Highway Song: A Smokey's Roadhouse Novel (16 page)

Then I tilted her chin up and met her lips with mine. As I deepened the kiss, I remembered something I
’
d heard. Call girls didn
’
t kiss, or so the urban myth went. Too intimate, or something ridiculous like that. What was more intimate than fucking? It gave me doubts about my suspicions. Still, she hadn
’
t gotten that good at head by reading about it.

Still kissing her, I let my hand drift down, pausing at her breast to give her nipple a tweak before moving lower and spreading her legs. She was wet, and her quickened breath meant she was ready. I rolled over and pushed her knees apart with mine. Immediately, she pulled her legs up and wide, giving me full access. It was all I could do to pause long enough to get the fucking condom on, even though I wanted to skip it. But I wasn
’
t stupid. I hadn
’
t avoided some kind of awful fucking crotch-rot by being careless. Somehow, I got it on.

I pushed in, again thinking I had to be wrong. She was tight, and I stopped thinking as I stroked slow and deep, to her guttural
‘
ahs
’
. It must not have been more than half an hour since I
’
d fallen asleep, completely drained. Now, as good as this felt, I knew I could go for an hour like this if we had the time. We didn
’
t.

I pulled out.
“
Turn over,
”
I urged her. She flipped over immediately, and somehow with a flex of her stomach muscles, pulled her ass up high for my entry. With her flexing back and ass cheeks providing visual stimulation for me, and my arm wrapped around her to let my fingers stroke her clit, we were both at the brink within moments. Her pulsing inner walls brought me to my orgasm just as she bucked back against me with a cry.

We collapsed in a heap, and stayed there for a few minutes until she asked with a shaky voice.
“
What time is it?
”

I no longer wanted to ask her my question. What did it matter anyway? If it was important, I
’
d find out sooner or later. If not, why offend her? I looked around, seeking a clock.

“
Eight-thirty.
”

“
Oh, my God! What will your band think? You
’
re going to be late.
”

“
Sweetheart, it
’
s ten steps away. I
’
m fine.
”

With that, I dipped my head to kiss her again. Everything was fine
—
or it would be.

THIRTEEN

Amy

S
mokey eyed me suspiciously as I stepped behind the bar.
“
Long break,
”
he remarked.

I gave him my best innocent expression and said,
“
You did tell me to take a nap, right?
”

He turned away and flagged Sylvie down. She returned to the waitress station at the bar and spotted me.
“
Oh, good, you
’
re back. I
’
m going to grab a table and catch the music, babe,
”
she said to Smokey. She must have discovered it wasn
’
t country music. His craggy old face softened as he blew her a kiss and waved her toward the tables. A few of the old ladies were already there with their old men, and they
’
d pulled several tables together.

The stage area wasn
’
t much of a stage
—
just where the band had cleared out a few tables at the opposite end of the room from the bar to make space for themselves. Mark had commandeered one of the tables for the sound board, and the band members were checking their levels and monitoring equipment. Rex stood between the bar and the tables the oldsters had pulled together, making thumbs up or thumbs down signals to Mark as the guys strummed their instruments. He
’
d be up there in a minute, saying
‘
check, check, check
’
into the microphone to check his own levels.

The place was already packed with more patrons than usual even for a Friday night. Smokey had a grim smile on his face that would have been worrisome, if I hadn
’
t learned it meant he was pleased with something. Probably the turnout tonight. He should look in a mirror when he
’
s doing that sometime. Probably scare himself to death.

Right at nine, Smokey cut the music he was piping through the place from his iPod, and the band was on.

“
Evening, folks, glad to see you come out tonight! My name
’
s Rex Beck, and these ugly dudes are Oklahoma Sweet Crude.
”
With that, Ike set a beat and Axel played the intro to
“
Fire on the Mountain.
”
Enthralled, I listened as Rex
’
s rich baritone sang the familiar lyrics. Smokey
’
s foot tapped the backbeat, and I couldn
’
t stand still. I danced in place and erupted in cheers with the rest of the room when the last chord sounded.

With only a second
’
s pause, they went into
“
Can
’
t You See,
”
and although I missed the flute intro, they did an outstanding job. After the first two Marshall Tucker songs, they went through an impressive repertoire that included Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, the Allman Brothers, and my favorite, CCR. While my classmates were crying and fainting over NSYNC, I
’
d had a serious crush on John Fogerty as a kid. Of course, by then he was a solo artist, but I loved his Creedence performances just as much as the newer ones.

