Day

by Florence, Jessica

  “We will just have to kick their asses, so they know the deal.” I patted him on the back and as soon as the door opened, I twirled my way to the room that housed our little punk techie.

  AJ was doing what he did best as we opened the door.

  “Oh man, I love Tetris!” I giggled and walked over to the seat next to him. He looked a little bashful as I leaned in close. Aw, poor little kid, he didn’t know what to do when a pretty pair of lips and tits got close. Sweet boy.

  “Okay. Enough playing. Give me the goods! I love new toys!” I laughed, interrupting his new fallen shape’s destination. He exited out of the game and reached over to a small box.

  “Taking into account your last job and all, I thought you’d like this.” I watched with complete and utter attention as he pulled the lid back and revealed a pretty necklace.

  “Ohh—gimme!” I reached for it, and he helped me get it on. The charm was the symbol that was in the hallway, I assumed it was their Hero Society logo, so I felt honored to wear it.

  “Give me all the deets,” I demanded, and AJ went about telling me how the necklace worked. The charm was probably about three inches in diameter. There was a screen on the back, and it did everything I would need. I would get alerts when something was happening near me, calls could be made and taken, and it was waterproof! I loved it. He showed me everyone else’s and I couldn’t wait till they checked them out: watches for the boys and another necklace for Rose.

  Heroes for the win on gadgets!

  I gave both the boys a hug before leaving to get ready for work. I’d see everyone later, and as our maybe last normal night for a while, I was going to make sure they had a blast!

  Chapter Eighteen

  Leon

  “Okay, I’ve got a question.” I raised my drink at Phillip, who was sitting on the other side of Draco at the bar where the three of us sat. AJ said he had work to do, so he passed on going out. Meh. To each his own, I guess.

  My eyes peered back to Lilith, dancing in her cage with Rose in there with her.

  “If you can see the future, how come you haven’t married your soul mate already? I bet you know who she is.” He was already rich, and powerful, but he didn’t have a woman.

  Phillip groaned, and his head fell to the bar for a few seconds.

  “It’s really hard. This gift is so tedious. I know who she is, but everything has to play out how it’s supposed to and when it’s supposed to. Rushing the order of everything could cause a different outcome.” I guess I got that, but I was far too impatient a man to do that, though.

  “Think of it like a giant puzzle piece. I can see the bigger picture, but I have to put the pieces in one by one. There’s no way to know what matches until you get a few to click together and go from there. It’s not like I have the cover of the puzzle box to guide me, either. Just percents and possibilities.”

  “That’s depressing,” I muttered, and truthfully it was. I would hate knowing that every single move could change everything. He had to walk a fine line in the hopes of everything working out for the best.

  “But she is perfect for me.” He grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

  I bet she was. My eyes glanced back to the girls in the cage.

  “So. When are you finally going to accept your marriage?” Phillip looked at me and gave me a knowing look. Lilith said some things earlier that made me remember a bit of our night together. I still didn’t have the whole picture, but I knew enough. I wanted to marry Lilith. She was crazy, beautiful inside and out, and I had to have her that night. She had issues, that’s for damn sure. But I had them too.

  I took a deep breath but didn’t answer. Things had changed, and I was finding myself more and more drawn to her since I stopped fighting being around her.

  Draco huffed, and for some reason that made me smile.

  “Your mortal life is short; live every moment you can, even if in the end it didn’t last long.” He gave me a half-smile before standing up and moving toward the cage. Both Phillip and I watched as he opened the door and slowly helped Rose out of it before starting to dance with her.

  “I love seeing her so happy,” Phillip commented as we both watched them.

  “They do seem it.”

  “Yeah. They’ve got a long road ahead of them, like all of us. I’m trying so hard to make sure everything happens so they will have the future they want together.” His voice was harder. Phillip lived to make his sister happy; she was everything to him. Anyone with eyes could see it.

  “You’ve got happiness in your future too you know.” He piped up, and my eyes turned to him only to see him staring at Lilith.

  I didn’t know what to say to that. For the first time in years, happiness didn’t seem like an unattainable concept anymore. The music changed to a song from the eighties, and Lilith got all excited. She jumped up and down then started swaying to the beat with a big grin on her face. She knew how to enjoy her life, with all the small moments it provided.

  “Thanks, man,” I told him before standing. I used to be someone of action, not afraid to take big leaps of faith and enjoy my life. I was a boy then, and now the man had to step up to the plate. My body was moving toward her with one purpose. Devour.

  My eyes were on Lilith as she gripped the bars, gaze on me as she moved her body like a snake. Her face pressed against the cage, and her tongue crept out from her lips to lick the metal, giving me all kinds of thoughts of her lips licking something else that was hard as steel. She watched me with pure excitement in her eyes, knowing I was coming for her. Her siren song had finally captured this sailor.

  A smirk graced my face as I did what I had wanted to do weeks ago.

  My hands gripped the bars with ease, and slowly pulled them back so I wouldn’t break them in half. Once they were opened enough for her to fit through, my right hand left the cage and went behind her head to grasp onto her neck, moving her forward to my waiting lips.

