Chapter 3
3
DARREN
D arren was in the middle of fucking his woman, building her pleasure toward one hell of an orgasm, when his cell phone started to ring.
“Ignore it. It’ll stop,” he grunted and continued to fuck her from behind.
He’d woken this morning hornier than hell. After Kylie came back to bed last night, he’d pulled her back into his front, spooning her tight, determined to keep her in bed and make her rest. Although she’d passed out, her constant grinding of her ass into his dick had him hard the rest of the night.
Gripping her hips to keep them connected, he dropped them to their sides. He wrapped an arm around her chest to hold her close and moved her leg over his own to give him better access to what was between her legs. He growled his appreciation low in his throat feeling how wet she was for him.
Not for the first time, he marveled at his ability to have lived with her for so long and not touched her. At the time, he’d been fooling himself, thinking that he only thought of her as a friend.
He’d been a lousy liar.
Without him realizing it, he’d been falling in love with her a little at a time, day by day, from the first moment he met her. Until his dying breath he would never forget how it felt to sink his hard cock into her welcoming pussy for the first time. It had felt like coming home. And every time after that, the feeling only continued to grow stronger. She was his reason for breathing.
“Fuck, your pussy’s tight,” he growled and hammered into her. If his phone didn’t stop ringing he was going to throw it against the wall. He didn’t care if the house was on fire, he wasn’t stopping fucking Kylie until they both got off.
His phone finally stopped ringing. Thank fuck.
Darren groaned as it started right back up again.
“God damn it.” Darren was so close, it wouldn’t take but a handful of pumps to get off and from the way Kylie’s pussy kept squeezing at his dick, she was right there, too.
“Do you need to answer it?” Kylie panted, her hand desperately clutching his ass.
“Son of a bitch. Hang on.” He planted himself to the root and reached behind him for his phone on the nightstand. Shit. It was Race. “Yeah?” he huffed.
“Any news on Tuck?”
“Not a good time, Race.” He thought his eyes were going to cross when Kylie’s hand reached between her legs and cupped his balls, giving them a squeeze. Damn if it didn’t feel good.
“You’re fucking Kylie right now?” Race’s voice was way too cheerful. Fucker was acting like a twelve-year-old.
“Yeaaah.” He was unable to stop the groan before it slipped out, he was too close to coming. His woman was so impatient to find her release that she’d continued urgently rocking back and forth on his dick, keeping things going.
He heard Race laughing right before he said, “Call me when you’re done,” and hung up. He tossed his phone on the bed behind him, gripped her hip tighter with one hand and moved his fingers of the other to work her clit.
“Yes, Darren. Yes, just like that. Please make me come,” Kylie begged. Her head was tipped back against his shoulder, her long strawberry blonde hair spread out all over them both. He loved her fucking hair. He especially loved twisting it in his hand while he fucked her from behind. He groaned and jerked his hips when she reached back and fisted her hand in his hair, bringing his mouth to her neck.
With his size, he was easily able to fold himself around her to get a better view over her shoulder to where his dick was taking her pussy over and over again. Seeing her wetness all over his cock only made him go at her harder. He opened his mouth against her neck and gave it a playful nip. Her grip she had on his hair tightened. How had he gotten so lucky?
The only thing equal to fucking Kylie was watching as Tuck fucked her. Watching the two of them together, he was able to take in her every little facial expression that danced across her face. They ranged from hunger and eating them alive with her heavy-lidded gaze, to awe at the way they pleasured her, then surprise as her orgasm took over her. The sounds she made ranged from her gasping when one of them found just the right spot to wreck her world, to moaning with desire as her pleasure built, to screaming in ecstasy. Then there was the completely satisfied look that came over her beautiful face as she came down from her high. It was so soft and sweet, she almost glowed as it spread across her face until her eyes fell closed with a heavy sigh.
Yeah, fucking her until she passed out was the best.
“Come on, Kylie. Need you to come. I’m about to explode.” He bit her neck harder, possibly leaving a mark, pinched her nipple, pinched her clit and pistoned into her sweet, sweet pussy. Her body bucked and quaked under his unrelenting assault.
“Oh, God, Darren!” He had to tighten his grip to keep her firmly in place.
