“How is your new helping hand? You’re not working him too hard, I hope?” Grace called, as she fought the smoke billowing from Dennis’s burning bacon.
“Well, he’s a bit of an acquired taste, that kid,” Dennis chuckled. “One hell of a mechanic, though. Knows his way around a vehicle and doesn’t need to be told twice how to do something, if at all. Took a little while, but he’s warming up. Anyway, he’s just finishing a cigarette outside. You can judge for yourself when he comes in. And we all know how you ladies like to judge.”
“Hush,” Grace said to him as she passed me the plate of burned bacon.
Before I even turned around, I felt a presence walk through the door. It was as if the room had been filled, but I couldn’t see what with. As I set Dennis’s plate in front of him, two massive, grease streaked hands gripped the counter and slid the body attached to them onto the stool behind it. I could see his forearms ripple underneath the tattoos as he leaned in. He spoke to Dennis, but he looked at me. I didn’t look back.
“Goddamn, Denny, you didn’t tell me this town had girls that looked like this. I would’ve been in here for breakfast every day. What’s your name, sweetheart?”
I was almost afraid to look up to see who, or what, was sitting in front of me. Not because of the catcalling. Being a waitress anywhere, let alone a small town, gives you some pretty thick skin, not much phases me, but because I could already tell that this guy was different. I felt something, I don’t know why, but I knew he had a darkness and a power behind him that I had never come across in my life.
“I thought waitresses were supposed to be all chatty and shit? Can I at least grab a coffee off you, darling? Unless you got a beer you want to throw my way. That’d be all right, hey, Denny? A little breakfast of champions?” He patted Dennis on the back and grabbed his shoulder.
While this sounded like the usual jackass with an ego and a drinking problem that I was used to shrugging off, there was something behind his words that felt forced. It was almost as if he was playing a role. Regardless, I learned long ago not to give this behavior any more time or attention than it deserved. Just keep your head down and do your job, that’s what I told myself, and they take the hint eventually. This guy would too, if I kept my cool. I kept my eyes focused elsewhere and calmly walked to the coffee maker and poured him a cup. I could feel his eyes burning into the back of me, and I tried to shake the feeling it gave me.
I poured the coffee with my back to the counter, and whispered, just to myself, “this is all you’re getting off me, so just keep talking your big talk.”
I realized I was saying it to convince myself.
Dennis cleared his throat. “We do our drinking off the clock, Hunter, but I’ll be happy to put that coffee on my tab. You had a hell of a first week, boy. And ladies, don’t let this guy get to you. Like I said, he’s an acquired taste. And as for you, boy, let go of my shoulder. What are we using vice grips for when you’ve got those things?”
“Ah, Denny I’m only trying to get a rise out of the girls here. My apologies, sweetheart, if I offended your delicate self.”
“My name’s Kelly, not sweetheart. Here’s your coffee,” I said firmly, as I placed the coffee down, trying not to give this guy anything else to work with.
But the harder I fought, the more I felt it. That power he had over me, the feeling he gave me in the pit of my stomach, just by his mere presence. What was happening? Why was I letting him get under my skin? I hadn’t even allowed myself to look at his face yet. I slowly let my eyes rise from the cup of coffee on the counter, to see his hard chest and broad shoulders, hugged by a white tank top stained from a morning’s work. The shirt wrapped the body so tightly I could see every angle and ridge underneath, and I found myself wishing I could run my fingers over them and take them in with my touch. I snapped back to reality quickly enough to gather myself and keep my feet on the ground.
Get a hold of yourself, Kelly. What are you, fourteen?
Almost as if he sensed my new found grip on myself, the man stood up. It was as if he wanted to show me just how much his body dwarfed mine. As if he was reminding me that he could knock me off balance at any time. My eyes shot back to the countertop and it was all I could do to keep them there and not look up.
