by Penny Wylder
The wound isn’t deep, but there’s a lot of blood. “They threw nails all over the parking lot,” I say. “I think I got most of them. There was a magnet in my dad’s tool box. I’ll check in the morning after the sun comes up.”
He looks ready to kill someone. Walking toward me, he lifts me off the ground as if I weigh nothing and takes me inside the bar. He sets me down on the bench seat and goes into the office to find a first aid kit. He’s go gentle while cleaning my foot and applying a bandage.
“You’re staying with me,” he says.
“But—”
“No. There’s no arguing this time. If whoever did this comes back, they might take it out on you instead of the property. You’re not leaving my side tonight. You’re going to stay where I can protect you.”
He doesn’t leave any room for argument, so I nod and agree.
He drives me to his house, leaving my car behind in the parking lot. I’m afraid it will be vandalized too, but Madden doesn’t trust that someone hasn’t tampered with it.
We’re both so tired by the time we get back to his place that I pass out in his arms the moment my head hits the pillow.
The next morning when I wake up, he’s gone. I look around but there’s no note and I’m stuck at his home without a car. I try to call him but there’s no answer. I decide to walk back to the bar. It’s only a couple miles away. Walking will suck in this heat, but at least it’s early enough that it’s not that hot. I’m glad my foot doesn’t hurt anymore or this walk would be far worse.
As I walk I wonder where he went and why he didn’t tell me he was leaving. Maybe he had to work with Abe, or maybe he went to go get breakfast. If that’s the case, I might run into him on his way back. I’m not too concerned about it. Right now I just need to get back to the bar and see what other horrors I might find in the light of day. It’s possible there will be far more damage than I first suspected. I never went to check out the back of the bar.
Fear trembles in my stomach. My foot starts to hurt far worse than it did last night, and the further I get into my trek, the more I limp. I suppose I was too adrenaline drunk to really feel it then. I definitely feel it now.
When I finally get to the bar I’m thrilled and confused to see there are no traces of paint anywhere. Madden’s truck is parked out front and so is Abe’s. Abe is standing outside smoking a cigarette.
“How is this even possible?” I say to him, baffled. I was sure it would take at least several days to clean up.
“Madden has been cleaning it all night. He finally passed out in his truck a few minutes ago.” He points at the truck and I see Madden’s boots hanging out the window where his feet rest. I smile at the image and warmth spreads through my chest. “He called me this morning and asked if I would check your car to see if the vandals messed with it. Looks good. They placed some nails behind the tires, I suspect in the hopes that you would run them over, but it’s fine.” He snorts and looks over at Madden’s truck. “You’re in trouble, you know that?”
“What do you mean?”
“My brother is falling for you. He’s gone through a lot of shit to help you out. That guy is dedicated. If you don’t feel the same, you might want to tell him now before it gets too deep. I don’t think he’ll survive another heartbreak from you.”
I blush and look down, feeling overwhelmed with happiness and fear at the same time. Not only that, but shame from the way I’ve treated him in the past. I hope what Abe is saying is true.
11
Lina
It’s day five in Pepperhill and the bar is ready for business. I can’t help but fret a bit. It’s the last day of my agreement with Madden. After this, there’s no reason for him to help me anymore. I don’t know if I can run this place on my own. I know I can manage some stuff, but having his support would be so much better.
He finishes rolling the last cask of whiskey into the back room. The muscles in his arms ripple as he rolls the giant barrel, and when he passes me, I can’t help but ogle his ass. He looks back, catching me before I can turn away, and smirks. I sit down on the bench and wait for him to come back from the storage room after putting the whiskey away.
“I call that a full day’s work. There’s nothing left to do today. It’s quitting time,” he says, coming back into the bar, grabbing his keys from the counter and heading toward the door.
Back at his place, we’re lounging in his living room, rewarding ourselves with some ice-cold beers, our feet propped up on the coffee table. It all feels so easy.
