Chapter Twelve
Charlene
I woke up early as usual and lay there listening to Gibson’s slow, even breaths. I’d fallen asleep in the car the evening before, while he was on the phone trying to calm his friends down, and while he called Will to discuss our brakes. He thought I was asleep, and I was after a while, but I liked listening to his deep voice, and how he took care of the problems we’d ended up with. It had made me feel safe.
It surprised me that I wasn’t more upset about the fact that someone had tried to kill Gibson but laying there, tucked into his side, I slowly realized that my lack of anger, or fear, was because of him. He’d find the person who did it, or one of his friends would. I knew this without a doubt so there was no reason for me to be afraid. They’d probably kill the bad guy by drowning him in a pile of f-bombs, I thought with a grin as I tilted my head back to look at him.
Gibson was on his back with one arm around me and the other slung up by his head, making the muscles flex a little. I watched his face for a while, taking in every detail of the beauty that was him. No, I decided. Not beauty. He wasn’t beautiful, not like Paddy was. His narrow face was hard, with sharp features and lines carved out by time and experience. They were smoother when he was relaxed, but he didn’t look soft, or boyish, and I wondered if he’d ever looked like that, or if he’d been born a badass. Jenny must have pictures, so I should ask her to bring some to the diner.
When I knew I was awake in a way I wouldn’t go back to sleep again, I slid out of bed quietly. We hadn’t reached Wilhelmine until late, and Gibson had to be tired, so I’d let him sleep.
It had been good to go back to my old home, I realized. Liberating. I didn’t feel bad about how Bob had been because he wasn’t a bad man. He was just weak and used to doing what his overbearing sister wanted. If we’d lived somewhere else, we might have had a different life together, but we hadn’t, and I had no regrets. Our marriage hadn’t been fantastic, but it hadn’t been bad either. And I was in Wilhelmine, in Gibson’s house and that’s where the road of life had taken me, so how could I complain?
“Hey,” Joke murmured from the door, and I gave up a soft yelp. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Saw Gib’s car last night and thought I’d bring Boo over. He’s been crying like a baby, missing his mommy and daddy.”
I grinned at the black tail which was the only thing I saw of the dog as it barged up the stairs.
“Do you want coffee?”
“Won’t say no,” he said with a wink. “Gib’s sleeping?”
“Not for long,” I said.
We both heard the excited yips from a dog who apparently communicated clearly to his daddy that he’d been in prison but was glad to be home. Or whatever.
I was in one of Gibson’s tees and panties and was about to go back upstairs to get dressed when Gibson walked into the kitchen, wearing only a pair of boxer briefs. The briefs did in no way hide his erection, and I blushed, which he ignored. Instead, he grunted something unintelligible to Joke and came up behind me to kiss my neck.
“You got up,” he murmured.
“Yeah,” I said, but it came out a little breathily.
His hard cock moved against my behind in a way that made my breath hitch, and I shifted slightly to push back against him.
“You know I wake up hard,” he said, and my eyes widened when I heard how his voice had deepened and turned a little hoarse in a way I recognized.
My eyes flew to Joke, who was leaning against the wall on the other side of the counter and found him grinning. Gibson’s hands slowly went up under the tee and along my ribs until his thumbs grazed my breasts.
“Gibson,” I said, and heard to my surprise how my own voice was breathy and a little hoarse too.
My pulse was beating between my legs suddenly, and I lowered my lids but didn’t let go of Joke’s gaze. He slowly raised the coffee mug and drank but didn’t say anything.
Then Gibson leaned into me, pushing me forward slightly over the counter and I braced with both my hands. He nuzzled my neck and murmured, “You know I like to turn you over and slide into you from behind. Love hearing you moan when you come.”
Jokes eyes let go of mine, and something passed between them, but neither man said anything for a few seconds. Gibson’s hands slid up to hold my breasts, and then he pinched my nipples, hard enough to make electricity shoot straight to my clit.
“Joke,” I said, not sure if I was talking to Gibson or Joke, and even less sure of what I wanted to say.
It felt naughty, but also exciting to stand there, safe in Gib’s arms, with the counter between me and a man who was watching me, watching us, with eyes that suddenly were hot and full of desire.
“Bet he wakes up with a hard-on too,” Gibson said. “And he’s hard now.”
My eyes lowered, and I watched how Joke adjusted his crotch. He was definitely hard too.
“Yeah,” he said, and the roughness in his voice made me shiver a little.
