Текст книги "Coup De Grace"

Автор книги: Lani Lynn Vale

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Chapter 12

Hello, my name is Nikki Pena, and I’m a liar. I’m also going to hell.

-A liar’s secret thoughts

Nikki

“Hello?” Michael answered his phone with a large bite of hamburger taking up the majority of his mouth.

Michael grinned, and I could see chunks of food in his mouth, causing me to turn away in disgust.

My stomach roiled, and I looked down at the barely eaten plate of nachos I’d ordered for lunch– one hundred percent sure that if I tried to eat them I’d be barfing in no time.

It’d been four weeks since all the business with Madden and his children had gone down, and a little over four weeks since little Nathan Cox had been admitted to the hospital for a gunshot wound to his head.

All four were doing fine, and Madden was with his children at a temporary foster home until we could figure out a more permanent situation.

Nathan, however, wasn’t home.

Although he was doing much better, he still wasn’t where he needed to be to be allowed release from the hospital.

Then there was the murderer out there killing cops and their pregnant wives.

That was the worst.

That part was so scary because I worried for my friends and family, since all of them were cops.

Nausea started to slither up the back of my throat, and I hastily grabbed my cup of tea before taking several sips in a vain attempt to keep it down.

“I told you to buy a four wheel drive,” Michael said, taking another bite of his sandwich.

I closed my eyes as a ball of food and stomach contents started coming up my throat, and swallowed convulsively to get it to go back down.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” Michael said with a laugh. “Don’t dig it down any more. I’ll be there.”

I opened my eyes when I felt the table cloth move from him standing up.

I raised an expectant brow at him, all the while trying not to let on just how badly I felt.

“My sister’s stuck in her front yard. I have to go pull her out. Do you want to go or are you going home to study?” He asked hopefully.

I immediately started to feel bad.

Although I’d spent time with him over the last month, I’ve not spent much time with him.

We were together…just not together. I was there physically, just not mentally.

I’d been studying for my final exam that would hopefully lead to me being a certified mid-wife in the state of Texas.

A test that I was taking next week if all worked out as planned.

I had been ignoring him, though, and I was regretting that.

The only time we actually spent together, without me studying, was when I was laying in his arms at night.

“I’ll go,” I said softly, standing up.

A wave of exhaustion hit me the moment I stood and I swayed.

Michael caught me by the elbow and asked, “Okay?”

I nodded. “I’m really tired.”

His brows raised.

“That’s ‘cause you’ve been studying into the wee hours of the night, working so much you get overtired and waking up at the crack of dawn for more studying,” he admonished, helping me around the table and easing me into the aisle.

He didn’t let go of my hand until I was fully ensconced in his truck.

“Buckle up, baby,” he whispered, running the rough palm of his hand up my thigh.

I shivered at the familiar touch, and my core started to clench in anticipation.

“Okay,” I said quickly, plugging my seatbelt in and squeezing my legs shut tightly to circumvent the need that was slowly starting to course through me.

Nausea completely forgotten now that I could only think about how his cock would feel inside my…Nikki! Control yourself!

I was a walking horny machine.

At any given time of the day or night, I was ready to go.

So horny, in fact, that I now masturbated in the shower to thoughts of Michael when he wasn’t there to take care of me.

“What are you thinking about?” Michael asked, the look on his face comically knowing.

“Nothing.” I muttered, trying my best to make the whole horny feeling go away.

But it wasn’t of any use.

It was there to stay, and would be until either he, or I, took care of it.

Jesus, I was becoming such a slut puppy!

We’d driven about two miles and were just turning onto a dirt road when he suddenly pulled off into a corpse of trees, the truck bouncing awkwardly on the grass and gravel before he rocked to a stop.

“Michael!” I gasped.

Then I was being pulled across the seat, dragged into his lap until I was facing the windshield.

I could feel the hard column of his cock digging into my ass, and I squirmed in excitement.

“Do you know,” he murmured against my neck, “What it’s like to see you like this?”

I shook my head and arched my body when he started to move his fingers from my hips, up my rib cage, to come to a stop at my distended nipples.

Nipples that had become so sensitive lately that I could barely breathe when he touched them.

