by Delisa Lynn
When Nina pulls in the driveway, I pick Sal up and take all his things out to the car. Tears well up in my eyes. I knew this wasn’t going to be as easy as I wanted it to be. Locking eyes with my best friend, I break. She runs to me as my knees hit the ground.
“I’m here, baby, I’m here. You don’t have to go. You can move in with me.” She cries into my hair.
“I have to go. I can’t stay. There are just too many memories. Too much has happened, Nina.” I hug her tight. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I would have never survived if it wasn’t for you. You were the only one that was there for me through everything. You are the only one that knows my story. I love you so much. Promise you’ll come visit?” I know, in my heart, I’m doing the right thing.
“I’ll always be here for you. You’re a survivor and you’ll love Cali. Hell, if I didn’t have my business, I’d come with you.” She owns Nina’s Fine Designs. She’s an amazing designer. I know she can’t up and re-route her life because mine is a mess.
“No, this is your home. I better get on the road. It’s going to be a long drive.”
“Take this.” She places a gun in my hand. “It’s registered to you. I already took care of it all.”
“What?” I push it back toward her and shake my head. “I can’t take this.”
“It’s yours, love. I bought it and Daddy helped me with all the paperwork. You have to register it in California, too. Be careful. There are some crazies out there. Call me.” She pushes me toward the car door.
“I love you.” I kiss her cheek and slide into my seat. I look back at Nina and see her crying. I know she is worried. I’ve done this once. I can do it again.
“Sal, we got this,” I whisper. I tap the GPS and enter the address of my new place in California. It’s going to be a long drive, but I’m ready to start it. Summer just started and I’m sure the weather will be perfect. I look over at my road dog, Sal, and smile. We got this.
Chapter Three
Ashton
“That’s it, Felicia, right there. Take all of me,” I say as I thrust into her mouth, my hand gripping the base of her neck.
Retreating a little, she murmurs as she nibbles on the sensitive flesh of my cock, “Please, fuck me already.” Her breath tickles a little. I tighten my grip around her hair and guide her back to her task.
“I’ve told you before, this or nothing.”
She continues sucking my dick. Feeling my release building, I fuck her mouth harder. With my hands on either side of her head, I fill her mouth. She swallows every ounce.
“Now I’ll have to go home and take care of myself,” she whines, crossing her arms.
“Guess so. Look, I told you I wasn’t fucking you. You’re the one that begged to suck my dick. More than once, you’ve asked to just have my cock in your mouth.” Yeah, I’m an ass. No way in hell am I fucking this bitch. I adjust myself and zip my jeans up. “You can go now.”
Her eyes grow as big as golf balls. “I know, but I thought—” I cut her words off by throwing my hand up. “But...” she retorts as I open the door.
“Bye, Felicia.” I motion toward the bathroom door of the shop. She turns on her heels and slams the door. I laugh as I walk out and notice that Toom is in the break room.
“You still didn’t fuck her, did you?” he asks, making a cup of coffee.
“Nope, not going to either.” I scratch my chin. “Why don’t we go out tonight?”
“That sounds good. School starts next week and I have a feeling I won’t be doing much after that. With Sadie being almost nine months pregnant, I’ve been taking care of the other kids. I’m ready for the bike fest, though.”
“Let’s just get a few drinks tonight. AJ is at my parents’ house. I’ll pick him up this weekend, after the bike fest. Christa is trying to start shit again. Considering we’ve been divorced months now, you’d think she would just leave us alone. She’s made it clear she doesn’t want anything to do with junior anyways.” I sigh as I think about the nightmares my son has had because of his mother. She’s destroying him and doesn’t care.
“She’s trash, Ellis. You know you could have done way better than her. Hell, Felicia is better than her.” He chuckles. “Okay, let’s meet at Storms when you finish.”
“Ahh, you got jokes, huh? All right, I’ll call Kade and see if he wants to go.”
***
My phone rings just as I turn my bike off. My blood starts boiling as soon as I see the number across the screen.
“What?” I answer loudly.
