The Junkyard Boys (10 page)

Clover’s beautiful face turned white as a sheet, and I thought she was going to throw up right on my bedroom floor. It was one thing to hear the story, but something entirely different to see it firsthand. The disappointment in her eyes was like a fist slamming into my gut, and I hated myself for being the cause of her grief. I needed her to believe I wasn’t that person anymore, that I no longer needed revenge to feel worthy. I fought like hell to bury that dirty, lice-infested kid along with his drunken father’s insults to become something more, something better. I would never be that person again. That person was weak and lacked the discipline it took to succeed in life. He was bitter and lonely and wanted to punish those who’d made him that way. No, I would never be him again, but only if I had Clover by my side.

“Would you please drive me home, Range? I’m suddenly very tired and I didn’t tell my parents I would be out all night.”

“Please don’t do this, tootsie baby. Give me a chance to explain.”

“It’s ok, Range. I just need a little time to think about things. Please, just take me home.”

She looked so fucking sad as she pleaded with me with her eyes to take her home. Tonight would not be the night for explanations. She was lost to me for the moment, but I would get her back. I had to. Clover quickly found the clothes she was wearing earlier in the day and retreated to the bathroom to get dressed. I was no longer allowed the privilege of seeing her beautiful naked body that an hour ago I was balls deep inside of. I couldn’t blame her for pulling away. The thought of her being with someone else made me want to hurt someone, so I could only imagine how she was feeling. She emerged from my bathroom fully dressed and handed me my shirt she had been wearing. I wanted her to keep it, keep me close to her.

“I’m ready whenever you are, Range.”

“I…sure, let’s go.”

I opened the bedroom door and allowed her to pass first, so that I could lock it behind me. Of course, as soon as we entered the living room, we heard all kinds of moaning and grunting coming from Max’s room. Clover quickened her pace and hurried out the front door with a huff all the way to my truck. I had to get her the fuck outta here and fast while planning a way to dispose of three bodies in one night. Not an easy task.

The ride to her house was as silent as I expected it to be, both of us lost in our thoughts. As soon as I pulled up to the front of her house, she jumped from the truck like her ass was on fire. I couldn’t let her leave like this.

“Can I call you later so we can talk?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Range. I’m really tired and have a lot of things to do to get ready for work on Monday. Thanks for driving me home. Good night.”

I would give her this play because I knew she needed it, but one way or another, she was going to talk to me. I just had to give her time.

“Ok, baby. I’ll see you soon.”

With one final look she was gone, and I was just as pissed as I was before I left my house. I had to talk to Buck and fast. I knew that old bastard was probably still awake playing with that damn cat, so I wasn’t concerned when I reached for my phone before I even pulled away from the curb. He answered on the third ring, sounding as grumpy as he always did.

“Who the fuck’s this, calling me this time of night? This better be life or death, or I’m gonna have someone’s balls for breakfast.”

“It’s me, you old bastard. Quit your hollering. I need to talk to you.”

“You ran my yard in the ground already, boy?”

It didn’t matter to Buck how old we were. He still called us boys whenever he spoke to any of us. It was his way of reminding us we were never going to be as old or as tough as he was.

“No, I haven’t run the yard in the ground. How could you even think that shit? I’m calling you about Maxwell. I need to know what to do about him.”

“What the fuck you mean, do about him? What’s that little asshole done now?”

I’m not sure why I found it so difficult to explain this to him. It wasn’t like we hadn’t discussed this before. Max’s behavior had always been wild, but now it was just plain reckless. I worried about him, especially now that I had Clover in my life. I wanted him to find the same sort of happiness I’d found. A woman to call his own, and not a whore like Marci.

“He’s been having a lot of people over, strange people, and I don’t like it. It’s dangerous and his activities are making us uncomfortable.”

“Who the fuck is us? I know Sebastian ain’t talking shit, and Jason and the other boys are still on deployment, so who’s this “us” that’s uncomfortable?”

Buck was definitely too smart for his own good. Even though we’d talked about this in the past, I’d never called him out of the blue to complain about it. There was no way around telling him about Clover, so I knew I might as well bite the bullet.