I felt Gibson smile against my shoulder
“Should we ask him to take his cock out, baby? Wanna watch him jack off in front of us?”
My whole body shivered, and without thinking, I tilted my hips a little and moved against his hard cock again.
“I think you’d like that baby,” Gibson said softly. “Like to watch him make himself come in front of us.”
“Yeah,” I said, although it came out mostly as a hoarse whisper because one of Gib’s hands had moved down to cup me between my legs, squeezing gently.
Jokes eyes were on mine again as he slowly pulled down the zipper, and pushed his jeans and briefs down enough so he could release his cock. Then he slowly began stroking it, and I watched his big hand glide up and down. Gibson slid a hand inside my panties and moved his finger over me.
My breaths were quickening, and I whispered a hoarse, “Oh, God.”
“Yeah,” Joke rasped out and increased his pace a little.
The way he moved and how Gib was touching me was beyond hot, and I felt my insides quiver again.
“Can’t come until she does, man,” Gibson said, and Joke grunted to confirm that he’d heard but still didn’t say anything and kept stroking his cock.
Gibson pulled my panties off slowly, and I knew what he was going to do, but was too far gone to protest, so when he used one of his feet to gently nudge my legs apart, I did what he wanted immediately. He pushed me down with his chest at the same time as he took hold of my hips, placing me, so I was on my belly on the countertop.
“Hold on, baby,” he grunted, positioned himself, and slid inside.
I moaned out loud then and heard how Joke’s breaths became heavier. I couldn’t hold back another soft mewling sound, and they kept coming with every thrust Gibson did. I had one man behind me and in me, leaning over me and holding my breasts, at the same time as a man stood in front of me, working himself and it felt as if every nerve ending in my body was sparkling with electricity.
Joke groaned long and hoarse, and I tilted my head back to move my gaze from what his hand was doing to look him in the eyes.
“So fucking hot, Lee,” he grunted.
“God, yes,” I rasped out, so turned on it felt as if I’d explode.
“Come on, baby, show him how gorgeous you are when you come,” Gibson murmured suddenly and slid his hands further up to grab my shoulders. This gave him better leverage to pound into me harder, and I widened my legs just a little to give him access. “Maybe next time, we’ll let him help me make that happen.”
His words shot through me like warm liquid, and I started making sounds he’d know meant I was close to coming. Joke made a low throaty sound and increased the pace, widening his legs as he leaned back on the wall.
“Ah, fuck,” he growled, tilted his head back and came, groaning hoarsely.
It washed through me when I saw how he jerked and shook with his orgasm, and I came too, and when I did, Gibson let go of his control and leaned forward to put his mouth on my neck. With a series of short, throaty grunts, he emptied himself inside me.
When he let go of me, I leaned my face on the counter and watched Joke reach forward to grab some paper towels. Gibson had his forehead on my shoulder, and I heard his raspy breaths.
“Jesus, Lee. The things you do to me,” he murmured.
“And me,” Joke said, and my eyes flew open.
Oh. My. God.
What had we just done?
“Don’t be embarrassed, baby,” Joke said and put a hand on my cheek, tilting my face toward him as Gibson straightened, taking me with him. “It felt good, that’s all it was. You enjoyed it, my buddy did too, and I certainly did.”
“Um,” I mumbled because what did you say to a man who you’d just watched come, while another man was still inside you?
Joke leaned forward and murmured, “I know who you belong to, Lee. Know what he said was just talk. It was hot, but it was just dirty talk, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Thank you for letting me share a little piece of what you have,” he said, leaned in closer and kissed me gently on the mouth.
It felt oddly innocent and sweet after what just had happened, and I kissed him back, just as softly. He moved back an inch and grinned at me.
“You gonna have a stroke if I hand Gib some towels to clean you up with?”
“Yes,” I said because I probably would, and he started laughing.
Gibson chuckled, but I felt him pull out, adjust his briefs, and reaching down to pull up my panties.
“Go upstairs, baby,” he said gently and turned me to him. “You okay?”
His eyes were lazy and sated, but there was a hint of worry in them. Did he think I’d freak out over this? I could have said no when he initiated it, could have stopped them anytime during, and the fact that he worried about me was sweet, but he didn’t understand at all why I felt down to my core okay with what had happened.
“You made it okay for me. Safe,” I whispered and watched his face turn gentle. I reached up to cup his chin with my hand and added, “I hope Zacharias was right, though, about the talk being just dirty. I’m pretty sure I’m not ready for that.”
His grin turned wicked, and he moved his head to kiss the palm of my hand.
