The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked)

by Bristol, Sidney

“Close the shop early and come to the fight.”

  She bit her lip. “I don’t know. Have to talk to Mary about it.”

  “Bring her.”

  “Mary can’t come. She has a kid.”

  “How old is he?”

  “Sixteen.”

  “Bring him too. Heck, bring the whole shop. We could use the support.”

  She chuckled. “I’ll see what they say, but no promises.”

  “How’s the nose?”

  “Sore.” She gingerly touched the hoop piercing her nostril and grimaced.

  When Quin spoke again, it was with a soft, compassionate voice she’d never heard from him. “So can I ask how you came to care for your grandmother? Where are your parents?”

  She lifted a shoulder. The moment of truth. “My dad’s dead. Mom and I moved back in with Grandma and Grandpa, but Grandpa died a few years later. Then Grandma took over raising me because Mom couldn’t handle it. She never was very good at doing anything except pouring tea and looking pretty. Grandma came down with Alzheimer’s when I was in Chicago, Mom got remarried to a Korean national and told me she was leaving. So here we are.”

  There was a beat of silence before Quin spoke. “She just left you?”

  “Yes, she left.” It still tasted bitter to say it out loud.

  “That’s—that’s fucked up.”

  “It is. Mom was the second born, and a girl. In Asian cultures they want boys. Mom had a brother who worked for the army as a translator. He died in Vietnam. I try to rationalize that Mom must have felt slighted by how much attention he got. She was eight years younger than him and they never stopped grieving for him. There used to be a corner in the living room dedicated to him. The treehouse,” she gestured at a tall oak in the middle of the backyard, “was off limits when I was a kid because it was his. I don’t know. I wonder if I did something wrong or if she didn’t want to take care of Grandma.” She’d come up with a hundred reasons why her mother would turn her back on her family, but none of them rang of truth.

  “Maybe your mom fell in love with the guy?”

  “No, it was an arranged marriage. Mom married a widower with four kids. I met him once, when he came to pick her up to take her to the airport. He refused to call me Kellie and ignored Grandma.”

  “He refused to call you by your name?”

  She shook her head. “Kellie’s not really my name. Mom named me Cho Hee after Grandma, but it was too confusing when I was little so I decided I wanted to be Kellie.”

  “Damn. Why Kellie?”

  Kellie shrugged. “I liked it.” She pushed up and the plastic chair scraped across the concrete slab. “I’m going to run the soup inside and check on Grandma. Need anything?”

  “Nope.” He put the empty bowls in the bag and handed it over. “I’ll be right here.”

  Quin stood at the base of the tree and stared up at an old wooden platform built in the joint of two branches. He’d never had a treehouse as a kid, and the allure wasn’t lost on him. He eyed the boards nailed into the trunk and wondered if they would hold his weight.

  He tossed a glance over his shoulder. Still no Kellie. Cho Hee. He wanted to make the strain disappear. He wanted to make her laugh and smile, but he didn’t know how.

  He grasped one of the boards and pulled himself up as if he were doing chin-ups. Nothing moved. He grasped the next highest rung and began the climb in earnest, going slow in case the wood had rotted out or nails were lose. He reached the trap door without incident and hauled himself up.

  Braches shielded a three-sided structure from view. He pulled out his cell phone and flicked on his flashlight app to get a better glimpse of his surroundings. A few cushions from deck chairs that looked practically new and cigarette butts littered the floor, along with dead leaves and limbs from the tree.

  “Quin?”

  He stuck his head out from the trap door and waved his phone at Kellie. “Up here.”

  She paused for a moment, finally looking up at him. “What are you doing up there?”

  “Join me?”

  She chuckled. “Are you serious?”

  “Yup.”

  “Come on.”

  “I don’t even know if this thing is safe anymore.” Still, she tucked the monitor into her waistband, grasped the first rung and began pulling herself up. “Don’t shine that in my eyes.”

  “Sorry, how else am I supposed to look down your shirt?” He clicked the app off but lay on his stomach to watch her progress. She scaled the tree faster than he had and in a few moments was sitting on the ledge, gazing down at him.

