Pieces (Riverdale #1) (13 page)

     
“Thanks.” Jake said and watched Sam lean
over and kissed Cara’s cheek.

     
“Happy Birthday, again.” She said and eyed
the balloons she turned and looked at Nick.

     
“What?” He said expectantly. “Going to
kiss me goodbye?”

     
Sam rolled her eyes and stalked off. Jake
blew out a breath and shook his head at his sister. She was playing with fire;
that much he knew. Nick’s patience with her seemed to be running thin, and he
couldn’t really blame the guy. He was trying to no prevail. He patted Nick’s
back, consolingly and then gave Cara one more glance. God, she was pretty and she
was all his.

     
Rudy walked out of the back office, it was
a half hour after closing time, he usually never was around this late but Cara
knew he probably only hung around because she was working the bar by herself
that evening. She glanced up at him from drying some of the clean glasses and
smiled. Rudy was in his early fifties, and the years had not been kind to him.
He had lost most of his hair and what had been left was completely gray. Owning
a bar had run its course and landed along his midsection, blessing him with a
hefty beer belly. Still, he was the gentlest of giants, as far as Cara was
concerned.

     
“Almost done for the night Rudy, you can
go.” She said, hoping she reassured him.

     
“And leave you by yourself? My conscience
would be the death of me. Usually your boyfriend is here to see you home.” He
grumbled.

     
Cara smiled. Apparently Jake’s affections
even had hit the back office. “He’ll be here any minute”

     
Rudy mumbled something inaudible before
sighing. “That Jake, fellow, he’s a good guy. I always liked him.” He cocked
his head as if he was questioning his thoughts. “Granted he was the cause of
some of the greatest fights this bar has seen. He always looked out for you.”

     
Cara smiled, she couldn’t argue that. She
wondered where Rudy was going with his little speech. “He definitely is a good
guy, one of the best.” She asserted.

     
Another grunt sounded from Rudy. Maybe
that was just how he breathed. “Anyway, I’m glad he took his head out of his
ass. You’re hardworking gal. You deserve some happiness.”

     
Cara’s eyes widened, but she composed
herself and tucked the compliment away. “Thank you Rudy. It means a lot.”

     
Rudy nodded and grabbed his cigar. It
dangled from his lips as he shoved his newsboy hat on top of his bald head.
“You sure he’s coming?” He mumbled with the cigar in his mouth.

     
“Positive. Go home, I’ll make sure
everything is locked up.”

     
“You always do.” He muttered as he saw
himself towards the front door. Cara watched the door close behind him. She
finished placing the clean glasses in their rightful spot before she checked
the shelves behind her. The liquor bottles were lined perfectly. She gave the
room a quick glance, straightening some chairs as she walked towards the light
switches.

     
The door opened again and she didn’t have
to turn around to know who had walked through it. She smiled instantly, as she
dimmed the lights. She turned and bumped into Jake’s hard chest. A laugh
escaped her lips as her eyes peered up at him. He grabbed her face with his
hands and pressed his mouth firmly onto hers. Quickly, she adjusted, and
wrapped her arms around his neck as he hoisted her up.
 
Her legs swung around his waist, as his hands
cupped her ass. He carried her to the pool table and set her down gently on top
of the felt. He pulled his mouth away from hers.

     
“That’s one way to say hello.” She panted
as he shrugged his jacket off his shoulders and threw it on the table behind
her. A devilish grin spread across his face as he pushed her legs apart and he
stepped between them.

     
“The best way if you ask me.” He said as
he wiggled his eyebrows, his trademark gesture, that undid her every single
time.
 
“Are we alone?” He said as his
fingers worked the tiny buttons on the front of her shirt.

     
“Yes.” She said excitement evident in her
voice. She looped her fingers through the belt loops of his jeans and tugged
him closer to her.

     
“Good, I’ve been dreaming of doing this to
you, since I left here. I almost tattooed your name to the guys back piece I
was doing because I couldn’t get you out of my head.” He said before his lips
crashed onto hers.

