Lunar City

by Samantha Cross

  Max darted toward me like a bolt of lightning, cupping his hands around my face and pulling my lips onto his. There was hardly an inch between my back and the wall, but he managed to push me tighter against it. Perhaps the brick walling was pinching my skin, but I didn’t notice. The second Max’s lips were on mine, I was trapped inside a fog of desire that I had no chance of escaping.

  His mouth was warm, and our kiss only intensified in heat when I felt his tongue trail the seam of my lips. As he drew me in closer, the aroma of fresh aftershave filled my nose. He must have shaved as there were no bristles tickling my cheeks now, just smooth, silky strong skin against mine. Every time I took a breath, it was all I could smell. It was so good I wanted to devour him.

  If at all possible, this kiss was even better than the first. The awkwardness of the first time was out of the way and now our hands were more daring, and roamed more freely. My touch sprawled all over his back, tracing my fingers along his shoulder blades and taut muscles, while his grasp landed right on my butt. It startled me and I made a small yelp, to which I felt his lips stretch out into the tiniest smile against my mouth, proud that he had conjured up such a noticeable response.

  Our kiss broke, but Max’s face remained inches in front of mine, our noses practically rubbing into one another. His palms were flat against the wall behind me, one arm on each side of my body, keeping me in his own little trap. I couldn’t move, but thankfully, I didn’t want to.

  Through a smile he said, “Hey,” in this low, whispery sexy voice as his eyes were down, focused on my lips. I could tell he was internally laughing at himself for skipping right past the greetings before he swooped me off the stairs for a kiss.

  “Well, hey, right back at you.” I tried to joke, but I could barely catch my breath. My heart was pounding so fast, I could feel it throbbing in the back of my head. I wanted to say something clever or sexy, but being with Max in this way was still so foreign to me. I was all tongues.

  “I looked for you this morning,” he said. Somehow that sent a rush through my body. He was looking for me.

  “Aga wanted to talk.” It was so hard continuing the conversation when all I wanted was for him to kiss me again.

  “What did he want?” His eyes shifted from lust to business.

  “To check how I was settling in.” That seemed to dissipate the concern in his eyes. “I guess I’m doing…well.” It felt like it was a hundred degrees and I needed five fans blasting me in the face. How was he able to make conversation after that kiss?

  “Make sure you’re toeing the line. One slip up and they’ll knock you out on your ass.”

  Wow, what a mood killer.

  “I guess I’ll have my chance to further prove myself tonight,” I said.

  “Why, what’s going on tonight?”

  “Brinly invited me to the pub. Said a bunch of people were going. I assumed you were one of them.”

  “Most likely,” he said, and sounded a tad annoyed. “They take this pack mentality pretty seriously. If one of them goes, I do as well.”

  “Well, I’ll be there,” I said with a big smile and he laughed at my ridiculous face, which I couldn’t see, but imagined resembled a fat toddler excited at the sight of a chocolate cake.

  “If you’re there, I’m there.”

  My chest sunk into my body, and a burst of air trembled through my parted lips. All I wanted was for him to kiss me again and never let go. Damn, I didn’t quite expect to feel this way.

  “In the meantime,” Max began, and traced the outline of my jaw with his fingertip, and then curled one of my baby hairs behind my ear. A dozen goosebumps ran down my neck, to my shoulders and then hopped onto my legs. “In the meantime,” he repeated, like he knew I had lost my trail of thought. “We have some time to kill.”

  Max pushed himself against my body, wrapped his arms around me and we dissolved into a passionate kiss.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Later that night, Max, Brinly, Melanie, Daggett, Kerry, and myself all headed out to the pub, just as Brinly had wished. We didn’t take a car and merely walked as a group down the street till we found Nancy’s Pub. I noticed a small group standing outside of the building and knew it must have been Paul’s friends, who had grown impatient waiting for Brinly to get dolled up, and left early.

  It was Paul, Lincoln, Kat, Corbin, and Travis, and they were all huddled in a circle, smoking cigarettes and drinking. I didn’t think you were allowed to take mugs outside of the bar, but yet, there they were. It took me back to what those two strangers, Edgar and Allen, had told me and how a pack of guys intimidated people into getting what they wanted in this town. It was clear who they were referring to and this was a mild example of their abuse of power.

