by Stacey Lynn
As we walked back to the truck, Jimmy pulled my phone out of his pocket. It was off, but I knew by the pink case that it was mine. He flipped it mindlessly in his hands and I waited, walking next to him, until we reached the truck.
He took his previous, casual leaning stance against the back of the truck with his ankles crossed. He tossed my phone from one hand of his to the other.
Johnny didn’t look at me when he started talking; his eyes scanned the parking lot and the people who wandered around us. He was thinking, but he was alert to our surroundings, too.
“Told Finn last night I think we should draw Moscoe out.”
It took me a minute to understand what he meant, but then he handed the phone to me. “You want me to call him?”
He shrugged. “Not a bad idea, actually. I was thinking something less obvious.”
“Like what?”
“Your boss got your message the other day about quitting. He’s left a half dozen messages on your phone, calling to check in and see if you’re okay. I was thinking we turn the GPS on, and you give him a call. Talk to him, calm him down. You can reassure him you’re okay and you know about your house, and if you stay on the phone long enough, it’ll give Moscoe a reading of where you are.”
My heart skipped a beat. And then a few more.
“You want to use me as bait.”
“Funny,” he said and ran a hand through his hair. “That’s exactly what Finn said.”
He pinned me with a look I didn’t like all that much while he silently compared me and Finn to each other.
I licked my lips and looked around.
The idea was crazy. Possibly stupid, really.
“There’s only two of you. What if Moscoe brings a crew of men? You can’t guarantee Brayden’s safety.”
“He’ll only be looking for you, though. I’m sure he knows you’re with some of us, but he’ll strike to get you and get away as fast as possible, I figure. He’s not going to show up with more men than he needs. He’s too smooth for that.”
A lump lodged in my throat and my pulse raced. My skin chilled even as the sun beat down on us, warming my arms and cheeks.
“How?” I asked, my voice dry. I swallowed but it didn’t help. “What do you want me to do? Call him at the house?”
“No. Call him in town so he can’t pin us down. I figure by tomorrow night, he’ll be crawling the bars and restaurants, looking for any sign of you.”
“That’s…that’s a good idea,” I said, and for the first time since Brayden got that letter at school and my last meeting with Moscoe, a small sense of control, or power, began filling my veins. I could do this. I could help end this so Brayden and I could move on.
I could finally stop running and hiding and expecting other people to protect us.
I was also impressed with the way Johnny thought. I understood why it’d make Finn mad—there were risks involved, too. But not enough to make this idea the worst one in history.
“Okay.” I reached out my hand, and he slid the phone into my palm. “I’ll do it.”
* * *
“Hell,” Finn groaned, pushing himself off the couch. “Took you guys long enough.”
“Plenty to bring in, too, if you want to help.” I shot him a smile, trying as hard as I could to not shake under the weight of his narrowed eyes, and headed to the kitchen. “Where’s Brayden?”
“Napping. Kid passed out after we fished.”
My nose twitched at the term ‘kid.’ I didn’t know if Finn realized how disgusted he sounded when he said it, but it was way past the point of irritating.
“His name’s Brayden,” I clipped and looked away. I needed a drink. Between Finn making my head spin and my earlier phone call, I was wired too tight.
Finn huffed and started pulling on his black boots. Once done, he began heading outside just as Johnny walked through the doors carrying handfuls of plastic shopping sacks.
He arched his eyebrows and stared at me. “There’s still more?”
“Yup.” I nodded and looked away.
If he looked too close, he’d figure out what I just did. I was always a crappy liar and I knew one wrong fidget, one wrong nervous twitch, and Finn would become suspicious.
I had done it.
It was possibly stupid and I was still reeling from the conversation with Todd. He’d been understandably upset—not about me quitting, but about my house and his inability to find me or get ahold of me.
I was hoping that five-minute phone call had done two things—calmed Todd so he wouldn’t worry about me anymore, and had been just long enough so that in case Moscoe had somehow tapped his office lines knowing I’d call at some point, we were now traceable.
After I hung up, Johnny turned off the GPS, removed the SIM card from my phone, and then dropped it to the pavement and crushed it under the heel of his boot in the SuperValu parking lot.
Then we picked up the pieces we could and tossed them out the window on the way back to the house.
I wasn’t a fan of littering, but considering it could help save my life, I was willing to overlook it for the time being.
Johnny came up next to me and set the bags down. “Stay calm. We’ll tell him later, but we let him know too soon and he’ll call the club. If Moscoe shows up in town and gets any inkling that everyone’s in town, he’ll wait ’em out.”
“I know that,” I hissed through clenched teeth. We’d been over the plan for the last thirty minutes.
Knowing what we were doing didn’t help my nerves, though.
With shaking hands, I reached for a wine glass and a bottle. Just one glass to calm my nerves. I figured it’d take an hour to unload and put away all the food we bought. By the time I did that and then made dinner, I’d be smooth like molasses.
Or something.
I was also a liar, because hours after the groceries were put away, when we all sat down for dinner, my fingers continued to tap mindlessly against the table between every bite of gumbo I’d made for everyone.
