by BB Easton
Oh my God.
It’s fucking May!
The moment my fingers grazed the black plastic handle, my car door flew out of my grasp with a force that made me think a tornado had hit. But when rough hands reached in and pulled me out of the vehicle, I knew I was dealing with a very different force of nature.
My senses were on high alert. Rain awakened every exposed inch of my skin. My inner ears rattled at the sound of my car door being kicked shut. My legs locked as I was planted back down on my feet, my back pressed against the door and open window. My lungs expanded, filling with warm, familiar aromas that they refused to let go of.
And the instant my eyes opened, they filled with tears.
He found me.
“You found me.” Knight’s voice was deep and clear.
His brow was raised in a pained expression of disbelief. I’d seen that look before—on his eighteenth birthday, when I’d stolen a chicken sandwich for him from the school cafeteria. He looked every bit as lost as he had the day I gave him what might have been the first gift he’d ever received. And it broke my heart all over again.
My hands instinctively wrapped around the sides of Knight’s head. Even soaking wet, his blond buzz cut was softer than velvet. I hadn’t realized how much I missed that. His smell. His touch. His zombie-gray eyes, swallowing me like I was his last meal.
I don’t know who initiated the kiss, maybe both of us, but as soon as Knight’s tongue was in my mouth, I realized how much I’d missed his taste as well. At school, Knight had tasted like Winterfresh gum. After school, he’d tasted like cheap beer and Camel Lights. But that night, he tasted like Southern Comfort. My favorite flavor of him. It reminded me of all those nights we’d spent alone, curled up on the couch in the Terminus City Tattoo break room, drunk on whiskey and first love.
This kiss wasn’t like those kisses though. This kiss was a ravaging, desperate, needy thing that started at our mouths and spread until our whole bodies were under its control. Hands gripped and held and tore at clothing. Hips thrust. Feet fought for purchase against the flooded asphalt.
The rain beating down on my bare arms and legs was freezing, but for once, I didn’t shiver. Knight was enough to keep me warm.
Knight was enough.
Picking me up, Knight set my ass down on the ledge of my open car window and continued to assault my mouth as I fumbled to unbutton his camouflage pants. As soon as my fingertips slid down his length, Knight yanked the crotch of my loose cutoff shorts and panties to one side and pressed against me. He didn’t enter though. He fought the inferno of pheromones swirling around us just long enough to look me in the eye and silently ask for my consent.
Not wanting Knight to see my pupils, I squeezed my eyelids shut and pulled him in for another kiss. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I pressed my muddy combat boots against his ass, giving him the invitation he sought.
Knight was as hot against my flesh as the rain was cold, and the paradox of sensations set me on fire. I clawed at his black T-shirt, dug my heels in harder, and nipped at his tongue as he filled me. With every inch, I felt him erasing the mark Harley had left behind the last time we were together. Knight was the only one I trusted enough to be with like that.
And he was finally home.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I buried my face in his shoulder and cried. That night had gone from upsetting to terrifying to life-threatening to magical in the span of a few short hours, and my emotions simply couldn’t keep up. I might not have known where I was or what was happening, but Knight was there, and his arms kept me grounded. Tethered to reality. Safe. I inhaled his scent and held my breath and prayed to the universe to let him be real.
As Knight’s thrusts became more erratic, my silent tears were replaced with audible gasps and moans. Ducking his head, Knight found my mouth with his. Thick fingers pulled at my sopping-wet hair. Teeth nipped at my bottom lip, my tongue. Knight swelled inside me, and a growl tore from his soul as he released everything he’d been holding back for the last nine months into my body. His muscles relaxed. His forehead dropped to my shoulder, and I cradled his fuzzy blond head as he shuddered the last of his release.
When I opened my eyes, still running my nails through Knight’s wet buzz cut, I realized that the rain had let up. I also realized where I was. Like a moth to a flame, I had pulled into the parking lot behind Terminus City Tattoo.
“Inside. Now,” Knight said, his words vibrating against my collarbone.
