The Jerk

by V. K. Ludwig

  “You’ve got no idea how horny you make me,” I whispered, then sucked her clit and slid two fingers inside of her. “But I’ll show you as soon as we get the chance if you let me.”

  “I’m not sure…”

  I shoved her bud around with my tongue, kissed it, licked it, and pulled it with my lips. Then I sent my fingers in deeper, searching for that one spot I was told would drive her crazy.

  She was so close to her orgasm now, I could tell by the way her knees trembled, and her calves tightened. But I wanted to push her over the edge, see her unravel in front of me and hear her whimper and scream while she ground herself against my mouth.

  “Please, stop...” she begged and let her hands dive into my hair.

  “You didn’t stop for me, so why would I stop for you?”

  She arched her back, and little quivers swept across her.

  “Come for me, baby,” I whispered against her flesh, rubbing my own cock harder across the bench as she moaned underneath her release.

  She didn’t notice how I came inside my pants while her body convulsed and pressed against my face, my fingers deep inside her. At that moment, I knew I could indeed make up for everything ten times over — as long as we found the time, and she let me do the counting.

  Chapter 9

  Ruth

  After spending dinner over the meatless chili Adair had cooked for us, we used the snowmobiles to drive up to Wolf Lake. Parked with enough distance between them as not to strain the ice, they added three more shadows to the frozen surface amidst a variety of big and small shacks.

  The door to ours hung crooked from a warped frame. Adair gave it a hearty push with his shoulder, a hand on each side of the crate with our provisions.

  “Can Uncle Peter manage the fire?” he asked and placed the crate onto one of the wooden benches fastened to the wall. “We’ve got small logs and kindling sticks in that crate over there.”

  Uncle Peter gave a nod and shuffled over, his boots crunching down the thin layer of snow atop the ice. With precise movements as if there was a formula to it, he built a fire inside the small stove by the corner, dipping the shack in hues of soft yellow and orange.

  Ayanna draped thick fleece blankets onto the benches, while River brought in a tool which drilled its red metal spiral deep into the ice beneath my feet.

  “The ice won’t crack, right?” I shouted over the noise of it, watching how the thick, cloudy layer turned into a perfect, black circle.

  Once the hammering sound died down, Adair gave me a wink and put yet another crate by the stove. “That ice is so thick, we could drill another hole if we wanted.”

  “He didn’t take you ice-fishing before?” River asked.

  “Nope,” Adair stepped up beside me and placed a plastic crate down, about two feet in front of the hole. “But she asked me to show her more of the advantages of living with the Clan. Ice fishing is one.” Then he gave me another wink, this one so guilty it should have been punished. “Earlier, I showed her some of the culinary treasures. Best thing I ever tasted.”

  I sat on the crate, the heat from the stove suddenly whipping my cheeks, and reminding me of how Adair had made me melt against his tongue just a few hours ago. No matter what might have gone wrong that first night between us, today he had made up for it in a most unexpected and satisfying way.

  “Not sure if I will enjoy catching and killing a fish,” I said. “Especially since I know I won’t even eat it.”

  “Oh, so you expected this is about catching fish?” River chuckled, pulled a bottle from a crate and handed it to Adair.

  He unscrewed the cap and took a sip, his nose scrunching up, and his eyes squinting. “Thanks.”

  River took Ayanna into his arms and pressed a kiss onto her forehead, saying: “Sorry babe, but no more for you.”

  Then he lowered himself onto his knees and placed a second kiss onto her stomach, making us all retreat into the silence of the moment.

  “Did you discuss names yet?” Uncle Peter asked, dunked the small kettle into the hole and placed it back onto the stove.

  “Ebony,” Ayanna said.

  River stood back up, put another plastic crate upside down on the ice and gestured Ayanna to sit down. “I always considered Noah a nice name for a boy.”

  “Well, but it won’t be a boy,” Ayanna said, sat down and shifted her gaze back to her husband. “So you better get used to Ebony.”

