Riding Lil' Red Hard_A Modern Day Fairy Tale Read online

  I laugh. “That obvious, huh?”

  “Yeah, just a bit.” She holds out her nicotine stained fingers with a tiny space between them, like she’s describing the world’s smallest cock. “You just get out of prison or something?” she jokes.

  At least, I think it’s a joke.

  “No, nothing like that. I’ve just had a long stretch of riding. I guess I’m not on my A-game.” I take a swig of my beer.

  “Yeah, those long dry patches, they’ll get you every time.”

  “I meant on my bike.”

  “Sure you did.” She grins and deep lines form around her eyes. She gives me an exaggerated wink. “I’m Shirley and the girl you’re pretending not to look for right now, she’s Red.” She waves toward the hallway of shadows I’m searching and I snap my focus back to the older lady.

  “Ryan,” I return the introduction.

  “And if you’d just cool your jets a bit, I bet you and Red could hit it off real nice. But for now, how about you tell me what you wanna eat, and don’t you dare tell me cherry pie,” she teases.

  I almost snort my beer out my nose and cough to fight it back down my throat. I like this lady, Shirley. She’s a take-no-shit kinda woman. It’s not hard to see from how she carries herself that life hasn’t always played fair with her, but it’s nice to see she’s got so much spunk.

  “How about the deluxe burger and fries?” I read off the first thing my eyes travel to on the menu.

  “Ohhh, the deluxe burger. How fancy!” She raises her eyebrows like I just asked for the escargot.

  “Or the regular is fine.”

  “Nah, I’m just busting your chops, kid. I’ll get it for ya.” She grabs the menu back from the counter and walks across the far side of the bar to the kitchen.

  My stomach growls as the grill sizzles, spreading an aroma of fry grease, like a promise of the deliciousness to come. It makes me even hungrier. Slugging back the rest of my beer in one mouthful, I realize Red returned.

  She’s watching me the way a kid checks out a lion in the zoo. Cautiously, but with intense interest. I can see she’s wary, so I take Shirley’s advice and reel it in a bit. Any woman who looks at a guy like that likely has her reasons. Of course, I want to make an impression. I want to make her remember my name. I want to hear her scream it into her pillow between gasps of pleasure later. I don’t want to push her too far, making her spit my name off her tongue like she’s trying to get a foul taste out of her mouth.

  “Is it all right if I grab another one of these?” I point to my empty bottle.

  “Of course.” She grabs the glass from my hand and her fingers graze mine. It’s such a little thing, the way her soft skin blazes a trail of heat into my hand, and yet it’s enough to send my wicked thoughts swirling like a Kansas cyclone.

  “I’ve never seen you in here before.” She grabs a new beer from the fridge and pops the top. “Are you just passing through?” She slides it over to me and finally meets my eyes. I’m pretty sure my lungs have stopped pulling in oxygen. I remind myself to suck in some air and that I’m not actually drowning in an ocean of sea-green.

  “Yeah, I guess I’ve just kind of been passing through everywhere.” I shrug. “I’ve been on the road for a while now.”

  “How long is a while?” She tilts her head, exposing the tender skin of her neck.

  My muscles tense as I fight the urge to grab her and claim every square inch of her with my lips. Instead, I blink the thought free and try to remember her question.

  “About a year now, I guess.” I’m almost as surprised by the confession as she is.

  “Wow.” The word is so full of emotion, I can hear the wanderlust that whispers in her ear. That familiar voice I’ve heard, calling me to the next destination, begging me to keep exploring. “That must be exciting.” A flame flickers in her eyes. For only a brief second, a spark of adventure lights up her soul.

  How can I tell her it’s all been a blur? That it’s a way for me to forget the past and put space between me and those memories. I don’t want to get into any of that. I don’t want to turn this into a confessional about how I need the rowdy nights, the reckless travel, and endless search for the next great moment so I can finally shake free of these ghosts that haunt me.

  “I can’t complain. It’s been a wild ride.” I smile.

