Takedown Teague (Caged #1) (21 page)

“I’m not going to tell you,” I said bluntly.  “That’s part of the shit you’d have to deal with.”

She stared at me for a good long time, then reached out and pulled me back to the couch beside her.  She slid her hand up my arm and reached out to touch my face.

“You don’t see yourself very clearly, Liam,” she told me, “but it doesn’t matter, not right now, at least.”

“What does that mean?”

“You tell me,” she said.  She focused on my eyes and didn’t waver.  “Do you want to try to do this?”

“What if I fuck it up?” I asked.

“How about we deal with the present first and worry about shit that might happen later?”

I licked my lips and tasted her on them.

“I guess so,” I said.

“Very convincing.”

“I told you I don’t know how to do this shit.”

“I’m not so sure I know how to do ‘this shit,’ either,” Tria said, “but I’m willing to try.  Are you?”

I nodded.

“And as much as I would like to spend the next few days figuring it out with you, I have to figure out how to get home.  Nikki needs me there.”

“First things first, huh?”

“Something like that.”

“So, when is all this shit supposed to go down?” I asked.

“The day after tomorrow,” she said.  “Actually…um…there is a bit of a problem.”

“What?  Just one?” I said with a halfhearted laugh.

“Well, one big one,” she said.  “The bus fare.”

“What about it?”

“Um…I don’t have it,” she replied quietly.

“Oh…um…shit.”  I lay back on the couch cushions.

“I’ve got about four dollars at the moment,” Tria clarified.

“I don’t have much more than that,” I admitted.  “I had to get an advance from Dordy yesterday to cover rent.  I ended up bringing in about fifty bucks last night.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“The ticket to get here was a hundred and seventy-five dollars.”

“Now we need two,” I reminded her.

“You don’t have to—”

“Shut it!”  I rolled myself closer to her and covered her mouth with my hand.  “I’m going.  We’ll figure it out.”

She mumbled against my fingers until I moved my hand.

“How?” she asked.

“I’ll ask around,” I said.  “I know a few people who have cars.  Maybe I can find one who would let me borrow theirs for a few days.”

“That’s a big favor,” Tria remarked.

“I’ve got a few people who owe me.”

“I owe you,” she said quietly.  She kept her gaze on mine as she reached up and touched the edge of my jaw.  I could see the beginning of a tear in the corner of her eye, and I leaned down to kiss it away.

“You cry too much,” I told her.

“I can’t help it,” she said with a shrug.

The salty liquid on my lips was quickly covered by her mouth.  She gripped my shoulders, and I ran my hand up her side.  I felt her shiver under my touch and wondered if this could be enough for me.

I was never one to take it slow, but Tria might be worth the restraint.

I dropped the phone back down and sighed.

“Any luck?”

I glanced up at Tria, paused for a second, and then shook my head.

“People who say they owe you one later are full of shit,” I told her.  “I got three flat out no ways, two offering to let me borrow a car next week, and one who just laughed.  The best I got was from Dordy himself, who has an old motorcycle he said I could use.”

“Well, let’s do that!” Tria said.

I huffed out a breath.

“To be completely honest, I have never ridden one—not even on the back.  I haven’t even been on a bicycle since I was a kid.  I don’t think I’ve got time to figure it out before we have to leave, and I don’t want to splatter us both all over the highway.”

It was a little embarrassing to admit it, but it was better than a remake of
Blood Runs Red on the Highway
.

“Oh!” Tria said with widened eyes.  “That’s okay—I can ride.”

A deeper glow of sex appeal surrounded her as those words left her mouth.

“You can?”  My arms and legs tensed, and for a moment I knew exactly what it felt like to be a cat ready to pounce on its prey.

“Yes, I can,” she said, and her cheeks reddened as she looked away.  “I had a motorcycle back in Maine.  A snowmobile, too.  In the winter, it’s the only way to get around.”

Between her words, the blush, and the sheer amount of testosterone coursing through my system, I couldn’t take any more.  I lowered my eyes as I moved across the room toward her.  Tria glanced back at me and took a slight step backwards as I approached.  She opened her mouth slightly as I grabbed her, lifted her up, and pressed her against the wall.  I crushed my lips to hers.

“You have any idea how hot that is?” I asked against her mouth.

“Do you have a thing for this wall?” She giggled.

“Maybe,” I shrugged.  “I didn’t before, but it’s definitely growing on me.”

Tria chuckled against me, causing her to shake a little in my arms.  She reached around my neck and used her index finger to brush the hair on the back of my head up in a little line.  She tilted her head to see her fingers better as she repeated the motion, causing the short hairs to fan out backwards.  I raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’ve wanted to do that since you got your hair cut,” she said with a blush.