And then, a rippling, tattooed arm reached out to shake my hand. I wanted to back away from it. I could smell the mix of sweat, cigarettes, and oil that poured out of him and washed over me. I felt my knees start to shake and my stomach flutter. What was this? Was I getting sick?
“I’m only clowning you, Kelly. You’re wound pretty tight, hey?”
My glance rose further and I finally saw the man standing in front of me in all his glory. His overalls slung down covering his lower half. His stained tank top clung to abs and a chest that didn’t have one angle out of place. Intricate tattoos covered every inch of skin I could see on his arms. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and something inside me clenched. When I took his hand, it was as if he passed some sort of electric current from his body into mine. It shot through my arms and into my entire body. My head felt light and I only hoped I wasn’t blushing.
As my eyes rose again, I saw his strong jaw and the thin layer of rough hair that covered it. I knew I had to meet his eyes with mine, but part of me felt so weakened by his touch that I didn’t know if I could do it. I felt powerless. When I finally lifted my gaze, everything I was feeling seemed to explode, bringing a rush of heat that swept over my whole body. Every sense I had fired at the same time and I was motionless. His eyes were bluer than anything I had ever seen and had an intensity behind them that made my thighs quiver in anticipation. Of what, I didn’t know, but I wanted it.
As his rough hand swallowed mine, he stared into me as if he knew every flurry of excitement, every tingle of nervousness, that was passing through me. It was as if he could sense the strange dance of fear and anticipation that was building up inside me, beyond my control. I didn’t care. I’d spent too long being in control of myself. I’d spent too long being the perfect girl for everyone else. This was something different, something strange and new, and I didn’t want it to end. Still holding my hand inside his, his gaze sending a shockwave through me, he spoke as if I was the only person in the room. No, the only person in the whole world.
“My apologies, honey. I’m Hunter.”
Chapter 3
Hunter
THE TROUBLE WITH LAYING LOW is that you have to blend in like you’re just any other clown in whatever nothing town you’re in. Maybe that’s just how some people are and that’s why it looks so easy, but it’s not me. I don’t look for attention, I just get it. I tried to make small talk with this chick while Denny threw back his breakfast and now somehow I was stuck offering her my hand and saying I’m sorry because she can’t take a joke. Like I’m some kind of chump. Thing is, I have to be some kind of chump if I have any chance of fitting in here, or anywhere, but it is fucking eating me. Broads. So damn sensitive. Especially the pretty ones.
When she finally looked up and took my hand, I realized she wasn’t just pretty, she was fucking beautiful. Her hair fell across her face as she raised her head and when she brushed it aside, her puppy dog eyes hit mine like headlights on a highway. I was drawn in, even though I knew I should look away. They were practically begging me to fuck her, right there. When she smiled back at me, I could feel my cock start to swell in my pants and it was all I could do not to picture her soft, supple lips wrapped around it.
Easy, fella. Keep it under control here or you’ll frighten these nice people.
“Pleased to meet you, Hunter,” she cooed.
Pleased to meet me? Where the fuck was I? Some bullshit movie from the fifties? You’re not pleased to meet me, darling. You have no idea whose hand you’re shaking, and what that hand has done.
She couldn’t see any of this though and I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her. She just stared up at me with those big puppy eyes, and I sat back down befor
e my cock stood all the way up and I had no choice but to take her over that counter, right then and there.
Get back to small talk, Hunter. And be fucking nice this time.
“So, you ladies expecting a busy day today? Old Denny here says you’ve got the best food in town.”
Better, kid. Much fucking better.
The broad in the back laughed, and Kelly just kept looking at me with those same fuck me eyes.
“This isn’t the busiest time of year, but it’s enough to keep us on our toes, right Grace?”
I wanted to get what I needed right then and there, and I wouldn’t have minded who watched. Kelly was leaning back against the wall as she relaxed. She had her arms crossed, pushing her tits up practically to her chin. She had those full-figured, juicy breasts that I’d always had a weakness for. It was as if she was challenging me to stay in my seat and not bend her over the counter in front of Denny and the lady at the grill.
