6.

Mark

 

“What are you doing?” she asks when I drop her on the bed. Her voice cracks. How could she be scared of me? You know I’d never hurt you, Elise. But how could you embarrass me in front of my club?

I don’t answer just yet, pulling an old Easyriders rodeo T-shirt from my drawer and toss it to her.

She holds it on her lap as I pull my own shirt up over my head. And she still doesn’t move to undress when I toe off each boot then let my jeans fall to the carpet, kicking them off to the corner by the laundry hamper.

Enough. “Elise, put the T-shirt on or you can sleep naked. Your choice.”

That lights a fire under her ass. She slides the shirt on before taking her other clothing off, pullin’ her shirt through the armhole then dropping her jeans.

“Bra, Elise. It’s not good for you to sleep in it.”

Then she does that thing I’ve seen her do before, back in high school. She cocks her eyebrow at me, and I swear, it takes every bit of self-control not to attack her lips.

“Bra, Elise,” I order again, because when I pull her against me, a barrier is the last thing I want to feel.

“You have no say in my life,” she says to me, but says it while pulling her bra out through the arm of the T-shirt again. “So just leave me alone.”

“Leave you alone? I’ve been in love with you since fuckin’ high school.”

“Yeah. So you say Mark, if that’s even really your name.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“I never went to school with a Mark. You’re probably that creepy, stalker guy—what’s his name?” she snaps her fingers and points at me. “Gary Litman. That it? Trying to get revenge on me because I turned you down, Gary Litman?”

“I ain’t Gary Litman. I have been in love with you since high school. And every man you offended at my bar tonight will be at your father’s funeral to pay respects.”

“They aren’t welcome and neither are you.”

“Woman, you’re gettin’ dangerously close to saying somethin’ you can’t take back.”

“Don’t you woman me. I don’t want to take it back. I don’t need Maryanne or Tommy. I didn’t need Logan. I didn’t need Beau. So I sure as hell don’t need you. You are nothing but a lapse in judgement I plan to rectify as soon as possible.”

She’s spouted that lip one too many times. She wants me to have her lip, fine. I’ll take it. So I launch at her.

She’s surprised but doesn’t refuse me as I kiss her with everything in me. It kills me to do it, but when she starts kissing me back, I pull away. Rolling from her. We’re both breathing as heavily as either of us have probably ever breathed in this situation.

“What are you doing?” Honest to god, there’s almost a whine when she asks it.

“Get under the covers, Elise. I’m tired.”

“You don’t get to order me around. I’m not your kid, and I’m not your girlfriend.”

“You sure as hell ain’t my kid. But you are my woman, and you know it. I didn’t want this to play out the way it has, but you forced my hand, darlin’, with all your judgmental, bratty behavior.”

“Don’t call me darlin’.”

“I will call you darlin’, darlin’. Now get over yourself and get some sleep. You got a lotta ass kissin’ to do tomorrow.”

“I’m not kissing any asses.”

“Those’re my brothers. You will.”

“Yeah. They’re your brothers, not mine. And I’m out of here the second my father’s funeral is over. Y’all will never see me again.”

“Y’all?” I laugh at her.

“Okay, so the accent might be rubbing off on me again.” She rolls over turned away from me, tucking her hands under her chin. “Yet another reason to get the hell out of Dodge.”

This is getting us nowhere. Dammit Elise.

“Naw.” I run my hands down my face, from forehead to beard, so over this conversation. “Lost you once, not lettin’ you go again. What’s gonna happen is you’re movin’ in here with me. I’ll put a ring on your finger and eventually, a baby in your belly.”

“I’m sorry, could you repeat yourself in English? I don’t speak grunting.”

I wanna laugh, but can’t. “Darlin’ you heard me just fine.”

“Listen Mark, if you’re that hard up for a woman, why not grunt at Hadley? She has an opening now that Dad’s gone. Bet she’d love to be your old lady. Especially if she doesn’t have to work.”

