Texas Tornado (Freebirds Book 5) (27 page)

“What? You’ve gotten to hear Max sing?” Blaine blurted from across the room.

“Yeah, hasn’t everybody?” Payton asked.

“What’re y’all bellyaching about?” Gabe asked as he came into the room.

Grease covered him from head to toe, and he looked like he’d been letting oil drip all over him instead of letting it drip into the drain pan like it was supposed to.

“Yick. What’ve you been doing?” Ember eyed Gabe from across the room.

Gabe’s smile lit the room. “What, do I look that bad?”

“Yeah.” Ember wasted no time in telling it how it was.

He laughed, went to the fridge, and grabbed a beer. “What’s the big deal about hearing Max sing?”

“You’ve heard him sing?” Blaine breathed, hanging on Gabe’s every word.

“Well, yeah. But he was drunk, so I’m not sure it counted. So have you, now that I’m thinking about it.” He laughed and left the room, beer in hand.

“Payton, go ask him to sing so we can hear.”

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, right. Even I knew that wouldn’t work. The man was very private. Although quick to lend a hand and laugh, he never volunteered any information about himself. In the year or so that I’d known him, I could count on one hand the number of things that I’d learned about him from his own mouth.

“He wouldn’t do it.” Payton sighed wistfully. “He doesn’t do it very often, and when he does, it’s only ‘cause he thinks he’s alone.”

“I thought you’d all heard him sing before.” I questioned.

“So Max says. I was drunk. I don’t remember a thing that happened that night.” Blaine pouted.

“I bet I could get him to do it.” Janie said from beside me.

Every eye turned toward her.

“You know, that’d probably work. The girl’s got every man here wrapped around her little finger.” Cheyenne teased.

Which was why, five minutes later, all five of us were pressed to the side of an old El Camino, watching as Janie pleaded with Max to sing to her.

“Janie,” he whined.

“Please, Uncle Max. Come on, please?” She said, giving the pouty lip for extra incentive.

Sighing, he turned towards the motorcycle he was replacing the exhaust on, and started singing, tightening bolts as he did.

We were all dying by the time he’d finished the last verse.
Cowboys and Angels
definitely would be a must buy song for me in the very near future. Max could’ve easily made a career out of singing. It just showed the type of man he was that he’d decided to protect our country instead.

“That good, pumpkin head?” Max asked Janie.

“Will you sing Frozen?” Janie tried the lip pout again.

“I draw the line at country. I’ll sing anytime you want, but it’s gotta be country. Give me some George Strait, or Garth Brooks anytime over that Disney crap.”

Janie contemplated what Max had just said, absently leaned over and grabbed the next bolt to hand it over to Max, and finally arrived at what she’d been thinking. “Daddy says that Johnny Cash and George Jones are the best. I’m inclined to agree with him.”

“Well, not that your daddy is wrong, but there are other people that sing country that are worth listening to.” Max laughed.

“Daddy says that country music is about life. That no other music can even compete.” Janie continued.

“That’s true.” Max agreed.

“Daddy told me I couldn’t sing ‘I’m in Love With a Stripper’ anymore. That’s how I know. He said that country was the way of life, and I had to live in the North before I could sing anything else.” Janie told him solemnly.

The girl could talk a mile a minute, but the things that came out of her mouth were just amazing.

“That’s not a good song for a girl like you to sing.” Max nodded, his hands deep inside the belly of the bike.

Then, out of the deep blue seas of Janie’s head, she rocked our worlds. “My mommy makes me sad.”

Max froze and turned to Janie. His hands were covered in grease, but he gathered Janie up to him and gave her a hug. She didn’t care about the grease in the slightest.

“Why does she make you sad, pumpkin?”

“She makes me talk to some man when Shiloh has to go to the bathroom. She measures me for dresses and never gives them to me. She told me last week that she had a surprise for me in a couple more weeks, but she won’t give that to me either.”

Time seemed to freeze.

Although we’d thought we were being inconspicuous, we were proven wrong when Max called to Payton.

“Payton, baby. Will you bring me a beer?” He called, concern etched tightly over his handsome face.

Payton stayed frozen, just as I had. We both, as well as Blaine, Ember, and Cheyenne, knew something more was going on. We just didn’t know what.

