Hot Redemption

by K. D. Penn

  “No. I’d never joke with you like that, Nixie baby.” He pressed his lips against my forehead and inhaled my scent. “When I was a kid, around five years old, I was just messing around by myself. I yanked the tubes out just to see what would happen. The stuff those robots use sprayed into my eyes. I mean I think that stuff is full of lye or ammonia, flesh-burning chemicals. Either way, it burned the shit out of my cornea. I sat in the hospital for days filled with hope that I’d get to see soon. I was too young and figured everything just worked out always, until the doctor said I’d be permanently blind.”

  Sympathy filled me as I imagined the young Epic waiting for news about his damaged eyes. “How long were you blind?”

  “A year. During that whole time my parents sued the company that made the robots. I guess the case had a human judge, because he ruled against the company, forced them to pay for surgery to give me artificial eyes, and hand over a decent-sized settlement that lasted my family for a several years.”

  “Do you still remember what it was like to be blind?”

  Minutes of quiet passed and then he finally answered, “Yes. I’m lucky my parents got on the case because I don’t think I would have did all the things I’ve done in my life without these eyes. Although, my mom did teach me how to play guitar the whole time I was blind, to lift my spirits.”

  “That’s right. You said you performed in a band.”

  “Chameleon.”

  “The Chameleon?” I climbed out of his arms and sat up. “Holy Duchess of Light. They did have another lead singer back in the day, but his bald head was covered in tattoos.”

  Epic brightened his eyes, illuminating the room. He parted his thick hair. Electric ink glittered in the light. “The tats are still there. I let my hair grow out for my mom when I stopped performing with the band to take care of her. She loved my hair.”

  He pulled me back down to him, his eyes dimmed back to normal. Darkness blanketed us in an intimate cocoon. I ran my fingers through his hair, relishing its softness. “I kind of like your hair too. So what happened to your parents? They sound like they were really caring people.”

  “They’re both dead.”

  “I’m so sorry, Epic.”

  “No. Don’t be.” He brushed his fingertips against my skin. Shivers branched out from every place he touched. “My mother died from a rare blood disease. It didn’t happen all of a sudden. We all had time to say goodbye to her. My dad died soon after, from . . . I guess you can say ‘a broken heart.’”

  “That’s so sad.”

  “It is, but I bet they’re together now. They loved each other so much.” He sighed. “I remember watching them and hoping that I’d have just some of what they had, just a lady that loved me half as much as Mom loved Dad.”

  I bit my lip, unprepared to push further on the topic. He, in not so many words, told me what he really wanted from me, and I couldn’t be that for him. Teddy had burned, beaten, and tortured all that kind of love out of my heart.

  “Mom would have loved you if she had met you,” he said.

  “I really doubt she would have been all that thrilled to have an ex-stripper con-artist slash robber as a daughter-in-law.”

  “You forget that she’s my mom. Does it look like Shade, Toy, and I were raised by some virginal, pure goddess?”

  I snorted.

  “Mom had a rough life. She did a lot of things she didn’t want to just to survive, just to put food on our table. She had plenty of secrets in her past that she never wanted to discuss, and I never pushed it.” He gazed into my eyes. “You remind me of her so much. She had this hard, prickly outer shell around her that was almost impossible to break through, but when you did, love poured out to reward you. She was also there when you needed her, like what you did for me in my darkest times.

  “It was only business.” I averted my eyes.

  “Nevertheless, she always said I needed a no-nonsense woman to keep my attention.”

  Silence thickened the air. I was glad he’d left it alone. I just wasn’t that woman. I wasn’t like his mom. I was just Phoenix—disappointed daughter, runaway, stripper, murderer, whale fisher, and thief. I didn’t do relationships anymore. I did things for myself and no one else. Sure I’d only become selfish out of necessity—because I’d discovered that if I didn’t take care of myself, then no one else would—but I was selfish all the same.