     
Between kisses, Jake managed to slide her
shirt off. He cupped her breasts in his palms as his tongue lavished her mouth.
His fingertips toyed with the strap of her bra as hers undid the top button of
his jeans. Her hand cupped his erection through the denim and she heard him
suck in a breath before his mouth found one of her nipples through the lace
that shielded her breasts. His hands traveled down to her thighs and he began
to hike her shirt higher, inch by inch until it pooled around her waist. He
tore his mouth from her breast and grinned at her.

     
“Thanks for wearing a skirt.” He smirked
and she cocked her head as she slid the zipper of his jeans down.

     
“You’re welcome. Now shut up and fuck me.”
She tried to hide the grin on her face by chewing on her lip. Her eyes gave up
her laughter and he grinned at her. “Please?” She offered and they both
laughed, before their lips met.

     
As their tongues danced and their lips
fused together, both sets of hands worked on pushing down Jake’s pants and
boxers, satisfied when they finally were hanging past his knees. He reached
between her legs and slipped his fingers under the scrap of fabric that covered
her aching mound. He pushed one finger between her folds and she instantly
arched against his hand.

     
“Damn it Jake, stop teasing me.” She said
as his finger pushed in and out of her. She wanted that hard length she eyed
inside of her not his fingers. He pressed his lips to her neck and spoke
against her skin.

     
“Tell me what you want.” He said and let
his tongue travel the base of her neck.

     
“I want you inside me, fast and hard.” She
all but pleaded before she grabbed his head with her hands. She looked into his
eyes, demanding he take her just as she said.

     
His eyes never left hers and she watched
him withdraw his finger from inside her and dip his fingertip into his mouth,
treating himself to a taste. He closed his eyes as if to tell her was savoring
her flavor. When his eyes opened, she moaned slightly, watching him was doing crazy
things to her insides. He winked at her as he shuffled her thong down her legs.

     
Cara thought she should be worried if
someone came in and found them like this, especially Rudy. He had only left a
little while ago, what if he forgot something? She would bet her weeks’ pay
that he’d take back all the nice things he had said before he left, if he saw
the town’s favorite bad ass and his number one bartender making use of his pool
table. For some reason, though, the thought of anyone walking in on them didn’t
bother her as much as not having Jake at that exact moment. To hell with
thinking, she spread her legs and he stepped between them. She wrapped her arms
around him and gave him her ‘fuck me’ eyes, knowing very well when she looked
at him like that, he’d lose control.

     
Biting back a curse, Jake drove his hard
dick into her quivering pussy. Her ass was spread against the felt of the pool
table as she willingly widened her legs further to accommodate him. She tilted
her body back and his hands took her hips hostage, working them to the rhythm
of his thrusts. Cara’s head flew back, her hair cascading across the pool
table, she felt sexy and completely in the moment. She gripped Jake’s shoulders
for leverage, her nails biting at his skin, urging him to pick up his pace, to
charge into her harder.

     
Her release hit her just as hard as he
took her, and her body began to move rapidly against him, and together they
drove her orgasm home. Her legs tightened around him as if to hold him still,
as she came. In her state of euphoria she could feel him unleash his restraint
and let himself join her. He slammed his cock deep inside her and she heard him
let out a strangled moan as he buried his face between her breasts.

     
Cara took the sight of them in, rubbing
her hands down his back as she chuckled. “I swear I will never look at this
pool table the same.”

     
Panting he pulled back and drew out a deep
breath. He smiled as he dislodged himself from her and bent to pick up his
pants. He pulled them up his legs and tucked his semi swollen cock into his
boxers. He drew the zipper up on his jeans but left the button undone. He
reached over her and grabbed her shirt.

     
“You’ve ruined any shot of me winning a
game of pool in this place.” He smiled as he helped her with her shirt.

     
She hopped off the table and straightened
her skirt before frowning. No way in hell was he going to let her on his bike
with her bare legs. Then she remembered she had a pair of jeans in the locker
in Rudy’s office.
 
“I have a change of
clothes in the back. Still want to go for that ride?” She said as she worked on
closing the buttons of her shirt.