“What’re y’all doing?” James asked from behind me.

I jumped six and a half feet in the air, and spun around, hand clutching at my heart. “Jesus, did you have to do that?” I gasped.

“What are y’all doing with my kid?” He asked suspiciously.

Max, having heard James’ question, stood up to his full height, Janie in hand, and came straight towards us. Reaching my hands out, I took Janie from him, and left Max and James to talk in private.

Hours passed.

Sebastian arrived to take us back to James’ house, sans James. Janie and I spent a few hours coloring, making dinner, and getting ready for bed. Not once in those few hours did she mention to me what she’d said to Max. Which made me aware of the bond those two had, and how I’d need to work harder to get in there.

Sebastian hadn’t stayed, which didn’t surprise me. The two of them stayed over every night, but were gone until after I went to bed most nights and before I woke most mornings.

Daina was with Todd, according to the note on the table, and I stifled a laugh at the reaction that would raise out of James. Although they weren’t officially moved in together, they still stayed together most nights. Daina only returning to grab even more clean clothes. It wouldn’t take long until everything was at Todd’s place if she kept it up.

As I tucked Janie into bed, and kissed her lightly on the forehead, she looked me straight into the eyes and rocked my world for a second time that day. “I love you, Shiloh.”

Tears blurred my vision. “I love you too, sweetheart.” I said as I brushed her hair away from her eyes.

“Will you tell daddy to come give me a kiss when he gets home?” She asked as her eyes closed.

“You know I don’t have to tell him. He comes to see you every time he gets home, no matter what time it is.” I laughed.

“Yeah, but there may be a time when he forgets, and that’s your job. To remind him.” She said sleepily.

Kissing her cheeks one last time, I stood, and backed out of the room, my eyes staying locked on her, closing the door quietly.

My sleep that night was fitful at best. I’d woken twice to find no James, no dad, and no Sebastian. It was going on four in the morning, and I was starting to really worry.

Which is how I found myself in the basement, watching Top Gun, wishing that I knew how to fly like Goose and Maverick. The movie ended, and I decided that James definitely chose the wrong branch of the military. Navy dress whites were way cuter than the Army’s dress uniform.

Getting up to go check to see if anyone had arrived home, I came to a sudden halt with one foot on the first step when James’ voice halted me.

“I love you. You know?” James’ deep voice said from above me, making me jump yet again.

James was sitting at the very top. Back against the door.

I’d been longing to hear those words from him for months. Except I’d expected them to be sweet, not harsh. He looked haggard. His hair, what little of it there was, was in disarray. His eyes were blood shot, with half circles making his eyes look bruised. His skin was flushed. His knuckles were bloody and raw.

“I love you, too.” I told him.

“I know. You’ve shown it.” His voice sounded dead.

He’d been fighting again. He also smelled like a brewery. Which also explained where my dad and Sebastian were. If James was at their place, then they wouldn’t have left him there. At least not while he’d been drinking.

I climbed the steps slowly. His head was level with my stomach when I finally came to a stop two steps below him. “What’s wrong, J?”

“Fucking everything.” He sighed, letting his head drop.

My hands raised to touch him, but his harsh voice stopped me in my tracks. “Don’t touch me.”

Freezing in place, I asked, “Why not?”

He’d never told me I couldn’t touch him. In fact, he’d gone out of his way to do little things like bring my hand to his cheek. Run his fingers through my hair. Touching was a large part of how he communicated.

“What’s going on?” He laughed darkly. “My daughter’s sick fuck of a mother’s been letting strange guys talk to her, while I’ve sat around with my thumb up my ass. I knew she was acting strange. Not once, in four years, had she tried to get Janie, and then all of a fucking sudden, she wants to be a part of her life again. Where’s she getting the money to fight for custody? How’s she able to live in the richest goddamn neighborhood in Longview. Those houses cost a mint. All these questions have been rolling around in my brain, but I let it slide. Tried to fight her with the letter of the law on my side. Well fuck that. Not anymore. I’m not above blackmail and manipulation.”

“What’d you do?” I asked hesitantly.

“What I had to do. She won’t be seeing my girl again. Ever.”

