Ridin' Dirty: An Outlaw Author Anthology (OAMC Book 1) (68 page)

Ren

The minute I walked into the shop the catcalls started.

“Where’s M? Did she let you know about yourself and send you on your way?” Shaun asked laughing.

Ren flipped him the finger.

“That was quite a display from our former shy girl,” John said.

“Yeah, she wasn’t happy. But I can be persuasive. She’s willing to give this thing a shot.”

“Good, don’t fuck it up this time,” Bobby said sliding from underneath the car he’d been working.

“I’m going to try, brother,” Ren said.

Bobby grabbed a rag and began to wipe his hands as he got to his feet. “Step into the office?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there,” Ren said walking over to one of the boys he was teaching the trade. They made a point of hiring and training troubled youths trying to get their shit together. It made him feel like he was giving them a chance he never got. “Hey Jackie Boy, can you get my old lady’s car from the fair and drive it to her place?”

The young boy smirked. He’d been around the shop for the past two years being groomed for a managerial position. He knew damn well who Marlee was and where she lived. It was part of how they managed to keep things on the hush-hush. “Yeah I got it, boss. Keys in the mailbox?”

“Yep.” He tapped his fist on Jack’s shoulder. “Thanks, brother.” He walked into the small office and closed the door.

Despite being older than Bobby, his friend had become a mentor of sorts. He had a relationship that was thriving, and he’d walked the same hellish path Ren had. It gave him hope.

“Where you straight up with her?” Bobby asked.

“Always am.”

“Good. Now how about with yourself?”

“What do you mean?” Ren asked, shaking his head.

“From what I’ve been hearing you were determined to leave her alone. Why the change of heart?”

“Because I realized someone else could easily slip in and take what I’ve come to think of as mine, and I don’t say that in an egotistical way. Me and Marlee work. We get each other. We click. I know how rare that is, especially for a man like me. I always assumed we’d come back together like we always did. But that last time, she was serious. She’s changed man.”

“Yeah the slap heard around the world proves that.” Bobby snickered.

“Yeah, you’re never going to let me live that down are you?” Ren asked.

“Fuck no.” He laughed. “It’s good, though. I always thought she let you get away with too much. Men like us have to have a line to toe.”

“Speak for yourself,” Ren mumbled.

“Uh huh. Trust me. Boundaries clearly drawn out are a good thing. It’s like an idiot’s guide to a happy relationship.” Bobby paused. “You know you’re going to have to come clean about your past, right? Even the gory bits.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Because it’s the only thing that ever held you back from commitment. Once it’s all out in the air, there’s nothing to make you stumble. I know it’s not easy. We grew up with the mentality that you don’t nark, and you sure as hell don’t air your dirty laundry. But you can’t keep letting him win, man.”

“How is he winning, huh? He’s locked up somewhere dying slowly in a cell day by day, and I have two successful co-owned businesses.”

“And a big empty house. A girl you can’t convince you’re staying put.”

Ren speared his fingers through his hair and growled. “I don’t need you playing shrink.”

“Listen, man, I’m not. I’m on your side. You know that. But this is real talk. I’m trying to tell you how to get what you want. What I think you’ve been wanting but found terrifying for the past couple of years.”

“She was too young.”

“When you first started, maybe. But that excuse got old a while back.”

Ren balled his fists. The old Ren would trash something or get into it with his best friend. The older Ren was mellower and thought with his head instead of his anger and testosterone. The truth hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, and his past was a bloody wound, coated in salt. It burned like nothing else and never seemed to heal completely.

“Just think about it, all right?”

“Yeah. I’m taking her to dinner tonight.”

“Oh, yeah?” Bobby said, looking impressed.

“I know how to properly date. I just never felt the need to before.”

Bobby laughed. “Your ass is so gone already.”

“What the hell? You’re the one tied down and fathered up,” Ren commented.

“Which is why I know the signs,” Bobby countered.

Ren rolled his eyes. The fact that babies with Marlee didn’t scare the piss out of him was terrifying. This wasn’t a route he ever thought he would travel. Can I really do this? He pictured another man walking with Marlee on their arm and saw red. I have to. “Guess you’re right, cause here I am trying to date for the first time at fucking forty-five.” Ren snorted.

“You’ve never been stupid, Ren. I get that it’s new and uncomfortable. We spent most of our lives after we escaped the hell on earth, doing whatever we wanted. We sowed our oats a million times over, did shit that could’ve gotten us arrested, and pushed our bodies to the limit. We’ve done enough living for one-hundred men. The real adventure is going to be settling down. It’s the next step.”

“How were you so sure?” Ren asked.

“Because in all that I’d done. I still hadn’t found the one thing I was looking for.”

“What was that?” Ren asked.

“Love, acceptance, a chance at my own family. Though, I didn’t know it at the time.”

“And was it worth it?” Ren wondered, eyeing his friend skeptically. Airing all your secrets and risking your heart?

Bobby glanced at the ceiling and let out a deep breath. “Yeah, and if I hadn’t done it, wondering what if for the rest of my life would’ve eaten me alive.”

Bastard always knows just what to say. Ren nodded. He got the picture.

***

He drove them to Roy’s. The local Mom and Pop’s was set on the river, and boasted the best seafood.

“You remembered, this is my favorite place,” she said softly.

“I listen and retain when you talk. I like the things you say and who you are. Us not working was never about that.”

“No?”

He cut the engine and turned to meet her curious gaze.

“Then what was it about?”