“Hey, handsome!” She sighs. “I need some money. These guys are going to kill me if I don’t pay them.”
“I have no money to give to you,”
Her hideous laugh rings through my ears. “Yeah, the day you run out of money will never come. Can I meet you at the shop?”
“No, I’m not giving you a dime. I know you used the money I gave you to take AJ out for yourself. You didn’t even take your son out to lunch. I’m done, Christa, done.”
“You’re a dick, you know that? I hate you, Ashton Ellis.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Now quit calling me.” I turn the phone off. Climbing off my bike, I stretch my neck and stroll inside.
Storms isn’t normally busy. It’s a nice, quiet bar, for the most part. I like to come here, have a few drinks, and shoot a couple rounds of pool. I see Storm at the bar. She’s an older lady, maybe mid-forties. She must’ve been one hot biker chick back in her day. She’s still feisty. I can only imagine how she was back then.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite Ellis. How are you? You didn’t bring any trouble with you tonight, did ya?” Storm asks, hugging me.
I throw my head back and groan. “Not tonight, doll. I hope that check covered all the damage my ex-wife caused,” I say with a wink. Christa saw my bike here the last time I came and caused a scene. She broke some tables and trashed the place. I know she was high. It took Kade and Liam hours to calm my beast ass down.
“Yes, you didn’t owe me that much, Ashton. Drinks are on the house tonight. Have fun, boys.” She smiles at Kade, Toom, Taz and Liam, who all just walked in.
We sit at our normal table and wait for the waitress to take our drink order. I’m ready for a few beers. Work has been busy. I’ve had more clients this week than I’ve had the last two months. It’s summer, though. Everyone wants new ink. One of my clients wanted a back piece that took me six hours just to do the outline. I know it’ll take days to finish, but that’s okay. I love doing large pieces like that.
“Guys, drinks are on the house tonight. Do you want a round of bottles?” The small blonde asks as she approaches us. She’s pretty hot. She has legs that go on for days. Her ass is perfect.
We all look at each other and nod. I speak up and say, “That’s fine. We’ll take a round of shots too.” I need to let loose.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” She smiles.
“Man, she has a nice ass.” Kade whistles. I smile because I was thinking the same thing. I need a piece of ass. I’ve been banging one of Megan’s friends, Lacy. Her husband died last year. We met at a get together. Our relationship is strictly sex and she knows it. For me to settle down again, it’s going to take someone perfect in every way. She also has to meet the expectations of my son.
“Dude, Megan would have your balls if she saw you checking someone else out,” Liam jokes.
“She hasn’t put a ring on this hand,” Kade says, holding his hand up. “Until she does, I can look. No harm in checking out a nice ass.”
“See what I have to deal with all day long, every day?” I motion toward Kade. “This dude never stops. Last week, he and Megan had a quickie in his office at Ellis Investigations.” I see the waitress round the corner with our drinks. “And I heard every moan and thrust.”
“Let me know if y’all need anything else.” She winks as she sets the drinks down.
“Kade, you have some drool right there.” Toom points to Kade’s mouth.
Laughing, I look around the room until my eyes land on a tanned hottie with the deepest sea-blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Her long black hair sparkles in the light. I feel my heart skip a beat. She looks tired. She’s sitting at the bar alone.
Our eyes lock. She licks her lips and I swear I feel my dick twitch. I take a sip of my beer and watch her. I’ve never been a shy guy, but something in me wants to run the other way while the real me wants to check her out, find out who she is.
Her hair is flowing down her back. She’s wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a tight, black tank top with red heels. Red fuck me heels. Fuck it, I’m going to get this beauty’s name. Those heels would look great hanging over my shoulder tonight.
“I’ll be back,” I say to the guys. They all nod and laugh. “I can’t pass that hot ass up.”
I sit next to beautiful eyes and grab a few of the peanuts from the bowl in front of me. She looks over and smiles. I don’t see a ring on her hand. The freckles across her nose are so light you can barely see them. Her blue eyes are bloodshot. I need to find out who she is. She is definitely worth getting to know. I wink when she catches me staring.
