Chapter Fifteen

Helena

S UNDAY EVENING, CULLEN picked me up, and it took everything in me not to bow out of dinner and curl up on my sofa with him.

“Stop,” he ordered.

“Stop what?”

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” I asked, sliding my purse over my arm.

“Like you want to lick every inch of me.”

I grinned, leaning into him. “I do want to lick every inch of you.”

He slid his hand to my butt and squeezed. “Jesus, I’m gonna have to think about blueprint plans to stay soft.”

“The second we can leave, we’ll leave,” I avowed.

He kissed me one more time, then we headed to my parents’ home.

“Pull into the driveway,” I instructed, and Cullen parked behind Prudence’s sedan.

Before Cullen had put his truck in park, Prudence came rushing out the front door, her face alit with delight, letting out a squeal and jumping up and down.

“Oh. My. God. You are delicious!” she chirped, pulling Cullen in for a hug.

“Well, thank you, sweetheart.” He chuckled. “I’m gonna need you to let go of me so I can get your sister out of the car.”

“She can’t get out by herself?” Prudence sassed.

“Not in my presence, no,” he bossed.

My sister’s face went from scrunched up confusion to absolute ecstasy within a matter of seconds.

Cullen made his way to my side of the truck and opened the door so I could slide out. “Well, you just won my sister over.”

“The Bridges sisters are far too easy to win over.” He grinned. “Got it.”

I rolled my eyes. “ Or we’re just stellar judges of character.”

“Also true,” he conceded.

Grabbing the bags of wine, beer, and dessert from the back, we headed inside, my sister linking her arm with mine.

“I want to hear everything ,” she demanded.

“I think we should wait until we’re alone for that,” I said.

“Oooh, juicy tea. Yes,” she hissed.

I set my purse on the bench in the foyer, then hung up my jacket before helping Cullen with the bags so he could hang up his jacket.

“He’s here, he’s here,” Prudence announced, flouncing into the kitchen.

“See what I mean about dramatic?” I whispered.

“She’s adorable,” Cullen said with a grin.

“ I think so, I just wish everyone else saw her that way.”

“Baby, if other people don’t see her light, then they are missing out and that’s their problem.”

“But it doesn’t help her and her self-esteem, you know?”

He slid his arm around me and gave me a squeeze. “Next family night at the club, let’s bring her. Hatch’ll say when it’s a good time. Her self-esteem’ll skyrocket.”

I smiled. “She’d love that.”

“Are you gonna stay out here and canoodle all day, or are you going to meet the mother ?” Prudence teased.

“He’s already met the mother, Pru.”

“Then, you’re going to have to meet the Barry .”

He chuckled, kissing me quickly, then we followed my sister into the kitchen where the meeting of the stepfather commenced.

We were in the middle of carrying food to the table. Cullen had impressed the socks off both Barry and my mother, and refused to allow my mother to carry anything hot or heavy herself, further melting her heart, when we heard the front door slam.

“Evelyn!” my uncle bellowed. It came out more like, “EV-A-LYN,” and my mother couldn’t stop a jump.

“What is he doing here?” she said with a groan. “He was not invited.” She turned to me. “I’ll get rid of him.”

“How about we do that together?” Cullen offered and followed my mother, although, he hung back.

Barry wasn’t far behind, and of course, Prudence and I weren’t going to miss any of the drama, so we hustled to keep up.

“Skip,” Mom said. “What are you doing here? I told you you’re no longer invited to Sunday dinners.”

“I have to talk to you! It’s important. It directly affects the Fire Marshal’s office.”

“Then if it’s a business related conversation, it can wait until office hours, after you’ve made an appointment.”

“You don’t understand. I don’t have time to wait for a fucking appointment, Evelyn. I need to talk to you right now.”

“What did I say about how you speak to my wife?” Barry interjected.

“Whoa, sorry, did I walk in at a bad time?” Cullen asked, entering the room.

Mom shook her head. “No, this is my brother, Skip.”

Cullen reached out his hand with a shark’s smile. “Oh, hey there, man. I’m Cullen Wallace. Are you joining us for dinner?”

I watched as my uncle’s face drained of color.

“No, he was just leaving,” Mom said.

“Let me walk you out,” Cullen offered, and although Mom looked a little bewildered by that, she didn’t question it.

Cullen settled a hand on Skip’s shoulder and guided him out the front door while Prudence and I peered through the little windows at the side of the front door.

“Girls,” Mom admonished, but we shushed her away.

* * *

Cullen

I walked Skip to the sidewalk where I slapped him in the jaw. To the outside world, it would look like a friendly goodbye, but my hit was hard enough to leave a mark.

“Ouch,” he squeaked.

“You are one dumb fuck, ain’t ya?”

