by Gina Kincade
“Elliot, I didn't like that. It hurt.”
“Yeah? It hurt when I popped your cherry too.” He spooned cereal into his mouth. “You just gotta get used to it,” he said with his mouth full.
“I don't want to get used to it,” she muttered into her coffee.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Elliot didn't pursue it, dropping his bowl in the sink. Zoe followed, rinsing both bowls so she would be able to wash them later.
“There's a party next Saturday,” Elliot said. “I want to go.”
Zoe was glad she faced the sink. Her first thought was, fine, then go. She knew she’d end up waiting around while Elliot stared at other girls, danced with them, and got drunk. Instead she said, “Yeah? Where?”
“Pi Beta Psi.”
Zoe knew the sorority and she didn't fit in among the members. “So why were you invited?” she almost asked. She knew there was no point in poking the bear. “Fine. Should I meet you there?”
“Yeah, that's good.”
Maybe he wouldn't notice if she didn't show up. She could hope.
Chapter Nine
Linc wandered past Auntie Norm's front door. He would visit her and Wash in a bit. First he wanted to see Zoe again. He should wait until Monday, but couldn't. He’d only bumped into her once during the week.
He was about to knock when he saw someone ascending the stairs. He smiled and raised his hand again. When the face came into view, however, it wasn't Zoe but Elliot.
The rage that he had been getting a handle on slipped completely out of his control. Baring his teeth, he growled savagely.
“Linc?” Wash asked from the window above. “What are you—”
The door opened and Linc focused on Elliot, ready to lunge.
“Linc?” Zoe asked, sounding surprised.
A door banged and Aunt Norm and Wash both took hold of Linc, pulling him away. Elliot spat on the lawn and Linc made to lunge again, but Aunt Norm stood in the way.
“Inside,” she told Linc in a voice of command. Uncle Garf had been able to order him like that, and he turned before it registered that he had.
“Is he okay?” Zoe asked. Linc turned back, but Auntie Norm pushed him and he stumbled toward the door.
Wash answered Zoe instead. “Yeah. He's probably hung over.”
Linc growled at the lie.
“You're going to have a hangover level headache if I have to make you move again,” Auntie Norm threatened.
As Linc put more distance between himself and Elliot, he regained more control. In Auntie Norma's kitchen, he felt like an idiot. Like a bad puppy that was swat with a newspaper.
“Sit,” she said the same way she would a dog. “And speak. What the hell was that, Lincoln? Are you trying to get yourself caught? You know you can’t trust everyone and should trust no one. Zoe would probably keep your secret, but you don’t need to risk it. That awful man would definitely see that you were left in a lab somewhere, ready for dissection”
The guilt increased. He wasn’t just endangering himself, but his cousins too. “I just want to protect her so badly.”
Aunt Norm rested a hand on his shoulder and put a glass of orange juice in front of him. “I understand.”
“No, you don't,” he muttered, but she spoke right over him.
“Your uncle broke my boyfriend's arm.”
Wash scoffed. “Linc was going to do more than break his arm.”
“So would your dad if Grampa Ike hadn't been there.”
Linc shifted nervously. The pent up anger was still boiling.
“Sit for two more minutes. Then he'll be gone and you can go,” Auntie Norm told Linc. “Garfield liked to run it off.”
Linc nodded, remembering his run the other day. “Yeah, that's good. I need a moon.” He was antsy and irritable as he normally was the day before the full moon, but it was still a week away. “I'll go now,” he said, rising.
Wash ran to the door first. “Okay, just Zoe out there.”
He pushed past Wash and straight to her. “Are you okay?”
Her eyes went to his hand on her arm. He hadn’t even realized he'd grabbed her.
“Sorry, I'm going.” He moved by her and out the back gate.
“Where are you going?” she asked, following.
“Running.”
“Oh, okay,” she said in disappointment. She started walking down the path he had planned to run.
