Corrupt Love

by Cee Perkins

  This girl.

  I checked the clock over the stove and noticed I needed to get a move on. “I love you. I have to go to work, though.”

  “I know. I just wanted to hear your voice,” she said.

  “Samesies.”

  “I love you too. Can you come over tonight?”

  “Ah...about that. Let’s give your electricity and water bill a break and stay over here.”

  Silence for a beat, then. “I’d love that.”

  We hung up and I headed off to work, processing what had happened this week. A man had lost his life. But the children that man would have targeted were safe. And who knows how many victims there would have been, how many there had been. I searched as deep as I could to find any moral crises. There were none. And that feeling of pride in my girl was strong.

  We’d be ok.

  Chapter 33

  Dan

  “Do you want kids?” I asked one night as we were sitting on my couch watching TV.

  Corra choked on her water. Red-faced and still coughing minutes later, she said, “Jesus, Dan, you can’t just say shit like that out of the blue!”

  I rubbed her back and said, “Sorry, I was just wondering. You know I don’t have a big family, but you do, and I wanted to know if you wanted that for yourself.”

  She rubbed her chest for a minute and wiped her eyes. She took a deep breath and said, “I’m not sure. I never thought about it, really. Before I met you, I didn’t even want a relationship. Do you want kids?”

  Frowning, I bobbed my head side to side. “I’m not sure—”

  “So you sprung that shit on me without having your own answer?” She sounded annoyed.

  I just shrugged and continued. “But I’d never wanted a relationship before you, either. Kids are messy, though, and their hands are always sticky, like they’ve been playing in jam. On the other hand, apparently, they give some sort of happiness, given how many people have them.”

  “I can’t believe you, of all people, didn’t already have that planned out,” she said with a snort.

  I tugged on her hair and responded, “Hey! I don’t have everything figured out.”

  “Good thing. I’m certain I fit absolutely fucking nowhere in your five-year plan.” A wide grin spread her face.

  “The day before I met you, that was true. Now, you’re everywhere in my five-year plan,” I said and leaned over to kiss her. She tangled her fingers in my hair and brought me closer, then sat back with a sigh.

  “There’s not much in the world that’s better than kissing you.”

  “I’m sure that was definitely not in your five-year plan,” I said with a smile.

  Corra wrinkled her nose. “My five-year plan was—” she stopped abruptly and shook her head. “Never mind.”

  I cocked my head. “You can tell me.”

  She looked into my eyes and answered, “You really don’t want to know. Really.”

  Hm. “Did it have something to do with your job?”

  She nodded slowly, then looked away from me quickly.

  “Corra,” I said. “Look at me.” I waited until her gaze was on me. “I may not have agreed with your career at first, but you and I have both changed, and for the better, I think. Maybe your business wasn’t selective, to begin with, but it is now. And maybe I was judgmental and rigid in my beliefs, but I understand now that the world is a lot more complex than simple right and wrong. And when I told you that I wanted to be with you, I meant all of you. I accept what you do. I love you, all your parts.”

  Corra was biting her lip and trying to contain her grin. Then, in a flash, she lunged at me, draping herself over my chest and landing in my lap. Her kiss was deep and ferocious, full of emotion she rarely put into words, even for me. I felt her love, her relief, and her hope in that kiss. She pulled off and just looked into my eyes for a few moments.

  She took a deep breath and said, “I had a goal of one hundred kills before my thirtieth birthday.”

  Oh. That’s why she was hesitant. I knew this would be one hell of a turning point for our relationship, depending on my answer. Part of me was put off that she would have killed more people arbitrarily, but the other part of me recognized that now it was different. Now, she would kill the predators. So I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and asked, “How many till you get there?”

  Every single bit of tension in her body flowed out, and I saw a glistening in her eyes that she’d never admit to. “Twenty-three.”

  “And you’ve got, what, fifteen months?” I was trying to be the kind of boyfriend that was supportive of his girlfriend, even in her illegal activities. I wondered what Dr. Amato would say.

  She nodded.