Even the minutest of touches had me soaring in seconds.

“N-no,” I said, gasping for breath.

He growled against my neck.

“I can always tell,” he told me. “I could tell two years ago, and I can still tell now. You have a tell, baby.”

I moaned when his mouth moved up the column of my neck to dip his tongue slightly into my ear before licking around the outer shell.

“A tell?” I asked breathlessly.

My eyes closed as his other hand went down until he reached the hem of my skirt and slowly started to work it up.

It wasn’t long before my ass was bared, and he noticed I wasn’t wearing panties.

“You rub your legs together and flip your hair from side to side. Your nipples get hard, and your eyes start to dilate,” he informed me, moving his hand until his fingers zeroed in on my pussy.

Three fingers coasted through the lips of my sex and immediately found purchase inside me.

“So wet for me, too,” he growled.

I nodded, lifting my hands to play with my other breast.

“Yeah, all of it’s for you,” I told him honestly. “All I can think about is having you inside of me.”

He chuckled against my neck. “Do you know what it’s like to have a boner in the same room as your woman’s brother? It’s not fuckin’ easy, and it happens all the time with all the dirty texts you send me day in and day out.”

I laughed breathlessly. “Yeah, I’m really sorry about that,” I lied.

He snorted at my lie. “Yeah, I’m sure you are.”

Then his hands went to his belt behind my back, and I felt his belt being released from its clasp, and his pants pulled down over his hips.

When his cock popped free of its confines, it rubbed deliciously against the cheeks of my ass before he said, “Sit up.”

I nodded, lifting up until he could position himself at my entrance.

Then he pulled me down, filling me so swiftly and quickly that I immediately started coming.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but even the idea of him taking me so roughly had me seeing stars.

“So fuckin’ responsive,” he growled as he took my hips and started roughly pulling me down on him.

I made a keening noise in my throat in agreement, and he laughed.

“Lean forward so I can watch you taking me. Hold onto the steering wheel,” he ordered me.

I did, leaning forward until my breasts were pressed up against the horn and swiftly picked up the pace again, working fast to bring him to release.

“So perfect,” he whispered, running his hands over the expanse of my ass.

I moaned again.

“Yeah, you fill me so good,” I said, slapping my ass against his thighs, taking his big dick as far as I could get him.

His hand ran up the length of my spine to settle on my shoulder, then slammed me down using the purchase he had, urging me to go faster and faster.

On one particular thrust he started to come.

I felt his belly tighten, then his cock started to jump as he shot his release into my waiting channel.

And that was all I needed, once again, to come.

My eyes crossed, and I threw my head back.

Michael fisted my hair as it tickled his belly, holding me steady with it when I finally came down from the high he’d just delivered to me.

“Fuckin’ beautiful,” he whispered fiercely.

I smiled and leaned back until my back rested against his front.

He wrapped both hands around me and buried his face into my neck.

“You’re killing me lately,” he whispered laughingly.

I snorted.

“I can’t help it. That’s all I think about. Your cock,” I teased.

He chuckled and leaned forward to grab the stack of napkins we’d gotten from Chick-Fil-A the night before.

Handing half to me, I placed it on the front of my vagina while he took the back, doing his best to catch the come that started to leak from my pussy the moment it was free of his cock.

I fell to my side in the passenger seat and did my best to clean myself of his come before retaking my seat.

He’d already tossed his napkins in the little bag hanging from his steering column.

“Here,” I said, offering the soiled napkins to him.

He gave me a ‘yeah right’ look and took the bag off his steering column, offering it to me. “There.”

I smiled and shoved the napkins into the bag before handing it back to him.

He took it reluctantly and replaced it before starting the truck up once more and backing out of the makeshift driveway.

“We’re going to be late,” I told him.

He tossed me a look. “We’re not going to be late. You can’t be late to somethin’ like this.”

Instead of answering, I stayed silent and watched the trees pass by, my nausea starting to return now that the horniness wasn’t there to overwhelm the nausea.

“You can be late to something like this if your sister’s been sitting in the driveway for the last hour waiting on us to get there,” I retorted.

He rolled his eyes, not that I could tell that he’d done so.

I, at least, heard the derision in his tone.

