Vodka On The Rocks (The Uncertain Saints Book 3)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “Bow-chicka-wow-wow,” I sang.

  He grinned.

  He really did look good…for an older guy.

  He had a six pack with strong, burly arms.

  He reminded me more of a lumberjack, rather than a tattoo artist, but who was to say that a tattoo artist over fifty couldn’t be hot as hell?

  My eyes drifted left when a movement caught my eye, and I narrowed my eyes as Casten sat down directly across from the other side of the court, directly in my line of sight so I’d see him no matter what I did.

  Would he cheer for me?

  “Alright, darlin’ girl. Let me help you in,” he offered those big burly arms to me.

  I laughed and launched myself at him.

  He caught me easily and set me down in the warm mud, then repeated the process for Annie, his wife, and finally Lenore.

  “It feels like I’ve got my legs in a pit of sloshy shit,” Annie curled her nose in disgust.

  I wiggled my toes.

  I concurred.

  I let my eyes wander, purposefully staying away from where they really wanted to go.

  The bleachers were filled with bikers.

  Tons of them of all different shapes and sizes.

  My eyes caught on one particular club with a badass looking girl that looked slightly creepy on their cuts.

  The Dixie Wardens.

  Yum.

  Now they were hot.

  They didn’t have anything on my biker, but they were close contenders.

  They were also one of the only clubs that had women paired with every single one of their guys.

  Movement from where I wasn’t trying to look made me look, and I narrowed my eyes.

  The referee girl was back, handing Casten a beer.

  “Let me see that ball,” I ordered.

  Annie tossed it to me, but I let it drop into the mud before I picked it back up again, being sure to spin it around for extra mud coverage.

  Then, I served the ball, and nailed the girl perfectly in the back, causing her to drop the beer before Casten could actually get his hand around it.

  Casten sighed and scratched his head, finally looking at me with a look of bemusement on his face.

  I glared.

  He shook his head.

  The whistle blew.

  I turned back to Peek to see him staring at his wife.

  “Y’all ready?” he asked her now muddy breasts.

  We all nodded.

  “Alright, Tasha. CeeCee. Coin toss,” he ordered.

  I trudged up through the mud to stop directly in front of where CeeCee was standing.

  She glared at me.

  “What are you looking at?” she snapped.

  My brows rose.

  “What’s your problem?” I asked, startled.

  She sneered. “Don’t act like you don’t know.”

  I blinked. “But I don’t know.”

  “Fine, then let me enlighten you,” she hissed. “You left my brother. Made him start having nightmares again.”

  I laughed, good and loud.

  It was the type of laugh that wasn’t a laugh so much as a painful explosion of air that released my body.

  “Oh, I didn’t leave him,” I informed her none too gently. “He left me. He told me I was fun for a while, but my shit was too much for him. He was shot and Koda was hurt because of it. Said he needed time and space to think. And he still has my cat and ferret!”

  Her mouth turned from a sneer into a shocked frown.

  “What?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Seems like you should have a conversation with your big brother.”

  She sighed.

  “Give it to them first. They’re one down,” CeeCee pointed at Peek.

  Peek nodded and shoved the quarter back into his shorts pocket before turning to me and winking.

  I stepped back as I watched him heave his big body out of the mud and stand at the side of the pole that held the net aloft.

  He raised his hands and threw them down as if we were starting a race. “Go!”

  We sat there.

  “What are you waiting for?” he asked.

  I turned to look at my sister and the rest of my teammates. “This isn’t a race, big guy. This is volleyball. You’ll have to tell us to serve.”

  He sighed.

  “Bitches always have to be so complicated,” he muttered under his breath.

  It was a pretty even game, when it was all said and done.

  And by the time we were finished with the game, every one of us was covered head to toe in mud, as was everyone in the first two rows closest to the court.

  When we switched sides and I had Casten at my back, I made sure to get extra dirty and wet, then shook my ass in front of him for emphasis.

  “Alright, Annie. Take us home,” I tossed her the ball.

  I managed another quick look at Casten, seeing his eyes focused on me and only me, and I smiled down at my muddy toes.

  Annie took the ball and served it, which the other team fumbled and sent right back over the net.

  “Got it,” Lenore said, popping the ball up perfectly in the air.

  Annie set the ball just as perfectly to me, and I jumped, slammed the ball down on the other side of the court, and promptly came down on my foot wrong.

  I dropped like a stone, going down to my ass and pulling my foot up out of the mud to look at it.

  I grimaced when I saw a huge piece of glass sticking out of it.

  “Ouch,” I whined, touching the tip of the glass with my index finger.

  “What’s wrong?” Casten barked.

  I ignored him in favor of trying not to cry.

  Turning over on my hands and knees, I crawled to the opposite side of the court, or would’ve tried to, had huge, strong arms not wrapped around my middle and pulled me up like I weighed nothing more than a feather.

  “You’re getting dirty,” I moaned, turning my face slightly away from him.

