ELEVEN
Shane
I woke up early, as was my habit. Lea slept in, as was hers. At some point in her sleep, she mumbled “Fuck off” to some dream foe and literally kicked off of me to the far side of the bed. It was then I decided to take the time to get up, find her clothes from the night before, and wash and dry them, the power finally back on. I liked her in my clothes, but she would need something to wear when she, inevitably, demanded I take her back to her place.
I wasn’t stupid. Girls like her didn’t just change overnight. She wasn’t going to turn into a mushy chick who wanted to hang around my place and tell me about her hopes and dreams. She had softened the night before, likely because of some world-class sex and a feeling of connection. But when she woke back up and realized what she had given to me and what that could mean to her defenses, she would scramble to push me away again.
I was prepared for that.
I didn’t like it.
But I would deal.
Now that I knew she had some bad shit go down with men, I understood her attitude better. She didn’t trust herself to make a good decision with the opposite sex. And she wouldn’t respond to me trying to force my way in. She had too much of that. She needed patience and a bit of softness when she wasn’t in the mood to open up. And then she needed me to press when she was, even if she didn’t realize she was in the mood to share.
I wasn’t above using sex to get her there.
It seemed to be the only time she wasn’t hiding, wasn’t trying to push me away.
Why I was willing to put all that work in, yeah, that was beyond me. I was usually too busy getting inside a chick’s pussy to worry about what was going on in her head. All I can say is- something was different with Lea. And every interaction with her made me more sure she was worth the hassle. Hell, even the way she dismissed the hostess at Famiglia was a turn-on for me.
I just plain like the chick.
It wasn’t new and novel for me. I liked plenty of women over the years. But very rarely was that feeling attached to attraction. I didn’t fuck women I wanted to spend time with because I wasn’t ever interested in settling down. But Lea, I liked her. And I sure as hell wanted to keep burying inside her sweet pussy too.
So, never really being the type to over-analyze or deny myself something I wanted, I just decided to go with the flow, see where it took us.
My cell vibrated on the kitchen counter and I reached for it, seeing Fee’s number and picking up. “‘Sup, Fee?”
“I can’t get in touch with Lea,” she said, voice uncharacteristically hysterical. If Fee was anything, it was chill. Maybe she was a bit prickly and opinionated, but with her tragic past, not much got to her. “She was at work last night and I told her to leave and get home. She was supposed to call me as soon as she got in. She hasn’t called. Hunter went over to her apartment but there was no response at the door. Her car is still outside the office, but she’s nowhere in sight. I don’t know what the fuck to…”
“Fee,” I cut in, voice loud to be heard over her rambling.
“What?”
“I got her. She’s here.”
There was the barest of pauses before she made a weird shriek-sound. “She’s there? She was there overnight?”
“Yeah, Fee, she was here all night. Her car wouldn’t start and I was on my way home from Chaz’s when I saw her running down the street.”
“So you knight in shining armor’d her?” she asked and I could just picture the smile she had on her face. “I knew you guys couldn’t stay away from each other! Where is she? Can I talk to her?”
“She’s sleeping,” I said, looking over toward my bed to see her completely out of the covers, laying on her stomach, her leg cocked up, giving me a great view of her long legs. Her hair was bed-messy and my tee was just barely covering her ass. I realized right then that I would be a pretty fucking happy man to wake up to that view for a good long time.
“Oh, I’ll bet she is,” Fee said, voice heavy with innuendo. “Okay. Well, that’s one worry off the list.”
“What else is on the list?” I asked, refilling the coffee pot.
“Well, three of the windows broke at the office so I need to get down there and get that taken care of. Lea’s car needs to get off the street. The township is street sweeping and it’s in the way. Chaz’s lost a tree. It didn’t do any real damage, but it needs to get gone. Hunt’s car got slammed into by some idiot out driving in the storm…”
“Busy day,” I said, turning on the machine. “Tell you what, you deal with your office. Let Hunt deal with his car. Mark and Ryan and Pops can deal with Chaz’s so strike that. I’ll deal with Lea’s car. How did your place do?”
