Angels & Sinners: The Motor City Edition (22 page)

Des turns her around, chest to chest. Dee feels his erection on her belly as he lifts her head, while gently holding her cheeks. She watches as he lowers his head and lightly touches his lips to hers for just a moment. Then he moves back just a bit, while watching her closely.

Suddenly, Dee feels like she needs to ‘live in the moment’, so she reaches up, grasps his hair to pull him back down, and smashes their lips together.

Immediately, Des regains control of her mouth. His lips are soft but firm at the same time. His tongue glides over her closed lips, and puts pressure on them until she grants him permission to enter. When he nibbles on her fuller, bottom lip, she gasps, and inadvertently grants him permission. He takes advantage of it and he deepens the kiss. They are suddenly both starving for one another and their kiss is like someone had granted them permission to feast. Finally, their most intimate wishes and their desperate longings for each other are being met.

Dee has never felt this way with any other man. The feeling of being taken care of while the intense heat between them threatens to overwhelm her is amazing. Although she loves being in his arms, Dee pushes on his chest and steps back before their passion gets too out of hand. Both of them are panting and gazing at each other.

Dee grabs her purse along with the papers she brought for him to sign and heads off toward the door, honestly not knowing what to say.

Des walks past her and opens the front door for her saying, “Be careful driving sugar, I will see you in the morning. And Dee Dee. We are finally going to have that talk, no way out of it after what we just experienced. Don’t fight me on this sweetie, cause ya know you will lose.”

Dee steps into her car with the realization that she is in trouble. Des could have any woman he wanted. He always has, as they elegantly—well, sometimes not so elegantly—throw themselves at him. She also knows that over the past several years, he has had multiple lovers in his life. Each affair he’d had ultimately tore a piece from her heart, but she’d had to make a choice for her family.

She knows this because women talk and they all want a chance at Desmond Connelly. Between his gorgeous looks, sense of humor, and just being a great guy, Dee knows woman have been falling at his feet for years.

Dee doesn’t understand why he has never been in a relationship. She knows he has been involved with some women, because they also talk. Dee has tried extremely hard to ignore these conversations, because her little green demon comes and listens to what these women have to say about Des. Even after all of these years, she is still pissed that these nameless women get a part of Des that she has never had, but has wanted so badly, it hurts.

CHAPTER 3—WOLF

After Dee leaves Des grabs another beer trying to clear his head over the two women, he’s had interactions with tonight. He remembers Wolf telling him that Katie was a bitch and would cause him nothing but trouble. As usual, Des wonders why he didn’t listen to his friend and longtime employee. If he had, maybe that would have saved him some of the headache. Wolf always seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to women and whether or not they were keepers or bitches. Des chuckled at this thought.

Wolf Youngblood was the first employee Des had hired when he’d become the owner of Connelly’s. Wolf had been a young man searching for something and had been in a bad way. Des still doesn’t even know if Wolf is his real name, but he met him in a bar about ten years ago when Wolf had been eighteen. Yeah, he had been underage in a bar trying to take on the world. Because of his stature, no one would have questioned the Native American about his age.

Wolf had been sitting at the bar, nursing a beer, and glaring at everyone coming and going. Des had approached him, because his curiosity got the best of him. He knew the kid was underage and was drinking alone. Wolf looked like the perfect example of what a warrior from days gone by might have looked like. He has long, black hair that reaches his waist and wears, at all times, in a braid. He has weathered, honey-colored skin, due to his Indian heritage, with high cheekbones and a sculpted face. His cinnamon brown eyes, at first glance, are emotionless until you have gotten to know him. Most people never take the time to get past the demons in Wolf’s eyes. Des has tried for years to help Wolf put his past behind him, but Wolf rarely allows anyone in or speaks of his past. The little knowledge Des knows is that Wolf is Lakota Sioux. He is from out West, and knows that he never speaks about his family outside of his brother.

Besides that, he knows the ‘complete package of Wolf’ tends to attract women. Des has had first-hand viewing of this in his shop and whenever they go out. Wolf has a way about him that has all women, regardless of age, doing their best to get his attention.

