by daisy harris
He stepped around Kuri so that the camper’s occupant saw Frank more than her. Frank waved to the man—a quick lift of his hand and a possessive grip around Kuri’s waist telling the guy in no uncertain terms that Kuri was with Frank.
When they’d passed the camper, Frank didn’t take his hand off Kuri’s hip, and she was surprised to find that she didn’t mind his touch. Between the dark and the unfamiliar setting, Kuri’s nerves strung tight. But being with Frank made her feel safe.
“I booked us at a hotel.” Frank drew open a hole in the chain link and urged Kuri through. “I didn’t think you’d want to sleep in the back of the truck.”
All around, hangars and warehouses shielded them from the rushing sound of the street beyond. It wasn’t busy that late at night, but the intermittent cars created a swish…swish…swish…like the ocean.
“We’ll go in together, but do you mind checking us in?” Frank kicked a rock with his foot as they walked.
“I don’t mind covering check-in.” Kuri stroked her thumb over his palm, letting him know she appreciated his attempts at romance. Between going to a restaurant and staying in a hotel, he was taking a big risk being out in public. Kuri thought Frank was handsome—with his imposing body and rugged looks—but he was very scarred to be human. Then there was the issue of his hands.
“It’s up that way.” Frank nodded to the right and across the street, to where the lights were brighter and more copious. “The hotel’s next to a fish house.”
“Great.” Kuri found herself easing closer to him. He felt warm against the night chill. They walked on the sidewalk and every time a car passed, Kuri flinched a little. So often when she walked alone at night, guys hooted out the windows or honked. In a part of town with warehouses and empty lots, she was a sitting duck.
When they neared the section where awnings blinked and signs lit the sky, Frank reached into an outer pocket of the bag. He drew out a pair of thin leather gloves and slipped them on. Then he hoisted the duffel onto his shoulder.
She frowned at the loss of contact with his skin. Though now that Kuri thought about it, his arms were grafted, so it wasn’t really his skin. “Do they feel the same as the rest of you?”
Frank peered down at where they held hands. “Yeah, mostly. I tested them back when I first escaped. The pale one’s less sensitive and less coordinated than the dark one, but it’s on my right side so that’s understandable. He held up their joined palms and grinned. “I’m left handed.”
Kuri chuffed a little laugh. “Yeah, but did your hand decide or your brain?”
He picked up their pace as they neared the motel’s entrance. “Oh, I’m sure it’s my brain.” He plowed toward the door, head slightly lowered.
She felt his pulse hammer even through the fabric of his glove. “Shh…” Kuri rubbed his arm. “I’ll take care of it.” Kuri ran her a hand along the side of Frank’s face. Stubble covered the lower part of his jaw, and scarring ran from his ear to his cheek. In all the time she’d known Frank, he’d always taken care of her—even when she’d hated him for it. Tonight, she realized, she had the opportunity to take care of him instead.
“People are staring.” Frank pressed her hand away.
Kuri was sure she’d never seen him scared before. “They’re staring because they’re wondering what kind of sexual dynamo you must be to get a chick as hot as me.” She stepped past Frank to push open the glass door to the small motel. A mid-price place, the hotel had a lobby stocked with free coffee with stained sugar packets and a jumbo-sized cylinder of non-dairy creamer. The waiting room consisted of four chairs on a drab carpet and a raised counter with a bell. She didn’t need to ring it, though, because a bored-looking teenager in a tan-and-red uniform stood waiting.
Fixing her most human-looking smile to her face, Kuri walked up to the counter, pulling out her fake ID.
* * * * *
Kuri met Frank’s eyes over the top of her glass of wine. It was sweet and red and tasted delicious coupled with the liver she’d ordered for dinner. Liquid heat poured through her when she saw Frank watching. She licked some of the greasy richness off her lips.
He shifted in his seat, maybe getting more comfortable, possibly adjusting himself under the table. She buried her face in her wine to hide her blush.
“Do you want dessert?” Frank asked gruffly. He scrubbed a hand over his lips.
