ZACK (The Beckett Boys, Book Five)

by Olivia Chase

  “Princess, you don’t have to—”

  “I want to,” I interrupt him, startled a bit by how wanton I sound. I shift onto my side and unzip him, freeing his member. God, he’s so big and hard, and I’ve only done a little touching down there on a guy back when I was in undergrad.

  But I want to make him feel good, too. I need to. “Can I taste you?”

  His growl is so guttural that I almost can’t understand his words. “Fuck, I… You don’t have to ask.”

  I lick my lips and then lean over him and touch the tip of my tongue to the top of his dick. It pulses against me in what seems like an involuntary throb.

  “You can squeeze harder,” he lets out with a groan. “I…like it a little rough.”

  I move my hand to the bottom of the shaft and give a tight squeeze, the way he asked, and he bucks his hips. A drop of precome glistens at the tip.

  I want to see what it tastes like.

  My lips wrap around the whole head, and I suck the drop into my mouth, causing him to buck again. He digs his hands in my hair but doesn’t push me farther down onto him. I’m glad for that. For my first time sucking someone, I want to feel in control. Not overwhelmed.

  I dare to take him as deeply into my throat as I can, which isn’t too far, but apparently it’s enough, because I can feel his cock pulsing in my mouth. His whole body is tight with his restraint.

  “You’re fucking killing me, Autumn,” he whispers. “Please.”

  That feminine power comes back and fills me. I’m in total control here. His orgasm is at my mercy. I find myself looking up at him through hooded eyes as I pull my mouth back, then push it down on his dick again. Again.

  He’s panting in earnest now, eyes locked on mine as I suck him off. I squeeze his dick harder and stroke along with moving my lips on him, letting my tongue explore his length, unsure what the proper pressure should be but trying to respond to his reactions.

  “I…” He grips my hair, and the tiny bite on my scalp just urges me to go faster. I want him to have an orgasm too. I want him to feel as amazing as he made me feel.

  His dick is wet with my spit, and I give sloppy strokes up and down, popping the head in and out of my mouth—that seems to push him right to the edge.

  “You’d better… Autumn, I’m going to come, so you’d better pull off now before I do,” he growls.

  The fact that even in the depth of his arousal he’s trying to be thoughtful makes my heart give this funny little lurch.

  I keep going and don’t release my mouth off him, despite his protests, and then warm spurts of his come fill my throat. It’s thick and a little tangy, and I swallow and swallow, feeling his cock pulse endlessly in my mouth as he exhales hard.

  “Fuck,” he says on a long groan. “Oh, fuck, oh fuck…”

  When he’s done, I lick the shaft and pull back, giving him a shy smile. “Did…that feel okay?”

  His laugh of disbelief makes my smile widen. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he asks, cupping my cheek. “Is that your first time doing that?”

  My face burns from embarrassment over my lack of experience. I’m suddenly aware that I’m mostly naked on the floor, and I just went down on a man I met yesterday.

  Who am I? Is this wrong?

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Zack takes my chin firmly in his grip, forcing me to look at him. He’s frowning. “No, fuck that. Don’t pull away from me. That was crazy hot. No regrets. Promise.”

  I bite my lip and nod, hoping if I agree, it’ll come true. That I won’t feel any lingering shame over my actions.

  He presses a kiss to my brow, then stands up and tucks himself back in. Reaches down and pulls me flush against him. “That was one helluva first date,” he murmurs, which elicits the laugh I expected he was seeking from me.

  “No kidding.”

  “Oh, before I forget.” He bends down to retrieve his coat, which he’d flung off when we first entered the house, and digs in the pocket. My phone is in his hand. “Ta-da. Don’t lose it again.”

  I glare at him and snatch it out of his grip. “I didn’t lose it. You—”

  “Shh,” he says, pressing fingers to my lips. “Let’s not get caught up in technicalities, okay?” He shrugs lightly. “It’s a school night for you, yes? All those little shits to teach tomorrow.”

  “I’d like to see you try doing my job,” I say, chuckling. “Those kids would eat you alive.”

