Crank's Rescue (Hell Raiders MC Book 6), page 8
Sarah:
Chancey placed a big mug of herbal tea in front of me, and sat across the table with her own. "Okay, you have to tell me. Where do I find a guy like yours?"
My gaze automatically went to her big baby bump. "I met him through work, entirely by accident." The words for how to explain, without revealing details that could give up my identity, came slowly. "His friend was in the area on family business, and he came along for moral support."
Her eyes widened. "Was it romantic? Of course it was romantic. Just look at the man." Her hand rested on her belly again in what seemed like a habit. "I have two more weeks until this baby comes. As soon as I hand her over to my sister, I'm going to make some changes. I have to at least get out more."
The thought came out before I could stop it. "You're not keeping the baby?"
Fortunately, Chancey seemed not to take offense. She offered a broad smile. "No, she isn't mine. I'm just carrying her for my sister and her husband. They've lost so many, and the last time there were complications that meant no more tries for them."
The generosity of her gesture struck me. Could I do the same thing for someone else? Even a sibling? I wasn't so sure. "So what kind of changes are you going to make?"
The tea mug partially hid her nervous smile. "I'm not sure. I might even sell this place, start over somewhere else. Nothing ever changes around here. It's the same people I grew up with, only they've moved on from being jocks or troublemakers to being used car salesmen and criminals."
I nodded. "That's exactly how I always felt about my hometown. My family always just assumed I would eventually settle with one of the used car salesman types, and give them grandbabies. They're going to have a fit if they ever meet Crank."
"You don't think they'll like him?"
A little laugh escaped me at the thought. "He's hardly the kind of man they would have chosen for me. I can see it now; my dad and Crank scowling at each other across the table while my mom tries to make small talk. It won't be pretty." Something else occurred to me. "Of course, that might never happen, either. He might not want anything beyond short term." My mind shied away from thinking of the devastation he would leave behind him.
"No, I think you're wrong there. From the way he looks at you, that man wants nothing less than forever with you."
Could she be right? And if she were, was forever with Crank what I really wanted? At the moment, I thought it was. How would I feel in a week? A month? Frustration welled up. How could I even know? "I'm not even sure what I want."
Chancey's irrepressible smile appeared once more. "You'll figure it out. And when you do, you'll wonder how you missed something so obvious."
"I hope you're right. I'm not used to being uncertain about things." A change of subject seemed like the perfect idea. "So, if you left here, where would you go to start over?"
We chatted on about the world of possibilities until Chancey's phone rang. I stood to leave and waved a little before going out onto the broad front porch. A cool breeze took advantage of the construction, and kept the temperature comfortable on the porch, despite the heat of the late afternoon.
I'd thought of it before, of course, but what would it really be like to just leave and go somewhere new? I didn't even have to consider how my parents would react to the prospect. Appalled, angry, and hurt were only the tip of the iceberg. They would do anything and everything possible to convince me to stay home, and I really couldn't blame them. They built a life on making the safe choices, and as I grew up, minimizing risk was one of the lessons they tried really hard to impress on me.
Did I want to live the rest of my life without taking chances? Could I actually leave the little safety bubble of home? The world was a big scary place, and I always had my parents to turn to when things went wrong. Could I truly go it alone? Or with Crank by my side? Everything I thought I knew about my future, and about life, seemed out of balance since meeting him.
Even scarier than the prospect of leaving everything familiar behind, was the thought that I scarcely knew this man. Basically, the force of his personality, and his sex appeal, held enough power over me to make me consider throwing my life away on the chance of a future with him. Clearly, I needed a plan. Before I could really consider any kind of long-term thing with Crank, I need to know so much more about him. I started a mental list of things to ask him about; politics, religion, and family were all huge parts of a person's identity. And then little things, like pizza toppings, ice cream flavors, and whether he put the cap back on the toothpaste also went on my list.
The door behind me opened, startling me a little, and Chancey came out onto the porch. "You come to any big momentous decisions out here?" She awkwardly lowered herself into one of the rocking chairs, making me smile.
"Only that I need to get to know Crank a lot better." Something about her open and honest nature made me want to confide in her. "I might have a little issue getting past the physical long enough to find out much about him."
Laughter spilled over. "Oh, I bet you do." Then she sobered. "But honestly? My momma used to say if the match works physically, everything else can be worked out."
Could it really be that simple? "I always thought I needed to know everything about a man before I could get serious with him."
Chancey stretched her feet out, and rubbed her belly. "I swear, this little girl is going to be the first female NFL player, the way she kicks. A lot of people think that way, but look at history. At one time, it wasn't uncommon for a couple to meet the first time on their wedding day, or to only see each other a few times before getting married. Then look at today, when people date for years, then get engaged for more years, and then get a divorce just a little while in."
I had to admit, she had a point. "I wonder why it works that way sometimes?"
"There's no mystery left, nothing special about being married, nothing really to look forward to. The adventure is over before they even commit to each other."
"You think so?" It made an odd sort of sense.
"I do. My parents got married just a few weeks after they met, and they're still madly in love after thirty-five years. My sister and her husband were engaged within a week of meeting, and married two months later. They just had their tenth anniversary, even after all the heartache they've seen with losing babies."
