Chapter Twelve
Joshua Parker tapped on the window of my rental car.
I jumped about ten feet in my seat. Crap.
“Sorry,” he called out, gesturing for me to roll down the window.
I cut the keys on and hit the down button, bringing the glass half way down. I was in the parking lot of the garage, getting ready to pull out when Josh had popped up out of nowhere.
“I didn’t mean to startle you.” He had a huge smile plastered on his face. “I thought that was you, thought I would come over and say hi.” He tapped his fingers up and down on the side of my door.
“Hi.” I forced a smile. “I was just on my way out.”
Asher’s words echoed in my mind. I glanced around the parking lot, praying he was long gone. The last thing I needed was him seeing Josh at my car window after he had just told me to stay away from him.
I had no idea what had happened between the two of them but if Asher wanted me to stay away from him it had to be for a reason. And even if I didn’t know what the reason was yet, I still had to respect it. I didn’t even know Josh, Asher and I had a history. Even if it was a complicated one.
“Why don’t you hang out a minute? We can talk some more about your father’s case if you want?” He nodded toward the garage in front of us. “I’ll just be a second in here.”
“Oh, that’s nice of you, but I’m actually kind of in a hurry so…”
“You know,” he said, leaning in closer to the window. “I’m actually kind of tight with the owner of this place, I bet I could get us back there to take a look around and see if we see anything that might shed some light on what happened that night.”
Something seemed off about him, something I didn’t place the first day I had met him. He seemed too eager to help me, too concerned. Had he known my father well? Or, was it possible he was interested in me in more than a helping hand kind of way?
Asher definitely wouldn’t like that.
“I appreciate it, really, I do.” I started to inch the window up. “But, like I said, I’m really in a hurry.” I put my hand on the shift, ready to throw the car into reverse and leave him in the dust.
“Sure, sure.” He inserted his hand into the opening, forcing me to take my hand off the button to keep from crushing his fingers. “Just one more thing, Bella… I hope you don’t let what Asher says about me stop you from getting to know me.”
His words stunned me; shock flew through my body.
“Why would Asher have anything to do with me getting to know you?”
He titled his head back and forth like he was trying to decide if he should say anything or not. “I really shouldn’t say… it’s just I would hate for him to try and turn someone else in this town against me, especially if they don’t know any better.”
“Look,” I said, growing frustrated. “I’ve known Asher since we were…”
“Oh,” he cut me off, “so you already know how he is when it comes to the opposite sex then.” He moved his hands away from the window and let them rest on the top of my car as he looked down on me. “The guy is unbelievable, right?”
Unbelievable was exactly how I would describe Asher.
Although, somehow I felt like Josh meant it in a different way than I did.
“Like,” he continued, choosing to ignore the unsettling look on my face. “The guy sleeps with my wife less than three years after our marriage and then has the nerve to drag my name through the mud all over town? That takes a different level of sicko if you ask me.”
The thought of Asher with another woman, any woman, sent a sick feeling shooting up and down my body. Of course, I knew Asher hooked up with a lot of girls in the past but it was the last thing I felt like having a mental picture of in my mind.
“Josh, whatever happened between you and Asher is just that, between you and Asher.” I shifted the car into reverse, determined to get the heck out of there before he could say anything else. “So, if you have an issue with him, I suggest you take it up with him and leave everyone else out of it.”
Anger flashed through his eyes and he swung my door open so hard that for a split second I feared the door was going to fly off the car. “Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me what I should or shouldn't do, huh?”
For the first time, I saw the side of this man that Asher had been warning me about. It was like a switch had flashed through his mind and he had turned into his true self again. The kind go lucky man from the diner was gone and replaced with eyes that were as black as his soul.
“Josh,” I said slowly. “Get away from my car.”
He shook his head but made no sign of moving away. “You’ve got some nerve, you know that? You think you can just come back into town after all this time and act like you still know right from wrong? Act like you still know who’s good and who’s bad around here?”
I forced myself to look him in the eyes. “Get the fuck away from my car or I swear to God I’ll scream so loud that everyone within a two-mile radius will come running.”
The blackness in his eyes faded a few colors and Josh sprung back, looking around. He had a confused expression on his face like he was just realizing where he was for the first time.
When he looked back down at me, the same cool and collected look was plastered on his face that had been there the first time I met him and again when I’d first come into contact with him minutes earlier.
How could he turn it on and off so fast?
“Look, Bella, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. It’s just…”
“Stay away from me!” I reached out and pushed him away from my car with one final surge of energy before I slammed the door shut, hit the lock button, and reversed out of there as fast as the gas would take me.
Fucking creep.
***
“You see your dad today?” Asher tapped his hands on the steering wheel of his black truck and kept his eyes locked on the garage in front of us. A red and white flannel hung loosely on his body and light blue jeans replaced his dark ones from earlier.
