Havoc"You look even better in my clothes this morning."Lame. The words I spoke were so lame. Usually I'm much smoother than this. When I woke up, I'd been disoriented, wondering why I was still in bed with it being so light outside. Then bits and pieces of the night before had come back to me, and then I'd made the mistake of trying to swallow and almost come off the bed. Right now, it feels as if there are shards of glass working their way out of my throat and tonsils. Leaning against the wall, I cross my arms over my t-shirt covered chest, surprised at how warm it is in here."Sorry." She ducks her head. "It's cold out there, and I've been helping Ryan salt the porch.""Renegade?" I'm more confused than ever. How fucking long was I out for? And why in God's name are they salting the front porch?She nods. "Yeah," she replies, before she reaches down to take her boots off. "Why don't you come to the kitchen and I'll fix you something to eat? We need to get some more medici
LeightonAfter Holden got sick, things changed between us. I count myself lucky to have not gotten whatever it was he had. I smile to myself as I think how the past few weeks have gone. I've stopped hiding behind the fear I had he was going to leave when things seemed to straighten out for me, and I think he's starting to smile more. One thing I do know is we're starting to touch more, becoming comfortable with each other in a way we've never been before.Take now, for instance. We're on separate shifts for the next few days, and have been for the last couple. I'm getting up as he's entering the part of sleep where he's the deepest, and he's not even at home at night when I'm going to sleep. I've started something this week though, that's totally making me go to work with a smile on my face every morning.A couple of days ago, when I woke up, Holden reached his hand out to me, clasping our fingers together, pulling me to him in his sleep. At first, I assumed he was awake, but I r
HavocGlancing at the cell phone I hold in my hand, I check the time again. "Leigh, we gotta go if we're gonna make it."I hate to rush her, but these lessons weren't cheap, and I know she wants to do them. With a drive to Birmingham tonight, we're going to cut it close if we don't leave soon."I'm coming," she yells from the bedroom. "Do you think this is okay?"I look up from where I was texting with Mason and let out a wolf whistle. I can't help it, it's just a natural reaction to what's standing in front of me. Her long, dark hair is in soft curls, framing her face. Her makeup is more dramatic than I've ever seen it, causing her eyes to look huge, brighter than they ever have before. The dress she's put over her body is showing curves that I rarely get a chance to look at openly. It's low-cut up top and comes to a stop around her knees, a burgundy color, showing off the tan most of us keep year-round down here. On her feet are flats, thank God, because I don't want to worry
LeightonI'm dragging ass this morning, after Holden and I were out late last night at the class he arranged for us. I would do it again though, in a nanosecond. If I could just get myself to wake up."I can't believe I agreed to a shift this early on a Saturday," Caleb complains as he enters my car on the passenger side."Totally agree, but look at it this way, you can come home after you're done and take a nap. It'll be so early in the day you'll be able to go do something after you wake up.""Kinda like having a two-a-day." He grins at me.This morning I'm starting to see the man he's growing into, and he's going to be a heartbreaker, especially with a dad like Mason. He has a little bit of peach fuzz on his angular jaw and I don't think he brushed his hair. As a football player, he's building up his muscles, and I'm pretty sure that within the next six months he'll be able to get any girl he wants."Yeah, like a two-a-day," I agree.At the end of the driveway, I stop
Leighton"Why won't this thing save?" I beat the keys on the laptop harder than necessary. I growl at it, hoping that it feels my wrath by the way I'm shooting daggers at the screen."Be nice to it, and maybe it'll do what you want it to," Holden jokes as he comes through the front door, carrying a pizza."How long have you been standing there?""Long enough to hear you call it some not so flattering words and see you try to beat it to death. C'mon, take a break and eat dinner with me. I'll leave you along to finish when we're done."He hardly ever leaves me alone when we're at the house together, and it makes me feel good, because I know it's because he wants to be with me, not because he's worried I'll do something he doesn't like. "What are you going to go do while I work on this?""Probably work out," he answers tiredly. "Even though I don't want to, but it's been a couple of days."I get up from where I'm sitting and join him at the kitchen table, taking the paper pl
LeightonThe night I told Holden what happened with my dad, why he did what he did and cast me out, proved to be a turning point for us, and two weeks later, things are better than they have ever been between us.Oh there's still tension, lots of tension, but it's the good, sexy kind. Not the neither of us knowing if we're in this for the right reasons kind. Which leads me to my stress for tonight.This has been deemed something I've never done before: date night.It's never been something I've really ever experienced, but I'm excited for it to happen. Holden called me on my way home from work, telling me we're meeting a couple of the guys he works with and their significant others for drinks. While I'm pretty sure I know who he's talking about and I'm comfortable with them, I'm immediately nervous.What if they don't like me outside of The Café? What if I slip up and do something stupid? What if I embarrass Holden? What if I embarrass myself? I'm not sure I've ever worked my
