“He didn’t…?” Kristina interrupted.
“No,” Emma shook her head quickly. “He didn’t kill his father… but he came close. I managed to get him to stop in time.”
“And then what happened?”
“He told Arnold to pack up his things and leave,” Emma went on. “Keith told him that if he ever came back… he would finish what he started and kill him.”
“And he left?” Kristina asked in shock. “Just like that?”
“The thing about bullies is they can dish it out, but they can very rarely take it,” Emma said. “At the end of the day, Arnold was a typical bully, just a coward at heart.”
“Wow,” Kristina breathed. “That must have been hard on both of you.”
“We survived it,” Emma said simply.
Kristina was prevented from asking any more questions by Keith’s arrival. He was wearing dark jeans and the usual sleeveless t-shirt. Kristina could see part of his ‘Natalie’ tattoo peeking out at her from behind one sleeve.
“Morning,” he said gruffly without a smile.
Kristina replied the same way, and both avoided each other’s gaze.
“Breakfast, Keith?” Emma asked, pushing some bacon towards him.
Keith reached out without a word and took some bacon without bothering with a plate. “It’s good,” he said after chewing on it a bit.
Kristina noticed that Emma was glancing between the two of them, seeming to notice the tension that hung in the air. “I’m going to the supermarket,” she said after a moment. “Anything you kids want?”
“Nothing for me,” Kristina said. “Thanks, Emma.”
Keith just shook his head and helped himself to more bacon. “Alright then,” Emma said. “I might be a few hours. I’ll see you both when I get back.”
She waved goodbye to them, and within minutes, she had left the house and it was just Kristina and Keith sitting by the table. The silence was stiff with tension and despite the fact that Kristina wanted desperately to break it; she didn’t want to make the first move.
“I’m sorry about last night,” Keith said unexpectedly.
Kristina looked up, surprised that he had broken the silence. She felt herself soften immediately. “That’s ok,” she said. “I probably overreacted.”
“I just need you to understand how serious this is,” Keith said softly. “That note you got wasn’t just a threat, Kristina… it was a promise. And trust me when I tell you that when it comes to promises like this, men like Kovic keep their word.”
“Ok,” Kristina nodded. “I’m listening… but I don’t want some random guy trailing me through classes.”
“I understand it will be—”
“If someone has to keep an eye on me,” Kristina said, interrupting him, “I’d rather it were you.”
Keith stopped short and looked her in the eye. She saw a spark of something flash through his eyes, but it was too fast for her to try and decipher the meaning. “Ok,” Keith said unexpectedly, without putting up the fight that Kristina had anticipated.
“Ok?” Kristina asked.
“Ok,” Keith nodded.
Kristina smiled slowly. “Well, then that’s settled.”
“I hope this is not a mistake,” Keith said under his breath, but Kristina caught the words. She felt the need to say something, but at the last minute she stopped herself. She could not make any assurances, mainly because she didn’t know how this would all play out.
She stretched out her hand and placed it on Keith’s arm. “Don’t look so defeated,” she said. “This isn’t over yet. I’m going to be fine.”
“You can’t know that,” Keith reminded her. “You’ve never been in the middle of a gang war before.”
Kristina smiled unconsciously, and she saw Keith’s expression grow still with surprise at her reaction. “Is there something I missed?” he asked.
“Sorry,” Kristina said quickly. “I just… I was thinking of the irony of life.”
“I did miss something.”
“Before we met… I was floundering a little you could say,” Kristina tried to explain. “I felt as though I hadn’t really lived… I felt as though I had wasted the last few years of life. I wanted… adventure, I suppose. It might seem cliché, but that was what I craved. And now…”
“You got more adventure than you bargained for?” Keith finished for her.
Kristina shrugged. “Nothing ever turns out the way you imagined it in your head. Adventure… is a very complicated word.”
Keith nodded. “I never should have gotten you into this.”
“You didn’t,” Kristina said adamantly. “This was my decision.”
“You didn’t know better,” Keith said. “I did.”
Kristina felt her defensiveness rise. She got up from the table and looked Keith directly in the eye. “I hate when people think that I was never in control of my own choices. I’m here because I choose to be… not because you led me here.”
Keith smiled. “You go right ahead and believe that.”
Kristina turned from him in a huff and left the kitchen for her room. She heard Keith get up and follow her. “Hey,” he called. “Come back here, I was only joking.”
“I’ve known you awhile now, Keith,” Kristina snapped. “And you decide this is the moment to make your first joke?”
She tried to close the door on him, but he managed to block the attempt and enter the room anyway. Knowing she would never be able to win that battle, she released her hold on the door and backed off.
“Sorry,” Keith said with a sheepish smile. “I just…”
“That wasn’t a joke,” Kristina said heatedly, feeling her passions rise with her frustration. “You meant it.”
