Clipped (The Clipped Saga Book 1)

by Devon McCormack

  “My ex-girlfriend.”

  Ex-girlfriend? Kid thought. He totally just jerked off with me.

  “That doesn’t explain why the fuck we’re in the middle of a fucking jungle.”

  “That’s not what you asked. If you had, I would have told you that her gift is teleportation. She can take us anywhere on earth or between the heavens. It’s a rare power. She’s one of the few immortals to possess it. While she was teleporting, I managed to sneak us away. That's why we're here.”

  “You couldn't have gotten us out somewhere closer?”

  “It doesn't work like that.”

  “Well, what are we gonna do now?”

  “Listen, Kid,” Treycore snapped, “I promised Kinzer I’d protect you, but I’m not your babysitter and—”

  “I don’t need a fucking babysitter!”

  Treycore rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to look for some wood to make a fire.”

  He rushed through the foliage, disappearing into the night.

  What have I gotten myself into? Kid wondered.

  Chapter Seven

  SCREECH!

  The car sped around a corner.

  This is insane, Maggie thought.

  She sat in the backseat, her eyes vacillating between Dedrus and Kinzer.

  The nauseating scent of pine from a tree air freshener hanging around the rearview mirror filled her nostrils.

  She couldn't believe all that she'd just experienced. The wings. The flying. The woman chasing her. It was more disorienting than waking mid-tweak to hot breath, sweaty palms, and an ever-expanding pain deep inside her.

  She'd had some bad tweaks, but this was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. Perhaps this was withdrawal. Yes, that was it. Those assholes had kept her from her shit for too long, and now she had to deal with the negative side effects. Those fucking bastards!

  Her mind was too scattered to process all that had happened. Surely, she didn't need to…since none of it was real.

  Who were these guys who were driving her off to who-knew-the-fuck-where?

  She eyed a sword that lay beside her, across the seat.

  ***

  Dedrus pressed his foot against the brake.

  The car jolted back as it stopped before the two dangling, red-dotted stoplights.

  Dedrus and Kinzer bobbed forward with the momentum of the car.

  “Can you be a little more careful?” Kinzer barked as he tossed on his blue polo, which he’d grabbed with his other clothes when they’d hurriedly scrambled from the house.

  “I'm doing my best!”

  CLICK.

  What the fuck? Kinzer thought. He turned to look behind him. The back door was open.

  Maggie was gone.

  “Shit!” He unfastened his seat belt.

  “What are you doing?” Dedrus asked.

  “She’s out. I've got to get her.”

  He lunged out of the car.

  The orange glow from the streetlamps lit up the back of Maggie's flower-print dress as she ran for a kudzu-draped wood on the other side of the curb, one hand flailing at her side, the other tucking Dedrus’s sword close to her.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Kinzer rapidly approached her. She spun around, holding the sword out before her.

  Kinzer stopped and stepped back.

  “Get the fuck away from me!” she shouted.

  The sword trembled in her frail grip.

  “Maggie, what's wrong?”

  “What the fuck do you think's wrong? I'm seriously tweaking here!”

  “Maggie, we're gonna take care of you. Now, please, just get back in the car.”

  “No!”

  “Maggie, please…”

  “Quit saying my fucking name! I don't know you. I don't want to know you. I want you and your friends to take me back to Kirk right fucking now!”

  “I can't do that.”

  His gaze sank to her belly.

  She pulled the sword back and pressed it against her stomach.

  “Is this what you fucking want? Huh?”

  “Maggie!”

  “I didn't ask for this! I didn't fucking want this! I can make it all go away.”

  “Maggie, right now—”

  “I said stop saying my name! What are you, a fucking shrink?”

  “What's in your belly is the only hope your world has right now.”

  “This isn't real.” She lowered the sword. “It isn't real.”

  Kinzer stayed back, his arms at his side, signifying that he wasn't going to attack.

  “I know you weren't asked to do this. I know it's not fair. But Maggie, if you don't come with us, those guys back there are going to find you and then you're really going to have shit to deal with.”

  Dedrus stepped behind Kinzer. “Do I need to get some rope?”