“Uhhhhh! Kylieee!” he threw his face in her neck and shouted his release. His hips thrust back and forth, his rhythm completely gone with each shot of his cum that left his body.
Holding her firmly to his chest, he squeezed his arms around her with his dick still buried inside, enjoying every single aftershock. “Mmmm. That’s right, Kylie girl. Just ride it out. I’ve got you.”
“Holy shit, Darren.” Her voice was hoarse from screaming. “I think you wrecked me,” she panted, still trying to catch her breath. “I don’t know if I can walk after that.” She released her tight grip on his hair and lowered her hand to rest on his ass. She gave it a not so gentle squeeze and collapsed against him, her body limp like a well cooked noodle.
He took a few moments to simply lay with Kylie in his arms, relaxed and happy. Soon enough the reality of their situation would invade their day and it would be a while before they could get another moment like this.
If they could spend the whole day just like this, he’d be a happy man. Unfortunately, with everything going on, he didn’t have that luxury. Hating to be the one to end their perfect morning, he announced it was time to get up. “Gotta get up, babe. That was Race checking on Tuck. We need to get up and go check on him.”
“Okay. Let me grab a quick shower and I’ll be ready to go.”
He slowly slid his softening cock from Kylie’s warm body, allowing her to roll off the other side of the bed. He watched her walk to the bathroom, his cum dripping down her leg and felt his dick perking up again. Grumbling as he slid off his side of the bed, he reminded his dick who was in charge and to calm his ass down. They’d be buried in Kylie again tonight as they tried to fuck her into unconsciousness so she could sleep.
DARREN
Darren pulled his car to a stop in front of the clubhouse and hopped out, meeting Kylie at the front. “After you use the bathroom, can you hang out either in your office or with the prospects in case the brothers have any questions about what you found out?”
“Sure, honey. Not a problem.” She handed him the folder with her findings from the night before then slipped her hand in his while the other one went to her belly. The further along she got in her pregnancy the more he noticed one or both of her hands settling doing that. He opened the door and waved for her to go first. Upon entering he spotted Cutter behind the bar mopping and Miles was over by the pool tables emptying the large trashcans.
At the door to his room, he pulled his key out and unlocked it. He reached inside and flipped the light switch on so she could see her way to the bathroom. She, like a lot of the old ladies, preferred to use the bathrooms in their old man’s room over what they referred to as the public bathrooms. Depending on what the prospects had been tasked with doing lately, it could be a toss up as to whether or not those bathrooms were what the women called ‘old lady clean.’
He gave her a kiss and swatted her ass, watching her disappear into the bathroom. Even pregnant the woman was sexy as fuck. He found it fascinating that from behind, you wouldn’t know she was nearly five months pregnant. She was getting a nice belly on her and her tits were getting bigger. They were super sensitive and her hormones were in high gear, making the woman insatiable in bed. He pulled the door partially closed and headed off to church before he gave into the urge to fuck her again.
“Hey, Darren. Glad to see you made it. We weren’t expecting you to be here. Thought you’d be at the hospital.” Trick clapped him on the shoulder, a genuine smile on his face.
“Kylie and I just came from there. He had a good night but he still hasn’t woken up yet.” He dropped his cell phone in the box outside church and followed Trick inside.
He took his seat and placed the folder in front of him on the table.
“How’s Tuck doing?” Jackson asked.
“He had a good night, but hasn’t woken up yet,” he repeated for the benefit of the other brothers. Then he added, “The doctor is going to do a CT scan to check on the swelling in his brain. If it looks good, they’ll move him out of the ICU and start decreasing his meds. If that’s the case, he is optimistic that Tuck might wake up sometime today or tomorrow.”
“That’s really good news,” Tulsa said.
“How’s Kylie doing?” Maverick asked from across the table.
“Better,” he shrugged and grimaced. “Hearing what the doctor had to say put her mind at ease.”
“How are you holding up?” Race’s gaze was assessing as he focused all his attention on Darren.
Darren took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Good. Like I said, hearing the doctor say Tuck was doing good made things easier.”
“You’ve got a lot on your plate right now. If you need anything, we’re all here for you, Kylie and Tuck. Anything at all. Just let us know what we can do to help.” Race leaned back in his chair, gently rocking back and forth. He reached for his gavel and called the meeting to order. “Anyone have any ideas on how to track down those motherfuckers who shot Tuck? I’m tired of the Phantoms always being ten steps ahead of us. They proved they’re willing to take us out in order to get our town and I’m done with it. We find any of those fuckers in Redemption, take them alive if possible so we can question them. If taking them alive isn’t possible, don’t get caught.”
