Harley watched as Keni put a plate of food in front of his brother and again felt the same rush he felt every time he looked at her. It wasn't just a sexual thing; it was amazement at how she could just breeze in and take over every situation she found herself in. He knew that both his brother and the woman Noreen were still reeling from the day before and from the photographs they had been shown. He knew the feeling, and he felt more then a little angry with himself for letting his own emotions cloud his judgment about his brother.
Seeing what Max had done to that woman up by Tulsa should have been his first clue. Max had bragged about his way of treating a woman, and how much he liked certain things that had made even Harley seem like a choir boy. Then the girl in Montana and that ranch hand. The girl had been treated as little more then trash, and the man...just out looking for a lost cow. He had stumbled across Max and never had a chance to even ask why. Those college kids, they had been the most disturbing to him. That boy Randy, he would have never had a chance, but why was it that no sign of the girl had been found? Was Max holed up somewhere, playing with her mind and her body?
No, he had just let the worse rule his mind and emotions. Believing that Waylon might actually...he shook his head. No, he was not going to think about it. He was going to put it out of his mind. Just as he put what Max had done to him out of his mind. It had been hard telling Keni what he had, admitting that he had been used just as he had used women all his life. A part of him knew that it was that very fact that made it so hard to accept. He had always had a way with women, been able to sweet talk them before letting out his darker fantasies.
Keni had been the first who was willing to let him do things to her that he had only imagined in his wildest dreams, and even she knew when to make him stop. She had a control over him that he had never expected a woman to ever have, and he found he reveled in it. When they made love, they made love, but other times, it was little more then animalistic sex and she seemed to need it and enjoy those encounters as much as she did the other. Looking at her now, he felt a hunger deep inside him, and he felt the itch in his hands to touch her, to explore her body as he had last night. He saw her smile as she looked back at him and knew almost instinctively that she was well aware of his thoughts.
She wasn't the only one watching him, so were Hannah and Leigh, Noreen's two little girls. They were as beautiful as their mother and he felt that rage again as he remembered what Waylon had told him about their father. He'd like to meet that son of a bitch sometime. He's show him how a man treated his woman and it wasn't going to be pretty. He'd make sure too that the man knew what every pain he felt was for. For Noreen, for those two little girls...Taking a drink of his coffee, he knew his thoughts were so dark this morning because of Max. He'd had nightmares again last night, waking up in a cold sweat and hearing Max's voice in his head again.
"Who's that little girl with your momma and daddy Harley, she's a cute little thing...you ever play with her Harley? Play games you shouldn't...?"
He knew the man had been doing it to anger him, to make him fight more. Max liked a fighter, or so he said. More then once he had almost begged his mom and dad not to bring Heather or Keni when they came to see him in the summer. It was a constant thing, at first he had thought it was Heather Max had talked about, which had enraged him even more. But then that last year, when Max had been ready to get out...
He had found the note on his bunk, after the first visit of the summer. He had known it was from Max, but something had made him read it. "Your little blond friend is growing up nice Harley, bet you can't wait to get out of here so you can tap her...be the first...maybe, or maybe I'll get to her first. What you think about that Barnes, me between that big girls'..."
Harley had crushed the paper in his fist and flushed it down the toilet instead of reading more. For the next month he had burned with rage and tried to get to Max any way he could, to tell him to stay the fuck away from Keni and from all his family. At the next visit he had seen Max watching Keni, licking his lips and smiling with a smile that sent chills down Harley's spine. He had even suggested to his mom and dad that maybe she shouldn't come back...that it wasn't a fit place for her to see.
Now he found himself looking at Keni and wondering if this was really all because of him. Or had Max become fixated on Keni from the very start? The prison farm shrink had told him that it happened. That man had a certain type in their minds for most of their lives and it could trigger certain responses. Fantasies and desires that were spoken of in dark corners.
Had he inadvertently unleashed something in Max with the visits from Keni? She had come with his parents as part of the family, part of what was outside those walls. He wished he knew as much about things as Keni and that doctor at the farm had known, now more then ever.
* * *
As the day progressed, he let the thoughts of Max drift away, not very far, but enough to be able to spend time helping pack and watching the two girls play in the yard. Keni was doing her best to keep the girls occupied, letting their mother and Waylon work on things that needed to be done. Watching as she tickled Leigh and chased them around the piles of leaves, it made him hungry for the day he watched her with their own children. He wanted to father a baby with her so damn bad, to feel it grow in her belly and watch it come into the world. To hold his own son or daughter in his arms and watch it nurse at its mother's breast.
Leigh and Hannah came over and Keni followed far behind. The two girls seemed to have taken to him as a sort of adopted uncle and Keni an adopted aunt. "Uncle Harley, when are we going to leave for Oklahoma...?" Hannah hugged his arm.
"As soon as your mom and Waylon are done packing I guess, it won't take long to load the car or the truck and then we can be on our way home..." Home, a word that sounded wonderful to his ears. "Why don't you two go in and see how it's coming, remind them the sooner they get done the sooner we can leave..." His eyes were on Keni as they did as he asked, and he reached out to pull her over to him, standing between his legs and facing him. She was caught off guard, but he didn't mind. "We need to talk darlin'..."
