Path of Destruction

by Cara Dee

  "Are you serious about all this?" he croaked.

  "Dead serious," I told him. "I got my visitation rights now, as well. I'll do my best to come up here a couple times a month."

  He screwed his eyes shut, a tear rolling down his temple, and I gave his hand another squeeze.

  "Can you give me eight months, Kid?"

  He sniffled and nodded jerkily.

  "You won't pull another stunt like this?" I needed his word.

  "I promise," he rasped. "Fuck." He wiped his cheek on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

  "Don't apologize. Start getting ready instead."

  God knew I was beyond ready to take on the rest of my life.

  *

  I was quiet in the car after my hour with Kid was up.

  Ade didn’t pressure me for details.

  The motel was located on the outskirts, and the first thing I did when I entered our rundown room was to call my parole officer. He told me to check in once more from the same number in a few hours, and then first thing in the morning, too. I was expected in his office back in Detroit at four PM tomorrow.

  "Anything I can do, Lincoln? Are you hungry?"

  I was, but I couldn’t eat. I was too tense. In need of an outlet. Eyeing the small room, I gathered there wasn’t much to do here. There was only a bed at the center, a TV, and a bathroom I'd have to cram myself into. A closet with a broken door, cigarette burns on the carpet. Nice.

  If Kid didn’t fight along with me to hold out for the rest of this year, I'd wring his goddamn neck. Holy shit, I didn’t think he'd get under my skin that much.

  Retrieving my smokes, I noticed the pack was empty. I clenched my jaw.

  "There's a machine at the reception desk," she offered.

  I shook my head, and something inside me imploded. "Come here." I yanked her to me, and a beat later, my mouth was on hers. "Promise me you'll never leave me."

  "Oomph—I promise. Lincoln, what're—oh, o-kay."

  I unzipped her jeans and pushed them down, raging desire clashing with insanity in my mind. Kid was part of my family. I couldn’t lose either of them. I'd come to love them, in one way or another, and there was Ade—my sweet, crazy, heart-stealing little bitch—who'd become the light of my life.

  I pushed her down on the squeaky bed and removed my belt.

  Beyond ready to take on the rest of my life.

  The rest of my life.

  Ade caught on, trembling fingers working to shed her clothes. I pounced as soon as I was naked, and there was nothing sweet or gentle about this. I didn’t have it in me.

  I threw her jeans somewhere behind me and spotted the flimsy, sheer thong she was wearing. Some thin material. I grabbed on and ripped it off her, eliciting a sharp gasp from her. She arched her back and reached for me, but not quite yet. With a firm grip on her thighs, I kicked her legs apart and got comfortable between them. Then my mouth covered her sweet pussy, and I moaned as a rush of slickness hit my tongue.

  "Oh my God," she whined, squirming all over the place. "Lincoln—ungh, too much."

  I gave the mattress a measured thrust, grinding my hardening cock for friction. Fuck, I was losing it. I couldn’t slow down, though. Once she was wet and her clit was more sensitive, I crawled up her body, ready to take what was mine.

  She shook and panted. "My bag or your wallet—"

  I put a hand over her mouth. With the other, I fisted my cock, coated it in her juices, and shoved it as deep as I could. Fuck, fuck. Her short, shrill cry was muffled by my hand. Her hips rolled to get me even deeper, and her eyes fluttered closed until I could form a word.

  "That—" I swallowed, shuddering violently. Her pussy tightened around me so fucking enticingly. "The test…it wasn’t supposed to have that result, was it?"

  Her eyes widened slightly.

  I pulled out slowly, only to push forward again. A moan fell from her lips.

  "Be honest with me." I removed my hand from her mouth.

  She whimpered. "I didn’t know I wanted it to be positive."

  Neither did I. Yet here I was, and I could be on the verge of begging within a minute if she didn’t agree with me.

  "But now?"

  "It was the wrong result."

  Thank fuck.

  I withdrew my cock and sat back on my heels. "Get on all fours."

  She obeyed quickly, and I bit down on my knuckles at the maddening sight. Her ass was too delectable. I gave it a solid thwack and kneaded it roughly.

  Ade hissed. "What do you want?"

