Bones by the Wood (15 page)

“Boss?”  Scooby’s voice was muffled by the door.

He had to cough before he could speak, and even then his voice came out hoarse.  “Yeah?”

There was a pause.  “Boss, I’m headin’ out with Annelle and Alex.  Cage is comin’ with.”

He looked at Thea as he spoke.  The desire was bleeding out of her expression and being replaced with something like anger.

His voice was clearer this time.  “Good.  Okay.  Tell the boys, we’ll meet when you get back.”

“Will do, boss.  See you later.”

Dizzy listened to the muffled thump of heavy boots making their way down the corridor.  Thea was about to speak, but he cut her off, flicking his thumb over her nipple as he spoke.

“I’m gonna let you go now, but you and me, we’re unfinished business.”

She softened slightly at his promise to release her.  He pressed a lingering kiss against the base of her neck where it joined her shoulder, just beyond one of the thorny stems tipped with leaves.  Then, before he changed his mind and broke his word, he pushed away from the wall and took two steps back. 

She didn’t move initially, just stood there looking gloriously wanton, sagging against the wall.  He was about to decide the world outside could go fuck itself when she moved and adjusted her clothing to cover herself again.  His disappointment was sharp and bitter in his mouth. 

She took a step forward and he braced himself to be slapped, but with an enigmatic smile, she reached up and pressed a brief kiss to his cheek and murmured at his ear, “I’m gonna hold you to that, cowboy.”

And then she was leaving, walking out the door as if they’d merely been chatting about the weather.  Dizzy’s mouth was dry and his cock was throbbing.  It was definitely time for that shower.

Having closed the door securely behind her, Thea took a moment to regain her center.  The hallway was mercifully empty.  She had no idea what the fuck she was doing.  She had been determined not to get involved with a man again, and here she was fucking flirting with him after an encounter so hot she had to look down to check that the wet she felt soaking her panties wasn’t showing through her jeans, too.

She was being sucked in, and I wasn’t just that Dizzy got her blood pumping, although he was all different kinds of hot as far as Thea was concerned.  His eyes, while he caressed her, had burned with intensity, something like a possessive certainty.  She’d been angry when she’d thought he wouldn’t let her up to cover herself before whoever knocked, Scooby maybe, had walked in there and seen what was obviously on display.   For a brief moment, she’d thought maybe he wasn’t going to be so much of a gentleman, but he had released her, and perversely she had ended up disappointed by that.

As impressed as she was that he’d nearly turned her into a puddle of mush without so much as dislodging his hat, it was also the way that she and Josh were being absorbed into the club family that was breaking down her determination to remain alone.  The loneliness of having only herself to rely on had been overwhelming.  She’d been so afraid of placing her trust in someone, hoping that they wouldn’t fuck up or let her and Josh down, that it was easier to keep shouldering the burden on her own, even when it felt like she might snap under the weight of being the sole parent, the sole provider, the sole defender.  Now, here was someone, a whole club of people, who were willing to take a little of that weight.  They were prepared to put themselves on the line for her and her boy.  Okay, their business was probably their main concern, but they’d brought her and Josh in instead of leaving them to hang.

Her body was still thrumming, and she needed to calm down before she went into the main room.  She thought about trying to find a space where she could take care of business, give herself the release that she’d just been denied, but the one room that was private enough was currently, probably, not the most sensible place for her to be.  Now that she had some space, she needed to make a decision.  Things were moving at a pace she hadn’t expected.  Annelle had seemed to think Dizzy would take a shine to her, but she needed to be certain, more than hundred percent certain that she was something more than a new sweetbutt.  She really didn’t want to have to start fending off advances from all the other boys.  She didn’t think her self-esteem could take the hit of being fucked then passed over.

She took a deep breath and massaged her temples with her fingertips as she willed her body to relax.  It wasn’t listening.  She was feeling frustrated and resentful at no one and everyone for no good reason.  Well, she had some use for her temper.  She went looking for Lucy.

Thea stalked into the main room.  Lucy and Britney were still firmly attached to the brown leather sofa that they had been curled up in all morning.  If they didn’t get up soon there’d be imprints of their asses in the cushions.  Needing to know that she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself, she stuck her head round the door to the kitchen.  Annelle and Alex were missing.  Oh yeah, they’d gone supply shopping with Scooby and Cage.  Myla was up to her elbows in soapy water in the sink and Lyla was wiping a dishtowel over a recently washed plate.