Wolf has never spoken about his ‘conquests’ in all the years they have known each other. But, Des knows there have been many that have known Wolf intimately although none have ever come to the shop or have bothered Wolf after their time together. Des sees the reaction of females when they go out. Women hungrily watch Wolf all the time, as if they want to eat him alive. The sexual tension that women give off is sometimes overwhelming, but Des never sees Wolf respond to them.

Des knows by the proof of the scars that run up and down his back that Wolf was somehow abused or mistreated. The first time Des saw the monstrosity and cruelty on Wolf’s back, he was immediately taken aback and appalled. He tried to talk to him about it, but Wolf’s protection shield came up immediately. Over the years, Wolf has tried to hide those scars with tattoos, but even the ink can’t hide the horror he has been forced to live through.

Des and time have helped Wolf come to terms with his ability to allow people to get close. Des has seen Wolf open up to some of his co-workers over the years, while others he never gave the time of day and would ignore having nothing to do with them. One person specifically is Katie. She actually went after Wolf first, but he wanted nothing to do with her. Des should have followed suit. Wolf tends to know whom to pick and allow into his simple life.

Wolf is, for the most part, a quiet man. Des has rarely seen Wolf lose his temper a couple of times, but that was enough for Des to know that whatever happened in Wolf’s past has not been dealt with. One time it took five guys to pull Wolf off a guy who had been mistreating his girlfriend. Wolf didn’t just kick his ass, he took the girl to the hospital, helped her get settled into her own place, and then assisted her to find a job. He continues to check in on Ginger from time to time since they are now close friends. Des remembers another time when a man was beating his dog in the middle of the street with a huge stick. Wolf stormed over grabbed the man by the neck and literally lifted him off his feet, letting him dangle in the air. Wolf then threw the man across the street, and then gently looked after the dog that was in bad shape. After many days at the vet and constant care, the dog managed to survive, and now lives, content, on Wolf’s property, Spirit’s forever home.

There are many strays that have come and gone from Wolf’s ranch and not all of them have been animals. He has the ability to draw all kinds of strays, everything from abused women, broken men or soldiers, runaways, to kids in trouble. He never turns anyone away, always trying to help get them on their feet and toward the road to living a decent life.

Wolf’s skill as a fabricator of custom bikes gives him the ability to listen to what a customer describes as their dream bike, and then completes the task to perfection. This all still amazes Des. The custom fabrication part of the business continues to grow in leaps and bounds, so Des is considering asking Wolf to go into a partnership with him on the custom bike side of the business. Between the rich son of bitches and the 1% clubs who are calling in orders almost daily, Des is starting to fall behind. He doesn’t want to lose the reputation his business has built over the last thirteen years as being one of the best.

Des has also been worried about Wolf for a while. Wolf has been hiding something from Des and it scares him. Some of Wolf’s contacts are kinda sketchy and Des doesn’t want Wolf pulled into something illegal. Des knows that Wolf’s brother lives on the edge and only texts or calls him when he is in some kind of trouble. Wolf has mentioned that he has been in contact with Axe recently. Des is concerned because Axe is part of a 1% MC and doesn’t want any trouble. With Axe hanging around, trouble would always be right around the corner. Des needs to have a talk with Wolf ASAP in order to find out the truth of what is what is going on. The shop has too much to lose if Axe starts trouble and Des doesn’t want to see Wolf get hurt. Des is worried about his business, but also concerned about all of the employees that have come to depend on him for their livelihood.

CHAPTER 4—THE MURPHYS

Des gets up and grabs another beer. He moves back to his desk, reflecting on the rest of his crew at the shop.

Gabriel ‘Doc’ Murphy came along next. Des knew Doc was an exceptional guy when he saw how he took such phenomenal care of his ill wife, Fern. He hired Doc on the spot because the clinic Doc and Fern opened for the underprivileged lost funding and was closed. The idea of closing the clinic tore the Murphy’s apart, emotionally and financially. They believed that the care they were providing, for the community, was beneficial for all. And with the closing of the clinic both Doc and Fern lost their financial stability.

