Page 15 of Property of Indiana

When the door shuts behind them, I turn to Zoey and lift her chin with my fingers. Since running into her yesterday, I’ve dreamed of nothing more than fusing my lips together with hers. “Zoey,” I say, her name coming out husky.

“Yeah?” she replies, keeping eye contact with me.

“It’s been six years since I’ve tasted these lips,” I declare, rubbing the pad of my thumb along her lower lip. “Can I kiss you?”

She swipes her tongue across that luscious lip and nods her head. Before she can overthink things and change her mind, I bend lower and graze my lips over hers. When her mouth slightly opens in response, I make my move and bury my tongue in the cavern of her mouth. We both moan at the contact and soon we’ve melded together. This feeling is one I haven’t experienced or opened myself up to since she disappeared. She was always my game changer and it seems as if nothing’s changed.

A jolt of electricity travels up my sternum and I drag her closer to me, needing to feel her plastered to me. The kiss goes on until we both need to break free in order to catch our breath. “Damn.You still make me forget myself, Zoey. That was supposed to be a sweet caress, instead, I all but devoured you.”

“It was always like that with us, though. I remember all those times when you’d say, give me a quick peck when you’d drop me off at home. Our kiss would be so intense that my parents would flicker the lights on and off over the front porch.”

“The assholes,” I utter. “They were always my cock blockers.”

“You act like you were getting further than first base with me,” she laughs, pinching my side which has me dancing away from her. My woman’s pincher fingers are lethal to my skin. She bruised me more times than I can count when she’d pull that move. “I never let you feel me up, or is your memory of me and our time together faded?”

“I have a great imagination, Zoe. I would go home and jack off to the thought of holding the weight of your breasts in my hands. The sounds you would make always had my dick straining against the zipper of my jeans. Sexy as fuck.”

“Just so you know, other than the night that Elodie was conceived, I’ve never been with a man or gone further than that with anyone willingly.”

“Jesus, fuck,” I hiss, dragging her head into the nape of my neck. I need a second to compose myself and don’t want her to see the enraged look in my eyes. I’m pissed beyond belief. My woman hasn’t experienced life. She hasn’t felt the gentle touch of a man’s hands as he worships her. This solidifies the fact that I’m going to have to take my time with her and show her how valuable she is. I’m a lucky bastard that she’s decided to go along with my claim because from this day forward, she’s going to be treasured like the jewel she is. I wanted her to be my foreverback then, and even though I vowed to never have an old lady, I think that my mind knew that it couldn’t settle for anyone outside of her and my brain shut down whenever I considered finding someone to spend the rest of my life with. Without a doubt that’s what I would’ve been doing,settlingbecause Zoey is it for me. My dick twitched for other women, but my heart and mind kept them at arm’s length. It was waiting, and now, I know what and who it was holding out for. I won’t ever take what I feel for her for granted.

We settle on the couch and watch a few ‘adult’ movies while waiting for Icer and Elodie to return. We discuss mundane things, relearning the other one. Her favorite color is no longer purple which caught me by surprise and she can’t stand the taste of pepperoni anymore. The reasons behind the reasons why made me fume, it broke down to the fact that she and Brooklyn had pepperoni pizza before heading to that Halloween party and she was dressed as a purple fairy. She did break down and tell me there were certain movies that triggered her, and I’m going to make sure every damn one of those movies in the clubhouse that feature Ghost Face are burned and will be banned.

Of all the costumes those fuckers could’ve chosen, that one was the best if they were wanting to be unidentifiable. According to Zoey, they were dressed exactly the same down to the tennis shoes they had encased on their feet. She can hardly stomach taking Elodie out trick or treating because that costume is still a popular one for kids and teenagers to wear. When I asked her what they did so she wasn’t out and about on that evening, she said she buys buckets of candy and hides them. They make a game out of it and she still lets Elodie dress up for the occasion. After all of the hidden candy is found, they nestle down for a movie night, Disney of course, and pop a bucket of popcorn.

Even with her trauma, she makes sure her baby girl gets to experience the night and makes it as special for her as she can.

“What do you think is taking them so long?” she asks, breaking me out of my musings.

“Icer texted me a half hour ago and said they were on the way but were stopping to grab burgers from Dixie’s so they should be pulling in your driveway any minute now,” I answer.

“Oh, I hope they grab milkshakes too. Her caramel, apple pie one gives me mini mouth orgasms,” she dreamily says.

“I’ll have to remember that,” I tease.

Before I have a chance to continue the conversation, because I want to learn more about these mouth orgasms of hers, headlights penetrate the dim house and I unwind my arm from around her shoulders and stand up to go help my brother bring in the new television set and food. As I make it to the door leading out to the garage, it swings open and a hyper Elodie greets me by jumping up and holding out her arms. “Guess what?”

“What?” I probe, lifting her up where she instantly wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. She gives me a quick peck on the cheek before a sly grin crosses her face. “Uh oh, what did Icer do?”

“He missed all five of my birthdays so he bought me presents!” she gleefully shouts. Zoey, who happened to be standing behind me, plants her forehead between the crevice of my shoulder blades. Within seconds, she starts banging it on me, muttering some unintelligible and what I’m assuming to be belligerent words.

“Why?” she asks between each hit. “Why did my baby have to become best friends with a biker who has no common sense? Explain this to me, Harrison.”

“I mean, he is going to build her a playroom. At least everything will have a place that isn’t in your way,” I excuse, trying to save my brother’s skin before he walks into the house.

“But five years’ worth of birthday presents? Totally not necessary,” she rebuts.

“My princess deserves to know she’s wanted,” Icer advises as he walks into the room with multiple bags on his arms. “Gonna need your help with the television, Indiana,” he says as he walks past me and into the living room where he puts the bags on the couch. “And there’s something else in the back that I had to squeeze in. I’ll need you to help me unload it so I don’t rip the interior.”

“What did you do?” Zoey hisses like a wildcat.

“Nothing big,” Icer lies, and I know it’s all bullshit because his eyes are shifting in every direction other than where she’s standing.

Zoey snaps her fingers and her eyes are sizzling with unadulterated irritation. “Don’t you dare tell me a fib, Icer. You can’t even look at me.” She’s huffing by the time she’s done with her tirade.

Icer tosses his hands in the air and shakes his head. He’s in uncharted waters here because usually people are running scared from him instead of confronting him. When he starts breathing heavily, I step between them because I don’t want Zoey nor Elodie to see that side of him. “Come on, brother. Show me what you’ve gotten.” I send Zoey a stand down look whichshe figures out when she clamps her lips together. There’s only so far you can push a man like Icer before he snaps, and when he does, the entire town will know he’s lost his shit.

“Why’s she mad at me, Indiana? I’ve never been an uncle before and that little girl, I don’t know, man, there’s something special about her. She woke up a piece of my soul that I thought was dead because it’s never felt more alive than it has since she wrapped her tiny fingers around mine and sang with me.”

---