He paused as if he didn’t want to continue. “What happened then?” I asked when the silence stretched too long for my comfort.
“I got a call from Child Protective Services.”
“Oh my God, about Avani?”
He nodded.
“But what happened? Why? Where was your mother?”
“My mother was admitted into the hospital. She had pain in her lower abdomen.”
“Was it appendicitis or something?” I said knowing nothing about the subject. I was painfully ignorant when it came to medical issues.
“It was some sort of infection. They couldn’t stop it in time. About time I got there Mom was gone.”
The pain in his voice made my heart hurt for him. “I’m so sorry, Lee. How did Avani take it?”
“Not well. Not well at all. She blamed me.”
I looked at him shocked, “But why? It wasn’t your fault.”
“She said that if I’d been there, I might have noticed Mom wasn’t feeling right and I might have been able to save her.”
“That’s not necessarily true, Lee.”
He looked away from me and stared out the window, “It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. It only matters how she feels. I failed my Mom and I failed Avani.”
“Lee...”
“Nothing you say can change the facts, Angelica. I messed up. I should have been there for my mother. I’m scum for not being there. I know and accept that. I can’t rewrite history. I’ll live with that guilt until the day I die. I can’t make up for Mom’s death, but I can do my best to take care of Avani now. I left that world behind. It was no good for me, or my Mom or Avani. She deserves better. So I took my money and left the gang. They weren’t too happy about my decision, but they know what I’m capable of so they left me alone. And I’ve been trying to keep a low profile, trying to make life as normal as I can for Avani. ”
“She loves you.”
“I don’t deserve it. The kid has a big heart.”
“Maybe you do too.”
“You believe the best in people apparently. There’s not much good in me.”
“We all can’t be angels, Lee. I’ve done things that I’m not proud of and so have you.”
“But you weren’t a criminal.”
I shrugged, “But there were things I did while deployed that made me feel like one.”
We both didn’t say a word, lost in thought focusing on the sins of our past. Lee was the first to speak, “Guilt can really fuck up your head.”
“Tell me about it.”
“So now that we’ve played twenty questions, are you still interested in a man who should be locked up?”
“I don’t know that man. I only know you.”
The mood in the room shifted and I could feel Lee’s eyes on me as I abruptly walked away from him and pulled a beer out of the fridge.
“I know it’s the middle of the day and all, but after this afternoon’s little adventure, I can surely use one. You want one?”
He nodded, “You really know how to handle yourself in a fight. Thanks by the way.”
“You didn’t need my help for long.”
He shrugged and took a swig of the beer I handed him, “Nothing’s sexier than a woman who can hold her own in a fight.”
I smiled, flattered by his comment, “I still train, keep in shape. I have a sparring partner at the gym. A retired boxer.”
Lee raised his eyebrows clearly impressed, “I’ll remember that if I ever make you mad.”
I laughed, glad the tension in the air was gone. The previous subject had been too heavy for me. I didn’t like to think back to those times. What I didn’t tell Lee was that I had struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder. And working out and a lot of therapy had helped me overcome it. I had needed to change the subject because some memories were too painful to share.
As Lee leaned against the kitchen counter, his face also looked contemplative and his eyes were distant. Apparently, we both needed a distraction. And I knew the perfect distraction for a couple of consenting adults who needed to relieve some tension.
“Do you like blues?”
He nodded, “I might have grown up in Ireland, but I became a man in the South.”
That was all the answer I needed as I walked away from him. “Where you going?” He called after me.
I didn’t look back and instead, just said, “Sit down. Relax. I’ll be right back.” I grabbed my iPad from my bedroom, found the song I was looking for and connected the device to the TV in the living room.
Lee watched from the couch, beer still in his hand. And then the sound of B.B. King making magic on the guitar resounded around my living room. It was slow and sexy.
