Cain (6 page)

Cain could smell the man before he
poked his head out of his box. He leaned down to speak to him when
he looked as if he wasn’t going to come out. That’s when he saw the
two oranges and the apple. The fruit basket.

Cain wasn’t sure how he knew Julie had
given this man the fruit, but he did. When the man noticed that
Cain was looking at them, he covered the fresh fruit with his
blanket and glared up at Cain.

“
I don’t need no
preaching. I get enough of that on Wednesday when I get my free
meal at the shelter on Tuesday. It’s Friday now, and I want you to
peddle your wares somewhere else.”

Cain was slightly confused about the
timeline, but hurried on before the man went back into his shelter.
“I’ll give you two more oranges and a pear if you tell me who gave
you those oranges.”

The man eyed Cain for what seemed an
eternity and just when Cain was about to double the offer, the man
spoke. He had a great deal of suspicion in his voice, but he did
answer. “Pears are mighty expensive, boy. You must want her real
bad. I think maybe you’d go for...three pears and four oranges. I
think that’s worth some information, don’t you?” He smiled up at
Cain.

Cain would have bought him a crate of
whatever he wanted if he led him to Julie. But now it was a matter
of pride and bargaining. He knew the man wouldn’t just take the
fruit. He’d seen what thinking someone was trying to give charity
had made Julie feel.

“
All right, but two pears.
As you said, they are expensive. And if this is the girl I’m
looking for, I’ll give you some bananas too,” Cain said after
careful consideration.

The man looked at his stash then back
at Cain. “She in trouble? I like Miss Rocky. She ain’t done nothing
but be a good girl to me and my Toby. But a man has to
eat.”

Cain’s disappointment was profound.
Miss Rocky wasn’t who he was looking for. He’d pay the man anyway—a
deal was a deal, but he was disappointed all the same.

“
No, she’s not in trouble.
Just...I’m sure Miss Rocky isn’t who I was looking for anyway. If
you’ll wait here, I’ll go and get you your payment. You did keep
your end of the bargain.”

Cain stood. He was tired and thinking
maybe Neil was correct. Julie didn’t want to be found. He’d been
looking for two days now and still nothing. He was about to turn
away when the man spoke again.

“
Miss Rocky is a good
girl, you know. She didn’t get mad at me when I cut her up the
other week. Scared, I was, having myself a bad dream and all. All
she’d been doing was telling me to get my fool self out of the
rain. I sliced her belly right open, I did. I quit sleeping with
the knife in my hand now. Too dangerous for an old fool like me to
do that.”

Cain looked around. It was her and he
knew it. “Do you know where she is? That’s the girl I’m looking
for.”

“
She’ll be back directly.
Miss Sally, she got herself a nasty cut the other day and Miss
Rocky went to take her to the clinic. They’ll get nasty with us
when we go. Miss Rocky, she gives it right back to them. Funny
thing to watch her get all up in their faces like she does.” The
old man laughed. “Spouting off them rules like she done wrote
them.”

Cain just bet she did. He nearly
smiled, then the anger surged forward. Damned girl. He was going to
string her up when he found her. Then he wasn’t sure what he was
going to do. But she was certainly not going to live here anymore.
Cain was about to thank the man when he saw the bane of his misery
coming toward him. He was glad that he’d seen her first or she
might have run. But he was nearly to her when she looked up. The
older woman she was helping was still walking and talking even
though Julie had stopped.

“
Hello. Are you my Carl?”
Cain looked at the older woman again, Sally, the man had called
her. “No. No, not my Carl. He wasn’t as pretty as you
are.”

When Julie took a step back, Cain
grabbed her arm. “I don’t think so, Miss Rocky. You’re coming with
me. Now.”

“
I don’t want to. I like
it here. How did you find me anyway?” Julie asked as she struggled
against his grip.

“
Oranges. If you try to
run, so help me I will chase you down and beat that beautiful ass
of yours. I’m in a foul mood and—”

“
Well there’s a shocker!
Cain Waite in a foul mood. You’ve been in one since I’ve known
you.”

