Slim To None (Cedar Tree #1) (25 page)

*****

S
omeone was pulling at her, mumbling swear words. She couldn't make out much that made sense, just snippets.

"Leave me alone ..." She managed to croak out. "Just don't touch me anymore..."

"Jesus woman, I'm gonna spank your hide if you live through this, I swear to god."

Wait. What was Seb doing here? So confused.

"Grab her feet, Kara, we've got get her down before the whole roof caves in."

Kara was still here? She didn't understand any of it. So tired ...

G
us had tried keeping half an eye on the car crusher as he was taunting Will. He knew they didn't have much time to get the women out of their precarious situation. But he also couldn't lose sight of the fact that Emma was squarely in the sight of his brother's gun. And with the hatred gleaming in his eyes, he had no doubt Will wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, just to hurt him where he must have realized it would have the most impact. What he hadn't counted on was Emma throwing herself in the fray, trying to get a hold of the controls. Stupid. He should've know that she would not be contend to sit by the sidelines. She got knocked out good. Again. Jesus. Her poor body didn't deserve all the abuse.

Struggling to avoid the worst of his brothers raging punches, he focused his hold on the gun hand, making sure the barrel stayed far away from his body. Wishing with all that was holy that Caleb wouldn't wait too long to show his mug, or he might not be able to hold on much longer. All the noise was starting to blur together, the grinding of the cruncher, Will's swearing and growling as his fist was pounding Gus' face to pulp. Even Gus' own grunts with every hit that found its mark. He tried to twist and turn his body underneath to shield his face as best he could - holding on to the gun with both hands. But despite that more than just a few made it through and his eyes started swelling shut.

Suddenly the weight was lifted off him, and with his one half open eye he saw Caleb with a handful of sheriff's deputies wrestling Will to the ground and cuffing him. In the next moment he was scrambling around on hands and knees, trying to find the controls.

"Caleb!" He tried yelling out. "The girls - they're in the cruncher ..."

"We've got them, Boss. Medics are en route. Lay back, we'll take it from here."

He rolled over and dragged himself to Emma, who seemed to be coming to, a red welt on her jaw where she got hit in the struggle.

"Hey baby." Stroking her cheek, he waited for her to open her eyes. "We're quite the pair." Blinking a few times, her eyes finally focused on his face and widened in shock.

"Oh my god, Gus, your poor face." Only to be followed with; "The girls, where are they? Are they okay? Please tell me they're okay." Emma struggled to sit up, but he held her down, wanting her to take it easy.

"They're fine, they got out. I haven't seen them yet, but Caleb said they got out. Medics are on the way."

"Is it over?" Her big blue eyes are looking at him.

"Yeah, Peach. I think it's over."

*****

T
he voice of her daughter had her struggling up from the stretcher where the EMT had insisted she remain while they examined her properly.

"Mom! I just need to see my mother, please? Mom are you in here?"

"Yes baby, let me see you. Come here." Pulling Kara in a tight hug, she couldn't care less what the damn EMT told her, or what anyone wanted her to do for that matter. She needed to hug her daughter good and then she needed to go home. No damn hospital stay again.

Kissing her hair, she asked her girl how she was holding up.

"I was pretty much a mess, Mom, but Arlene - she rocked. She has no fear, I swear to God. She did everything she could to protect me, even got herself beaten so bad." At Emma's sharp intake of breath, Kara burst into tears. "Oh no, you didn't know?"

All moisture suddenly dried from her mouth and throat, as fear grabbed hold of her. "Know what? Tell me what happened to Arlene? Is she okay?" She couldn't help the trembling in her voice.

"She fought for me mom, wanted me to run, but I couldn't leave her, I ... I just couldn't. He just kept slamming her head into the floor and I started screaming at him to stop because she wasn't moving. The whole night he had me back chained into that truck and I didn't know what happened to her. This morning he carried her out and just threw her in the front seat. She looked so bad, but I could see her chest moving." When she took a deep shuddering breath, Emma interrupted.

"Honey, you are killing me here. Is she okay? Where is she? Please..."

