by Wyatt, Dani
She closed her eyes; something horrible was going to happen, she did not know what it was, but she didn’t want to see.
Just as the darkness overcame her, she heard the heavy, deep breathing coming from above and his instructions once more.
“Open your mouth…”
Everything was dark, and she winced, ready for whatever was about to happen. She opened her lips and she tasted the salty tears as the man moaned from above.
“ARRRRRRRRRR!!!” A scream tore through the dark hall.
Then, the blinding, fluorescent lights flicked on.
There was no time to think, the silence shattered by the roar of a battle that exploded just an inch from her face. Victoria’s small hands shot to cover her ears as the blur of someone screaming and attacking the hulking predatory beast in the red satin shorts took over the confined space.
Victoria’s knees crumpled, she buried her head like they taught you in school during a tornado drill.
“Get the fuck off!” The monster growled to the black ninja that wrapped around him from out of the darkness.
“I’ll kill you, I’m going to fucking kill you…” A familiar voice, but Victoria kept her ears covered and her face buried.
She prayed to be somewhere else, anywhere but here.
Cameron was outweighed by the Russian beast three times, but it wasn’t something that even demanded a split second of consideration.
He knew she was supposed to be around, picking up towels but when he went looking, she wasn’t where she should be and even at twelve years old, his radar went off, and he was on the hunt to be sure she was safe.
In one bright flash of hallway lights, he pounced onto the back of the muscled, sick bastard. Tearing into him with a choke hold fit for a man a decade older and at least 200 pounds heavier. Cameron saw the red shorts held low, his other hand guiding something toward Victoria’s open lips and he came completely undone.
The thick layers of muscles on the man shone with sweat, in one twist of his arm, he tossed Cameron, slamming him into the wall, shaking and flickering the buzzing lights that hung from the tall ceiling.
Red and white stars flashed in Cameron’s eyes, but the impact did not lessen the fury.
With the reaction time of a jack rabbit, he broke the mother of all unwritten rules between fighters — sinking his fingers between the legs of the beast, gripping down like a vice onto the soft, vulnerable flesh, digging his fingernails tight until they met on either side of his balls.
“JESUS! FUCK!”
The red satin shorts and every part attached fell to the ground like a felled tree. Cameron mounted him like a warrior and laid his fists into his face until he heard bones crack, and the red on his shorts quickly matched a spray of slick warm blood from his shattered nose.
Cameron didn’t stop, his fists balled into cannon fire, smashing into the already crunching bones of his face. The Russian regained a breath, then in one powerful motion, back handed Cameron off of him and into the floor.
“You want to fight little boy? Yeah??” He rose up, swiping the back of his hand across his face and smearing the flowing river of crimson across the silver scar that ran from his ear to just under his nose.
Victoria looked up for only a second, Cameron was on his feet almost before he hit the ground, his fists and the monster’s chest covered in the same red of his shorts. She buried her head into her knees, interweaving her fingers behind her neck and pressing her arms over her ears.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!!!”
Cameron didn’t care, in the second that Roger’s voice caught the Russian’s attention, he was back on him, his fists finding contact points, slapping into the deep, indigo ink of the lion that wrapped around his midsection.
He rose only to the level of the Russian’s chest, but fear wasn’t something Cameron ever remembered feeling. At least not since that night when his father turned and Cameron saw the gray face and empty shell of the only person he had ever loved in his life.
“CAMERON! STOP!” Roger was on him, his hands coming up behind and locking the boy down in a half-nelson as the rage shot flames from his eyes.
“That boy come up behind me! Jump me…” The Russian said.
“NO!!! You fucking know what you were doing! You fucker!” Cameron felt every muscle shake, lock down and strain against Roger’s hold.
“Get out of here!” Roger shouted toward the bloody face of the Russian. He strained to control the Tasmanian devil in front of him. “Get the fuck out.”
