Libby
Everyone is so happy to see Dex, they keep passing him drinks, and slapping him on the back.
I want to know what he did and who this Melissa was to him. I’m sure I can guess, but I want to hear it from his mouth. One of the brothers said something about him killing back at the motel, and Dex has already said Melissa is dead. Was he the one who killed her? If he did, what the hell am I still doing here?
Oh yeah, I too want to finish what we started this morning and I’m telling myself it must’ve been an accident.
Another bottle of beer is pushed in front of me, but I have to make room for it before I drink it.
I make my excuses to go to the bathroom, and I feel Cas’s eyes following me across the bar. He’s been watching me all night, he doesn’t trust me at all, not that he knows me. Lost Souls are all the same, unless you wear the patch, you’re either valuable or nothing.
At the moment, I’m nothing to them but an annoyance.
I finish my business in the dirty bathroom and when I head back to the table, I take my time. No one is talking to me, and Dex is in a deep conversation with Cas.
“How are you really doing these days?” Cas asks him.
It looks like I got back just in time to find out some information on my mysterious saviour.
“I’m doing alright,” Dex nods.
“Anything happening between you and that Libby, and don’t lie cause I’ve see the sly looks and odd touches between you tonight.”
“Nothing’s happened, but we have plans tonight.”
Wow, the guy doesn’t keep anything private.
“Be careful, brother. Rick was right earlier, we don’t want you losing your mind again over a woman.”
“Libby isn’t like Lissa, besides, she’s leaving in the morning.”
“Leaving, huh?”
I don’t like the look on Cas’s face as he hears I’m leaving.
“How have you been coping since you left? Has it done you good?”
“It didn’t at first, but Libby…”
“It’s rude to eavesdrop.”
I nearly jump out of my skin and bump into Ricky.
“I wasn’t…”
“Yeah, you were. Come on, I’ll walk you back to the table.”
He doesn’t only walk me back to the table, he pulls out the chair I was sitting in and tucks me in.
“Don’t worry, Pope, I’m just making sure she makes it back to our Dex here,” he calls out and everyone around the table stares at me.
A gold ring gleams on his fourth finger, not that I’m interested in him. No, I’m more interested in the guy who may or may not have killed someone and then dreams about them, and the man himself winks at me and scoots my chair closer to him. This is the second time he’s done this, and I like it. I like it a little too much.
Throughout the night, drinks are drunk, women are found, and the guys begin to head back to the motel with them. Meanwhile, every time Dex touches me, or leans in too close to whisper something in my ear, Cas sees it all and doesn’t look happy about it.
I don’t know what I need more, Dex or his story.
“I’m turning in, I want everyone up early. We’ve got a big day tomorrow, we best get some sleep,” Cas says to everyone around the table and I’m surprised there are still quite a few of them left and not interested in the women.
I notice they are each wearing a ring and it blows me away they’re not playing away while they’re on the road.
It wouldn’t surprise me if I found out I have long lost brothers or sisters out there somewhere from when dad was on a run.
“If we leave now, we can get an early night and pick up where we left off this morning,” I whisper, leaning in close to Dex.
His answer is to grab my hand and pull me up with him. He doesn’t say goodbye to anyone and before I know it, we’re crossing the street and he’s unlocking his door.
His lips crash onto mine as he pulls me through the door, and I can’t help but giggle into his mouth.
I vaguely hear the door shut and the lock click into place, Dex’s lips never leave mine as locks us in and moves us across the room to my bed.
Pulling apart to strip out of our clothes, I already miss the connection with him. My mouth dries as he stands before me with nothing on. His body is a work of art, and all mine for the night.
A deep rumble comes from him as he leans on the bed and pushes me down on my back.
“You’re perfect,” he whispers into my ear, and then assaults my neck with his mouth.
While he’s busy distracting me with his mouth, he’s sliding my panties down my thighs and getting rid of his boxers.
His fingers skim over my clit and push against me.
“You’re so wet.”
“Hmmm,” is all I can say, and buckle under him as he thrusts straight in.
No warning.
Straight in.
Oh my god.
He doesn’t just thrust into me, in and out, over and over, he connects with me in a way I was not expecting.
I feel his hand creep up into my hair and he jilts my head up so I’m looking straight into his eyes.
He doesn’t look away, he stays with me until we’re both shuddering and I’m rolling on top of him and laying my head on his chest.
“Give me a beat, and I’ll last longer next time,” he chuckles, and I lift my head to look at him.
“I enjoyed myself,” I tell him, and I mean it.
His chest is rock hard as I begin trailing my fingers over his abs. He shudders again at my soft touch and I have never been so turned on before. Tonight has put all the nights I spent with Baze to shame. They blur around me as I lay across Dex, his naked body against mine.
“You killed her, didn’t you? The one who invades your dreams,” I say, looking up at him.
Half sitting up against the headboard, he briefly closes his eyes and nods his head.
“Is there a reason you asked after we had sex?”
“I guess I needed you more, just because I want to know doesn’t mean it’s going to bother me.”
For Christ sake, I saw my dad dead on the floor and felt nothing. Why would I feel anything for someone I didn’t know? Wow, that sounds harsh.
“It might help you to talk about it,” I suggest.
“There was this guy who kept coming after the club, he got to a couple of my brothers. He killed one and fucked the other one real bad. He wouldn’t stop coming at us, and we couldn’t get our hands on him. I was still a prospect and I knew if I brought the guy in, I’d get my patch. The guy had got hold of his sister and traded her for brothers. After that, we stayed in contact. I thought I was helping her, and she thought she was helping her brother, not the one after us, another one. Anyway, it took a while, but I led the club to him and I got patched in.”
“And?”
“Melissa was fire on the outside and a calm ocean on the inside in private. I thought I knew her better than I did, or I did, and I didn’t want to really see what was bound to happen.”
He pauses, and I wait patiently for him to carry on. He’s finally opening up to me and I’m not going to ruin it.
“It turned out, her brother, the one she was trying to protect, was plotting against Cas, my president. A long story short, he was trying to kill Cas and his wife, and Melissa was trying to help him get away without retaliation from Cas. I got caught in the middle. I had to choose between the guy who had given me a family and a purpose, or the woman I thought I loved. You can guess who I chose, and for the last few months, I’ve struggled to deal with it. Hence why Cas sent me out here.”
“What happens in your nightmares?” I ask him.
He strokes his thumb over my cheek and sorrow washes over him.
“Sometimes she kills Cas or Alannah if I don’t pull the trigger first. Sometimes I die with her, there’s always blood. I can never get away from the blood unless I focus on her shoes.”
Huh?
Oh my god.
That’s what his tattoo is all about on his hand. I’m dying to ask why he had them tattooed on his hand, but I daren’t ask. He doesn’t bring it up and I leave it alone.
“You must’ve loved her so much,” I murmur, realising I’m jealous over a dead woman that he killed.
“I thought I did, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe I did in my own way at the time, but not now.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because since I met you, I barely think about her.”
That’s nice to hear and I believe him.
“You don’t have to say that, I understand you had a life before you came here.”
As much as I hate it.
He readjusts his position and pulls me up his body until I’m lying beside him with my back to his chest.
“I wouldn’t say something I didn’t want to or mean.”
I smile into the darkness and hold onto him as he wraps his arm around me.
“Do you think differently of me now?” he whispers.
“No,” I tell him truthfully.
His body relaxes behind me and he squeezes me as he gets comfortable.
I’m lying in the arms of a killer and I’ve never felt safer. I fall asleep content and not wanting this night to end.