“We just lost some branches and there is water in the basement. So much for it being dry. Those lying bastards who owned this place before us even signed the paper swearing it was dry. The fucks. How’s your place?”
“It’s a warehouse, Fee,” I laughed. “Nothing can knock it down. And I don’t have any trees or a basement.”
“Right, just the first floor you refuse to remodel. You know, your heating and cooling bills would go down if you finished that floor.”
“Sure. I’ll just catch all the rats and raccoons and drop them off in the park next to your house.”
“You’re an ass,” she laughed.
“You love it.”
“Yep,” she agreed.
“Well you get going. I have some calls to make now.”
“Oh, and Ryan did call us this morning,” she said and I knew what was coming. “So we will see you here around… three-ish next Saturday to move furniture?”
“I’ll be there.”
“And you’ll bring Lea. We’ll feed you.”
“Ah…” I said, knowing Fee was great at a lot of shit. But cooking was not one of them.
“Hunter will grill, you ass,” she said, not offended.
“Alright. Sounds good.”
There was a pause. “I’m really happy you guys are hitting it off,” she admitted before she ended the call.
As I scanned through my contacts, I silently agreed with her.
“Yup?” his voice answered on the third ring, sounding distracted.
“That’s how you answer your work phone?” I asked, shaking my head.
“What’s up, Shane? Busy day. I think every car in this county got hit or rolled into a ditch. It’s crazy.”
“Got a favor to ask, Colt,” I said, walking over toward the front of the building and looking down at the street. Colton King was someone we all grew up with, one of the few kids at school who had enough attitude not to be intimidated by us. He set up roots as a mechanic and had been working on all our cars and bikes since.
“Don’t tell me you were fuckin’ stupid enough to ride that bike in the hurricane,” he said and I heard slamming noises around him.
“Nah. I have a car I need you to pick up and work on.”
“You just got a truck…”
“It’s not mine.”
There was a pause and, when he spoke, I could hear a sneer in his voice. “This is for a chick, isn’t it?”
“Easy, Colt. I can call that Repo kid to do this for me.”
To that, he chuckled. “That won’t be necessary. What’s wrong with it?”
“I just know it’s dead. It was a death trap to begin with. So fix whatever killed it and every fucking thing else while you’re at it.”
“If it’s that big of a clunker, it won’t be worth the work I put into it,” he said, ever the honest mechanic, something that kept his customers loyal to him. He’d never con you into a brake job if you had a while left to go before you needed it.
“Yeah, I know. But she can’t afford a new one and wouldn’t ever let me get her a new one. As it is, she’ll flip shit that I had it fixed for her.”
“A chick that can put your stubborn ass in your place? I’ll have to meet her. Alright,” he said, and I could hear him slamming the door to the tow truck. “Where am I headed?”
“Out front of Fee’s place. You’ll know it when you see it.”
“Alright, I’m on it. I’ll get back to you once I look it over.”
“Appreciate it,” I said, hanging up.
“Appreciate what?” Lea’s voice asked, sleep groggy, and I turned back to see her sitting up on my bed, self-consciously trying to tame her hair. And damn if it wasn’t the fucking sweetest thing.
“Nothing, babe. Want some coffee?”
“God, yes,” she said and I smiled at the desperation in her tone.
I moved to the kitchen to get it for her as I heard the door to the bathroom close. She came out a couple minutes later, taking the coffee from my hands and breathing it in deeply before taking a sip.
“How’s the damage out there?”
“It’s not pretty, but it could be worse.”
She looked away a little awkwardly, staring at her cup. “Thanks for letting me crash here.”
I fought the urge to sigh, to let her know that those words, however innocent she may have intended them to be, had a lot deeper meaning than she realized. Because women you were interested in, who you were dating, when you brought them back to your place, went down on them, fucked them, fed them, then slept with them, yeah… they didn’t fucking thank you for letting them crash. Whether she was aware of it or not, that was her guard slowly going back up.
“Come here,” I said.
“I’m right here,” she said, brows drawing together.
I snorted, taking her coffee out of her hands and putting it on the counter before grabbing her and hauling her against me. “I meant come here,” I said against her hair, smiling when I felt her arms go tentatively around me.
