Chapter 13

Trainer

 

Feels good to finally have a lady on the back of my ride. A real one.

Not a sweet butt for the night, or one of a ton of club whores I can have. Krista’s not like them.

She's got real class. She went to college to get that degree that lets her teach. Noose says she has a good family.

Dated that Allen prick. I scowl at the thought as the cold wind blasts the uncovered parts of my face that the helmet doesn't cover. I smile in the next moment—she dumped his lawyerly ass.

Maybe for me.

Not sure.

We'll sort shit out tonight. I want to fuck her again, and I figure we got the whole weekend. But better than that, I want to tell her about Arnie and the court shit. The reason why we even met.

Krista's gotta know who she's with. I'm not a classy, slick guy who can bring her home to meet my parents.

Mama is a whore.

My dad was some dude who probably doesn't even know I exist. At least, he split before I was outta my high chair.

I work as a mechanic for the club. They don't care that I can't read. And the place before that didn't care, neither. But most jobs are gonna care. A lot.

As near as I can figure, I don't have much to offer a lady.

But the brothers have put some cash in the kitty to build me a small house in the foothills of the Cascade Range. Not too far from where Wring, Snare and Lariat live. It's not much, but it'll be mine.

I got money—plenty of money—but it's wrapped up for this court thing that might happen. So I gotta save the cash, just in case.

The brothers are fronting me. I pay them back when I can.

It'll be good to permanently get outta the dump of an apartment I was living in. Vipe's been good to let me stay at his cabin digs out here, but… I wanna start fresh. Have my own spot.

Rolling up the long, gravel road, I slow down to keep the dust from flying up. It's been rainy the last week, so the dirt’s not up. Don't want Krista sucking grit.

The headlamp illuminates the ribbon of green grass that bisects the driveway as it climbs the quarter mile to the Prez's small cabin.

How many fucking Sundays did I ride up here and mow the grass? With a small shake of my head, I answer my own question: too many.

Now grass duty belongs to Storm and whatever guy's dumb enough to sign on. Course, Road Kill MC took some getting into. Being a prospect for eighteen long months was torture. But I can't think of where I'd be without them.

Probably nowhere.

Carefully, I maneuver around an island of plants, carefully laid river stone, and a thick-trunked, towering evergreen tree. “Probably been there since the cabin got built back around 1900,” Viper said.

Wish I could have a place just like this. Don't need much. It’s got a bedroom, a bathroom, and a large area with a couch and a fireplace.

Kitchen's in there somewhere too.

Feel the crooked smile on my face—simple is good.

I park in front of the ancient wooden steps and look up. Pine needles shaken loose by the light breeze fall like rain all around the bike, smelling vaguely like fresh-cut wood. New growth isn't visible because in June, all the new stuff is just coming on.

Old stuff sloughs off when the wind kicks up. No sounds. Just the tick, tick, tick of the engine, still hot from the ride.

“Wow,” Krista says from behind me, inhaling deeply, then releases her breath on a sigh.

I hike up on my pegs, half-standing, and give her room to dismount. Krista sorta awkwardly falls off, catching herself on my shoulder. Laughs. I've never been with another girl whose laughter makes me think of music. Or crystal tinkling. Or some other awesome shit.

Flicking my foot forward, I swing the kickstand out and settle the ride. Dismounting gingerly, I watch Krista.

She spins slowly, trying to see everything, though it's so damn dark, I doubt she's having any luck. The breeze continues, lifting all the fine hairs that came outta her braid during the ride.

A rare clear night reveals stars above us. I gaze upward, enjoying the solitude. It's just me and nature.

And Krista.

“Is this your place?”

“For now,” I say, looking away.

“Hey,” she calls softly, and I turn, watching her walk back from inspecting the house. “I love it. Doesn't have to be yours for me to love it.”

Then Krista moves my legs apart with her hips where I lean against the bike, pushing her way between them. “I'm sorry, Trainer.”

I wrap an arm around her and tilt my head, eyeing her up. “What for?”

“I want to teach you. I'm meant to. But I also want to explore what this is between us.”

I nod, think of a joke, and feel so great about coming up with it that I can barely hold it in. “It's my cock, right?” I ask slowly, making the words crisp.

Krista bursts out laughing, small hands flying to her chest. “Well, it's not a bad thing!”

I draw her to my body, loving the way my words made her eyes twinkle. “Nope, like using it in ya.”

I feel Krista's smile against my chest.

“That makes two of us.”

She snuggles her face in deeper, and we stand there for a minute.Then I ask, “Ya cold?”

“No.” She shakes her head at me, only my heartbeats between us.

“Wanna go inside and talk?”

Krista leans back, studying my face for a sec. “Among other things.”

I feel a slow smile spread across my face. Hot damn.

 

*

 

I press the strange push-button-style light switch with my index finger, and with a snapping sound, a center ceiling fixture bursts to life. It illuminates the space, leaking light into the cramped kitchen.

“This is so cute!” Krista says, walking to the large river-rock fireplace that spans nearly the entire wall, leaving only a door at the end, leading to the single bedroom.

“Local rock, I guess,” I say, remembering Vipe telling me that his great-grandparents built this place by hand. Hauled the rock to make the hearth and surrounding fireplace.