  “Princess, I believe it. You’re tougher than you look.” His eyes get a flash of something in them, some emotion I can’t identify. “So, we never finished seeing that movie.”

  “I guess you owe me a raincheck.” I surprise myself with my boldness, basically asking him out on another date.

  “This weekend, then? And dinner first?” He steps toward me, and his hand slides around to cup the back of my neck. I can’t help but melt in response. Something about the way he touches me, like he knows me…owns me…it’s so hot.

  I give a short nod.

  “I’ll text you,” he says, then brushes a soft kiss to my mouth. Then he’s gone from my apartment, and I’m left staring at the door, my brain reeling from what just happened.

  I reach down and gather my shirt, my ripped panties, and my coat. Hang my coat on the rack, then kick off my high heels and walk toward my bedroom. That was so dirty and hot. And so unlike me.

  What the hell has happened to me?

  Reality is hitting me hard. I just did two things I’ve never done before. Two very intimate sexual things. And I got involved in a fight—granted, it was just to cool it down, so to speak, but I was thrilled by the rush of it all.

  This isn’t how I imagined I would be. Yet here I am.

  I go to toss my ruined panties in the garbage in my room but pause. Part of me wants to hold on to them. A keepsake to remind me of how intense and sexy this evening was.

  I linger for a good thirty seconds before opening my bedside table drawer and stuffing them in there. Then I drop my cell phone on top of the table.

  After stripping down and tossing my clothes in the hamper, I plod into the bathroom. Flip on the shower and step into the steaming-hot water. Reach for my body wash and remember Zack’s hands branding my skin with his expert touch. The way he was between my thighs, pumping me with his fingers, licking me…

  My breasts swell at the memory, and my traitorous body gets aroused again. I can feel my wetness coming back. It’s hard to keep my movements mechanical and not give in to the urge to give myself an orgasm just thinking about what happened between us tonight.

  A random thought hits me hard, makes me still, and I stare blindly at the tiled wall. Did I inherit my biological parents’ predisposition to get in trouble and be on the wrong side of the law?

  I haven’t met my birth mother yet—I didn’t want to overwhelm myself by meeting her too close to the time I met my father.

  But I know that both of my birth parents have struggled mightily to be good citizens. It never occurred to me, until this moment, that I may have some kind of biological time bomb waiting to go off and make me do all the wrong things my adopted parents have tried to steer me away from.

  I rinse off and step out, grabbing the towel and wrapping it around my instantly chilled body. I’m working hard to build a solid life. But what if it doesn’t matter? What if I can’t fight my biology? It’s scary as hell to think about.

  And yet…despite all that, I’m also still excited by Zack, by how he makes me feel.

  I can’t get enough of him. He’s gone, and I’m craving more.

  I dry off and slide naked under my sheets. My gaze glides over to the phone, sitting quietly beside me. He said he would text me. I pick it up and click it open. On impulse, I check out my contacts.

  There he is. Beckett, Zack. Followed by his number.

  A hot flush works its way through my body. Zack Beckett. A mystery, a man with a life that’s even stranger than anything I could have imagined. Someone who’s in the security business—whatever t
hat means.

  But I know he’s fearless. Bold.

  Hungry.

  I close out of my contacts, then open my photos folder. There’s one new image—a selfie Zack took with an arrogant smirk on his sexy face.

  I’m not sure how I knew, but somehow I suspected he might have been mischievous enough to do something like that while he had my phone in his possession.

  I stare at it for a long minute. Then I save it as his contact image, make myself put the phone down, and roll over, trying to go to sleep.

  Zack

  My alarm goes off at the fuck-crack of dawn. I groan and roll over, smacking it to shut off the blaring sound. It’s three-thirty AM. No human being should be awake at this time, unless it’s to have sex.

  At the thought of sex, I’m reminded of what happened several hours ago with Autumn, and my dick pulses to life. I hated leaving her, but I knew it was going to be an early morning for me. I’ll just have to make it up to her next time. Taste more of her body, make her orgasm for me again and again…

  It’s hard to shake the dirty thoughts off, the memories of her coming all over my mouth as I licked her over the edge, but I force myself to. Now isn’t the time to wallow in self-pleasure.