Chicken and sausage gumbo like my mama taught me to make when I was barely old enough to be in front of a stove in the first place.
I hated it when the memories came from out of nowhere. They’d turned their backs on me as soon as I’d ended up pregnant and married. They had never liked Byron, never thought he was good enough for me, and getting knocked up was the final straw. I hadn’t seen them in years.
As the memories, the stress, the lie I was trying so hard to hide came rushing down on me, my chin quivered and I blinked, fighting back tears.
“Mom?”
My wet eyes turned to Brayden and I sniffed.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, baby.” I sniffed again and rubbed my nose. “Sauce is just spicy tonight.”
I needed to get ahold of myself. Flashing Brayden a fake smile, I reached out and rubbed his hair. “Mom’s good. I promise.”
He looked like he didn’t believe me but eventually he went back to eating. It was his favorite meal.
It was everyone’s favorite meal.
Oddly, the man I’d wanted to impress with my cooking had been completely silent. A complete one-eighty from his typical groans of goodness when he shoveled my food into his mouth.
I could feel him staring at me, though, watching me.
I dropped my head and continued eating. No one said anything for the rest of the meal. It was the most awkward, silent dinner I’d ever shared outside the last meal I’d had with my parents when Byron and I had told them we were having a baby.
And that wasn’t a night I wanted to relive ever again.
Shaking my head, I pushed back my chair. The tension in the room was too thick and I couldn’t sit there anymore under weighted gazes trying to figure out what everyone was doing.
With a sudden scratch of my chair on linoleum, three sets of male eyes widened and stared at me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled and slid my empty bowl onto the counter. “I’m going outside for a minute.”
I turned on my heel and hurried outside, not even caring that I’d just acted like a fool.
Nothing made sense anymore.
20 Finn
As soon as the door slammed, my head snapped to look at Johnny. “What the hell happened in town today?”
“You shouldn’t say that, it’s a bad word.”
I scoffed, tossed a smile toward Brayden. “Don’t tell your mom, okay?”
His terrified little blue eyes went to the door. Damn. With one sad look the kid had me feeling bad.
I pushed my chair back and stood up. “I’ll go check on her, you stay here, okay?”
I ruffled Brayden’s hair. Something warm spiked into my chest when instead of pushing my hand away like he did to Meg, he leaned closer.
Damn. The kid was pretty cool. He hadn’t even bugged me while fishing, and not only had I spent the day not annoyed, I’d actually laughed a little bit. Smiled more, too.
In fact, I had smiled more this week than I could ever remember smiling.
No wonder my cheeks felt stiff and sore when I walked out the back door where Meg had headed. I found her down on the dock, her arms wrapped around her stomach and her head tilted back to the sky like she was trying to soak in the last of the day’s sun.
My sun angel.
It fit her. Bright. Pure. So hot she burned your fuckin’ retinas if you stared at her too long.
“You okay?” I asked and stepped onto the dock slowly.
Meg heaved a breath and her hands fell to her sides. “Yeah…all of this has been too much to take in. I think it finally caught up to me at dinner.”
“We’ll find Moscoe.”
She stiffened, keeping her back to me. I instantly scowled, wanting—needing—to see her face. See her reaction. Something else was going on.
“It’s not just him,” she finally said and looked at me over shoulder. With a slight rise and dip of her shoulders, she ran her hands through her hair. “It’s everything. My house, my job, my life. Brayden.”
She shook her head.
I thought about giving her space. Then I figured fuck it. In two large strides, I was behind her, my arms wrapped around her waist and my chin on the top of her head.
She snuggled right up next to me, and I felt the hitch in her breath.
“Whenever we leave here, I have to start over with everything. I used to have Byron, you know, and these parents that weren’t the best, but weren’t horrible either. And I’ve slowly lost all of them. Now I’ve lost my home and my job, and I have no idea where to go.”
“You’ve got people that care about you in Jasper Bay.”
Me.
I didn’t say it. The word lodged in my throat and I cleared it, but it didn’t take away the dryness or the scratchy, uncomfortable feeling. “Ryker, Faith—you know they’d do anything to help you.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
The sadness in her voice pained me. I could have spoken up then, said something, made more promises I wasn’t sure I could keep. But the words “I care” were stuck somewhere down, too far deep to pull out when I needed them.
I dropped my hands to hers and tugged her, spinning her around. “Let’s make a campfire, Brayden asked for more marshmallows earlier.”
Her lips quirked into a grin—the first genuine one I’d seen all day.
She nodded, and I led her to the fire pit where we quietly worked together to gather kindling and firewood.
* * *
“You taste so damn sweet.” I lifted my eyes but kept my tongue swirling around her tight center. Meg’s skin was flushed, her lips parted and her head tipped back so I couldn’t see her eyes.
But she loved what I was doing. Her hips shifted when I paused, seeking my mouth, and I pulled back, teasing her.
Her hand digging into my scalp tightened. She was so damn greedy. Needy. Wanting. I licked her entire slit, giving her just a taste. I wanted to sink my mouth into her and eat her for hours. She tasted as sweet as the rest of her skin.
