Chasing Thunder (9 page)

His head tilted back and he sighed. Her magical tongue spiraled around him, flicking under the head before covering him as she sucked her way back up the impressive length of his member. He gripped her hair as she sank even deeper, encouraged by his soft groans and frustrated growls when she would tease him right to the brink. She was determined to drive him crazy, he could tell. And while her talent could curl his toes, he hadn’t waited months on end for a blowjob. He needed to be inside her.

It was his turn to flip her around onto her back. He wore an evil smile as he made a similar trek down her body with his fingers and his tongue, until she was kicking her own jeans free. He parted her thighs with one large hand, kneeling between her to exact some revenge, exploring her with his decisive tongue. She bit her hand to hold in a cry when he took her clit into his mouth and sucked it hard. Her legs widened as he crawled up her body, fitting himself inside her with a grunt and one forceful thrust.

Her legs closed around his hips. She needed him every bit as much as he needed her. Their lovemaking was raw. He lifted her legs up by the knees to drive himself deeper inside her, riding her until she nearly wept with pleasure. No words were needed. Snake had learned a long time ago that words were not his friends. She didn’t need to hear him tell her he loved her, or how much he needed her, or how much she felt like heaven in his arms. Those things would scare his skittish little bird away. He could fuck her like an animal and she’d meet every thrust, her nails sinking into his back and leaving her brand on his skin. But if he opened his mouth and let the truth fall out, she’d be gone by morning.

So he said everything with a kiss. He covered her mouth and penetrated her lips with a forceful tongue that swept across hers, submitting her to all the love and desire, as well as the anger and confusion and frustration, that he could never express. Within minutes he was coming hard with a cry he could no longer contain. Her nails clawed into the solid muscles of his ass, pushing him in tighter. His mouth latched onto her breast and within moments she toppled over the edge herself.

They collapsed against each other and tried to catch their breath. She clasped him tight within her body and he groaned out loud. “So much for being a lesbian,” she panted.

He wore a teasing smile as he looked into those green eyes he loved. “I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m fully convinced. I may need more evidence.”

Her eyebrow arched and she squeezed him again. “Hard evidence?”

He winked. “Not yet, but give me five minutes.”

She giggled and hugged him close for another kiss. “You’re the boss,” she murmured, and he growled in response, flipping onto his back and straddling her across his body for round two.

Baby clutched her oversized clothing to her body as she eased down the dark hallway toward the living room. It was still illuminated only by the television, so she was sure that Kid was alone, having resumed his game. And of course she was right. He was playing live, using a headset, trash-talking his opponents as he worked his way through a first-person shooter game. The minute he spotted her, however, he was quick to bid his fellow gamers adieu, sacrificing his man on the field so he could turn off the gaming system.

“Hey,” he said again.

“Hey,” she responded.

He was on his feet in a flash. “Did you want to play? I have a ton of games.”

She shook her head. After the night she’d had, the last thing she wanted to do was immerse herself in a virtual world where she had to fight for her life. It was a lot less fun to her now that she had actually done so.

“Oh,” he said, shifting on his feet awkwardly. “You want, like, something to drink or something?”

She nodded. Clearly he could hear her grumbling stomach all the way across the room. She followed him to the kitchen. He flooded the room with light and headed to the side-by-side refrigerator. “You hungry?” he asked as he perused the contents.

“I could eat,” she said.

He glanced at her. “What do you like?”

She laughed. She was so hungry she could have eaten the refrigerator, chrome and all. “I’m not picky.”

“Right.” He opened the freezer and grabbed a frozen pizza. It wasn’t fancy, but it was quick. And who didn’t like pizza? He offered her the choice of pepperoni or supreme. She picked the supreme and he smiled. “Good,” he said. “Because if I even look at a mushroom, I puke.” She laughed and watched him put her pizza on one pan and the mushroom-free one on another. “Baked okay?” he asked. “I hate microwaved pizzas.”

“Me, too,” she said with a shy smile. “But I’m so hungry I think I could eat it frozen.”

He returned to the fridge while they waited for the oven to preheat. “No worries. We’ve got other stuff, too.” He pulled out some cheese dip and snatched a bag of tortilla chips from the counter. “Grab whatever you want to drink. I’ll take this to the table.”

She nodded and complied, following him obediently to the dining room table around the bar from the kitchen. He turned the TV to a music channel so they could listen to some tunes while they ate. She took her seat next to him and unscrewed the cap from her root beer. He scooted the jar of dip toward her, not judging her in the least when she scooped up a chip full of nacho sauce. He matched her scoop for scoop.

“So how do you know M.J.?” he finally asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t.” She didn’t know how much she should share about what happened in the alley, so she said nothing. Instead, she whitewashed the events to something a little more believable and less incriminating. “I lost all my belongings my first day in L.A., so she helped me out.”

He nodded. “You were lucky you ran into her first. It’s dangerous out there for a girl on her own.”

She gulped down a swig of root beer and nodded.

“That’s what she does,” he stated, reaching for another chip.

“What’s that?”

It was his turn to shrug. “Help teens. Runaways mostly.”

“Oh,” was all she said.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’re safe with her. With us. If you were worried about it, that is.”

“I was,” she admitted honestly. “I met some other people. I ended up sleeping in an abandoned building last night. When I woke up this morning, my bag and my shoes were gone. Along with my money and my ID. I guess the good news is that there’s nothing left to steal.”

