Dark Universe (5 page)

Drake seems to take that in and slowly, gradually, his face softens.  “You are a very confusing, dangerous woman.”  He says cryptically.

I just nod at him and smile as an idea forms in my head.  “Yea, I’ve been called worse.  Come on, cowboy, I’ve got something to show you.”  I walk over to Taz, who is waiting patiently.  If a horse could look bored, he would look like Taz does right now.
 

“Lola, I really don’t…”

“Hurry it up, Drake. Meet me up at the barn.”  I mount Taz and take off towards home, smiling the whole way.  He’ll follow, I know he will.

 I get to the barn and get Taz unsaddled and into his stall before Drake’s truck pulls up.  I smile and wave at him, very satisfied with myself.  I have a feeling he is going to put up a fight; I also know it will be a futile attempt.  There is no way I’m going to allow him to sleep in his truck while I have the means to fix his situation.  That and it will royally piss off my mom.  Two birds, one very sexy stone.  My smile widens. 
Oh yea, my mind is made up.
  And when I set my mind to something, I always win.  The poor guy doesn’t stand a chance.

“Okay, Lola, do you want to tell me why the hell you made me drive up here?”  He says after walking over to me.  “Your parent
’
s are going to think there is something going on between us.”  He frowns and looks in the direction of my parents’ house.  You can’t see it from here, since it’s about two miles away from the club’s barn and my apartment, but the look on his face is as if my father is watching us from the back porch.  I giggle at his expression and adapt my seductive face, before leaning into him.

“Are you saying there isn’t anything going on between us?”  I whisper huskily.  He freezes and I bite back my giggle.  “Because I thought we had some serious…” I lick my lips and glance down at his, “…chemistry.”  Drake looks down at my lips and swallows.  I swear I see sweat trickle down his neck and he swallows again harshly, breaking my poker face.  I burst out laughing and slap him on the shoulder.  “You should see your face,” I stutter through my cackling.  “You looked absolutely terrified!”  Tears are now streaming down my face and I bend at the waist clutching my side in hysterics. 

I finally stop laughing and manage to look at Drake and his eyes are smoldering.  He steps forward and brings his hand to my face and brushes his thumbs across my cheeks.  My skin flames under his touch and the air I was taking in gets stuck in my chest.  “Lola,” he breathes, blowing his hot breath across my face, causing the skin on my neck to pebble deliciously.  “You…” He pauses, leans in closer still brushing my cheeks gently, looks directly in my eyes and says, “…have mascara, all over your face.” 
Mother fucker!
 

I blink stupidly, before coming fully out of his trance.  I just got punked.  That bastard just beat me at my own game. 
Shit.
  This one is going to be a handful.  I can’t wait.  “Why, thank you, Drake; how kind of you to point that out.”  He chuckles at my attempt to seem unaffected. 

“It’s no problem. Now, as fun as this exchange is, why am I here?”  He steps back and puts a safe distance between us. 

“Follow me, cowboy.”  I turn and start to walk towards the barn.  Maintaining the perfect swing of my hips isn’t easy to do with the distracting sound of gravel crunching beneath Drake’s boots.  I wonder again for the hundredth time since meeting him, why I’m so attuned to his every move.  It’s increasingly disturbing. 

I turn the corner at the back of the barn and flip the switch to the light above the stairs.  Without looking behind me I make my way up to the loft, knowing he has to have figured it out by now.  At the top of the stairs I flick on the light, illuminating the small room equipped with a bed, a small TV, one lazy boy and a bathroom.  When I finally chance a glance at Drake he looks contemplative.  After scanning the room his eyes land back on me and that stubborn pride clouds his expression once again.  

“Need I say more?”  I lean on the wall and gesture into the room.

“Nope, and neither do I.”  Drake drawls as understanding dawns on him.  He turns and I stop him with my next words.  He’s already forgotten who he’s dealing with.

“Don’t make me pull sponsorship for Ruger.  It wouldn’t be fair to her.” 

Drake turns slowly before leveling his glare on me.  It makes me shiver a little bit, but I’m the queen of masked emotions.  He doesn’t need to know it affects me.  “You wouldn’t, you’re not the type of person to go back on their word,” he says, calling my bluff.

