by HJ Bellus
Shrugging, I try to play it off cool like I didn’t just burl up like a cat on the fight.
“Hi.” I wave to the nurse still ogling my man. I waltz over to him, perch up on my toes and kiss his cheek. But Zane takes it one more step, pulling me to him, and sticking his tongue down my throat until I have to back up and catch some air.
“Lola, this is my girlfriend, Ava, and Ava, this is my grandpa’s nurse, Lola.”
“I had a horse named Lola. She was my all-time favorite.”
Zane lets out a deep laugh and Lola’s cheeks flush a dark red.
“You even found yourself a cowgirl.” An elderly man joins us in the living room. His frame is so fragile he could break into pieces any minute. His eyes are hollow and skin a deathly shade.
“Easy, old man.” Zane tucks me behind the island counter and then wraps his arms around my waist and then whispers in my ear. “Are you wearing any panties?”
I shake my head no and feel my bunched up hair, which is secured in a ponytail whap him in the face. Zane doesn’t ask another question, but simply presses his erection into my ass.
“How’d you two meet?” Grandpa asks while concentrating on lifting a coffee mug to his mouth. Zane instantly reacts, rounding the corner, and lifting it to his mouth. My mother bear instincts kick in and I want to cunt punch the worthless nurse. The glowing happiness that filled my heart last night dissipates when the worried look covers Zane’s face.
That is true love. He holds his Grandpa’s coffee cup while he sips and then places it down on the countertop. Zane carries him to the nearest dining room chair and gently eases him down and then wraps a blue blanket over his legs. The fear lingering in Zane’s eyes destroys me.
“God dammit, boy, answer my question and quit treating me like an old man.” He swats at Zane’s chest and then gives him a kick to the shin.
I try to stifle a laugh watching Zane back down from him.
“She walked in on me pissing over at the deli on Main Street.”
“Zane.” I pick up the nearest thing and hurl it as his head.
He’s quick enough to dodge the loaf of bread. “What? I’m not lying.”
I bury my head in the palm of my hand. “It was an accident and not the entire way I met you.”
“Then how did we meet?”
The other heads in the kitchen pivot back and forth between our conversations. I mull over his question and come to the conclusion that I indeed met him in the men’s restroom with his rooster hanging out.
“Holy shit.” I slap my mouth.
“My boy has always been quite the charmer,” Grandpa pats his blanket proudly.
Lola finally speaks up, breaking up all of our laughter. “It’s time for your meds.”
“Fine. Fine. Fine.”
Zane helps him over to his wheelchair and gets him settled. Lola finally moves and begins pushing him down the hall.
“Nice to meet you, Ava.” He nods with a grin on his face. “Gonna take a quick shut-eye, so I can enjoy some sunshine this afternoon.”
I can’t help but round the island and make my way over to him.
“Very nice meeting you as well. I think you’re the only person that Zane talks highly of.” I bend down and not over, considering I’m only wearing Zane’s shirt. His bones crack when I give him a light hug and it’s not until then that I realize how far gone he is. The man can only weigh eighty pounds at most.
“It’s all I’ve prayed for; a good woman to take care of my boy.” He winks at me. “I’m thinking God just answered my prayers.”
I shoot him a wink back and smile. Lola pushes him down the hall and listens to Zane’s grandpa chatter on. The man is a talker, not like his grandson at all. When I turn, Zane is nowhere to be found. A large picture window in the kitchen frames the gorgeous farm perfectly. A couple of acres at most with green pasture and fenced in fields. A picturesque red barn with white trim and hayloft sits in the center of the fields.
Movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention; it’s Zane, who has his legs dangling out of the truck. All I can see are the bottoms of his blue jeans and feet waving in the air. Moments later, he pops up with my clothes locked in one arm and slams the door with the other and then brushes his hand through his hair.
There’s nothing sexy or planned about his walk back up the stairs. It’s just Zane. He’s torn down his walls and peeled back everything between us and now when I look at him, I see endless opportunities and possibly my future.