He sneered. “How the hell did you get an invitation to the chief’s home for Sunday dinner?”

“You’re a special kinda stupid, aren’t ya?” I straightened his collar, shoving my fist into his sternum as I lowered my hand, holding him up when he threatened to fall over. “I gave you very detailed instructions last night, or rather, this morning on exactly what you were going to do, and you were specifically instructed to stay away from family dinner.”

“You fucking—”

I waved a finger at him. “Uh, uh, uh, Skippy, this is not what we talked about. Remember? Your niece does not see you. She does not hear you. She does not get one whiff of you. You’ve broken our agreement and that means consequences. Consequences in the form of my brother, Hatch, and the full force of the Dogs of Fire Motorcycle Club.”

All of a sudden, the stench of urine settled in the air.

I groaned. “Did you just piss yourself, Sheldon?”

He let out a quiet whimper and I glanced down.

“Fuck. You’ve soiled your Chinos.”

I bent slightly so I could meet the eyes of the shorter man. “I think you need to go ahead and make your way home and clean up. Take the day to think about what you’ve done. Monday morning, you still have time to redeem yourself.” I shrugged. “Sort of.”

“Will you call off your brother?”

I chuckled. “Oh, hell no. You made your choice when you showed your face and tried to intimidate my woman and her mother.” I slapped his other cheek. “But, never fear, my guy, if you do as you’re instructed on Monday morning, Hatch’ll go easy…er.”

Skip’s face reddened.

“Understand?”

He didn’t answer, so I grabbed both his cheeks and helped him nod his agreement.

“Do. You. Understand?” I pressed.

“Ye…yes, I understand.”

“Excellent.” I slapped him again. “Good chat. Have a great day, Sheldon.”

With a grin, I jogged back up the porch steps and let myself back into the house.

* * *

Helena

Monday morning, I headed into the office and arrived to total chaos. Ray was at the front desk, but instead of sitting back like he had no cares in the world, half his body was leaning out from behind the desk, like he was trying to hear what was going on two doors down.

“Ray? Buddy, you okay?” I asked.

“Shhh,” he hissed. “Skip’s in with the chief and it’s getting heated.”

“Chief Owings or Chief Parks?”

“Both. He started with Rawlings, now he’s in with Parks.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Eeek. Okay, I’ll go hide at my desk, then.”

He waved me away and I escaped to my desk.

I’d managed to grab a cup of coffee and boot up my laptop when Ray called my desk phone. “Hey Ray.”

“You’re being summoned.”

“Me? What? Where? By whom?”

“Yes, you, you heard me, conference room one, Chief Parks.”

I rolled my eyes. Fucking Ray. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

I grabbed my coffee and made my way to the conference room, stalling as I walked in. Ray had failed to mention that Chief Owings would also be in the meeting. My heart raced as I forced a smile.

“Shut the door, Lieutenant,” Mom said.

“Do I need to take notes?” I asked.

“No,” Chief Owings said. “Have a seat.”

I took a seat across from my mother and Chief Owings who were seated next to each other and tried to keep the panic from my face. I had no idea why they wanted to meet with me, but I feared it had something to do with Skip’s confrontation with Cullen yesterday, and I suddenly wanted to be sick.

“Captain Loman has decided to retire,” Chief Owings said.

“Uh, what?” If I’d been standing, I probably would have fallen over. “Is this a new decision?”

“He said he’s been considering it for a while,” Mom said.

I met her eyes. “Wow.”

“He has suggested you be his replacement,” Chief Owings continued.

I pressed my lips together to keep from gasping out loud. This had Cullen Wallace written all over it.

“I personally think this should have happened a long time ago,” Chief Owings said.

“You do?” I asked, unable to keep the surprise from my voice.

“I do. But since he was your supervising officer, it was out of my hands.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

“So, he will be out by the end of this month, and your promotion will happen forthwith.” He smiled. “The paperwork will be in your inbox by Friday, if that is acceptable to you. You’ll want to have your union attorney look over the contract and have your union rep there with you when you sign them.”

“Thank you, I will.”

“Excellent.” Chief Owings smiled. “Congratulations, Captain Bridges. This is well-deserved.”

“You’re dismissed,” Mom said, and I rose to my feet and headed out.

The second I got to my desk, I grabbed my cell phone, and shut myself into a private room, calling Cullen.

“Hey, baby, you okay?”

“Um, Skip’s retiring and I’m being promoted to Captain.”

“No shit?” he said, although, his tone was one of absolute unsurprise.

“Cullen Wallace,” I hiss-pered. “What did you do?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Did you threaten Skip?”

“Skip who?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Oh my god, you did.”

“Did you deserve this?”

I sighed. “Chief Owings said I should have been promoted a long time ago, but Skip was hindering it.”

“Well, there you go.”

“You can’t solve all of my problems for me, you know.”

