Power

by Kenya Wright

  When my eyes began to droop, I returned to my designated room scattered with photo albums. There, I fell asleep, drowning in Noah’s memories. I couldn’t recall all of the images that played in my brain—the dark streets with fanged sidewalks that kept nipping at my toes, the blood-drenched butterflies snapping at my throat, and the huge ark made of dead bodies where Noah stood at the top, screaming for me to come on board. I must’ve tossed and turned a lot, because when I woke up, I was coated in sweat and lying in a roll of sheets on the floor.

  Did I fall out of the bed?

  Movement came from across the room. I tensed and eyed the area. It sounded like water or maybe a shower.

  Is that coming from the bathroom?

  I rose from the floor as my eyes adjusted to the darkness in the room. Sure enough, my bathroom door had been opened. Steam drifted out. Someone had turned the shower on, but kept the lights off. My nerves flared.

  Is that Noah or someone else? Is this a trick for me to go investigate in the bathroom? Or he is in there?

  Naturally, I did something stupid. The very thing that the dumb victim in a scary movie would do and I would scream at her from my living room couch that she’s a moron.

  I yelled out, “Hello?”

  The water shut off.

  My heart slammed in my chest.

  Fuck. I’m going to scream for Crusher.

  I started to yell for him.

  “Mary Jane.”

  My voice lodged in my throat. Relief flooded me.

  Noah’s low voice sounded from the bathroom. “It’s me. Go back to sleep. I’ll be there soon.”

  Noah!

  I hurried to the bathroom and paused.

  Why does he sound that way?

  It was him, but in some way it wasn’t.

  Go back to sleep? Are you crazy? I fucking have been worried about you.

  Step by step, I took my time stepping to the bathroom. He’d turned the shower back on.

  It’s me. Go back to sleep. Just like that? Are you not going to tell me what happened? Is the war over? Is everything okay?

  Steam enveloped me as I entered the bathroom. Before I could take another step, his hands were on me. I hadn’t even seen him coming. In one moment it was a foggy darkness barely visible by the moonlight, and then he grabbed my arms and gently pushed me against the wall.

  “You should go back to sleep.” Naked and wet, he pressed his hard body against me. His blue eyes glowed in the darkness. They were all I could make out, besides his muscular form looming over me.

  I caught my breath. “You’re fast.”

  “Only when I need to be.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “I love you.”

  “You should go back to bed.” He leaned in, but didn’t kiss me. “I’m not in a good head space right now.”

  “Why not?” I held his head in my hands. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  “I killed Butterfly.”

  “That’s good, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “How did you do it?”

  He closed his eyes and his whole face hid behind shadows. “You don’t want to know.”

  I considered Crusher’s story. A sigh escaped me. “You can’t just keep that inside of you.”

  “Trust me. You don’t want to know, Mary Jane.” His body trembled against mine.

  “You should talk about this with someone.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” He rubbed his lips along my chin and buried his face into my neck, sucking on my skin. Frustration and lust vibrated hot along his skin. “You should go back to sleep.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want to be nice or soft. I want to be mean and hard. If you were just some chick, I would take this out on you. But you’re not.”

  “I can be—”

  He bit the curve of my neck and took my ability to speak away. My nipples stiffened. My body blazed with desire. Steam rose around us. His slick muscular frame had my mind playing the most delicious things in my head. If he wanted to hurt me, he could. If he hoped to tear me apart with his anger, I would open my arms, lay down on the ground, and let him. He’d trapped me from that very first minute that we met. Now I could never say no, never walk away, never leave him alone or in trouble.

  Panting, I pressed my cheek against his face and whispered, “What do you want to do?”

  “I want to fucking rip your pussy apart.”

  I gulped. “That sounds painful.”

  “I wouldn’t care. Right now, there’s only violence spinning inside of me, disturbing the peaceful towns in my head and crushing every logical thought in its path. I just want to hurt pretty things right now.”

