“I love feeling my cock slide down your throat while you look up at me like that,” Jack said, stroking the top of my head lovingly as he jammed more of his dick into my mouth. “So innocent but so dirty at the same time. You're a fucking wet dream, sweetheart."
Oh god, I couldn’t stand another second without releasing some of the tension between my thighs. I dropped a hand and started rubbing myself through my jeans. Jack grinned evilly and pulled away so suddenly that I fell forward onto my hands.
"Nah ah ah," he tutted, grabbing my forearm and hauling me to my feet. "You said you wanted it to hurt."
He tossed me face down onto the edge of the bed, holding me in place with a firm hand on my back as he undid and pulled down my pants. I barely had time to register what was happening before the first firm whack landed on my backside. The stinging pain coupled with sparks of electric pleasure that caused me to cry out.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Over and over again, Jack’s palm came down on my ass. Over and over again, I groaned in ecstasy. He periodically massaged my smarting skin between smacks but didn't let up until I was nearly numb and I was sure that my butt was bright red.
The blows stopped. I heard the rustling of fabric behind me and turned my head to see what Jack was doing just in time to see his abs ripple as he pulled the t-shirt over his head and dropped it to the ground. He grinned at me. His hair looked boyishly ruffled, and his eyes were bright with lust and excitement. Jack lowered his chest to my back and nibbled along the skin of my shoulder, rubbing his jean-clad erection against the top of my ass.
“That enough pain for you, sweetheart?” he murmured into my ear.
The hairs on my neck stood on end. The noise that came out of me was more like a purr than anything else.
"Such a good girl." His tongue flicked over my pulse, and I shuddered. "I fucking love you.”
I heard the emotion in his voice, heard the conviction. Jack loved me down to his bones. My heart swelled with the joy of the moment, the sheer ecstasy of being madly in love, especially when that love came with an unlimited supply of delicious orgasms.
“I want to have a baby,” I blurted.
It probably wasn't the best time to casually bring it up, but I couldn't help it. Nothing was missing from our relationship, but I knew that bearing Jack's child would make me happier than I'd ever been. I loved him so much that I wanted to build a person with him, and I only hoped if he was going to shoot me down, he'd do it gently.
Jack lifted up and turned me over, staring down at me with the crease between his eyebrows that always came out when he was thinking hard.
“You do?” he asked.
I could only nod.
Suddenly, Jack’s serious expression split into a beatific smile. He fell on top of me and started kissing me wildly, sloppily, getting every inch of my face before pulling back to smile at me.
“I want us to have a baby too,” he said. “Everything is a little crazy right now, so maybe we should wait awhile, but…” He nipped the tip of my nose. “Hearing you say that has made me so happy.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “You’re my dream, Melissa. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and find out you were never real, but somehow you just keep getting better and better. If I woke up at this point, I think I’d die.”
His goofy expression had faded into something more serious, tawny eyes full to the brim with truth and desperation. I took his face in my hands and kissed him, long and slow. I didn’t know how else to say all the things bubbling in my mind. All I could do was show him.
We rolled on the bed in a tangle of limbs as the kiss grew in tempo. His steady hands unbuttoned and inched off my jeans and panties until they reached my ankles, where I kicked them off. His skin was hot where it touched mine, burning his brand right down to my bones. I luxuriated in the perfection of the moment, of the kiss. I would have waited a hundred years to get him back and feel his touch on my skin again, but the fact that I had him back so soon was incredible. Indescribably so.
I was slick and ready for him and didn’t want to wait any longer. I wouldn’t be satisfied until our bodies were joined, until I could feel him moving inside of me, bringing me closer to orgasm with every stroke.
“I want to ride you,” I told him. “Please.”
Jack moaned. “You know I can’t deny you anything when you ask so nicely.”
He rolled onto his back, and I climbed astride him, taking his meat in my hand and slowly guiding it inside me. The fit was tight, and I took it slow while my body readjusted to his girth. I sat down fully, and Jack hissed, gripping my hips tightly.
“That feels so good, baby.”
I moaned in response and began to ride him. We set a pace together, his hands guiding my hips as they moved back and forth. His cock went deep, filling me entirely, and I leaned back just enough for it to hit my g-spot with every stroke. The pleasure was so intense it was almost overwhelming. The level ratcheted up again when Jack's hands began to wander over my stomach and chest, tweaking and stroking my nipples, squeezing my breasts, scratching down over my stomach. I upped the pace. My breasts bounced with the force of my movements, and Jack swore, biting his lip.
“You’re so fucking hot,” he growled.
I was getting close. I was so lost in the pleasure that I couldn’t even respond to him, except to cry out in rapture. Every grind of my hips a step closer but also a step further away—from my pain, my worries, my reality. We were lost in space together, and it felt so fucking right.
I found the slope and began to climb, hanging onto his chest for dear life as the sweat prickled on my face. “I’m cumming,” I squealed.
Jack grunted and grabbed my hips, thrusting up in time with my movements until the room filled with the sound of heavy breathing and slapping skin. I let my head fall back and released a throaty scream.
