by Vicki Green
“Pax and I can help, too! Right, Pax?” I say, looking over at her. She has that deer in the headlights kind of look. Oh, yeah. That would be like work, not gonna happen. I giggle as she rolls her eyes at me.
“Ok. I’ll come but I am not doing work. I’ll supervise,” she says looking at her long fingernails. I look over at Shane, who is trying to stifle his laugh and Tuck, well he is more than giddy knowing she will be there. Holy shit! He has it bad. Too bad she doesn’t act like he’s alive in her world.
Chapter Seven
The next morning, we got Tuck all moved into the apartment. We took the girls to my bar to have lunch and a couple of drinks. I know I fucking need a drink. I was so damn tired of hearing Paxton make her snotty comments every time Tuck tried to talk to her, but hey, she likes me now. At least her bitchy mouth isn’t directed at me anymore. Progress.
I’m on my second beer when the girls get up to go do whatever they do in the bathroom. I look at Tuck who seems to be lost in thought, staring at his Jack and coke. “What’s in your head, mate?” I ask him, trying to bring him back to the present.
Tuck looks around, picks up his drink, guzzles the rest and slams it down. He nods at the bartender for another, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and turns to me. “I want her. I don’t know what it is but I have to have that snarky bitch. I just look at her and my cock stands at attention, wanting to give her the all guns salute. Shit, man! I gotta have her.” I am laughing my ass off as he frowns at me, giving me his fucking puppy dog look.
I smack him in the arm. “Fuck, do you really think that’s what love is? Do you think you’re gonna get her like that? You need to wake the fuck up, mate. It’s not gonna happen,” I say still laughing. What? I can’t help it. He’s so fucked.
His face changes from a frown to a pissed off look. What the fuck?
“Fuck you. It’s not like that,” he growls. “I want to know her, who she is. Why is she so bitchy and stuck up? What made her that way?” His smile grows slowly. “And fuck yeah I want to fuck her so bad that just the thought of it makes it hard to walk. I want her to cum all over my face, but—” He trails off as the bartender lays his fresh drink in front of him. He takes a huge gulp and looks at me again. “But, yeah I want to know her, in every sense. Not just a one night thing either.”
I almost fucking fell out of my chair. Tuck just proclaimed to want a relationship? Tuck, who bags ’em and leaves ’em! I think I’m in shock or the world just ended. Maybe both. I give him my most serious look. “Wow! Fuck me. I think I need my hearing tested or some shit. I don’t think I heard you right. No. Fucking. Way!” He rolls his eyes at me. What. The. Fuck. “Did you just roll your eyes at me?” I ask with one eyebrow higher. “I think she is rubbing off on you. You turn into a fucking bitch like her and I’m done with you. I mean it!” I half whisper, half yell. I look around to see who’s in hearing range and see the girls walking towards us. I earned a hit on my arm for that.
“Shhhh. Fuck. Shut it or she’ll hear you,” he whispers. Well, hell. That made me want to roll my eyes. This shit is contagious and not in a good way.
My love sits next to me putting her hand on my back and leans in for a kiss. Fuck, I love my woman. She sits back and gives me a huge smile. “What are you big, hunky guys talking about?” She asks with a sexy smile. Before I get a chance to answer her phone starts going off. She gets off her chair and walks away. “This must be Cassie, I asked her to check in with me. Hannah wasn’t feeling well this morning. I’ll just be a minute,” she says as she walks over by the front door, winking at me.
All’s quiet as we wait for Allie, since the bitch over there won’t really talk to me much and she sure as hell won’t talk to Tuck. I catch a moment from the corner of my eye and see Paxton sit up straight. She starts to get up, her chair moving fast until it flips over. My head spins to Allie. I watch her phone hit the floor, shattering everywhere. I fly out of my chair, running full speed and grab her as her body collapses. Thank God I got to her before she hit the floor.
“Allie! Love!” My hand is on her face, her eyes closed and her body shaking. She slowly opens her eyes and grabs my hand. I help her sit, but she clings to me. “Allie. What happened? Who was that?”