  “Interesting.” I shivered, let go of his head, and pulled off my shirt. It fell to the floor. I slipped off my panties next. They dropped to my feet and I slipped out of them. The whole time he drank me in, watching the entire show. His cock rose, stiff and pointing my way.

  I licked my lips. “Rip me apart, Noah.”

  He must’ve opened the bathroom window when he arrived. The curtains lifted and fell with the breeze. The storm seemed to be picking up. Thunder clapped. Lightening flashed. The scent of fresh rain thickened in the air.

  I raised my hands to my nipples and toyed with them. “Did you hear me?”

  A noise left his throat, something between a groan and low whine.

  “Noah.” I slowly slipped my tongue along my bottom lip. “Rip me apart.”

  He didn’t answer with his mouth. He chose his fingers to relay the message, touching every part of my body, slipping along every inch of my hungry flesh, and teasing the wet and greedy space between my thighs.

  “It’s not in me.” Noah growled, his dark voice sending shivers all over me. “I can’t rip you apart.”

  “You could try.”

  “Can I?” He lifted me up and kept my body against the wall.

  My breathing quickened. “Yes.”

  He nipped at my chin and lapped each needy nipple. “Why can I?”

  “Because this pussy is yours. I’m yours. Yours to love. Yours to hurt. You saved my life more than once. You’ve protected and cherished me. I’m yours. Rip me apart and then put me back together again, that’s all I ask. Don’t just leave my ass on the ground broken in pieces. Fix me, after you hurt me.”

  He stopped devouring my nipples and held me for a few moments. I had no idea how long I stayed there with my legs wrapped around his waist and his big arms keeping me up. I could hear our heart beats within the sound of rain outside and his slow breaths.

  What are you thinking about, Noah? What’s wrong?

  “No, I can’t rip you apart.”

  I shoved him. “Do it.”

  He growled again and that cold entered his gaze and made his eyes close. “Don’t push me, baby.”

  “I just did.” I shoved him again. “Rip me apart. Take it all out on me. What’s wrong?”

  “I just get this way sometimes, after I kill.”

  “Then take it all out on me.” I moved my hands down and centered his cock to me. “Don’t keep that stuff inside.”

  “Fuck, I can’t even say no.” He spread me wider and thrust hard into me, but not gently. There was violence in each stroke. Malice radiated from his skin. With a hand under each of my thighs he gripped me with no mercy, slamming his big cock into me, over and over. Raw with no chaser. Each time he filled me, my sex clamped around him, hoping to never let go.

  Our bodies battled each other. My breasts knocked against his chest. I roughly rocked and Noah mumbled things that I couldn’t understand. Twisting my hips fast, I was willing to snatch off his cock with my pussy. Up and down. Rage clashed with love.

  The rain stormed louder. Still moving in me, Noah gasped. His cold eyes warmed in front of me and his pace lowered so suddenly I almost begged him to fuck me harder.

  The energy shifted around us.

  “You’re good for me.” Noah capt
ured my lips, before I could moan how much I loved him. “And you’re mine.”

  “Always.” Rolling my hips, I drifted on this ride of pulsating pleasure.

  We moved in slow motion. The moonlit breeze from the open window blew the steam around us. Our sex music filled the space—wet skin slid against trembling flesh, moans escaped parted lips, groans completed statements, grunts echoed with thrusts, and whispers flowed from the heart.

  He fisted my hair, gently tilted my head back, and devoured the curve of my neck. “I love you.”

  “I need you.”

  “Forever.”

  “Forever, baby.”

  In the darkness, our heart beats throbbed between us and there was no going back. I surrendered into him like I’d done the first time he kissed me. My head spun. His cock twitched inside of me and I clenched down even more, letting him know who the hell he was fucking.

  I locked his eyes with mine. “You’re mine, Noah. Don’t you ever forget that.”

  “I won’t.”