“How come you two are on this?”  Thea asked.

Myla shrugged, still scrubbing something under the bubbles.  “Annelle told ‘em to help out, but they didn’t shift once she went out the door.  Seemed easier not to make a fuss.”

“Fuck that. Take those gloves off.  Now.”  Thea instructed. 

She stayed and made sure that Myla did as she’d said before she turned and crossed the room until she was standing in front of Britney and Lucy.  She planted her fists on her hips, if only to keep from planting them elsewhere for the time being.

“You two can get your lazy fucking asses off that sofa right the fuck now!  You’ve had your breakfast cooked for you and all you’ve done so far is roll around on your backs and sit on your backsides.  Well tough shit ladies, this ain’t a fuckin’ vacation. Kitchen, now!  Don’t want to hear any bullshit about your nails.  Decide who’s washin’ and who’s dryin’.”

“And who the fuck put you in charge?”  Lucy asked archly, without moving an inch.

“Don’t matter to you.  What does matter is that you get in there and start helpin’ out and stop makin’ like you’ve got a gold-plated pussy that puts you a cut above anyone else in this room.”

Lucy sprang off the sofa.  “How fuckin’ dare you!  I am not a whore!”

Thea cocked a skeptical eyebrow.  “Really?  Prove it then.  Earn your keep by doin’ more than just layin’ on your back and spreadin’ your legs.”

Lucy was gaping like a fish.  Her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out.  Britney stood, having decided to join the fray. 

“You can’t talk to me like that.”  Britney pouted.

“Says who, darlin’?”  Thea took in the platinum blonde hair with the lilac streaks that she’d bet were extensions, the silver top that was three sizes too small and barely contained a pair of braless, blatantly false tits, and Daisy Dukes that didn’t cover half an ass cheek at the back and had the pockets showing under the hem at the front.  She didn’t usually like to judge a book by its cover, but she’d have her ink lasered off if this woman, girl, wasn’t as vapid as she appeared to be.

Britney looked frantically around the room, but although every face was turned in their direction and no one was making any effort not to be caught listening, no one said anything in her defense, not even a twitch.

Thea didn’t need to look around to know that the only person currently in Britney’s corner was Lucy.  “That’s all the answer you need, darlin’.  Shimmy your ass into the kitchen.”

With a final futile look around the room Britney stomped past Thea, followed by Lucy.  Both had their noses high in the air, trying to retain some dignity.  It didn’t work.

Thea looked around for Reba next, wondering if she’d come out of her coma of overindulgence yet, but she was nowhere to be seen.  Thea decided she needed to keep an eye on the redhead.  There could be trouble there.  Dana hadn’t come back yet.  She’d disappeared with Easy while everyone was eating breakfast, and it looked like he was still keeping her busy

The murmur of conversation gradually started to fill the silence that had fallen when she’d started her tirade.  Thea tried to control her breathing.  She didn’t like confrontation if she could avoid it, but she’d happily do what was needed to make sure that she and the other girls weren’t being taken advantage of.  She was feeling a little bit trembly and she didn’t want it to become obvious that she was worked up, that would be showing weakness that she couldn’t afford to advertise in front of Britney and Lucy particularly.

Thea did her best to appear relaxed as she made her way over to Josh, jamming her hands into her pockets in effort to appear nonchalant.  She’d been wrong.  Taking her frustrations out on Lucy and Britney hadn’t eased her at all.  In fact, she’d have been better off going interrupting Dizzy in whatever he was doing and finishing what he’d started, but that was too much of a minefield right now.

“Hey, bud.”  She greeted Josh as she joined him on the sofa he’d claimed.  She was pleased that her voice, at least, sounded level.

“Hey, Mama.”  He was flipping through a motorcycle magazine that he’d found somewhere.  Thea hoped it wasn’t one of the ones that had more pictures of naked women than machinery.  He shut the magazine and looked up at her.  “How come you shouted at Lucy?” 

“She wasn’t doin’ her share of the chores, bud.  When there’s a lot of us together like this, it ain’t fair to everyone else if a couple of people don’t pull their weight.”