“My sister can wait as long as it takes, seeing as I told her not to buy the house in the first place because it was in a flood zone. Then I told her not to wait on getting a driveway because if she did, the whole thing would flood and she’d tear up her yard. Then when she didn’t get the driveway, I told her to get a four wheel drive. Do you know what she got? A two wheel drive Jeep. Who the fuck gets a two wheel drive Jeep?”

I could tell that he really wanted to know, and I didn’t have an answer for him.

The answer was: nobody.

What was the point of a Jeep if it didn’t have four wheel drive?

Not that I’d side with him.

Women needed to side with each other, otherwise men would take over the world.

Or, at least, Michael would get a fat head thinking he was always right.

“She lives out in the boonies, too, which means it’s a drive from wherever I’m at,” he told me as he turned down a dirt road. “And it’s a fixer upper, so I’m there every other weekend, it seems like.”

He wasn’t there every other weekend, which I told him.

“You’re not there every other weekend. Because you’ve been with me for a month now, and I’ve never met her, and you spend your weekends with me,” I told him dryly.

He winked at me, and I felt shivers race down my spine.

But then we hit a pot hole causing the truck to dip down low.

And the nausea welled back up my throat.

“Pull over!” I pleaded, hand going to my mouth.

He read the state I was in quickly with a quick scan of his eyes, and pulled over. Not that it was much.

But it was enough.

He stopped the truck quickly, and I had enough time to throw my door open before I lost the lunch that I’d barely eaten.

My head felt like it was a million times too big as I threw up everything I had in there, then started dry heaving.

I guess Michael was worried about me falling out of the truck because his hand went to the waist band of my skirt to hold on while I violently puked.

Head pounding, I lifted up.

Only to come face to face with a cow.

He was on his side of the fence, but still, the surprise of it all had me squeaking in surprise.

“You okay?” Michael asked.

I turned to him, then back to the cow.

“Yeah, I’m okay now. I’ve been nauseous since breakfast,” I told him.

“Stomach bug?” He asked worriedly.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. We have so many sick people come through the hospital every day that it’s possible. But I haven’t a clue. I just hope it goes the hell away.”

Reluctantly, he let my skirt go, and turned back to face the front of the truck.

“Maybe we should take you home,” he said. “It wouldn’t be good to pass whatever you have to Reggie.”

I waved my hand. “I’ll stay in the car. You’re all the way out here, and I’ll be fine as long as you don’t mind.”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t mind. Just don’t spread your cooties to me.”

I snorted, and pulled the door closed, tossing a glance at the cow who looked a little bit sad to see me go.

I leaned my head back against the seat, and closed my eyes as Michael started moving the truck back down the road. At a much slower pace this time.

“I won’t spread my cooties if I can help it,” I laughed.

His hand captured mine, and he held it on top of the middle console for another two miles.

Then he pulled into a…yard.

There wasn’t any driveway.

None at all.

And with all the rain we’d been getting over the past two months, her yard resembled more of a lake rather than a yard.

“She drives a jacked up two wheel drive Jeep…” I said unsurprised. “Why would she lift a two wheel drive?”

Michael burst out laughing.

“Exactly!”

He tried carefully, but the moment he pulled into her yard, his tires sank and started to spin.

“Gonna have to put it in already,” he muttered, doing something on the floorboard that I couldn’t see.

I couldn’t see it because the woman that was coming out of the little brown house was beautiful.

I could clearly tell she was Michael’s sister.

She had the same beautiful brown hair, and even from this distance I could see that her eyes were the same translucent blue.

“She looks just like you,” I observed as he pulled a u-ey in her yard and started to back up.

Mud splattered and slammed against the windows, causing me to laugh at the situation.

I’d been mudding before.

Hell, I was raised in East Texas.

If you hadn’t been mudding, that was because you hadn’t lived here long.

But I hadn’t done it in so long that I’d forgotten the way you slipped and slid.

Mud had zero traction.

It helped that Michael’s truck was so big. And his tires were so mean looking.

He rolled the window down and placed his hand on the window’s ledge while he lined up to his target.

Because he had it backed up to Hannah’s Jeep in no time, and was bailing out before I could ask him if he needed me to do anything.

