by Jade Allen
“I’m all right,” Mary said quietly. I was surprised at how well she was handling the whole situation—fucking shocked, to be honest. My appreciation for Mary’s ability to hold together in spite of crazy circumstances grew, and I thought that if she and I made it out of the situation alive and more or less in one piece, I would buy her all the flowers I could get my hands on. I would shower that fucking woman with all the treats and treasures she could stand as long as she would stay with me. Dear God, if you exist, get us out of this shit hole alive and I will go clean starting tomorrow morning, I swear. Just let us get out of this. Let Mary get out of this.
Someone inside the house opened the door and I saw Mary cringe as our escorts pushed us through. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I’d been in a dozen houses exactly like this one so many times, I would probably have puked; it smelled like vomit, decay, mildew, and dirt. In the corner of my eye, I was pretty sure I saw an enormous palmetto bug skittering along the wall without a shred of fear of the humans in the room.
“Welcome, North,” Big J said from a dark corner of the room. My eyes adjusted to the gloom and I looked over in the direction I’d heard his voice coming from. Big J was—of course—big. He was an inch or two taller than me, and probably a good hundred and fifty pounds heavier easily; maybe more like two hundred pounds heavier. His skin was a reddish-brown russet color, the result of a mix of ethnicities I had never asked too many questions about and now never would.
“I’m not feeling the love,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Come on, guys. Someone bust in. Someone say something incredibly fucking incriminating; do something. “What’s all this shit about hauling up a civvie for a problem you’ve got with me?” I pointed to Mary. “She’s not part of this.”
“Wrong place at the wrong time,” Big J said with a philosophical shrug. “She your life coach, or your lay?”
“Both,” Mary said. In spite of myself, I snorted at the fact that she didn’t sound the least bit intimidated. “Though I’d prefer girlfriend if we’re going to stand on courtesy with this bullshit.” The whole room went silent; I don’t think anyone was used to someone talking to Big J like that—calm, unhurried. Plenty of junkies had yelled at him, plenty of junkies had cried to him; I didn’t think very many people at all had had the balls to speak calmly and firmly to the man.
“You got something of mine,” Big J said, looking at me. His voice cut through the silence and I heard people starting to move around again.
“Not me,” I said with a shrug. “I only ever had what I paid for, and what I paid for is gone.”
“What kind of bullshit do you think I’m buying, North?” Big J shook his head. “You ought to know better by now.”
“I’m telling the truth,” I said, spreading my ink-marked hands wide. “I don’t have your shit. I never had any more of your shit than what I bought.”
“So, you tell me who does, then,” Big J said. “Or I’m thinking the only fair trade is for me to take something of yours.” He glanced at Mary. Motherfucker, if you even raise a hand to gesture at her I’ll find a way to end you.
“I don’t know who stole from you,” I said. “Could’ve been Little C. Could’ve been Jamie Price. How the fuck am I supposed to know?”
“You were there,” Reggie said from behind me.
“So were you,” I pointed out. “I don’t see you running to tell the boss you know for sure it was me or you saw it.”
“I was counting bills,” Reggie said.
“Yeah, and I was getting ready to find a quiet place to use.”
“So you say.”
“Both of you shut the fuck up. Now.” Big J stood slowly from the chair he was in, gathering up his momentum, and my heart started to pound. “We can settle this. Ladies, I need you to leave the room.” Big J’s gaze fell on Mary. “Not you, though.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
As if the call to clear the room was a signal, the whole place suddenly lit up—from outside. I heard shouts, and in a matter of mere moments, black-uniformed figures wearing helmets and brandishing huge fucking guns began to pour into the living room from both ends of the house. Everyone hit the floor except for Big J—who was reaching for his own weapon, shouting to his dealers to put up or get the fuck out. There was a crack, a hiss, and the air around me suddenly burned. I lurched forward as a billowing fog filled the room.
