Gifts

by Brynne Asher

  Fuck this. I push him outta my face. “What if I go snitch, huh? I’m no one’s bitch, man. I can just see it all over the news, ‘School big man gets caught selling girls on the black market.’ Go get your smack from someone else.”

  I start to head for my car but feel a strong hand clasp around my bicep. When I look back, he’s sneering. “You think you’re so fucking smart? I’ve got just as much on you as you do me.” He pulls out his phone, flipping through the screen until he finds what he’s looking for. When he holds it out for me to look at, my face falls. I am fucked. “You think anyone’s going to want a snitch who’s been seen making deliveries to a girl who’s currently lying almost comatose in the hospital?”

  He keeps flipping through pictures. Images of me handing over the goods in at least three different locations. They even go back as far as me standing on the porch with the guy who roughed me up and that red-headed chick who interrupted one of my deliveries.

  “The answer to that, is no. I’ve got proof of what you did, but it’s your word against mine—an upstanding citizen who works in education, for fuck’s sake.” He lets me go with a push and slides his phone back into his pocket. “Now, you get my money back and go find another source. This time make sure it’s pure. If that means you have to shoot that shit up yourself to test it, so be it. They wanted the Hollingsworth girl, but she’s been too hard to get to and a pain in my ass. Especially after she spewed what she knew about Sutherby and Jakes. I only needed them out of the picture when they found out about the girls. I didn’t plan on a witness to your boys messing with their car. I tried to keep her quiet, but even fucking with her brother didn’t work. Maggie Stockton will be easier to get to, and since I’m late on the delivery, we’ll focus on her, but it needs to happen soon. I’m paying you good money to make sure this doesn’t trace back to me, so it better fucking not.”

  My chest is heaving, not knowing what to do. I did not sign up for all this shit. I just wanted some extra money and was willing to make some deliveries. But fuck me—when it gets down to it, I don’t have a fucking choice. If I go to Dooley, he’ll cap my ass himself, no matter if we’re blood. My cousin deals straight up—he made it clear he didn’t want to dabble in trafficking.

  I watch the fuckwad walk back to his car and drive away, leaving me in a cloud of country dust.

  There’s no other way around it. I’m fucked.

  *****

  Asa

  After pulling up Keelie’s drive, I park and sit back to look at her house and property. She’s got a two-car garage, but with bikes and other shit, it barely fits the Infiniti. There’s enough space for another two-car garage without hindering her view. Levi is leaving, but I’ll buy Emma a car in the next year. I don’t want any of us to have to park in the elements. If we add on, we could also build up with an addition to the second floor. Another bedroom or maybe a media room for the kids.

  Summer is finally here and if I have any chance at getting an addition done by winter, we need to draw up the plans. Jimbo’s about done with the porch, and despite him being a little odd, he does good work. I’ll see if he can move around to the garage.

  Making plans feels good. Not that I ever stopped, but it was annoying as hell waiting for Keelie to come to the realization that this is happening. We are happening. She’s been back to normal now for a little over a week. The first few days, I was wary, making sure she wasn’t going to snap on me again.

  So far, so good.

  It’s late. Everyone’s in jail who needs to be and the deaths of Sutherby and Jakes are under investigation by the police. Emma looked at a photo lineup and ID’ed the same guys who were driving the blue 300. Since Grady killed one of them and the other is in jail, I’ve been working later at Crew’s camp to catch up on things. We’re ready for new recruits and they need to be vetted.

  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rather be here. My house never felt right, but this does. The six of us here together feels right.

  I get out of my truck and listen to the animals go wild. When I look to the barn, I see Keelie’s strawberry-blonde hair piled high on her head as she’s pushing hay around with her feet. I grin, heading straight for her. There has to be a better way to spread that shit around the barn.

  Instead of helping, I lean my shoulder on the sliding door and watch. I can’t take my eyes off her ass covered in tight jeans, with the bottoms stuffed in rain boots. Her tank fits like a second skin with her black bra straps unapologetically showing. I can’t stop staring even though I don’t need to—I’ve memorized every curve, slope, and arc. And since she opened up to me, she’s shed all her barriers completely.

