She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. But Lacey thinks she does.”
Another beep came from her phone and he exercised patience with difficulty as she read and returned the text.
The second he heard hers go, he grunted, “Explain.”
She again gave him her attention.
“Okay, Anton, Tony, he’s…well, he’s a good guy. We knew him years ago. Years and years. Like, we were in our early twenties when he was in our lives.”
“And?” Deke pushed.
“And, he met Lacey first. Head over heels she went for him. He was totally her type. They’d been dating a few weeks before she introduced him to us and that is not her MO. We always got feedback from the posse before we went in deep with a guy. She did not do this. She was way in deep before Bianca or I ever laid eyes on him.”
Christ, was he in for that in his future?
“I got why when we met him,” Jussy continued through his thought. “Like I said, he was a good guy, her type. Handsome. Smooth. A gentleman. Really good with Lacey who can be a handful. The weird thing was that, although he was with Lacey, the longer he was with her, the deeper she got, but as an outside observer, it seemed to me what was happening was that he was getting in deeper and deeper too. Just not with Lace. With Anca.”
“Shit,” Deke muttered.
“Yeah,” she said, nodding, tossing a Frito in her mouth, chewing, swallowing and again talking. “Anc would in no way go there. Girl code. Not gonna happen. Especially with how into him Lacey was. But Tony, he wouldn’t do that either. I got the impression he stayed with Lace for as long as he did just because he didn’t know how to let her down easy. He knew he’d break her heart and he didn’t want to do that. But I also got the impression he wasn’t going to go there with Anca after he let Lacey down. They were just…well, both of them were that kind of people.”
Another text beeped and Deke focused on eating while she read it and returned it.
Then she came back to him.
“How’s this got anything to do with this shit now?” Deke asked. “This guy stick around?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s been at least a decade since I’ve seen him.”
“Bianca?”
“Far’s I know, same thing with her. She started inching away from us well before Dad died but she was still in contact. And that’s totally something she’d share. At least with me.”
“She give you the heads up she was into this guy too while he was with your other girl?”
She was chewing sandwich and nodding.
When she could, she told him, “She confessed all. It was sad, honey. Because, honestly, love my Lacey girl, but Tony and Bianca suited each other. She has this…” she paused, “fragility. Lace and me, we could take on the world. Bianca was ballsy and she had attitude but under that, well, obviously since she sunk into the life she did, there was a disconnect. There was something missing. Something she needed. I was young and I obviously didn’t know much about the world, I still sensed that something she needed was a man in her life like Tony. He was sweet but he was strong. And when it came to a woman in his life, it was all about her. I mean, he managed to do that being with Lacey at the same time falling in love with Anc.”
She shrugged and finished.
“It’s weird but true.”
“Okay, babe, not gettin’ why you two are on this bent about this guy,” Deke told her.
She got another text. He clenched his jaw, ate more chips, waited for her to get through it, something she did nodding like she was agreeing with whatever her girl was saying, then she looked to him.
“Lacey knew,” she declared. “She’s not dumb. She felt it, saw it, what was happening with them. I think after it was all over, she kinda felt shit about it, not stepping aside for them. We never broached it. All of us or Lacey with just me. But things didn’t end for her with Tony because of that. Things ended with Tony because Terrence put his foot down that Lacey needed shot of him.”
“Terrence?”
“Terrence Town. Lacey’s dad,” she explained, ate another chip and told him through chewing it, “He was not a hardass. He was a lot like my dad. He and Dad and Perry, Bianca’s dad, they were tight all the way to the end, that end being the end of Dad.”
“Got that, baby,” he said gently.
She nodded and wisely moved past that part quickly.
“Terrence is still tight with Perry and Nova, Nova being Anc’s mom. Dad, Terrence and Perry, they came up in the business together. Out on the road, would run into each other. Worked on music together. At one point, bought houses in LA close to each other. That’s how us three girls became such good friends. In the father stakes, Terrence was like Dad, Perry, as I told you, wasn’t.”
What he knew of Perry Constantine, lead guitar of the metal band Let, and his three-time wife Nova, was that the two of them were a mess, Perry being the bigger one. Their marriages, and the end of them, played out in such a way even Deke, who didn’t give a shit about that type of thing, couldn’t get away from it.
Perry had been in and out of rehab several times, all of them big splashes that included run-ins with police, photographers, fans…and his wife.
Nova, something he didn’t know but learned through Jussy when she’d given him further details about Bianca last week, did one stint in rehab. She waited too long to do it but at least it took and that was the end of the on and off with Perry.
Nova was now married to some television actor and kept hold on her minimizing fame through him and doing guest starring stints on various programs or straight-to-video movies.
But regardless, according to Jussy, most of Bianca’s parenting came from Johnny, Joss and Lacey’s parents, when they were around, which, with their careers, was not much.
“Dad and Terrence, they could be dads,” she kept going. “And they pulled those dad cards anytime we fucked up. But they were never assholes about it. That said, Terrence was an asshole about this. Making threats to Lacey that he was going to cut off her money, shit like that. Shit he never did. He wanted Tony gone and he made that so.”