  “It’s kind of going to suck if you make it because that means there are at least twenty-three more people out there who deserve a special cell in hell.”

  Corra nodded again. “Yeah, definitely. It makes me think it’s a ridiculous goal now that I think about it. I don’t want that many people out there walking around, willing and capable of hurting other people.”

  “Ah, but this is where it doesn’t suck so bad— there won’t be when you make your goal,” I said, hoping to be helpful.

  Her bright smile told me I’d said the right thing. Then, her smile dimmed and she bit her lip again. “But...I’m not sure how I can be a mom as long as I’m...this.”

  “’This’?” I asked, confused.

  “A killer,” she said plainly. I was proud of myself for not flinching when she said it.

  I just shrugged my shoulders. “We don’t know that we want kids,” I reminded her. “And who knows? Maybe instead of making our own, we’ll take the ones no one wants. Or we can be the temporary parents when kids need a safe place— don’t look at me like that, they’d seriously be safe here!”

  She giggled, “Yeah they’d be in the safest house in the city.”

  I reached over and put my arm around her shoulders. “But if we never become any of those things, it’ll be because we just don’t want to. It won’t have anything to do with how we make our money.”

  Shaking her head, Corra said, “You’re so different than you were when we first met.”

  “Yeah, I’m hearing that a lot these days.”

  Corra

  Three days after Dan tried to kill me with questions about kids, the question was still on my mind. I really couldn’t decide if I wanted kids. But I decided to let it go, because obviously, it wasn’t anything Dan was concerned with right now anyway.

  It was Dan and Ryan’s weekly bro date at the Game Room, but Cay and I tagged along this week, so the four of us were seated in a booth and munching on appetizers. The place was a madhouse, everyone pushing to get to the bar to either place an order or settle in for the game on one of the TVs placed around the restaurant. Our waitress was running her ass off, trying to make sure she was earning her tips. She was with our table, that’s for sure.

  Our food arrived and she placed everything down in front of us, asked if we needed a top-up, and scurried off to her next table. Our waitress was good, the kitchen apparently was off getting high in the walk-in. Dan had the wrong burger, Cay had onion rings instead of fries, and my chicken was just cold. We spent a few minutes trying to get the waitress’s attention before I’d had enough and made Dan scoot out of the booth so I could get up. I gathered up our plates, and Dan asked, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m getting our fucking food right,” I answered simply.

  “Uh, Corra, I don’t think—”

  “Well, I don’t think I want cold-ass chicken,” I interrupted, then turned toward the kitchen. I walked straight back, up to the window where the food was passed from the kitchen.

  “Hey! Dickwads!” I yelled, looking for the cooks. There was a packed house out front and not one kitchen staff in sight. What the fuck? Finally, Thug Life with his ugly ass bandana came around the corner looking like he was the head dick.

  “You can’t be back here,” he said through the
window.

  “Well, our fucking waitress is running her ass off while y’all asses circle jerk back here and got our shit wrong. Fix it. And don’t let me see one fucking pube in my food or I’ll bust your nose,” I yelled through the window. The cook’s eyes widened and his jaw went slack.

  “Don’t just stand there, get our fucking food right!” He finally seemed to get the message that I was pissed and called to another one of the kitchen staff. While they fixed our order, I stood there and watched the whole time as Thug Life kept casting furtive glances at me.

  The door to the dining room swung open and our waitress scrambled in, then stopped dead at seeing me standing back there. “Can— Can I help you? Is something wrong with your order?” she stammered.

  “There were several things wrong with it. But I got your lazy ass kitchen staff to put their fucking dicks away and fix it,” I said, turning back to keep an eye on our food.

  “Oh my god! I’m so sorry! I’ll bring this right out to y’all once it’s finished,” she said, tripping over herself.

  “Nope, I’m going to watch this shit so I know they don’t put nasty ‘condiments’ in it. Thanks though,” I said.

  “Um...you can’t really be back here,” she said.

  “Well, I want my shit done right and you can’t stand over them, so I will. Where the fuck is the manager anyway? They should be in here taking care of this.”