“Turn out the light, Elise.”

“Kiss my ass, Mark.”

“Tomorrow.”

Her head snaps around to look at me. Well that got her attention.

“And rest assured, when I’m done with you, not only will you be beggin’ me for more, but you’ll be doin’ it while apologizin’ to all my brothers. Then and only then will I give you more. Now turn the light out, Elise.”

What the—it worked? She reaches over flicking off the light. So yeah, I’d say it worked. But the stubborn woman stays rolled on her side putting a whole body width between us. This is not how I sleep next to my woman.

She don’t fight when I grab a handful of T-shirt dragging her across the bed until she’s taut against the length of me in full body contact, spooning us together, and drape my arm around her waist. We end up sharing a pillow just like last night. And again like last night I’ve never been more content or comfortable.

Damn her for forcing me to break out the asshole. That ain’t who I ever want to be around her. It ain’t who I’ve ever been. But just because I’m not that man don’t mean the club ain’t full of ‘em. And these are my brothers. Men who took me in at my lowest. I respect ‘em. I love her and respect them, and she’s gonna have to learn to respect ‘em too.

Those are the last thoughts in my head as I drift off to sleep.

When I wake, I’m flat on my back with Elise’s head resting against my neck. One of her arms slung above our heads while the other rests on my chest. Her fingers flat against my nipple. The best, worst part, she’s pressed her crotch flush against my hipbone with her leg bent at the knee, resting on top of mine.

I’m comfortable. I was dreaming. So then why am I up? Then I hear it, why I’m awake now instead of finishing that dream. The knock coming from the front of the house.

Carefully as I can, I peel the gorgeous even in sleep Elise off me and walk out to the living room. Someone wants to wake me this early on a Saturday morning when they know my woman has finally come home, what I ought to do is deliver an ass whooping so they remember to never make this mistake again. What I won’t do is bother to dress. I answer the door in my boxer briefs. Consequence for unwanted visitors.

“George. Margo.”

They stare. Stunned briefly. But good ole George. He don’t stay stunned for long.

“For God’s sake, boy. Put some clothes on.”

No one comes to my home and orders me around. Which is why I don’t retreat but push forward, pulling the door shut behind me so we’re all standing on my front porch.

“Is there a reason you’ve woken me up at seven-thirty on a Saturday when you know I work at a bar?”

“She’s in there, isn’t she?” Margo accuses. “The whore. What kind of man are you? Beddin’ the whore after what she did to Logan.”

“Call her a whore in my presence again, and I guarantee you won’t be callin’ anyone anything until they remove the wire from your jaw.”

“How dare you talk to us this way?”

“How dare you come onto my property talkin’ shit about my woman? She couldn’t leave even if she wanted to. Her car was busted up all to hell yesterday, which I’m sure you know. But she ain’t leavin’ anyway, as I prefer my woman to live with me.”

“She can’t be your woman.” Silly George, thinking he has any say in my life whatsoever.

“Oh, but she can and she is. Elise Manning is asleep in my bed right now. And that’s the only place I ever plan on her sleepin’ for the rest of my life.”

“Did your friendship with Logan mean nothin’? Did he really mean so little to you?” Margo knows nothing.

“I loved Logan like a brother, but he never deserved her and you know it. He screwed up. Now I’m gettin’ the life I always wanted but never went after because I did love him so much.”

Margo gasps. And I know it’s because Elise, she’s standing behind me. “Whore!” Margo shouts.

But then stupid George, stupid, stupid George goes and opens his mouth. “So you goin’ to sleep your way through the entire town? How many more boys you gonna screw over by gettin’ knocked up?”

It’s Elise’s turn to gasp. Me, I don’t even think, just react by slamming my fist into his jaw. He stumbles backward and down one step before he recovers.

“You will regret that decision,” he threatens. The bastard has the nerve to threaten me while rubbing his jaw. He licks at the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

“Get off my property.”

At least he’s not stupid enough to come at me or Elise again. She goes back inside while I watch to make sure they leave.