  “Huh, guess I should have expected kids to find it.” She swung her legs up and crossed them neatly beneath her.

  “If I was a kid, this would be a sweet place to hang out.” He shifted and laid his head in her lap.

  Kellie’s fingers brushed through his hair, massaging his scalp. He wrapped his hand around her wrist and brought her palm to his lips. He planted a kiss in the middle of her palm, and on each fingertip. He could hear her breathing hitch when he grazed her skin with his teeth.

  He sat up and turned to face her, but Kellie was already leaning into him. Now he understood her need to burn off energy. He dug a hand into her damp hair before her lips could take his and pulled her head to the side, exposing the column of her neck. The muscles in her shoulders tensed when he nipped the sensitive spot just on the back of her neck. Her arm wrapped under his, her hand grasping his shoulder.

  Knowing she liked it when he was rough, he scraped her with his stubble and nipped her ear.

  “What do you want?” he asked as he tugged the neckline of her shirt down to expose more of her full breasts.

  “Huh?” She turned into him, her lips seeking his.

  He cupped her mound through the thin material of her yoga pants. “Do you want me to go down on you? Or do you want to tell me what to do?”

  She stilled with her forehead against his temple, her parted lips brushing his cheek. Her hands released the hold on his shirt and slid around his shoulders to hug him. “I don’t want to think. I don’t want to make choices.”

  “Come here.” He pulled her into his lap, but at the last moment she swung one leg over him so she straddled him. He pushed her hair back over her shoulders and cradled her face.

  She’d carry the weight of the world on her shoulders and never complain. Compared to her he was a selfish bastard. Well, he could give back to her, show her he was learning to care. Cupping her face with both hands, he kissed her sweetly. His thumbs swept arcs across her skin and he suckled her lip between his teeth. Her fingers dug into his scalp and shoulder, her nails cutting little half arcs into his skin.

  Quin tugged the monitor from her waistband and carefully set it against a baseboard where it would be safe. He also turned the volume up a little so they were serenaded with soft snoring. Kellie watched him, her expression as unreadable as ever. He wanted to accept this part of her life just like everything else.

  She leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss.

  He grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head.

  Kellie flicked the clasp on her bra and the fabric fell forward into his lap. Every time he saw her breasts he thought he’d lose it like a kid. They overflowed his hands, the tips hard points against his palms. Her hands covered his, squeezing.

  If she wanted a little pain, he could deliver that too. He pinched the peaks simultaneously, pulling her breasts up and out. Kellie gasped and planted her hands on his knees behind her, thrusting her breasts at him. He lifted and pulled on them, giving the tender flesh a little twist as it slid from between his fingers.

  Kellie moaned and slid her pelvis over his dick. He circled her waist with an arm, pulled their bodies more firmly together and cupped her breast with his other hand. She yanked his head down to her chest. He was only too happy to accommodate her wishes and suck her breast.

  She rocked against him, muffled moans and sounds escaping her lips as she reached for something j
ust out of her grasp.

  “Come on, doll.” He dropped his hand from her waist and reached between her legs, finding her hot core through her pants.

  “Yes,” she hissed in his ear, changing the movement of her hips to hard circling motions.

  He lifted his head to watch her face. Curling his fingers against her, he rubbed with her. Her hands tightened, bruises blossoming under her grip. Her head fell back and her mouth opened on a silent shout. Her body shuddered and she leaned against him. He stroked her through the orgasm, watching the way her face tightened and morphed during release.

  “Damn, you’re hot,” he said as her body went limp.

  “Mm.”

  He chuckled and reached for one of the long, rectangular cushions. Quin shook off the debris and dragged it closer. He gathered Kellie’s body and lay her down, bunching her shirt up as a pillow. He leaned over her and slid his hand along her side.

  “Better?” He pushed her hair aside.

  She stretched and reached for him. “Yeah. I needed that.”

  He bent to her and kissed her, pressing into her body, thrusting his tongue into her mouth.