  He smiled at her, one brow arched into a taunt. “We’ll see about that.”

  Adair handed the bottle back to River, who took a sip, then gave it to Uncle Peter.

  “It’s been a while,” Uncle Peter said and gave a solemn laugh, his gaze focused on the black hole in the center. Where Adair and River had taken one sip he took three, then the bottom of the bottle pointed right at me.

  “You don’t have to,” Adair said and kneeled down next to me. “But don’t go complaining to Rowan again, saying I’m not showing you a good time here.”

  Everyone around him laughed, and he took the opportunity to lean in closer, his question a whisper against my ear. “Did I show you a good time earlier?”

  My head nodded like on reflex while the rest of my body grew hotter, and I took a sip of the bottle in a desperate attempt to put out the fire he had started inside me.

  The burn of the straight alcohol trickled down my throat. Instead of putting out the fire it added to the fuel, making it grow bigger and radiate in all directions… but mostly down between my legs.

  River and Ayanna exchanged a few whispers, their eyes darting between Adair and me. For a moment, a dark veil settled on River’s face, his brows furrowed and his shoulders tense, but Ayanna erased it all with a kiss and the hint of a head-shake.

  “It’s a pretty small shack for five people,” River said after a while, took another sip and handed it back to me. “That’s definitely not even a foot between you guys.” He wiggled his finger between us.

  Adair grabbed a fishing line from a bag, tied it around the center of a long branch, and lowered the hook and bait into the hole. The branch balanced along the edges of the black circle, the little bit of current the water had, triggering the occasional rocking motion.

  He gave River a cold stare. “Look who’s talking.”

  “Come on,” Ayanna said. “This is supposed to be fun.”

  “To be honest,” Adair continued. “I get the law is generally a good thing, and it helps to keep the guys in check, but it isn’t helping anyone when it comes to forming relationships.”

  River gave a grunt. “Funny you say that, considering you threw me under the bus over it.”

  Uncle Peter quickly turned around and added another log to the stove, but it did little to compensate for whatever cold had settled between the two. The wind rattled on the drooping roof, and Adair bit his upper lip, his head low.

  “Because you broke the law,” he said. “And to make it even worse, you broke it right in front of us. Could at least have tried to hide it better.”

  “You didn’t give me away because I broke the law,” River snarled. “You gave me away because you can be a fucking jerk sometimes.”

  For some reason, a cleft formed inside my chest, cold and biting like the ice beneath us, and I sat up straight. “Don’t call him that!”

  After several deep breaths, I sunk back down into myself, ignoring the raised brows everyone carried now. Except for Adair, who carried a soft smile.

  Ayanna bore her elbow into River’s ribs, who gave another grunt at first but then leaned forward, the bottle balancing on his lap. “So… about that thing you said, with the law getting in the way of forming relationships. What do you mean by that?”

  “Well, you can’t really talk to any of the girls because, as soon as you do, everyone stares at you as if you’re about to rip her pants. Nobody wants you to be alone with them unless you’re their guard.” Adair took a deep breath and gave a tug on the branch sitting above the hole. “If you never get to spend time with someone
, how are you supposed to fall in love and find out if it will last?”

  River swung his palms up. “What do you mean with if it will last?”

  “Oh, come on, you saw we’ve got plenty of unhappily married couples out there. And that’s because getting to know each other out here is difficult.”

  “Ayanna and I get along great!”

  “See, that’s my point. You and Ayanna had the chance to spend time together without being eyed by the entire village all the time. But that was only because Rowan assigned you as her guard. Now you have a wife and a child on the way, while I and others are still single.”

  “Interesting,” River said, his body swaying back and forth a bit until he found his balance. “The way you’re saying it makes it sound as if it’s the fault of the law you’re not married yet, and it’s totally not you.”

  Ayanna took the bottle from him and handed it over to me. “How about we keep the bottle on that side of the shack from now on?”