“Finn,” she hissed into the air. “Stop teasing me.”
I chuckled, my breath vibrating her clit, and her hips arched into my palms.
I pressed her into the mattress, exactly where I wanted her. Not exactly.
The vision of her sprawled out on my bed in the club came to mind. Where I could tie her up or tie her down. Have her at my disposal whenever I wanted her.
“You want more?”
“Yes!”
I couldn’t resist. I might have been driving her crazy, but she hadn’t yet reached the insanity I felt inside me. I’d already come once deep inside her, but my dick wanted more.
I wanted more.
Dipping my head, I quit the teasing and started giving her everything I could. As she squirmed and bucked wildly beneath me, I used my tongue, my mouth, and my fingers to show her that I could give her something good.
I was all take and destroy, but I cared about her, in my own way, and because I knew the words would never be easy to say, I needed to use the abilities I had.
“Hell,” I groaned as two fingers pressed into her. Her pussy clamped around them, and I wanted it to be my dick. But I needed her to come first. I wanted my face dripping with her juices so I would taste her hours after we were done.
My tongue licked and laved her pussy before I settled on her clit again. I swirled my tongue around the tight bud of nerves before I sucked it into my mouth, flicking it with my tongue, and bit down.
“Finn!” she hissed again, and her hips thrashed against me.
She was so damn wild. I thought about stopping to videotape her, but then I thought of one of my brothers getting ahold of it someday and the thought drove me insane.
I would be the only man who saw Meg come undone.
Ever.
What the hell?
I pushed the thought of forever out of my head, squeezed her hips, and pushed my fingers into her, curving and manipulating her sensitive, hot flesh from the inside.
And then I smiled as her cries became gasps, her hips began trembling, and her fucking gorgeous soft thighs clamped down around my ears.
Her ass arched off the bed, straight against my mouth, and I fucking relished the way she ground her pussy against my chin while her orgasm ravaged her.
Mine.
“Need inside you,” I told her, rolling on a condom and not waiting for an answer.
Now I could be selfish. Now I could take what I wanted from her.
“Finn,” she whispered, her voice breathless. One of her hands draped over her eyes and I pushed it away as I climbed over her. “I don’t think I can go again.”
“Sounds like a challenge to me,” I joked, arching a brow. And damn. Since when had sex been fun? Especially missionary. It was a way to unload. Always.
But not tonight.
I didn’t take the time to figure out what that meant, either, as I held my cock with one hand, sliding it through her wetness. It seeped out of her pussy and trailed along her thighs. I wanted her all over me.
I wanted me all over her.
“Fine,” she said and lifted her hips, accepting my dick. God. Her pussy walls tightened around me instantly and I had to stop to get my control back. “Do your worst.”
I chuckled and bent over her on one elbow, slowly seating myself balls-deep inside her. She had no idea what my worst was. What it could be. But I’d show her when we had more time.
And in a place where we didn’t have to muffle her screams.
I brushed hair off her cheeks and leaned down, kissing her throat. Her delicate muscles worked and I smiled as another whimper escaped her, vibrating against my lips.
I pulled out and then pushed into her fast and hard until I pushed her up the bed. Fuck the control. I’d never shown any before, and Meg had always been able to take what I gave her.
I leaned off her, loving the way her tits shook and moved as I began rocking into her. Her thighs pressed tightly against the outside of mine, her feet braced against the bed, taking
me. Reaching for her hands, I brought them over her head and held her down, my hands fisted around her small wrists.
And damn it felt like the most amazing thing in the world, her body pressed against mine, her eyes locked on mine.
Jesus. I was falling for her.
I ducked my head so she couldn’t see the mess of emotions pounding ferociously against my chest, but it only put my eyes on her tits.
I bent down and played with her nipple, sucking and licking, and then paid the same attention to the other side with a slight bite at the end. Her pussy clamped when I bit and I soothed her nipple with my tongue before doing it again.
“You like this. You like it when I bite you, when I get so insane I want to mark you.”
“Yes,” she whimpered. “I love it all.”
“So fuckin’ wild for me, aren’t you?”
I rolled my hips and felt some sort of victory when she began moaning—breathy little gasps that signaled she was close again.
Out. In. Harder. Faster. I did it all and watched her shake beneath me. Her hands gripped the sheets but I smiled at her.
I was smiling during sex. It was insane.
“You’re going to come again.”
“Hurry,” she said. Her hands fought to get free, but I tightened my grip. “I need…”
I rocked into her, feeling the end of her, and watched as my dick slid in and out. The sound of flesh and her slick come roared like thunder in my ears.
Mark her. Make her yours. Consequences be damned.
My balls coiled tight and heat speared my spine as I fought to hold back until I flew her over the edge again.
It didn’t take long before she threw her head back and her pussy walls began convulsing around me.
I held on just long enough to ride out her orgasm and then I pulled out, let go of her hands, ripped off the condom…
And fucking came all over her.
Her eyes flew open as I started jerking myself, the first spurts hitting her chest and stomach, pooling in and around her belly button.