Lola Stark - Destry

“Settle petal.” Braxton’s voice cut into my thoughts. I blinked and took another drink, scanning the room for her. I started to lift out of my seat when Brax’s hand came down on my shoulder. “She’s at the bar.” He nodded his head to where she was standing, flanked by Austin and Ryder; both were radiating waves of ‘fuck the hell off’ to anyone who might even look her way. I sat my ass back on the cracked vinyl seat and feigned disinterest by picking at the label on my beer.

“Idiot,” I mumbled to myself. I was getting territorial for nothing. We’d had sex, so what? It wasn’t like it was going to be a regular thing. Even before I could tell her that, she’d done a great job of shutting me down.

“He’s not pulling the moves on her, D,” Braxton assured from beside me.

God, I hated when he read me like that, but there was no bullshitting him. I tried anyway. “Couldn’t care either way, Brax.” I pinned my sights on Karla, one of the local barflies; she saw me look her way and pushed her fake-ass tits up higher. I immediately regretted looking her way. She wasn’t just the town bike; she had an irritating high-pitched voice that was damn close to the sound of a cat being swung around by its tail.

“Oh, you’re on now, bro.” Brax disappeared quicker than lightning when she started walking over; I didn’t even have time to cuss him out.

“You waitin’ on me, sweetie pie?” The slurred way her words came out on top of the bad booze breath was enough to have me sliding out the other side of the table.

“Good to see you, Karla, but I need another beer.” I skirted around her grabby octopus tentacles and glared at Austin, who was mid laugh at my situation.

“Austin said he was lookin’ forward to seein’ you again.” I smiled smugly at the bastard as she turned and hightailed it to maul him. Serves the asshole right. He could consider it karma for trying to get my back up over Amelia. Taking my seat again, I signaled for another beer and set about keeping my eye on the girl who had me all out of sorts.

I hadn’t been sitting there for more than a half an hour when Amelia walked over to the table, and much to my amusement, stole my beer right from in front of me, smirked and downed it. She slid the empty back toward me; my hand shot out and caught it before it could slide off the table.

“Thanks, cowboy.” She signaled the waitress for two more and slid into the booth beside me. “You trying to play the dark and broody badass in the corner, or you gonna come show a girl a good time?” she asked, leaning forward on the table, giving me a nice view of her cleavage. With every breath she took, her breasts rose and fell, reminding me of earlier in the night. My jeans became a little uncomfortable, making it necessary for a discreet shift.

“Pretty sure I showed you just how it was done earlier tonight, darlin’.” Two could play her game; I knew how much she enjoyed it, regardless of her bullshit attempt at rejection when we’d left.

She opened her mouth—no doubt to hit me with a snappy retort—when the waitress walked up and handed us our beers. Amelia skulled hers and stood back up, adjusting the pathetic excuse for a skirt.

“Your loss.” She shrugged and sauntered back to the crowd of dancers. Braxton moved in front of her as Ryder came up behind while she moved her hips in a seductive sway. She had the attention of everyone in the damn place and had since she’d strolled in the front door.

“Who’s the bird?” I whipped my head around when Jake Richards flopped down beside me. The guy was bad news all round, an asshole who thought he was much more than the trailer trash he was.

“Keep walking, Richards.” I tried my best to stay out of his way for the most part. We’d had more than a few run ins back in our school days. He was a jackass then and an even bigger jackass now.

“Whatcha gonna do, boy wonder? Lay me out?” This was his normal MO; he’d pick a fight with anyone, and every damn time, he took it far enough that he did get laid out.

“Not lookin’ for trouble tonight. Go home to Judy.” His wife Judy was the sweetest girl you’d ever meet, drop dead gorgeous and a real good girl who’d fallen for the quarterback and gotten knocked up young…same old story you heard everywhere. Jake didn’t deserve her at all; he was a notorious drunk and cheated on the girl every opportunity he got. I was also damn certain he was beating on her too.

“I’m lookin’ for a hot piece of ass, and I reckon the girl there might like it a bit rough.” The blood roared in my ears as I clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to get a handle on the sudden flash of rage that hit me like a train. “She’s clearly a city bitch and you know how much I love a good bit of city pussy, especially if they have anything to do with your sorry ass.”

“Don’t,” I ground out through clenched teeth. My adrenaline kicked in and I was dangerously close to losing my temper. I breathed in hard through my nose and focused on the stack of napkins in front of us.

“I reckon she’d chuck it up like a little whore.” My tightly reigned-in temper snapped. “Bet she’s got a sweet cu—” With lightning quick reflexes, my hand shot behind his head and smashed it down onto the chipped wooden table.

Blood pouring out from his new nose job, he screamed like a bitch and cupped his face. I loomed over him and snarled, “Don’t be disrespecting any lady like that again, or next time, it’ll be more than a busted nose.” I nodded to Rach; she just shook her head, rolled her eyes and picked up the phone. I stood by him, waiting on the sheriff to arrive and took the opportunity to get a few words in. “I catch wind of you putting your hands on Judy again, and we’ll be havin’ words, Richards.” He was smart enough to keep his big mouth shut this time, and lucky too, because Ryder took that moment to walk over and pull a pair of cuffs out of the back of his jeans. Ryder also happened to be one of the few deputies in town, and he’d seen his share of Jake’s crap.

“You’d think you would have learned not to piss Destry off years ago, you fucking dick head. Why didn’t you just piss off to the city too?” He pulled Jake up by his arm and took him outside. “Catch y’all later,” Ryder called out over his shoulder.

I turned around to see Amelia with her hand over her mouth looking horrified. “Brax, you wanna let Austin know we’re going home now?” Braxton nodded and walked off to find Austin in whatever dark corner, with whichever girl he’d picked up.

