Blood & Bones: Ozzy by Jeanne St. James

Chapter Fourteen

With a groan,Ozzy rolled from his stomach to his back so he’d stop crushing his morning wood. He opened his eyes and twisted his head to see the other side of his bed empty.

He fucking hated when his bed was empty. Though, empty was better than waking up with the wrong fucking person.

Shay was far from the wrong person.

He glanced over at the old clock radio on his nightstand. The one with the mountain of discarded and empty wrappers almost blocking his view of how early it was.

What. The. Fuck.

It was only seven. She was already up and out of bed.

There needed to be a rule against that. No, two rules. The first one would be about her waking up so fucking early. The second would be her leaving his bed before he got to slide between her thighs and add another empty wrapper to his nightstand collection. That would also mean another full wrap in the garbage.

He slipped his hand into his boxers and frowned. When the fuck had he put on boxers?

He circled his fingers around his hard-on, fisting it a couple times and debating whether to go find Shay to drag her back to bed or just jerk off a quick one on his own.

Or find her and take her wherever she was currently.

Though, it might scare off the guests if he bent her over in the office downstairs so he could relieve his erection. Especially when they’d see her face and hear the little noises she made when she exploded all over his dick.

Fuck yeah.

With another groan, he rolled out of bed. His dick wasn’t only stiff, but so were his muscles from last night’s sex marathon.

He tilted his head and listened. Nothing.

He lifted his chin and inhaled deeply. Fuck yeah.

With one hand still shoved down his boxers and wrapped around his hard-on, he wandered out of the bedroom, across the small, open living area and over to the counter where the coffeemaker sat.

With his dick-free hand, he scraped his fingers through his messy hair, not giving a shit if it made it worse. Still half-asleep, he blinked at the almost-full pot of coffee and a second later his brain recognized Shay had parked an empty Harley Davidson mug next to it.

In the past week, she had figured out just how he liked his coffee and made sure to make it that way. Not too weak, not too strong. Just fucking right. The right amount of caffeine to get his brain working and his blood flowing. One mugful of black coffee could successfully take him from being a zombie to almost human. Almost. It took a second mug to finish the job.

He pulled the pot, poured himself a full mug of the necessary fuel and after a long sip and an even longer sigh, he took the few steps to the glass sliders and glanced outside.

Thank fuck.

Every morning he woke up, he expected her to have packed her bags and fled back to Boston.

So far, he hadn’t done anything too stupid to scare her the fuck off.

He still had time.

He stood on the other side of the glass, took another long sip of his morning fuel, reluctantly peeled his hand off his morning wood, and studied the woman with her legs folded under her on a lounge chair with a mug of coffee next to her and a computer in her lap.

Her fingers were moving lightning fast as they typed and swiped.

The woman didn’t know how to rest. At seven fucking in the morning, that was what she should be doing. If she wanted to do something else, she could be doing him right now.

But fuck no…

Instead, she was going full goddamn speed ahead to get the websites done. The problem with that was, as soon as she did everything Trip approved that was listed in her proposal, the sooner she’d hit the road.

The other problem was, she was learning his pattern of distracting her to slow her down. So now she was getting a head start when he was asleep or busy with the motel or club business.

She was fucking smart. He just needed to be smarter.

She told Trip she might have all the websites done within a month.

Only spending a month with her wasn’t going to work for him.

No fucking way.

She had spent the last few days taking photos of the businesses for the websites she was hired to build, along with talking with the people involved with those businesses.

Ozzy had been by her side every one of those days.

On Tuesday, the morning after their meeting with Trip and Deacon, she had put together her proposal and emailed it to both Deacon and Trip. That night, Trip gave her the go-ahead on all of it.

On Wednesday, after he moved her shit upstairs into his apartment—without even the slightest hesitation, thank fuck—and parked her Lexus around back next to his wheels, she took shitloads of photos in and around the motel. Shay then sat down with him, Josie, Ry and a couple of the other office employees. She’d also talked to the head housekeeper.

The woman was thorough when it came to her business, that was for fucking sure.

Thursday morning, he took her over to Tioga Pet Services and she took a few pictures there and discussed with Cassie, Shade and Easy what should be updated on the current website.

It turned out a lot. And, no surprise, Cassie and Shay had gotten along great.

On Thursday afternoon, they headed over to Justice Bail Bonds. She snapped a few pictures and spoke with Jet, Deke and Judge. Along with giving ear scratches and receiving sloppy kisses from the two American Bulldogs, Justice and Jury.

