Junkyard Dog (18 page)

A
fter our morning romp at my house, we stop for
breakfast and then stop by a few businesses so Hayes can scare people. Hungry
again, he insists we have lunch. Finally, we end up at his office where we have
nothing to do for the afternoon.

Hayes sits in the spare chair in the front office
and stares at me while I surf the web. I glance at him, but he shows no
reaction. I return to looking for Christmas gifts. We picked up Nightmare
earlier, and now he stares at Hayes.

“Don’t you have work to do?” I ask without looking
at Hayes.

“I’m brainstorming.”

Grinning, I glance at him again. “Brainstorming is
sexy on you, boss.”

“How sexy?”

I turn in my chair and slide to the ground where I
crawl to where a grinning Hayes waits.

“Very sexy,” I murmur, resting between his spread
legs. “So very sexy.”

I lick the seam of his jeans and Hayes fucking
shivers. Grinning at him, I do it again.

“I thought you refused to give me a blowjob.”

“I do. It’s too big, and I’m afraid to die.”

Hayes throws his head back and laughs. The sound
catches in his throat when I suck at his bulge.

“Candy, don’t play. People could walk in here.”

“Are you shy about showing your dick?” I ask,
laughing before I finish speaking. “A shy Angus Hayes would be a sight.”

Hayes plays with my hair while I nuzzle my lips
against his crotch.

“This isn’t the time,” he says in such a gentle
tone.

My gaze meets his and I understand. “You care about
me,” I say, standing slowly. “How adorable.”

Hayes pulls me into his lap and sucks hard at my
throat. I cry out and then moan approvingly. His arms remain wrapped around my
waist, and I wonder if the chair will crumble under our weight.

“I do care,” he says, lifting a brow as if daring
me to challenge him.

“A lot?” I ask, deciding to challenge him.

“Yeah.”

“Do you think you could ever love me?” I push
because I have no work to do for the day and having a big argument would give
me something to do.

“Yes, I do.”

“In this century?”

“Could you love me?”

“No,” I say, instantly laughing. “Okay, yes, but
wouldn’t it be awesome if I could never love you, but you hardcore loved me?
Man, that would be great.”

Hayes rolls his eyes. “Why exactly would that be
great?”

“Because you’re used to getting what you want, and
I’d be the one thing you couldn’t have. I’d love to have the power to break
your fucking heart,” I say, caressing his furrowed brow. “No worries, boss. I’m
pretty hardcore into you, so your heart is safe.”

Hayes cups my neck and pulls me closer for a kiss.
His lips are tentative, and I sense he plans to say something heartfelt.

“That’s good to know,” he says instead.

“You’re a careful man.”

Lips an inch from mine, he smirks. “That I am, but
I know what I want.”

“And you get what you want.”

“That I do, Candy Wilburn.”

We play tongue tango for twenty minutes before
Hayes tenses in my arms. I hear the approaching motorcycles too, but I just
keep sucking on his lips. He adjusts until I nearly fall off his lap.

“You could have asked me to get up,” I mutter,
steadying myself.

“I didn’t want to be rude.”

Laughing, I follow him to the front door where the
motorcycles rumble in the parking lot. Hayes gets bigger next to me. Turning
into an angry bear man, he’s ready to tear someone a new asshole. I look at the
two blond bikers idling next to Hayes’s truck and think about how I’ve never
been into fair-haired men.

Hayes disappears into the back office and returns
carrying a shotgun.

“What the hell?” I ask as he storms to the front
door.

“Stay in here.”

“No way. I got your back.”

Hayes prepares to tell me to do what he fucking
says, but I see by his expression he knows he’ll be wasting his time.

“Get behind me then.”

I grab my purse and dig around inside. “I’ll get my
pepper spray.”

“I’m not messing around,” he growls.

“Neither am I.”

I show him my little pepper spray bottle. Hayes frowns
at me and then looks at the waiting men.

“Don’t say anything.”

“Should you go out there when you’re sporting a
woody? You tend to be overly aggressive when your dick’s hard.”

“Say nothing,” he repeats, adjusting his pants.
“Not a fucking thing or you’re fired.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Hayes gives me one final pissy look before he
storms outside waving his shotgun and a hard-on. I follow after him with my
pepper spray and damp panties.

