Body Checking (Men of Havoc #3)

16

MAREN'S phone goes straight to voicemail, just as it has the other eight times I’ve tried calling. The first two missed calls weren’t really a concern. I knew she and Sasha were going to Big Joe’s, so I figured they were having a good time.

I waited an hour, assuming she’d call me when she noticed, but my phone never rang. I started to get worried, and despite that tiny, meek voice in the back of my head telling me to cool my crazy, I just had a gut feeling something wasn’t right.

I texted Bryn and no more than thirty seconds later, my screen was lighting up with an incoming call from her.

I answered it with a sigh of relief, expecting an explanation that they got caught up in chatting again or that Maren’s phone died. What I didn’t expect was a story about a group of girls giving Maren a hard time, and claiming she was lying. My heart began to pound in my ears and my blood pressure spiked with the more details Bryn gave me. I wanted so badly to first, hug my girl and remind her how fantastic she is and two, hunt down those women and shave all their heads bald and tattoo cunt on their foreheads.

But since I’m thirteen hundred miles away in Minnesota, it’s not an option. In fact, that won’t even be an option tomorrow…or the next day. We have four more days on the road before I’m home and it is four and a half days too many.

Can a coach call in sick to work?

So after hanging up with Bryn, I proceeded to call Maren again. And again. And again. Each time the call has gone to voicemail brings me closer to losing my mind and chartering a plane home to check on her.

I quickly end the call I’m on, wait a few seconds for the outgoing message to play through, then dial her again. After five rings, it goes back to voicemail and I leave my fourth message.

“Sweetheart. Please pick up. I’m worried. I just need to hear your voice. I need you to tell me you’re okay because until you do that, I’m not okay. Please baby.” I grow silent like I’m talking into an old school answering machine and she’s going to pick up.

But I’m not and she doesn’t, so I press end and drop the phone on the nightstand of my hotel room.

I throw myself back, my head landing on a fluffy pillow, and throw my arm over my eyes. I’m pissed off and frustrated and I hurt for my girl. Maren was finally in a good place. After Bryn and I had our come to Jesus with her, she became happier and more beautiful. It’s like she had been holding her breath and when we broke down that concrete wall she had built to protect herself, the person who she didn’t think existed was shining. It was impossible for her not to see what a miracle she was.

Now she’s taken a giant forty-five steps back, and I don’t know what to do.

Sleep doesn’t come for hours. And when it does, it’s restless as I pop my eyes open every time I think I hear my phone ring. But it doesn’t and true sleep never follows.

The plane lands and I’m the first to unbuckle my seatbelt and fly up from my seat.

“Woah, Coach. Slow down. We haven’t even stopped yet,” one of my guys says.

I ignore him, grab my carry-on, then quickly pull my phone out and turn off airplane mode. It only takes a few seconds for messages to pop up. Emails, social media notifications, news headlines, and texts but none of them are from Maren.

“Sir,” the flight attendant calls, turning my focus to her. “I need you to have a seat until we come to a complete stop.”

She smiles at me respectfully, but her eyes tell me to sit the fuck down. I decide I don’t want to be on the news for being carried off a plane by the police, hog tied and losing my shit, and sit down.

My knee bounces rapidly and a large hand clamps around it.

“Coach. You gotta relax. What’s wrong?” Viktor, my left D asks in his thick accent.

I sigh and tell him, “It’s Maren. She hasn’t answered any of my calls or texts for days, and I’m worried something is really wrong.”

He gives me a sad face like he understands what I’m feeling right now, and pats my knee. “I’m sure she’s okay.”

I give him a placating smile, but my imagination is in overdrive and I can only picture her in pain, emotionally and physically, and I just want to be with her.

The plane finally comes to a stop and I pop out of my seat like a Jack-in-the-Box. I push past all the guys as they stand to grab their bags, and wait for the door to open. I bounce impatiently as it feels like the crew is purposely moving slower, thwarting my efforts to get to Maren in record time.

The door opens and the stairs move closer and closer, and I contemplate my chances of landing if I make a jump for it. My old bones remind me I should just wait and the second the operator gives the thumbs up, I’m hauling down the steps.

Next up is waiting for our bags, but that is one more thing I just don’t have time for.

“Santos,” I yell. “Get my bag and I’ll grab it from you later.”

I don’t check to see his confirmation because I know he’ll do it, and run towards the parking garage where my truck sits. I’m in and on the road in seconds, and charging towards Maren’s. While I drive, I continue to call her but still get no answer.

I swerve in and out of lanes and figure that some luxury box seats will be enough to smooth over a cop should I get pulled over. I don’t, luckily, and finally pull up to Maren’s thirty minutes later. My tires screech and the engine makes a hard clunk when I throw it into park before coming to a complete stop.

Jumping out, I run up the sidewalk to her front door and begin alternating between knocking and ringing the doorbell .

“Maren. Sweetheart. Can you please open the door?” I keep my voice steady so as not to disturb her neighbors and end up meeting the police I so stealthily avoided on my drive over.

The locks click and the door opens unhurriedly. Once it swings open and I see her beautiful face, I take her in my hands and kiss her hard and deep, pushing us back into the house and kicking the door closed behind me.

She holds tight to my shoulders as she stumbles backwards, and I stop when we reach the kitchen.

Breaking apart, I tell her, “I’ve been worried sick about you. Why haven’t you answered my calls?”

My hands still frame her face and she stares at me with tears in her eyes.

“I just–I couldn’t. It hurt too bad to see or talk to anyone. I needed to be alone,” she chokes out.