Since tomorrow was Saturday, she set up a meeting with Sig and Trip to go over what she’d need to build the Buck You Recovery website and also the simple contact page she’d create for the Blood Fury itself. They were doing that over at Crazy Pete’s so she could get photos of the bar before it opened. Then tomorrow night the plan was she and Ozzy would go back when it was crowded to get even more photos. Plus a few of Dodge and Stella working behind the bar.

Luckily the bar was high enough to hide Stella’s baby belly, which was starting to show. Trip didn’t want to share his ol’ lady’s pregnancy on the world wide web.

Ozzy didn’t blame him. It could make her a target and Trip was all about protecting his wife and future child.

“Hey,” she called to him. “I want to show you something.”

He had something he wanted to show her, too. Down his damn boxers.

He stepped behind the lounge chair, cupped her chin, tipped her head back and leaned over to press a kiss to her forehead.

“Mornin’,” rumbled out of him from deep within his chest.

With her face still tipped toward the sky, she blinked up at him upside down. “That’s all I get?”

Well, he could whip out his dick… “Good mornin’?”

“Uh uh.” She tapped her finger to her lips.

“Drinkin’ coffee,” he murmured. He also hadn’t brushed his teeth yet.

She flipped a hand toward her mug. “So am I.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” He leaned over and took her mouth. With their heads being in opposite directions, it was awkward and way too short, but still worth it. He released her chin and straightened. “Snuck outta bed.”

“I wanted to go through all the photos I’ve taken so far and get them organized before I add more to the folders. Look at this one.” After a couple of clicks she pointed to her screen.

He had a hard time pulling his eyes from her beautiful makeup-free face surrounded by messy bed-head hair, but forced himself to focus on what she was pointing at. On her screen was what looked like a professional shot of the motel’s office with Josie behind the desk.

What he first noticed was that Josie appeared to be wearing makeup and… that she was professionally dressed.

Like a real front desk clerk at a real hotel. With a smile, a name tag and every-damn-thing. “What the fuck?”

“It looks so great, doesn’t it? She’s so sweet and such a doll to work with, too. It doesn’t hurt that she’s also gorgeous and photogenic. Her smile and expression are open and friendly. That makes this a perfect picture to be front and center on the website. Along with the one of the front of the motel I took from the road. What do you think?”

“Don’t gotta ask me, just do what you do best.” And do me, too, while you’re at it.

“Well, you are the manager.”

“And you’re the website expert. You’re also a fuckin’ crazy good photographer.” Her skills with a camera were damn impressive.

Now she just needed to take some sexy naked selfies of herself with that same camera and send them to him—and only him—so he can stare at them all day, every day when she wasn’t within his eyesight.

“When I went to college, I took some photography classes as electives. I caught the bug but knew it would be hard to make a living by only taking photos. Now I do it for the websites I design and also incorporate them into some logos. But it’s also a fun hobby.”

Probably a great hobby for an introvert, something Ozzy had suspected she was from the beginning but absolutely confirmed it in the past week.

She was so opposite of the women he was normally around. Women who weren’t afraid to tell you what they wanted, when they wanted it and how they wanted it. And even how often.

Fuck no, they didn’t hesitate to make their wishes or wants known loudly and often.

He snorted.

“Is something funny?”

“Nope.” One lesson he had learned the hard way: never compare women out loud. Always keep that shit locked deep inside your head.

No matter fucking what.

The deeper you stuff that shit, the less likely it would slip out.

He moved around to the side of the lounger and sat on the edge, knowing already it would hold both of their weight. He’d fucked Liz on it more times than he could count.

Something else he should keep to himself.

Shay was wearing threadbare cotton shorts that looked like she’d been wearing them since she was a teen. She also wore a loose tank top that had a design on the front claiming she was a “Superstar!” and had a picture of the Saturday Night Live chick on the front. He remembered the movie and also the skits from SNL about a clumsy and socially awkward girl.

He pointed to her tank. “Think you’re like her?”

Shay plucked at the cotton and glanced down. “Mary Katherine Gallagher?” She lifted her face and shrugged. “Kind of. But I can safely say when I’m nervous I don’t stuff my hands into my pits and then sniff my fingers.”

He barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Thank fuck for that.” How could he forget that part? But that character was fiction, Shay was not. “You’ve been okay with meetin’ everyone so far.”

“Because I know I can’t roll myself into a ball and hide in the corner.”

“That’s what you wanna do?” That was news to him.

She sighed. “It’s my first instinct, especially when I overthink things. Then I stop, force myself to look at those things logically and make an effort to be more sociable.”

“All ‘cause you were bullied as a kid?”

She shook her head. “No, but I do think it’s one reason I was bullied. However, being bullied made my geeky-girl shyness worse. Then it became even more profound after my dad went missing. He was always encouraging me to try new things, to speak to new people. To try new foods. He did his best to open up my world.”

