Ravenous

by L. L. Collins

  Thinking about it made me cringe at my brashness. I didn’t know what had come over me, but I enjoyed being someone else for a little while. I became Janie. It seemed Breck liked it, too. He confirmed I brought out something in him, too. Maybe we both did something to each other, because while I was Janie, Raven didn’t worry.

  Enjoy this for what it is, Raven. You don’t want to get involved, anyway. Remember that.

  I caught my reflection in the window over the sink and stopped, staring at myself. My lips curled in a satisfied smile, and I appeared like I just had a good fucking by the looks of my tousled hair. I was sure my cheeks were red, and I sure as shit knew my body hummed with satisfaction.

  Although, the second Breck walked back into the room, a pair of basketball shorts hanging on his hips, I knew I wouldn’t be sated any time soon with him. Even if this could ever only be physical, I would take what I could get because it was the best sex I’d ever had.

  “Why did you get dressed?” I asked.

  His eyes darkened as he scanned my still-naked body. He shrugged. “Just threw these on.” Suddenly he seemed unsure, and that made my heart jump. If he regretted this and wanted me to leave, I wasn’t sure I would ever recover from the dismissal.

  My stomach turned with nerves, but I forced myself to take an ice cube out of the glass of water I got and pop it into my mouth. What would Janie do? He watched me, intrigue in his eyes as I rolled it around in my mouth. Before I could overthink what his expression meant, I leaned down and kissed his bare chest, making goose bumps break out all over his skin. My hands shook in anticipation and unease, waiting for a signal that he wanted me here.

  He hissed between his teeth and wrapped his hands in my hair, giving me all the signs I needed. Encouraged by his reaction, I covered one of his flat nipples with my mouth and sucked, moving the ice cube around as I did it.

  “Janie.” The two syllables were said with not much restraint left, but it made me cringe anyway.

  Raven. I fought with myself over what the big deal would be to tell him who I was. He wouldn’t judge me. Hell, he slept with me and probably would again after knowing I was a paid escort for a job.

  I forced the intruding thoughts out of my head and moved over to the other nipple, using my tongue to swirl the ice around it. It mostly melted, but there was still enough left to continue the foreplay.

  “How can that be so fucking cold but feel so good at the same time?” Breck cupped my full breasts with his hands and tweaked my hardened nubs. I slid downward, forcing him to drop his hands from my body as my knees hit the ground, and my mouth lined up with his basketball shorts.

  “Do you need these?” I glanced up at him and smirked at the expression on his face.

  He shook his head, so I looped my fingers into the elastic waistband and pushed until they pooled at his feet. He was bare under them, his erection standing at attention in front of me.

  “Give me another ice cube,” I commanded. His eyes widened, but he immediately reached for the glass on the counter next to him and lifted one out. I crunched the last remaining parts of the one that was currently in my mouth. “Drop it on my tongue.”

  His lips flattened into a thin line as I took it into my mouth, slurping it off his fingers. Water dribbled down my chin, but I didn’t care. I had a plan, and it was to unravel this sexy man standing in front of me. I hadn’t ever done something like this before, but he made me want to do all sorts of things I never did.

  “You clean?” I hated to be the one to kill the mood, but I had to know. I wasn’t stupid.

  His throat worked as he fought to respond. “Y-yes,” he stuttered.

  I nodded, believing him. “It’ll be cold.”

  He nodded too, his mouth opening and then closing again. Speechless. I liked it.

  I worked the ice cube around my tongue so it would melt slightly before I took him into my mouth. I wasn’t sure where this idea came from, but it had me dripping and needing release again.

  But first, Breck.

  I opened my mouth and flattened my tongue, running it along the underside of his large cock. A string of expletives fell from his mouth, and he tightened his hands in my hair.

  I lifted my eyes and studied him, his head thrown back and his eyes squeezed shut. He bit his lip, and his throat worked. It was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.

  I forced myself to stop watching him and get back to pleasing him. The ice had begun melting, and I couldn’t have any of that.

