Raw: The Ultimate Mc Collection (72 page)

“Thank you so much, Mike,” I said, hoping he could hear how grateful I was.  The thought of walking home alone terrified me, knowing now that Todd was indeed too close for comfort.

“No problem, sweetheart.  Sit tight.”

“I’m sitting on a bench on the north end,” I said.  “Thank you.”

All the people bustling around me comforted me only slightly, as I sat there waiting.  I studied every face, and still there was no sign of Todd.  I knew he was watching me now, though.  My stomach churned, an old familiar fear forming inside me.  I swallowed hard as I began my usual inner pep talk.  

You’re not the same person, Daisy.  You can take him now.  He won’t do anything around all of these people, and once you get home you’ll have your gun to protect you.
 

I had never been so thankful to see anyone as I was when Mike came rushing towards me.  He was wearing a sleeveless black shirt under his leather cut, his muscular arms swinging with ease as he strode closer.  He had dragged his thick, dark hair back into a ponytail, his prominent jawbones on full display.  When he reached me, I looked in his eyes and saw them filled with concern.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

Suddenly I felt like a fool for calling him.  I easily could have handled this on my own.

“I just panicked at first, I’m sorry, Mike.  I just got this text and I —,” 

“Let me see,” he said, gently taking the phone from my hand.

His eyebrows furrowed and the concern in his eyes turned to anger.

“Alright. That’s fucking creepy as hell. So, the fucker wants to play cat and mouse, huh?”  He scanned the park, his gaze sharp and focused.  He reached out and grabbed my elbow, helping me stand up and guiding me down the path.

“Let’s go to your place,” he said, his voice full of confidence. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t secretly love it.  It felt really great not to feel alone in that moment.

We reached his bike in the parking lot and Mike stopped to look around at the other cars.  His gaze fell on an empty dark sedan in the corner for an extra second, and he turned back to get on his bike.  I jumped on behind him, feeling like a seasoned rider after our date the other night.

I wrapped myself around him, holding on as tightly as I thought I could without keeping him from breathing.  I never wanted to let go of him.  I was so thankful that he came so quickly.  He dropped everything he was doing, whatever that was, and came to help me.  Me.

When we reached my complex, we went straight up to my apartment.  Mike took my keys from me, unlocked the front door and told me to stay in the hallway while he looked around.  When he returned, he was holding my loaded gun that I had left on my nightstand.

“Looks like maybe I don’t need to be as worried about you as I thought,” he said, smiling.

He pulled me in and locked the door behind us.  

“Well, I like to be prepared.”

“I see.  And it sounds like you probably have good reason to be worried.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing, Mike…”  I felt silly again.  “It was only a text.”

“Was it? You haven’t seen him? I want you to tell me everything, Daisy,” he said, putting the gun on the table and sitting on the couch and pulling me down next to him.

“No,” I said, sighing.  “I haven’t seen him at all.  Not since the morning I left Texas.  But the other day I received a message at work from him. And I could have sworn I saw someone that looked like him at the grocery store, but it wasn’t him.  And the other night, after you left with Rosie, I received my first text from him.  And then this one today.  That’s it.  I think he’s been watching me…um, us.”

I pulled out my phone and showed him the other text message.  He looked at it, nodded, put the phone down, and put his arm around me, pulling me into his warm side. 

“Daisy, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.  Don’t you worry about that.  But I need to know what I’m dealing with.  So, I need you to tell me everything you know about this guy.”

“Oh.  Well, okay.  I don’t think he’s all that dangerous.  Or, well, at least I didn’t at first.  But maybe he is. I don’t know.  I really don’t know what he’s capable of.  Todd is a small town cop that everyone adores, Mike.  He was the bible thumping good ol’ boy that went to church three times a week.  Everyone loves him.  But he was an asshole at home.  He’d get out of his squad car to help an old lady across the street and then come home and scream and threaten to hit me if I didn’t have his laundry folded perfectly.  But, like I told you before, he never hit me.  Not until he did…”  I cringed remembering it all, the actual point of impact as his fist hit my nose, the stinging, blinding pain followed by the tears and the salty blood pouring into my mouth. 

Mike’s arm tightened around me as I paused.  His steady breathing calmed me and I was able to go on.

“When he hit me, I couldn’t believe he had actually snapped, he had finally done it, what he had threatened to do for years.  I don’t know who was more surprised, him or me.  I ran into the bedroom, locked the door, and didn’t come out till morning.  I thought he might try to break the door down, or try to apologize.  I didn’t know what to expect really.  But he didn’t do anything.  A few minutes after I went into the bedroom, I heard the front door close and his car start up and drive away.  I finally calmed down, and I packed as fast as I could.  I was gone by dawn.  And I never looked back.”

“And in all this time, months have gone by, and you haven’t heard a word from him?”

“No.”

“So what kind of cop is he?” Mike asked.

“Oh, not much goes on in Mineola.  He does traffic stuff, some minor car break-ins.”

“No,” he said. “That’s not what I mean.  Is he a dirty cop or a clean cop?”

“Oh! Well, he’s a very decorated cop.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he scoffed.

“No, I suppose it doesn’t.  Todd was always very close-mouthed about work.  He didn’t talk about his cases or his coworkers very often at all.  He always said he needed to keep his work life separate from his home life.  The only time I ever saw most of the other cops was at the precinct’s family picnics, at church, or when he was getting an award for something.”

