“I have a question for you.” I gulp away my nerves. “There was a romance novel on your shelf with an inscription, looked pretty old. Did you inherit it?”
“They were my mom’s.” he shrugs. “I’ve read most of them though.”
“It felt personal, so I didn’t even read a word after I read the inscription.”
“You should have. I offered them up for a reason, darlin’.”
I shift in my seat, the pill kicking in. “I know. I probably should eat something. I’m feeling a little unsteady.”
“I’ll have the girls bring you some food. Why don’t you go up to your room and relax?”
That’s probably for the best. The entire housing building is going to fill up soon when dinner is ready, one panic attack is all I can handle right now. “Okay.”
“Don’t fall asleep though. I’d be shitty if you let anything happen to yourself,” he orders.
“I won’t.”
“Alright, darlin’.”
∞∞∞
Chapter Eight
Pyro
“I want to learn how to shoot.” Jinx grumps to Sniper. “I enjoy self-defense lessons, but let’s be real here, a gun helps protect too.”
“You wanna be strapped all the time, J?”
I put out my cigarette while I listen to the two of them bicker. It’s been a week of watches, and her head is healed enough for her lessons to proceed. Braxxon is upping our game when it comes to the cartel, and he’s insisting everyone be ready for shit to go red.
I’m not looking forward to it, my leg is almost fully healed, and I don’t feel like getting shot again. It’s my fucking shitty ass luck.
“Sniper finish her lesson and figure out a time where you can teach Shortcake how to shoot,” I order. “What harm could it do?”
“You, sir, have a direct order,” Jinx teases him and then strikes the punching bag again. “It pays to make friends with the VP,” she says when she turns around to wink at me. “It’s hot in here,” she complains.
Fuck yeah it is, the air conditioner hasn’t worked in the garage for a while now, but we have more important shit to worry about.
I divert my attention away from them.
Jinx is wearing tight spandex shorts that showcase her long, muscular legs, and don’t even get me started on her fucking pink sports bra. I swallow my groan and adjust the bulge growing in my jeans. Her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and tiny curls are trying to escape it.
Over the last week, my attraction to her has only grown, and the fucked-up part is, we don’t even flirt, our conversations are friendly, nothing more.
“Put your face next to the bag if you wanna be a jerk,” she orders Sniper.
I’ve missed something. “What’s goin’ on?”
Jinx backs away from the bag and unravels the tape from one hand. “He says he has enough on his plate.” she motions to Sniper. “He doesn’t want to teach me how to use a gun.”
I grab my crutches and stand. “You’ll do as I fuckin’ say, Sniper. That’s how this shit works.”
Sniper narrows his eyes. “Don’t be a dick, don’t turn into my brother.”
Well, fuck.
“I hear ya, brother. I’ll take a few of your watch hours, you don’t have to use your free time,” I offer. “You’re the best with guns, you’re best to train her.”
He walks over to the small refrigerator and grabs two bottles of water for him and Jinx.
“I’ve got a lot of shit on my mind. Piper has it in her head she wants to adopt a baby too.”
“What?” Jinx sputters. “She hasn’t mentioned anything to me about it.”
Jinx takes the water he offers and gulps it in record time.
“Ever since baby Lana was born, these women have had baby fever, man. I can’t fucking handle the stress of an adoption on top of the shit we got goin’ on.” Sniper turns away. “Fuck. I’m heading to bed. I’m way too fuckin’ stressed. Be ready at 9 in the mornin’ J. First gun lesson.”
Jinx and I both watch as our friend stomps out of the garage and into the night.
“I feel like a bitch now,” she murmurs when she throws her bottle into the trash. “He’s got other things to deal with.”
I suppose he does. “He’ll be okay.”
She opens her mouth to say something when there’s a knock on the wall of the garage, and a prospect sticks his head inside the doorway. “Your Chinese is here,” one of the prospects inform me. “Where do you want it, it’s on the table outside.”
“You ordered Chinese without me?” she crosses her arms, pushing the tops of her fat titties out of the sports bra.