“No thanks.” Kuri set down her fork. She peered around the room’s dancing candlelight and flowers in vases, wishing the date didn’t have to end.
The thought must have shown on her face, because Frank cocked his head to the side and told her, “Y’know, I can take you out whenever you like.” He lowered his voice. “I can’t afford places like this all the time. But sometimes… You only have to ask.”
Kuri shrugged. She couldn’t imagine ever asking Frank to take her out. That would extend their relationship well past one night. “I thought this was an experiment.” Curious, she searched his eyes, waiting for an answer.
“Well…” He shoved a hand through his hair and leaned back in his seat as if he were trying to get away. “I told you I care about you. Have for a long time.” Frank wiped his lips with a napkin, as if he was cleaning the damning words from his mouth.
“Oh.” She sat, dumfounded. The way he’d said it, Kuri could have interpreted his caring as affection between friends. However, she knew he meant more. As in, Frank liked her. Maybe even loved her. She couldn’t seem to look at him.
Similarly, Frank studied the ornate wallpaper. Anything to distract from those words that hung heavy in the air, unwilling to be unsaid. “We should get the check.” Frank lifted his hand for the waitress.
“Yeah, I’m really tired.” Kuri made a show of yawning into her hand.
Even with all the times Frank had her on the operating table, she’d never felt as under the microscope. Hyperaware, Kuri wondered if she was leaning too far forward or if her jeans were too tight. Things were simpler when strange men in strange cars wanted her—then it wasn’t her fault. Now she wondered if subconsciously she’d been flirting with Frank, and whether indeed, she’d brought his attention on herself.
“Ready?” Frank stood and held out his gloved hand. He didn’t look any different than before his proclamation. He wasn’t leering. If anything, his expression was kind.
“Sure.” Kuri clasped hands with his. Her mind struggled to catch up with the new information. But he didn’t seem to need an answer, and as they exited the restaurant and walked down the night-dark street to the hotel, he didn’t grope or say anything off-color.
When they reached their motel room, he pulled out the room key and started opening the door. Her nerves kicked into a frenzy and she wanted to run as far and as fast as she could. Preferably to another state. “So. We gonna have sex now? You think I’ll remember it this time?” She tossed her head back, trying to urge the grayness. God, she wanted to black out now. Kuri knew she’d forget in the end—she always did. But she didn’t want to remember the beginning either.
Frank pressed a hand to the small of her back. “No. We’re not going to have sex.” He followed her inside and then shifted her around to face him. “At least, I’m not.” Red crept up his cheeks. “If you normally… I mean, if at night you need to… Well, I can wait in the bathroom ’til you’re done with whatever you need to do.”
Kuri stared at him for a full minute, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Then the thought of masturbation occurred to her in a bright and blinding flash of awareness. She screwed her face up in a look of utter disbelief. “Ew. No.” Kuri stalked as far away as she could in the tiny room. In this case, it was only to the other side of the bed. “Do you think that’s why I glitch? Because I’m uncontrollably horny?”
Frank shrugged. “Well, I don’t know.” He tugged his gloves off and tossed them to the chair. Then he sat to pull off his shoes and socks. “But you do, right? It’s not like you never have the urge unless you’re malfunctioning?”
>
A memory flashed across Kuri’s mind—bodies in the front seat of a car, rough thrusting. She shivered. “Are you asking me if I ever masturbate, or if I ever have recreational sex?” Kuri adored the look of horror on Frank’s face. For all his clinical distance and quiet calm, Frank King could be a big, fat prude sometimes.
True to form, he stammered out an answer of, “Both,” while studiously folding his socks.
She kicked off her flip-flops and pulled her pajamas and toothbrush out of the duffel bag. “If you must know, I do masturbate, but I don’t have recreational sex.” Her cheeks heated at the admission, which surprised Kuri. She hadn’t known she had any hang-ups.
“Oh.” He rushed to grab his toothbrush out of the duffel bag and stepped past her to the tiny bathroom. “D’you mind if I go first?”