Now she had his complete attention.
“You reckon he knew something about this guy you didn’t?”
She nodded, indicating her phone on the bed with her hand. “Or at least that’s what Lacey thinks she figured out.”
Her voice got even more serious when she carried on.
“Deke, honey, I haven’t seen Tony in over a decade but I have spoken to him.”
“Shit,” he bit out. “When?”
“After Dad died. Not right after, a month or two, before I moved here. He called to give me his condolences. And he asked after Lacey. He also asked after Bianca.”
“And you told him,” Deke guessed.
“I didn’t go into full details or speculate but I was worried about her and getting more worried. I knew he still lived in LA. Bianca was, and obviously is still back there. He had money back then, worked hard, nice clothes, nice cars, and we always got into clubs and places not only because we were who we were, but whenever we were with him it was because Tony had connections. Even better connections than us. So I told him and I think I even asked him to keep an eye out for her and let me know if he sees her or hears anything about her.”
“So you think, he was into her back then so much he stayed into her, he heard she was in trouble, went in search of her, found her, cleaned her shit up and now they’re together.”
“That’s Lacey’s theory but I think it’s a good one.”
“Gotta tell Deck this, Jussy.”
“Yeah, you do,” she said softly.
“Lacey good to talk to her dad about what he knew about this guy to make her call it off with him back in the day?”
“That’s what we’re texting about now. She’s not feeling a lot of love for pointing a finger at Tony if he has nothing to do with this. They ended but it wasn’t ugly. And Terrence has been talking with Perry and Nova, that’s how Lacey heard about Bianca. Cops have talke
d with both Bianca’s folks. If Lace brings Tony into it, shit might get said that shouldn’t.”
“Maybe smart. We’ll see what Deck finds,” Deke muttered.
He pulled out his phone, called Deck and relayed the information.
“Right, got a name, can get a lot further with that lead but I won’t share with the cops. Not yet. Thanks, brother. Your girl thinks of anything else, I’m a phone call away.”
“Right, later, Deck.”
He disconnected and saw Jussy done with her sandwich but she was looking at him with an unsettled expression on her face.
“I know you’re not okay, baby,” he started. “This happening with your friend. But through that call, something make you less okay?”
“Dad took us on the road.”
He nodded. “Yeah, you told me that.”
“A lot of the time, we had tutors. He was home for a spell, we were in school, but that never lasted long. Except once, when he was on a huge tour, lasted a year, went over to Europe, Asia, Australia, he left us home and put me in school for what I think was the longest stretch I did. Bianca was in that school. Lacey at a private Catholic school. We were without a musketeer, I was the new girl with a famous last name and some girls fucked with me.”
“Right,” he prompted, seeing her focus on his shoulder, her mind was somewhere else.
Her gaze came to him.
“Bianca got suspended because she jumped them.”
Deke knew nothing about girl world and how they dealt with their issues so he asked, “You were tight. Would you do the same?”
“Actually jump them?” She shook her head. “Maybe, though I can’t say I would. I’m not about that kind of physicality. Doesn’t matter, they got the better of her. There were three of them, one of her. And she was the one who started it so she was the one who got in the most trouble. I wasn’t there but I told her between classes what happened and at the next break, she went for it.”
“Jussy, why’s this got you tweaked?”
“In the next month, those three girls had veritable shit storms consume their lives.”
Deke was silent.
“I thought it was karma,” she whispered. “But anything that could happen to them did. Boyfriends breaking up with them. One got her hair done at a salon and the bleach went wonky, most of her hair fell out during the rinse. Another got caught in the parking lot at a mall, mugged and roughed up. It doesn’t end there, Deke.”
“How old were you?”
“Fifteen, maybe sixteen.”
He shook his head, uncertain she was going in the right direction.
“At that age, you think Bianca masterminded all that?” he asked.
“I think a guy in a biker bar touched me in a way I didn’t like, she didn’t like, and she lost her mind on him, Deke. She got the drop on him, got him on the floor on his back and did some major damage to his face with her fingernails before she was pulled off. Her dad had to buy her out of that one and that wasn’t the first or the last. Some boy told stories about Lacey, I don’t know, we were maybe only thirteen, and Anca herself went, staked out his parents’ house, waited until they were all out and broke into his bedroom. She wrecked it completely and bragged about it to me and Lacey, proud she was looking out for her girl. No one ever found out it was her, because of course we’d never tell, but that boy freaked the fuck out. Nothing touched in the house but his shit, clothes, furniture, everything torn apart. The message was sent and it was clear. He didn’t say shit about anybody again, as far as I knew.”
“So she’s got a highly-tuned revenge streak.”
“Yes, I think so, but that kind of thing hasn’t happened in a long time. And lately, the last few years…it’s been that, honey, it’s been years she’s been folding in on herself…Lacey and me, we had shit going on. We didn’t notice it at first. And then…”
She didn’t finish that thought but Deke knew what she was saying.
It was too late.
He reached out a hand and touched his finger lightly to her knee.