  “Leave me the fuck alone!” Maggie barked.

  “Can you not help?” Kinzer shot Dedrus a severe glare.

  Tears rushed down her face. She glanced between Kinzer and Dedrus, her eyes wild, frantic.

  “This isn't happening,” she said. “It can't be.”

  “Yes, it is,” Kinzer said in as calm a voice as he could manage under the circumstances. “It's happening, and we have to get you somewhere safe.”

  She shook. Dropping the sword, she fell to her knees in a patch of grass and weeds.

  Kinzer approached her.

  “Why me?” Her face sank. She cringed as if she was in pain.

  Kinzer knelt beside her, set his hand on her shoulder.

  “I just need to get back to Kirk. He's gonna be so mad. He gets mad when I'm gone too long. He gets real mad. Am I being punished? Why is this happening?”

  “I know this might not seem very helpful right now, but what's happening inside you is the most important event in all of creation. We have the power to save your world from the most painful, agonizing apocalypse you can conceive of. We can't do this without you.”

  She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close, trembling.

  “I didn't want it. I didn't ask for it.”

  As much as Kinzer wanted to console her, he knew there was little he could do. She was right. She hadn't asked for this burden, and she was a mortal, now caught up in a world that was far beyond her ability to comprehend. It wasn't fair, but it was her lot, and Kinzer could only hope that she was willing to go along with their mission, if only to simplify the heinous ordeal that surely lay ahead.

  ***

  Has he really never found someone else?

  Kinzer sat on a twin bed. Cream floral designs scattered in patches across his beige comforter. He watched Dedrus’s ass shake in his khakis as he paced before a painting of engorged purple petals.

  Dedrus pressed his cell to his ear, his eyes scanning the room, not noticing the tacky décor.

  Of course, he’s found someone. Doesn’t even matter if he hasn’t. He sure as Hell didn’t want me.

  Kinzer assumed he was dramatizing his loneliness, just as he had dramatized his love for him so long ago. He dismissed these thoughts. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on the past. They had far more serious problems.

  Maggie had showered off and lay in another twin bed on the other side of a nightstand. Her dirty-blonde locks, stringy and splitting, draped over her neck and crept across the pillow. She stared blankly at the TV as muffled voices spewed from the speaker.

  “Shit,” Dedrus said. He pulled his phone from his ear, eyeing it.

  “Nothing?” Kinzer asked.

  Dedrus shook his head and put the phone back against his ear. “Hey, Fie. This is Dedrus again. Call me back if you get a chance.”

  Since they’d arrived at the motel, Dedrus had been trying to get ahold of some of the Leader’s Allies.

  He wasn’t having any luck.

  “Hopefully, someone’s warned them.” Dedrus pushed the phone into his pocket. He brushed his fingers through his tousled locks.

  “That sounds optimistic.” Especially considering Vera had m
entioned that they’d been hunting the Leader’s Allies earlier that night.

  “I’m gonna take a shower.” Dedrus stepped into the white light of the adjoining bathroom, shutting the door most of the way, but leaving it cracked open slightly.

  Dedrus was stressed, and Kinzer wanted nothing more than to bring him some ease. Dedrus had been there for him, now was his chance to return the favor. Or was he still trying to punish him?

  No. Not that. Even as he’d revenge-fucked him, he was still enjoying himself, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he still had strong feelings for the higherling. Maybe there was something more there. They had always had fun together. He loved talking to him, playing with him, fucking him.

  No! Dedrus didn’t want him. They’d already established that. He had to shake that from his thoughts.

  He chastised himself for his stupidity and for even considering anything with Dedrus when he was still mourning the loss of Janka. He shouldn’t have been thinking like that. If anything, he should have just been having fun. But was it dangerous to enjoy his time with Dedrus? Did he run the risk of falling in love with him all over again?

  That couldn’t happen. If there had been a time where Dedrus could have loved him, it had passed. Now, they were just friends—fuck buddies. Kinzer just had to make sure that he always remembered that.

  I can do this. I can handle it.