HavocIt's been a little strained between the two of us since we got to the bar, and I blame myself for that. I haven't been able to get the way she looks out of my mind. It's odd, I spend countless hours with her a day and I've always found her attractive, but tonight I realize just how hot she is."You okay?" She leans in, speaking against the outer shell of my ear.The one little act sends shivers down my body and hardens my erection to mass critical levels. I've been sporting a semi since I picked her up, and now thanks to her hot breath against the sensitive skin of my ear, everybody in the free world can tell I want my wife."Good." I nod, glancing at the two couples we're sitting with.Renegade, Tank, Whitney, and Blaze are all looking at us like they're watching monkeys at the zoo. Maybe that's an apt description. This woman has got me all kinds of flustered, and I'm unsure if I'll ever be able to be normal again."Leighton, you wanna go play pool?" Whitney asks, br
LeightonI can't believe I just said what I did. Telling him we can go home and he can blow his load inside of me. I've never been so brazen before, never let this part of my personality out to play. The things this man does to me should be illegal in all fifty states and the damn District of Columbia."Should we have gone in and said goodbye to everyone?" I ask as we drive along the backroads toward our home.He sets the cruise, then braces his feet on the floorboard of the truck, lifting up as he pulls at the crotch of his jeans. He groans when I suspect he gets a little breathing room in the tightness of the fabric. "Trust me, the way we were all over each other in there, I'm pretty sure they understand where we've gone and why.""Were we that bad?" I ask, embarrassed with the way I acted in public, behind a bar. I've never been that out of control before, never had a man make me feel the way he made me feel in those crazy moments of abandon. I can't even blame it on the alc
CruiseFive Years Later"Molly's asleep." I press my wife up against the door to our bedroom, spreading open-mouth kisses along her neck as we grind against one another. Pulling back, I push my hands up her tank top, palming her breasts, moaning as I feel her nipples peak against her bra. "I paid Kelsea her stupid-ass babysitting fee, she's gone. We're alone." I can hear the annoyance in my voice. It's been an on-going argument between the two of us, how I'd watched her for free as a kid, and now she charges us.We've been out with friends and family, had a DD, and both of us have had a little too much to drink. Her with the margaritas she likes to indulge in with the ladies, and me with the whiskey Morgan and I were shooting straight with my dad."God, I want you." She rakes her nails across my neck, down my back, and fists my shirt in her hands.I want her too. Molly is three now, born within the first two years of us getting married, and we've finally got this parenting th
Ruby"Where are you taking me?" I watch as Caleb drives through the streets of downtown. This fall night is cool as rain falls from the sky. It's not sheets like the day he shot the armed man, but a steady drumming against the roof of the Jeep."You'll see." His deep voice has a secretive lilt to it, one that I've come to know well in the year we've been together. He's not great at keeping secrets, but when he does, they're the best kind.As he turns in front of The Café, I grin. No matter what's happened inside the building or in front of it, this is still one of our favorite places to go, to be. On any given night, we can walk inside and find any number of friends or family inside. It's darkish in there tonight, but I figure maybe the electricity is flickering because of the rain storm we're in. Earlier in the day, the school had lost power.He snags a parking spot near the door. "Don't touch the door, I'll come around for you. I don't want you get wet."Since the first nig
RubySeptemberBack when I bought this dress so many months ago, I had assumed I would wear it for Valentine's Day, but because of Caleb's schedule we were never able to make a special date work. He never did take me to that dinner, but we've had so many other special moments that I truly can't complain. Tonight, however, I'm thrilled to be wearing this dress to watch him get an award for bravery."You look absolutely gorgeous." He comes up behind me in the mirror as I'm applying a layer of lipstick."You don't look so bad yourself." I turn around in his arms, helping to straighten his dress uniform.I don't think Caleb has ever looked as hot as he does right now. There's something about him being so buttoned-up that I'm loving. "It's cutting off my circulation." He pulls at the fabric around his neck."You're fine." I slap his hands away. "Are you nervous?""Not really," he says with a shake of his head. "Nerves was playing for the college football championship. This is
