Chapter 13
Grease
Callie was practically falling asleep at the table after dinner, but refused to go to bed no matter how much Rose bitched at her. It was kind of cute how she squeezed her lips into a stubborn line and refused to leave my side, but her eyes were so swollen and red from crying all day that it looked painful to blink. I was trying to figure out how I could get her to go to bed when Poet cleared his throat from across the table and motioned with his head for me to follow him outside. Problem solved. I thought maybe if I wasn’t sitting right next to her, she’d at least get some pajamas on. Shit, did I even pack her pajamas? I stood up from the table, putting my hand on Callie’s shoulder when she tried to follow me.
“You stay here, sweetheart,” I told her as I shook my head. Shit, she was looking at me like I’d kicked her. I wasn’t sure how to keep her from freaking out—she looked like she was ready to climb me like a tree again—so I pulled her chair out and crouched down in front of her. Her hands were folded in her lap, and looking down I could see that her knuckles had turned white from how tight she was gripping them. Poor baby. It was going to take a long f*cking time before she felt secure, if she ever did again.
“Gotta talk to Poet for a minute—you go get ready for bed and I’ll be back in a couple minutes, yeah?” I told her softly, rubbing her cheek with my thumb. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and for the first time I saw that she had a few little zits on her chin. For some reason that little imperfection, a sign of her age, made her even sexier. “Go get ready for bed, baby,” I repeated, watching her face until she gave a little nod.
Outside with Poet, I pulled a pack of smokes from my pocket and lit one up. I loved the first scent, that first deep inhale of a freshly lit cigarette. There wasn’t anything better. Poet was standing at the end of the trailer, leaning against the metal siding while he smoked his own cigarette, and I braced myself as I walked toward him. He wasn’t pissed, I could tell that much, but he also wasn’t happy with what was going down. Before I even reached him, he started speaking.
“That little girl is beautiful, I’ll give you that,” he told me with a nod, not even looking in my direction.
“It’s not about that. But yeah, she is.” I wasn’t sure where he was going with the conversation, but I didn’t want him to think my decision was about ass. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to take care of her, but it went far beyond trying to get in her pants.
“You’re young, boy. You got your whole life ahead of ya, and so does that girl in there,” he rumbled, and by the tone of his voice I knew to keep my mouth shut because he was just getting started. “Girl’s not even seventeen years old. I know she’s got some sort of savior complex going on, and I get it. It’s not uncommon; I’ve had to deal with that shit a few times in my life. But changing your life for her, claiming her when shit’s out of control the way it is—it’s not gonna end well. She’s gonna get over this. She’s gonna move on with her life, and where’s that gonna leave you?”
“I don’t know,” I replied quietly, his words something I’d thought of already.
“You’re an adult. I’m not gonna tell you what to do, I just want you to think with something other than your dick for two seconds and tell me where you think this is going.”
“Can’t explain it, Poet. There’s something about her. I know she’s young, and shit is insane for her right now—”
“She’s not the only one who’s young, boyo.”
“I know that, too. But whatever the f*ck this is, it’s strong. She’s mine. She’s been mine since she crawled across the floor and grabbed a hold of me at that party. It just is.” I had a hard time explaining what was going through my head because I couldn’t even figure that shit out. I wanted to take care of her, and as f*cked up as it was, I wanted her to need me.
“Brenna’s mom wasn’t much older than Callie when we hooked up,” he mumbled, looking up at the sky. “I knew she was too young for me, but f*ck, when she looked at me I felt like a f*ckin’ superhero. So I took her, in more ways than one. I soaked that shit up, reveled in it. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, but f*ck, the way she looked at me?” he shook his head. “It was like nothing I’d ever had before. So I get it. What you’re doing. Just be careful, yeah? Woman like that’s got the power to f*ck up your life.”
“Not sure how careful I can be,” I admitted, putting out my smoke on the bottom of my boot.
“Yeah.” He paused for a moment before casually putting out his cigarette with his fingertips. F*cking crazy bastard. “How the hell did you get into her house? I figured cops would be swarming the place.”
“We just rode right up. No one was f*ckin’ there. Crime scene tape on the doorways, blood all over the floors, but not one f*ckin’ cop. Idiots.”
“I’m guessing Jimenez has more pull than we’d originally thought. Houses are usually full of cops for at least twenty-four hours after a murder, taking prints and staging shit.” He looked deep in thought, and I didn’t ask how he knew police procedure so well. He was remembering something, and his past wasn’t any of my business.
“I’m gonna get back to Callie. She’s probably climbing the walls.”
“Yeah, I’ll be in there in a bit. Let the boys know to get their shit off the bikes and outta the Yukon. Gonna need bedding—we’re staying here for the night. Something’s not sitting right.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I was glad they weren’t headed to a hotel. I sure as f*ck wasn’t leaving Callie and Rose and I was glad Poet had the same idea. Unfortunately, Rose’s trailer wasn’t very big and it was going to be a tight fit, even with the boys sleeping on the floor. I knew Poet was gonna take the couch, which left me with the tiny-ass loveseat.
