My smile waned as I approached her and asked, “You alright?”
She hesitated and ran her hand through her hair as she glanced up at me. My chest hurt just fucking looking at her. Maybe she’d be the one to destroy me. “I think so.” She laughed softly. “I think I left my stomach back at the mouth of the canyon though.” She swung her leg over the bike and stood, handing me the helmet.
I chuckled and asked, as I placed the helmet on the seat of the motorcycle, “Too scary for you?”
Kelly narrowed her eyes and dropped her bag to the ground. “No,” she said, straightening her shoulders into a stubborn line. That sassy as fuck confidence she’d hooked me with the other night was back three-fold.
She lifted her eyes, raising them to the tree line, and her head fell back as she inhaled deeply. She was feeling it. That thing… that buzz in your head when the world is quiet and all you have surrounding you is the sun.
“It’s why I come here,” I said winning back her attention. “Everything in the city, it’s too loud.”
Her smile flirted with the corners of her mouth. “You seem like a loud kind of guy.”
My laugh made her lips part into a sexy grin. “What does that mean?”
She took a step toward me and lazily bumped her shoulder with mine. “You’re covered in tattoos, piercings, and you ride a Harley.” I shrugged and she raised her eyebrows. “Liam…” The way she said my name made me smile. It was no nonsense, no bullshit.
“I’m a little loud,” I admitted. “But this place, it feels like mine…” And I didn’t have much.
“It’s beautiful.”
“I’ve never brought anyone up here before.” The truth made her smile ignite, and I risked taking her hand in mine.
Her eyes examined our laced fingers as she asked, “You haven’t?”
“Nope. Just you.”
This was my place to escape when my life became too much to handle. My drunk of a father had no problem shoveling his responsibilities right into my goddamn lap, and, at times, it was too much, and I needed somewhere I could fall apart and not be judged for it.
She bit her lip, pulling the flesh of it through her teeth slowly, and all the blood in my body rushed to my dick.
“Just me,” she whispered, and I nodded with a smile.
I wanted to know her, be alone with her. That damn feeling that she was tied to me somehow might’ve had a little weight in my decision to bring her into my private world.
“Come on.” I gently tugged on her hand, and we walked in a silence that wasn’t suffocating but comfortable as I led her through the trees.
My destination wasn’t very far. There was a medium-sized boulder just a little ways east of where we’d parked. The surface of the rock had smoothed over time, either from weather, or overuse by hikers and people like me who sought shelter from the world for a couple of hours.
“This is it,” I said, and she quirked her right brow.
She turned her gaze to the rock and studied it. After a long silence, I started to think maybe this idea was fucking stupid. I should’ve taken her somewhere for food or some shit, but I didn’t want or need people staring at me like I had no right being with a girl like her. And I knew that’s how it would’ve gone down. Just like those preppy fucks at her school. I hadn’t missed the outrage and confusion in their eyes.
She dropped my hand and easily climbed the rock on her own. Once she was at the top, she held out her arms and inhaled deeply before lowering her eyes to mine. Kelly’s lips broke into a smile and she teased, “You coming up here or not?”
A low laugh rumbled in my chest as I maneuvered the slick surface in biker boots. I was finally standing next to her when she took my hand. We both stared into the large ravine that cut through the landscape like a jagged scar just a few hundred feet in front of us. The smell of cottonwoods blanketed each breath we took and it was when we’d finally sat down that I noticed it. She turned to me and the sunlight caught the high curve of her cheekbone revealing a faint yellow bruise. Had she fallen or had some motherfucker hit her? My eyes lingered long enough that she noticed and turned away, confirming the latter.
“What happened?” I barely knew her, but the anger building in my blood for the person who did this, it was bordering on irrational.
“What are you talking about?” She kept her eyes forward and swallowed.
I inhaled, trying to cool off my temper. I lifted my fingers and dusted them along the pale yellowed skin. “This.”
