Slinking from the open backdoor into the yard, he scanned the crowd of families before him. Briefly he noted the idiot from the photos, taller in person, but Rio was sure he could take him. But he only had eyes for Beth. A form fitting baby blue wrap dress dotted with pink flowers hugged each of her delicious curves, setting her fiery red hair alight. If he were being honest, he'd expected a party; Kenny had raved about his birthday dreams while they'd been solving math problems together, and he'd thought about Beth, more dolled up than normal, more than he cared to admit. Her party dress did not dissapoint. She spotted him hovering on the deck looking her over like she was something to eat.
While the other two gawked in fear, clutching their little ones close, the heated gaze from Beth was made from a whole different recipe, memories from their last encounter flashing like diamonds behind her baby blues. Black jeans and a navy button up donned his lithe, confident form, and as she waltzed towards him with determination he slipped gracefully back into the house. She trailed purposefully behind, past the stairs and towards her bedroom, only flushing a little at the sight of the wide bed.
After he'd stolen her breath away, twice, on the couch, his phone had rung. With a grimace he had told her that he had to go, tossed her limp form over his shoulder like it was nothing and carried her to her bed. She fell asleep before he was even out of the room, but he must have slipped back to place a glass of water on the mahogany bedside table. She awoke in a daze still wearing his hoodie. She'd spent half the next morning nursing a hangover while looking for her underwear, and if she didn't know any better, she'd have sworn he took them as a lacey trophy. Her hairs stood on edge just thinking about it, but that had been days ago and she hadn't heard from him since.
"You can't just walk in here!" Beth exclaimed. Frustration edged the pink lines of her mouth. It unnerved her to admit that it was due moreso to the fact that he'd chosen TODAY than it was from him helping himself to an invitation.
"The door was open," his sweet voice rung out, coating over her thoughts. He rummaged through the clutter on the dresser, nonchalantly lifting his shirt to flash her the golden gun tucked into his waistband. A thinly vieled reminder that she didn't get to tell him what to do, even at her own party. He snagged their wedding photo from the ledge and held it up.
"This your husband?" The lucky bastard, ugly and pathetic and stupid, yet he still managed to win over a real woman.
"Yes," she groaned, though she wasn't sure if that was because he asked, or because she'd been dumb enough to fall for a dirtbag like Dean.
"What does he do?" Nothing, she thought.
"Uh- he sells cars." Flabbergasted and confused by his line of questioning, Beth offered her answers easily.
"He any good at it?" She hated talking about the useless excuse for a man that was her husband. She almost wished he'd just shoot her.
"Yes..Yeah. what? Why does that matter?" Rio seemed read the tension in her brow like a classic novel. Her husband must not be playing nice, like he'd thought.
He bore her a meaningful glance, lips curling slightly in disgust.
"Yeah he don't look too trustworthy to me."
It struck a nerve. Maybe because Beth knew firsthand how well he could judge a book by it's cover, how well he had to in his line of work. She clamped her jaw, and he knew she wouldn't say anything else about the matter. He stalked towards her possessively, each step sending another bolt of heat to her traitorous, aching core.
"What do you want," she whispered, and immediately wished she hadn't. As Rio drew nearer he groped her up and down with a look; one that she felt in the betraying pool between her legs. He playfully waggled his dark eyebrows at her. Had the circumstances of the day been different -already a few relaxing glasses of wine in, her soon-to-be idiot ex-husband not in her backyard being a bothersome fool- perhaps she'd have played along. But the circumstances had already eaten up all her patience.
"WHAT do you WANT." She commanded a serious answer, and he gave her one.
"I came to pick up my boy."
"That's hilarious," she said, like there was nothing funny about it. "He's not here."
But Rio already knew that, he'd seen the empty room, and had dropped Eddy off at his mom's house that morning after he'd shown up to the warehouse. If he were being honest, he'd given him quite the earful for stealing the van; But she didn't lie, didn't make excuses, and it fascinated him. It almost Even impressed him. He feigned annoyance anyway, loving the wild, badass look in her eye as she spat the words in his face.
"And by the way," she carried on. "When he left he held me at gunpoint, and then STOLE my CAR!" He made a mental note to give him shit for the gun bit later. "So I'm gonna need payment for that too."
"Oh I'm sorry, what payment?"
"Excuse me?" Beth hated how hot his beligerant tone made her, and she glared right back.
"You get paid when you do a job," he roared. "Did you do a job?"
"I tried."
"I don't give a damn if you try. You gotta win, Bitch!" The words cut sharply, and Beth made a decision then; she'd never make the same rookie mistakes again, because she REALLY wanted to win.
"What was I supposed to do, chain him to the bed?"