  Easy. "Only everything." I gripped her hips and slammed into her, and I didn’t mess around. I didn’t tease. I fucked her hard. Hard enough for the bed frame to thump against the wall with each push, hard enough for Ade to lose her language skills on my cock, and hard enough to slowly force the stress and strain out of my system.

  "Fuck, I need more of this, baby," she begged. "Remember how nuts we were?"

  I growled and pulled her back on my cock. "Fucking crazy." With a hand in her hair, I brought her shoulder blades to my chest and dipped down to kiss her neck. "Wanna go there again?" I sure as hell did.

  Without the shit that once took too much from us, I found myself hurting for the kind of recklessness that'd only fueled our passion. We weren't meant to be totally wholesome. It wasn’t who we were.

  "I miss it," she whimpered.

  "Me too, beautiful… Me too." My hands roamed her tits, pushing them together, pinching her nipples, rubbing them. Then one hand slid lower. "We'll find a balance that works for us."

  "Yes," she gasped as I circled her clit. "Oh, yesss…"

  "I'm gonna fill you with my come," I whispered in her ear. "I'll fuck it deeper inside you. Over and over until it's running down your thighs." I bit back a groan. "That’s it, fuck yourself on me."

  Her breath stuttered, and I felt how her inner muscles constricted around my cock. My mouth went dry, pleasure pooling lower and lower.

  "You're desperate for it, aren't you?" I slowly, and firmly slid two fingers over her clit, trapping it in between them. "I can feel your sweet little cunt begging for my come."

  The bed creaked loudly, and the breathless wail that filled the room was the last thing I heard before she soaked my cock and came around me. It was too much. I went from taking it to giving it. Pushing her forward again, I quickly found the right angle and fucked her into the mattress until I lost it inside her.

  It was only the beginning.

  For the most part, I couldn’t wait to be a typical family with her. It started years ago, grew bigger and bigger, and we were going to complete it. But every now and then…when it was just her and me…? We wouldn’t hold back.

  We'd always crave that sweet fucking destruction.

  Epilogue 1

  Adeline Ivey

  "Stay in the car, baby. It's too cold."

  I made a noise, killing the engine. "I'm not staying here."

  "Jesus, I can never fucking control you."

  "Accurate. You're a smart cookie." I wrapped a scarf around my neck and stepped out. Cold was correct, but I wasn’t going to miss this reunion.

  Lincoln threw me an irritated look over the roof of the rental and lit up a cigarette. "Wouldn’t kill you to obey every once in a while."

  I scrunched my nose. "I obeyed last week when you tied me to the bed."

  Enter fond, cocky grin. "Oh, yeah. I didn’t leave you with much choice."

  I blew him a kiss.

  *

  I half obeyed…? Sort of. I did stay by the car, just not inside it.

  I smiled so widely I feared my face was going to split. My eyes welled up too, and I couldn’t look away. Standing on the sidewalk outside the prison, Lincoln had Casey wrapped in a bear hug, and it looked like they both needed it. I sniffled and wiped at my cheeks, so damn happy for them. And relieved. All the pieces were falling into place.

  "You ready to go home?" Lincoln clapped him on the back before ending the hug. He pulled out a beanie from his jacket pocket and put
it on Casey's head. "Back to its rightful owner. I may have used it a few times."

  "Aw." I had to blink back tears.

  Casey smiled crookedly and scrubbed a hand over his eyes. "Thank you. Fuck."

  "I know. You'll be mindfucked for a while." Lincoln squeezed his neck and nodded my way. "We're heading straight to the airport."

  Casey nodded, the two walking over to me. Lincoln grabbed the box of belongings off the ground.

  "So this is my future wife," Lincoln said with a wink at me.

  I shook my head in amusement. "You haven't proposed yet."

  "I'm working on it," he defended. "I won't half-ass that."

  I giggled and turned to Casey. "I'm happy to finally meet you, Casey." Because I couldn’t help myself, I hugged him tightly.

  "You too, Adeline." He chuckled thickly and returned the hug. "I feel like I already know you."

