Page 19 of The #2 Guy

8

Johnny

My arm cradles her head against my chest. In order to get her to stay, I need to convince her I’m not the ruthless killer she thinks I am. “As much as I’d like to stay naked with you all day, we need to get up.”

She murmurs something intelligible. I smack her on the ass, rolling out of bed. “We need to talk. We can’t stay here much longer and it’s time we finally get all this shit between us sorted, babe.”

She’s sated and languid. I went to town on that ass, fucking her good and hard, letting her know just exactly who owns her. But I don’t want her as my prisoner, my stupid-ass heart wants her to be my wife. I want her to pick me. Believe in me. Choose me, to be her number one guy. “Go shower, I have fresh jeans and boots for you. It’ll feel good to hike out in the sun.”

“My eyes are fine. Thanks to Roger. He made sure I had a UV light.”

“Fucking Rog. Playing the caring hero. I have polarized lenses for you either way. We can picnic past the orchard by a creek.” I try not to sound eager. I never overtly romanced her in the past, we just kind of fell into bed and stayed there. We had some romantic moments for sure, but I never orchestrated them. Being out here in Springdale, Oregon is a romantic setting all in itself.

After a cool shower and putting on some jeans, I head to the kitchen finding what I need to pack a picnic. She’s not eating enough. Telling me her food in captivity was better than what I’m serving her. Sassy Wench. Women always went nuts for Rog being a former enforcer for an MC, but I never thought Christine would catch feelings for her jailer. I’m hoping our reunion is squashing that shit. If not, I’ll have to call his wife and spill the details on just what and who he’s been hiding right under her feet. Beneath Rog’s bar and tavern is where he kept my girl for a year. Giving her small pleasures, feeding her his coveted recipes… Dev will flip the fuck out for sure.

“Babe? You ready?” I rap my knuckles on the door to her room twice. She answers and I’m almost knocked back on my feet at the sight of her freshly showered with her hair still wet and curling at the ends. I want to take her straight back to bed. Fuck the picnic.

“Don’t look at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“You know what?” She smacks a hand into my chest, pushing me back so she can walk by. “Besides, I’m famished. I need food and coffee.”

“Bossy, thing.” I murmur, swatting her ass as I follow behind. I don’t quite trust this easy truce. As much as I want these moments to be real, I know we can’t just fall back in time because even when I thought I had her, I didn’t.

I grab the basket of goodies and pull her hand, holding it tightly in mine. I might not say it in words, but it’s clear I’m not letting go.

“Is there any coffee in there?” Her brow lifts.

“A thermos full.”

“Good. Because you have some explaining to do.”

“Me?”

“I was left in the cellar of a pub for a year.”

“Better than where they wanted to put you.”

She shudders and I pull her in close. “Never. I’ll never let that happen.”

“Where do we go from here?”

“I don’t know. Let’s start with a walk. We can do that can’t we?”

She nods, as I lead her to the mudroom where she slips into a pair of new boots. We both breathe in deeply when we step outside. I hand her a pair of tinted shades. “Just in case your eyes are still sensitive.” She nods, putting them on. I still have her hand tucked in mine and together we walk down the lane toward the orchard and pond. The leaves crunch under our feet, the sun shines high and just for a moment I feel peace. The kind you wait your whole life to find.

“This is beautiful. After being locked in the dark for so long, I’d forgotten how vibrant the leaves in fall can be. Everything seems crisper. Even the smells of wet leaves and curling chimney smoke.” A tear slips beneath her sunglasses. The single tear crushing my heart. Shit.

Pausing, I pull her in tight. “I was locked up with you. My heart and soul; caged.”

She sobs into my chest. She’s a strong woman. Not being afraid to be vulnerable with me makes me want her even more. “My brother. He’s all I have left. He must have grieved for me. Held a memorial service…,”

“He never gave up looking for you.”

“You did?” She lifts her head off my chest.

“Babe. You need to understand. I know the mob. The players… the price for betrayal. I believed Roque when he said my family had it done. He hid the truth for me because he knew I wasn’t ready to face you. I went berserk when shit blew up. I lost my title as Don. My own crew turned against me. Roque stepped in and The Lamatti Crime family was folded into his. I’m the second now. I’ll never be at the top; his cousins are blood. I’m not. But I’ll be his second—until the day I die.”

“I-I’m not sure what you want from me. Or what I want for myself. My former life is gone. All my friends and colleagues think I’m dead. I can’t go back and can’t move forward. Not with a price on my head.”