He laughed. “Can’t I?”

“So, you did do something.”

“To who? Skip? Who’s Skip?”

“I’m gonna Skip Who your ass when I see you tonight,” I threatened.

“Look, Helena, if the brass at the Vancouver Fire Marshal’s office see fit in their infinite wisdom to promote you to the well-deserving rank of el’ Capitan, who are we to argue? We’re all just pawns in a much larger game if you really stop and think about it.”

“They are never going to find your body,” I bit out, trying not to laugh.

“Congratulations, baby. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks, honey.”

“We’ll celebrate later. You wanna go out?”

“Actually.” I bit my lip. “Let’s try something from Maisie’s goodie bag.”

“Hell yes!”

I chuckled. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you later.”

I hung up and went back to work. Well, tried to anyway.

* * *

Cullen pulled up to my place a little after six, and I pounced on him the second he walked through the door.

“Did you miss me?” he teased, as I ran my tongue over his pulse.

“Are you hungry?”

“I can wait to eat if it means eating you.”

“Correct answer,” I breathed out, grabbing his hand and leading him to my bedroom.

I was already naked under my robe, so I slipped it off, and after hearing his quick intake of breath, I knelt in front of him.

“Babe, I haven’t cleaned up,” he said.

I tugged at his belt buckle, undoing it, then going for the button on his jeans. “I don’t care.”

Once his jeans were undone, I pushed them down his hips, boxer briefs and all and his dick sprung free, already half-hard. “Come to me, my pretty.”

Cullen laughed, sliding his hands into my hair as I took him in my mouth. He was large, so I couldn’t get him all the way in, but I took him as far as I could, working him with my mouth and hands, although, he wouldn’t let me finish.

Hooking me under my armpits, I let out a quiet, “Ooph,” as he lifted me and dropped me on the bed. “I wasn’t done.”

He grinned, removing the rest of his clothes before kneeling between my legs. “My turn.”

“I want to try it in my ass tonight,” I reminded him.

His eyes darkened as he leaned down to kiss me. “Gotta get you ready to do that, Scorpion.”

I licked my lips. “Right.”

He drew one nipple into his mouth, then released it before heading south.

Cullen worked every inch of me, almost like foreplay had become an Olympic sport for him and he was gunning for gold.

“On your stomach, baby,” he ordered, grabbing the lube from my nightstand.

I did as I was instructed, and he lubed up his fingers, sliding them inside and I whimpered with need. “You okay?”

“God yes,” I said.

“Up, baby. Reverse cowgirl.”

We got into position, him ass to his calves, me straddling him with my back to his chest as he lubed up his cock, then kissed my shoulder. “Hold onto the headboard, and then you take whatever you can. We’ll go slow and you can stop whenever you want or need to stop.”

I nodded and he guided his cock to my entrance, so I could impale myself. He’d already primed me and his cock with so much lube, I was slick, but it was still tight, so I went slowly.

Cullen rolled a nipple with one hand as he slapped gently at my clit with the other and I continued to slide down his cock, my ass taking every inch.

“Oh, god,” I breathed out. “This is unreal.”

“Am I too much?” he asked into my neck.

“No. It’s…” I raised up a little, then down again. “It’s so, so good.”

“Jesus, fuck,” he hissed on a groan.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Fuck, yes, I’m okay,” he ground out.

I slid further down. “Is this alright?”

“Fucking hell. Yeah, baby, that is absolutely alright.”

“Will you please fuck me now?”

“What?” he rasped.

“Fuck my ass, Cullen. Will you please fuck my ass now?”

“Jesus, I love you,” he growled, and then fucked my ass.

* * *

We had just started the dishwasher, and I was handing Cullen a beer, our plan to curl up on the sofa and watch a movie, or fuck, or do both when Navy called my phone.

“Hey, Navy,” I answered.

“Hey, how are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?”

She sighed. “I’m doing okay. I just wanted to let you know, I was able to get you a T.R.O. effective immediately. I’m working on a permanent restraining order, but for now, at least you have a paper trail if Brent misbehaves.”

“Okay, Navy, I really appreciate it.”

“I just wish I could do more.”

“You’ve always had my back,” I said.

“And I always will,” she avowed.

“Thanks.”

“I’ll see you on Friday.”

Girls’ night was a ‘go,’ and Cricket had organized VIP access at the exclusive club, Blush, in Portland.

I grinned. “Can’t wait.”

“See you then. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

We hung up and I set my phone on the side table.

Cullen frowned. “No permanent restraining order, huh?”

“Nope. But she’s working on it.”

He shook his head. “I think I have a better idea.”

“Oh yeah?”

He nodded. “I think we should get Hatch involved.”

“What did you have in mind?”

For the next hour, Cullen laid out his plan.