“Go for it.” Kuri watched him disappear behind the door and listened as he turned on the fan. She rushed to strip off her clothes and put on her pajamas before getting on the queen-sized bed and reaching for the remote. The comforter was a slick polyester material. The weaves had torn loose in a spot so that a string hung free between stitches. She stared at the thread, and a weird calm settled over her mind. It felt so familiar and natural that Kuri realized a moment too late the blip of unwanted data that skimmed the edge of her vision. She only had a moment to gasp, “Frank, it’s happening” before the world turned to gray static.
* * * * *
Frank jerked hard for the last three strokes. He leaned back on the toilet seat, letting the hot cum land on his stomach and chest.
He hated himself for leaving Kuri alone in the bedroom, but he’d needed a release before talking to her again. Hell, when she said that she masturbated… Christ, on a theoretical basis, he knew women did that. It followed that since Kuri was a woman… But Frank hadn’t been prepared for her matter-of-fact tone, her defiance. He couldn’t stop wondering what she fantasized about, and whether she used a toy or her hand.
A noise from outside drew Frank’s attention, so he wadded some toilet paper and swiped the fluid off his chest. Then he yanked up the loose shorts he wore to sleep and stepped out of the bathroom. “You okay?”
Kuri stood at the front door, fumbling with the handle.
“Where you going?” He crossed to stand behind her. Frank felt like crap, thinking she’d known what he was doing in the bathroom. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to leave. “I can get another room, one that attaches. We don’t have to stay together.”
Kuri turned to face him, her expression blank. “Oh. I forgot you were here.” She pressed her hands to Frank’s bare chest. Her touch felt hot and electric.
“Kuri?” He bent his knees in an effort to better meet her gaze. “You in there?” He thanked his lucky stars he’d caught her before she left. “Lie down, hon.” He led her to the bed.
She blinked, her expression confused. The pajamas she wore were silky and decorated with fluffy kittens. With sad eyes, she started unbuttoning the shirt.
“We’re not doing this.” Frank pressed her to sitting on the bed. He didn’t want to physically force her to stop undressing, but neither did he want her coming back to awareness naked. The night before had been wonderful and hotter than he could have imagined, but this was different—they were past random sex and no longer in a car. If he gave in tonight it would be premeditated and Frank would feel like a fiend.
She opened her top, running her hands up and down her sides. Her breasts were almost childish, nothing more than a soft swelling on her chest tipped in hard nubs. “Don’t you want to touch me?” Kuri arched her back.
Frank fisted the sheets and forced a calm he didn’t feel. “That’s not going to happen, Kuri. I’m just going to hold you while you go to sleep.”
As if a light switch flipped, her eyes focused on his face. Kuri blinked. “Frank?” She looked down at her chest, tears filling her eyes. “What did you…? I mean, what did I do?” She rushed to button her pajama top, humiliation bending her posture.
Though he hadn’t touched her, Frank still felt like a monster. “I didn’t. Listen, let’s just move forward. Pretend it didn’t happen. You snapped out of it fast enough.” Frank dropped onto the bedspread, his heart racing beneath his sternum. If he hadn’t come out when he did, she could have slipped away. Something could have happened to her outside.
“I’m gonna brush my teeth.” Kuri rushed into the bathroom. He heard water running. Much as he wished he could go in and talk to her, Frank didn’t know what he’d say. He’d said he’d try this for one night, and it was idiocy to think she’d stop glitching just because he spent time with her. After last night, Frank’d thought… He didn’t know what he thought. Maybe he’d imagined that if he changed, she would too.
Kuri stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, her face wet and her hair coiled into a loose bun. She looked so gorgeous his breath caught in his throat.
All business, she rounded the bed to her side and climbed under the covers. She settled onto her pillow, facing away from him and said, “Thanks for catching me.”
Taking his cue from her, Frank turned off the bathroom light and climbed under the covers too. He wondered if he should sleep above the sheets, but he needed to touch her—to hold a corner of her shirt while she slept so that she couldn’t slip away. He reached for the light and flicked the room into darkness. “Of course.”
Her smell surrounded him, invaded his senses. Frank could feel the warmth of her body like a beacon under the covers. “Kuri, I should have done this a long time ago.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you before.” He held still, listening for a change in her breathing to signal she’d heard him.
