Chapter Ten: Sticky Sweet Promises

"Just say yes," Tig repeated, urgently tightening his large hand around hers.

As Kari pressed her lips together, not trusting her voice to immediately speak, back in Charming, Agent June Stahl nearly threw her phone against the wall when she got a call that the ATF issued Yukon was found discarded hours north, traces of blood were sent to the lab to determine whose it was.

She picked up Tig's most recent mug shot and shoved a white plastic topped push pin through his forehead into the bulletin board in her hotel room turned temporary office, the mini bar was a plus over Hale's office.

As June opened the mini bar and selected a five-dollar bag of chocolate coated candies and tiny bottle of vodka, back in the fast-moving van, Tig held his breath as Kari's mind began assaulting her with the accusations that were ever levied at her by former lovers.

"Cold."

"Would being spontaneous fucking kill you?"

"Frigid."

"Uptight."

"Do you ever smile?"

Kari was brought back to the present as Tig squeezed her hand again. "Hey, you okay?"

She blinked and nodded, "yes and yes."

Tig looked over, "yes?"

He both hated and was frightened by the tremor in his voice, realizing every time he looked at Kari or even heard her intake of breath, that she was not a woman he was used to being around, he didn't know how to navigate around her.

Kari nodded. "Yes I'm okay and yes to more."

"Yeah?" Tig asked, trying to keep from looking and sounding flustered.

Kari nodded again and pretended to brush inviable lint off her pants when even his brief glances carried too much intensity, the weight crushing her if she made eye contact.

Tig let her off the hook for the moment, letting his mind put together scenario after scenario of how he wanted their first night at the safe house to be.

Kari adjusted the seat to further recline and brushed her arms briskly at the chill in the air.

"Here," Tig said and pulled his patched vest from behind the seat and passed it to her.

"Thanks," she murmured as she adjusted the heavy leather vest over her legs. Kari traced her fingertip around the different patches and worn edges of the stitched lettering. She reached into the pocket and closed her hand around his wallet.

Tig barely suppressed a startled flinch when her voice broke the silence.

"Alexander."

He looked over and saw Kari looking through his wallet and reading off his driver's license.

"Alexander," she repeated and mumbled as she looked through the rest of his wallet. He felt a hot coil tighten through his groin at the sound of his name on her lips.

She slipped his wallet away and at some point, Kari's shock, anxiety, and overall shaken psyche pushed her into an uneasy sleep, the highway recently repaved kept the ride smooth.

Your tax dollars at work.

Tig glanced over as her stomach loudly growled and she moaned as a frown creased her forehead.

He realized how long it had been since either of them had eaten and it was starting to be way too long since he'd last ingested alcohol.

Tig slowed as a string of cars lined up at a red light. Kari stirred awake when he had to stop the van short before hitting the Audi in front of them with broken brake lights.

"How're you feeling?" he asked as Kari covered her mouth when she was struck by a series of yawns.

She nodded and rubbed her eyes as Tig fished the almost empty pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He glanced over and held out the pack to her. "There's only one left," Kari said as she looked at his extended hand.

Tig shrugged, "it's okay, I've got to stop soon for gas and pick up a few other things."

Kari nodded her thanks as he lit the last cigarette in the pack and rolled down her a window to blow out her first exhaled cloud of smoke.

Traffic was snarled at the four-way stop as Kari looked over at Tig as he was paying attention to the no tail lights Audi. She shifted on the seat as she ran her eyes over his strong hands and scarred knuckles from where he gripped the wheel.

She inhaled an acrid lungful of the chemical saturated tobacco and unclicked her seatbelt, leaning towards him. Tig looked over at the metallic sound and was caught off guard when she pressed her lips to his and let her exhale move past his lips.

Tig ignored the sharp honks from the driver behind him as he swallowed her smoke-filled exhale and breath as he slid a large hand to cradle the back of her skull, the silken strands of her hair snagging on his ragged cuticles and heavy rings.

He broke the kiss before his lips pulled into a smile as his eyes glazed over as every fiber of his being deep dove into wanting to touch, taste, and fuck her.

An involuntary blush touched Kari's cheeks and she sat back in her seat, securing her seatbelt back in place. Tig moved the van forward and eventually through the stop sign, anxious to get through the gas station and to the safe house for club members needing to go underground in a hurry.

The gas station was a few miles past the four-way stop. When the bright red sign came into view he asked her to climb into the back in case there was any facial recognition camera surveillance before slipping on a plain grey baseball cap.

He stopped the van at the furthest pump from the entrance and looked over his shoulder at her as she sat on the bare metal van floor.

"What?" Kari finally asked nervously as Tig tried to choose his words carefully.

"I'm going to need to go in there to get there to pick up a few things after I full up the tank. Can I trust that you'll stay put or do I need to encourage that?"

"I'll stay right here," Kari breathed.

Tig held her unblinking gaze for a few wordless heartbeats before nodding slowly and slipping out of the van. He went inside the convenient market attached to the gas station and paid cash for what he guessed would be a full tank as well as an assorted mix of sodas, booze and as close to real food the place sold.

He added a bottle of bourbon that was stashed behind the counter. Tig's eyes wandered over the impulse buys at the register and plucked something silly that he tucked in his pocket before he returned to the van, he would never have admitted aloud how relieved he was to see Kari waiting.

Tig passed her back the plastic bags and asked her to stay in the back on the way to the nearby safe house.

Kari nodded as she met his eyes in the rearview mirror before digging in the bags for a bottled iced tea.

The rest of the drive was mostly a straight shot to the cookie cutter condo complex, an older set of units with peeling grey paint and who'd never heard of a homeowner's association.

Tig gathered up most of the bags and told Kari where Clay said the key to the front door would be hidden. It was under the potted white geranium and she opened the squeaky door, locking the deadbolt behind them.

