by Meg Jackson
I was up all night that night, pacing my room, watching Netflix, trying to fall asleep. I wished I had some pot, which, I’d learned, was a great sleep-aide. I hated myself for wishing that, because I knew it was wrong, and that Mom and Dad didn’t raise me to be this way. They didn’t raise a stoner, for one, and they certainly didn’t raise a little sex-kitten who would get all bent over shape over a big dick attached to deep, blue eyes. Deep, deep, deep blue eyes…
When I woke up the next day, I was almost surprised because I couldn’t remember falling asleep in the first place. I groaned, my head pounding from lack of sleep and a night of too-much-thinking.
“Samantha? You up yet?” I heard my mother call from downstairs. Rolling over, I looked at the clock. It was nearly noon. And yet I felt like I hadn’t slept at all.
“Yeah, Mom, I’ll be down in a minute,” I yelled back, then rolled over again. I couldn’t live like this. I wanted to just go back to sleep, lose my mind in dreams, not worry about anything ever again. But, I knew that I had to get up, be myself, be happy, move on. This is not a rehearsal, I thought to myself, another one of Becky’s bumper-sticker-mottos.
I took a deep breath and jumped out of bed, then quickly did some jumping-jacks and ran in place for about a minute. I figured the best way to shake off my doldrums was to literally shake them off, and in a few minutes I was feeling (pretty much) good-as-new.
I bounced down the stairs, knowing that breakfast was long over and that I’d have to prepare something for myself.
“Well, there she is, our little sleepyhead,” Dad said when I almost ran into him rounding the corner to the kitchen.
“Hi, Dad!” I said, pushing past him, food the only thing on my mind. I’d barely eaten anything the day before, too wrapped up in my thoughts, and was starving. I immediately pulled the peanut butter out of the cupboard and grabbed two slices of bread from the fridge. PB&J was my go-to snack.
“Don’t fill up, now, we’re grilling this afternoon!” Dad said from the hall as he watched me spread the peanut butter over the bread. Perfect, I thought, a day relaxing by the pool and eating hamburgers with my parents. Exactly what I need!
“Don’t worry, I can eat four meals in four hours. You know that,” I said, taking a huge bite out of my sandwich. Dad laughed. My insatiable appetite was a running joke in our family: I was always so involved in cheerleading and sports that I could eat way more than my relatively small frame showed. I was always hungry.
“This is true, my dear,” Dad said, shaking his head as he watched me finish the sandwich in five huge bites. “Man, I don’t know where you put it all.”
“Well, talking burns a lot of calories,” I said playfully. That was the other running joke in my family: my 5-miles-per-hour mouth.
“Okay, well, I’m going to fire up the grill in an hour or so. Do you want to invite Becky and Alicia over, or have you had enough girl time for one summer?” I thought about it for a moment, and decided that I wanted today to be just about my family.
I did miss Becky and Alicia already, and knew, from their texts, that they were missing me, too, but I wanted to get back into things one step at a time: Becky and Alicia would almost certainly want to talk about me losing my virginity to Boon, and I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. It was enough just thinking about it.
“I think I’ll just chill with you and Mom today,” I said, trying to push thoughts of Boon away. Why couldn’t I just forget him, why did he have to keep popping up, even when I was doing something as innocent as eating peanut butter and jelly and talking to my Dad?
“Okay, well, I’m gonna fire up the grill in an hour or so,” Dad said, moving away. I stood in the kitchen for a moment longer, listening to the clock tick, trying to ground myself in the room. This is my kitchen. This is my life. This is where I live.
An hour later, I was lounging by the pool, smelling hamburgers on the grill, not a care in the world. I had my phone with me, obviously, and was lazily texting with Alicia about getting Thai food the next day. When my phone buzzed, I expected a text from Alicia confirming that she would be at the restaurant at two the next day.
Which is why I just about had a heart attack and nearly imploded my own stomach when I saw that the text was from an unknown number, the same number Boon had texted me from in Vegas, the same number that I still hadn’t had the heart to save in my phone as his…
Tag, you’re it, the text read. Attached was a photo. With shaking fingers, I tapped the link. The photo that popped up made my head spin. It was a photo of my house. The very house that I was currently lounging behind.