  He grunted in response, walking with me to the tent that was set up nearest the house.

  I whimpered when he placed me down on the table, and started to cry when he promptly left.

  He didn’t go far, though, stopping at a tree just outside of the tent’s opening and watching while a paramedic I didn’t know was here came up to me at the table.

  “Hi, I’m Tai. Show me where it hurts,” the sexy man drawled.

  I licked my lips and glanced at Casten, whose eyes had flared when my tongue met my lip.

  Oh, this would be fun.

  ***

  I smiled inside, completely and utterly giddy at the turn of events.

  “You’re going to piss him off,” Mig said dryly.

  I turned to find my brother-in-law directly behind me, staring at me like I’d grown a second head.

  “Who said I can’t hang out with other friends while I’m here?” I asked teasingly.

  Mig just shook his head, and I turned back to my new friend.

  “So, you’re a paramedic?” I asked, fluttering my eyelashes at him.

  Not because I was actually trying to flirt, but because I had mud covering about ninety percent of my body. It even clung to my eyelashes, making them feel incredibly heavy.

  “Yep,” the man in front of me agreed.

  “Where do you work?” I asked.

  “Kilgore. It’s about forty-five minutes from here,” he said.

  “I didn’t realize that they hired a paramedic for this,” I explained.

  He nodded, bringing up a bottle of water to his lips and taking a deep gulp.

  He was a gorgeous man, but I had a thing for the brooding man that hadn’t let me out of his sight all day. But also refused to actually come any closer.

  “It was sort of last minute. I think one of the women thought we should have a paramedic here in case of injuries,” he said. “I was just the only one she knew, so here I am.”

 
; “Hmmm,” I said, turning to stare at the crowd while he fixed up my foot.

  Casten was still in his earlier spot, but now he was surrounded by a few bikers from other clubs.

  He was talking to the men, but he also kept his eye on nearly everything I did, taking notice of each and every move I made.

  “Will it need stitches?” I wondered.

  “No. It’s a puncture and it looks like you just got it about a half inch or so into the sole of your heel. They don’t usually sew punctures closed. It looks worse than it really is,” Tai explained. “You might want to make sure your tetanus is up to date, though.”

  “Hmmm,” I replied, watching as he finished the last of the bandages.

  “Now, tell me where you want me to carry you,” he said.

  Fun, indeed.

  Especially when I saw the look of rage that overtook Casten’s eyes.

  I pointed at a bar stool that was set up in the backyard of Lenore’s parents’ place, and he took me right up to the very last seat and set me down.

  “Don’t walk on that until the wound has the chance to start healing a little first, okay?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yep.”

  “Alright, then I’ll see you around.”

  And with that, I was left alone once again.

  This time I didn’t see Casten anywhere.

  He must really be pissed and that made me all the more nervous.

  With a heavy heart, I went home, limping the entire way to my car.

  I was completely defeated but tomorrow was a new day.

  Chapter 20

  Classy as balls.

  -T-shirt

  Casten

  I walked slowly up the path to the cabin where Tasha was still staying and stared at her.

  She was beautiful.

  Her long, wavy brown hair was flowing all around her, moving every which way because of the wind.

  She was no longer covered in dirt and mud, and I had to shrug off a smidgen of disappointment.

  Her eyes were directed up, and she didn’t move, even though I knew she knew I was here.

  “Whatcha doin?” I asked softly.

  She didn’t turn to look at me.

  “I’m looking at the super moon and lunar eclipse,” she whispered.

  I blinked, looking up to see what she was looking at.

  I only saw clouds.

  “I don’t see it,” I said.

  She sighed.

  “I don’t either. I’ve been waiting to see this for weeks. Bought a telescope,” she pointed to a massive telescope she had sitting next to her chair. “But I can’t see a damn thing. It sucks. This is supposed to happen once every three hundred years. I’ll never get the chance to see it again, and I’m disappointed.”

  “I got something for you from some meteorology school outside of Tampa, Florida,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked up at the nonexistent moon.

  She nodded, not answering.

  “Tell me you’re not really going back to school,” I muttered.

  A sad smile crossed her face.

  “Start next week.” She closed her eyes and smiled. “Meteorology. In Tampa.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “You’re actually going?” I all but barked.

  She turned her head to stare at me.

  “Why not?” She looked away. “Nothing here but painful memories.”

  “What if I asked you not to go?” I leaned down.

  She looked back at me.

  “You haven’t.”

  I licked my suddenly dry lips.

  “I don’t want you to go.”

  “Why?” she pushed. “You and me aren’t a thing any more. It hurts too bad to see you.”

  I closed my eyes as sorrow washed over me.

  “I’ve loved you since the day I saw you. Every single day that’s gone by, I’ve only fallen deeper and deeper in love with you.” I told her roughly. “I need you here. With me.”

  “You hurt me.” she challenged, suddenly sitting up so we were nearly eye to eye.