I took in his wet hair and aftershave smell, trying to not give away the fact that I was undressing him with my eyes. Asher had been here at 10 on the dot, waiting in a shiny black truck I had never seen before and looking fine as hell. “Yeah, all afternoon.”
“Any change?” He kept his eyes locked on the front doors, watching one guy after another come out and get in their cars to leave for the night. He had cut his lights and engine, making us invisible in the darkness.
I shook my head and looked forward. “Not yet.”
I had spent hours with my dad today, talking and reading to him. It killed me not having any updates for him, not knowing what he was feeling or thinking. I was putting on a brave face but the truth was that I was scared. I was a nurse, I knew what the odds were that he would never wake up again, and they weren’t good.
Still, I refused to believe it.
Or at least, I refused to think about it.
“Hey.” Asher glanced at me. “There will be.”
“Thank you.” Hearing him say it made it feel more real to me.
He nodded, not pushing me any further on the subject, which I appreciated. As upset as I was about everything with my father; when I was with Asher was the only time I wasn’t thinking about it constantly. He knew me well enough to know when I did or didn’t want to speak on something and right now was definitely one of the times I didn’t.
“So,” I turned in my seat and ran my fingers up and down the brand new GPS system in the center of his truck. “This is pretty fancy. Never thought I’d see the day Asher Dawson turned in his old green pickup for a shiny new model, doesn’t sound like you.”
He scoffed. “What can I say? Sometimes it’s time to let go.”
Loneliness crept into my soul for a half second when I thought he might have been talking about me but I pushed the thought away just as fast as it had come. “You must have had to take out a pretty big loan to get a car like this, probably working just to make the payments.”
Asher shrugged. “Something like that.”
I didn’t say anything for a second, keeping my eyes on him. “You’ve changed. The Asher I knew could care less about going broke to have something materialistic.” I started fiddling with the radio stations, trying to find something to listen to.
He glanced at my hands. “Well, I guess we all change sooner or later.” He reached forward, covering my hand with his and moving it away from the dials. “I prefer silence on my stake-outs if that’s okay with you.”
His hand lingered on mine and I turned his palm over in my fingers, running my touch back and forth over his rough palms. “Are you going to be doing this kind of work forever? It’s not good for your body, Asher. I can’t tell you how many people come into the hospital with back issues or neck problems.”
He laughed loudly. “You don’t need to worry about my back, Bella.”
“It’s not funny!” I smacked his hand playfully. “Do you know men who work hard labor jobs have 60 percent more chance to develop issues with their backs and necks later on in life? Do you want to be walking like a cripple in a few years?”
Asher huffed. “What’s the alternative? Working behind some desk like a corporate lackey who never handles anything for himself? I think I’ll pass.” He looked like the thought was hilarious.
“Lots of people do those jobs, Asher. There’s no shame in them.”
“Why don’t you let me worry about my body?” He pulled his hand away from me. “Unless you’re really concerned about it, in which case you could take care of it in another way.”
I moved closer to him. “What did you have in mind?”
He took his hand and pulled my face close to him, pressing his lips against mine gently at first and then deeper, taking every inch of my mouth in his taste. I inhaled deeply and he pulled away gently, resting his forehead on top of mine while we both let our breath calm back down.
I pushed my head into his chest and let the beating of his heart soak into my veins. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the flutter, inhaling deeply as the silence passed between the two of us. A silence that felt so empty compared to the racing of our own hearts. I wasn’t sure who’s was louder, mine or his.
And then I moved my hand from the center of his chest and let it drift downward. Lower and lower until it was lingering over the top of his jeans. I let my fingers trace over the top button of his jeans, back and forth slower and slower until I heard him inhale deeply above me.
I moved my hand lower and started to rub back and forth over the tip of his cock through his jeans. To my satisfaction, he was already rock hard and sticking straight up through the fabric of his pants.
The thought of being able to turn him on sent a heat flying up between my legs. My mouth started to water at the thought of taking his huge member in my mouth and swallowing it up.
It was the first time in my life that the thought of sucking a cock had made my panties wet with desire. The only time I could ever remember that I was getting off on just the thought of pleasing a man without thinking about him pleasing me.
I just wanted to take care of Asher in every way.
Especially by making him explode with enjoyment.
I pushed back and forth over him through his jeans, teasing him slowly. I found the tip and started to rub small circles over the head causing him to grow even harder. Next, I started to stroke it up and down and then back and forth faster and faster.
“Bella,” Asher said huskily.
I moved my hands to the top of his pants and popped open the first button and then the second, sticking my hand down quickly and finding him through his boxers.
“What do you want, Bella?” he breathed heavily.
I moaned slowly and kept busy rubbing on him. “I want to kiss it.”
He ran his hand over the back of my head in approval. “You want to kiss what, Bella?” I could feel him petting me like I was his pet, a piece of property that he needed to control.
The realization only turned me on more.
“I want to kiss your huge cock.”
He groaned and moved my head further down toward his crotch. “You want this cock, sweetheart?”
