The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) (14 page)

“What are you doing?” she demanded even as her hands clenched his shoulders.

He unsnapped her shorts and pressed his lips against the frown that had taunted him. He thought it was pretty obvious.

“Quin,” she said in a stern voice.

“What?” He traced the line of her panties against her stomach.

“How tinted are your windows?”

He chuckled and pushed past the elastic band. “Well enough. Your virtue is safe with me.”

She shifted in her seat and opened her legs wider. “I don’t give a fuck about my virtue. I don’t want to get arrested.”

“Good to know.”

He cupped her mound and she gripped his wrist with one hand while the other tugged her shorts down. Gently he massaged her folds and watched her face. She bit her lower lip. Her eyes slid closed on a muted sigh. He leaned in and closed his mouth around her earlobe.

She grabbed his other hand and pushed it under her shirt. He didn’t need any encouragement to push her bra up and fill his palm with her breast. The tight bead of her nipple rubbed against his palm.

“Quin,” she groaned, a thread of frustration quavering in her voice.

He pressed a digit against her, sliding past her folds and touching damp flesh. “Here? You want me to touch you here?”

She growled something and released his hand, only to snatch the waistband of his shorts and push her hand inside. He groaned and thrust his hips, forcing his cock into her hot little hand.

He swirled his finger against her pussy and brought the moisture up to bathe her clit. Kellie didn’t like to be teased, and he wasn’t in a mood to take things slow. He pushed two fingers into her slick channel as she grasped his cock. His shorts and underwear bunched around the tops of his thighs.

She turned her face toward him and he took the offering of her mouth in a hungry kiss. He thrust his fingers deep inside her pussy, caressing her inner walls until he found the sensitive spot that made her gasp. He swiped his thumb over her clit and her hips shot up off the seat. Her hand clenched around his stiff length.

“Damn, you’re hot. I almost want to roll the windows down so people will see you like this.”

Her head tossed back and forth on the headrest and her thighs clenched around his hand.

“Do you like that idea? What if someone walked up to the truck right now?”

Moisture flooded her channel and coated his hand. He added another finger, stretching her and touching all her hidden places as he pumped faster and faster. He circled her clit with his thumb, over and over again until her hips writhed against his hand.

She had one hand on the door handle, the other on his dick. She turned toward him and her eyes fluttered closed. The muscles in her face contracted and her back arched off the seat as her pussy constricted around his fingers, holding him prisoner. He kissed her then, nipping her jaw and the corner of her mouth, bathing in the beauty of her climax. She was gorgeous when she came apart.

Kellie sucked in a deep breath and let it out. Quin’s breath was warm against her cheek, his face still so close to hers. But then he was still inside her and her hand was wrapped around his penis.

“Doll, you’re amazing.” He kissed her cheek and eased his hand from between her legs. She was too boneless to do anything.

He wiped his hand on a napkin and tried to tug her shorts up. She pushed his hands away and fastened them back around her hips.

She hadn’t expected that from Quin. Maybe she should have, since their relationship was limited to sex, but the rules were self-gratification on both sides. He hadn’t asked her to reciprocate, and even now he tucked his erection back into his boxers without any hint that he expected something from her. He’d gotten her off because he knew it would relax her.

It was a good business deal if she were merely keeping the books. They’d given tit for tat and he’d thrown in a freebie.

Her jellied limbs were slow to respond, but she leaned forward, forcing Quin back against the door, and lay across the bench on her stomach.

She was already getting comfortable on her stomach when he stopped her with his hands on her shoulders. “Doll, you don’t have to do that.”

She tilted her head to the side and peered up at him, smiling slowly on her face. “You’re right, I don’t have to. Now shut up.”

He slid one hand to the base of her ponytail. Guys were fairly predictable. Smirking, she pulled the elastic band from her hair. Quin pushed his fingers through the strands, massaging her scalp, and when he had enough in his grasp, he fisted it. His other hand fumbled to adjust the steering wheel and tilt it up to give her more room.

She tugged on his shorts. “Help me?”

It was all the encouragement he needed. Quin grabbed both shorts and boxers and pulled them down past his knees. His cock bobbed up, bouncing off his stomach and wobbling like a drunken bobblehead. She kept that comparison to herself; men could be touchy when it came to their junk.

The head of his cock was already smeared with pre-cum. She’d tried to match him during the hand job he’d given her, but her brain had scrambled and the most she’d given him was a few tugs.

She grasped the base of his cock and took the head in her mouth. The big vein pulsed against her tongue as she rubbed against his flesh. She pulled her lips over her teeth and gently slid her mouth up, hugging his stiff length in a vise.

