7 Degrees of Alpha (a collection of seven new BWWM, Alpha Male Romances) (57 page)

Craig

Craig was in his extra room working up a sweat. He was feeling twitchy and he didn’t like it. The night had ended with a perfectly acceptable jerk and spurt. He had gone to bed feeling a bit more relaxed, but still energized by the notion of meeting his temporary neighbor the next day. At some point during the night, his dreams had turned from scenes of him climbing atop a small chocolate woman and riding her into a moaning frenzy, to ones of stress, fighting, and fear. He had been in the service long enough to know that whenever he felt like this, he needed to be extra vigilant. It was confusing, though. There was no one here but the world’s smallest vacationer. She didn’t look like trouble, at least not like the dangerous kind. Still, he felt a sense of urgency about going to check on her. Maybe it was just some old, leftover sense of awareness, but he had learned long ago not to question his sixth sense. It had saved his ass more times than he could count. There was no point in ignoring it now.

Without any real conscious thought, Craig decided something was coming…something
bad
.  He wasn’t concerned, though.  He might’ve been retired, but he was ready.  He stayed that way. The US Army had a way of training the gentle right out of a man. 

Settling in for a long hard work out, he continued with the heavy bag.
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
Next, he jumped rope until his body and his clothing were drenched with sweat. Pull-ups. Push-ups. Heavy ball.  Rope work.  When he looked around two hours later, his chest was heaving and energy level so high that he had to force himself to stop. He headed out to the dock he had expanded to stretch with some yoga positions before showering and scooting across the lake to meet
her
. His team had mocked him for the yoga exercises until they noticed his improved flexibility, and he’d had less frequency in injuries during training.

While going through his routine, he could feel her eyes on him from across the lake. She was sitting at the lake’s edge, bundled up and sipping something from a mug. When he had finished his series of poses, he looked across and saw her clapping. He gave a little bow and went in to shower. As soon as he cleaned up, he was going to boat over and meet her. He knew exactly how to make her acquaintance.

Chapter Five

Craig approached the woman bundled up to her ears in a quilt and oversized sweater. The red sweater had a hood and was obviously hand-knitted. She looked amazing in red. Her skin was a lovely pecan brown and luminous.  Her eyes were big and round. She blinked slowly at him as he approached. Every bit of her was covered except her hands and face. The travel mug read, ‘Sip, suck or swallow, just don’t spill me’ in dark green letters. He already knew she was tiny, but up close and buried in a quilt, she seemed smaller than he imagined. He stopped when he was close enough for her to hear him.

“Good morning,” Craig said.

Serenity closed her eyes and practically purred. His deep voice rolled out and washed over her, like a caress. Opening her eyes, she said, “Good morning, yogi.”

“Is it okay if I come over and introduce myself? I like to meet the folks who visit my lake.”

Serenity offered her hand and said, “Serenity Blue. Please excuse my seat, this quilt is eight pounds of stitched squares and filling.”

Closing the space between them, Craig engulfed her hand in his and they exchanged a handshake.

The energy surge between them was unmistakable. Neither could turn their eyes away.

“I’m Craig Smart,” he said. “Would you mind some company for a bit? I didn’t come empty-handed.”

One eyebrow rose. “As long as you come in peace, I would be happy for your company.”

“I do,” he said before turning back to his boat. He came back with a small lunch bag and a captain’s chair of his own.

“I smelled your coffee across the lake and thought this might go well with it,” he said, unzipping his lunch bag after he was seated. From the bag he produced two paper saucers with brownies on them. “No nuts, in case you’re concerned,” he said as he offered one to her.

“No allergies of any sort, I’m lucky to say.” She accepted the delicious-looking square of chocolate goodness.

“This is the last of a batch I made earlier this week,” he said as they sat in a companionable silence eating.

“You bake?”

She didn’t sound shocked or disbelieving.  Just curious.  He liked that. “Actually, yes. I have for years. It relaxes me.”

“What is your specialty?”

At that question, Craig gave her the most wicked, narrow-eyed look. “My specialty isn’t crafted in the kitchen.”