When I got back in the trailer, Callie was sitting at the edge of the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest. The boys had made themselves comfortable around the table playing cards with Rose, so I let them know to get their shit and then I headed toward my girl. She was wearing a long-ass nightgown and I couldn’t help but smile at how innocent she looked. It was a big difference from the tiny-ass shorts she’d been wearing when I met her.
She scooted into my side when I sat down beside her, and tension I hadn’t noticed seeped from my shoulders. Yeah, the girl had completely f*cked me.
“Gram gave me a nightgown,” she muttered into my armpit as I wrapped an arm around her.
“I see that. It looks… cozy,” I told her with a smile, glad she was talking without crying.
“Shut up,” she huffed. “I look like I belong on f*cking Little House on the Prairie.”
Her words were like a punch to the chest and I chuckled, wheezing like I couldn’t catch my breath.
I’d seen her relieved, and I’d seen her embarrassed, and I’d seen her confused and scared. But I’d never seen her confident or sarcastic. Up until that point, I’d wanted her. I’d wanted to take care of her, pamper her, and make her feel safe. But her dry tone of voice had an entirely different effect. It made me want to bend her over the damn couch we were sitting on and f*ck her. Hard. Holy shit. I readjusted my suddenly tight jeans and settled more comfortably in the couch before saying anything else. That was all I f*cking needed—for Rose or one of the boys to see me tenting my jeans like an a*shole.
A couple hours later, Callie fell asleep and I carried her into Rose’s bed for the night. The boys were setting up the sleeping arrangements and I didn’t want them to wake her up. The girl looked tired as hell even when she was actually sleeping. Once I had her settled, I grabbed a blanket from Rose and got situated on my tiny-ass bed for the night. My back was going to kill me in the morning.
It wasn’t too long after the house had fallen asleep that I woke up to someone moving around in the living room. When I opened my eyes, I saw Callie quietly making her way through the guys on the floor. She was stepping around them when she could, and over them when she had to, walking on her toes as if that was going to help. I could see that most of them had woken up—men didn’t get far in this life if they let their guard down, and they would have felt the shift as soon as she came out of Rose’s room—but none of them moved or made a sound.
As she was stepping over Hammer’s chest, one of the brothers that came down with Poet, I saw his eyes open and his head move slightly as if to look up her nightgown. F*cking prick. I didn’t want to startle her by saying anything, but when his hand moved as if to grab her, I’d had enough.
“Touch her and I’ll f*ckin’ gut you, brother or not,” I growled, my voice raspy from sleep.
Callie squeaked and jumped, almost falling into the men sleeping on the floor. She barely caught herself and ran to me, stepping in any open space she could find between the bodies. When she got to me, she dove, landing sprawled on my chest and almost clipping my nose with her chin. I grunted as her knee came really close to my balls, and quickly moved her legs so one was between me and the back of the loveseat and the other pulled high on my waist. F*ck, even with her landing on me like a ton of bricks, my dick still sprang to attention.
“I thought you left,” she murmured quietly in my ear. She’d straightened out one of her arms so it was lying down our sides, but the other was across my stomach and bent with her hand on my bare chest. I should’ve left my goddamn shirt on, but it was hot as f*ck in the room with so many people in it and I hadn’t wanted to sweat through the only clean one I had left. I was seriously reconsidering my choice when she started kneading my chest, like she was making sure I was actually there. When her hand strayed close to my nipple, my dick practically jumped in my jeans and I quickly grabbed her hand and held it in the middle of my chest.
“Not going anywhere,” I reassured her with a kiss on her forehead. I thought about telling her to go back in with Rose, but I knew she wouldn’t sleep if she did. I had a feeling the minute she thought I was asleep, she’d be on her way back out, waking up the men on the floor again.
“I’m sorry I’m being such a pain in the ass,” she whispered, relaxing her body into mine. “It scares me when I can’t see you.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything. I just listened to her breathe until a little snore came out of her mouth. Her nightgown had ridden up, so her bare inner thigh was pressing against my stomach, and the heat in the room was making our skin sweat and stick together. F*ck me; I was never going to be able to sleep. I took a deep breath, pulled the thin blanket Rose had given me over us so the boys didn’t catch a peek of her ass, and tried to get my dick under control.
I must have finally fallen asleep, because I woke up to a bit of sunlight shining through the windows and Rose standing over us with a soft look on her face. It took me a second to figure out where I was, and I almost relaxed, but it was then that I realized that while one of my arms was innocently draped over Callie’s back, the other was beneath the blanket gripping her thigh, my hand so high up that my index finger was just barely inside her underwear and resting on hot, soft skin.