Downfall

by Jay Crownover

  Orley popped off my cock with a narrow-eyed look and a mew of concern. I knew if I didn’t distract her immediately, she was going to pull away because she was worried about how I was holding up. Using my hold on her hair, I tugged her away from my very eager erection. Once she was hovering over me, I wrapped a hand around the back of her naked thigh and urged her to straddle me. She still had on the barely there pink panties and I would never forget the way the wet spot in the center rubbed against the wet tip of my cock. So hot. So sexy. She was effortless when it came to seduction and temptation.

  “If I have to choose between your mouth and that sweet spot my cock is trying to claim as its own, I’m taking the second option.” I felt like our entire relationship had been weeks and weeks of foreplay, and while all of it had been a lot of fun, I really thought I might die if I didn’t get a chance to have her at least once. I reached out and traced the elastic band of her underwear where it disappeared against the high curve of her inner thigh. “When I can bend over without feeling like my body is going to shatter, we can take turns learning each other’s taste.” I arched an eyebrow and made a promise I couldn’t wait to keep. “I will lick every single inch of you. When I can move, I will fuck you so good, you’ll forget you hate everything about this city.”

  I smoothed a hand over her porcelain cheek and watched as she took the words in. She must’ve decided the risk was going to be worth the reward in the long run, because she lifted up so she could strip off the rest of her clothing and settled back on my waist, her hands landing on the wall over my head since I didn’t own a headboard.

  “I don’t know that I’m good enough to make you forget your name, or where you are, but I think I can make any discomfort you’re going to be in for the next few minutes worth it.” Both of her dark red eyebrows lifted, and a sassy grin tugged at her full lips. “Condom?”

  I blinked in surprise since protection was usually the first order of business when I was with someone. This girl really did turn my world and my priorities upside down. I was just so eager to be with her, to have her, I couldn’t think of any of the practical things which typically governed my actions.

  I shot an arm out and rummaged through the nightstand, finding a half-empty box and fishing out what I needed. When I handed it over, I expected Orley to blush or look away. I was never sure if I was getting the siren or the sweetheart. It seemed she was in full-on seductress mode because she ripped the foil packet with her teeth and rolled the latex down the straining length of my cock without blinking an eye.

  I wanted to ask if she was ready. Sure, there had been a visible wet spot on her underwear, but I hadn’t touched her, prepped her, tasted her the way I normally would. I was a lot of things in bed, but selfish was not one of them. I was ready to go off like a rocket thanks to the attention of her mouth, but that didn’t mean she was turned on or excited enough for things to feel as good for her as they felt for me.

  I shouldn’t have worried. Orley wasn’t someone who went with the flow. She was someone on her own path, used to calling her own shots, not afraid to take what she needed, but also strong enough to give back.

  She bent down so she could kiss me, her lips teasing and light as they danced over mine. One of her hands cupped my jaw as she used the other to keep her weight braced above me. Even through the latex wrapped tightly around my dick, I could feel the heat and moisture emanating from her center. When the tip of my erection dragged slowly through her soft folds, I thought the top of my head was going to come off. Nothing had ever felt better. Her body fluttered around mine as the first few inches of my cock breached her snug opening. It was clear it’d been a while since she’d been with someone this way, and the thought of being the last person to know what it felt like when her body welcomed the invasion, the way it quivered and quaked as I slowly pushed into her, had me wanting to pound my chest like King Kong. It was an archaic, mostly unreasonable way of thinking, but now that I knew how well we fit together, how amazing her silky heat felt surrounding me, I wasn’t sure I was going to ever be able to let her go. I sure as hell was never going to be able to walk away from her under my own steam. She brought me to my knees.

  Orley made a strangled noise as gravity helped her sink all the way down the iron shaft she was rocking against. Once I bottomed out inside of her tight, wet channel, we both let out a gasp of surprise as our gazes locked. It was there in the blazing blue of her eyes. This thing between us was just as big, just as scary, just as consuming to her as it was to me. Neither one of us knew what to do with the emotions swirling between us; they were so much bigger and brighter than either of us had ever faced before.