She tried to make it a joke, but couldn’t even bring herself to laugh. Kid was immediately sympathetic. “M.J. will help with that, too. Anything you need, she’ll get it for you.”

It seemed too good to be true, especially after everything she’d been through already. “Why?” she asked.

He shrugged, as if she had asked him why the sun rose and set. “It’s like her calling or something. But don’t worry. If anyone can keep you safe, it’s her.”

Baby thought about the fight in the alley. Safety wasn’t the question. The question was the price to be paid when the bill came due. “So are you a biker too?”

He laughed. “More a mascot, I think. Ever since our folks died, Snake has kept me pretty far away from that lifestyle. He wants me to go to college, to ‘use my brain,’ to ‘have choices,’” he added, using air quotes.

“Can’t you have all that and ride?”

Kid smiled. He liked this girl already. “Snake’s paranoid. Something happened a long time ago. It changed him. Changed all of them,” he amended. He searched her face for a split second before he forged on with a story Baby got the feeling he rarely shared. She stopped eating to listen. “M.J.’s granddad was killed when his bike store got robbed. They roughed up the guys, including Snake. M.J. was there, she saw it happen. After that, Snake got in with a bad crowd. Felt safer, you know?”

“Gangs?” she asked.

He shrugged. “He saw both sides of it. He knows how easy it is to get caught up in it all. You cross the wrong people, it can ruin everything.”

She nodded. She had learned that lesson already.

“As long as he has me, he has a reason to stay straight. After our folks died, that’s what he did. He’s got the bar and the work he does for the shop. But he keeps me pretty far away from it.”

She could tell by the look on his face that this didn’t sit well with him. “Did they ever catch them?” she asked. “The people who killed her grandpa?”

He shook his head. “Unsolved. According to M.J., the police investigation was botched. If she didn’t trust them before, she hated them for every single day after. We’ve found it’s best not to bring it up.”

She nodded. She could already tell that M.J. wasn’t one to leave fighting crime to the boys in blue. And Baby could hardly argue. It certainly hadn’t been any cop who’d saved
her
skin.

The timer on the oven sounded, and Kid returned with two piping hot pizzas already cut into slices and placed on classic earthenware dishes. They decimated both pies within ten minutes. After their tummies were filled, Baby felt primed and ready to take the Kid on in a two-person video game she had always wanted to play, but never had the opportunity.

It was almost dawn by the time she went back to the cozy bedroom on the first floor. She paused in front of the chest of drawers, picking up one of the framed photos for a closer look. An older man with a silver beard almost as long as his salt-and-pepper ponytail sat astride a motorcycle decked out with an American flag design. In front of him sat a redheaded girl all of five years old, smiling big for the camera as she reached up to hold the handlebars, secure in her grandpa’s love.

Baby smiled as she replaced the photo, and was still smiling when she climbed into bed.

4. RENEGADE

“
I know she’s here, Cooper. I just have a couple of questions, that’s all.”

Snake glared down his nose at the aging paper-pusher on his porch. Detective Harry Landers was no stranger to the Scoggins household. He could usually be counted upon to show up on their doorstep within twelve hours following M.J.’s return. Snake opened his mouth to dismiss him, but M.J. darted under his arm to face the police officer herself.

“So am I under arrest this time, Harry? Because you know that’s the only way you’re going to get me to talk to you.”

Landers sighed. “Why do you always make things so much harder than they have to be, M.J.?”

She smiled sweetly. “A girl’s gotta have a hobby.”

He was not amused, and he held up a photo of a dead body in a dark alley. “Those hobbies include offing reputed gang members in Hollywood?”

She was stone faced. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t,” he answered immediately. “Well, maybe you know a little bit about the teenaged witness who fled the scene?”

She said nothing. She wasn’t about to make this cop’s job any easier. She just cocked an eyebrow and waited.

“We’ve reason to believe that girl is in danger.” He held up another photo, this time a candid selfie of Tammy and Baby, the one Tammy had taken at the bus terminal.

“Was there another murder?” M.J. immediately asked.

“That is the question, isn’t it?” Landers pondered. “If we could find this girl and question her about it, maybe we’d have an answer.”

Snake watched M.J.’s face as she processed the new information. Nothing registered, not even the shock of another dead hooker. “Good for the one that got away, I guess.” M.J. shrugged.

“You know as well as I do that this guy doesn’t leave witnesses. This girl is in danger, M.J.”

“Did you find another body?”M.J.

He sighed. “You know I can’t tell you that.”

“But you can bully and intimidate me for info and I’m just supposed to provide it, right? Typical. I suppose Dick sent you.”

He shook his head. “He’d have my head if he knew I was here.”

Her eyes narrowed. “So why are you here?”

“Because I’d like to get ahead of this guy, M.J. For once. We all want the same thing here. Let’s pool our resources and make that happen.”

After a long moment, M.J. reached for the photo. “Clearly this was taken at some kind of bus terminal. Is that where you found it?”

He offered no answer. She chortled and shook her head. “So much for sharing information.” She knew he wouldn’t. Not with a civilian. She was there to serve him, not the other way around. Just like it had always been. She finally offered her own shrug. “Maybe they’re both out of the city, safe somewhere else. And for their sake, I hope they are. The only way anyone is a threat to this guy is if you guys sniff them out. You’ve been doing all his dirty work for him. Remember your last eyewitness? How long was she in your care before he got to her, too? You take street kids into custody and it’s a death sentence. And you know it.”