Darren cleared his throat and leaned forward, waving the folder. “Yeah. I got an idea. Kylie woke up last night and couldn’t sleep. I found her in the kitchen on her computer and she found some interesting information. The reason we have never been able to find the Phantoms’ main base of operation is because they’re from Taos.”
“What the fuck?”
“What?”
“Fucking New Mexico?”
“What the fuck are they doing in Colorado?”
Everyone erupted all at once, shouting out questions over the top of each other. Race had to tell them all to calm down and let Darren finish.
“Why don’t you go ahead and fill us in on how she came by this information,” Race instructed him.
“Kylie used Chet’s employment record to get his address. Then she hacked into the computer of the company leasing him his apartment.” He raised his hand and said, “Don’t ask me how she did it. You’ve all seen what she can do with a computer. So, as I was saying, she discovered Chet’s lease wasn’t in his name. It was under the name of a woman named Sadie Swallow.”
Jed snorted. “That sounds like the name of a porn star or a stripper.”
One side of Darren’s mouth kicked up. “Yeah, that’s what me and Kylie thought, too.” He cleared his throat and continued, sliding the file of information down the table to Race. “Anyway, since it was such an unusual name, she ran it to see if there were any other properties under the woman’s name. There were two more in Redemption. The addresses are in the file.” He tipped his head toward where Race’s hand now rested on the file in question.
“She also ran his social security number and found that he has an address in Taos, New Mexico.”
“I can’t believe we’ve been busting our asses all this time looking for those motherfuckers and they’re not even in this state,” groused Trick.
“Fuck me sideways. I can’t wait to get my hands on a Phantom.” Jed growled what everyone was thinking.
Darren’s information had the brothers good and riled up. This was the break they’d been looking for. He couldn’t wait for the club to get on this. He wanted his payback for what they’d done to Tuck. The bastards had almost killed his best friend and caused his woman more pain than anyone deserved.
“She find anything else?” Dagger asked.
“Yeah. She ran Sadie Swallow’s name in Taos and found an address for her there which is the same one Chet had hidden from us. Kylie has a new program that she left running. It’s searching the traffic cameras for any sightings of the Phantoms. She might be able to backtrack their comings and goings to find their clubhouse but it’ll take some time.”
“Holy shit. That woman is scary good with a computer. Why isn’t she working for some big corporation or the government? She could be making shit tons of money.” Trick shook his head, clearly impressed with Kylie’s talent with a computer. He’d benefitted from her skills when the club was searching for Lindsey after she’d been kidnapped by some psycho she went to school with and had gotten into human trafficking. Had she not been helping them, there’s no telling where Lindsey might have ended up.
“I don’t know, but I’m glad she’s working with us,” Race pointed out.
“Definitely,” Darren agreed.
“Is that everything?” Race asked.
“Kylie also said that if we set some cameras up on or near the Redemption properties she could keep an eye on them.” Darren thought that was a good idea, just in case one of those motherfuckers came back into town.
“I like that idea.” Race rapped his knuckles on the table a couple of times. “Jackson, take one of the prospects with you and get those set up,” Race instructed.
“You got it.” Jackson nodded his head.
“Okay. That gives us some starting points. Anyone have any ideas they want to throw out there on how we should use this information?”
“What if we send two or three guys to Taos and have them scope out this Sadie Swallow’s property? Maybe see if they stumble across some Phantoms in town and follow them to see where they come and go?” Darren suggested as he rubbed his hand over his beard. “While they’re down there, they could take pictures of some of the Phantoms and Kylie could run their faces through her program.”
“It would be faster than having her comb through hours and hours of traffic video,” Maverick thought out loud.
“Whoever goes down there needs to leave their cuts at home. We have to do this right,” Race said. “I want the Sons to go down there and remain in the shadows. I don’t want the Phantoms to catch on that we know where they are now. We have to do this right so there’s no blowback. We’ve got too many pregnant old ladies to worry about.”
“Might be a good idea to leave the bikes and bring other vehicles. Bikes would just grab their attention,” Jed put out there.
