Her hands made their way up his chest as his last step backed him up against the wall. “When I sit down and feel the sting, I want to remember the moment you pumped inside of me, and just as I am about to come . . . Bam!” She slammed her hands together, creating a loud slapping sound. “Your big hand comes down across my ass, causing a sting that forces me over the edge.”
He wanted to fuck her so bad, his cock jumped at the thought. Trent’s voice sounded like an inhuman snarl. “Let me taste you.” He stepped forward.
“No.” Her soft voice nearly made him crumble in defeat. If he had to, he would beg for his release.
“Baby.” Trent barely understood his words, as they sounded more like grunts and growls. He palmed his cock and bucked into his hand. The sensation sparked his hunger for her and the second Teal made her way to her knees, he closed his eyes and uttered a silent prayer to God, thanking him for sending him such a devious angel.
He opened his eyes to be rewarded by the sight of Teal on her knees, dark eyes staring up at him, waiting for his command.
Reaching down, Trent cupped Teal’s cheek, his rough hands wrapped around her jaw, squeezing until she opened wide. When her pink tongue darted out and swiped over her plush lips, Trent released her and leaned back into the wall. Using it as an anchor, he jutted his chin at his jeans.
Teal didn’t hesitate. Reaching up, she unbuttoned them and pulled down the fly. Eager fucker that it was, his dick popped out and bobbed in her face. Trent widened his stance and lowered a bit to get level with her mouth. He watched as a pearly bead of pre-cum escaped from his cock, only to be lapped up by Teal’s tongue.
The second her hot mouth made contact, Trent jerked his hold on the wall, tightening until a sharp pain shot up his arm. “Fuck, baby.” He threw his head back when she lifted his dick and wrapped her lips around his sac. His legs buckled with each suckle, her tongue making a slow, wet slide up the underside of his dick. He glanced down at her just as she flicked the tip of her tongue over his slit and took him deep into her mouth.
Trent couldn’t form words as all the blood in his body rushed to his groin. He needed release so fucking bad his eyes watered from it. “Look at me.” His gruff command rumbled from his chest, sounding more like a growl than words.
Teal’s eyes darted to his and held his gaze. Her eyes widened when he slid his cock to the back of her throat. Total domination of her mouth, the thought screamed through his head, over and over again, pushing him to drive deeper.
He took her head between his hands, guiding her over his dick. His thrusts grew sporadic as he watched Teal’s cheeks suck in, mouth working over him like a goddamn pro. His balls drew up so fucking tight, Trent nearly came right then. He grunted each time she pulled back, nearly releasing him from her mouth to swirl her tongue around his tip. A tingle started at the base of his spine and traveled down to his balls.
Trent pushed Teal’s head back until she complied, allowing her body to be placed on the floor. He kneeled above her, holding her head as he fucked her mouth. Teal gripped his ass, her little nails digging into the flesh, causing a stinging pain to race up his spine. The sharp pain triggered his primal need to come, his hips bucked franticly.
Her ability to draw from him every ounce of restraint boggled his mind and had his toes curling at the suction of her hot mouth. Trent threw his head back and bellowed to the sky, the sound shooting from his mouth with each pulsating release he shot down her throat.
Teal sucked harder, taking every drop, her cheeks hollowed out, and Trent knew for sure his soul left his body as the last spasm rocked him. He fell forward and caught himself, as to not choke her. Rolling over, Trent lay beside his woman, eyes closed, breathing ragged.
“Damn.” Her breathless, husky voice slid over him like a gentle caress. Teal shifted and sprawled her body across his side. Her hand tenderly caressed his chest as he came back down from space.
He cradled her in his arms, and nestled his face in her neck, taking in her scent. She grounded him in a way no other person had managed, while putting him in his place sexually and emotionally. She took him at his worst, and encouraged him when he was at his best. There was no way he wasn’t marrying this woman.
