Corrupt Love

by Cee Perkins

  I felt her shuddering in ragged breaths and pulled back to look at her. “I’m grateful I can give you another chance. Please call me again if you feel like you’re backsliding, Mom. I want to help you get through this.”

  I saw the tears in her eyes, but she smiled. “I will, Danny. I will,” she said.

  I nodded and turned to leave, hoping she was staying the course of recovery.

  As soon as I pulled in my driveway, I texted Corra.

  Dan: Do you research your accounts before taking them on?

  I was inside and changing into my lounge pants before she answered.

  Corra: I just saw your text from a couple days ago. sorry I didnt respond. somehow my phone ended up under the couch.

  Corra: yes I do very thorough research. in person and from the source.

  From the source?

  Dan: The source being…

  Corra: the subject of my research. I find ways to interact with the subject.

  Dan: …does that come with hazard pay?

  A few minutes of silence followed. Did she understand that I was worried for her? Finally, the dots started dancing.

  Corra: it was included in the job description when I applied. I knew I could see potentially hazardous conditions

  Dan: That makes me worry.

  Well, that’s nothing new. I’d worry if the wind blows too hard.

  Again, silence. Then her answer.

  Corra: I cant explain to you how much it means to know that but I can assure you that from now on I will research from a distance.

  Dan: But no second-hand sources? You’ll still see for yourself if the account is valid?

  Corra: no second hand sources.

  Dan: Can I see you tomorrow night?

  Corra: theres nothing I want more.

  And the score stands: Heart: 1, Brain: 0.

  Chapter 29

  Corra

  “Ugh, this day is ridiculous!” I yelled to no one in my living room as I sat on the couch. This was the worst feeling— having something so exciting coming up that time seems to drag for eons. It was eleven a.m. and Dan was coming over tonight. I knew the earliest he’d get here is seven because he had to work until five, then go home and shower, then come over. Although...I got out my phone and shot off a text.

  Corra: if you wanted to come here from work you can just shower here and stuff…

  There. Not desperate at all. Not this girl.

  I huffed and rolled my eyes at myself. You’re a stage six clinger.

  It’s just, Dan. He wanted to see me on purpose.

  Dan: I’ll just swing by my house, then, and pick up some clothes.

  I jumped off the couch and did a little jig.

  Corra: ok, great. Ill have some dinner waiting if you want

  Dan: I want.

  Corra: :) see you soon!

  I didn’t want to expect too much tonight because there was still so much we needed to discuss. I couldn’t help but dream, though. His cock was gorgeous to look at and I just knew it’d be good to taste. Inexperienced as he was, his willingness to learn and his eagerness to please was going to be so much fun to work with. We’d have so much fun learning what he liked and showing him how I liked to be touched.

  Dirty images played in my mind. Me, on my knees, while he stood over me, pulling fistfuls of my hair while shoving his cock down my throat. Him, under me while I rode his face till my juices dripped down his chin. Pushing into me so hard that the headboard would bang against the wall...

  I made myself slow down. It was possible we’d never reach that place again. I needed to back the fuck down.

  Doesn’t mean I didn’t make a wax appointment.

  At 5:45 on the longest day in the history of ever, I saw Dan’s car park in the lot. And stay there. Not moving. No doors opening, no movement inside. Was he on the phone? Or freaking out? I couldn’t have him freaking out on me and bailing before giving me a chance to talk to him. I stared out the window as I brought my phone out of my pocket, keeping an eye on his car.

  Corra: you can come up, im here

  I just hoped that it worked.

  Dan: Ok, I’ll be right up.

  I watched as he got out of his car, reached into the backseat to grab his bag, fiddle with his keys, take a deep breath, and finally turn to the building. I took my own deep breath and went to my door. I willed myself not to be standing there with the door open when he got off the elevator. I couldn’t be that desperate.

  His knock was hesitant, and I hoped that didn’t represent how he’d be this evening. I needed him to not be afraid to talk to me. I flung the door open with a big smile. Standing there in his work suit, bag in hand, nerves visible in his face, he was the most beautiful man. I grabbed him in for a hug, breathing a “Hi,” into his chest.