“If I could… if you could change things. Where would you go? Who would you be?”

She shrugs, reaching down to examine a brightly colored maple leaf. “I’ve always been interested in science. But I never pursued it since my brother made me vow to find you and avenge our parent’s murders.”

“You’d be a kick ass forensic expert, I’ll bet. Especially with your FBI background.”

“But I can’t ever be. I’d have to start all over. It’d take too long.”

I feel the smirk on my lips. “Nothing is impossible with us. Don’t you see that yet?” A spark ignites. I’m taking a page straight from Roque’s book. I’ll give her back everything. Her whole life. All she has to do is fork her whole heart over to get it. “We are watching a special movie tonight. Did I tell you I happen to be an international film star?”

She rolls her eyes. “You did porn when I was locked up?”

“Hah! Baby, I saved all this for you…,” I point my assets. “You’ll see. In the meantime, let’s make a picnic here and just take a deep breath. Sound good?”

She nods. “It does. To pretend to be normal for a while… that this is normal… even an hour is just what I need.”

* * *

I laida blanket down in the grass, hand-fed her grapes, taking a sick amount of pleasure watching the juice from the fruit dribble on her lips. I kept touching her. Tucking a piece of windswept hair off her cheek; pressing a finger to a crumb clinging to her lip… then it was grinding my mouth on hers to taste everything on her tongue. I didn’t mean to take her down by the river but I couldn’t stop myself and when her arms shook as they pressed me closer, I knew in my gut that she was just as a slave to our lust as I was. My eyes rolled back in my head as my hips surged forward and the tip of my cock parted her soaked folds. In seconds, I was buried deep. I grinded down on her in slow, lazy strokes, rotating my shit in circles while my tongue traced her nipples. I put it down on her with all the moves I had until her eyes rolled back with mine. We fucked in the grassy meadow for hours. It was all tantric and shit. I laughed when my girl’s legs wobbled as she tried to stand. I plucked the leaves from her hair, kissed her long and hard until we were both out of breath all over again.

“You look cozy.” Bowl of popcorn in hand, I plop down on the couch where she sits with her feet tucked under her. “Buckle up babe, this movie is gonna blow your mind.” Grinning like the ass I am, I point the remote to Netflix finding “Savage Poet” listed under my favorites.

“What the f…?” Her mouth hangs open as Roque smirks on the cover of his own blockbuster movie poster. “Don’t worry, I’m in it too… so are you…kind of… I wanted Selena Gomez to play you but instead I got some B list…”

She clamps a hand over my mouth as the opening credits finish rolling. It’s the opening scene. The one where Romina wakes up in the woods and wraps her hands around her own throat while gazing up at the starry sky. A young girl’s voice narrates the scene and then flashes back hours earlier…

I lay my thick arm around her shoulders and much to my delight, she curls into my side as we both watch utterly transfixed as Roque and Romina play themselves, sharing their fucked-up dark love story with the world.

“That was…. Utterly amazing.”

“Do you still hate him. Hate me?”

She shrugs. “It’s a lot to process. I presume it’s more truth than fiction?”

I nod. “He gained his freedom by saying it was all art. Some fucked up penned love story from dueling points of view written across time but yeah, it’s true. And they both got their fairy tale in the end. Do you think we can still get ours?” I whisper with my eyes glued to her mouth. Those lips… she bites the bottom one, eliciting a groan from me. “Baby…” I lower my head, fastening my lips to hers. This kiss in tender. Sweet. A slow burn that will ignite fast.

“Johnny…,” She moans into the kiss.

“Yeah, baby, I’m your man. Now and forever.”

“I want you.”

“Thank fuck. Cause there’s no one else I want. Now or ever.”

Her mouth opens wider and we move, sinking down on the couch. My knees press down into the cushions as my hands stroke down her shoulders, molding her breasts. I flick one hardened bud while rolling the other between my fingers. Her nipples are pert beneath her cotton shirt. “Say it. Say your mine. Give in to me. Don’t run. Don’t leave me for your old life when we could make a new one instead.”

In her eyes I see she’s still torn; still unsure and it fucking breaks me. I want her more than she wants me, and it burns. No, fucking scalds me.

“You know what? Fuck this? It’s time you feel tormented.” I pin her wrists above her head, while digging out the zip tie I keep in my back pocket. I always have one ready because she’s been so fucking hot before running cold. I fasten it around her while she curses and struggles against me. But I won’t be deterred.

I rip her shirt off her body with my bare hands exposing her full C’s. I smack them. “Fuck you, for making me feel. Fuck you for breaking my heart. Fuck you for denying me my fucking happy ending.”

