by Delilah Hunt
McNair snorted, no longer meeting his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re getting at. Not like you, Hudson. If the color ain’t white…”
Chase despised that saying now. He’d heard it too many times over the years and wanted to wipe McNair’s mouth clean of it. Leaning in, he bared his teeth. “That’s right, you’re not like me. But if I were you, I’d keep a closer eye on my little Jew princess. All that nice white skin you love so much, working in her daddy’s taco restaurant. Things could get really messy…”
McNair paled and his jaws ticked as Chase moved away from his long-time nemesis. Now it was all out. They were both race traitors. Only difference between them was, Chase had known for weeks about McNair’s Jewish girlfriend, but not once had he thought about confronting or revealing their relationship. McNair on the other would’ve blackmailed him if he could. So much for white solidarity.
“How’d you find out?” McNair fearfully asked.
“Curiosity and by accident. Just thought to see what was so special about a taco joint that would make someone like you keep going back so often. I pulled up, saw you and a chick with clothes all messed up getting out of your car.” Chase shrugged. “I went inside, noticed a picture of her and her dad on the wall. And the name. End of story.”
“You didn’t tell anyone?”
Chase shook his head. “No. Figured it wasn’t my call. Not really anyone’s place to tell someone who they can be with, now is it?”
McNair’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know, man. There’s a lot of things I’m not sure about. I didn’t plan on Abigail coming into my life. I saw her one day and couldn’t stop myself I guess. Didn’t seem to matter that much when I found out she was Jewish. I mean I couldn’t press a button and stop liking her.” He rubbed his mouth over and over. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Says she can’t introduce me to her parents until I can prove I’m not racist anymore.” He stared at Chase. “How the hell am I supposed to turn it off that easily? I haven’t touch meth or even alcohol in a while, but how do I stop being racist? Have you figured out how, Hudson?” McNair shook his head hard. “Shit. I can’t believe I’m sitting here bitching to you about this.”
“You’re talking,” Chase said. “All I’m doing is listening. I don’t have any answers for you. I’m still trying to figure this all out for myself.”
“Yeah. Guess I owe you thanks for not saying anything all this time. Thanks. Anyway, I’m sorry for acting like a douche. I shouldn’t have put my hand on your girl. Wrong move.”
Chase gave a curt nod. “Accepted. Don’t let anything like this happen again.”
“It won’t.” McNair touched his nose, which leaned to the side. “Then again, maybe if I do you’ll knock my nose back in place.” He laughed at his own joke then sobered. “No. Anyway, Hudson. You ever think about leaving? Packing your shit and disappearing into the night. Starting over.”
The idea was catching on. “No one’s stopping you. Why don’t you go for it?”
McNair looked up at him. “What about yourself, since you make it sound so easy. You plan on walking away? Starting over somewhere far away with your girl?”
Alaska didn’t sound too bad. Him and Larke, away from it all, surrounded by nature. No one to bother them. “That’s none of your business,” Chase said. “When and if that happens you’ll find out like everybody else.” He turned to leave, casting McNair an icy glare. “Remember our talk if you ever think of mentioning my girl to anyone. Jews then blacks…”
Chase left the store then, satisfied at the way McNair had gripped the wall, at the not so subtle reminder of their hierarchy of hate.
17
Where is he? Larke paced her apartment for almost an hour. She crossed to the window, looking out for any sign of Chase’s red pickup. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to follow his command and go home. But his eyes had pleaded, begged her to trust him. She had to.
Inside the store, she’d faltered, believing for a while that he might forsake her in order to save face with a fellow white supremacist. He hadn’t. He’d stood up for her even though it meant trouble for him. How much? That’s what had her so shaky.
As she made the decision that if after five minutes he didn’t show up, she would ring his phone, Larke jumped at the distinct knock on the door. She hurried across the room and peeked out of the peephole. Chase. The heavy of weight of worry dissipated from her shoulders. She drew the door open, throwing herself into his arms before he had a chance to step inside.
