by Maggie Marr
Chapter 16
Trick
Sophia’s body was magic. The kind of magic that lit a dark fuse in my soul. A magic that made me feel powerful and invincible and like nothing could touch me. The need to fill that emptiness inside me had been the reason for all the women. There had been so many women. Most of them faceless in my mind now. All of them nameless. A sea of flesh fueled by a cocaine furnace. They were nothing and yet they’d been so necessary at the time. I had used them to try and fill a hole within me that could never be filled. I turned to my side. Sophia slept beside me. Her body naked beneath the sheet. A white outline of her physical perfection.
I’d whetted my appetite with physicality before, when I was using. How long had I been sober now? 2,035 days. Five years and almost seven months since I had irrevocably changed Angie’s life and mine. I turned onto my back and stared at the long thin crack that curved across my ceiling. What the hell was I doing? I barely knew this woman. A trigger for my addiction was sexual anonymity. But Sophia wasn’t a groupie who I could throw out in the morning. She wasn’t a random girl I’d picked up at a premiere or at Hollywood club. This wasn’t a girl I’d ordered from the service that I’d been using deep into my addiction. This girl I knew.
Kind of.
But she would be leaving. She wouldn’t remain at Pawtown forever. I scrubbed my hand over my face. Was that why? Was her disposability, her imminent departure, the very reason I’d brought her to my bed? Was I relying on the fact that soon she would be out of my life the same way I’d used anonymity and sex to try and fill the void in my soul. That big dark sucking hole that would never go away. That shame. That hurt. The fucking piece of me that was missing and that I’d tried to twelve-step my way through.
“Hey.”
I turned my head to her voice. A warm, soft voice. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine. Nameless? No. Faceless? Impossible. Leaving? Yes. But maybe being with her wasn’t a trigger. Maybe I felt safer being with her because I knew she would leave. I knew our time together would have a limit.
“You okay?” she asked.
Those damn brown eyes. Even through the darkness they peered at me, looking into me, as though they could see through me, making me feel open and vulnerable.
“I’m fine.”
Her lips pressed to mine and her hand pressed over my belly and grasped my still-hard cock. I’d taken her over the edge with my mouth and had stopped. She’d drifted to sleep, whether from the aftereffect of an adrenaline rush or the booze I didn’t know. I’d let her go. The moments she dozed meant I could catch myself, get my sanity back and protect my sobriety. Yet here I lay. Still naked in my bed with a woman I’d only known a week while her hand stroked my hard cock. My eyes locked with hers. Heat circled through my belly. And I wasn’t about to get out of this bed now. My mind emptied. All that exploded through me was pure desire. Pure sexual need.
She leaned forward and the sheet slipped down over her body. Her skin glistened in the light of the moon. Her breasts, round and high, each pink nipple begging for my mouth. Her hand stroked up and then down. I rolled to my back and she was on top of me, and those beautiful breasts dangled just above my lips.
I reached up and pressed the palm of my hand flat against her back and pressed her forward. I pulled her tight nipple into my mouth. My teeth scraped over the soft flesh just enough. Just enough to cause a gasp to pass over Sophia’s lips. Just enough for her hips to press forward into my body. Just enough for her hand to clutch my cock tighter. Her head lolled to the side with pleasure. That thick lush waterfall of hair traced over my chest.
Oh fuck yes.
I wrapped my hand into that black hair and flipped her onto her back. In an instant I was above her. How long had it been? How long? My mind numbed to the number. I’d been fucking celibate for so fucking long. My hand slid between her legs and parted her thighs. My finger traced up her pussy. She was wet for me. Wet and swollen and ready.
My lips took her beautiful mouth and her hips rolled up seeking my cock, wanting me to thrust into her. I reached out and yanked open the top drawer of my nightstand. Of course I was fucking prepared. Just because I was celibate didn’t mean I was an idiot.
My hand pulled the foil condom from the drawer. I began to rip it open with my teeth. Sophia’s hips rolled again and she reached up and took the packet from my mouth.
