Texas Tornado (Freebirds Book 5) (17 page)

I was crying again, and the heartache on Sam’s face gave me a moment of doubt, but I pushed it viciously away. Starting to turn back to James, Cheyenne’s voice stopped me.

“That decision was all me. I didn’t think he needed to have the distraction in his life right now. He’s so caught up with trying to get custody of his daughter, having that piece of trash lying about anything and everything she can think of. I just didn’t want him to be used right now. I asked Sam to not tell you anything, and then I had him play the sister card with James. I never meant for it to hurt....” Cheyenne explained.

“That wasn’t your choice to make. Did I step in when you jumped in the sack that first night you met Sam? No. Did I say anything at
all
about how fast you moved? No. I didn’t interfere in your life choices, even though it went against everything that was ingrained in me to do so. Have the same courtesy for me.” James snapped, taking my hand and leading me away.

We didn’t speak while we walked to my truck. I handed James the keys like I’d done so many other times before. He opened the passenger door for me and helped me inside. Then he grabbed the seatbelt, leaned over my lap and snapped it into place. Slamming the door, he walked stiffly to the driver’s side, and hopped inside like the movement didn’t pain him, even though I knew it did.

We sat quietly in the parking lot for a few tense minutes. I could tell there was something that James wanted to say, but something was stopping him from doing it. After about four minutes of just sitting there, I broke.

“For the love of all that’s holy. Spit it out!” I boomed.

I hadn’t meant to yell quite so loud, but with the cab of the truck, it echoed off all the corners and made it much louder than I’d intended.

James’ head turned, and my breath started coming in pants when I saw the raw emotion and heat in his eyes. “Five fucking weeks. It’s been fucking torture. The only good thing about all of this was the job I got with the PD. I didn’t realize how much I missed being a useful person. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t hurt every fucking second to ignore your calls. Your emails. Your texts. The only thing making it bearable was Janie. Then Janie would tell me how much she missed you, and I’d be thinking about you all over again.”

I pursed my lips because I was unsure of what he wanted me to say. I’d done those things, and he hadn’t called me back once. Although, if I’d known he was staying at his mother’s place, I would’ve just bombarded him there instead of stewing for five weeks.

With my non-response hanging in the thick air, he started my truck and drove it out of the hospital parking lot.

He didn’t acknowledge Sam’s wrist flick, and neither did I.

His mother’s place was in a very nice neighborhood that I hadn’t seen yet. Although I’ve passed it many times. Its location was perfect. About three minutes from the local schools, five minutes from the police station, and two minutes from Free. The house was immaculate. I was willing to bet my entire life savings that James was the reason it looked so beautiful.

“The house is beautiful.” I said in awe.

“This is the historical district. All these houses were from the beginning of the Oil Boom we had in the 1930s. Solid in structure. The inside looks even better than the outside. My father bought it when it was a piece of junk, and fixed it up during his leave from the Army. When he died, it started to deteriorate. Old houses need constant upkeep. Shit breaks, and you have to replace it. Then something else breaks the next week. My mom wasn’t much of a handyman, and couldn’t afford much in the way of extra fees. When I started working, I used my money for the upkeep on the house. I learned a lot of shit just from having to fix everything myself.” James explained.

He sounded a tad nervous, and he was speaking much more than he usually did. Which I found quite cute. “Can I see the inside?”

“Of course.” He nodded and opened the door.

When I went to open my own, his voice froze me in my tracks. “Wait for me. I’ll get it.”

I waited. Because it wasn’t often when you found a man that would open the car door for you. James was that old-fashioned type of man that did it without thought. Never once had I managed to open my own door, and I loved it.

I probably resembled the biggest bitch on the planet when I watched him hobble around the truck to my door instead of just getting out myself. I could see the grimace of pain on his face no matter how much he tried to hide it. However, I knew that he wouldn’t appreciate the fact that I was trying to help him out.

I knew from experience that men didn’t like their defaults on display. Men like James and my brothers didn’t show pain, didn’t acknowledge it, and didn’t speak of it. If you knew what was good for you, you just didn’t bring up the obvious. Instead of ignoring the fact that he was probably in a lot more pain than he was letting on. I’d grown up with Sebastian. I knew better.