“I’m also not the type of person to let someone sleep in their truck while I have a perfectly good place for him to stay that’s been vacant for years.  I know it’s not much but it’s better than your truck.  There’s no kitchen or anything, but I’m pretty close and I always cook too much food,” I counter.

“Lola,” he sighs, “like you said, your apartment is less than twenty yards from here, your father would kill you.  More importantly, he would kill me.”  He raises his eyebrows, daring me to contradict his wisdom on the matter.

“My dad has come to terms with the fact that I’m twenty six years old and he can’t dictate to me anymore.  My mother is really the person you should be worrying about.” 

 “All the more reason to reject your offer, regardless of how kind it is,” he says, his voice softer this time.

 “Just because we will be living in close proximity to each other doesn’t mean any hanky panky is going on.  Not to mention, I’m part owner in this club and have the right and authority to put whoever I want here.”  I can still see the uncertainty in his eyes, so I push a little further.  There is no way he won’t be sleeping in this bed tonight.  “Listen, Drake, I wasn’t joking about pulling out of the deal.  Consider this one of the terms of our agreement, at least until you make enough working at the club to get your own place.  It’s the perfect arrangement.  You don’t even have to drive to work.”

Drake grinds his teeth together for a moment, and then pulls the ball cap from his head to wipe at his brow again.  “Guess I don’t have much choice do I?”  He deadpans, scowling.

“Now you’re beginning to understand me!”  I smile widely and his frown deepens.

“If only,” he mutters, under his breath.  I still heard him. 

CHAPTER 4

"Can't you hurry this up a bit? I hear they eat dinner in Hades at twelve sharp and I don't aim to be late."

–
Black Jack Ketchum

I hear a loud noise.  Loud noises do not belong in the world before nine thirty in the morning. 
Where the fuck is that coming from?
  I grab a pillow and shove it over my head in an attempt to drown out that God awful racket.  The movies lie.  Pillows are not good at keeping out loud noises.  I peel back my eyelids and kick the mattress beneath me.

I need coffee.
  I reach down next to the bed and find my boots.  Once I get my balance, I put them on over my pajama pants and grab my sweater off of the chair.  I stumble into the kitchen and look out the window.  The offending noise appears to be music, but where is it coming from?

I finally spot Drake through the glass, and sure as shit he’s shoveling away at one of the stalls, and it looks like he’s…singing? 
Oh hell no! 

I stomp outside and march directly up to him.  He smiles widely at me, and I turn around in search of the source of the music.  Sitting in the tack room is a boom box.  I eject the CD and walk back over to where I left Drake.  I lift the CD in the air, wave it around between us and then drop it into a steaming pile of shit.

 Drake’s eyes narrow as he watches this all unfold, but he doesn’t say anything.  I nod, satisfied that I’ve gotten my point across and turn to walk back home and back to my warm bed.  I get halfway home when more music begins to play. 
Un-fucking-believable.

I whip back around and march back over to Drake who is leaning on the fence post and snapping.  Fucking snapping his fingers and whistling to the tune.  I glare at him, using my scariest Lola face ever, but the bastard just keeps on whistling. 

“I’m with you,” he says.  “The radio is much better.”

I growl at him and stomp back to the tack room, unplug the boom box and hoist it over my head.  I turn around and Drake is standing right behind me with his arms crossed.  “What exactly were you planning on doing with that?”

I slowly start to lower the boom box, hold it out for him, but as soon as he moves to take it from me, I bolt out the door and chuck the sleep ruining device into the water troth. 

“You didn’t,” he says coming up behind me. 

“Oh, I did.”

“What the fuck is your malfunction?”  He asks, angry now.

“My malfunction is that some freak of nature who wakes up at the butt crack of dawn was blasting his music while I was sleeping!”

“It’s seven thirty!”  He says incredulously. 

“It’s too fucking early for this bull shit!  Now, I’m going back to bed.  Have a nice day!”

I spin around and am instantly thrown over Drake’s shoulder.  He carries me over to my apartment and walks right through the door with me kicking and screaming the whole way.  Without stopping to turn on a light, he walks straight to the bathroom, turns the shower on freezing cold, and tosses me inside.

“GOD DAMN IT! MOTHER FUCKER!  I HATE YOU!”  I scream when the shards of ice hit my skin.

