“That still doesn’t explain—”
“Why I lied to Lex. I’m getting to that. You need to understand, King. I’m not doing too well at the moment, and I just…I can’t deal with my family and try to pull my shit together. My home is a crime scene; I have no place to go right now; and I would rather have you hating me than go home to Mama and Daddy. That would not be a good idea since they’re like sharks sensing blood in the water, okay? They won’t stop until they get answers, and I’d crack eventually. If I stay with you, at least I wouldn’t have to fear that my brother would find out about Jon and go after him. Please.”
That’s like the third or fourth time I’ve begged him for his understanding and the words, though heartfelt, leave a bad taste in my mouth. I swore years ago that I’d never beg him for a thing again, and here I am, willing to break that vow just to avoid catastrophe.
Not for me—not all for me—but for my family. My brother and father would go nuts, and I can’t have that on my plate right now as well. What I need is a place to lay low while they sort out my home because I can’t even go to a hotel since I’m flat broke.
“What else happened? And no, don’t try to brush that away with a shrug like you did with your brother, Kinsley. You forget I know you, and I can spot your lying from a mile away.”
“I told you, someone broke into my house, okay? I woke up, and there were two guys coming into my room. I hid, thinking they’d see an empty bed and an empty house and just take what they could and leave, but they started searching and breaking everything in sight and just…. They stayed until one of them found me, King. I was so afraid I just reacted.”
“And grabbed someone and tossed you and him both out of the window. The second story window,” he says quietly, shaking his head.
I can see him crumbling before my eyes and resist a smile, not daring to rock that boat when I’m so close to winning.
“It was stupid, but it beat the hell out of a bunch of men grabbing me and possibly gang raping me to death.”
King stills and narrows his eyes again, a snarl coming from his chest. Honestly, the man is a caveman if those are his only words.
“Men? I thought there were two?”
“Yeah. In my bedroom. There were others downstairs tossing the place, so forgive me for not just disabling them and making a run for it, okay? I knew I didn’t stand a chance of getting down the stairs without one of them grabbing me, even if I made it past the apes in my bedroom,” I huff.
“Kins, stop your shit and pay attention here! How many men, and what did they say?”
Who the hell cares! I just told him I was a breath away from being gang raped, and he’s focusing on details here? Darn, and I thought I was a stickler.
“Uh, at least three more downstairs that I heard?” I say.
King curses and leaps from the couch, his fists clenching as he starts pacing in front of me. How that’s even possible with the horrible state of the floor is a miracle, but I hold my comments on the appalling state of his apartment and sit quietly, feeling myself relax now that it seems he’s not focused on my lies and his intent to throttle me before tossing my ass out onto the pavement.
“This does not sound good, Kins. One, two, maybe three guys could be a burglary or a rape-murder scenario, but five tossing your place? That’s not burglary, baby, that’s something else.”
“Er, uh, that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Doesn’t it? Look, your fiancé has been stealing from you, and now you get burgled?”
“Random crime. The cops, uh…” I stop talking and breathe deep, fighting not to tremble. “They identified the guy I used as a body pillow, King.” That stops him in his tracks, and I see him go still.
“Identified?”
God, do not cry, Kinsley. It wasn’t your fault he died. It was just an accident and not your fault. You will not go to hell, and feeling guilty about accidently killing some guy who would have done much worse to you is just stupid.
I do feel it though. I almost had a breakdown when they told me about finding Jimmy Tenon dead where I left him before I started running. I could have sworn he came after me, but I was so hysterical at the time I figure it was my fear and imagination playing on me.
He’s dead. I killed him and that’s just that.
“He-he died from the fall,” I confess, digging my nails into my palms to stop my hands from trembling. “They said he was part of some street gang that they’ve had trouble with. The other guys were gone by the time the cops arrived, so they’re keeping an eye out for them and hoping to lift prints.”
“Shit,” he mutters, sitting in the seat Lex vacated just an hour ago. “I’m so sorry, Kins. Look, dammit, you can stay here with me until they catch those assholes, okay? I’m sure you’re a little scared to be alone right now—and, yeah, I get not wanting to tell Lex about Jon hitting you, though I’m not sure it was a good idea to tell me either, babe.”
I snort and giggle a little at that, shaking my head.
“He’s an ass and not worth going to prison for, King. That’s why I didn’t want to go home. I just want to forget him and get my life back in order before I tell my family anything. That’s not too much to ask, and you know, we used to be friends, so I totally expected you to help me, and not act like I just threw myself at you like last time,” I point out, cringing a little at the reminder.
King blushes. Will wonders never cease? Then he leans back with a shake of his head.
“The past.”
“Yes, and yet we’ve never faced that, have we? I’m sick and damn tired of avoiding you because I’m embarrassed, and darn it, I just don’t want to do this weird little dance with you anymore. We’re friends, or we used to be, and you’re part of my family. We should move past it and go on. Can we?”
“Sure. I’m up for getting on with things, babe, so up for that,” he says, smiling widely. “If you’re up for putting your money where your mouth is and paying up for this mess you just got me into.”