By then, Paxton was on her knees next to Allie, rubbing her arm and Tuck was hovering over us. Allie looks into my eyes, and I see the fear in them. She tries to speak, but no words leave her mouth. “Love, just calm down. I’m here.” I look at Tuck. “Go get her a glass of water,” I bark. I turn my attention back to my girl. “Hey, I’m here. Just sit for a minute, gather your wits. Then tell me what the fuck just happened.” I feel a hand on my arm and turn to Paxton. She shakes her head at me, giving me a stern look. Ok, so when it comes to my girl, I’m not too patient. But, fuck! I need to know what made her drop her phone and almost pass out. This is my woman, and nothing is gonna hurt her. Over. My. Dead. Body.
“He—” She tries to speak when Tuck shoves a glass of water at me. I help her drink some and when I offer more she shakes her head. “I answered the phone, I thought it was Cassie,” she says looking at me, her eyes pleading. “It was him. It was Paul.”
My free hand curls into a fist. I’m gonna kill that motherfucker. I release my fist and place my hand tenderly on her face. “What’d he say, sweetie?”
The fear was back in her eyes immediately. “He— he said he was gonna get to me. He said he was gonna kill—” She buries her face in my chest and cries, her body trembling with fear. I hold her tight and whisper comforting things in her ear, while rubbing her back. It takes her a few minutes to get herself under control but finally sits back a little, still close to me like she is afraid to go too far.
She looks at me with concern. “Shane. He said if I don’t come to him, he will kill everyone I love.” She looks at Paxton, then at Tuck and back at me. “Everyone.” She takes my face with both hands, searching my eyes with hers. “I believe him. He’s crazy, Shane. He’ll do it.”
I bring her to me again and squeeze her tight. In return, her arms wrap around me squeezing me too. My hand instinctively holds the back of her head smoothing her soft hair. I push her gently back but keep my arms around her. “No one and I mean no one will hurt you or anyone else. Do you understand?” She nods jerkily. “Tuck, call Jesse and tell him to meet at my house. Tell him what happened, let him know Allie is ok. Now!” I rub my thumb over her cheek, her eyes close to the touch.
I take my girl home. She is riding next to me in the car. She won’t let me go. Paxton is next to her stroking her arm trying to be comforting. She is a great friend to my girl. I have to give her that. Tuck is following us on his motorcycle. He’d already called Jesse, who was frantic with concern for his sister. He told Tuck he would call Detective Stiles, the one that questioned Allie before and get over to our house as fast as possible.
After I get Allie settled onto the couch and unclench her grip from my shirt, I turned her over to Paxton and go into the kitchen and pour her a shot of Jack. She needs something to calm her down. I handed her the shot. She drank it quickly and buried her head into my chest once I sat down next to her.
Her body jumps when the doorbell rings. My poor girl. Paxton looks at me with a sad smile and goes to answer the door. Jesse barrels through the door, running over to us and immediately sits next to Allie. She leaves me quickly, folds into him and her crying begins again. His eyes are full of sadness as he strokes her back, looking at me he mouths, “Thank you.” I nod sharply, leaning back in my seat.
“Hey, now, sis. Everything’s going to be ok. I promise,” he says to her, but looking at me. She finally releases him and slides back to me. My arm instinctively goes around her, hugging her close. She wipes her wet eyes with a hand and tries to smile back at him.
She looks at everyone in the room, in turn. “I’m so glad you all are with me.” She sniffs and looks at me. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.” She wipes more tears and looks at Jesse. “You know he will. He wo
n’t stop.”
He puts a hand on her leg. I’d be fucking jealous if it he wasn’t her brother, especially right now. I’m on my last nerve. I could fucking hit a wall or something. I may need to see if Tuck and Jesse can stay with her after she’s calm, so I can go to the gym again. I feel the need to demolish the punching bag.
“Shane. I need to lie down. I’m— I’m sorry.” Allie looks around at everyone. “I’m just so tired, all of a sudden. I need—” I cut her off and pick her up. She lays her head on my shoulder and sighs. I nod to everyone and take her to our room. Once I lay her down on the bed and tuck her in, I hear a voice clear behind me. It’s Jesse.
“I’ll get you when Detective Stiles gets here. You just take care of her,” Jesse says looking at Allie.