  Once we got closer, their group disbanded, and at the center was Paul, who dropped his cigarette from his mouth and squished it under his shoe. “Invite your little girlfriend, Reid?” Paul asked Max, sounding condescending as hell. Max and I were standing next to each other. We weren’t touching in an affectionate way, but still, he knew we were together. Was Paul the eyes that Aga used to make sure I didn’t run away that night I was out with Max on the beach? The thought gave me the creeps.

  “No, I did,” Brinly answered Paul, stopping Max and I from having to say a single word. She sounded almost proud, like she was happy to be sticking it to Paul. Her boyfriend of all people. “Got a problem with that?”

  He didn’t falter from her words. “It’s interesting, that’s all.”

  “Hi, Pinky,” a female voice interrupted. It was Kat, playfully waving her two fingers at Brinly as she leisurely held onto one of the beams of the outside patio and stretched her legs out like she were in a chorus line on Broadway.

  Brinly said nothing, and I could sense her irritation.

  “Guys ready to get your drink on?” Lincoln playfully asked, clapping his hands and then rubbing them together.

  We all moved inside the pub and poured into a circular booth with a large wooden table that had been shined to perfection. You could see the hanging lights above us reflecting on the surface, it was so clean. It was a big booth, but not quite big enough to fit the entire group, so Kat, Travis, and Corbin sat at the bar while the rest of us comfortably fit in. I could tell Paul wanted to join them, but Brinly had a firm grasp on his arm.

  The waitress with the nametag marked Nancy came to our table and asked us what we wanted to drink.

  Beer, beer, beer, was all I heard. Paul did break up the monotony and ordered a gin and tonic while I scrambled to come up with something cheap and quick. “I don’t know what to order,” I said under my breath to Max. “I tend to stick to the deep fried food and drink pop.”

  “Just get a beer,” he replied with a shrug. He saw my hesitance and raised his hand and told the waitress, “She’ll have a Bud Light.” The waitress nodded.

  “But I don’t like beer,” I told him.

  “You don’t like beer?” Brinly asked. “What planet are you from?”

  “Planet nerd,” Melanie quietly insulted. I could barely see her as she was squeezed in between Daggett and Kerry in the corner of the booth, her arms so tight at her side she looked like a super sweaty teenager nervous to lift her arms to expose pit stains.

  “Nerd hasn’t been an insult since the 90’s,” I told her.

  “Okay, planet loser, then.”

  Her insults didn’t even bother me. We were in a softly lit pub having some drinks, sitting in ridiculously comfortable seats, the room was alive with activity as a jukebox shuffled through the latest hits on the radio and the mounted TV was on a local news station, muted, but with subtitles scrolling on the bottom. The best part was that it was all with Max. I had spent so much time away from him, searched high and low for him, and now he was beside me, sitting so close his jeans were brushing into my thigh. He still smelled of fabulous aftershave, but it had faded and a more natural masculine scent had taken over. I don’t even think it was cologne, just his natural aroma. Whatever it
was, I was disgustingly drawn to it.

  The waitress ran through everyone’s orders and then finished with Daggett, asking what he’d like. “Just a water for me,” he answered.

  “Water?” Melanie sounded personally offended over this.

  “I have a weak stomach. I’ll be ralphing all over the table if you give me liquor.”

  “Let me guess, you’re one of them gloten intolerant folks, right?”

  “Gluten intolerant? No, that’d be Kerry.”

  Kerry raised his hand apologetically. “Food is my enemy.”

  “You guys and Cora should form a club,” Melanie snarkily remarked. “None of you eat like real people.”

  “What’s your illness?” Daggett asked.

  “No illness. I’m a vegetarian,” I answered.

  “Ah, saving the animals. I can dig it.

  “I have an aunt that’s a vegetarian,” Lincoln spoke up. Having someone that attractive and that unfamiliar, staring right at me, put me on full alert. I found myself sitting up straight and fiddling with my hair. I had Max, who I was clearly more interested in, but again, Lincoln didn’t look like a real person.