  The one person that had claimed to love and want to take care of me had left me badly burned . . . quite literally. I could only truly trust myself. No one would be getting past my hard, prickly outer shell—as Epic had described it. Then why am I laying in this bed with him? Thoughts of Epic and me swirled around in my head. I bit my bottom lip until a tiny dot of blood landed on my tongue.

  “Why do you want me so much? You hardly know me.” I really hated how vulnerable and small my voice sounded.

  “Besides everything that I’ve already said? In the end, there’s just something about you and—I guess the heart wants what the heart wants. There’s no point in arguing with it.” He pulled me closer and nuzzled my neck. I could feel his smile against my suddenly overheated skin. “Why do you ask, Nixie baby? You’re not thinking about leaving this bed, are you? Because I’m not letting you go.”

  A grin stretched across my face and I hated myself for loving his possessiveness of me. “I don’t know why I asked. I guess I was just wondering.”

  Minutes of quiet flew by with neither of us needing to say another word as we lay in each other’s arms. Epic’s breathing started to even out again, letting me know he was falling back asleep. But something nagged in the back of my mind and it wouldn’t allow me peace enough to join Epic in slumber.

  “Epic?” I said his name again as I ran my hands through his silky hair. I think if he was a cat, he would have purred.

  “Yeah, Nixie baby?”

  “Nothing, never mind.” God, why am I acting like a lovesick teenager in the darkness? I wasn’t one to get tongue tied and to seek comfort in any way—especially in a man’s arms. Yet here I am.

  “Are we going to stay up all night and have one of those talks? You know the ones you always see in movies and shit—about all of our feelings and rainbows and bunnies?” Epic chuckled before nipping at the skin just below my ear. I shivered.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Yeah, okay. Something is going on in that sexy head of yours.” Epic propped himself up on his elbow and gazed down at me, his eyes illuminated in the dark. “What did he do to you? Besides torture you? Not that that isn’t enough—it’s just—well, it seems like more somehow.”

  “He broke me,” I whispered.

  Epic ran a finger down the side of my face. “No Nixie baby, he hurt you, but you’re too strong to be broken. No one could ever break you.”

  “You’re wrong.” Silent tears spilled down my cheeks. “I’ll never be able to trust a man again. Not the way I want anyway. And love, I’ll never find the kind of love I want. He broke that part of me too. Sure, I survived, but he stole something—I’m not even sure what—but it’s gone for good.” I took in huge breath and exhaled, trying to calm myself.

  “No, I don’t believe that,” Epic murmured. “You wouldn’t be here right now if that was all true.”

  “You don’t know that. I don’t even know why I’m here.”

  He left a trail of soft, wet kisses across my cheek. “You can trust me. Tell me what I need to do to prove it to you. I’ll do anything. I’ll be your anything. Just tell me what to do and I’ll spend the rest of my life giving you a better life.”

  “I-I don’t know.” Maybe he was right. Would I even still be capable of wanting those things if I was completely broken? I just wasn’t sure anymore. “I wish I could—I want to trust you, but I—”

  “You can.” Epic sat up and pulled a thin metal chain from around his neck. On it was what appea
red to be a small charm that formed into a heart. I’d asked him earlier if he had a picture in it and he said that he didn’t. He gently slipped the chain over my head.

  “This is beautiful. What is it?” I guess he hadn’t lied about the picture; otherwise he wouldn’t be giving it to me. I inspected the charm in the dim lighting that spilled through the windows from the moons.

  Carved letters etched into the back of it and spelled out his name. I ran my fingers over it. A buzzing noise emitted from the locket before the heart popped open and light poured out of it. An illuminated screen rose up in front of us. A bright green line horizontally traveled across the screen in a pattern of waves and beeps. Colored dots sat on the side. Some of the labels said mitral valve, tricuspid valve, aortic valve, pulmonary valve, defibrillator, and other words I didn’t understand.

  Is this a heart key?