  “Come down here.” She tugged on his shoulders but he didn’t budge.

  Shaking his head, he sat up and pulled his shirt off. He’d never given so much thought to a woman’s comfort during sex, but it mattered. She mattered, and he didn’t quite know what that meant, except she needed to be comfortable.

  “I like you shirtless.” Kellie crossed her arms under her head and looked up at him from half-lidded eyes.

  “I like you shirtless too. Let’s lose these pants.” He slid both her underwear and pants off and spread his shirt over the cushions.

  “What are you doing down there?” Her voice was relaxed, still sated from orgasm.

  “I don’t know where the hell these things have been.”

  “And your sweaty gym shirt is better?” Her foot drew a line up his side. He hadn’t noticed her kicking off her shoes, but they were gone. He wrapped his hand around her ankle and pulled her leg to the side.

  It took effort to form words and string them together in a sentence. “Hey, I took a shower before I came over. That shirt is clean.” Below them, someone flipped on a light that bathed her body in a tree-filtered glow.

  Unlike most women he’d been with who tried to hide themselves, Kellie arched her back and smirked at him. She knew she was beautiful and she didn’t care. He liked that confidence, the way she knew who and what she was, and owned it.

  Kellie’s body still hummed with satisfaction. Quin played her body with the skill it took to achieve multiple orgasms. Even if she didn’t come again, she craved the feel of his body inside hers, his strength holding her in place.

  He scooted around and lay on his stomach between her legs.

  “Quin?” She lifted her head to watch him.

  “What? I’m busy.” He spread her nether lips, his touch firm but not rough. She loved it when he was though. Too often guys treated her as though she were made of glass when she just wanted to feel used.

  “What are you—? Oh!” She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the startled shout.

  Quin had one arm slung across her abdomen to hold her in place while his tongue speared her sensitive flesh. She bucked her hips and rocked against him. She didn’t know whether she wanted more or less of what he did to her.

  Thick fingers replaced his tongue, plunging into her channel while he found the sensitive nub with his lips and sucked on it. She crossed a leg over his shoulders and squeezed, rocking into him. She sucked in deep breaths between her fingers, her eyes rolling up into her head.

  A slick digit pressed against her ass and his teeth grazed her clit, sending off charges of electricity through her synapses, catapulting her over the edge. Her hips rocked against his face, taking everything he gave while her muscles rippled around him, robbing her of sense and control, leaving her panting and boneless.

  Quin gently untangled her legs from around him and sat up on his knees. She sucked in breath after breath of air, perfumed with her musk and the scent of dried leaves. She heard the unmistakable sound of a zipper. Her sex quivered.

  “Give me a second,” she groaned.

  “Nope.”

  “Quin, I can’t.”

  He lowered his body over her, his heat seeping into her as his hands bracketed her shoulders. “Yeah, you can.” He nibbled her jaw. “One more.”

  It was just sex. They were hungry for each other, that was it. But with each climb to ecstasy he wrapped her a little tighter around his finger. Each time he answered the phone when she just wanted to gripe, he wormed his way further into her heart. Where had her resolve to quit him gone?

  She squeezed her arms around him and raked her nails down his back. He bowed toward her, squishing her, but she craved it. Craved him. His mouth crashed into hers, teeth nipping her lips, forcing her to open for him and plundering her mouth. She dug her hand into his hair and kissed him with equal force. His hips rocked against her, the stiff bar of his cock slapping her stomach.

  Reaching between them, she cupped his balls and rolled them in her palm. Quin moaned into her mouth, showing her that he wasn’t in complete control.

  “Fuck me hard,” she said against his lips.

  He grunted and pulled away, just enough that she could wrap her hand around his cock and notch it against her sex. She silently cursed the latex he’d slipped on while she’d floated in post-coital bliss. It was better this way, but she didn’t have to like it.

  Quin thrust hard, shocking her sensitized pussy and dragging a strangled moan from her lips. White lights burst behind her eyelids. Quin gripped her hips in a bruising hold and withdrew slowly.