“We’ll work up to it, Lee. Promise.”
The way he was grinning and how he said it made me think he was joking, but I wasn’t sure, so I closed my mouth and frowned.
“Joking, babe. We won’t ever do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
Now, what did that mean?
“Have you done, um…”
My eyes darted between them, and they both burst out laughing.
“If you’re asking if we’ve done threesomes, then the answer is no,” Gibson said.
“Not together,” Joke added, and both Gibson and I turned to him.
“You have?” Gibson asked.
“Uh, yeah,” Joke said.
“Okay,” Gib said.
“You haven’t?”
Silence.
“You haven’t?” I asked incredulously.
Someone as blatantly sexual as Gibson would surely have –
“No,” he muttered, and added almost defiantly, “Don’t need any help making a woman happy.”
He most certainly did not need that, but still.
“Wow,” I breathed, which made Joke laugh again and louder than before.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gibson asked, brows high on his forehead, but then he caught on and narrowed his eyes. “Have you, Lee?”
“I’ll go get cleaned up,” I chirped and started to move.
Joke was leaning over the counter, and his whole body was shaking with what I assumed was uncontrollable mirth. I didn’t get very far, and I did not get very far because a frowning Gibson had a firm grip on both my shoulders.
“Lee?”
“Um.”
“Lee?”
“Once, okay. Way back. College.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” I shared. “Guess I’m not the prissy grandma you thought, huh?”
Okay, so the threesome had been bad. It had been more like sleeping with one guy and then another right after. Neither of us had been good at it, which was probably very much due to the fact that we had been incredibly drunk. It had been my one attempt at sluttiness, but my slut ambitions had been reduced to level zero when I met Bob a while after the drunken event, and I hadn’t done anything like it again. It had also not been an experience I’d felt like repeating.
I wasn’t going to tell Gibson that.
“I never said –” he protested, but I cut him off, liking that for once I had the upper hand in a discussion about sex.
“So, I’ve done something you haven’t. You should remember that next time you come up with something über-schmexy that you think will freak me out.”
His face softened, and his grip turned into a caress down my arms.
“Something über-schmexy,” he repeated.
“Yes,” I said.
Laughter bled into his eyes, and I grinned at him.
He shook his head a little and murmured, “Go get cleaned up, babe.”
I did that, a little jittery about what had happened in the kitchen, but mostly feeling good about myself. I’d made two men come, and hard, and what we’d shared had been really, really hot.
Gibson had given me that.
***
Gibson
Gibson watched her move up the stairs and walked into the laundry room to find something to wear. When he came back into the kitchen wearing reasonably clean jeans and a tee that had passed the sniff test, Joke was making coffee, but he turned and grinned.
“Jesus,” Gibson muttered. “Not how I’d planned for this day to start.”
“Won’t hear me complaining.”
Gibson grunted and reached for coffee cups.
“Look –” he started, cut himself off and wondered what the hell he was going to say.
He hadn’t expected anything like what they’d just done to ever happen, and it had been hot as hell, but he wasn’t at all sure an actual threesome was in his future plans.
“Man, I know it’s never gonna happen. I’m good with that,” Joke said quietly. “If you feel like a repeat of this morning, though, I’d be seriously down with that.”
“Joke.”
“Just sayin’” Joke said calmly and filled their cups.
“We’ll see,” Gibson stalled. “I hadn’t planned it. It just seemed like a good idea, so I went with it.”
“Your woman didn’t mind, Gib.”
“I know.”
“Regret it?”
“No,” Gibson said immediately.
“Then it’s easy. If it seems like a good idea again, we do it. If not, then we don’t.”
Gib grinned back at him and felt how he relaxed. Joke had always had a way to put people at ease and make them feel good about themselves, which was why he was good behind the bar, but even more why he was such a great friend.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“You do realize what this makes me?” Joke said and leaned forward to put a finger in Gibson’s face.
Oh, God. He did realize exactly what he’d just agreed to, and he’d never hear the end of it. Joke spelled it out with great relish and laughter in his voice.
“Your fuck-buddy.”
Gibson rolled his eyes and flipped Joke the bird, but he couldn’t hold his own laughter back.
“You really made her come seven times the first night?”
“She hadn’t slept with anyone in almost two years,” Gibson answered.
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“But still,” Joke murmured. “Seven. I guess you don’t need a side-kick.”
“Fuck no,” Gibson said, feeling a little vindicated for his lack of threesome-experience.