“You had me so worried!”
“I’m sorry I took so long. McNair and I needed to get a few things straight.” He looked her up and down, and then checked her wrist, smoothing the spot where his “buddy” had grabbed her. “He didn’t really hurt you, did he?”
Larke shook her head. “No. I never expected something like that to happen. Much less inside a store in the middle of the day.” She inched away from him and took a deep breath. “I don’t like knowing this is some sort of friend of yours.”
“McNair and I ain’t buddies or friends. We got this thing settled, but that doesn’t mean we’re cool or that I trust him. You’re my only friend. The only person I trust.” Chase raked a hand through his hair. “Anyways, I’m real sorry that happened. I knew the fucker was a hunter but there’s no way I could’ve known he’d be in there today.”
“It wasn’t your fault. What happened after I left?”
“We talked.”
She frowned. “Talked? He didn’t strike me as the type of person anyone could talk things out with.”
Chase strode across the room, taking a seat on the couch. “Maybe not. He was willing to listen this time. So, it’s all good. Everything is fine.” He tapped the cushion next to him. “Come sit beside me.”
Larked folded her arms. How could he be so casual about what just happened? She refused to move from her spot. Eyeing him carefully, she asked, “So, you’re not concerned at all about everyone knowing you’re in a relationship with me?”
“Didn’t I just tell you everything was settled? McNair won’t open his mouth. He has too much to lose.”
“Like you? Do you also have too much to lose because of me?”
Chase stared at her for what felt like an eternity without saying a word. Larke watched as he glanced down at his hand then slowly brought his attention to her. “I do have a lot to lose,” he began. “Nothing I’m scared of losing, though. You just gotta understand it ain’t that easy shedding years of well...everything I am. Was. I don’t really care what people say. You know me, Larke. But I won’t lie and tell you it’ll be a walk in the park when every single member of Antebellum Resistance finds out I’m a race traitor. I never heard of anyone doing anything like that before, especially not while living in our community.”
Larke sat beside him, humbled at his honesty and hating the path his family had laid out for him. The situation could’ve easily been reversed if her parents had been the fanatics. She laced her arm around his shoulder. “Do you worry they’ll try to…” God, she couldn’t even bring herself to finish the terrifying sentence.
He shook his head. “No. There’s a bunch of hotheads, like McNair for instance and some actual nutjobs, who’ve already gotten themselves locked up a time or two. The majority are just pissed at life. I never saw it before. But I get it now. They think the government and life in general abandoned them. Take that sinkhole we fell into. You know what caused it?”
She shook her head. “Tell me.”
“The whole area used to be a mining town. They used to drill mining tunnels across the woodlands. After a while the ground just caved it and that’s what caused it. When the mine closed, lots of people got real frustrated. My grandfather was able to buy up most of that land dirt cheap back then, cause the town was dead. The first few members he recruited were starving miners. He got them to help him build up the town with a promise of a better future. For whites. Since they were the ones suffering. That’s how all this mess got started. An
d it just grew and grew and sucked us all in.”
Jesus. And now she was sucked in too, Larke thought. “Did your grandfather tell you all of this before he died?”
Chase curled his lips and chuckled harshly. “Bits and pieces. He sounded like a big hero when he told it. The rest I figured out on my own.”
“It’s sad isn’t it? The fact that race traitor is even a term although there’s nothing traitorous about two people wanting to be together. Yesterday, I thought about it also. I thought maybe race traitor applied to me but in a different way. The only difference is, not once did I draw any conclusion that us being together was wrong. Do you still think it is, not you and me, but in general for other people?”
“I don’t.” He looked down at her hand on his. “You see that I’m trying real hard, don’t you? Like I promised. I don’t even wanna think some of those words I used to use before. They don’t feel right and makes me think about you being all sad and hurt. Sometimes, I do have to try extra hard to watch what I say because it might be wrong.” He ran his thumb along her nape.
