by Jessie Cooke
“But she lied to you,” Chance said. “About us, about her past. Do you know where she got the thirty thousand dollars that showed up in her bank account this past year?”
He frowned again. “Marlene ain’t got that kind of money. I do okay but she doesn’t work, and we have one bank account in both our names.”
Chance shook his head. “No. She has an account at First National and over this past year she’s got several deposits from an offshore account. Those deposits total thirty grand.”
Chance felt bad for the man when he reached for his coffee cup and Chance saw that his hand was shaking. He felt bad that he was essentially bringing this man’s whole life down around his ears…but he also felt like this might be their ticket to finding out what happened to Bubba. “I don’t understand…Marlene doesn’t lie to me…”
“I’m sorry to do this to you,” Chance said. “I really am. But if you need proof, I can get that for you. My sister and I both have our birth certificates and the police in New Orleans have all her information related to the death of my stepfather and my brother’s disappearance…” He suddenly remembered something. He pulled out his wallet and dug through a handful of business cards and things before he found it, he hadn’t looked at it in a very long time. It was a photo of his mother, Poppy, Bubba, and him. It had been taken by one of the midwives who had delivered Bubba, a nice lady who had printed the picture off her phone and brought him and Poppy each a copy. It was faded and had a line down the middle where it had been folded in the wallet. But he held onto it because it was the only thing he still had from his childhood, other than scars and emotional trauma.
He slid the photo across the table and the man picked it up with his shaky hand. Chance’s heart hurt as the man’s blue eyes began to swim with tears. “That’s her,” he whispered. Chance didn’t say anything. He let the man stare at the photograph and process what he was seeing. When he was ready to talk at last, he said, “I want to talk to her myself, first.”
Chance knew there was a chance that his mother would try to bail once she knew the jig was up, especially since she had the thirty thousand dollars. But Forrest should be back on the job of watching her by then, so Chance would just shoot him a text and fill him in on what was going on. He nodded at Charles and said, “Hand me your phone. I’ll put my number in it, and I’ll wait to hear from you.” The older man looked like he wanted to cry. As Chance typed his name and number into the man’s phone he wondered if his mother had any idea how many lives she’d fucked up…or if she even cared.
13
Chance made it back to the club in time for an executives’ meeting that Blackheart had scheduled for 11 a.m. They talked about cutting off contact with the Green Sons, and some business they had with a fisherman that carried the occasional contraband for them across the Mississippi when they needed him to. Chance was dispatched to send a couple of guys out for a meeting with that man and once that was done, he finally headed to the hospital. His head was swimming from lack of sleep, but he needed to see his old lady, and their baby.
He found them in Sharon’s room, and found her wearing street clothes. “Hey, you look great. Are they kicking you out?”
“They’re trying to,” she said. “Speaking of not looking great though…what happened to your face?” Chance had forgotten about his black eye. It was probably one of the reasons Charles had seemed so intimidated, and the waitress in the coffee shop had been staring at him. He touched his eye with his fingertips and said:
“It’s not a big deal. It was just a misunderstanding.”
She frowned. “With whom?”
“Grayson.” Sharon knew Gray wasn’t his favorite person, and she knew why. Still she asked:
“Was this about your sister?”
“Yeah…but it won’t happen again.” She cocked an eyebrow but left it at that, moving on and saying:
“Please don’t take this wrong, Chance…I don’t want to go home yet. I can’t be half an hour away from him right now…” He could tell she was fighting tears just thinking about leaving the baby. Sitting down next to her on the bed he put his arm around her and said:
“Hey, you don’t have to apologize, and you don’t have to leave him, at least not on my account. But, will they let you stay here with him?”
“There’s a house next door. It’s for parents, so they can be close to their children when they’re in the hospital. My nurse said they had a bed available…I just feel so bad about leaving you and the twins any longer…”
“Huh-uh, don’t do that to yourself. I’m fine, and if your sister needs a break, I can take the twins. I’m sure Miss Sally could help us find someone to watch them when I have to work…”
“Dahlia says she’s okay keeping them until I get home. Do you think they’re going to feel abandoned? Am I a bad mom?”
He smiled down at her. His old lady was an exotic dancer, one of the best at the club where she worked. She’d started dancing right after the twins were born because working as a waitress wasn’t enough to support them. Some of the guys in the club thought of the dancers the same as they did prostitutes. But Chance knew Sharon was no hooker. It took her months to agree to even go out with him, and then they didn’t have sex until the fifth date. She also made it clear to him up front that she was no one-night stand, and oddly even though Chance had been with a lot of women before her, he’d been okay with that. Especially that first night when she had climbed up on his cock and whispered in his ear, “Hold on, baby, you’re in for a wild ride.” That might have been the moment he knew she was the woman of his dreams.