“Well fuck you for taking my life away. Fuck you for making me crave this… and taking so long to come get me.”

I hiss as she lifts her ass up to bump my engorged dick with the sweet heat of her pussy. I roll a nipple between two fingers, pinching hard as my teeth scrape along the column of her throat. “I can smell your arousal, baby. It makes me hard as fuck. You want this?” I lean back, taking myself out and letting her see just how hard and thick she’s made me. I let the heavy head of my cock rest against her lips. “Take me inside your mouth. Now.” I hiss as the head of my cock slides between those lips. Her eyes are shooting daggers at me and I feel the scrape of teeth against me. It’s both pleasure and pain just like what I did to her. The pain only intensifies the pleasure. My balls seize up wanting to spurt my load down the back of her throat. But I want to come inside that tight pussy. I want to coat her womb with my seed, marking her.

“Easy there. I can make you hurt, too.”

“Just shut up and fuck me already.”

I slide down her body. A light coat of sweat glistens on her flushed skin. My tongue blazes a trail down from her breasts, across her flat stomach until I reach the honey pot between her legs that makes me lose my damn mind every time, I get near it. My hands spread her apart and then I’m there, diving right the fuck in to eat out my girl. My teeth scrape against her clit before my lips seize the tiny bud.

“Johnny!” She screams, but I won’t let up. I fuck her with my tongue, then my fingers all while ravishing her clit with my mouth. Just when I feel her tense, seizing up on the verge of going over the cliff, I abruptly withdraw.

“What?”

“I won’t beat you, deprave you of food or torture you the way other men would. My punishment is denying you the one thing you want from me.”

“You are a fucking dick tease.”

“Well, I’ve never been called that before,” I laugh.

“Finish yourself off.”

“I will. And you’ll watch. Wishing I was deep inside you when I come. Watch, little FBI.” I stroke myself from root to tip. “Beg for me and I’ll change my mind.”

“Never!”

“Wrong answer. And don’t think you’ll get a chance to finish yourself off. Can’t do that with your hands tied, now can you?”

“UGH! I hate you!”

“I know, baby. I know. I love those tits. I dreamed about them for months… fuck, baby, I smell you…”

“Cock tease! You tease me, into thinking I’m getting that dick.”

“You could’ve. All you have to do is fork over your heart.”

“My heart for your dick?”

“Sounds like more than a fair trade to me. I mean look at how glorious it is.”

She snorts. “You know what Johnny? Your humor is one of the things I love about you. Only you could make a dick joke in the middle of something like this.”

My heart hammers hard. She’s a worthy opponent. She didn’t say she loved me but loved something about me. “Close Christine, but not quite the words I need. Admit you love me.”

She shakes her head.

“So be it.”

I let the head of my dick slide between her folds, until it finds her clit. I press hard against it rhythmically, watching until she’s panting and, on the verge, again before leaving her cold.

Then I wrap my fist around my cock and come all over her.

“Ass.”

“Yep. You can watch it as I walk away, while wishing your hands were on it, driving my hips deeper into that tight, little cunt of yours.”

“So much for a happy ending!” She yells.

“Did you think I was referring to sex?” I pivot, “when I was referring to the keys to a castle? Girl, I had a dream and a ring waiting to wrap around your finger.”

From the stunned look in her eyes, I realize she never really knew just how far gone I was for her. I’m a potty-mouthed, trash talking kind of sexual guy. “You’re just gonna leave me here like this? With my hands tied, in ripped clothes with your come all over me?”

I sigh, “It’s a vision actually. I find it artistically quite beautiful really. I’m going to shower; you can wait for yours a bit longer.”

Her scream of rage only makes my steps lighter. I denied her two orgasms, and she’s unable to take care of it herself. I’m going to drive her mentally mad until she begs me for what only I can give her.

“WAIT!” My hands pause on the railing… “PLEASE JOHNNY! You want me to beg, I’ll beg, okay? My body craves yours. I need that big, fat dick of yours inside me right motherfucking now!”

“Well, I already knew that.” I reply flatly without turning around. “That’s not what I needed to hear.” I ascend two steps when I hear the broken words spoken as if it was ripped from a piece of her soul.

“I’m sorry.”

Her two words hang heavy in the air between us. Hanging my head, my heart full of the weight of all the heartbreak between us, I turn.