“Huh?”
That smile comes again, and I squeak and look away when he palms his crotch, highlighting a bulge that makes my eyes water.
“We’re so hot for each other that you’d cheat on your man with little old me, babe? Well, as far as I can see, all I’m getting out of this is you and a best friend who’ll possibly kill me when you skedaddle your little ass home. We may as well cut through the tension from the get-go.”
“Tension? King, what the heck are you talking about?”
That hand rubs at his crotch, making me clench my sex as arousal starts seeping into my pores. I swear the man must be putting off some kind of sex pheromone or something, because I’m panting as I watch him rub his penis, my tongue ready to loll as my nipples tighten.
“I’m talking about the fact that you and I have been hot and ready to fuck like animals since the first time we saw each other, babe. I think it’s just about time you stopped running from me and we both take what we need.”
“Need?”
Oh God, please let this involve tongue and parts of me that haven’t ever felt a mouth before, I plead silently.
No! What the hell are you even thinking, Kinsley? Remember when you took your clothes off for him? Remember how it felt when he rejected you?
Yeah, I remember. It wasn’t just a kiss, or me dropping my clothes and desperately praying that he would want me. It was my kissing him afterward and almost dying of joy when he groaned and kissed me back. It was my first arousal when we ended up on his bed with his mouth on my breasts while he touched me and brought me so close to pleasure I still feel his fingers in me, on me.
And then it was King throwing himself away from me and yelling at me to get the hell away from him and never come near him again.
That’s the truth of it—the ugly, I don’t even want to face it truth—because that is the part that I will never forget, my secret humiliating shame. I wasn’t enough for him. He kissed me, touched me, let me touch him, and found me lacking.
It d
oesn’t matter that he played me so well I had my first orgasm. It doesn’t matter that I, the virgin princess of the Jacobs clan, stroked him to completion and wore his seed on my skin.
All that matters from that ordeal was that he broke my young heart and I finally got the message. He didn’t want me and now…
“Need. You remember how you’d follow me around with those eyes, babe? Remember how you wanted me, and only me, no matter how wrong that was? I wanted you too, Kins, so bad I used to jack off to that photo your mama sent me of your graduation. I’ve spent long enough jerking off to thoughts and images, Kinsley Jacobs, and I refuse to sleep a room away from you and jerk off some more. You’re here, I’m here, and if you want to stay here, it’s me and you or nothing at all.”
Oh God, vagina, this is not a good idea.
Chapter Seven
King
I almost laugh when Kinsley looks down at my dick and swipes her tongue over her lips, the unconscious movement making me harder as I imagine that hot, little mouth wrapped around my dick.
I’ve wanted her for so long, resisted the lure of her for so long, that now that she’s here and I’m trapped, I can’t bring myself to resist another minute.
You probably think I’m being a pig here, but—dammit—I’m not. I know Kinsley, no matter how much time has passed, and I know what this woman needs, and it’s not someone handling her with kid gloves and bowing to her controlling nature.
She needs someone to take charge and give her the security she needs, and she needs to just let go for once and revel in something I know she’s never had.
Pleasure. Freedom.
She needs the freedom to just let go and bask in hot, sweaty, dirty sex while I take the reins and lead her. With her, it’s never been about control but rather needing to know that things aren’t going to spiral into chaos and uncertainty.
No one has ever understood her like I do. No one has seen that she’s not as contained as she is because she’s a neat freak or a control junkie. She just needs to know that if she’s not steering the ship, that someone is, and that someone will never let her sink.
I’m that guy. I may not be neat or bound by schedules, as I said, I lived with that shit for years and would rather lose a limb than go back to all that stifling order.
But I am someone who knows how to be a man, the man that Kinsley needs.
So, yeah. Sex. That’s the starting point of any good relationship, right? Ahh, you’re shaking your head, but think about it, really think. Before you meet someone, the first thing you do is look, right? You size them up and look at attraction and sexual awareness.
If you didn’t, you wouldn’t bother to keep looking. Then comes talking, getting to know each other, because no one wants to end up fucking a chick or dude who may be a serial killer in the making—not if things have the chance to get serious at least.
Then sex, because let’s face it, you gotta test drive the car, everyone knows that.
And then comes love.
With Kins and me, it’s been out of order…. Something that makes me smile to realize.
We met and got to know each other first—likes, dislikes, wants. Just general stuff about personalities that other people never really know about their partner until the honeymoon period is over.
I loved Kinsley long before the next steps, because as freakishly odd as the woman may be, she just gets me and I get her. Two peas and all that.
Then we got comfortable in this weird way that made me ignore my attraction because she was too young, and I was too afraid to even consider that she could be what I wanted.
Then came the sex part. I knew it was coming long before I went home with Lex that summer, and I still kick myself for letting him drag me home, especially considering that I was looking forward to it—even knowing there was no way I’d be able to keep my hands off her given that she was old enough now.
I told myself that being in that relationship with Brenda would leash me, that I’d have a good reason to ignore what I wanted. I have to face the truth here. I knew deep down it wouldn’t mean a damn thing.
