BOOTLEG LOVE

17

A loud cheer startled Evangeline from her sleep. It had been Payton. He was in the living room, and something had him excited. She reached for her crutches and climbed out of bed awkwardly, then limped her way into the living room where Payton was reading the morning newspaper. When he looked up from the pages, he looked elated. “What’s going on.”

Payton turned the paper so she could see the headline. “It happened. Prohibition has been revoked.”

“That’s fantastic.”

“Can you believe it? We’re not criminals anymore. We can go legit. We can make an empire. Kingston Spirits.” He sighed happily. “We are going to be so rich. I’m going to buy you the finest things that money can buy. You will want for nothing.”

She laughed. “And my parents thought you would never amount to anything.”

“We have got to celebrate. So get dressed; we are going out to breakfast.”

“Give me a few minutes to change.”

Once Evangeline was dressed, they walked down to the main road and flagged down a taxi. After that, they went to breakfast and then did some shopping. Their first stop was to buy a brand-new car to replace the one they. After that, they bought some clothes and then drove out to his parents’ house once more to celebrate the good news. After that, they spent the night discussing how to take their product public legally and how they would come up with the start-up capital.

As the night grew late and Evangeline yawned, Payton excused themselves, and he swept his sleepy bride up off her feet and carried her to the guest room. “What a day.” He said, kicking the door closed and carrying her to the bed.

“You have come a long way from sharing a bed with your brothers.” Evangeline teased as Payton put her down on the mattress.

“It’s been a wild ride, but to tell you the truth, I’m glad that liquor is legalized. The criminal life is fun for a while, but it gets old. Always trying to stay two steps ahead of the law.”

“I don’t know. Being married to a criminal was somewhat exciting.”

“I don’t excite you anymore?” He grinned wickedly as he unbuttoned the cufflinks of his shirt as he stood over her.

“I simply said that going to bed with a man wanted by the police was very thrilling.” She purred as she got comfortable. Giving him that come-hither look.

“I can still give you a thrill.” He said as he unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off.

As he leaned over to kiss her, Evangeline placed her hand on his chest and ran her fingers over his body as he kissed her neck. “I love the feel of your body.”

“And, I love yours.” He chuckled as he nipped at her ear.

“You know I am wounded.”

“I’ll be gentle.” He said against her ear.

“Don’t you dare?” Evangeline turned her face to his and claimed his lips in an urgent need-filled kiss.

Payton sunk onto the bed on top of Evangeline. His hands moved over her curves and down her legs, slowly pulling her dress up, being careful not to aggravate her injuries. He pulled back just enough to help her lift her dress up and over her head, then he threw it aside and unbuttoned his trousers, kicking them off before embracing his lover once more.

A long satisfied sigh escaped her lips when Payton’s hand found her s*x. Caressing her soft wet folds and coaxing her body to life. Every nerve ending was on fire, and she could feel herself melt into him. Evangeline reached down and wrapped her hand around his ridged s*x and stroked him with long, firm movements. A guttural moan rumbled in his throat, and she kissed his lips hard.

Payton moved her hand and settled his hips between her creamy thighs. She moaned softly as Payton sunk deep into her. He always felt so good. Payton’s hands and lips worshiped Evangeline’s body, kissing and caressing her every curve as he took her with urgency.

They did their best to remain quiet, so the others in the house would not know what they were doing.

***

Tempest snickered as she took her hair down in front of the mirror in their bedroom. “What has you so amused. Remington said as she got undressed and turned the bed down.

“Can’t you hear them?” She giggled.

They both went silent as Tempest undressed and put on her silk floor-length nightgown. Then they heard the soft moaning from the room next to theirs—the room Payton and Evangeline were sharing. Remington laughed. “Tempy, you shouldn’t be listening.”

“It’s hard not to.” She said, getting into the bed next to her husband. “You know I always knew those two would eventually end up together. Even when they were little, they were inseparable. Now we have a beautiful daughter-in-law and a grandbaby on the way. And with prohibition no longer illegal, we can come out of the shadows and earn a respectable income. So all is right with the world.” She said, laying down as he got comfortable next to her.

“All true.” They both paused when the moaning stopped. Remington snickered. “Well, that didn’t last long.” He rolled onto his side, facing her and traced his fingers along the lace neckline of her silk nightgown. “What do you say we make a little noise ourselves and show them, youngsters, how it’s done.”

Tempest grabbed her husband’s undershirt and pulled him on top of her. “You better last longer than he did.”