  My orgasm came. The universe exploded inside of my head. Stars whirled around. Blind and greedy for more, I rocked hard, screaming like a crazy woman and digging my fingers into Noah’s shoulders, scared that he’d stop.

  “Fuck!” Noah pounded into me, rocking, and grunting with each thrust.

  Our bodies crashed into each other.

  My core ripped apart.

  We ripped apart.

  Sensation blended with orgasmic silence. We came together in a dance of two hearts inside one body. We became one. For those seconds, I lived inside of him and he moved within me. There was no separation. We remained connected, panting and moaning as I came again and Noah spilled inside of me.

  Epilogue

  Noah

  In my dream, I trudged through dead bodies. I knew I walked the streets of Din City, but it was a different existence. An altered reality. Corpses packed the street. Pale bodies. Half-devoured heads and limbs. Roaches crawling over severed penises. Vacant eyes. Puddles of blood. Cracked skulls. Bullet holes filling the tiny frames of little children.

  Snakes slithered along skeletons and rotten apples.

  Wolves lurked within the shadows and gnawed on the bones of the innocent. Blood dripped from their large fangs. Matted fur covered their scarred forms. Their sharp claws tore away at decaying flesh.

  The moon glowed as stars hung in the sky and the wind blew along my skin as I glanced behind my shoulder and tensed.

  A huge light shined. I squinted to get a closer look.

  Is that a person?

  A mile away, it was too massive to be a regular human being. So far, but I could make out a huge build of a creature, that simply walked the earth one step at a time. This being rose higher than a skyscraper. It was like one of those Giants from the Jack and the beanstalk story. The huge gods that stomped high in the sky, collecting treasures and hoping to eat little boys.

  What is this? A monster or a god?

  A huge form blazed bright with color just like the moon, but it was so much more. There was a certainty in my heart that whatever was in the moon, lay in this being. I glanced at my own hands, pale within this being’s light. And in that moment, I knew for sure that whatever moved in me, moved inside of this glowing giant. And even crazier, I scanned the wolves and all the death covering the ground and with pure confidence, I understood that these wolves and the corpses also came from this giant.

  For some reason, peace washed over me.

  I walked toward the giant.

  And more peace came.

  And so I ran.

  I raced.

  I leapt over dead bodies, the wolves, the rats and snakes, the men and women on the ground trying to grab my ankles and drag me down with them. I sped toward the light, and the more I was sure it was a good thing, the safer my path became.

  At one point, I hovered in the air and simply flowed to this creature’s way. I spotted others riding the wind and being lured too. But they were not wolves. Tufts of cotton curls coated their bodies.

  I glanced down at my hands. My claws had disappeared. I’d been a wolf. I remembered that much. But now I was something else. And this creature’s light, that I knew moved in me, and brightened within my core.

  Confusion hit me.

  How could all of the things that flowed in the moon, wolves, dead bodies, and me, all move within the being?

  But the closer I got, the less I cared. So much love radiated all around me.

  And I stopped asking questions.

  And I stopped trying to find the logic of death and the reason for pain.

  And I drowned in that love that mingled with light or maybe they were the same thing and I’d just realized it.

  “Noah.”

  Someone shook me.

  “Noah.”

  The person shook me again.

  Exhausted, I opened my eyes and realized that it wasn’t just some person. It was my Mary Jane. “Yes, baby.”

  “Um.” She pointed to the other side of the room.

  Aristotle stood at the end of the bed, dressed in a dark green suit with a brown shirt and tie. Although a dark red hat sat on his head, I could tell that he’d shaved his hair off.

  I yawned. “What the hell do you have on?”

  In that moment, I realized he had a cane because he pointed the stupid thing at me. “You killed Butterfly last night?”

  I rose from the bed and made sure Mary Jane was covered. “You already know the answer to that question or you wouldn’t have rushed to put those ugly clothes on and came out here.”

  “You could’ve brought me along.”

