Chapter Ten
Marchella
Easy and my Aunt Trista were an adorable couple. They loved each other fiercely, almost like they were fated to have been together, but oh when they encountered passing friction. It was a sight to behold, regardless of what walk of life you came from. There wasn’t any of that slap happy stuff his Aunt Daisy was always after Montana with, and he never trotted after her the way Oak did Crystal. It was more like a battle of will and wit. The kind of dance that lasted ten rounds, and only those two epic smart asses knew the steps and boundaries that defined it. A sound could have all the meaning in the world, and sometimes be the greatest come back. A snort. A chuff. Sometimes even the side glances they cut each other were victories all of their own.
Despite their banter and fuckery, it never dove beyond the pale. Easy never called her names, and Trista never brought his club into it. Those that knew them were usually more amused by their antics than concerned by any of it.
Easy pulled up to the curb in front of his and Trista’s house and saluted the porch with his chin.
“You guys wait here. I’m gonna get May and have Demon swing through with something to haul your ride down to Monty’s ol’ shop.”
“Appreciate it,” Blaze said, as if his uncle were somehow doing him a kindness rather than me.
I smiled, kept my mouth shut and slid out behind him. Blaze captured my wrist like he thought I might run. It was cute, even if his possessive grip was a little snug. I didn’t realize I was smiling about it, until I looked up in time to see Trista raise her gaze from our conjoined limbs to my face.
“I need a drink,” she announced, and hurried toward the front door.
She got it open and hurried inside. I shifted to follow her, and Blaze let go of my wrist, only to run his hand up the back of my neck, bury his fingers in my hair and tip my head back. His mouth stole the gasp right off my lips and he kissed me hard, and deep. His other hand slid along my jaw and his body shifted in front of me, pinning me between him and the rail.
My entire world narrowed until all that existed was his scent, and the warmth of his palms, guiding my face while he feasted on me and taunted my tongue with his. When he gave a final, firm nip to my lower lip, I realized I was clutching the front of his shirt in my hands. We remained so close together that my lips tingled from the threat of further contact with his, and our breath mingled between us.
His hands shifted and tension lit up either side of my head as he fisted two handfuls of hair.
“The only reason your father is still breathing is because I lost myself to the memory of your ass in these hands. You’ve no idea how many times I thought about you last night.” His gravelly tone heightened my awareness, and I closed my eyes and melted into his lips again, lured by the sound, and maybe if I was being honest… by what he was saying, too.
He returned the kiss fiercely, his hands drifting down my jaw and chest until the pads of his fingers were skimming my hips. I knew he was going to do it, but I still drew in a breath when his hands found my ass and he lifted and clutched.
I wrapped my legs around him, hugging him with my thighs to draw him in close until I could feel him getting hard against me.
I wasn’t even aware of how fast my breath was coming until he let the rail help hold me and ripped his mouth away. One hand abandoned my ass and shot to my throat, snapping my airflow off without warning.
“It better be mine.” He pointedly glanced to where our bodies were connected and grinding, his voice barely more than a whisper. “You said it was mine, no take backs.”
His grip remained and he took his time tasting my lips again. He let go and I gasped into his mouth, in a greedy attempt for air that he only half permitted.
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ you were in jail for like ten minutes. Stop manhandling her on my front porch like you just did a ten-year bit, Easy Junior,” Trista scoffed from the other side of the screen door.
At the sound of her voice, I startled hard, shoving into his chest like I meant to move both my brothers at once. He stumbled backward, tripping over the length of leash that his Uncle Easy’s lazy ass always kept doubled around the porch rail. He insisted upon it, so he didn’t have to go outside with his pup. Aunt Trista was forever bitching that someone was going to break their necks on it someday.
“Fuckin’ Easy,” Trista scoffed, moving away from the door finally.
“Damn,” Blaze rubbed his chest and grinned. “You do that with a shove, I’d hate to see a punch.”
“I got two brothers, don’t try me.” I playfully warned with a laugh, before glancing inside. “Are we going to bunk right here beside the garbage bin or do you intend to let me into the house, Blaze Aviston?”
“Ouch. The full name,” he teased, jerking the screen door open and stepping back.
When I shifted to move past, he popped me on the ass hard enough to make Aunt Trista peek from the dining room.
“Listen, she ain’t got enough back there for you to be doin’ all that. We call her Baby Cakes,” Trista teased.
My whole face lit up, as it always did when they carried on about my backside, “Only she and Izzy call me that.”
“I like it,” Blaze grinned. “It’s fitting. You don’t have a big ol’ ass, but you got a lil’ cake back there. Just enough to jig–”
I popped him in the chest hard and high enough to make him choke on the word.
He pointed, eyes bugged while he hacked his lungs up. I smiled mercilessly at him.
“Any other part of my anatomy you’d like to carry on about in front of my father’s sister?”
He shook his head, smiling between residual coughing fits.
“Sounds like you need to leave that weed alone,” I carried on, because I could feel Trista’s eyes on me, and I didn’t have the nerve to meet her gaze.
I didn’t know what it was that made me this way around him. I’d had all of one damn boyfriend my whole life. I kept these bastards at bay, but I was drawn to him. Not the way I was with his uncle. Easy was a hero in my mind. Forever imprinted from my childhood as the man who saved me in the massacre. When the glass shattered, the bullets flew, and those terrible screams erupted, he was the one who whisked me away to safety.
It didn’t matter what his patch said, Eric ‘Easy’ Aviston would always be a soldier in my eyes. A general amongst them if we were being real. I was so happy when I realized my Aunt Trista had married him. It didn’t matter if my dad claimed Easy was a part time junkie, he would never be anything less than gold to me.
Maybe that was what made Blaze okay? I couldn’t be sure. My whole life I have known my father was a monster. I remembered the terror that had existed when my mother was alive. I swear, I can remember the night she tried to leave, even if Easy always tried to assure me it was the talk about it that made me form the vision in my mind. He claims I was too small, but I think he’s wrong.
I remembered Easy saving me just fine, didn’t I? It was all around the same time, or so it seemed to my tortured mind.
“Hey,” Blaze’s voice had turned gentle and I blinked, not realizing I’d lost myself.
I tore in a poorly concealed breath and tried to let out a laugh.
“I guess I didn’t get much sleep.” I shook my head.
“Nah, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry, alright?” He quietly apologized, while searching my face with concern in his eyes.
“Blaze…” A hint of laughter carried on his name when I blurted it out.
That nervous laughter. It always came when people complimented me or showed concern. It made me uncomfortable as fuck.
“Show Blaze to the guest room. Y'all can catch a nap,” Trista suggested.
I cleared my throat and gave a short nod. I’d never shared a bed with a guy before, but I didn’t volunteer that information to anyone. I just hooked his pinky with mine and led him down the hall.
Their home was beautiful. It was made to look like a log cabin inside, with cedar walls and tall ceilings. Blaze shut the door behind us and tugged at my wrist subtly. I looked back at him, and he stepped toward me, taking my face in his warm hands again.
My heart started to slam. I wasn’t sure how I felt about actually doing things inside the house with my aunt in the next room. It felt weird. About the time I was ready to tell him so, he planted his lips to my forehead and quieted every ounce of my anxiety with one little peck.
“Come on.” He heeled his way out of his boots and stretched out on the bed, making grabby hands at me.
When I followed him up, he snuggled into my back, wrapped his arms around me and was snoring in moments.
It felt like I belonged. I didn’t have to explain things, he just… knew. I smiled and closed my eyes, joining him effortlessly in dreamland.