  “She actually opened up this sanctuary further up north for rescued animals,” Lincoln continued. “I used to go up there every summer and help with transporting the animals to their new owners. That’s how I ended up owning my pit bull terrier, Apollo. I loved that guy.”

  “Where is he now?” I cringed, think he was going to say he was dead. My heart couldn’t take it.

  “Living with the ex, I’m afraid.”

  “Ex?” Suddenly Melanie perked up. “Ex as in ex-coworker or ex-girlfriend?”

  I slid my napkin to her portion of the table. “Here, use this. You have a little drool on your mouth,” I said.

  Melanie shot me an ugly glare, but Lincoln smiled. It was obvious he was used to a girl or two throwing themselves at him. “Ex-girlfriend,” he specified. “I got the apartment, she got the dog. A lot of good it did me, since I ended up moving out here, anyway.”

  “So, why’d you break up? She a royal bitch?” Melanie pried. We were trying to be on our best behavior and yet she was being awfully intrusive.

  “No, no, no. It was just time for things to end.”

  Hey, look, a guy who wasn’t pulling the my ex is crazy card. How refreshing.

  Speaking of refreshing, the waitress returned to our table and handed each of us our drinks from this very, very large tray. I didn’t know how she was managing to hold it with one hand, but I had to give her mad props. She set my tall mug of beer down in front of me, and even though it was bubbly and there were glamorous droplets of cold dew on the glass, I knew exactly how dreadful it tasted. It didn’t help that it looked like piss as well.

  “Ready to take a taste of the good life?” Max teased.

  “Oh, I’m quivering with anticipation,” I sarcastically responded.

  “Damn, I was hoping I was the cause of that.”

  “You just drink and be a good boy.”

  Everyone started downing their beverages, while I scoped out my drink like it were an artifact from another planet. “You’re really not going to drink your beer?” Brinly asked.

  “I’ll get there.”

  “Come on, do it. Do it.”

  Out of nowhere, a small chant of do it began, and I quickly realized the entire table was in on it. Well, everyone, but Paul since he wasn’t even paying attention to me and was quietly drinking.

  The chant didn’t dissipate and, eventually, I raised my hands in the air and shouted, “This is peer pressure! I’ll have you know I was a member of S.A.D.D!”

  “Yeah, and now you’re just sad,” Melanie sassed.

  “Fine, I’ll take a damn drink.” I put the rim of the mug to my lips and poured the beer down my throat. It burned and tasted God awful. They clapped as I set my beverage down, and I sighed, remembering Owen in that moment. He hated beer for the exact reasons I did and would have been right here defending me.

  I wiped the nasty residue from my mouth and rested my hand down on the seat of the booth. Just then, I felt a hand on top of mine, and I quickly looked over to see that it was Max. His hand was flat on top of mine and his eyes lovingly gazed at me with a little coy grin forming from the corner of his lips. My heart sped up. I hadn’t had a reaction like that to hand holding since I was a teenager.

  He made sure to do it away from everyone else’s eyes so it would just be between us. So that it was our moment and ours alone.

  The urge to tackle him rose.

  I heard the clinking of ice against a glass, which snapped me out of my trance, and noticed Paul had downed his gin and tonic. It was then when I realized he hadn’t said a peep since we sat down. He was just sitting there, pale faced and quiet, slurping down his drink like it was water.

  Max leaned in close to me and whispered, “You don’t have to finish your beer. I can do it for you. I just like teasing you.”

  “It tastes like water laced with ass, so yeah, you can have it.”

  “How could I not want it after that pitch?”

  “Don’t you mean after that pitcher?” I joked and elbowed him. I loved a good pun.

  “Stick to photography, comedy is not your thing.”

  “Paul,” I heard Brinly say. She repeated it two times, but Paul was too focused on the bottom of his glass to hear her. “Paul, it’s still early, take it slow with the drinks, okay babe?”

  He didn’t even look at her. “I don’t recall asking for your approval.”

  Brinly looked embarrassed that we had heard the exchange and she faked a smile in my direction. She then lowered her voice and placed her hand on his arm affectionately. “You can still have fun, I just don’t want you getting sick.”