I slid down from the truck before he could actually lift me, and I got a growl at my impertinence. I ignored it. There was no way I was letting him lift me as he usually did.

“How long does it take to mow this place?” I asked, aghast at the vast amount of green grass that covered the corner lot.

“A while. It needs to be done again, but seeing as we only have a push mower, it’ll be a good week or so before I can get it done. It’ll feel worse tomorrow.” He said gesturing towards his ripped pants and the bandage that poked through from underneath.

“I can do...” I trailed off at the sharp look of
Hell No
on his face.

I smiled and started walking towards the front door, stepping over the bike that lay down across the walk, but then turning back to move it out of the way so James didn’t have to do the same. He gave me a mock glare, but the smile that curved up his lips let me know he wasn’t really irritated with me.

I kicked the kickstand out on the bike and had to laugh when I remembered how Janie had reacted last week when her mother tried to give her a bike with training wheels.

“You should have seen how Janie reacted when her mother pulled out this pink sparkly bike with streamers on the handles. Oh, my God. I thought she was going to explode.”

“I saw. It didn’t make me happy. Janie’s been riding a bike without training wheels for two years now. It was too small and she hates pink.” James said with exasperation.

“You were there?” I gasped.

I’d continued to take Janie over to see her mother one day a month. I should’ve known he wouldn’t be far behind on those days. He didn’t trust Anna in the slightest. Hell, each subsequent visit we had with her made my status of her as an unfit parent even more and more concrete.

James grin was blinding when he turned around from opening the front door. “Oh, I was there. I watched as you held Janie when that bitch went to put her arms around her. I watched when Janie left two hours later attached to your back. I watched you drop her off at Cheyenne’s. I watched you walk inside your apartment and forget to set your alarm.”

The last part was growled. Come to think of it, I did remember not arming it. I also remember my brother calling to tell me that it wasn’t armed, and wondering how he even knew that little tid-bit of information.

I gave him an accusing look, but he looked unrepentant. “So that’s how Sam knew. His only explanation was ‘
Do you think I’m stupid
.’”

“Yeah, I should’ve known something was up then when he wasn’t upset that I’d followed you home and knew that you didn’t arm your alarm. He was happy that I’d called, and that I was watching out for you. My fucking sister.” He snarled.

After I closed the door, I put my hand on his shoulder. “Hey, this wasn’t your fault. I’m sure Cheyenne had a really good reason.”

“You know, she probably didn’t have a good reason at all, but I’ll let her explain it to me in a few days. Maybe then I won’t be so pissed off. This five weeks has really been sheer hell.”

I watched him lift his fingers and scratch his beard like he was contemplating saying something else, and when it continued on for another minute or so, I decided to give him some time and explore.

The first room I came to was a formal dining room. However, there was a Lego wonderland dominating the eight-foot glass table that gave it a ‘lived in’ feel instead of a ‘don’t spill a goddamn thing’ feel. Hell, the chandelier over the table had a string of army men hanging from the crystals.

“Yeah, my mom would have a fucking cow if she saw this right now. However, she informed me last week that the house was mine, and that she planned on moving in with Todd Masterson when she got home from her next assignment.”

I gasped and spun around. “Your mom is fucking your lawyer?”

His eyes squeezed shut as if he was in pain. “Yeah, from what I can tell. They got close during my first trial for custody of Janie ten months ago. They’ve taken it slow since they lost their significant others, whom they loved like crazy.

“Awww,” I cooed. “How sweet!”

He glared at me, took my hand, and showed me the rest of the house. You could definitely tell that it was a family home. Kid’s toys were laying everywhere. James’ socks and boots in the kitchen under the table. Dirty dishes in the sink. Cereal boxes out on the counters. Toothpaste cap of the tubes. They needed a housecleaner. Although, every bit of it is what you would expect in a home. What I didn’t expect was to walk into a dream room when I came to the door in the kitchen.