     
Jake stepped towards her and took her hand
in his, lacing their fingers together before he dipped his head and kissed her
gently. “Go change, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” It was more of a
promise than a simple statement. She smiled widely at him.

     
“I’ll go anywhere with you.” She gave his
lips another quick peck. “I’ll be right back.” He nodded and she scurried off
to change her clothes. She laughed at herself, for being worried things would
change between them.

     
It was one thing to see the nerves set in
before you brought the needle to their skin, after all, they don’t usually know
how good you are until you’re finished tattooing them. You can draw anything on
a piece of paper but it’s different when it’s brought to life on your skin.
Jake knew Pete was a great tattoo artist, knew he was capable of pretty much
anything, but he couldn’t shake his nerves as he watched him assess the latest
piece of art, Jake wanted to adorn, he knew now how his clients felt when they
first laid eyes on him. He’d do it himself if he could, there was no room for
error. He wanted every line and every curve to be perfect, the details are what
made it art. Pete glanced up at him from the paper he was holding and smiled.

     
“When do you want to do it?” He asked.

     
“You sure you can do it?” Jake asked, and
hated that he did. He didn’t want Pete to think he didn’t appreciate his
talent. He rolled his eyes at himself. “I know you can do it, it’s just. It’s
important to me, I need to hear it.”

     
Pete laughed and patted his boss on the
back. “No worries, man. But to mock you before I humor you, they’re all
important.” He repeated Jake’s often used words back to him. “I can do it.”

     
Jake’s face broke into a grin. Relief
settled in knowing that he first, didn’t insult Pete, and second that he could
capture the art in all its glory to his skin. “Thanks man. I’ll owe you.” He
paused, shoving the paper they had been staring at back into a portfolio. “Just
one more thing, I don’t want anyone knowing about it.”

     
Pete stared at him for a moment, before
his tongue snaked out and toyed with the piercing he had on his lip. “How the
hell do you plan on hiding that?”

     
Jake grinned. “Not for long, just until
it’s complete.”

     
Pete looked at him as if he’d flown the
coup.
 
He’d been getting that look a lot
lately, since he and Cara came back from Manhattan. The digs started rolling
in, about how they never saw him smile so fucking much, how he kept staring at
his phone, and how the wandering women that would parade through Riverdale Ink,
seemed to have all disappeared.

     
“Next Thursday, good for you? The track
will be closed no racing.” Pete said as he grabbed his leather jacket from the
back of his stool.

     
“Perfect. You are heading out to the track
now?”

     
“Yeah. I have some adjustments I need to
make to my bike. Aren’t you racing tonight too?”

     
Jake grinned. “I’m popping my cherry
tonight.”

     
 
Since he had bought his Harley, he’d taken an
interest in racing. Pete had turned him onto it and there was this old
abandoned track in the next town that one could catch a glimpse of the most
beautiful pieces of machinery this side of New York. Thursday’s were usually
dedicated to racing down at the track, but lately there had been a few new
faces at the track introducing the old ones to stunt riding. Jake’s bike wasn’t
really equipped for such stunts, but he was going to start off tonight with
some basics. His bike was too heavy to operate like a stunt bike but if he got
the knack of it he’d probably buy a motorbike.

     
“I’m doing some stunts tonight. You know
the basics.” Jake amended, deciding he’d leave the racing to Pete for the
night.

     
Pete studied his boss for a fleeting
minute. “Ride safe.” He said before heading out towards the door.

     
Jake watched him exit the door and his
brother enter it. Jake smiled and wiggled his eyebrows at Luke.

     
“Whoa, last I check it wasn’t my birthday,
what brings by my big brother.”

     
Luke glanced around the shop then back at
him. “Is that how you really feel?”

     
Jake rolled his eyes and began to pack up
his backpack. He didn’t have any other clients tonight the other artists could
handle the walk-in’s. “I’m kidding, calm down Mr. Sensitive.” Then he looked at
his brother, skeptically. “Where’s your sidekick?”

     
“Despite what most people think, Nick and
I aren’t joined at the hip.”

