Gravel's Road (9 page)

I looked around for my night gown but couldn’t find it. Gravel whistled, and I turned around to look at him. “Just enjoying the show,” he said, as he threw his arms behind his head, propping his head up to watch me better.

“You’re a perv,” I laughed as I went back to my search for my clothes.

“Only with you.”

I laughed even harder and spotted my nightgown on the other side of the closet. I slipped it on over my head and walked out of the room.

I walked to the kitchen first to get him a glass of water and then made my way back to the bathroom. I flipped the light on and was surprised by the woman I saw staring back at me in the mirror.

My hair tussled and looked like I had very thoroughly been fucked. My eyes were bright and alert, and my skin had a definite glow to it.

I looked like a woman who had the time of her life and had a good man waiting back in bed for her. That was when I realized; I was that woman. I had just had the best orgasm of my life and the man who I wanted for the past ten years was waiting for me.

I grabbed his bottle of pills he had sitting on the sink and shook two out in my hand and headed back to Gravel. I walked in and instantly saw he was fast asleep, his arms still behind his head. He looked so peaceful when he slept. I placed the pills and glass on the nightstand next to him so he wouldn’t have to get out of bed if he needed them.

I turned off the lamp and climbed into to bed next to him, careful not to wake him up. The instant my head hit the pillow, Gravel shifted, laying on his side and pulled me to him. He wrapped his arms around me and wedged his leg in between mine.

Cuddling into him, I felt my fatigue hit me and knew it would be a matter of minutes before I was asleep. I didn’t want to sleep, though, I wanted to stay awake and memorize everything that had happened that night and never forget it.

Gravel had given me something I never thought that I would find again. He made me feel like I was right where I belonged, and nothing could ever change that.

I finally had the man who had haunted my dreams and fantasies for years; I just hoped that he was going to stay.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Chapter 12

Gravel

I was standing at the kitchen sink, looking out over Ethel’s yard, waiting for the coffee to brew. I had left Ethel sleeping, knowing she needed it. She spent all her time and energy taking care of everyone, but no one was there to take care of her, until now. I was going to be the one to take care of her.

The coffee maker beeped, letting me know it was done, and I grabbed down two cups, filling them. I splashed in the creamer I knew Ethel liked and walked back to the bedroom.

It was well past eight o’clock, over two hours past the time Ethel generally woke up. I knew she was tired.

I walked in the room, and she was curled up under the covers, my pillow wrapped up in her arms. I set the coffees down on the nightstand and sat on the bed, my ass planted in the curve of her body.

“Hmm, is that coffee I smell?” She asked, her eyes still closed.

I brushed the hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Time to get up, darlin’,” I whispered in her ear.

She scrunched her shoulders up and burrowed into the pillows and blankets. “No,” she mumbled.

I started tugging the blanket down from over her head when my phone started blaring from the dresser. “Ten more minutes,” I said, swatting her ass.

I heard her giggle, and she burrowed even further under the covers.

“Hello?” I said, keeping my eyes trained Ethel.

“Hey, Lincoln,” Marley said on the other end of the line.

“Morning, Marley,” I answered. I saw movement under the blankets and Ethel’s hand snaked out from under the covers and blindly reached for the coffee I had sitting next to her.

I moved to the bed and whipped the covers back from Ethel. Her eyes were still closed, and her arm was still reaching. “Talk to your daughter, Lincoln, and leave me alone,” Ethel snapped, grabbing the coffee and tossed the blanket back over her head.

“Was that Ethel?’ Marley asked. ‘She sounds pissed. She seemed like a saint when I meet her. How the hell did you manage to piss her off so early in the morning?”

“Apparently Ethel is not a morning person,” I answered.

“Offer her coffee and step back to a safe distance,” Marley advised. It was a good idea, and I took two giant steps backward.

“I think I’m at a safe distance, I might have to throw her breakfast at her and run,” I joked.

Ethel yanked the covers down, her hair all over the place. “Want to see what Meg taught me?” Ethel asked, her voice laced with sugary sweetness.

“What did she say?” Marley asked in my ear.

“She’s going to show me something Meg taught her,” I said, giving her the play by play.

“Ready?” Ethel asked.

I nodded my head, not sure of what the right response would be.