Bren was a good woman and more of a friend than a girlfriend. She was someone I would settle for because I refused to take what I wanted.
I feel guilt still over the fact that I gave in to Kins and almost went too far, and even worse recalling her pain when I pushed her away without explaining the reasons why.
I was so close to taking her and saying to hell with the consequences that it scared the shit out of me. Gone was the reasoning, the logic, and in its place was pure, raw sexual need.
I almost lost it when her little slit drenched my fingers, and I damn near attacked her when she jacked me off. My need to claim her as mine—and give up everything I’d worked for by doing it—was so strong it nearly killed me to push her away.
I hurt her, purposely, because I knew that if I ever had another shot at her, we were both screwed. I want her, but what I have to offer her will never be what she deserves. I know that.
I’m just so damned tired of fighting it and lying to myself, so I won’t. Not anymore. Not when she just landed herself in my lap like a giftwrapped present at Christmas, all neatly tied with a bow.
Why do you think I didn’t go nuts when she told Lex those lies?
Huh? Like I’d look a fucking gift horse in the mouth. What do I look like, a fool?
Why am I playing with her when I feel like I just won the lottery?
Because it gives me the control necessary to keep Kinsley just where I want her—off balance and in need of me. Because with her, if you give her an inch, she’ll be at the helm so fast your head will spin, and I am the only man running this fucking ship.
“So, what’s it going to be, babe? You ready to take me on, or do you want me to call your bother back here to come get you?” I ask, watching her mind race.
I love that about this woman. She’s so smart. She may not be a complete, confirmed genius, but Kins is smarter than most. To top it all off, she’s also short one mouth filter and never quite understands why people react badly to some of the shit she says.
One time an old lady in her mama’s book club started to talk about her daughter and her husband having so many kids, and Kinsley started informing them about some cultural and physical need that runs deep in some men to procreate and breed life.
Her mama almost keeled over when she started listing sexual statistics or some shit, and even went on a spiel about safe sex in a society that’s become more sexually promiscuous than breeding oriented.
That was weird, so damned weird, but the worst part came when the old ladies got into it and she had this hypothetical rundown of positions and the true meaning of the clitoris.
Every man in the unit was present for that call to Lex, and we laughed our asses off as Mama Jacobs had a meltdown and threatened to disown Kins.
The whole point though is that she’s not like normal chicks and she proves this when her blush fades and she looks at me with shrewd eyes.
“Okay, so let’s be clear here. You want sex with me as a sort of payback reward because I just lied to Lex about us screwing while I was engaged? Eh, I’m not done. That’s strangely erotic in its own way, and while I can’t exactly promise not to freak out a little later, I’ll agree now on the terms of this parlay and revisit later if problems should arise. I have to tell you though, this is odd. You’ve never wanted me before, King—eh-eh-eh, it’s the truth.” She insists, swinging her boot up to plant it on a clear section of the table.
“It is not, Kinsley. I have always wanted you. I just didn’t think anything more than sex could work between us, and I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“But everything’s changed now, huh?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
“Well, for one thing—and let’s face it, this is a really important thing—your brother no longer wants to kill me for even breathing your way. Now, we’re in agreement and I’m stoked. Breakfast?” I grin, loving that f
act that I just negotiated an affair with this woman with nothing more than logic—her skewed logic—and the very basic truth that we’re hot for each other.
If this keeps happening, I may just have my girl without too much hassle.
Suddenly, the day is looking up, and I grin, just before she smiles sweetly and starts barking orders at me like a drill sergeant.
“I’m not screwing a thing until this place is livable. Now hop to, babe.”
***
Kinsley
“He cleaned? King? Are we talking about the same man here, or is this the one who got abducted by aliens and had his brain transplanted?” Lenny laughs, making me giggle as I wipe down her kitchen counter for the third time, cloth and spray bottle in hand.
I’ve been here since the men got sucked into helping at King’s apartment. They decided to off-load me at Storm and Lenny’s before King decided to join a monastery and the others were just flat out ready to kill me.
My brother included, as sad as that is. What? I can’t help it. That place was the armpit of a pig, not just the sty, and no way, no how will I be getting my groove on while bacteria crawl up my vaginal channel and other orifices.
It’s working out great though, because these three women are indecently open about sex and they’ve been entertaining and educating me non-stop since I arrived ten minutes ago.
Never let it be said that I let grass grow under these ridiculously expensive socks I’m wearing, since King and Lex saw my clothes and shoes and promptly locked them away, choosing to replace them instead of letting me priss around in a bar.
Apparently, I need to dress the part of a hobo on a film set or something. They got me jeans, socks, and some tank tops that made King grin from ear to ear.
No fashion sense.
“The very one, although God knows he’s done such a three sixty about the whole sex thing with me that I almost didn’t believe it was him at first. I watch Homeland, people, I know about assumed identities and sleeper spies.”
That sets them off again, and I watch as Cleo spits coffee all over the clean table before just mopping it up with her sleeve.
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