     
“I wasn’t referring to Nick, I meant the
cute little blonde. She’s about three and a half feet, big blue eyes that would
light up the darkest of dungeons.” He smiled as he referred to his daughter.

     
“She’s with Sam for the night, girl time.”
Luke sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Jake
studied him, he looked edgy, which was not the usual. Very little bothered him,
and if it did Luke rarely let it show.
 
The mere fact that he came looking for Jake,
told him one thing, his brother was bothered by something. Why he decided to
use Jake as his sounding board, was a mystery to him, his brother never turned
to him for a damn thing

     
“What’s bugging you?” Jake asked, trying
to exuberate, nonchalance like only he could.

     
Luke simply shrugged his shoulders. “It’s
nothing. I didn’t realize you were done for the night, I’m sure…“

     
“Whoa, what’s going on with you?” Jake
peered at him. ‘Luke, you never come looking for me to talk to, so the fact
that you did, means one of two things. Either shits real bad and you have no
one else to talk to or you need a little dose of Jake and all his antics.” He
shrugged. “I’m told I’m good medicine.”

     
Luke almost cracked a smile but he raised
an eyebrow. “By who?”

     
He looked at him as if he it was common
knowledge and he lived under a rock. “Who else? Cara.” And as if it was second
nature, the mention of her name brought an instant smile on his face.

     
Luke smiled, genuinely. “Mom told me you
took your head out of your ass and finally made things official between you and
Cara.”

 
    
“Go
on tell me, I’m her favorite child now, aren’t I?”

     
Luke laughed briefly. “You may very well
be.” He paused and looked at his brother in wonder. “What made you finally take
the plunge?”

     
He shrugged, and spoke the truth. “I
didn’t want to wake up one day and regret that I had the best thing in my life
and let it slip away because I was too chicken shit. I love her and I’m so
tired of pretending I don’t.” It was really that simple. He couldn’t contain
how much he felt for Cara and masquerading those feelings were driving him
crazy.

     
“I’m happy for you.” Luke said and then rubbed
his hands down his face. “I envy you.”

     
Jake looked at his brother, trying to
figure what was going on with him. No one had ever envied him before,
rightfully so, usually his life was a shit storm. But Luke had a thriving
business, a beautiful daughter, and always had his shit together, unlike Jake,
who was just now making a conscious effort to be more like his brother.

     
“You envy me? What the hell for?”

     
Luke looked up at him and Jake would’ve
sworn he saw a flash of regret pass his brother’s eyes. “You enjoy every minute
of your life, and when you started to figure a piece was missing, you weren’t
too scared to grab it and fit it back into your puzzle.”

     
Jake was starting to think that everyone
in his life got their rocks off on confusing the shit out of him. First Cara
went and compared him to food and now his brother was comparing him to a
puzzle. “Look I don’t know about chicken cutlets and puzzle pieces and quite
frankly I don’t want to because it’s all too confusing.” Luke’s brows furrowed
but Jake ignored him and went on with his rant. “I don’t know what you’re
saying but let me see if I can figure it out. You Mr. I Got This, Don’t You
Worry, is envious of me, Mr. I Ain’t Got Shit Figured Out?” He shook his head.
“Talk about a mindfuck.”

     
“That’s just it. I’m so sick of having the
answer for everything and acting as if I got everything under control when I’m
just muddling through.”

     
“So you want to throw caution to the wind?
Definitely came to the right place. I’m Mr. Fuck Caution.”

     
“You have a filthy mouth.”

     
“I wish you were a certain brunette saying
those words and not my brother.” He sighed, and reprimanded himself silently.
No more joking around Jake, your brother needs your advice. He chuckled, he
couldn’t help it. Who would’ve thought? He watched Luke look at him, probably
rethinking coming here to talk to him in the first place. He cleared his throat
and composed himself. “Sorry. Look if you’re trying to tell me you’re tired of
having all your ducks in a row, I am relieved. For the life of me, I don’t know
how you do it and never complain. You’ve been dealt a shitty hand some might
say, I wouldn’t.” He watched his brother just stare at him, actually listening
to him, still reeling from that fact alone, he gathered his scattered thoughts and
continued. “I see you and I see the bravest man I know. I would never have been
able to raise a little girl by myself. Shit, I wouldn’t have this tattoo parlor
if dad didn’t help me, but you? Your partner takes off and all your plans to
open your business come crashing down on you and you turn around and
single-handedly build your business from nothing. Every plan you thought you
had backfired but you still managed to come out on top, because of your
willpower to succeed.”