***

The sound of glass breaking woke Payton and Evangeline from a sound sleep. “What was that?” Evangeline whispered.

“I don’t know.” More noise came from outside. Then a huge crash caused Payton to leap out of bed and snatch up his trousers from the floor. He yanked them on as he ran out of the room, through the house, and out into the yard with his brother’s and parents behind him. Evangeline followed behind, slowed down by her crutches. Standing in the yard, they could see their still shack had been destroyed and was now up in flames burning out of control.

The men tried to put the flames out while Tempest and watched them from just outside the house. When Tempest screamed, the men turned and saw Quincy had snuck up on Tempest while they were all distracted, and he now held her hostage with a gun to her head as he held her in front of himself like a shield.

“Let my wife go,” Remington growled, but when Quincy c****d the hammer back, all four men stopped dead in their tracks.

“I’ve been chasing you guys for years. Trying to shut you down.” Quincy sneered. “Never could nail you guys down. Not legally, at least. Well, I shut you down now, didn’t I? Destroyed your precious still.”

“This is trespassing and vandalism.”

“What do I give a s**t? I’m not a cop anymore, you saw to that. The problem is since I’m not a cop anymore, I don’t find myself bound by the law. So I’m taking a page from the book of Kingston and doing what I want. I must say breaking the law is thrilling and liberating. I see why you do it. All I really want is to kill you and your whole damn family. I’ll start with your wife, the mother of your demon spawn.”

Out of nowhere, a crutch came up and struck Quincy in the head, knocking him over and causing him to drop his gun. The man had been so wrapped up in vengeance none of the men had noticed Evangeline limp up behind him. Because of her injury, she had taken longer to get outside, and Quincy seemed not to notice, so she clocked him.

Payton and Quincy dived for the dropped weapon, but neither got to it. Instead, the two men rolled around on the ground, each getting in a few punches. Suddenly Quincy was on top of Payton, trying to choke the life out of him. “I have thought about killing you for so long. Now I get the chance.” Quincy growled as Payton clawed at him, trying to break free without success.

Suddenly a shot rang out, and Quincy’s grip fell away. Both he and Payton looked down to see the hole in Quincy’s chest as blood soaked his shirt. Payton looked around to see his mother holding Quincy’s dropped gun with smoke coming from the barrel. Quincy fell over dead, and Payton got up. Tempest dropped the gun immediately. “Oh Lord, in Heaven, I killed a man.”

Remington took his wife in his arms. “It’s ok.” He then looked at his boys. “You take him out back, and you bury him deep.” Colton and Trenton picked up the body and took it away. Payton picked up the gun. They would bury it with the body. They would make sure neither were ever found.

Payton and his brothers spent the next two hours digging a deep grave and tossing Quincy in. Once he was covered under eight feet of dirt, they went back to the house. Their father had managed to put out the fire while Evangeline was inside consoling Tempest in her time of horror. Payton walked through the rubble and picked up the charred remains of the still. “He destroyed everything,” Payton growled, tossing the junk to the floor once more.

“It’s just stuff.” Remington sighed. “We will rebuild. We started from nothing; we will do it again. Only this time, it will be legal.”

“And we have our reputation,” Colton said. “I say that gives us a leg up this time around.”

“Let’s go see that the girls are ok.”

Evangeline sighed when Payton came into the room. “IS it done?” She asked quietly.

“Yeah, no one is going to find him. You know we have to keep this a secret, or mom will end up in prison.”

“But it was self-defence.”

“He wasn’t attacking her at the time. He was attacking me. That’s not self-defence. That’s murder. We can never speak of this to anyone.”

“I understand.” She said. Payton closed the bedroom door. Let us just go to sleep. It’s been a long night.”

“Did he destroy everything?”

“Everything.” He smiled. “It’s ok; we will rebuild. Nothing is going to hold us down. Not now.”

Eighteen months later…

Payton walked through the distillery, double-checking all the equipment. The plant officially went online in the morning. Finally, Kingston Spirits had become a reality. “There is Daddy.” He heard Evangeline’s voice behind him.

He turned around to see his lovely wife walking his way carrying their young son Matty, and she was already round and ripe with their next. Payton let them catch up, and he kissed them both, hello.

“Your father says you are all ready to open for the business come morning. So what are you doing here?”

“Just double-checking everything. It still feels like a dream.”

“I’m proud of you. You might have come from nothing, but you sure took the life God gave you and ran with it.”

“I’m a better man because of you.”

“Do you think Kingston Spirits will make it?”

“I don’t know, but we are sure going to try.”