RubyI'm lying on my couch, re-watching some TV show I've seen a million times, trying to figure out how to get through to Caleb when the doorbell rings. At first I ignore it, not wanting to disturb my brooding, but then I hear his voice."Red?" It's unsure and soft as he knocks on the door this time. "I know I don't deserve for you to let me in, but I'm asking you to. Please?"For a moment I think about ignoring him, I think about letting him sit out there and sweat. Give him the same type of reaction he's given me, but I realize quickly one of us has to be the bigger person. That person is me, because I know he's hurting and I know he's dealt with the situation he's been thrust into the best way he knows how.Opening the door, I stand there with my arms crossed. Until I see what he's carrying in his hands.The ugliest looking cupcakes I've ever seen in my life."I finally realized why he made them, even though they looked like shit," he gives me a slight smile. "It's the
Cruise"How'd you get in here?"My dad is waiting on me, probably ready to rip me a new one, just like Ruby did. I'm so not in the mood for it tonight."You don't need to know how I got in here." He gets up from where he's sitting on my couch. "Instead, what we need to do is talk about how we're going to get you to where you need to be.""What the fuck is that supposed to mean? This is me.""This isn't you, we both know that. I didn't raise you to be a fuck face. You haven't been answering my calls, your mom's, Kelsea's, or come to find out Ruby's, so let's talk about this Caleb. What the fuck is going on?""Nothing." I grind my teeth together, not wanting to do this with him."We've done this once before son, and we won't do it again. Do you remember when your friend died? Remember when you pushed everyone away? How'd that work out for you?""How does having a murderer for a son work out for you?" I fire back at him. "Because I'm on administrative leave for committing
RubyI'm sitting in my car watching Morgan and Caleb eat through The Café window. This is what I've been reduced to. It's been a week since the shooting, and so far, Caleb's refused to see me. I went to see him the other night, and it was a bad scene."What are you doing here?" Caleb opens his door, arms crossed over his chest. "I figured me not answering any of your calls let you know I'm not up to talking to anyone right now. Including you."Not gonna lie, this hurts. Seeing him like this hurts, hearing him talk to me the way he is hurts. But I won't give up on him. I promised Kelsea months ago that I would be here if he needed me, that I could handle whatever was thrown at me."You need me," I talk against the tightness in my throat."I need to be left the fuck alone. You. Mom. Dad. You all need to leave me the fuck alone.""We won't," I shake my head standing my ground. "We won't leave you alone to deal with this by yourself.""Fine, then if you won't leave, I will."
CruiseThe July sun is beating down on the pavement as I make my drive around the streets that make up Laurel Springs. It's been a boring day, for the most part, but I'm not stupid enough to think it'll last. Lately it's been slow and I've been feeling a lot like the other shoe might drop. This nagging feeling hasn't let go for the last week, but I know eventually either that shoe will drop or I'll get over it.Rain came through over an hour ago, but it did nothing to cool the day down. It's now a sauna outside. In certain parts there's actually steam coming up off the road. Behind the sun that's moved in, you can see more clouds behind. A dark hazy threat looming in the background, more storms are moving in. The stillness of the day threatens to break wide open when they do.Because of the heat that's been baking the ground and asphalt for days, most people are inside this afternoon, enjoying the air conditioning and not wanting to have heatstroke. Probably one of the reasons th
CruiseI love the smile on Kelsea's face, love even more that I'm the one who put it there. "You excited Kels?" I grin into the rearview as we make the drive to Birmingham."So excited, like I knew you knew him." She bounces in her seat. "But I didn't really know!"Him references my college roommate Slater Harlow, known by everyone who watches professional baseball as Savage. He's a formidable force on the baseball diamond, having the best season of his career. We're not as close as we once were, because life took us two totally different directions, but we still hang out every once in a while. Typically I like to keep the fact I know him from just about everyone, because I know he values his privacy. Now though? Kels is old enough to go to a major league game, and I'm doing my best to impress Ruby."I've known him a long time." I think back to our college days, how both of us had been so damn homesick. Him more than me, since I could at least head home on the weekend. Slater w
RubyIt's a hot summer day, as I walk onto the practice field. Since school let out in early June, I've been catching up on sleep, taking a summer class, and spending as much time with the man in my life as I can. Neither Mason nor Caleb are here today. Both are on duty, so another parent has offered to help the girls practice. Karina is sick with a summer cold and me? I'm here, not sure what the hell I've gotten myself into. Kelsea and I are spending the afternoon together, beginning with me picking her up. So we'll see how this goes."Ruby!" I hear as I shield my eyes and look out along the field. Kelsea is running toward me, her backpack bouncing as she runs."Hey Kels," I greet her, a real smile on my face. She and I haven't had a ton of time with one another, but as Caleb and I have gotten closer, the same has been true for the two of us. "You ready?" I wave to today's coach as she walks beside me."I am, it's hot out here." She pushes her hair back from her forehead.Ta