  "Don’t believe a word that big lug says." I hopped up and kissed his cheek, then stepped away. "We'll stop on the way, okay? You must be hungry for some real food."

  Casey grinned and adjusted his beanie. "I could eat. Hey, congrats on the baby news, by the way."

  "Thank you." I beamed. "Lincoln's freaking out."

  "Hey." Lincoln slammed the trunk closed. "Not about the baby."

  "No," I conceded, rounding the car to get in, "but as of yesterday, you're freaking out because it's a girl."

  "Not gonna lie, that terrifies me." He blew out a breath.

  In my opinion, we needed some females in our bunch. I was alone.

  "You two are funny." Casey snickered and got inside the car.

  *

  After returning two rentals, our crazy family entered the airport. Madigan disappeared quickly to buy coffee.

  "Lincoln, do you have all the paperwork ready?" I asked. Looking around, I made sure Abel and Jesse weren't at each other's throats. They'd hit a weird stage in their relationship, and they lived to terrorize one another at the moment.

  "Yeah, I have Kid's, too." Lincoln shouldered his guitar case, sticking close to Casey, and juggled both his phone and a bunch of legal papers. "We have twenty-four hours before we're checking in with our parole officer, so I'm making hotel reservations for tonight."

  "Will we have the same officer?" Casey wondered.

  "Looks like it." He handed over Casey's travel documents. "Okay, security's that way."

  It was an overwhelming hour for our newest family member, but he took it in stride and looked excited to leave. We all were. Madigan and I were the only ones who'd actually seen the new places, and I was busting to see their reactions. The condo in Seattle was on the small side, in that not everyone would have their own room, but the house in Camassia Cove was spectacular. Lincoln and I may have argued over the price tag a few times.

  He won.

  "Mom, I gotta piss," Abel said.

  "Thank you for announcing that," I replied. "Bathrooms are…" I peered down the miles-long terminal. "Right there. By the Starbucks—see it?"

  He nodded and trailed off.

  "Everyone's boarding passes." Lincoln handed them out. "Don't fucking lose them."

  "First class?" Jesse whistled.

  "You're traveling with me, punk." Lincoln smirked.

  Madigan seemed pleased. "That’s a lot of free liquor for the only two who can actually drink alcohol."

  One pregnant woman and two parolees glared.

  *

  "Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position…"

  "Lincoln, look," I whispered in awe. So this was what Washington looked like from above when the weather wasn’t awful. "So beautiful."

  He leaned over and rested his chin on my shoulder, his arm coming around my middle. Clear skies revealed snowcapped mountains and the ocean outside the little window.

  "It's good to be home." He pressed a kiss to my neck and stroked my stomach. "We'll tear it right up."

  I laughed and tilted my head to kiss him. "Can't wait, rock star."

  Epilogue 2

  A couple years later…

  Lincoln Hayes

  "Please?" Abel sat down next to me at the table.

  I looked up sleepily from my newspaper. "Are we still on that topic? Not even a good-morning first?"

  He groaned and dropped his forehead to the tabletop. "I've tried everything."

  "Nothing like a teenager begging, is there?" Ade chuckled, busy by the kitchen island. She was baking things for some work shit, and we weren't allowed to taste. All she did was fill the kitchen with aromas of chocolate and whatnot.

  Taking a sip of my coffee, I eyed Abel's miserable mug. "You do know it's a red carpet event, right?" It was gonna be crazy, and he didn’t deal very well with large crowds.

  "I don’t care," he insisted. "It's the action movie of the year!"

  Yeah, yeah, I'd heard it all before. All his favorite action heroes were gonna be there. Blah. It wasn’t my brand of spotlight anymore. I was the fucking king in my studio and ran my business well. Ade certainly made me feel like a god in the bedroom. Those stages were more than enough.

  I exchanged a look with the wife; I could tell she was on board, so it'd be up to me. I sighed, cursing the fact that I had difficulty saying no to certain people. And next time I was contracted to produce movie scores, I was going with goddamn rom-coms.

  "Fine—"

  "Thank you!" he exclaimed. "Fuckin' A, I gotta brag to my buddies."

  "Hey, there will be rules," I told him.