“Need a hand, sexy?” I plant a hand on the island and pop a hip.
“Well, aren’t you cute?” Zane kicks the door with his foot. “Making nice with my grandpa and offending his nurse by comparing her to your favorite horse.”
“Oh my God, Zane.” I cover my eyes reliving the dreadful scene. “I didn’t mean it that way. I swear.”
“It was cute, baby.” Arms wrap low around my waist, then I feel a kiss to my forehead.
I peek up through my fingers, “I really did have a horse name Lola. She was my best friend growing up.”
“Yeah.” Another kiss graces my forehead.
“They sold her when I went to college.”
“Why?” Zane pushes me back and studies my face.
“A horse was nothing without the proper daughter.” I cup his cheek. “Remember, everything is and was for looks. Didn’t matter what I wanted.”
“Jesus, Ava,” Zane whispers.
“Oh, baby it gets much deeper.”
Zane has me off my feet and perched on the island. He turns quickly and then returns, offering me an apple. Of course, he has two in his hand and a loaf of bread.
“How?” He quirks an eyebrow up, tempting me to do more than just explain my past.
“I may be a rich kid or should I say, a rich kid from the past. My parents took all my accounts and money away when I refused to follow their rules, not marrying their approved gentleman, and when I didn’t major in political science.”
“You lost me at rich kid,” Zane smirks around a mouthful of food.
I’m not sure when he even pulled out the peanut butter and began dipping pieces of bread in it.
“I’m no longer considered a Livingston.” I use my fingers to air quote the elaborate last name.
“Then why the fucking mansion on the hill for you and your girls?”
I pluck a piece of bread smothered in peanut butter before he has the chance to gobble it down. “Wow, you’re a quick learner, baby. Chloe’s dad is the lead candidate for the next Govenor of Tennessee, so my parents would lick the bottom of their shoes if they had to.”
“None of it’s for you?”
“Nope, there’s always an agenda.” I forgo the bread and dip my finger straight into the jar of peanut butter. “I love writing and research. That’s where my heart is, so I took the leap.”
“Am I to assume that Chloe is marrying from the list?”
“Chloe has dry humped the list from birth. Don’t get me wrong, I love her to death, but Darby and I are the rebels.”
“Interesting.” He nods, soaking up all the new information. “I’m glad you have at least one friend who follows the list rule.”
“Why?” I’m too distracted making love to the peanut butter.
“Because it brought you to me.”
My hand freezes inside the jar of sticky peanut butter he’s holding. “It did.”
“Ava.” Zane swallows hard. “I’m not Prince Charming or a fancy pants son by any means. I’ve let myself fall one time and you’re witnessing it.”
“Then we better make our story a good one.”
“That I intend to do.” He moves in closer until I’m forced on my back and he’s covering every single part of me.
“To us,” I get out before his lips are on mine.
12
Zane
Ava: Looking for a hot construction worker
Me: Yeah?
Ava: Like a super hot one who might have a friend who could come build
an archway for Chloe’s wedding…
Me: mmmm…Possibly check Craigslist. I’ve got a hot date tonight.
Ava: I’ll throw in a steak dinner and a case of beer.
Me: Sorry, babe. Can’t let my girl down.
I wait on the dump truck before pulling up more dirt prepping the framework for the intricate foundation of a new subdivision. All the pipes and most of the groundwork have been done and now just to start building each mansion one by one. I’ve been on high alert for a little blond fuck this morning, but it seems Oliver didn’t show up to work. I’d planned on busting the fucker’s teeth in at the bonfire for his aggressive show at the club.
If it was obvious from across the club then he sure in the hell had to know grinding on her. Ava’s mine now and I’ll let the fucking world know. My phone shrills in the cab of the excavator; reaching up I turn down the radio, and hit the green call button with a huge smile.
“Zane, you’re hurting my feelings.”