She ran her fingers over his face. "About having a baby?" There was amusement in her voice. "You have been having a dreamy sort of look in your eyes since we got here. It gets worse when you look at those little girls..."
"I know we talked about waiting, but..." He ran his hand over her belly, "the idea of you being pregnant with my baby, it sends chills up and down my spine and I ache for it..." He couldn't explain it any other way. "I never wanted that before...not with any woman...but with you, I find myself thinking on it constantly..."
That made her chuckle. "Not constantly, you weren't last night...its natural babe, you got shot, and it could have killed you. My dad would say you've faced your mortality and found it lacking something. Believe me, I been thinking about it too...but are you ready for it Harley, I mean really ready for all it will mean...?"
He knew what she was asking, it would mean a lot of changes in their lives and did he really want to share her right now? Baring her belly to his gaze, he ran his mouth over it, tasting her skin and thinking how much pleasure her body was able to give him at the time. There was the idea of her going to school part time too; he had been trying to convince her that it might be a good idea, just a few classes, maybe something she really liked. She had laughingly told him that as far as she knew they didn't teach those kinds of lessons at a community college. She had also promised to think about it...
Without thinking, he bit her skin, just a little but enough to make her moan. She always reacted to him with pleasure, always ready to be there when his need for her over ruled his common sense. "I want you baby, here and now..." He whispered the words against her skin. "I want you so damn bad..."
"I know, so do I, but not here Harley; the shed out back...I don't want to get Noreen in trouble..."
She was right, and he half dragged her to the shed. One inside he let his lust overrule his brain and as always the ride was almost more then he could stand. As he stood before her, his legs still shaking from the strength of his climax, he held her tight, and kissed her ear. "I would kill for you Keni; I would kill any one before I let them hurt you..." His voice was rough, and he knew as well as she did that it was the truth...
* * *
The truck was loaded and Harley watched as Noreen handed the keys to the house to her landlord. He was being good about it, telling her and Keni how much he appreciated the way they had cleaned what they could and promising Noreen that he would give her a good reference if it was ever needed. What was more interesting to him though were the two city cops that were waiting to escort them to the county line. It seemed that warrant and Keni's call to the Dallas police had stirred up a can of worms no one had expected. It had done a lot of talking to keep the Dallas police from taking Waylon into custody and a visit from a local FBI official to make sure they didn't.
He didn't like the idea the cops had, using his brother and his wife-to-be as bait to catch a crazy man. It was a damn good thing that he hadn't been there when this was all being planned. He would have done some heavy duty ass kicking. Well, at least with the Fed's help, Keni had been granted special permission to openly carry the 9mm. That had made Noreen nervous, but like the Fed had told them, better to be safe then sorry, he would be following them back north as well. Harley had told him he better know how to keep his foot in the carburetor, because he would play hell keeping up with his truck other wise.
"Well, I get the idea this neighborhood will be glad to see the tails of the Barnes clan..." Keni came and stood next to him, smiling.
Putting his arm around her shoulders, he had to agree, there wasn't a damn yard or porch that didn't have people standing out watching the entire goings on. Someone had even called a damn news station and some reporter was trying to get hint of what was going on by asking around. Harley had been keeping an eye on him, and he saw that he was back again. "Keni, the girls..."
She was off before the words finished coming out of his mouth. "Hey, get the hell away from them..."
The reporter and camera man looked at her charging across the yard. "Then have someone talk to us, we got a report that you're transporting some damn serial killer or something..." Harley saw the man look Keni up and down. "What's with the badge and the gun, and all these police...can't you or someone give us at least a clue...?"
Every one heard her answer. "If you needed to know, someone would tell you, and you don't come on private property or ask two little girls questions, what the hell kind of reporter are you anyway. Even if I felt an inclination to talk to you, you blew it when you tried to get them to talk to you..."
That brought more then a few snickers from the watchers, and even the Dallas policemen cracked smiles. Harley grinned as she scooped up Leigh and took Hannah by the hand to the car where Waylon stood waiting with the Fed. They talked a minute and Harley saw the newsman frowning. Damn fools, he could have told them that with his woman around you didn't mess with kids.
The Fed laughed as he shook his head. "Harley, come get your wife, I keep telling her that I can't condone her shooting a reporter no matter how annoying he is..."
That did make those in hearing range laugh and the Dallas policemen grinned at him as he walked over to her. "Now honey, you know shooting people is a no-no..." He kept his voice loud and totally amused.
"I wasn't going to kill him, just give him a limp..." She was glaring at the news man and when they reached the truck, she sat Leigh down on the seat. "None of this would have happened if that damn landlord of Noreen's would have come by earlier. This is turning into a damn circus..." The anger in her voice was clear and she had dropped her tone to one only he and Leigh could hear. "This what they want though, a big fucking deal...they want to draw him back to us...and with this shit, it is going to happen..."
"I know sugar, well we get home, it's not going to get any better...mom and dad told me when I called last night the vultures are already beginning to circle. I guess the media is all over."
