The Way We Are

by Shandi Boyes

  Axel smiles a smug grin. “He’ll have to find me first. With the three million Savannah distributed to me bit by bit the past year added to the initial three million I borrowed from my Uncle’s accounts, I’ve got plenty of hiding money.”

  “You’ll never access that money. No bank in the country will let you access those types of funds without clearance from a federal department.”

  “That might be the case if they were sitting in a US bank, but that's where you underestimated me, Ryan. I’m not just handsome; I’m smart as well.”

  “The account you had Savannah transfer the money to? That’s an offshore account?” I ask, my voice stunned he was smart enough to pull off this type of scheme.

  When Axel nods, I clarify, “That’s your account?”

  Axel swaggers back to stand next to Douchebag Number Two and Three. “Ours.” He waves his hand across their three chests. “It’s our venture capital. That little operation you’ve seen growing in Ravenshoe the past few years is about to triple.” He rubs his hand under his nose as his eyes drift to Savannah. “Just one hit of the stuff we’re manufacturing will make a five dollar whore’s pussy taste as sweet as hers.”

  I save Axel from being belted for the second time by saying, “Triple, hey?” I let out a whistle, feigning that I’m impressed. “That’s gonna be hard to pull off in a four by four cell.”

  The arrogance on Axel’s face fades for worry when I tuck my chin into my chest and ask, “Did you get all that?”

  The squeal of police sirens answers my question on Regina’s behalf.

  Realizing our gathering has gained the attention of over a dozen plain-clothed officers, Axel and his two minions make a run for it. They don’t even make it halfway out of the dusty parking lot before members of Regina’s crew have them kissing the pavement.

  Satisfied all danger is on lockdown, I spin Savannah around to face me. Her lip quivers when she begins to speak, “He didn’t do that to me. We didn’t—”

  “I know, Savannah,” I interrupt, not needing her to defend Axel’s malicious words.

  He knew he lost her to a better man, so he did anything he could to act like he wasn’t hurting. I can’t say I blame him. If I lost a woman like Savannah, I don’t know if I’d ever recover.

  After inspecting her knuckles for signs of damage, I ask, “Are you alright?”

  Even though she nods, I still tug her into my chest and hold on tightly. Her acting skills are so top-notch, even I believed her performance—and I’m the guy who sat by her side yesterday when Regina explained what the forensic accountants had discovered from the ledger we gave her.

  “Do you think Axel will tell Regina where my mom’s body is?” Savannah asks a short time later, her voice as low as my heart rate.

  Pain stabs the middle of my chest. She sounds so broken. “She may not be dead, Savannah. Don’t give up hope yet.”

  Savannah locks her glistening eyes with mine. “I should have read her postcards, then I would have known they weren’t from her.”

  “You were angry—”

  “I was stupid,” Savannah interrupts, her voice cracking with emotions. “So, so stupid. Axel knew this. That’s why he played me for the fool I am.”

  I lose my chance to argue with her when Regina arrives at our side. Her almost black eyes bounce between Savannah’s for two heart-thrashing seconds before she reacts in the same manner Savannah did when she was tormented by her past yesterday.

  She cocoons her within her arms and whispers reassurances in her ear. I can’t hear a word she's speaking, but Savannah’s shudders ease with every word she whispers.

  37

  Ryan

  “Hey, you’re... ah...”

  “Ryan,” I greet, stretching my arm over Thorn’s bed to offer him my hand to shake.

  “Ryan, right,” he replies, accepting my offer.

  “I’m a friend of Savan... ah...Ruth’s.”

  Thorn’s face lights up like a Christmas tree. “Oh, you know my daughter Ruth?”

  Before I can answer, Savannah enters Thorn’s room, stealing not only the words from my mouth, but the air from my lungs as well. The plum material of her strapless dress swishes around her smooth, silky thighs, and her ample breasts are barely contained in the thin strap of material crossing her mid-section.

  With our last four weeks shared equally between the pool and the bedroom, the lightness of her hair is even more effervescent, and her skin has a mouthwatering glow. She looks wickedly evil and angelically innocent at the same time. Don’t ask me how that's possible. I’m just calling it how I see it.