Keith sighed. “This is my baggage, Kristina… and it’s difficult to explain.”
“Fine,” Kristina said, annoyed by how amazing Keith looked in his sleeveless t-shirt, and by how—despite her annoyance—that didn’t escape her notice. “Then don’t explain it to me. Don’t explain anything to me. In fact, let’s not talk at all.”
In a sudden fit of reckless passion, Kristina all but jumped on Keith and kissed him hard on the lips. She could tell he was surprised because he stumbled back and it took a moment before he responded to her kiss. She sensed hesitation on his tongue, but for once, she didn’t care. She wanted him, and she—for one moment in her life—wanted to be the kind of girl who took what she wanted when she wanted it.
Slowly, almost nervously, she felt his hands encircle her until he was crushing her against his body. His breathing was coming slowly, but Kristina could hear the beat of his heart under her own. She realized after a moment that her feet weren’t even touching the ground. Keith had her locked in an airborne embrace.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Keith said, breaking apart for a moment.
“What the fuck does it matter what we should be doing?” Kristina demanded. “What do you want to be doing?”
She saw the same spark blaze in his eyes for a moment, and then he pushed her down on the bed and removed his shirt to reveal rock hard abs that had Kristina taking another calming breath. He bent down over her and started kissing her neck while his hands starting teasing up her blouse.
“This doesn’t have a happy ending,” he said, as he continued kissing her.
“I know that,” Kristina told him with her eyes closed and her senses heightened. “But let’s enjoy it while it lasts.”
Keith’s response to that was to pull down her jeans with her panties so that she was naked and pliant from the waist down. He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her down so that he was kneeling between her legs. Then he pulled off her shirt and bra and came down over her gently. Kristina could feel his penis against her thigh, and she felt her body shiver in anticipation. Keith didn’t seem to be in a hurry however. He kept kissing her breasts before he took her nipple into his mouth and started sucking on her with abandon.
Kristina was starting to feel the heat rise on h
er body when suddenly Keith jerked her upright and pushed her around so that her back was to him. It was sudden, but Kristina felt a whirl of excitement hit her as she was reminded that this was not the type of man she was used to. This man was different… he was used to having things his way, at least in the bedroom. She bent over and let him take the lead. She could feel his hands on her back and in her hair, and she reveled in his touch. She wanted him to treat her roughly; she wanted him to dominate her. For once, she didn’t want to have things planned out in one straight and sensible line. She wanted reckless danger, and nothing smelled of danger so much as sex with Keith.
She was so wet that on any other day it might have embarrassed her, but at that moment, Kristina didn’t care one iota. She was thrilled to be so willing, so ready, and the feel of him slipping inside her roughly made her cry out in pleasure. He had been inside her twice before, but she still felt the excitement of a first encounter. It felt so completely different that she was taken aback by how quickly her body was responding to him.
He didn’t start slow; there was nothing slow about the way he fucked her. He pummeled into her as though he had nothing to lose. Kristina could hear the pounding of flesh on flesh, and the sound turned her on even further. When she thought she was going to lose control, Keith collected her hair into a tight ponytail and used it to distract her from the building wave that was about to crash inside her.
He pulled her upwards so that she was nestled in the crooks of his body, with his lips at her ears and his breath hot on her face. Still, he didn’t slow his pace. He tied her to his body with his arms and fucked her from behind as though he were in some kind of manic marathon. Kristina knew she was screaming, but like before, she didn’t care. She didn’t care if Emma heard them; she didn’t care if anyone did. All she wanted was to commit this feeling to memory so that when she was an old woman who had led a boring and sensible life, she could look back on this moment and know that—for at least a few minutes in her youth,—she had lived.
Kristina could feel Keith’s breathing quicken, and she knew that he was on the verge of coming. Seized by her newfound recklessness and the fear that she might never have this again, she pulled herself free of him and turned around to face him.
“Come on my face,” she said to him, as she lay down so that his glistening penis was hanging right over her.
If he was surprised by her request, he didn’t show it. Instead, with one hand on her breast and the other hand stroking his cock, he came on her with a moan of pleasure. Kristina braced herself against the sweet smell of cum, as it fell on her, and she felt a deep well of satisfaction engulf her.
It was more than just about the animalistic pleasure of sex. It was more than just about the smell and feel of Keith. Kristina knew that this was the moment; this was her moment to grab life by the horns and ride it through…no matter where it may lead her.
Chapter Twenty
Keith
There was a moment when he woke up, that Keith actually mistook the woman who lay beside him. For a moment Natalie’s name was on his lips and then realization dawned and Keith felt her name dry on his tongue. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked down at Kristina sleeping.
