Like, for the first time, I really believe it’smeshe loves.
That I’m finally the only one she thinks about when I sink inside her.
It might’ve taken years, but I did it.
All it took was a little worldwide pandemic to seal the deal.
Her chair at Elio’s tattoo shop got shut down, so now she waits on me hand and foot when I’m home, and I’m free from all babysitting duties. I thought I’d fucking hate having to be the one out there bringing in the bacon, but it turns out it’s not that bad trading my side gig dealing for a long-haul trucking job instead. It actually feels good to be the one taking care of our little family.
I’m almost… turning respectable.
Maybe this really is the way things could be now.
Me out on the road. Coming home to the little woman who worships the ground I walk on. I’m even thinking about talking Harper into letting me knock her up again. This time for real, withmykid.
Then she can stay home with the two little ankle-biters. I don’t actually mind trucking. Sure, it’s not as fun as staying at home and gaming while pretending to “watch” the baby, but it’s not bad, either. I like talk radio and audiobooks. At least I get to sit down all day. And driving a big rig is badass.
Plus, there’s the way Harper looks at me when I get back home. She always loved me, in her way, but now that I’m her only connection to the outside world, the woman all but worships me. And the way she rides my cock—fuuuuck. I can’t get enough of that. She dropped to her knees in the shower this morning, all but swallowing my balls in her eagerness to get me off.
A man can’t ask for more outta life.
So yeah, I’m feelingprettydamn good about shit when I pull into the gas station where all the usual truckers gas up, hooking it up to the pump and heading inside for the tar black coffee I like. This life’s a little more humble than I maybe envisioned, but as long as I got Harp, I can take not having as much flashy cash like I did when I was dealing and gambling.
This has been a good reset, not only job-wise, but also of my priorities.
Like, maybe Harper and me really can live the dream we always dreamed about when we were kids. About getting out of that hellhole we grew up in and making it the way normal people do. Working a respectable job and raising kids together. Her and me against the world, just like we always swore.
I know shit started out as a lie, but I’m starting to think that maybe, if you just haveoneperson in this world who believes in you, it’s enough to make it true. Like I’m starting to believe in myself, too.
And that I can start tobethe man she thinks I am.
I think I want to be him.
It’s time to start earning the trust that shines in her eyes when she looks at me. I love her so fucking much. I need her. And Goddammit, with her at my side, it’s easy to believe anything’s possible.
Even being a good man.
The station’s half-empty, which is normal these days. Most of the truckers are masked up and keeping their distance.
Essential workers, they call us. Means we’re the only ones allowed to move freely while everyone else is locked down like prisoners.
Before I load up my Big Gulp with coffee, I head to the bathroom to take a piss.
The door swings shut behind me with a heavythunkthat echoes off the tile. Fluorescent lights flicker overhead, casting everything in that sickly yellow-green. The place reeks of industrial cleaner.
I’m halfway to the urinal before I register I’m not alone.
Two guys stand by the sinks. One’s leaning against the wall like he’s got all the time in the world—tall, rangy, with a patchy beard and a Lonestar Kings patch on his vest.
Fuck.
Another patched motherfucker’s blocking the door I just came through, thick arms crossed over a barrel chest.
My gut clenches. Shit. It’s never good to see the Kings anywhere before nine a.m. on a Tuesday.
“Z.” The tall one—Viper, I remember his name now—pushes off the wall with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Been a minute.”
I force my shoulders to relax, even though every instinct is screaming at me to bolt. But there’s nowhere to go. Plus that’s a prey response, and these motherfuckers are definitely predators.