“Ladies? Whatcha doing back there?” Trick called out. “Can I watch?”
“We ain’t doing nothing, Trick.”
“We’re pooping!” Sabrina shouted.
Rae laughed, then whispered, “That’ll send him packing.”
“I could have said something about tampons, but I panicked.” Sabrina reached out and took Rae’s hand. “Doug ever fix his guitar? I kinda feel like singing.”
“Let’s go see.”
Jackson clicked on the GPS location Sabrina sent him. It was a lifeguard station not a half a mile from the roadside burger joint. Why is she still there? “She’s basically right where I left her.”
“She’s scared and weak—her blood is going to taste extremely good,” Natalia said as she dressed. “Are you sure you want this?”
Jackson watched Natalia pull up her tight leather pants; the way they hugged her hips and accentuated her ass made them look as if they were designed just for her.
“Jackson?”
He had spent most of the day drawing comparisons between the two women, and his mind often returned to a single question: life or death?
“Yes, Natalia, this is what I want.”
“Good,” she purred as she approached him. “Let me check on my children, and then we will leave.”
“Natalia…”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
Natalia did a short bow and then walked off into the next room. Jackson returned to his phone and typed out a quick message: OMW.
Sabrina belted out the last lines of “Black Hole Sun” as Doug strummed his guitar and Danny drummed away on the top of the beer cooler. She had not sung in months, let alone in front of anyone—not since her day in the recording studio with Peter Rubie.
The sensation filled her with life and sadness at the same time. But the lyrics, they washed away the grey.
Sunny, Mack, Rae and Celeste cheered as the song ended. Trick tipped his beer. Sabrina could feel the admiration, and she wanted more. She wanted to spread her wings and truly be herself.
“What else do you know?”
“I know a lot,” Sabrina said. “What do you know?”
“Bet you know all of Taylor Swifts songs or maybe all of Britney Spears,” Danny joked.
“Fuck that! I know all of Metallica’s lyrics from 1984 to 1991. And I know all of Overkill songs…all of them.”
“Overkill?” Trick asked.
“What about Johnny Cash? Burning ‘Ring of Fire’?”
Sabrina put her hands on her hips. “You want me to follow up ‘Black Hole Sun’ with ‘Ring of Fire’?”
Rae and Sunny’s laughter caught on and suddenly they all giggled.
“How about Guns N’ Roses?” Doug asked.
“I could sing ‘Patience’.”
Doug nodded. “I can do that one.”
“Hit it!” Danny shouted.
“I’m not whistling—”
“I’ll whistle,” Rae interrupted.
Sabrina closed her eyes and listened to Rae whistle. She imagined where her life might have gone had things been different. She might have been on stage tonight, in front of thousands of people, instead of on this dark beach in front of just a handful.
Yet, as her part drew near, she realized, in many ways, this was exactly where she wanted to be.
“Share a tear cause I’m missing you…” Sabrina’s voice was soft and smooth and handled the song with such delicateness that she felt the emotions she wanted to relay to her audience. Before it as over she shivered and nearly started to cry.
“Damn…”
“That was amazing.”
Sabrina smirked. “Well, I’m here all night, folks. Don’t forget to tip your waitress.”
Trick started to giggle. “And try the veal.”
Everyone laughed again. The tingle of her wings mixed with her desire to unfurl them was so powerful her back begin to itch.
“You okay?” Rae asked.
“Yeah, just fired up.”
Sabrina started to wonder, Can I show them my wings? Or would that be too great a risk? The temptation was boundless. No, I need to wait. I just need to make it to morning, then everything will be fine.
“Let’s do another. Any requests?”
“I have one.” Jackson’s voice emerged from the darkness and ripped right through her.
Danny stood up and wobbled a bit to the side. “Who are you?”
“Jacks…”
“Sabrina.”
“You know this guy?” Doug asked.
“Yeah, I do,” Sabrina answered. “He’s my friend Jackson.”