Her boy took that in for a moment.  Then, “What’s gold plated mean?”

Oh, if the sofa could just grow teeth in a big, old, ugly mouth and swallow her the fuck up now, that would be perfect.  She’d just lost a shit load of good parenting points by having it out with those two lazy bitches in front of her son. It had been needed, but, oh great.

“Well, coverin’ somethin’ with gold, like a color, makes it look fancier than it really is, bud.” 

“Oh.”  Josh nodded.  “Okay.”  He reopened the magazine and carried on examining whatever it was he’d been absorbed in.

Thea didn’t know whether to be relieved or disturbed that he didn’t ask her anything else.

“What do you want to do today, bud?”

Josh looked at her, he looked a little disappointed.  “We’re not goin’ home?” 

“Not today, we gotta stay here.”

Josh closed his magazine again and looked up with a hopeful expression.  “Can you teach me to play pool?”

“Sure, I’ll do my best.  There’s probably a few people in here who can beat me into the ground, but I’ll show you the basics.”  Thea looked up at the sound of someone approaching.  It was Shaggy.

“Hey, Thea.  If Josh wants to, I can take him into the garage, show him around a bit.  If that’s okay with you?”

Thea was touched that any of the guys would want to take the time to keep Josh occupied, particularly so that it should be Shaggy who seemed to be taking on a lot of the entertainment duties.  She turned to her son.  “You wanna do that, bud?  Go and look at the tools and stuff with Shaggy?”

Josh’s face was alight with excitement.  “Yeah please. Can I, Mama?” 

“Sure.  Off you go.”

Josh immediately jumped up from the sofa, leaving the magazine forgotten.  She watched him trot beside Shaggy, trying to keep up with the tall man’s naturally long stride.

Looking for something to divert her own attention, Thea checked into the kitchen to make sure that Britney and Lucy were doing more than just bitching about her.  They were washing the dishes and she got scowls from both of them, but neither said anything, so she gave them the silent treatment in return.  She wasn’t going to lose any sleep over them.  She did a quick inventory of the cupboards so that she’d be ready to help Annelle when the other women returned, and then got out.  It was too small a space for three big attitudes.

She found that Dana and Easy had reappeared when she left the kitchen.  Easy was helping himself to a bottle of beer behind the bar.  Dana was flipping through the magazine that Josh had discarded.  Thea went over.

“Hey, Dana?”  The other woman looked up.  “Could you show me around?  I don’t know where anythin’s kept around here.  We’ve got visitors comin’ and I could do with knowin’ where the linen closet is and shit like that.”

Dana very much had a ‘girl next door’ look going on, but she needed to gain twenty pounds to avoid looking anorexic and didn’t seem to ever wear a bra despite having nipples that stuck out like finger tips. She flipped her mousy blonde hair over her shoulder.  “Sure thing, Thea, no problem.”

Dana took her back to the corridor that led to the dorm rooms.  One of the doors opened to reveal a fully stocked linen and utility closet.  Thea took a good look to familiarize herself with the available supplies.  When Dana shut the door, Thea nearly jumped out of her skin.  Dizzy was standing there, a broad smile on his face, waiting to pass.

Thea bit her lip.  She wasn’t about to provide a bucket of gossip fodder, not outright, anyway.  Dizzy tipped his hat to them both and winked before going on his way.  Thea glanced at Dana, but if the other woman had noticed anything out of the ordinary, she didn’t remark on it.

Dana headed back to the main room, but Thea paused for a moment.  She thought waiting around for something, anything, might actually drive her a little crazy if she had to do it for more than a couple of days.  She didn’t particularly relish enduring the scowls and sideways looks that she’d be getting from Britney and Lucy once they’d finished the dishes, either.  Instead, she delved back into the closet and pulled out a broom and a dustpan and brush.  All the floors, from the main room, through the corridor and into the kitchen and the dorm rooms, were all tiled.   In the dorm room she’d been in, Dizzy’s room, there had been a large rug to mitigate the chill, but Thea figured the tiling throughout was just a low maintenance solution.  It would be easier to keep clean given the dusty ground outside, and the best vacuum cleaner in the world would struggle to combat the drink, food and bodily fluids that would likely be spilt on everyday basis.