  “Maybe you want to hold back a little,” Adair said. “If you turn up hungover tomorrow, Rowan’s gonna rip me another asshole.”

  I took the bottle and wiggled it in front of him. “Shouldn’t that be my decision? It’s not like you can forbid it.”

  “No, I can’t. And I won’t.”

  He looked straight at me, his eyes carrying warmth and sincere concern. For a moment, my own words blended back into my thoughts. I felt safe with Adair because he safeguarded me — even now.

  He mumbled a please under his breath, adding something tender to his concern. All I could do was nod without breaking our eye contact, and handing the bottle off to Uncle Peter.

  “You can keep it,” I said.

  Ayanna rose and walked over to one of the benches, draping a blanket around her back as she leaned against the wall. “I guess I agree with Adair. There has to be some middle ground between protecting women, and allowing them to get to know the men better.”

  “Why don’t you bring it up to Rowan?” I suggested.

  Adair got up and rummaged through a crate, then handed a canning jar to Uncle Peter. “Nah, he’s got other things on his mind right now. Perhaps once things calmed down again, though I’m not sure that will ever happen.”

  “Well, but now you’ve got Ruth,” Ayanna said casually. “Maybe you’ll get to know each other better, just like River and I did.”

  A laugh blurted from my lips. “I won’t marry.”

  For a fraction of a breath, I thought I noticed Adair’s body tense, but he quickly busied himself, stirring the content of the jar Uncle Peter had poured into the kettle. Seconds later, the smells of fennel and onion filled the shack, along with a nutty taste which tickled my gums.

  River pushed himself up, swayed over to the bench and lay down, his head nestled against Ayanna’s lap. “Like… ever?”

  “That’s what she told me,” Adair said, the jolly undertone of his voice strained as if he had forced himself to smile. “So you see, I won’t be as lucky as you two, which brings me back to the importance of getting to know the unmarried women our village has.”

  River let out another chuckle, making his head vibrate and bounce across Ayanna’s thighs. “I can’t wrap my head around how you assume it would make a difference to you.”

  Adair shot him a furious glance. “Shut up, River!”

  “Of course, it would!” I said with a light voice, but the question why I defended him a second time sunk deep into my stomach. “You don’t know him the way I do, and I can tell you Adair is everything a woman would want in a man. He’s kind and respectful. Considerate. He even cooks and helps around the house.”

  “Helps around the house?” River blurted. “Doesn’t sound to me like the kind of man our women need.”

  Ayanna shoved his head off her lap. “Now you’re the jerk. I’d appreciate a little bit more help at home. You won’t break a finger sweeping the floors from time to time, you know. Or taking your damn boots off before you stomp inside.”

  “Great, now look what you did…” River’s voice trailed off, followed by incoherent mumble.

  “Ruth isn’t familiar with the concept of marriage,” Adair said, stirring the spoon and losing his gaze inside the swirls of the broth. “Expecting her to come here and take a husband is a bit far-fetched, don’t you realize?”

  “Exactly,” I said, something bittersweet clinging to how he now came to my defense.

  Adair took mugs from a crate and dunked them into the kettle, filling one after another with the steaming broth. Uncle Peter turned his one down with a wiggle of the bottle in his hand. River complained about feeling dizzy.

  In the end, I ended up with a hot mug between my palms sitting next to Ayanna, while Adair held his sitting on the bench across from us.

  The lure hung inside the black hole, as unmoving as the silence which had settled inside the shack. Not the awkward one where nobody knew what else to say. It was more like the kind of silence we all appreciated at that moment, where each one of us sunk deep into our own thoughts during a cold night warmed only by fire.

  While Uncle Peter continued to stare at our unsuccessful fishing attempt, I couldn’t help but glance over at Adair. He held his mug between his hands, his feet on the bench and his knees rising in front of him like a protective shield.

