I was so lost in that good feeling, that I almost didn't hear the quiet tapping sound at the door. It almost seemed... hesitant.
I rinsed my hair, shut off the water, and reached for a towel just to hold in front of me. "Yeah?"
The door opened slowly.
And there was Luce.
With that deep look in his eyes that I couldn't read.
But they were focused on me.
And the next thing I knew, he was kicking out of his shoes, then reaching for the hem of his shirt, lifting the dark material slowly. There was no denying the surge of surprise and desire that coursed through me, realizing what was happening. My heart leaped into overdrive, and a heavy pressure settled in my lower stomach.
He tossed the shirt to the floor, something I knew took effort for him, took a show of trust that he likely had never demonstrated before, baring those scars he was so protective of.
His head cocked to the side as his hands moved to the waistband of his pants. As he popped the button, a fast, furious, fluttering sensation started between my thighs. Anticipation. Need.
The pants hit the floor, leaving him in a pair of black boxer briefs that did nothing to hide his straining cock.
The fluttering became something entirely different then, something stronger, something borderline painful.
Then his hands reached for the elastic waistband of his underwear, pulling it down.
And I swear I almost came right then and there.
His cock was straining, larger than you would guess from his deceptively thin body.
Forget breathing. My chest felt constricted even as I forced my eyes to move upward to his face, even as his eyes warmed slightly, maybe feeling relief that I hadn't shrunk away. But the reality was, the last thing on my mind right then were his scars.
Seeming to sense the acceptance, he moved forward across the small space, pulling open the stall door, and stepping inside, making me press back against the wall to make room for him.
His hand rose, resting over the one that I had in the center of my chest, holding the towel in place. My eyes on his, seeing a desire there so thick that I felt completely enveloped in it, my hand slipped away, letting him hold the towel for a long moment before he pulled it down and dropped it to the side.
I don't know what I was expecting next.
But he reached out and a cascade of cool water hit me, making me let out a strangled yipping noise in surprise, making his lips curve up.
"Come here," he said, moving backward under the spray, putting his hands on my hips to pull me with him.
The cold water moved across my suddenly heavy breasts, making a shiver course through me.
But then his hands on my hips pulled, making my pelvis meet his, making his cock press into my belly, and, yeah, that shiver had nothing to do with the cold.
"Don't worry," he said, leaning down to run his lips up my neck. "Once I'm done here, I'm gonna take care of you," he said, like a promise, like a vow. That was how serious his tone was as he reached past me for the soap.
"Can I?" I asked, surprising myself, I think, more than him.
His smile went a little wicked even as his eyes got heavier, but as my hand rose to touch the edge of the scar on his chest, his entire body stiffened. "It doesn't matter," I said, pressing closer to him. "Whatever this is," I went on, brushing the soap across the whole thing, "it doesn't matter right now, okay?"
There was a long moment where he was staring at me, his eyes blank, lost somewhere. Lost, I was sure, in the moment when those scars got carved into his flesh.
But then he came back, slowly at first, like he was thawing.
"Between us," he said, ducking his head a bit to keep intense eye-contact, "it never matters, okay?"
I could understand the need for that, guessing that whatever put them there was horrific, was something dark and ugly that he didn't want to put between what was growing with us.
"Okay," I agreed, nodding, doing another swipe across his chest that didn't make him stiffen so hard.
By the time I was scrubbing his back, noticing for the first time lash marks across the backs of his thighs, swallowing hard, trying to show no signs of my shock, even though he was facing away from me, his entire body - cock aside- had relaxed.
"Think I'm clean now, doll," he rumbled as my hands moved over his ass.
"I'm just being extra sure," I said, pressing my breasts into his back, enjoying the little rumbling growly noise he let out at my hardened nipples pressing into his skin. "You know," I teased, hands moving across his belly and down, "I think I maybe missed a spot..." I added as my fingers teased down the deep V of his Adonis belt.
The soap dropped, forgotten, as my hand closed around his cock.
I barely got to stroke him once before he whipped around. His wide-palmed hands closed around my wrists, dragging my arms up, then slamming them back against the shower wall over my head as his lips crashed down on mine.
Everything else simply fell away.
All there was was his tongue in my mouth, his teeth in my lip, his cock against my belly, his hard chest against my breasts.
His lips ripped from mine, making a pained whimper escape me before I felt his lips work their way down the column of my neck. He released my wrists and my hands raked down his back, making him hiss as his teeth nipped into the skin right below my ear.
"Luce... please," I groaned, leg raising to his side, wrapping half around his back, practically climbing him in my need for more.
"What? You don't like being tortured?" he asked against my ear, nipping into the lobe. "I've been thinking about this shit for over a week."
I dropped my hips, feeling his cock brush against my clit, making a whimper escape me.
"I've been thinking of you inside me for over a week," I admitted, making his head raise, his smirk wicked.
"Well, that's too fucking long." His hands went down my back to sink into my ass, yanking me up by it, forcing my legs around him as he stepped out of the stall, stopping for only a second to dry his feet because falling and breaking something would have made the moment a helluva lot less sexy.