How did he find me? Why did he find me? What…my mind was spinning. He must be joking, I thought. Not only did I not know how he could have possibly found my house, I also didn’t know whether or not the picture was real or just a joke, a picture taken from Google Maps or something.
My heart pounded in my throat as I sent back the only text I could think of: ???
The seconds seemed to pass like months as I waited for a response. When my phone buzzed again, I jumped out of the chair like I’d been bit by a snake.
“Woah nelly, what’s wrong with you? Someone post a picture of their engagement ring?” Mom said, watching me as I shook in my flip-flops.
“I…I…uh…hold on…” I said, my brain working at half capacity. Without answering my parent’s puzzled looks, I rushed around the side of the house, not even caring about how much I would be showing the neighbors in my bikini. I didn’t take my eyes off my phone until I reached the front of my house. Then, slowly, I lifted my gaze.
And there he was. In all his muscled, tattooed, masculine glory. Boon. On his bike. Helmet in the crook of his arm, white teeth gleaming in the sun, blonde hair bouncing rays of sunlight, a picture-perfect moment. My heart was full. My jaw dropped. I giggled like a schoolgirl. I can’t ever remember being happier in my entire life. I looked down at my phone.
Come and see, the text read.
I remember the feel of the hot cement and street against my bare feet. I remember the glare of the sun off Boon’s helmet. I remember the heat of his leather jacket, the smell of his sweat, his stubble scratching my chin as we kissed. I remember, I remember, I remember.
And I remember my parents’ shocked faces when I turned around and saw they had followed me to meet Boon. I remember my mother’s bemused my look, my father’s narrowed eyes and sneer. I remember my father suddenly disappearing into the house as my mother laughed at me. I remember turning back to Boon, apologizing.
“My parents…” I said.
“I don’t care, don’t apologize.”
“How did you find me?”
“I have my ways.”
We were locked in each other’s eyes, each other’s embrace. We were filled with each other, in that moment. It was a perfect moment.
“What’s your last name, kid,” I suddenly heard from behind me. It was Dad, I could tell that without needing to turn around. What made me turn around was the sudden look of fear that came over Boon’s face. I tried to take everything in at once. My mother running across the lawn, my father’s face looking like pure hatred, the gun in his hand, the gun he was pointing at Boon.
“Dad! Stop! This is…” I said, throwing my hands up to protect Boon, who was staring straight back at my father.
“What’s your fucking last name,” Dad repeated, using his Sheriff’s voice. The voice that meant business. Serious, serious business.
To be continued….
Next in this series...
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A COLD STEEL MC NOVELLA
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MY OTHER TITLES
You can find all my other books at the link below. If you liked this story, I’m sure you’ll like “Rough Love”. For something a bi
t steamier, I recommend “Taken by Bikers”.
OTHER TITLES
ROUGH LOVE
(A RATTLESNAKE MC NOVEL)
She's the target. He's the captor. Neither of them ever planned to fall in love.
Gunner is the leader of the Rattlesnake MC. The gang's latest plan is to kidnap the daughter of a rich man and demand a ransom, and it goes off without a hitch. But then he runs into a problem he never predicted - falling in love. Serena is the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, and he'll stop at nothing to have her.
Serena is a rich girl with no love in her life. Her father has been emotionally abusive for her whole life, and she's always looking for ways to get back at him for it. She feels a deep attraction the moment Gunner pulls the bag off her head, but he's the man who turned her life upside down. She'll never give in to her urges.
Will Gunner be forced to expose his sensitive side to win over Serena? Will Serena be able to resist?
TAKEN BY BIKERS
Sara's boyfriend thinks it'll be fun to spend the night at the town biker bar, but it turns out she's a lot more welcome than he is. After a rough biker stands up for her during a fight with her boyfriend, Sara finds herself unable to stay away from him, and she'll do anything or anybody to keep him.
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