Mica (Rebel Wayfarers MC) (15 page)

Coming back to his senses, Daniel knew he was on the brink of losing control entirely, and he began slowing to short, fierce kisses. Drawing at her lips hard, he dragged in ragged breaths as if he had run a race. He pulled away slowly, still holding onto the back of her neck with his hand, and rested his forehead tightly against hers as he fought to control his breathing. It was so hard to resist the primitive urge to take her…mark her…make her his.

He watched her teeth grip her bottom lip in what looked like disappointment. She opened her eyes and looked straight into his, this connection somehow as intimate and arousing as he had found their kiss to be. He smiled ruefully at her, letting go of her hand and sliding both of his up either side of her neck to cup her face.

“God, you are so beautiful, Mica. You make me lose my mind, and I think I could kiss you all night. I’d like to do this again, really soon.” He kissed her gently, almost chastely and stepped back, letting his fingertips trail across her cheeks. “You should go inside before you get too cold, beautiful. Thank you for a wonderful evening.”

Mica watched him retreat from her both physically and emotionally, wondering wildly what she had done wrong. This felt like she was losing something that was on the cusp of creation, something that could be wonderful. “Daniel, would you like to come in?” she asked, her breath coming quickly. She gasped, wondering at the welcome heaviness in her lower belly. Mica reached her hand up to trail her fingers across his arm and hand just before he pulled fully away and she lost his heat, becoming aware of the bitter chill in the night air.

With a tone of regret, he said, “I should be getting home; I have an early practice tomorrow morning.” He stood there for a moment, out of reach, but she saw a play of emotions across his face. “I’d like to call you tomorrow, if that’s okay? I’d really like to see you again, soon.” She reached behind her for the doorknob, amazed at the immensity and disappointment of what she felt as a clear rejection. “Okay. Yeah…that’s fine. Talk to you soon, Daniel. G’night.” Trying to find a way to remove herself from her emotions and failing, she escaped into her home without another word, pressing the door closed gently.

Daniel watched the house quietly for a minute, seeing the lights flip on as Mica moved through the house. He knew he had made a mistake and had hurt her, but he couldn’t see a way around this right now. She was so fragile, and he had seen the scars on her back at Mason’s.  He was tangled up about all these possessive feelings they had kindled in him, when in reality he’d only seen her a couple of times and felt like he barely knew her.

God knew the chemistry was there. Daniel was painfully hard and aching, and he knew if he had followed her into the house, he would have pushed her up against the first hard surface he found in order to bury himself balls-deep inside her, regardless of her injuries. Fuck, he was so hungry for her; she was like oxygen to him, necessary to breathe, but he wanted to create trust between them. This felt different than mere attraction, and he wanted to put in the time to figure out what it was.

23 -
            
Routine things

Stepping out of the shower, she was shivering slightly from the chilly water she’d used to push her libido back into its cave. Mica toweled off roughly, and threw the wet towel over the shower bar in defeat. Naked, she stalked into her bedroom for clean clothes, still deeply stirred by Daniel’s kiss. She was frustrated and getting increasingly angry at him for leaving like that. He seemed to be as into the kiss
as she had been, and maybe more, but he walked away.

She had seen the large erection that tented the front of his pants as he backed away from her, so she really didn’t understand why he would shut her down so completely, unless he was simply uninterested in her sexually. It was hard for her to explain it in that way, given the heat and passion she had found in the shared kiss on her back porch steps. But, he had been in two different situations in which she had offered herself, where she had expressed her eagerness tangibly, and he had pulled away both times.

The kiss tonight had taken her breath away, and she had been held in place by the force of the desire raging through her body. She’d been helpless as he stole her thoughts and tore down all the walls she normally kept built high.
Not really helpless
, she mused
, but a willing participant
.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” she asked her dresser mirror, pulling a favorite shirt over her head. “Surely, if I wanted to get turned down, I’d be doing the pursuing, but
he
wanted to walk me home. I don’t get this, and
dangit
, I’m horny now.” Looking at herself in the Frightened Rabbits shirt, she tilted her head back, and then blew a huge sigh out between her open lips. “Figures, first guy I’ve been attracted to in years and he’s just not into me.”