  “I had to hurt you. I had to get you away so I could find him. It wasn’t going to end with you not giving him a chance to make his move.” I hesitated. “Granted, I probably could’ve gone about doing that differently, but I was on pain meds, and I was trying to find the quickest way to get you away from me before he didn’t aim his gun at me the next time, but at you.”

  She frowned.

  “I need you.”

  She looked away.

  “I did that on purpose,” she whispered. “Told my sister I was going back to school so you’d get your head out of your ass.”

  Her voice was almost carried away by the wind as it rushed through the trees.

  “You were so sure I’d get my head out of my ass?” I asked, moving until I was on the chair directly in front of her, facing away.

  She moved her legs apart for me, then moved until one foot dangled over my left shoulder.

  I took her sock covered foot into my hand and started to pop her toes.

  Once done, she poked her other foot over my shoulder, and I popped those, too, being careful to stay away from the cut that I knew had to be hurting her.

  Then I started massaging the unhurt one.

  “I wanted you to talk to me,” she whispered.

  She sounded like she was crying.

  I leaned my head sideways to rest against the inside of her knee.

  “You needed time to process everything…without me here,” I said.

  “You didn’t know it was Jet. You only knew it was someone that was hell bent on keeping us apart. What was your excuse then?” she asked.

  “I knew that if he couldn’t find you, he’d follow me in hopes of me leading him to you,” I explained. “It worked, too. My sister was able to pull some video clips of the places I’d been to, finding a familiar face among the crowd. Although he was easier to spot than most because of the burns.”

  She breathed in a trembling breath.

  “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe he’d do that to me. After everything we had, why would he do that to me?” she asked, voice breaking halfway through.

  I reached up behind me and tugged her forward, situating her until she was resting in my lap, her head under my chin.

  She wrapped her hands around my neck and sobbed.

  “You hurt me,” she cried.

  Her tears ran down my neck and disappeared into the collar of my shirt.

  I would’ve cried with her if I didn’t think it was inappropriate for a grown male to be seen losing it.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve missed you, too,” I admitted, voice not as strong as I would’ve liked it.

  She took a deep, shaky breath.

  “Are you done leaving me?” she asked.

  In answer, I leaned her over until I could reach into my pocket, pulling out a velvet lined box and sitting it on top of her knee.

  She gasped.

  I flipped the box open, letting her look her fill, waiting for her gaze to meet mine.

  “Yeah, darlin. I’m done leaving you,” I promised.

  Her lips quivered, and I watched fat tears continue to roll down her cheeks.

  But she’d never looked so beautiful to me.

  “So what do you say, darlin’? Will you marry me?” I asked.

  She bit her lip.

  “Yes…but I have one more thing to take care of before we make it official,” she licked her lips.

  “And what’s that?” I asked, circling one finger along the length of her collarbone.

  She bit her lip.

  “Okay, maybe two.”

  I raised my brow at her in question.

  She fell forward and placed her mouth onto mine.

  Instinctively, I parted my lips, growling as I devoured her.

  I reveled in her taste, dick hardening painfully as she slowly started to work my shir
t up and over my head with deft hands.

  I stopped her when she reached for the button of my jeans.

  “What?” she asked worriedly.

  In answer, I picked her up and started walking into the cabin, stopping only long enough to slam the door behind us.

  She gasped when I walked straight to her bedroom and laid her down softly next to the clothes that were piled high next to a suitcase on the bed.

  I shoved everything off the bed with my arms, then crawled up between Tasha’s splayed thighs.

  “You’re not wearing any panties,” I growled softly as I ran my hand up the smooth skin of her thigh, straight up the outside of her shorts.

  She smiled.

  “I’d just gotten out of the shower when you got here,” she explained. “But I forgot about them when I remembered the moon and wanted to see it. So I rushed a little bit.”

  “Mmmm,” I said. “Works out for me.”

  I lifted her shirt from her body, growling softly when the familiar glint of metal sparkled against the piercings in her nipples.

  I leaned down and captured one with my mouth, circling my tongue around the metal as I flicked the very tip of her nipple.

  My other hand went down to her pants and worked her short shorts off over her hips.

  She helped, of course, feeling even more eager than I to have our bodies back together.

  Once her shorts were gone, I worked my cock out of my pants, letting it slap thickly against her exposed sex.

  She moaned, lifting her hips up in a silent plea.

  There was no foreplay this time.

  It’d been too long for us.

  So, without further hesitation, I lifted my lips from her nipple, lined my cock up with her entrance, and slowly eased deep inside, hitting the back of her with one long thrust.

  Her eyes widened, and she gave out a silent gasp.

  I let my hand rest softly on the side of her face while I worked my hips, pushing into her and pulling out.

  She bit her lip to keep her moan inside, and I grinned down at her, completely sure I could make her be loud.

  And I did.

  My thrusts became harder, and soon she couldn’t hold those moans in.

  Her hips went up in time with my thrusts, heels digging into my backside as I bottomed out over and over, deep inside.

  I sucked on her neck, and she turned to allow me better access.