Noticing all the cars driving by, I nodded. Inside was good.
I rolled up my window and grabbed my purse. Then I practically sprinted, hand in hand with Knight, across the parking lot and into the alley separating Sin from Terminus City. I held my breath and waited for the flashbacks. I had so many horrible memories from that alley—puking on all fours next to the dumpster, bloody baseball bats splintering against walls, shouting matches, shoving matches—but as we entered the graffitied corridor, a completely different set of memories flashed before my eyes. Memories of Knight lighting my cigarettes, smiling when I cracked a joke, telling me he loved me for the first time. As we walked up the fire escape steps, I saw that he had put out fresh bowls of food for the neighborhood strays, like he used to, and I also saw a cordless phone lying in pieces on the landing, its batteries scattered across the concrete.
“What happened?” I asked, bending over to pick up the components as Knight pulled open the back door to Terminus City.
“You happened,” he said, holding the door open for me.
In the dark of the alley, his pale gray eyes almost glowed. It made my insides go all tingly.
“You’re the one who called me?” I asked, crossing over the threshold.
A sense of calm washed over me instantly as I took in the familiar surroundings. The long hallway with doors lining one side. The opening at the end that led out into the tattoo parlor. The black-and-white tiled floor and faint smell of antiseptic.
We were home.
The heavy metal door closed behind me with a metallic boom.
“Yeah,” Knight said, turning my body with bossy hands and pressing my back against the cool surface of the door.
Taking the receiver and batteries from me, Knight tossed them down the hallway without looking. The sound of cracking plastic bounced and echoed off the candy-red walls.
“Bobbi’s gonna be pissed.” I giggled, dropping my purse to the ground so that I could help Knight pull my sopping-wet tank top off over my head.
“I’ll buy her a new one,” he growled.
My shirt landed with a wet splat next to the phone. Followed by my bra.
“You put the hearts back in,” Knight said in reverence as his thumbs grazed my breasts. He’d given me that jewelry for Valentine’s Day the year before. The barbells looked like arrows, and they each held a silver heart in place that went around my nipple.
“Mmhmm,” I moaned, letting my head fall back against the door as Knight bent over and flicked my puckered pink flesh with his tongue.
Pulling my nipple into his mouth, Knight palmed my sex with his right hand, slipping a finger inside the crotch of my shorts and panties.
“How did you know”—I panted, unable to quiet my curious mind despite the pleasure—“where I was?”
Standing back up, Knight pressed his forehead to mine as he unbuttoned my shorts. “I didn’t. I went outside to smoke a cigarette, and when I finally got the balls to call you, I heard your annoying-ass ringtone coming from the parking lot.”
Knight slid my rain-soaked shorts and panties down my thighs, and I hopped around, trying to pull them off over my combat boots. Knight smirked, watching me struggle.
“Guess I put the phone down a little too hard when I came to find your ass.”
“Ya think?” I teased, tossing the rest of my clothes down the hall.
As Knight reached back and peeled off his black Terminus City T-shirt, I watched without shame as the light from the red Exit sign illuminated every rippl
e and plane of his chiseled chest and abs. I noticed that Knight had gotten a new tattoo since I saw him last, on his chest. It looked like the U.S. Marine Corps logo I’d seen on his grandfather’s flask.
I swallowed my drool and whispered, “I’m glad you found me.”
Knight dropped his T-shirt and stared down at me like I was in trouble. “We’re gonna talk about why the fuck you were out there in the pouring rain with your window down later. But right now, you’re gonna shut the fuck up and come.”
My mouth snapped shut and anticipation exploded through my veins, as Knight sank to the ground, hitched both of my knees over his shoulders, then stood back up, sliding my naked, spindly body up the door as he rose. I screamed and grabbed on to his head in shock, planting my right combat boot against the opposite wall for support. Needing more stability, I pulled my left knee up to my chest and planted my left boot on Knight’s shoulder.
