Chapter 13 #2
His fingers left her sensitive little pearl, then slipped inside her, and the groan she let out was deep and full of longing. Dragging his hand back up her slit, he smiled as she gasped when it passed over her highest point of sensitivity. His face buried in her neck, he whispered against her skin, “I need to be inside you. I wanna fuck you. Girl, you rock me like I’ve never been rocked before.”
“Yeah?” she whispered back, smug self-satisfaction in that hiss.
“Oh, yeah. You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more.” Climbing out of the bed, Avery stood at the edge, grabbed Lydia’s legs, and dragged her toward him. After he pulled her legs straight up the front of his body, he slipped his hands under her ass and lifted it until her whole lower body was canted upward, everything about her open for his viewing pleasure, her body open to him and wet, so wet, waiting there for him. He held her still and shoved inside her, finding the exact position he needed, and then began to tear her apart.
His hard shaft bored into her, the head abrading that sweet spot inside her that made her scream, and he felt her tighten around him, the muscles in her belly clamping down as her channel throbbed around him. This was what he lived for, giving all of himself to her, taking all of her and giving it back in pleasure, and knowing that they were meant to be together in that way―in every way. All he wanted in his life was to be the man who put a smile on her face, the one who made her laugh, who knew she’d sleep soundly if he was next to her, who’d be there when their first baby was born, when their kids graduated from high school, when…
It hit Avery like a trailer full of round hay bales―he wanted to marry this woman. Letting her get away wasn’t an option. He wanted her in his home, in his bed, in his life, forever. He knew he loved her; he hadn’t realized he wanted to dedicate his life to making a place for them and a family, but he was sure of it in that moment. LydiaSimone Kinsey was his future, all of it. Without her, it wouldn’t be the future he dreamed of.
That did it. He’d fuck her to oblivion. And the next day, he’d start making plans to make her his for the rest of her life―and his. It might not be long if Shannon had a say, but he wanted to give it a fighting chance. The judge needed to hurry up with those papers. The sheriff’s department needed to hurry up and find Shannon. And he needed to hurry up and come―his balls were so tight he thought they might bounce off each other and start a fire. “God, baby, oh, god yeah. You with me, babe?”
She’d come at least twice more, and he hadn’t known any woman could do that. It was just further proof to him that they were meant to be. “Avery? Please?” she cried up to him. “Please, do it? I want to feel it. Do it, please? Please?”
That frisson of energy bolted down his spine and straight out into her, filling her and warming her, and he knew she felt it. She was his, and he belonged to her. He stood, still holding the soft cheeks of her ass in his hands, staring down at her as she reached for his arms, her eyes bright and her smile huge. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Lydia.”
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me too, baby. Come lie down with me? Please?” He scooted her away from him, and as soon as his softness pulled out of her, she let out a little whine. But in seconds he was back in the bed with her in his arms, and she nuzzled the patch of hair on his chest and sighed.
“Get what you need?” he asked, his lips in the crown of her hair.
“Oh, yeah. I hope you did too,” she breathed onto his skin.
“I’ve got everything I need right here,” he assured her.
And he meant it.
* * *
“Going once! Going twice! Sold to number two eighty-three over there!” the auctioneer called out. Avery knew they’d add it to his growing total, so he wasn’t too concerned. That was eight more. He’d managed to get eight in that lot, sixteen in another, and twenty-nine in a third one. He still wanted at least fifty more. Then he’d have to spend all night moving them home, but it was worth it. He’d hired a couple of other farmers with huge livestock trailers, so the most they’d have to do was three round trips. It would take forever, but by morning he’d have them all home.
A lot of twenty-one came up, then another lot of ten. He was getting close. He looked over the ones in yet another lot and realized he’d have to cull a few of them, but that was okay. He just kept bidding when he saw a lot he liked. He’d been down in the pens earlier and looked them all over, so he knew exactly what he was looking for.
The afternoon ended with one hundred and eight cows plus two more bulls, young ones. That made him very happy. Mortimer, the old bull he’d gotten from Marjorie, really was old, and Avery was afraid he’d have to be euthanized soon. He’d started to lie down a good bit and then have trouble getting up. Dr.Tompkins had told him there wasn’t anything to be done; Mortimer had arthritis and a few other problems, but mostly he was just getting old. The vet’s best estimate was that, in people years, the bull was probably in his mid to late nineties. There’d be no more breeding for him. Avery would take the two young ones, use each of them to breed half his cows, and figure out which one produced the best. Soon he’d have a big, strong herd of beef cattle he hadn’t had to buy but had instead raised. He’d breed the second generation cows to the bull that wasn’t their sire and the lines would grow stronger with time.
