undo your belt and hitch herself up on your desk, nice and naked from the waist down, all ready for a good, hard ride?”

  “I wasn’t going to do it!” Chris insisted.

  Tex was unmoved. “Uh huh. And if it had been Slick who walked in that door instead of me? Think she’d fall for that line?”

  Chris felt the blood drain out of his face. It was Friday. It was one of Hayley’s usual days to bring lunch. He hadn’t figured she would because of the kind of week it had been, but she still might have. Then he realized that Deanna probably knew Hayley delivered him lunch on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. “That bitch!” he bit out, glaring out the open door. “She wanted Hayley to catch us!”

  “Possibly,” said Tex. “Certainly wouldn’t have hurt Deanna’s campaign if she did.” As Chris stared out the door, Tex punched him again.

  “Son of a bitch! Stop doing that!” Chris bellowed.

  “Now you listen to me,” Tex said calmly while Chris squeezed his right eye shut. “I don’t know what the fuck you thought you were doing in here with that seven headed sea monster. I don’t want to know.”

  “I wasn’t-”

  “Shut up,” Tex ordered and for the first time in his life, Chris took orders from his Sergeant. “Whatever you were doing, whatever that was, if Hayley had walked in here and seen it, it would have broken her heart. Broken her heart, Chris. Is that what you want? Because you’re already in a world of shit right now and I’ve got to tell you, your relationship cannot sustain one more direct hit. So you better get smart and figure out a way to get Deanna out of your lives without the use of violence and don’t get caught in a room alone with her until you do. Now come on. We got work to do. Can’t hang out in the office all day, banging chicks.”

  Chris sighed and straightened up. “I wasn’t going to bang her.”

  “Well, I know it’s too much to hope you were gonna use that belt on her ass. She’s damn lucky she’s fixated on you instead of me.”

  Chapter 29

  Hayley was picking up two Buds and whiskey sour from the bar when someone spoke from behind her. Offhandedly she wondered why she didn’t notice a temperature drop.

  “Well, if it isn’t Betty Crocker.”

  Hayley glanced over her shoulder, but didn’t respond.

  “Watch it, Deanna,” Maria warned. “Don’t start trouble in my place.”

  Deanna flashed a toothy smile and a perfected “Who Me?” look, complete with kewpie doll lips. “I’m not!” she insisted. “I was just saying that it looks like Hayley here has been working a ton of hours lately. Which explains a lot.”

  Hayley set the sour on her tray and frowned at it. She’d picked up extra shifts to avoid spending time in an empty house. She wasn’t sure what, exactly that “explained”. And, mostly, she didn’t want to know. Mostly. Unfortunately it was the tiny part of her that seemed destined for masochism that had her asking, “What are you talking about?”

  Deanna smiled impossibly wider. “Well you’ve been so busy here with your all-important job as barmaid, and pretty much left poor Shooter all to his lonesome. Thankfully, though, he called me to come take care of him.”

  Hayley nearly dropped the tray.

  “I got the impression he had a lot of pent up frustration while he had me bent over his desk this afternoon. But you don’t have to worry. I took care of him. Just like I told you I would.”

  Hayley looked around helplessly. Though God knew why. It was only 6pm and Chris wouldn’t be here for another few hours to have a few beers before taking her home. They hadn’t talked about it this week, but she had assumed that he would still want to make sure she got home okay and didn’t waste money on a cab.

  “Deanna, get out,” Maria ordered before Hayley could do anything at all.

  “What? Why?” Deanna sneered.

  “Just get the fuck out before I mess up that wrinkled face of yours.”

  Whether Deanna was incensed about the insult was unclear to anyone else, but what Deanna herself was very clear on was that A.) Maria wouldn’t hesitate to swing at her, and B.) That Maria probably wouldn’t stop there.

  As Deanna turned and waltzed out the front door, Maria put a hand on Hayley’s arm. “No point in getting upset ‘til there’s something to get upset about.”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Hayley insisted.

  Maria nodded in agreement. “Best just to as
k him. That woman lies like a cheap rug when it suits her.”

  Hayley shrugged off Deanna’s words and headed to her table.

  ************************

  Chris chose a table near the pool tables and caught Hayley’s eye as she was settling up a tab. It was a relief to see her. He’d been away from her for too long. His self imposed exile was hurting them both, he realized. Tonight he’d take her home and spend the rest of the night making sure she understood that he would do whatever it took for her to feel safe in her own home again.