30. Lennon
30
LENNON
“M
orning, Chef,” Zach said as he pushed a cart chock-full of ingredients from the storeroom.
I greeted him with a nod and slipped into the office, grabbing the inventory clipboard off the desk so I could make my rounds.
Jessica strolled down the hallway with a pile of linens in her arms. “Hey, Lennon. How are you holding up?”
I paused in the entrance to the storeroom. Things had been fine. They were neither good nor bad. I still hung in the numbness that I chalked up to shock.
I didn’t know how to work through everything that had happened over the last week. Physically, I was fine. Mentally, I was a wreck.
Security at the bunkhouse had been beefed up with an electronically locking door. It required a numerical code to enter. The system logged a different code for each person, so we knew exactly who was coming and going, or who had shared their code.
CJ had kept me close, taking me out with him to check on the herd. We barely spent a minute apart. If he had to work, one of the other Griffith brothers escorted me to and from the restaurant each day.
It was annoyingly sweet.
“I’m fine,” I said, finally responding to Jessica. “I’m ready for everything to get back to normal.”
“Zach did a great job leading things for the few days you took off. You trained him well.”
I offered a weak smile. “Thanks.”
I waited until Jessica dipped back into the dining room to let out a breath. Inventory was a reprieve. It gave me a chance to clear my head. The methodical documentation of stock was calming. I liked the reset. I needed it.
“Morning, Chef,” Julian said as he slipped in the back door and headed to clock in.
“Morning,” I called back as I counted the cases of granulated sugar and headed for the liquor cage. I pulled my keys out of my pocket and unlocked the padlock.
“Yo, Chef!” Javi yelled.
“In here!”
Javi poked his head inside. “You doing inventory?”
“Yes, sir,” I said as I found the column for whiskey and ticked the box to order more.
“Cool. Can you throw in an extra bottle of orange liqueur?”
I smiled down at the clipboard and made a note in the margin. “Only if you tell me what you’ve got up your sleeve.”
He smiled from ear to ear. The simple joy of creating something new for the guests lifted my spirits.
“Ice cream truck treats, but fancy.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Like the orange sherbet popsicles you push up with a stick?”
He nodded. “Layered with mousse and a sponge soaked in an orange-basil reduction.”
I made another note to ask our paper product supplier about the push-pop containers. “If you make something like the strawberry shortcake popsicles, I’ll love you forever, Javi.”
He gave me a salute. “You’ve got it, Chef.”
I crouched and ran my fingers over the boxes of salt and pepper, making sure we had enough to get through the week. When I stood to check the containers of cornmeal and cornstarch, hands dug into my waist, grabbing me from behind.
I opened my mind to scream, but a calloused palm clapped over my mouth, muffling the sound.
“Quiet, slugger. You don’t want people coming in here to check on you if you scream.”
I smiled against the hand and relaxed at the sound of CJ’s voice. “What are you doing?” I whispered as he pinned me against the metal wire shelving with his chest to my spine.
“You wanted normal, so I’m giving you normal.” He ripped the clipboard out of my hands and spun me to face him. “On your knees for me, beautiful.”
My legs buckled, and I dropped like a sandbag. “We could get caught,” I whispered as I pawed at his obnoxious belt buckle.
CJ cupped my jaw. “Whose name is on your uniform?”
“Yours,” I whispered as I pulled his zipper down.
“Whose name is on the building you work at?”
“Yours,” I said as I peeled down the elastic waist of his boxers.
A slow smile worked up his devilish face. “My last name. My ranch. My pretty mouth to fuck.” He worked his thumb over my lower lip. “Be a good girl and open up.”
I could smell the crisp freshness of his soap still clinging to his skin as I wrapped my hand around his cock and traced its thick head with my tongue. CJ was nothing if not considerate.
“Goddamn,” he hissed as he grabbed the top shelf with one hand and held on as he leaned forward, pushing his dick closer to my mouth. With the other hand, he pulled off his cowboy hat and held it at his hip, shielding my face from view of the door. “Eyes on me while my cock is in your mouth, Lennon. You don’t focus on anything but me.”
Heat flooded my body, cascading down my shoulders. It pooled deep inside my core. I sucked the tip of his dick and gently pumped his shaft.