“Me, too.” Our eyes meet across the distance between us. She chokes on a sob and in seconds I’m at her side, with a knife out cutting the bonds at her wrists. I sweep her into my arms, soothing her soft cries and carry her up to my room. I take us both straight into a hot shower, just holding her as I gently wash her body. I’m a tender warrior now, not the mad man who feasted on her flesh.

She holds me tight, laying her wet head against my pecs. “Can you forgive me? For lying? For ruining both our lives?” Her eyes are sincere as I cradle her cheek.

“I’ve already made my peace with you when I thought you were dead. I’m a simple man, Christine. You know that. I’m just as happy eating beef stew as I am dining at a five-star restaurant. I don’t need anything else but this…,” I rest my hand on her beating heart.

“It was always yours. I just deluded myself into thinking otherwise.”

“What about your crush on Rog?” I growl low in my throat, feeling my fists clench.

“He was… just hope. Hope that someone alive cared for me. He was the only human being on Earth who I had contact with for a year. But in the dark, it was always you, Johnny.”

My throat tightens. Finally. Finally, I’m somebody’s number one guy. Before I cry like an absolute puss and ruin my street cred with her, I turn off the taps. Tonight, will be different. Finally, I’ll have her heart when we soar to the sky and come back down.

I cradle her in my arms to bed, giving zero fucks we’re both wet. Pushing the hair from her eyes, I make a promise, “I’ll never leave you in the dark alone again. From this moment forward it’s just the two of us.” I finish my promise with a tender kiss before my hands gently roam down her arm. Very lightly, using only two fingers I skim back up before lowering my head to suckle her breasts one at a time. Her hands cradle my head against her, and I feel the heat and slickness from her core on my bare thigh. This woman was fucking made for me. I threw my empire away for her and I’d do it all over again. This time when I touch her, there’s no torment. It’s almost lazy in its intensity. Slowly, with just the right amount of pressure, my fingers pump in and out before rolling her clit between. Her hips arch up, bumping into mine. Her body is an instrument and I’m the maestro playing all her chords.

“I-I love you…”

Finally.

“It’s always been you…,” I hiss as the tip of my dick nudges its way through her tight entrance on his way home. She wraps her legs around the small of my back, while lifting her hips to meet my thrusts. I want it to last but we never can. It always feels to damn good. Sweat beads across my brow as I fight my own climax, needing my girl to come first. I reach between us, finding her nub and roll it with the pad of my index finger.

“That feels so good, Johnny. Touch me just like that… don’t stop.”

“Not this time. Daddy is gonna make you come real good.”

“Yes…,” she pants as the firm breasts bounce to the rhythm, I fuck her to. I pull out to rub her pearl with the head of my cock before riding back in.

“I’m so close…”

Getting back to work, I lift one of her legs, hooking it over my shoulder while I lift that ass up. The new angle enables me to pound deeper against her G-spot while my free hand plays with her clit. “John!” She cries, coming off the bed.

“Baby!” I moan, as my eyes roll back, my balls tighten and spurt after spurt of hot come finally releases into that tight little cunt that’s my own personal sweet spot.

I tuck her under the crook of my arm, she lays her head across my chest as we both listen to the sounds of our hearts racing together. My lips find the top of her head. I finally feel content after years of turmoil. My hands stroke lazy circles across her back. Soon her breathing slows, her limbs relax, and my woman lets herself sleep in my arms. Not much later, I nod off too.

The buzzing of my phone startles me from a deep sleep. Blinking in the dark, I’m confused when I find myself wrapped around two large pillows instead of my woman’s naked body. Rog’s name is flashing across the screen but ignore his call. “Baby?” But the rooms are silent. “What is she up to?” I pull on my track pants, silently padding barefoot down the stairs.

“What the fuck?”

My heart shatters into a million pieces at her feet. I’ve been here before but the sucker punch to my gut still hurts just as much. She found one of the burner phones and got around the passcode system in one of the inn’s laptops. She senses my presence, turning with wide eyes, the burner glued to her ear.

I cross my arms over my chest, feeling the bulging veins pop in my neck. My eye twitches.

Twice.

“I-I have to go,” she stammers. I can hear the person on the other end shouting for her not to hang up.

“How much time do we have before the rescue calvary comes?”

She shrugs.

Rog lights up my damn phone again. “What?” I bark.

“I need you. Now. Sassy’s. We’ve been ambushed. I’m under siege. Creed is in Canada. I don’t have enough men.”

“I’ll be there. I’m in the mood to kill tonight, anyway.”

“Johnny! Please! It’s not what you think. I-I couldn’t sleep. It’s not right to let my brother think I’m dead… that’s he’s been tormented all this time.”

