Arson
'Who is the cowboy? Why is he calling our girl's name?'
He shouldn't be. Everyone here knows exactly who we are without knowing exactly what we are capable of. Regardless we are respected and we are feared. So who would dare be so friendly with the one girl who belongs to us?
'Or should I say we belong to her? ' I never would have expected the meek little girl would become this fiery goddess of a woman that would grab my dick with livid steel-blue eyes full of determination.
My stomach growls in hunger. I should have eaten something instead of deciding to anger Carley and my friends in the process. Jase is going to make me regret my behavior later.
"Hey, Storm! How is your day going so far?!" She chirps excitedly at him and then greets him with a warm hug.
I let a out low growl but I doubt either of them heard me. My friends sure did. None of us are happy with his hand lingering possessively on Carley's lower back as he talks to her.
Our arms are crossed over our chests and letting off such a dark aura that people are giving us a wide berth. All we see at this moment is the death of this man who is too familiar with our woman.
"So far so good," we hear this Storm Cowboy tell her.
'What kind of name is STORM anyway?'
"I'm enjoying all this continued togetherness, Catcus." He gives a salacious wink. Nope. I don't like him.
"I should get going. I have a class in the next ten minutes," Carley tells him glancing over at us. Her eyes are pleading with us to either save her from him or pleading for us not to hurt him.
"Can I walk you to class?" Storm asks.
Carley is biting her lower lip. When she does she is usually anxious or unsure. Was that move always this sexy?
I saunter up behind Carley placing a kiss a top of her head and pulling her away from this cowboy and into my arms.
"Thanks for the offer but we have the next class together, so I'm walking her," I say forcing myself to use a smooth friendly voice.
Carley looks up with a questioning bow as if to say how did I know that. That's an easy answer because as soon as Jase saw her this morning next to his locker, he sent Lachlan in to flirt with the secretary into letting him take a copy of Carley's schedule. Lachlan messaged it to us as soon as he had the schedule.
I smile down at Carley. "Come on babe, we don't want to be late." I use my best alluring voice that usually has women all over me.
"Babe?" She questions then hums under her breath. I get the feeling she doesn't care too much for the nickname.
"Yeah. Babe. You did just stake your claim on me," I whisper in her ear before licking the shell.
These last six years without her have been our own personal hell. Some of us swore off women altogether. Some of us just stick to one-night stands or casual sex. Me? I tried to purge her away in every beautiful woman I could.
The Storm cowboy is watching us closely with his dark eyes taking in every detail. I know that look well, my friends and I use it all the time. It's crucial because it could be the difference between life and death for us in our line of work.
'Seriously? Who is this cowboy?'
Carley glances at him and he smiles at her as if she hung his moon. "Okay I'll see you after class, Cactus," he assures her with a wink before walking away.
Jase and the boys have moved closer to us. Jase arches a questioning brow. "While we walk, care to explain that guy to us, sweetheart?"
"I want to know the story behind Cactus Carley," Lachlan chirps with his blue eyes dancing with mischief as he wiggles her eyebrows at her.
Carley's face flushes crimson. She groans, leaning her head back against my chest. I take a deep inhale of her rose mint scent.
"Can we please save it for the loft?" She begs.
"That cowboy said he would see you tonight. Is he going to be there?" I bit the question out sounding harsher than I intended even to my ears.
"At my house? Yes. In our sacred space? I hope not," Carley says in frustration.
'Why is this guy frustrating to her?'
I move beside her, placing her small hand in the crook of my arm and Jase does the same on the other side. Weston and Lachlan follow close behind us as we amble to the next class.
Arson We sit side by side in the human anatomy class. I spend the entire duration watching her take notes. There are so many questions running through my head that want to ask her. The most important is why she left us. I remember the first time I met her in seventh grade. I had this nerdy kid shoved up against the lockers by the front of his shirt for bumping into me and sending my autobody magazines go flying. He didn't even apologize to me. Carley in her little pink dress with worn cowboy boots on her feet, her white-blonde hair curled in a ponytail, shoved me off the kids and onto my rear. She caught me by surprise that time too. She stood above me giving me the lecture of a lifetime about bullying people and how just because I'm stronger than weaker kids didn't mean I had to be a thug. It made me so furious that when I stood up, I yanked her ponytail hard enough to send her falling to the floor. She just look up at me with a sneer on her face. Next thing I knew I was be
Arson 'WTF.' I feel as though I've been shot in the chest again, only this time instead of a bullet piercing my chest cavity it was Carley's words. I wouldn't do anything physically to her without her consent and enjoyment so she is right about that. 'But does she think I would abuse her mentally or emotionally on purpose?' I mean, yeah, I guess, I do things to make her angry on purpose but that's it. I don't ever want to make her cry again. 'I can't do this. How could she think that? Is this what betrayal feels like? Screw this!' The urge to pound something or someone is too strong right now so I leave her with Storm, quickly thundering out of the building and into my 1985 car in solid black that I rebuilt myself. It's the first car I ever rebuilt so it's the one I'm most attached to. I drive to the boxing gym we own. There is a punching bag with my name on it. When I arrive I don't bother to change into shorts, instead, I kick off my boots and pull off my shirt. I didn't
