Burn Out

by Ruthi Kight

  The chair that I pulled out scraped across the floor, spreading goose bumps up and down my arms. With a thud, I dropped into the seat beside him. “Mike showed you what to do. Just remember what he said and work some magic.”

  He let out a groan and sat back, his eyes red and puffy. “We’ve been at this for days. Why aren’t you yelling Uncle yet?”

  “Because I know I’m right.” I snatched the computer away and studied what he had already done. He had been trying to get access to Willis’ files for days now, never able to get past the firewall that had been erected. “We need someone who knows what they’re doing.”

  “I’ve been saying that for days. But who?”

  Neither of us knew of anyone with the skills to do what Mike had tried to teach us. Somehow, he had known all the ins and outs of hacking, which should have terrified me. He was a surfer! How the hell had he come by that kind of knowledge?

  We had no idea who we could trust in Sunny Shores. In the small town, our options were limited. Outsourcing the job was out of the question. If we couldn’t trust those around us, we sure as hell couldn’t trust a complete stranger.

  The truth was there, waiting to be found, but we were running out of options. Willis was a crafty fuck, keeping his cards close to his chest. He hadn’t shown back up for a visit, but that was probably because he was lying low, letting the dust settle after Mike’s murder. The detectives assigned to his case were still coming up empty.

  If they had just listened, they would have caught his killer by now.

  “We need a break,” Liam said, looking at me with tired eyes. He had been so helpful, believing everything that I told him. The poor guy hadn’t gotten a decent night’s sleep since that fateful night, giving up his bed so I could rest. I knew how uncomfortable that couch could be, so I could sympathize with what he was feeling.

  But I wasn’t ready to take a break. We had to keep going. If we didn’t nail that fucker now, he would go free yet again. That would be twice in his life that he had escaped justice. And that was two too many times.

  “A few more hours, then a break. I promise,” I replied, pulling his hand with mine. It was a shitty move, using my feminine wiles against him, but it was all I had. But when he pulled away and shook his head, I knew that it was no good.

  “I can’t. Seriously. We need to get out of this house, even if it’s only for a little while. We’ve been cooped up here for days. And no offense, but you’re beginning to smell like one of the main attractions at the zoo.”

  I hated it when he was right. With a nod and a defeated smile, I made my way into the bathroom to get cleaned up. When I was completely naked, I took a small sniff of my underarms. Immediately I wished that I hadn’t. He was right, yet again. But, it was something that a little bit of soap and water could fix.

  The pounding of the water all over my body was exactly what I needed. The kinks in my back fell away, the tension was melting with each passing moment, and I felt more whole than I had in a very long time.

  While I had no desire to put our plan on the back burner, I knew that Liam was right. Our focus was faltering, the lines were blurring before our eyes, and if we didn’t walk away for a little while, it would unravel at our feet. That was not something I was willing to allow.

  A sharp knock at the door drew me out of my thoughts. “Can’t even get a few minutes to myself,” I mumbled, rinsing the remaining soap off of my body. The creaking of the door told me that someone had entered the cramped bathroom. “Liam?” I called out to him.

  The rustling of clothes was the only sound I heard, other than the pounding of my heart. Before I could cover myself, the shower curtain was ripped back, leaving me exposed to the intruder.

  But he was no intruder, at least not an unknown one.

  “Shit, Liam! What are you doing? Close the fucking curtain!” I yelled, my hands slapping against my skin as I tried to cover myself from his eyes. “Why are you naked?!”

  Holy fuck! There he stood, in all his glory. My eyes raked over his body, starting at his chest, working their way down the lines that were etched in his torso, finally stopping at the deep V that promised a world of pleasure.

  My mind screamed for me not to keep going, but my hormones declared that if he hadn’t meant for me to see it, he wouldn’t have tossed his shorts. With my cheeks flaming, my eyes slowly lowered, taking in his rigid state.