  It’s time to begin phase two of our plan to get Outlaws.

  After a quick shower and slipping into clean clothes, I go door to door in our house, banging them to wake my brothers. “Rise and shine, ass hats,” I say in a cheery tone. “Let’s get moving!”

  I hear a couple of groans, but they get up, and within twenty minutes, we’re all in my car and heading toward Outlaws. It’s still pitch dark outside, and there are few cars on the roads, so we make it there pretty quickly.

  I park a block up the street from the bar. Kill the engine and turn around to face my brothers, who are looking at me solemnly, full of anticipation. “Okay, no talking in the bar. At all. Smith lives upstairs, remember? Let’s not wake him up—he’ll get enough of a wake-up call from the board of health.”

  Hale laughs and bumps my fist. “Let’s do this.”

  Axel rubs the sleep out of his eyes, then reaches between his feet to lift the small cage holding several rats he got at a pet store a couple of towns over. “These fuckers kept me up all night with their noises,” he says grumpily. “I’ll be glad to be rid of them.”

  We all get out of the car, wearing black latex gloves that Hudson got while out shopping, and walk toward the back entrance of the bar. I paid a friend of mine to come visit Outlaws last night, have some drinks, then subtly tape over the lock so we could get in. Here’s hoping it worked. His text assured me it was a success—assuming Smith didn’t see the thin strip of tape, of course.

  Hudson gets to the door and shines his phone light on it. Touches the knob, which turns easily.

  “Yesss,” his twin, Hale, breathes, and Hudson shoots him a glare. “Sorry,” he whispers, holding up his hands. “Just stoked that my idea worked.”

  Axel shoves his shoulder. “Nice being the brains of the op for once, isn’t it?”

  “You’ll never know,” Hale replies.

  “I will choke you fuckers if you don’t shut your mouths right now,” I say in a heated whisper. “Let’s go.”

  We move into the kitchen, all our lights shut off. Despite the numerous upgrades to the bar, our cousins haven’t installed a strong security system with cameras and such, probably assuming no one would be dumb enough to break in to a Beckett-owned bar. In general, they’d be right. It’s a small town, and they’d figure out fast who did it and pound their faces in.

  Thing is, I don’t care if they know we did it. I just don’t want them to be able to prove it was us.

  In the kitchen, Axel opens the cage, and we remove the squirming rats, placing them in the sink, in the restaurant area, and on top of the bar. Go forth and shit everywhere, my little friends, I think with a smirk. For added measure, we remove a baggie of the poop we’d filled and sprinkle the contents on the ground near a couple of tables.

  Hudson grabs the cage, we remove the tape from the back door of the bar, and then we close it behind us, ensuring it’s locked.

  It’s like we were never here.

  Hale goes to speak, but I shoot him a death glare, and he shuts his trap.

  No one says a word until we get into the car. I turn it on and pull away, and then everyone starts speaking at once.

  I sit back quietly and let them talk. It’s good to hear them in high spirits. This shit with Outlaws has been a constant disappointment for months on end. We needed something positive to cheer about.

  “I got a case of beer at the store,” Hudson says. “Kegs and eggs for the win.”

  My brothers cheer, and I grin and drive us home. “No celebrating yet until I call the board of health,” I warn them. “After that, drink away, you guys. I think we all earned a day off work.”

  “I think I’m gonna go back to bed,” Axel says with a sigh. “At least those fuckers won’t be squeaking and keeping me up.”

  “Puss,” Hale says to him with a caustic laugh. “Never could handle a lot of stress. Get your sleep then, if you have to.”

  In the rearview mirror, I see Axel stiffen. Hale busts his balls a lot—partly because Axel is the youngest, but mostly because he’s not our full brother. Dad had him with someone else after Mom split, and Axel’s mom passed away. So he’s been living with us for the last several years.

  He wants to fit in with us, I know. I think he feels good that he can contribute to the family income with his tattooing he does at the house.