“Turn them off,” Hayes orders the men.

Once the motorcycles fall silent, Hayes rests the
shotgun on his shoulder.

“Why are you here?”

“We’re missing one of our people Thought you might
know where to locate his shallow grave,” the man on the left asks, and I
realize they’re identical twins.

“I haven’t dug any in the last few weeks. If he
disappeared longer than that, my memory is sketchy.”

“Is this your latest assistant?” the other man
asks. “She keeps hanging up on us when we call.”

Hayes glances back at me, and I shrug.

“They must have sounded like whiny bitches, and I
won’t let you waste your time talking to those sorts.”

The twins grin but Hayes remains in angry asshole
mode.

“Candy Girl,” one of them says, giving me a wink.

Hayes literally growls like a dog before growling
actual words. “Dayton, if you keep eyeballing her, I’ll tear off your head and
send it to your mother.”

“Dude, be cool. You don’t want to mess with my mom.
She’s a little bit crazy.”

The non-Dayton twin rolls his eyes. “We’ve had a
few people disappear recently. We figure either you grabbed them up, or the assholes
in Common Bend did.”

“If your people come to my town, they’re bound to
disappear.”

“What if they want to go to the mall?” the
non-Dayton twin asks.

“If they want to shop or eat at the fine
establishments in White Horse, they’re welcome. If they’re doing business in my
town, they become my problem.”

“But you didn’t make anyone your problem recently?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t be surprised to see you
here.”

The twins glance at each other. I hate how these
two big men are ganging up on my big man. I wish I could grow a foot taller and
maybe gain a hundred pounds of muscle. I’d kick some major ass then. I bet I’d
make a sexy as hell muscle bound man too.

I’m still imagining a hot guy version of me when
the twins turn on their motorcycles. Flinching at the ferocity of the sound, I
even step behind Hayes like a chickenshit. The men say something over the
roaring engines, but I can’t hear them. Hayes doesn’t respond to their comments,
and soon they disappear down the road and around the corner.

“What was that about?” I ask as he ushers me back
into the office.

“Grab your shit. We’re going to the hotel.”

“Why?”

Hayes rests his shotgun on the spare desk. “I’m
tense.”

“My vagina is not a punching bag you can use
whenever tense.”

Grunting at me, Hayes is a ball of irritation. He
glances down at my hand holding the pepper spray and smiles.

“You would have gone after them, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course. I have your back, asshole.”

Hayes steps closer and cups my face. “You wanted to
have fun before they got here.”

“I don’t want you taking out your frustrations on
my vagina.”

“I’ll be as gentle as possible.”

“So not all that gentle then.”

“I’ll do my best.”

I walk to my desk and slide the pepper spray in my
purse. “Do you think I’d make a sexy man?”

“Sure. Can we go now?”

“You’d be an ugly woman. I’m sorry if the truth
hurts, but you have no feminine qualities.”

“And you have no masculine ones. Well, you do
scratch your crotch sometimes like you have itchy balls. I like that.”

I stand at the doorway and sigh. “Those guys won’t
cause problems, will they?”

“Not for me.”

“It’s sexy how they sent two guys to scare you. One
just wouldn’t do.”

Hayes locks the door behind us and takes my hand.
“No, it wouldn’t.”

“Would you have shot them?”

“If I had to, but if they come for me, it won’t be
so obvious.”

“Being in charge is tricky shit,” I say once I’ve
slid into the truck.

“It is, but those guys are harmless.”

“They didn’t look harmless.”

Hayes turns on the truck and then frowns at me.
“Did you think I couldn’t take them?”

“Of course, you could. I had your back, remember?”

Grinning, he pulls out of the parking lot, and we
head to the hotel where we’ll spend a few hours grunting and groaning. I can’t
complain about the perks my job comes with, but the asshole bikers leave me
nervous. Hayes is always so busy scaring other people that I forget how he
might face enemies not so easily frightened.

C
andy and the kids are dressed up for dinner in red
shirts and dark pants. I consider teasing their matching attire but keep my mouth
shut. This is a big move I'm making, and I don’t want anyone's temper shitting
on what I’m trying to do.

“Where are we eating?” Candy asks, adjusting her
seatbelt.

“It’s a surprise. Don’t hassle me, okay?”