“Damn,” he choked out. His hand was in her hair, pushing her down.

She went with it, allowing him to show her what he wanted. He stopped when he bumped the back of her mouth, and she took over. Putting her weight on her other arm, she leaned farther over his lap and lifted, using her teeth again.

He released the hand in her hair and pushed it under her shirt, hiking the material up around her armpits until he palmed her breast. The other hand replaced the first in her hair.

“Like this,” he muttered. “Tell me if I hurt you.”

If she could have replied she would have told him yanking her hair wasn’t going to bother her, she liked it rough, but she had other things going on.

He moved her fast, letting her weight drop her forward, impaling his cock in her mouth and lifting her forcibly. She rose up on her elbow and pushed forward, giving him more control over the thrust, and slid her hand down to cup his balls.

The hand on her breast squeezed and his hips thrust up off the seat. His cock hit the back of her throat and she breathed around the desire to gag.

“Mm, yeah, doll.”

He pushed her down harder, farther until she was swallowing around his cock and struggling to breathe. His hips ground against her and he gripped her breast hard enough he was going to leave bruises.

Any second now he was going to come. She closed her eyes, breathed deep and relaxed, letting him even farther into her body.

“Fuck all.” His voice trailed off but she got the warning.

His hips jerked up and down seconds before warm cum hit the back of her throat. She swallowed, but some dribbled out of her mouth and onto the seat and his thighs. He rocked against her as the stream slowed and his member slid from her mouth.

She gasped for breath and rested her head on his thigh. His fingers pushed hair off her cheek and wiped at wetness on her face. The quiet drone of the radio and their panting breath filled the cab of the truck. Her shirt was smoothed back into place, but her bra was bunched up under her armpits, doing the girls no good.

Pushing up, she collapsed back into her seat and adjusted her clothing.

“There were some napkins in here.” Quin snatched one of the paper bags and rummaged around before producing the white squares.

“Thanks.” She took it, flipped the visor down and wiped her face, removing the evidence, as it were.

“No. Thank you. Come here.”

There was something about a blowjob, freely given and appreciated, that Kellie enjoyed. Men never turned them down, and for the most part, she liked doing them.

Quin pulled her closer and kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. His hand fumbled at her waist.

“What are you doing?” She pushed his hand but he grabbed her wrist and reached for her with the other hand.

“I didn’t get my taste.”

She laughed at this absurd man, all the cares and worries of life falling away. In this bubble, all that existed was the two of them.

Until a woman in an adjacent car juggled several bags of food and a carrier of drinks. Her long blueberry-colored hair gave away what the pink tracksuit hid.

“Stop, Quin, stop.” Kellie leaned past him, and sure enough, the car was Autumn’s beat-to-shit Buick.

Kirin—This giraffe-like creature is a beast of prosperity, depicted with either a single horn or a pair, the head of a dragon, the slender body of a deer—which is often covered with scales—legs of a horse and the tail of a bull.

“Why?” he practically whined.

Kellie kept her gaze locked on the car. Something had to be wrong. “That’s Autumn. Can you follow her?”

“The chick that’s not coming to work?” He was already pushing her back, grabbing his seat belt and shifting into reverse.

“Yeah.” She snapped the seat belt into place and held on to the door as the truck barreled forward, ignoring two vehicles backing out of their spots. “Damn, Quin, watch out.”

“You said to follow her.”

“Yeah, how about don’t get in a wreck?”

“Just obeying orders.” He whipped the truck out onto the service road, cutting off two lanes of traffic to merge in a few cars behind the Buick.

“I’ve stopped by her place. She’s not answering calls, nothing. I’m worried about her.”

Quin closed his hand over hers and squeezed. The weight was back around her shoulders, pressing in from all sides.

They merged onto 75, but went only a few exits. Kellie had no idea where they were going. The area was foreign to her, but Autumn maneuvered like she knew where she was headed.

Autumn turned into a rundown trailer park and Kellie’s stomach dropped. With Autumn’s history, this was the last place Kellie expected to find her. She may dress the part of a cheap hooker at times and go through men like a bad habit, but there were some things Autumn did not permit.

The Buick pulled into a driveway in front of a dilapidated double-wide. The skirting was torn and lay in the yard, the siding was peeled back and the windows looked taped together. Quin stopped the truck at the curb, far enough away not to draw attention.

Kellie had to know what was going on. Not because Autumn was her employee, but because she was her friend. If she needed help, they’d figure it out.

Kellie pushed the door open and dropped to the pavement as Autumn opened the car door. Sunglasses shielded her downturned face. Kellie thought she heard Quin call her name, but this didn’t involve him.

