Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Is This Your Thong?
N ova heard the sound of the pool stick breaking over Amos’s back echoing in her head over and over. The intense violent outburst. The instant desire to protect and defend.
The truth was that Linc had always been a little dangerous. This version though…
“Still nervous?” Linc asked.
“It’s been four seconds,” Nova whispered.
“Come with me, darling. No turning back.” Linc leans down and brushed his lips against Nova’s ear, sending chills racing through her body. “This isn’t how it works. There are no chances. No second chances. No second guessing. It’s in or out. One shot. You take one more step with me and there’s no getting out. Got that?”
Nova’s teeth chattered. More chills collided deep within her. Linc backed off and Nova grabbed for his left hand.
And that’s that… I’m in.
Nova wasn’t sure what in actually meant. Linc stepped over Amos and Nova did the same, not able to look at the man she inadvertently got beaten up. They walked down a hallway and turned the first corner. At the end of that hallway, Linc opened a door.
“This is my place here,” he said to Nova. “I also have a house. Don’t know why I told you that.”
“I have a house,” Nova said. “It’s small and not very nice, but it’s mine. I could have something bigger but I had to help Mom save the house.”
“You’re supporting her too?”
“Only when she needs me.”
“How often is that, Nova?”
“Monthly,” Nova said.
Her voice lowered at the ly and she carefully sucked in a slow breath. Now Linc stood in front of her, towering over her. She tried to take calming breaths. But the room… there was a smell to it.
It smelled of Linc. His body. Skin. Cologne. Soap. It smelled of him sleeping. A touch of sweat. A hint of blood. Sex lingered in the air too. The scent of other women.
“Listen, darling, I have to go pray right now, okay?”
“Pray? You’re… religious…?”
Linc touched Nova’s face. His thumb stroked her cheek. “You’re going to stay right here. Do not leave this room. Do you understand?”
Nova caught herself nodding, feeling so mesmerized by the outlaw looking at her.
“I’ll have Maggie check up on you in case you need another drink,” Linc said with a half grin.
Nova remembered that half grin. All those times she’d see that half grin and where it led… This time the half grin led to Linc walking out of the bedroom without so much as a hug.
The door clicked shut, closed , and Nova looked around the room. It was kind of a mess. A typical single guy mess. Clothes hanging out of drawers. Clothes on the floor. Clothes tossed everywhere. Part of Nova wanted to start cleaning things up.
Why? This is not my job.
Nova stepped back and slowly sat down on the edge of the bed. It was soft, forgiving. She touched the blankets and slowly dug her fingers into the comfortable covers.
Her heart picked up a little bit of speed. Her mind flashed images of her inching back on the bed, putting her head on a pillow, waiting for Linc to come back…
Nova’s fingers touched something besides the blanket and she pulled out a neon-green thong bunched up in the blanket. She gasped and held it out with her thumb and pointer fingers. The bedroom door opened and Maggie came in carrying two bottles of beer.
“I can use a break for a minute,” she said. “Hey, nice thong. I have that same one.”
Nova’s heart paused for a second. “This isn’t mine. I just found it in the bed.”
“Ah,” Maggie said. “You’ll find a lot more than that around here. Linc is kind of a slob.”
“Is this your thong, Maggie?” Nova asked, fearing the answer.
Maggie chewed on the bottom left corner of her mouth. Nova accepted that as a resounding yes . That made Nova stand and walk to Maggie to give her thong back to her.
“Look, I’m not sure what you and Linc are…” She sighed. “This life is crazy. You know who I am to them all, right? I’m just a deecee .”
“A what?”
“ Deecee… Or just the letters D and C . Stands for devil’s cunt . That’s what all the women are to them. It’s a joke for them. That as woman, our vaginas were created by the devil to ruin their lives. Every woman here hopes to get picked by one of them. Chosen. Become theirs. Wear their ink. Then you have complete protection. Kind of like what Linc just did for you out there.”
Nova swallowed hard. This place is lawless yet… organized…
“Did you fuck him?” Nova whispered.
Maggie took her thong back and tucked it into her back pocket.
“Do you really want to know?”
“I want to know,” Nova said.
“You know, by now I’m used to someone slapping me or punching me for screwing around with their guy. I know that makes me sound like a whore, but I’m not. I enjoy myself. And if someone is willing, then what does it matter? To answer your question, no, I haven’t fucked Linc. Nothing of his has been inside me.”
“But your thong…”
Maggie handed Nova one of the beers. “You want to know that bad, huh? Okay. I brought him a drink last night after he got shot and jerked him off. I took my thong off and made him come into it. Not sure if you noticed my thong was a little stiff.”
Nova’s head spun. “Linc got shot last night?”
It was like one shock after another… all with the backdrop that Nova’s brother was still missing.
“Oh, fuck,” Maggie said. “Who are you to him? Why is he treating you so different?”
Nova didn’t have those answers. She took a sip of beer. Then another.
Being near this outlaw life—even for a short time—made her want to keep drinking.