I had to find Mary. She was the only person in this whole situation that was completely innocent; she didn’t deserve any of this. I heard coughing, sputtering, choking sounds and moved towards them, not even certain I knew who it was, not even sure I wasn’t walking right towards a loaded gun. Somehow even though my nose and throat were on fire, even though my eyes were streaming, and the air was thick with what I suddenly realized was tear gas, I managed to find Mary; she’d dropped to the floor, and I joined her there, reaching out to grab for her hand. At first—even blinder than me—she flailed, shrieking and kicking out to get away from me. “Mary! Baby, it’s me. It’s me.” She grabbed at my hand and we both sank down more fully onto the ground as the whole world lit up around us.
Crack-tat-tat-boom! Shots split the air and roared in my ears, and I knew that there was no point in even trying to cover them. I shifted as close to Mary as I possibly could in the chaos, wrapping my arm around her. There was no point in saying anything to her; she was just as deaf as I was, and the shots continued to whiz by us along with shouts from all corners of the room.
It felt like hours; but later I found out that it was only a couple of minutes before the police cleared the room. Agonizing minutes where I was sure I was going to suffocate on the tear gas, or that I was going to get shot—or even worse, that Mary would be. In spite of how short the time was, there was still plenty of opportunity for me to think about the fact that I had used in front of her; that I had let her get into this mess with me, and that I had—so selfishly—put Mary in the position to use coke for the first time like the fucking coward I was.
Someone shook me and just like Mary had when I found her, I flailed, punching out at whoever it was. “Hey—hey, it’s the police,” I heard through the ringing in my ears.
“North, it’s them,” Mary said; she had to be shouting. She was just as deaf as I was.
“We’ve got you, man. We’ve got you. Calm down.” Gradually, I did. Someone was pouring something into my eyes and some of the burning began to recede; someone attached some kind of mask to my nose and mouth and the agony in my sinuses and my throat began to abate. My eyes still felt as though someone had scoured them with sandpaper, but I could see.
“Fuck,” I said, croaking the word. “Remind me never to get tear gassed again.” Someone laughed; I didn’t know who.
“You’ll be all right tomorrow.” Someone was lifting me up and I saw that Mary was on her feet as well, her eyes bloodshot, her face red and irritated.
“You okay, hon?”
Mary’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “Not really, but I’m alive.” I reached out and pulled her close to me, and before I even thought about anything, I was kissing her, holding her body pressed against mine as if for life itself. The cops gave us a few moments, and then I felt someone pulling me away from behind.
“We’ve got a few questions for you two, but you can come in tomorrow for your official statement,” one of the cops was saying.
As they questioned Mary and me, I found out that they’d caught Big J with a fresh supply; they said they were carrying out pounds and pounds of product. I heard, too, that Nick, Jules, and the other guys in the band had been targeted by other dealers working for Big J; the Dade County police department were all ready to become huge fans of Molly Riot thanks to all the legwork we’d done getting Big J’s organization apprehended. “Some of them will roll over on the guy,” one of the cops said with a shrug. “All we need is one or two to turn in state’s evidence, and we’ll be able to take care of the whole lot.”
“As long as I’m not going to have to look over
my shoulder ten years from now,” I said.
“Nah, we’ve got enough to put him away for life, along with his org. No worries there.” I figured that was probably pretty optimistic, but I didn’t want to get into it with any of the cops. “We’ll get you guys home; you’re not in any shape to drive. If you can give us the keys to the car you took to Vagabond, someone’ll bring the car back to your address.” I was too tired and hurt too much to argue, and Mary was in the same boat as me. We let the cops take us back to her place, with the promise that we’d get the car back.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
When I woke up the next morning, it was difficult to say if I felt better or worse than I had the first morning I’d awakened at detox. I was in Mary’s bed—we had both managed to get our tear gas-reeking clothes off the night before, and to get a shower, but neither of us had had the energy for anything else—but I had the used-up feeling that was the inevitable other side of the coke coin, along with the lingering effects of the raid.