“Elise,” I call out to her, only once I’ve closed the door. “Elise, darlin’?” She don’t respond, but I do hear her crying in the bedroom. “What are you doin’ baby girl?” I ask when I can clearly see what she’s doing. She’s getting her stuff together to leave.

“I can’t bring this on you.”

“It was brought well before today, and they know it. Don’t leave me again. Not now. Not after just gettin’ you back.”

“The town’ll never stop. Get Beau’s parents to show up? The mayor and his wife ready to run me out of town. A new low even for them. You don’t need all this in your life. Even if you did turn into a misogynistic caveman last night.”

I can’t help but smile. She’s right about the misogynistic caveman stuff not the not needing her in my life, because I do. Need her in my life. And I always have.

“Come on.” I take the suitcase from her, setting it on the carpet and take her hand. We do our Fred and Ginger dance move where she matches me step for step only moving backward ‘til the backs of her knees hit the bed and she falls onto the mattress.

“What are we doing, Mark?”

“Makin’ up.”

“But yesterday I hated you.”

“That was yesterday. Today’s today. Besides, you never actually hated me, darlin’. That was just stress-induced panic.” We weren’t gonna go here until she knew everything. But if she leaves me, she never will. “So now I’m gonna help reduce your stress.”

“I don’t think—” I cut her off pressing a finger to her lips.

“Shh…thinkin’ causes stress. So let’s not think, hmm?”

Now’s the time to show her why she can’t leave me, what she means to me. I cover her with my body, peeling the T-shirt up and off so that I’m looking at the most beautiful woman in the world wearing only her pink satin panties with the black lace.

It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.

This, our first time together, Elise deserves to be worshipped. And so I do.

With my lips and hands I begin to show her how much she means to me. With every captured moan I give her a little more of myself. It don’t take us long to go from boxer briefs and panties to two naked bodies giving and receiving more pleasure than I’ve ever known before. So much pleasure that when I finally slide inside her and she wraps those shapely legs around me, using her heels to push me further in, I almost loose it completely.

She’s everything.

She’s everything I ever dreamed, hoped or imagined. And she’s all those things because she’s mine. We’re together now because she cares for me. Her body and her heart, they remember me even if her mind ain’t put those pieces together yet. That’s why she didn’t refuse me.

I find a pace to make her beg for more of me without rushing. I don’t wanna rush any part of this. But she makes it hard to keep slowly building us up while she’s beggin’ again and again for me to let her let go. “Please, Mark. Please.”

Every time she begs, I plunder her body harder. Beautiful. Sensual. Our noises fill the air. The thick smell of love and lust, and sex surround us as I continue to deny her that fall she so desperately desires. Pumping and rocking, my thrusts come measured. We fit together. Our bodies meshed into a perfect unity. And I feel the moment there’s no turnin’ back. My balls draw up tight. Fuck.

She claws at my back begging. “Please, Mark. I can’t take anymore. I…I…”

And that’s when I let go, pourin’ every drop of love I have for the woman inside her. Elise and I find that sweet release together. I take back what I said before. Her face as she comes is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. Her arms hold me close, tight to her chest. Her legs stay wrapped around my hips keeping me planted still inside her.

“Elise,” I whisper. “Open your eyes, darlin’.”

She does. Those bright, beautiful eyes stare right into mine. “Wow,” she says, swallowing. A lump bobbin’ up and down in her throat. “I…um…I need to apologize to your friends.”

That earns her a smile and a kiss as I roll to pull out. “Brothers,” I remind her.

“Brothers,” she repeats on a hitched breath.

“You know when I told you that last night I didn’t really expect it to work.”

We both bust out laughing. This I like. Easy with Elise. Except one minute she’s laughing, the next she’s as serious as I’ve ever seen her. “I don’t understand this.”

“What’s to understand, darlin’?”