  Red stands up taller. She doesn’t shy around the edges of me anymore, instead standing directly in front of me. It’s clear she wants to know more. She wants to talk. Whatever it is about me traveling around seems to have piqued her interest. Not to mention her hard pebbled nipples too.

  Goddamn.

  “Order’s up.” Shirley plops my food in front of me, and Red and I both jump. It’s like we were both sealed inside one of those snow globes. Entirely in our own slow-moving, underwater world for two, and Shirley just smashed that world against the floor, forcing us to be part of this dank reality again.

  “Thanks.” I glance down at the golden fries and the burger she gave me a hard time about and my hunger overtakes me. I dig in, inhaling the food, and don’t really notice the commotion behind me until I hear Shirley yell at the man who was passed out drunk all this time.

  “I’m not making you nothing to eat, John. I told you an hour ago to get the fuck outta here. If you want food, go home and look in your cupboards. I’m tired of running tabs you never pay.” Shirley points her finger in the drunken slob’s face.

  “Bitch, you better get in that kitchen and fix me something, or I’ll… I’ll…” He smacks the back of his hand against his open palm threateningly.

  The tiny hairs on the back of my neck prickle. Jumping from my seat, my fists are clenched tight by my sides. I’ve got zero time for men who threaten women. None. Crimson floods my eyes, giving the world a blood-stained glow as I grab the drunk by his shirt and jerk him up to his feet.

  “Time to go,” I snarl.

  “Get out of here, you fucking punk.” The man takes a lazy swing at me and hits me in the shoulder like a cat swatting a Christmas ornament on the tree.

  “Yep, time to go,” I repeat. His dragging heels don’t even slow me down as I pull his limp body to the front door.

  “Let go of me!” he slurs.

  “I’ll call you a cab, John,” Shirley calls out behind me as I toss his sorry ass out.

  The elderly bartender quickly swoops in behind me and turns the lock as he bangs on the glass angrily. His efforts soon tire him out, though. He slumps down on the front stoop, abandoning his dream of a free sandwich.

  “Thanks.” Shirley smiles at me. “My hero,” she jokingly flutters her lashes and I laugh. The anger that swelled up like a rogue wave at sea flattens back out inside. “Well”—she shrugs—“I should go call a taxi for him.”

  “That was nice of you.” Red watches me from behind the bar and I walk back over.

  Is it just me or is she letting her eyes travel down over my body? Sliding over my frame like a pad of butter on hot toast. What I wouldn’t give for her tongue to explore my body the same way her greedy gaze is.

  “Ah, gee, shucks ma’am.” I pretend to tip an invisible cowboy hat. “All in a day’s work.” I smirk.

  4

  Red

  My lips turn down and my gut twists up in knots as I frown at Ryan. “Are you making fun of me?” The gratitude I only felt seconds ago flitters away, cascading in a million directions, like a flock of birds scared away by a barking dog.

  “What? No, of course not. What do you mean?” Ryan jerks his head over to the side and his eyebrows knit together. The deep blue of his eyes cloud over with confusion.

  “Relax”—Shirley lays down the phone on the bar—“he’s not the one who talks to you like that,” she whispers. Her scolding voice calms me in a weird way, reminding me again how much she’s like a mother I only ever wished I had.

  She’s right. And she knows from experience why Ryan’s innocent words make my muscles taut and my jaw set. Wolfe has always had this way of mocking
me. Of making me feel like such a fucking nobody whenever he gets pissy with me. He’s often called me a low-class hillbilly or treated me like I don’t have two brain cells to rub together whenever I start to get on his nerves.

  “Hee-yuck, Red. Are you sure your parents weren’t brother and sister? Cause you’re pretty as a pig and dumb as a post,” he’d put on a fake twang, acting like I moved here from some tumbleweed community in the deep south instead of from Portland. Even though his insults didn’t make much sense, they always did exactly what he intended, which was to make me feel small and shut my mouth.

  Ryan is not Wolfe and he shouldn’t have to suffer punishment for his crimes. He doesn’t mean anything nasty with his words. He’s not the same guy. I guess I just don’t trust my own judgement anymore. Not after I let myself get dragged into Wolfe’s world. Not after I’ve lost the courage to even try to leave it.