  Oh. My. Fuck! While I didn’t have much to reference, I knew that he was bigger than normal. He was thick and strong, standing at full attention, eager for attention. Could I handle the attention that he needed?

  “Like what you see?” he asked, completely unfazed by my perusal.

  What are you supposed to say to that? I always welcome the sight of a naked man while I’m showering the day’s stench away? I settled for a small nod, keeping my eyes focused on the wall behind him. The blush worsened and I could feel the heat spreading through my body. Perfect time to go all shy and demure, right?

  “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. When he stepped into the shower, I moved back. My body was pressed against the tile of the wall, the cold seeping into my pores. “Trying to save water?”

  “I am concerned about the environment,” he said with a wink.

  I turned around and handed him the washcloth. “Since you’re here, might as well be useful. There’s a spot I can’t reach, right above my ass. Care to help?” I looked over my shoulder at him, taking in his smoldering eyes as they latched on to my ass. “Well?”

  The wicked look in his eye drove me wild. In that moment, he was carnal, animalistic, and ready to pounce. On me! He closed the small space between us, pressing me against the tiles. My breasts were crushed against the tile, but the cold feel on my heated nipples sent a surge of pleasure through me.

  “It’s time,” he ground out, his teeth nipping at my ear. When I had imagined losing my virginity, it sure as hell hadn’t been in the shower, but hey. It felt right. If it was wrong…then slap my ass and watch me squirm ‘cause I didn’t want to be right!

  His hands massaged my back, his fingers working out the knots that had wreaked havoc on my body for weeks. The pressure and texture of his hands caused a moan to slip from my lips, which earned me a growl in response. I felt his erection pressing against my ass. He was so close to my center, to where my body ached for him.

  With a quick thrust, he ground his hips into my ass, eliciting a heady moan from me. It was pure fucking ecstasy, more than I ever could have dreamed of. There were no thoughts of regret, no turning back this time. I was ready, and from the feel of his dick, so was he.

  Without turning around, I snaked my hand around and grabbed the length of him, moving up and down slowly. “Yes, oh God!” he moaned, moving his hips in unison with my hand. His breath was heavy in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. Holy shit, this was erotic! If the foreplay was this good, the actual sex would have to be mind-blowing!

  I wanted to see him come, to have his seed spilling from my hand. When my hand left his body, he let out a discontented moan, but when I faced him, his eyes lit up once again. “I want to watch you explode,” I said, licking my lips in anticipation. This time both of my hands were in on the action. With one stroking the length of him, and the other massaging his tip, I watched as the fluid began to leak out.

  He placed one hand on the wall behind me, but the other became fisted in my hair. With each slight tug, my core got slicker, ready and waiting to be filled. “Come on baby, that’s right,” I urged him on. His body grew tense, and then he was spilling into the palm of my hand. The warm fluid seeped through my fingers, dripping to the floor of the shower. With a quick rinse, I was ready for more.

  “Fuck,” he said, breathless from his orgasm. “That was…incredible.” He pulled me to his mouth, our tongues engaged in their own foreplay. Each time we kissed, there was something new that I experienced. It was never the same. It was one of the things that drove me wild about him. I never knew what
I would get with him.

  He reached around me and shut off the water. “I want you. In my bed. Now.” Don’t have to tell me twice. We each grabbed our towels, barely taking the time to dry off our bodies, before he was pulling me out of the bathroom. Right into his bedroom.

  His arms locked around my body, with my back pressed against the front of him, his hands skimming over my breasts. His finger pinched, causing me to gasp. Not from pain, but from unbelievable pleasure. As his hands dipped lower, stopping just above my sex, I wiggled my ass into his dick. Two could play the tease game.

  “Keep doing that and I’ll have to punish you,” he moaned, but he didn’t pull back. He was enjoying the feel of his erection against my ass as much as I was. Not being able to face him as we tested and teased was fuel for the fire. We were only fingers, mouths, skin, and sensation. It was simple, yet incredible.