  She’s mine.

  “Baby, there’re better ways to do that.”

  She jumps with a yelp. “Holy shit! Don’t sneak up on me.”

  I smile. “Just enjoying the show even though I bet you can do that faster with a pitchfork.”

  She wipes her forehead with the back of her arm as she blows a stray piece of hair from her face. Putting her hands to her hips, she says, “Leg day.”

  I tip my head. “Leg day?”

  “Yeah.” She grins and kicks a hunk of hay my way, covering me in dust. “I don’t exactly have a home gym or time to go to one. It’s leg day. I use a pitchfork on arm day.”

  I push away from the door. Never thought about farming for a workout. “I only have weights and a rowing machine. Where’re the kids?”

  I grab a tool and start to pitch hay. She stands there watching and answers, “Knox and Saylor are already in bed. The last I saw, Levi was helping Emma with geometry.”

  “Sorry I’m late. Trying to catch up on some stuff with Crew.

  She nods, and after watching me a bit, bizarrely states, “My basement is creepy.”

  I look at her out of the corner of my eye and drawl, “Okay.”

  “I mean, I don’t go down there unless I absolutely have to. You might need to clean it up a little bit, because like I said—creepy. But you’ve proven you don’t mind lurking in creepy spaces, so … maybe you’d like to put your workout stuff there.”

  I stop and look at her. She’s still standing there with her hands on her hips, but now she’s biting her lip, so I ask, “What are you saying?”

  She gives her head a little shake. “Where do you workout now?”

  “I usually fit it in at Crews during the day. Sometimes I get on the mat with the trainees.”

  Her shoulder hitches. “If you want to bring your stuff here and set up shop, my creepy basement is all yours.”

  I let the pitchfork clank to the ground and cross my arms. “If you were sleeping at my house, would this be the equivalent of me asking you to move your shoes into my closet?”

  She rolls her lips in to keep from smiling. “Maybe. But no one’s ever invited my shoes to move in with them before, so I can’t be sure.”

  “I might have some other stuff, besides weights and a rowing machine.”

  She shifts her weight. “I figured.”

  “Like two kids,” I add.

  “Then it’s a good thing I’ve become pretty fond of them.”

  I smirk. “You’ve become fond of my kids, huh?”

  She gives me a little nod. “They can have their own rooms. Only your weights have to go to the creepy basement.”

  My smirk spreads into a grin. “That’s nice of you.”

  “I know.” She tries to hide her grin but it doesn’t work.

  “Are you telling me you officially want my weights in your creepy basement?”

  She loses her grin and her face falls into a serious expression, whispering, “I do.”

  I don’t say anything and try to memorize this moment.

  “I’m sorry,” her words become rushed and she tries to defend herself, “that I am the way I am. You’ve put up with a lot from me and you deserve better. But please believe me, I’m sure about this. So sure. I want you and Levi and Emma. I want us all together.”

  I lower my voice. “I believe yo
u, baby.”

  I see her exhale and she nods slowly, her eyes searing into mine. “And I love you.”

  Like a kick to the gut, I feel that move through me. I was not expecting that.

  It doesn’t take me long to overcome it, though, because I can’t take another moment with this space between us.

  It only takes a second before I’ve sliced through the distance to get my hands on her. She stumbles back when we collide, but I catch her just in time, wrapping an arm around her lower back and dip my other hand into her messy hair that I can’t get enough of.

  When I thrust my tongue in her mouth, she takes it like it’s her last breath. I drink up her moans, wanting nothing more than to create that sound over and over for the rest of my days.

  With a death grip on my shirt, she holds tight as I move forward, pressing her up against the barn wall, I yank her tank up and palm her tit while still gripping her hair. When l let her lips go, she blinks her eyes open and I see everything I feel.

  I thought she was mine before, but only now do I realize how wrong I was.