He stayed in place, taking a few breaths before trotting to catch up to her.
“Where are you going?” he asked, walking beside her and taking her hand.
“The library is over that way.” She pointed. “I thought I'd go there.”
“Mind company?”
Her smile was still small, but it lit up her round face. “No.”
They'd walked a few minutes before she asked, “What happened back there?”
Linc squeezed her hand for reassurance. “Have you ever taken an instant dislike to someone?”
She shook her head.
“I can't forgive the way he treats you. I was hoping...” He didn't say it, stroking her hand and trusting her to understand.
“Are you going to the Pi Beta Psi party?” she asked.
“Why?”
“I'm going.”
“With Elliot?” he asked, jaw clenched tight.
“Not really. I’m supposed to meet him there. I’m afraid of what he’ll do if I actually break it off. At the party, he’ll just ignore me. It would be nice to find someone I know there. My friends aren't likely to be.” She waited a minute before asking again. “Are you?”
It was the second night of the moon. Just as well. He wouldn't want to be in striking range of that asshole.
“Dunno.”
They walked in silence a while.
“Wash is a cool kid,” she said. “What was his father like?”
Linc smiled, remembering Uncle Garf. He told a few wolf-free stories and asked about her family. It wasn't until she pulled her hand free to zip up her jacket that he saw how far they'd gone past the library. The wind was picking up and pulling her hair from its ponytail.
“We missed the library,” he said.
“That's okay.” She pulled her hair back and put the elastic in again. “I love the river valley.”
Linc nodded. “Yeah, me too. We should turn around, though. It'll be getting dark.”
“Okay.” She slid her hand into his again. Then she asked about his classes and they returned to the house before either ran out of things to say.
Linc stood outside her door and looked over her face, focusing on her lips.
“Come inside?” she asked.
“Better not. You...are still...with...” His words were broken and strained.
“Not for long,” she said. “I might need someone to stand by me when I do. I’m really worried he’ll do something...violent. It would also be nice to know I have someone when he’s gone.”
Linc seized her, pulling her curves against him. The stirring that started with thoughts of kissing her hardened. He was sure she would notice, but he didn't care. He kissed her fiercely, with fire, and she was gasping when he moved to her throat, feeling her through her jacket and under it to the back of her pants. Her rear was round like so much of her, and soft. His fingers seemed to dig right in.
The zipper of her jacket eased open as he kissed down toward her breasts bound within the fabric.
“Please, come in,” she begged.
“I shouldn't. I won't be able to stop.”
“I don't want you to.”
Growling again, he reached past her to open the door. Locked.
“Got it,” she said, pulling keys from her pocket. She bolted in and down the stairs, leaving Linc on the landing, confused.
She returned without her jacket and put her foot on the bottom step.
Linc jumped down four stairs at a time, nearly knocking her over. With a firm hand in the middle of her back, he walked her to the nearest
door. She reached behind to fumble the handle.
Her room reminded him of the forest, the faltering green replaced with red and orange as the sunset.
“I told you I would devour you,” he warned. She trembled and sat on the edge of her bed as though her legs wouldn't hold her up. “You're done with him?”
Zoe nodded. “Yes. Next time I see him, I'll tell him so. If I say it enough, maybe he’ll take the hint. Please,” she took a deep breath and swallowed. “Please don't leave me alone again. I don't want to be alone. I'll be your bitch, your fuck bud—”
He clamped a hand over her mouth. “None of those. I won't leave until you ask me.”
He leaned back as tears welled in her eyes. She hugged him close.
“Thank you.”
Her softness renewed the urgency in his pants, but that wasn't going to happen. Not today. Today was about her.
He kissed her neck again, easing her shirt up.
She pulled it off and reached for his.
Linc grabbed her fingers to stop her. “Not yet.”
“I don't want to wait.”
The desperation in her voice hurt, lashing at his heart. “You won't,” he assured her, touching her fly but not opening it.