Serenity was in mid sip when he said that. Raising her eyebrow, she said, “That doesn’t answer my question.”

Shrugging, Craig answered her with a grin. “My specialty is making a woman shiver, moan, and cum while my tongue is on her clit.”

Sip. Grin. Sip.

Right then, Serenity sent a silent, “Thank you,” to the Universe. Not gay. “Well, I’m sure your wife wouldn’t approve of you sharing that particular skill set,” she said, maintaining eye contact.

With a bigger grin than the one before, he leaned in and said, “
Wife
? Oh, Serenity, I don’t have one of those.”

Sip. Grin. Sip.

Serenity did a little jig inside and shouted silently with all her hair follicles, “Thank you Universe! Thank you! I won’t waste this gift.”

“You don’t say? Here I thought you were the living, breathing manifestation of every female fantasy ever. A big, strong, sexy husband who bakes delicious chocolate goods and eats pussy like he’s starving,” Serenity said.

“Drop husband and substitute man, I’m that guy. Now, I came over to be friendly and invite you fishing. Interested in catching a little something?”

“As long as you clean it, I will cook it.”

“Are you willing to relinquish your blanket and go to the middle of the lake for some misty morning fishing?”

“Absolutely.”

With that said, Craig stood to help her gather up her things. He carried the quilt. Like a man with manners, he didn’t follow her inside the cabin. He waited at the steps. She deposited her stuff inside and then met him outside. She hesitated a bit at the doorway, looking at him. He was a big man and seeing him kind of made her feel a little nervous.

Holding his hand out, he said, “Don’t worry.  I don’t bite.” Smiling she took his hand and descended the steps. Once she was on the ground and looking up at him, he said, “Unless you tell me to.”

There wasn’t really anything to say to that, so she just said, “I’m following you.”

“No. Ladies first, always. That’s my motto. So, after you, Serenity.”

They made their way to the boat, and he pulled out to the center of the lake. There were four fishing poles and bait in the boat. They spent the rest of the morning talking in low tones and laughing. They even caught a few fish. The little ones were thrown back, but the five big ones were stored for cleaning and cooking.

“Well, it looks like you will be cooking,” Craig said to her as they were docking.

Laughing, she said, “It does indeed. How do you want it? Seared or seared?”

Sharing in the moment, Craig said, “I don’t know. 
Seared
, maybe?”

They shared a few minutes of chatter as Craig quickly cleaned the fish over the side of the boat.

“I’m surprised you aren’t more squeamish,” he said when he was finished and had packed the fish in a little cooler.

“What’s a little blood and guts between friends?”

“You’re so right. What time should I return for dinner?”

“How about seven? Bring your swim gear. I have a Jacuzzi in the back that I need to give a try.”

“Great.  I’ll see you at seven o’clock tonight,” Craig said.

Serenity went on inside her cabin to read until it was time to entertain.

Chapter Six

Meanwhile

Chris was the first to wake. The sound of a boat’s motor dragged him into the morning. He woke with a stress headache and grumbling belly. Before he could think about food, he had to take a piss.

Struggling up from the floor, he made his way to the only bathroom and took care of his business. When he opened the door, Anthony was waiting his turn.

“We’ve got company,” Anthony said flatly.

“How many?”

“Looks like just two. A couple. They are on the lake, fishing.”

“We can talk when you get out of there.” Chris jerked a thumb back toward the bathroom and moved back to the living area.

Watching Melvin in a dead sleep made him want to kick the bastard awake, but that wouldn’t be a good idea. There was no need to start a fight just because he found the ease with which he slept through this cluster fuck annoying. Plus, he would hate for Melvin to try to fight him. He would definitely hurt him, and that would be dumb if they were going to cook. You never hurt the chemist, especially if your chemist was a college dropout who majored in chemistry and biology. Melvin was going to be a doctor at one point. His parents were still confused as to how it all went so wrong, so fast, and so unexpectedly.