“Hey man, you like to get high?” Trick asked. “’Cause I got that superior weed.”
Jackson walked past the group to Sabrina; she had seen him look serious before, but his eyes were never this intense.
“What song would you like me to sing, Jackson?”
“How about Pantera’s ‘Walk’.”
“I don’t know that,” Doug whispered.
“Angry, huh? Well, I can sing you ‘Zombie’ from the Cranberries. How’s that?”
Jackson shrugged. “I guess it’ll work.”
“Then step back. Don’t want to spit on you.”
As Jackson stepped back, Sabrina felt her wings push outward. She drew a deep breath, held it, and then started to sing.
“‘Another head hangs lowly, child is slowly taken…’”
As she sung, she fought a tug-of-war to keep her wings in check. She could barely stand it. Jackson, the lyrics, her wings—she wanted to explode.
So, she shouted, “‘What’s in your head? In your head?’”
It felt good to release her anger, but her wings still throbbed under her skin.
“‘Zombie! Zombie! Zombie! Ei! Ei!’”
Dough had stopped playing the guitar, so she sung unaccompanied. It didn’t matter—this wasn’t about them. It was about him. It was about her.
Sabrina screamed out the lyrics and stomped in the sand. Everyone looked aghast, apart from Jackson. He stood and stared. What is in his head? she wondered.
When she finished, she wanted to segue into another song, keep going, but Jackson had stepped closer and stole away her breath with a kiss.
When his hands wrapped around her, she felt like she might lose control, but her wings only moved up to the surface. She worried they might start to glow at the surface, so she grabbed Jackson by belt and pulled him so hard into her that they both fell to the sand.
The impact rattled her head, but the sand covered her back, and that was all that mattered.
“I am trying not to pop.”
“What?”
“My wings.”
“Do it,” Jackson whispered over her lips. “Show them.”
“I can’t. Not here. Not now.”
Jackson spread her legs apart with his knees, an act that she answered by wrapping them around his waist.
“Damn, girl,” Celeste said.
“Get some!” Danny cheered.
“Maybe we should give them some privacy?” Sunny suggested.
Danny crossed his arms and settled into his seat. “Fuck that, I wanna watch.”
“Yeah…I got to get something from the van,” Doug said. Mack and Sunny joined him.
“Right, yeah, I was gonna go for a quick swim, just cool off,” Celeste added. “Wanna come with, Trick?”
“Nah.”
“I’ll show you my boobs.”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “I’m so there.”
“Rae Rae?” Celeste called to out.
“I’ll stay and watch the fire.”
“Me too.”
“Danny!” Celeste urged. “Go to the van and get me a sweater.”
“Fine.”
Slowly, the group scattered, leaving Jackson and Sabrina alone with Rae.
“The lifeguard station,” Rae said.
Sabrina looked at her as she spoke, all the while trying to calm herself. “Yeah?”
“I have the
key.”
“Why do you have the key?”
“She’s the lifeguard here?” Jackson guessed as he rolled off Sabrina to his back.
“He’s right.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“There’s a cot and a pair of chairs.”
Sabrina did not move, she stayed reclined in the sand. “Sounds perfect. Thanks.”
“I could…”
Sabrina thought she knew what she was going to say, and she would have liked to say yes, but with her wings about to pop, she had to sadly decline the offer and hurry the conversation along.
“Rae, could you give Jackson and me a few minutes alone?”
“Of course.”
“I mean, at least at first?”
“Okay.” She dug into her jeans pocket. “Here you go.”
Jackson snatched the key out of midair as Rae tossed it to Sabrina, then stood and offered her his hand to help her up.
“My back…”
Jackson pulled her up; she expected to see a colorful barrage of lights behind her, but everything was dark. She had managed to push her wings down from the surface.
“If you need me…” Rae said.
“I’ll scream.”
Jackson looked at both women and then said, “She will.”
The pair walked to the lifeguard station in silence. Jackson held on to the key but did not use it when they reached the door. The door was already open.