She moved back to the kitchen, beginning her nightly routine of locking up, glancing quickly out each window as she checked the locks on every entry, turning out lights as she went. From the outside, it appeared to be a solo dance of obsession, with her silhouette silently arriving backlit at each door and window, her hands reaching up to twist the lock closed, open, and closed again, and then the wave of darkness would swallow her up.

Room after room, she completed the ritual until she was back full-circle in her bedroom, which had no outside windows. Just as well, the man who was watching her house drifted backwards into the shadows, and pulled a phone from his coat pocket to make a call as he walked away.

24 -
            
Nightmares

Wearing a dark blue sundress, Emily was running up the long driveway to the big house in her bare feet. The high school senior was waving a piece of paper over her head and yelling loudly for Mica and Mike, giving little jumps and skips every few steps. Mica finished pulling the saddle from the three-year-old Quarter Horse colt she had been working, slung it onto the top rail of the round pen, and looked over her shoulder at her friend as she draped the sodden saddle blanket upside down across the saddle to dry.

Tying the lead rope to the fence, she grabbed a burlap bag and started ragging off the big, sorrel colt, briskly rubbing away the frothy evidence of his efforts. He had worked up quite a sweat as they practiced his slide stop and lead change rolls up and down the fence. She lifted the burlap and waved it like a flag at Emily, catching her attention and laughing as her friend changed her headlong trajectory to intersect Mica there with the horse. “I got in. I got in. I got in!” she yelled in a sing-song voice, still waving the piece of paper back and forth. “I got in. I got in. I got in!”

Mica’s mouth dropped open, and she threw the burlap on the ground, sliding quickly through the fence and running to meet her best friend. “Shut up, you did not!” she screamed, grabbing Emily’s hands with her sweaty ones
and twirling them around.

“I did! I did, Mica. I got in!” Emily didn’t bother to lower her voice; she was too excited about being accepted into their favorite college,
Texas A&M.

Mica laughed at her. “I told you with your grades you’d be a shoe in, Em! Awesome possum, Sis!” She was excited for her friend, and with a full heart, held nothing back. “What does it say? The letter, what does it say?”

Wrapping her arm around Mica’s neck, Em pulled her close for a loud kiss on her temple. “Smack ‘n kisses, Mica,” she said with emphasis, “I. Got. In.” She made a face, scrunching up her nose, “You stink, girlie, and sug’, that shirt is n-a-s-t-y. When is the last time it saw some soap?” Em grinned as she shook the paper in Mica’s face, and then handed over what amounted to her ticket out of town. It hadn’t really sunk in yet, but in Emily’s heart, she knew that after the upcoming summer, she’d be a different person. She’d be leaving Longview and headed to college.

Mica skimmed the letter, her heart full of emotion for her best friend. She stilled as she got towards the end, lifting her gaze up to Emily’s face. “Did you read the whole letter, Em?” she as
ked with a quaver in her voice.

“No, I read that I got in and wanted to tell you right away, so I ran over here since you didn’t answer the phone. Why?” Emily wondered about the change in her friend’s attitude.

“Emily, they are paying for everything. Room, board, tuition, and books—it is all covered. You got a free ride to A&M. Oh. My. God. You are a freakin’ AGGIE now! Aaahhh, Go Aggies! Bleed maroon!” Mica yelled and started boogying around, jerking her body back and forth in an enthusiastic, but uncoordinated dance that Emily joined happily until they were both so out of breath they couldn’t laugh any more.

Picking her head up out of the grass, where they had fallen down exhausted, Mica looked at the colt standing patiently and said, “I have to finish rubbing down this bad boy before Governor gets too stiff. Want to help me?” She knew Emily loved helping with the chores around the ranch.