His throat went dry. “We’ll get to that before it’s all said and done. But not tonight. Give me a few more dates. What I have to reveal isn’t something I’ve talked about in years. It’s a part of my life that damn near found me buried six feet deep. It’s never been about anything to do with you. It’s the fact that you’re way too good for me.”

“What?” She snapped. “Are you kidding me? I thought we were past this, Ren? Is it the age?”

“No, but it’s something to consider too. When you’re thirty-five, I’ll be fifty-five.”

“As long as you’re still putting it on me and keeping yourself healthy the way you are now. It’s not going to matter.”

He chuckled. His girl always had an answer for him when it came to doubts about longevity. Her persistence was the reason he’d agreed to start up with her in first damn place.

***

Past

He’d been tossing them back at the bar and observing the crowd. The bar had been open for six months and was doing better than either he or Bobby had anticipated. They often sat in and observed to make sure the staff was up to par, and the customers were enjoying themselves. It was how they kept the edge over the competition. Despite the town’s small size, they had plenty of bars and pubs to choose from.

The girl across the bar in the red and black plaid shirt winked at him.

He smirked at her boldness. She couldn’t be more than twenty-one with her fresh face, clear skin, and an air of innocence he’d never possessed.

She turned back to her friend and whispered into her ear.

It flattered him. He was getting closer to middle-age every day. But the young girls loved a bad boy. They wanted him to slap their ass, pull their hair, and fuck them within an inch of their life before he sent them on their way. Who was he to deny them?

She got up from her stool, and he pretended not to watch her from the corner of his eye. When she stopped beside him, he couldn’t help but be impressed. She hadn’t seemed the type approach a man. Maybe I read her wrong.

“Hi,” she said.

He turned his head and grinned. “Hi, yourself.”

“How about I buy you a drink?” She arched an eyebrow.

He threw his head back and laughed. “I like you…”

“Marlee,” she said.

“Marlee.”

“Good, that makes this so much easier. I didn’t catch your name.”

“Ren, but I think you know that.”

“Hmmm, you know what they say about assuming, Ren. It makes an ass of you and me.”

His lips quirked upward. “I’ve heard that a time or two, Marlee,” he said rolling the e’s.

“So, can I get you that drink?” she asked.

He threw back the rest of his scotch on the rocks. “Sure, darlin’.”

She gestured to the bartender, Andrea, who sauntered over swaying her hips, and pushing out the tits that threatened to overflow from her T-shirt.

“Can I get another Scotch on the rocks for the gentleman?” Marlee asked.

Andrea raised an eyebrow and looked over at Ren.

He nodded, silently willing her to keep her mouth shut.

“Coming right up, hon,” Andrea said slinking away.

“Listen, doll. I’m flattered by the attention, but we both know I’m too old for you,” he said trying to let her down easy. She wasn’t his normal type. A hit and run would break her little heart.

“Oh, you’re having those kinds of problems?” she asked lowering her voice.

“What?”

“You know, E.D.”

He frowned. “E.D?”

She leaned in.

Her breasts brushing against his arm, setting it on fire. Tingles ran through his body, and his heart accelerated. She would be explosive in bed.

Her lips brushed the shell of his ear. “You know, Erectile, Dysfunction.”

The words were cold water to his libido. He sputtered. “What? Fuck no.”

“Then we have nothing to worry about.”

He’d decked a man for less, but this girl was different. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-one, pushing twenty-two in a few more months.”

I’ve been with younger. “In that case, Ms. Marlee, why don’t you take a seat next to me.” He pushed out the stool with his foot.

“I thought you’d never ask, Ren.”

***

Present

It was the start of an off and on that had brought them to this point.

“Where did you go just now?” Marlee asked.

“Just thinking of how this all started,” he said.

She laughed. “I had your number even then.”

“I never asked what made you come over.”

“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?” Marlee asked.

He snorted. “Come on, it was more than attraction. I know you well enough to know that wasn’t your usual M.O.”

“Because I lied. I knew exactly who you were, and you were the type of man I wanted. One who didn’t give a shit about small town gossip, and the politically correct bullshit they shovel into our mouths from the moment we’re old enough to talk. I’ve always been different. It’s made my life harder in some ways and easier in others. I knew you would take me as is. I mean if you took me at all. It was a crap shoot.”

“How’d you know it’d be more than a fling?” he asked.

“Who said that’s what I was looking for?”

His jaw dropped and she winked. After all these years, she still managed to keep him on his toes. “Dirty little girl,” he said.

She finished the final piece of her pumpkin pie and moaned. “Only with you, Ren.”

“You keep asking for it, and I’m going to give it to you,” he cautioned.

“Here?” She rolled her eyes. “Please, I know an idle threat when I hear one.”

Ren glanced around, dropped his fork on the floor and disappeared beneath the table-cloth. She clenched her thighs shut. He chuckled, and pried them open, thanking the universe for her skirt. He shoved it up her thighs, pulled her panties to the side, and dove in. His tongue lashed her clit and his finger slid into her wet center while he crooked them. Her legs trembled and he knew she was close.

After all this time, he knew how to bring her to orgasm swiftly. There was something to be said about quickies. He sucked her swollen nub in and pounded her pussy the way he wished his dick could about now. Her slick walls, contracted and she gripped him tight as she came. He imagined her clutching the tablecloth as she bit down on her lip and did her best to keep her face normal. Don’t dare me girl. You know I’ll always do what it takes to win.