Execution Style

by Lani Lynn Vale

  Like a few weeks ago, I met Miller and Foster while they were having lunch. While we were eating, some woman had come up to Foster and asked him if he’d be willing to take a picture with her baby.

  I’d had a good laugh because Foster had looked so incredibly uncomfortable holding the child that it was hilarious to me.

  A big, badass police officer was scared of a tiny kid.

  Foster chose that moment to pull into the driveway, and Miller waited to answer until his truck was turned off and he started towards us.

  When Foster got to within three feet of us, he said, “Alright, boys and girls. Who the fuck is ready to fly?” announcing his presence.

  I raised my brows at him, and he smirked at me.

  Raising my legs with one hand, Foster sat down on the empty space where my feet had been, and I heard the swing groan.

  “Oh, Jesus,” I whispered, looking up at the branch. “Just don’t swing us and I think we’ll be okay.”

  Foster snorted and pushed off with both feet.

  “It’ll be fine,” he said laughingly.

  ***

  “Would you two stop it?” I said in exasperation.

  Miller turned his pissed off eyes to me and glared. “I deserve the right to glare at him.”

  “Yeah, well maybe you should do it when we’re not getting frisked and cavity searched,” I snapped.

  A giggle from the other side of airport security had me turning to see a very beautiful, black haired woman. Trance, Miller’s other brother, had his arm wrapped around her, hugging her to him closely.

  “What the hell are all of them doing here?” Miller rumbled by my side.

  His eyes weren’t on the black haired beauty, however, they were on…

  I stiffened and turned my head past the pretty black haired woman to a wall of…leather.

  There were seven of them in total, and they all had women with them. All except the last two. Those two were older. One reminded me of Dumbledore…or Santa. The other one reminded me of Sam Elliott with his bad ass beard, and salt and pepper hair.

  They were all dressed nearly identical. Blue jeans, black motorcycle boots, and a t-shirt. They also had a leather vest over those t-shirts that I’d learned, from watching Sons of Anarchy, were called ‘cuts.’

  Airport security was giving them wide berths, but they kept their eye on them nonetheless.

  From what I’d heard about The Dixie Wardens, these men were heroes, every single one of them. Their wives were heroes, too, for supporting them.

  I just hoped, one day, I’d be able to give Miller what their wives gave to them.

  I’d heard nothing but good about them.

  “They wanted to come and mom invited them,” Trance shrugged.

  Miller sighed. “You know, I wanted this to be low key. You know this is going to get out of hand. Really quick.”

  Trance wasn’t the one who nodded, though. It was the woman on his arm.

  “Especially since there’s drinking allowed on the plane,” the woman smiled.

  I blinked. “Why would that matter?” I asked curiously.

  “My baby brother is scared to fly. So he drinks until he forgets he’s in the air,” Miller drawled, emptying his pockets in the box that the airport security provided him.

  Then he removed his shoes, jacket and belt, dropping them down on the scanner table.

  His stuff zipped through, and it was my turn to empty my pockets and put my carry-on bag through the scanner.

  “Ma’am,” the man said. “You need to step to the side over there.”

  I followed his finger to the woman who was standing at the screen waving me over.

  “Why?” I asked the very jittery looking man.

  “Random additional body and baggage search,” the man said, eyeing the men that were now crowding around the checkpoint waiting for me. “I swear it’s just random, but my boss is over there making sure we do it, so I can’t say no. I’m sorry.”

  Trance, Miller, and Foster all looked formidable standing there with their arms crossed tightly across their chest. But the really scary thing was the men at their backs. Also with their arms crossed.

  My eyes squinted in confusion, but nonetheless, I took my bag and body over for the ‘additional body search.’

  I walked over to the woman with trepidation, giving Miller a ‘stay the fuck there’ glare as I went.

  The woman watched the interaction, and smiled a killer smile at me, waving me in.

  “Don’t worry, big boy. I’ll take care of her,” the security worker said to Miller before shutting the curtain behind us. “Alright honey, let’s do it.”

  Five minutes later, I was slipping on my shoes and coming out of the curtained off area with a laughing woman behind me.

  “Have fun out there, and thank you for being such a good sport,” the woman said, handing me a card.

  I took it. “Thank you, LaShondra. It was good meeting you. I’ll definitely give your daughter a call!”

  Miller caught me once I got past the gate, sending another glare at the woman who waved at him conspiringly.

  “What was that about?” He asked me, pulling me into his side.

  “I told her the smell here was making me nauseous, and she gave me her daughter’s card who sells essential oils. She said she used the peppermint during her pregnancy, and that if I was curious about it, to give her daughter a text,” I said, showing him the card.

  “Where do you put this oil?” He asked curiously. “And you didn’t tell me you were nauseous.”

  “I wasn’t nauseous until you started driving like a maniac to try to make your brother car sick,” I muttered.

  He grinned unrepentantly at me. “It was worth it, I’m sorry.”

  “What happened to y’all?” Trance asked when he noticed Foster and Miller walking stiffly at my side.

  I giggled, turning my face into Miller’s arm as he replied.