I pushed my hair away from my face and began to wind my hips to the beat of the guitar intro. Lee didn’t move a muscle as he kept his eyes trained on me, the beer in his hand completely forgotten. He sat there with a hint of a smile on his face as he watched me undress for him. His thighs were spread wide apart and I could see him becoming aroused as he sat like a king on my couch and I gave him a little show, moving to the rhythm of the song playing in the background. The lyrics weren’t outwardly provocative, but their meaning was perfectly clear if you looked beneath the surface. Like Lee, the lyrics were more than what they appeared to be; they required a deeper understanding and one had to listen closely to really decode the nature of the song. I started with my shirt, unbuttoning it slowly, exposing my belly first before undoing the shirt completely. I let it fall off my shoulders and reached for the clasp of my bra. He didn’t say a word as I dropped my bra to the floor and then I shoved my jeans down. I rocked my hips to the music. It was sexy and hypnotic in a way that only blues could be. And as I let my jeans hit the floor, I stepped out of them and turned around, away from Lee and slowly pushed my panties down my legs. And I looked over my shoulder as I did, wondering if his expression would change. It had. He didn’t look aloof anymore. He looked almost predatory as he allowed his eyes to roam over my now nude body. He placed the beer on the coffee table.
“Come here, Angelica,” his voice came out husky, full of want. Just the sound of it made my body instantly react. My breathing grew ragged, my nipples became hard and I could feel myself growing wet.
I sat down on his lap and he slid a finger inside of me and he began to finger me, while kissing my neck. I groaned and laid my head against his shoulder while bracing the palms of my hands against the wall behind him. I gyrated my hips and rode his hand, loving the way he pushed himself inside my wetness and then teasingly pulled away.
“You’re definitely no angel.” He groaned.
“Fuck no.” I said now desperate to have him inside me. “Do it now; put it in.”
He laughed at the impatience in my voice, but the laughter died on his lips as I instead took his cock in my hand and raised my hips up just enough so that I could slide him into me. I had to slow down and take him in slowly, because he was way too big for me. I moaned as I did and when he was completely inside of me, I began to ride him, shifting my hips up and down, pumping his member in and out of me, shaking from the sensation of having him so deeply inside of me.
He brought his hands up and caressed my breasts, bringing his head down to suck one nipple at a time. I thought I would come right then, but then he slid his hand down and started to play with my clit. His fingers were masterful as they teased my clit and I moaned his name, getting wetter. Involuntarily, I started to come, my whole body began to shake and then abruptly Lee pulled me off.
I protested and tried to climb back into his lap, but he grabbed me by my waist and sat me down on the couch and then quickly kneeled in front of me.
“I want to taste you when you come.”
He then pulled my hips towards him and buried his face in between my legs. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his neck and brought my hips forward, gripping the cushions of my couch as Lee traced the wetness between my folds with his tongue. His lips and his tongue felt warm a
gainst my center. He let out what sounded like a growl at one point and pulled me closer towards him, bringing my body closer so that he could bury his face deeper against my sex.
“Lee!” I screamed as he alternated between pushing his fingers inside of me and licking the tip of my clit. He seemed to be at home between my legs and then I started to come, gasping for breath as pleasure radiated from my clit and my entire body tensed up from the force of my orgasm. My head felt heavy, time seemed to slow down and my sex pulsed as the orgasm of all orgasms rocked my body.
I sighed as Lee pulled his head away minutes later. “You taste even better than I dreamed,” he said. I didn’t have a chance to reply as he pulled me to the floor next to him, made me kneel on my hands and knees and then roughly entered me from behind. My knees buckled a little at the force of his thrust and I struggled to stay upright, grabbing in vain at the area rug on the living room floor. He dove into me and my sex squeezed him each time, still tense from my earlier orgasm. Suddenly, Lee began to speed up, thrusting wildly into me. He moved his hands from holding my hips in place to caress my breasts as he began to kiss my spine, all while pushing his cock into me. The sensation of his hands fondling my breasts, teasing my nipples, combined with the heat of his mouth up and down my back, sent me over the edge again and I came, my femininity clenching around his shaft, tightening around it to the point that he had to slow down.