"Sorry. She's on her way to Cortez, she was saying some stuff when Seb pulled us out, it was all a bit jumbled and she looks a mess. They took her right away in the ambulance with flashing lights and all."

"Seb pulled you out? I'm so out of the loop. Okay, here is the deal. Can you find Gus for me, he needs to get looked at and then I want us to go to the hospital."

The EMT perked up at that and tried to get her to lie back down to strap her in for the ride, but she set him straight.

"No. Not riding in the back of an ambulance. I got knocked out in a scuffle, plain and simple. My reflexes are good. I know the date, month and year and who the president currently is. I am not a bloody invalid! Now get me out of this damn truck."    

She wrestled herself off the stretcher and out of the ambulance and found herself face to face with a grinning Gus.

"I need my walker," she said at no one in particular, and then directly at Gus, "What are you laughing about?" When the grin turned into a chuckle.

"Not an invalid, darlin'? Here, let me find you your walker."

"Oh. Shut up." But she couldn't hold back a smile at her own ridiculous outburst. Blame it on stress, or whatever. "Wait, don't you need to get checked out?"

"Aren't we heading for the hospital in Cortez?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Smartass." Was the only reasonable response she had.

S
itting on her own shower stool, with the hot water pounding down on her, for the first time in weeks, not feeling rushed, or anxious or unsure, was blissful. The stress from the past few weeks was being pounded out of her tight muscles. The strong pulses from her deluxe shower head, made her skin tingle and had her moan out loud.

"Sounds like I'm missing something good." Gus' deep voice came from the door opening where he was leaning, quietly observing.

"You snuck up on me." She smiled at him. "Gonna stand there and watch?"

"That an invitation?" His hands were already reaching for the hem of his shirt.

"Open invitation for you, big guy."

"Hmmmm, sounds good. Get ready cause I'm coming in hungry."

In no time flat stripped naked, he sank on his knees in front of her and grabbed the loofah and soap. "Lean back against the wall, baby. I want to wash you."

Doing as he asked, she settled back against the tile and closed her eyes. The water was soothing and Gus lifting first one arm and then the other, using the loofah to rub soap into her skin with a firm circular motion. Neck and shoulders, then down to her chest and breasts, where he spent some time teasing. Kissing and nibbling on her by now very erect nipples. Sucking them between the roof of his mouth and tongue before letting them go with a plop and moving to the other side. She was in turn languid with relaxation and squirming in need. Leaving her breasts after that little appetizer, he took his loofah over the soft rolls of her belly. She had long given up trying to hide herself from him. It only seemed to aggravate him and he really did seem to find pleasure in all aspects of her, hard and soft ... so she just let herself be as she was. And he appreciated all of it, and showed her by gently cleaning her bellybutton. He then used the fingers of his hands to slip and slide between every fold her body had shaped. His fingers simply tracing every contour of her almost reverently. From her waist he moved right down to her legs that received the same treatment, ending with a delicious foot massage on either side. Back to languid. Very much so.

"Not done with you yet, Peach. I save the best for last." His already deep voice even lower with the contained arousal that was evident in his eyes. Well, and his almost purple straining erection.

"Changing position for this one." And with that, he pulled her up, sat down in her place and turned her around to have her straddle his thighs.

"Perfect. My face in your luscious tits and my hands and cock within reach of your ass and your pussy. Just the way I like it."

Seeing his face up close had her flinch.

"Your face sore, babe?"

"Not too bad, and not bad enough to keep me from doing this." Planting his face right in between her breasts and licking at the moisture collecting there. His hands were busy soaping up between her butt cheeks very thoroughly. So thoroughly in fact, she was sure once or twice a finger slipped inside her anus, causing her to hiss air between her teeth at the slight burning, but oh so good sensation.

"I love having all this access from all sides. Being able to put my hands anywhere on you, opening you up further just by moving my own legs wider. Kiss me. Let me taste you."

