Ride It Out (6 page)

Chapter Ten: Anne

After a bit more small talk at the table, during which I barely touch my lunch, Adam helps clean up. He’s quiet, like something is bothering him. Should I ask him? I almost don't want to know, but we never keep secrets from each other, we tell each other everything. I hope that never changes, but he’s looking at me strange. Like he’s unsure of what to say to me. Like I turned into a different person while he was looking the other way..

“Adam, are you okay? You’re super quiet.” There maybe that will get him to tell me what’s going on.

“Anne." He paused and shook his head. "No, I’m not sure if I’m okay.”

Oh no, what if he’s sick? I’d never survive without him. The thought hits hard and I can't catch my breath with the idea racing in my mind. Tears form and start streaming down my cheeks. “Are you sick?”

He’s looking away from me, not noticing my tears. The moment I speak, his head snaps toward me. Turning pale, he hurries over to me and unclips the stupid seatbelt they always insist I use. He picks me up and carries me to the couch, just like when we were younger. Every time something upset me, whether our parents strict rules for me, or a thoughtless remark from a stranger, or frustration over being unable to do what other kids were doing, he was right there, always ready to comfort me and tell me it was okay. And it always was, one way or another.

He sits and cradles me in his lap. “Baby sis, no I’m not sick. Please stop with those tears, you know how much it kills me to see you crying or in any type of pain.”

Trying to slow my breathing down, I wipe the back of my hand on my cheek to catch a runaway tear. “Okay, then, what is it? What’s wrong? And don't try to lie to me.”

A frown creases his forehead. “Anne. I love you so much. But I’m worried about you. I don’t want you to see you get hurt. Blake, he’s the worst type of guy for you. He’s a player, Anne. A girl like you is disposable to guys like him.”

I’m kind of in shock he’s this worried. All I can do is lay there in his lap, looking up, waiting, knowing he’s not done.

“He’s way more experienced than you, Anne..I see how overwhelmed you are when he’s around. You’ve never been around someone like him.” He pulls down my dress a little. The look he gives me. My face burns with embarrassment as it hits me that he is fully aware that Blake still has my panties.

“Uhh, umm right. I know I’m not that experienced. Fine. At all. But he makes me happy Adam. I really like him. He makes me feel things, things I never thought someone like me would get a chance to. I get to be normal with him. You know people treat me differently. They look over or around me, and act as if I'm stupid, or fragile. He doesn't do any of those things. He sees me. You want me to be happy, don’t you Adam?”

“Of course I want you to be happy, I want the best for you sis. I guess… I guess it’s just hard for me..You’re my baby sister, and always will be. No one will ever be good enough for you. You know that right? Just remember you haven’t known him long. What, a couple of weeks? But if Blake really means that much to you, I’ll try to give him some slack..But Anne, if he as much makes you shed one tear, I’ll kill him.”

I know he’s very serious, but I still can’t help to giggle a little at the thought. “I love you Adam, you’re the best brother ever.”

“Love you too Anne, you’re a pretty kickass baby sister too.” He smiles down at me like he always did after he helped me accept a limit imposed by someone else.

Blake:

It’s late evening, and I've been working for a couple of hours. Haven’t really made a dent in the workload though. Anne’s panties are burning a hole in my pocket. Her willingness to do what I say shocks me, yet pleases me. I have so many little demands planned and I can't wait to see her reaction.

Taking her panties made her scorching hot and I'd barely managed to resist pulling her into my lap for a repeat of her sweet little explosion. The little scrap of pink lace is clutched hard in my hand before I realize. I bring it to my face and inhale, taking her scent deep. The combination with the memory of her lips and the sounds she makes brings me off fast, despite my attempt to prolong it for a moment. Pathetic. I'm as bad as a kid who just saw his first nudie magazine.

And, at the moment, she's probably getting chewed out by her brother. He knows the score, whether he likes it not. The looks I exchanged with Adam said he knew what went down with him right there. If I’m honest, I worry he’s going to take her back tonight and I’ll never see her again. Never be able to lose myself deep inside her, give her all those promises from before.

My damn phone goes off. It’s Jelly, of course. What could he want now. Probably checking to make sure I remember to eat or some shit like that. “Hey Jelly. What’s up?”

“Hound, we’re almost there. Wanted to get more information from you in person.”

Fuck.
“Alright man, I’ll be here or on the beach. Come find me when you get here.” I hang up, nothing more to say. Would have been nice to have a little advance notice, but I'll deal.

I can’t wait any longer. I need to make sure my sweet Anne is still here. And hell, how am I going to explain all the guys? We got too caught up the other night for me to give her any real explanation of why I had to run out that one afternoon without any notice. I’ll figure it out. I toss everything to the end of the couch, and transfer.

Halfway to the door, I realize I'm forgetting something very important. Maybe there's some still in the nightstand. My damn footrest catches on the doorframe as I swing into my room, forcing me to back up and try again. And when I get there, I find nothing but a damn empty condom box in the nightstand.

There's no help for it. I'll have to go in town. Cursing my lack of foresight, I head for the truck. Should have taken care of that when I went to the grocery store, but months of not needing them had become a habit.

The convenience store isn't far, so it only takes a couple minutes to drive there and I make it inside in record time. A quick look around confirms it. Assholes keep the condoms behind the counter. Fuck me.

Some jerk stands at the register, scratching off his fucking lottery tickets, all in my way. "Excuse me, man."

Dude gives me a nasty look but steps aside so I can roll up. The clerk is maybe twenty, some scraggly-assed beard looking thing sprouting on his face. "Yeah?"

"Give me a box of Trojan Mags."