  He stripped to his boxers and slipped into the bathroom. A hiss came from behind a white shower curtain, framed by gray walls. He closed the door, slipped next to the curtain, and wiggled out of his boxers. As he pulled the curtain open, its metal hooks rattled together.

  Dedrus’s hair lay flat against his scalp—wet, milk-chocolate locks curling into his neck. He scrubbed a white washcloth in circles over his nipples. His brown eyes met Kinzer’s. They were the same eyes that he had come to love, to adore. His hairy face, damp and sparkling under the room’s fluorescent light, shifted with a smile, like he was so happy that Kinzer had decided to join him.

  Kinzer stepped into the tub and closed the curtain behind him.

  “It’s a little cold,” Dedrus warned as he stepped back under the showerhead, facing away from Kinzer. He ducked his head, letting the water splatter across his scalp and shoulders.

  He stroked the washcloth up and down his arm, building a creamy layer of suds.

  Kinzer felt drops of the cool water prick at his flesh.

  “Will you get my back?” Dedrus tossed a glance back.

  “Yeah.” Kinzer reached around, taking the washcloth from him. He rubbed it against his palm, letting the suds stir before rubbing circles between his friend’s shoulder blades.

  A friend. That’s all he is. A friend. Why does that make me sad?

  He pushed the thought away, pressing the washcloth tighter against Dedrus’s flesh—that smooth, soft flesh.

  He couldn’t bear it anymore. Kinzer dropped the washcloth, threw his arms around Dedrus, and buried his face behind his ear. The chilled water raced down his torso, flowing over his fresh erection that tapped against Dedrus’s ass cheeks.

  The water didn’t faze him. He kissed Dedrus’s neck.

  Dedrus threw his head back, resting it on Kinzer’s shoulder. Kinzer glanced at a shelf that hung in the middle of the wall. A bar of soap lay across it. He grabbed it, lathering it in his palm to create moisture for lube.

  He stopped. Dedrus didn’t deserve that consideration. Not after what he’d done to him.

  He dropped the bar. It slid across the bottom of the tub, ending up beside the chrome-lined drain.

  He spit in his palm and massaged the fluid across his shaft.

  Grabbing Dedrus by his hair, he shoved his face forward and pressed it against the plastic lining of the shower-tub combo. Dedrus’s ass lifted. His pelvis dipped. Kinzer knew he wanted it bad. Like he always did. He pressed his shaft’s head into his hole. He figured Dedrus would be a little loose from their earlier encounter.

  It was still a rough entry and burned the edges of his shaft.

  Fuck.

  Dedrus groaned. It took a few thrusts before Kinzer was comfortably inside him, reeling in the pleasure from Dedrus’s tight hole. Dedrus’s groans amplified.

  Kinzer pulled out. He grabbed Dedrus’s hips and flipped him so his shoulders hit the adjoining walls in the corner of the tub. Wrapping his arms around Dedrus’s hips, he cupped his hands under his ass cheeks and hoisted him into the air.

  The weight threw Kinzer off balance for a moment. He worked to stabilize, kicking his foot to the side. It came down on the bar of soap by the drain, which slipped out from under his heel, sending his foot flying forward.

  “Oh, shit!”

  Thinking quickly, he shifted on his other heel so his shoulder blade rammed into the wall beside him. His body shook and jerked as he adjusted his feet so he wouldn’t fall.

  Dedrus gasped. He glanced around like he was waiting for Kinzer to drop him. “Holy shit!”

  Kinzer regained his balance. He giggled. “Whoops,” he said. “Close call.”

  Dedrus chuckled, his hand quickly covering his mouth, as if he was embarrassed to be so amused by the situation.

  He’s so cute, so precious.

  Kinzer wanted him so badly. He shifted and leaned Dedrus’s back against the corner of the tub, finagling his dick back inside him. Dedrus let out another chuckle before grinding his teeth. His head rolled back. His eyes shut.

  “Oh fuck! Kinzer, yes! Fuck yes!”

  Kinzer rocked his hips, pleasuring his cock in the tight passage of Dedrus’s hole.

  “You feel so fucking good!” Dedrus’s eyelids sealed shut. He cried out. His arms pressed against the walls like he was using them to brace himself.