“Most houses in the South don’t have basements due to flooding and the Texas Red Clay making it nearly impossible to dig. I’m not sure why this house has it. All I know is I’m glad it does. I’ve made this into a hell of a down room. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it until I moved back here.”

When I walked down the stainless steel steps, I stepped out into the ultimate man cave. There was a bar in the far corner made to look like a traditional Irish pub. The ground was concrete. However, it was unique in that it was painted a deep black. The walls matched the Irish theme of the bar, and had a wooden look to them. A massive sectional sofa sat against the far wall and faced an even more massive TV.

Neon beer signs and metal stars lined the walls. The front wall behind the bar held a map of the United States made out of license plates. Pictures of the Free ‘crew’ were interspersed here and there. I was even more surprised to see one of me. Everything fit what ultimately defines ‘man cave’ except one thing.

“Is that a hammock?” I asked walking towards it.

“Yeah,” James answered from directly behind me.

It was connected directly to the ceiling by chains. “Why?”

He laughed. “I get asked that a lot. Normally I say it’s a sex swing because it annoys Cheyenne, but since she’s not here to enjoy my taunting, I’ll tell you the truth.”

“And?” I asked with raised eyebrows as I sat back carefully into the hammock.

“I just wanted it. It gets fucking hot in the summer, and when we were in Iraq and Afghanistan, we slept on them. Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I come down here. I can find it instantly on a hammock.”

“Oh,” I said somewhat disappointed that there wasn’t a better reason. “I like the sex swing explanation. It sounds better.”

His eyes darkened as he watched me throw my hands up above my head, which in turn exposed some of my belly. Goosebumps trailed over my body at the look in his eyes. Liquid heat pooled in my nether regions, but I didn’t rub them together. That would only bring more attention to my plight.

He leaned down and placed his hand at the top edge. “Scoot over so I can lay down.”

With a little maneuvering, I scooted over to the edge, and he rolled into place beside me. His leg seemed to buckle, though, because instead of easing down onto the hammock, he collapsed. The momentum of the shift in weight had me rolling so I was all but lying on top of him. My chest in his face. My left leg straddling his firm stomach, and my arms grabbing onto the ropes above his head.

His hands gripped my waist tightly, and it was all I could do not to rub my nipples against his face.

“Fuck,” I hissed and looked down into his eyes.

His mouth was level with my right nipple that was only shielded by a thin camisole. His eyes were dark and focused intently on my cleavage that was practically spilling out of my shirt.

From there, I’m not sure what happened first. It could’ve been me leaning down, or it might have been James leaning forward, but my nipple somehow ended up in James’ mouth. The fabric of my knit skirt slithered up my backside as James’ hand made its way up my thigh.

His hot mouth transferred to the other nipple, and my hands found their way into his hair, giving it a good yank when his seeking hand found my cotton covered core. Scratch that. They were no longer cotton covered anything when James’ hand fisted the flimsy fabric, and wrenched them from my body.

I jolted at the surprise, and reared up. My nipple escaped his mouth, and I looked down at him in astonishment. “You just tore my favorite pair of panties!”

His smile was definitely non-repentant. “I’ll buy you another pair.” He said just before fisting my hair, looping the ends around his fist, and pulling me carefully forward.

“My first boyfriend got me those panties! They have sentimental value!” I said in mock outrage.

I wasn’t really. I’d gotten them at the dollar store the first week I was in Kilgore. He didn’t need to know that though.

“Good riddance.” James murmured right before his mouth settled on mine.

I’ve had three sexual encounters in my life. Once with my high school boyfriend of five months. Once with a one night stand. And then there was Zander, who was the most selfish person on the face of the planet, so I never counted his sex. He was
a stick it in and come
kind of guy.

James was definitely not. Just from one simple kiss, I was so very close to tipping over the edge into an orgasm that I pulled away. My hips, however, did not stop their grinding, and I saw stars.

“Jesus, that’s all it took? Just your pretty little pussy rubbing up against my dick?” James asked, breathless from our kiss.

My hands went to the bottom of my camisole, and yanked it over my head. My breasts sprang free, and with no obstacle in his way, James latched onto them again with a voraciousness that surprised me.