  Her thumb brushed across my lower lip and her eyes drifted closed as she started to slowly rock her hips up and down. Her expression was blissed out and there was a stain of hot pink across her cheeks. She looked amazing, and I totally got off on the way her body writhed and moved on mine. My abs constricted as pleasure started to coil tightly around my spine. She was right. All I could focus on was the warmth between her legs and the way her inner muscles tugged at my cock with greedy, hungry little movements. She was careful with every lift and drop, so while the pain was still there, it was a faint memory compared to the new sensations she was giving me. For the first time, I was at someone else’s mercy. Orley was the one calling all the shots, we were completely on her timetable, and I was totally under her command. It was different than what normally went on in my bed, but not in a bad way. It was a novelty to drown in the pleasure someone else gave; I was out of my head, not worrying about how what I was doing affected the other person.

  I grunted as she rotated her hips in a little circle and let my hand rest on the sweet curve of her ass. “God, you feel good.” She was so worth any pain I would suffer later.

  She panted out a short breath and pushed her wild hair behind her shoulder. Her skin was starting to gleam with a fine layer of sweat, and all I wanted was to be able to lift up so I could put my mouth on those sweet, velvety nipples of hers. Next time. If I ever got the chance to devour her from head to toe, I was going to fulfill my promise and put my mouth all over her.

  “You feel good, too.” A faint smile pulled at her mouth and her head cocked to one side. “If I’d known boys from the city were so much better at sex than the boys who lived behind the gates, I would’ve been in big trouble.”

  I growled at her and pulled her down so I could get at her mouth. She moaned into the kiss as I sneered, “Only this boy from the city can make you feel like this. Don’t forget it.”

  She laughed against my lips and started to move more urgently against me. I could feel her body softening and getting slicker. She was having a hard time catching her breath and keeping her eyes open. The girl was stunning when she was on the edge of breaking apart and I wanted to be the one who took her to that precipice over and over again. I wanted to be the only boy from either side of the tracks who ever witnessed her when she got lost in satisfaction and surrender.

  It took some finesse to get the hand from my uninjured side between her legs. As soon as my thumb touched the tight bud of her clit, Orley’s eyes flew open and her back bowed. Her long hair slid across the top of my thighs and the way her pussy clamped down on my cock as if it was never going to release me pulled me into my own orgasm. Passion slithered up my spine and shot out in sparks along my nerves. My whole body tensed and pulsed in one long wave of release underneath her. My ribs screamed, but I ignored them and continued to toy with her sensitive bundle of nerves as she rode out her own spiral of pleasure. It was the closest I’d ever come to finding completion at the same time as my partner.

  This girl and I were from completely different worlds. We ran on opposite frequencies and had very different final destinations in mind, but nevertheless, she was the one I was in sync with. She was the one who matched me step for step and kept up even when I didn’t know if I was coming or going.

  A moment later she grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand free from where i
t was still playing, still learning what made her eyes pop and her breath catch. She climbed off me with a grace that shouldn’t be possible after how thoroughly we wrecked each other. She knelt on the bed next to me, collecting her hair in one hand as she blinked at me in a daze.

  “As much as I would like to spend the day in bed with you trying to figure out all the ways we can do that without hurting your ribs, I have to go get Noble. And I want to check and see if Lester made it back yet.” She tugged on her lower lip nervously. “I have a bad feeling about him being gone from his spot.”

  I groaned and raked my hands down my face. “You hop in the shower and worry about your kid. I’ll go outside and check on Lester.”

  She made a face and reached out a hand to lightly trace my eyebrows. “You almost passed out coming up those stairs last night. I can stick my head outside. It’ll be fine.”

  I grunted again, because she was right, but I refused to acknowledge my own limitations out loud. When you were an apex predator, you never showed your weakness. That’s how you ended up as prey.

  I held onto her hand as she moved to climb off the bed. Her blue eyes were shadowed when they met mine. She was something else to me now, someone important and precious, but I still barely knew her; having her last name and knowing her father was a world-class prick didn’t change that. I needed her to give me everything, not just her body.

  “We still need to talk, Orley. Don’t run away from me.”