Candy grins. “Are you upset we didn’t tell you to
wear red?”

The twins ignore us while playing on Candy’s phone.
I glance back at them before focusing on Candy.

“Leave me alone.”

She laughs and caresses my face. “I think you’ve
hit your limit for family time, boss.”

“Shut up and let me drive.”

Candy leaves me alone for a few minutes while
flipping through the radio channels. She’s already reset the truck pre-sets to
stations she likes, and I suspect she’ll do the same in the SUV.

Sitting at a light, I study Candy. Her face is
covered by her hair as she leans forward. When she sits back, Candy grins at
me.

“I saw George Strait in concert before. Have you
ever gone to a concert?”

“No. I don’t need morons screaming all around me.”

“I didn’t like it either. A couple was arguing on
one side of me, and these girls were cry-singing on the other side. It was
distracting, but George sounded great.”

My shoulders hurt, and I realize I’m so fucking
tense that I’ll probably say something overtly hostile soon.

“You look beautiful,” I say, sounding grumpy.

Candy studies me, and I feel small.
I never feel
fucking small.
I wasn’t even born small.

“I dreamed about you last night,” she murmurs,
leaning toward me. “You were climbing a mountain, and I was trying to keep up,
but you were going too fast, and I fell behind. Eventually, you were so far
ahead that I couldn’t see you, and I realized you’d left me behind.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Probably that you’re a force of nature, and I
don’t think I can keep up.”

I lean closer to her and whisper, “You mean
fucking-wise, right?”

Candy sits back and laughs. “No. I’m just impressed
by what you’ve built in White Horse. Take the compliment and keep your mind out
of the gutter.”

Grinning now, I feel the tension easing off me.
Having Candy worry about losing me helps calm my fear of losing her. I never
give people power over me. Even as a kid, I kept other kids at a distance. I’ve
never trusted a single damn person, but I trust this woman. She even tried to
watch my back when the Rutgers twins showed up at the office.

I take her hand and enjoy the way her fingers curl
around mine. She knows I’m edgy, but doesn’t fear me. Even after our blowout a
week ago, Candy remains fearless in the face of my bad temper.

Fearless until I pull down the street to my house.
Her expression shifts to terror, and she reaches for my arm.

“Where are we going?”

“My place,” I announce, hitting the button for the
gate. “I have the chef from The Glenn coming over to cook us steaks and
chicken.”

Candy stares at me in horror. “Why?”

After pulling down the drive to the garage, I turn
off the SUV and glance at her. “Why not?”

When I open my door, Candy hurries herself and the
kids out of the SUV. She pulls them aside and whispers in a panic. I don’t know
what her problem is, but the kids peek around her so they can stare at me.
How
has my grand gesture turned into a horror movie where they need to plan their
escape?

Candy walks to where I wait at the front of the
house. She and the kids watch me with weird, steely gazes.

“What?” I ask.

“I reminded them to behave here like they would at
their grandparents.”

“Why?”

“Because your house is a precious thing you’re
weird about, so they need to be very careful not to get anything sticky.”

Cricket grins at me, and I wonder if she’s planning
something. I imagine her wiping sticky shit all over my walls. Taking a deep
breath, I remind myself I have the place cleaned daily, and the maid is
perfectly capable of removing child residue.

“I’m not worried,” I lie.

Candy still looks nervous while Cricket looks
devious. Chipper is focused on the gnomes in the yard.

“Cool trolls,” he says to me.

“They’re gnomes, and my mom bought them for me
before she died.”

“I like my mom too,” he says.

Feeling on the spot, I exhale hard. “Let’s go
inside.”

I take them through the large foyer and down a long
hall to the living room/kitchen/dining room combo.

“You really like TV,” Cricket says, staring at my
90-inch flat screen.

“Yes, I do.”

“Can we watch TV?”

“You can watch TV at home,” Candy says instantly.

Cricket peels her gaze from the TV and stares at
her mother. “What are we going to do while you kiss Hayes?”

“I brought multiplication practice sheets in case
you get bored,” Candy says, staring back at her daughter.

Cricket shakes her head. “I’m not bored and never
will be.”

“Good,” Candy says and then looks at me. “You have
a beautiful house, boss.”

“Beautiful?”

“I mean impressively massive and manly.”