She obliged, pulling her pants down while he kissed the slopes of her breasts. His nose snuck in between, just over her bra, and he inhaled deeply, memorizing her scent.
“Oh, God, Linc.”
He growled a bit at the way she said his name. It made him even hungrier for her. He continued to work his way down, over her belly and to the cotton of her panties. He could smell her through them and he sucked the fabric into his mouth.
“No,” she said, her hands blocking him.
“No?” he asked, standing up to look into her eyes. “What then?”
“I've never...” She rubbed herself.
“You've never been—”
“No one has ever put their face...” She stopped talking, turning red.
“Oh, Zoe,” he said, almost laughing. “You've never had oral sex?”
“I've given. I mean, Elliot likes it when—”
“No!” he growled, the rage back. “Not him. Never him.”
He regretted his reaction as she slid up the bed, cowering. “I'm sorry, Zoe.” He moved to sit beside her, both their backs against the wall. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she relaxed, leaning into him.
“Zoe, he”—Linc would never be able to say his name again—“shouldn't have expected something he didn't return.”
Her eyes were moist and she covered her face. “No one wants to see my fat, hairy—”
Linc twisted to pull her hands down. “I do. Fuck, I want to, Zoe. I want to see it. I want touch it, I want to... Please?” he asked, feeling like a jerk. She was so vulnerable and he was taking advantage. His mother would kill him if she knew. He groaned and slid to get off the bed.
“I'm sorry,” he muttered.
“You don't want to?” she asked.
He turned to see she'd brought her knees up to her chest and slid the panties out from under her.
“I shouldn't,” he said, closing his eyes and fighting his body. The mind had to be stronger, didn't it?
“Okay,” she said, her voice quiet. The mattress shifted and he opened his eyes to see her head on her pillow, tears falling.
He stretched out beside her, his hand stroking her back. Her hands were between them and she slid one down. “You're still hard,” she said.
“Yes, but that's not important. You are important. I don't want to fuck up and hurt you, or make you think I'm only here for sex.”
“I don't think that.” She plucked his collar pulling him closer.
“Zoe, I won't—”
“Don't.” She pressed herself against him, working open his fly.
He grabbed her hand to stop her, then slid down. “If you've never been...” he trailed off, his fingers opening her furry lips to reveal the bright red skin between. It shone with moisture, glistening. He wanted to be gentle to tease her open, but his mouth latched on, his tongue licking up. She filled his mouth and nose, her thighs pressing in and burying him for a moment.
He pushed one of her knees and both fell away, letting him hear and see her clearly.
“Oh my God. That feels so good. What are you doing? Ieee!” Her shriek as he sucked hard on her clit made his blood sing.
He'd lapped lower, but she was already moaning and starting to writhe. He kept his tongue on her clit and slid two fingers inside her.
“Fu-uck,” she groaned, grinding on him. He kept rubbing his jaw into her, thrusting with his fingers.
“Stop, stop,” she begged, her hand in his hair, pushing him away.
He lifted his head to see she'd removed her bra and her breasts heaved with her heavy breath. She was pink to her navel but most rosy in her cheeks.
“I-I don't think...I've ever come like that,” she said, her words broken by gasps.
Linc just stared at her pink nipples, her plump lips, her warm brown eyes and hair. Her ponytail was barely in place with the result tangled on her pillow. Best of all, she was smiling. Not the tiny shy smile he'd seen before; a bright, full, teeth flashing smile.
“You are beautiful.” To make his point, he traced her upturned nose.
Her eyes drooped sleepily. “You're just saying that.”
His glow went out like a snuffed candle. “You are,” he insisted.
“Yeah, really sexy,” she said with unveiled sarcasm, patting at the ring of flesh around her middle.
Linc ran his fingers down her side, over her belly, under her breasts, and over her breasts. He imagined drawing on her skin, shading all the curves to give them depth.