Just before time for their break, Rex and his band announced an original. By this time, they
’
d warmed up the audience enough that plenty of people were happy to hear anything they played, even if it wasn
’
t an old familiar song. It started with a long guitar intro heavy on the reverb, but it was slow enough that several of the old-timers got up to dance. Seeing the bikers hunched over their old ladies made me urge Smokey to get out and dance with Sylvie.

I was watching the dancers more than the band, so when Rex
’
s hand landed on my shoulder, I nearly jumped out of my skin. He kissed me and motioned me to follow him outside.

“
Can
’
t, Smokey
’
s busy out there.
”
I nodded in the direction of the dancers.

He put his mouth to my ear and said,
“
That song
’
s eight minutes long. No one will notice you
’
re gone.
”
Then he took my hand and pulled me out the back door. As soon as the door eased shut, he scooped me into his arms. His hands roamed my back and cupped my ass, pressing into me with his hips. Through his tight pants, I could feel the hard length of him, and my blood sang as he kissed me. When he loosened his embrace, I was dizzy with desire.

“
That
’
s to hold you until we
’
re done,
”
he said, smirking at me.

“
Fuck you, Rex Beck, or whatever your name is. I was fine until you did that. Now I want you to take me right here and now. And we can
’
t. Damn it!
”
I was only half-kidding. The music had pumped me up, but I wasn
’
t aching for him to tear my clothes off before. Now I was a hot mess, with moisture seeping into a thong entirely inadequate to soak it up. My nipples peaked the soft, thin leather of my bustier. If I arrived at a table to take orders looking like this, I
’
d have trouble keeping the customers
’
hands off me. Naturally, Rex picked up on my slip of the tongue.

“
What do you mean, whatever my name is? Why would you think it wasn
’
t Rex Beck?
”

Because I know it
’
s Richard Beckham.
“
Oh, come on. That almost-rhyme is too convenient. That
’
s a stage name, isn
’
t it?
”

He stepped back. An earnest expression replaced his smirk.
“
Yeah, but you can
’
t tell anyone. There are reasons I changed it. Can I trust you?
”

“
Of course.
”
Yes, he could trust me not to reveal his secret. But I couldn
’
t trust him with mine, so it was a lie by omission. I cared about him more than he knew, and for more reasons than I could explain. I couldn
’
t let him be caught up in the drama that was my life, even while I planned to let him rescue me from this place.

“
Amy!
”
Smokey
’
s angry growl sounded from the doorway.
“
You
’
ve got thirsty customers. Get back inside.
”

I jumped to obey, feeling as guilty as I
’
d ever been in my life.
“
Sorry, Smokey. I was only gone a minute.
”

As I brushed past him in the doorway, he spoke for my ears alone.
“
Are ya sure ya know what you
’
re doing?
”

“
I think so. I really am sorry, boss.
”

“
It
’
s okay. I
’
m gonna worry about ya when you
’
re gone. Try to get word to me how you
’
re doin
’
, will ya?
”

I was mortified by the tears that sprang to my eyes. The last man who cared about my well-being had died. Hoping I hadn
’
t already put him and Sylvie in danger, too, I gulped.
“
I
’
ll try.
”

Rex
 

S
mokey let me know during our second break that we
’
d fulfilled our obligation to him. He also grabbed me by the upper arm and threatened to cut off my balls if I hurt Amy. What the fuck?

“
I have no intention of hurting her, dude. In fact, I
’
m under the impression that some of your club members have threatened her and by taking her away from here, I
’
m rescuing her.
”

“
I
’
ll take care of Jake and them. You keep her with ya until
she
decides she don
’
t want to be with ya anymore. That girl
’
s scared of somethin
’
from her past. You take care of her.
”
His frown deepened as he essentially handed her over to my care.

What he said made sense and in a way answered some questions I
’
d had. Unfortunately, it begged others. None of them would wait until another day dawned. Even though we played until one a.m., and she was drooping with exhaustion by the time we
’
d cleared our equipment out of the bar, I had to hear at least some of them tonight.  Or this morning, technically.