He leaves, and I get into bed beside my girl, pulling her to me and placing her arm across my waist. She was out before I could say anything to her. I kiss her forehead and play with her hair. My heart is racing so fast. I really need to get rid of some of this pent up energy, but my girl comes first.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Someone is shaking me. I try to sit up but am unable to move as I am being held tightly. I look up and see Shane smiling at me, worry in his eyes. “What time is it?” I ask. I can tell it’s darker in the room, so I must have been out for a while.
He kisses my head and smooth’s my hair. “It’s about six now, love. Jesse talked to the detective and had to get home but Tuck is still out there with Paxton.” I raise an eyebrow in question. He chuckles. “Yeah, I know. I checked on them earlier, a little afraid that Paxton would have taken his head off by then. I hear Tuck kind of took care of her once I got you settled.” He clears his throat. “Now, I wouldn’t say she’s real talkative to him yet, but she’s said a few words that weren’t too bitchy.” He winks. “Stiles said he needs to come back over and talk to you tomorrow. Said he’d give you tonight to settle down. Thought that was nice of him.”
I sigh and snuggle deeper into him, which causes him to tighten his muscled arms holding me. I feel so safe right now, so protected. How am I ever going to be normal again? How will I be when he goes to work tomorrow? I can’t let that asshole run my life, but I can’t let him hurt the people I love either. I don’t know what to do.
He continues to hold me and begins playing with my hair. “Love, you need to eat something. Don’t let that fucker get to you to where you’re not taking care of yourself.” He moves us to a sitting position. “Come on. Need to feed my girl.”
I ask him to wait for me while I use the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I see a scared girl with worry lines forming on her forehead. UGH! I can’t let him do this to me. To us. I need to get my shit together.
We walk hand in hand to the kitchen and see Paxton cleaning dishes while Tuck sits at the table, drinking a beer. Paxton turns, her worried face smiles. She walks over and hugs me.
“Baby girl. You ok now? You had me so scared,” she says tucking a wayward strand of hair behind my ear.
“I’m much better, thanks. You didn’t have to clean anything, I would have done it.” I turn to Tuck. “Thanks so much for staying, Tuck.” My body moves around quickly to Shane. “Oh, shit! We’re supposed to go to the Café and do a present exchange in an hour.”
He cups my chin, his eyes searching mine. “Everyone will understand if we don’t go, love. You’ve been through a lot today. Maybe we should just stay home and have a quiet evening.”
God, I love my man! He’s so sweet and protective of me. How the hell did I get so lucky? I raise my head and get determined. “No, we are not going to let that asshole ruin our lives. We are going over there and we are going to have our Christmas with our friends. Damn him!”
Tuck and Paxton both yelled their ‘Hell, yeah’s’ while Shane wraps me in his arms. He looks at me lovingly. “That’s my girl. I’m so proud of you. We won’t let anything happen to anyone, especially you, my love.” He kisses me with passion.
We are going hot and heavy until coughing erupts in the room. We break away and find Tuck laughing his ass off while Paxton rolls her eyes.
We get to the Café a little after 7:00, finding everyone there eating and chatting. I had forgotten they were going to have a huge spread of food. As we say our hellos, Shane drags me over to the food table and starts filling two plates with an assortment of scrumptious eats. Tables are pushed together to make one big table so we can all sit together.
After sitting down and I dig into my food, Stella, Peter, Brenda and Lana, the owner and employees of the Café, all crowd around me. I receive a ton of hugs, kisses and comments of well wishes and how everyone has my back. It’s hard not to cry at all the love I’m feeling.
A little while later most people are mingling, while Pax and I sit at the table. I see her looking at Tuck, when he’s not staring at her. He’s talking with Peter and Shane, laughing. I nudge her. “Soooo?” I look at Tuck then back at her and wink.
She rolls her eyes. “What? Ok, so he’s sexy! He’s fucking cocky though.” She looks back at him and smiles. “I’d do him. What’s not to like, great build, tatt’s and that dark shaggy hair. Fuck! Yeah, I’d do him.” She actually licks her lips.
I giggle and smack her leg. “You’d do him, huh? Says the virgin at the table.” I laugh some more. I prop my elbow on the table and rest my head on my hand and give her a frown. “Seriously, Pax. He’s a great guy. Had a rough life but is making his way as a tattoo artist and lead singer of a rock band. The girls all fawn over him wherever they play.” I smirk at her again. “And yeah, he is a sexy man too.” We both start laughing.