  “Yo, why are you in my bedroom?” I got up from the bed, glad that I’d had the sense to put on my boxer briefs before I’d passed out. Mary Jane had worked me hard. Instead of ripping her apart, I broke myself.

  Aristotle’s face remained serious. “Do you want me to take over the city or not?”

  Shocked, I stopped looking for my pants and turned his way. “Hell fucking yes I want you to take it over.”

  “You don’t kill people without my permission.”

  Is he talking to me like he’s my boss? Jesus this is going to be hard to get used to.

  “First of all, I haven’t given you the city yet.” I glared. “Second, Butterfly was my problem.”

  “The city is mine now.” Aristotle placed the cane back on the ground and leaned on it. “Any questions?”

  Oh, I had some fucking questions. Why did he think he could just walk in here and talk to me this way? Was he trying to commit suicide? Did he know that if I felt disrespected in front of Mary Jane that I would tear his dick off and stuff it into his mouth and still not kill him?

  “You’re squinting,” Aristotle said. “That can’t be good.”

  Mary Jane snorted behind me.

  I glared at him. “I believe you should take the bass out of your voice when you’re talking to me.”

  Aristotle raised his eyebrows. “Will you be able to stand down, when I take over? This was a test and you failed. You looked like you were close to killing me.”

  “You’re in my bedroom. You woke me up. My lady is in here half-naked, and you’re talking to me like I wouldn’t kill you.”

  “You won’t.” Aristotle smirked and walked out. “You’ve seen the light. Put on some clothes. We have some shit to talk about.”

  Rage rippled inside of me. It was more the alpha in my core that didn’t appreciate the order.

  “Will you be able to stand down?”

  Aristotle needed to exert his authority with me and my men. Well, his men now. I had to get onboard if I wanted to really start a new life with Mary Jane.

  I glanced over my shoulder.

  She smiled. “You’re not used to being bossed around, but none of this is worth your life or mine.”

  “True.”

  She got up from the bed, walked over to the chair, and handed me my pants. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” I kissed her
delicious lips.

  Damn. Who fucking cares about Din City when I have Mary Jane?

  Once we both dressed, we went into the living room. Everyone sat, while Aristotle stood. 305 looked pissed. He’d driven all night. When we arrived, he crashed onto the couch and passed out right next to a snoring Crusher. Fuji didn’t even try to pretend like he was awake. Instead, he opened his eyes every other minute as the recliner held his big body.

  “Okay.” Aristotle cleared his throat.

  Waking up, Crusher held his dwarves and grumbled.

  “So things have changed.” Aristotle leaned on the cane. “I thought I had a good week or two before transitioning into my position, but I’ve been yanked into a new situation that apparently all of the people in this room have caused. So let’s figure out a solution.”

  Aristotle’s news woke everyone up like he’d splashed us with coffee.

  I held Mary Jane’s hand. “What situation?”

  “I thought you would wait to kill Butterfly,” Aristotle said.

  “I never promised that,” I replied. “In fact, our last conversation was for you to get better. And then I left the club.”

  “And killed her,” Aristotle said.

  “Yes, I gave her the kiss of death.”

  “I heard.” Aristotle frowned. “The whole city has heard.”

  Mary Jane stirred on my side.

  Everyone kept looking from side to side at Aristotle and me as if we were a tennis match.

  “Why is this a problem?” I asked.

  “Because this morning the FBI woke me up in your condo.” Aristotle gripped the cane hard. “Senator Webster was with them.”

  “The Spider?” I muttered.

  “Yes.”

  Mary Jane was the only one who looked confused, and I didn’t have the energy to explain this sick man. He’d grown up on the streets like all of us, but he hid it better. So well that he ended up still controlling several cities’ drug games while sitting in the U.S.’s capital. In this life, there were dirty cops and bad politicians and then, there was an evil that fed on the poor and innocent just because it was fun. The latter was Senator Webster, known in the streets as the Spider.

  “So those were The Spider’s men that I killed along with Butterfly?” I asked.

  Aristotle nodded.