The sound of banging on the front door pulled Teal from her comfortable spot on the couch with Katie’s manuscript on her lap. Knowing it wasn’t Trent banging on the door, Teal had a good clue who it might be. Deciding to ignore it, she focused on immersing herself in the fantasy world Katie had created for her fans. Her best friend’s novel was just getting to the juicy part when a loud bang sounded from the backyard.
Teal lowered the book and took a long deep breath. She did not want to deal with Shayla now, or ever, for that matter. Picking up her phone, she checked the time before calling Summer.
“Hey, Teal. I was meaning to call you. Are you back in town already?”
Teal stood and made her way to the sliding glass door. “No, I’m just calling to check up on the case I sent you.” Summer’s job as a domestic abuse counselor often had Teal making second and third calls to check up on cases, but since Shayla’s case was not sanctioned by Teal’s boss, Summer had no obligations to update Teal on the case.
“Well . . .” Her hesitant voice stopped Teal as she reached to move back the curtain. “I can’t discuss much with you.”
Teal knew this already. It was a confidentiality agreement made with the women in order to help gain trust. It often worked as a bridge between the battered woman and the caseworker who reached out to help. “And I completely understand. I just want to see if Trent and I need to extend Shayla’s time in the motel we got for her.”
It wasn’t a lie, but not the actual reason Teal had made the call. She opened the curtain and checked the backyard. Clouds gathered in the sky, darkening the day much quicker than she’d expected for a summer day. When she saw nothing, Teal closed the curtain. She wouldn’t put it past Shayla to try and break in. Trent had told her some of the crazy things she’d done. With Trent’s truck gone and most of the lights out, Shayla would think that no one was home.
“Oh, well, I had been meaning to call you anyway. I know this was a personal favor to you and Trent, so there are a few things I think I should discuss with you.” Teal felt uneasy as Summer’s voice tensed. “I hate to tell you, but when I called and told her what we could do for her, she declined all help.”
Teal couldn’t hide her shocked gasp. “So, you offered her a place to stay and a job, and she said no to all of that?” She made her way to the front of Trent’s house and into the kitchen. Peeking out the window, she saw the back of a blonde head, heading back up the driveway.
“Yes.” She sighed loudly. “And it surprised me. This woman spoke as if she had sense in her head, but was just not trying to hear me. She blames others for her issues. But that’s not all. As you know, we are a non-profit organization, working solely off grants from the government.” Summer grew quiet.
Teal walked to the door and placed her hand on the knob. She’d wait until Shayla made her way to the door before confronting her. This wasn’t even close to news for Teal. She’d waded through miles of red tape to make sure Summer’s organization received a healthy dose of eligible women in need. The more women they helped, the more grants they received.
“What happened, Summer? What do your grants have to do with this?”
“The issue is, all women must go to a mandatory medical center for a drug test, and if drugs are found in the system, the woman is out of the program. And when I asked her what drugs she’d recently ingested, if any, she told me coke and meth.”
Teal’s stomach dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I mean, she was kidding, right?” She couldn’t believe it. She was more shocked that Trent had spent eight years with a drug addict than the fact that Shayla was halfway through her pregnancy snorting coke and scoring meth.
“And as you know—”
“Positive for drugs, negative in the paperwork.” With drugs in her system
, she would score a negative with Summer’s program and be kicked out. No loopholes, no second chances—nada. If Summer were caught housing a person who’d tested positive for any kind of drug, she would lose her funding, damage her reputation, and risk the care and placement of any other clean woman needing to use the program.
“Fuck.” Teal dropped her head in her hands. It was one thing to deal with a guilt-ridden Trent when it came to Shayla and an unborn child, but it was a completely different thing when the woman appeared to be an exact replica of his deadbeat mother. There was no way they’d seen the last of Shayla, and Teal feared Trent’s conscience would force him to take on the burden of helping Shayla now that the shelter couldn’t.
“I’m sorry Teal, but my hands are tied at this point. I can make a few calls and send her file to a few organizations, but as you know, I can’t guarantee that anyone will have room to take her in. Though, I am sure they will try.” Her voice held such compassion and candor, Teal actually felt bad for sending her a case she wouldn’t be able to help with.