I chuckle loud just hearing her sweet voice on the other end of the phone. She’s so full of life and happiness it radiates from her every being, but the part I love the most is she’s so unaware of it all.
It takes me a few more moments to gather my thoughts to speak back to her. She calls my name out a couple more times on the other end of the line. I’m a stranger to love and as odd as it feels, it doubles the desire and want I have for Ava.
“Baby, you called?” My voice is deep and needy. I had her this morning in the kitchen of my childhood home and I already feel my cock stirring just hearing her voice.
“You and the boys want to come over to build an archway for Chloe’s wedding?” She pauses for a moment. “Like tonight the minute you get off work. I want to smell you all sweaty and dirty.”
“Jesus, you’re a little slut.”
“Hey, I can be one since I’m with the town whore.”
Ava’s innocent comment sends swords slicing through my heart. She doesn’t know just how accurate her words are. I push the thoughts to the back and focus on the future. I was honest with her when I told her I’d still strip. I need that padding of money for Grandpa. But the rest is over. No more late night calls or being paid to have sex.
My dick was greedy last night and my addiction to fucking took over. I couldn’t control myself with Ava and shared everything with her. I’ve seen hundreds of faces when they orgasm or feel the exquisite pleasure of sex, but all of them combined don’t even begin to come close to Ava. She stole me last night and if I’m being honest, she stole me the day she walked in on me.
“Zane, are you there?”
“Yeah, sorry just loading a truck.” I lie and I know that’s an awful habit I’m going to have to kick. “I guess we are the perfect combination.”
“So what time can I expect you three hunky men?”
“Three?” I ask.
“You, Rhett, and Oliver.”
“Rhett and I will be there.”
“Okay.” The confusion in her voice bathes her word.
“Babe, gotta go.” I readjust my throbbing cock. “I’ll have to go home and check on my grandpa and then I’ll be there.”
“Hey, I was going to ask this also.”
I grow irritated with all her questions; it’s just something I’m not fucking used to. Any other women, I would’ve hung up minutes ago.
“Yeah, Ava.”
“Can I go get your grandpa and his nurse?” I hear rustling in the background. “He talked about the sunshine yesterday and figured he could sit on the back deck and boss you men around.”
A wave of emotion rushes over me. It’s an awkward feeling and one I’ve rarely felt. It’s the bitch called guilt. And it’s a punishment that hurts.
“Ava.” I draw out her name and throw my free hand through my messy hair. “Really?”
“I’d love to, baby. Honestly, he seems more intriguing than you.”
Guilt. Warm fuzzy heart. Guilt. I’m dirty…wash, rinse, and repeat.
“I’ll call him, Ava; got to go, baby.”
I barely hear her okay before ending the call, tossing my hat that’s perched on the dash of the excavator on my head, and forcing all my fucking gushing emotions down. I fight to stuff the annoying bastards deep down. The last time this has even graced my life, I was a lot younger and had a normal life.
My body goes into survival mode, beginning to dig up a final yard of dirt and pile it up for the next dump truck load. Rhett races by a couple times in the water truck, honking, and hanging his ass out the window. I’m not sure how the crazy fucker has kept this job. His goofy smile is my first sign that he’s higher than a giraffe’s pussy. It’s a fucking good thing that we hometown boys know how to work our asses off.
The afternoon fades by quickly. Thirty minutes until closing time, but Rhett and I always finish the job at hand instead of leaving at quitting time. It will only be another twenty minutes after six. My phone goes off and I’d bet it’s Rhett who has been blowing it up all afternoon being a goofy ass or possibly my sweet Ava.
When the phone lights up with the name, I cringe and spiral right back down to a very dark and low place. The name Sheila flashes across the screen.
“Hello.” All of my usual charm and sexy tones to my voice are no longer there.
“Zane, baby.”
My stomach spins and I’m instantly sick hearing her voice.
“Yeah.”