The next thing I knew, as I was busy trying to torture his neck as he tortured mine, I was free falling backward before I bounced on the bed, making me let out a loud laugh for a moment before he moved to the foot of the bed, reaching down to touch my ankle.
It was chaste, but it sent off an electric current up my calf, thigh, then between.
"Nice fucking view," he rumbled, voice low as his knees pressed into the edge of the mattress. His hands moved up my calves to grab my knees, sinking in, and spreading my thighs wide on the outside of his hips.
"Luce," I demanded as he just kept looking down at me, eyes downcast.
"Never done a fucking thing in my life to deserve this," he said, tone heavy, as his hands drifted up my belly, stroking across the sensitive undersides of my breasts. "But I'm gonna show you just how fucking appreciative I am."
Then he was down on the mattress.
And I could barely pull in a breath before I felt his tongue slide up my slick cleft and circle around my seemingly throbbing clit.
My hand slapped down on the back of his neck, holding him to me, but there was no need; he didn't need to be held there. He had no plans to stop, to bring me to the brink, then take it away.
He was devouring me, working my clit in circles as his fingers slid between and slipped slowly inside me, working with small, gentle strokes.
My hand slid upward, curling into his wet hair as my hips started moving against him, wanting more, needing more, needing him.
"Luce, please," I whimpered, reaching for his shoulders, trying to pull him upward.
His tongue left my clit as he angled his head up, but his fingers kept their thrusting. "How can I show you how much I appreciate you if I don't make you scream before I get to feel your tight pussy take me in?"
Then he tipped his head back down.
But his tongue didn't move o
ut.
No.
His lips closed around my clit and sucked hard just as his fingers curled and stroked over my G-spot.
That was it.
That was all it took.
The orgasm ripped through me, making my thighs shake as the waves crashed, as I screamed. His name.
"Fuck," he growled as he released my clit and kissed up my belly, his scruff scraping at the overly-sensitive skin deliciously.
It didn't matter that he had just given me a powerful orgasm. It didn't matter that it was more than I had had in far too long.
It wasn't enough.
It wasn't anywhere near enough.
Nothing would be enough until I felt him slide inside me, until I felt him move within me, until we both shattered together.
As if sensing this, he took his time.
His tongue traced under my breast, making a shiver move through me a second before his lips closed around my nipple, and sucked hard. He moved across my chest to suck the other hardened point in, then nipped so viciously that I saw stars as an unexpected surge of desire shot between my thighs.
Frustrated, I whipped upward, slamming a hand into his shoulder, sending him flying onto his back with a grunt.
"Like to play rough, huh?" he asked, smiling up at me as I moved to straddle him.
"Two can play that torture game," I informed him as I lowered my face down toward him, making sure my breasts teased into his chest.
I kissed, licked, sucked down his neck, his chest, his stomach.
"Evan..." his voice warned as I nipped into his inner thigh.
I smiled as I turned suddenly, sucking his cock deep before he could even anticipate the motion, making his hips jerk upward as his hand slammed down on the back of my neck.
"Fuck, doll," he growled, moving to grab my hair to curl it in his fist so he could watch as I started to work him. Slowly.
He liked torture; I could torture.
"Jesus Christ," he growled as my fingers teased over his balls. "Okay, okay," he chuckled. "I get it, Ev," he said, yanking hard enough on my hair to make me lose his cock completely. "You want my cock," he added, looking devilish as he curled to the side of the bed, shuffling around in his bag, and coming back with a condom. "That's the point you're trying to make, right?" he asked as he reached for my wrist, grabbing, and sending me falling down on the bed.
I rolled to my side facing him as he rolled to his, pulling up the condom to nip at the edge and rip it. "That's definitely the point I've been trying to make," I agreed, sliding my leg up over his hip as he protected us.
"Well, I can't deny such a request, huh?" he asked, hand sliding up my thigh, curving around until it settled on my ass.
"No, you wouldn't do that," I agreed as he rolled me onto my back, moving over me, sealing his lips into mine.
His cock pressed hard into my slit, making my legs raise up, wrapping around his lower back, inviting him in as he nipped my lower lip.
"Luce, please," I groaned, hips grinding up into his, nails digging into his back.
His eyes flashed as he raised up to look down at me. "Sounds fucking good when you beg for my cock, doll," he growled as the head of his cock finally pressed where I needed him most, creating a pressure that made me let out a whimper of desperation. "Know what will sound even better?" he asked as his hips pressed forward, as his cock slid inside me, making me let out a loud moan. "Yeah, that," he agreed, cock twitching as he settled deep.
"Oh my God."
True, it had been a while, but I was sure in that moment that nothing had ever felt anywhere near as good before.
"Only gonna get better, doll," he said, voice low, as his hips shifted back, then pressed deep again.
And then it did.
His eyes were on mine as he slowly, gently, almost, dare I say it, lovingly thrust within me, driving me up slowly, almost excruciatingly, seeming to take his joy in leisurely building an almost painful amount of pleasure in me before allowing it to finally crest.