“Autumn.” Kellie’s flip-flops slapped the concrete as she stepped up onto the sidewalk and slowly approached the Buick.

Autumn’s head jerked up and her jaw nearly came unhinged.

“Hey,” Kellie said softer as she strolled up the drive, using the moments to look for bruises. She wished she could see Autumn’s eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Autumn blurted.

“I was at Sonic, saw you leaving and followed.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I did.” She stopped a few feet away, not knowing what came next. “I’ve been worried about you. Where have you been?”

A man with a protruding belly opened the back door of the trailer next to them and let a dog out into the grass. He settled on his steps, a cigarette in hand, unapologetically watching them.

Autumn’s shoulders slumped and her purse slid down her arm. She leaned on the car door and glanced away.

“Mom came back.”

Nausea gripped Kellie’s stomach. The last time Autumn’s mother had been in the same state, Autumn had blown several paychecks giving cash to her mother “for bills”, which they all knew was for drugs. Things finally bottomed out when the DEA busted Autumn’s mom for possession with intent to sell. Autumn had been hauled in as an accessory, but Mary and Kellie had paid a lawyer to get her off.

Autumn had promised them she was done with her mother after that.

Kellie searched the dirty windows for a face to put with the name, the person who didn’t deserve to be a mother. “And she’s here?”

“She’s inside. She’s detoxing, or I would say come in.” The usual vibrancy had leached from Autumn’s voice, making her sound exhausted.

“I don’t want to meet her.” Kellie drew in a slow breath to steady her nerves. She’d seen Autumn’s mother from across a room a few times, but that was it. The amount of mudslinging the woman had thrown at her own daughter in the hopes of getting out of the charges was disgusting. “And you’re trying to what? Help her?”

“Something like that,” Autumn mumbled.

“Autumn, are you using with your mom?”

Her head whipped around and blue hair sailed over her shoulder. “What?”

Kellie held up her hands. “I haven’t seen you in weeks. I don’t know, so I have to ask.”

“You know me better than that.” Autumn practically quivered with rage. Her hands balled into fists at her sides and she rocked up on her toes.

“I’m asking you because I care.”

The neighbor’s cigarette smoke smelled heavenly. It would be a perfect time to light one up, except she’d given up that habit. The dog hiked his leg on the fence four feet away from them and took a piss.

Autumn snatched her sunglasses off her face. “Look at me.”

Kellie peered at her eyes, but all she saw were bags from too little sleep and smeared makeup. “Okay, I’m sorry, but we didn’t know what to think.”

“She just showed up. She’d gone to the ER and couldn’t remember where she was staying. I didn’t want to risk having her at my place, so I’ve been staying with her. I didn’t know how to tell you and you not be mad at me.”

“Fuck, I’m not mad at you, I’m angry at her.” Kellie gestured toward the house, uncaring whether the occupants heard her.

Autumn pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and nodded.

“I get wanting to help her, but damn it, Autumn, why didn’t you call in or anything?” Sometimes dealing with Autumn was like having a child. She meant well, and her heart was as big as Texas, but she didn’t think through her actions. She just did.

Autumn’s face scrunched up. “Because what was I going to tell you? Sorry, can’t come in, I’m taking care of my junkie mother?”

“Yes. Exactly that.”

She threw up her hands. “Shit, I screwed up. I’m sorry.”

Kellie sighed and leaned a hip against the car. The noon sun was trying its hardest to bake them alive. “It happens. I’m not saying it’s okay, but we’ll figure it out. How much longer do you need to be with her?”

Autumn shrugged.

“Autumn, you’ve got to give me something.”

“I don’t know how long. I really don’t.”

“Okay, how are you doing on cash?”

“I’m fine for now.”

Kellie believed her. Autumn could pinch the pennies and clip the coupons, but a dollar went only so far.

“What about in a week or more?”

“I don’t know,” she said with more force.

Kellie crunched numbers in her head. The shop was doing well, she could cut Autumn a deal. Mary would have to be okay with it, but since most of the financial decisions were up to her anyway, Kellie didn’t think it would be a big deal. So long as Autumn paid them back.

“Let’s work something out. What if I pay you base pay per week you’re taking off, and when you return you pay it back a little each check? I know your mom’s probably mooching off you. You can only support her for so long. This will at least make things easier on you right now.”

“That would be great.” Autumn’s voice had a watery quality and her posture relaxed. She stepped forward and hugged Kellie briefly.

“Hey, we’re family too. We take care of each other. Remember that.” Her gaze flicked to Autumn’s blueberry-colored locks. “Nice hair.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” She wiped at her eyes and nodded. “Where’s your car? I didn’t even see you following me like some secret agent.”