“Yeah, that sounds good, too.” Race nodded his head in agreement.
“Fucking finally, we have something on those sons of bitches,” Tulsa all but cheered.
“Do we have any volunteers for going to Taos?”
Tulsa raised his hand. “I’ll go.”
“I’ll go, too,” Lance volunteered.
“Okay. You guys head out tomorrow.” Race held his gavel aloft, ready to end the meeting. “If there’s nothing more?”
Chris spoke up before he could send everyone on their way. “You know, I’ve been thinking. With all the pregnant old ladies and new babies being born, not to mention all the kids the club already has, we could use a place they can all be together whenever we’re on lockdown or whenever we need to be overly cautious. There’s just not enough room for everyone to spread out comfortably in the clubhouse anymore. Plus, we’re going to be spreading ourselves too thin trying to provide protection. We don’t have enough men to keep tabs on our families and still juggle everything else. If we could get everyone under one roof or on the property at least during the day it would make it easier to protect them.”
“What do you have in mind?” Race leaned forward, folding his arms on the table.
“I was thinking we could convert that empty metal building into a rec center. For now, we could just buy some furniture and a couple of TVs, maybe a refrigerator. Down the road we could put in a basketball court, set up a room for video games, one with a projector for movies, maybe save some room for a nursery or daycare?”
“And a kitchen,” Trick added.
“Exactly,” Chris nodded his head. “The point is, we get them all here and we use that building so the older kids have room to hang out since the weather is colder now. When we’re under lockdown, they get bored and need something to do.”
No one said anything for a moment as they all exchanged looks wondering why no one had thought of it sooner.
“That’s a really good idea,” Jackson patted Chris on the back.
Darren thought it was a very good idea as well. If they had all their children under one roof on Sons property, they wouldn’t have to worry about outside threats being able to get to them. Chris was right, there just wasn’t enough brothers to cover everyone and everything that needed it right now. A recreation center would be perfect. They could use it, not only during lockdowns, but during the cold winter months and on those hot or rainy days in the summer.
Race tapped his finger on the table, apparently mulling over everything Chris had thrown out there. “Okay. Let’s make it work. Tulsa, thoughts on what needs to be done now and what can wait?”
Tulsa thought it over. “Gonna need bathrooms for sure. One male, one female, three stalls each. We could start with that. If you don’t mind having someone outside the club working on it, the crew I work with from time to time could get it knocked out. If you like their work, they could do all of it. Darren used them on his house for the renovations and addition. What did you think?”
“I liked them. They did an excellent job and it looks like it’ll get done sooner than they estimated.” Turning to Race, he asked, “You’ve seen my place. What did you think?”
“I agree with Darren. They did an impressive job. If we all agree to do this, Tulsa, you need to give a list of people who’ll be working here for Kylie to run a background check on. I’m not taking any chances that we end up with another Phantom mole.”
Everyone around the table nodded or spoke their agreement to Race’s suggestion that background checks be done on all workers who would be coming and going on the property.
“All right. All those in favor of Chris’s idea to convert the building out back into a rec center and for Kylie to do background checks on Tulsa’s construction crew say ‘aye.’”
All ‘ayes.’ No ‘nays.’
“Excellent. For now,” Race began, “having the old ladies hang out here during the day and the older kids coming after school for a while will have to work. Having the families here during the day means keeping your naked dicks in your rooms while they’re here.”
“Having the old ladies hang out here during the day isn’t going to go over well with some of them. Bellamy and Ginny have businesses they need to run. Calliope and Kylie can work from anywhere and Lindsey just went back to work and will be at school so she’s covered during the time she’s there.” Trick pointed out some possible issues. “She and my kids will need an escort back and forth from school whenever I can’t do it. Same for Bellamy I imagine. You’re going to want to keep someone on her while she’s at work and make sure she gets home or here when you can’t do it.”
“You’re right,” Race exhaled heavily as he wiped his hand over his face. This was yet another example of why Darren would never want to be a club president. Too much responsibility and too many people to try and make happy.
“You could always have Preacher send a couple of his guys to hang out at her shop.” Dagger hid a smile behind his hand, pretending to be rubbing at his mustache.
“Fuck you. I can take care of my old lady. I don’t need her brother sending bodyguards.” Race flipped him off.