“Morning,” Mary’s voice was a slightly melodic croak next to me. I grinned and turned onto my side to look at her; the area around her eyes was still reddened and irritated, but otherwise she looked mostly recovered from our night’s adventures.
“The hell you say, it’s got to be at least noon.”
Mary rolled her eyes and reached out without looking, her hand groping on her nightstand until she found her phone.
“Eleven-thirty,” Mary said, showing me the screen.
“Whatever.” I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face against her tits, torn between wishing I could go back to sleep and wishing I could reasonably expect Mary to be DTF. “How’re you feeling?” I asked, not even bothering to lift my face.
“I tried coke for the second time in my life and got tear gassed,” she said. I pulled back to stare at her.
“That wasn’t your first time?”
Mary laughed. “No, you big tool. I went to college; I’ve tried lots of things.” I held myself up on my elbows and looked down into her face.
“Every fucking time I think I have you figured out you come out with something like that and I have no idea what to think,” I told her. I laughed, shaking my head in amazement; I could remember only too readily how she’d stared Big J down only hours before, how Mary had been absolutely calm, even with the coke in her veins, even when Big J could have shot her at any moment—or one of his dealers in the room with us could have easily spared him the trouble.
“Maybe that’s a sign that you shouldn’t think you have me figured out,” Mary suggested, raising an eyebrow with a little grin.
“Never again, believe me.” I brought my lips up to hers and kissed her hungrily. I rocked my hips against Mary’s, the misery of my hangover starting to die back in the face of her lush tits, the heat of her body, the softness of her skin. I pressed my body against her, wanting to touch her everywhere, hungry for everything about her. A thought tickled my brain and I tried to push it aside, but it kept needling me; I wanted nothing more than to work Mary up into a fucking heat, and this nagging little thought in the back of my brain popped up over and over again, even as I reached down between her legs to rub her, to test the waters there.
“Hey,” I said, breaking away from her lips. “I just thought of something.”
Mary chuckled—low and throaty, and it was nearly the end of me right then and there. “Seriously, you’re thinking right now?”
I laughed, shaking my head. “I just did coke for the first time in weeks last night,” I said defensively. “It jogged some things loose.”
Mary sighed, pushing her hips down. “Make it quick then,” she told me.
I laughed once more. “It occurs to me,” I said, spreading her legs a little wider, stroking up and down along the already slick folds of her pussy, “that if Big J is as big as they were saying…”
“Mmm?” Mary blinked, and I grinned to myself at the look on her face: she was struggling to focus even as I found her clit with my fingertips and began to rub in tight little circles.
“I think maybe he paid someone at Recovery Now off,” I told her.
Mary’s eyes widened and she shook her head once, sharply. “Why?”
“Why would Farber flat-foot fire one of his best counselors over a one-time offense? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I appreciate the fact that you thought of that,” she said, pulling my face down to hers. “But right about now, the thing I’m most interested in is fucking your brains out.”
I choked back a chuckle as I claimed her lips with mine, rubbing my already throbbing cock against her thigh. Ever since I’d gotten sober, I’d felt so fucking constantly horny. It was impossible to deal with; even the little bump of coke from the night before hadn’t really put a dent in my sex drive.
I stroked and rubbed Mary’s clit, teasing her as long as I could, holding myself back as I brought my fingertips up to her button and then down along her pussy. She was soaking wet in seconds, moaning in a half-broken voice, twisting and writhing underneath me. I never wanted it to end; I wanted to keep it going as long as possible. I loved the sound of her moaning, the way she threw herself into every fucking moment of me playing with her. I loved how wet she got—it was so fucking hot to know she was getting more and more turned on by the moment, that she was getting turned on by me, that she wanted me. I slid two fingers inside of her and I felt Mary’s inner muscles flex around me like her body itself didn’t want to let me to go.