The sadness in his voice made my heart feel heavy. “That’s okay. As long as it doesn’t take you away from her.”

His face hardened into a deep slash. “We’ll see.”

The no touching thing wasn’t working for me anymore. “What do you mean, we’ll see?” I snapped as I yanked his head up by his hair.

His eyes were hard and dark. “Not in the mood to deal with your shit right now, Shiloh.”

“Yeah?” I taunted, holding his hair a little tighter.

“Yeah,” he seethed.

“What’re you going to do? Spank me?” I goaded.

“I’m warning you, Shiloh. I’m not in the fucking mood. I’m more than a little drunk, I’m pissed, and I’ve been fighting all night. I’m on edge, and I don’t want to hurt you.” He said between clenched teeth.

His body was vibrating, but not with anger like he’d like. No, it was need. Desire. He needed some sort of release.

He’d tried to fight. That hadn’t worked, so he’d turned to drinking. And when that still hadn’t gotten him where he needed to be, he’d come to me. I had what he needed, and I wanted to give it to him just as much as he wanted to take it.

“Stop being a titty baby, and take me.” I snapped.

Something in him tore loose at my statement, and he launched himself off the steps, scooping me up in his arms as he went, tossing me over his shoulder like a sack of grain.

The door to the basement slammed open, and he marched with deliberate steps to his bedroom, closing the door with care, which completely contradicted his haste to get me in his room.

A wave of weightlessness overcame me as he tossed me from his shoulder. My back hit the mattress with a bounce. My abdominal muscles tightened, and I placed my hands down at my sides, watching as he ripped the clothes from his body.

“Get naked. On your knees.” He snapped.

The harsh overhead light snapped on, enabling me to see the perfect line of his body. In all the time we’d been together, we’d never actually been with each other like this in the light. Everything we’d done always happened late at night, with the lights minimal at best.

His body was luscious.

Although scars of all sorts were evident on his body, not in any way did it detract from the perfectness. His arms were large and defined. His pectorals sculpted and firm, dog tags nestled in between the valley of his chest, leading down to his ridged abdomen.

His pants were the last to go, and as he slid the pants down, his cock bobbed out from its confinement, angry and throbbing. The veins on his length were numerous, drawing my eye as they throbbed, pulsing harder and harder with each frantic beat of his heart.

His balls hung low between two muscled thighs, and swung as he took a step towards me.

“Guess since you can’t listen, we’ll do this the hard way.” He said, stooping down, grabbing something, and then coming towards me.

The gleam of metal in my periphery tore my eyes from his pulsating erection, making me turn. In his left hand, he’d grabbed a pocketknife.

“Wh-what are you doing?” I asked hesitantly.

“Well, figured this would be the fastest way to get those clothes off you.”

I wasted no time after that to shed off my t-shirt and yoga pants. Then turning over and waiting for him.

The clatter of the knife hitting the nightstand, and then falling off the side didn’t deter him from his goal. No, not James. He had his plan in mind, and he wouldn’t be deviating from it.

The hot lash of his tongue startled me, momentarily making me pull away. The sharp sting of his hand slapping my ass surprised me, and he pulled me back towards him with his hands on my hips.

“Don’t move.” He growled against the soft, sensitive skin of my thigh.

Then I couldn’t speak. I had no words for what he did next. He didn’t either, which is why he showed me.

His tongue parted my folds, licking from the tip of my clit to the top of my ass. He got me nice and slick, my juices mixed with his saliva, creating a hot, slippery mess. His face had to be covered as he assaulted my clit, flicking it back and forth, and thrust his hot tongue into my pulsing sheath.

Each deft movement of his tongue brought me closer and closer to the pinnacle, but just as I was about to roll over, he abruptly stopped and pulled himself up until he was kneeling directly behind me.

The hot hardness of his cock slid up my inner thigh, and the head knocked against my clit, nearly sending me over as well, before he pulled back and lined his cock up with my weeping core.

Both of his hands found my hips, and he slammed himself inside of me, allowing his hard cock to tunnel inside, finding a home deep within my body. What was different this time was that he didn’t control his movements. Normally, he’d stop, not willing to go too far into me because of his size. This time, he didn’t.