Kari dropped the zippered duffle bag on a recliner in the sparsely furnished one-bedroom condo and looked around as Tig got right to the bottle of booze and took a few harsh, burning swallows, the alcohol spread warmth throughout his chest and belly, soothing his erratic nervous system, his lust hyperactive.

"There wasn't anything in the way of clothing except this," Tig mumbled when Kari rejoined him in the small dining room where he pointed at an I Love California tourist shirt. He picked out an XXL so she could wear it to bed.

Kari nodded her thanks and accepted the bottle he held towards, taking a few sips before digging a bag of sour cream and onion chips from the bag and a lemon lime soda. "Do you mind if I put the news on for a while?"

"Sure, I've got to make a call."

Tig watched her walk to the faded burgundy loveseat and fumble with the remote until the right combo turned on the channel guide and she could land on a local news station.

Tig dialed Clay and watched Kari tear open the bag of chips, not realizing that Clay had answered until he repeated himself for the third time.

"Tig?!"

"Yeah, yes, I got to the house."

"You or 'both' of you?"

"Both of us."

"Is it going to stay both of you or do I need to have someone standing by to fucking clean up?"

"She's not going anywhere," Tig murmured and drank deeply from the bottle, finally feeling the alcohol begin to relax him.

Tig listened as Clay filled him in on the ATF's presence in Charming and recent round of interrogations before ending the call.

He yanked his boots free and tossed them under the square dining room table before joining her in front of the tv. "Can I join you?" he asked, and Kari nodded, curling her legs under her so he could sit on the broken-down cushion.

Tig waited until the news went to a commercial about a new show starting up on the animated network before he slipped his hand in his front pants pocket.

"I picked you up something else at the store," Tig said casually.

"What is it?" she asked, instantly at peak curiosity.

"Close your eyes," he murmured.

Tig heard Kari's sharp inhale and saw her pause in hesitation. "Please."

Kari closed her eyes and felt her chest tighten as she heard the crinkling of a plastic wrapper.

Behind her closed eyes, Tig unwrapped the cherry flavored candy ring that had been sitting by the convenience store register next to penis shaped lighters and miniature bottles of Wild Turkey.

Kari's eyes flew open as Tig closed his hand around her wrist and slid the sweet treat onto her left ring finger. She watched in what seemed like slow-motion as he pressed his lips over the jewelry shaped cherry candy.

Tig dropped his hands to her narrow waist and yanked her underneath him, her gasp only adding napalm to his fiery wants and near-painful physical needs.

"What are you afraid of?" Tig growled as he roughly yanked her linen pants down past her hips, the fabric smoothing down her thighs. "Talk to me," he demanded as he tugged the pants free past her feet and tossed them to the floor before he smoothed a large hand up the inside of her warm thigh, feeling the supple muscle practically vibrating under his rough palm.

Kari couldn't help but laugh at the same time involuntary tears stung her eyes. "I'm afraid you might change your mind and hurt me, kill me," she finally admitted.

Tig's expression softened, "no, it's okay," he murmured as he started to tug her panties free. "Lemme show you," he whispered raggedly and slid down the length of her body, pushing her thighs apart until he could lick a hot path up the inside of her thigh.

He teased his tongue over the prominence of her femoral artery, a light blue line towards her wet center.

A shudder ran the length of Kari's body as Tig pressed his lips to the soft skin under her belly button and shifted his grip until he could dip his tongue along the shell pink folds of her pussy.

"I'm not going to ever hurt you," he rasped before he traced the tip of his tongue in irregular circles around her clit, coaxing it to a more and more sensitive state under his touch. His cock strained behind his zipper, asphyxiating itself with its painful hardness.

Tig stifled a moan as he reached a hand down to free his rigidity before the blood supply to his cock was choked to death.

He increased his tongue's movement, eager to make her come, wanting her to surrender to his touch.

Kari felt an electrical charge swirl in her pelvis as her thighs began to shake, her pleasure quaked inside, arching her back as his touch pushed her into any orgasmic abyss.

Tig sat up between her thighs as Kari tried to catch her breath, a warm glow and light sheen of sweat sprouted across her bare skin. He pulled her thighs tight to either side of his waist and dropped a hand to grasp onto his thick hardness, squeezing the shaft as he traced the sensitive head up and down her wet slit.

"Yes?" Tig asked on a pant, his lips wet with the rush of wetness he brought on as he fucked her tight, wet center with his tongue.

"Yes," Kari gasped breathlessly and raised her hands to slip under his shirt and tighten her fingers in his bare sides, careful to avoid his sore ribs.

Tig lowered himself to his elbows as he slid his thick rigidity inside her until he was stopped by their intimate flesh kissing.

He groaned as he dropped his head to the curve of her neck, pressing his lips against her flushed skin.

"I'm not sure this is going to last very long," Tig admitted with an embarrassed chuckle as he plunged inside her, deeply and erratically.

Kari's intimate internal walls tightened around his thrusting cock as her still sensitive clit twinged each time he filled her.

Tig lifted his head when he felt Kari smooth her hands from his sides to slide one hand up to rest over his rapidly pounding heart as she pressed the fingertips of her left hand over his mouth.

Tig felt the imminence of his own knee-shaking orgasm and snaked a hand up to close viperlike around her small left wrist. He pressed his lips to her palm, his ragged exhale hot against her skin as beads of sweat blossomed on his face.

Kari watched him lick a wet pattern around the sweet cherry candy until his saliva and tongue turned red. Tig crushed his sticky lips to hers as he spilled himself in three hot spurts deep inside her.

"How long does it normally take for couples to say they love each other on your fast marriage shows?" Tig asked as his heart pounded in its opaque pericardial sac and he immersed himself into the well of her wide eyes as his question fell over her.