  “Hi,” Savannah greets before balancing on her tippy toes to press a kiss to my mouth.

  Her kiss is innocent, but the growl her father emits makes it seem like anything but. I’m not surprised by his anger; he has reacted the same way every time I’ve arrived to pick Savannah up the past four weeks.

  Savannah smiles, loving her dad’s protectiveness. “Are you ready to go?”

  Not waiting for me to reply, Savannah says goodbye to her father in the same manner she greeted me. “Behave for Willis today. He’s a little devastated his beloved 69s didn’t make it past preliminaries.”

  Confusion crosses Thorn’s face, but he does a good job hiding it from Savannah. I don’t know if his confusion stems from not recognizing Willis’s name or Savannah’s sporting reference.

  After gathering her handbag from a studded chaise at the foot of Thorn’s bed, Savannah returns to my side.

  “Midnight,” Thorn demands when his squinted eyes lock in on Savannah’s fingers intertwining with mine.

  “Yes, sir,” I reply, nodding.

  My eyes go wild when Savannah guides me down the long hallway of her family mansion. With the money Savannah paid Axel returned in small increments, the bland interior is slowly being restored to its former glory, though I doubt it will ever have the same family appeal it used to have. Until Savannah’s family gets closure on her mother’s whereabouts, the bow will never be fully tied.

  Although witnesses saw Savannah’s mom arrive at her departure gate two years ago, her name was not listed on the in-flight manifest, and no surveillance has been uncovered of her arrival in Hawaii. It's as if she boarded the plane then vanished before take-off.

  The whole situation is highly confusing. Although Axel proved Kath didn’t steal Col’s money, she still planned to leave her family. She packed her own bags, wrote a letter to both Savannah and Thorn explaining her decision to leave, then arranged for a town car to take her to the airport. It is just what happened once she arrived that has left everyone stumped.

  Although Savannah hasn’t said anything, I know she's holding a glimmer of hope that her mom will be found alive and well. Her intuition told her something was wrong with her father months before his diagnosis, so she's hopeful it's also right when it comes to her mother.

  “Are you having second thoughts about tomorrow?” Savannah asks, dragging me back to the present.

  I wait for her to slide into the passenger seat of my truck before closing her door, then jogging around to the other side.

  “No, it’s not that. I’m kind of looking forward to it?” I don’t know why my statement comes out sounding like a question.

  Savannah giggles, once again blindsiding me with her strength. She’s had a tumultuous few months, but she still manages to smile every single day. That's remarkable and utterly awe-inspiring.

  Mistaking the pride crossing my face as worry, Savannah says, “Don’t look so anxious, Ryan. You can be excited. It’s exciting. It’s not every day someone enters the police force.” She waggles her brows in a showy type of way. “Regina jumped through a lot of hoops to get you into the advanced training program. I heard you can’t even apply until you're twenty one.”

  “I don’t know how many hoops Regina jumped through, but my thighs still feel like jelly from the physical agility test I took last month. And don’t even get me started on the number of brain cells I singed co
mpleting the written exam.”

  Savannah taps her index finger on her pursed lip. “Are you sure they’re going to let you in tomorrow? You might have failed the psychological examination.”

  “Ha ha. Very funny,” I chide, taking her humor in stride.

  I’d never let on my worry, but there was one stage not so long ago her comment would have bothered me. Being raised in a household tarnished by domestic violence has debilitating effects. Not all of them are physical.

  When Savannah slides across the leather, I arch a brow. She slaps my chest, unappreciative of my warning glare. “Stop it. You’re not an officer yet.” The throaty way she purrs “officer” makes fond memories pop into my head... amongst other things.

  To appease my worry, Savannah latches the middle belt around her waist before returning her eyes to mine. “Happy?”

  “Very,” I reply with a nod.

  I kiss her crinkled nose before kicking over my truck to start our short trip to Justine’s. Although I’m not overly eager to return to the place that instigated our second demise months ago, when a Walsh brother extends an invitation, you accept, no matter what.