“That’s so good, baby,” he rasped. “But I know you can take more than that.”
I closed my eyes and worked more and more of his cock into my mouth until I could barely take it.
Labored breaths escaped his chest as he let go of the shelf and tangled his fingers in the back of my hair, steadily fucking my mouth. “That’s my good girl,” he rasped, shuffling his boots wider.
I whimpered as he pulled my hair, tugging my head back as he pushed his cock in farther. My eyes watered and I gagged.
CJ didn’t let up. “You feel so fucking good, Len. Give me a little more. I know you can do it. You’re so good for me.”
I gasped for air as he pulled back, offering a momentary reprieve. It was gone as fast as it came when CJ pushed back into my mouth with a snap of his hips.
The whispered praises mixed with the cocktail of fear of getting caught took me back to the night we met. The night we flirted and fucked without exchanging life stories.
The night that everything changed.
Because if it hadn’t been for CJ hating me when I showed up at the ranch, he probably would have ignored me.
I wouldn’t have found the only person I could trust enough to be soft around.
We wouldn’t have gotten to where we were.
Which was with me on my knees, sucking him off before the restaurant opened.
I had been in worse places. In fact, the wicked smile he had as I edged him closer and closer to orgasm was pretty damn good.
The hat in CJ’s hand wobbled as he did his best to hold back. “Len—stop—” he gasped as I massaged his balls. “Fuck?—”
I swirled my tongue around the head of his dick and sucked, holding the pressure for a long moment.
“Len, I’m gonna come. Stop.”
I opened my eyes, lifted an eyebrow, and released his dick with a pop. “Well, don’t be a pussy about it. Come in my mouth, cowboy.”
CJ threw his head back and stifled his laugh. He pushed into my mouth again. “I fucking love you, Len.”
I wrapped my hand low around his cock and pumped it eagerly as I sucked. A desperate, choked groan rumbled in his lungs. His knees buckled as I sealed my lips around the head of his cock and swallowed him down.
CJ looked down at me with dazed eyes. He cupped my cheek and swiped his thumb across the corner of my mouth. “You’re something else, you know that?”
I couldn’t help but smile up at him as he zipped up his jeans and buckled his belt.
“Get up here.” He dropped his hat back on his head, helped me up, and leaned in for a kiss.
I pulled back. “I just had your cum in my mouth. You don’t want to kiss me after that.”
His brows furrowed. “Are you fucking with me? Come here.”
The kiss he planted on my mouth was nearly pornographic. CJ held me close enough that we became one, his arms around my waist and mine around his neck.
I tucked my forehead into the crook of his shoulder. “Thank you for that.”
CJ laughed. “Pretty sure I should be thanking you.” He kissed my neck. “And I will. Over and over and over again tonight.”
“Go to work,” I said as I pushed him off with a laugh. “I’m on the clock, and I have things to do.”
Footsteps echoed down the hallway, and Julian strolled in, grabbing a bag of clean side towels. He tipped his head toward CJ. “Morning, Mr. Griffith.”
CJ reached into his pocket and slipped a violet into my hand. “Have a good day.”
I pecked his cheek. “You too.”
“Hey, Chef,” Julian said. “Did someone tell you the tilt skillet is acting up again? Simmons is trying to get it to pull up, but it’s full right now, so it’s twice as heavy.”
“I’ll take a look,” CJ said.
I grabbed my clipboard and pen. “You sure you have time?”
“We’re on the same team, right? Same ranch.”
Something warm bubbled inside me. I squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”
“Be back in a sec,” CJ said as he walked out of the storeroom.
Finding my place on the inventory spreadsheet was nearly impossible after what we’d just done. My body was on fire. I had never been one to cut out of work early, but I would have given my right tit to go back to the bunkhouse for a quick romp to cool down.
Today was going to be excruciating. CJ demanding a blowjob in the middle of the restaurant storeroom turned me on more than I had ever been.
He better have something spectacular up his sleeve for later if he’s making me wait this long ...
I squeezed my thighs together to ease a little of the ache inside.
Love. It had been on the tip of my tongue when he told me to have a good day.
You too. I love you.