  This moment cements it. Right now, in her fucking barn, it’s happened. Keelie, Knox, Saylor.

  I’m never letting them go.

  She swallows hard, trying to catch her breath. I look down to her tits and pull her bra down on both sides, exposing her to me. I run my thumb over a nipple and watch it harden when she shivers under my touch.

  “Asa,” she breathes and when I look up her lips are swollen and her eyes are at half-mast. “We can’t do this here. The kids.”

  “I’ll hear anyone coming,” I promise. “No way are you gonna tell me you love me for the first time and expect me not to touch you.”

  I twist her nipple with a pinch and watch her eyes fall.

  “I’ll make you come and then after we shower, I’ll let you show me how much you love me with your lips wrapped around my cock,” I add.

  Her eyes fly open and the tip of her tongue swipes her upper lip.

  Yeah, she wants that.

  And that makes me hard as a fucking rock.

  I yank her jeans open and dip my hand straight into her panties and find her pussy smooth and bare, just like always, but this time as I touch her, I do it knowing this will always be mine.

  Her head falls back to the barn wall and when I fill her with two fingers, nothing has ever turned me on so much. Her hair’s a mess, eyes closed, and lips parted.

  I rest my other hand on the wall above her head and watch as I finger fuck her and circle her clit with my thumb. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful as her standing in front of me clothed, yet totally exposed.

  When she starts to move, I lean down to trace her ear with my tongue and encourage her. “That’s it, baby. Ride my hand.”

  She leans into the wall farther to brace and thrusts her hips forward.

  “You love me?” I ask, nipping her bottom lip.

  She only nods and starts to move faster.

  I give her clit more pressure and demand, “Tell me.”

  She peeks through her heavy lids and grips my shirt for leverage. “Love you. So much.”

  I press my lips to hers before looking down at her, her tits heaving with her looming orgasm. “Love you, too.”

  Her movements quicken and just when her eyes tighten, I hear her moans fill the barn around us. I don’t let up, keeping at her until I have to support her weight or else she’d crumple to the floor.

  When I slide my hand out from between her legs, I’m holding her tight to me as she comes down from her high, her cheek pressed to my chest.

  “I’ll start moving our stuff in this weekend,” I say into her hair.

  I feel her exhale. “With all that’s happened, we need to plan something for Levi’s graduation. A party, or whatever he wants.”

  My arms constrict around her, fucking happy she’s making plans, too.

  “Unless that’ll step on Danielle’s toes,” she continues. “I’m new to this whole sharing kids gig.”

  “Can we talk about this when you’re not half naked and just came, looking sexy as fuck in your barn?”

  She presses into me and I hear the smile in her voice. “Sorry.”

  “While we’re talking about plans, though, we’re adding onto the house and I want it done before the first snow.”

  She looks up and frowns. “The house is too big as it is.”

  I raise a brow. “But your garage is not.” I’ll tell her about the media room later. Or after they start working. The kids need a space of their own. “Go get in the shower. I’ll bring the animals in for the night and finish here.”

  She smiles up at me. “I’ve turned you into a farmer. I’m so sorry.”

  I grin and smack her ass. “I’m also the proud owner of a poodle named Ryder. Your charms are fucking strong.”

  She laughs and I feel it everywhere. “That’s not my fault. I blame that on Saylor.”

  I lean down to kiss her before letting her go and helping her right her bra. “I do, too. Now go.”

  She peeks over her shoulder as she walks away from me and smiles. I shake my head, leave the barn, and put two fingers to my mouth to whistle.

  And as I stand here, watching goats hustle my way followed by a geriatric donkey, I realize she’s right. I’ve become a ranch-hand, rounding up livestock for the day.

  But for her—I’d do anything.

  Chapter 28

  Undeliverable

  Asa

  “No one can find Raymond Wallace,” Grady informs me. “Not the detectives—not even Jarvis, and he’s been looking for two days.”

