Divine Phoenix(Divine Creek Ranch 10)(7)
Suppressing a shudder at the thought of Tabitha as his wife, Clay replied, “No. She’s an employee. And, no, she doesn’t drink coffee. So you’re a beekeeper?”
They walked across the parking lot as they talked about bees, honey, and engagement rings.
* * * *
Lily struggled to full alertness. She’d learned years ago that it didn’t pay to lie around once she’d awakened. Not if she didn’t want to start the day with a hard hand across her buttocks. Her eyes felt like they’d been glued shut, and a painful ache drew her attention to her abdomen.
Disoriented, she looked around the unfamiliar room. She heard an echoing voice over an intercom system outside the doorway, and it dawned on her that she was in a hospital. An IV was still attached to her left forearm. She raised her right hand and rubbed her forehead and her eyes. Her arms felt stiff, and when she tried to stretch her legs, she was assaulted by a searing pain in her abdomen. It hadn’t been just stress or food poisoning she was suffering from. Something had been seriously wrong, and she wracked her brain trying to remember how she’d even found her way to the hospital.
Laying her head back on the pillow, she closed her eyes, trying to piece the memories together. She’d been lost and decided to stop somewhere. Clay Cook. Had she seen Clay Cook? No, she didn’t think so. All she could recall was pulling into the parking lot Stigall’s was located in, and then everything had gone dark.
Groaning out loud, she hoped she hadn’t hurt anybody, surmising that she must’ve passed out behind the wheel. She was lucky she hadn’t been on the highway when that happened. She lifted the blanket and placed her hand on her abdomen.
Appendicitis? She’d felt nauseated for so much of the trip and the pain had been increasingly hard to ignore. Luckily she had a high tolerance for pain. Being married to JT had taught her to ignore pain. Otherwise there would’ve been so much of it she would’ve collapsed under the weight of it years ago.
More memories intruded. Earlier that morning, before fleeing from Durst, she’d realized that she’d forgotten the auto repair shop ledger at home. The brothers hadn’t wanted to spend the money for a computer and Internet access, so Lily did their books by hand. She’d driven back home to pick it up. It was still early, and when Lily saw his truck still parked in front of the house, she’d assumed JT was getting ready for the workday.
JT had told her he’d be coming in late because he’d needed to shower that morning. The fact that he’d showered the night before should’ve been her clue that something was up. She’d felt ill and hadn’t given his words another thought as she’d left for work before it was fully light.
The thumping sound of flesh pounding against flesh had greeted her as she’d walked into their rundown, singlewide mobile home.
“Oh, yeah! Fuck me, JT! Gimme that big fucking cock!” Smack! “Oh! Baby, yes! Harder!” There had been no mistaking the abrasive voice of her sister-in-law, Natalie, who was married to JT’s brother and business partner, Dirk King.
JT had growled a response, and the pounding sounds had intensified as Lily had come to a standstill in her bedroom doorway.
She’d wondered if she was hallucinating at first. That hadn’t been her house. That hadn’t been her bed. That hadn’t been her husband spearing his cock into her sister-in-law Natalie’s cunt. But it had been.
He’d roared in orgasm a few seconds later, thrusting brutally, and then had flattened Natalie beneath him. He’d looked over at Lily with pure fury in his eyes. He’d pulled his cock out and leaped from the bed, stark naked, and had strode toward the door where she’d stood frozen like a statue. With the odor of another woman on him, he’d fisted the collar of her faded gray polo and the waistband of her worn blue jeans and had knocked the air from her as he’d flung her bodily out of the bedroom doorway.
JT was very strong, and she’d sailed across the small living room, knocking a lamp and everything else off an end table as she’d landed against it. She’d seen stars for a moment and cringed in fear as he’d charged at her and picked her up from the floor by the front of her shirt and her blue jeans once more. His cock had been rock hard again, and a deeper fear had flashed to life inside of her.
He’d gotten right in her face, spittle flying with his words as he’d said, “I’m ready for round two, and unless you want to join in the fun I suggest you get the fuck out of here, you worthless, fat fucking bitch! I’ll deal with you tonight.”
She had known exactly what that meant and had wondered if she’d survive. JT’s sexual appetite was rapacious, and his habits were well known in the community of Durst. There had been plenty of rumors which she’d learned to ignore, but this had been the first time she’d caught him fucking another woman. Roughly, he pushed her away from him, his fists as hard as rocks against her chest and her abdomen. At least that time she’d stayed on her feet.