Hounds Ascend

by Erika Blount

  Lilly dressed in jeans, her favorite black riding boots, and a cream-colored long sleeve shirt, just in case they were taking the bike. When packing, she made sure to roll her clothes up and conserve as much space as possible, throwing them into a small bag that would fit in the saddlebags if necessary.

  Once she was ready, she grabbed her things and found everyone downstairs. Cass, Gater, Snapper, and Leo were sitting at the bar and Shorty was bartending. Old School was nowhere to be seen, nor was the doctor. All heads whipped in her direction as she approached the bar.

  “Hey, baby.” Cass wrapped an arm around her lower back, pulling her into him from where he sat at the bar.

  “Hi,” she whispered, kissing his temple.

  “We’re gonna be leaving soon.”

  “Okay, baby. Hey, do you have my phone?” she asked.

  “Yeah, here. Gonna have to replace the screen, but it still works.” He handed her a broken phone as she set her things down in the chair beside her. Shorty approached their side of the bar and gave Lilly a questioning look. She nodded, knowing what he was asking. He was asking if she wanted a drink. Fuck yeah was more of the answer she wanted to give, but a simple nod would have to do for now.

  The blood that was splattered on the floor before she went to shower had been cleaned up, but that view would stay burned into Lilly’s brain.

  “Is Old School gonna be okay?” she asked. She wanted to know what happened, yet she didn’t at the same time. When Cass’s face fell, along with the others’ she got her answer.

  Her heart shattered because she knew the only reason they would have such upset looks on their faces could only mean one thing. He wasn’t going to be okay.

  “He was bleeding internally, and it was bad. The doctor gave him a sedative. Says he will pass sometime during the night, but he won’t be in pain.” Cass took a swig of his beer and set it down on the bar. A hint of a tear glistened in his eye for a second before he gained his composure and his face was stoic once again. Her heart hurt, not only for the loss of Old School, but for Cass’s loss.

  Footsteps behind Lilly caught her attention and she spun around to find Scott nearing. Cass squeezed her side for reassurance. She turned back around to face the men that she now considered her family. Shorty had just set her drink down and she didn’t waste any time before she picked it up and took a sip.

  The Crown Apple hit her stomach almost instantly, and it was then that she realized she hadn’t eaten all day. The guys were telling stories about Old School while Lilly sat there quietly. She listened to them talk of their memories of him as well as things they had only been told. Evidently his real name was Leslie, but no one would have dared call him that. He once hit one of his brother’s over the head with a pool stick because he had warned him continuously not to call him by his first name and the guy did it anyway, so Old School broke the pool stick across his forehead and split it open. He ended up with eighteen stitches and became an example of why you didn’t call him Leslie.

  Lilly laughed at the thought of Old School being so ruthless when he was always so kind to her.

  “The first day I met him, he hit on Carrie and told her that she’d look better with a patch than a prospect,” Leo chuckled.

  “Sounds like some shit he’d say. He was a sucker for the ladies. I bet you back in his heyday, he’d have stolen any one of our ol’ ladies,” Cass said, pulling at Lilly’s hip. The smile he wore was not that of a happy man. It was one of a hurt man, a hurt man who was smiling to keep from breaking down. She’d never seen this side of Cass and it was strange to her. Lilly was used to a happy Cass, hell lately she’d even gotten used to an angry one, but this? This was different, and she didn’t know how to handle it. She decided she’d do the only thing she knew how, and that was to leave him be, let him reminisce with his brothers.

  “I’m gonna go call Mindy,” she whispered to him, excusing herself from their conversation. She grabbed her phone then dug her cigarettes and lighter out of the bag she had packed and stepped outside the front door of the clubhouse. The temperature had dropped since yesterday and she got a chill when the cool air brushed against her skin.