  For a split second, I could tell the thought had definitely crossed her mind. She cleared her throat and turned her hand over so she could squeeze mine. “I know. We’ll talk.”

  I let her go, only because I believed she was going to come back to me, and because I could see that she knew even if she did run, I would come after her.

  Orley

  Lester wasn’t on the stoop in the morning when I collected Noble from Erica’s after calling off work for the day. He wasn’t there when I went out to grab lunch because my fridge was empty and the only thing Solo had in his was bottled water and old pizza. The homeless man still hadn’t made an appearance by dinner time, and Solo was doing a really bad job of hiding his growing concern every time I reported that the older man was still missing in action. On the plus side, Noble loved her mini-sleepover and was already rambling about the next time she was going to spend the night with Riley. I promised her I would make it happen, while selfishly enjoying my fake sick day. It felt like it’d been forever since I’d gotten a full day with my kid. Even if I had to pry Noble away from Solo’s bedside every five minutes because she was so worried about him, it was nice to get my fill of childish chatter and sweet hugs and kisses. She missed me, too, but I came in second next to her favorite neighbor.

  I left her with him while I ran to the store so I could grab enough stuff to stock both fridges. I felt like I needed to keep busy to keep my mind of the fact Channing had set Solo up. The details of the fight made my skin crawl, and I could barely make it through the gritty reply Solo insisted on laying out for me. As a result of Channing’s dirty play, I was worried Solo was moving a little bit too slow to be a proper babysitter, but the instant my daughter curled up next to him on his bed, she crashed. I loved the way her black curls tangled in a chaotic mess around her face as she cuddled up to the big, tattooed fighter like he was her own personal teddy bear. Seeing her little body wrapped so trustingly around Solo’s broken and battered one did something to my heart. It hurt, but in a good way. It was a sensation I’d never felt before, which was pretty much a daily occurrence now that Solo inserted himself into my life. Even when he told me to be careful because he couldn’t go with me to the store, it sent shivers up my spine. No one worried about me or my safety like he did.

  Every time I turned around, he was doing or saying something that made me feel things in a whole new way. I knew living in the city was going to change me, that I was going to be forced to grow up and adapt. I had no clue moving here in a panic was going to force me to learn how to love… not only myself and my child, but someone else, as well. Love wasn’t for the weak and timid. It took leaving the gates of my old life to toughen me up enough to even consider risking something as fragile as my heart and my daughter’s happiness.

  After filling both fridges, I made dinner at Solo’s apartment while he entertained Noble. I was slightly resentful all the man had to do was smile at my kid, and she was perfectly content in his company. I had to jump through hoops and run through a marathon of activities to keep her occupied. I pouted about it until I got a kiss from both Noble and Solo. One warmed my heart and made me smile. The other turned it inside out and made my breath catch.

  We ate dinner together on Solo’s leather couch, and for the first time in my entire life, I felt like I was part of a family. I wasn’t worried about saying or doing the wrong thing. I wasn’t struggling to find my place or willfully searching for approval and acceptance. I had a place where it was easy to feel like I belonged and no one else could possibly take my place.

  Solo was a trooper and sat through two different Disney movies, chuckling occasionally as Noble belted out the wrong words to several of the songs. He promised her repeatedly he would take her back to his old school for a couple more classes and so she could run around the track once he was feeling better. She fell asleep with her head in my lap and her tiny legs across his. For the first time since leaving my old life, I let someone else put my daughter to bed. She was the only other girl who was allowed inside Solo’s bedroom as far as I was concerned, and it made my heart squeeze, that the huge, tough guy went soft as melted butter for my kid. He didn’t seem to mind giving his bed up to the almost four-year-old at all.

  Before Solo made his way back to the couch, he stopped in the kitchen and made a couple drinks. He laughed at me when I told him I couldn’t stop at a liquor store and get him a six-pack like he asked. I wasn’t sure if he was amused by the fact I was still underage, or because I was probably the only human living in the city who didn’t have a fake ID, or know how to get one. Either way, he made do with the vodka that lived in his freezer. I took the second drink from him and looked at him over the rim of the glass. He could’ve asked if I was ready to talk. He could demand the answers I really did owe him, but he didn’t. He settled back on the couch, wincing a little with each movement, and silently waited until I was ready to put everything on the line for him. One of these days I was going to figure out how he read me so well when I was sure he’d never dealt with anyone who came from my world before.