“Yeah, I come back. I come back for him one day.” The giant pointed toward Cameron and stomped away leaving a trial of red dots behind.
All Cameron could imagine was what would have happened if he didn’t come looking for her.
Who else would have been here to save her, to take care of her? No one, he knew it was true. If he weren't here, all would have been lost.
“Let go.” Cameron slammed his head back, connecting the top of his skull with Roger’s face.
“JESUS! Fuck, Cameron, what the fuck is wrong with you?? You can’t jump on customers like that. You’re gonna get yourself a trip to juvi like that real fast. Probably where you need to be. Fucking kid. Something’s wrong with you…That guy gonna come back for you and I won’t be here next time. It’ll serve you right too!” Roger released his grip, his hand rubbing his nose where Cameron’s rock hard head connected.
Cameron flung himself away from Roger, his chest heaving, and got down on his knees. His hand settled soft and secure on her back.
“You’re okay. He’s gone.” Cameron whispered to the huddled form on the floor.
Victoria felt the warm imprint of her savior’s hand through her dress. Then, the sound of feet shuffling away and the familiar knock of a cane across the dirty floor as Roger turned to leave without even a question.
“I want my bunny from the car.” Victoria finally looked up to see Cameron’s pained blue eyes looking into hers.
Cameron felt those first roaring flames of instinct to protect her like she was his very own. It wasn’t anything he had felt before, a desire so deep, so primal it turned in his blood like a snake. The trembling of her tiny body resounding like a siren’s call to arms as it vibrated up his arm and wrapped around his heart like the roots of a Oak.
That was the first time Victoria realized the darkness that lived in both of Cameron and her own father. Roger’s indifference and Cameron’s violence had since left her stunned more times than she could count.
Years passed, but nothing changed.
Except Cameron was vastly more lethal.
Six months and eight states did nothing to dim the electrified wire that connected them.
So, here he was, staring down at the one person that could make or break him with just a word.
7
“Six months. So, what did six months away do for you?” Victoria still could not seem to shake the feeling that she needed to choke him and simultaneously laugh with joy that he was here.
Cameron could barely breathe — her sweet, floral scent spun around his head as he thought about every step he took, trying to remember to look where he was going and breathe at the same time. It was almost too much and he shook his head and blew out a deep breath trying to stay focused.
He dared to let his glance toss sidelong toward her. The sidewalk below their feet showed the tenacity of the weeds that poked upward between the small cracks.
Bright colored, spray-painted ghetto art blinked out at them on the crumbling brick facades of long closed shops and a few liquor stores and pawn shops that the recession spared.
Fuck if she wasn’t giving him a look back, pulling one corner of her bottom lip inside, looking unsure. She had not a damn clue what that did to him, blood rushing to his cock, his balls tightening inside his boxers and his heart beating six times for every one it should.
The shit I’m thinking right now could get me arrested. Jesus, I never did figure out how to keep my cock at bay around her.
No other woman could thicken my stick with just a glance like she could.
If he was a dog, he’d have been on her like a bitch in heat years ago. But, when it came to this one, he wasn’t going to fuck it up. He was jonesing for her like a meth head for a hit, but with all the discipline his undisciplined ass could muster, he sucked in a quiet, deep breath and tried his best to back off on the trigger that swelled inside his jeans.
“Got my head back straight. Got me out of here.” Cameron cocked his neck back toward the gym, every tendon stretching as he cracked the bones into place and let a bit of the sun that streaked through the clouds hit his face.
“Your head is straight now? Is that what you are saying? I’m not sure what that means. You just left Cam.” She was losing the friendly welcome home tone. “What was so wrong with your head you couldn’t even come by to tell ME goodbye? I’m really pissed at you, so don’t try to come off like leaving without saying anything is even mildly okay.”
“Hey, you have a phone, you know my fucking number. It works both ways.”
Bad move asshat.
As soon as the words left his lips, he wanted to retract, but it was way too late.