I was studying the horses across the street when Michael’s voice yelled for me.

“Nikki!”

I stuck my head out the window and turned around until I could see him.

“Yeah?” I asked curiously.

Hannah and Michael were standing close, both of them looking at me.

Michael’s was teasing, and Hannah’s look was calculating.

She was sizing me up.

I waved to him, and she cracked a smile.

“He told me to stay in the truck so I didn’t spread my pukey cooties to you!” I informed her.

Hannah smiled.

“Appreciate that. If I catch it, it’ll mean Reggie will catch it!” She thanked me.

“Are y’all done?” Michael snapped impatiently.

I blinked, but wisely kept my mouth shut.

But I did nod my head.

“Good,” he muttered. “Now get into the driver’s seat and back it up a little more.”

I saluted him, and he narrowed his eyes at me.

Scrambling over the seat, I scooted the seat up to where I could reach the pedals easily, and backed the truck up.

Promptly saturating them both with mud.

I slapped my hand over my mouth.

“I’m sorry!” I yelled.

Michael didn’t laugh, but Hannah did.

Great guffaws that had her doubled over in hilarity.

“Do you want to pull yourself out?” He growled to his sister.

She shook her head and stood up, but she still had streaks running down her face where the tears from her laughing washed the mud away.

“Jeez,” she said, walking to her Jeep’s door. “You’re no fun.”

“That’s right, I’m not.”

I raised my brow at him, but he couldn’t see me because he was busy attaching the chain he’d produced from his toolbox to both vehicles.

I contemplated Michael’s sudden change in demeanor.

He’d done that quite a few times in the month I’d really been spending time with him.

Three instances where all of a sudden his mood would just snap from one extreme to the other.

Going from really happy, to pissed off at the slightest thing in a matter of seconds.

Quite frankly, it was fascinating to witness.

Not that I’d tell him that I found his disease fascinating.

I’d learned to roll with it, though.

I had sisters.

Enough said.

Also, it was easier not to call attention to it and act like nothing was wrong.

That was the fastest way to get him back on track, and I knew he was grateful that I didn’t heckle him about it.

“Alright, Hannah. I want you to give it some gas when you start to feel the tug on the chain, okay?” He confirmed.

She nodded, and he started to the driver’s side door, so I moved before he could ask me to.

I was in my seat when he opened the door, and I had to look the other way so he wouldn’t see the smile on my face.

“I know you’re laughing at me,” he growled.

“I’m not laughing,” I lied.

He snorted and threw it into drive.

The tightening of the chain sounded, and both of them started giving it gas.

Then, all of a sudden, Michael stopped.

“She’s going forward,” he said, covering his face with his hands. “Please tell me she’s not. Because I’ll be embarrassed to call her my sister.”

I hopped out of the truck, and my white tennis shoes immediately sank into the mud.

It came all the way up to my lower calves, but I got out to circumvent the argument I knew was about to ensue.

“Hannah!” I whispered loudly.

She turned and let off the gas.

“Backwards!” I whispered again.

Her eyes widened, and then she covered her mouth with her hand. “Shit!”

With pink cheeks, she pushed it up into reverse and started to go backwards.

Michael then started to go forward, and immediately pulled her out of the dirt with little to no effort at all.

He drug her all the way to the road where he pulled over and parked just to the side of the road and got out.

“You need a driveway,” he growled.

Hannah fell out of her Jeep because she was parked on the incline that lead to a ditch, causing her to trip and nearly fall on her face.

Her baby brother, though, saved her before she could even make it to her knees.

“You’ll need to keep parking here where it’s packed ground, otherwise you’ll keep getting stuck,” he told her, setting her on her feet.

I crossed my arms over my chest and turned to look at the dog that was peeking out the door behind me.

“Hey big boy,” I said to him.

He was old.

He was a black lab that had a white mask covering the entirety of his face.

He moved slow as he made his way to me.

I went down to my haunches, holding out my hand for him.

He nudged my hand, and I started to pet his head.

“You’re a sweet baby,” I told him, scratching behind his ears.

“That’s Mogley,” Hannah said from behind me. “He’s a sucker for some lovin’s.”