Fuck, my dick couldn’t get any harder. She slid the condom from the wrapper. She slipped from beneath me and was now on her knees in front of me. She leaned forward and pulled my cock into her mouth.
“Fuck.”
White hot heat licked up the backs of my thighs. That fucking mouth. Her fucking mouth slid down my shaft and with a long lick she stroked back up my shaft and sucked the head of my cock. She turned her head and flicked her gaze at me.
Fuck, I could come right now. Heat tore through my balls, but I wanted to be inside her. I wanted to slide my cock deep into her soft folds. Her thick wet walls waited for me. Her lips slipped off my cock with a hard suck and she then placed the condom on the top of my dick. She unrolled it down my shaft with a tight squeeze of her hands.
“You done yet? Because I need to fuck you now.”
Her eyes flashed at me and a smile curled over her lips. She knew. She knew the desire that throbbed through me and she was using it. Controlling me with her sex. And it felt good. It felt good to see her roll back onto that beautiful ass. I spread her legs with my thighs and pressed my elbows to the mattress. I hovered above her. My gaze locked onto that beautiful face.
Her eyes widened and her chin jutted up. The head of my cock pressed slowly into her entrance. So fucking tight. I slowly moved my hips forward, letting her tight little pussy take me.
Another tiny gasp. The crease between her brows tightened. Pain sliced through her eyes.
“Sophia, I’m hurting you.” I pulled back, but her hands clasped my ass. Her nails dug deep into my flesh.
“No. I want this. You feel good.” Her face told a much different story. Again, I pressed forward slowly, ever so slowly. She was tight. So fucking tight. She felt so good around my cock. I caught her eyes and then … oh my fucking God, like a bullet to my fucking brain it hit me.
I stopped moving. I lay completely still.
“You’re a virgin.”
Her eyes widened. She wrapped her legs around my ass to hold me firm against her.
“Fuck me,” she whispered. “I want you to fuck me.”
I fought the urge to move. I tried to remain still. I pulled back but her legs clenched around me. Her hips pressed up and my cock throbbed inside her. How the fuck? What the fuck? Fuck oh fuck. My hips pressed forward.
Blinding light seared through me. My cock pulsed forward and back, forward and back. Heat in my balls slipped through my spine, followed by the flash of light. “Fuck!” A low thick growl escaped me as the come tore through me and exploded into her.
I collapsed. My breathing slowed. My heartbeat stilled.
Fuck. This wasn’t the way a first time should be.
Damn.
What the fuck?
Sophia
“You should have told me.” Trick pressed his fingertip to my nose. He fought to catch his breath and then slid off me. I felt an empty feeling as he pulled out from inside me. He flipped onto his back and took deep breaths. Soon his breathing slowed.
“Why? Why should I have told you? This is me. I wanted the first time to be over and now it is.”
“What the hell, Sophia? I know I’m not the first guy to try and get you into bed.”
Thank God for the darkness. Heat flushed up my neck and flooded my cheeks. A tight feeling curled around my heart and I wanted to yell, maybe even punch him in the nose. “No, definitely not the first guy to try, but you’re the first guy to succeed. And now you’re yelling at me?”
“Not yelling.” He flipped to his side. He slid his fingertips over my forehead. “I just”—he shook his head and closed his eyes—“if I�
�d known”—his gaze met mine. “I would have wanted the first time to be different for you.”
“Different, how?”
A sigh burst over his lips and he rolled onto his back. He pressed his hands to his eyes. “I don’t know. Better? Special? Longer? Maybe after a candlelit dinner and some wine and not half a burger at Big Daddy’s?”
“We tried wine the other night and it didn’t work out.”
“We didn’t try wine. Angie drank too much.” Again with the shake of his head.
“I’m not sure why you’re pissed off.” I sat up and pulled the sheet around me. I reached for my panties and jeans that were somewhere jumbled together on the floor.
