Maci
I clutched Digger’s hand in mine, my mind flooded with images from the previous four hours, but I couldn’t form words. Couldn’t form coherent thoughts. He lay on Mel’s bed, eyes closed. Finally bandaged by some old guy covered in tattoos and wrinkles.
Four hours of numbness.
Four hours of anxiety wrecking my insides.
We’d killed two men.
I swallowed rising bile as images flashed in my head, over and over.
Digger struggled to toss the two men’s bodies into the car’s trunk, but he refused my help. He scraped up bits of brain matter and the blood-soaked dirt while I sat on a large rock, arms wrapped around my waist, shaking. My ears waiting for the sound of sirens.
Nicky pulled into the lot, Mel on the back of his bike.
The two men chatted while Mel’s voice buzzed in my ears. She grasped my elbow. Pulled me toward Nicky’s bike.
I stared down at Digger while fighting off the memories, his face as pale as the pillowcase beneath his head. A flesh wound, he’d said. The hole in his side hadn’t looked like a damn scratch to me as I had bound his waist with his bloodied t-shirt while waiting for Nicky.
Heavy boots sounded on the stairs leading up the back of Mel’s place. Her apartment sat over the bar she owned, its back steps nestled against the wooded lot behind.
It had taken a dozen assurances from both Nicky and Digger before I’d allowed myself to sit behind Mel on her man’s bike and let her drive us back to her place while the two of them “took care of things”.
I’d climbed those narrow, steep stairs on deadened legs, uncaring of the ruined jeans exposing me to the world.
A hot shower.
Borrowed clothes.
Two shots of whiskey.
I clenched my eyes shut and leaned my head down on Digger’s shoulder. Solid. Warm. Breathing in, I counted to ten. Exhaled on five.
“How’s he doing?” Mel’s soft voice sounded from behind me.
Forcing my head up again, I glanced her way. She studied the drugged-up mountain of a man sprawled on her bed. “Good, I guess,” I managed to rasp past my lips.
Her own lips pursed and hands on her hips, Mel dipped her head and turned her attention on me. “How are you?”
I shrugged and swallowed.
“Nicky just got back. He said everything has been taken care of.”
I didn’t want to know.
“Jonny is on his way up here to get you two.”
I nodded.
“You know,” she said, speaking quieter, “for all Nicky’s talk about leaving the Gliders behind, he didn’t hesitate to answer when Digger called. Didn’t hesitate to agree to help clean up the situation.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “I’ll never be able to thank him—you both—for everything you’ve done for us tonight.”
“Seeing Digger today brought a sparkle to Nicky’s eye I’ve never seen before. Like he’d found his long-lost family or some shit. Not that I want him to go back, or anything.”
The corner of my mouth quirked even though my throat stayed tight.
“He should be out for a while,” Mel said, motioning toward the bed with her chin. “Why don’t you come out to the kitchen and have something to eat?”
“I’m not hungry,” I managed to whisper, “but thanks.”
She nodded and offered a small smile.
I turned back to Digger. Even passed out, he still scowled. I kissed the corner of his disfigured lips and laid my head on his shoulder again, keeping my eyes open so the memories in my head wouldn’t be as vivid.
The press of my attacker’s dick against my dry pussy had made stabbing him with a knife easy. I’d never been one for violence, would rather cut myself than someone else, but being a hair away from having some stranger’s cock shoved inside of me had snapped something in my brain.
He’d backed off pretty fucking quickly when I’d buried the knife in his side.
I heaved a breath as exhaustion swept over me.
Digger wasn’t awake, but I still took comfort in him. His presence filled the small bedroom, soothing the tension in my shoulders and neck. I nuzzled my cheek against his warm shoulder, breathing in the scent of him.
It’s going to be okay, I told myself. He’d killed before. Hidden bodies. Covered plenty of asses.
He must have learned from Nicky like I’d suspected. The brother who Digger had said wrote them off. Turned his back against everything the Gliders stood for.
That man had come when called, though. Without hesitation. If not for Nicky, we both probably would have ended up in jail.
I finally gave over to my bottled emotions. Release came in a torrent of tears.
Digger stirred, and I crawled onto the bed beside him, careful to avoid his right side, tears dripping onto his bare skin.
“Shh,” he whispered against my hair while pulling his hand free from mine and working his arm beneath me. “’S’all right.” His slurred words accompanied his one-armed hug, and I snuggled against his side, somehow knowing he spoke the truth.