“I’ve been seeing someone for a little over two weeks now. She’s different somehow, special. I don’t want her to have to deal with this shit.”

He was quiet all of a sudden on the other end of the line, like he was thinking of a solution to my little problem. I was about to tell him never mind, that I would figure it out somehow. Maybe I could rent a little crash pad somewhere in town that was cheap, where Clover and I could spend time together without all the drama. It wasn’t something I wanted to do and she certainly deserved more than just an empty room with a bed in it. I could tell how much she enjoyed being at my house, how amazed she was by the scenery and the openness of it. I didn’t want to take that away from her.

“I’ll talk to him, set him straight. Don’t worry about it for now. Just spend time with your girl. Max is complicated and needs to be handled differently.”

I didn’t see what was so complicated. Max liked to fuck, always had, but Buck wasn’t going to tell me any more about it. It was a deal he had with all the boys. He never shared our situations with the others unless we agreed to it. He always said that when his boys trusted him with information, he would take it to his grave. This was another reason why we trusted him so much. Not only did he care for our physical well-being, but our mental one as well.

“Ok, sounds good to me. Before I forget, there was a guy looking for you today. Said he was a friend of the family, which I know is a bunch of bullshit. Told him you were gone and left it at that.”

“What sort of guy was looking for me?”

“He was a biker, judging by the cut he was wearing, young guy about my age. Didn’t say much after I told him you were gone. Just took off toward town.”

“Huh. That’s strange considering I’ve been off the grid for years. I don’t like it. Keep your eyes open, kid. He shows up again, you call me right away. You got that?”

“Yeah, I got it. I’ll talk to you soon, old man. Say hi to Pussy for me.”

Buck never said good-bye when we talked, just hung up, so I wasn’t surprised when the line went dead. I drove back to my place, thinking about everything that had happened this evening. How it felt to have Clover in my bed for the first time. I could have fucked her sweet pussy all night if it weren’t for that whore Marci running her mouth to my beautiful girl. One way or another, I had to take care of this and get my girl back in my bed where she belonged.

Clover

I snuck into my house as quietly as possible when Range dropped me off. I didn’t want to see or talk to anyone about the events of the evening. I tossed and turned all night, thinking about that bitch Marci and all the shit she’d said about her and Range. I knew I had absolutely no right to be angry with him over something he did before we met, but the way she told me made me downright sick to my stomach. It was bad enough she was standing in the kitchen buck-naked, where anyone could walk in and see her. She made it seem like I was just a temporary distraction for Range, while she was busy entertaining Max and creepy Mitch.

The thought of her and Range together filled me with so much disgust I couldn’t even bear to look at him. All I could think about were the things he and I had just finished doing and wonder if he had done them with her. How could I ever compete with that perfect hair and her willingness to do anything when it came to sex? I was definitely being a hypocrite by judging him for his past. I mean, it wasn’t like I was a virgin, but having it thrown in my face and then confirmed as truth was simply too much for me to work through in that moment. I knew running was not an option when it came to Range. He’d simply find me and demand I talk to him about it. I just didn’t know if I wanted to hear any more about the man he was in the past. I just didn’t have the time to have the nervous breakdown I deserved. I hid out in my room for the entire day on Sunday and ignored all the texts and calls from Range, but now it was Monday morning and time for work. I dragged my tired ass out of bed to get ready, waiting as long as I could so that I could make a hasty exit without all the questions from my sisters. Once they found out about Range and I having sex for the first time, they would be all over my ass for details, none of which they were ever going to get. I could hear the usual chatter coming from downstairs, so like the coward I was, I snuck out the back door.

I arrived at Fosters’ on time as usual, my mind still moving in a thousand different directions. Mrs. Foster said we had an order that would take most of the day to complete and we would have to take turns working out front stocking inventory and putting the final touches on the caramel and dark chocolate bars that were ordered by one of our premier clients. We began working with Mr. Foster running the front, Mrs. Foster adding the caramel to the molds, and me working the petal to fill before cooling. I couldn’t keep my mind steady on this mundane task long enough to make the assembly line move smoothly. I overfilled the molds, causing the chocolate to spill out all over the place and completely mess up the conveyer belts. Chocolate was getting everywhere: in my hair, on my apron, and I could only imagine how much was across my face.