Teal sighed. “Look, you tried and I appreciate it.” And she truly did. Though the end result wasn’t what she’d expected, it had at least revealed a few of Shayla’s secrets.
With a huff, Summer said, “Thank you, Teal. But that is not the worst of it. I have to notify CPS that there is an unborn child who may be born addicted to coke and meth. This is a cluster of crap that I swear is going to blow up. I am worried that you and Trent will be in the middle of it.”
Teal groaned aloud and paced. “Now Trent and I are in the middle of this because we attempted to help her and she snubbed said help?” She had been the blame of a lot of prisoner’s problems. Hell, taking the blame was a work hazard she’d learned to deal with and had accepted years ago, since most of the prisoners were unable to assume the consequences of their actions.
“Yes, she blames you for ‘stealing’ Trent, and she blames him for being ‘weak-willed’ just like someone named Logan.”
Unfortunately, Teal could believe it. Their relationship had started while he and Shayla were still considered a couple. Even though Trent had dumped her via text, Teal wasn’t proud of the fact they had started anything before he had made a clean break.
Summer continued, “Now, honestly I don’t think it’s all her. I think her monologues are repeated by rote. She hears someone else saying this stuff to her over and over and she is parroting the nonsense, while also believing it’s true.”
Teal understood there was so much more to this than just one person making bad choices. Shit, she was not getting out of this smelling like a rose and that truly irked her. “Hell, who am I to make excuses? It wasn’t a good choice to emotionally connect with Trent before they’d made a clean break.”
“Honey, if Trent had any sense, he wouldn’t have ever left you to go back to her. However, the pregnancy lie, and the fact that she told me he came back to support her, tells me a lot about him. So, yes, bad decisions were made by all parties, but I can tell you that this woman is toxic and dangerous to his emotional health. I imagine he would have left her eventually, or she would have burned him.”
Teal wasn’t so sure about that. His need to fix and support broken souls often superseded his ability to call bullshit on bullshiters.
“But Teal, you and I, we’ve seen this before, too. Toxic women merging with men who are just trying to do right. Hell, we’ve seen it both ways. I’ve only had a few hours with her, and through my fifteen years in doing this work, I got a sense for her. If you love Trent, then keep him close, this woman is bad news. You need to find a way to get her out of your life.”
At this point, the only problem that remained was Trent’s misguided need to save Shayla’s unborn child, and while he’d yet to say a word about it, she knew he could not let Shayla ruin that child’s life.
“I do have a recommendation for you. Often times, we work with addicts whose families bring them in for an intervention. Nine times out of ten, we have to send the family members to the Betty Ford clinic.”
Teal understood the process. “Are you thinking I should set something up for Trent?” She knew that wouldn’t fly, but what the hell? Why not at least discuss it with him? Logan was currently seeking help with his therapist with the support of Katie and her father. “I think it could possibly help, but I have never tried to convince someone I know personally to seek help.”
“I think you both need to speak to someone,” Summer hedged. Teal moved the phone from her face and glared at it. “Hear me out,” Summer pleaded. “When a woman like Shayla has been in a person’s life for as long as she was in Trent’s, you can expect some issues that’ll need working out. Like I said, she is a toxin. She needs help herself, but she could have lasting effects on Trent. It’d be extremely helpful for you, and your relationship with Trent, if you made sure those lasting issues are weeded out and worked on.”
“I’ve given that same spiel to families dealing with family members on death row or serving life.” Teal hadn't felt her situation was so extreme, but what if they explored this option. Could a therapist help Teal and Trent? The sound of footsteps coming up the porch stopped her train of thought.
“Hey, someone’s here. Let me call you back okay?”
“Yeah, just let me know and I can set something up for you two in Kentucky.”
Teal turned back to the door. “Thanks, I’ll call you.” Hanging up, she took a deep breath and opened the door.