  “Your stupid little brother sat on Mercy’s swing, then swung his legs. The chains snapped, and you can guess what happened after that,” Miller growled, turning a glare on Foster.

  I full out laughed at the innocent expression on his face.

  “I didn’t think it’d break!” Foster said loudly.

  I winked at him and took a seat next to the dark haired woman, holding my hand out as I did so. “Hi, you must be Viddy.”

  She smiled at me, taking my hand. “I’d like to go ahead and apologize for my husband now.”

  My brows furrowed. “Miller told me he didn’t like flying…but is it really that bad?”

  She nodded sadly. “Yes. I tried to talk him into taking some antianxiety meds, but he refused. So, by the time we land in Vegas, he’ll be drunker than a skunk. He also gets chatty when he gets drunk.”

  “I most certainly do not!” Trance argued from his seat on the opposite side of her.

  ***

  “What did he just say?” I gasped, leaning over Miller’s lap to see Trance in the seat behind me.

  Viddy’s face was flaming red, and she sank down even further into her seat.

  We’d practically taken over the entire first class section, luckily they’d not overheard that particular comment.

  Miller buried his face into my belly, smothering his peals of laughter with my shirt and stomach.

  “It’s time to come clean, you fat motherfucker!” Trance yelled again.

  “What kind of name is Dixie, anyway?” I asked, turning my face down to see Miller’s face.

  His face was still buried in my belly, but I heard him say, “Ask him.”

  Thinking ‘why the hell not,’ I leaned in and asked Dixie, who was seated across the aisle from Trance.

  “What’s up with your name?” I asked curiously.

  Dixie, a.k.a. Santa, turned to me and grinned. “My real name is Normus.”

  “So how does Dixie fit in?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “D
ixie Normus,” he said as if talking to a slow child.

  My brows furrowed, and Miller started roaring in laughter.

  I could feel the laughing puffs of air against the skin of my belly, and my nipples tightened at the feel of him against me.

  “Dixie Normus…oh, shit,” I said, throwing my head back and laughing right along with the rest of the men.

  “Oh, man,” Foster said from the seat in front of me. “Why does that never get old?”

  “Probably because you’ve got the mental capacity of a thirteen year old,” Viddy muttered darkly.

  Chapter 14

  The sex was so good that even the neighbors had a cigarette.

  -T-shirt

  Mercy

  I walked beside Viddy as we walked down the hallway from the plane’s exit.

  My eyes were on Trance, who was, indeed, drunk. He was barely putting one foot in front of the other, and I honestly didn’t know how he was walking with the amount of alcohol he’d consumed.

  He hadn’t looked that drunk when he’d been sitting; although, once he’d stood up that all had changed.

  Miller, however, had been expecting it because he caught him before his knees even had a chance to buckle.

  “What’s the deal here? Why does he hate to fly so much?” I asked, turning my gaze to Viddy.

  Her mouth curled in the corner as she said, “I don’t think he has a ‘reason.’ More, I just think it’s a phobia of his. He says he’s had it since he was a teenager when 9-11 happened. I don’t blame him. That day affected us all. Some large, and some small. But still just as important.”

  I nodded.

  I could see how that’d scare him. Hell, I couldn’t say that it hadn’t crossed my mind as the plane started taking off.

  We stayed silent as we walked down the hallway, and into the main part of the airport.

  I could hear boots clunking behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to see Silas there.

  Silas, I’d found out, was the president of the motorcycle club that Trance belonged to.

  He was in his early fifties, from what I’d been told, but the man could totally pass for late thirties. I hadn’t realized he was the father of Sebastian. Another man I’d met only today.

  Sebastian and Silas looked as if they could be brothers, instead of father and son.

  Silas smiled at me when he caught my eyes on him, and gave me a wink.

  “You ready to meet the parents?” He asked.

  I blinked, then started getting nervous.

  Of course, it’d occurred to me that I was meeting Miller’s parents…but I hadn’t thought about how important it was…this initial meeting. I wanted to make a good impression.

  Which was why, when I saw the bathroom just before we got to the baggage claim where we were to be meeting, I darted inside and went straight towards a stall. Where I promptly started to hyperventilate.

  I sat down and buried my face in my hands, leaning forward to try to circumvent the panic I could feel rising at an alarming rate.

  What if they didn’t like me?

  Would Miller think differently of me?

  Hell, Miller didn’t feel anything for me. How could he?

  He hadn’t made so much as an ass grab since I’d forced him to fuck me.

  The door to the stall opened and I halted my sobs.

  Silent tears tracked down my face as I waited for whomever was outside the stalls to finish the fuck up so I could resume my sob fest.

  Except whomever it was didn’t just leave.

  “What’s wrong?” Miller said from above me.

  I screamed.

  Like a little bitch.

  “What the hell, Miller! What have I told you about boundaries?” I yelled, yanking my pants up and turning to glare up at him.

  He started to grin unrepentantly at me before he saw the tears in my eyes, then he frowned.

  “What’s wrong?” He demanded.

  Then he literally jumped over the stall.

  I wasn’t sure how he did it, but one second he was on the other side, and the next he was gathering me into his arms.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said lamely.