He’d also looked until he found two really good saddle horses. The respective owners of each assured him they’d been used to work in the field, plus they were good-looking animals, and Jason liked them. Avery had specifically asked Danette to come so she could pick one out, but she’d said there was something she had to do, and she was very vague about it. Lydia had a property to show, so she’d just stayed in town. Jason had stayed to take care of the cattle in Avery’s absence, and he’d told Avery to call as soon as he had the first load ready to go. When they got there, Jason could help them unload and herd.
When all the animals were purchased, Avery paid for them and started the process of loading them with the help of some of the auction hands. It was five in the evening when he got the first batch loaded, but it was a three-hour round trip to drop them off and come back. He counted heads: Four round trips. They’d be exhausted, but the auction facility had assured him people would be there all night, and the cattle had to be removed by the next day at noon. All the trucks and trailers left, and he wondered why he hadn’t thought to just hire a semi-driver to take them all. Problem was, he didn’t know one, so this was all he had.
The first round went fine, and they loaded up another round and took off again. By the time they came back for the third round, it was after midnight and they had one more trip to make. Then he remembered the horses and wondered if he could get one of the other guys to take them. He really didn’t want them in a cattle trailer with cows.
They got everyone settled and in their respective pastures, and the two new horses in stalls until they could be properly introduced to Dixie and Buttercup the next morning. There’d be saddles and bridles to buy, and Jason and Danette could pick out their own.
Lydia walked with Avery up to the house as Jason helped the drivers sweep out their trailers, close all the tailgates, and see them out of the gates. “Have you even had anything to eat?” she asked, squeezing his hand.
He squeezed back. “No. Unless you count stadium hot dogs as food.”
“Not exactly,” she giggled. “You need something to eat.”
Avery wrinkled up his nose. “What I need is a shower.”
She threw back her head and laughed. “You won’t get any argument from me on that!”
As he was showering, he heard the water kick on in the front bath: Jason. By the time he’d finished, he could hear Lydia downstairs, and the smell of something fantastic wafted up the stairway. When he got down to the kitchen, big bowls of chili and a huge pone of cornbread sat on the table, waiting for the two tired ranchers. They sat in virtual silence, occasionally asking for something or pointing to what they wanted. “This is really good. You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble,” Jason told Lydia with barely a smile.
“Oh, no trouble. You guys worked hard. It’s been simmering all evening, and I took a nap while you were buying cattle and working. It’s the least I could do.” She passed the table and ruffled Avery’s hair, and he looked up at Jason to see his friend grinning at him.
“Where’s Danette?” Avery asked.
“I don’t know. I talked to her about seven and she said she might be over later, but she never showed up.” Lydia stood with her back to the men as she rinsed dishes in the sink.
Avery almost snickered at the sad look on Jason’s face. “I thought she’d at least come to spend some time with me,” his friend said, staring into his bowl of chili.
Lydia shrugged. “Guess not. You guys about ready for bed? I’m beat. And if I’m beat, you’ve gotta be exhausted.”
“Yup. Headed that way.” Avery stood and looked down at Jason as his friend finished his food. “Thanks for being here yesterday and tonight. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“You’re letting me live here and not charging me a dime. It’s the least I can do,” Jason said, then stood. “I owe you.”
“No. I’m just repaying you for being kind to me when I wasn’t easy to be kind to.” Avery dropped his eyes to the floor, then looked back up into Jason’s. “And I like having you around.”
Jason nodded. “And I like being here.”
“Good. See you in the morning. Don’t worry about the cows; I’ll feed them by myself.”
“No you won’t,” Lydia broke in. “You’ll have help. I’ll be right there.”
“Hear that, Davidson? I’ll have help!” Avery chuckled and wrapped an arm around Lydia’s shoulders. “I’ve got to get some sleep. Night.”
“Night. I’m right behind you,” Jason said, rinsing his dishes in the sink and drying his hands. Avery closed his bedroom door at almost the exact same time Jason closed his.
