Deliverance (The Maverick Defense #1) (19 page)

I pushed Donnie back and his mouth nipped at my neck. My hands slipped into his pants and pulled his shirt free. He groaned as I scraped my fingernails down his chest and along the waistband of his pants. Still soaring, I dropped to my knees, pulled down the zipper, and freed his dick causing a loud rumble of laughter to erupt from the monster towering over me. I looked up at him and he smirked and said, “Suck it real good, baby.”

As I wrapped my hand around the base of his erection, I closed my eyes, blinked back the tears, and let myself fly.

T
wo days after I left Joy, and I’d still not heard a word from her. Two fucking days since I let her convince me to leave, saying she wasn’t kicking me out and that she just needed time. I’d given her time, but still nothing. Maybe Donnie had managed to change her mind or worse, he’d hurt her, done something to her, making it impossible for her to contact me. Surely, she wouldn’t cut me off like she had, not after declaring it had always been me. I’d texted her on Wednesday to ask how she was and I got a response saying she was okay. But that was it.
What the fuck?
I rubbed my hands over my short hair in frustration.

Flopping onto my bed, I hurled my sneaker across the room; it crashed into the closet door but didn’t make me feel any better so the other one joined it. The bedroom door burst open, and I jerked to up to look at Lex. He braced himself in the doorway and glared at me. “What the hell are you doing, Dawson? You’re being a pain in my ass.”

“I went for a run, there’s nothing to do in this shithole of a town, and you’re busy doing … whatever it is you do. Mikey’s at work, and Joy … who the fuck knows.”

With a loud groan, Lex tipped his head backward. “You’re frustrated, I get it, but you really need to calm the fuck down. One wrong move and Donnie will make his play before we can get anything on him or come up with a plan.”

“I know, I know. But what if something’s happened to her?” I swung my gaze around to stare at Lex, pleading with him to reassure me she was okay. Even if he didn’t believe it, I needed to hear the words.

“If something had happened, we would have heard. She would have gotten in touch with you or Mikey, somehow. Don’t worry, she said she could handle Donnie. Trust her enough to let her do that. I know you love her but …” He shrugged at a loss on how to finish his sentence.

Lex knew all about the girl who held my heart in her hands; he’d heard enough about her back when we were in prison. But since we’d come back to Chancing, it had grown into something different, something more. It wasn’t the same as when we were teenagers. Now, I would do anything to protect her—I
needed
to protect her—to make sure she was safe. The fact she hadn’t called was eating me up inside, and I felt powerless. I hated the feeling because it reminded me too much of when Dad came to visit me on the inside. Telling me to stay away from everyone I loved and not to bother coming home. It wasn’t as if I could break out and fix things, and by the time I was free, too much time had passed. Joy was supposed to be in California … she was supposed to be long gone. I vowed I would never feel like that again. I needed to do something. I needed to see her.

In a flash, I sat upright. “I’m going to take a shower and then I’ll go see Mikey. Maybe give him a hand.”

Lex regarded me from the doorway, his eyebrow rising at my sudden change of mood. “Okay, good, get out of my hair.” He watched me a few seconds longer before he turned and walked down the stairs.

After I showered and changed, I grabbed the keys to my Camaro and ran down the stairs where I found Lex on his cell. With no time for him to question me, I waved to him on my way out the back door, ignoring him when he rose out his chair and signaled to me. Fortunately, he didn’t follow me out as I jogged to the garage and brought out my pride and joy. Just sitting in the car made me feel better, and as I turned onto the street, I ignored the fact I was about to drive into town and stake out the diner.

I was in luck and found a parking space across the street from Hank’s. I pulled in and killed the engine. It afforded me a good view of the diner. The blinds were up on the glass window at the front and I could see waitresses moving about inside as they served customers. It wasn’t busy, only a handful of diners, and I settled down in my seat to watch for her.

My eyes picked her out immediately. Joy walked past the window, stopped at an empty table, and began to wipe it down. She was too thin, and while she’d always been delicate, she was a shell of the girl I once knew. From the day we arrived back in town, I noticed the difference. It was her eyes. Where once they sparkled and were full of life, now they were empty and defeated. Like she’d already accepted the hand that she had been dealt and wasn’t going to do anything to change it.

My cell vibrated and I snatched it up from the where it lay on the seat next to me without looking at who was calling. I scanned the diner quickly, but Joy was nowhere in sight. It could be her, and my heart soared. “Yeah.”

“Where the fuck are you?”

Irritation replaced my momentary excitement and my gut twisted. I groaned into the receiver. “Lex. What do you want?”

