15. Blackheart

15

Blackheart

I ’m on edge the entire time I’m pissing, praying that Montana doesn’t run out on me. I hope by now we’re past her trying to escape. We had a rough start, but deep down she has to know that being with me is better than being with her father. And hopefully after a few drinks I can get her to tell me why he wants her dead and why she’s not as innocent as she’s pretending to be.

Once I finish my business, I head back into the room. Montana’s warm eyes meet mine, and she stands up, facing me. She looks good in her new clothes. I can tell she feels better in them too. Her energy is less sad, and she looks more self-assured. Wanting to be close to her again, I take her hand in mine, not concerned with whether she wants my touch or not, and head out to the truck.

Montana’s eyes light up as soon as we step into the bar like it’s her first time being in one. I guess this is her first time doing anything fun since she was taken. I wonder how long he had her and where he kept her. I’m going to make it my mission to find out.

She wants to sit at the bar, but I pull her to a table instead. I prefer the bar myself, but I don’t want any punk here trying to talk to her. We get drink menus first, and I hand her one, wanting her to feel like she has some agency over her decisions. If I show her a nicer side, she may just relax enough to let her guard down and share some of the secrets she’s so desperate to hide.

Blowing a piece of hair out of her face, she wets her mauve lips with her soft pink tongue. “What am I allowed to get?”

“Whatever you want.”

Her eyes widen, and I correct myself. “Just for tonight. Don’t get used to it.”

I’m rewarded with an eye roll, and she puts her elbows on the table while she leans on her hands. “I wouldn’t dream of it. I know it’s your kink to make me suffer.”

“You don’t want to hear about my kinks, Montana.”

Her little mouth pops open right when our server comes up to us. I order a Blue Moon, and Montana does the same.

I start my interrogation with light and easy questions, wanting to keep her calm. “How much money will you need to be set?” I agreed to let Montana keep some of her funds to give her a head start on wherever she wants to hide. Deep down, I think her chances would be better if she stuck with me, but I’m keeping that to myself, not wanting her to get any ideas.

She huffs and rubs her palms together. “A few thousand. Just so I can get to a new town and get a place. Hopefully I can get a job quickly.”

I don’t like the sound of that at all. Her plan is to just run off to some random town? She’s asking to get murdered.

Our beers come quickly, and I let her get hers halfway down before digging deeper. “You got any family? Where’s your mom?”

She gives me half-smile and takes another sip of her drink. “No family. Mom’s dead. Thanks to Dad.”

Right. She did tell me that. Her father is scum. Just like mine. I don’t want to talk about mine, but I feel like I have to. Montana doesn’t put out unless she’s getting something in return. I take a few sips of my beer and look into her glowing eyes. “You know that my father killed my mother too. You can talk about it if you want.”

Her lips turn down at the corners, and she finishes her glass. “You can talk about Margaret if you want.”

Every time she says her name it feels like I’m getting stabbed in my chest. “Why the hell do you want to know about her so damn badly, Montana? Do you like seeing me upset?”

Her eyes soften, and she licks a drop of beer from her lips. “I just want to know what happened to make you turn to stone.” As sharp as her words are, her gaze is nothing but empathetic. I don’t need empathy. If I did, I’d go pay a fucking shrink.

I wave at our waiter, getting two more beers ordered then turn back to my little detective. “I’ve always been this way. Stone cold. Whatever you’re trying to pull out of me isn’t in there.”

She scoots her chair back, visibly distancing herself from me. “Well, if you have no heart, then there’s no point in telling you about how my dad killed my mother. Since you wouldn’t care and all that.”

“Margaret was killed twelve years ago. I met her through Dallas. She was his sister.”

Montana stares at me like I have two heads, and I feel naked. I don’t know why I shared that with her. But to get trust, you have to give it. And the fact that she wants to hear about Margaret shocks me. I’ve only been on one date since she died, and the woman I took out turned her nose up the second I brought up my ex. But Montana’s interest makes me feel safe. Like I can talk about Margaret without being judged for it. I can talk about her with Dallas, but that’s different. I’ve never shared things about her with another woman.