“I am just saying it,” he said at last and her eyes went wide in his peripheral vision. He continued to follow his finger, dark, on her pale marble skin. “I'm saying it without promises, without strings, without my own reasons. Just saying it.”
He gazed into her eyes again and she looked away.
“You still don't believe me,” he said. “Well, I'll keep saying it until you do. You're beautiful, Zoe.” He traced her navel. “You're beautiful, Zoe.” He traced a breast. “You're beautiful, Zoe.” He drew a line straight down her middle and into her pubic hair. He cupped her sex, feeling its heat and dampness.
Her eyes rolled back and closed. He put his lips to her ear. “You are sexy, Zoe.” He licked the shell of her ear and bit the lobe lightly, his hand still clasped over her. Her hips twitched in his grasp. “You are sexy and you make me crazy. I think I can't take another minute without being buried in you.”
“You can,” she said, but he silenced her with a kiss.
“But I have to take another minute, days, to show that I don't want to fuck you.”
Her smile slipped a little and he moved to brace himself over her. His legs fell between her thighs and his crotch rubbed up against hers. He moved carefully, knowing the denim could be too rough. Her eyes fluttered and he finished his thought.
“I want to worship you.”
“You... I dont—” She covered her face again and sniffed.
He moved, sliding alongside her again. “Don't, Zoe. Please don't cry.”
“No one has ever made me feel this good.”
“Then they're all idiots.” He kissed her again, gently this time, his hand stroking her back.
She didn't say anything else and leaned into his shoulder, huddled against him.
His hold tightened slightly, protective again. “Don't worry, Zoe. I'm not leaving. Not unless you want me to.”
She closed her eyes and her breathing evened out. She didn't sleep, but they lay like that until his stomach complained at not having anything since breakfast.
Zoe giggled. “Let's see what I have to eat.”
Chapter Ten
Zoe was surprised at the knock on her door. She knew who it must be when the knock turned to pounding.
“Elliot,” she said, surprised as well as disappoin
ted. She’d planned to break up with him during the week, but he’d avoided her as well as she managed to avoid him before. She didn’t want to do it here, with no one to temper his reaction. So she improvised. “I thought I was meeting you at Pi Beta Psi. I was just about to change.”
“You look fine,” he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her out the door.
“Wait. At least let me get my coat.”
“You should have thought of that before you tried to stand me up.” He didn’t ease up and pushed her into the front seat of her car. She started to climb out again, but he pushed her again. “Look, bitch, you are my tail and I want you at this party in case I need it during the night. You belong to me. Got it?”
“I’m not your anything,” she spat. “I’m definitely not your bitch and you aren’t getting anything more from me.”
“Is that right?” he said, looking her over. He reached out and grabbed one of her breasts, squeezing hard. She winced and whimpered. “You are coming with me tonight. If you think you can walk away after, we’ll just see how that goes for you.” He grabbed the other breast, squeezing just as hard. “And if you don’t come with me, it will be that much harder to walk.”
Zoe shrank back into the car and he slammed the door. It was a short drive and Elliot grabbed her to drag into the sorority house. He dumped her on one of the couches. “Stay there,” he commanded, storming away.
She tried to block out the music, the laughing, the crush of people, wishing Linc were here. He had never said if he was coming or not.
“Hey,” a guy said, flopping onto the couch next to her.
“Hey,” she said back. He was cute and not likely to waste his time on her.
“You're Elliot's girlfriend, right?”
“Yes.”
“Cool. Want to go upstairs? There's a room—”
“What?” she asked in confusion. “You just pointed out that I have a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, and he says you put out. So, let’s go upstairs.”
The jerk slid his hand around her arm, but she pulled away, standing. “No, thank you.” She headed to the back deck.
There were girls dancing around in bikinis despite the fact that they could see their breath. Zoe didn't get it. What was sexy about a shivering, goose bumped girl? Without her coat, she would have goosebumps of her own. She edged past and toward the stairs down to the patio and yard.