Joke glanced toward the stairs and lowered his voice when he asked, “I get that you like her here, but how long can you realistically make Paddy stall the roof on her house?”
It had been more than the two weeks Paddy had said it’d take to put a new roof on the cabin, so Lee had brought up moving back. Gibson had planned for that, and he didn’t hesitate to share with his friend.
“The roof is done, Joke. They’re doing the bathroom now, so the water is turned off for the next couple of weeks.”
“Couple of weeks? She bought that?”
“Yup.”
“Guess it’s a win-win. Jonah is happy, he gets shit done. Paddy is happy to get the contract, and some of the builders in town are super happy to do shit close to home,” Joke said with a grin, paused until their eyes met, and concluded quietly, “And you’re happy.”
“Yeah, Joke,” Gibson said, feeling it down to the bone as he watched Lee walk down the stairs. “I am.”
***
Paddy and Mac arrived as they were finishing off breakfast. Mac brought two deputies with him to take Gibson and Lee’s statements and bag the hose for further analysis. Talking about what had happened brought his anger back, so Gibson was not in a very good mood when they walked outside to look at the car.
“She’s doing okay?” Mac asked.
“Yeah,” Gibson replied tersely, hating the fact that there even was a reason for Mac to ask that question. “I’m pissed way the fuck off, but she’s taking it all in a stride. Fucking unbelievable, but that’s what she does.”
“She doesn’t understand what’s happening, Gibson.”
“Not the details, but she’s not stupid, Mac. She knows. Tucked her into bed last night, she rolls straight into me and asks how many times someone’s tried to kill me in the last four weeks.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you tell her?”
“One that I can confirm,” Gibson said, twitching his head toward the car. “Two if the break-in counts, three if the accident at Paddy’s constriction site wasn’t an accident.”
Mac raised his brows a little, and Gibson’s did too when he realized his friend had expected him to come up with some pretty cover-up to tell Lee.
“Not the kind of woman you lie to, Mac,” he said.
Something flickered in Mac’s eyes, and he couldn’t interpret what it was. Anger, perhaps, or remorse. The other man’s face had hardened, but he made a visible effort to calm down, shrugged and turned toward the house.
“Let’s get some more java and talk shit through, yeah?”
They sat at the kitchen table, dissecting every piece of information they had, turning it around and getting nowhere when the break-in suddenly went from stupid shit done by a petty criminal, and started to count as another attempt at Gibson’s life.
“I’ll throw these away, Gib, okay?” Lee called out, standing by the kitchen counter, holding a small white container out toward him with her thumb and index finger.
She’d been clearing the breakfast away, and the pantry was open.
“What is it, babe?” Gibson asked.
“Aspirin. Almost took a few the other day, but it’s passed its expiry date. I guess, once a nurse, always a –”
“Put that down on the counter and take a step back.”
Lee immediately did as he asked her, and Gibson shot to his feet, moving toward her. He knew his face would be as harsh as his voice had been, but bad vibes had washed over him in a rush, and he couldn’t hold it back. He tried to soften the command he’d just given her by adding a gentle, “That’s good, baby.”
The gentleness was mostly marred by a gruffness which he couldn’t keep out of his voice and he let a hand slide softly over her shoulder, hoping she’d get that he wasn’t angry with her.
“What the hell, Gib?” Paddy murmured when no one said anything.
“Don’t use Aspirin,” Gib murmured. “Tylenol. Always. There isn’t supposed to be any Aspirin in my house, and certainly not in my fucking pantry. Have a medicine cabinet in the laundry room.”
He leaned down to look at the white, plastic container, but it was just a regular off the shelf bottle of Aspirin.
“Gloves, Mac,” he ordered, realized that the chief of police probably didn’t walk around with a pair in his pocket and changed his request to, “Get your deputies back here. We need to dust this for prints. Wanna check the contents.”
Mac was already on the phone, and Gibson heard the others move around him, but he had his full focus on what he was doing and ignored them. Quickly he brought out a roll of plastic wrap, tore off a piece and used it to protect the bottle as he opened it and poured out a few pills on the counter.
“That’s not aspirin,” Lee said calmly. “I do not know what it is, but it isn’t aspirin.”
“You sure?” Gibson murmured.
“Nurse,” she replied laconically, and they both leaned over the counter to look at the pills. “They’re oval, and there are no marks. Pills from that bottle should be round and have the text aspirin on them, or the letter A and a number. These are completely blank.”
“Shit.”
“I guess the break-in started to count,” she whispered.