****
A mere hour before sunrise, we finally got back to Digger’s house. Jonny and Capone got him into his bed with only a dozen or so curses from the three of them.
Nicky had only spoken a few words to the two men when they’d arrived. He merely dipped his head as both thanked him—at least twice—and he’d offered no reply when Jonny told him to reach out if he ever needed anything.
Jonny sent me to the kitchen with Capone while he had a little chat with Digger. Again, I didn’t want to know.
I slumped at the kitchen table, my head in my hands.
“You okay?” Capone asked as the legs of the chair beside me scraped against the floor.
Unsure how to answer, I sighed.
“Maybe you ought to think about getting out while you can,” he said, his words eerily similar to Digger’s from the weekend before. “This lifestyle doesn’t really suit you.”
I lifted my head and met his gaze. Blue eyes filled with pity studied my face, lingering on the bruise across my cheekbone. “That fucker had his dick pressed against me, Capone. One thrust, and I’d have been raped. Raped.” My brow furrowed as tears filled my eyes. “I enjoyed sinking that knife into him. Never felt such satisfaction as when he grunted and warmth slid over my hand. I’d do it again without a heartbeat’s hesitation.”
“Maci—”
“It was self-defense. He shot Digger.”
“It was.”
“I mean—” A half-laugh, half-sob spilled from my lips, “—what woman wouldn’t try to kill a man who was about to take her dignity? Right?”
Capone continued to study me. “Right.”
“You know what bothers me even more than the fact I stabbed the man?” I asked, blinking a few times to stop more tears from flowing. “That Digger ended his life before I could.”
He shook his head, but not in a judgmental way. “So damn perfect for him.”
“Am I sick?” I asked, too focused on my own thoughts to give his words consideration.
“Not at all.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Digger’s one lucky bastard.”
I sucked my lower lip between my teeth and glanced back the hallway toward the bedroom. “I’ve never been so caught up in someone before. It’s kind of terrifying. Do you think I’m crazy? Being with him?” I waved my free hand around the kitchen. “This lifestyle?”
“You lit up when he put his hands on you that first night.”
“I did?”
His slow, lazy smirk also twinkled in his eyes. “First time in my life I felt incompetent.”
“Oh please.” I actually smiled. “You’re hot. Got a great body, and that tongue…”
Capone’s smile widened. “Better not let Digger hear you say things like that. He’s one jealous prick.”
My smile faded. “I like that about him.”
“I think you’re making the right choice, Maci, even though I hate to see you caught up in this shit.”
“You’re a good man,” I whispered while squeezing his hand.
He snorted a sarcastic laugh. “I’m no badass like Digger, but you can’t be good and be a Glider.”
“Our definitions of good must differ,” I said, thinking of Nicky as well.
The bedroom door opened, and I squeezed Capone’s hand again as footsteps sounded in the hallway.
“He’s asking for you, Maci,” Jonny said, his presence filling the kitchen entrance.
I glanced up at him and released my hold on Capone. “I’ll take this to my grave,” I said, my voice low.
Jonny studied me, his dark eyes peering into mine for enough seconds to make me shift on my chair. He dipped his head, lips in a tight line, before nodding Capone toward the door. “Call if you need anything,” Capone said, standing to follow his brother.
“Will do.”
The door clicked shut behind them, and I locked up before making my way to the bedroom.
Still pale, Digger lay on his back, eyes half-mast. “Come here.”
Needing to feel his warmth, I slipped out of my borrowed clothes and crawled under the sheet beside him, careful of the bandage on his far side.
He grunted his displeasure, snaked an arm beneath me, and pulled me snug against his good side. “Better.” He half-sighed the word. “Sorry you didn’t get to spread your mom’s ashes.”
“That’s okay,” I whispered. “We can do it later.” I rested my cheek against his chest, my hand lying above his heart, one leg draped over his. “How are you feeling?”
“Been worse.”
“The pain meds that old man gave you working?”
“Too well.” He exhaled deeply, his hand splayed over one of my ass cheeks. The sheet over his hips stirred as he squeezed. “So plump and juicy. I feel like I could fuck this ass—”
“You’ll do no such thing until that hole in your side is healed.”
“Take off your panties.”
“Digger…”
“Take them off.”
Shaking my head, I tugged them down my legs.
He pulled me back up against him. “So soft,” he murmured, his fingertips sliding over my hip, around my ass cheek and between.
Warmth stirred in me.
“Did that fucker put his cock in you?”