They crawled through the fence, and Mica untied and handed the cotton lead rope to Emily, pointing her towards the cement pad near the barn, where they bathed the horses as needed. “Take him over there and hold him; he’s stupid about being tied up next to the barn yet. I’ll put this stuff up and come right back out.” Emily walked the colt to the gate and opened it, passing through the gap with him and leaving it wide for Mica to come behind.

Grabbing the saddle, blanket, and burlap bag in her arms, Mica felt the tiredness of her muscles after the long day. She snugged her burden into her hip so she could turn and secure the gate behind her. Shifting it again to a more comfortable position, she carried the tack into the barn, pushing the sliding tack room door sideways with her hip. She reached out, finding the saddletree by feel in the dim room, not bothering to pull the string attached to the light that hung from the ceiling.

Hearing the door slide shut behind her and snick as it locked, she yelled, “Funny, Em. You got me. Eeek, oh, eeek. Oh, no, I am so afraid.” Waiting a moment, she heard a leather scuff of footsteps walking away, and saw a retreating shadow blocking out the light filtering through the cracks between the wallboards. “Em, not funny. Unlock the door and let me out.”

The air was split with a scream that was cut brutally short, and Mica heard hoof beats moving away into the distance at a hard run. “Em, what’s happening? Let me out!” she yelled through the door. Another scream ripped through the barn, and she heard that leather scuff walking in the sawdust back towards the tack room.

There was something that obstructed the light with a shaft of darkness as it moved. That darkness was accompanied by a little wheezing noise, and the sound of sawdust being scattered to either side. “Emily Danielle Schneider, you open this door right this minute,” Mica was really getting mad now, because she didn’t know what was happening, but had a sick feeling in her gut.

There was a loud thump against the tack room door, hard enough to make Mica scream briefly as she watched dust shake down the doorframe from the tremor. Scratching noises sounded against the wood of the door, and there was another hard thump, followed by a smaller one and the sound of ripping fabric.

Mica was too afraid to yell again; she was almost certain this was not a game Emily was playing with her. Softly, she called, “Em, are you there?” and in response, there was another heavy thump against the door that drew a shriek from her. The thump was accompanied this time by a sound that Mica recognized with a violent shiver of terror. Such a small, nearly inaudible sound for a gigantic dump truck load of fright, but even being small, it was a horrible, horrible sound that Mica had heard often over the past three years…the sound of a zipper being lowered.

Mica started pounding on the door with her open hands and fists, screaming as loud as she could, and scratching frantically against the immovable surface. There were no words in the noise, just raw emotions, anger, and distress. She knew what had to be happening on the other side of the door, seeing it in her mind’s eye. She grabbed a pitchfork and attacked the wood, scraping and prying at the edges of the sliding door, trying to open it so she could help her best friend. “No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO! Not her. Not her. NO! NO! NO, Daddy! Not her. Not Emily, please no.”

A rhythmic bumping from the outside of the door mocked her efforts, punctuated with strangled crying. Hands and forearms raw, Mica left bloody prints everywhere she touched. Scrambling deeper into the room, her head was scanning left and right to find something, anything she could use to open the door. She picked up an empty saddletree and swung it at the door as if it was a baseball bat, smashing the wooden frame to splinters, but not making a dent in the door.

A voice broke through the sounds coming from her throat and chest, a young man’s carefree voice, sounding like he was just entering the dark barn from the bright, sunlit outside, where bad things didn’t happen. “Mica, did you let this colt go? He was running—” Trailing off to silence, Mike’s speech failed him as he evidently took in the scene in front of him. “You motherfucking animal!” This was in a yell that increased in volume as it moved towards the door on running footsteps, a shaft of darkness once again moving through the light that came between the wall boards.

A thud against the door again, Mica noted it shook down more dust from the doorframe, wondering absently how much more dust there could be. That thud was followed by a meaty smack that sounded nearly like the noise a kill gun made in the slaughterhouse. More meaty smacks and thuds came, but nearer to the door was a louder crying, no longer sounding smothered. Mica started pounding on the door again, screaming to know what was happening, yelling questions about who was there, still leaving bloody smears across the width of the door.