Of course, Chance might have preferred that she didn’t take her clothes off in front of men every night once she became his old lady. But he wasn’t going to push her into quitting. She didn’t plan on doing it much longer, so he told himself to be patient, and that her job was her decision. She took classes during the fall and spring at the local junior college, and slowly but surely, she was getting a degree in psychology and until then she wanted to feel like she was contributing to the household and paying her own way through school. Chance loved her in part because of her independence, so the last thing he wanted to do was strip her of it.
And despite what most people might think about a mother who took her clothes off for a living, Sharon was the best mother he had ever known. Not that he had much of an example to go on with his own, but her kids were always well-fed, well-groomed, and most of all, well-loved...all the things he knew every kid wanted and needed. He looked into her pretty hazel eyes now and said:
“Baby, those kids know how much you love them. They’ll understand you need to be here with Bubba right now. Tomorrow we’re barbecuing with Poppy, so that will be fun, and Sunday I’ll take ’em swimming at the river, okay? They’ll be fine. We all will.”
“You make me feel like we will be,” she said, placing her hand on the side of his face. Chance dipped his head down and met her lips with his. As soon as they touched, his body began to respond. They’d made love the night before she had Bubba, and that was just over a week before…but it seemed like a lot longer. Sharon’s lips slid over from his lips to his ear and in a wicked voice that was reminiscent of the girl she was before all the trauma she said, “You ever got off in a hospital bathroom?”
Chance laughed. “I can’t say as I have. But you’re not ready for that…”
She licked her lips and looked up at him with her big, hazel eyes. With a wink she said, “There’s nothing wrong with my mouth.”
Chance’s body flushed with warmth and his cock swelled in anticipation. “Are you sure, babe?”
She stood up and took hold of one of his hands. He realized that her nipples had hardened, and they were pressing through her bra and into the fabric of her shirt. He reached up and placed his hand over one. She sighed and let him caress her for a few seconds before pulling back and saying, “You’ll get the milk flowing.”
“Oh shit, I forgot. I’m…” She leaned in against him and covered
his mouth again before he could apologize. He felt her tongue slide between his lips and then begin exploring his mouth like it had never been there before. He loved the way she kissed him. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her in so close that there wasn’t room for a breeze to pass between them. Their tongues danced together in a sexy rhythm and he let his hands slide up and down from her waist down across her tight butt and then let one slip up between her legs. He felt her body convulse and she broke the kiss. In a breathless voice she said:
“You have no idea how badly I want you…but that’s going to be a while. Let me make you feel good in the meantime though, please?” Chance nodded and stood up, letting her lead him by the hand into the bathroom. She closed and locked the door behind them and then set about unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his jeans. Before she pushed them down though, he took a step back and said:
“I know you can’t do anything right now, but will you take off your clothes? I want to see that sexy body.”
Sharon wasn’t an overly outgoing person, especially considering what she did for a living. But she had always had what seemed to Chance like a confident view of her body, as well she should since it was drop dead gorgeous even after having twins eight years before. But suddenly she looked almost shy and when she spoke it was almost in a whisper, “It doesn’t look…I mean, I put on quite a bit of weight…”
Chance took her back into his arms. Putting his mouth down close to her ear he said, “Baby, I swear on that baby down the hall, the twins, and my love for you…and my loyalty as a Joker...that there is not another woman on earth I’d rather look at than you. You’re freaking gorgeous, and I’m freaking lucky to even be able to look at you, even if I can’t touch right now.”
She had tears in her eyes, but as soon as she gave him another quick kiss, she started pulling off her clothes. Chance watched her, savoring every bit of creamy skin she exposed. She left on her panties and he knew it was because she was still wearing a pad after having the baby. But even so, and maybe because of and not despite her slightly wider hips and the leftover belly from just having a baby, he thought she looked more beautiful than ever. He kissed her again, letting his lips slide down across her neck, over her collarbones, and then lightly kissing each one of her big, round, hard nipples before letting them glide down to her belly and pressing a kiss in there before returning to her beautiful face and kissing her lips again. Sharon’s hand had slid down inside of his jeans and she was running her fingers up and down over his aching cock. The kiss was long, hot, and intense, and when he pulled out of it, he was already gasping for breath. Sharon pushed his jeans down and then she took a towel off the rack behind her and draped it over the closed toilet seat. “Sit,” she said, in a raspy, breathless voice. Chance sat down and Sharon took another towel and dropped it onto the floor in front of him. Then she lowered herself to her knees and lifted his cock up into her hand.
She let out a sexy little moan as she ran her hand up and down his shaft, stroking him, and lightly tickling the tip of it. Chance groaned and leaned back as far as he could, pressing his head into the wall behind him. Sharon looked like a sexy, topless vixen when she smiled up at him and licked her lips again. Then she bent forward and ran her tongue all around the tip of his swollen head. He felt that in every part of his body, and he groaned again. He had just closed his eyes when he felt her open her lips and let them slide over his head. She held him just inside her mouth and let her tongue glide across his wet head. Her hand was still gripping his shaft tightly and as she began taking more of him into her mouth, she slid her hand down all the way to his balls and then as she slid it back up, she let him come back out of her mouth, half an inch at a time. She played with him like that, slow and easy, for a while. She knew exactly what he liked and sometimes, before everything had happened, she used to do this for him until he was so relaxed, he fell asleep.