“What’s a pretty girl like you doing in this bar all alone?” I ask as I lean closer to her.
She turns my way and smiles. “Drinking my sorrows away. I just moved here. I was looking for a place to have a good cold drink. It’s hotter here than I thought it would be.” She smiles. “Ansley. I’m from Little Rock.”
“Yeah, it gets pretty hot here. June isn’t as bad as August, though.” I take a swig of my beer and reach my hand out. “Ashton.” I place her small hand in mine and kiss the top of it. “I’m from here.”
“Nice to meet you, Ashton. Maybe you can show me around sometime?” she asks, nervously peeling the label from her beer.
“Yes, ma’am, born and raised. I grew up about an hour away, in the valley.” I chuckle. “But it’s home,” I say, popping peanuts in my mouth. I watch her mouth as she speaks. Her lips are perfect. They are painted with red lipstick.
“I needed a fresh start and this seemed like it would be the best place to start over. So, you’re a valley man?”
I nod and smile. “Kids?” I ask.
“Nope, a dog.” She wiggles a little. “He thinks he’s human.”
“Most of them do. I need to get my son one. I have a seven-year-old. He thinks he’s sixteen.” I laugh and see something in her eyes change.
Her smile completely fades and her eyes dip. “Please excuse me for a second. I need to go to the ladies room.” Looking for the restroom, she hops to her feet and disappears. I’ve never seen red heels move so fast.
While waiting to see if she’ll return, I watch the guys shoot some pool and try to think of what I said that could’ve possibly bothered her. A few minutes later, a smiling Ansley sits next to me.
“Sorry about that. You shoot pool?” she asks, nodding to the pool area.
“Yes, you?” I ask, sitting my beer down.
“Hell yeah, I love pool.” Her smile is back. “Wanna play?”
“Sure.” I lead her to the pool table. The guys don’t take their eyes off of us. I just flash them a shit-eating grin. This woman is fucking gorgeous.
“I’m pretty good, ya know.” She giggles. Her laugh is cute. “In college, I was a pro.”
“What kind of work do you do? Please don’t tell me you’re a pool hustler.” I raise my eyebrow as I grab a pool cue and chalk it. I watch as she does the same. I pull some quarters from my pocket and insert them into the slot on the table. I lay a few more on the ledge.
She’s short. Even with her heels, she only comes up to my breast bone. I’m huge compared to her tiny frame. I sit the chalk back on the ledge and watch her closely. She adds a little chalk to her cue. She stumbles a little, then leans in toward me.
Placing her polished nail into my chest, she looks up into my eyes. “Nope, a teacher.” She winks and says, “I’m going to teach you that short girls can play pool.”
I scratch the scruff on my face and reach for the triangle to rack the balls. I give it a twirl around my pointy finger. “Let’s see what you got, shorty,” I say, racking the balls.
“Green ball, corner pocket.” She winks.
“Go for it.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, she knocks the green ball in the corner pocket.
Ansley: 1, Ashton: 0
I motion for Kade to bring us more drinks. He sits two beers in front of me. I watch as Ansley concentrates on the game. All I can think about is those sea-blue eyes. I know they can’t be contacts. No way.
“You’re up, big boy,” she says, hitting her hip into mine.
I sit my beer down and lean into her ear. I can feel her tense up a little. I place my hand on her hip and she molds into me. “I think we both know I’m going to win.”
I place my cue stick on the edge of the table and look at the blue-eyed beauty watching my every move. “Six in left corner,” I say. I shoot my cue toward the striped ball. And I miss. Fuck.
Ansley tilts her head and pokes me in the chest. “You suck!” she taunts. “I think it’s cute that you thought you’d beat me. After this, you can show me your dance moves.”
“Darling, I’ll show you any move you want,” I tease as I lean into her.
This goes on for a good two hours. She beats my ass every time. She also drinks a lot. She seems to be pretty steady on her feet. I’ve never been so interested in a stranger. By now, all the guys have met her and are giving me shit because she has kicked my ass in not one, but three fucking games of pool.