Maybe a part of her was asking seriously for advice, but a ghost of a smirk fluttered about Rio's features, who was minutely taken aback by the sudden provocative shift to his thoughts. Several scenarios swept through his mind, all debauched and none of them involving Eddy, that's for sure.
"If that's what you're into," he chuckled darkly. Clearly, it was only amusing to one of them. She remained absolutely livid, and if Beth hadn't remembered the cool metal of the pistol at his waist she very well might have slapped him. Still, the intrigue piqued up like a rabbit from its hole, curious but wary.
"Why would ANYONE be into that," she scoffed dismissively. The words had slipped from her mouth, sarcastic and incredulous all at once, before she had time to think better of it.
"What-" he stalked closer- " Baby, you ain't never let no one take control before?" The Wicked curve of his mouth was smothering. He slid near enough she felt the steady in-out of his lungs, every predatory bit of him only inches away. Her blood thickened in a delightful way despite herself, and maybe it was that he'd called her 'Baby,' but gravity seemed to be pulling her inevitably back towards his lips. Briefly her train of thought wandered; pictured her hands pinned roughly above her naked form on the bed, soft linen against her back, begging for whatever was next but unable to get it. He grinned at her like he knew.
"N- huh!" She huffed. "Why would you even ask me..that!" Beth fumbled out the words, her breathy, scandalized tone earning a smugly quirked brow. A lively shade of red crept up her chest, and her wide blue gaze darted from the bed to his eyes, to his chest, and settled on the floor.
"Mm, nah." He cocked his head to one side, flashing the intricate eagle on his neck. "You brought it up, Darlin'."
That sweet drawl curved around the pet name, twisting up a writhing, fiery desire. She might have kissed him, god knows she wanted to! He was so close she easily could have... had Dean's voice not cut through the delicious tension like a hot knife through a birthday cake. Before she had time to process what just happened Rio was snaking passed her soon to be ex-husband with a pat on his broad shoulder.
...
"We'll give it a shot."
Elizabeth Boland, official money-laundering mother of four, breadwinner, taking care of business. Proposing actual business deals with the king of a crime ring. She was up in the clouds, because she had done good, and she'd done it on her own. She'd said something that someone, Rio no less, had deemed worthy of 'giving a shot.'
"We're not here to try, we're here to win, bitch!" Immediate regret washed over her, but she held her ground. Behind his facade she would swear that he was impressed.
The girls, however, gawked at her as though she had seven heads and a spine outside her body, gathering their things up quickly and hoping nobody got shot up. Ikea was NOT where they'd imagined dying. Annie hurriedly hopped off to snag her daughter after her weekend away with Gregg, all but whistling a tune and clicking her heels with joy. Ruby wrapped a tight arm around Beth's shoulder after scanning her phone, on her way to yet another Job interview. They watched her bustle away, casting a worried glance over her shoulder at the two of them.
When she turned around Beth was a little surprised to see Rio still standing there, and she shrugged. He seemed uncomfortable, unsure.
"I really do need a duvet cover..."
It seemed outrageous that he might do normal things amidst his life of shady crime. That this gangbanger decorated a home and did laundry on the weekends. Beth laughed then, a marvelous, brilliant belly sound that plastered a bashful look to his features, and She got the idea that he might not know where to look. Was the great Rio asking for help?
"Aisle six." Her wrist flicked easily in the general direction, and he nodded once, but neither seemed to be ready to go just yet. Decidedly, Beth strutted past him, her chest brushing his shoulder as she slipped by, heading in the direction of aisle six and trying too hard not to think too much about it.
Side by side the two browsed towards the bedding section, oblivious to the few stares directed their way. Aside from the occasional worried looks from mothers and their children, they were left alone in the aisle.
"So what are we looking for," her tone bright and teasing, "something pretty and Pink I assume?" Amusement tickled her features, a goofy grin plastered on her lips from her own joke. A chuckle quaked in Rio's chest.
"Whatever matches my bed I Guess." He shrugged, and Beth paused, wondering what his room might look like. She suddenly felt like a twelve year old girl, thinking about a boy and blushing when he walked by.
"I don't know what your bed looks like," she stated, obviously. He simply blinked those big brown orbs at her, his tanned face a blank slate as His mind flashed vividly to things less than appropriate for an Ikea conversation. Her moans drowned his mind, glimpses of her pale skin writhing upon his bedspread turning him to stone. "You're going to have to tell me about it.." She ticked her tongue when he offered no answers, his thoughts sinking further and further into the gutter. She began aimlessly searching the shelves, checking the sizes, while he imagined her grasping him for the first time.
"Rio, how big is it.." she trailed off thoughtfully. When she looked at his face he shifted, looking down at his pants and back up to her, eyes popping out of his skull. The gush of red poured generously over Beth from head to toe.