Race had a contentious relationship with his brother-in-law. He tolerated him for his wife’s sake, but had to work hard not to throat punch him whenever the man was around. Darren had met the man and had to agree with Race, Preacher was an arrogant asshole.
“Think we could get Chance to send a few guys our way to help out?” Maverick asked.
That was a very good idea. It would be a perfect way to add more man power without Race having to deal with Preacher. Darren liked the Black Horsemen’s president. Chance was young when he stepped into the position after his old man passed away and from what they’d seen, he was doing an excellent job of running his club. He imagined, being a support club to the Sons, Chance wouldn’t have a problem sending some men their way.
“I’ll reach out today and see how many he can send.” Race leaned back in his chair and rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Got something else we need to talk about. Cutter and Miles caught a guy selling drugs down the block.”
“Down the block? From here?” Jed asked.
“Yeah. Down the block and across the street. I guess he thought being across the street was fair game. Cutter and Miles informed him, not so gently, that it’s still our patch of property and to stay the fuck off it. They worked him over a little and was told the drug is new and it’s called Euphoria. They took his stash and brought it to me. I gave a sample to Dillon to look at and got rid of the rest. He tested it and it’s some seriously bad shit. He reached out to a couple of his geek buddies and they said they’ve been hearing about some super Rohypnol-like drug on the street called Euphoria.” Race was seriously frowning when he added, “The street name that’s circulating is EZ Lay.”
“Well, shit.” Dagger about summed it up.
“Exactly. So, Tulsa and Lance, keep your eyes and ears open when you’re in Taos. We not only need to find the Phantom clubhouse, but we also need to know where they’re keeping this Euphoria shit. I want to destroy all of that, too.”
“What about the cartel? Will destroying this Euphoria bring them down on us?” Jackson asked.
“Not if we do this right. We need to think on how to go about this because that shit is not coming into Redemption.” Race looked around the table to make sure everyone got what he was saying. When nothing further was said, he held the gavel up, ready to call an end to the meeting. “If that’s everything?” When no one made a move to speak, he lowered his gavel with a loud bang ! “Meeting adjourned. I need a fucking beer.”
Now that they had the beginnings of a plan, Darren felt like some of the weight had lifted from his shoulderss. The club would get their revenge and end the Phantom Furies once and for all. The icing on the cake would be destroying their Euphoria stash. The only thing that would make this day better was if Tuck was awake when he and Kylie went back to visit him tonight.
DARREN
Darren and Kylie returned to the hospital early in the evening, after he’d taken her home and fed her dinner. He’d made grilled pork chops with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. After the two of them cleaned the kitchen, he’d piled her into his car, a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 Coupe. He’d bought the car when he was eighteen with his graduation money, right before he enlisted in the Navy. He’d worked on it whenever he was home for a visit, but it wasn’t until he separated from the SEAL teams that he’d finished it.
Arriving at the hospital, they stopped at the front desk to find out if he’d been moved from the ICU to a new room yet. The nice gray-haired lady behind the desk gave them his new room number and pointed them toward the elevators.
They rode the elevator up in silence, both lost in their thoughts. Darren could see Kylie chewing on her lower lip in the reflection of the elevator doors and his heart went out to her. She had such high hopes that when they walked into Tuck’s room, he’d be awake. He hoped, for her sake, that it was the case.
They exited the elevator and found his room without any trouble. Instead of walking on in, he was surprised to see her stop outside Tuck’s room. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and crossed her fingers. After she released it, she pushed the door open and entered the room. He grinned as he followed her inside. She was such a nut.
“Tuck!” she exclaimed, clearly excited to see him awake. As quickly as her smile appeared, it disappeared, replaced with tears welling in her eyes. Was it tears of joy or of fear? Maybe a little of both?
Darren closed the door behind him, grinning while he shook his head. Female hormones were a true mystery. One minute she was happy and smiling, then the next she was bawling her eyes out over something as simple as a pet food commercial. Her temper could spike in an instant and she had the sex drive of a sixteen-year-old boy. He’d probably have whiplash if his hormones did that to him.
“You’re awake.” She stood at the end of the bed with her hands clasped together against her chest. He could see it was killing her, holding back and not immediately being able to pounce on him. A sudden visual of a cat getting all excited, their ass in the air, wiggling it side to side right before they pounced on whatever they were stalking popped into his head.