  Her face lit up, and then I wasn’t the only one rushing for this kiss to happen. Her body surged to mine, and our lips crashed, her grin contagious as our lips danced in a mixture of tongue, teeth, and groans.

  Her arms wrapped themselves around my neck, and her legs did the same around my hips. She was heaven against my body.

  We were both lit on fire in our need for each other’s taste. She pushed, then pulled me back in, like the ocean I loved.

  “I know we’re married, and this is going to sound so fucking chick-like. But I wanna date you. I wanna get to know you, in and out,” I said through our lips colliding back and forth.

  “Finally letting me into your pants?” she giggled, and I moved from kissing her lips to moving down her neck, licking the glistening sweat she was coated in mixed with some sugary, fruity scent she had on her.

  The smell and taste together were purely intoxicating to me.

  “I’d fuck you against this cage right now if there wasn’t anyone around.” I ground my cock against her to emphasize my words.

  She moaned, and I felt my whole body shiver.

  My hands gripped her ass, pressing her into me.

  Then some asshole’s large body collided against mine.

  I protected Lilith’s body from banging into the metal cage, but I heard her grunt as we both fell against it.

  My head left her neck and turned to look at the person who fell into me, ruining our moment.

  Apparently a bar fight had broken out while Lilith and I were making out in our own world.

  “Shit,” I cursed and set her down gently.

  Five men were going at it, I looked at Draco and saw he had pulled Rose behind him. Phillip had worked his way through the crowd that was trying to get away from the fray, clearly wanting to make sure Rose was safe.

  I wondered briefly if we should stop it or let the bouncers that were trying to break apart the men do their job.

  Phillip smiled and looked at me before nodding toward the group. He whispered in Draco’s ear, and I saw Draco roll his eyes.


  Guess we were assisting with the fight.

  “Go get ’em, tiger.” Lilith pressed her lips to my chest before turning me and smacking me on the ass. She could probably take these guys better than I could, but I guess today was Draco’s and my day to be the Good Samaritans.

  It took us a matter of minutes and one hard punch to the jaw to get everyone separated. Afterward we were rewarded by the owner of the bar with more free drinks and ice for my jaw. If Draco had been hit at all, he had healed already, like it never happened. I’d be sporting a sore jaw for a few days now.

  “To getting all black and blue then coming back fighting the next day!”Lilith raised a glass of water to us, and the rest of my crew cheered, but then déjà vu hit me with her words. She took a sip of her glass and looked right at me.

  As soon as we left this club, I would be making things right between us—starting with getting to know each other properly, the way a husband and wife should.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lilith

  Phillip had been right about the chaos that ensued after that first bank robbery save. I didn’t expect things to happen that night, though. Right after I made my toast, we heard sirens blaring outside the club.

  So instead of screwing Leon seven ways to Sunday, we all left to see what was happening.

  An organized robbery of a fancy jewelry shop was happening. Only two cops were there at the moment we arrived. Rose convinced the cops that they wanted us to help, and Phillip gave us the percentages of which attempt would work the best without any casualties.

  Draco, Leon, and I went to the roof, and after two kicks from our strong man, the floor beneath us gave way. The two professionals landed with grace. Leon, not so much. He would definitely have a bruise on his back from that one.

  It took a few rolls and defensive maneuvers, but we managed to get the three of four men that were getting ready to head out the back and escape. The fourth man Phillip took down in the alley. He was their lookout, who thought he was in the clear to run away after his friends were captured. Phillip, of course, knew where he was hiding, so that was easy. No one besides those cops knew it was us that helped save the day, but that wouldn’t last for long. Soon, someone was going to out the Society.

  It had been four days since that night, and I had yet to get any alone time with Leon outside of helping train him in fighting. Draco was the main teacher, but I assisted when I could or thought my expertise was needed. I also helped take over Rose’s training too. She had gotten pretty good and could hold her own if she got in a tight spot against two people, but that was her limit, for sure.

  Phillip was running around like a madman trying to find Raven, keep his business empire flowing flawlessly, and keeping track of some of the crimes that we needed to make a priority.

  AJ had been so busy as well. I’d sent a text to Mina that she was invited to help, but all she said was that she would think on it. For the past couple of years she had been trying to find someone, and the chase had been consuming her. I offered my help, but she said she needed to do it alone, so I let it be. She would come to me when she wanted to. AJ was working hard, and for now that was good.

  It was almost sunrise, and I was feeling needy. My body was limber from dancing at the club last night, and I needed Leon.

  He hadn’t given me a key or anything to his apartment above the restaurant, but I decided to take my chances and break in anyway.

  His space was completely quiet, except for the subtle sounds of waves coming from where I figured his bedroom was. Sounded like he had a sound machine or something on.

  I slipped off my shoes by the door and quietly sauntered to his room.

  There he was, sprawled out on his back, asleep. His bare chest was slightly covered by the blanket, so I had no idea just how bare he was under there. He’d been doing so much lately, and while I knew he would probably wake up from someone climbing into his bed, it didn’t stop me from doing it.

  Still in my clothes, I crawled in the bed and touched his arm.