She took a drink of her coffee and set it on the nightstand next to her and smoothed out the comforter on her lap. Her eyes connected with mine and she smirked. “Sit and spin,” she said, holding her middle finger up to me.

I was stunned. My sweet, innocent Ethel had just flipped me the bird and told me to sit and spin.

“Did she just tell you to sit and spin?” Marley laughed in my ear. I threw my head back laughing not believing what had just come out of Ethel’s mouth.

Ethel tossed the covers back and got out of bed, grabbing her cup of coffee and stormed to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. “Oh my God, that was epic.” Marley snorted.

“You have no idea.” I chuckled. I heard the toilet flush and the shower turn on. Visions of Ethel all soaped up with water dripping from her breasts had my dick tenting my boxers and wanting to get Marley off the phone so I could join Ethel.

“I’m assuming you guys haven’t had breakfast yet?”

“No, breakfast is after a shower,” I replied, my mind still in the shower with Ethel.

“Well, why don’t we meet up for breakfast and then you can show me around the sprawling Rockton,” Marley said sarcastically. She was definitely going to have some adjustments going from California to a small Wisconsin town.

“One hour. Ethel and I will pick you up.”

“Ok.” Marley hung up, the dial tone in my ear.

I threw my phone on the bed, pulling my shirt over my head and pulling my boxers off as I made my way to the bathroom.

Something told me it was going to be longer than an hour till we got to Marley’s.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Ethel

The man was crazy. That was the only explanation I had for Marley when we showed up to her hotel two hours later.

I figured with Gravel on the phone with Marley I best get up and get in the shower so we could get over to her. I really wasn’t a morning person. I had lived alone for so long that I had forgotten that.

As I was lathering my body up, I heard the door open and knew that Gravel was up to no good. He didn’t hesitate when he walked through the door. He ripped the shower curtain back and stepped in the shower with me, and proceeded to make us over an hour late.

The man was crazy, but he sure knew what he was doing with his hands and mouth.

“It’s ok, Ethel. Please don’t explain,” Marley said as she got in the car, and Gavel headed to the diner across town.

I gave Gravel a scathing look and stared out the side window. The man was making me act like an eighteen-year-old virgin who had just discovered sex. Even with just his hand resting on my knee, I felt a shiver run through my body at his touch.

“I was looking through the paper while I waited for you guys. I found a couple of houses for rent around here and thought maybe we could go see them later,” Marley said, as I heard her digging through her purse. Her hand appeared in between Gravel and me, waving the classifieds.

I grabbed them, looking at the ones she had circled and tried to figure out where they were. “This one is five houses down from me. I know that they just remodeled the whole thing, and it’s really cute inside,” I said.

“Nice. That was one of the top ones I was excited to look at. It’s just the right size, and it’s super cheap.”

“That’s because the woman who used to live there moved to Florida but didn’t want to sell because the market isn’t very good right now. I think that one is going to be your best bet,” I said, my eyes scanning over the other ones she had circled.

“Ethel lives in a good neighborhood, too,” Gravel said, butting in.

“This place looks like Pleasantville,” Marley remarked.

“I’m sure it’s much different than what you are used to,” I said, wondering if Marley might not like living in such a small town. There were only over five thousand people in town; you basically knew everyone.

“I need a change,” Marley mumbled from the back.

Gravel pulled into the parking lot, killing the engine and destroying my chance of asking why Marley needed a change.

We headed in the diner, and the waitress seated us at a back corner booth and left to grab us some menus.

“Alright, Marley. Enough avoiding it. Tell me why you show up out of the blue after barely talking to me for a year,” Gravel said, flipping his coffee cup over, signaling to the waitress we needed coffee.

I flipped my cup over too, my eyes avoiding Marley’s. I felt sort of out of place with only having met Marley yesterday while her father questioned her.

“I need a change,” she said simply.

“Bullshit. I know there is more to it than that. Spill it,” he ordered.

“Jesus Christ,’ Marley cussed under her breath. ‘His name is Mark, or was,” she said, her eyes darting to the left.

“What’d he do?” Gravel growled.

“He
didn’t do anything.”

“Well, then who the hell made you run away from your mother and the place you’ve called home for the past twenty years,” Gravel questioned.

“Mark died.”

My eyes bugged out, and I looked at Marley, shocked. I did not expect her to say that. “I’m so sorry, sweetie,” I said, reaching across the table and squeezing her hand.