But they didn’t have that much time, and Sharon began to progressively stroke him faster, sucking him harder and deeper into her throat. Chance was moaning but trying to be careful not to be too loud in case one of her nurses walked into the room. Sharon didn’t seem to care about being quiet though. She was slurping and moaning as she licked and sucked him. She ran her teeth along the underside, sending chills racing down his spine and both of his arms. He reached down and touched her breasts and her whimper egged him on. While she took him deep and stroked him hard, he began to play with her nipples, noticing that they were even bigger and harder than they had been before. He and she were both moaning, too far along now to care if anyone heard. Chance felt milk leaking out of her breasts and onto his fingers, but he didn’t stop. It was strangely sexy to him and Sharon seemed to be enjoying it. She was giving him amazing head too, and she reached down and began to fondle his balls softly while slamming her mouth up and down on his cock. He opened his eyes as he began to feel the orgasm building in his core and in a voice practically devoid of oxygen he said, “Baby…I’m going to…” She nodded without missing a beat. Chance groaned again, this time even louder. The orgasm was in control of him now and he pinched down on her leaking nipples hard when he felt his cock grow even harder in her mouth just before he exploded. He cried out, but Sharon kept going, taking as much of it as she could down her throat…and then looking like a porn star when she pulled her mouth off him and looked up at his face. His pleasure was all over her face and had dripped down onto her full breasts. Her hair was all over the place and her cheeks were flushed. Her lips were swollen, and she was smiling. But the most beautiful thing about her at that second were her eyes. They were shining and Chance couldn’t just see the love in them, he could feel it. Sharon had taken a boy who grew up not knowing what love was, and she’d taught him how to feel it in every fiber of his being. He leaned forward and kissed her lips softly, and then he pulled her in for a hug, loving the way her bare breasts felt against him.
“I love you so much,” he whispered.
“I love you too, baby. Thank you…”
Chance pulled back and looked at her face. With a chuckle he said, “Um, no…thank you.”
She smiled. “I didn’t mean for this, I meant for you. I meant for accepting me and all these kids that aren’t…”
Chance put a finger over her lips. “Don’t say it. Don’t say they’re not mine. I’ll adopt them all, the twins and even Bubba if you want me to.”
A tear spilled out of one of her eyes and she said, “Bubba is yours already…legally…”
“Then he’s mine in every way,” Chance said. “We’re a family and there’s no yours and mine, only ours, okay? You have no idea how much I dreamed of all of this when I was a kid. You’re my person, and those kids are our people. This family, Sharon, it’s everything to me. So, thank you, for giving it to me. Thank you, for helping me grow up.”
She put her arms around his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. He caressed her shoulders and her back, and his lips were starting to explore her neck when they both startled at the sound of a voice outside the door. “Chance?”
“Who is that?” Sharon whispered, jumping to her feet and grabbing her clothes off the floor. Chance made a face and stood up and pulled up his jeans.
“Grayson.” Sharon cocked an eyebrow and Chance smiled and said, “Don’t worry, baby. I promised Blackheart I wouldn’t beat his ass again.” Sharon shook her head at him, but she was smiling. She hid in the bathroom when Chance slipped out the door. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s Poppy.”
“What about her? What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Gray said with a sigh. “But she just got arrested.”
14
“What the hell, Poppy?” Chance waited until his sister collected her things and they were walking out the door to say anything. Luckily, he’d had enough on his credit card to bail her out and he hadn’t had to ask Blackheart for help. Gray tried to pay for it, but Chance had ignored him long enough that he’d finally left…or so he’
d thought, until they got outside, and he saw him standing next to Chance’s bike. Poppy hadn’t said a word. She kept walking toward Gray. Finally, Chance reached out and grabbed her arm, not hard, but with enough force to stop her. “Poppy, talk to me. They said you punched a cop. What were you thinking?”
She turned around then, and with fire in her green eyes she said, “Tomorrow is his birthday! One more birthday that we won’t be there for. One more birthday I’ll have to sit and wonder where he is, if he’s even alive, if he’s being tortured or abused or…” Tears started running out of her eyes and Chance put his arms around her. He expected her to pull away, but this time she just melted into him, sobbing against his chest and still talking, but he didn’t understand what she was saying at that point. Gray at least had the decency to walk away. Chance didn’t know where he went, and he didn’t care. His sister’s current state was proof enough to him that she was in no condition to get involved with anyone. He let her cry until she finally pulled back, leaving a large, wet stain on his t-shirt. She rubbed her hand across her face and the sadness in her eyes turned back into anger. “They haven’t even been looking for him.”