Strays (Red Kings #1) (9 page)

12

December 12
th

It was way too early in the morning. People weren't on the streets and business owners hadn’t yet started opening their shops. Eastside Mechanics was still closed, the chain link fence surrounding the garage and clubhouse locked tight. Curtains covered every window of the building, not allowing any light into the rooms.

All except one that is.

The bright morning sun filtered through the lone window, casting shadows across the walls and lighting up the whole room. Jackie groaned, turning around and burrowing deeper into Dean's side, trying to get back to sleep. Winter in Macon was pretty mild, the sun out shining and warm despite the time of year. She cursed herself for forgetting to close the curtains before going to bed. Dean was too distracting the previous night and the thought had never even entered her mind.

Said biker grunted next to her and threw a hand across his eyes, unsuccessfully trying to block the sun. “Shit..”

Waking up next to him was nothing new for her at this point and she knew he was awfully grumpy in the morning. That didn’t stop her from quietly laughing at his misfortune. She sleepily blinked up at him, a smile across her face. “Good morning to you too.”

His response was to glare at her and pull the sheet over them, still cursing. “What time is it?” His voice was raspier than usual due to sleep and it sent a delightful chill through her.

“Dunno. It's early.” The words were mumbled as Jackie was busy outlining the tattoos on his chest. Not only did they fascinate her, but she was also rather distracted by the thoughts running rampant in her head.

In the past, she wouldn't have questioned what was going on between her and Dean. It was just casual sex, plain and simple. No strings, barely even friends with benefits. A matter of convenience if nothing else.

But a few days ago, TJ had nonchalantly referred to her as Dean's woman, and since then, he and Ian hadn't stopped calling her that. The words had brought some kind of longing to the surface. She was experiencing emotions that shouldn't have been there. Deciding to finally put her mind at peace, she used the early morning hour to her advantage. Dean wasn't exactly awake, so if she passed some kind of line with him, she could just tell him he was dreaming.

“Hey, Dean?” Her voice was hesitant at first, but at his confirmation, a half-asleep grunt, she took a deep breath and continued more steadily. “What is this? What are we doing?”

At her question, the biker slowly removed the arm he had over his eyes and looked at her. Jackie swallowed and did a mental shake of her head. Apparently he was more awake than she had anticipated.

“What are we doing?” At her nod he continued, trying to avoid the real question he knew she was asking. “We're waking up after enjoying three rounds of really great sex last night.”

She rolled her eyes and kept pushing for an answer. He wasn't going to dodge this one now that she'd finally worked up the courage to ask it. “Yes, I realize that. But what is this? Is it just fabulous sex? I don't care if that is all we are, but I need you to clarify what it is you want from this, just for my own peace of mind.”

Dean sighed and wiped his hand over his eyes. “Women always need something,” he muttered, before shifting himself to sit up slightly. “You wanna label this? Is that it?” She shrank a bit at his sharp tone. She was expecting him to tell her she was nothing more than a good lay, but she wasn't expecting him to be as rude about it. He sighed again and looked at her, softening the tone of his voice. “Look Jack, you don't need a guy like me. You need a doctor or a lawyer, someone who will provide for you, take care of you. Not me.” He cursed under his breath and continued, the look in his eyes unreadable. “In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not the relationship type.”

“I don't want a doctor or a lawyer, Dean.” When he didn't say anything in response, she sighed, but still didn't accept it. Jackie needed him to say it, tell her she was nothing to him, so she could put her mind at ease and stop questioning everything she did, everything he did. “So tell me that this is just meaningless sex and we'll leave it at that.” She watched him carefully, watched him close his eyes and think hard about the next words to pass his lips.

“We both know it's a bit more than that.” He looked at her again, dark eyes staring unwavering at her.

She smiled slightly and laid her head back to its original position on his chest. “I'm not asking for a declaration of love or anything, Dean, so you can relax. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't imagining something a little more than casual going on between us.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, staring at the ceiling as the realization of what their relationship had actually become finally hit him. “No, you're not imagining things,” he whispered to himself.

13

February 20
th

"So it's not like I meant to fuck her sister. Not my fault they look so much alike." Murphy continued to casually dig as he rambled on. "She could have said something. I think that makes her just as guilty. Really, I'm the victim here." Dean stopped briefly to glare at the blonde man, who merely shrugged. "I'm just sayin', I was wrongfully deceived."

"You're just mad cause you got caught," Dean grunted, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Well yeah, I was having fun with what's-her-name. Her sister wasn't even that good in bed." The larger, dark-haired man snorted at his best friend and shook his head. "Don't give me that, asshole. You'd be right by my side at the bar picking up chicks if you didn't have a permanent bed buddy."

"Not my fault you can't keep a woman satisfied." Dean smirked and leaned casually against the handle of his shovel as Murphy sputtered with indignation at the playful jab.

"Me?! I'm a Casanova compared to your emotionless ass. I'm romantic and charming-" Dean openly laughed at this comment. "Hey, fuck you, I'm very charming."

Shaking his head, Dean went back to digging, happy that they were almost done with their laborious task. "Hurry up," he said, urging the other man to focus. "I wanna get this shit done and go home."

"Is the Missus making you a nice, home-cooked meal?" Murphy teased with a grin, casually getting back to work.