  “Hi,” he answered back before wrapping his arms around my back and kissing my hair. I pulled back and grabbed his hand, smiling up at him then leading him into my bathroom.

  “I stopped by the store and got you some soap and shampoo in case you didn’t bring any and you won’t have to walk around smelling like flowers and shit— well, you won’t smell like shit, that was just an expression— and I got you a towel here on the counter—”

  “Corra.”

  I stopped rambling when his hands landed on my shoulders. I looked up at him. “Yeah?”

  His thumb smoothed across my cheek and I saw the nerves I’d seen when he’d first gotten here had dissipated a little. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll take a quick shower, then we can talk over dinner, ok?”

  Relief flooded me. I hadn’t realized I was afraid he’d change his mind until he said that. “Ok,” I said with a smile. “Dinner should be here in about ten minutes. I hope Chinese is ok.”

  He nodded.

  “Ok. I’m just gonna…” I gestured over my shoulder and left the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I deflated against it. What happened to cool, aloof Corra? Because that desperate girl in there certainly wasn’t her. I don’t fucking ramble, and I needed to remember that I was a badass bitch and no man would be able to rattle me.

  And yet.

  Dan

  I heard her body land heavily against the door and contemplated asking if she’d fallen but decided against it. She’d been rattled. I knew the feeling well. Shoot, I was feeling it when I’d knocked on her door. But the look of relief on her face when I’d told her I wasn’t leaving told me she’d been afraid I would. And that eased some of my nerves.

  As I showered and redressed, I thought about how I needed the night to go. We had to talk. I could try to fool myself and say how we moved forward depended on her answers, but...it didn’t. I knew, barring her not wanting to, we’d end up in bed again.

  I found Corra in the kitchen, putting what seemed like the entire Red Palace menu on plates. She glanced up briefly, and I rounded the bar to put my arms around her waist and kiss her neck.

  Oh yeah, Permanent Dan did that.

  Corra all but melted against me and she dropped the fork she was holding into the plate. “Oops,” I said.

  “Huh,” Corra said, confused, then came back to herself. “Oh! I was, um, just...here’s some food.”

  I chuckled and grabbed some of the plates, arranging them on the bar so we could reach them when we sat.

  Corra spoke quietly, hesitantly, “I uh, you must have...questions?”

  I chewed thoughtfully, then. “I think the thing I wonder about the most is, why? Why murder-for-hire?”

  She flinched and answered, “I had a great childhood. Amazing parents, siblings to play with, cozy Christmases...but there were a number of things I saw throughout my teenage years that proved to me that humanity had a seedy, evil layer. And that layer made money. Lots of it. Corrupt politicians, incestuous priests, assassins. At first, I thought they were just in the movies, or otherwise so far removed from my life that they were actually fiction. Then Salty started prospecting for the club Cay’s dad belongs to, and I started to realize
that those movies I watched were based on someone’s experience with real abuse, real assassins, loan sharks, things like that. Salty hated when I’d visit him at the club because he knew what his brothers would think when they saw me and worried that I’d fall victim to them. I’ve seen club whores so drugged out of their minds that they didn’t know what was going on around them, and still, the brothers took advantage. I heard screaming from the basement of their clubhouse. Even Salty himself came home bruised and limping.

  “But I also saw the brand-new Shovelhead he had, and the ‘76 Electraglide he’d restored. He bought our youngest brother, Tate, a state-of-the-art computer system, and didn’t blink when my parents needed the roof replaced on their house but couldn’t work the budget. So I thought. I planned. I researched. I started to train.

  “I didn’t do it out of a sense of duty. Or at least, not at first. The first time I killed a man, I was twenty-four years old, and the adrenaline rush I’d gotten afterward kept me high for three days. Then the money was paid and solidified that I’d made a good choice. That first kill paid off my parents’ house. They, of course, don’t know where the money came from. And I told Cay about it. But Cay had a lot more rage than I did, and guns didn’t help her work any of it out. She decided she got more out of the...physical aspects of a seedy life. So she became the little nightcrawler who made men three times her size beg for mercy.