  My ribcage tightened around my lungs, compressed by a fear I had ignored. What if Adair wanted more than sex? What if he fell in love with me?

  “Ruth?” Ayanna’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

  “Huh?”

  “Do you believe the Districts burned those people?”

  I let my hand dart for hers and our fingers intertwined. “After what happened to Darya, and after all the things pastor William and Max told me… Yeah. I think it was us. I wish councilwoman Kenya was still around. For some reason, I feel things wouldn’t be as bad if she still sat on the council.”

  She took a deep breath, let go of my hand and wiggled herself free from the blanket. “I wanna go home now.”

  “It’s time for us as well,” Adair said, then turned his attention to Uncle Peter. “You’re okay to drive? Oriel will be pissed if you crash a snowmobile. It’s getting harder and harder to find parts for maintenance and repairs.”

  “You know what,” Uncle Peter said under the release of one deep, long breath, the bottle-head poking into his temple. “I’ll stay here a little longer. Don’t worry about me, though. I’ll be fine.”

  We scrambled our things together and packed them back into the wooden crates, which the guys fastened onto the snowmobiles. Ten minutes later, River and Ayanna drove off.

  “You’re not really gonna leave him here. Are you?” I asked Adair and pointed at the crooked door of the shack. “What if he falls to sleep and dies of hypothermia or something?”

  “He’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve got plans for you and me once we’re home,” Adair said and handed me my helmet. “I left him enough wood behind to heat the shack for the night. Whatever he is working out in his thoughts is obviously requesting some time alone. Considering what he went through, I assume that’s not too much to ask.”

  I swung myself onto the snowmobile behind him, my hands eager to wrap around his athletic body. “You know, sometimes I wonder why you’re so harsh when others are around, and the total opposite when you’re only with me.”

  He took the helmet from me and placed it on my head. “I’ve got to stick up to my reputation, don’t I? Remember, I’m a jerk.”

  Chapter 10

  Adair

  After I parked the snowmobile by the side of the house, Ruth and I sneaked inside on our toes, making sure not to wake my sister.

  Once we reached the living room, I turned around and cupped her face. “Are you ready for this?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  My breath stalled when she pressed her body against mine, her nose rubbing against my chest as if she’d picked up on a scent.

  “Not here.”

  Our hands intertwine
d, and I led her to my bedroom, my cock swelling upward against the waist of my pants. I reminded myself that I had fired twice today already. Once when I ate her, and once before we left for the lake. If this was enough preparation for what was to come, I couldn’t tell, but my hopes were high, and so was my willingness to prove myself.

  Once inside my room, I pulled her back against me. The shape of her body against mine made heat surge inside me, and I feared it would burn me alive if I wouldn’t come inside her tonight.

  I picked her up with care and carried her over to my bed, our lips pressed against each other in an intense storm of kisses. We didn’t waste any time on being shy this time around, because I had seen everything of her and she had seen everything of me.

  After I took off my shirt, pants, and briefs, I climbed on top of her as the only thing left on her body was her panty. I pulled it down with one hand, kissing her knee and the inside of the thighs.

  I lowered myself between her legs, my cock stiff and impatient, and watched in awe how she wrapped her hand around my shaft to guide me.

  Her fist ran along the veins, rubbing the head of my cock against her wet cunt. “Adair…”

  The way she moaned my name made me want to take her right then and there. I dropped one hand onto her waist and pulled her pelvis against me, making an inch or less of my cock disappear between her folds.

  “Fuck, you have no idea how many times I thought about this moment,” I said. “Are you ready for me? Do you want to feel me again?”

  “Yes,” she moaned, and right as I put more pressure against her entrance, she continued, “but…”

  I froze, the constraint that single word placed on me turning my body into a trembling mess. “But what? You changed your mind?”

  “No!” she blurted and rocked herself against me as if to underline her answer. “It’s just… I understand you want to find a wife.”

  “So?”

  “I want to make sure you understand that I won’t be that. This is just —”