  My back muscles unwind and my jaw softens as Shirley squeezes my shoulder. “Sorry, it’s just been a long day. That’s all.” I draw in a jagged breath. “How about I get you another beer?” I walk away from both of them, busying myself behind the bar, intentionally ignoring their stares.

  “I hear that.” Ryan sounds relieved as he slumps back down into the stool across from me. “I’ve been on the road since just after dawn.” He looks out the window and I follow his gaze. We all watch as a cab driver struggles to shove good ol’ John into the backseat of his car. The drunken mess does nothing to help him, his body as easy to move around as a child trying to play with a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound Raggedy Andy.

  For a second, probably less than that, I let myself get lost in a fantasy of riding on the back of Ryan’s bike as the sun comes up before us. Just clinging to his leather jacket, breathing in the cool scent of the morning air while the motorcycle vibrates between my legs the way I wish his cock would.

  I blink hard, bringing myself back to reality. Normally that would be fairly depressing. But with Ryan sitting across from me, it’s hard to get too down about much of anything.

  “That must be amazing, just traveling where you want, following your heart anywhere you feel like going,” I answer dreamily.

  “Speaking of hitting the open road”—Shirley clears her throat—“I think you’ve got this under control, am I right? If you’re good closing down without me, I’m gonna follow my heart down the dusty road out there to my bed.” She jerks her thumb toward the window.

  I giggle. She’s got a way of making me do that, even when I don’t think I have any happiness left.

  “Sure. Get some sleep. Thanks, Shirley.” I give her a look and she smiles.

  “Yep, and you don’t worry so much about your beauty sleep, if you know what I mean. You’re already gorgeous enough. Have some fun!” She swings her hips behind Ryan’s back, still trying to keep that invisible hula hoop on her hips.

  God, she’s so subtle.

  “Get outta here,” I laugh. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I hold up my hand in a frozen wave and watch as she makes her way out the door.

  As Shirley disappears out to her car, my eyes slide over to Ryan and I swallow hard, getting locked in his eyes. I suddenly realize it’s just the two of us in here, and for some reason it feels scandalous. Maybe it’s because night is falling outside, cloaking us in naughty promises. Maybe it’s because I can’t remember the last time a simple look from a man made my pulse whoosh in my ears and my belly pool with a heat that spreads down between my thighs and soaks my panties with desire.

  My trembling hand is almost touching his. Somehow, our fingers are seeking each other out even as we’re lost in the opposing oceans of each other’s eyes. I suck the air in over my bottom teeth and it comes out as a gasp for breath.

  What is it about him?

  “Would you like another beer?”

  “Sure, sounds great. I don’t see me doing any more riding tonight anyway. Do you know of any motels or places to stay around here?”

  “Yeah, I sure do.” I bite my lip.

  “Great, I might need you to push me in that direction in a bit.” He chuckles. I don’t bother to tell him that the place I mean is mine and it’s the apartment above this bar. I walk over to the beer fridge, but Ryan stops me.

  “Hey, I’ve got a better idea. Since I’m gonna be settling here for the night, how about something a bit stronger than a Miller?”

  “Sure, what do you have in mind?” I turn just in time to see him devour my body with his hungry eyes. My pussy clenches and my nipples grow taut as I surrender to his stare.

  “I was thinking tequila.” He does a slow once-over of my body and I can almost feel the power of his desire travel over me, like I imagine the touch of his fingers sliding up over me. “And I was thinking you’d join me.”

  “Is that so?” I try to hold my own, but the truth is, I don’t want to be tough. I don’t want to be difficult. I want to submit to him. To the aching need building up between my thighs. I want to give in.

  “It is. Let’s have a drink together. It’s not like you’re too busy.” He jerks his thumb at the empty seats surrounding us like an audience of ghosts.

  “Okay, let’s have a shot,” I agree, pulling two glasses from under the bar and a bottle from the shelf behind me.

  “So why is it that you haven’t traveled?”

  “Hmm?” I twist open the lid, pouring the oily liquid into a couple of glasses.

