Page 9 of Smooth As Whiskey

I was frozen on the bed, but I had one thought, and only one, “Will you get in trouble for telling me any of that?”

He shook his head, “Nah. It wasn’t club business, it was personal.”

I nodded, then ignoring the containers, I vaulted over them and pressed my lips to his.

His hand came to the back of my head, tangled itself in my hair, and took over the kiss.

His tongue swept inside my mouth, and I moaned at the taste of him. Spice. Irish. Everything oh so nice.

When our kiss slowed, he pulled his lips from mine and whispered, “That’s the payment I get for taking out a piece of shit, sign me the fuck up.”

I laughed, then got back in my spot and was thankful to see that none of the containers had spilled.

We ate in silence. Just like we always did. Because when you are comfortable with someone, no words are needed.

We had just opened our second container when there was a knock at my door. Irish looked at me and asked, “You expecting someone?”

I shook my head.

He nodded, placed the remote down on the bed, got up, and went to the door.

He opened it a crack, and then when he saw who it was, he opened it the rest of the way.

Adeline stood in the doorway, taking everything in, and then I chuckled as she slapped her hand on her forehead, “Crap, today’s Tuesday. Sorry. I forgot.”

I giggled, “It’s okay. What’s up?”

She winced, “Well, I was going to see if you would ride with me somewhere. See, there’s this kid in my class going through radiation. I’ve heard other kids making fun of her. Precious thing is losing her hair, and a chunk of it fell out while she was doing her classwork. Her mother can’t afford to get her hair cut right now; she gets paid at the end of next week.”

I smiled, then looked at Irish, “Imperial seems to always be better once you reheat it.”

He chuckled, started putting the rest of the containers back in the bag, and then looked at me, “Get whatever you need, I’ll meet you out front.”

I nodded, then got out of bed, shucked off my tank and pajama bottoms, and pulled on a pair of leggings and a slouchy sweater.

Then I grabbed my kit and headed out of my room, and just in time for Irish to threaten, “There’s a bag of food in the kitchen. Anyone fucks with it, and you’ll get the beatdown of your fucking life.”

I chuckled, then headed out front.

Adeline was standing beside Coal’s bike.

Irish came out then, tagged my kit and my hand, and led me to his bike.

We were on the road in just a few minutes us, following Coal and Adeline.

Irish took a turn a little faster than he should have, and I giggled.

His hand came down to rub over the back of my leg. Oh, this man.

Fifteen minutes later, we were pulling into an area that wasn’t the greatest in Fulton, Mississippi.

But with Irish and Coal, I knew that we didn’t have anything to worry about.

I climbed off the bike in front of a faded mint green single-wide trailer.

Once the bikes were cut off, the screen door opened, and a woman stood there, she was visibly shaking.

Oh, man.

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