  “Then, I was finishing a job about a year and a half after I started doing this. I came down off the fire escape on a building across from the target’s apartment, and I heard a girl crying for help. She’d been beaten and left for dead in the trash next to a dumpster. I picked her up, and the next morning we talked. She’d never been taught how to defend herself; she was one of those girls, the ones who are popular in school but really vapid, and it almost cost her life. She didn’t want to be a victim again. So Cay and I trained her and taught her how to shoot and fight and gave her the confidence to take charge of herself and her surroundings.”

  “So that’s what you do for them now? How do you find them?”

  She shrugged and bit into an eggroll. “There is a lot of shady shit that happens in this city and the ones around it. Most of the time, either Cay or I basically stumble on them.”

  I sat back in my seat. “You said you didn’t do it out of a sense of duty at first?”

  “Yeah, I liked the high and the money.”

  “What changed?”

  Corra tensed suddenly, looking at her plate and moving the food around. “I met you.”

  Skkiiiiiirrrrrp. Come again? I was dumbfounded.

  “At first, it didn’t even really register. Meeting you, I mean. But that night at the casino, when you were looking for your mom?” She continued at my nod. “You were so...innocent and naive, so out of your element. I have a history of ruining things that are pure, and you were the juiciest prey I’d ever crossed.”

  “You wanted to ruin me?” I asked, still stunned. Or rather, stunned again.

  She nodded, looking regretful. “Then we went on that date, then the whole puppy thing...and I didn’t want to corrupt you anymore. I wanted to keep you, but free you, in a way. You’d started out this one-dimensional entity, letting everything around you weigh you down so much. But the more time I spent with you and the more we talked, I could see a man who had deep layers, a smile that lit up everything, a will and determination to be happy despite the things on your shoulders. Your strength and character hooked me so hard.”

  I stared at her for a long minute. She kept pushing the food around her plate, dashing furtive glances at me intermittently.

  “But what if I want you to ruin me now?”

  Chapter 30

  Corra

  I held my breath. Did he want me to ruin him? ‘Cause I sure as fuck could ruin any other women for him.

  “I’ve been learning that there are two types of bad. There’s bad-bad, where the people have no conscious, no soul, and genuinely don’t care what happens around them as long as their gluttonous lifestyle is fed. The true predators. Then there’s good-bad, where people like you work to keep the bad-bad down, even though it could be lawfully questionable. In that way, you have already ruined me. But I don’t regret it. I don’t wish for ignorance; I’m thankful you exist, and not just because you’re trying to do good. Never, not once in my life, have I ever felt like I could chase away someone else’s anxieties, like I could be worthy of someone’s affections. Now, because of you, I know what it’s like to feel at ease,” Dan said, reaching for my hair and playing with the ends.

  “You’re priceless, Dan. You’re worth more than my affections. You’re worth more than I could ever hope to give you. And I have never been afraid to reach for something like I’m afraid to reach for you. The thought of you not reaching back for me shakes my world. I’m afraid I’ve ruined us, what we could be,” I said shakily.

  I watched a smile spread across Dan’s face and felt him reach for my hand. His hand curled around mine, and I felt...peaceful, liked my life was full now.

  “This is me reaching back for you,” he said, then leaned in to press a soft kiss to my lips. I thought I’d burst out of my skin if he pulled away, so I grabbed onto his neck and pulled him close. He put his hands on my hips and I’d have fallen out of my chair to get in his lap, but instead, he pulled us to our feet and pressed our bodies closer. “I’m not going anywhere, Corra. And I’m officially telling you that there is an us.”

  I felt tears burning my eyes as I looked at him. “I’m officially agreeing with you,” I responded with a smile.

  I ran my hands down his arms and grabbed his hands as I tugged him through the hallway down to my room. “We’ve got so much to learn about each other, and one day, you’ll fuck me in every room in my house and yours. But tonight, I’m going to put your cock in my mouth and suck. I’m going to kiss every inch of you. And you’re going to put yourself so deep in my pussy that I’ll still be feeling you next week.” I pulled him to a stop in front of my bed and studied him for any apprehension I’d caused.