After a long while, Kuri said, “Why didn’t you?”
Frank froze in place, afraid of saying the wrong thing. He settled for the truth. “I was scared. I thought I’d make it worse.” He pictured Ana, terrified and bloody in her bindings, desperate to get away. He could never have dealt with making Kuri that way too.
Kuri yawned. “S’okay.” She jostled under the covers, easing her backside closer to his hip. Whether it was intentional or not, Frank didn’t know. “It always got better after you worked on me, for a while at least.”
Unable to resist the draw of her softness, Frank rolled onto his side and let her ass settle into his lap. There was no backing out now. No blaming his actions on her glitch, or her demands, or even protecting her. He curled an arm around her waist, pulling her closer.
She stiffened, and Frank held his breath. “Is this okay?” He hoped it was, because Frank didn’t want to let go.
In a tiny voice, Kuri said, “Yeah.” Then, with heart-stopping gentleness she added, “It’s nice.”
So Frank laid his head on the pillow next to her, the tendrils of hair at her nape teasing him with their flowery fragrance. He wove his fingers through hers, and willed Kuri to rest safe.
* * * * *
Something buzzed, but it wasn’t Kuri’s alarm clock. She rubbed her eyes and peered around the darkened hotel room. For a few moments, she didn’t know where she was, but to Kuri’s surprise she wasn’t scared. There was a man at her back and his leg pressed against hers under the covers. Even that didn’t bother her—it felt oddly right.
She’d just started wondering why she felt so calm, when Frank lifted his head from his pillow. “Damn, I set that alarm early.” He rocked out of bed and padded to where he’d set the duffel bag on a counter. Frank dug his phone out of the bag and shut off the noise.
“What time is it?” Kuri stretched her arms over her head. Then, not wanting to wake up quite yet, she burrowed farther under the blankets. It was so nice and warm in bed, and the sheets smelled fantastic.
Thin light from the street permeated the blinds and revealed Frank’s body. He was tall and strong, with shoulders that spanned a yard and a developed chest that narrowed enticingly to where his loose cotton boxers hung off his hipbones. He reached up to scrub at his hair and Kuri bit her lip as she watched the flex
of his muscles.
“It’s five-thirty.” Frank settled next to her, yawning. His leg brushed hers, his hairs scratching her even through her pajama pants.
Her body responded to Frank’s nearness, warming and swelling. Something told Kuri the sex they’d had must have been good. “Frank?”
He stilled under the blankets, as if he were scared to hear something he didn’t want to know. “Yeah?”
Kuri wanted to ask him about it, but she changed her mind. She didn’t want the delicious feeling of having Frank near ruined by some kind of embarrassment. So she simply said, “Thanks.”
Frank wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into a hug. “You’re welcome, kid.” A current passed between them—a spark of heat.
They held still, not letting go. Kuri moved her head an inch, so that her lips were only a centimeter from Frank’s. His breath didn’t smell sour, but male and good.
“You glitching again?” Frank asked, so close to her lips they may have been kissing.
Kuri shook her head slowly, the move brushing her mouth over his. Bolder, Kuri cocked her head and slanted her lips over Frank’s.
He responded slowly, toying with her hair as they kissed. His hand was warm and firm, poised on her neck. His fingers wove deeper, but Frank didn’t tug or draw her closer. Instead, he kissed gently, as if they had all the time in the world.
She pulled off. Something seemed wrong, but Kuri couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It wasn’t…bad. But somehow this wasn’t quite what she expected from kissing Frank. Which was weird, because she didn’t really have any reason to have an expectation. “Is something wrong, Frank?”
He smiled up at her. Frank ran a hand along her body so softly she might have been made of glass. “Nah.” He lifted his head to press a whisper of a kiss on her collarbone. “I just wanted to do it right this time.” Frank rolled her over until he hovered above her, his weight on his elbows. “I didn’t get the chance to really kiss you last time.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deep, with such passion Kuri felt his caring all the way to her toes. She arched her back, letting him know to kiss harder, inviting his body to respond as she was.