The kitchen was the best place for him right now.  So, Chris made his way to the kitchen, hopeful there would be something for them to eat. If not, he dreaded having to figure out how to find food. There was no way he could go without eating, and fishing seemed to be risky even if they had the necessary tools. He wasn’t interested in being seen. This far out, it wouldn’t make sense to wait until late to move around because the little stores nearby closed not long after sunset. Plus, he had no idea where else there was to stay near here and didn’t want some nosy local with too much time on their hands wondering where he was staying.

Anthony joined him a moment later. Their combined search netted some basics, but feeding three grown men for who knows how long on just basics was going to be a challenge. They found one lonely box of cereal, canned milk, pasta, soup mixes and an oddly large amount of boxed macaroni and cheese. There was oil, instant coffee, as well as flour, sugar, salt, and pepper.

Chris and Anthony made themselves some macaroni and cheese in the microwave and had a seat to discuss their situation.

Anthony began with, “Look, I think we need to move on from here. I needed to rest last night. There isn’t much to eat here, and with other people on the lake, we definitely can’t start cooking meth and making the entire area smell like death. We have some money and we aren’t wanted by the police
yet
. The house was a squatter’s paradise. None of our names are even close to being associated with it. The only thing we have to avoid is getting caught with this fucking chem set on steroids we’re toting around.”

“Well, where would we go?” Chris asked. “I’m not sure what the next steps are, but we definitely need to cook up this batch so we can at least sell out of our inventory. Then everybody can go their separate ways. As far as the cops are concerned, we don’t know who they’re looking for. We can’t assume the fellas didn’t start talking as soon as they got locked up. That’s a lot of time they are looking at serving. They don’t seem like the type interested in doing the time because they did the crime. The first thing they’ll do is call Mommy. What do you think Mommy is going to say? Tell the truth, baby, and I will get you a lawyer. That’s what’s next. Plus, the little bit of money we have is not going to get any of us very far. We need an influx of cash so we can split and have some real cushion.”

“I agree. We need more money, but there are two other people out here. For all we know, they own the property. Who knows when they’ll be leaving? We could go into the wooded area, but that leaves us exposed to random hikers. Also, we have minimum everything, so we need at least a week to make this happen. It’s not like we can spend forty-eight hours working on a batch and jet. What if we just head to Houston and buy a used RV? We have enough for that. Then we can park it out in the middle of nowhere, handle our business and make our way back to our usual customers,” Anthony said.

Before Chris could respond, Melvin said, “What’s up? I doubt our usual customers will do business with us. By now they have heard about the police running up in the old spot. They’ll be hesitant to mess with us for a while, especially since we didn’t get caught up in the net. There’ll be some doubt about us being trustworthy or not. I recommend we just drive to the nearest bus stop and split. Take a year off and keep in touch on Twitter.”

“Keep in touch on
Twitter
? What do I look like, a middle-school kid? Hell no! I’m not keeping in touch on Twitter!” Chris insisted.

Patiently, Melvin explained, “Yes, Twitter. We can hide in plain sight. No need for pictures; we can just pop up in a busy feed for one of these rappers or pop singers. We can retweet something and add a phrase. Basically, we agree to meet back home at the Best Western where we did business on a certain date, and once a month we retweet something at one another and say ‘It Is what It Is’. That way, we’ll know the agreed upon return is still good. If we tweet the phrase ‘Seek peace’, we will know the police are on our trail. If we tweet ‘I’m there!’, then we know that person is out of the game. In the meantime, I’m going to make myself some breakfast and let you two guys finish talking about what you want to do.”

“Dude. Have you even washed your face? All up in the kitchen looking raggedy,” Anthony said to Melvin. “I agree, splitting up is a good idea, but what will we do with all the chemicals? Who gets stuck lying low with all that, huh? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to drive anywhere else with all that crap. Let’s just check the scene, buckle down, and cook it up. Hopefully, the happy couple will go elsewhere.”