The night was awesome with all the people I love. We wrap it up around 10:00 and Shane, Paxton and I head home. Tuck tries to smooze his way with Paxton, but she would have none of it. Turning her nose up, she leaves with us. Shane and I had a really hard time trying not to laugh in the car on the way home. Poor Tuck.
Once home, Shane heads to bed after I give him a kiss, letting him know Pax and I are staying up for a while to talk. It’s been so busy since she got here we haven’t had much time to catch up. I fix us some cokes and popcorn, and we settle on the couch.
“So, what’s been going on with you?” I ask her.
She chomps on some popcorn, then takes a drink of her coke to wash it down. “Well, been doing great with modeling gigs. Of course, the ball and chains keep pushing me to get more gigs, watch what I eat, blah, blah, blah. Well, that is whenever they can bring themselves to talk to me. But, hell, you know all that.” She swallows and winks at me.
I take her hand. “Pax, you know I’m sorry. What a shit way to grow up. I wish things were different for you.”
She laughs and pats my hand. “It is what it is. If it hadn’t been for you and Jesse, I’d never have known love. Eh, no biggie. I’m used to it. Now, tell me about your book. When does it come out and when do I get my signed copy?” She smirks.
“Oh, no! Before I get into all that, what the hell is going on with Tuck? You obviously like him so why the cold shoulder treatment? Hmmm?” This I gotta hear. I’m dying to know what’s in the pretty head of hers.
She shrugs. “Well, you know how it is. My parents wouldn’t like anyone, not that it matters anyway, but ya know. And, I dunno, I just don’t give my heart or my body away to anyone very easily. I won’t let anyone hurt me and I know he will. He’s too hot for his own good and he knows it. I’m not taking that chance, especially with my V-card. No way!”
I give her a big hug. “I get it. But you know you could just be nice, at least, and who knows what may happen along the way. Friends is always a good place to start. Can’t ever have enough of them. Right?” She shrugs and nods at me.
We spend the next couple of hours talking about my book, Tuck and everything that has been going on. I can tell she really wants to let her guard down and get to know Tuck and see where it will go, but I know it’s gonna take a lot to do that. Her walls are up pretty high and won’t be broken easily.
Chapter Eight
The next day we don’t do much of anything. Nice for a change. I think everyone needs a relaxing day off from the fucked up mess going on in our lives. Tuck is playing tonight, at my bar, so we are going over there. I have my best booth reserved for us. The girls are taking forever to get ready but fuck that was worth the wait. Allie is dressed in a jean mini skirt with a purple halter top and fuck me high heel shoes. I want to rip it all off her and fuck her until morning.
Then Paxton walks in wearing a glittery silver halter top, showing her ample cleavage and a black mini skirt. Her silver sandals with very high heels make her long legs seem endless. Tuck’s in fucking trouble tonight. I called earlier and had my security team there beefed up. Ain’t anyone getting to my girl tonight if I have anything to do with it.
We had gone earlier today to get my girl a new phone. Tuck managed to grab her SIM card from her busted phone, so I am hoping that Detective Stiles can use any messages or try to trace where that fucker called from. Stiles had told Allie, when he stopped by to question her, if or when he calls again to try and keep him on the line for a few minutes. Like hell! I don’t want her to have to deal with him at all. If I am around her when he calls, I will deal with him myself. Fuck that shit! I’m having a fucking GPS put on her new fucking phone.
We get to the bar to find Jesse and Cassie already in the booth. Glad that Stella told them she would babysit the twins, so they could have a night out. The bar is already hopping. We get a lot of people that come from the surrounding towns, especially when Razers Edge plays. His band actually brings in our biggest crowds. We got here a little early so we would have time to talk before the band starts. Fuck, there ain’t no talking once they start because the girls screaming can make the sound barrier break. No lie! Of course, Tuck eats that shit right up.
I pull my girl close and nibble on her ear. “Shane!” She giggles. I can’t help it. I love her taste. I give her my eyes up and down her body, and she blushes. Fuck, yeah. Gonna be fun taking that outfit off her tonight. My cock’s already hard.