The view alone had me close to orgasm. Knight’s muscular upper body holding me five feet off the ground, his fuzzy blond head buried between my legs, and his ghastly gray eyes staring into mine as he flicked the piercing he’d given me with his tongue. As my inner walls began to contract around nothing, I felt Knight’s cum trickle out of me. A sick part of me wanted to watch him lap it up.
And he did.
The moment Knight’s tongue filled me, I dug my nails into the sides of his head and cried out, coming so hard that I saw stars and fireworks and hearts and arrows all exploding behind my lids.
And every spark left a trail of light behind.
Guess the acid wasn’t done with me yet.
I knew it wasn’t done with me when Knight set me back down on my feet, and I opened my eyes. He was smiling at me—that gorgeous, boyish smile I used to bend over backward just to get a glimpse of—only instead of pearly white, Knight’s teeth and lips were painted red. With those zombie eyes and blood-streaked mouth, he looked even more demonic than Harley had.
I shrieked and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to rid myself of the image.
Fuck! Was that real? Did I just start my period? Am I even due? Am I dying? Did the rapture reject me and now I’m stuck here on earth with these floods and lightning storms and demons wearing the skin of my lovers?
“Punk?”
I didn’t answer.
“What the fuck? Look at me.”
“No!”
I felt Knight’s thick, mean fingers wrap around my tiny biceps. “Open your fucking eyes, or I swear to God, I will pull them open myself.”
Exhaling all my fear, I inhaled his cinnamony aroma and told myself to trust. I peeked out from slits at first, and when I didn’t see any devil horns or blood, I opened my eyes the rest of the way. Knight’s face looked totally normal—well, pissed off, but that was normal for him. The only difference was the red light from the Exit sign illuminating the bottom half of his face.
Oh, thank God, I thought, exhaling the breath I’d been holding.
“You’re fucked up!” Knight roared, pointing at my temple with two fingers like a gun.
Oh shit! I slammed my eyes shut again and buried my face in my hands. Shit, shit, shit.
“Have you seen your pupils? What the fuck are you on?”
“It’s just dark in here,” I blurted out.
“Look at me and tell me you’re not fucked up!” Knight yelled, squeezing my arm tighter.
I shook my head from side to side.
“What did he give you? Where the fuck is he?” Knight shook me, hard.
“I don’t know!” I yelled, shoving his bare chest with both hands. He didn’t budge, but he at least stopped shaking me. “It’s fine! I’m totally fine, okay? It’s almost worn off.”
“Like fuck it has!”
I shoved him again, feeling overcome by defensiveness and outrage.
“You don’t get to do this!” I yelled, jabbing my finger into his new tattoo. “You don’t get to show up out of the blue and act like you fucking own me!”
Knight’s face morphed from angry to sinister. “Oh, but I do,” he said, pulling his sharp lips to one side in an amused smirk. “I do fucking own you. I told you before, Punk—you’re mine until I say you’re not.” He stalked closer to me until our faces were practically touching. The whiskey on his breath mingling with the orange juice on mine. “Now call your fucking mom and tell her you’re spending the night with Juliet because there is no fucking way I’m letting you drive home like this.”
My curfew! Fuck!
I dived into my purse and yanked out my phone. The clock on the screen read 10:51. Ten fifty-fucking-one! I was all the way downtown, and I was supposed to be home in nine minutes! What the fuck was wrong with me?
My fingers flew as I called my house.
As soon as my mom picked up, Knight mouthed the words, Tell her it’s raining too hard.
I stammered and told my mom that I was at Juliet’s house, and I hadn’t left yet because the weather was too bad. I was afraid she’d be pissed, but my mom said there’d been reports of roads flooding nearby, and she’d been worried sick about me trying to drive home “in that mess.” She told me to just spend the night at Juliet’s. She said she was proud of me for staying safe.
If she only fucking knew.
But that was it.