Interesting. My parents were engaged for two years, and while they seemed happy enough together, there were no sparks flying, or anything like that. It was like they were just comfortable with each other, but no longer really in love. Everyone else I knew had long engagements, and short marriages. Definitely food for thought.
The sound of tires on the lane interrupted anything I might have come up with to say in response. The sight of that big SUV approaching, bringing Crank back to me, sent my pulse skyrocketing.
Chancey grunted as she struggled to her feet. "Looks like your man is back. I'll let you get on with getting to know him." She grinned broadly. "If you need anything, I have my little place off to the other side of the kitchen. Just ring the doorbell." She opened the door. "Have fun." Her laughter followed her inside.
The SUV came to a stop a short distance away, and I waited impatiently for the engine to shut off and the door to open so I could see him clearly. After an eternity, Crank stepped out of the truck and strode to the porch. The way he moved held me mesmerized. This man never had a moment of doubt in his life, with confidence and discipline clear in every step.
My stomach tightened with anticipation as he came closer. God, I was hopeless, getting all hot and bothered just watching him walk toward me. By the time he stopped in front of me, my body was wet and ready, needing him.
He raised a hand to the pulse beating so wildly in my throat. "Mmm. You know what I love?"
"What?" How could a single word sound as if I were throwing myself at his feet?
"I love the way your pussy is already wet and tight, waiting for me." He lowered his head and brushed his lips across mine. "Your nipples are hard, wanting my mouth on them." As he stepped closer, bringing me tight against him, heat exploded through my body. "You fucking rock my world, Sarah." His mouth was hard and hungry on mine, and he slid his hand down to cup my breast.
Powerless to do anything other than cling to him and return his kiss, I offered no resistance when he guided me backward. I hardly noticed moving until my shoulders encountered the siding of the wall behind me. Even then, I lacked the presence of mind, or willpower, to object when he lifted my shirt and sucked my nipple into his hot mouth.
Heat built rapidly within me, making my remaining clothes uncomfortably tight. Crank's fingers went to my waist, and before I knew it, he roughly worked my jeans down, and I could do nothing but help, and wait as he undid his own pants. Hard fingers clamped down on my hips and he lifted me so my legs automatically opened around him.
His hard heat brushed against me and created an instant firestorm, but he paused, instead of pushing inside me as I so desperately needed. "Sarah, look at me."
I forced my heavy lids up to find his intense gray eyes staring into mine. "What's wrong?" Worry tied my stomach in knots. Was it already ending? I wasn't ready.
"This is for-fucking-ever, Sarah. You are mine. Don't you ever forget that." With a heavy groan, he lowered me to give me what I needed.
The first thrust made lights explode behind my eyes, and then I lost the ability to do anything other than cling to him and wait for him to take us both to paradise. At some point, he shifted me a little and changed the angle of our bodies, intensifying every movement he made. And then the cresting wave of my orgasm crashed into me, and Crank followed closely with his own.
By the time I started to catch my breath, I realized where we were. On the front porch of a public business establishment. Where anyone could come along at any time. Oh my God! I squirmed to get away from Crank and pull my clothes back on.
His laughter rang out, rich and full, probably the most relaxed sound I had ever heard from him. Around that same time, his words started to sink in. Forever? His?
Crank:
Following Sarah up that fancy staircase was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Partly because every single cell of me wanted to grab her, strip her, and fuck her again, right there on the stairs. And also because a big part of me was scared of how she would react to what I said out there on the porch. I sort of hinted earlier, but this was the first time I boldly declared my intentions toward her. She could easily tell me to fuck off. Probably should. But I prayed she didn't.
I opened the door to our room for her. "I guess I owe Chancey a new old lock, huh?" Yeah, anything but talk about the purple polka-dotted elephant in the room. Real fucking smooth.
"She said don't worry about it. Apparently, these old locks are a little temperamental, so she has several extras on hand." She shook her head, and looked up at me, eyes full of confusion and worry. "Crank, I don't know what's happening between us. I—"
"I didn't mean to push you."
"I don't even know you."
I shrugged. "I'm an open book. What do you want to know?" No, I did not fucking say that. Couldn't have. I didn't talk about my past, my family, for a reason.
"I don't know." She crossed to the chairs by the fireplace, looking even more confused than before. "We haven't actually talked about anything really. When you were here before, it was the stuff with Nicole and Tyler, and now it's all about Sennit. Do you like mushrooms on pizza? What's your favorite milkshake? What kind of movies do you like?"
I went over behind her and tucked her hair to the side, revealing the column of her neck, and let my fingers trace the delicate skin. "I can take mushrooms, or leave them. I'm pretty easy to please with food. But I really don't fucking like green beans. Milkshakes, it's chocolate all the way. I'm easy with movies, too, as long as it's action or suspense. I read a lot, but mostly, I'm online. I keep music blaring in my office while I work, classic rock, heavy metal, old country, and a lot of other stuff. Now how about you?" The attempt to shift the focus off myself usually worked with women.