  I downed the vodka and OJ and pulled my legs up so I could wrap my arms around them and rest my chin on my knee. I watched Solo for a few silent minutes as he pretended to be engrossed in whatever was on ESPN. When he finally looked my way, I forced the first few words out, and was shocked at how easily the entire story poured out after I started.

  “My last name is Vincent, but Channing Vincent isn’t my father.” It was the Vincent’s biggest, most dirty little secret. I’d kept it for so long, the truth felt weird and wrong once it was spit out. “But he is Noble’s grandfather.” It was like a Shakespeare play. Rich people were bored and sad about their lives, so they went out and decided to play with the fates of others for pure entertainment.

  Solo choked a little on his drink and blinked his long, dark lashes at me in surprise. “Say what?”

  I needed the levity and his easy acceptance to settle into telling someone exactly how messed up my bloodline was. He always had exactly the right response, which made giving him what he asked for so much easier. I was used to being judged for the sins of my father, but all Solo could see was the scared woman baring her heart to him.

  “Neither one of my parents was faithful throughout their marriage. My mom got knocked up with me on accident during one of her longer affairs, and in return, my father impregnated her best friend for revenge.” I shook my head and closed my eyes briefly. “High society is actually a very small circle, so of course my mother’s bastard, and my father’s, ended up in
all the same schools.” No one warned me I was going to fall into my father’s trap and into his son’s arms when I was lost and hopelessly trying to find my way. I had no clue Noble’s father had more right to the name Vincent than I did. I had no idea my father was silently waiting for me to find my way to the young man. He knew I would, because he was the absolute worst, which made him my best option for petty revenge. I was on a mission to bring home the most terrible boy I could find. He just happened to be Channing’s son.

  “Noble’s dad is actually Vincent’s son. I didn’t know. My parents were horrible to each other, right up until the end. To each other, and often to me.” My mom always made herself the buffer between me and my resentful father, but she didn’t tell me the truth about my lineage until it was too late. I spent my entire teenage years chasing after love from a man who despised my very existence. Channing Vincent hated me because I wasn’t his. But, to avoid a scandal and to appease my mother’s side of the family, he had to pretend. It was simply how things were done behind those iron gates.

  Solo’s eyebrows shot up so high they almost disappeared into his hairline. “So, Channing knocked up your mom’s best friend, and then years later that baby turned into the guy who knocked you up?” It really sounded like a bad soap opera when it was all laid out like that. I wouldn’t believe a word if I were the one listening.

  I nodded at him and sighed again. “Neither of us knew. Channing half-assed playing dad to me, and my mother’s friend’s husband did the same to Noble’s dad. It’s no wonder we were both so screwed up and attracted to each other. We knew each other our entire lives and had no clue we were both living a sham.” I felt my hands clench and an angry flush start to race up my neck. I started to explain why Channing was so interested in Noble when he wanted nothing to do with me. “Since I wasn’t his, Channing never had plans for me. No ambitions or aspirations. He never pushed for me to join his country club, or to follow in his footsteps and apply to his alma mater. He never brought me around his business or introduced me to the sons of his associates. He never did any of the things wealthy fathers do to ensure their daughters maintain the family fortune.” I still remembered being heartbroken when I told him I wanted to intern with his company, only to be told there wasn’t a suitable position for me. “If I was paying attention, I might have put it together sooner. Channing was furious when I told him I was pregnant with Noble. But his attitude totally changed when he found out who the father was. I wasn’t his, but Noble is. She shares actual Vincent blood, so everything he denied me, he wanted to give to her.” She was his heir… the only one he could claim without causing a scandal and upsetting the status quo. I’d been so blinded by relief that he actually seemed supportive, that I’d finally done something he approved of, before I realized no normal father would be celebrating an accidental teenage pregnancy.