  The second my mouth closed over his swollen head, his thighs clenched under the palms of my hands. “Yes. Oh my God, that is so cold, but don’t fucking stop.” His hips started moving, pushing himself farther into my mouth. The ice cube rolled around my tongue, melting quickly with his dick in my mouth.

  One of his hands left my hair and I heard the clink of the ice in the glass. I was hyper aware of his movements as he released his other hand from my hair and traced my face with it.

  He stepped back slightly, breaking my hold on him. “Baby, there’s so much I want to do before I lose it, and you’re going to send me over the edge very soon.” He put his hand into mine and pulled me off the floor.

  “Ice cubes,” he murmured. He stepped closer to me and pressed me against the counter.

  I watched as he slid the ice cube between his lips and rolled it around his mouth. He hadn’t even touched me with it, and I was already on edge. When he fused his mouth to my nipple, I hissed in surprise.

  “Cold, isn’t it?” Breck glanced up at me for a brief second before moving to my other breast. The sensation of his warm mouth, coupled with the ice, sent chills throughout my body and intense desire to my core. I shuddered against him as he let go of my nipples and moved his lips down my chest and stomach.

  “Holy shit,” I said, gripping his hair tightly.

  “Oh, I’m just getting started.”

  Before I could fully register his words, he lifted me and put me on the counter behind him. My legs fell open as he stood between them. I watched, transfixed, as he reached next to me and grabbed another ice cube.

  “This was a great idea, baby.”

  I refused to read too much into the fact that he kept calling me “baby,” but I liked it more than I wanted to admit.

  I gasped as he slid it from my right nipple over to my left, then down between my full breasts and to my stomach. I shivered, but not entirely from the cold.

  Breck pressed his icy tongue to my overheated flesh and I screamed, grabbing his hair again. I panted as he held my hips down, making goose bumps break out all over my body.

  “So hot you’re melting the ice the second it touches you,” he said, not lifting his head from my folds. Using the arm not holding me down, he reached for another ice cube. I whimpered, wondering if it was because I wanted him to stop or I wanted more.

  “You started this,” he said. I couldn’t respond, arching my back as he slid two fingers inside me, the ice in his palm touching my pulsing flesh. The ice dripped water down my legs as it melted against me.

  “Breck.” The sensations were too much.

  “Janie.” He leaned over the counter to fuse his mouth with mine, swallowing the urge I had to whisper my real name. His fingers turned and twisted, the ice cube now inside me as he worked me to the edge. “You’re on fire down there, baby. The ice is almost melted, and you’re so wet. I can’t wait to bury myself inside you again.”

  “Do it,” I said, begging. “I need you inside me.”

  His eyes flashed at my request. “Well, I can’t deny you, now can I?”

  He gripped my hips and slid me to the end of the counter, putting me in the perfect place for him to enter me. I wrapped my legs around his hips.

  “The condoms,” he whispered, gazing over his shoulder into the family room.

  I shook my head, the thought of him leaving me for any amount of time too great. “No. I’m clean and on birth control. Please.” I thought about telling him I didn’t do this often, like ever, but I cou
ldn’t force the words out of my mouth because it made me sound like the hooker I seemed to be.

  Breck reached over and grabbed the last ice cube in the glass, sliding it along my lips. I opened my mouth to accept it, rolling my tongue around it. I bit down on it as Breck entered me.

  “Watch me.” He had a bossy side, and I loved it. Although, I doubted he often acted this way, and I liked that I brought it out in him.

  I dropped my gaze and watched as he moved in and out of me. He took his fingers and ran them along my clit down to where we were joined, and I couldn’t help it. I had to throw my head back and groan at the sensation.

  “So fucking responsive,” he whispered. He continued working his fingers with the beat of his cock going in and out of me, sending me quickly to the edge of oblivion. I panted, the ice cube so cold against my cheek, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

  Breck removed his fingers from between us and leaned over. “This is heaven, Janie. I can’t get enough of you.” Before I could answer, his mouth found mine. “Give me that ice cube,” he whispered against my lips. “You do something to me, and I like it.” I leaned up and cupped the side of his face, transferring the ice cube into his mouth. I wanted to tell him I liked what he did to me, too, but our lips were fused together. Our tongues twined around it as we passed it back and forth between us. Breck gripped my hip with one hand as he continued spiraling me to the edge of bliss, his pace punishing but equally arousing.