  “So if you’re not worried about tomorrow, what’s with the extra wrinkle between your brows? Do I need to schedule a Botox injection?”

  I shift my eyes from the road to Savannah. “Is Willis still going on about butt implants?”

  Savannah’s laugh makes quick work of the groove between my brows. “Yeah. He's adamant no man has an ass as fine as yours without assistance.” She twists her lips, struggling to hold in her smile. “If you’d let him feel up your ass, he might believe you haven’t gone under the knife.”

  My eyes roll skywards. “So you’re fine with Willis touching me, but if Marlana and Rhapsody get within two feet of my backside, your claws come out. You do realize Willis is gay, don’t you? His interests in my ass are just as sexual as Marlana and Rhapsody’s.”

  The cheeky grin is wiped straight off Savannah’s face. If I hadn’t seen her exemplary test scores, I might have believed her terrible attempt to act stupid.

  “You’re lucky your acting skills are so top shelf you convinced the board at Cornell that beauty isn’t the only thing you’ve got.”

  Savannah slaps my chest for the second time. “Shut up. I’m still hesitant about attending Cornell, Ry. It’s so far away.” She dips her lip in a way that shouldn’t turn me on, but for some fucked up reason it does. “I don’t want to be hours away from you and my dad.”

  “It’s only for a few years, and once you’ve finished your studies, you can come back and show all those naysayers that it isn’t just men who can rule in the engineering sector.” I twang her bottom lip, pretending I’m not dreaming about them being wrapped around my dick.

  When she remains quiet, I try another tactic, “It’s a paid scholarship. You’d be a fool to turn it down. Your dad wants this as much as me, Savannah. We are both immensely proud of you.”

  She breathes out heavily. “I know. I’m just gonna miss you guys, that’s all.”

  “You are going to miss us. We can’t have you arriving at Cornell talking like a hick.”

  She slaps me for the third time. “Sorry, Officer Carter. I promise I’ll be a good, obedient little girl from now on.”

  I’d be lying if I said I don’t love the new nickname she’s used the past four weeks. When she coerced me to consider Regina’s offer, I was annoyed I allowed my dick to speak on behalf of my brain. But as the days rolled on, everything Savannah and Regina said the prior week started to make sense.

  Things with my brother were more dire than he let on. After sending a wad of money to my Aunt Kaci to pay for his extensive rehabilitation and counseling sessions, I was strapped for cash. And although Savannah’s financial situation continues to improve, she's years away from returning to the comfortable means she is used to, let alone supporting a jobless boyfriend.

  Even though I bent to Savannah’s impeccably persuasive techniques, I still searched relentless for a job the seven days that followed our thrilling road trip. The only call back I received was from my previous employer. With only two options in front of me, I went for the one that didn’t make me cringe every time I considered it. I enrolled in the local Police Academy.

  Recalling the direction our conversation was heading, I drop my eyes to Savannah. “You’re only a good girl until I want you to be bad? Right?”

  Savannah taps her index finger on her chin, as if she's considering my suggestion. “Alright, yes,” she squeals when I tickle her ribs. “I’ll be bad when you want me to be bad.”

  She locks her eyes with mine, the lust in them thickening my dick in an instant. “Do you want me to be bad now, Officer Carter?”

  Either too impatient to wait for me to reply, or intuiting my answer with spot-on accuracy, Savannah licks her pouty lips before lowering her head to a region forever dying for her attention.

  “Pull over,” she demands, her velvety smooth voice barely heard over the lowering of my zipper. “I don’t want you running us off the road like you did the last time we attempted this.”

  “The bumper barely grazed the railing,” I murmur while peering over my shoulder to seek a break in traffic, praying she won’t see the deceit in my eyes.

  My truck has a large scrape up the right side from when my excitement got the better of me. Although Chris has offered on numerous occasions to buff out the marks, I like having them there. Who needs a photo to spark a memory when you can have real life triggers?