"OH MY GOD YOUR BED!" She squealed, earning her a deep, wicked laugh.
"Oh it's big," he drawled as he stalked towards her, a devious glint in his eyes. "Yeah, real big." She meant it to be a snicker, but a heady breathless sound erupted instead. Whirling back to the shelves she fumbled through the packages, checking all the sizes again. She did her best to ignore the uncomfortable, needy ache in the cradle of her hips.
"So King size then," she cleared her throat, groaning inwardly and awaiting the cheeky comment she knew was to come. Sneaking a peak his way, she rolled her eyes while he waggled his brows.
"How about the white ones," she asked, fiddling with the package, "those are pretty neutral. Or grey?"
He offered no reply, and instead she felt a hot weight pressing into her back. The hairs at the nape of her neck standing at attention, reaching and straining for his skin as best they could, as though he were the last drop of water on earth. Rio reached around her shoulder to pluck a packet from the selection, a silk in crimson red. He paused to hum his reply into her ear, barely above a whisper.
"Mm, I'm thinking I want Red." His teasing moan struck her like a lightning bolt, and for the briefest moment she melted into him. His heated breath grazed her ear, and she remembered how it felt when he had nibbled on it. How he'd bent her over the furniture, how he'd made her-
"BETH!" an agonizingly familiar voice nagged at her senses, both moving away quickly from the other. A stocky built women bustled down the aisle, brown locks cropped just below her chin. She bumbled towards the pair dressed in the typical PTA fashion; long sleeved mustard sweatshirt with blue jeans and calf length beige boots.
"Beth! How have you been, I feel like I've hardly seen you around." She patted Beth's forearm fondly, rambling on as though oblivious to the tension. "Samara has been chatting my ear off since Kenny's party, how did you pull it off?"
"Oh thanks Martha! It really wasn't that crazy, I just got a killer deal for the bounce house," Beth offered vaguely, a tight smile etched over her lips.
"But with everything going on with your husband? I mean the affair and the gambling.. we were just surprised you had a party at all!"
Beth clenched her teeth, hating the pitying words that had been chasing her since the news came out. It was no secret how fast word travelled amongst the gossips of her world, how friends were usually your enemy and assumptions were usually spot on. Everyone always wanted to be the first to know, the one to spill the beans over the crowd on someone else's chaotic nightmares. While Rio's face held no hint of anything, a nonchalant mask of indifference, somewhere behind his eyes she could have sworn she saw fire. Martha's attention snapped to Rio just then, and Beth winced right down to her soul, a few choice curse words ringing through her thoughts.
"Who's your friend?" Martha's voice was plain, assuming, as though perhaps Dean wasn't the only one sleeping around the entire time. He defiantly jutted his chin at her, daring and challenging. He hadn't flared his nostrils, but he may as well have.
"You don't remember him from highschool?" Beth tossed on a whim, praying Martha wouldn't see the tense edges in her shoulders. "Hm, I suppose you never paid much attention to anything besides big hair and boy bands though... Anyway we have a busy day ahead, so we should get going." The words had Martha reeling, a nerve plucked by the expert orchestra of diversion.
"What are you up to," she asked, skeptical, and more than a little bitter. Beth waved her hand busily, brushing her aside.
"Just a little redecorating. Sprucing up the new, decluttering the old. Anyway, Take care Marty, see you on Tuesday for carpool pick-up as usual?" Beth didn't bother to wait for an answer, walking towards the checkout with her head high and her confidence booming. Rio shook his head, amused by the petty drama and tingling with pride. This woman was something else, he thought. When they turned the corner out of sight he gave her a smack on the butt, earning a squeal and girlish giggles.
"Damn Mama, quick on your feet. I like that," he murmured thoughtfully, and Beth's Heart swelled ten times it's size at his praise. "So apparently we go way back, yeah?" And though he didn't look at her, he was grinning from ear to ear. Beth waited idly by while he paid, snagging pamphlets on store policy and casually scoping out cameras and security. As they wandered slowly through the parking lot, a clammy silence fluttered between them. It was only when she was standing beside her van that she realized he had parked beside her, the thought bringing a cocky smirk to her lips. He scanned the cars around them, his lips pursed and his eyes no bigger than slits, and she wondered what he was thinking about. She wondered if he'd ever thought about that night he'd come over and danced her around the living room, stealing all breath and coherency from her.
"You wanna come?" He queried in a calculated monotone slur. Her mouth gaped in panic as she fiddled nervously with her leather jacket. Had she wondered aloud? A dark laughed bellowed, and he shook his head knowingly. "To my house," he clarified.
"Yeah, okay." Turning shades near as deep as the bedsheets he'd bought, she climbed into the soft leather on the passengers seat of his low black Cadillac.