  Water splashed about as Kinzer continued driving in. Dedrus moaned with pleasure as his hair stuck against the walls behind him.

  The water, rushing across Kinzer’s side, warmed against his flesh.

  Dedrus’s eyes opened. He looked right at Kinzer.

  Why is he looking at me like that?

  The look in his eyes was like the one Kinzer had once mistaken for love. He fought against the painful memories.

  He didn’t really want you, he reminded himself as he forced another deep penetration into Dedrus.

  Dedrus screamed out, but didn’t shift his gaze.

  Stop looking at me like that!

  Kinzer plowed him a few more times, hoping to force him to look elsewhere.

  Dedrus cried out louder, but his eyes stayed fixed on him. That was it. He couldn’t handle it. Kinzer pulled his cock out and lowered Dedrus to the floor.

  “What is it?” Dedrus’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead.

  “Nothing. I just can’t do this.” Kinzer stumbled through the curtain. He grabbed a towel off a metal rack and dashed through the door.

  “Kinzer, I—”

  “Where’d she go?”

  A black Bible, surely the motel’s, poked out from the folds of Maggie’s sheets.

  “Holy shit,” Dedrus said.

  Kinzer’s jeans lay on the other bed, but he knew he had left them on the floor.

  He snatched them off the comforter and rifled through the pockets. “Bitch took my wallet.” He pressed his fingers against his water-glazed hip and tossed Dedrus an exhausted glare. “Better start looking.”

  It didn’t take long to find her.

  Shops were clustered together on the other side of the street. The only one open was a bar. Through the glass windows, Kinzer could see the back of Maggie’s flower print dress as he and Dedrus walked side by side through the parking lot.

  “Let’s just hog-tie the bitch,” Dedrus grumbled. Strands of wet hair stuck to his face. Patches of water were scattered across his shirt.

  Kinzer put his hand out, halting him. “Hey, just head back to the room. I got this.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  He kissed Dedrus. Dedrus’s fingertips caressed his shoulder, then he turned
around and headed back to the motel. Kinzer approached the glass door to the bar and stepped inside.

  A haze of smoke filled the air. Three men in denim and flannel lounged in a corner booth. In front of a bar on the opposite wall, Maggie twisted back and forth, the flower print across her ass stroking against a black stool. She sipped from a glass and gazed longingly at the Miller Light bottle a guy in a baseball cap tossed back a few stools to her side.

  Seriously?

  Kinzer approached Maggie’s stool. “Where the fuck did you think you were going?”

  “Give me a break. I wasn’t running.”

  Ice clinked against the glass of clear fluid that trembled in her grip.

  Kinzer snatched it.

  “Hey, hey!”

  He ran his nose across the rim.

  “It’s Sprite, dumbass.”

  “This guy bothering you?” A bartender in a tank top set his palms on the counter. Freckles dotted his face. A red beard fell to just below his shirt collar. He leaned forward, pressing down to demonstrate his muscular physique.

  This was Maggie’s chance to get away, to get help. Was she going to take it?

  Her lips curled upward, and then fell into a frown. “I’m fine.”

  She took another sip from her rattling glass.

  The bartender’s green eyes watched Kinzer suspiciously. He withdrew to the other side of the bar.

  “Where the fuck’s my wallet?” Kinzer asked.

  Maggie reached into her cleavage, pulled it out, and set it next to a jagged crack in the top of the gray-and-black-speckled granite bar.

  “Why didn’t you just stay in the room?” he asked.

  He sat in the stool beside her as she set her glass next to the wallet.

  “Wasn’t really interested in sticking around to hear you fucking in the shower.”

  “Sorry.”

  “I’m not one to keep anybody from having a good time. Just didn’t want to hear it. So what’s with you and that guy? Boyfriends?”

  Kinzer rested his elbow on the bar. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Yeah. 'Cause I’m sure that’s a bigger deal than all the other shit we’ve been talking about.”

  The guy with the Miller Light took another sip from his bottle. Maggie’s tongue massaged her bottom lip. She leaned close to Kinzer. “You mind ordering me a beer?” she whispered.