Montana shows me her pretty smile and pulls her chair closer again. “My mother’s name was Tara. She and my father met at church. He killed her when I was four years old. On their wedding anniversary.” Her smile drops, but she doesn’t look away from me.

I keep my eyes on hers as if they’re anchors keeping me secured. “Margaret and I were together for three years. She got Violet six months after we got together. She moved out of her parents’ house nearly three years after we started dating. I was getting ready to move in with her shortly before she died.” I wanted to buy a house for Margaret, but she inherited hers from her grandmother and insisted on us living there.

Montana rubs her arms nervously. “My father killed my mother because she was having an affair with an old boyfriend of hers. She’d found out my father was having sex with prostitutes, and she wanted to divorce him. He wouldn’t let her.”

I pull one of her hands in mine. “My father killed Margaret because I told him he was dead to me. He was a piece of shit my whole life, and I stood up to him one day. He retaliated by taking the one person that meant the most to me, and that’s why he killed her. ”

She sniffles, and I squeeze her fingers. “Don’t cry about it. I hate when people feel sorry for me.”

She wipes her face and bites her tongue, trying to stave off her tears. “It hurts me to know that you went through that.”

I pull my hand away from hers, feeling my own tears threatening to flow. “I know. I appreciate it. Thank you.”

Time stops between us while she accepts my gratitude. It’s the first time I’ve thanked her for anything.

Our waiter returns with our second rounds, and we sip our drinks slowly together. Montana smiles at me again, making my neck heat. She’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, and thinking so makes me feel so fucking guilty. I feel like I’m cheating on Margaret for finding another woman attractive. For wanting to kiss a woman who isn’t her.

Her plump lips wrap around the neck of her bottle as she opts not to pour it in her glass, and then she pulls it away, relaxing into her chair. “What was your favorite thing about her?”

My guilt only increases while I look at my new addiction. “She was the most altruistic person I’d ever known. Selfless in every sense of the word. If someone had a need, Margaret would meet it.”

Montana’s smile only widens while she takes in my words, and I feel the ice around my black heart start to melt. I take a sip of my second beer while my buzz starts to kick in. “What was your favorite thing about your mother?”

Her lip wobbles and she blinks a few times. “Her hugs. My mother gave the best hugs. I don’t remember ever getting a hug from my dad.”

I grip my bottle tighter than I should then loosen my hold, not wanting to break it and get glass everywhere. “Where did your father keep you? Where were you running from when I found you?”

She takes a swig of her beer and shivers. “He kept me in the dingiest, dirtiest shed you can imagine. Worse than your disgusting shed.”

I blush with embarrassment, remembering where she woke up after I got her back to my house. I shouldn’t have put her out there.

She sets her drink down and goes on. “He kept me in a cage. Like one you’d keep a dog in. It wasn’t even a cage fit for a dog. It was rusty, with metal sticking out of it. He kept me locked there for seven days.

“He didn’t feed me. Barely gave me any water. And he took me out once per night to whip me with his leather belt.”

“I’m sorry about last night.” I get a flash in my mind of me hovering over her with my belt in my hand, getting ready to give her more welts. She probably thinks I’m just as bad as that bastard. And in some ways I am.

Her eyes darken, and she swipes her tongue over her lips. “It’s alright. I liked it.”

I close my eyes and all I can see is Montana’s cute butt. I want to do so many things to her sweet little ass.

And she liked it. My bad little bitch liked it. I open my eyes, staring into her lustful ones while I take another sip of my beer, wondering how she’d like being handcuffed to the bed while I shove my tongue inside her pretty little pussy. I’m seconds away from saying something so disgustingly vulgar and inappropriate to her when some chump in a leather jacket comes up to our table.

I barely notice him, still lost in my vision of what I want to do to Montana when I see her look over at me nervously. “Only if it’s okay with my boyfriend.”