“And you couldn’t wait until morning to call? For me to check it was safe?”

“We are safe. I won’t let anyone lock you up.”

“Yeah right,” I snort. “I don’t have time to deal with this right now. Someone who always has my back actually needs me. I don’t have time to deal with you. You betraying bitch!”

“No! It wasn’t like that. Please listen—"

I wave my hand. “Fooled me twice…. never again.” I rip the phone from her hand, pulling out the sim card smashing both with my fist. I yank her forward, finding something to tie her up with until I can come back. I riffle through a few draws. Lips twisting as I find a pair of handcuffs. “This will do.”

“Please, Johnny. I love you. You have me—all of me… I swear it.”

I close my eyes for a split second. “It’s too late. My humpty-dumpty heart’s too broken for those words to put back together again. Instead of my love, you’re gonna get nothing but all my hate. Buckle up Christine, this trip to lover’s paradise is over.”

Yanking her out of the room, and with little time to spare as Rog sends another SOS text, I click her wrist in one cuff, fastening the other around a pole in the utility room. I stuff my feet into boots. Then open a locker taking out a long gun and two semis. Picking up a reusable grocery bag off a hook I dump three boxes of ammo in. I don’t even bother with a coat.

“Johnny! Where are you going. You can’t just leave me like this.”

“The hell, I can’t.”

“Rog is under an ambush. If I don’t come back… well then I guess you’ll be rescued after all… probably by Roque and when he learns you betrayed me twice, nothing will save you from a watery grave in the Hudson. The one he originally had planned for you.”

I slam the door to the garage, grabbing the fob key to the Suburban. There’s a fleet of fucking cars in here. If anyone looked closely it’d be easy to tell this place is much more than just an Inn and Spa. It’s a safehouse where we launder cash and keep supplies.

I push the gas, letting the rage of her latest betrayal fuel me. Fuck love. Fuck heartbreak. Fuck how good she feels in my arms, it’s not worth it. I can’t kill the girl. But I never want to see her face again. Her kiss is sugar laced with venom and the hit to my system a second time is fatal. I’ll never love again. Fuck it. I’d rather live in isolation surrounded by cats.

I navigate the streets through the dark. I need to focus. Somehow breathe. If I don’t, I’ll get myself and Rog killed tonight. I’ll deal with Christine later. I’m gonna make her watch me bed dozens of women. Make her wish it were her. That’ll burn. I slow the SUV and cut down a dirt road that’s parallel to the restaurant and tavern Roger owns. “Fuck,” I mutter. Whoever ambushed Rog knew about this dirt lane. They’re vans and bikes are here, and the stupid fools didn’t leave anyone to watch their backs. I pull a gym shirt off the floor of the SUV roll it between my hands and open the gas tank to one of the vans. I stuff it down then take it out. I flick my lighter to the end, stuffing it back inside then run through the woods.

The explosion rings in my eyes. With any luck, the boom will be enough of a distraction to buy Rog some time.

Branches covered in frozen frost swipe my bare torso as I maneuver through the trees while trying to assess the situation. From my vantage point, hidden in the trees the flash of gunfire is visible inside the bar. It’s surrounded. I’ll have to use the tunnel. Moving left, I lift a dead tree stump attached to a trapdoor. Moving as fast as I can I descend the steps, sprinting through the tunnel that leads to the cellar where Christine lived for so long. The smell of her still lingers in the damp air. Floral shampoo and just… her. Rog is trying to prevent them from descending the basement stairs as he fires in rapid succession.

“About time you got here. I’m almost out.” I drop the shopping bag I had at my wrist. Rog doesn’t waste any time reloading.

“Who are they?”

“Chinese mob from Cali. I guess they figured it was Creed and Roque moving in on their business not the Cartel from Tijuana.”

“How many?”

“Twenty.”

“Fuck. Anyone else here?”

“No. I was just locking up. I had sent my bouncer home.”

“We can use the tunnel.”

“Get back!” Rog yells as our eyes watch in disbelief as a tossed grenade teeters down the stairs. Everything seems to move in slow motion as Rog and I try to get inside the tunnel.

But there’s no time. Boom! We’re both blasted back as they throw a damn grenade down the stairs.

Dust fills the dark, chokes my lungs. I can’t breathe. My ears are ringing. I have no fucking clue where Rog is. It’s over. In seconds, the enemy’s boots will descend down the stairs. It’ll either be a beating or a bullet. My only regret is that I’m outta time to make Christine pay for breaking me twice.

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