I scrub my right hand down my face. “Grab it will you, Shortcake. I wouldn’t order without getting you some too.” I need a brief break from her presence, or my cock may fall off.
“Yum,” she groans taking off after the food.
The night after her head injury I stopped by her room to check on her and ended up having another friendly chat. I don’t know how I keep getting myself into these situations where I’m alone with her, my brain does it on purpose I’m convinced.
“Here,” she says and tosses both bags onto my lap and grabs two beers from the mini fridge.
“You don’t want wine?” I tease her.
“With Chinese? Hell no, beer or coke only,” she says with a frown on her face. “I’m not big on wine, gives me a headache.”
I read the tag on the first take out bag and toss it over to her. “That one is yours.”
When she reads the order, her baby blues hit me straight on. “You remembered.”
Apparently, it’s a problem for me. I remember every fucking word out of her sexy mouth.
“You don’t care for sweet n sour chicken?”
I shrug. “Never tried it. I’m a creature of habit with my food.”
Jinx shakes her head and scoops up some chicken in-between her chopsticks. “Open up,” she orders, her face serious, her look determined.
“You gonna feed me, Shortcake?” I grin.
Her left eyebrow lifts. “Open up,” she repeats herself.
I open my mouth and when the chicken hits my tongue and she’s pulled the chopsticks away, I chew. “Tangy,” I tell her with my mouth full.
Her eyes light up. “But…”
“It’s good.”
Jinx smiles and goes back to eating her food.
The rest of our dinner together is in comfortable silence, the kind of silence I enjoy and love.
I never thought I would develop a friendship with a woman, but I have with Jinx, she makes it easy, and it's becoming dangerous the more I spend time with her. Every moment with her my attraction grows, she’s a beautiful woman, and I knew I would be attracted to her, but it isn’t only her looks, it’s the way she carries herself, the way she’s closed off but so open at the same time. It’s all fucking sexy to me.
In the midst of my thoughts, her thumb brushes lightly on the bottom of my lip. “You had a piece of rice on your lip,” she whispers. “It was bothering me.”
I groan, and it isn’t silent. “You can’t go touchin’ a man so intimately darlin’,” I warn and move around in my seat.
It doesn’t detour her though, she still wears a small grin, it’s almost if she wants me to like her touch.
Red fucking alert!
“You’re dangerous, darlin’.” I chuckle.
“You and Sniper are the only men I’m comfortable around.”
Hearing she’s comfortable with Sniper shouldn’t bother me, but it does, and my gut coils tight.
Jinx bundles up her trash. “You done?”
A sick and twisted thought comes to me, and I stand, kicking my crutches to the side. “Come here, Shortcake.”
“Why,” she whispers.
I don’t answer her, I reach for her hands and she gives them to me without hesitation. “It doesn’t bother you when I touch you,” I murmur palming her hands with mine when I stand her up.
&nb
sp; “No…”
I trail my fingers up her bare arms and to her shoulders. “I’m gonna kiss you now, Shortcake.”
Her blue eyes widen, and she intakes a sharp breath. “Why?”
“Gotta check somethin’,” I murmur right before my mouth meets hers.
I don’t miss the way her body stiffens with the touch of my lips, but I’ve got to prove a point. It only takes a moment for her lips to respond to mine and then she unleashes a sweet kind of hell upon me. She knocks my hands off her shoulders, raises up and wraps her arms around my neck, her fingers dig into my hair, pulling the finger length strands. I groan, and she uses it to her advantage, her tongue slides in, fucking my mouth into sweet oblivion. I’m in a heap of shit, there’s no way I’m not gonna do this with her again. My plan is backfiring every second that goes by with her mouth fucking mine, and when she sucks my tongue into her mouth, my control snaps. I slide my hands down to her ass and lift her up, her long legs wrap around me, and I ignore the pain in my leg when I move us to the nearest table to set her down, but she doesn’t unwrap her body from mine, she begins a slow torment of grinding her pussy into my dick. “I wanna come, I haven’t since,” she murmurs against my lips, and she doesn’t miss the way my dick jumps in my pants, she’s dry fucking me like a pro after all.