“Need you tomorrow night, baby. Will just be me.” The sound of her long bright red fingernails tap on her end of the phone. “Getting so heated up right now, I may need to take care of myself while talking to you. Think you could talk me through it, baby?” Her voice hitches on the last word and I know she’s already knuckles deep.
The bile in the back of my throat overpowers everything else in the moment. All of my past blasts me and I realize how big of a fuck I really am. I don’t deserve Ava or a normal life. My feet barely hit the uneven dirt pile before the contents of my stomach fall onto the ground. I hit mute on the phone and dry heave for several moments until I have nothing left inside me.
Love or the mere idea of it has destroyed me.
“Zane, are you there?”
I wipe my mouth clean with the back of my arm and unmute the phone. “I’m here.”
“Good baby…”
I cut her off and her heaving breaths before she goes on. “I’m out, Sheila.”
“You’re out?” The movement in the background on her end stops, silencing the airway between us.
“I’m not working nights anymore.” I run my hand through my hair and wish like hell I never would’ve started it in the first place, but I needed money. “I have a buddy who will take care of you.”
“Wow, Zane, do you realize who you’re fucking with?”
“You don’t own me, Sheila, and never fucking will. I have other shit in my life and I’m done being a whore.” My voice goes from mild to wild in less than ten seconds with my evil fucking temper rearing its ugly head.
“Fine, but he better be down to fuck whenever and wherever.”
“You won’t have to worry about that. I’ll give him your number. Don’t call back.”
I hang up the phone before her poison has any more time to seep in and then delete her number. I have her digits memorized by heart since she used to be my lifeline to saving what Grandpa had left. I punch them in and then block her number. Send a mass text to the rest of my returning customers and give them Rhett’s number. One swipe of the finger and I block that part of my life out forever, not even tempted to look back.
Rhett was more than eager to take the gig; his pockets need no padding, but his dick has always wound up with ADHD. I make quick work of the pad and then call up my boss.
“Hey man, I need to leave a couple hours early. I have lot A finished and Rhett is starting on the next plot.”
“No worries, man. Is everything okay, Zane?”
The thing is I have no fucking clue, so I play it off like with everything else i
n my life. “Great. Just need to do some business at the bank before they close.”
“See you in the am, man.”
I hang up and head for my truck with heavy footsteps and an even heavier heart. My world should be on fucking fire right now, but with my past actions I feel like a criminal, no better than my own damn parents. I hear the shutting of a door and look up to see someone walking away from my truck.
“Hey,” I holler.
Blond hair bounces as the person takes off running.
“Hey, fucker.” My legs kick into action and sprint after the person. It takes me a few seconds to catch up to him and then just one reach with my arm to yank the fucker down to the ground. When everything freezes, I come face to face with Oliver and start our conversation with a hard blow to his cheek.
“What in the hell were you doing in my truck?” I stand the fucker up and throw him against the wheel of an excavator. “Answer me.”
The little bitch answers by spitting in my face and grinning through the blood streaming down his pearly white teeth. Hoping to get him to talk, I hoist back my right arm again and nail the fucker smack center in the jawline.
“Didn’t think I’d ever find something you cared more about than your dick, money, and Grandpa.” An evil laugh escapes him.
“What in the hell are you talking about?” I grip down tighter on my hold around the front of his neck.
“Ava will be mine.”
I answer once again with my free fist and choke the fucker until he’s gasping for air and kicking up dirt.
“The fuck?” Rhett’s voice fills the air and then two or three men pull me off of Oliver. I don’t make it easy for them to hold me back from killing the fucker.
Oliver reaches down in his pockets and pulls out a stack of hundreds banded together. “Thought stealing your money would hurt the most, but now I know its Ava.”
“What the fuck is your problem?” I yell and keep fighting to get loose.
Rhett walked in front of me, blocking the view of Oliver. “Man, chill the fuck out. What’s going on? It’s not worth it.”
“I fucking swear Rhett, you better have these guys let go of me now.”