  She plucked a cigarette from the pack and lit it, enjoying every second of the nicotine coursing through her. The first drag of a cigarette was always the best for her. It eased her mind and enabled her to relax. Unlocking her phone, she found another missed call from her mom. She felt like such an ass for not returning her calls, but right now wasn’t the time. She set a reminder for tomorrow at noon to give her mom a call before she dialed Mindy’s cell. On the third ring, Mindy’s voice rasped into the phone.

  “Hey, love.”

  “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “You didn’t. I was just cat-napping anyway. You’re an ass, by the way.”

  “Me? Why?”

  “You left this morning without saying bye. Linc was pissed when he woke up, too.”

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t sit there any longer, though. You know hospitals drive me crazy.”

  “I know. What happened at the clubhouse today?”

  “Umm…” Lilly trailed off. She didn’t want to worry Mindy with shit going on that didn’t have any bearing on what was going on with her. She needed to focus on getting better and getting out of the hospital, not these jackasses that presented a danger to people she cared about.

  “I heard Linc on the phone earlier, you may as well just tell me.”

  “What’d you hear?”

  “Mostly him cursing. Something about those fucking Moccasins. His words, not mine. Oh, and he said something about them fucking with the wrong people.”

  “Two of their junkies came to the clubhouse today trying to start shit, but it’s handled now.”

  “Oh. Well why didn’t you just say so?” she asked, as if that were silly to withhold from her.

  Lilly laughed at her. “I don’t know. I don’t want you worrying, I guess. Mainly because I’m worrying enough for the both of us. I’m worried about you, I’m worried about the bullshit. It doesn’t need to consume us both.”

  “You go ahead and worry about the heavy shit, I’m gonna sit here in this hospital bed and worry about this shit they’re trying to call food. Seriously, it’s gross. I need a damn cheeseburger and French fries or something. Something that has flavor!”

  Lilly pictured Mindy waving her hands around as she spoke for emphasis.

  “You’re waving your hands around right now, aren’t you?”

  Mindy burst out laughing. “I might be.”

  The sound of the door opening caused Lilly to turn around. Cass emerged from the doorway, her bag in hand and pointed toward the bike. She nodded before telling Mindy she had to go but would call her later and hung up.

  Cass was closing the lid to the saddlebag when Lilly walked up. She wrapped her arms around his waist, locking her fingers together and resting her chin on his shoulder as he reached for his helmet. He stopped, mid-reach, and leaned his head on hers.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, curious.

  “Home.” One word. One fucking word that may as well have been an extravagant display of fireworks bursting through the sky. Excitement coursed through her. She kissed his cheek and squealed a little.

  He laughed and patted her hands. She quickly unwound them from around his waist and put her helmet on. She was ready to see what home looked like. She had almost forgotten about his impromptu question at the beach. With everything else going on in their life, it slipped her mind.

  Between rushing home from Gulfport, worrying about Mindy, then the events of tonight, Lilly hadn’t thought about much of anything outside of chaos.

  Cass was seated on the bike waiting for her. She hopped on, eager to see where he was going to take her. The roar of the engine made Lilly’s heart rate quicken. She was ready for a ride, just her and Cass, headed for solitude. She had enjoyed being at the clubhouse, but she was ready for the next chapter in her life with Cass. One witho
ut so much chaos.

  Lilly leaned back on the sissy bar and rested her hands on her thighs. They were out of the driveway and on the road when Lilly realized just how cool it was outside. The thin material of her long sleeve shirt didn’t do much to keep her warm. She was silently kicking herself in the ass for not grabbing a light jacket.

  No matter how cold it was, though, it wouldn’t put a damper on her mood. She was finally going to have a place that she could call home. A place with just her and him. A taste of normalcy. Lilly paid careful attention to the turns they were making and read every road sign that they turned on, recording it to memory.

  They were on an old back road that had just been redone. The asphalt was dark, and the lines were fresh. Traffic on the road was average, but Cass easily passed multiple cars that were going less than the speed limit. They wound around curves left and right while Lilly sat back there, listening to the radio and the wind. She tapped out the beats to different songs on Cass’s back as they played.