  I’ve barely pulled down a deserted street a few blocks over from the main road when Savannah frees my manhood from the tight restraints of my pants. I’m so grateful for her request for me to pull over when she draws the crest of my dick between her pillowy lips, because there's no way I wouldn’t have killed us.

  Savannah’s lips on my dick... there’s nothing better than this.

  A string of inappropriate words exits my mouth when she sucks down hard enough to raise my ass off the seat. Loving the sensation of her greedy sucks worshipping every inch of my shaft, I fist her hair in my hand, then plant my feet onto the floor of my truck.

  I feed my dick in and out of her mouth at the pace her hand is stroking me. “Fuck yeah, baby, just like that.”

  The throaty moans rolling up her chest reveal she loves this as much as me. Savannah knows how to suck dick. The combination of her ravenous sucks added to her eagerness to please has me charging for release faster than my brain can process.

  “You know we’re not going to be able to do this after tomorrow,” I mutter, hoping a bit of conversation will lessen my wavering constraint.

  When Savannah is laid out in front of me, nothing stops me from ensuring she's satisfied to within mental exhaustion. But when she has my dick in her mouth, nothing but the urge to come engulfs me.

  Savannah slides her tongue along the vein feeding my stone-hard dick before answering, “I know,” with a sigh. “By 9 AM tomorrow, I can no longer suck your cock in your truck.”

  The urge to come overwhelms me when she lifts and locks her eyes with mine. She swivels her tongue around my knob, knowing I love the visual of her mouth worshipping my dick. The sight of her pleasing me... fuck. That could keep a hundred men in Finland warm in the middle of winter.

  Like the urge to come isn’t already overriding my senses, Savannah murmurs against me, “I guess I’ll just have to do it in your patrol car instead.”

  Someone fucking shoot me. Sweet and innocent Savannah is every guy’s wet dream, but naughty Savannah... she’s an assortment of wicked.

  “You gonna fuck me in my patrol car, baby?” My voice is extra deep, nearly as deep as my dick is plunging into Savannah’s mouth.

  “No,” Savannah replies between needy sucks. “I’m not gonna fuck you in your patrol car. I’m going to fuck you in your patrol car.” She returns her eyes to mine, the hunger in them pushing me to within an inch of the finish line. “Or maybe if I am really naughty, I’ll let you fuck me
instead.”

  That’s it, ladies and gentlemen: I am fucking done.

  The prettiest girl I’ve ever seen is sucking my dick like she’s never been fed, talking filth out of a mouth God created to bring mortal men to their knees.

  “I’m done. Done. Fucking done,” I grunt before hot cum shoots out of my dick in raring spurts.

  38

  Ryan

  “You did it again!”

  Savannah pops her head off my chest before scooting to the furthest side of my bench seat. I groan at the loss of her contact. If I wasn’t spent from the spectacular job she just did sucking my dick, my protest would be more than a pathetic groan, but I’m grasping at straws.

  “Every time the focus is on you, you shift it to me,” Savannah accuses, folding her arms under her fantastic tits.

  I glare at her like she has two heads. “My dick was in your mouth. I’m fairly certain all the focus was on me.”

  Savannah tries to hide her smile, but there’s an impish flare in her eyes. “You’re not being fair, Ryan. I want to be there for you as much as you’re there for me.”

  “You are. If it wasn’t for you and Regina, I wouldn’t be enrolled in the Police Academy,” I reply, half-smirking.

  Savannah tightens her arms under her chest, her facial expression anything but impressed.

  “Alright. If it wasn’t for you and your fantastic lips, I wouldn’t be enrolled.” I growl my compliment.

  Savannah has no chance of hiding her smile, so she just sets it free with the addition of an eye roll.

  “Ryan...”

  “Savannah...” I reply, mimicking her concerned tone.

  I return my attention to the road when the brightness of lights filter into the cabin of my truck. It isn’t an oncoming motorist stealing my attention; it is the massive flood lights illuminating every inch of Justine’s family estate. Just like the last time I arrived at Justine’s house for a party, I’m stunned by the number of people in attendance.