“I’m pretty amazed that you’ve resisted hooking up with me again, considering you’ve been sleeping here, even if you’ve slept on my couch,” he says.
He’s not wrong. It has been hard fighting those urges. He wanted me to continue sleeping in his bed with him, but I know I would lose that fight. At least on the couch, away from him, I had some control—albeit, not much. But I have too much pride for that. If anything was going to happen, it was going to be him making the first move.
“Believe it or not, I have some self-control.”
He laughs like I just told him a joke.
“I want to talk to you about something,” I say.
He raises an eyebrow. “Is this the part where you beg?”
I roll my eyes. “I just wanted to thank you for helping me. I was hoping you would help me with my launch and maybe help me by finding some employees. No one is this town is going to set foot in this place. They hate me. No one is returning my calls. But I’ve noticed some increased traffic in the area as we get closer to re-opening. I think that’s a good sign, but I know it’s not going to happen without help. People listen to you.”
Madden moves closer to me and touches my cheek. My heart beats rapidly any time he touches me. His simple touch is enough to turn me on instantly. As he caresses my cheek and then my neck, I close my eyes and say, “I need you.” He can take those words as he will, whether he thinks I’m talking about the bar or my desire. Neither answer is wrong.
His touch moves from my neck and down to my chest, just barely gliding over the fabric over my breasts, making my nipples hard. I moan as his thumb rubs in circles over them.
“How bad do you need me?” he says, his hushed voice deep and full of want.
“I need you more than anything.”
His hand goes to the back of my head, making a fist in my hair, tilting my head back so I’m looking him in the eyes.
“Get on your knees and beg me,” he says, his voice dripping with sex.
My body starts to throb for him. I would never beg for anything, but fuck my pride. I’ll beg him for anything if it means having him inside me again.
“Please,” I grovel, my gaze sliding down to the hard mound in his jeans. He unbuttons his pants and slides his massive cock out of the opening of his boxers. I can feel my wetness soaking my panties. “I need you so bad.” My voice is barely a whisper. He pushes my face down to his dick. I open my mouth eagerly as he pushes himself down my throat.
“God your mouth feels good.” He groans and pushes my head down even further. I relax my jaw and throat to take more of him in. “You like sucking my cock?”
I moan in response and feel his dick swell, almost causing me to choke.
“Oh, baby, you’re amazing,” he says. He thrusts his hips faster, fucking my mouth as he holds my head in place.
Suddenly he pulls out when he gets to a point where he might not be able to stop. He kisses me long and deep. My pussy pulses, wet and desperate. I can’t take it anymore and push him onto the couch. His smile stretches his face and he rushes to strip his clothes off. I do the same. Climbing on top of him, I straddle his waist. I bite my lip as he fills me up, and gasp when he bottoms out. He’s so deep it almost hurts, but in the most amazing way possible. I ride him slow at first. He holds onto my hips and throws his head back as I start to rotate and grind.
“Your pussy is so tight. You’re going to make me come.”
“Not yet,” I tell him. “I
’m not done with you.”
I slow down to keep him from busting, and pull off of him, kissing my way from his lips, down his body until I reach his cock. I can taste myself on him as I give his balls the attention they deserve. His pushes my hair back to he can watch me work.
When I’m done giving him the extra attention, I make my way back toward his mouth, snaking my tongue with his so he can taste my pussy on his lips. He works his fingers inside me and I come so fast and hard that my vision starts to blur. His fingers are coated with my juices. He licks them one by one, making a show of how much he enjoys the flavor.
“I got you something,” I tell him. “It’s in my purse, take a look.”
The last time we fooled around he rubbed his thumb against my asshole. I knew then he was kinky and liked to play dirty. Luckily for him, so do I.
He looks curiously at me and riffles through my purse until finding the bottle of lube I bought at the drug store. He lifts an eyebrow.
“What do you want me to do with this?” he asks as if he’s a little timid to automatically assume.