“Thanks,’ she said, grabbing a napkin and blotting her eyes. ‘We had been going out since junior year of high school. He had given me a ring two weeks before he had died.” Marley now had tears streaming down her face; the napkin saturated and unable to keep up.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Gravel said, for once sounding sympathetic.

“It’s ok, it happened six months ago, I just get a little emotional about it still,” Marley said, trying to hide how hurt and distraught she was.

“So you didn’t want to live where you and Mark were going to build a life?” I asked.

“No, I had no plans of leaving until two weeks ago. Mark’s attorney called me, telling me I needed to be present for the reading of the will. I hadn’t really thought much of Mark’s will because we were both young, and we had never gotten married.”

“So what happened?” Gravel asked. The waitress came over, filling our coffee cups and leaving three menus on the edge of the table.

“Well, I went in, thinking maybe it was a mistake. I walked into the room, and all of Mark’s family was there, looking like they had all just sucked on a bag of lemons. His family had never liked me, so that really was the regular look they gave me.”

“Why the hell didn’t they like you?” Gravel demanded to know.

“Because I was the daughter of a divorced woman who likes to date men half her age. Whose father ran away to be part of a motorcycle club,” Marley explained, picking up the napkin in front of her and started shredding it into small pieces.

“I didn’t run away from you, your moth-,”

“I know,’ Marley interrupted, holding her hand up to stop Gravel. ‘Those were their words, not mine.”

Gravel looked a little appeased and sat back. I knew he still hated the fact that Marley had moved to California, and he hadn’t been able to be a big part of her life.

“So, after all the dirty looks were thrown my way, the lawyer started rambling on about shareholdings and estates and it basically all went over my head until the lawyer said my name. It turned out, that after Mark had proposed to me, he went and had his will changed right away. Effective immediately. Everything that was in his name he had left to me.”

“Holy crap,” I whispered.

“No crap about it, this calls for a holy fucking shit. I know I’m just a simple man, sweetheart, but shareholdings and estates sound like a lot of money,” Gravel said, shock written all over his face.

“It is. Except I didn’t ask for it. I don’t want it now!” Marley exclaimed.

“Well, did you tell them that? They don’t think you had anything to do with his death, do they?” I asked, concerned that they might be accusing Marley of foul play when it came to Mark’s death.

“His mother tried to say something to that extent, but the police report came back, and there was no way they could pin his death on me,” she explained.

“How did Mark die?” I asked.

“He was on the way home from work at the office, and a semi ran a red light and t-boned him. He died instantly,” Marley said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Well, how the hell were they trying to accuse you of being responsible for that? They really think you had it in you to pay some guy to bulldoze your fiancée?’ Gravel asked, pissed off on Marley’s behalf. ‘I’m sorry about your fiancée, Marley, but good riddance to his piece of shit family.”

“Y'all ready to order?” The waitress asked, walking up to our table. We all ordered the house special, two eggs, two sausages, hash browns, and toast, while Gravel added an egg and doubled his order of sausage.

“What?’ He asked, both of mine and Marley’s eyes in him. ‘I worked up an appetite last night,” Gravel said, a smug look on his face,

“Jesus, Lincoln. Too much info,” Marley said, her nose scrunched up as she took a sip of her coffee.

“So why did you have to leave?” I asked, still not understanding why Marley had to pack up her whole life just because her fiancée died. It really was tragic what happened to her, but I still felt like we were missing pieces of the puzzle she didn’t want to give us.

“Well, I tried to tell them I didn’t want it, but there was a bit of a hitch. They had until six months after probate to protest the will, and they missed the deadline by three days,” Marley said, stirring her coffee that didn’t need stirring.

“So what the fuck does that mean? Everything is yours?” Gravel asked.

“Right now everything is frozen. No one can touch anything. I’m in a court battle that I don’t want to be in. It’s not my fault they missed the deadline to protest the will. I told the lawyer I would just give everything to his family, but I guess Mark put some fucking clause in the will saying that I could be the only beneficiary. The only way around that as of right now is if something would happen to me,” Marley muttered, her eyes darting around.

“Have they tried to hurt you?” I asked, concerned. Money and greed can do crazy things to people.

“Not anything I can prove. They made me lose my job and then they got me evicted from my apartment. I had nowhere to go but here.”

“What about your mom’s?” I asked.