“Everything. And it scares me. I’m burying my father on Monday in a town full of people who hate me because of something I had no control over as a teenager. And here you come being a friend to me exactly when I need it, telling me how you loved me in high school. But I can’t remember you from high school and then I find out you’re sensitive enough to own a blues bar and offer open mic night, but you’re part of a biker gang.” She stops to take a breath, and sits up, bent knees, tugging the sheet up around her breasts. “Yet despite all this, there’s this connection between us that I haven’t felt in years and I haven’t been in town long enough to feel that. So I certainly shouldn’t be considering asking you if you’d like to try long distance with me, yet the thought of leaving you behind is kind of freaking me out.”

“That all?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

Before I tell her what she needs to hear, I wrap her back in my arms where she belongs. Elise Manning just admitted our connection. For a man used to hearing the blues, those words—music to my ears—are anything but.

“As for buryin’ your father, darlin’ you’re still allowed to be happy and live your life. It don’t make you a bad daughter, and I know your pops would want you to find both peace and happiness. That’s all he ever wanted for you.

“And this town, you don’t need to leave. Are there some narrow minded people here? Yes. They just ain’t figured out their happiness yet. But there are good people as well. Tommy. Maryanne. Two of the best. You weren’t at their weddin’, but they’ll sure as hell be at ours.”

“There you go, saying that again. You really think you’re going to marry me?”

“Baby girl, don’t think it. Know it. I’m not sayin’ it’ll happen tomorrow, but now that I’ve had you, you really think I could let you go?”

“You don’t have to let me go. We could make it work. Chicago’s not that far.”

“Whatever,” I murmur. “Back to your points. We’re a club, not a gang.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Fuck yeah, there is. We live with more freedom than most allow themselves, but we don’t trade in guns or drugs or flesh.”

“Flesh? As in sex trade?” Her voice rises, sounding horrified.

Since we’re not a part of that shit, I nod. “We’re legit. I own the bar where some of the men work. Chaos owns the tow company. Duke owns the garage where your car is right now, and we all own a stake in the shippin’ business.”

“So you own the bar and a shipping business?”

“How am I supposed to afford a wife and a family someday without work? You wanna live with my parents? That’d be fun.” I give her a playful squeeze. “You’re in the bedroom screamin’ ‘Oh, god! Oh, god!’ while they’re prayin’ for us in the living room with Billy Graham reruns playin’ on the TV.”

“No. I don’t think I’d like that. Will I meet them, your parents?”

“Don’t think you’d like that either.”

“Okay.”

She looks sad now. If she only knew. I take the opportunity to kiss her cheek then. “Back to your points. And this, I think, is the most important. Our connection. Love takes as long as it takes. People put too much pressure on themselves. Honestly, I think the people who insist it takes a long time to develop only believe that because they ain’t with the right one yet. They’ve met someone with checks in all the other correct boxes. So instead of cuttin’ that one loose and goin’ for the right one, they wait it out, tellin’ themselves love is cultivated over time. You might wake up tomorrow morning havin’ fallen in love with me. And even if your head don’t remember, you’ve known me a long time.”

“How?”

Not yet. Not ‘til she admits she loves me. “Get this,” I answer instead of answering her question. “You’re mine. I’m yours. I’ll give you a good life, I promise.”

“When I say I’m scared, I really mean terrified. I gave my heart away once before and look how that turned out.” she admits, quietly.

“Darlin’ you were young. Didn’t know you were givin’ it to the wrong man. He was too young to know he shouldn’t take it.”

“But you were young then. If I’d have given my heart to you instead of Logan, would you have taken it?”

“Absolutely. Because when I met you I was old enough to see that you’re the right one. Benefit of being older than you and Logan, I guess.”

“It doesn’t change anything. I’m still heading home after my dad’s funeral.”

“We’ll see.” I warn.

We make love two more times, once in the bed and once in the shower, before we finally make it out of the house. She said she needed to apologize to my brothers and I intend to hold her to that. But not before we stop for breakfast. Crow don’t taste nearly as good as steak and eggs.