Larke bit her lip, becoming aroused as he kept talking. “Like I’ve been wanting to tell you how pretty your skin is. When I saw you naked for the first time all I could think about was touching and tasting you all over. It really did remind me of chocolate, but I figured I shouldn’t say stuff like that. Right?”
The pulse in the base of her neck began to beat hard and rapidly. “It’s not the best thing to say, but it’s not bad.” Larke leaned into him as his lips caressed her neck. “The way you put it though, I almost wished I did taste like that.”
Chase raised his head and murmured close to her ear, “You taste much better. I told you so remember––said you tasted better than candy. I meant chocolate but didn’t want to outright say it.”
She laughed softly, suddenly recalling those very words and the warm feel of his tongue against her clit two nights ago. She drew her legs together, feeling moisture gathering at her core. “I love all the things we’ve done together. Sometimes I even lie awake in bed with my eyes closed picturing it all.”
He drew his gaze to her thighs, held pressed together. Lifting his head, he captured her stare.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Squeeze your legs together like that. You’ve got an ache and what you’re doing isn’t gonna make it go away.”
“What do you suggest?” Larke asked huskily.
“Me. When I’m here I’ll take care of you. When I’m not here and you can’t wait, then I want you to slip your fingers inside and play with yourself real nice. Think about how I’ll reward you with my dick the next time, if you make yourself come.
“R-reward me?” she stuttered, splaying her thighs for him now.
Chase tipped her chin. “Yes. I also need to do so for how well you listened to me in the hunting store earlier. You made me proud.”
“Will you reward me now?” she breathed. Her mind was already conjuring the most erotic images of Chase on top of her, behind her. Everywhere. Larke sighed inside her head, anticipating the bliss to come.
He knelt in front of her and peeled down her panties from beneath her dress. He nuzzled his face between her breasts. Soon after, Chase drew his head up and relaxed into the couch, leaning back to open his pants.
Larke groaned as his cock sprang forward, massive and thick, the engorged tip curving upward. Holding her by the hips, he said, “Come sit on my dick.”
Oh my God. She almost spluttered in shock. In all the time, the many times they’d made love, it was always Chase who well…penetrated her. Larke bit her lip then shook her head slowly, despite her pussy clenching and quivering with excitement. If he really meant for her to just sink, impale herself on him… Jesus. Yet, as she heard herself whisper, “I can’t,” her legs were already moving toward him, brushing against his pants.
Chase ran his hand along the veiny base. “I wasn’t asking if you could. Was more like an order. We’re long past games and you being scared. You ain’t a virgin anymore, Larke. I’ve been fucking and coming inside you a lot, so it shouldn’t hurt.” He looked down and groaned as she rubbed the pad of her thumb over the glistening tip. “I gotta get you used to taking me how I want it. Right now, I need you to sit right here on top of me so I can watch the look on your face when you take me all the way in.”
Her entire body shivered. Holding on to his shoulders, Larke straddled his waist and inhaled through her nose as she lowered her wetness over the heated crown.
Breath left her body. She was completely filled. Larke cried out then moaned because impossible as it was, it felt as if his penis went all the way up to her belly. She scratched her fingernails against his back, shutting her eyes in abandon when her walls closed around him.
Chase gave her a languid grin while one hand went beneath her dress and up, stroking her breast. “Angel, you’re so snug. Squeezing all around me.”
In response, Larke undulated her hips, bouncing on his rock hard shaft. The smile on his lips melted as he growled, “Yes!” He grabbed her by the hips compelling her to ride him hard. Before Larke could form another thought, Chase rose from the couch. Gasping, she locked her legs around his waist, ankles crossed at his back as he crossed the room and pinned her to an adjoining wall.
“Only so much I can take,” he grunted, before pulling out almost completely then shoving into her in one powerful thrust, causing her to cry out in shock and pleasure.