He groaned and hoarsely shouted my name and then I felt him coming inside of me. That warm liquid seemed to fill me and I loved that I had the power to make him come. I collapsed down to the floor, my breathing still heavy and he settled down on top of me.
I groaned at the weight of him and he quickly moved to the side and rolled over on to his back. When I was able to breath normally again, I rose up on my elbow and looked down at him.
His eyes were closed and then he slowly opened them and looked at me, “What was the name of that song?”
I was surprised by his question, but I shrugged and answered, “Sweet Little Angel.”
He smiled at me, that sexy smile that had hooked me from day one, “Of course.” He then motioned for me to lie on his chest and I did. And as his hand lazily stroked my back I drifted off, listening to the blues in the background with my head planted on Lee’s firm chest.
Chapter Five
Days had gone by since that dangerous afternoon. Shepherd and his gang hadn’t come back and I was glad about that. However, I had also not heard anything from Lee. I figured that once we started our casual sexual relationship, he would at least want to continue it, but I guess that wasn’t the case.
I pretended that I wasn’t disappointed, but I was. I had agreed that emotional ties weren’t what I was looking for but that didn’t mean I couldn’t change my mind. Lee and I shared a similar background and frankly, I didn’t care about his past. He seemed to be paying for it with the internal demons he was obviously running from. We were both pretty much alone in the world and I had thought it might bring us closer, but apparently Lee thought otherwise.
I was deep in thought and if it weren’t for the smell, the scent of stale beer, that assaulted my nose, I wouldn’t have known that the man was there. I reacted instantly, turning around to deliver a blow to his face when something hard collided with my skull and the world around me went black.
I woke up slowly with a splitting headache so bad that I felt I would die from it. After a few dry heaves, as nausea set in, I managed to open my eyes. I was in a barely lit room and as I turned my head, I realized that we were in some sort of abandoned schoolhouse. I tried to touch the spot on my head that throbbed but I found that my hands were tied behind my back. I was restrained against an old basketball goal. For the first time, I realized that liquid was dripping down my forehead and from the old cans of beer that were haphazardly thrown around me, I realized that it wasn’t blood, but beer. Apparently they had used me as a human garbage can while I was unconscious.
My eyes finally trained on the door I could see from a distance. I heard voices and looked around for anything to use as a weapon. I was just grateful that they hadn’t tied my feet. I wouldn’t be able to get away, but at least I could use my feet as a weapon to protect myself. I swallowed back the tinge of fear I felt as the voices grew closer and then Shepherd and Vicki appeared and their men filed in behind them.
Vicki’s arm was in a cast. I guess Lee had broken it after all. I smiled a little to myself at the thought.
“What are you smiling about?” Vicki snarled as he came closer. I ignored him and said instead, “Well, Shepherd, it’s always a pleasure to see you. You know, if you wanted to date me you could have just asked me out like a normal person.”
Shepherd was clearly not amused. He didn’t reply, instead he slapped me hard against my face and then took his gun out and pressed it against my temple.
“I will cover this gym in bits and pieces of your brain. So be careful what you say to me. Lee ain’t here to save you this time.”
I didn’t flinch. It wasn’t the first time someone had threatened to kill me. I had spent my years in the military preparing to die. I wasn’t scared of Shepherd, but I would play it smart because after all, I did want to live.
“Now do I have your attention, Ms. Angelica?” He said mockingly before spitting in my face. I instantly closed my eyes, enraged to the point that I could only think of one thing and that was ramming my fist into Shepherd’s mouth and knocking all his teeth out.
“You’re going to give your little boyfriend a call,” he said in a soft voice, as he stroked a hair back from my face.