People worked in those days. For every piece of their lives. The puzzle of their existence wasn't put together without sweat and tears.

Krista's palm runs along the polished stones in various colors of tan and gray. Some of the rock is black and jagged, giving the hearth a rough texture.

Never paid a lot of attention to stuff in here. It was comfortable, neat, and met my needs. Seeing it through Krista's eyes is interesting.

“You said something about your friends helping you out with building something?” Krista asks, turning to study me.

My eyes sharpen on her. “You don't forget much.”

Krista shakes her head. “No. The important things stay like barnacles on my ass.” Her lips curl.

I chuckle. “You're funny too. I got lucky, Krista. Meeting ya.”

She turns, resting a hand on part of the hewn old-growth log that is now a mantle for the massive fireplace. Viper said the tree was felled to build the house and that piece was probably just a sliver of the original. Every piece of wood used in the cabin's construction came from just the one tree.

Hard to believe.

“Not as lucky as me, Trainer.”

Krista's words bring me back to now. I need to get the rest off my chest. Now or never. I study my boots. “So, I gotta tell ya something.”

Krista glides to where I stand. “Do I need to sit down?” she asks with a little laugh, obviously trying to make the moment less serious. Her gray eyes seem deep with only the center ceiling light to illuminate them.

My eyes hold hers. “Maybe.”

We walk to the couch and sit down. “So the reason I gotta take this reading thing with you is because I might have court come up soon.”

Krista's dark-brown eyebrows pull together. “This is a first time thing for me too, Trainer. I mean…” She whips the tail of her messy braid behind her back. “I've only taught early elementary before now, and the details of your past, and that of Dwayne and Corina, have been purposely kept from me. I just know I need to teach.” She takes my hand, and I fold it inside mine.

Actually, her hands are so small, it's a joke—her holding my hand. I turn her hand over and cover it with my own.

“You don't have to tell me anything, Trainer. I feel like I do about you just because.”

She smiles, and that wonderful look of happy climbs right up to her eyes.

“Just because.”

My inhale is harsh. “Gotta come clean, Krista.”

She squeezes my hand. “Okay.”

“So there was a hot chick in a bar…”

Krista's brow rises in a delicate arch.

Yeah. Better rip off the Band-Aid. “And we were gonna hook up.”

The other eyebrow rises, joining the first.

Shit. I rake my hand through my hair, tearing out the hairband thing and snapping it. “Anyways, long story short, I tore into three guys in the parking lot that were making her do a bad thing.” I look up again, and Krista has a soft look to her face. “Somethinʼ she wasn't wantinʼ,” I add.

Krista squeezes my hand. “Go on.”

“So I hurt ʼem pretty good. Next thing I know, about a year later, they start talking about how the lady was willing.”

Krista cocks her head, giving me a look I can't figure. “Was she?”

“Fuck no!” I explode off the couch, breaking our hands apart. I stalk to the window, place my forearm against the wood that wraps the glass, and stare into the black canvas of night. “She wasn't wanting it, Krista. I can't take that. Love the ladies, but only when they love me back. That's how it should always be.” I grind out each word. Just thinking about those fuckers makes me pissed off all over again.

I hear Krista steal up behind me before her perfect embrace comes around my waist, and I cover her hands with mine. “Hey, Trainer, I believe you.”

Turning, I look down at her, grasping her forearms. “Ya do?”

Krista nods. “You're that kind of man.” Her eyes run over my expression, and whatever she sees there causes her to nod. “The kind of guy who'd hurt someone if they harmed someone who was defenseless.”

Or kill them. I open my mouth to confess about Arnold Sulk.

Then snap it shut.

Can't. Too many truths, too fast.

Instead, I say what I can. “The courts think it looks good for people like me to try to improve themselves.” I lift a shoulder then wrap my arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. We practically touch noses. “So me coming to you for learninʼ reading was for that.” I touch her face, feathering my thumb along her jaw. I add slowly, “Me being with you is for somethinʼ completely different.”

“Oh?” Krista replies, her hand cupping the side of my face. “What reason?”

Love, I figure.

But I can't say that. I'm falling hard for this lady. Like I waited my whole life for this moment, the only moment that mattered.

Here. Right now.

With Krista.

Instead of pressing me for the answer that's on the tip of my tongue, Krista grabs my shirt and pulls me closer.

Our lips meet, and I use my other arm to set her against me as hard as two people can be and not be one.

With a hop, Krista wraps her legs around my waist, and my hands latch onto her lush ass.

Boner goes full tilt.

“So much for talkinʼ,” I say, moving toward the small bedroom.

Krista is already biting and kissing my neck, driving me insane. She shoots me a sly smile.

“We've done enough talking for now.”

I look down at her, pausing in the open doorway, the ancient nightlights sputtering their shitty glow just well enough to see her face. “It's my cock, right?”

I ask it lightly.

Krista nods. “Oh yes. It is.” Taking her bottom lip between her teeth, she grins too hard to do it right.

Then she straightens inside my palms, making herself taller, and kisses me deeply.

Hot. Wet. Full. I gently spread her beneath me on the bed, admiring how right she looks. How right she feels.

Krista sighs.

It's the melody I've been waiting to hear.

The tune of desire.