There was a faint tinge of fear in her voice that tore at him, at the same time as his chest filled with surprised pride. She’d immediately picked up that if he hadn’t put them there, then someone else had, and the ones who had been in his kitchen and would be prime suspects would be the burglars. He straightened and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. Then a thought hit him, and he reared back.
“You almost took one?”
“Yes. Had a hangover, remember? Saw them in the pantry, was about to take two of them but noticed the expiry date. Got a couple from Jenny instead.”
The anger which had been churning in his stomach turned to icy hot rage, and he had to make an effort to keep breathing normally. This was the second time she’d been in harm’s way.
“This is not fucking good,” Joke rumbled. “Don’t know what that shit is, but it is; Not. Fucking. Good.”
Gibson felt the pulse beating in his ears, and the need to hurt someone was running through him like a hot wave. He got a grunt out but didn’t trust his voice, and kept squeezing Lee to him, needing the connection to assure himself she was still alive. His friends knew how he was when his temper got the better of him, and it didn’t happen often, but when he blew, for real, they knew to stay back and let him work it off.
“You need to hit something?” Lee suddenly whispered into the silence.
He blinked and tilted his head down to look at her. She watched him in silence for a beat, and then she nodded.
“You need to hit something,” she concluded. “Go outside, do what you have to do, Gib. Kick a tree, throw some of the patio furniture around, whatever. I’ll be here when you get back.”
“I don’t –”
“Go, baby,” she whispered. “The deputies will be back in a little while and I think it’s better if you’re rational when they get here.”
Jesus. Had she just asked him to go away and throw the deck chairs into his yard, so he’d be rational enough to talk to a couple of deputies who still were wet behind their ears? Anger and fear faded and was replaced with an unexpected wash of humor. He felt the tips of his mouth quiver a little, and her eyes widened when she saw it.
“I’m good, babe,” he murmured.
“Are you laughing at me?” she asked.
“Just a little.”
“Why?”
“I don’t throw furniture, babe.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Should I order lunch? I guess you’ll be busy for a while?”
He smiled then. Took what was coming, processed it, and rolled with it. That was his Lee.
“You good, honey?” he asked.
“Mostly,” she sighed. “I’m trying really hard to not freak out about all of this, Gibson. But I’m not the one they’re trying to kill, and I know you’ll find the motherfucking assholes and deal with them.”
The group of men chuckled at her unexpected choice of words, and she stepped away from him and walked toward the phone. He supposed she was about to call Jenny and share what was happening and get the boys’ and his lunch order sorted.
Then she looked at him over her shoulder, and added, “I know you’ll deal with them, Gibson, but if you could do it in a way that doesn’t mean you’ll be doing twenty to life wearing orange, I’d appreciate it.”
He started laughing then. She sounded like she’d watched way too many cop-shows on TV. Fucking adorable.
“I’ll do my best,” he said and got the smile he wanted from her.
Then he watched her walk out on the back deck and settle into one of the chairs with her phone to her ear. He knew he should start making calls, investigating what the hell he’d done to piss someone off this badly, but kept watching her, feeling warm and happy in the middle of all the shit that was piling up.
“Gib,” Joke said and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking it a little to get his attention. “Thought she was amazing, right off the bat. This morning confirmed it, hugely. And just now? Man, if I could build a woman perfect for you, she would be it. You know this, right?”
Their eyes held and the hard, almost fierce look in Joke’s eyes surprised him.
“Don’t need to tell me,” Gibson said hoarsely. “Got a chance at having a love that shines so fucking bright it’s blinding me, so you do not need to fucking tell me that. I know what I have with her.”
“Yeah,” Joke said after a few stunned seconds.
They’d known each other all their lives, but they were men. They might talk about sex, but they did not talk about feelings, and if they did it was in vague, general terms, typically including grunts and shrugs for emphasis. To hear Gibson of all people put the L-word out there was unexpected, and neither of them seemed to know what to say.
“What I wanna know,” Mac asked into the silence. “Is what the hell happened this morning?”
Jokes eyes softened, and he grinned at Gibson.
Well, crap. They hadn’t talked about keeping what had happened a secret, and Gib didn’t care if his friends knew, but he suspected that Lee wouldn’t appreciate it at all. Jesus, he thought. Had that been just this morning? It felt like a lifetime ago suddenly.
“She makes great fucking pancakes, man,” Joke said with a shrug and added. “Has the good sense to serve them with a side of bacon and mumbled something about making biscuits next time. Gib will get himself a nice little Buddha-belly in no time at all.”