Chapter 9 Stone
NINE
STONE
I backed my way out of the parking space and over to the abandoned building.
I pulled the card out of my pocket and glanced down at it enough to catch her first name.
Hayley. A pretty name for a pretty girl.
I grinned as I slipped the card back into my pocket and leaned against the handlebars of my bike.
I watched Hayley’s lights come on as she backed out of her parking space and her eyes flickered to the side-view mirror.
Our eyes connected, and I felt a rush of electricity set fire in my veins.
I liked her. Despite how scared she’d seemed when I pulled us over, she snapped out of it and held her own.
Her sense of humor wasn’t too bad, either.
Standing on her own like that, though? Against someone she initially perceived as a threat?
That was hot. That took strength. Gumption.
An independence that rocked me to my core.
I loved women like that. Thick, luscious women who stood on their own two feet.
Most of the women I’d sunk my teeth into were clingy as fuck, insecure about their bodies and looking for someone to validate them.
Hayley certainly didn’t need any of that pathetic shit.
I slipped my hand back into my pocket and peeked at the card again.
San Diego Zoo. Her card was for some sort of a job at the damn zoo up the road.
I chuckled and shook my head as I slipped the card back into my pocket.
Holy hell, those were some lucky animals.
I bet they drooled over her thick parts just as much as I was in that moment.
I sat there watching her pull out into traffic before I cranked up my bike.
Hayley was sexy, I’d give her that. But she was reckless.
And fuck only knew I didn’t need to be attaching myself to another reckless person.
The only reason I fucked those other women was because they made me feel grounded.
Rooted in the present. And with the way Hayley drove off like that without a second thought made me wonder what other kinds of shit she’d gotten herself into over the course of her life.
But holding the police over my head like that? It meant she read me well. On the spot. Like I did everyone else.
It was a weird feeling but a refreshing one, knowing I couldn’t easily hide from a woman like that.
I rode back out into the road and turned around.
Finally, maybe I could get back to my place.
I cruised along, leaning back against the leather seat of my bike as my mind wandered.
I imagined what it would feel like pressing my face into that prominent cleavage of hers.
What it might taste like to wrap those thighs around my face and feast on her drippings.
My cock ached against my jeans as I rode across town, blazing through yellow lights and skirting around red ones.
I was ready to get home. Ready to get behind closed doors.
Ready to wrap my hand around my dick and relieve some of this pressure.
The smell of the swamp welcomed me home.
It wasn’t a massive odor. Faint enough to get used to but strong enough to smack someone in the face the first time around.
I smiled as I pulled into my apartment complex which was all but abandoned.
Even though there were seven buildings on the property, I was the only person that occupied an apartment in the building I was in.
The smell drove most away, and the developers in the area had ditched trying to bring this part of San Diego into the twenty-first century.
It was why I kept re-upping my lease despite the confusion I got from the front office every time I did so.
I had luxury amenities, and I had privacy.
What more could a man like me want?
I hauled my groceries upstairs and shoved my shoulder into my front door.
I closed it and locked it and then dropped everything and slid my leather coat off my shoulders.
I hung it up on the rack by the door. I kicked off my boots and curled my toes into the cherry mahogany hardwood floors.
I shoved all the groceries into the refrigerator, figuring they couldn’t get any more beat up than they actually were.
The smell of the swamp outside gave way to the fresh cotton smell I had going on in my apartment.
I had ways of getting around the smell that seeped in whenever I opened the door.
I had candles I lit from time to time and those scented things plugged into every outlet in my damn place.
I kept a massive box of those damn things in my closet to change out whenever I needed to.
I kept the windows closed and trimmed the edges with caulk.
So, the only source of the smell outside was whenever I opened my front door.
Because I damn sure didn’t go out onto the balcony.
I made my way through the spacious living room and into my bedroom.
It was down a small hallway and opened up into a wonderful expanse.
I had a floor-to-ceiling windowed view of the swamp outside, of all the trees and the greenery that came with the soggy bottom of the world just outside my apartment complex.
It greeted me every morning and I always smiled at it.
I smiled at the dirty, dingy bullshit that somehow seemed beautiful in the morning sunlight.
It reminded me that even someone as raunchy as myself could be handsome in the right light.
I stripped myself of my clothes and tossed them into the hamper.
I walked into my bathroom and flicked on the light.
It was my favorite fucking room in my place.
Mostly because it held many of the luxury amenities I’d always sought out in a bathroom.
A walk-in shower fit for four. A jetted bathtub that comfortably held even my massive form.
Misters in the damn shower that essentially gave me a wet sauna and beautiful smooth rock flooring that didn’t soak up the damn water and make it smell musty.
I loved this damn bathroom.
I started my routine with Hayley on my mind.
I turned on the water as hot as I could stand it and promptly turned on the misters.