  “More,” I begged in a whisper.

  Breck kissed down my neck, the cold ice cube cooling my overheated skin. When he closed over my nipple again, I arched my back, the sensation too much as I lost control.

  I gripped the muscles of his back, scratching as I writhed underneath him.

  “Let go, baby. Give me all you’ve got.” Breck’s whispered command sent me directly over the edge, and my body convulsed under him. “That’s right. Shit, you’re so tight I can’t hold on.”

  He pumped a few more times, and he stiffened before shuddering, releasing inside me. He slowed but didn’t stop until both of our orgasms completely waned.

  “You started that,” he said, laughing. “But damn, woman.”

  I fought the grin that wanted to spread over my face. I ran my fingers along the scruff on his jaw, trying to memorize every moment of this night. “That was rather spectacular.”

  “The ice?” Breck wiggled his eyebrows. “I wouldn’t mind doing that again.” He turned and grabbed a towel from next to the sink, giving me a flash of a tattoo on his back. I saw it earlier while we were at the beach, but before I could get the details of it, he’d put his shirt back on. I craned my neck to see it closer, but he turned back to me and pressed the damp towel gently to my sex, making me forget all about asking what the tattoo was. “We made a mess.”

  I tried not to read too much into the soft way he touched my skin or the reverent way he acted about cleaning me, because I knew what this was.

  He knew what this was.

  Hell, he didn’t even know my real name.

  I rolled over, wondering what the hell the buzzing sound was next to my head. I blinked, seeing a foreign ceiling fan above me. I sat up, my brow furrowed at the strange sheets covering me.

  I have no idea where the hell I am or what that noise is. I swung my legs off the side of the bed and felt movement behind me. I froze, my heart hammering in my chest.

  I breathed out, the night coming back to me. The incessant buzzing stopped, and my heart began slowing as I remembered.

  Breck.

  The night I will forever deem The Night of Many Orgasms. The man knew his way around a woman’s body, that was for damn sure. His eyes were still closed in sleep, but he had moved closer to my side of the bed like he sought me.

  Don’t think like that. You can’t get involved. So, it was the best night of your life. That doesn’t mean there are wedding bells and white picket fences in your future. That’s not the kind of future you will have, you know this.

  The buzzing started again, and I realized it came from my purse that I’d thrown on the chair next to me after taking my birth control before we had sex last and passed out. After tonight, there was no option on forgetting. A quick glance at the bedside clock said it was after four in the morning. I wondered who the hell would call me at this hour. Certainly not Emma, she got my text that I would stay with Breck.

  Cold dread settled in my stomach as I shot off the bed and rummaged in my purse for the phone. Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, panic overtaking me as I thought the worst. Something bad happened. No one called you at this time of night for a chat.

  Breck shifted behind me, but I couldn’t focus on him. Finally finding the phone, I cried out as I saw Chrissy’s name on the screen. No. Something was terribly wrong. I knew it.

  “Hello?” I whispered, trying not to wake up Breck. My voice was on the edge of hysteria before she even uttered a word.

  “Raven.” My name came out like a sob, and it was all I needed to know. I snatched my purse off the chair and regarded Breck, his face illuminated by the moonlight. He lay on his stomach, his arms tucked under the pillow. I could just make out the outline of the Army tattoo between his shoulders I’d finally seen while we were in the shower. I wanted to reach out and touch it—touch him and tell him goodbye, that it wasn’t his fault—but I knew I couldn’t.

  My clothes were strewn in the family room where we left them, so I would pick them up on my way out. I had to go. Chrissy needed me.

  “What’s wrong, Chrissy?” I hurried down the hallway. My hands shook so badly I almost couldn’t keep the phone next to my ear.