He felt his lips twitch. Damned girl.
Cain pulled her tight to his body. “Do you think there’s a
correlation there? You’ve tested my temper since I’ve met
you.”

“
See here. You let Miss
Rocky go. I don’t care how many oranges and pears you bring me. You
let her go right now, boy. I will hurt you.”

Cain looked at the man coming toward
him. His gait was slow but sure and Cain did not want to hurt him.
He didn’t want to hurt anyone, especially a man protecting the same
person he was. But the older man was sporting a bat.

“
Julie,” Cain growled low.
“Tell him to stop. Tell him I’m not hurting you. I don’t want to
cause any trouble. I just want to take you home with
me.”

Cain waited and so did the man. Cain
never took his eyes off of Julie’s face. He was sure of one thing,
there was going to be a fight, but he would lay odds it wasn’t
going to be with the man behind him. She looked ready to do battle
and he was sure she would take skin and blood when she was
finished.

“
Its okay, Moon. I know
him. I don’t like him or care for him overly much right now, but I
know him. I have to go with him for a minute, then I—”

“
Moon? You know her,
right? I’m trying to get her off the streets. You know this isn’t
the kind of life for a pretty young woman. You tell her that she
needs to come with me, please,” Cain said to Moon.

Sally stepped forward. “Oh, dearie, if
he wants you to get off the streets, then you should listen to him.
He’s right. This ain’t no life for the likes of you. You’ll be worn
down in no time and you know that Rodney would want you to. So long
as he ain’t expecting you to turn tricks...you ain’t, are you,
young man?”

“
No, ma’am, I’m not. I
just want her to get off the streets and safe. Just like you do,”
Cain answered. He suddenly had a thought. He wondered if that was
how she had survived all these years. Cain hoped if it had been her
way of life, that she had been safe.

“
I really, really hate you
right now,” Julie said as she jerked away from him.

Cain watched as she went back toward
Moon’s house. He followed her. There was no way he was letting her
out of his sight again. Not now that he’d found her.

Cain watched as she gathered up her few
things and stuffed them into a plastic grocery bag. She had another
pair of pants and a few books. Then she kissed Moon and told him to
tell Toby that she’d see them both around. He reached to help her
by taking the bag to carry for her. He stepped back when she
growled at him. No one had ever growled at him before and it
startled him somewhat. Not even that stupid dog they’d had as kids.
But he was sure, in that second, he’d never been so afraid. Not
that she’d kill him, but he was pretty sure she would hurt a couple
of his more...private parts if he tried to reach for it again. He
simply pointed the way to his car parked down the
street.

Julie didn’t say another word to him.
Not all the way across the lot of the Howard Building’s parking lot
nor when he’d opened the car door for her. He did nearly lose his
fingers when she jerked her door from him and shut it before he had
time to move fast enough. By the time they got to his house, he was
pretty angry himself.

~CHAPTER SEVEN~

Julie didn’t even wait for Cain to come
around and open her car door. But jumped out as if the thing was on
fire and she was going to save herself. She had a good mind to set
it on fire anyway, damned man. She stomped up the front steps to
his house and waited for him, daring him to say a single word to
her. Once the door was open, she stalked inside and sat on the
floor. She was off the streets, there wasn’t any way she was moving
in with the idiot.

“
Are you planning to be
this childish the whole time you live here? If so, this could get
really tedious. Come up the stairs so that I can show you your room
while you’re here.”

“
No.” Julie laid her small
collection of books next to her on the floor and then folded her
pants on the other side of her. She left her toothbrush and other
toiletries inside to use as a carryall.

“
Julie, I’m doing this for
your own good. You could—”

“
Fuck you.” Her temper was
near meltdown. She had never been so furious in her life. If he
thought to make her stay, he was in for a big surprise.

“
You aren’t making me the
bad guy in all of this. You can’t expect me to just let you live on
the streets like an animal.”