They looked nothing alike. Kristina was shorter and curvier; she had dark hair and light eyes. In some ways Natalie was her physical opposite. She had been taller, thinner, with white blonde hair and brown eyes. It wasn’t about their looks at all; it was about the feeling that both of them left him with. Kristina’s bare back was to Keith, and her eyes were closed in deep sleep. Keith leaned in and rubbed his fingers back and forth along her back. She trembled under his touch, but she didn’t wake.
She felt different in his arms. She moved differently when he fucked her. She even moaned differently when he made her come. Those were not the things that made him think of Natalie. In fact, he found it impossible to think of Natalie at all when he was with Kristina in those moments. Immediately after, he felt a sense of guilt, as though he had betrayed Natalie in some way, but he knew those were his own issues. Natalie had been gone a long time and she would never begrudge him the right to move on.
Keith shook his head. He wasn’t moving on, he told himself. This was temporary, a distraction that needed to be handled before it disappeared from his life entirely. As Kristina had said a few days ago, they could simply enjoy it while it lasted. She seemed to be under no delusions that their relationship was temporary, and Keith wondered why he wasn’t happier about that fact.
He leaned in and took in the smell of her. She smelled of him, and that made his dick stiffen slightly. It wasn’t about ownership. It was just about the simple fact of intimacy. The bed was too small for the two of them, but somehow, they had managed to fit both their bodies into it. The bed at his mother’s house had been bigger, but still, Keith preferred his own.
Kristina had started school on Tuesday, and with that she had also taken to staying over at Keith’s place each night. He wasn’t sure what excuse she had given Marie, and he didn’t care to ask. The only thing that he cared to know was that she spent her nights with him. He knew that she needed to be watched because Kovic and his crew were no small threat. Instead of assigning someone to look out for Kristina, Keith had assigned himself the task. It was the perfect excuse, but Keith didn’t delude himself that it was anything other than an excuse.
Still, they had both agreed that their time together was temporary. It was born out of a necessity that neither could avoid, and to that end, Keith was at least somewhat satisfied. He was not guilty of leading Kristina on in any case. She stirred in her sleep as she angled her body towards him. He steadied her with his hand and she sighed once and fell back into sleep. Keith watched the way her eyelashes fluttered and he knew instantly that she was dreaming. Natalie had done the same thing…and it seemed as though that had been a lifetime ago.
Instinctively, Keith looked down at his tattoo of Natalie’s name imprinted on his skin. He remembered the day he got the tattoo; it had been the day of her funeral, after the service had been completed. He had said goodbye to all the mourners and left in silence, waving off his friends’ offers to accompany him. He had found a quiet tattoo parlor close by, and within the hour, he had a new tattoo and a barrage of memories that he knew would haunt him throughout his life.
“What are you thinking about?” Kristina’s voice cut through his thoughts. He looked down to realize that she was awake and watching his face carefully. Her hand reached up and stroked his cheek gently. “You were deep in thought,” she said.
“I… was just thinking about… my first days as a biker,” Keith said, changing his line of thought so that he could share something with her.
“You were young?” Kristina asked.
“I was fifteen,” Keith replied. “I didn’t ride a bike until almost a year later though.”
“How come?” Kristina asked.
“Miles’s father,” Keith replied. “He told me there was something I needed to learn before I rode.”
“What was that?”
“How to be a man,” Keith said with a smile. “He was very particular about that.”
“You were fond of him?” Kristina asked.
“He was the father I never had,” Keith replied.
“He died, didn’t he?”
“Years ago,” Keith nodded. “It was right after his death that Miles and I started up Seton and Lee. We had his blessing though… and that went a long way.”
“How did he die?” Kristina asked.
“Cancer,” Keith replied softly.
“He couldn’t be treated?”
“He didn’t want to be,” Keith replied. “He told us that he wanted to spend the last few years of his life feeling… free. He didn’t want to be in and out of hospitals until he finally died. So we respected his decision and let him die the way he wanted to.”
“Was he the founder of the Iron Dragons?”
Keith nodded. “He was the reason I had the strength to stand
up to my father.”
Kristina grew quiet for a moment. “How did he give you strength?”
“He led by example,” Keith said. “He showed me that fear could be overcome for a higher purpose. My purpose was putting my father in his place and kicking him out of our lives.”
“How old were you when you finally… managed to do that?”
“Seventeen, I think,” Keith replied. “I don’t remember exactly.”
“Wow,” Kristina said and her voice grew soft.
“What is it?” Keith asked, curious about the look in her eye.
“No, it’s just… my adolescence was very different to yours,” Kristina explained. “I was dealing with boyfriends and sweet sixteen parties and changing group dynamics. I didn’t have to worry about… anything real.”
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