And fuck me, that ass. I like curvy women. I like having something to hold onto while I pound my cock into flesh. This Kelly looked like she’d been taken right out of my fantasies, and created just to tease my cock into submission. If I could have grabbed a hold of that ass and slid my cock inside her, fuck, I could have died a happy man.
Behave, Hunter. Say something nice, you stupid fuck.
“Well, I can imagine this far into the mountains, you don’t get much traffic.”
The lady at the grill poked her head out from the kitchen. “And how did you find us, young man? On your way somewhere and just stopped? I know that accent isn’t from around here.”
“No, you’ve hit the nail on the head there, eh,” I paused.
“Grace,” she finished.
“Grace,” I repeated. “I’m from Boston originally, but decided it was time for a change. An old buddy of mine has a little cabin high up in the mountains outside of town here, a really remote little place, and I figured I could use the solitude for a while. Some fresh air, some nature, all that.”
It was bullshit. Well, most of it. There was a cabin in the mountains, but it didn’t belong to a buddy. It was empty because I had killed the motherfucker that owned it. Again, judge me all you want, but this fuck deserved to die. He was a child molester, a rapist, and rumor had it he’d even locked up his own kid in his basement once, a long time ago, and tried to get his pit bulls to eat the kid alive. You believe that shit? So I took it on myself to put a bullet in him. Call it a public fucking service. I’d heard about the guy because he started doing business in Boston with my old man. I couldn’t stand the thought of doing business with a fuck like that. Some gangster I turned out to be. I kept killing the guys I was supposed to be working with, just because I couldn’t stand the thought of them.
“And what line of work is it that you’re in?” Grace continued, fishing for more information.
“Grace, let the man enjoy his coffee,” Kelly said.
I smiled at her. It was a smile that meant business, and she knew it.
Thanks, sweetheart. I’ll spare that pussy for now as a thank you, but I can’t promise for how long.
Fuck, she looked good. She had turned to the side and thrown her hands on her hips when she talked to Grace. I could see how well her perfect ass filled out the skirt she was wearing and the long, pale legs that were holding it all up. She had the shape I liked, and I knew just what I wanted to do with it. She was sensual, a real woman, with thighs and breasts and an ass that a man like me could sink his teeth into. I wanted to wrap her legs around my waist and bury myself inside her on the spot. I wanted to see her face and hear her moan in pure ecstasy as she took all of me into her at once. I had to get the hell out of there. I had to keep myself under control. This girl, Kelly, was getting me hot under the collar.
I downed my coffee quick and grabbed my smokes from my pocket.
“Well, Grace, it was nice to see the place that Denny keeps yapping on about. Kelly, try to loosen up a bit, sweetheart. You’ll live longer.”
Loosen up a ton, because next time I get on you I won’t be mister fucking nice guy, and it won’t be quick.
“See you around, Hunter. Don’t smoke too many of those things. They’ll stunt your growth,” she replied, winking.
“Good Lord, Kelly. I don’t have much more room to go before I don’t fit through your door.”
And I’m growing for you right fucking now, darling. That’s why I’m stepping out for one of these.
That and I had to calm my nerves before I came in my goddamn pants.
“I’ll see you back at the shop, Denny. You going to be able to make it after that mess you just put in you?”
“Best mess in town, Hunter. You should try eating something yourself next time.” Denny spoke with his mouth full and I stole a last glance at Kelly while she watched him.
“Yeah, it doesn’t look like you leave much for the rest of us, pal. See you at the shop.”
I slapped him on the back and made my way to the door just as two guys came through. Neither of them looked like they belonged in the place. Dressed more for a big city than a mountain town like Stone Peak. They were in their mid-thirties, but dressed like a couple of frat boys. Acted like it too. One of them was laughing into his cell phone about some broad and walked right into me. He shot me a look like it was my fucking fault as he passed.
I will face fuck you and shove that phone up your ass, pal.