  The first time she had done that, he craned his neck to look at her, but he was used to it now and didn’t pay her any attention. At the end of the back road, they turned right onto a main highway that took them into a small town outside of Hammond.

  They came to a red-light, and Cass turned left then right into the parking lot of a small café. He killed the bike and unstrapped his helmet. Lilly steadied herself with his shoulders the way she did every time and stepped off. He followed suit just as she set her helmet down on the seat. His foot connected with it, sending it flying off just as quickly as she had set it on there.

  She went and retrieved it from where it stopped and set it back on the seat.

  “I always forget that you have to get off the same way I do,” she said.

  He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s one thing I do have to do like you.”

  “You get hungry?”

  “Kinda. I stopped for you, though. I heard your stomach rumbling at the clubhouse before we left and this place has the best food there is.”

  “Awe, baby. You’re so damn sweet.” She wrapped her arms around him and leaned up to kiss his cheek.

  “I try,” he grinned and grabbed her hand, leading her to the entry.

  The café was small, but relatively busy. Busier than Lilly thought it would be. The building was a faded shade of pink with “Juanita’s” painted across the side of it in faded black lettering. There were small tables inside scattered throughout with a small bar that sat three people and had a television directly above it.

  There was a large opening at the counter to place your order and behind it stood a young girl. She looked to be in her teens, still in high school. She wore her brown hair in a messy bun and smiled at them nervously, revealing the braces on her teeth.

  “Welcome to Juanita’s. What can I get for y’all?”

  Cass looked at Lilly in question. Lilly scanned the menu. “Go ahead and order. It will force me to pick something.”

  Cass ordered a double bacon cheeseburger and gravy fries before looking at Lilly again. She was going to get the same thing, but she saw hamburger steak on the menu and that sold her.

  “I’ll take a hamburger steak dinner. Can I have rice and gravy instead of a salad and fries?”

  “Umm. I...I think so,” the girl said, looking to her left behind the wall where Lilly and Cass couldn’t see. She waved in her direction.

  “Hold on just a sec,” she said, walking off. She returned quickly, writing something down.

  “That’s not a problem. Is that all for y’all?” she asked.

  “You didn’t bring your imaginary friend, did you?” Cass asked.

  Lilly’s jaw dropped along with the young girl’s.

  “Uh...I...” Lilly stammered, unsure of how to respond to him. Her face instantly flushed and she just knew her cheek were giving away her embarrassment.

  “I think she left her at home, so that should be all,” he said, as if he were talking about any other normal thing.

  The young girl rang up their ticket and Cass paid while Lilly picked a booth for them to sit in. Cass snickered when he sat down at the booth.

  “You should’ve seen the look on your face,” he laughed.

  “That was mean!” She slapped his arm, jokingly.

  “So, did you?”

  “Did I what?”

  “Bring your imaginary friend?”

  She tried to keep a straight face, but he was charming and she couldn’t fight it. Her façade came crashing down and she fell into a fit of giggles.

  The young girl walked out with their drinks and set them on the table. She awkwardly walked away while Lilly and Cass caught their breath.

  “I needed this.” Lilly reached across the table and grabbed Cass’s hand.

  “Good. I’m glad I could help. But, if you think this made you feel better, just wait.”

  Lilly was waiting. She was beyond excited to see his house. Before she let herself get caught up in thoughts of what it could look like or what they could do to it to make it hers, too, she remembered she had a question.

  “Where are Clayton and Brock? They didn’t leave did they?”

  “They had something to take care of today. They’ll be back around tomorrow. No, baby. Don’t worry, neither one of them is going to leave without saying goodbye to you.” He rubbed his thumb over her hand back and forth in a soothing motion.

  Their food was at their table within ten minutes and Cass was right. The food there was delicious. That was the best hamburger steak Lilly could remember having. Either that, or it only tasted so damn good because she was starving half to death and couldn’t remember the last time she ate. They finished their meal quickly and were back on the road.