“Oh.”
“You aware that you take up the entire fuckin’ bed when you sleep?” I asked and I could feel her laughing silently.
“Yeah.”
“You also kick.”
“I do not!” she insisted, pulling back far enough to look at me.
“Got a bruise on my leg that says differently,” I smiled and she actually looked sheepish.
“Sorry.”
“I think I’ll survive. I washed and dried your clothes.”
“Oh,” she said again and, if I wasn’t mistaken, she almost sounded disappointed.
“But there’s no rush on that. You want breakfast?”
Her nose wrinkled up. “I’m not much of a breakfast person,” she admitted and it was just another little piece of her I got to have.
“Alright. Want to fuck in the shower?” I offered, half-joking, but totally willing to deliver if she wanted that.
To that, I got a rare, stunning smile out of her. It lit up her whole fucking face. “Well, I definitely want a shower in that spa of yours.”
“Alright,” I said, releasing her and stepping away. “Go get washed up,” I said, swatting her ass hard when she turned to walk away. She threw me a smirk over her shoulder but kept going.
I let her have her shower, though I knew that she was going to use the time to steel herself against me and also despite the fact that I genuinely would have liked to fuck her again. She came back out half an hour later, hair pin-straight wet and her jeans and long-sleeve black tee on from the night before. She looked good, but I preferred her in my tee. Or naked.
“I stole your extra toothbrush,” she said as she came up to the counter and took her mostly-cold coffee and started drinking. “So you might want to stock up before you have overnight guests again.”
Right then I did sigh. “Alright, I think we can both agree that I’m not exactly the kind of man to keep his opinions to himself.”
“No, really?” she asked, her voice taking on a sarcastic pitch.
I ignored it. “I’m also not really the kind of man to analyze shit to death or deny myself something I want.”
“Ah, okay…” she said, brows drawing together.
“So what I’m saying is, this shit with you and me? I’m in.”
“This… shit with you and me? There is no shit. We’ve had some good casual sex and…”
“Stop,” I said, shaking my head. “This hasn’t been casual and you know it. It’s more. I might have been a little slow at realizing it at first myself too, but Lea… I fucking built a fence and installed a security door for you. I barely fucking knew you but I wanted you to be safe. Now, I’m not romantic. I won’t be writing you poetry or sending you sappy texts or shit like that. That’s not me. But I’ll show you I give a shit in my own ways: keeping you safe, making sure you have what you need, fucking you until you can’t see straight. That’s what I have to offer you. Take it, leave it, that’s your decision. But don’t call this casual because there is nothing casual about it.”
“Shane, we don’t even know each other.”
I resisted the urge to say well, whose fault is that and took a deep breath instead. “We know enough. Don’t pull that. We know enough to start something. People start on less every goddamn day. I get you’ve been through some shit and you’re hesitant and scared…”
“I’m not scared,” she snapped, hackles rising.
“Lea, fucking terrified. But that’s fine. I get it. It’s probably even smart of you to be. But if there’s one thing I want to make real fucking clear right now… I don’t do that shit. If you can’t see that, then maybe it’s smart to end this right now.”
“I see that,” she said, voice uncharacteristically quiet. “If for no other reason but that I think your mother would roast your balls like hibachi,” she added, lips tipping up.
“So you get where I stand. Now you need to decide where you do, inside the door or out. Because I don’t have the patience for the one foot in the door, one foot out the door shit.”
“Shane, I…”
“Need time. I get it. If you want, I’ll take you home. You can think it over. But in or out, your ass is now obligated to come to Fee’s with me to move furniture next Saturday.”
“If by ‘move furniture’ you mean hand out beers while you men do the grunt work, sure,” she said as she moved away, locating her shoes and slipping in.
“That’s exactly what I meant. You ready?” I asked, getting into my own shoes and grabbing my keys.
“Think the building will still be standing?” she asked as she opened the door, eyes a little wicked.
“No promises,” I said, watching as she took off down the stairs for a long minute before locking up and following her down, a part of me hoping the place was rubble so I could have a reason to have her in my place instead.
But I kept that shit to myself because it was crazy as fuck.