  When he spun me around, my hands landed on his chest. His body was so hard, so sculpted, like he was made of marble. Perfect. No, no one was perfect, but if there was ever someone who came close, it would be Liam. All the ugly of the world hadn’t destroyed him. For that, I was thankful.

  Without warning, he picked me up and slammed my body down on the bed. He was on top of me before I could catch my breath, his mouth raining kisses on my body. I was completely exposed to him, my body on display for his pleasure. And boy howdy, was that some serious pleasure!

  He kissed his way down my body. When his teeth nipped at my inner thigh, I shuddered. “Open for me,” he said as he gently pushed my legs apart. The need was too much. My legs were quaking. Was it truly need I was feeling? Or were my nerves going berserk?

  That first touch of his tongue on my sex sent me over the edge. It ripped me in two, my body convulsing as his tongue continued its assault. “Please,” I murmured, unable to stop my body from bucking against his mouth.

  When he finally came up for air, his mouth was slick from his ministrations and there was a contented look in his eye. “Now that…was worth the wait.” I lay my head back, unable to return his smile. My muscles were like Jell-o, unable to hold any part of my body up any longer. Never had I felt that relaxed. That comfortable.

  But when he crawled up my body and I felt his need against my leg, I was instantly on high alert. It was finally going to happen. In a few moments, I would no longer be the last virgin standing. Or...lying down. Whatever.

  “Be gentle,” I quietly begged. He kissed the side of my mouth gently, nipping at my lower lip before he pulled away.

  “If you aren’t ready, we can wait. As excited as I am for this, it can wait. Just say the word,” he said, his fingers tracing lines across my stomach.

  I shook my head, unwilling to back down. “I’m ready.”

  When he stood up, leaving me cold and exposed, panic set in. Was he backing out? Had I done something wrong? But as I followed his movements, I watched him dig in the drawer of his nightstand. Seconds later, he was hovering over me again, condom in hand. “Gotta be prepared, right?”

  Gone was his sexy smile, his disarming charisma…left was the goofiest, sweetest grin I had ever seen. In that moment, I knew it. My heart was no longer my own. “Protection is key,” I replied, returning the look of pure adoration that was on his face.

  He was a pro, I’ll give him that. The condom was on and rolled down before it even registered what he was doing. As he settled between my legs, I took a steadying breath. The pain I could handle, no problem. That wasn’t what had me so worked up. It was the fear of what came after…

  “Tell me if I need to stop,” he said. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his mouth to mine. While we kissed, I felt him press against me and I opened my legs a little further. When he knew I wasn’t going to stop him, he slowly entered me.

  Okay, so the pain was a little bit worse than what everyone had said. A pinch my ass! I was stretched, filled, and while that sounded good in theory, it was pretty damn uncomfortable to begin with. He saw the look on my face, but I managed to give him a smile.

  “I’m okay.” With a nod, he began to move within me. After a few strokes, the pain lessened and I got used to the full feeling. “This is…wow!” I had no other words for it. At least none that I could think of at that moment.

  He chuckled as he continued to move, his hips thrusting into mine. His careful strokes were nice, but that overwhelming feeling inside of me wasn’t back yet. The O was nowhere in sight. I needed more. Faster. Something.

  “Harder,” I said, my mouth hanging open as I watched his body move above mine. He quirked his eyebrow at me, then laughed.

  “As you wish,” he replied.

  The next moment he was moving faster, the slap of our skin and our panting was the only noise in the room. Steadily he got rougher, his grunts of exertion hanging between us. His next move was completely unexpected.

  He rolled me over and bent my knees, leaving my ass in the air and my face buried in the pillow. I tried to turn to look at him, but before I could utter a word, he entered me once again. So that’s what everyone had been talking about! With each pump he was going deeper, stretching my walls as he sent jolts of pleasure through me.