  I’d heard about the technology, but I’d never actually seen one and barely knew much about it. A heart key was used to upload all information about a person’s heart into a special piece of equipment that doctors used to operate with nanotechnology. It meant that Epic had some kind of heart condition. If something went wrong and he didn’t have the key to give to doctors, it spelled almost certain death.

  Or maybe this is something else.

  “Press the button that says pulmonary valve,” Epic said.

  I raised my hand and touched the thin air near the section. It warmed my fingertips. The screen shifted to an all-black image. A reddish-orange, oval-shaped image compressed and relaxed over and over in a matter of seconds, never stopping.

  “This is my heart.” He pointed to the center of the image. “It’s hard to tell since my heart isn’t next to a normal one, but my pulmonary valve is smaller than the average human’s. I used to have lots of heart attacks as a kid.” A chuckle escaped his lips. “I guess I really gave my parents a hard time during my childhood. Either we were in the hospital for my eyes or we returned for my heart.”

  “So this is like a heart monitor for you?” My own heart pounded.

  He put it around my neck? Why?

  “Monitoring my heart is one of its duties. It does a lot of things, but most importantly—if I have a heart attack . . .” He waved his hand around the screen. The original view returned. He pointed to the bottom where it showed an image of a yellow key. “If I get chest pains or any other indicator of an oncoming heart attack, then I press this key and it does its magic.”

  I tried to lift it back over my head to give it to him.

  “No.” He formed his lips into a straight line. “You keep it. I love the idea of you wearing the key to my heart.”

  “What?” My mouth dropped open with shock. “No, no, no, no—No! I can’t—No!”

  Is he completely insane?

  “You now hold my heart in your hands—almost literally.”

  “You’re crazy—fucking insane. I’m holding your life in my hands. Do you really get that? You just gave me the power over your life and you practically just met me.” I licked my lips nervously. “I can’t.”

  Epic grinned. “Aw, Nixie baby, does that mean you care? It’s just a valve thing—nothing serious. I haven’t had to use that thing for almost ten years now.”

  I stared up at Epic’s expectant face. Why had he given me the key? Why did he want me? Does it really matter? He just gave himself to me. I literally owned him. Something inside of me broke. I mean—fuck—the man just gave me a literal key to his heart.

  “Kiss me,” I demanded hoarsely.

  Without hesitation, Epic complied. His lips came down almost brutally on top of mine and his tongue pushed into my mouth, completely dominating me. And I let him. I let him take control as he tore my tiny shorts and tank from my body. I spread my legs open wide, moist and so ready for him.

  “I can never get enough of you.” He dipped his fingers into my wet pussy and groaned.

  A blistering need set my whole body on fire. “Stop talking and fuck me.”

  He pushed inside of me roughly, with no mercy, and I delighted in the feel of his hard cock. There was some kind of weird dynamic, one that my Epic-befuddled brain was hard pressed to sort out at the moment. And although he ruled over me with that huge body wrapped in muscle and power, I still felt in control. A slapping sound ensued, and his grunts echoed my cries of bliss.

  I’d never felt anything like it before.

  Epic rolled me over. I rode him at my own pace, rolling my hips ruthlessly and sliding up and down on him as he cupped my breasts and pinched my swollen nipples. My pussy clamped on to him, so hot and soaking with desire. I stared into his lust-filled eyes as he watched me bring us both pleasure. He mumbled incoherent and yet sweet-sounding gibberish that had my heart swelling inside my chest even as I rocked my way toward my release.

  Are we making love? Is that what we’re doing? Am I falling for him? Questions swirled around in my brain that I couldn’t answer, so instead of pondering them anymore, I threw my head back and screamed. My orgasm spread through my body like wild fire. My vision darkened around the edges.

  The next thing I knew Epic flipped me over onto my back. I shrieked in surprise.

  “Fuck. I’m almost there.” He yanked his cock out and fisted the tip. “I need to paint you with me.”

  Inch by inch, I dragged my tongue along the bottom of my lip, knowing that he was on the edge of pleasure and insanity. “You want to come all over me, baby?”