  He startled awake, but I shushed him, and once his eyes focused on mine, he relaxed.

  “You okay?” he asked in a sleepy voice that was adorable.

  I smiled and laid my head down against his chest.

  “Yep. Just missed you.”

  Ever since our kiss the other night and his declaration of wanting to date me, I hadn’t been holding back anymore. If I wanted to kiss him, I would. He’d been okay with everything so far and seemed happy with it, even. I still had a sense of insecurity about our marriage—we had two weeks left before technically he could get the marriage annulled, and I didn’t know if he still wanted to or not. It left me in a weird place. I was trying to help him accept himself and the life he was made for, but I was also trying to show him my place in that life by his side.

  I thought he’d drifted back off to sleep, but then his arm wrapped around my shoulder softly.

  “Tell me something about you,” he grumbled. I smiled and thought about what all I could tell him. Where to start?

  “My favorite food is pizza.” I closed my eyes and listened to his heart beat amongst the waves of the little machine next to the bed already echoing in the room.

  “I love burgers.”

  He was opening up to me, and I cherished the moment.

  We traded simple, get-to-know-you facts for another fifteen minutes before the harder topics started to arise. But I did learn good stuff about him: he loved back rubs, swimming naked, and a few other delightful pastimes.

  “I’ve never let myself get over that night I hurt my friend Charles. Truthfully, I’ve been punishing myself ever since.” I lifted myself up to look into his eyes. He’d told me the story of when he came into his powers and what happened. It still haunted him, even with his new acceptance that he can’t live that way forever.

  “Have you talked to him lately?” I asked as I set my chin on my hand on his chest. His eyes had remained closed the whole time we had talked, and they hadn’t opened yet. I wanted to see them. I wanted that insight into his soul.

  “I called yesterday. He’s busy doing something. I don’t know. He got a job a few years back with a tech company. He’s a tech geek, but not like AJ. He can build stuff.” He laughed to himself, then those eyelids pulled back, giving me what I wanted from him.

  Those beautiful brown eyes stared back at me, and I saw he wasn’t in pain right now, which was a relief.

  “He would love our communications gear. Except he would probably take it apart, then rebuild something totally different.” He grinned, and it was sweet the love he had for his relationship with Charles.

  “We should go hang out with him soon. Just because you’ve found this new group doesn’t mean you don’t have time for him.”

  He nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah. I’ll call him in the morning.”

  There was silence between us. I knew he was thinking something, but couldn’t tell what. So I asked.

  “Whatcha thinking, Star?”

  “I wanna know more of your story. But I don’t wanna open a box that can’t be closed once opened.” He was nervous asking, and out of everyone in the world who asked about my past, my husband should be the one that knew my story. But in light of recent freak-outs, I didn’t want to go into everything. I wasn’t ashamed one bit—I was who I was because of my deck of cards. But I wasn’t sure what Leon would think about the worst of my story. Things between us were new and still very rocky.

  “I made my first kill when I was fourteen. No one would suspect a young girl to be a weapon. I wish I could say I had remorse for it, but I hadn’t known anything different. I didn’t develop a conscience until I was twenty-one. It finally came, and then after a few more years of being forced to do things I didn’t want to, I fought back. I earned my freedom, and I’ve been enjoying it ever since.” I felt the demons in my head caress the wall I put up, trying to seduce me to let them out. But I couldn’t let that happen right now.

&
nbsp; He was quiet, likely digesting what I said.

  “Are you afraid of me?”

  His eyes softened.

  “No. You’re still crazy as shit, but I’m starting to understand why I like you.” He was honest, and that was something I liked about him. I valued honesty very much.

  “Yeah?” I may have been fishing for more information on where we stood.

  He rolled his eyes, obviously seeing through my attempt to get him to go into his statement more.

  Chapter Twenty

  Leon

  Her big, brown eyes were watching me, waiting for me to talk about my feelings for her.

  A grin grew on her face as a smirk appeared on mine. I’d been out of practice for a while, but I managed to roll us over smoothly and position myself above her.

  “You’re smart, always analyzing your surroundings.” I leaned down to kiss her forehead.

  “You’re determined.”

  “You mean crazy.” She giggled as I kissed her nose.

  That she was, but after everything she had been through, it was bound to change something in her head. That was something I admired about her, though. She was strong enough to keep going and live her life every day. She went after what she wanted, and at first that scared me. Now I found that I rather liked that a lot.

  “I’m starting to like your crazy. A lot.” I pressed my hardening cock against her leg to give her an idea just how hot I found her. Her eyes lit up with desire, and I loved that look on her.

  “You’re a fantastic dancer.” I kissed her lips quickly then pulled back.

  She danced when there was music blaring and when there wasn’t any playing. It took some getting used to, but honestly I’d been starting to think it was cute. Guessing the song she was thinking of was pointless—I’d tried once and was way off.

  She moved her hips up toward me and then around, proving how those dance moves would be useful later.

  “Despite our start of me hiding from you, you’ve never given up on me.” My hand moved down to caress her body over her short top. She wasn’t wearing a bra underneath, I discovered, my fingers finding her barbell on her taut nipple.