  His movements were becoming jerkier, his thrusts more and more powerful. He was close. I could feel my body growing hotter by the second, the world blurring all around me. When my climax hit, it was all I could do to hold myself together.

  It surged through me, bucking me forward, and then slamming me back. His movements stilled, and my name poured from his mouth. There were no screams, no declarations of love, just mind numbing bliss.

  Sated, we both fell over, my body still impaled on his. He slipped out of me and pulled me close, spooning me against him. His hand ran through my hair as he kissed the side of my face. “Wow,” he said, playfully nipping at my neck.

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  There were parts of my body that I had never known could feel so sore. Who knew that your vagina could feel bruised? I sure as hell hadn’t. But there it was. It wasn’t painful, at least not to the point where it would bother me. A couple of Motrin and I would be good as new. The worst part of all of it?

  The next morning.

  When I woke up and found myself tangled in the sheets and Liam’s legs thrown over mine, I didn’t feel a sense of contentment that others had probably felt. No, I felt like I was being suffocated. With a hard shove, I removed his offending appendages from mine and rolled to the other side of the bed.

  I wasn’t ready for shit to get awkward. And we all knew that it would. You can’t just sleep with someone and expect everything to stay the same. We were friends who just happened to sleep together, that was it. Right?

  Quiet as a mouse, I slipped from the room, grabbing my clothes on the way. After a quick shower, I was feeling like my old self. When I made it back to the bedroom, Liam was nowhere to be found. Maybe he had been having second thoughts as well. Who knew?

  The growling of my stomach let me know that it was well past time to eat. With an extra pep in my step, I made my way to the kitchen, my fingers trailing lightly along the walls. My mind was preoccupied, so it didn’t register the incoming fist in time.

  It connected with my temple and I dropped like a sack of potatoes. Moments before I blacked out, I looked up and found a familiar face standing over me.

  Willis.

  ***

  “Wake up, Princess.” A hard kick to my stomach jolted me awake. With a groan, I slowly opened my eyes. “Ah, there she is.” His hand twisted into my hair and pulled me up by the roots. I let loose a scream as I felt the individual hairs being ripped away from my scalp.

  I tried to get my bearings, to take in my surroundings, but the room was almost completely black. “Where am I?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head about that, okay? Just shut your mouth and listen.” He shoved me and I stumbled over something by my feet. My body hit the ground hard. Searching the ground aro
und me, I finally found what felt like a foot.

  A small moan came from the body that I touched and I jerked my hand away. “Delia?” His voice was so small. Always larger than life, it was hard to picture him as broken and beaten.

  “Liam? Oh my God! Liam!” I scrambled closer, my hands leading the way up his body. When I reached his chest, I threw myself on top of him. “Are you okay? Where does it hurt?” With no way of seeing what I was doing, I used my sense of touch to test out different areas on his body. But with each feathery light touch came a moan of agony.

  He was completely shattered.

  “What the fuck did you do to him?!” I screamed into the dark, unsure where Willis now stood.

  Lights flickered on, casting an eerie glow around the secluded room. A visual check showed that Liam was in bad shape, his body covered in bruises and gashes. “As you can see, he’s still alive. For now,” said Willis, walking towards us. On instinct I threw my body over Liam’s again, shielding him from the psycho’s rage.

  “Leave him alone,” I growled.

  “Him? I’m done with him,” he said. “But you? That’s another story.” He crouched down a few feet from where we lay, his eyes filled with pure evil. “You should have just walked away. Left town and never looked back. Instead, you decided to start digging.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talk-” The sting of his hand on my face stunned me.

  “Don’t lie to me!” He stood, the veins in his forehead bulging. “You think I don’t know what you three were up to? Trying to hack into my fucking computer? I make sure to monitor even the smallest blip when it comes to my files.”

  He paced the small room, his body tense and rigid. “You killed my parents…” I watched his back straighten and I knew I was right. “Why? What did they do to you?”