Inside, the tiny space was dark and smelled like musty wicker furniture.
“Shutters closed…I hope they hold in the light,” Sabrina said as he shut the door behind them. “Here goes nothing.”
Before Sabrina could unfurl her wings, Jackson was upon her. He pinned her against the wall and kissed her neck, his hands pushing at her shorts in an effort to remove them.
“Fuck, Jackson…”
His fervent desire had soaked her, and the mix of all the stimulus and emotions made her curious about just how powerfully amazing an orgasm would feel right now. Yet she questioned Jackson’s motives—he had not said much, and his energy was off.
“Jackson…babe…” she said as he pulled her pants down to mid-thigh. “Slow down. Talk to me.”
“I need this.” In a blink, his hands were on her breasts, and they were out of the bikini and spilling into his mouth.
“I want this too, but slow down. I need a second to breathe and—”
Jackson spun her around and bent her over. She knew what came next and asked herself if this was going to be the limits of their relationship. Does he love me or love fucking me? Does it matter anymore? Is this all I have to look forward to? Is that so bad?
Jackson entered her slowly. She was thankful for that, but once inside, he pistoned her like she was nothing more than a fuck doll.
“Easy, Jackson, you’ll break me.”
“Will I?”
“No…”
“Good.”
Jackson fucked like a gladiator—rough and unpredictably—and she loved it.
“My wings…”
The sensation of Jackson’s cock inside her had finally loosened her control of her wings. When they flashed, she attempted to at least govern their heat, so as not to hurt him or burn the shack down. As she struggled to regulate them, they did something unexpected—they suddenly returned to their hiding place under her skin.
“Smart move,” Jackson panted.
“I guess… It really wasn’t my—"
“Damn that feels good, Sabrina.” Jackson tightened his grip on her waist. His tempo was steady and smooth.
“Glad you like.” It brought her pleasure knowing how much he enjoyed her. “I like it too,” Sabrina moaned. “I am so horny, Jackson.”
“Aren’t you always?”
“I was stressed out, worried… I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive the night,” Sabrina explained. “The girl who stayed back to tend the fire—the lifeguard…”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been flirting with her.”
He bent over and cupped her breasts tightly, then whispered over the back of her head. “I bet you have.”
“I wanted her to help me through the night,” Sabrina said, then giggled. “I mean…did you see her lips? Her tits? Yeah, I wanted some of that.”
Jackson lightly pinched her nipples and then ran his hands down her sides to her hips. “You—”
Sabrina sighed. “Fear makes me horny.”
“The thought of my cock makes you horny.”
“It does, but I want her too.”
“You—you want a threesome? You want her—Rae? Now?”
There was a slight tone of wonder in his voice. After all I’ve put him through… Maybe he thinks this is his reward—it’s not, it’s mine.
Sabrina nodded, and Jackson pulled out almost instantly. He slapped his wet cock against her ass a few times and then quickly unwrapped the pink scarf from her neck and wrapped it around her eyes.
“Get on the cot. I’ll call her over.”
“Mmm…this is gonna be so good.” Sabrina moaned. “I’m so tender right now and no one eats pussy like other girls. You understand, right, Jacks?”
“You want another girl to eat you.”
“I do.” Sabrina shuffled several steps over to the small cot. “Then I want you to finish me off with some more of the good pounding and—”
“Sounds good to me,” he said, abruptly interrupting her.
Sabrina sat on the bed, leaning back on her elbows. She listened to Jackson walk down the station’s ramp and tilted her head back, allowing herself a moment of respite. After a deep breath, she blew the air out of her pursed lips. She could hear the ocean in the distance. The waves had grown somewhat choppy. As she tried to focus on the surf, she was distracted by the presence of another otherworldly nearby.
Sabrina cocked her head and tried to imagine who or what was around. This is L.A.… she reminded herself. This is the beach at night. Could be anything from troll to gnome to pixie to mermaid. No need to worry.
“You got this, Sabs. You got this.”