Snapping myself out of my imagination, I look between the two of them. “I’m sorry?”

The chap looks at me nervously. “I’m asking her to dance.”

Some upbeat song plays in the background while people start to crowd in the center of the room. I want to smash my bottle upside this punk’s head and tell him to beat it, but I don’t want to get kicked out before we’ve had dinner. And Montana looks at him like she wants to dance with him. He’s conventionally attractive and probably nicer than me. And I did tell her I’d let her have a little fun tonight.

I wink at her and give her a small smile. “One dance.”

He holds out his hand for her, and as soon as she slips hers in his, I feel a wave of possession like never before.

I don’t even know this guy’s name. All I know is that he’s as tall as me, as fit as me, with jet-black short hair, and he’s got his hands on my girl’s waist.

My girl. I really have lost it. Montana’s not my girl. She’s just a girl who life threw in my path. A girl I can’t stand and a girl I don’t want to let go. But I have to. Letting her go is a part of our agreement. And letting her go will allow me to go back to my normal way of life without worrying about her wellbeing.

I set my half-empty second beer to the side and get a glass of water from our server, remembering that I’m driving us back to the motel. Montana puts her hands on the man’s shoulders, and he says something to her that makes her smile. She gives him my smile, and it takes everything in me not to waltz out there and pull him off her.

But when she starts to move, I forget all about him. He teaches her some dance, and he spins her around to the beat while other duos around them do the same. I forget I’m staring at her until she looks over at me, and I wave at her, causing her to give me a small wave back.

They dance for a few more minutes while I tap my foot impatiently, and when the next song starts, I get out of my seat. I walk to the center of the dance floor swiftly, and I hear Mr. Nobody ask her for another dance right when I put my hand on his shoulder. He looks over at me, and when I give him my death stare, he steps away with a nod toward Montana while I pull her into my arms.

Her light eyes are slightly glazed from the alcohol she had, and she cups my neck with her small hands. “Are you jealous?”

I slide my hands down to her sexy little hips. “What the fuck would I be jealous about?”

She smirks and shakes her head. “Me giving my attention to someone who isn’t you.”

Fuck yes, I’m jealous. I’ve just met Montana, and I already feel like she belongs to me more than she does her father. I tuck my thumbs into her belt loops. “I don’t want your attention.”

She drags her hands down my chest. “So you wouldn’t mind if I found my new friend and gave him a little kiss?”

I feel my left eye start to twitch. “Not unless you don’t mind me chopping off his lips after. ”

She sucks in a breath. “You like hurting people, don’t you?”

“I do. But my favorite thing to do is hurt pretty little things like you.”

She lets out an alcohol-induced giggle. “So you think I’m pretty.”

I slide my hands down her body lower, resting them on her perfect ass. “I think you’re gorgeous, Montana.”

She looks away from me as the music dies down, and then she pulls out of my grasp. “I’m hungry.”

Placing my hand on her lower back, I guide her back to our table. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

As soon as she’s sat, she asks me for another beer. Against my better judgement, I get her one, promising myself that this’ll be her last. Montana has an entirely different wild side that comes out when she’s under the influence, and I don’t want her to do anything she regrets.

With her too dazed to focus, I order her something to eat, and she eats it quickly which makes me smile. I know I haven’t been as nice to her as I could be, but I’d never let her starve. Hearing that her father didn’t feed her for a week and left her in a cage means he’s even worse than I imagined. I take a look around the room seeing if anyone’s looking our way. I know no one is, but I’m still a little paranoid. Who knows what he’d do if he saw me and Montana together right now? As long as we’re careful, he’ll never have to know, and on Monday she and I both can become ghosts.

I order something to eat for myself, and once both of our plates are cleared, I pay our tab and walk us back to the truck. Once I get Montana buckled in, I get in on my side and take us back to the motel.