“Why?”  I gave her a look.

“I don’t know,” she said.  “It just looked like it would feel cool.”

“Does it?”

“Yes,” she said with a wide grin, “it does.”

After we collected the bike from Dordy, we decided on an early morning start.  As if going to sleep with her hadn’t already been awkward enough, the tension was about ten times greater as we climbed into the bed, facing a completely new situation.

I just wanted to fuck her hard and fast and then roll up against her and go to sleep, and I was pretty sure that wasn’t what she had in mind.

Like we did on most nights, we came together in the center of the bed and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  After that, it was like we didn’t know what to do next.  A few hours ago, I had her pinned down against the very same mattress and was seriously considering popping her cherry.

Fuck!  There had to be something wrong with me.

The problem was, I wasn’t sure if there was something wrong with me because of what I had done or what I hadn’t done.  In all actuality, I had completely forgotten her lack of experience.  I hadn’t been with a virgin since I was one myself, and I knew I couldn’t push her too hard or too fast.  I was going to have to let her set the pace.

“Tria?” I said softly into the darkness.

“Hmm?”

“I…um…shit,” I muttered.  “I don’t know how to say this.”

“Just say it.”

“Okay.”  I huffed through my nose.  “I want you.  I want you
now
.”

I felt her stiffen a little.

“I know you’re not ready for all that,” I added quickly.  “I just want to be clear.  I’ll wait.  I’ll wait as long as you want, but unless you set the ground rules, I’m going to fuck up because I…well…I want you as soon as you’re ready for it.  Shit, this isn’t coming out right.”

“I think I know what you mean.”

“So…ground rules?”

“In the morning,” she replied with a yawn.  “I have to sleep on it.”

I wanted to
sleep on it
.  Or in it.

Instead, I just nodded.  Eventually, I closed my eyes, and before I even realized I was asleep, the alarm was going off, and Tria was jumping out of the bed to shower and make breakfast.  I had to jerk off quickly and quietly while she was in the bathroom because the very thought of her naked body so close to me, combined with the remembered taste of her mouth, drove me up the fucking wall.

After I dressed, we made quick work of breakfast, and before I knew it, I had my arms wrapped around Tria’s waist and my head tucked against her shoulder as we flew down the highway at seventy miles an hour.  At first, I loved the way she looked on the bike, and I loved having her nestled between my legs with my arms wrapped around her middle, but the novelty wore off quickly.  I knew a lot of people who really liked motorcycles, but I also knew within the first two hours that I wasn’t one of them.  I tried not to think about the other seventeen hours of travel that Tria seemed to think we could do in one day, arriving in Beals in the wee hours of Monday morning.

My ass did not agree.

We stopped every couple of hours so we could both stretch and get something to eat or drink.  Unlike being in a car, we couldn’t really talk to each other to help pass the time.  The helmets we wore were basic ones and definitely not tricked out with two-way radios or anything like that.  Tria was very determined to get there as quickly as possible, so we mostly stopped at rest stops along the highway just to keep the momentum going.

Tria had just come back from using the facilities right off the highway while I hung out and smoked near the motorcycle.  We both got on the bike—her in front, me in the back—and I was finishing up my smoke before putting the helmet back on.   There were three guys getting off their own bikes next to us, and one of them looked over in our direction.

“What kind of man lets the chick drive the bike?”  The dude sneered.

I tensed, and Tria followed suit, knowing I wasn’t going to just let it go.

“Liam…” she said softly.

“Hush,” I responded.  I took a last drag off my cigarette, flicked the butt across the parking lot, and got off the bike.  I walked over to the asshole slowly and with purpose—my eyes right on his.  Once I was chest-to-chest with him, I tilted my head slightly to one side and spoke.

“A pretty fucking confident one,” I told him.

He took a slight step back and glanced at his buddies, who seemed to be letting him deal with his own issues, sans backup.  Didn’t matter to me—none of the three looked like they could take a real punch.  I flinched forward slightly, balling my fists and moving like I was going to strike.  He managed to fall down as he jumped back.

His buddies laughed as I got back on the bike behind Tria.  Even she was snickering slightly as we placed our helmets on our heads and headed back down the highway.  Moments later, my ass was numb from the vibrations again, and I was bored out of my fucking mind.

The only thing that was even remotely interesting about the ride was Tria’s position between my legs.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t even enjoy that with the constant rumble of the bike, the swift wind around us, and the general uncomfortable nature of the whole thing.

