Reapers and Bastards: A Reapers MC Anthology - Wylde Joanna - Страница 11

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Oh, wow. My nipples were hard as rocks and need twisted me up into a tight knot. That strange, intense chemistry between us sure as fuck hadn’t faded.

I started massaging his feet, giving myself permission to enjoy the interplay of muscle and skin as I worked him over. By the time I reached his upper thigh, we were both breathing hard. I felt a bead of sweat on my forehead, and reached up to brush it off with the back of my hand.

Despite the tension hanging in the air—or perhaps because of it?—Boonie stayed perfectly still. I was starting to actually believe this wasn’t about the money Farell owed.

“Why are you really here, Boonie?” I asked him softly as I adjusted the drape, moving to the other side. He shifted, hips pressing down into the table. Without thinking, I smoothed my hand down his back. A light sheen of sweat covered it.

“Are you too warm?’’ I asked, moving back into professional mode. “I can turn down the heat on the table.”

“That won’t help,’’ he gritted out. Okay. I dropped my hands back down, fingers trailing over his ass as I tucked the sheet between his legs. I pushed it down a little too far and brushed what could only be his erection.

We both froze, me in utter shock and horror. Men got them of course. It was a basic biological function, and I was a professional providing a therapeutic service. Like a nurse, I knew better than to take it personally.

But this was very, very personal.

Boonie pushed to his elbows, turning back to look at me.

“Either grab it right or move your fuckin’ hand,’’ he growled. “Because I’m about five seconds away from bending you over this table.”

I jerked away, stepping back. We stared at each other, history hanging heavy between us.

“I think you should go,” I managed to whisper. “There won’t be a charge. Just leave, Boonie. I can’t do this.”

He gave me a slow, predatory smile. Like a shark.

“Farell owes the club twenty-five thousand. But that’s nothing. He owes the Reapers, too. He spends it faster than the Evans family can bail him out. It’s not gonna end well. So far I’ve kept them off you, babe. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

I swallowed at his veiled threat.

“That’s unfortunate,” I replied after a long pause. “But I don’t see what it has to do with me. Renee gave me an allowance—it’s the only cash I ever had. I have two thousand dollars saved up and that took me three years. That’s all I can give you. It doesn’t matter what you threaten. I can’t give you money that doesn’t exist.”

“I don’t want your money,” he said, eyes burning. We stared at each other, a whole world of unspoken words between us.

“Why did you stop writing to me?” I asked him suddenly. I’d spent years wondering. Now I had nothing to lose by asking.

“Every letter you sent was full of him,” Boonie replied, almost snarling. “You never said a goddamned thing about us. Then I realized there wasn’t an us, at least not to you. I’m not a fuckin’ masochist, Darce. You think I didn’t see what was happening?”

“I felt guilty,” I whispered. “You don’t understand—you weren’t here. Everywhere I went, people looked at me. They talked about me, called me a slut. Said it was my fault, because of our fight. Someone at that party saw us together, did you know that? I never found out who, but the whole school knew about it. You beat him up and then we fucked on a grave while Allie died. You think it was easy, walking into that school every day?”

Once the words started flowing, I found I couldn’t stop them. It felt good to let it all out. The only person I’d ever talked to about it before was Shanda.

She knew exactly what it felt like to be judged.

“So long as Renee stood up for me, I could handle it,” I continued, my voice rising. “And I liked helping her. She was good to me, Boonie. She always had been. Treated me like a family member, and it felt wonderful. Their house was clean, their food was decent, and they listened to nice music and actually talked to each other in the evenings. You were gone, Boonie. You have no fucking idea what I was up against. And you know what? I liked helping Farell, too. It felt good to be needed because nobody else gave a shit about me. You didn’t even fucking write back!”

I practically shouted the last sentence, and my body trembled. Someone knocked at the door.

“You all right in there, Darcy?” Kelly asked, her voice hard. I held Boonie’s eyes.

“Yeah,’’ I replied. “Everything’s just peachy keen.”

“Okay, but I’m right here,’’ she said, sounding skeptical. “Gloria has no problem with us asking a customer to leave if they aren’t appropriate. You might want to remind Mr. Boone of that.”

Boonie stared me down.

“I don’t have a problem right now,’’ he said slowly. “But if you don’t finish, I will.”

Asshole.

“I can do my job.”

He nodded, lowering back down to the table. I pumped more lotion and started in on his thigh. This time my hands were rougher, harder. He’d said he could take whatever I gave out? Well, he was about to learn I wasn’t the same weak little girl he’d known in Callup.

My hands were strong now, just like the rest of me.

Boonie grunted as my fingers dug in, finding each muscle and working it until I knew he’d be sore the next day.

“Is that too much?” I asked ten minutes later. He gave a low laugh.

“I’ll take everything you have and more, Darce. You should know that by now.”

After that it was a contest of wills. No matter how hard I worked him, he refused to complain.

“I’m ready for you to roll over,” I said finally, feeling frustrated. “I’ll hold the sheet.”

“You don’t want me on my back right now,” he said, pushing his hips lewdly into the table. I watched the flex of his butt and thigh, his meaning all too clear.

Goddammit.

“Um, I can just do a relaxing massage on your back for the rest of the time, I guess.”

“Darcy?”

“Yes?”

“I think it’s time for this to end,’’ he said, his voice strained.

“Sounds great,’’ I replied quickly, not even pausing to gloat. “I’ll step out so you can get dressed. We didn’t go the full time, so I’ll tell Kelly that—”

“Sit down.”

It wasn’t a request. Fuck. I reached for my small rolling stool and sat down. Boonie pushed to his elbows, putting us face to face. For the first time his face softened.

“Renee Evans came to my graduation from basic training,” he said slowly. “Did you know that?”

His words stunned me.

“What?”

“She came to my graduation,” he said again slowly. “Afterward she talked to me. She said that you were doing well, but that life had gotten hard for you. She told me how people were, and she told me how big a help you were to their family. Then she told me that if I cared about you at all, I’d let you go.”

I swayed on the stool, trying to process what he was saying.

“Why?” I asked. “Why would she do that?”

“I think she believed it,” he replied slowly. “She said she’d protect you, but only if I stopped writing. Otherwise you’d be on your own, at the mercy of that whole damned town. So I stopped writing. I couldn’t be here for you and you weren’t even a legal adult yet . . . She said your life would be a living hell. I knew she was right.

Every word was like a knife cutting me.

“Is that why you never came back to Callup?”

“I did come back,” he replied. “The summer you finished high school. I saw you with Farell at the park. He was in his chair and you were racing each other. You were both laughing and you looked so happy together, Darcy. I had nothing to give you and he had everything. Not even I’m that big of an asshole.”

I swallowed, studying his face. He was telling the truth, absolutely no question. I couldn’t believe Renee had done it. Even now she was like a mother to me. Why?

To protect Farell, of course.

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