  He chuffed. “Get over it and tell me what the fuck is wrong.”

  Always so elegant, my Miller.

  “What if they don’t like me?” I whispered fiercely.

  His eyes softened as he cupped my face. “They’ll like you, honey. You’ve already got my brothers wrapped around your finger. And we’ve got our parents wrapped around ours. Trust me, it’ll all be okay. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t think they’d like you.”

  I closed my eyes and leaned my head against his chest.

  “Okay,” I sighed. “Let’s go.”

  He took my hand, stopped for a squirt of the hand sanitizer dispenser, and pulled open the door to the bathroom.

  I hadn’t even made it out three feet past the threshold when a barrel of energy hit me, gathering me up in her arms and pulling me into her.

  “Oh,” the woman, who I guessed was Miller’s mother, said. “I’ve been waiting for you for thirty five years.”

  I blinked. “Thirty five years?”

  She nodded. “The moment I had Miller, I knew I was only ever going to have boys. But I knew that one day Miller would get married, and I’d have a daughter.”

  “Hey, what about me?” Viddy teased from the chair beside Trance’s slumped form.

  “I like her,” his mother whispered. “But you are exactly as I’d pictured my daughter in law to be.”

  Then she turned around to Viddy. “No offense.”

  She smiled. “None taken, Sloan. I know Miller’s your favorite.”

  Sloan, Miller’s mother, nodded. “That’s true,” turning back to me. “He is my favorite.”

  My jaw dropped. “You have a favorite child?”

  She nodded. “He’s the only one that I got drugs with when I was birthing them. I don’t care what the heck you say. You don’t forget. You remember everything about the birthing experience, and those other two kids left me with scars. Horrible, ugly scars.”

  My eyes widened and I turned my face up to Miller’s to see him smiling.

  That smile was contagious, though.

  It caught on my face, and when I turned back to Sloan I said, “I think I’m going to love you.”

  She beamed. Positively beamed.

  ***

  “Are you sure you don’t mind going? We don’t have to,” Miller said, eyes turning to me as we walked out of the elevator.

  I shot him an eye roll. “No, it’s fine. Your father got the tickets, you should go.”

  I tried to get out of it once more, but it seemed the man’s mind was set on me going with him, or not going at all.

  “You’re coming with me. He got a whole fucking section. He won them,” he corrected me.

  “I’ve never been to a wrestling match before. How will I know what’s going on?” I asked worriedly.

  He was dragging me out to the hotel’s lobby where we were staying, and further beyond into a side room where we were meeting the rest of our group.

  “This isn’t real ‘wrestling.’ This is reality TV wrestling. There’s a huge difference. All these guys are, are actors. Really fit actors who perform a show.”

  “That’s right,” Foster said once he heard what Miller was saying. “They are pretty good about making it look real, however. There’s a guy we…”

  “Let’s not talk about him, please. I want to be able to keep my dinner down where it belongs,” Miller rumbled.

  I rose my eyebrows in question at him, but he ignored them and me.

  Well, it was obvious he didn’t want to talk about the ‘guy.’

  Trance was the last to arrive and I was surprised that he looked half way normal.

  The man had been passed out by the time we’d arrived at our hotel, and Miller, as well as Foster, had ha
d to carry him up to his room.

  The funny thing was, was that the entire time he was being carried, not one single person said a thing about the large man passed out drunk.

  Although, since I’d been here, I’d seen literally three other people being carried around like that. It was obvious that it was a normal occurrence in Vegas.

  “Well, now that the life of the party is here,” Foster said loudly. “We can go!”

  Trance flipped his brother off, and that was the end of that. At least until we returned home, that was.

  ***

  An hour later, I was in awe.

  There was a massive crowd in the stadium we were at; we were on the front row of all places, and I could literally throw my cup of coke and strike the man currently on the stage.

  “I hear we have some ex-military in the house,” the announcer said, looking towards our group. “If one of you wants to come up here and show your skills, we’ll offer you all a free dinner at The Showgirl’s Saloon and Show courtesy of the WWE.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  I looked to Miller to see him glowering.

  “That little prick,” Miller snapped.

  I blinked. “What?”

  “That’s how dad got the tickets,” Foster observed. “Because fucking Faris Blue’s a douche canoe. He knew we’d be here for the reunion. And he wanted us to come out to witness his success.”

  I blinked. “Who’s Faris Blue?”

  Faris was wearing a black speedo with boots that came all the way up to his knees.

  His hair was down, wet, and messy surrounding his head.

  His eyes were white. Literally, fucking white.

  He had to have been wearing contacts that blocked out the color of his irises. Regardless of what was on his eyes, he looked fucking creepy.

  “Faris Blue is a man we went to school with. Always the class bully and all around shithead,” Trance said thoughtfully.

  “Dad had to have known what would happen,” Foster said.

  Miller nodded. “So, who’s going to do it? One of you or me?”

  I stiffened. “What do you mean, who’s going to do it?”

  He nodded towards the stage. “He’s going to get one of us up here, because he just can’t help himself. I’m just wondering who he wants, because he’s hated us all since before I could count.”