Then Fern became ill. After months of testing, including many misdiagnoses, the doctors discovered that Fern, the love of his life had cancer. Unfortunately, because neither Doc nor Fern had permanent employment, which in turn meant they had no health insurance, so the surmounting bills sent them into a financial downfall. So, when Doc approached Des explaining that he needed to have both permanent employment and insurance, but mostly insurance to help Fern with her cancer, Des hired him on the spot.

Over the years Des had seen how the clinic grew, how Doc and Fern helped so many people in their small town in Indiana that he couldn’t turn away Doc. Although Doc had limited mechanical experience, Des knew that he would do his best, not just for Des, but for the shop as well.

Doc turned out to be an exceptional mechanic for someone who had never actually worked on vehicles of any kind. He took to working on motorcycles, especially building choppers and the specialty bikes. He loves to work on them alone. He has actually helped build that part of the business up with Wolf since there are no other shops close that do specialty builds. Doc is building a name for himself. Because Fern has been so sick, in and out of the hospital, Doc does everything alone.

He is a man struggling with his heart breaking over her illness. Fern is Doc’s high school sweetheart, but they have been together since they were fourteen. They graduated high school at the same time and both went away to college together.

When Doc ran out of money for college, he joined the army for a while and that is where he found his love for helping people. He was stationed around the world in third world countries and he learned to make the most of what was provided. Doc showed underprivileged people how to work, in their own countries, with what they had and was trained in the army to be a medic.

When he came home, Doc courted then married Fern, and they worked together to open their clinic. Fern’s a registered nurse and Doc had his experiences as a medic from his time in the army. Doctors and nurses volunteered their time at the clinic because, they also wanted to help the Murphy’s help the citizens of their community.

When the Murphy’s lost the clinic’s funding and then the diagnosis regarding Fern’s cancer, stress of life increased exponentially. Now, with Fern in the hospital, Doc rarely goes home anymore, unless she comes home for a brief time. He is usually at the shop, working, or at the hospital spending time with Fern. Doc admits that it is difficult to be at home without Fern; too many memories threaten to choke the life from his own body.

Even with health insurance from the shop the bills for Fern’s care continue to pile up. Doc confided in Des one night over burgers and beers that he might be forced to sell their house. Des doesn’t want that to happen, so he has designed a plan to help the Murphy’s, financially. That is if all goes according to Des plans.

***

Stress and heartbreak have left Doc lonely and more than a tad bit lost. Fern asked Des to find a woman that could help Doc ease his pain and allow him some sexual release. A woman who is not looking for a long-term relationship just some ‘fun’. Someone that could sexually fill in for her during her treatments. She told Des that she felt like she had failed Doc as a wife, lover and a partner.

Fern’s desire to make sure her husband was well cared for impressed and amazed Des. He could only imagine how hard her request to him had been. Des knew that there were not a lot of women like Fern; a wife that wanted to give her husband something she thought he needed.

Des didn’t even have to try to find a woman for Doc. Doc had more admirers than Des could have ever hoped to find him. But, come to find out, Doc just wasn’t interested in anyone other than Fern. It didn’t seem to matter where Doc went, there were always women fawning over him; from the shop, the grocery store, and even at the hospital while he was visiting his sick wife. There was just something magnetic about Doc. He was like the flame to the moth.

Women often show up at the shop with casseroles, baked goods, and homemade sweets to try and entice Doc and capture his attention, because they know that Fern is ill and cannot handle his sexual needs for him. Between his wavy, auburn hair and his deep, emerald eyes that are constantly now filled with pain and sadness. Doc, unintentionally, grabs the attention of every hot-blooded woman that is within a one hundred mile radius. His Irish heritage is apparent and that draws people in daily.

Before Fern fell ill, everyone loved to be around Doc. With his jovial personality and contagious laugh, he also has a sick sense of humor and he was always cracking jokes and being a real prankster. Doc is a bear of a man. He is built like a lumberjack with huge arms, broad chest, and narrow hips. Ladies immediately stop and stare at him even though he never even notices. Female attention from other women is not what Doc truly desires. All he wants and needs is Fern. In order to curb the attention of other women, he has had a sleeve of tattoos tattooed on one arm. They are all dedicated to Fern; including having her name tattooed on his forearm and their wedding date included on his bicep under two intertwined tribal hearts.