  I sigh, standing in Keelie’s backyard—our backyard—with Emma’s puppy as I watch the parade that is our family carrying shit into the house from my truck, Keelie’s Infiniti, and Levi’s Jeep. This is our third trip, for fuck’s sake. I thought we didn’t have much—I don’t know where it all came from.

  I had to take a call from Grady and didn’t need to worry anyone with the details of the missing Raymond Wallace.

  “What about Dooley?” I ask.

  “Dooley and Jarvis have hit it off or some shit now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had each other on speed dial. I don’t know how he did it, but Jarvis has Dooley looking for him, too. This is why I called—you’re not going to like it.”

  I tense. “What?”

  “Dooley doesn’t know much, or at least that’s what he’s telling Jarvis. But he thinks bigger shit’s going down than teenagers sowing their oats and experimenting. He thinks girls are being targeted for more than dealing. Months ago, Raymond went to Dooley with a prospective customer and when Dooley started asking questions, it came out that some asshole was doing all the buying and wanted Wallace to deliver to specific girls at your kids’ school.”

  It takes about two ticks for me to realize he’s talking about Beth Thorton, probably Maggie, and who knows, Emma could’ve been on that list. Beth is still in the hospital, recovering from the huge dose of fentanyl that shit was laced with. As a parent, I can’t imagine. To think that could’ve been Emma makes me want to kill someone and lock her away from the world in one fell swoop.

  I watch Emma talking to Keelie—smiling and happier than I’ve seen her in months since she got rid of the worry she was hauling around. She’s put on some weight in the last couple weeks and her grades are trending up. Both she and Levi weren’t surprised when I told them we were moving in for good. They were happy and we’re making the two third-story bedrooms theirs.

  Keelie is finally happy. Knox and I are bonding. Saylor has three more people to boss around so she’s happier than ever.

  Things are good.

  But knowing this shit isn’t over does not make me happy.

  Grady keeps talking. “Apparently Dooley has some drug dealer moral code. He’s picky about who he sells to, doesn’t deal to kids because he has enough dumb-shits who are of age. He doesn’t pimp and he stays away from trafficking.”

  “Trafficking,” I repeat and can’t
take my eyes off my daughter. “Is that what this is?”

  “He didn’t say the word, but Jarvis could read between the lines. Dooley wants to find his cousin before the cops do because he doesn’t know if Wallace is smart enough to keep his yap shut. Jarvis worked out a deal—if Dooley finds him before the cops do, we get to talk to him.”

  Fucking great. Jarvis is making pacts with drug dealers. “And if Jarvis finds him before the cops or Dooley? What then?”

  Grady laughs over the phone. “Man, you know I didn’t ask about that scenario.”

  I exhale, thinking it’s better I don’t know, either. I don’t care who finds him as long as it happens fast. As I look at the woman I plan to marry as soon as I can make it happen, I know I’m not going to be the one finding Wallace. I promised her and no way am I going back on that.

  “I’ll pass this on to Keelie. And from now on, Emma is under lock and key until we get to the bottom of this shit.”

  “Good luck with that,” Grady laughs. “Maya wanted me to tell you we’ll be at graduation and the party. Can’t believe Levi’ll be gone in a few months.”

  “You and me both.” I sigh. “Let me know if you hear anything more.”

  We hang up and I slide my phone into my pocket. When I look down, Ryder is chewing on my shoelaces. Shaking my head, I pick up my poodle and head straight for Saylor, who hasn’t carried in a thing but is in the middle of it all.

  “You’re on Ryder duty, sweetheart.” I hand her the puppy and her face lights up.

  Beaming at me, she clutches the dog in both arms. “Okay, but you have to read to me first tonight.”

  I lean down and plant a kiss on her head, knowing good and well she’ll fall asleep and get out of reading to me. But I can’t help it—she’s hard to deny. “It’s a deal, baby.”

  *****

  We’ve been settled in at the farmhouse for a week now—the six of us with a shitload of animals. Never thought I’d have four kids, a slew of goats, a donkey, and I really never thought I’d have a poodle, but here I am. And besides all the shit swirling, I’ve never been better.