“That’ll wake you up.”

I scramble out of the shower and push him into the wall.  “If you ever pull some shit like that again I will send you fucking packing!  Do you get me?” 

Drake’s lip quirks up and it almost makes me smile back at him.  I fight to keep the glare on my face and shove my finger into his chest.  “If you want to wake me up for anything, you bring coffee.  Got it?”

“Yea… I got it.”  Then, he bursts out laughing, and I can’t fucking help it.  I do too.

After dinner, I cooked steaks and potatoes, because it just seemed fitting, Drake helps me wash dishes in the kitchen.  He clears his throat to get my attention and I raise my eyebrows at him to signal back that I’m listening.  “Thank you, for letting me stay here.  I know I didn’t seem grateful before, but I am,” he says hesitantly. 

“Don’t think of it.  I just…”  I trail off unsure of what I was going to say next.

“You just, what?”  He asks.  It’s then I realize we are only six inches apart and staring into each other’s eyes.  Drake’s hands are still lodged in the soapy water, but I get the feeling his fists are clenched. 

I swallow down the uncertainty and speak the truth.  I don’t know why I can’t force the indifferent act that usually comes so easily to rise to the surface.  “I just… couldn’t leave you.”   The last word rushes out on a breath and it has a strange affect on Drake.  His lids lower and his eyes glaze over.  I can see the muscles in his chest rise and fall faster with his every breath.  The tension in the air has thickened and charged between us.  I lean forward a few inches and brush my lips against his, then pull back with my eyes still closed waiting for his signal to move forward or back off.

Drake grasps my waist tighter and leans forward slightly, and his answer to my unspoken question is more than obvious.  His warm hand sears the skin beneath the cotton of my t-shirt.  That small amount of contact is enough to send me into full blown wanting.  I know what’s about to happen, and although I know I should stop this, because there are still too many variables between us, I’ve been inflated with such sexual tension since meeting him I’m surprised I haven’t popped.

So I give in.

At least a little.

I stand still and wait for him to come to me, and he doesn’t disappoint.  I expect him to do what any other guy would do and move right in for the kiss.  That’s not his style.  Drake steps in to me and pulls the hair tie from my pony tail, letting it fall across my shoulders.  His hands trail down my body causing every inch of skin to pulse in the wake of his touch.  Before I shout at him to hurry it up, he grasps the hem of my t-shirt and rips it up and over my head.  I don’t even get a chance to stop him, not that I want to, because he lifts me onto the counter and steps between my legs.

I’m about to explode, sure my jeans are completely soaked and the bastard hasn’t even kissed me yet.  His hands gather my hair behind my head and he uses his grip to pull my head back, exposing my throat to him.  I feel his nose run up my neck to my ear.

“Do you want me to kiss you, Lola?” he whispers.  Words are beyond me at this point, so I just nod.  “You’ve got to do better than that.  You have to give me what I want to get what you want.” 

Something about his words makes me freeze.  He wants me to surrender to him.  He wants me to beg him for it.  He thinks I’m so far gone I’ll just let him take over.

Oh.

Hell.

No.

I bring my hand up and palm his face right over his mouth and shove him away from my body.  It doesn’t move him much but startles him enough for me to put just enough space between us.

“Alright, Thomas,” I say jumping down off the counter, “let’s get one thing straight right now.  I’m not your girlfriend.  My inviting you to stay here is not some backasswards way of me telling you I want to be your girlfriend.  Even if I were your girlfriend, no one, and I mean no one, is in control of me, except me.  I want you, I won’t deny that, but you damn well want me too.  So if you think you can absolve your fears of wanting me by making me beg you to take me, you’re sadly mistaken.”  Drake is frozen and his eyes are black as night as he stares wide eyed at me.

“Damn,” he says after a long silence.  I just nod at him. 
Yea.

“Ball’s in your court, cowboy,” I say.

“I doubt that.  But I want you to know that I don’t want to control you, and I definitely don’t want a girlfriend.”

I nod at the first and don’t allow myself to feel anything at the second declaration.  That works for me.  “Like I said, I’m not asking.”

“Right.  Lola, your shirt is still off,” he says, honing in on my silk covered chest.