  "I agree to them all." He was suddenly in a rush to leave the kitchen. "Thanks, Pop!"

  "You're whipped," Ade sang.

  "Well, that ain't my fault." I lived with witches and sons'a bitches who tugged at heartstrings like they got paid to do it.

  *

  "You gotta lie still, hon." Madigan waited for her to stop trembling. "Any lightheadedness?"

  She shook her head. "It just hurts."

  "You can take it for me." It was difficult to keep the lust out of my voice. She looked too damn sexy, lying there in Madigan's chair, most of her front exposed. She held her breast while his tattoo gun worked along the underside of it. "Don't be so quick to make bets with me next time."

  "Fuck you. I won the last one," she gasped.

  Yeah, which had given me her name inked on my rib cage, 'cause we were evidently those people. Now it was her turn.

  I leaned down and murmured in her ear. "You can't lie to me." I nipped at her jaw. "If I shoved a hand down your jeans right now, I'd find your pussy soaked, wouldn’t I?"

  Madigan shot us a look. "Why I love you is beyond me. You're both fucked in the head."

  We knew that.

  *

  "Dada!"

  "I'll get them for you." I grabbed the cereals she couldn’t reach and threw them in the cart. "You wanna sit?" I asked as she lifted her arms. "Okay." Picking her up, I got her into the baby seat. "There we go." I bent over so I could rest my arms on the bar and nuzzle her chubby cheeks. "You're so fucking cute I could eat your face. Yeah, you are."

  She giggled and pushed my cheeks together. "Mommy b'nana-nas?"

  I laughed and dropped a loud kiss on her forehead. I knew what she meant. Ade was over by the produce getting bananas, but the alternative meaning was funnier.

  "Definitely," I agreed. "Mommy's bananas."

  *

  "Where are you going? The game's about to start." Ade glanced at us, confused, as we got up from our seats.

  "Buy soda," Jesse lied.

  "Get me a hot dog, will ya?" Pop requested. "Extra mustard."

  "We'll be right back." I kissed the top of Ade's head, and then Jesse and I aimed for the exit.

  We'd been waiting for this day all season. Last time Abel's team faced a rival school from our town, a player had cross-checked him and given him a concussion. The little motherfucker had gotten off lightly with a five-game suspension, and Jesse and I weren't quite satisfied with that. No
t since said motherfucker had bragged about the event online afterward.

  "You sure you got the right paint?" I asked as we reached the parking lot.

  "Yup." He opened his jacket and pulled out cans of spray paint as well as gloves. "I'm surprised you of all people don’t want the permanent kind."

  I shrugged, reading the label. "The older I get, the more fucks I give, I guess." At least, in some aspects. Temporary paint was enough in this case.

  The best thing Jesse ever told me was during his speech the day Ade and I got married. He smiled and said he had one devil and one angel on his shoulders. Morgan was one, I was the other. And maybe I got choked up when Jesse admitted he enjoyed having them both around.

  The devil had not only won tonight, but he must've taken over. Jesse's suggestions for payback had stunned even me. In the end, we'd settled for paint that would come off in a car wash.

  "It's the blue truck over there." Jesse pointed.

  "Make sure to get the windshield and every mirror." I shook the bottle and checked to see that no one was around. From here, we could hear the crowd inside from two schools that hated each other. I assumed the teams were hitting the ice right now.

  With no one nearby, Jesse and I created our own justice. By the time we were done, the blue truck was neon pink.

  "I think I could get high on these fumes." Jesse grimaced and threw away the can.

  I chuckled. "All right, let's enjoy the game."

  *

  I groaned, exhausted, and lifted my head. Shit. We should've made…sweet love…at the hotel instead. New York, you've been great. My head hit the floor with a thump, and I heard Ade's panting getting fainter and fainter. She recovered quicker than I did.

  "Lincoln… What have we done?"

  I smacked a hand over my face, scrubbing it tiredly. "Each other?"

  It was only supposed to be a quick blow job before my interview. Now my dressing room was trashed.

  "Oh my God!" She sounded horrified. "You broke the TV!"

  "You broke my hip," I bitched. "Ahh, fuck." I groaned in complaint and winced at the pain in my lower back.