That was all it took with Jussy.
She pulled in a breath and pulled it together.
“Don’t tell that to Decker,” she asked softly. “I don’t…” She shook her head again. “Let me talk to Lacey. She’s with her folks right now, went to them for her break instead of coming out here. They’re upset about Bianca now, and were already upset about what happened to me. That’s why she’s texting. She doesn’t want to talk in front of them. Especially about Tony. I’ll text her and talk to her when she’s alone and can do that talking freely.”
“Text, gypsy,” he urged. “Set that up so you can talk that out. Then, you already picked all your paint colors. Got the paint for downstairs, not the upstairs rooms. We’ll go get it so I’m good to go when I’m back at it tomorrow. Sound like a plan?”
She nodded, picking up her phone.
He grabbed their garbage while she texted.
Then she dressed and he loaded her up in his truck and got them on their way.
Suddenly, she said, “Paying a stylist to make a sixteen-year-old mean girl’s hair fall out is a far cry from finding a hitman, Deke.”
Deke grabbed her hand, advising again, “Do not flip out until you know what you’re flippin’ out about.”
“The guy strangled me, scared the shit out of me, I thought he was going to kill me. I cannot pull up a lot of emotion about the fact he’s dead. It’s not being vengeful or in denial. It’s just that he doesn’t matter to me. But if Bianca was behind that. If she was there—”
“Babe, what’d I say?”
She didn’t answer.
“Justice.”
“Do not flip out until I know what I’m flipping out about.”
“Our focus is paint,” he told her.
“Our focus is paint,” she repeated after him.
“And you gotta decide what you want for dinner.”
“But I decided lunch.”
“And I decided how I was gonna fuck you before lunch. I’m tradin’ my turn on dinner on deciding how I’m gonna fuck you tonight.”
He glanced at her as he turned on County Road 18.
She was grinning at him.
When he looked back to the road, she said, “Deal.”
That was good.
Because he’d already decided how he was going to fuck her and that goodness was happening for certain.
* * * * *
Deke drove into his Jussy on his knees, one of her legs pressed straight up his torso, the other leg curled around his hip, her hands above her head pushing into the headboard, taking him.
She was panting softly, a sound he felt drive through his dick. He could see through the moonlight that her eyes were hooded, her hair all over the pillows, her tits bouncing with his thrusts, and she was so gorgeous, he had to get her there.
Fast.
He pulled her leg off his torso, wrapped it around, bent over her and pulled her up into his arms.
He fell back to his calves.
Jussy swung her legs back around and hooked the tops of her feet on his thighs.
Deke wound one hand in her hair, the other arm he kept around her waist.
She curled both arms around his shoulders.
She bent her head to him, lips brushing his, pants blending with his rough breaths.
He drove up inside her.
She rode him hard.
“Need help gettin’ there, gypsy?” he grunted, powering up faster.
She didn’t answer.
Her head fell back, her tits pressed into his chest as her spine arced, and he felt her cunt ripple around his dick as she let out a soft breath with her orgasm.
He got her there.
So Deke plunged fast and deep, taking himself there with her, shooting into the condom, into his gypsy, his face buried between her tits.
Spectacular.
When he came down, she had the fingers of both hands laced together through his hair cupping his head.
>
He tipped it back and she dropped hers down.
He took his time kissing her, wet and deep, and she gave him her mouth for as long as he wanted it.
Eventually, Deke broke the kiss, slid a hand down to her ass and gave it a squeeze.
She got the message and climbed off him.
He angled off the bed, dealt with the condom and went back to her.
She curled in immediately while he pulled the covers over them.
“Back to the trailer tomorrow, babe,” he murmured. “That’s for the foreseeable future. Gonna be breathin’ in paint fumes all day. Don’t wanna do that at night.”
“Good, I miss the trailer,” she mumbled.
He could tell by her voice she was sleepy and he liked that she fucked, she got into it, she did it hard, no inhibitions, and she liked closeness after but didn’t need to spend an hour on a run down blow by blow of their fucking, their day or any other crap that didn’t require useless conversation in an effort to pretend it was sharing leading to closeness.
They’d already been close, that being fucking, and were going to remain close, that being sleeping together after fucking.
Justice got that.
She just, like always, got on with shit.
Now, since it was late, that shit was sleep.
And she “missed the trailer.”
They’d been gone from it for two days.
Deke smiled into her hair.
“’Night, honey,” she muttered.
“’Night, Jussy,” he replied.
She snuggled deeper under him.
Within minutes, she was out.
It didn’t take long for Deke to follow her.
Chapter Fifteen
Crock-Pot
Justice
“Deke.”
It was a plea.
I didn’t know for what because I needed him to stop but I needed him not to stop.
Ever.
I’d never been afraid of an orgasm but the one Deke was building was threatening to tear me apart.
“Let go, Jussy,” he grunted.
“Baby,” I panted.
“Christ,” he growled and I distractedly heard the moist noises his cock made, sinking fast and deep into my pussy. “Your cunt. So goddamned tight. Let go, Jussy.”
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