All he had on was a pair of pajama pants, so he just crawled into the bed and pulled Lydia in after him. She giggled and struggled until she got everything off except her panties, then reached into the dresser and pulled out one of his tees. It slipped over her head and draped down her body beautifully, and Avery thought he’d never seen anything as breathtaking as that simple sight, the tiny woman in front of him in a silly, faded, worn-out tee shirt and her panties, her toenails crimson in the low light. She cuddled up next to him and sighed. “I love you, baby. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks. I love you too, my little angel.” He kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms around her. Everything was good. And tomorrow was a new day.
* * *
Stopping to open the gate to the pasture the next morning, Avery smiled. Spread out across the hills in front of him were over two hundred head of cattle. His cattle. They grazed peacefully, but when they heard him open the gate, the ones who’d already been with him headed to the troughs immediately. The others looked around, wondering what the fuss was about, but when they saw their seasoned companions standing near the only place for them to get food, they headed that way too, probably more out of curiosity than knowledge. Of course, Avery knew it would only take one feeding and they’d know exactly where to go the next time.
Before he finished feeding them, Jason showed up to help, so Lydia headed back to the house to clean up from breakfast. “You didn’t have to do this,” Avery told him.
“I wanted to.” Jason scooped feed into the buckets, then turned to Avery. “Do you think Danette’s messing around on me?”
Avery’s brow furrowed. “Why would you ask that? No. I don’t think Danette’s messing around on you. What would make you even think that?”
Jason shrugged. “I don’t know. But I could’ve sworn I saw her the other day driving a light blue Chrysler minivan.”
That made Avery take notice. He’d thought he’d seen her driving a green truck; Jason thought he’d seen her driving a blue van. It was no coincidence that they were seeing her in different vehicles. Something was going on, and he wanted to know what it was. But he didn’t dare tell Jason what he’d seen. All he could say was, “You must’ve been mistaken.”
“I sure thought it was her,” Jason repeated.
“Do you think a guy she was messing around with would own a blue minivan?”
Jason laughed. “When you put it that way, no! That would be funny for sure.”
“Then I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Avery told him.
But he wasn’t convinced. She might not be messing around on Jason, but she was definitely up to something.
* * *
“I’m sorry, Mr.Holcomb, but we just don’t have the manpower to spend much time on it. No news is good news, right?”
“Thanks for nothing.” Avery was more than pissed as he smacked END on the phone. He assumed the sheriff’s department had been looking for Shannon, but it turned out they hadn’t made any effort at all. Frank assured him the paperwork had been sent to her the day after Avery had signed it, but there’d been no response. Without cooperation from her, Frank would have to petition JudgeBennett to go ahead and issue the divorce decree.
It was a busy day. Dr.Tompkins came to test and innoculate the new cattle, and he had to trim hooves on a couple of them. He taught Avery how to measure a horse for a saddle, so after lunch Avery and Jason measured both new horses and went to the feed store to buy saddles and bridles for them. They drove to the big discount store in Texarkana and bought some groceries and cleaning supplies, then stopped at the hardware store for some things for the house. By the time they got back, it was almost dinnertime. They put up the things they’d bought and were getting ready to make plans to see the girls when Avery’s phone rang.
Shannon.
It took everything he had to answer with a polite, “Hello?”
“Hi, babe. Miss me?”
Avery was dumbfounded. Did she really think there was anything between them? “No. Not at all. I don’t miss the dumb motherfuckers you hired to kill me either.”
“What? I did no such thing!” she shrieked into the phone. “Why on earth would I do that?”
“You know full well why, you crazy bitch! Why are you calling me?”
“Because,” Shannon purred into the phone, “I want to see you.”
A chance to get her to sign the divorce papers , Avery thought. “Oh, really? When and where?”
“How about the DoubleD Diner over in Texarkana?”
“Sure. I know where that is. When?”
“In about an hour?”
Damn. That would mean he’d miss dinner, but it didn’t matter. This was far more important. And he didn’t want anyone else to know where he was going and what he was doing. “It’ll take me over an hour to get there. How about I call you when I leave?”
“Okay. That’ll be fine. I’ll be waiting when you get there.” The phone went silent and Avery shook his head. “Hey, Jason?”
“Yeah?” his friend called back from the laundry room.
“Dinner’s out for me. You go meet the girls. I’ll catch up with you guys later. The vet’s coming back in a bit. He forgot to do something earlier,” he told Jason, hoping the lie would work.