She smiled up over her shoulder at me. "Mushrooms are a must. Chocolate. And I don't like blood and guts in movies." Her fingers wrapped around mine and she tugged me to the chair beside her. "What's your real name? Tell me about your family, about growing up."
And there it was. The question I dreaded. "It's not a pretty story, Sarah."
"I'm not looking for pretty stories."
I sighed. "James Harrison Baer. It's an old family name. My daddy was a tobacco farmer, and ran his daddy's old moonshine still on the side, grew a little weed on the side of the side. Momma worked in a factory. I have two older sisters, and a younger brother. My sisters got the fuck up out of Stags Leap as soon as they were old enough. When I was seventeen, and my brother was fifteen, daddy's still blew up, and killed him. Momma drove her car off a bridge a year later."
"I'm so sorry." Her soft fingers rested against my jaw, and she blinked away a tear as I looked up.
"It was for the best. Daddy was mean as fuck when he was drunk, which was pretty much all the time. Momma took the worst of it, but us kids still got the living shit beat out of us regularly." I took a deep breath, trying to hold the past at bay.
"Why didn't she leave him?"
"She wouldn't have made it out of the county alive. Daddy's ancestors were some of the first whites there, so whoever he wasn't related to fucking owed him for shine, or was afraid to cross him. She was from Michigan, but I don't know much of anything else about her family. They cut her off when she ran off with the hillbilly." Nausea curled in my belly, warning me to leave the subject alone. But my Sarah wanted to know, deserved to know. "After they died, my brother went to live with one of our sisters, but I stayed in Stags Leap. One of my teachers talked me into staying to graduate, and taking some classes at the community college a couple of counties over." Fuck, I needed a drink.
"Is that where you met Fabio and the others?" Her soft touch brought a hard lump to rest somewhere in the center of my chest.
"Second semester, after I finished up finals, I went to a party. I never had time for that shit, but a couple of the guys gave me a hard time about it, so I went. And after, I got in my old truck and started home. I took the back roads so I wouldn't get picked up in a road block sobriety check. Almost made it, too." God damn, that room needed more air. I got up and went to the window, heaving it open to gulp in deep breaths.
Sarah's hand on my shoulder pulled me out of the urge to fucking cut and run. "You don't have to tell me the rest, if you don't want to."
"Yeah, I do." It took me another minute to fucking gather the courage. "I don't really know what happened. I guess I dozed off, or something. I woke up enough to fight them as they pulled me out of the truck. I killed a man that night. Old motherfucker out wandering along the side of the road. I never even got charged. Everybody knew it was a matter of time before he got hit."
"That doesn't sound like it was your fault."
My hands curled into fists. "Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, I needed a change. I enlisted in the Army. Did really good there. Loved my work. Then I got a new First Lieutenant. Fucker was a real hard ass. One day he pushed too hard, and I slugged him, and broke his jaw. Ended up getting put out. When I came home, I kicked around a little while, until Kellen approached me about some work. I ended up in the Club, and never looked back." I turned to look at Sarah, expecting the condemnation I deserved to reflect back from her face.
Except it wasn't there. "I'm sorry things were hard for you." And she fucking meant it. She smiled up at me. "Want to change the subject?"
I couldn't do anything but nod, as another piece of my soul became hers.
She led me back over to the chairs. "What did you learn while you were out?"
One more deep breath helped settle my fucking nerves. "Well, that guy, Runner? He's Fergus' kid. And while he was in the system, Sennit fucking pimped him."
A mixture of anger and horror settled on her face. "So this is a lot worse than Sennit molesting some nearly-legal girls."
"Yeah. A lot worse." I went on to tell her what I'd learned from the jackass Fergus' boys caught, but I left out how I persuaded him to talk. The less she knew of the dirty business I did, the better.
"So what do we do now?"
"I'll hack into the system at your office tonight. Tomorrow, we see about getting our girl in there."
"Is it safe? I mean, I know it's not safe-safe, but what if he finds out we're using her to get him?" Worry made a little furrow between her brows.
Fuck, she didn't even know the girl Fergus picked to send in, and she still worried for her safety. "It'll be as safe as we can make it. She'll be armed, and wired up, and she's not a kid, even if she does look like one. Help will be close by in case she needs it, too." If I gave any indication how fucking dangerous this was going to get for that girl, Sarah would pull the plug right now.
"You're sure?"
"As sure as I can be. Not very fucking much is certain in this world." Seemed like the perfect time for a change of subject of my own. "You have fun while I was gone?"
That smile of hers fucking blew me away. "I did. Chancey is really nice, and she's hilarious."
"Good qualities in a mom." At least, it seemed that way.
"I'm sure they are, but she isn't going to be a mom, despite appearances. The baby is her sister's."
"Huh. So she's generous, too." Neither of my sisters would have done anything like the for the other. Most of the time, they were too busy competing against one another for something to even really notice they were sisters.
"She is. And she seems to think you hung the moon." Her eyes twinkled with restrained laughter.
"What?"
She told me about her conversation with Chancey. "You know, I've always made safe choices. Well, except two times."
"What choices did you make that weren't safe ones?" Tension began to knot my shoulders. I didn't know if I could listen to how some fucking quarterback broke her heart in high school.