“You seem to be a bit out of sorts today, dear. Perhaps you should relieve Mr. Foster with inventory duties.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Foster, it’s just been one of those days. I’ll go ahead and finish the inventory and run the register out front if any customers come in.”

“Sure, dear, send that sexy husband of mine on back so I can see if I can get him as messy as you are while we complete the order.”

I gave her a weak smile and trudged my way out front like the totally inept employee I was today. Hopefully, I could finish out the day without messing that up too much. Most of my anxiety was coming from the fact that I knew Range would be here to pick me up after work and he was going to want to talk about Saturday night. There was no way he was going to let me hide for another day without a confrontation. As much as I dreaded seeing him, I had to admit to myself that I missed him like crazy. I needed to see his handsome face and to be held in his strong arms to know everything was ok with us. I hated not seeing or talking to him for the last two days. It felt like I had lost my best friend in the world and my chest ached with the thought. He had become such an important part of my life, and after we shared our bodies on Saturday night, my feelings were cemented, never to be broken. He was the heart and soul of me, and I couldn’t help but hope he felt the same way as I did, regardless of the past. I didn’t want to lose him.

These were the thoughts that plagued me as I kneeled below the glass display cases in order to stock the new batch of suckers that arrived today. I heard the sound of the bell over the door, indicating I had a customer, so I yelled out I would be right with them without looking up from my spot on the floor. I stood up to greet the customer, and my chest constricted with who was standing in front of me at the counter. It was the motorcycle man who’d been asking for Buck the other day, staring at me with his head slightly tilted to the side. He looked cleaner than he had days before, which wasn’t a surprise, since he had been road weary, but I was surprised to see he was actually quite handsome in a dangerous sort of way. He wore his customary black attire of his leather vest with the name “Craze” written in the corner. He had striking, blue eyes that looked like sapphires, and he was smiling at me with perfectly straight teeth and a deep set of dimples in his cheeks. If it weren’t for his rugged posture and a noticeable scar over his right eye, he would almost look boyish and playful in nature. I had to get my shit together and treat him like any other customer so he didn’t realize how nervous I really was.

“Hello. Welcome to Fosters’. Can I help you with something?”

“Sure, sugar. I’m looking for something sweet I can suck and lick all day. You got any suggestions?”

“Um, ok, why don’t you take a look around? We have a lot of items to choose from. Just let me know if you want something from the display cases.”

He gave me a wink and slowly walked around the store like he was really finding it hard to make a selection. The longer he spent looking around, the more I wished Mr. Foster would return to relieve me. There was something dangerous about this man. I’d noticed it the first time I saw him and he reinforced that today by showing up here. He was after something. I just didn’t know what it was. I watched him closely as he made his way around the store, stopping only once in front of a display of imported chocolates. He returned to the counter empty-handed, but he still carried his smile.

“Didn’t find anything you liked? Perhaps you would like to try some of the homemade chocolates we have on sale today?”

“No, sugar. What I want isn’t in the display case. It’s standing behind the display case.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but my brain was on pause. I couldn’t get the words to form, so I just stood there, looking like a complete fool while he shot me another wink and turned to exit the store. It took me another minute to snap out of my stupor, just in time to see Mrs. Foster come out front to relieve me.

“Everything ok, dear? You look flushed.”

“Um, yes. I’m fine, thanks. I’ll just go finish up with Mr. Foster.”

I didn’t have the time to deal with this shit. I had enough on my plate without worrying about some biker who made a pass at me. He was probably on his way to the tattoo shop next door and decided to stop in for a snack. It happened all the time with those guys. I was sure he was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him. I had to get my over-active imagination under control and concentrate on what was really bothering me today. I needed to see Range, and I needed him now. He was the only one who could lift this weight off my chest and allow me to breathe easier, knowing he still wanted me as much as I wanted him.