“Really?” Victoria stopped in her tracks; she gave him that look, and he felt his balls crawl up an inch inside. She was the only one that could ever get to him with just a glance.
A shit storm was coming, and he sighed, knowing he was in for a verbal roundhouse.
“That came out wrong…”
You fuck head. You’re fucking this up already. What, you’ve been with her five minutes? Already you’re in the shitter.
“Oh, no. It is exactly right. You are spot on as usual, Mr. Cobain. Mr. Nothing-is-Ever-My-Fault Cameron Cobain. We’ve known each other since I was like five years old. We’re practically brother and sister. Why the fuck did you leave and then expect me to call you? You really are dumber than you look, and you look pretty damn dumb right now. You certainly have been hit in the head enough times, is that your excuse? Closed head injury? Fighter’s early onset dementia?”
“Step”, Cameron growled low, looking at the sky for a moment.
She smelled like fresh cut flowers and cherry candy; it was sending his blood to the point of bubbling.
When she got like this, Cameron knew to keep it level, but the tiger inside him was roaring and being this close to her after this long, he was having a very fucking difficult time containing the animal.
“What? I’m sorry, did you say something??”, she snapped.
Her hand reached out and gripped his forearm. He could feel the energy of her touch vibrate down through his wrist and into his own fingertips which were lodged deep in his pants pocket. Yep, right next to his cock which for a moment, had been behaving itself.
“I said STEP.” Cameron enunciated the word slowly.
You are a glutton for punishment you know that? Is this fun for you? You like seeing the little fireballs shoot from her eyes don’t you?
“I heard you, idiot.” She turned, and the light from her eyes shot flames.
Cameron stared her down, every cell in his body tingled like a tongue licking a battery — alive, exhilarated, and painful all at once. She glared right back at him.
“What do you want?” Her sarcastic bravado turned to sadness. “You are obviously not here to tell me you’re sorry, that you had to leave because of some dark secret that would put us all in grave danger if we knew. At least make up something. No. You. Just. Left. No reason. Sorry, bye, I need to go. STEP-brother.”
This was nowhere near the conversation he hoped to be having right now. But, even as her contempt smoldered, his blood boiled and it took every ounce of control he could muster to not slam her into the closest wall and show her exactly how he felt right now.
“Jesus. Just take a damn breath. Give me a second to explain.”
“Go ahead. Here’s your second. I hope you use it wisely.” Now she was doing the arms-crossed over the beautiful swell of her chest, pushing the lush curves into each other and only showing them off higher and more visible than before.
The ‘V’ of her Southside gym t-shirt low enough to give Cameron a view into the crease of heaven where he had imagined his tongue millions of times.
How the fuck am I supposed to form a cohesive thought right now? Jesus, her tits are like head lights, and I’m some goddamn doe standing here blinded. And, Jesus, when she’s fightin’ mad like this she’s a fucking masterpiece. Kill me now. I’m done, finished — no matter what I say I’m going to fuck this up. She’s giving me that look and when she’s got that ‘look’ she’s not fucking listening anyway.
There are tipping points in a fight, those split seconds when an opportunity presents itself, and if your instinct is honed to a mirror blade, your brain doesn’t form conscious thought.
You just react; taking that fraction of a second like a snake bite to sink your fangs into the prey before they have a chance to get away.
Words were never his canvas. An unspoken language emanated from him. Cameron used his fists to fight, his eyes to communicate, his body posture to speak volumes, his legs to crumple an opponent to the floor. Right now, this fraction of a second, he knew it wasn’t words he needed.
Wars aren’t won without taking a fucking risk dude. You want more of the same or you want to win the fucking battle?
It was his last thought before he felt the softness of her hand in his grip.
“What—” Victoria’s eyes widened.
Cameron pulled her around a corner, into a side alley. He blocked out everything else.
The only earthly existence in that moment was her cherry pink lips, the way her curves flowed like a seductive river as she moved and his unwavering need to kiss her until heaven and earth stopped time. He needed to convince her of all the things that he already knew.