A few minutes after we arrive, Chef Jerry from the
restaurant arrives. He gives Candy a big, nervous smile when we join him in the
kitchen.

“Tell him how you want your steak and what the kids
want,” I tell Candy, who frowns at Jerry’s huge smile.

Candy gives Jerry very specific instructions for
the food. I swear she’s messing with him, but she only smiles at me.

“Does this house have bedrooms?” she asks, once
she’s done tormenting Jerry.

“Yes.”

“Are the guest rooms away from the master?”

Understanding her meaning, I smirk. “Actually, they
are. Let me show you.”

We glance at the twins sitting on the couch and
staring at my multifunction remote control.

“It’s as big as my arm,” Chipper says in wonder.

“Nightmare is in the backyard if you want to play
with him.”

They look to their mother who shrugs and opens the
back door. The kids hurry outside and stand on the patio in the darkening
night. The dog doesn’t appear until they call his name. Then he barrels out of
a hidden part of the yard where he lies in wait for people. I smile at their
squealing reaction to his appearance.

“He’ll keep them safe.”

Candy walks with me down the hallway to my bedroom.
“I have four spare rooms on the other side of the house. I use one as an
office. Two are empty. One is a guest bedroom for the zero number of people I
have visit.”

Candy says nothing until we enter my room with my
massive bed in the center of the room.

“Wow! So this is where you masturbate while
thinking about me.”

Laughing, I smack her ass. “I use the shower too.”

“Oh,” she says, peeking into the bathroom. “The
whole place smells like you.”

“Is that your way of saying your panties are wet?”

“No,” she mumbles and hurries to the bed. “Why is
it in the middle of the room instead of against the wall? Do you make porn
films in here?”

I watch Candy crawl on the bed before she decides
to bounce on her knees.

“Good springs,” she says, giving extra bounce to
her tits. “Yeah, gotta have quality springs.”

“Are you having fun?” I ask, crossing my arms.

“Why did you bring us here?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Are they top secret?” she asks, resting on her
stomach and swinging her legs. “Like your personal porn films.”

“Don’t get your dirty shoes on my clean bed.”

“Can I get other dirty parts on your clean bed?”
she asks, humping a pillow. “Oh, Angus’s bedding, don’t stop.”

Laughing, I walk over and yank the pillow free from
her thighs’ death grip. “Knock it off.”

“Not until you tell me why you brought us here.”

“What’s the big deal?”

Candy rubs her boobs on my comforter. “You’re the
weirdo who never invites people to his house. You made this a big deal so tell
me why.”

“If I do, will you stop sexually harassing my bed?”

Candy sits up and shakes her head. “Sexually
harassing? That’s big talk from an employer who wants his assistant to suck him
off at the office.”

“I only ask because I know you’ll say no.”

“One day, I’ll try. Maybe as an old woman with a
death wish.”

“I would never kill you.”

“I’m not worried about you. It’s the boa in your
pants that terrifies me,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows.

Candy takes another pillow and begins making out
with it. I cup her head and force her lips on mine. She tosses the pillow aside
and grips my shirt.

Candy pries her lips away and whispers, “Why are we
here?”

“Because I want to prove I love you,” I whisper
back.

Candy stares at me stunned for a few very long
seconds before smiling casually. “Of course, you love me. I’m the best thing
that ever happened to you.”

Smiling, I kiss her again and lean her back on the
bed. She doesn’t remind me about the twins outside. I think of them anyway and
slowly let her up.

“I love you too,” she says.

Rolling my eyes, I walk toward the door. “Yeah,
fucking duh, Candy.”

“Sure, as if you had any idea. You’re not fooling
anyone.” Candy grabs my arm and smiles up at me. “Thank you for bringing us
here.”

“You’re welcome. I want you to know how I
understand the kids are part of the deal.”

Candy pulls me to a stop before we reach the back
door. “I promise I’ll never hurt you on purpose. Even though trusting people
isn’t your strong suit, you can trust me.”

I study Candy and then cup her face. Kissing her
softly, I feel both powerful and scared as hell. She has the power to hurt me.
No one in the world can break me like Candy can now. I’ve given her this power,
and I’ll learn how to live with feeling vulnerable. Until I get the hang of it,
I’ll pretend to be the asshole I’ve always been.