Three beers for me takes the edge off where I can kick back and relax, but three beers for Montana makes her turn into a pile of mush. I wanted us to both take showers before bed, but she’s barely capable of standing. I help her unpack her things, getting her to brush her teeth while she sits on the closed toilet seat, and once she’s rinsed out her mouth and used the bathroom, I decide she can do the rest of her grooming in the morning. “Go get changed and into bed.”

I want to wait to shower until morning too, but taking a cold one will probably help me sleep better. Once I make sure Montana’s alright, I take my turn in the bathroom with the door open, strip down quickly, and get in the shower .

I take my time brushing my teeth and washing my face, still feeling my impure thoughts float around in my mind. Montana’s under the covers with her eyes closed and I get changed quickly, putting on a pair of gray sweats and a white tee. I get her bedside lamp cut out and am seconds away from turning off mine when I pull the blanket back and see her naked underneath aside from her panties. “Where are your clothes, Montana?”

She sighs and buries her face in her pillow. “I was too tired to put on my nightgown. Hurry up and get in here. It’s cold.”

I’ve seen Montana naked a bunch of times already, but not in the bed I’m sleeping in. Deep down I know I should take the couch with her in the state she’s in, but I climb in beside her, ignoring the voice of reason in my head while I’ve still got a slight buzz going.

After I turn off my lamp, I rest my head on my own pillow. “Go ahead and get to sleep. We’re leaving first thing in the morning for Utah.”

She snuggles up to me, resting her head on my shoulder. “I had fun tonight.”

I brush her hair off her shoulder, sinking my fingers into it. “I did too.” I shouldn’t touch her like this. Not right now when she’s barely conscious of what we’re doing .

Her soft hand wraps around my wrist, and she presses her lips to my neck. “Touch me, Blackheart. I know you want to.”

I want to do more than touch her. I want to consume her. I want to punish and bruise her. My entire body vibrates with her heat next to me, and I slide my hand to the front of her body, cupping one of her large breasts.

I haven’t touched a pair of tits in twelve years.

Montana’s tits are so warm. So soft and plump. I want to wrap my lips around her tight brown nipples. I want to paint her chest with my cum. She holds her hand over mine and starts to moan softly. “Blackheart.”

I flick her nipple, making her whimper. “It’s Gunner.”

Her tired eyes meet mine. “What?”

“Gunner. That’s my name, Montana. When you moan my name, that’s the one you use.”

She runs her thumb over my lips and lets out a breathy sigh. “Fuck me, Gunner.”

I’m seconds away from flipping her onto her back and driving into her bloody cunt when I remember that I encouraged her to get drunk tonight. And while she’s not blacked out, she’s not in her right mind. Having sex with her right now wouldn’t be right. I’d be taking advantage of her, and I’d wake up full of guilt knowing I could’ve said no .

But I want her. I want to kiss her lips so badly. Her pupils are dilated and her nipples stare back at me, and I yearn to have her. I’ve never wanted sex this bad in my life.

I want her more than I ever wanted my Margaret, and admitting that to myself makes me want to leave Montana alone in this room and never return.

I feel my dick start to leak when I release her breast and cup her soft cheek instead. “Go to sleep, Montana.”

She frowns, turning away from me. “If you don’t want me, just say so.”

I want this girl more than I want goddamn air. To think I almost put a bullet in her head yesterday. I wrap my arms around her waist, tucking her head under my chin. “I do want you. I wanted you the moment I laid eyes on you. But we’re both drunk, and we hate each other. You’ll remember that in the morning when you sober up. Go to sleep, Montana. We have a long few days ahead of us.”

She yawns and presses her butt against me. “Goodnight.”

I kiss the top of her head. “Goodnight, Montana.”

She pauses and grabs one of my hands that holds her waist. “It’s nice to meet you, Gunner.”

I’ve completely lost it. She knows my name. After twelve years, another woman knows my name. I pull the blanket over her higher, not wanting her to get cold. I close my eyes, trying not to think about how this is all about to end. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

I hear my little fox start to breathe heavier while she drifts off to sleep, and I follow right behind her.