“A challenge,” I chuckle when I remove my lips from hers and make my way down her neck. I palm one of her tits through her sports bra before I lean down and suck her hard nipple through the fabric as my other hand slides in-between her legs to rub her clit through the thin spandex while we dry fuck. “You’re so fuckin’ wet, Shortcake,” I groan around her nipple. “Come for me,” I order with a growl, pushing us closer together, letting her ride the fuck out of my jean clad cock. “Do it,” I growl again, barely hanging on. Jinx whimpers when I lift my eyes to watch her, and that’s when she explodes, her bottom lip shakes with her orgasm. She’s the sexiest fucking thing alive when she comes; when her blue eyes uncloud, and she grins, I rip my mouth away from her nipple and roar, her hips moving against mine while I ride the tsunami-sized orgasm Jinx has caused.
“Fuck me,” I gasp when she unwraps her legs from my waist. “I was tryin’ to prove a point.”
“What?” she laughs, still out of breath.
I pull away from her even though my softening cock is begging me not to, he’s thumping around in my jeans like he’ll be ready to go again in a few minutes.
“I figured it was only attraction, but nope, chemistry’s there, too.”
Fuck!
“Well… I can’t believe I dry humped you,” she grumbles more to herself than to me as she slides off the table. “At least my first positive sexual encounter back was with someone I trust.”
“Shortcake,” I huff, annoyed. “We have a fuckin’ problem baby.”
Jinx steadies herself and looks at me with confusion. “What?”
“That was hot as hell, darlin’, it’s gonna be hard not to do it again.”
Her eyes widen. “It can’t happen again. It’ll mess shit up!”
My cock cries with her declaration even though my mind had already been made up not to go down this road again. It’s fucking dangerous. “Fuckin’ sucks, but I agree.”
“It was good though.” Jinx smiles adjusting her clothes.
“An inferno, baby. A fucking inferno.”
I repeat. Dangerous.
“We don’t tell anyone about this.” she points a finger in my face with the cutest stern look. “Agreed?”
I bark out a laugh. “Wouldn’t dream of it, darlin’.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” she huffs. “I gotta go wash the smell of sweat and sex off.”
I fist my hands at my side. “You’re fuckin’ killin’ me,” I growl. “Get outta here.”
She moves around me. “Later Big D.”
“Big D,” I holler.
“Big dick,” she hollers back with a laugh.
What the fuck have I gotten myself into?
When I leave the garage a few minutes later to head in for a shower, Braxxon is leaning against the outside garage wall. “Stimulating,” he chuckles. “Did you enjoy yourself?”
I’ve had about enough of this idiot to last me a lifetime. “Why the fuck was you even listenin’?”
“Because I can,” he smarts off while he pushes away from the wall. “At least you’re not hung up on Lana anymore.”
Motherfucker!
I throw my crutches to the ground and step toward him. “You wanna fuckin’ go at it, Prez?”
“I don’t fight gimps,” he retorts with a laugh and walks away.
“What the fuck is wrong with you,” I yell at his retreating form.
“Every goddamn thing,” he yells back without turning around. “Every fuckin’ thing.”
Stupid asshole ruined my post orgasm high with his melodrama bullshit.
“He’s goin’ through a lot right now, V.P.”
I growl in frustration and turn towards Pop, Braxxon and Sniper’s dad who used to be our president years ago until he faked his death and went underground for many years.
“Stay out of it ol’ man. He doesn’t need fuckin’ excuses, what he needs an attitude adjustment and if isn’t quick, he’ll be eatin’ my goddamn fists.”
“He’s your brother, you don’t fight with your brothers,” he warns. “It does more harm than good.”
I snort. “The motherfucker has a stick up his ass and is treatin’ me with disrespect. Seems to me you should be havin’ this conversation with him.”
I don’t wait for his reply.