I descended into what I can only describe as bliss, coming apart piece by piece until I felt neither solid nor incorporeal. I was sensation. I was emotion. And, like I always was with Jack, I was alive.
Chapter 33
Jack
Being out of prison brought a flood of positivity into my life, but I never forgot who was to blame for my incarceration. Thoughts of revenge had swirled through me day and night the entire time I was locked up, and the momentary reprieve I received from the joy of my homecoming didn't last long. By the morning after my first day back, I was wishing and wondering how I could get Donnie back. Melissa didn't have a clue and I didn't want to tell her. If she knew how much my hatred of her ex-boyfriend dictated my thoughts she'd only be upset. It was something I needed to solve myself. Melissa and Sadie got me out of prison, but the prison of my mind could only be traversed alone.
Melissa had a job interview in the morning, some bartending job at another place in town. She offered to reschedule it for me but I told her to go. We needed the money and I needed the space to do what had to be done. What I'd been waiting weeks to do.
I didn't know where to find Donnie, but I knew where he lived and figured that would be a good place to start. Melissa pointed the place out to me once and I burned the location into my memory exactly for this purpose. She took the car to her interview so I walked. It wasn't far. I reached the quaint rancher just as I started to sweat under the morning sun, and stood outside for a minute while I gathered the energy for what I was about to do.
Then, with my fists tight at my side, I walked up to the door and knocked.
"Who is it?" called Donnie from inside.
Good. He was home.
"Jack Paxton," I called back. "You may remember me as the guy you got sent to prison recently."
Pounding footsteps approached and Donnie yanked open the door, glaring at me.
"What the fuck are you doing here? Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"
I evaluated him calmly—the obnoxious way he styled his shit-brown hair, the angry tilt of his mouth and the little snub nose that would have lo
oked better on a rabbit. This person, this pest, was the reason my life nearly ended just as it was beginning. I wanted to lay him out flat and kick him until his kidneys came out this throat. I wanted to snap his bones one by one like toothpicks. And that was just what I wanted to do to him for hurting Melissa. He would never survive if I punished him for all of his crimes.
"I'm here for an apology," I stated. And then I waited.
Donnie blinked and stared at me, then broke into raucous laughter. "An apology? You've got to be fucking joking, right?"
I shook my head. I was dead serious.
Donnie's shoulders shook and he bent over, gasping for air. He righted himself and wiped a tear from under his eye, shaking his head with mirth.
"I guess that's why Melissa likes you so much," he said. "You're a funny guy. I'm sure that makes up for the tiny dick."
"You apologize right now," I said evenly, "and that'll be the end of it. For what you did to me, at least. What you did to Melissa is a whole other ball game."
Donnie stepped out onto the porch and jammed a finger into my shoulder. I stepped back.
"You think you can just come over here and demand an apology?" he asked. "You must be out of your goddamn mind. Why would I apologize to you when I'm not sorry for shit? The only thing I'm sorry about is that you're out early. You should be rotting in prison right now like the scumbag you are."
Irritation prickled down my spine but I didn't react. He was trying to get a rise out of me, probably hoping that if he pushed me far enough, I'd attack him. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me put behind bars again.
"You know what? You and that bitch deserve each other," Donnie continued. "You're both trash. I don't know why I wasted so much time on you. All that shit with that development took time, you know."
"What shit?"
I had a feeling I knew what he was talking about, but I wanted him to say it.
Donnie rolled his eyes. "Come on. You got the message didn't you? Or are you that stupid? I rolled over that job site you were working on twice. I fucking got you fired. Doesn't that make you mad?"
It made me furious. All of this might have been avoided if I'd kept that job, if Melissa had kept hers. We might've had enough money to get out of there before shit went sideways. Not to mention the fact that Neil was an innocent bystander in all of it and I was furious that he had to pay for Donnie's obsession too.
"You're a sad, lonely loser," I replied. "When will you realize that you've lost? It's over."
"It's not over!" Donnie's face purpled and spittle flew out of his mouth. "It's not over until I say it is! I'm the one calling the shots. You're nothing, prison trash under my shoe. I could have you back in jail in a heartbeat."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. Sure."
Donnie's frustration continued to grow. I wasn't reacting the way he expected, the way he thought an illegal fighter like me should react, and it was driving him crazy. I was winning and he didn't know how to take the field back. It felt good, even if it would've felt better to bust in his skull.
"You got away this time. Lucky you," he sneered. "That's only because coming up with evidence for illegal fighting isn't easy. The video of you fighting that your friend Roddy and I doctored wasn't perfect but the police were eager to take you in. Everyone thinks you're a scumbag and it's only going to be a matter of time before something comes up that they can finally put you away for." He smirked, obviously feeling triumphant. "Maybe next time it'll be something a little more serious. Maybe they'll find drugs in your car. Maybe they'll connect you to robbery. I wouldn't get settled for too long."
There. I could kiss him. Who would've thought that all I needed to do to get him to confess was let him preen about his victories a little?
I feigned shock and clenched my fists at my sides, giving him the idea that I might retaliate at any second.
"You forged the evidence against me?"