When the door creaked open, she tensed up, but when soft, feminine hands brushed down her thighs, and full cool lips pressed tenderly to her belly button she instantly eased up.
“You know I’ve wanted this all night…”
One Night in London Makes the Tough Man Stumble
All Sabrina saw behind her closed eyes and the scarf that blindfolded her was pinkish-white, and the endless drone of her doubts and fears was replaced by the nervous breathing of the woman in front of her.
“You ready to enjoy the show, Jackson, I want you to—”
“He’s not here,” a soft voice answered.
Sabrina sat right up on her elbows and pulled the scarf down off her eyes. “Where is he?”
Rae’s lips glistened in what little moonlight shone in from a crack in the shutters and sweat moistened her brow.
“When he came out to get me, a tall, skinny, blond woman appeared…like, I don’t know, out of nowhere.”
Sabrina almost didn’t hear Rae’s words, that is, until a twinge of jealousy struck. “Blond woman?”
“Yeah.” Rae stood, stepped to the door, and peeked out. “She’s still out there. They’re talking.”
It took Sabrina a moment, her mind numb with desire, to realize the only possible blond Jackson could be speaking with was… “Oh my God, Skipper. She’s done it.”
Sabrina dressed as fast as possible and raced out the door.
Amber had her back to her and was in what seemed like a fervent argument with Jackson. Sabrina couldn’t tell what was being said, but she didn’t really care.
“Skip—Amber!” she called out. “Amber!”
But the woman did not respond—not until Jackson nodded and pointed over her shoulder. When she did turn around, Sabrina felt her heart sink.
“Natalia.”
The day had not been won. The day had just taken a terrible and unexpected turn.
“W
hat the fuck?” Rae asked from behind her. “What is that?”
Sabrina did not know what to say. Natalia had bared her fangs and looked pissed. It was then that Sabrina saw the bodies—six people strewn about the sand near the fire.
She’s killed them all.
“That’s—”
“What the fuck? You didn’t have that earlier. What the fuck, Sabs?”
Sabrina peeked over her shoulder and saw what Rae was asking; her wings had returned to the surface and painted her back in their usual ornate design.
“Those are my wings, Rae.”
“Your wings?”
“Yeah, my wings.”
“You didn’t have that earlier.”
“I know.”
Natalia stepped forward, and when she did, Sabrina held her arm out. “Stay behind me, Rae.”
“What?” Rae answered. “I don’t—”
“Just stay behind me.”
Rae must have finally looked up and taken in the scene, because she gasped and nearly choked with fear. “W-what the fuck!”
“Stay behind me, and no matter what you do…don’t run.”
Natalia dug her feet into the sand and, in a burst of motion, dashed forward. She was halfway to them in a blink. Sabrina knew she could stop the vampire, yet to do so, she would have to unleash her wings and pulse them brightly.
I’ll be a beacon to all the otherworldlies in the area. I hope this is not a huge mistake.
Just as she was about to unfurl, Jackson shouted.
“Natalia! Don’t!”
The vampire abruptly stopped and turned to face him, “Don’t?”
“Don’t kill Sabrina. Just the other girl.” There was an odd, flat affect to his voice.
Sabrina felt like she had been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. She could not process what she had just heard. What are you doing Jackson? Why? Was all she thought.
“Doused in sex and fear.” Natalia smiled when she faced Sabrina and Rae. “Both of you. We all could have had such fun tonight…such wicked fun.”
“We still can,” Sabrina said smoothly.
Natalia looked to Jackson for some sort of sign. “Jackson?”
“J-just the other girl,” he repeated. “Okay, Natalia?”
“I’m sorry, Rae,” Sabrina whispered. “I’m really sorry.”
“Sabs?”
Natalia lunged like a predatory cat past Sabrina and tackled Rae like she was nothing more than a defenseless newborn gazelle. Rae did not even have time to scream; the vampire had torn her throat out before she hit the sand.
Three Burning Red Runaway Brides Page 26