  “I-I…” Chrissy’s voice cracked, and I stopped. She never sounded like this. My sister was stronger than me and endured the life she was forced to live way better than I ever had.

  I shimmied my clothes on as well I could with one shaking hand. My teeth chattered. “Talk to me, Chrissy. Do you need me to call 9-1-1? Are you in trouble?” I forced my feet into my shoes and ran out of the house before realizing I had no car. “Fuck,” I whispered to myself. Too bad. I would walk until I found a store or somewhere I could get picked up. I couldn’t involve Breck in this.

  “I-it’s Mom.” Her voice broke again. It being our mother could mean anything. It could mean she beat Chrissy up for not having enough money to give her for her drugs. It could mean she tried to sell her teenage daughter to one of her “guys” so they would hook her up. It could mean so many things I couldn’t even guess.

  I began running, the slapping of my flip-flops against the concrete sounding like detonating bombs in the silence of the night. “What about her, baby girl? Talk to me.” I was two hours away, but I had to get to her as soon as possible. I needed a cab, but I couldn’t hang up with her.

  “She’s dead.”

  I stopped in my tracks, my chest heaving and tears streaming from my eyes. I didn’t care about our mother being dead. It had been coming for a long time.

  I cared about Chrissy.

  “What happened, Chrissy? Take a deep breath and talk to me.”

  “I’m sorry, Raven. I’m so sorry.”

  “What do you mean, you’re sorry? This isn’t your fault.” I paced back and forth on the sidewalk.

  “I woke up, and this man was in my room. I never saw him before, but he must’ve been one of Mom’s guys. H-he was touching me, Raves. I told him to stop and started screaming, but he just held his hand over my mouth and…and…”

  My stomach lurched, and I leaned over into the grass, losing the contents of it. I shook so violently I had to go down to my knees.

  “Chrissy. Did he…”

  Chrissy sobbed. “He tried, but he was so high or something he couldn’t…couldn’t…get it up or something. I-I hit him with my lamp, Raves. I think I killed him. He’s not moving. I’m too afraid to see if he’s breathing.”

  I shook my head. “What about Mom?” She’d said she was dead.

  “I ran out of the apartment once I hit him.�
� Sobs muffled her words. “And I found her in the living room on the floor. Sh-she was naked and…and…covered in blood. There’s so much blood, Raven. I can’t…”

  “Chrissy. Where are you now?” I forced my voice steady. I had to be the strong one here. I couldn’t freak out. Chrissy needed me.

  “I’m hiding behind the apartment complex. My ph-phone was in my bra, like you always tell me to keep it, just in case. I only have about five percent left of battery…I don’t know what to do, Raven.”

  “Did you call the police?”

  “I can’t call the police!” Chrissy began gasping, and I heard her choking and retching. “They’ll lock me up! I killed him! They’ll think I killed them both!”

  “Chrissy.” I glanced around the residential street, knowing I wouldn’t find a ride anywhere at this time of night. “Hang up with me, and call 9-1-1. I’m going to get to you, but you need them to help you. Tell them what happened.”

  “I can’t, Raven. I c-can’t. The second they find out I’m her daughter, they’ll think I’m just like her, and I killed him for some drug deal gone wrong or something.”

  She wasn’t wrong, but I would make sure she was protected. “I won’t let them take you anywhere,” I said, promising something I wasn’t sure I could keep. “If that comes up, we’ll let them drug test you. You’ll be clean, right?” I didn’t want to doubt my sister, but you never knew with what she lived around.

  “I will never, ever touch that stuff, Raven.” Chrissy sniffled, and I swore my heart jumped out of my chest, fell onto the pavement, and died. I hated this for her. I’d left her there, and this was what happened.

  Our mother was dead.

  I couldn’t even process those words. Then again, who knew if she really was. I didn’t want to ask Chrissy if she’d checked either of them for a pulse, because I didn’t know if it mattered.

  “Hang up and call them,” I said again. “I have to call a cab to get me to my car, and I’ll be there as fast as I can. Don’t talk to them at all until I get there, okay?”