Donnie tapped his nose. "I just greased the wheels of justice a little. You're not innocent, so why should you be treated as such by the law?"
I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to last here without actually hitting him, so I figured it was time to leave.
"Thanks, Donnie," I said, letting my hands fall limp. "I'll see you around."
I turned on my heel and started stalking off down the driveway. Donnie wasn't finished with me yet.
"What?" he sputtered. "That's it? You're a fucking pussy!" His footsteps clattered down the porch and followed me up the drive. I didn't turn around, not until the last second. He wanted a fight and he wasn't going to let me go without one.
I turned just in time to see him draw his arm back to send his fist careening toward my face. My reflexes kicked in and I ducked out of the way, the skin of his knuckles just grazing my cheek. Then, because he'd already swung at me, after all, I finally indulged the itch in my arm and punched him in the jaw so hard that he collapsed to the ground in a heap of dirty clothes and douchey hair.
"Thank you, officer." I smiled, one of the many genuine smiles I'd been mustering since I got back from jail.
"We'll be in touch."
The young deputy nodded his head at me and dropped the tape recorder into a plastic evidence bag. The thing was tiny, but it felt like a twenty-pound weight in my pocket all morning. I still couldn't believe that my plan had worked, unoriginal as it was. The police now had a recording of Donnie's confession, both to the vandalism and the falsification of evidence. Plus, when I originally asked to speak to Sheriff Beringer, I was informed that he was on suspension.
For the first time in a long time, things in my life were balancing. Who knew? Maybe soon they'd even settle for good.
Chapter 34
Melissa
"Can I get a vodka soda with a slice of lime and two Coronas?" Janine asked, not looking up from her notepad.
"Sure thing," I responded brightly.
I grabbed two Coronas from the fridge and dropped them onto her tray. She still didn't look up, obviously consumed in whatever she had scribbled on it.
"So have you been working here long?" I asked.
Janine looked up and blinked. "Uh, yeah. A while."
"What's the crowd normally like?"
You would think I'd just asked her to come back to my place after work and look at my collection of severed heads. By the time she answered, I'd already begun filling the tumbler with soda water.
"Pretty standard, probably the kind of crowd you're used to." She shrugged and picked up her tray the second the last drink landed on it. "Thanks!"
I watched her trundle off and sighed. It was only my first day, true, but I had a feeling my notoriety as Donnie Beringer's ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend of the guy responsible for getting Donnie arrested would make the other townsfolk nervous around me for a while. Even though Donnie was the town's resident douchebag, many still rallied around him like the prodigal son when his time of need came, if only for the fact that his family had a lot of hands in a lot of pies. Not fingers, whole hands.
My new job was in a place called Virginia that was like a dressed up version of the Alibi, with dressed up prices too. Even so, it looked like the same kinds of people came to drink there. My question to Janine was more about trying to make small talk than it was trying to learn anything about the new place. Too bad she wasn't keen to talk.
I let my mind slip into silence as my shift ticked away, pouring drink after drink after drink and hoping that sometime soon everyone would stop looking at me like I belonged in a zoo.
I was so consumed in my work that I didn't even notice the familiar face who sat down across from me until I looked the man directly in the eye to ask him what he wanted to drink. The words died on my tongue.
"I was hoping to talk with you in private," said Graham Beringer, Donnie's father.
I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, sure. We could go out back?"
I hadn't heard anything from Donnie's family since he was arrested a couple weeks previous and didn't e
xpect to unless I was called to testify at his trial. The fact that the patriarch himself had come to speak with me made me incredibly nervous. Was he going to threaten me? Coerce me?
Graham and I walked out back together in silence. As the metal door slammed shut behind us, leaving us alone in the humid back alleyway together, I had to suppress a shard of panic working down my spine. Donnie’s father never approved of me and the little time I’d spent time with him had been nerve-wracking.
That being said, what could he do? Donnie had already tried his hardest to ruin my life and he failed. I was ready to take on whatever the biggest Beringer had in mind.
"I won't sit here and bullshit with you," Graham began, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. It was graying with age, but I could see how he would have looked the spitting image of his son in his twenties. "My son has caused some trouble for you, trouble enough that you could sue the shit out of him if you wanted to."
The thought of suing Donnie hadn't occurred to me. Honestly, all I wanted was to put it all behind me and forget about it. I had Jack back and he was the only thing in my life that mattered now. Graham didn't need to know that, though.
"I would like to kindly ask that you refrain from taking any sort of recourse against him. I also believe that Donald won't be able to settle while you're around. Something about you and your relationship is like an obsession for him, and he simply won't drop it. So, I would like for you to leave Cannon forever and never contact my son again. The second request in particular is less a request and more a demand."
My eyebrows shot up. Who did he think he was? Just because he owned a lot of real estate in Cannon didn't mean he could eject citizens whenever he got the urge.
Graham read my expression before I could say anything and held up a hand to stop me. "I know. I am willing to offer compensation if you cede to my requests, but only if you do both and if your friend Jack agrees to do the same. If you leave Cannon and don't cause any more trouble for my family, I'm prepared to write you a check for thirty thousand dollars and call it a day."
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