“Can barely sleep at night thinking about you. About this.” He held her trapped under his gaze and pressed to the wall, impaled by his cock. “Did you think I was going to leave you in control?”
She whimpered, struggling to form a coherent sentence. “Chase. Please. I can’t think.”
He drove into her harder than before with one hand holding her against the waist the other wrapped in her braids. “Tell me who you belong to.”
“You,” she breathed, moaning softly. “I belong to you.”
He growled his approval. “Not good enough. Tell me no matter what happens, you won’t ever leave me.”
Oh God! Larke sucked in a breath as her mind spun trying to concentrate on his demand. He sensed her hesitation, withdrew then pushed forward like a piston at full throttle, ramming into her with one savage thrust after the other, wringing hoarse cries from the back of her throat. Without warning his movements slowed to an agonizingly sweet tempo that sent shivers racing across her skin. “I need this from you, Larke. I know it’s asking a lot, but I need this so bad. I need to know that no matter what, I can always come to you. I can always come back to this, fucking my girl until everything feels right inside my messed up world.”
Tears burned at the back of her lids. Chase’s plea threatened to unravel her. “I won’t leave you. I promise I won’t.”
“Good,” he whispered. “You’re my home, angel. Right here, deep inside you is the only place I feel at home. I love you.” He pressed his forehead to hers, shaking his head as he continued to thrust into her pussy. Frozen into shock, Larke realized he hadn’t meant to say the words that were now causing her heart to leap and slam against her ribcage like the beating of a thousand drums.
“Chase.” She clasped her arms around him tighter as he nuzzled the side of her neck with his lips. “I don’t know when it happened,” he continued huskily. “I just know that I love you so much and I can’t stop. I know you don’t love me but that’s fine.“ He crushed his lips over hers and upped his tempo, fucking her hard and fast. “I’m good with this for now. Having you all to myself. Coming inside you and feeling you come all around me.”
Larke sank her teeth into her lip, her entire body shuddering, her breath coming in ragged pants at the same time her body gave in to the heart stopping pleasure shooting out from deep inside. Lost in ecstasy, she sighed against his shoulder as he threw his head back, climaxing alongside her.
Chase released her, gently setting her on her feet. He wasn’t done, however. With o
ne hand splayed against the wall above her head, he remained unmoving, blocking her path. Trapped. If it were anyone else she would have viewed it as a threatening stance. Not him. If anything, she felt her lower belly heat under his intense stare. “You’re not mad at me cause of what I said, are you?” he asked, features hard. Vulnerable.
“You said a lot of things,” she said softly, meeting his eyes.
“I mean about loving you. I didn’t plan on telling you yet, but seeing you there... The way I was feeling. I couldn’t hold it in. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. Wasn’t my intention at all.”
“You didn’t. I’m glad you told me.” Larke touched his face, tracing her fingers across his lips. “I—”
“It’s okay.” Chase cut her off. “You don’t have to say anything back.” He dropped his hand from the wall, righting his pants as he strode away from her.
In that moment, Larke despised herself. He’d noticed her brief hesitation.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He was watching her slide her panties back on.
She shook her head. “You didn’t.” But I hurt you. Yes. She was the one who had done the hurting today. Regret gnawed at her. She should’ve told him. She should’ve given in without fear and hesitation and told Chase how much she loved him too. But it was too late now. Her credibility was shot. He would think she was saying it out of guilt and pity. Chase hated pity.
Sighing inwardly, she asked, “You don’t have to go soon, do you?”
“There’s no one waiting on me.”
“What about your stepfather?” Larke asked, selfishly contemplating what the man’s death would mean for Chase and the group. “How is he doing?”
Chase lifted a shoulder. “I saw him earlier before you called me. He’s gotten worse. Guess his time is coming up real soon.”
“Oh.“
He nodded, although his features now appeared closed. Guarded somewhat. Because of her?