"You sound jealous, Murph."

"Nah, I like the revolving door of beautiful ladies that keep my bed warm at night. Although it would be nice for someone to clean my apartment and do my laundry."

Dean snorted at the mental picture of Jackie doing domestic chores. "She's not a maid. Don't think she'd ever touch my dirty clothes."

"Then what's the point?" Murphy asked, confusion clear on his face.

Laughing quietly, Dean pushed his shovel into the dirt and shook his head. "You'll find out one day, man. At least I hope so."

"What's this?" the blonde asked, work forgotten yet again. "You sound a bit smitten."

"Keep digging," Dean grunted, ignoring the other man as he laughed.

“You really like her, don't you?” Murphy asked with a knowing smile, not surprised when his friend continued to ignore him. “That's cool, I like her too. She's a great gal. Not sure what she sees in you though. You're not exactly the prettiest of the bunch.”

Dean sighed in frustration and rolled his eyes, knowing Murphy would continue to chatter away endlessly. “Shut up and dig.”

“Hey, I can multitask.” To make his point, Murphy proceeded to merrily throw some dirt out of the hole with his shovel. “See? I'm a fucking grave-digging master.”

“You're a fucking idiot.”

“Like I said, don't know what she sees in you. You're rude, you're ugly, you're rude-”

“I'm gonna hit you in the face with this shovel.”

“-you threaten people, that's not nice. You're lucky she didn't see me first. You'd have been shit outta luck after she fell in love with me on the spot. Actually...” He stopped digging once again and rubbed his chin deep in thought. “Maybe she is in love with me and just doesn't want to break your heart by dumping you. Or maybe she thinks she's not good enough for me, poor thing.”

Dean took a mock swing with his shovel in Murphy's direction. The blonde jumped back and used his own to block the weapon with a grin and a chuckle. With a glare, Dean went back to work as Murphy twirled his shovel in his hands and made kung fu noises as he jumped around.

“I swear to God-”

Dean's threat was cut off by the sound of a cell phone and the man reached into his pocket to pull out the device, never moving his glare from the blonde still swinging his shovel. “Hey ma. How are you?” Dean asked gently as he answered the phone.

“Hi sweetheart, I'm fine. How are you doing? Eating healthy, yes?” the older woman asked from the other end of the phone.

“Yes ma, just like you said.” The blonde man snickered at the patient tone his friend was using, despite the annoyed glare he was still giving.
“Good boy. And how are things?” she asked eagerly.

“Things are great actually,” Dean replied with a small smile, ducking his head and turning a bit to the side so Murphy couldn't see it.

“Great? Why great? What's happened? Have you met a girl?”

With a chuckle, Dean slowly climbed out of the hole and motioned for Murphy to finish digging. “There might be a girl involved, yeah.”
“What's her name? Where'd you meet her? What does she do?”
 

“Slow down, ma. It's nothing serious.”

His mother scoffed and he could imagine the eye roll she was giving him. “Nothing serious? You are with a girl and things are going somewhere with her, that's a serious thing for you. Now give me details.”

He stopped briefly to take in her words, realizing she had a point if he thought Jackie was important enough to mention. Shaking his head, he grudgingly answered the nosy woman's questions. “Her name is Jackie, she's friends with one of the guys, and she's an artist.”

“An artist? What does that mean?”
“It means she paints and she's very good at it.”

His mother paused briefly in thought before continuing. “Sounds like she doesn't have a real job and is only after your money.”

Dean laughed at her brutal honesty, knowing these two women would get along very well should they ever meet. “She has a job, ma. Pays all her own bills.”

“Yes well, you make sure it stays that way. You need a woman that works hard for a living. How long have you been dating? Are you treating her right?”

Rolling his eyes, he motioned for Murphy to stop digging and pointed at the two dead bodies. Bending down, he grabbed a motionless arm and began dragging the body towards the grave. “I'm a little busy right now, ma. Did you need something?”

“I need to know about you and this girl,” she said matter-of-factly, waiting patiently on the other end of the line to get her answers.

“Ma...” He grunted as he dropped the large body in the hole for Murphy to situate. “Can we talk about this later please? I'm working.”

“Fine, don't humor your poor mother. I'm only waiting desperately for some grandchildren to spoil.” Dean sighed at her dramatics and grabbed the second body as she continued. “When are you coming to visit? You live an hour and a half away and yet I never see you.”

“I'll be up there as soon as I can. It's just been really busy around here the last few months.”

“Busy? Yeah, I can see you've been getting real busy, sweetheart.”

He dropped the body in the grave next to the first one and turned away from the scene to finish his conversation. “Ma, I'll come see you in the next week or two. I promise.”

“You better or else I'm coming down there.”

“Yes ma'am, I hear you. I gotta go now though, I'll see you soon.”

Dean could hear an ungracious scoff on the other end of the phone. “We'll see about that. Love you, dear.”

“Love you too, ma,” he replied with a small smile and hung up the phone, grabbing his shovel from the ground to start filling in the grave.

“That was beautiful, really.”

Dean threw a load of dirt at the blonde man, who sputtered in mock disgust as he climbed out of the hole. “Don't make me tell your mother that you're being an asshole.”

“Don't make me bury you in this hole.”