I gave him a look that clearly said I wanted him dead. “You want Lee here, then get him here yourself. I’m not helping you kill him. You’re a coward. You want him dead, then go find him yourself.”
“I told you she was going to be difficult,” Vicki whined. Shepherd looked at his brother, shook his head and then turned to me and smiled beatifically, his weak jaw and sallow eyes looking ominous and insane, “This will hurt.”
He punched me then. In my gut. The pain was so bad I started coughing, trying to breath.
“Now you’re going to call Lee or I will beat the hell out of you. When I’m done you won’t be pretty anymore ever again.” He brought out a blade and traced the blunt end down my face and then abruptly flipped the knife over, cutting into my chin. I didn’t even flinch as blood began to flow down my face, eventually ending up as droplets of red on the floor.
“Do what you want. I’m not calling Lee.” I had been tortured before. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I knew that I was probably going to die there in the old stale smelling school gym, but I wasn’t going to pull Lee into this. Because if I called Lee and they killed him, who would Avani have? I had no one but my grandparents, when my parents died. Avani would end up in foster care somewhere and I feared that reality for her more than I feared death.
“Suit yourself, I’ll get him here anyway. You’re just a bonus prize.”
Shepherd kept his eyes on me as he dialed Lee’s number. No one said a word. All was silent as we waited for him to pick up. And then suddenly ringing was coming from somewhere else, from somewhere behind me.
The other men apparently noticed it too and then I saw Shepherd’s eyes widen as he stared at something past my shoulders.
“What happened Shepherd, you didn’t want to invite me to your party? I’m sorry for crashing it. But look you’re calling me, aren’t you?” Lee said stepping into my line of vision just to the left side of me, looking down at his phone and smiling broadly. The smile didn’t look humorous. It looked deadly. “I’m sure you’re calling to offer me an invitation. So nice of you. I don’t feel as left out anymore.” Lee concluded, sounding nonchalant and cold.
“You’re one stupid dude for showing up here,” Vicki said, suddenly feeling tough.
“You really think I’m the stupid one?” Lee said softly.
Shepherd slowly raised his hand and pointed his gun at Lee. “Your kid sister is going to
be so sad. First her dear mommy and now her little brother. I feel so sorry for her. Hey, who knows? Maybe if she ends up in foster care, I’ll adopt her and bring her into the fold.” Shepherd said with a sick smile on his face.
“I’ll drag you to hell with me before I let you get within a foot of my sister,” Lee said, his voice so full of conviction that I could easily imagine Satan himself stepping out of Lee’s way to let him take care of unfinished business.
“Then hell it is,” Shepherd said and then I heard it. The roar of motorcycles approaching and from the sound of it, there had to be hundreds of them.
“Do you know whose territory you’re on, Shepherd?”
Shepherd looked confused for a second, “Shit,” he mumbled as he looked from Lee to Vicki who was now looking afraid, not nearly as cocky as a second ago.
“You can kill me and Angelica, but you know if I don’t walk out of this building alive, as soon as you do, you’ll end up a living target. Now think about it. Do you want to leave alive or do you want to die?”
“Let’s get out of here, Shep,” Vicki said nervously licking at his lips.
“Shut up, Vicki!” Shepherd yelled clearly frustrated and not knowing what to do. The vein on his neck bulged and he looked torn.
“I’ll be back for you, Lee.” He said turning away and walking towards the exit doors with his crew. Vicki scampered behind him.
“No. I don’t think so,” Lee said softly watching them leave.
When they were gone, I sighed and said, “Think you can untie me now?”
Lee turned towards me, took a knife out of his back pocket and cut me loose. I lowered my hands and was about to express my gratitude when someone burst through the backdoor.
“Lee! You in here, buddy? You okay?”
The man looked from me to Lee and then back at Lee again.
“Who’s this?”
“Angelica. This is Quentin. Quentin this is Angelica. Quentin helped me get out of the gang years ago.”
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