  Fifteen minutes later, after they went through the outskirts of Hammond and made umpteen turns, they finally ended up in a nice subdivision that was small and spread out. Lilly was looking around at the small, homey-looking homes with their pretty front yards and beautiful brick frontings. Then, she saw it. The only house in the subdivision that was gawk-worthy. It was dark, no lights shone from inside and there weren’t any vehicles in the driveway. Cass turned into that driveway.

  Lilly was trying to pick her jaw up off the concrete when Cass pulled into a large, open carport and killed the engine. A motion light kicked on, allowing Lilly to see.

  “Let’s go check it out. What do you say?”

  Lilly hopped off and undid her helmet. Cass got off and she lay her helmet on the seat. She was speechless and in awe of the beauty. He grabbed her hand and led her around to the front yard. The house was solid white with dark shutters. It was hard to tell whether they were blue or black with how dark it was outside. For Lilly, it had a modern-day plantation feel to it without the actual plantation to go with it. Multiple medium-sized trees lined the roadside, giving them a good bit of privacy.

  “Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” Cass said, jogging towards the front door. Ten seconds later, the entire front of the house was lit up. Lilly stared in awe of the beautiful home that sat in front of her. She watched as Cass walked toward her from the house, falling more in love with him every second.

  “This is your house?” she asked when he made it back to where she stood.

  He wrapped an arm around her waist and looked down at her. “No, baby. This is our house. I just bought it…for you.”

  “You bought this whole fucking thing?” Lilly asked as she walked through the large, empty house.

  “Well, they wouldn’t let me buy a piece of it, so yeah. I kind of bought the whole fucking thing,” he said, mimicking her.

  She pinned him with a “go-to-hell” look and continued looking through the house with Cass next to her. The beautiful, aged, hardwood floors were spread throughout the entire house, aside from one small spot that had a rustic-like tile. There was even a wine room! The master bedroom was the only room in the house, thus far, that had any sort of furniture. A California king sat in the center of the far wall that was made up of br
ick. Adorned with a solid white, weighted comforter and an array of pillows, it screamed comfort. In addition, it housed an entire wall that wasn’t a wall at all. It was made of glass doors and windows, looking directly into the backyard that housed a large in-ground pool.

  “We have a pool!”

  “Yes. After I learned how much you loved the beach, I had to make sure you had a pool at home. And guess what? It’s heated.”

  “Seriously? Oh baby that’s so fucking awesome”

  Lilly explored each room like a dog in a new place. Once she had completed the tour of the first floor, she dragged Cass upstairs to see what the second story had.

  Four of the five bedrooms were upstairs along with a guest bathroom. The marble countertops set off the feel of the room perfectly. Each new area of the house she went in felt surreal. Was this really hers? This house. This was the house that she was going to call home.

  “So, is it safe to say I did good?” Cass asked when they were through with the tour of the inside.

  “Abso-fuckin’-lutely. I love it, baby. I really love it. I can’t wait to make it home.”

  “You know what the best way to truly make this place feel like home is, right?”

  A dark smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She reached for his hand and walked backward into the open master bedroom. She led him to the bed and fell back onto it, pulling him down on top of her. Before her back hit the bed, his lips were on hers. His hands roamed down to her jeans and he was unbuttoning them and shoving them down.

  Lilly’s hands shoved at his cut and Cass sat up, quickly pushing it off and tearing his shirt over his head before he was back on top of her, tongue crashing into her mouth once more. The electric shock of his kiss sent heat straight to her sex and made her ache for what was to come. She felt so empty without him inside her, knowing he was there…waiting…ready. Her hand reached between them and stroked his length through his blue jeans.

  A loud, guttural moan erupted through him at her touch. His hands were back at her hips, but this time he was pushing upward, shoving her shirt and bra up, exposing her breasts. Lilly’s back arched as the pad of his thumb rubbed a circle over her nipple before lightly pinching it, then giving it a tug. It was her turn to moan at his touch, her nipple pebbling beneath his fingers.