My cock was aching. I could feel the sticky slickness of my precum leaking onto her leg, and as I worked by fingers in and out of Mary’s pussy, rubbing along her inner walls, looking for her g-spot, I wanted to feel her wrapped around me so fucking bad it was like torture.
“Fuck, babe,” I groaned, bringing my mouth down on hers again. “I need to have you.”
Mary nodded, not quite breaking the kiss, and I slid my fingers out of her, shifting my hips down between her legs.
I guided the tip of my cock up against her, and for a moment—torture or no—I held myself back. I knew I wouldn’t be able to last long; I felt like I was ready to burst already, and I wanted Mary to get off. I wanted to hear her crying out and feel her body tightening around me as she came. I buried my face against Mary’s neck and thrust into her slowly, inch by inch, feeling her body wrap around me like a perfectly wet, hot glove.
“God,” I groaned, pushing up into her deeper and deeper, “you feel so fucking good. So fucking right.”
Mary moaned, her fingernails digging into my back even as her muscles flexed around me, her whole body tensing.
“You, too,” Mary said, her breath catching in her throat, cracking her voice.
I pulled myself up and looked down into her face as my hips came up against hers, my cock twitching as I struggled to hold back. I’ve been with my share of women, but I couldn’t think of anyone I’d been with who felt as good as Mary did—especially in that moment.
I started moving inside of her, rocking my hips slowly, and Mary fell into rhythm with me immediately. I kissed her again and again, swallowing down her moans, feeling her tits brushing and then pressing against my chest as we moved together. “Fuck, baby,” I groaned, clenching my teeth as I picked up my pace, trying to keep myself steady. Shit, North, don’t come yet, don’t come yet, hold back.
“God, Mary, you’re so fucking hot and tight…”
Mary said something I couldn’t think clearly enough to even understand; all I knew was that the sound of her voice was like coals on fire. I started moving faster and faster, holding myself up on one elbow and my knees, pounding into her as I reached down between our bodies. It took me a few seconds of touching and exploring, but I found Mary’s clit by feel, and I started stroking and rubbing her as we moved together; I had to get her off before I popped—although I couldn’t have said why it was so important to me right at the moment. But I knew, absolutely, that I was gonna make her come first.
It was a near thing; I was holdin
g on by a thread as I felt Mary’s walls flexing around me, her pussy tightening around my cock in erratic little spasms that made it harder and harder not to come by the moment. I gasped and panted for breath, clenching my teeth, trying to think of something to distract me just enough to keep from coming. But the next instant, just when I thought that I was going to fuck it up and shoot my load before I’d managed to make Mary come, she cried out, and her body clamped down on me so hard that it almost hurt. Her fingernails bit into my back, her mouth crashed up into mine, and before I could even think to ride through her climax, I was coming too, moaning against her lips, pounding into her as hard and fast as I could, keeping up my momentum until her body had milked me of everything I had, the walls of her pussy rippling around me over and over again as waves of pleasure crashed through my body, obliterating every single thought in my brain.
It was so good that I blacked out; I kept moving until everything sort of went away in a haze of warm, buzzing pleasure that was both exactly like being high and completely different from it; a million times better than the best high I’d ever felt in my life. I didn’t even realize I’d blacked out until I came back to myself. I pulled myself up to look at Mary, to see that she was okay; she was smiling, her eyes far off and dreamy, and her breathing was starting to slow.
“Fuck, if I’d known that existed, I’d never have tried any other drug,” I said, slowly getting my breath back.
Mary laughed breathlessly, reaching up to thread her fingers in my hair. “You’re a fucking liar,” she said, bringing her face up to kiss me on the lips. “You’ve been fucked before, North. There’s no mystery to an orgasm.”
“If that wasn’t the best fucking climax you’ve ever had, I’d better try harder next time, because it was mine.”
Mary’s lips twitched and I saw that sly look in her big, dark eyes that I’d come to enjoy instead of resenting. “It was at least in the top three,” she told me, her grin deepening.