As soon as I pressed the red End button, tears of relief filled my eyes. Knight was a fucking asshole, but he’d single-handedly just saved me from losing my car for the entire summer—or wrapping myself around a tree, trying to race home and beat the clock. Harley never worried about putting me in harm’s way or getting me in trouble. He got me to do whatever the fuck he wanted, then he disappeared when it was time to pay the consequences.
Looking into Knight’s cold, hard steely-gray eyes, the words, “I love you,” fell from my mouth.
I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but I meant it. I loved that motherfucker down to the core—in spite of his shitty disposition and possessive psychosis and violent tendencies. I loved him because, underneath all that armor, Knight was the softest thing I’d ever felt. He was a lover and a fighter. A killer and a savior. And he was the only one out there on the front lines, trying to rescue me from myself.
“I know,” Knight said with a small smile. “I got your letter.”
I smiled back. At least we still had that. I might not have been able to say that Knight was the only person I’d slept with anymore, but in that moment, I knew that he was the only boy I’d ever loved. I’d wanted to call what I felt for Harley love so many times, but it wasn’t. It was gratitude. I’d been grateful for the distraction, for the exhilaration, for the attention. I loved the way Harley made me feel, but I didn’t love the man he was deep down.
That motherfucker could suck my dick.
Knight picked me up and wrapped my bare legs around his bare waist. “I love you, too,” he said, planting a small, lingering kiss on my surprised lips.
“I know,” I murmured against his mouth. “I got your letters.”
About two hours and fourteen orgasms later, Knight and I finally got around to having an actual conversation that didn’t get interrupted by someone’s body part being inserted into someone else’s mouth. I’d gotten cold—shocker, I know—and my clothes were still sopping wet, so Knight grabbed an extra-large Terminus City Tattoo T-shirt from the front counter for me to wear. It was identical to the one he’d had on earlier. Luckily, he wasn’t wearing it anymore—or anything for that matter. Otherwise, we would have been all matchy-matchy, and that’s just embarrassing.
Knight was reclined in his tattoo chair, and I was lying on top of him with my back to his front. I wondered if we were both staring at the same water stain on the ceiling. I wondered how much antiseptic spray it was going to take to sterilize his chair after what we’d just done to it. I wondered how long it had taken for Knight to call me.
“How long have you been back?” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Since yesterday,” Knight replied, absentmindedly running
his fingertips up and down my ladderlike ribs. “Peg picked me up at the airport and brought me home, but as soon as I walked into her place…I don’t know. I just…I had to get the fuck out of there. Bobbi had said that I needed to finish a tattoo for some chick ASAP because she wouldn’t shut the fuck up about it, so I crashed here last night and did the piece today.”
I laughed. “Tracey.”
“Yeah, Tracey.” I could hear Knight smile through his voice. “She said she knew you. Actually, she said that I needed to call you, and if I didn’t, she was gonna come back here and shove a tattoo gun up my ass.”
I laughed harder. “That sounds about right.”
“She’s cool. Her boyfriend, too. Since I wouldn’t take their money, they bought me a drink—”
“At Spirit of Sixty-Nine?” I interrupted. Jesus. The way my voice sounded, you would have thought they’d taken him to a brothel.
Even if he had gone there looking to get laid, that was none of my business. Knight wasn’t even my boyfriend.
Was anyone? I hadn’t officially broken up with Harley, but in my head we were as good as over. Lying about who’d been spending the night at his house was bad. Disappearing for a month was worse. But drugging me and leaving me at a pool hall I’d never been to before in the aftermath of a drive-by? That shit felt like grounds for a breakup to me. He wasn’t even worth the phone call. Evidently, all I had to do to get rid of Harley was…nothing.
“Yeah, at Spirit.” Knight’s deep, clipped tone sent shivers down my spine despite the blaze of body heat radiating off of him.
Sitting up between his legs, I turned and looked at him. The open area of the tattoo parlor was dark, but the streetlights and headlights and business signs glowing just beyond the front windows made it easier to see than it had been in the hallway.
“What happened?” I asked, searching his face.
Knight looked exactly the same as I’d remembered him but older somehow. Weathered.