I take the bottle from him and open it. Taking his hand, I lather up two of his fingers and open my legs. He starts to touch my pussy with them, but I shake my head and lead his hands further back. His eyes open wide and a cocky smile tilts his lips.
“Oh really?” he says.
“Really.”
He’s slow and gentle as he starts to finger my ass. “Bend over,” he says and pushes me down so my head is on the couch and my ass is in the air. I’m nervous and a little self-conscious at first with my ass exposed to him this way, but when he starts to make sounds of approval and his breathing changes as he gets even more turned on, I start to let my inhibitions go and focus on how good the attention feels. After a while the awkwardness of having something in there changes into pure pleasure. I rock my hips, loving every minute of it.
He holds my hips and I feel the head of his dick against my back entrance. I’m nervous at first because he’s so big.
“Relax,” he says. I take a deep breath and let my body go slack, loosening the tension in my muscles. He massages me with plenty of lube and slides into me. It’s a tight fit, a bit uncomfortable at first, but the more he moves and the more I relax, the better it feels until I’m bucking and crying for him to go faster, harder. He’s fucking my ass with vigor now. I grab hold of the couch cushion. The couch moves slightly across the wood floor as he drills into me. It’s a good thing the apartment his family lives in is far from the house or someone might call the cops with all the screaming coming from this house.
I’m on the edge, but not quite there just yet. That is until he fills my pussy with his fingers, double penetrating me. I cry out as my orgasm grips me. He growls and thrusts, holding tight and trying to stay inside of me as I buck wildly, and then he explodes. I feel the warmth of it as his cum coats my insides. My muscles flex as he pulls out of me with a sigh and rolls over onto his back.
“Come here,” he says.
I’m sweating and out of breath when I lay on his chest.
“That’s one world-class ass you have,” he says, and I can’t help but giggle.
He brushes his fingers through my hair and says, “I’ll help you. I wouldn’t dream of missing your grand opening.”
I get so excited that the words “I love you” almost escape my lips without thinking. With a start, I realize that it’s true. I love Madden. I think I always have, even as kids. Only now I’ve allowed my eyes and my heart to open up enough to finally see it.
12
Lina
My mom calls me later in the afternoon while I’m scrubbing the bathroom for the third time. I want everything perfect and clean—including the toilets. I take off the gloves and answer my phone.
“Linny, how’s the bar renovation coming along?” she asks. She sounds nervous. She didn’t seem too excited for me to come back to Pepperhill in the first place.
“It’s fine, Mom, but everyone seems to hate me.” There’s a pause on her end. When she starts to change the subject, I stop her and tell her what Abe told me, about what he heard when he was smoking on the roof of his house.
She admits that she knew about Haley’s pregnancy. She’d been working as a nurse back then at the only doctor’s office in town. She’d heard from Haley’s doctor about the pregnancy. She tried to talk to Haley about it, but Haley refused and threatened to get her fired if she told anyone. But out of obligation because Haley was a minor, she had to tell the parents. Haley’s mom was horrified, but not surprised. Haley was wild and had a reputation. My mom was afraid that reputation would come back on me because we were best friends, and she was afraid I would start to get in trouble too because Haley was a bad influence. Because Haley was mad at my mom for going to her parents with her dilemma, she decided to turn on me in retribution. She told everyone that I had spread rumors about her getting pregnant by a teacher. She turned me into the gossiping bad guy and managed to turn everyone against me. No wonder everyone in this town hates me. All the business owners who took over their parents’ businesses are the people I went to school with. They think I’m a cruel monster.
After all of that, my mom and dad decided it would be best if my mom moved me to California for the duration of the school year. My dad couldn’t leave because of his business and they were too upside down on the house to sell it. So he stayed. Though they remained friends, the absence between them eventually ruined their marriage.