Fucking clerk laughs out loud. "Yo man, you dreamin', or what?"

Fury rolls through me. "Nah, man, your girlfriend is waiting in my truck to see what a real man can give her. She got tired of letting a teeny-bopper grope her. Now hurry the fuck up."

He scowls but gets the box and takes my money. I roll out and put the crap out of my head.

Just a few minutes and I’m at Anne’s place. I see her, sitting there on the porch, her hair down, and blowing in the wind. The vision of her there, like an angel, holds me frozen. The last bit of sun shine gives her skin a slight glow. She's fucking gorgeous.

She must sense someone watching her, because she turns toward me then. As soon as she realizes it’s me, she gives me the smile that I’ve come to love seeing. Had she been waiting for me?.

“Blake!” She races to meet me at the bottom of the ramp, her chair going at a reckless pace.

“Hey slow down, I’m not going anywhere.” I laugh a little. She’s so full of life, I can’t help being happy when she’s near. Intoxicating. That's what she is.

She sort of skids to a stop and throws her arms around me the best she can. I pull back a little and kiss her softly. She’s wearing something different than the dress from earlier. I look at her, giving her a questioning glance up and down. I stop right at her waist, and move my hands down to see if she really listened..“Oh sweet Anne, you left them off. I was just thinking about you, about how wet you'll be later on when I'm kissing you and touching you." I let my lips brush her earlobe and lower my voice. "A few minutes ago I held your panties to my face and came, thinking about you and all the things I want to do with you."

The little whimper she makes has me hard all over again, and I hope she's as hot as I am. But for the moment, I'll have to be patient. As much as want her to stay like this, I don’t want any of the guys getting a glimpse of her. That’s the one thing that sets me apart from the other guys. They don’t mind sharing, unless they officially claim a woman as their ol’ lady. I don’t share, ever, and Anne’s all mine. I'll kill any man that tries to get near her.

“Go put something on, babe. I got some company that’s going to be arriving soon." I draw back to look into her eyes and make sure she gets how serious this is. "And Anne, when they get here, understand, you’re mine. Got it? You don't leave my side, not for anything.” It might sound harsh, but I need her to understand I’m not fucking around.

“Company? Uhh. Okay, I’ll go put something else on. It's getting kind of chilly out with the sun down anyways.” She sounds very shy again. I can only guess she wonders who’s coming to visit. She’s going to be in for a surprise, that’s for sure. I hope she’s able to handle them all.

As she heads inside, I hear the tell-tale roar of bikes arriving. Shit, did they bring everyone? Must be at least five of them.

The roar builds until they come into sight. They park and climb off their bikes, everyone stretching like they've been in the saddle for hours upon hours.

“Jelly! Over here.” I raise a hand to be sure he sees where I am.

He lifts a hand in a half-assed wave. “Yo, man, we’re gonna put our stuff inside. Be there in a few.”

True to his word, they were all here in just a few minutes. Just in time for Anne to come rolling out of the cottage. The expression on her face is priceless. Eyes big as saucers, she comes to an abrupt halt at the top of the ramp and stares at the half-dozen rough-looking and road-weary bikers on her lawn.

The sad part is, even needing to get her to my side right away, I can't help but just look at her for a long moment. She's so fucking beautiful. One of the boys makes a sort of awkward noise and reminds me. “You going to stay up there all night, babe?”

“Hmm. No, one second." She looks back through the door. "Adam, hurry up would you? Bring the marshmallows too please.”

Jelly looks at me, and I can see he’s wanting to say a whole lot right now. Probably thinking what the fuck, then who the hell is Adam. He’ll just have to wait, and see.

Anne rolls slow as hell down the ramp, almost like she’s scared to make a mistake in front of the guys.

“Anne, put that thing in high gear. Hurry it up, babe.”

Not wasting any more time, she races down the rest of the ramp and skids to a stop at the end, right in grabbing distance.

The need to show the guys who she belongs to overcomes me. Giving in to it, I pull her in for the hottest kiss, controlling and a little forceful. Proving to the guys I’m back to the old me is almost as important as it is for them to know she’s off limits. Finally, I back off, leaving us both breathing hard and my sweet girl's cheeks all flushed and glowing.

“Guys, this is Anne. Anne, this is Jelly, Slick, Tiny, Leo, Hoss, Lurch and Peanut… don’t ask on that last one. You don’t want to know babe.”

“Hi.” She’s pale but her cheeks are a light rose color, still coming down from the kiss. She’s shaking just a little. The guys must be making her nervous. Which, hell, a bunch of bulky bikers, who wouldn’t be.

“Anne, here’s the marshm…allows." Adam stops in the door. "Blake? Anne, would you come here for a second?”

Like before, she looks to me to make sure it's okay before she goes. I nod and she starts slowly back up the ramp. On second thought, I'm not letting Adam get her away from my side. My luck he'll lock her in the house and I'll never see her again. I can't live with that. I head up that ramp right on her heels.

Adam glares at me. "What the fuck is going on here?"

Might as well get it over with. "Let's go inside a minute. Got a couple things to tell you both." I lead the way through the door and turn to face them.

My sweet Anne, she rolls to my side and lets me take her hand, even with her doubts and fears.

"Bastard, you better start talking." Adam stands before us, tense, like he's ready to pound something.

I sigh a little. I'd have preferred do this differently. "Relax, man. They're with me. Yeah, I'm a Hell Raider. Or was. Until a drunk driver took out my bike with me on it. They might look rough, but they're rougher than that. And now that they know she's mine, they'll kill to protect Anne. She's never been safer in her life than in the middle of that bunch of hard-cases."