There were no words, no way to explain the mingling of time and space that curved around them both as Cameron pressed her back into the rust colored brick wall, his hands intertwining his fingers into hers, raising her arms next to her face.
Time stopped that heavenly second that he finally brushed his lips onto hers.
Now she was the doe, blinded in the headlights of an oncoming semi. Cameron crushed his lips into hers and her flavor was unlike anything he had known before.
He tasted the hint of peppermint along with her own unique flavor that sent his heart into overdrive, more blood flowing to his jerking cock than if she was laying below him, naked and willing.
For a flash, he felt her warm lips open; soften to him as he pressed harder, opening her as his tongue danced and nudged.
A hurricane of emotion and raw desire spun inside Cameron’s brain, he pushed harder, his lust now an avalanche without any way to stop it. His only thought of how she must taste everywhere, how his tongue would slip into her sweet pussy the first time, her flavor imprinting on him never to be forgotten.
“Cameron!!!”
A bright flash of red pain blinded him as Victoria kicked at his lower leg and stomped on his foot.
“JESUS! Fuck…”, he yelled.
“What the hell are you doing??” Her eyes opened like saucers as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, doing her best to act disgusted.
Her eyes darted from Cameron toward the street as though they were engaged in some dangerous illegal activity in broad daylight.
“I’m fucking kissing you. Jesus, Vic. Come on — You’re the fucking reason I left!” Cameron felt that hurricane again, and the animal inside him was surfacing. The one he became when he entered the ring and demolished everything in his path.
With the roar of a man pushed past his limits, Cameron turned, his fist finding the only thing close and putting two dents into the hood of a banged up old gold Toyota that looked long abandoned next to the green dumpster.
“I’m why you left! Are you kidding me?? You are full of shit Cameron.” She no longer needed to feign her disgust.
“Really??” He spun on h
is heel.
The blazing fire in his eyes shot into Victoria and she felt like someone just shoved her backward.
“I’m full of shit? Tell me you didn’t want me to kiss you. Look me in the eyes, tell me you didn’t feel it just now. The fucking earth stopped turning for a second; that’s not just me, Vic. That was you too. You felt it, why the fuck are we pretending?? Jesus!!”
That moment dangled in front of Cameron again. This was it, the shock was gone, she knew what he was here for, and his eyes did not hide his true intent.
He covered the three feet between them like a rocket, this time he felt the softness of her neck under his fingers as they wrapped around, pulling her against him from lips to groin.
Cameron felt his body tighten as his lips tasted hers. This time — he held her, opening her mouth with his tongue and he could feel for one second, she melted against him.
It was the most delicious, incredible moment of his life. The swell of her chest up against his, the way her skin warmed his fingertips, her hair falling like silk over the back of his hands.
Her smell, Jesus, that soft, sweet scent that made him feel like he had just taken four fast tequila shots.
The red sea parted as he felt the first brush of her tongue move against his. Everything in his life lead him here and if he died right now, this kiss would be the pinnacle of his 28 years and they could fashion a smile on his face as he lay in his casket.
Cameron withdrew for a breath; he needed to see her eyes, to know everything she was feeling right now.
He heard his heart beating in his ears; her eyes were closed, her tiny hands clasped tightly on the flexing, hard forearms that straddled her face. A car moved slowly down the street; there was a trickle of water in a storm sewer somewhere below their feet.
“Cam—” Her fingers tightened on his arms, her voice a tousled mixture of resignation, temptation, and regret.
“Look at me.” He ordered, his hands still firmly around the back of her neck, tipping her head toward the sky knowing she could not avoid his gaze if only she would open her eyes.
She’d come into Cameron’s life like a storm. Even when he was 10, there was something deep down that told him she was a part of him, now and forever. A little girl bound to him like nothing a young boy that had only known his father’s indifference and his mother’s pain had ever felt.