  “You seem to have an interest in seeing what’s out there.” He vaguely nods toward the windows, now mirrored by the black skies outside. “Why haven’t you gone exploring?” His voice deepens, making my hand tremble on the side of the shot glass, spilling a bit of the booze down onto the bar.

  “I guess I’ve just never had the time,” I finally answer, pushing his tequila across the bar. “Or the money,” I explain. “Bottom’s up.” I lift my shot in the air and he clinks his against it. We both pour the fiery mouthful of liquor down our throats and grimace. It burns in the best way down to my belly.

  “Do you have family here?” Ryan persists in figuring me out.

  “No.” I shake my head, a warm dizziness buzzing behind my eyes.

  “So, what’s keeping you here? A man?” His eyes narrow.

  I push Wolfe’s face from my mind. His angry scowl has no place in my thoughts tonight. I deserve the distance I told him I wanted. He can’t tell me we’re not over. He can’t tell me how to live my life.

  “No, not that either.” I frees me somehow realizing the truth in my words.

  “What then?” Ryan hasn’t stripped me bare. I’m not literally standing naked before him. My tits heaving, my pussy inches from his nostrils. None of that’s actually happening. Yet, somehow, the way he questions me… the way he looks not only at me, but into me, I would feel less exposed if it were only my bare skin between us.

  “Fear, I guess.” The confession slips from my lips before I can think over my words.

  “I hear that,” he answers grimly. For a moment, he’s lost. He’s gone. He hasn’t moved a muscle, but I can see he’s a million miles away. I don’t know where he’s disappeared to, but he’s not here with me. Ryan’s body grows stiff, then he violently shakes his shoulders and snaps his attention back on me.

  “How about another shot?” His voice isn’t so cocky now. Not so smug. There’s an edge to it that wasn’t there a moment ago. One that doesn’t make me question filling our glasses back up to the top. One that doesn’t make me hesitate before clinking my shot glass to the side of his and letting the warmth slide down my throat.

  “You okay?” My eyebrows scrunch up as I study his face. The grizzly scruff shadowing his cheeks only makes his lips look fuller. My eyes dance over them as I find myself wondering how it would feel to lick the tequila from them.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” He drops his empty glass back down onto the bar hard. “How about you grab that bottle and we play a game of pool?”

  My eyes slide over to the table in the back corner and then down the side of the clear
glass filled with liquid danger. With liquid courage.

  “Nah, I should probably start shutting down for the night.” I don’t meet his gaze. I know if I look into his eyes I could never reject him. I keep my eyes on the dark wood and tell myself that shutting down the bar, shutting this down, now is the right thing to do.

  “I’ll make it worth your while.” He grabs my hand and tugs it to his chest making my eyes grow wide.

  “Oh yeah? How’s that?” I hold my breath as my mind comes up with a million ways he could.

  “We’ll make a bet. Winner takes all. If I win…” He leans in toward me, making the space of the bar between us disappear. My face is probably an inch from his. The boozy heat of his words billows out over my face. “I get to kiss you,” he growls.

  My shoulders slide down and I stand taller. “A kiss? That’s it?” I twist my lips to the side in a smirk.

  “Oh, I don’t mean some sweet little peck. This isn’t like the end of your first date.” I can see a blaze burn in his eyes. The flames dance higher as he holds me close to him, dropping his voice an octave. “I mean, I’ll slide my hands down your back until I grab that full ass I’ve been watching you swing around here all night. I’ll lift you up onto the side of the table and jerk your head back when I grab a fistful of that bun.” His eyes flicker to my hair. “And I’ll make you moan my name as I finally explore that sexy little mouth of yours with my tongue.”

  A shiver quivers over my skin and I squeeze my thighs together tight. Even though he’s still across the bar from me, I can almost feel his body pressed between my legs and his lips blanket mine.

  “And if I win?” I somehow manage to squeak.

  “What do you want?” Desire dances in his eyes.

  I don’t have to think it over. I knew from the moment he walked in here what I wanted.

  “If I win”—I clear my throat, trying to clear the haze of carnal cravings clinging to my thoughts—“when you drive out of here tomorrow, I want you to take me with you.”