He moved closer to the bed and saw that Tuck, indeed, was awake. The top of his bed was elevated so that he was sitting up at an angle, his head resting against a pillow. The white gauze that had been wrapped around his head in the ICU had been replaced with a bandage in such a way that part of his hair lay over the top of it. It looked kind of funny and he wondered how much of his hair they’d had to shave in order to stitch it. His eyes were tired and his face was pale. He looked exhausted. He wondered how long Tuck had been awake and how much they’d cut back on his medicine.
“Kylie Jo,” Tuck rasped, not moving his head from his pillow. “Please don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying.” Darren found it cute that she argued despite her blinking her eyes rapidly to keep the tears from falling. She moved to the side of the bed and clasped his hand in hers. He tugged on it until he had her sitting on the bed next to his hip. He cupped her cheek and wiped away the tears she’d denied having with his thumb. “Please stop crying, baby.”
“I told you I’m not crying,” she whispered.
She clearly was.
“Come here, baby.” Having her sit on his uninjured side made it easier for him to pull her head down to his chest and kiss the top of her head. Her fingers clutched his gown like she was never letting him go and her shoulders started to silently shake. Fuck. She was getting really worked up now.
Darren’s jaw clenched at Tuck’s tormented expression. It was clear Kylie’s tears gutted him, too. He rubbed at the ache growing in his chest. He hated feeling helpless and unable to take away her pain.
Tuck closed his eyes and whispered to the top of her head, “Fuck, I’m so sorry, baby.”
Giving Kylie the time she needed to reassure herself that Tuck was fine and was going to be okay, he pulled up a chair and took a seat. He watched the two of them together as Tuck tried to comfort her, stroking her back and cupping her cheek. He held her head to his chest, over his heart and whispered in her ear. Whatever he was saying was working because her tears were slowing. Anybody else might feel awkward or like they were intruding on a private moment, but Darren didn’t. The more he watched Tuck with Kylie, the less his own chest ached. It made him happy that between the two of them, they’d always be everything she needed.
After a few minutes,Tuck chuckled and tried to tease her. “You’re going to drown us both if you don’t stop crying. You’re soaking my sexy gown.”
Kylie snorted and sat up, swiping roughly at her cheeks. “I’m sorry. It’s these stupid hormones. Everything makes me want to cry.”
“Hey, man.” Darren finally got a chance to greet Tuck. “It’s good to see you awake.” He leaned forward and grasped his hand, giving it a quick squeeze before leaning back in his seat.
Although Tuck smiled, the lines around his mouth and his heavy-lidded gaze highlighted just how much he’d been through. Between the head injury, gunshot wounds and blood loss, Darren was impressed the man was able to carry on a conversation. “Yeah, it’s good to be awake. The doctor filled me in on my injuries. Says I have you to thank for keeping me from bleeding out until the ambulance got there.”
Darren felt his face heat up. He didn’t want his friend’s thanks. If he’d been more alert, or faster getting outside to warn him, he might have been able to keep him from getting shot in the first place. Tuck must have sensed Darren’s unease at his thanks because he turned a smile on Kylie and asked if she would go see if the nurses would let him have some more pudding and juice. She gave him a quick kiss and said she’d be back.
He waited until the door closed behind her before he asked, “Now tell me how she’s really doing. After getting kidnapped by those fuckers herself not that long ago and you getting stabbed by them, how is she holding up?”
Darren leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “When she first got the news, she scared the shit out of me. I was afraid her blood pressure was going to spike and she might end up in the hospital, too.”
“Shit.”
“I know. We were all worried. You’d lost a lot of blood and we weren’t sure if you’d been shot in the head or not yet, so obviously she was torturing herself with those images. Luckily, the doctor came out and said you hadn’t been and you’d only bounced your head off the pavement. I know I said ‘only bounced your head,’ but things could have been so much worse.” He paused while they both listed those worse things in their heads. “It wasn’t until I saw you get shot and saw all the blood you were losing that I started to get it. Then when Kylie fell apart in my arms and somewhere in the back of my mind I thought ‘Oh shit. What if he was shot in the head and he doesn’t make it?’ that I really got it.”
“Got what?” Tuck frowned.