     
“I have a daughter. She needs me to
succeed so she can have a life like we did.” He sighed. “But no matter what I
do, she never will. She’ll never have the home we had and it’s ruining me.”

     
“This is about Marie?” Anger boiled in
Jake, at the mere sound of her name. If that bitch ever had the balls to run
her ass back through this town Jake would run her over.
 
He meant it. She hurt his brother and left
his niece like she was yesterday’s newspaper.

     
“It’s not about her. I believe with my
whole heart that Ava is better off without her. I mean she was an infant when
she left her.” He took a moment. “Have you ever seen me bring a girl around
Ava? She’s seven years old.”

     
“No.”

     
“I told myself I couldn’t because if I let
her get close to another woman, and she left us too how would I ever explain
that hurt to her?” He sighed. “She’s been asking where her mother is, and why
all the other kids in school have mommies but she doesn’t.”

     
“What do you say when she asks?” Jake
asked curiously.

     
“I avoid it at all costs, and just tell
her that wherever her mother is she’s thinking of her and loving her from
afar.” He swallowed, and Jake saw the pain tearing through him.

     
“Luke, you give her a lot of love. We all
do, and she has our mom and Sam, she even has Cara for when she needs a woman
in her life. You just need to know that you are doing a great job, and you
can’t be afraid of letting another woman into your lives. You just haven’t met
her yet, or maybe you have and it’s just not your time. But when it is you’ll
know she’s the one that’s going to complete that family picture you have in
your head.”

     
Luke stared at him, before nodding. “When
did you get so philosophical?” He smiled crookedly at him and then grabbed him
into a hug. “Thanks, Jake.”

     
“Anytime.” He said and patted his brother
on the back. “Hey would you do something for me?”

     
They pulled out of their brotherly embrace
and Luke nodded. “What do you need?”

     
“Come to the track tonight.”

     
“Are you racing?” Luke asked, curiously
but a streak of concern slid through his question.

     
“No. I’ll be stunt riding. I’ve been
meaning to talk to you about something actually.” Luke just looked at him
questioningly. “With you and Nick, restoring classic cars and flipping them, it
got me thinking, and I think there’s a strong market in motorcycles. You should
see some of the bikes that are on the track. They’re mint, and half of them are
classics that have been restored. The other half, are custom motor bikes. They
are real beauties.”

     
“Do you have a lot of knowledge on the
bikes?” Luke asked, pondering if they could follow through with Jake’s idea.

     
“Enough and what I don’t know, I’ll
learn.” He said confidently. “Even quads like we used to ride in the snow when
we were kids.”

     
“You really want to do this, huh?” Luke
seemed interested.

     
“I do and I want to do it with you.” Jake
said sincerely, before winking at him, lightening the heavy vibe of
brotherhood. “If you come to the track, you can get a feel for it too.”

     
“Okay.” Luke said, and then smiled
encouragingly at him. Jake let out a breath. Reminding himself to keep it light
and easy, but the truth was he had wanted Luke so badly to turn to him when
Nick left, and ask him to be his partner. When he didn’t Jake shrugged it off
as he always did when something ticked at his emotions. Now, older and wiser, he
knew jack shit about fixing cars and had no interest in it. He just wanted to
share a bond with his brother.

     
“I’m sorry I’m late, but I had to go home
and change!” The brothers turned at the sweet voice that came through the door
like a burst of sunshine. Cara stood before them. She had on short leather
jacket and when she pulled it apart, she was wearing a shirt that read “Team
Jake” in big bold letters, stretched across her breasts. Jake grinned widely as
her cheeks turned pink when she saw Luke. Quickly she covered her shirt,
feeling silly. “Oh, hi Luke.”