That’s it! He’d pushed her over the
edge just that quickly. She leapt up off the floor as she rushed
toward him. “Animal! Animal? Why you arrogant, misguided,
overbearing asshole. What give you the right to judge me? Where do
you get off thinking you have any say in what I do?” She poked him
in the chest. “Where I live?” Another poke. “And how I chose to
live?” She poked him again.

When he only stared at her, looking
down his nose, she turned away. Furious tears streamed down her
cheeks as she gathered up her things. She was leaving and he’d
better not even think about trying to stop her.

~~~

Cain seemed to wake up when Julie
opened the front door to leave. He only meant to stop her, just to
pull her back from the door when she jerked away from him. Their
feet got tangled up and they started to fall. Cain moved to shelter
her from his weight falling on her and she landed over him as his
back hit the floor. The breath whooshed out of his
lungs.

They lay there, both breathing hard for
several seconds. When Julie sat up, her legs wide over his hips,
Cain held her there by grabbing her thighs. When she stilled, he
sat up, Julie still in his lap.

Cain watched her eyes as he brought his
hands around her to her ass and cupped her, bringing her to his
body. When she grabbed onto his shoulders and pressed tighter, Cain
raised his hands to her breasts, lifting them, nuzzling the heavy,
cloth-covered weight in his hands with his mouth. Biting and
nipping through her shirt, he could feel her hardened nipple as it
peaked inside of his mouth, and he wanted more. While still
feasting, he reached down between them and pulled her shirt up,
only moving his mouth away to pull the fabric over her head. Her
breasts were bare. And when he pulled her nipple into his mouth,
Julie pressed herself tighter to his body.

Julie was riding him now. Her legs
wrapped around him after she moved her body up. Cain, never taking
his mouth from her nipples, rolled her over and settled himself
between her legs, her back on the floor. His cock ached to be
released and buried deep inside of her. Shifting slightly, he
reached down to the snap and zipper on her jeans and growled when
he kept fumbling with them. Sitting up, he nearly ripped them open
and moved back to pull them from her legs. Shoes and socks
scattered everywhere.

When she lay naked before him, he
couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Christ, she was gorgeous. When she
sat up, Cain thought for sure she meant to leave him like this,
hard and hurting. He was surprised when she grabbed the front of
his shirt, ripped it open, took his nipple into her hot mouth, and
bit him.

“
Christ,” he hissed at
her. Her growled, “off,” and her small hands on his pants snap
nearly unmanned him.

Julie had his pants open in no time.
Her hot hand wrapping around his cock had him surging against her.
Her mouth trailed down his body and nipped at his ribs even as she
worked at his pants to get them down.

Need coiled in his belly. Lust so
powerful he felt it consume him. Moving forward and over her, she
lay back and he slammed into her hard and fast. He shuddered when
she arched up under him.

Christ, she was tight. Heat enveloped
him, slick and wet. When she wrapped her legs around him and rocked
up, he felt his climax roar up and ready to explode. When Julie
gripped his waist, nails dug deep, he rocked again and she screamed
out her release. Cain couldn’t help it. With her body milking him,
pulling him deeper into her, he threw back his head and pounded
into her though the most powerful orgasm he’d ever had.

Dropping onto her as he rolled them
over onto his back, he spread her over him. Cain closed his eyes
while waiting for his heart to beat at a normal pace again. When he
had more control of his own body, he lifted his head slightly and
looked at the woman lying limp over his body. Lifting her chin
gently, he heard her soft snore and he smiled.

Maybe, he thought, this was the perfect
way to win an argument with her. Fuck her into submission. While he
lay there basking in sated glow, he looked where they
were.

The front entrance hall to his new home
and they’d gotten no further. Even the front door from where she’d
tried to leave him was standing open slightly. He was very glad
that the house sat on twenty acres. No telling who might have heard
them had they been in a town setting, or worse yet, his apartment
in Maine. Rolling to his side, laying Julie onto the floor and to
her back, he looked down at her.