Hell, Fire & Freedom (Fighting for Freedom)

by Callahan, Shannon

  The time passes quickly, and soon it’s time for Marie to leave for her swim practice. She gathers her bags and puts her shoes on by the front door.

  “Is your friend coming to get you?” Blaze asks Marie.

  “No, I’m just going to walk up today,” she says, throwing her purple swim bag over her shoulder.

  “No, it’s getting late. I’ve got my bike here, let me drive you,” he offers.

  “Bike as in bicycle?” she snorts.

  “No!” he says, mocking offense, “as in Harley.”

  Marie’s eyes grow wide. “No way! That’s awesome! Brynn would never let me, though,” she says, sounding disappointed.

  You got that right, sister, too dangerous.

  “You mean the same sister that was on the back of the same bike not long ago?” he teases.

  “Blaze!” I scold, looking to Marie who’s now wearing a shit-eating grin.

  “Come on, I’ve got an extra helmet.”

  “Can I?” Marie asks excitedly.

  “Well, I guess I’d be a hypocrite if I said no. Thanks for that, by the way,” I say, giving Blaze an evil glare.

  The two of them head out the door excitedly, and it’s not until they’re gone for a minute that I realize I just trusted Marie’s life in another person’s hands. I left her alone with a man. I should feel absolutely terrified, but instead I’m calm. I trust Blaze completely, with my life, and with hers. I never thought that I could feel this way about another human being, let alone a man, but here I am.

  I smile to myself before remembering that he will be returning, and that he had very clear instructions as to what I should be wearing. I have a mini panic attack before rushing into the bathroom and finding my required outfit for the night. I undress, noticing the dark bruising still covering my abdomen. I cringe, and pray he doesn’t notice and think up a quick lie in case he does. It’s too late to tell anyone about Carl, even if I wanted to. I quickly slip the nightie on and brush my teeth, wondering how much longer before he comes back.

  What if he was joking last night? What am I thinking? I can’t do this; if he wants me in it, he can ask me to put it on. I start to walk back into my room, thinking I can just change into something more comfortable. I close the curtains, making the room pitch black before starting to pull the nightie off.

  Too late. I hear a knock at the door. Someone must have let him in.

  Shit, there’s no way I’ll be able to change now. I start hyperventilating and quickly try and calm myself. Once I have it under control, I walk over and open the door, hiding myself behind it as Blaze walks in. I close the door, and try to run back to my room quickly while he takes off his shoes, hoping he won’t even notice.

  “Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” he calls out, catching me around the waist.

  “Just going to change quickly,” I mumble, embarrassed.

  “No changing, but I will volunteer to help you out of it, that is, after I enjoy the view,” he says, spinning me around and drinking me in. “Fuck, Brynn, absolutely incredible. Better than I pictured in my mind last night,” he breathes into my ear.

  I bite down on my lip, hard, and look away from him, feeling incredibly under dressed. He looks me over from head to toe, slowly, and I swear every inch of my body blushes. I come to the decision that we need to at least be on more common ground. I grab ahold of the top button on his blue and green striped dress shirt and start undoing them at a leisurely pace, working my way down.

  “What are you doing there, beautiful?” Blaze drawls.

  “Trying to make this a little more fair …” I say, undoing the last button and revealing the tanned, toned flesh underneath. I run my fingers across his chest, feeling his warm skin, and his heart beating fiercely underneath.

  “Fuck, baby,” he says, as I pull his shirt over his shoulders and slide it off his arms.

  The view is absolutely spectacular, and I take a step back to admire just that. Every inch of his torso and arms are toned to perfection—not in an incredibly menacing and overpowering way—more in a way that sends a rush of liquid between my thighs. I bite my lip again and let out an involuntary, “Mmm.”

  Blaze doesn’t waste any time after that. His mouth comes crashing down on mine with an almost brutal need, his tongue teasing and sliding it’s way in and out of my mouth. I push myself against him, needing to feel every bit of the warmth he has to offer. My hands explore his huge arms, while he backs me into my bedroom, never breaking contact with my mouth. I close the door, so all that’s visible is our shadows.