  Hale doesn’t quite embrace him as a full part of the family, despite Hudson and I being more welcoming. Axel acts like he doesn’t care about Hale’s dismissal, but at times, he drops his guard and I can see a flash in his eyes. Frustration. Anger. A tinge of hurt.

  I pull into the driveway, and we all get out. Axel, still not saying a word, heads right for his bedroom. The twins collapse on the living room couch and chair, stretching out and talking among themselves.

  I wait until seven AM and then make an anonymous call, using our family burner phone, saying I was at Outlaws last night to have a drink and noticed a small cluster of rat feces on the floor near my table. I finish my report by mentioning that the sight of rat poop turned off my date, and when I brought it to one of the owner’s attention, he didn’t seem to care and brushed off my concerns. So I thought I should let the board of health know, just in case.

  I make sure to tell them the name of the bar at least three times.

  I hang up and grin, shoving the burner phone back in the drawer in the kitchen. “Who wants a beer?”

  The twins holler, and they go into the kitchen. Hudson starts whipping up eggs, and Hale pops open three beers and distributes them.

  “Axel, get your lazy ass down here,” I holler. “Time for breakfast and beer.”

  I hear him thudding down the stairs, bleary-eyed, but there’s a small smile on his face at me welcoming him into our festivities. “Yes, sir,” he says with a salute, and Hale opens him a brew.

  “Here’s to doing whatever the fuck it takes to achieve our goals,” I say, tilting my beer can toward my brothers. We all clink beers and then swig them down. Butch will be proud. Can’t wait to tell him about this. Outlaws is going to get dinged for sure on this fuck-up.

  I’m just glad I won’t be there when Smith finds out. Actually, I kinda wish I could, just to see that smug look wiped off his face. He fucked with the wrong people. If he had honor like we did, he wouldn’t be in this spot.

  Hudson goes back to whipping up eggs and bacon. I take toast duty, and soon we’re all eating and talking, and I have a bit of a buzz from the beer. We don’t normally drink in the mornings, but we don’t have any plans for the rest of the day, so fuck it.

  What is Autumn doing right now? I suddenly wonder. Is she at school? I imagine her standing in front of a classroom, smiling at a group of kids. She’s probably wearing some prim-and-proper shirt and a slim skirt, or maybe for
m-fitting pants that cup her perfect ass. Those kids have no idea how good they have it, getting to see her every day.

  It’s strange for me to be wondering about her. I never really think much about any of my hook-ups after our nights together. Never really have genuine feelings for them. I’m a player, born and raised, and girls have simply been a way to have some fun and excitement. And, of course, a sexual release.

  Why is this woman so different?

  It took me forever to go bed last night. I couldn’t stop thinking about how she tasted. Her little innocent sounds of pleasure. Knowing I was the first for her…knowing that she’s probably a virgin…it’s heady that she gave that much to me.

  I feel a little obsessed. Which is insane and foolish. I need to be focused on my family right now. On getting Outlaws back for us. On making my dad proud for putting his trust in me.

  I don’t have the time for whatever the hell is going on between her and I.

  No weakness, I remind myself. Just focus.

  Hudson clears his throat as he’s poking at his eggs. He reaches over and pours hot sauce all over them. “Wonder what Jamo’s been up to.”

  The table goes quiet. Hale instantly frowns, and my stomach ties in a knot.

  Axel looks over at Hudson. “Me too. It’s weird not having him here, to be honest.”

  Hale scrubs his thick hand over his jaw. “I don’t fucking care. I don’t wanna talk about him. He’s not a part of our family anymore.”

  Hudson rolls his eyes. “You can’t just cut him out because—”

  “We can, and we did,” I say hotly in response. “And in fact, I don’t even want to hear his name mentioned again. Family doesn’t walk out on each other like that.” That now-familiar twist in my gut makes me feel a bit queasy, and I push my plate away with a sigh.

  Axel sighs but stays quiet.

  It’s quite clear to see who falls on what side of the line. Hudson and Axel think we should keep Jamison in the family. Not in the business, of course, since he’s gone “clean” and is a working stiff at a construction place. But not push him out of our family altogether.