Wrapping her arms tighter around  his neck she sealed her lips on his and slid her tongue along the seam of his mouth gaining entrance. All the while he continued playing with her sex, sliding his fingers through her wetness and dragging it to her clit to tease and her puckered hole behind, to finger her ass. Something she found she surprisingly enjoyed. Pulling his hands clear for a moment, she almost whimpered.

"Would you lean over and grab what's in the front pocket of my jeans?"

"But I'll get them all wet."

"Don't care. Just grab it."

Reaching over and sneaking her hand into his pocket, realization caused a snicker to burst free as she pulled out one of her little pink toys. This one a long silicone bullet, good for clit stimulation and shallow penetration. She had no idea what he had in mind, but remembered the promise he made on the first night they met.

Taking the vibrator from her, he played with it through her wet folds for a bit, before sliding it in and out of her pussy a few times making it nice and wet with her juices. 

"Slide down on my cock, baby. I want you to ride me if you can. You can use the grab bar above my head for extra leverage and I'll help."

Grabbing on to the bar above his head, she pulled herself up and slowly sank down on him until he was buried and she felt completely filled. That is, until one of his hands pulled her cheeks apart and the other slowly pushed the vibrator into her butt. She felt a brief stretching sensation before a slow buzz from the bullet pushed her in sensory overload. It immediately had her grinding her pelvis down on his dick, trying to reach a massive orgasm that she could feel building.

Incoherent and pleading, she was wild for release. And when the vibrations were turned up a notch, almost making her scream.

"I'll get you there, sweetheart. Hang on." Grabbing her hip with one hand, Gus started thrusting his hips up in tandem with Emma's grind down and when he could feel the tightening of the walls of her pussy, he took his hand off the vibrator and slid it between them, pressing his thumb down firmly on her clit, finally sending her over. And she was taking him with her. Lost in the contractions of her body, he was unable to hold back and could feel the long strands of seed pumping from his cock.

His back against the tile, his woman draped over him, sated, his dick still inside her getting soft. He was happy. He never had known this kind of feeling before, but he was sure this had to be it. A moment in time where everything could  stop, just as it was and never change, and it would be absolute perfection. This was it. Happiness. Who'd have thought.

Especially since just the day before, they probably had one of the worst days of their lives. And both of them were still exhausted, as was Kara. She opted to bunk with Dana in the motel, rather than take the couch or even sleep in the bed with Emma. She wouldn't hear of it. Luckily she had incurred no physical damage, but he was pretty sure she would do well with some counselling for the emotional trauma.

And then there was Arlene, who would be okay, physically, even though she had had a beating worse than he had. And apparently had fought like a tiger. Both her and Emma were women to be reckoned with. Part of him was proud of them, but another part wanted to tan their hides. Although by the sounds of it, Seb had already called dibs on Arlene's hide. Yeah, physically she would heal, but something was off about her and that worried Gus. She never quite was clear on what happened overnight, claiming she was out cold for most of it. But there was a shadow in her eyes that wasn't there before. She might want to visit a shrink too, although he had a feeling she have to be hauled kicking and screaming. So he'd leave that up to Seb as well. One fiery independent woman was hands full enough for him.

"Babe, what are you thinking so hard about?" Emma mumbled in his neck. "I can hear the wheels turning."

Chuckling, he said, "Just thinking about my fierce woman."

"Well, this fierce woman is starving."

Giving her a slap on her butt, he nudged her upright. "Get up then. Off with you. How about you get dressed and I'll get breakfast cooking for a change."

Her eyebrows about in her hairline, Emma gasped. "You can cook? Get out of town!"

*****

B
y the time Emma walked into the kitchen, he had a green pepper, mushroom and cheese omelet sliding onto plates. The coffee was perked and bread was popping out of the toaster. Perfect timing to make the ultimate impression, he smiled to himself.

"Well damn. You can cook. And it smells great." Emma sat down on a stool at the counter watching him put the final touches on breakfast, when a knock at the door announced the first interruption of the day. Gus was pretty certain it wouldn't be the last.

Opening the door he found Joe waiting on the other side, looking a little the worse for wear. "What are you doing out and about again? Haven't you had enough of us?" He teased his friend.