  His hands slip to the bottom of my nightie and in one swift movement, he pulls it over my head. “So fucking hot,” he says, running his hands down the side of my breasts and over my hips.

  I place my finger down the front of his jeans, teasing. He’s straining against them, dying to get out, and I want to give him that release. I kiss the side of his neck and trail kisses down past his chest. I sink down to my knees, continuing to kiss his stomach and the thin line of hair dipping down into his pants. I have an intense desire to taste his skin, so I take my tongue and lick the edge of his pants, all the way across his abdomen. Absolutely delicious.

  Blaze lets out an intensely primal growl, and throws me down on the bed. He brings his mouth down on my nipple and sucks in hungrily, before gently nibbling and licking. He brings his other hand up and starts teasing my other breast with his thumb. I moan in pleasure, arching my back toward him.

  He slowly, and I mean excruciatingly slowly, starts licking his way down from my breast, through my navel and to the edge of my panties. He grabs ahold of them with a finger and his teeth, ripping through the lace. I gasp in shock, but it doesn’t seem to faze him at all, since he does it again with the other leg before pulling them off of me completely and tossing them across the room.

  “Fucking beautiful, and so ready for me,” he breathes, before gently licking my slit.

  “More,” I cry out, lifting my hips to give him access.

  He pulls back and gives me a sly look before moving his head down to my knees and trailing kisses slowly from there to the top of my thighs.

  “No,” I cry out, wondering how in the hell he mistook more, for kissing anywhere but where I absolutely need him to be. I throw my head back on my pillow and cry out in frustration as he takes his sweet time climbing back to my core.

  “Tell me what you want, Brynn,” Blaze says huskily.

  “You know what I want,” I pant, lifting myself for the taking again. All I feel is his hot breath hovering over me. Fucking hell! Just do it already.

  “Brynn, tell me what you want.”

  “I want you!” I cry out.

  “How do you want me Brynn?”

  “I want you to taste me, Blaze. I want you to lick me and touch me. I want you to make me come, I want you inside of me, I want all of you,” I say, without any inhibitions.

  Before I can finish speaking, his tongue is inside of me, his fingers working my clit, and I feel it start to build quickly this time. I’m two seconds away from jumping off the edge when he switches, entering two fingers inside of me and sucking on my clit. I cry out in ecstasy as an intense orgasm rips through my body. My body pulses around his fingers.

  “My baby is so fucking hot,” Blaze says huskily.

  He undoes his jeans, slipping them down over his ankles with his socks. All that’s left covering him is a black, or at least dark—it’s hard to see—pair of boxer briefs that are currently leaving nothing to the imagination as his huge cock throbs out the top, desperate for my touch.

  I wiggle my way out from underneath him, pushing him down on the bed before divesting him of his underwear. I look back up at his hard straining cock, tip glistening, before leaning down and sucking on the tip, tasting his salty pre-cum. I moan, letting the vibrations reverberate through him.

  “Fuck, Brynn,” he cries out, grabbing onto my hair, and guiding my head lower onto his cock. I take as much as I can fit of him into my mouth, and begin to
move up and down, stopping only to leisurely lick from the base to the tip. I feel him start to throb, but instead of coming, he pulls me off of him, and throws me back down on the bed. He reaches down, pulling a condom from his pants pocket and hastily sheathes himself.

  He enters me slowly, stretching every muscle inside of me. I bite my lip as pleasure ripples through my body.

  “Are you all right, beautiful?” he asks, sweat beading on his forehead.

  “Perfect,” I say, stroking his cheek.

  That seems to be all he needs. His mouth crashes down on mine again, and he starts moving inside of me, gently at first as I stretch to accommodate him, then faster and harder. He sits back up, lifting my legs in the air and holding my hips as he slams into my sex over and over again. The intensity is incredible, and I come again, crying out my release, feeling every muscle clench as I squeeze Blaze’s cock.