“How scary it would be to be left all alone to take care of Kylie. How I might not be enough to keep her safe and happy for the rest of her life by myself. It was overwhelming and I understand why you wanted me to be a part of Kylie’s life as a partner and not just a friend.”
Tuck rolled his lips in and nodded, seeing Darren did get it now. “Fuck. I hate that she’s been so scared because of me.”
“It’s not your fault. Although we should’ve guessed those asshole Phantoms would step things up, how could we have known they’d take things this far so soon?” At Tuck’s continued silence, he asked, “How are you feeling? Honestly.”
“My head feels like someone’s banging on it with a sledge hammer and my gunshot wounds hurt like a son of a bitch.” He dropped his head back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. “Since I’ve been awake, I keep replaying what happened in my mind. I can feel the bullets hitting me and then falling to the ground. I remember how scared I was that they might go after Kylie and I wouldn’t be able to protect her.” He swallowed hard and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and finger. “I kept thinking, goddamn it. I’m not going to get to see Kylie or my baby if I die.” He cleared his throat and Darren knew his friend was struggling with his emotions.
The sound of the door opening alerted them that Kylie was back. Tuck rubbed furiously at his eyes, not wanting her to see evidence of how scared he’d been. She looked between the two of them and sensed that maybe she’d walked in on something big. Darren saw the moment she decided not to push it and ask what they’d been talking about. She placed the pudding and juice on the rolling table with a plastic spoon and a straw, then scooted it so Tuck could reach it.
Darren had his friend’s back. “I was just asking Tuck if the doctor had said anything about when he might get to come home.”
“Oh yeah. What did he say?”
Darren reached out and pulled her down onto his lap at the same time Tuck answered, “He was telling me that if I have another good night, I might get to come home tomorrow.”
Kylie’s eyes rounded. “Really? Isn’t that kind of soon?”
Darren chuckled. “Babe, they do laparoscopic heart surgery now and I saw on TV that a guy had a kidney transplant and went home the next day.”
“That’s crazy.” She leaned back to rest her head on his shoulder, settling her hand over his where it lay on her stomach.
“Honey, the doctor wouldn’t send him home if he had any concerns. Besides, I’m sure Tuck would much rather recover at home.”
“Hell, yeah, I’d rather recover at home. And we can get you a sexy nurse’s uniform for when you give me a sponge bath. And this area,” he motioned to his lap, “needs special attention.”
Kylie laughed and shook her head. “Seriously? Even injured and in pain?”
“Honey, as long as I’m not dead, I’ll always want you.” Witnessing Kylie’s sharp inhale, he added, “Too soon?”
She nodded her head.
Fuck. Darren tried to bring the mood back to something less heavy.
“I agree with Tuck. A nurse’s uniform while you’re giving him a sponge bath sounds good. Especially if you don’t wear panties.” Darren kissed the side of her neck beneath her ear. She shivered and goose bumps sprang up along her arm.
“Definitely no panties. Short enough in the back to show your ass cheeks and give us a hint of your pussy. Oh, and it has to show lots of cleavage.”
Darren watched the way Kylie’s eyes focused on where Tuck’s erection was getting more and more obvious. She licked her lips like she couldn’t wait to get her mouth wrapped around it. Her chest rose and fell a little quicker and he bet if he got his hands under her dress right now and into her panties, he’d find her wet. Fuck, now he was getting hard. He shifted her on his lap to give his dick a little room. She turned and smirked at him, having felt his erection beneath her ass.
As fun as their playful banter was, he could see how tired Tuck was getting. His eyes were getting heavier and if the lines forming around his mouth were any indicator, he’d say his pain meds were wearing off, too.
“Come on, babe. I think Tuck needs to get some rest.” He gripped her waist and helped her stand.
“Are you okay? Do you need anything?” Kylie cupped the side of his face.
“I’m good, baby. I’m just tired. Come back tomorrow and bust me out of here.” She laughed like he intended, then dipped her head to give him a lingering kiss.
“I love you. I’m so happy you’re going to be okay.”
“Me, too.”
Darren said his goodbyes and led Kylie from the room. It was time to get her home, let her unwind in front of the TV for a little while, then take her to bed and wear her out so they could both get a good nights sleep. Then maybe, if they were lucky, Tuck would come home tomorrow.