She tilted her head back and kept her eyes to the sky as I let my hand fall to my side. “Nothing you need to worry about.”
“The fuck I don’t.”
She laughed without humor and pinned me with her big brown eyes. “You seemed to assume enough about me the other night… what do you think happened?”
“I think someone hurt you.” My jaw pulsed, my irritation evident under the movement of the muscle.
Her glare softened and appeared thoughtful as she scanned my features.
“It doesn’t matter.” The fight had left her tone, and her shoulders sagged.
“Who hurt you?” I asked again, the command in my voice gone, but the building fury simmered in my gut.
She puffed out a breath and lay back onto the boulder, closing her eyes. “My parents only ever wanted one kid. But, when my sister Tracey was nine, my mom found out she was pregnant with me. I always thought that maybe my father’s love affair with bourbon started when he found out he had another mouth to feed.”
I closed my eyes briefly as I listened. The pain in her voice, it was all too familiar.
“He used to work, and for a while, everything was normal. But then my dad lost his job, and then Tracey left for college a couple years later and everything fell apart… or maybe I was just old enough to see him for what he was.
“He always blamed his depression, used it as his crutch, you know…” I knew more than she thought I did. “He didn’t always hit… but the older I got, the worse his temper had gotten, and me and my mom, we suffered for it.” My stomach felt sick. My father was a drunk, too, and he’d only ever hit me once, and he sure as fuck knew better than to ever hit my mom or my brothers. I’d kill his ass and, right now, I was thinking the same shit about her dad. “He’s chilled out a little since this summer. Part of me thinks it’s because I’m almost eighteen, and he knows I’m out of here the minute I graduate.” Her eyes finally popped open, and the deep brown color of her irises were obscured by unshed tears. “One day, I’ll leave this city and never look back.” Her last few words were strained. I watched her strength burn away the tears in her eyes as she sat up and said, “I know it sounds dumb, but I think I’m meant for more than this. I didn’t suffer through him… to just fade into the same life as my mother.”
It was careless to want her. Her shattered edges matched mine. I’d never be able to give her the freedom she wanted. I raised my fingers to her cheek and grazed them along the silk of her skin as I said, “You deserve the fairytale, and he deserves a shallow grave.” The edge in my voice cut through the dense space between us, and a light flame flickered inside her eyes.
She blew out a shaky breath and smiled. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”
“You don’t need to apologize. I have a feeling you’ve done enough of that to last you a lifetime.”
She shook her head and rewarded me with another shy smile as she picked at the fabric of her jeans. “My best friend doesn’t even know my father hits me, but…” She lifted her eyes to mine and her cheeks filled with color. “Why…why is it easy to talk to you?”
Because she was East and I was West. We were headed down the same path, and it was only a matter of time before we met in the middle.
I shrugged. “I think we have more in common than you think.”
She shifted and her pupils dilated. “Tell me.”
I scrubbed my palm down my face and exhaled a defeated breath. “My dad and your dad could get together and have a fucking party.�
� She waited for more of an explanation, but I wasn’t big into you show me yours and I’ll show you mine.
Kelly leaned back onto her hands, stretching her legs out in front of her. She didn’t push me for information, but she watched me as if I could fold right here in front of her. Her eyes absorbed my details, and the weight of her silence made it hard for me to keep quiet.
“My dad’s a drunk. Always has been. He functioned enough for a while.” I exhaled. For every truth I uttered, a burden was lifted, and I found it easier to breathe. She confessed to me and, for some goddamn reason, I couldn’t stop myself from doing the same thing. “He used to work at the oil refinery in north Salt Lake. My mom had always been at home, raising me and my little brothers. And, eventually, Pop got demoted. After a while it was bound to happen. Always calling in sick or coming to work drunk… he wasn’t employee of the year. I dropped out at sixteen to help my family survive. I’ve been working at Avenues ever since.”
“You dropped out?” Her brows furrowed and my insecurity flared.
“I had no fucking choice.”
