24. 24
24
“You get that costume from a Spirit Halloween? Or did you just have all the parts lyin’ around?” John Ridgeway asked.
“Your mom actually gave it to me as a ‘Thank you’ gift last time I banged her brains out.”
“Gross. My mother is eighty-nine..”
Barrett laughed. “I know. She’s ancient. Feel like she knew the Apostles first-hand, but, hey, old ladies need love, too.”
“Well, that makes what I’m about to tell you even more awkward, then.” He sighed. “Barrett, I’m actually your father.”
Barrett burst into laughter, and the officer’s lips curled up into a smile.
“Oh, shut the fuck up, John.” Barrett’s face grew serious. “Can I go home yet?”
“Well. You see, this wasn’t a little bar fight at The Alibi . You committed battery in front of a room full’a Jackson big-wigs. You’re making it really goddamn hard to keep letting this stuff slide, man.”
“John, I’m sorry. He just…”
“We know.” John jingled the keys in his pocket before opening Barrett’s cell door. “The guy you dropped like a sack of potatoes was the councilman’s son . When your girl told him why you punched him, they agreed to drop the charges, probably to avoid some bad press.”
Barrett felt his head go light when John said the words ‘ your girl. ’ They felt good to hear. Like there was somehow a person in this world that was his .
“She’s waitin’ in the lobby. Told us about the kid trying to roofie her. But consider the horseshoes you had stuck up in your ass officially removed , Barrett. Make sure that’s your last brawl. Next time, I promise you, you won’t be so lucky.”
Barrett nodded and held his hand out. “You have my word, John.”
The officer’s hand shook his with enough force to make Barrett grunt in pain. “Seriously. No more bullshit. Stay outta trouble.”
John led Barrett out to the lobby. The door to the intake area closed behind them with a jarring slam.
Chastity and Rachel stood up in unison. He smiled at Chastity, raced to her, and clutched her in his arms, hugging her tightly. He kissed the top of her bright-colored head and pulled away.
“This is my friend, Rachel. We came together, so I had to have her…” Chastity trailed off, smiling at Barrett.
“Thanks for teaching that dick a lesson,” Rachel said, her long brown hair flowing over her skintight spandex outfit with heels that made her almost as tall as Barrett. He silently wondered how she could walk in those things.
“I wasn’t just gonna stand around and do nothing.”
“ Next time you will,” John said, butting in from the windowed area to the back.
Chastity tilted up her head, pressed a kiss to Barrett’s lips, and held it, breathing in the smell of his woody cologne on his skin. She gripped his white T-shirt and pulled him closer.
“Soooo, am I good to go here?” Rachel said, pointing to the front door anxiously.
Barrett pulled away and smiled, Little Red’s lipstick all over his mouth. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll get her home safely.”
The Rabbit Run lot was nearly full. The ride back had been full of topical chatter about the costume party and the woman working intake at the jail who had a mustache that could rival any man’s.
Barrett opened the Jeep’s door and helped her out. Chastity stared up at the stars and laughed quietly.
Barrett leaned against the SUV, looking down at her with a look of humored confusion. “Everything alright?”
“Oh.” She tried to quell the laughter. “I’m terrified that I almost got roofied tonight. But I’m laughing because of the look that man gave you right before you clobbered him,” she giggled, “It was literally like… deer in the headlights .”
Barrett chuckled, eyes skimming over the lines of her body, nearly a silhouette against the mountains, skin washed pale by the moon. Her jasmine perfume tickled at his nose.
Her eyes met his, body inching toward him until their lips met again, tongues alive and melding. She leaned against him, gripping her fingers into his tee, dragging him closer.
Together, they were candles, dancing in the shadows of night, desperately seeking to sustain their flames through the burning heat of one another.
He groaned as she sucked his bottom lip between her teeth and bit down ever-so-gently.
He pressed his hard length against her thigh, hands caressing the bare skin of her ass below her costume. She reached down and massaged the bulge between his legs. His fingers roamed higher, exposing more of her skin to the frigid night air.
Suddenly, a pair of headlights flicked on behind them, bathing them in blinding light. Barrett’s hand retreated, not needing a public indecency charge to add to his list of the night’s offenses. Finally, the vehicle switched to its low beams and passed them to exit the lot.
Barrett grinned, lips red from the remnants of her makeup.
“You want to come upstairs for a bit?”
He looked at his watch. “I wish I could, but as of right now, if I go straight home, I will get maybe three and a half hours of sleep before I have to be at a client’s house way out on 191.”
“ Damn .” She smoothed the short front of her outfit, hand continuing down to a spot between her thighs. “Guess I’ll just have to dream of you, then.”
He groaned, dick swelling at the thought of Chastity masturbating to a mental image of him beneath her covers.
“Maybe this is the part where you give me your real number.”
She shrugged. “Or… maybe this is the part where you ask me out on a proper date.”
Barrett laughed, shoving his hands in his pockets to distract from the tented fabric his erection was creating. “This is officially the hardest I have ever worked for a girl’s number.”
“Good.” She smirked.
“What do you like to do?” He grinned. “Other than rock a man’s world in the bedroom, I mean.”
She smiled. “Pretty much anything that gets me out of the apartment. I’m not picky.”
“Hmmm. We should do something fun. Would you care to accompany me to… mini-golf?”
“Hmmmm,” Chastity hummed, thinking about it. “You should know now that I am competitive.”
“Good. Getting to watch you get all flustered as a bunch of rando kids cheer me on for beating you? Sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon.”
“You have a lot of confidence for a man who is about to get his ass kicked at putt-putt.”
“Trust me, I’m aware you’re probably going to be good. You’ve already proven you’ve got incredible ball-handling skills.”
That made her laugh loudly, the sound of which warmed Barrett’s heart.
He opened the driver’s door of the Jeep and put a foot on the mat. “Check your work schedule and just text me what day is good for…. ohhhhhh, you can’t. Can you ?” He forced his face into a smug frown.
She held her hand out. “Fine! Give me the damn phone.”
“Yessssss.” Barrett handed his phone to her, and she turned and whirled her arm, pretending she was going to chuck it into the nearby bushes. His stomach flipped at the sight of it.
“I’m kidding.” She giggled, swiped the screen, and changed the fake number to her real one in his contacts list before handing it back.
He shook it at her. “Now, young lady, don’t be sending me any photos of those piercings. That would be just… awful ,” he joked. “No pictures of the rest of you either, you hear me? No shower pics… nothing in lingerie. That would be… you know… a real travesty .”
“A travesty. Of course. So crotch shots are out, too, then, I suppose.”
He looked away, pounded a fist on the roof of the Jeep, and then looked back at her.
“You are something special,” he finally said with a smile so bright and charming that Chastity wanted to swoon.
“Now buzz off before my landlord sees I’m attracting all of Jackson’s riff-raff to her property,” she said, turning around and wrapping her shoulders in the red cape in such a way that it flashed a few inches of the bottom of her bare ass to him.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered as he settled in the SUV. “Girl’s gonna be the death of me.”