“Hey.” Trick’s hand grasped my arm. I turned back. In his eyes there was no anger, there was no irritation, there was this fearfulness. “Come back. Don’t leave.”
My heart clamped tight. I didn’t want to leave, but I felt like I should. That I should go, that staying here in Trick’s bed meant something, something that neither of us wanted. Maybe that’s why this happened tonight. Trick was right—there’d been countless guys who’d tried to get in my pants. Starting with my pervy uncle when I was twelve. But no one had. So why tonight of all nights?
Because this was safe.
There was no way Trick was leaving Pawtown, and there was no way I was coming back here. I had a couple months of filming and then I’d be gone. The fire between us was immediate and intense. And there was this kindness in Trick. This wounded kindness that I trusted. That I understood. That I liked and could let myself become close to. For a while. Not for forever, but just for a while. I turned back to Trick. He put his arms around me.
“Sophia,” his mouth was pressed against my hair. His arms were tight around me. “I would have made this better for you. I haven’t—” He paused and his chest hitched with a long full breath—“I … what the hell. I haven’t had sex in over five years.”
A laugh burst from my lips.
He pulled his eyebrows together. “That’s funny? You think me not having sex in five years is funny?”
“About as funny as me not telling you that I’m a virgin.”
His eyebrow pulled upward while what he’d shared and what I’d said circled through his mind.
“So basically we’re both fucked up.”
“I guess so.” I said. “But my fucked up kind of likes yours. This was what I wanted, Trick. Okay? I didn’t want you to freak out. I didn’t want candlelight and wine. I wanted this now, tonight, and so I did it. Now we’re done.”
“Oh, no.” Trick said. His hand slipped over my belly and stopped at the edge of my curls. “We are definitely not done.” He pressed his lips to my cheek.
“Oh really?”
“Really.” His voice held a hint of teasing. His lips pressed to the spot on my neck beneath my ear and my nipples tightened. Damn, that spot was always the best spot. His fingertips slipped between my folds, putting the tiniest pressure against my clit.
“It’s been five years and I was a little out of practice. But now?” He shifted his body and pulled his lips across my chest. “Now, I’m going to show you exactly what a first time should feel like.”
He slipped my nipple into his mouth and my hips arched against his hand. Oh yes, most definitely yes, I was ready for a second time with Trick Williams.
Chapter 17
Sophia
“Girl, you are not fooling a damn soul, and especially not me.” I turned away from the mirror in the volunteer dorm bathroom. Choo leaned against the door with a giant smile on his face. I twisted the cord around the handle of my blow dryer and tucked it into my toiletries bag. I pulled out a brush and pulled it through my hair.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I said, but the coy curve of my mouth told another story.
“Mmmhmm.” Choo walked in and sat down on the wooden bench against the bathroom wall. “Sneaking into this bungalow at 5 a.m. Little Miss Thing acting like you haven’t been out all night in some heartthrob’s bed.” Choo scrolled on his phone. “Even Lisel knew where you were.” Choo glanced into the mirror. “She said to tell you bye.”
I rolled my eyes and looked up at the light above the mirror. “If she did that’s the most she’s said to me in seven days.”
“She’s a German introvert. What did you expect—small talk on fashion and makeup tips?”
“Good morning would have been nice.”
“She grunted at me this morning, and even told me good-bye. Of course that was just before you drug your tomcattin’ tail into this house.”
“Why aren’t you staying at a hotel?”
“Hotel? Puh-lease! These digs are better than a hotel. However, I am moving over to Angie’s place today since the crew will be staying here for the next eight weeks. I would have stayed there last night, but I think Angie also had company.”
I stopped pulling the brush through my wet hair. “Wait? The crew for the show is taking over the volunteer bungalow? Where am I supposed to stay?”
Choo looked up from the screen of his phone. “I thought you squared that away last night.”
I shook my head. “If something did happen between me and Trick it was just one night, okay? It’s not like this is a thing.”
“One night could turn into multiple nights while you’re stuck in Pawtown.”