I smiled. “He’s sweet. I used to have a black lab like him named Nike. My dad had to put him to sleep when he was fifteen because he couldn’t walk anymore. Too many Frisbee tosses, I guess.”

“Mogley’s a whiz with a tennis ball. He used to be my ex’s, but Joshua didn’t want to take care of him anymore when he started to lose his desire to duck hunt,” she said sadly.

What a dick.

How could you just get rid of a dog who was too old to do what you asked of him?

Certainly not me!

I’d kill for a puppy, but my apartment’s pet deposit was outrageous, and you couldn’t have a dog over twenty five pounds.

And, although I loved small dogs, I couldn’t handle the high pitch barking that came with them.

I much preferred a dog that would protect me. Play with me. And genuinely have fun with me.

I’d have that again someday.

“He’s a sweetheart,” I told her.

Michael came up to the porch and offered Mogley a scratch on the head before he started stripping off his boots, followed quickly by his pants.

“Got anything I can change into?” He asked.

I blinked when he stripped right down to his boxer briefs.

“What would you do if I didn’t?” She asked laughingly.

He glared at her.

“Drive home in my underwear,” he said simply.

Of course he would.

Although, men could get away with that.

They could get away with almost anything.

Whereas, if a woman had tried to drive home in nothing but a bra and panties, she’d get into trouble for it.

“I have some of Joshua’s old clothes in the spare bedroom. They won’t fit you well, but I’m pretty sure there’s a pair of old shorts and a t-shirt or something,” she told him.

He grunted and walked into the house, completely ignoring me.

“Hmmm,” I said once he left.

“He’s in one of those moods,” she explained softly.

I nodded. “He’s fine.”

She looked at me carefully.

“You know,” she said simply.

I blinked. “Know what?” I asked innocently.

“That he’s bi-polar.”

I nodded. “Yeah, he told me.”

Her eyes widened in understanding.

“He loves you,” she whispered. “And you love him.”

I blinked.

“Well…” I did. I just didn’t want his sister to know.

I was waiting.

I sensed that that was somehow crucial to our budding relationship.

If I spooked him, he would run.

Which was why I was denying, with everything I had, what I sorely suspected wasn’t food poisoning or a stomach bug.

I was pregnant.

Very pregnant.

Because since I’d hooked back up with Michael, I’d not had my period.

I was so regular with my period that I could set a timer to it.

I could tell you within the hour of when I was going to start, because it started at the same time every month.

Which meant that the first time we were together we’d conceived a child.

A child that he didn’t want.

A child that I had to convince him that he could have. Who could be healthy. Who could be a good person, just like he was. Whether he wanted to admit he was a good man or not.

“You love him,” she confirmed, nodding her head. “Good. He’s a good man.”

See? I knew he was.

“I know,” I told her. “He’s a really good man.”

“He’s a sap for a little kid, though. As you can see, he’s collecting them once again,” she said with a snicker. “A year or so ago, he saved a little boy from a car crash, and stayed with him for four hours while he was cut out of a car. Now Jackson is Michael’s biggest fan. They still hang out with each other every once in a while. Hell, he’s Reggie’s best friend. He’s all she talks about sometimes.”

That knowledge that he loved kids gave me hope.

I’d already known that, of course, but it was good to have it reiterated.

“How old is Reggie?” I asked, gathering up Michael’s clothes and boots and putting them into a trash bag that Hannah had magically produced out of a planter/secret hiding spot between two chairs on her porch.

“She’s two and a half, going on eighteen,” Hannah laughed. “She’s Michael’s little mini-me. Imitates everything Michael does, and it drives my ex-husband bonkers. I love it.”

I laughed with her.

Which was how Michael found us.

He wasn’t in a bad mood any longer.

No, he was in a great mood.

Which he proved when he said, “I like it when my two favorite girls get along, smiling and laughing.”

I gave him a thumbs up. “Well, we were laughing at you. Does that make you feel any different?”

He shook his head in the negative.

“No, it doesn’t. As long as you’re getting along,” he announced.

I raised a brow at him, studying his attire.

He was in a black pair of jogging shorts that were seriously too tight on him, mostly because I could make out the outline of his cock through the shorts. And although it was a very nice outline, it wasn’t something I wanted the world to be seeing.