“Dance with me.” She grabs my hand. We walk over to a corner of the bar. It isn’t very large, so there’s no dance floor. The lyrics of ‘3 am’ by Matchbox Twenty are playing. “I love this band.” She leans against my chest.
I pull her hips into me as far as I can. She smells good, like a mixture of peaches and flowers. You’d think she smelled like cigarettes and booze. Her head is resting on my chest. I sit my chin on top of it. I’m trying like hell to keep my dick in my pants.
“You’re beautiful, you know,” I whisper. The song stops and she doesn’t move. Her hands are still wrapped around my neck.
“It’s three in the morning. Can you please make me forget, just tonight,” she says meekly.
“Forget what, shorty?” I ask, a little confused.
“All of it.” Without moving her head, she continues. “I normally don’t do this. There’s a lot of stuff I want to forget and one night with you will help. Take me, fuck me until my brain is so cloudy I forget my name but remember yours. Just tonight, please.”
“I think you’ve had a lot to drink. I wouldn’t feel right. Now, trust me, I’ve done that plenty of times. But you, I can’t do that to you.”
She lifts her head and I see tears in her eyes. The blue has been replaced with red. “I better go,” she whispers.
I try to pull her closer to me. “I’ll take you home. You’ve had way too much to drink.”
“I’ll take a cab.” She stumbles back and disappears. I need to find her. Standing here like a goddamn idiot certainly isn’t helping.
I rush to the door and don’t see her anywhere outside. The parking lot is fairly empty. I look around at what few cars are here and still see no sign of Ansley. I lean up against my bike and run my hand through my hair.
“Fuck,” I mumble.
***
“I can’t believe you didn’t get her number. She seemed very interested in you.” Toom smacks me in the back of the head. “You’re a fucking P.I., dude. Look her ass up!”
“I know. She didn’t ask me for mine and I was so blown away by that damn pool game, I forgot. I don’t even know her last name, but I’m sure there aren’t many Ansley’s here,” I say, raking my hands over my face. “She asked me to help her forget and I lost my thoughts.”
“You haven’t seen her the last two nights you’ve been there? And you shot her down? Dude, no wonder she ran out so fast. Seriously, when we get back, look her up.”
“Nope, I even asked Storm and she said she’d only seen her the one time. I couldn’t have sex with her. She seemed broken, like something happened. She was so sad.”
“That sucks, man. Come on, we’re going to be late,” he says, locking the door.
I pull my phone out of my pocket. “I’ll text Kade and see if he can locate her for me.”
“Good thinking, brother.”
We’re headed to Vegas for the weekend. It’s bike fest. I’m meeting Lacy as soon as I get back. I need some ass.
My mind goes back to Ansley as soon as I climb on my bike. I can still hear her laugh and the way my name rolled off her tongue when she said it. When we danced, I saw the lust in her eyes. She wanted me, but I held back. After three games of pool and two dances, she walked out and I was so hung up on her words, I didn’t get her damn number. Focusing back on the road, I follow Toom as we head out to meet the rest of the guys.
***
Ansley
I’ve been in Cali less than two weeks and I miss Nina already. A few nights ago, I needed a drink. I went to a bar and I ended up having an amazing time. I met a guy and he was hot. God, was he hot. I’ve never been so attracted to someone like him. He had colorful ink that shadowed his tanned arms, light brown hair, green eyes that sparkled in the light and dimples that would make a nun come.
He shot me down. I asked him to come home with me and he wouldn’t. I was shocked at my words and that he actually said no. I ran out of the bar so damn fast. I called the cab that had dropped me off and the same lady picked me up.
I went for my vibrator as soon as my feet hit my bedroom floor. I haven’t had sex since Morris left me, and I hadn’t really thought of it until the other night, when I saw Ashton. He set everything in me on fire. His laugh made me feel warm and fuzzy. When he mentioned how old his son is, I freaked a little. I had to step away and clear my thoughts. After that, the night was amazing. He didn’t ask for my number, so I’m assuming he didn’t have as good of a time as I did.