I flicked my gaze toward Choo.
“Sweetheart, I’m not judging. Okay? Two consenting adults can do whatever they want. Just do be aware that you’ve got a reality show preparing to film, and everything you do will be used against you.”
My stomach fell with Choo’s words. He was right. Charlie Slam was notorious for getting the dirt on all his reality stars and using every last bit of grime. His formula worked. Every show he’d been a part of was a huge breakout hit. The last one nearly got his entire crew killed, but they’d won both an Emmy and off-the-chart ratings.
“I can’t stay here. Maybe Angie?”
“As I said, I‘m using her spare room. I’m staying with her until I go back to L.A. next week. Just ask Trick. Maybe he can help you,” he said with a knowing smirk on his face.
I didn’t want to ask Trick for any favors. Last night was good and I’d be okay if we hooked up again, but I didn’t want to owe him anything, nor did I want to shack up at his house.
“Asking Trick if I can stay at his place after sleeping with him once is a little weird.”
“Ha! I knew you two did the nasty. Was it good? Does the man have moves? I’m telling you I’ve had a crush on Trick Williams since I was nine years old.”
“Since you were nine?”
“I was very mature at nine. Okay?”
“I’m not telling you a thing. But you need to stay with Trick and I need to stay with Angie.”
“Mmmhmm. You’d be better off in the red-collar kennel.”
“What’s that mean?”
“I’m just saying after last night and your exit at Big Daddy’s with Trick, aka Angie’s baby brother, I’m pretty sure you’re not on Angie’s good list.”
“Like you said, we’re adults. Why would Angie be angry at me?”
“Doll, do you not know the story? The whole story? About Trick’s addictions and the accident, and why they all came out here to Pawtown in the first place?”
“I know about the accident and I assumed he had a drug problem when it happened.”
“Plus the women.”
My throat choked and an oily sick feeling closed around my gut.
“The women?”
“Mmhmm.” Choo looked at his phone and started reading. He mumbled out his words, his mind focused on the message on his phone. “Trick was a sex addict, Baby. Preferably models. Supermodels. With dark hair.”
Bile climbed up the back of my throat. My nostrils flared and my stomach turned. I felt sick. I pulled the brush from my thick black hair and stared at my reflection in the mirror. So I was a type? I was a falling-off-the-wagon-oops-I-made-a-huge-mistake type?
“Sure. I’m good.” I dropped my brush into my makeup bag. I’d gotten what I’d wanted from Trick and he must have gotten what he needed from me. No problems there. I was all good. Now it was time to film a reality show, get my Q score back up, and get the hell away from Pawtown.
Trick
“Where is the dog she almost killed?”
I cringed with Charlie’s words. The room was filled with Pawtown staff and Charlie’s crew for the show. Every pair of eyes landed on Sophia, who sat at a table. Her lips thinned. I’d tried to catch her eye for a while now, ever since Charlie began the meeting nearly two hours before. He’d run through what our days would be like with him and his crew at Pawtown. I scrubbed my hands over my head. Was he nearly done? Damn, this was worse than I thought. Charlie Slam seemed to love the sound of his own voice.
Angie addressed the question. “Drummond’s cast comes off today and he has a potential forever home family coming to see him this weekend. He’s in the rehab kennel.” Angie then lifted her coffee cup and took a long drink. She looked like I felt. Bored and unimpressed. The rest of the staff seemed excited by the idea of being in the Pawtown reality series. Well, everyone but Luis. He stood in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest glowering at anyone who looked his way.
“Great! Thanks, Angie. That’s our first location. Our first shot. We want to see Sophia reunited with Drummond.” Charlie’s head turned toward Sophia. “If you can try to appear repentant it will help not only you, but also the storyline for the show. Am I clear?”
Sophia nodded, but she didn’t smile. No, this didn’t look like a happy match. Charlie Slam ordering Sophia around in a place where she was still very much afraid of the inhabitants? Kerosene and a book of lit matches couldn’t be any more dangerous.