“I don’t give a fuck about the happy couple,” Chris interrupted. “I give a fuck about getting this shit cooked and splitting. I’m not going back to anybody’s jail. Period. So this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to get to work. That means you Melvin. I’m going to be ready in the event the folks get nosy. If they come over here, it’s going to get ugly fast. The sooner you get to work, the sooner we’ll leave these squares in peace. So get the whole Twitter plan out of your heads. Focus. Cook. Sell. Split.”

Anthony and Melvin looked at Chris and dared not to look at one another. When Chris got like this, he could be hard to deal with. He was making a unilateral decision, but no one really could disagree with his points. Plus, he was the muscle. That’s the reality. Melvin was the chemist, Anthony was the salesman, and Chris was the muscle. It had been like that since day one. Ant could hurt someone, but he wasn’t really one for fighting. Melvin wasn’t going to bust a grape. He liked beer and women. He’d only fallen into this line of work because he had a knack for it, and he had flunked out of college because his partying got out of hand. Hell, they all had. Generally, muscle could be managed, but when times get tough, the muscle takes the forefront. The sales and design team could get on board or get left behind. Chris was six feet and three inches of asshole and attitude, plus he had taken Brazilian Jiu Jitsu since he was a little kid. In a fight, he was a problem. The primary problem was that once he started making contact, he got to liking it a little too much and was damn near impossible to call off, which was a very good reason to never get him started.

Melvin lifted his hands and said, “Hey man, no problem. I’m not trying to start a fight. I just thought this was not the best location. Hopefully, we can make this batch in peace and avoid people until we’ve unloaded all the Purple Reign. Then we can all go our separate ways.” Melvin wasn’t a fan of the current situation, but what could he do? He had no vehicle. He did have plenty of money stashed, but felt that it would be stupid to offer it up to help them hide. They might decide they wanted all of it.

Melvin said, “Ant, reach out to our people. Find out what the situation is with the homies in lockup. See if we can get word to them. Take the temperature of our clientele. See if we still have any clients and if so, let them know we are still in business and we’ll be ready to deliver in a week.”

Ant was agreeable and got up to go make some calls, hoping they had cell coverage in this area as he went.

Chris seemed to have calmed down a bit when he realized the party was going to get started. He was feeling extra jumpy. He didn’t think it was just the situation. He had a bad vibe.

“What do you need from me?” he asked.

Melvin replied, “I need you to rest. When I start the process well after ten o’clock, you will be on look-out duty. Sleep as much as you can today, and I will too. It’s going to be an all-nighter. If we cook at night, hopefully the neighbors will sleep through it. I’m going to measure during the day so everything will go smooth in the lab, and we can keep the light to a minimum. We’ll need some light, though, so I need to know when you see the light at their cabin switch off. We will do our best to keep this as stealth as possible.”

Ant was having some conversations that had him a bit concerned. He had spoken to the girlfriends. The first chick hung up in his face and called him a fucking snitch. The second had been more reasonable, but she did explain that the fellas thought they had been left stuck holding the bag. As it turns out, none of the parents had been contacted as they had long ago exhausted their solid middle-class families’ wells of grace. Ant explained they would never get their trap house busted, especially with all the money still there. He also said they were laying low, and he would check back in when he could. So far, there was no indicator either guy had been talking too much.

The other problem was that their clientele was having a crisis of trust. First, the circumstances of the bust were suspicious. Then there was the matter of not really being able to arrange a meeting so far from trusted and proven exchange points. The clients were willing to buy, but not far from home. This meant they would have to go back to the city where they may or may not be hot in a week’s time. Anthony didn’t like that at all. He felt that was likely to be information Chris would disregard and insist on pressing forward.  Anthony felt like maybe they should call this a loss and just walk away. Surely, Chris had some money stashed. He
knew
Melvin did. Quiet as it was kept, so did he. He was foolish but not entirely stupid. Drug money wasn’t consistent. You had to put something up for the inevitable lull in sales. People were always turning over a new leaf or getting arrested or dying. It was a business full of variables, and all were high risk.

If Chris wasn’t willing to chuck it all and ride out, maybe he and Melvin could just go. Chris might be big, strong, and dangerous, but he and Anthony were smart. There was more than one way to skin a cat.