I don’t even know what to say. All of this because they were afraid for me. I know they were just trying to protect me, but that doesn’t stop me from being furious that they made that decision without telling me the details. Of course I wouldn’t have gone along with it. They ruined our family because they were afraid I was going to get bullied. That, I could have handled. Not having my parents together was devastating. Especially since I didn’t see my dad much before he died. That absence will always haunt me.
I tell my mom I love her and hang up the phone. I understand, and I know I will forgive her someday, but right now I need to focus on opening the bar.
Opening day. My heart is beating as fast as hummingbird wings and my stomach is in knots. I’m terrified that people won’t show up. It’s almost time. I go outside to open the doors, expecting to see one or two cars from the town drunks, but to my surprise there is a line wrapping around the building.
Madden and Abe are out front, chatting with everyone. “Ready to open these doors, boss?” Abe says.
Unable to speak, afraid I will cry from relief, I nod my head, stepping aside so people can come in. I can hear people say that they missed this place and some of them walk past me and tell me they were sorry when they heard about my dad’s passing, which I appreciate.
Everyone is saying such kind things and I think maybe this town is capable of moving on from the past. That is until I hear Haley’s shrill voice in the background somewhere in line.
“Lina is a joke. Are you really going to buy into this reformed good-girl act?” I make eye contact with her. She sneers at me. “Has everyone forgotten the rumors she spread against me? She told everyone how I got pregnant by a teacher. She tried to ruin my life. You’re a disease,” she says pointedly at me. “You ruin everything you touch.”
I start to tell her how it’s her fault my family was ripped apart, but Madden intervenes and tells her she’s a liar and everyone is sick of her shit.
“You’re just defending her because she’s your little fuck buddy.” People standing around us look uncomfortable taking in the scene, but they’re also intrigued enough to stay and listen. I guess I don’t have to worry about her chasing customers away. Small towns love their gossip. “But what you don’t get is that she’s using you just like she did all those years ago. Do you not see how she’s taking advantage of you? She moves to town and suddenly you’re at her beck and call.”
My heart constricts. I want to defend myself but the words won’t come. And if I tell everyone the tru
th about her it will only make things worse. Despite everything, I’m not trying to ruin her life. I want to cry, but not in front of all these people.
“Go away, Haley.” Madden says. “This town is sick of all your drama and bullshit.” A couple people in line agree with him loudly, stunning Haley into silence.
But the silence doesn’t last long. Her face is red and it’s obvious she’s embarrassed, which is one of her more dangerous moods. She’s always been a viper when humiliated. She starts to lay into Madden. “You’re an idiot and weak to pussy. Lina doesn’t care about you. You’re just a joke to her and I’m going to be the first one laughing when you figure that out.”
I finally find my voice and blurt out, “I’m not using anyone. I’ve been sorry every day of my life for what I did to Madden back when we were kids. Madden and I have spent time together over the last week and we’re healing together. That doesn’t make what I did right, and I don’t expect him to forgive me right away, but I hope he does some day because I love him and I would never take advantage of him.”
The words shock me as they come out of my mouth, and the looks of everyone around me reflect that, especially Madden. Abe is the only one who doesn’t seem surprised. Just amused. Haley seems more pissed than shocked and pushes her way out of line, leaving.
I chase her out into the parking lot. “Go away, Lina,” she says. I can hear the tears in her voice.
I keep following her even though she tries to walk fast, but she’s wearing heels and I keep up easily. “Why have you spent your life trying to turn people against me? I thought you were my best friend.”
Haley stops walking and her shoulders shake as she weeps. “Things got out of hand,” she says. “I felt horrible when the boy I liked got me pregnant and took off the moment he found out. I was ashamed and humiliated when I thought people might find out. You had all the boys in love with you. If it had been you getting pregnant, Madden would have gladly stayed to help you take care of your child. Any of them would. And then when you left without even saying goodbye, I snapped. I turned you into the bad guy to get the focus off of me. The longer I didn’t hear from you, the more bitter I became until it turned into this.” She waves her hands around at nothing, but I get what she means.