“Baby. Please don’t do that. You’re breaking my heart.” I pull her to me, tucking her head in my neck and surrounding her body with mine. “I’m sorry you had to deal with those horrible women, but remember what I told you. They’re jealous and stupid and inconsequential.”

“It was Wa-Walker’s new girlfriend.”

“Who the fuck is Walker?”

She sniffs and wipes at her nose. “My ex-boyfriend. The one who dumped me over text and was apparently dating me and another woman, Carys. The woman who called me a chunky monkey.”

My hands ball into fists and I gnash my teeth. Her body shakes as she begins to cry, and I soothe her, rubbing her back and smoothing through her hair.

“But that doesn’t explain why you couldn’t answer my texts, or call me back.”

She shrugs and hugs me harder. “I don’t know. Self punishment, I guess.”

“Don’t do that again. I almost quit my job just so I could get here to you.”

Her head pops up and she studies my face. A smile shines through from under her tear stained face. I swipe the moisture away with my thumbs and see how red her eyes are.

“Have you just been sitting at home crying?” I ask her, and she nods. “No more, sweetheart. You’ve got me, Maren. Put all that other shit out of your mind because none of it matters. The only thing that matters is that you make my heart speed up and slow down all at once. You have me daydreaming about our future, and I already know I won’t be able to have one without you. I know it’s easier said than done, but just focus on us. We’re all we need. ”

Her chest moves up and down with her heavy breaths. Her silence lasts for just a moment longer before she attacks my mouth with hers, and wraps her arms around my neck. I grip her waist and pick her up in my arms. Her legs circle around me and I let my hands fall to her ass, squeezing tight. I move us towards the stairs but don’t have the patience to wait that long.

I slam her against the wall, my hand cushioning her head. I lay hot, open mouthed kisses up and down her neck, and her nails rake through my hair, scratching my scalp along the way. She wears leggings and a loose crew neck and I try to figure out how I’m going to get these clothes off without breaking our hold.

I let my fingers walk down her body and slide under the waistband of her leggings. I dip them into her underwear and feel her warm, wet pussy, just begging for me to make it weep. I tug at the waistband, testing out the strength of the elastic, and decide it won’t stand up to my need to have Maren right now.

“Hold on to me,” I tell her, and grip the waistband with both hands and use all of my strength to rip them in half.

She gasps when she hears the first screams of the fabric breaking apart, and the sound ricochet’s off the walls. I struggle to get through the seam, but finally succeed at ripping the last thread. Now her pants hang from each leg and soon, her panties meet the same fate.

Maren never lets her grip around me loosen, and I quickly free myself from my jeans. My dick bobs when I push them open and I grip the base. I run the pierced head through her wet pussy lips and I swallow her moans. I push deep inside of her, not slowing down and taking her by surprise, and the shock has her biting my lip.

We both hiss from the euphoric pain and I lick away the spot she bit, feeling the imprint of her teeth on my lips. I thrust hard and she groans.

“Don’t do that again, Maren,” I grunt between the pounding.

She nods and squeezes her eyes shut and throws her head back. Her hands claw at the wall as she tries to find purchase. Her mewls and the way her thighs flex and tighten tells me she’s getting close.

“Promise me, Maren. Don’t disappear on me. I need you too much.” I sink my teeth into her neck gently and feel the way her pulse throbs.

“I need you too, Cade. I promise I won’t–I won’t do it again.”

“Repeat after me,” I tell her and plunge into her with all the force I can leverage. “I.”

“I.” Thrus t

“Am.”

“Am.” Dive.

“Perfect.”

“Per-fect,” she breaths as I roll my hips, grinding my pubic bone against her clit.

“And I belong to Cade.”

“And I belong,” her lids fly open and her eyes shine bright blue. “To you.”

The sweet sound of those words falling from her lips sends me soaring, and I lose restraint and impale her over and over again, not wanting to slow down until I hear her reach her peak.

She whines, the sultry sound the most beautiful song to reach my ears, and I speed up. Her hand clamps onto my shoulder and her nails begin digging into my hard muscle and I feel her walls clench around me. Sliding my arm under one leg behind her knee, and I pull it free from around my waist. I hold her leg wide, opening her to me more, and I use my new leverage to pound even harder.

The pictures on the wall shake and her back collides with a thump. I feel like a beast trying to consume every drop of my prey now that I’ve caught it.

“Cade. Oh my god. Oh my ga–” Her words are cut short as the air is stolen from her lungs .

I work her hard through her orgasm, heaving from the excursion. Sweat beads on my forehead and I can already feel my back is coated. I hear Maren take a deep inhale and bury my head in her neck and let go.

I roar as cum pours from me and into her. Maren’s body begins to sag against mine as her orgasm drains the last of her energy, but still I power on. I can’t stop. It’s like all of the frustration and worry that was pent up is finally releasing.

My dick swells one last time and the beating in my ears starts to subside. I slowly place Maren’s leg on the floor and she keeps her hold on me as her body continues to quake with aftershocks. The sound of our pants create a rhythmic chorus.

Her other foot lands with a thud and she flattens her hands flat against the wall and I brace my hands on either side of her face. I stare deep into her eyes and they shine with peace and elation. Dipping my chin, I tenderly kiss her swollen lips and her nails find their way into my beard and scratch my skin.

I pull away and whisper, “I am totally falling for you, Maren Thompson.”

Her eyes flutter open and a radiant smile graces her face. She doesn’t need to speak. The look on her face says it all.