“Sorry you saw that” I told Amelia, trying to avoid her eyes. I hated the idea she was disgusted at my stupid reaction or worse, afraid of me now. I hated the kneejerk reaction I’d just had; it confused me more than I cared to admit. Normally, I’d just get up and walk off, but his crass words about her, mixed with his jabs about city girls had made all common sense flee my mind. “C’mon, let’s head out to the truck and wait there.”

Amelia followed close behind me. The moment we stepped outside the front doors, I moved off to the side hoping to block her view of Jake.

“I’d be all over her too, bud. Knew she’d be a firecracker in the sack. You know how I love riding what Destry thinks is his” Jake’s mouth just wouldn’t close. Having his nose broken obviously wasn’t enough to make him shut the hell up. I attempted to ignore him and focused on a red-faced Amelia.

“He’s just shooting his mouth off. Go stand by the truck for me, darlin’” I guided her forward and turned around, taking a few purposeful steps toward where Ryder had Jake.

“You’re a stupid son of a bitch,” Ryder told him shaking his head.

“Why’s it your problem, pretty boy?” Jake taunted Ryder. I gave Ryder a nod, knowing full well Ryder wasn’t on duty and would sort Jake out. I turned back to Amelia who was leaning against the side of the truck, wringing her hands together, and opened the passenger’s side door and gave her a hand up.

“Don’t listen to anything he said. He’s the town drunk and an asshole to boot,” I told her, leaning over to clip her belt. While she seemed to have been disgusted earlier, she now sat staring at me with an expression I wasn’t able to read.

“I’m catching a ride with Ryder,” Braxton called out to me while I rounded the truck. Austin crawled into the truck bed and sprawled out wasted, to the point of passing out.

Just as I pulled out of the parking lot, I looked up to see Ryder ‘accidentally’ smack Jake’s head on the door of the cruiser he was helping him into.

I pulled over along the interstate on the way home and threw my door open. Climbing out, I put my hands on my hips and took a few long breaths, needing a minute to get my shit together and cool my temper. I managed to keep it together while in front of the dick, Jake, but his words had caused my anger to spike.

“Destry.” Amelia’s soft voice had me turning around from where I was pacing. I took one look at her in her tiny skirt and heels and closed the distance between us in a few long strides. I took her gorgeous face in my hands, and without a second of hesitation, my mouth collided with hers, taking her breath in an instant. She immediately opened her mouth allowing me access, and my tongue drove in all my pent up anger, morphing into unbridled passion covered in cherry fucking lip balm. Her hands came up and grabbed my head as she greedily took everything I was offering up. My cock strangling against my jeans, I gripped her ass under her skirt and lifted her onto the hood of my truck, planting myself firmly between her thighs. Both of us grinding against the other, neither of us able to get enough, our teeth clashed. Hands grabbing and hips moving, we were completely caught up in the moment.

Pulling away, our breathing was heavy, filled with want and a need for each other that I couldn't explain. It scared me. I hadn't been like this since....

“Shit!” I cussed under my breath, ran a hand through my hair, and took a step back.

I couldn’t compare Amelia to her. Amelia wasn’t her. She couldn’t be her. I broke the distance between us and wrapped my arms tightly around her waist, drawing her heated body to mine. Leaning my forehead on hers, I took in her eyes and was the most honest I had been since I met her. "One thing you need to know about me, Amelia, is that I don't do secrets. That's one thing I won’t fucking tolerate. Secrets destroyed me once and I won’t let it happen again.'”

Her face went from lust filled to soft and thoughtful. She dropped her head and took a deep unsteady breath before looking back up at me. “We better get back,” she whispered. I helped her down from the hood of my truck and opened her door, waiting until she was tucked safely inside before I closed it and walked around to my own side, climbing in and starting it up. She was quietly reflective as I drove toward the ranch, thinking about the day and all the events that had brought us to this moment.

“You were defending me?” Amelia asked softly, a few miles up the road. I gripped the steering wheel tighter and nodded my head stiffly. Thinking about Jake’s insults brought back some of the anger I’d felt earlier.

“I didn’t... I mean nobody’s ever… thank you,” she stumbled on her words. The only thing I really heard was ‘nobody’s ever’. I clenched my jaw tightly and stared straight out the front window. The fact nobody had ever defended a girl like her irritated me. Every girl, no matter who they were, deserved to be stood up for.

The rest of the drive home was silent, unlike my riled up internal monologue. Regardless of trying to convince myself that Amelia was a mistake, there was something about this girl that had me teetering on the edge of a drop off. I just needed to decide if I could jump and still survive the fall.

I curled deeper into the comforter trying to block out the alarm clock screeching just out of arm’s reach. I’d been having the most delicious dream about one very handsome cowboy and the fact I had been so rudely interrupted by the incessant sound of ‘wake the hell up’ o’clock made me curse into the moss green pillow. I still wasn’t quite used to getting up so early, but I was going to do it even if it killed me. And killing me it was.

Sleep had been evading me since the night at the bar two days earlier. I was still unsure why Destry had stood up for me when dick-for-brains had started running his mouth. One minute, he’d been hot for me; the next, he tried to blow me off, and then not even two hours later, he was standing up for my honor and all but tearing my clothes off on the hood of his truck. The guy was the epitome of hot and cold. I wasn’t looking for anything with him. Hell, I wasn’t even staying in town long enough to have much of anything with him, even if I’d wanted to, but all the same, he was giving me whiplash. Every night since he’d taken me on the table and followed it up by the searing kiss on the roadside, I’d had trouble finding sleep, and when I finally did drift off, I’d had variations of the same dream. Destry making me scream his name while he did things to me I’d never thought of doing with anyone else. I had no idea my mind could conjure up such vivid, graphic images.