“What about your mom?”

“She did, too, but my dad was better at it. Then…”

He waited.

“Then he was gone.” She frowned as she stared out off into the back tree line. “It took me a while to recover.”

Ozzy didn’t think she fully recovered. Her father’s loss made a major impact on her life.

Just like his mother’s loss did for him. So, he got it.

However, unlike her, he got closure, she didn’t. He might be different right now if he never got that.

But also unlike her, he saw what happened to his mother firsthand. The way his mother looked lying on that floor. A nightmare that took a long time to fade away. While it might have faded, it never disappeared completely.

She squeezed the hand he had curled around her thigh. “Are you going to make me breakfast?”

No doubt she wanted to change the subject.

“What d’you want?”

“I know what I don’t want.”

“What’s that?”

“Burnt toast with a spoonful of expired peanut butter.” She rolled her lips inward.

“Then you better make it this time.”

“Or… You can practice and get better at making a real breakfast.”

“Guess you ain’t that hungry, then.”

“Think how impressed a woman would be if you brought her a delicious breakfast in bed.”

He grabbed his crotch. “Got somethin’ else for her to eat.”

Fuck.No matter how hard he tried to avoid it, sometimes shit just slipped out.

Fuck it, he might as well go with it.

He traced his fingertip along her skin where the hem of her shorts stopped. “Also, can think of somethin’ else I can eat this mornin’ besides toast. Before I brush my teeth.”

“We were up half the night.”

“Okay, and?”

She laughed and dropped her head, her hair falling around her face.

“Shay.”

Just him saying her name reminded her that her laugh belonged to him and he wanted it. No fucking ifs, ands or buts.

She reached out and cupped his cheek. “You remind me a lot of my father.”

Ozzy grimaced.

“No!” she shouted. “Yuck! Not like that. I mean by reminding me when I forget. Reminding me to let myself shine and not allow anyone else to dim that light.”

“Can’t believe he never walked right the fuck through the front doors of that school and kicked their fuckin’ little bully asses.”

“He wanted to. My mother made him promise not to do it. She didn’t want to see him end up in jail.”

“Woulda been worth it.”

“To be taken away from the family you were trying to protect? No.”

Good point. But she lost her father, anyway.

“Anyway, today we’re headin’ over to Dutch’s so you can take your photos and notes for the garage. Reilly’s gonna be there and you can also talk to her about Shelter from the Storm.”

“That’s such a fascinating business. It’s genius, actually.”

“The club kinda fell into it when Cage needed a place to live with his baby girl.” Surprise baby girl.

“Have I met him yet?”

“Cage? Not yet. He’ll be at the garage today. He’s Dutch’s youngest son. He’s one of the mechanics there.” He pushed her laptop closed. “Now we got that business outta the way, you’re done workin’ for now. Here’s this mornin’s menu choices… Fuck, food and shower? Or food, fuck and shower? Which one you orderin’?”

“I’ve discovered something…”

She was about to discover more things very fucking soon. But it was too hot to do that outside on the deck. Even as early as it was. He also didn’t mind getting bit on the ass during sex, but not by a mosquito. “What?”

“You really like sex.”

No shit. “With you, can’t get enough of it.” Not one of those words was a lie.

“Well, good thing I won’t be here long enough for you to get bored.”

“Wouldn’t get bored even if you woke up next to me every day for the rest of my fuckin’ life.”

Wait. What?

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

He didn’t mean for that to come out the way it sounded. Did he?

No. No. Fuck no.

It was bad enough to be tied down to the motel and the club right now, but to be tied down to the same woman for the rest of his life?

No.

Mainly it was because he loved sex as much as he did. Lots of sex in a variety of ways with a variety of people.

Not because he’d get bored with the same woman…

No, not true. He’d get bored with a lot of women. Or they’d eventually annoy the fuck out of him until he jumped on his sled and rode off to never return.

But he couldn’t imagine getting bored with Shay.

Not even for a damn minute.

Why? What was it about her?

Was it because she was so opposite of him?

Was it because his instinct was to protect and take care of her?

He scratched the back of his neck and stared at her.

She stared back.

Was he supposed to say something? Explain that shit he spouted out?

Fuck.

He couldn’t say it was a mistake.

He also couldn’t say it wasn’t a mistake.

Or he could just fucking ignore it.

Hold the fuck up…

Why didn’t she say anything back? She couldn’t imagine herself waking up next to him every day for the rest of her life?

Shit.

“Gonna make you breakfast.”

He rose from the lounge chair and, keeping his face neutral, he went inside and closed the slider behind him.

This morning’s menu was now fucked, food and shower. Only he was the one fucked.

And not in a way he preferred.