“Okay, would you say he is the jealous type? I’m guessing yes, since he mentioned me and by the looks of those messages,” he said.  “I mean, unless you’ve been sinning with some other guy.”

His laughter was contagious. It felt good to have the mood lightened for a moment.

“No,” I said, lightly punching him in the arm. “Just you.  And yeah, I’d definitely say he was the jealous type.  There were many nights that ended with us coming home early from a party or function because Todd was convinced I was flirting with someone that I was merely making small talk with.”

“Okay, I see.” 

After a moment, Mike shifted to his side, and pulled me into his arms, kissing me gently as I leaned into him.  He was so easy to be around, and I was so happy he was there with me.  The apartment was a little lonely, and lately a little bit scary, too.

Mike pulled away, his eyes soft and kind as he looked down at me.

“Listen, everything is going to be okay, I promise.  But if it’s okay with you, I’m going to spend the night here with you.  Reaper is at my place watching Rosie.  He’ll bring her to school in the morning.  I don’t want to leave you alone tonight,” he said.

My heart flooded with relief and gratitude as I threw my arms around him and kissed him.

“Of course that’s okay with me.  Thank you so much, Mike.  You’re sure Rosie is okay, though?”

“Of course, she’s with Reaper.  Apparently, he makes the best pancakes in the world,” he said.

I laughed, remembering my conversation with Rosie.

“I heard.  But I hear you make a mean cupcake.”

His laughed bellowed through my apartment as he grabbed me and pushed me back onto the couch and raised himself over me.

“That’s not the only thing I’m good at,” he whispered, before his lips captured mine again.

“Yeah?” I asked, pulling away teasingly.  “What else are you good at?”

“Lots of things,” he said, his lips trailing down my cheek and nibbling at my ear.

I arched my back up, pressing into him, wanting him to take me, to erase all the fear, all the nagging memories, all the pain of my past, and replace it with nothing but the pure pleasure that only his hunger for me could provide.

“Show me, Mike,” I whispered.  “Show me…”

His eyes met mine, and I saw everything I needed there. All of his feelings, right there on the surface, exposed, upfront, raw.  No masks, no cloaks.  No fear.  No words.

We made love till dawn, unable to sleep, and unwilling to waste our precious night alone.  As the hours passed, my apartment filled with nothing but slow moans and slower caresses as we explored every inch of each other, our skin sliding together in a never-ending dance of seduction.

As soon as we would find a moment’s release, it only served to fuel the fire between us, igniting our bodies with an even more urgent need than before, each time building with passionate intensity until we finally lay spent and satiated in my bed, our hearts beating together as we whispered to each other and watched the first rays of sunlight stream into the room.

It was a magical night, and I tried to hang on to as many moments as I could before they melted away into the blissful corners of my mind.  

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

MIKE

Waking up with Daisy by my side was like waking up to paradise.  Better than my grandma’s freshly baked peach pie, better than ascending the peak of the highest mountain, better than driving cross country on my bike, the wind at my back, without a care in the world.  Just the sweet smell of her was more exquisite than any of that.

She felt like home.  A home I had been trying to find for an immensely long time.  A home I didn’t even know I was looking for until I held her that first night.

I moaned as her hand wrapped around me, my body ready for more before I had even opened my eyes.  I pressed my hips towards her, and as she slipped under the sheets and engulfed me with the warmth of her mouth, I sank my hand into her tangled blonde hair and shuddered.  Her tongue twirled around me, her lips sliding up and down on me, pulling me along as my body responded to her every skillful movement until I couldn’t stand it any longer.  I pushed her onto her back, and slid into her softness easily.

Her moans had become my favorite song, and they urged me on, eagerly coaxing me, guiding me to the secret pleasure spots I had searched for all night.  The slow shaking that started in her beautiful shoulders and traveled to her flailing hips, the rhythmic tightening around me, the increasing slickness as I slid into her over and over - these were my rewards.  Daisy was my treasure.

Afterwards, I fought my way back to Earth, the need to focus coming sharply into my consciousness as the sun rose.  Everything in this room was precious, pure, nothing but insane beauty.  But everything outside of this room?

That was another story.  The world was filled with danger, and there was a whole lot of shit out there that wasn’t anywhere close to beautiful.  My mission now was taking care of the beautiful things, and making sure the ugly didn’t touch them.

Business.

I had business to take care of today.  And I hated that it was going to take me away from Daisy.  It was terrible timing, but I would find a way to deal with it all.  I always had, and I always would.  There was no way I was going to let anyone lay a hand on her.  If this Todd guy thought he was prepared to handle me, and the mayhem my club could unleash on him, then he was dead wrong.

Before I left her place, I made sure to double check the locks on her doors and windows.

“You sure you know how to use that gun?”  I asked her.

“I sure do.  I spent summers in the woods.  We shot everything.  Cans.  Trees.  Targets,”  she replied, smiling at me. She was so pretty, and had quickly become so important to me, that it was hell leaving her alone.  Especially knowing that asshole was out there. 

I was banking on the fact that he hadn’t actually shown his face yet.  I needed one more night to take care of this job for Sullivan, and then I could have Daisy by my side all the time.  The prick wouldn’t get near her, not if I could help it.  I was looking forward to when he did show up, so that I could have the pleasure of kicking his ass.