I moved my hand inside of his boxers and let him spring out and stand at full attention. “I want it so bad.” I could see the tip of it throbbing for the feeling of my mouth on it, even in the darkness of the car. “Please.”
I moved my mouth closer to him but Asher pulled me back, his eyes closed tight as he inhaled over and over again deeply. “Not yet, Bella, you can’t have it yet. You have to ask nicely.”
“Pretty please,” I groaned in anticipation.
“Pretty please, what?” Asher encouraged me.
“Pretty please can I suck on your big cock?”
“Ugh, good girl.” He released my head a little bit and allowed me to inch closer to him. “But you can’t suck on it yet. You have to slather it with your spit first, Bella, and then kiss every inch of it before you can even think about taking it in your mouth.”
I opened wide and let my spit loose on top of his tip and then I started kissing up and down his shaft softly, working my way from the bottom to the top with my lips as I continued to softly stroke it.
Asher started breathing even heavier and a few seconds later I felt his already huge cock growing even bigger under my lips. All I could think about was how good it was going to feel in my mouth, how satisfied he would be once he felt the tip hit the back of my throat.
I could barely contain myself anymore and from the feeling of his hardness and the trouble he was having breathing, I could tell he felt the same way.
“Asher, I need to… I need to feel you in my mouth.”
“Yeah? Say please, pretty girl.”
“Please, can I stick your cock inside of my mouth?”
Asher growled and then sprung my head back, crushing my mouth on top of him as an answer. The second he felt my tongue around his thick pipe he started breathing so loud I thought he might explode.
I moaned loudly, trying to let him know how much I was enjoying the taste of him. I tried to take him entirely in my mouth but every time I tried to go any deeper I felt like I was going to gag.
“Yeah, just like that, Bella, good girl.”
Suddenly, the thought of gagging didn’t seem that terrifying if it meant turning him on more and I opened my mouth even wider and stuck it so far down my throat that my gag reflex gave off and I started to choke.
“Oh my God! Yes! Gag on my cock, Bella! Gag on it!”
I opened wider and repeated my thrust, coughing so loudly that he was forced to take some out of my mouth. The second I was able to breathe a little Asher was reinserting himself inside my mouth though, just as hard as before, grunting heavily as he bobbed my neck and throat up and down.
Just when I felt like I couldn’t take it a second later and I was going to have to move my head off him to catch my breath I felt Asher give one final thrust and cum all over my mouth.
I forced my head down further, determined to get every drop of him down my throat. After I swallowed his deliciousness, I leaned back in the seat and panted heavily, my whole body shaking.
Asher was still groaning and my pussy was throbbing.
“That was so fucking hot, Bella.” He turned to look at me, pure satisfaction in his eyes. He moved over an inch and slipped one hand behind my neck, forcing my eyes to meet his. “Spread your legs.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a command, but I was too wet to care. My leggings were starting to get soaked with my own pussy juices and I feared I would start to drip all over his seats if I didn’t get some relief soon.
I peeked over at him through my hair that fell loose around the frame of my face and slowly opened my legs. I knew he would be able to tell how dripping I was within seconds but I had no shame, this was how turned on he made me and I wanted him to know it.
His fist went directly between my legs and he grinned. “Someone’s soaked.” He pushed his knuckles back and forth over my center roughly a few times. “Tell me how wet I make you.”
“You make me so wet, baby.”
“Spread your legs wider.”
I obeyed, pushing my legs as far apart as I could. A second later Asher slipped his hand down the front of my leggings and shoved the thin fabric of my panties to the side, wasting no time inserting his fingers inside of me and starting to thrust them side-to-side and then in and out of me.
“Asher!” I screamed and slammed my hands into the side of his truck door. My body felt like it was on fire, burning up all over and about to burst into a million flames at any moment only to end up in a heap of ashes all over the ground.
My body felt like it was on a different planet and had a mind of its own that I hadn’t known existed until that very moment. It had taken over and was sending electric shocks through my pussy, bolts of power through my stomach, and force through my knees that caused them to buckle under the pressure of Asher’s hand.
“Yes!” Asher continued to fuck me with his hand harder and harder, flicking my slit over and over again like only someone with experience could. “Cum, Bella, cum all over the seats of my car.”
I didn’t want to make a mess but my body was under strict obligation to please Asher and before I knew it I was squirting all over his black leather seats. All my juices dripped past his fingers and down onto his seats.
He grinned and watched me try to catch my breath. A second later he stuck his fingers in his mouth and sighed. “Mm, dinner.”
I licked my lips and gasped. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Asher would always be the best meal I’d ever eaten. I closed my legs and tried to bring my body back down to reality. A task that was becoming more and more difficult every time Asher made me cum.
“Well,” Asher said after a few more seconds of heart calming. “Now that we got that out of the way… you ready to do some breaking and entering?” He grinned devilishly and popped the driver side door open, jumping out before I even had a chance to pull my leggings all the way up.
It was show time.