Page 30 of Race With The Devil

I was surprised by Tanner’s reply. “A scumsucking peckerhead who lies like a rug, that’s who.”

I actually brushed my cheek against his bare shoulder, briefly. His skin was just as it seemed—soft as velvet. We looked like two desperate people clinging to each other, contemplating jumping off the cliff edge. “So, you got Slushy to help you prove your innocence.”

He sighed, releasing some tension. He looked at me directly, warmly. “Yep. I heard through the grapevine Sonny went and did it again, and again probably, getting away with it, and that just set me off. I wasn’t protecting this innocent brother—I was enabling this petty criminal to continue his nefarious path. I finally got fed up. He was so damned crooked, he swallowed nails and spat out corkscrews. I was through being his fall guy. So I worked with Slushy for a couple years.” He shuffled his feet. “He’s a good man. That, and DNA evidence cleared me finally.”

Again, I pressed my cheek to his warm bicep. “I’m so glad.” I dared to rub my face against him, soaking in his pheromones like a cat. I sighed all my cares away. “Yes, sometimes DNA evidence isn’t enough. The last time I tried to tell the cops about Gary, I demanded a rape kit. They lost it. That was like the third rape kit they’d lost. What a fucking coincidence. So, the next time I went outside our jurisdiction. I went to Maricopa instead of Yavapai. They sent me back to Yavapai even when I sobbed that those guys were in cahoots with my stepfather. They didn’t give a shit. They just said ‘the system’ would kick me out when it saw I was in the wrong place. That was the last straw. I went home, quietly packed everything, had friends move stuff out little by little. And my coup de grace was I dumped a bowl of spaghetti over Gary’s head while he watched TV. And I apologized to Lyric, but she said she understood. Still, I could’ve done a better job the past few years.”

Tanner put his arms round me, hugging me to him. “That’s just downright shitty. Were your incidents more than seven years ago? Maybe you could also accuse him of your business while he’s going to trial for Lyric.”

I’d never thought of that before. I was just going to testify about Gary’s maulings of Lyric. I looked down at the churning swimming pools with a welling feeling that can only be described as “revenge” keeping my heart afloat. Strange to say, I felt safe in Tanner’s arms. My ink of a neoclassical speared heart that said “Dad” probably wasn’t lost on him—I could just say it was for my original dad, the one who went to get cigs on Christmas Day, but I actually thought good luck and good riddance to him.

Tanner whispered something so low it didn’t register. “You smell like lemons.”

And he kissed the nape of my neck.

Oh, so sweet and simple, an act like that. But the effect it had on my body was instantaneous. My uterus clenched in anticipation. Of receiving seed? That was fucking absurd! The fight or flight instinct should be kicking in now—instead I was melting like a woman overcome by the vapors!

Tanner snaked one palm around my front and placed it flat against my chest anchor, the wings of my bluebird. He snuffled around my ears like a dog, sending a flood of exquisite shivers down both my front and back. My nipples puckered, any fool could see under my bikini bra and flimsy tank. Hairs stood up on my arms. My ass was awash in gooseflesh. But most of all, my uterus quivered with delight and the walls of my vagina actually clenched, as though searching for the big, primal cock. I even found myself standing on tippy-toe so I could slide my hands behind his neck, spread my feet without him noticing, do a few unobtrusive butt-rolls against his crotch. Yes. My sensitive ass cheeks sought and found the massive ridge of his wang, and I worked it. Pole dancer style, I made clockwise and counterclockwise rolls with my hips. For my effort I was rewarded with some slight gasps. I was getting to him.

“I could file my own accusation,” I grunted, “since the most recent experience was less than seven years ago.”

“Good for you,” breathed Tanner. It seemed that his hand was doing its own thing, wisping down the center of my abdomen and stopping beneath my belly button. He ever so lightly tickled that little line of hair that gives directions to a woman’s cunt. This is where the ink stopped, so he was not even pretending to be admiring a picture. Every slight flicker of his finger sent arrows of excited, almost electric lust directly to my pussy lips. I was oozing pussy juice so thickly the narrow thong was buried deep between my petals. If I shifted feet, the rope of it rolled against my clit like another little finger.

Tanner touched my belly-button piercing, an attractive little dendritic crystal scepter. “Branding livestock can cause tumors to grow around the permanent markings. Humans who modify their bodies with branding might have higher risk of cancer at the injury sites.”

I sighed. More lectures. Slithering out of our knot-like grip, I said to his face, “Why do you always lecture me? What’s done is done. You can choose to not deface your body. I choose to. It’s part of the career I’ve chosen. Who would come to see an un-inked spokesmodel?”

Tanner grinned, unfazed. “I would, if it was you.”

That reminded me to relight my blunt in rebelli0n. How I wished I could blow the smoke in his face! But we were here for a pleasant swim, so I continued down the path.

Tanner called after me, “I lecture you because I care for you, Unity. It’s like you’ve become one of my protected animals.”

Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

“Well, don’t bother!” I yelled back.

“Does that mean you reject my caring?”

A couple of people came the opposite direction, but so far no one going our direction. Maybe because heavier black-bottomed storm clouds were flying our way. Heavy-bottomed, that was me. I let my cutoff jeans ride low on my hips, so he could plainly see the thong between my butt cheeks.

Well, I wasn’t that cold-hearted to reject a jacked, ripped man’s caring. “I don’t reject it,” I called over my shoulder. “Doesn’t mean I want it, either.” Had to stay cold in case I got hurt. Remember Evan? I reminded myself of him whenever I started feeling warm toward a man.

We walked the rest of the way like that, Tanner allowing me to stay a few steps ahead of him. Eventually I felt ridiculous and tried to slow down so we’d walk abreast. But he must’ve slowed down, too, because we never came side by side. I finally stopped altogether to point.

“This is where people jump into the swimming hole.”

“There’s no one here,” Tanner said brightly. “I’d jump, but what about our things?”

I stripped the pack from his brawny shoulders. “No excuses.”

He grinned knowingly at me, a dimple forming in one of his cheeks. Adorable and heart-melting, just like mine, but mine were created by diamond studs. “You little queen of heaven,” he said, and I couldn’t tell if it was disgust or admiration that colored his words.

As if accepting the challenge, he peeled off his shirt and lingered just long enough to blow my mind. He took off his phone holster with agonizing slowness, staring directly at me. Buff, shiny pectorals looked meaty enough to bite. Flat, brick-shaded nipples were juicy enough to nibble. A swath of downy hair peppered the carved chest and ridged abs. Without the phone, wallet, keys, and additional other crap that weigh down men’s pants, the shadow of his iliac crest was unmistakable. This man was toned right down to his adductors, and it’d be my lucky day to see him buck naked. Oh, wait. He’s taking off his pants.

Tanner kicked off his shoes and yanked down his jeans one leg at a time. He wore those boxer briefs that were created just to display a man’s package prettily. I think he bent over to retrieve his pants and fold them just to give me an eyeful of his jiggling ass, muscular globes moving seductively under the tight fabric. When he turned back to toss the folded pants onto a flat stone, his cock, long, thick, and half-erect, was constrained only by the binding of the briefs. Putting his hands on his hips, he smiled sunnily.

“Well. I sure hope that hole is deep enough.”