Kellie laughed, buoyed by Autumn’s quip. “I was having lunch with Quinton, a guy you don’t know about, and we followed you. He’s in the truck.”

“Oh, Quinton?” Autumn leaned around her and waved at the idling truck. “Is he cute?”

“Yeah, he’s hot.” Kellie chuckled and glanced over her shoulder. “He’s got to get back to work, and I have an appointment I’m going to be late for. Call me later and fill me in. We can work out the details. Maybe you can come in and work on some of your backlogged clients or something.”

“Mom’s waiting on food.” Autumn gestured at the brown bags sitting in the passenger seat. “Thanks for running me down.”

“Please don’t make me do it again.”

Autumn tossed her head back and laughed, a spark of herself coming back into place. “I think we should. It would be fun.”

“No, oh no. I’ll catch you later.”

“Bye, Kellie. Thanks for kicking my ass.”

“Anytime.”

Kellie jogged back to the truck and jumped in, free of one weight. Quin’s hand reached for hers, threading their fingers together.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I think it’s going to be fine.”

* * * * *

Quin steeled his nerve and knocked on the front door. He didn’t wait for an answer but pushed it open. “Hello?”

“In here,” Penny called.

Well, at least she was talking to him.

He shut the door and stepped through the archway on his right. The dining room table was covered with crayons and coloring books. He spared a smile for the
Mortal Kombat
one. Josie had presented him with several pages, artistically colored and labeled as
Daddy
.

The galley kitchen connected to the dining room through another archway. He leaned his shoulder against the wall and watched Penny pour cereal into a plastic container then place it inside a pink-and-red ladybug lunch bag.

“You know, standing there and staring is a little creepy.” She glanced over her shoulder but didn’t smile.

“Didn’t want to interrupt.” He held up his hands.

Penny gasped. “What happened to your face?”

He winced and lifted a hand to his brow. “Oh this? Got in a little scuffle training a few guys last night. Caught a knee to my forehead. It’s only three stitches.”

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him, but a high-pitched squealing sound that can only be achieved by a pair of three-year-old female lungs arrested both of their attention.

“Daddy!” Josie barreled down the length of the kitchen and launched herself at his legs, chanting, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”

He looked down at the waif of a person. These interactions always stumped him. What did one do with a child? “Come up here, you.” Quin hooked his hands under Josie’s arms and lifted her to perch on his side. She clung to his neck, grinning and giggling.

Penny folded her arms over her chest and rested her hip against the counter, watching.

“I missed you, Daddy.”

“I missed you too, Lady Bug.” He smoothed her wild curls from her forehead and dropped a kiss on her brow.

“Josie, did you finish your breakfast yet?” Penny asked.

Josie buried her face against his neck and giggled. It was difficult not to laugh at her antics, but he swallowed down the desire to smile. He wanted to give her everything, refuse her nothing. This tiny person was part of him, someone he’d helped create, and she was perfect. At least until she took Sharpie markers to the mirrors at the gym again.

“Lady Bug, if you don’t eat your breakfast, you aren’t going to be able to play today. Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the park?”

She nodded dramatically, almost cracking her head against his jaw.

“How about you go and finish your breakfast while I talk to Mommy?”

Josie put a finger to her chin, a cheeky grin slowly pulling the corner of her lips up.

Quin laughed, succumbing to her charming nature and put her down. “Go eat.”

“Okay.” She pivoted and ran out into the living room.

He peered over the bar to where Josie had settled on the floor at a small folding table with what looked like a bowl of cereal. He could feel Penny reading him. He didn’t know if getting pregnant had given her Mom Sense or if it was something that she’d been born with. Penny had a way about her that made him feel as if she could see beneath his skin, peel back the layers and examine the parts he’d rather not think about.

“You need to take her today.” Penny’s tone of voice allowed no argument.

“What? Pen, she can’t come to the gym, it’s not safe and I’m not a babysitter.”

“No, you’re her father and you never spend time with her.”

“I do too. I’m here now.”

“For how long?”

He didn’t reply immediately.

Penny folded her arms over her chest. “How long, Quin?”

“I came by to talk to you so you wouldn’t keep being pissed at me.”

“When was the last time you spent a whole day with Josie?”

His father had rarely spent a full day with him, and he’d preferred it that way. Why would Josie want to be with him when she could be playing? He didn’t know the first thing about kids.

“Penny, she does not want to hang out with me all day. She’ll be bored.”

Penny turned toward the refrigerator and snatched a piece of paper off, scattering magnets and shoved it into his hands. He glanced down at a pair of stick figures labeled Daddy and Josie. Red blobs surrounded them, which he could only assume were punching bags.