My breath caught as his fingertip brushed over my pussy. “No.”
“Thank fuck.” He rimmed my hole, drawing moisture from my body. With his other hand, he slid the tented sheet off his thickening cock. “I need to be inside you.” The low, rumbled words flooded me with heat, and when he took himself in hand and slowly pumped down his length, my pussy spasmed with need.
I shook my head. “You need to take it easy.”
“I will.” He pulled me on top of him as though I weighed nothing, and my legs settled on either side of his hips on their own. “Ride me, Maci,” he murmured. “My fierce, beautiful witch. Gotta have you.” He flexed his hips, rubbing the back of his cock up through the wetness coating my pussy.
I’d heard that near-death experiences can cause the need to fuck to consume a person. I needed Digger so damn much—to fill me up, take away the memory of the bastard who almost took from me without permission. “Put your right arm down,” I whispered, sliding my hand from his shoulder to his wrist while he did as told. “Keep it there.”
Lust burned in his dark eyes, his permanent scowl drawing me down until I breathed over his lips. A shift of my hips notched the head of his cock inside of me. He groaned. I flicked my tongue over his bottom lip. “Hold still,” I reminded him, pushing back and slowly filling myself with his massive cock.
Stretched. Full. So damn perfect a fit, I wanted to cry.
“Fuck me, baby,” he said, that rumble enticing me to gyrate my hips. Another groan passed his lips, and I brushed mine over his, a gentle taste while clenching his length with my pussy.
Digger grabbed my hip with his left hand, his fingers digging into my flesh, showing me how he wanted me to move. Glide forward, dragging his cock out of me, sliding back until he bottomed out against my womb.
“God.” I whined the word while sitting up to better move with his guidance. “You feel so damn good inside of me.”
Digger grunted his agreement, and released my hip once I set the rhythm he seemed to desire, his hand closing around my breast. He rolled my pebbled nipple between his fingers while flexing his hips every time I backed down onto his cock again. “Fuck, baby … just like that.”
I grabbed his hand and moved it between my thighs, taking over playing with my breasts while his thumb slid along my clit.
“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he said. “Pinch your nipples. Pull on them.”
Doing as he said brought a gasp from me, and I fought to keep my rhythm.
“Faster.” His rumbled word moved my hips, the sweet, wet friction between our bodies raising my climax to the surface.
“I’m going to come,” I said, grinding my pussy against him and pinching both of my nipples.
“Yes.” He pressed his thumb against my clit, and I bucked beneath him. “Milk me, baby. Squeeze my cock, yeah—fuck!”
I pitched over the edge, my pussy clamping around his girth, my back arching. “Oh Digger!” A wave of emotion and arousal swept through me, tingling through to my toes, pebbling every inch of my skin in exquisite awareness. Satiated bliss.
Two deep thrusts, and Digger grunted, his fingers once more digging into my hip as he shot hot cum deep inside of me. “Goddamn.” He groaned and went boneless beneath me.
I fought for breath, and leaning forward, cradled his cheeks in my hands. “You okay?”
“Mmm.” His eyes closed, and I brushed my lips against his. “Never knew…”
“What?” I murmured against his mouth, nipping his bottom lip.
“Love would feel like this.”
I stilled and lifted enough to focus on his face, my heart thumping. “Are you still high on those meds?”
His lashes lifted, those dark orbs seeing down into the deepest part of me. “No.”
My throat tightened as I offered a wobbly smile. “The ‘L’ word, huh?”
“Yes.”
A simple word said without hesitation. With confidence. I caressed his scar, my fingertips coming to rest against the soft pillow of his lips.
“You’re mine.”
I nodded, unable to find my voice.
“No man will ever touch you again.” He peered up at me, serious as hell, the scowl marring his lips and brow. “Tell me you want that, too, Maci.”
I swallowed against the tightness in my throat. “Yes.”
The scowl dissolved on Digger’s face as light twinkled in his eyes.
“My God.” I breathed the word. “You’re smiling.”
“You make me happy, beautiful witch,” he said, the unmarred side of his lips curling upward. “And once these stitches come out, I’m going to show you just how much you mean to me. How much I want to please you in every way.”
“You already do, you sexy slab of man-beef.”
He choked out a barked laugh, and I rested against his chest, smiling like an idiot. “God, you are hot.”
“You’re blind.”
“Love is blind, isn’t it?”
The twinkle remained in his eye as he fisted his hand in my hair and pulled my face down a breath from his. “Thank fuck.”
The End
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