  He continues pounding into me over and over, bringing his thumb to my clit and swirling it around deliciously. I feel it start to build inside of me again and cry out his name, “Blaze!”

  This seems to send him over the edge, and his movements quicken before I feel him shudder and shoot his release into me as I come again.

  He collapses on top of me, keeping the connection between us as we lay panting, absolutely spent.

  “That was …” I start.

  “Fucking incredible, Brynn. Beautiful.”

  I smile to myself, realizing I just had consensual sex for the first time in my life. I also just came three times. Not bad!

  Blaze rolls off me, disposing of the condom before climbing back in bed and pulling my back against his chest so we’re spooning. I feel his hot breath against the back of my neck, and I relax, allowing myself to drift off to sleep.

  Chapter 16

  I wake up on Friday morning, not sure if I’m happy or sad that it’s my birthday. Nobody truly likes getting older, but it is nice to have a day to feel special. I’m sure Marie doesn’t remember when it is, and I haven’t exactly told anyone exactly when it is either.

  I’m completely okay with having my special day a secret, though. It’s still a celebration of my independence. My first birthday not living with Carl or my mother. Sure, Tara and the women’s shelter are still helping with my bills while I get back on my feet, but at least I’m trying.

  I roll over and think back to the horror I felt earlier this week after Blaze and I fell asleep after being intimate.

  His cell phone started ringing just minutes before Marie was set to get home. The fogginess of sleep started to lift as I heard Blaze growl into his cell phone.

  “What the fuck do you want?”

  I kept my eyes pressed shut, praying he would think I was still sleeping so he’d keep the conversation going. I’m not usually a nosy person, but it sounded like this was the reason he’d been in a bad mood for a while, and I needed to know why.

  “No, listen to me, cocksucker. That was the deal; I gave you what you asked for, and you better hold up your fucking end of the bargain, or you’re going to see a side of me you’re not going to like,” he said irately.

  “You do that, and I’m coming after you hard,” he promised.

  “Two million was the fucking deal, grease ball. You’re lucky I don’t report your ass,” he threatened.

  “Yeah, well that’s the only reason I’m fucking talking to you, now isn’t it? Now stay the fuck off my back, before you piss off the wrong person,” he growled before hanging up the phone.

  What the hell was he talking about? Is something wrong with his dad’s business, or is it more serious than that? Maybe he’s a gambler, or worse, in the mob. Ha! I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and attempt to forget the clearly private conversation I had overheard. I continued on with my sleeping façade, hoping he bought it. Luckily, I think I have it perfected thanks to my years of living with Carl.

  “Beautiful, we fell asleep,” I heard him say, as he began trailing kisses over my cheeks and forehead. I opened my eyes sleepily, looking around and pretending to be confused.

  “So sorry, I wish I could have let you sleep longer, but Marie’s going to be home any second,” he said, looking worried. I wondered if it was actually about Marie, or if it was about the phone call he had just received. I wrapped the sheet around myself so that he wouldn’t see the bruising, and rushed to get him dressed quickly, but Marie buzzed up to the apartment. I knew they would meet in the hallway if I sent him out the door now, and he wasn’t exactly decent. I grabbed his shoes from the front door so she wouldn’t know he was still here, and then I ran and pulled on some pajamas, keeping my back to him. I threw my hair up in a ponytail and closed my door, locking Blaze inside, until I could distract Marie long enough in her room for him to sneak back out.

  “Hey,” Marie said, coming in the door.

  “Hey yourself. How was swim practice? How did you get home?”

  “Not bad, and Jill drove me. Where’s Blaze?” she asked, curiously eyeing my pajamas and looking around the condo for him.

  “He went home earlier,” I said, lying through my teeth.

  “Right,” she said disbelievingly. “You do know his motorcycle is still parked outside, right?”

  Shit. Fucking shit. I blushed from head to toe, trying to come up with an excuse to why he would have left his vehicle here. “Ah, he got called into work. They picked him up in the fire truck,” I said, panicking.