I stepped into the steam as it began to build and shut myself off from the rest of the world.
I grabbed the deep conditioner my sister, Ella, was always pawning off on me.
Said it would help with the integrity of my hair, whatever that shit meant.
I sure as hell didn’t tell the guys about it.
They’d ream me in my asshole for it until the end of days.
But I had to admit, it made my hair feel and smell great.
I got many compliments from women as they clung to my hair while my tongue explored their pussy lips.
I slipped the conditioner into my hair and stood in the misters.
I counted down the seconds to myself, one by one.
Counting always centered me. Always made me feel in tune with the world ticking by.
And I needed to keep myself centered, because a storm was coming.
One that would knock me and my entire crew off my feet if I couldn’t keep my head on my shoulders tight enough.
My focus was important more than ever now.
I turned off the misters and turned on the waterfall shower head.
The damn thing rained down onto me, spanning the length of the shower.
So much water wasted, and yet it was fabulous.
Made me feel like I was in a damn rainforest or something.
Maybe I’d retire there someday—not the actual rainforest but in the wilderness somewhere.
A cabin. Maybe in the backwoods of Alaska.
Enjoying the snow and hunting for my meat and keeping my knife skills alive by skinning them down and using every last bit of their fur, meat, and bone to my liking.
I grinned. That sounded like the perfect life. Quiet. With views to die for and more meat to stuff my face with than I could ever imagine.
“Maybe one day,” I murmured.
I shampooed the deep conditioner out of my hair and washed my body. I relished the feel of the hot water battering my skin. I washed myself down with soap until not even the blood of my phantom enemies bothered me. Then, I turned off the water and grabbed a towel.
Just in time to hear my fucking phone ringing in my bedroom.
“This better be important,” I grumbled.
Wrapping my towel around my waist, I went in search of my phone. The smell of fresh cotton wafted underneath my nostrils as I dug around in my pants pockets for it. I pulled it out and saw Notch was calling, and a switch immediately flipped in my mind.
Time for business.
“Yep?” I asked.
“Hey, Stone. Just calling to let you know everything’s on track for delivery,” Notch said.
“Good. What’s the plan?”
“They’re coming in just before sunrise and taking the Plan D route.”
“You said before sunrise?”
“Yeah, boss.”
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled.
The guys and I had a code when it came to talking about shipments.
And depending on the time of the day referenced, that communicated to me how much trouble someone had gone to in order to get the delivery scheduled.
“Noon” meant “on time,” “evening” meant “later,” “morning” meant “two hours earlier,” but “before sunrise?”
That meant Notch had to completely reconfigure the route. Because we didn’t have a fucking Plan D pathway.
“You did good. Let me know once everything has landed. I’ll handle things with homeboy and his boss from now on. You route all calls to me. Got it?” I asked.
“The meeting went that well?” Notch asked.
“About as well as we could have hoped.”
“Shit,” he hissed.
“Talk to you soon.”
“Yeah, boss.”
“And Notch?”
“Hmm?”
“Try to treat your girl tonight with at least a little decency? I’m tired of your escapades wandering up on our doorstep and slapping you in the face on club territory,” I said.
“You’re just now getting around to saying that? It happened over a week ago,” he said.
“I’ve been a little busy, asswipe.”
“They don’t call me ‘Notch’ for nothing,” he said, chuckling.
“Doesn’t mean you gotta piss ‘em off. We at least respect women and children. Got it? Plus, if you keep pissin’ em off, they’ll talk. And there won’t be any more notches for you on that bedpost. Which is probably whittled down to sticks by now.”
“Almost. Not quite.”
I rolled my eyes. “Respect, Notch. Don’t make me tell you again.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it, boss. We’ll talk soon.”
“Yep.”
I hung up the phone and tossed it onto my bed.
My king-sized, four-poster bed. I loved that damn thing.
It was single-handedly the most expensive piece of furniture in my place.
And it was worth every penny I’d put into it.
As I sat on the edge of it, I put my head in my hands.
I didn’t like the way Harry brought goons with guns to our meeting.
That was a first. It had always been me and him.
Always. Eating, shooting the shit, and talking business.
I wanted to keep an eye on shit personally. Not anyone else.
After all, it was my fault the crew had gotten themselves into this shit in the first place.
I looked over at the clock. Four in the afternoon.
Fucking hell, I had at least twenty-four hours before I’d hear from Notch.
I knew I’d get an encrypted email at some point in time telling me exactly what the fuck was going on with this route.
But until then, I needed to bide my time.
I needed a distraction. Something to keep my mind occupied so I didn’t drive myself mad with anticipation.
Then, my eyes gravitated over to my bedroom door. They pierced through the living room and fell upon my leather jacket. And that damn card Hayley had given me stuck out.
“I know exactly the distraction I need,” I said, grinning.
And I had a feeling she was expecting me to call anyway.