There was no idea more flawed than the assumption your life flashed before your eyes before you died. Absolutely nothing. Her first thought, as she stared down the barrel of the shotgun pointed at her chest, was that it looked vaguely familiar to the one Trent owned. Her second thought was, never once in her years of working at a maximum security prison had she ever been in this much shit. She wanted to laugh at the irony in Trent’s fear of her being in more danger at her job, when in fact, she was face to face with a blast to the chest in his own home.
Shayla shoved the shotgun in the direction of the living room. “Move.”
Teal almost raised her hands as she complied, but thought better of it, since sudden movements often caused more harm than good. Bile rose in her throat as she maneuvered herself backward into Trent’s living room.
Shayla’s eyes roved over the house quickly, then made their way back to her.
Teal had been trained to survive prison lock downs, attempted prison breaks, and bomb threats. In her career at Capshaw, she’d experienced six. In those six moments, there’d never come a time when a gun had been aimed at her chest. The glossy gleam in Shayla’s eyes, her shaky aim, and reddened face, all told Teal she was probably high as a kite.
A wide, manic smile spread across her face. “You’re here alone.”
The statement, laced with malice and hate, sent a chill up Teal’s spine. She swallowed the lie rising in her throat. First rule—don’t piss off the person with the gun. No, the first rule was to stay calm. The outward façade of calm was at bitter odds with the maelstrom of emotions brewing inside of her. Teal kept her eyes on the double barrels aimed at her chest. Her training had taught her to follow a list of rules, but she could remember none of it.
Shayla’s smile was wide and demented. “I told Jake he’d left you here, but he didn’t believe me. Told me to wait till y’all came back.” She looked a hot mess. Her oily, stringy hair hung at her back in tangled waves, her pupils ate the whites of her eyes, and there was a rather large red mark across her face.
She could make out the imprint of a hand across Shayla’s marred cheek. Teal reached out to her sides, in order not to trip over a side table near the couch. She dared a quick glance behind her to see Shayla had forced her from the door to the sofa in the living room.
With a glance at the clock, she noted the time. Trent had been gone a half an hour longer than he’d promised. The sun would soon drop, and Teal was alone with a woman who had nothing left to lose.
“You had that bitch call me.” Shayla’
s statement held such hatred.
Teal was sure she’d pull the trigger at any moment. Taking a deep breath, she waited. She was unsure whether or not her silence was required, or if Shayla wanted her to respond. Rule two: talk to them, but carefully. Though her mouth felt dry and sticky, Teal spoke.
“Trent said—”
“This ain’t got nothin’ to do with that lying sack of shit.”
Teal nearly jumped a mile high when Shayla shoved the shotgun into her chest. What the fuck was she supposed to do when this nut was the only one armed? As anger replaced fear, she tried her best not to say or do anything that would get her killed. This was not the time to let a bitch know her place.
Teal cleared her throat, tamped down the attitude, and tried again. “Jake is beating you, and that is not okay.” She knew she was to take Shayla’s side and to calm her into a false sense of hope, if she were to survive this night.
As Shayla’s eyes narrowed and her grip on the shotgun tightened, Teal knew she was in for a fight. “You shouldn’t have been flaunting your black ass all over town on his arm.”
Positive the situation was dire, Teal wondered what Shayla’s end goal was. Was it to kill her? Hold her here while Trent was hurt? Or maybe there was no real plan. Teal decided the only way to get out of this disaster was to figure out what Shayla wanted and why.
She slowly lowered her hands. “We were trying to fix what we did.” Teal realized she was going to have to take the blame whether the fault was hers or not. “After you left, Trent and I—”
“You fucked him while I was a goddamn room away!” Shayla screamed.
Teal couldn’t keep from quaking in fear as the shotgun wobbled and Shayla’s finger twitched. There was nothing she would be able to say that wouldn’t have her pulling the trigger. Unease skated along her spine, and Teal felt the inevitable burn of tears welling behind her eyes. She didn’t want to die like this, and she sure as hell didn’t want Trent to come back to a blood bath in his home.
Indelible: Beneath His Ink (Teal and Trent Book 2) Page 16