About a thousand years later, we reached Portland and fueled up with what little cash we had scraped together.  I honestly wasn’t sure how we were going to find the gas money to get home, but I was also a lot more interested in hitchhiking than I was in riding the bike at that point.  My ass felt as if it had just gone ten rounds with a heavyweight, and Tria didn’t even seem like she was still awake as she replaced the gas nozzle on the pump.

“We need to find a place to sleep,” I told her.

“I’m good,” she mumbled.  “It’s only about five more hours.”

“Bullshit,” I growled.  “You don’t even look like you can walk any more, and my thighs feel like I’ve had a large vibrating vehicle between them for the past ten hours.  I’m pretty sure my ass is going to fall right off if we go another hour.”

Tria reluctantly agreed, and we checked out a few of the standard motels right off the highway, but we couldn’t afford any of them.  I finally had to start trying the less recognizable names in hopes that they would give me a discount, considering the lateness of the hour.

After another hour of searching, Tria wasn’t just looking like she was going to fall off the bike; she was actually starting to doze right there in the seat.  There was only one last place to check at the final exit north of Portland before we were going to be out of options.

The dude at the creepy, dirty motel was less than helpful.

“We ain’t that kind of place.”  He sneered at me as he spoke.

“Come on, dude,” I begged.  Yes, I had gotten to that stage.  None of my threats were working.  “Twenty bucks for four hours—I know you aren’t full, and it’s after midnight.  It’s practically free money.”

“I told ya, we don’t do that shit!  Fuck the hooker behind the dumpsters at the Holiday Inn or something.”

“She ain’t a fucking hooker!” I yelled.

“Whatever.”

I stomped out, and Tria glanced up at me, eyes drooping as I returned to the side of the bike.  She must have been able to tell I had struck out again.

“It’s okay,” she said.  “I can keep going.”

“No,” I said, “you can’t.  I didn’t come out here with you just to have you fall asleep and kill us both on the fucking road.”

“We’re kind of out of options,” she said.

“There has to be a park around here,” I said.  “You could at least get a couple hours while I looked after you.”

“Hmm…” she mumbled.  She didn’t even have the alertness to argue with me anymore.

I really needed to get her into a bed, but I was completely out of ideas.  Growling at myself, I looked up into the sky and wondered if whatever deity was up there hated me.  Without any obvious answer, I dropped my eyes again, and I saw a very familiar logo.

Fuck no.

Could I stoop that low?

High up in the sky, on what could have been the spike for the king’s banner on top of a castle, there was a huge, neon sign.  On the left side sparkled a pair of silver circles as they twisted and turned within each other, creating a spinning vortex of marketing overachievement.

It sickened me.

As I glanced over at Tria, I wondered if she could even make it the few blocks up the street to get there.  She wasn’t following my gaze but staring blankly at the center of one of the motorcycle’s gauges.  I definitely had to get her into a bed soon.  She wasn’t going to last a few more minutes.

Yes.  For her, I could stoop that low.

“Come on,” I told her.  “I have a plan—just a little ways up the street, if you can still make it.”

Tria nodded dumbly as I got back on the bike, which I was quite sure I hated now.  We drove up a long hill, and I motioned for Tria to pull into a large parking lot and stop the bike near the front.  Right between the entrance and exit drives was the tall pole with the spinning silver circles at the top.

She pulled off her helmet and looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

“If you think you are going to rob this place, I would much rather deal with a park bench than a jail cell.”

“No worries,” I told her.  “Come on.  Get that…that
thing
.”

Tria pulled the Great Bag of China out of one of the motorcycle’s packs and followed me into the posh lobby of a five-star hotel.  I walked straight up to the front desk and asked for the night manager.  She eyed me with contempt, and I just ignored it.

With a giant, pride-swallowing sigh, I reached into my back pocket.  I grabbed my wallet, pulled out a black plastic card with a pair of silver loops and a number on it, and handed it to the woman.  She took it with trepidation and a scowl.

“Call your corporate office,” I told her as I pointed at the card.  “Then dial that extension.”

She eyed me, and for a moment I thought she might just call security and have us both thrown out, but then she picked up the phone and started dialing.  I could feel Tria’s gaze on the back of my neck, but I didn’t look in her direction.  I knew I was going to be pummeled with a bunch of questions as soon as the next opportunity presented itself, and I hoped to keep just a little bit of peace for a few more minutes.  With any luck, she would be too tired to harass me and would just fall asleep.

“This is who?”  The lady behind the desk was speaking into the phone.  “You…you mean
Michael Teague
?  I mean
Mister
Teague?  Oh!”

She looked back at me with astonishment.

“I’m terribly sorry, sir,” she continued.  “Yes, I know it’s late, but…but I’m the night manager at location oh-seven-four in Portland, Maine, and there is a…um…gentleman here who handed me a card with…sir?  Um…”