  “Worry about your own damn self.”

  “Knock it off,” Lincoln barked in his direction, saying something before I even had a chance to get angry about it. “She’s looking out for you, buddy. Don’t be an asshole.”

  This time Paul looked up from his glass to stare at Lincoln, blatantly pissed off that he had overstepped his boundaries. “She tells me what to do and I’m the asshole?” He scoffed. “Makes a lot of sense.”

  “No, how you’re reacting is making you the asshole.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he responded arrogantly and then scooted out of the booth.

  “Where are you going?” Brinly asked.

  Paul raised his glass, jingled it and said, “To get another drink.” I watched him head off toward the bartender and Corbin and Kat were there to meet him. They exchanged words and I saw Corbin leer in our direction as a result, his eyes like two black holes. It sent chills up and down my body.

  When my eyes returned to the table, Brinly looked defeated, like her head was too heavy to lift anymore. Lincoln said, “Ignore Paul, he can be a real pain in the ass.”

  I bit my tongue. I didn’t need to say what I really thought and risk Melanie’s life and that of my own.

  “Get a few drinks in him and he’ll cool down.”

  We all bobbed our heads, unsure of how to respond. Paul’s little tiff really drove our conversation off the rails. I wanted to set everything straight, but had no idea where to begin. Lincoln was a good start since I knew so little about him.

  “What’s with that sun tattoo?” I asked. Both of his ripped arms were out on display again and all I could notice was that black sun tattooed on his arm. “I’d think you’d be sporting a moon.”

  “The moon was my enemy for many, many years,” he told me. “Until Aga came into my life, the sun was my only ally. If it was in the sky I knew I was safe, free from pain, free from hurting anyone.”

  I smiled, embarrassed that I didn’t come to that conclusion on my own. “Makes sense.”

  “I tried to get Max to get a tattoo, but he wouldn’t go for it.”

  Max, with his arm slung on the back of the booth, just shrugged. “Tattoos aren’t really my thing. I deal with enough pain as it is, I don’t need to
grind it into my body.”

  “Oh, but it’s the best kind of pain. If I could, I’d be covered in them.”

  “Why aren’t you?” I asked.

  “It’d break my grandma’s heart.”

  “Oh, so you and Brinly aren’t related?” I knew Aga’s wife was dead, so that was confirmation for me.

  Both their eyes grew in size, like what I implied was the most offensive thing I could have possibly said. Gee, I figured they were friends.

  “Of course we’re not related,” Brinly said in a high pitch voice. “Why would you think that?”

  “I just realized I don’t know who is related to whom around here and thought I’d check.”

  “Well, we’re not related. Definitely not related.”

  “Okay then.” Why did I feel like I had said something unforgivable? Damn. I was feeling a little uncomfortable, so I grabbed the beer I had sidelined, and took a swig real quick, made a horrible face, and listened as Max chuckled at me.

  After we all had a drink or two in us and a buzz started kicking in, we relaxed a bit and spread throughout the pub. All the men were at the bar, ordering more drinks and exchanging crude stories that none of the girls wanted a thing to do with, except for Kat, who didn’t want to leave Paul’s side.

  I was with Brinly and Melanie by the jukebox as they tried to find a song to listen to, but my attention was firmly on Max. He was with the other guys, a drink in hand, blue flannel print open jacket on, his hands dragging through his magnificent brown locks. It was hard not to gaze. Even though he was completely engaged in conversation with his fellow pack, more than once, his eyes found me from across the room, and more than once he grinned in my direction. Even from a distance, he was wooing me with his eyes.

  I don’t know if it was the beer kicking in or my lust growing, but Max standing there, surrounded by a dozen guys, holding a drink and laughing with his buddies, never looked sexier than he did right there in that moment. This was him in his natural state and it was better than anything I could have dreamed up.

  “So, how available is he?” Melanie had been interrogating Brinly about Lincoln from the second he was out of our sight. Brinly kept her focus on which song she would play, but Melanie just wouldn’t give up. “I know he said he had an ex, but was that recent? Do you think he’ll be vulnerable?”