"Okay, baby, okay," he crooned as my whimpers became actual cries, the need so strong it was a painful pressure that felt like there would be no end to. "You want to come for me?" he asked, shifting slightly so his hand could slide between us, pressing into my swollen clit. "Yeah?" he asked. I nodded as my entire body stiffened, as he pushed me into that nothingness. "Come, Evan," he demanded as his cock pressed forward, as his finger did another swipe.
My cry got caught, strangled in my throat as the first waves slammed through my system, seeming to start at the base of my spine, and explode outward. But then I did find my voice again, and there was only one thing to say.
His name.
"Luce," I cried out on the last waves as he buried deep and hissed my name into my neck as he came with me.
He stayed buried deep as we both struggled to find our breaths, as my body shook gently in aftershocks, as our hearts slowed.
"Worth the wait," he said as he pressed upward, looking down at me with eyes that seemed heavy, as they often did, but this time with something that wasn't scary or dark. It was something else, something I couldn't quite place, but something that seemed good, something that made a warmth spread through my belly.
"Yeah, it was," I agreed, hand going behind his neck to pull him back down, kissing him long until his lips were smiling against mine, making me let him up. "What?" I asked, smiling back.
"Tell you what... ask me that again tomorrow, okay?" he said oddly as he pulled against my hold to stand.
"Why?"
"Got my reasons. Ask me tomorrow," he demanded again, giving me a lazy grin as he moved toward the bathroom.
Intrigued, I forced my lazy limbs to move, climbing off the bed that we had soaked with our shower-wet bodies.
"Here, Ev," Luce said as he came back out, holding a fluffy towel. "Your hair is still dripping," he explained as I took it and started drying. "Hungry?" he asked, fishing out a new pair of boxer briefs, and slipping them on.
"I could eat," I agreed as he slipped into jeans and a tee.
"I'll drop into that place down the street again," he said, tying on some shoes. "That stew last night was pretty banging," he added, and I had to agree. "Gotta keep your strength up," he went on, closing in on me, reaching behind me to run a finger down my spine. "Because there's going to be a fuckuva lot of that from now on," he said with a wink as he gestured toward the bed.
"Promise?" I asked with a smirk that he returned.
"Fucking vow," he agreed, lips crushing to mine for a long moment before he moved toward the door. "I'll be back in twenty."
With that, he was gone, leaving me to change into a pair of lightweight shorts and one of Luce's tees.
"You forgot your key you idi..." I started as I opened the door following a few short knocks.
The smile fell from my face though as soon as I had the door open.
Because it wasn't Luce who had been knocking.
And my stomach dropped painfully, something in me screaming that things had just taken a sharp turn downward.
The man's smile was slow, slick, evil.
"Been waiting years to send a message to your old man," he growled as I moved backward, trying to find the bat we had walked home with. "Now, what better way than taking his perfect, protected little angel?" he asked as my hand closed around the long, hard, cold handle of the bat, my heart thrumming so hard that I couldn't seem to even think past the pounding, not even enough to do the smart thing and scream.
My arm raised, but before I could even swing the back, it was ripped from my hand, raised, and just as I remembered to scream, as my mouth opened, as the first sounds came out, the bat descended and all I saw was blackness.
TWELVE
Luce
I wasn't lying when I said I didn't do anything to deserve her.
My entire life was ugly, filthy, dark, and awful.
The only thing I touched was evil, with the soul purpose of getting rid of it, sure, but there weren't any gloves thick enough to k
eep that shit from touching you, from getting under your skin too.
I didn't have any right to touch anything beautiful, knowing damn well that I risked ruining it with my filth.
And Evan, yeah, she was fucking beautiful.
I had no business putting a finger on her.
But there was no going back for me from that first time she told me she wouldn't ask about the scars. I had tried to fight it here and there; I knew it was best for her to see that I was not the man for her, to want to put some space there.
No matter how I tried to pull away though, there was simply no denying the connection, the way her eyes went bright when she talked to me, went hungry when she looked at me.
I knew I should have regretted it; I should have been coming up with ways to untangle myself from the situation for her good, but no, I was going to the little all-night convenience store that served food that was better than half the restaurants back in Navesink Bank to bring some sustenance back to her, so she could gain her strength, and we could go another round or three before morning.
Fact of the matter was, I didn't fuck around a whole helluva lot. The not wanting to get undressed shit limited the options for dipping the wick. But I was no starry-eyed virgin. I had been around the block. So when I say I know that nothing, fucking nothing had ever felt like that before, I knew what I was saying.
I wasn't a romantic. I didn't even understand the concept of flowers and candy. I didn't have the words that many men did.
But I wasn't walking away.
I always walked away.
It was smart to walk away.
It was better for her that I walk away.
I just couldn't, and didn't want to, do that this time.
It was probably going to blow up in my face. Some day, after I likely got in way too goddamn deep, she was going to see all the ugly, she was going to realize she didn't want it mucking up her life, and she was going to leave.
That, well, I was in-touch enough with myself to know that shit was not going to feel great.
But those were the consequences. And I was thinking I was maybe willing to face them up.
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