  He was biting his lip, eyes wide, cheeks flushed. He was hard as granite against me, so I reached for his belt first, watching him carefully as I unbuckled it and opened his pants. His chest heaved, and he seemed unable to form words. Leaving his shirt on, I pushed his jeans and underwear down at the same time, then traced my fingers up his thighs and over his hips, making my way in toward his cock. My eyes never left his as I sank to my knees and let my hands brush his shaft. He was already leaking, the clear fluid gathered at the tip. I took my time, just exploring his skin and the pleasure appearing on his face.

  “Do you want to feel my tongue on your cock?”

  He grunted breathlessly and his dick jerked at my mouth. I let just the tip of my tongue graze over the head of his dick, tasting him slowly. His eyes hooded and he moaned, “More.”

  “More? More, like…” I traced my tongue down the underside of his cock to the base. His knees buckled but he caught himself and placed his hand on my head. “I like that,” I told him. “Put your fingers in my hair.”

  He obeyed immediately, and I breathed over his balls before lifting my mouth back to his cock. I slipped the head into my mouth, Dan made a strangled sound, gripping my hair tighter and causing my eyes to close.

  “Sorry,” he rasped.

  I opened my eyes and met his stare. “I like my hair pulled, especially when I’m sucking your cock. It tells me you like what I’m doing.”

  “Oh, I like. I definitely like,” he said. “Can you do it again?”

  I smirked up at him, “Are you asking me to suck your cock, Dan?”

  Breathless, he answered, “Yes. Yes, please.”

  “Say the words, Dan. Tell me what you want me to do.”

  His eyes widened but didn’t lose the glassiness. “I...I want you to s-suck my,” he swallowed hard, “Cock.”

  “Happily,” I answered, and slid my mouth over him until I reached the base of his dick, feeling him in my th
roat.

  He shouted, then tensed, and I felt his come slide down my throat. He breathed heavily for a few moments, and he let me pull off. He tried to shift onto the bed, but his pants were still pooled around his feet and he tripped over them, landing sideways on the bed. He brought his hands up to cover his face, and I heard him mumble something from beneath them. I was working his shoes and socks off so I could get him completely naked.

  “What was that?” I asked, pulling the pants free and standing, ripping my shirt over my head and tossing my pants off to the side.

  He finally moved his hands from his face, and, staring up at the ceiling, said, “That was embarrassing. That’s twice now I’ve...come too soon.”

  I crawled onto the bed next to him and worked his shirt over his chest. “I’m glad we got the first one out of the way, personally.”

  His eyes finally looked at me and he sucked in a breath, drinking my nakedness in. “F-first one?” he asked.

  “You didn’t think you’d have just one orgasm tonight, did you?”

  “I d-didn’t know I could have more than that,” he answered sheepishly.

  “Oh, well, if I can’t get you hard again after you come, then I’m doing something wrong,” I answered, kneeling at his side and licking my lips.

  His hand reached for me. “Tell me what to do?”

  “This is the point where I tell you that you have to be honest here and tell me if something makes you uncomfortable, ok?”

  He nodded eagerly, and I put his hand on my thigh, guiding it up to my hip and resting it on my tit. He licked his lips, then plucked my nipple. I squeaked in pleasure, and his eyes snapped up to mine. His other hand reached over, then he leaned up and took the other nipple into his mouth and sucked, hard. I moaned loudly, shoving his face into my tit unintentionally. He growled around my nipple and opened his mouth wider, taking me in further. I gripped his hair, the rasp of his stubble rubbing into my skin.

  “You are doing fantastic without instruction,” I said, panting.

  He pulled back and looked at me, chuckling. He sat up further, then used a finger to push me to the bed. My pussy was flooded and he hadn’t even touched it. I felt his fingers brush along my arms, stomach, down my thighs to my calves and back up again. He slowly spread my legs open, staring at my pussy like he’d never seen one before.