Carley "So what are you doing tonight Moon-bear?" My mom asks while I work on my assignments at the kitchen table. She is cooking spaghetti tonight alongside her girlfriend Lidia. Lidia and Storm both moved in with us in July after we'd been back in Palamino Bay for several months. They are both from another southern state town in a city called Blanche which is where Storm grew up. It's a wonder I didn't run into the Chaos boys before today. Lidia has helped my mom, Amy, in the process of mourning my father and twin brother. Lidia and my mom needed each other in the beginning and their friendship morphed into love over the years. I couldn't be happier for them both finding love again. "I'm going up to the loft to work on my assignments and the boys are coming over," I reply to her. My mother frowns at me. "I know what you're thinking mom. The boys had nothing to do with the bullying or the depression. They can't be held responsible for the actions of others. They tried to hel
Carley *Trigger warning- mentions of suicide*I climb up the stairs to the loft and get settled on the floor in front of an old leather couch the Chaos Boys brought up here with my twin brother Carson. This old hay loft is decorated with fairy lights streaming down from the rafters and around the railing and posts. There is a couch, a rug, two reclining chairs, a coffee table, several oversized bean bag chairs, tons of blankets, two mini refrigerators, a few small fans, and space heaters as well. The first thing I did before even unpacking when we arrived back was dust and clean up everything here in our sacred space. No one would bother us here and I was always free to be myself without a care in the world when I was up here with my boys. It was also a safe space for them to escape their tumultuous home lives. Mom didn't want to sell our house and land because it was paid for, so it sat empty while we were gone for over six years. It was exactly as we had left it too. The pastures
Carley "We had a drunken one-night-stand, " I say quickly holding my hands up in a placating gesture before they attempt to leave. "Hold on boys, before you go castrating him, we are just friends now. That one-night stand clarified that we work better as platonic friends. He is also living with us temporarily. Our mothers are a couple," I say and the guys relax back in their seats. "So you guys are basically step-siblings, " Weston states with an adorable confused look on his handsome face. "Pretty much, " I affirm with a shrug. "Besides he is in love with his childhood best friend. His three friends are in love with her too, but I've only ever met Jensen and JT. I've never met Carter because he didn't work at the ranch with us," I say. "What guys are currently outside with him now? The two you know?" Arson asks. "Yep. Jensen and JT are my casual sex partners," I chirp goading Arson in retaliation for his lunchtime debacle. I'm thankful Lachlan and Weston both dog pile on t
*Trigger warning. Mentions of child abuse.* Jase "Hey, Catcus! The guys say sorry they missed you and they'll see you next time. They didn't want to bother you since you had company. You good?" Storm's booming voice shouts up to Carley. "Yes Storm, I'm good. Thank you for letting me know," Carley shouts back down to him from our sacred space. I don't want him or any other up here in our sacred space surrounded by nothing but memories worth keeping. "I've got know what with the whole catcus thing! You keep avoiding the question so I need the story behind Catcus Carley," Lachlan asks. His curiosity will get him killed one of these days, but I also know he'll use this story as artistic inspiration. Carley blushes but finally gives Lachlan the story he has been craving to hear. "I fell into cactus when a snake spooked Loki. He went one way and I went the other into the cactus. It was my fault for not paying attention to my surroundings while riding. Being the only girl, it was
Jase I look up to find a frown on Carley's face while she examines the blood on her hand from where it was resting on my thigh. My jeans are soaked in blood. In hindsight, I should have changed the bandage before coming over. "It's nothing," I say now fully awake once again. Her brow creases and she tuts me under her breath. "This too much blood to be 'nothing' Jase Orion Alto." You know you're in trouble when someone addresses you by including your middle name. "Let me look at your thigh," she huffs at me. Her uncle is a doctor and she takes after him, always bandaging us up. I haven't met the man, but she looks up to him. 'I wouldn't mind her being our team medic.' I stand peeling my jeans off my legs until I'm standing in my boxer briefs and Kings of Death band tee. Carley grabs the medical kit we keep hidden up here. She takes out bandaged scissors to remove the bloody bandage wrapped around my thigh. With her kneeling in front of me, all I can think of is how g
Carley I'm in the kitchen setting out all the items Jase requested for him to cook since I took a shower and got ready for morning classes before he did. He is going to cook breakfast when he is done. I can't remember the last time I fell asleep so quickly. Jase's heartbeat is a much better sleeping aid than anything else I've tried. "Okay, sweetheart, I'm going to help you learn how to make breakfast burritos this morning," Jase stays pressing his body close to mine. Hand over hand, he has me mixing ingredients and cooking meat and eggs in a frying pan. He is a very hands-on instructor, which my body more than appreciates. The man is even showing me how to make tortillas from scratch. Storm walks in the backdoor from outside to see Jase and me spreading the dough. The tortilla dough. Get your mind out of the gutter. "Did he stay the night?" Storm asks gruffly. He sits at the kitchen table watching us closely. Instead of wearing a pearl snap shirt and straw cowboy hat like h