“Where are you?”

“I told you I was going to see Mikey-” A flash of red caught my eye, and I sat up straighter as my eyes found her again.

“But you’re not there, are you? You’re sitting outside the diner spying on Joy like some creeper.”

“How did you know?”

“Because I know you, man.”

I gritted my teeth and ignored him, craning my head to get a better view.

“Listen, Dawson, this isn’t like you. Yeah, you’re hotheaded and have a tendency to act before you think it through, but she’s got you tied up in knots.”

“I need to know she’s okay.” Part of it was guilt; I felt to blame for the situation she was in, but the rest of it … it was because I loved her. Because if anything happened to her by Donnie’s hand, I would never be able to forgive—and I wouldn’t be held responsible for my actions.

“Dawson …” He sighed heavily and I pictured him shaking his head in despair.

“Just leave it, Lex.” My tone held a note of warning for him not to push it. A warning he chose to ignore.

“No.” The sharpness of his tone surprised me; I was the one with the bad temper, not Lex. He was levelheaded and kept me in check.

“What?”

“You need to back off and give her some space. If she sees you out there stalking her, you’ll freak her out. She’ll think you don’t trust her.”

“I want to know why she hasn’t been in touch.”

I heard an intake of breath and waited for what was coming next, but instead, he exhaled softly. “Go and see Mikey. She’ll be in touch soon enough.” The line went dead, no good-bye, nothing. I threw the cell onto the passenger seat and tipped my head back. Rubbing my eyes, I let out a groan of frustration. This fucking sucked. Lex was right, about everything, of course. Joy would freak if she saw me sitting outside in my car.

I gathered up my cell phone and climbed out of the car, but I couldn’t resist one last look up at the diner, just in case I caught another glimpse of her. And there she was, chatting with a couple sitting by the window, pouring them coffee. I watched as she smiled and laughed at whatever they were saying as if everything was all right. As though it hadn’t been two long-ass days since I’d seen her or heard from her.

I turned away as she straightened and pulled out her order pad but not fast enough. She caught me staring. Her eyes widened and her mouth parted, but that was all the reaction I got because she started to write on the order pad before she turned abruptly and disappeared out of sight.

There was no option now but to visit Mikey; it’s why I’d come here anyway, wasn’t it? Going into the diner now wouldn’t be a good move; she probably wouldn’t even serve or speak to me. Kind of like the day we arrived back in town. Accosting her on her break wasn’t the answer either. I needed to give her space, so reluctantly, I started in the direction of Mikey’s garage.

It might have been the weekend, but that didn’t stop my brother. He’d been working on Saturdays for as long as I could remember. Growing up, he loved nothing more than to hang out here. Back then, our uncle had owned the garage, and when we were kids, we would come here to watch him work. While I had an interest in cars, for Mikey, it was a passion. He loved figuring out how things worked, and he could fix anything.

“Hey, Mikey,” I shouted as I entered the garage. It wasn’t until I rounded the old Ford that I saw him bent over the engine.

“Be with you in a second,” came a muffled voice, and I kicked back on the chair in the corner and waited. The choice of magazines to browse was poor, but out of boredom, I picked up a tattered, dirty copy of
Hot Rod
.

When he’d finished, Mikey slammed the hood down on the Ford and wiped off his hands as he walked over to the sofa. “So Lex was looking for you?” He grinned at me, his hair dirty from engine oil and sticking up at odd angles. His whole face was grubby—an occupational hazard.

“Yeah, he called,” I grumbled, and Mikey grinned even more.

“Fancy a beer?” He flopped down on the sofa and stretched his legs out in front of him.

“You’ve got beer in your garage?”

“A customer brought it in as a thank-you. I was going to bring it home tonight, but if you want one …”

It had been a long day, and it was only midafternoon. Shrugging, I said, “Yeah, why not. Leave your truck, I’ll have one and drive. My car’s outside.”

“Outside the diner more like.” He laughed as I flipped him off. The smile on his face faded, as did mine. I’d forgotten for about five seconds what had brought me here. I ran my hand over my short hair and looked up to find Mikey staring at me.

“What in the hell happened, Mike? How did we get here?”

“I don’t know, little brother. Haven’t a fucking clue.”

“It was so much easier then. You were all about fixing cars and I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do, but I was still a teenager, so all that was way too serious to think about. One stupid mistake and it all went to hell. I lost my future, my family, and my girl.”

“It wasn’t all your fault. Donnie had a part to play. You don’t think he could have stayed and taken the blame too?”