She flinched at my tone and I grit my teeth with regret. “I didn’t mean—”
“I shouldn’t have raised my voice.” I stood and jumped down from the rock.
She followed behind me and gently rested her hand on my bicep. In the past, I would’ve shrugged away from the touch, but her fingertips were soft against my skin, and I didn’t think anything had ever calmed me as quickly as she just did. “I think what you did was honorable. Most sixteen-year-old boys only care about cars and their dicks.”
I barked out a laugh. “I still cared about my dick… but I was really good at balancing everything else.”
She giggled and the heavy mood evaporated. Her smile was light as I swept a piece of her hair from her cheek.
“Sorry I dumped on you,” she said, dropping those telling eyes again.
“Hey.” I lifted her chin with my finger. “Sometimes putting all the toxic shit out in the open, it feels good. It’s another reason why I come here. I leave all my garbage behind, at least for a little bit, and then ride home feeling a little less like an asshole.”
“I feel lighter.” She smirked and I lowered my hand.
“Good.”
She linked our hands and we walked back to the bike. I wasn’t ready to leave, but we had at least an hour ride in traffic, and I didn’t want to make her late. The thought of sending her back to her own Hell ate at my stomach. I was a protector. It was what I did. My brothers, my mother, they depended on me, but Kelly, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to help her, at least not yet.
She released my hand and I offered her the helmet. “What time is it?” she asked as I straddled my bike.
Leaning back, I checked the time on my watch. I swore under my breath. “We’re going to be late.”
She nodded as she nervously chewed at her lip. I offered her my hand. “I’ll bring you home, and I’ll tell that fuck it was my fault.”
She gripped my hand and I pulled her toward me as she said, “Don’t take me home.” I didn’t have time to register her desperate plea.
Kelly sat in front me on the bike, her legs on either side, our bodies too fucking close as the helmet fell to the dirt. Her warm breath teased me as she spoke. “If I’m going to be late, make it worth it.”
Holy shit.
My fingers slid into her hair and I hesitated, my mouth hovering above her lips. I wasn’t above being used to make a statement to her dad, but I wasn’t a prick who’d take advantage of her either. “You sure?”
When her mouth crashed against my lips, I had my answer. My fingers curled, fisting in her hair as I pulled her closer. Her mouth opened into a quiet moan as her body melted against me. I dropped one of my hands to her waist and gripped her hip. Kelly’s hands snaked around my neck and her nails dug into the skin just below my hairline as I pressed myself fully against her. She groaned as I lowered my other hand to her right hip and lifted her so that she was sitting on me.
Her sugared lemon scent and berry flavored lips drained all the blood from my brain to my dick. She rocked against me, with her hands wrapped in my hair, and I swore, pulling her bottom lip through my teeth. My hands slid underneath her, and I palmed her ass holding her in place, keeping her where I needed her and she needed me.
My teeth found her neck, and her lips found mine. She was breathing too fast as she rolled her hips once and then again. I pulled away and she stilled. Her cheeks were heated and her blush spread to her chest. My thumb traced along her lips and she opened her mouth, tasting the tip.
I lowered my hand as I said, “You make me want to do terrible things.”
A triumphant grin spread across her face as she rested back onto the seat of the bike. She ran her hands down my chest, past my stomach, along the length of my cock, and I wished there wasn’t a heavy layer of denim between us. Kelly leaned in, licking the seam of my mouth. The heat of her kiss and the way she was moving her hand against me, I was about thirty seconds away from losing it in my goddamn boxer briefs. I should’ve stopped her, but instead my fingers fell between her legs. I pressed at the center seam of her jeans, wishing I was buried inside her, wondering how fucking wet I’d made her, how hard I could make her come. She was panting and my heart was pounding, and the forest devoured the sweet plea of her orgasm. She shuddered under my touch and her hand froze as she came. I was out of breath, and the ache for my own relief, balled into tight knots in my stomach.