Jason shrugged. “Okay. We were talking about going to the movies. Sure you can’t go?”
“No. But you guys go on. It’ll be fine.” If missing a movie was all it took to get rid of Shannon, he’d do it―gladly.
For reasons he couldn’t understand, Jason poked around for what seemed like forever before he left. As soon as his car was out of sight, Avery called Shannon. “I’m leaving now. I’ll be there in however long it takes me to drive there.”
She giggled into the phone. “I’ll be waiting!”
Of course you will , Avery thought as he climbed into the truck. The drive was uneventful, but he was on pins and needles the whole way. What if she refused to sign the papers? What if this was some kind of ploy to get him to give her money? That wasn’t going to happen. It was more likely that she wanted to kill him, but if that were the case, she wouldn’t have asked to meet at the diner.
His truck rolled to a stop in a parking spot at the diner and he strode in. A glance around surprised him—she wasn’t there. He’d realized on the way there that he was pretty hungry, so he ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and a big soda. The food came, the burger dressed just the way he liked it, and he enjoyed every bite of it as he waited. Thirty minutes went by, and then forty-five. He tried to call Shannon but, of course, she didn’t answer. It looked like he’d been stood up.
It was getting dark outside, and he called Lydia. “Hey, babe,” she whispered into the phone.
“Where are you?”
“The movie’s getting ready to start. I’m getting dirty looks from everybody around me for talking on the phone,” she snickered. “Wish you were here. What are you doing?”
“Still waiting for the vet. Sorry. Jason and Danette there?”
Lydia sighed. “Jason is. Danette said she had to work late.”
Danette’s working late? Avery didn’t remember her ever working late. What was going on with her? “You guys have a good time. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you too. Bye.” A smile broke across his face as they hung up. He had an overwhelming urge to go track them down at the movies, but he kept hoping Shannon would show.
After an hour and a half, he was certain it wasn’t going to happen. Why would she waste his time like that? Maybe the cops had picked her up! That would be great, but it was unlikely that was the reason. She’d blown enough of his time; he’d just go home and wait until Lydia and Jason got there. Maybe Danette would show up and they could watch TV or something.
By the time he turned onto his road, the sky was black and stars were everywhere. That was one of the things he loved most about living out there. He could see every star in the sky, and it was an amazing sight. In town that couldn’t happen―too much light pollution―but out in the country, the night sky was one big light show, and he loved to stare up at them, especially if Lydia was there with him.
The house was dark when he drove up, and he could’ve sworn he’d left at least one light on. He reached for the lock with his key, but when he touched the knob, the door swung open. One step inside and he heard and felt a crunch under his boot―glass. Someone had broken in, and they could still be inside. Avery listened, but there wasn’t a sound. Maybe he’d scared them off. Before he took another step, he pulled his three-eighty out of the holster in the back of his jeans and flipped off the safety.
The same darkness he’d embraced for stargazing worked against him inside the house, and he couldn’t see anything. Moving silently across the living room floor, he reached for a lamp but before he could flip the switch, something hard struck his forearm and he screamed in pain as his handgun clattered to the floor. He flailed out, listening to the lamp fall, and tried to move toward the kitchen, but a dark figure stood between him and the light switch at the counter, barely visible but frighteningly obvious.
Who is this and what do they want? his mind screamed. They aimed for his head, but he threw his hands up; his attacker hit them instead and he cried out. With his fingers throbbing, he knew even if he found his gun, he couldn’t do anything with it. “WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?” he yelled at the top of his lungs as the figure moved toward him. The whish of something passing over his head filled his ears and he felt the displacement of air just as he ducked.
Before the figure could recover, Avery rushed them, but they sidestepped him in the dark and a solid mass connected with his gut. He wasn’t even sure what he’d hit, disoriented as he was in the darkness, fear gripping him. Doubled over in pain, he pitched forward, sure he was falling to the floor. And just before he landed on the hard surface, something crashed into his head, something hard. The pain was overwhelming, and he felt himself losing consciousness as he fell forward, hitting the coffee table on his way down. Thoughts of Lydia were everywhere, her smile, that golden hair, those big blue eyes, and in that instant, he wondered what she’d think when she found out he was dead. Confused as he was, his brain picked up on a flash of light, a loud pop, and voices somewhere near him. Just as he heard someone call his name, a buzzing went off inside his skull, and then everything went black.