Page 67 of Tiger Queen

My phone rang on the dashboard. Another call from mom. I quickly tapped the screen to send it to voicemail.

“Boyfriend calling you?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Except for David and Anthony.”

I glanced over at him. “I wouldn’t call them my boyfriends either.”

“What would you call them?”

I sighed. “I don’t know.”

He laughed like it was the funniest joke in the world.

“Is it true what you said about your father back there?”

“I said a lot back there.”

“How you hated him.”

Jake was silent for a long while as we bounced along the country road.

“Everyone worshiped him,” he finally said. “Because he was crazy and different. He was entertaining to them, and they loved him for it. But they thought it was all an act. A character he was putting on for laughs. Truth was, that was really him. He was crazy all the time, even when nobody else was around. Paranoid as all hell. Held grudges. He was mean as hell, too.”

“Is that why you hate coming back here? Bad memories?”

“Mostly.”

“What’s the rest? Because of Lara?”

I felt his eyes open without having to glance over. When I did look over, his stare was intense. Like I had crossed a line.

“Sorry,” I said. “I’m just curious, is all.”

“He never let me live that down,” he said bitterly. “It was a joke to him, the way we all shared Lara. Brought it up whenever he wanted to hold something over me. You won’t share your candy bar with me, but you’ll share a woman with your brothers. Fuck, he was such an asshole.”

“I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“Yeah, you did,” he replied pointedly. “Because you’re wondering about David and Anthony and if it’ll work out. Don’t try to deny it. I don’t blame you for worrying. Nothing good ever lasts.”

We drove in silence the rest of the way home.

Jake was asleep by the time we pulled into the Crazy Carl’s Zoo parking lot. I turned down the side road and drove past the employee trailers. My headlights swept across them and I saw Mary Beth standing outside her trailer, talking on a cell phone while gesticulating with her free hand. Then the headlights passed on and she was bathed in darkness again.

I parked next to Carl’s monster truck in front of the house. I went around to the passenger side and tried to pull him out. It was like trying to move a stubborn tiger.

“Come on,” I said. “You can’t sleep in the car.”

“Yuh huh,” he said. “I’m happy here.”

I reached inside to unbuckle his seat belt, and my hand brushed against the front of his jeans. It was completely by accident. But once I had done it, I couldn’t help but notice the thick rod running down one leg, perfectly outlined against the denim.

That’s the biggest cock I’ve ever seen in my life, I thought.

Suddenly Jake pulled me down onto him and kissed me. I grunted with surprise, then sighed into his whiskey-flavored lips. Alcohol aside, his grip on my waist was firm and stable. His body was hard underneath me, from his massive cock underneath my lap to the chest my hands were pressed against.

We had spent so much time arguing that it felt so good to finally click with him. To do something together that helped the zoo. It was easy to ignore his incredible sexiness when he was being an asshole, but after seeing the softer side of him…

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