  He trembled above me. His arm shook as he tried with all his might not to move his hand over the tip of his dick and come. “F-fuck yeah. Can I?”

  “Beg me.”

  “Please.” His body quaked for a second, but he gained control of himself. “Please Nixie baby. Please!”

  I grinned. “Come on me, baby. Do it now.”

  White-hot liquid burst out of his throbbing head and landed all over my face and breasts. Normally I would’ve found it insulting, but the way he painted me with his pleasure felt right somehow. He was claiming me, and I was letting him. I slid my hands over my body and rubbed it in like lotion.

  “Fuck, that’s hot.” He groaned as his gaze followed my every movement. He snapped picture after picture. Light flashed so much around me I thought I would turn blind.

  “Enough, Epic.”

  “Sorry. I just don’t ever want to forget this moment. When I’m at my worst, I’ll pull these images out of my head and think of you.”

  I lifted a finger to my lips and tasted his sweet release. “Mmmm . . . you taste good.” I knew my smile was anything but demure. “I think I need a shower now.”

  Epic grinned. “No, we need a shower now. I’m going to clean you all up, just to do it all over again.”

  “How can you already be ready again?”

  “Because that’s what you do to me, Nixie baby.”

  I bit my cheek and suppressed my smile. “I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow, am I?”

  “I don’t think either of us will.” Epic scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder, heading toward the shower.

  We made love in the shower for so long and so loud that Toy stomped in and demanded we shut up—but of course we didn’t. And Epic wasn’t satisfied until we both collapsed, completely spent, just as morning light began to spill through his bedroom window, replacing the moons’ shadows with the illumination of new beginnings.

  CHAPTER 15

  Epic

  After the breakthrough between Nix and me last night, this morning I woke up, got a little crazy, and splurged by buying us both matching aerial scooters. A fire pattern covered hers. Black guitars decorated mine. Shade would trip if he knew. Luckily, he’d been too busy with the kids, the women that Ain had brought over, and the orders I gave him for the hit.

  Nix and I rode the scooters to Dynamics. I’d made sure we took the long way so the whole path was clear of o
ther drivers. Ain called earlier and told me that he got Nix an audition with the head managers. I was supposed to start work as a bouncer that night, but I decided to come early and make sure those managers kept their filthy hands to the side when Nix began to rock those hips.

  We flew away from the city. Multi-colored glass towers shifted to scattered towns with hills of thick grass and machine-operated farms that sprayed pink liquid over black soil. The trail I guided us on was called a Free Path. Like most planets in the galaxy, areas with large poles that bore a yellow flag symbolized that all aerials could rush through without following the usual highway laws. Free Paths existed outside of major cities and over oceans and deserted areas.

  “Damn the Duchess! This thing moves!” Nix’s silk dress wavered in the breeze.

  Her midnight-black stands danced in the air as she sped past me. Violet shades wrapped around her face. She’d refused to wear the helmet I bought her. Not that a helmet could save her from a hundred-foot fall, but it would have made me less jittery. She had her back exposed today. The dress tied around her and exposed the huge Phoenix as it flew out of the flames. For a few seconds I imagined the Phoenix flew to me.

  “I just have to test this baby out.” Her scooter exploded with speed. She zipped by. A line of smoke trailed behind her.

  I put my black sunglasses on and yanked the dial back on my scooter. Red lights glowed on the dashboard as I increased the speed to catch up with her. “You promised, Nix!”

  “Going seventy miles per hour sucks!”

  A gust of wind blew past me. My shirt and jeans rippled. “A hundred fifty miles per hour is deadly. Slow the fuck down!”

  I’m sure she groaned, but I couldn’t hear her. Her scooter rang out several beeps. The yellow lights at the back of her vehicle flashed to signal to the riders behind that she would be stopping. She slowed down and I adjusted my speed with her. She was lucky this was the free path where no trafficbots monitored the area or she would have been captured, ticketed, and maybe even had her vehicle towed away.