She rested her forehead against mine, and braced her hands on my shoulder as she caught her breath. I brought my lips to hers, still hungry for her taste. I kissed her slow and deep, and when I pulled away she sighed.
“Totally worth being late.”
The reminder of what she had to go home to was a bucket of ice cold water on my blue balls.
“You’re not late yet… call your dad, tell him you’re having dinner at a friend’s house.” Her smile faded and the heat, that stunning, fucking red disappeared from her cheeks. “Listen, my brother Dex, his girlfriend Paige, every Monday, well, almost every day, they’re at my place. My mom is a mean cook.” I raised my eyebrows to lighten the sullen line of her lips.
Her smile, though reluctant, lifted the corners of her mouth. “Are you sure?”
“My house is a side show, but my dad, he’s most likely at the bar, or passed out already from day drinking. So if you can handle that, you’re more than welcome.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded.
“Alright.” Her smile was full force as her eyes fell to my mouth.
Our bodies inclined and I captured her lips again, kissing her once, twice, sliding my tongue inside her mouth, sneaking one last taste before we had to leave. She eased away, kissed my cheek and stood, swinging her leg over the bike. She grabbed her bag from the ground, pulled her phone from the front pocket and said, “I should call him really fast.”
I nodded and watched her as she walked a few steps away, head down, phone to her ear. Her voice was quiet, lacking the power she was capable of wielding. One afternoon, and I was already figuring out the rescue plan. It wasn’t smart. We may be cut from the same cloth, but after getting a taste of her, of all that beauty, there was no way I could cage it. Regardless of that sinking feeling building in my chest, I wouldn’t fool myself, I knew I’d take everything my sorry ass could get.
She hung up the phone and spun on her heels to face me. Kelly’s lips were still swollen from my kiss and, as they pulled into a heart stopping smile, that imaginary link, the chain that tied her to me, tightened around my ribcage and squeezed. We were injured birds with clipped fucking wings. It didn’t matter if there was a cage or not, after everything that had happened to us, we’d never get the chance to fly again.
Once Upon a Present
There were only a handful of times I could remember that I’d actually felt real fear. The kind of fear that swelled in your gut and snuck up your spine until it paralyzed you—took your brea
th away. The kind of fear that burned the memories into your brain so each detail would never fade, so that it was as vivid as the day you’d felt it. For me, my first time was when I was a little boy and I’d lost my mother in the mall. I remembered hiding inside one of the clothing racks. Hide and seek, my mother and me, we’d played this game all the time. I had sat there, silent, thinking she’d find me at any moment. After a few minutes with no results, I had poked my head out and she was gone. Every bit of false safety I’d ever known had blown away into thin air when I’d ran through that store, screaming her name. I think we’d only been separated for a total of ten minutes, but to a five-year-old, it had been an eternity.
The second time was when I was fifteen and Declan had tried to kill himself. I’ll never forget the horror in Kieran’s voice as he cried out for help, or how I almost vomited when I’d stepped through Declan’s doorway and saw him… the color of his lips, the way the scissors had cut through the fabric too slowly… there are times, still to this day, that the sound of fabric being torn sets me on edge. After that day, life and death became a real fucking concept, and I made a promise to myself, to Dex, that he’d never choose death again.
The third time was when I’d finally told Kelly that I loved her. We’d only been together about a year, but I knew. Kelly had always been the one to take the ugly, twisted parts of me and swallow them down… make them her own. We’d had sex before, more times than I could even count. But this day, as her legs had shivered around my waist, I’d rested my forehead against her brows and I’d caught my breath. Still inside of her, I’d closed my eyes letting the fucking words spill from my mouth like an idiot. I’d opened myself up for the slaughter. It’d been the first time I’d ever said that shit to anyone besides my family, first time I’d ever felt truly vulnerable. The relief I felt when she said it back, it’s the same relief I was wishing for right now.
Kingdom (Avenues Ink Series Book 2) Page 7