His shirt wasn’t much better, but at least it was something.

I was happy to see his tattoos in the daylight, though.

Normally, I only got to see him when we were at his house or mine. And it was only in the privacy of our bedroom.

Michael wasn’t like normal men.

He didn’t go without a shirt. He always had one on. Always.

Unless he was going to bed or getting out of the shower.

“Why wouldn’t we get along?” I asked curiously.

Hannah was the one to answer.

“Joslin and I didn’t get along. At all. She was selfish and stuck up. She also hated the fact that I called her on her shit when I picked up ER rotations. Something she really, really didn’t like,” she answered.

“Ahh,” I said. “That makes sense. She hates me because I do that, too.”

Hannah grinned. “Looks like we have a ton of stuff in common. And guess what! We can gang up on her at family dinners and Christmases! Because my big brother is being stupid and marrying the cheating hoe!”

Michael’s head tilted to the side. “How’d you know she cheated?”

Hannah looked at him as if he were stupid. “Michael, baby brother dear, I’m not stupid. I work in the same hospital she does. And her stink doesn’t just stay on the ground floor. It permeates to all the floors. Trust me.”

I had to agree.

Joslin was somewhat famous.

She was the hoe of the hospital, and everyone knew it.

They may not know her by sight, but they knew her by name, and that name wasn’t really pretty.

“They call her Whoreslin instead of Joslin,” Hannah informed him.

He blinked.

“And she’s alright with that?” He asked in disbelief.

My eyebrows shot up.

“She doesn’t know she’s called that,” I told him.

He blinked. “If everyone calls her that, she has to know. The woman is far from dumb,” he told me.

I shrugged. “No matter. Whatever she is, is not dumb. But she also has no care of what others think of her. She’s going to do what she does without another thought on what anyone else thinks.”

“So will you be on time for dinner tonight?” Hannah asked, changing the subject.

I was glad.

That subject always had the ability to make me depressed.

A year and a half of working with her, and I still hated it.

The fact that I was about to meet his parents, though, wasn’t much better.

In fact, the nausea was back full force at the thought of meeting them.

I’d met parents before, but I never knew what to say.

I wasn’t a very outgoing person.

I could talk to someone, of course, but I always said or did something to make myself look stupid.

“We’ll be there on time, I think. Unless something with the team comes up,” Michael said, lifting his arms high above his head to rest on the lip of the porch’s roof.

His way too short shirt rode up exposing his taut belly, and my mouth started to water.

His belly was covered with tattoos, but I could still see the defined ridges of his abdominals peeking out.

The man was seriously ripped.

And it never hurt to see his tattoos. Something which made me so happy to see on display since they were made for people to see.

Not that he agreed with me.

It’d been the subject of many discussions, and I’d finally decided to just let it be.

He could do what he wanted to do, and I’d be there to support him.

“Well, it’s not like you have any control of when you get a SWAT callout. It is what it is,” she said, waving her arm at the idea that he’d be late for that. “Mom will get over it.”

I sensed that this was also a sore subject, him being on the SWAT team, and I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

“Alright, Hannah. I’ve got to run. We’ve got a lunch with the boys, but I’ll see you later this afternoon,” he said to his sister.

Hannah walked forward and hugged him, effectively getting him muddy once again, but not nearly as much as he’d been before.

He scrunched her hair and kissed her forehead before he let her go.

“Be careful,” he whispered to her.

Hannah nodded. “I will.”

Then, before I could think or say anything to the contrary, I was picked up.

One of his arms swept my legs out from under me, and the other went behind my shoulders to catch me as I fell.

I squealed and looped my arms around his shoulders, hanging on for dear life, even though I knew he’d never drop me.

“I’m too heavy!” I protested.

He snorted.

“You’re not heavy. You’re petite. Which is the opposite of too heavy,” he said with that annoyingly sweet tone of his.

I could hear the way his feet sank into the mud with each step, and I couldn’t help but object.

“Michael, my feet are already covered in mud. Why are you carrying me?” I asked.

He laughed.

I leaned my head down to rest against his neck.

“Whatever,” I said teasingly.

He squeezed me tighter, and I’d never felt safer or more content in my life.