It would have been so easy to say. It was right there.
I looked down at my pen and debated running out to catch him so I could tell him. But saying it in the middle of the kitchen didn’t feel right either. I didn’t want him to be distracted or think it was just a slip of the tongue.
I’d tell him tonight.
With that decided, I went back to the inventory list. The back door opened and closed, and I heard the jingle of CJ’s tool bag and the heavy thud of his boots heading into the kitchen.
“Chef, we’re almost out of oil for the fryer,” Julian called through the door.
I glanced around the shelves. I knew I had seen an extra boxed jug somewhere. I spotted it shoved into the corner. “I’ve got another one in here,” I hollered. “More will be on the truck tomorrow.”
I dropped the clipboard on the shelf and tugged the enormous jug of oil out of the corner. “Here you go.”
Our shadows met as I turned, but the man staring at me wasn’t the one I had been tirelessly working to gain respect from.
“Poor little Eleanor,” he said with a disturbing mixture of malice and glee. “All you had to do was drive the car and keep your mouth shut.” The blade of a freshly sharpened chef’s knife gleamed in the fluorescent light. “Justin swore up and down you could do that.”
I started to scream, but the tip of the blade pushing against my throat silenced me immediately.
“It was you?” I rasped as terror fogged my vision. “Wh-who are you?” I stammered.
Julian chuckled. “I gotta admit. Hunting you down wasn’t easy. I didn’t even know if I had the right person when I applied for the job listing down here. Prison changed you.” He smirked. “Sorry about that. Pity you and your brother got out so soon. I was hoping someone on the inside would get tired of you both and take care of this for me, but no. I guess some loose ends have to be tied up by hand.”
“Y-you killed him,” I said as my head spun. “You s-slit his t-throat.”
“A little messy, I’ll admit. But it’s like you and DeRossi always say. Presentation matters.” Julian’s gleaming smile was manic “You got his letter, right? I left enough breadcrumbs to lure him down here. Even got him to go through the bunkhouse for me to make sure you weren’t holding onto anything incriminating. It would be a shame to have gone through all this effort only to get caught a decade later.”
He shoved the point of the knife into my throat, piercing my skin enough that I knew he meant business. “As fun as this little immersive field trip has been, it’s time for me to get rid of the only other person who was there so I can start spending all that money.”
“Why?” I croaked as tears welled up in my eyes. The tip of the knife jammed a hair farther, and I bit my lip.
“Why, what? Why did I convince your brother he could get away with robbing a bank?” Julian cackled. “He was a shitty dealer. I had to repurpose him somehow.” He yanked the knife back and traced it down the front of my pristine white coat, leaving a stream of blood trickling down my neck. “Or maybe you want to know why I called the cops as soon as he left the bank?”
His grin was sharp like a sickle, and just as deadly.
“To get you two out of the way, of course. It was only supposed to be him. Making one person disappear is far easier than two. But for some reason, he got you to drive the car I left for him. So I had to pivot. I’m nothing if not adaptable. I called the cops on you and your brother, and picked up the money before you two could use it as leverage. Controlling you in prison was a little more involved. All it took was me promising your brother I’d split the money with him when he got out to keep him quiet. But you...You kept running your mouth about how innocent you were. So, I had to scare you straight.” The delight in his eyes was frenetic and unhinged. “Did it work, Eleanor?” he panted. “Did you get my message?”
Julian pushed the knife against my sternum to keep me in place and yanked my chef’s coat up, revealing the scar I had gotten in prison.
Tears blurred my vision as they poured down my cheeks.
“Not her best work, but beggars can’t be choosers. I told the bitch to kill you. You’re like a fucking cat with nine lives, but you’re about to run out. Hope that cowboy used you good. I’m sure he’ll find another piece of ass soon enough.”
The click of a recoiling pistol jolted me from the paralysis of fear.
“What did I tell you about disrespecting the women on this ranch?” CJ crept forward on smooth feet with his gun drawn.
“Ah, the cowboy rides in, just in time to save the day. How fucking poetic.” Julian let out a demented cackle. “Too late!”
The sound of the gunshot rang out, and searing pain ripped through my chest.
CJ screamed my name, but I was already falling.