  She burst out laughing at this point, and I felt completely ashamed. “All right, Brynn, you’re a grown woman, you do know that, right?” she said, laughing so hard, she was almost crying. “Well, since you can’t sneak him out your window, I’d better get down to my room so he can sneak out the door. Tell him not to forget his keys on the counter,” she said, still laughing as she walked down to her bedroom and closed the door.

  When I went in to go let Blaze out, he was laughing, too. I guess I was the only one who failed to see the humor in the situation. Hopefully she just thought we were making out. Right, Brynn, she’s sixteen. She definitely knew. Damn it. Oh well, at least he made it out without her physically seeing him.

  I’m brought back to reality when I hear some clanking in the kitchen and decide to check it out. I grab a sweater, pull it on over my nightie, and walk into the kitchen to find Marie stacking pancakes exceptionally high as she tries to balance them all.

  “What’s this?” I ask, a smile spreading across my face.

  “Trying to reciprocate the birthday pancake, but I think you’re getting too old,” she laughs, trying to stack the pancakes even higher.

  “I didn’t think you’d remember.”

  “Of course I remember!” she says defensively.

  “Here,” I say, grabbing a skewer and sticking it through the center of the pancakes before helping her stack the final few on top.

  “Thanks,” she says, pulling me into a hug. “Happy birthday, sis!”

  “Thanks Marie. This is too much,” I tell her, swelling with gratitude.

  “It’s no big deal,” she says sweetly, pulling the same lighter and candle out of the drawer that I had used only a few weeks ago. She lights the candle and places it on top of the huge stack of pancakes.

  “Make a wish.”

  I close my eyes, trying to think of something I could wish for. I have more than I could have ever dreamt of having this time last year. The only thing I can think to wish for is for Carl to disappear. I shiver, remembering his threats from the hospital. Clearly, he doesn’t know where we live, or he would have made an appearance by now, though. I try and relax so the worry doesn’t show on my face before taking a big breath and blowing out the candle in a single breath.

  “Now listen, I think this is getting a little crazy; there’s no way I can finish this,” I say, staring at the mound of twenty three pancakes piled high. I grab two forks from the drawer and the maple syrup from the fridge. “What do you say, can you help a sister out?” I ask, feeling full from just looking at them.

 
“You bet,” she says, grabbing a fork from my hand.

  We eat as much as we can of the pancakes, but there’s still well over a dozen left when we finally give up. I get ready for work, cleaning up the dishes while Marie showers. I knock on the bathroom door before leaving for work.

  “See you after school,” I holler through the door.

  “Have a good day, and happy birthday!” she hollers back.

  I arrive at work a little earlier than usual and head back to the staff room, walking past Amber and Diane who are brewing up the morning coffee. They mutter a sleepy hello. Clearly they haven’t had their morning cup yet.

  “Happy birthday,” Wren and Stella holler out as I enter the room.

  “Whoa,” I say, startled. The girls are both in their work uniforms, and there’s a birthday cake sitting on the table. It’s absolutely beautiful—white fondant draped elegantly over a round cake, topped with black fondant circles and a big fondant bow on top.

  “How did you know?” I ask, completely surprised. I had never mentioned my birthday to anyone here before.

  “It was on your application,” Stella says, smiling. She crosses the room and pulls me into a huge hug. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

  “Thank you,” I say, tears threatening to spill over. In all my years, I’ve never felt so loved on my birthday. I’ve also never had a real birthday cake. Ma never had the money, and Carl never wanted me to get fat.

  “I’ve gotta get back to work, but have a good day, and take an extra-long break today,” Stella says with a wink. I thank her again.

  “Wow, this is beautiful,” I croon, staring at the beautiful workmanship on the cake.

  “Thanks,” Wren says, “I do them on the side. Always wanted to open my own bakery, but that’s easier said than done in New York.”

  “If it tastes half as good as it looks, Wren, you’ve got my business.”

  “Thanks, maybe someday, right?” she says dreamily.

  “You’ll get there,” I promise her.