  “Quin,” she groaned, gripping his ass. Her swollen flesh was slick and so sensitive each movement against her sent ricochets of pleasure and almost-pain spiraling through her body.

  “Yeah.” He panted and thrust, lodging himself fully in her slick channel. He wrapped an arm around her waist, the other around her neck.

  She wrapped her limbs around him in return and contracted her inner muscles, squeezing him. He groaned and bit her shoulder, ripples of pleasure cascading down to her pussy.

  He withdrew and thrust, each time building force and speed. She tried to move with him, to meet his pistoning body with her own, but he held her in place, practically rutting. Her spine arched, sweat slicked her body and she hummed with the need for release just outside her grasp.

  Quin’s movements became frenzied, jerking back and forth until he jackknifed into her and growled his release. She felt his dick twitch deep within her, teasing her too-tight body with an orgasm she wouldn’t have.

  She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. Quin’s breath fanned over her cheek. He trailed sloppy kisses to her mouth.

  “Sorry. Too rough?” he gasped between breaths.

  She chuckled. “Not at all.”

  “Good. Did you come?”

  Her hand stilled its back-and-forth path across his back. “Yeah.”

  “No, did you come again?” He levered up on his elbows, the light from below catching the blue in his gaze.

  “Quin, twice was—”

  “Unh-unh, you’re coming again.”

  He ground his pelvis against hers, her poor, tortured clit trapped between their bodies. She tossed her head from side to side. It just wasn’t possible.

  Quin’s fingers delved between their sweat-slick bodies and strummed the nubbin, his gaze trained on her face, reading her even though she squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Come on, relax. You fucking deserve it. Just keep quiet, you don’t want someone to hear you. They might figure out what we’re doing up here.”

  The dirty rotten bastard. Her orgasm snapped through her like a rubber band being released. She milked his cock and rocked into his hand.

  Holy shit, she’d just had three orgasms.

  * * * * *

  Kellie closed the back door as quietly as she cou
ld. It had the tendency to stick on the baseboard and needed an extra little pull to get it closed. But that also kept Grandma from opening it on her own, so she hadn’t fixed it.

  “She asleep?” Quin pulled the folded comforter from under her arm, freeing her hands to close the door the rest of the way.

  “Yeah, she liked the soup. Sorry about the wait.”

  After their treehouse escapade, she’d had to go inside to do the nightly routine with Grandma. It took about an hour to wake her, clean her up, get her to eat, take her medicine and then make sure she was situated for the night. She hadn’t expected Quin to wait around for her, but here he was.

  “No problem. I ran down to the gas station and grabbed us some beer.”

  He spread the blanket out on the grass and she grabbed the bottles and followed him down onto the ground. As a kid, she’d lay out in the grass with her father, and he’d pointed out the constellations on clear nights.

  “Damn, every time I look up I’m shocked by all the stars. I haven’t been in a city where the smog didn’t hide them.”

  “That’s Texas for you. Wide-open spaces.”

  He took the beers from her and used a bottle opener on his keychain to pop the caps off. She propped herself up on an elbow and sipped her beer while Quin lay on his back, gazing up at the sky. She cared about him, and she didn’t really know him. He had a child she hadn’t known about. What else was there?

  “So,” she said to break the companionable silence they’d fallen into. “How’s your kid?”

  His lips thinned. “She’s good. I think. Shit, I don’t know.” He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I think I might have screwed up.”

  “How?”

  “I’m not good at this dad stuff. I moved down here to be part of her life because I felt like I haven’t been there enough for Josie. I’ve always made sure she was taken care of, give them money and whatever, but I haven’t really been there. I don’t know how to be a dad, or how I fit into her life now that Penny is married. Does she even need me? And then Penny gets pissy at me for not coming over more often. When I do go over, Chad, her husband, gives me the stink eye. I just don’t know how this is supposed to work. It was easy in the beginning. I flew in every couple of months to visit, paid for my half of shit, changed some diapers and did errands. But it’s not enough anymore and I don’t know what to do.”