I fucking leave before I lose my cool.
∞∞∞
Chapter Nine
Jinx
Hundreds of pieces of paper lay before Winter and me on the kitchen table. It’s a financial day. A day we dedicate to going over figures and bills. We’ve been sitting here for a few hours and Winter hasn’t said one word to me while we pore over the paperwork, she only moves papers in front of me when she wants me to look at.
Maybe if I direct a question at her, she’ll respond.
I give it a go. “What’s with everyone lately?”
Her shoulders slump, and she drops the light bill to the new BDSM club to the table. “Too much change,” she mumbles. “The brothers are getting used to the transfers, and the tension is high.”
I already know these things, this isn’t what is causing the riff around Breakneck though.
“I believe there’s more to it,” I say to her when I stamp the nail salon light bill as paid.
“It’s been quiet. It’s about to get loud.”
My hands pause on the next bill. “What do you mean?”
I never ask questions about Breakneck, but her phrasing makes my skin crawl with worry.
“They’ve been biding their time dealing with the cartel, my husbands over it.”
I set the bill back on the table. “I knew it was serious because they issued the lockdown, but it’s serious enough for the entire family to be on edge?”
I don’t miss the stray tear she swipes away from her face while checking the baby monitor.
“Yes.”
And Sniper wanted to complain about me learning how to shoot, my request was validated. All he did this morning while training me on the ins and outs of gun control was whine about me not needing a gun. He was obviously wrong.
“I had my first lesson with guns this morning,” I tell her.
“That’s great.”
It’s as if I’m pulling her teeth.
I go back to the paperwork in uncomfortable silence, angry at the way everyone is acting. If I’m going to be stuck in an environment for long periods of time, I want it to be a friendly one. If it keeps it up, I’m going to have no choice but to take Braxxon up on his offer to get the hell out of here.
“Husband said you and Pyro hooked up last night.”
What the hell?
“Pyro told him?”
Winter snickers under her breat
h. “Nope. He heard you guys in the garage.”
I sag my shoulders in relief, thankful Pyro isn’t the one sharing our encounter with everyone.
“How was it?”
“Unexpected,” I say truthfully. “I’m not even ready for that kind of intimacy but it happened, and it wasn’t bad.”
Fucking amazing is what it was.
“You know he isn’t over his ex, right? And you shouldn’t be messing around with a brother right now. Too much going on.”
I flinch with her words, they pierce my heart with deep pain.
Not because Pyro isn’t over Lana but because Winter’s rude to me about it.
It’s not a secret Pyro is still clinging onto his feelings for Lana. He’s admitted to being fucked up over her death, and it’s one of the main reasons my friendship with him has come easy.
He has a heart.
“We’re only friends,” I whisper as I stomp down the tears, shove my chair back, and leave the room.
“Jinx wait!”
Ignoring her I enter the downstairs bathroom, shut and lock the door behind me and let the tears fall; watching them in the mirror. The woman who peers back at me isn’t the cheerful woman who was in the mirror this very morning, the woman who stares back at me now is the one I used to see for months after my kidnapping and rape. A knock on the door rips me away from the reunion I’m having with a woman in the mirror.
“I’m sorry, Jinx. I didn’t mean anything by it,” Winter whispers strain through the wooden door.
I push back against the wall and slide down to the floor, tucking my legs with my arms for comfort.
“Please open up,” she begs.
As if I didn’t already feel like I was an outsider all these months, she goes right ahead and reminds me I am when I’m starting to feel at home.
It hurts.
Bad.
“What’s goin’ on?” A voice questions Winter on the other side of my safe haven.
“I fucked up, Sniper. I fucked up,” she cries.
Sniper.
Great. Sniper’s going to call Pyro, and he doesn’t need to be bothered with my hysterics while he’s on watch, his focus is what keeps him alert and alive.
She doesn’t tell him what I said or what she said, she only tells him she hurt my feelings and feels awful for it.
Reconstruct Me (Breakneck Book 5) Page 6