I got a hold of myself and figured if the girls here were offended by my small talk, they would surely take issue with me making murder in their restaurant. I took a deep breath and let it go.
“See you around, ladies,” I said as I swallowed my pride and took off down the street.
Fucking wannabe tough guy, putting on a show for his other wannabe tough guy friend.
I wanted to go back and show them what a real man looked like. As I stood outside the shop waiting for Denny, I realized I had let my cigarette burn to the end without taking a single drag. Why was I letting those punks get to me? I let them walk, but who gave a fuck? I wasn’t there to cause trouble, I was there to lay low for a few weeks. No sense in fucking things up and having to start this whole godawful process again.
I tried to think of Kelly and her sweet tits to distract me, but all I could picture were those two jerk-offs in her diner, giving her a hard time. So help me, if I found out they gave her or Grace a hard time, I would fucking break them.
I shook my head.
Fuck do you care, Hunter? She’s just some broad you hassled fifteen minutes ago. Fuck do you care if someone else does it?
The crazy thing was, I did care. I don’t know why, but the thought of those two fucks in there with her drove me insane. I’d only just met her, but already I knew something about her, and Grace, and even Denny, wolfing down his breakfast. They were on my side. They didn’t know it. They didn’t know me. But they were my people now. At least here in this place they were.
My people.
I let out a little laugh at myself. Maybe it’s something to do with the way I was brought into the world, but I’ve always been ferociously loyal. If you’re my people, then no one, No Fucking One, can mess with you without messing with me too. It’s in my genetics. I swear I must have been a wolf in a pack in a previous life.
I protected my people. It’s what I was brought up to do. And Kelly didn’t know it yet, but her sweet little ass was my people now, and those two jerk-offs weren’t allowed to mess with her.
I lit another cigarette and made my way back to the diner.
If you get back there and everything is fine, you’re putting this cigarette out in your own fucking eye. Got it?
I rounded the corner feeling like an idiot and glanced in the window of the diner. I put my cigarette out, but not in my eye. Everything was not fine. Kelly was not fine. And I was going to make fucking murder. To hell with the consequences.
Chapter 4
Kelly
AS SOON AS HUNTER LEFT the diner, I felt a strange sense of both re
lief and regret. The scent of him was still hanging in the air, swallowing me and making my mind blurry to what and who had just walked in and out of my life. I felt like I was in a dream and hadn’t gotten up to start my day yet. He was just like every other work-a-day guy I’d ever met, with all his cheap small talk and bravado. Except for one thing. The bravado and arrogance in his voice seemed forced. Like he was pretending to be something he was not. The man whose eyes I looked into knew who he was and what he could do to me. Or to anyone else. He wouldn’t talk about it, he would just do it. He didn’t need to talk shit. He didn’t need to talk at all, and he knew it.
I wanted him. Or did I? It was more complicated than simply lusting for him. It wasn’t a want I felt inside me, it was a need. I needed to know who he was and what he was capable of. Why was I so drawn to him? Why couldn’t I shake the image of him holding me in his strong, muscular arms? He could be any old wrench monkey with a hard body and harder head, but I knew he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. Not the way he made my head spin. I hated myself for giving him so much thought and luckily Grace snapped me back to reality.
“Kelly, guests,” she whispered forcefully motioning to the two men who had just sat down at a table by the door.
I always loved when she called customers guests. It was just one of the ways her kind heart shined through. I pulled two menus out of the basket and made my way over to the table, happy to have something to do.
As I walked toward the table, I could already smell the stench of whatever cheap liquor they had been into the night before. One was chatting loudly into his cell phone about some girl from somewhere and all the horribly raunchy acts he had committed with her the night before while the other just sat there howling in approval. I immediately wished I was some place else doing anything different.
“Good morning, gents. Here’s some coffee to get you started. What can I get you to eat today?”
“Holy fuck, will you look at this,” one of them slurred, barely pulling his phone away from his ear. “Sorry, dude. I’ll have to call you back. Got something here.”
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