  Finally, the flunkies put my plates back in the windows and I grabbed them one by one. The waitress was glaring at the guys in the back before she answered, “He’s on break.”

  “On. Break.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Get his ass off break and tell him to come the fuck to my table,” I said, then left the kitchen.

  Dan looked embarrassed when I brought out our fresh food and sat down like nothing was wrong. He kept glancing at Ryan, who was silently trying to tell him something with his eyes. I put my fork down and turned to him. “Dan.”

  He flicked his eyes to me, then back to his plate. “Mm?”

  “What is Ryan trying to tell you to do?”

  Dan sighed and fidgeted with his hands in his lap. “Was that really necessary?”

  “Yes.”

  “It was...embarrassing.”

  “You’re right. The kitchen staff and the manager are about to get really embarrassed,” I said.

  “No...embarrassing for me,” he said, still not meeting my gaze.

  “Why?” I asked, “Because I didn’t want to eat cold food?”

  “Well, no, but what do you think those people who saw you go back there think of you now?”

  “Why do I give a fuck about what those people at that table think of me? I don’t know them, and shit, even if I did, I likely wouldn’t care.”

  Cay snorted and laughed. “It’s just not Corra,” she said.

  Dan looked at her briefly, then looked at me. “We’ll just talk about this later,” he mumbled.

  Ryan had just been sitting back in his spot with his arm over the back of Cay’s seat, watching us talk. Cay, who knew me and who also didn’t give a shit, tucked into her food, grinning.

  Just before the waitress brought our bill, a stick-thin man who looked like he looked down his nose at everyone made his way over. “Excuse me, are you the table who had the problem with your order?”

  Glancing at Dan, and deciding he was already mad at me, I tore into the manager. “We’re probably not the only table who had problems, but if you’re referring to me being in your kitchen and making your fucking staff do their jobs, yes, that’s us. And why the hell were you not at least on the damn floor during the height of business? Look around, you twig.” I saw Dan flinch from the corner of my eye, but continued. “How many people are in this place? How many people have food in front of them? Where the fuck is your kitchen staff right now? Because when I went back there, not one of your flunkies was at their post doing their fucking job and my food was fucking cold. I wanted my shit done right the first time, and if you would have been doing your job, I would have gotten it.”

  The manager calmly waited until I was finished, then sneered. “My apologies, ma’am, I’ve comped your meals. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

  “Is that all the fuck you have to say?” I asked. Cay snickered, Ryan was scrubbing the back of his hair, and Dan looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him. When the manager only answered with a hard glare, I said, “Of fucking course, you comped our meals. The next time we come in here, my fucking food better be right.”

  “As the manager, I will respectfully ask that you not come back,” he said.

  Dan groaned and dropped his head in his hands. I cocked an eyebrow at the manager and looked him straight in the eye. “And I respectfully say fuck no, we’ll come in here whenever the hell we want.”

  “Corra, let’s just go,” Dan said miserably.

  I glared at the manager again. “You better be glad I love my boyfriend or I’d sit here just to piss you off.” We moved out of the booth, and I turned to drop a $100 on the table for the waitress, and Cay did the same.

  “She better get that shit,” Cay said to the manager, then waved the waitress over. The waitress approached hesitantly, forcing a smile.

  Cay nodded to the money on the table. “Your tip.”

  Well, at least we made one person’s day, judging by the grin the waitress tried to hide.

  Chapter 34

  Dan

  “Well, that was thoroughly humiliating,” I said as we got in the car.

  Corra sighed, then turned toward the window. “You know I’m a bitch to everyone.”

  “That’s not exactly true,” I said, casting a small grin at her. “You’re awfully nice to me.”

  She chuckled and shook her head. “You have a great dick. Your personality’s pretty great, too.”

  Faking hurt, I said, “That’s all you want me for? My appendages?”

  “Nope, just the one. But I also complimented your personality.”

  I chuckled, then let out a deep breath. I hated confrontation, but— “I was really embarrassed back there. We go there every week and most of the staff know me and Ryan. They’re not going to like us very much now.”

  Corra reached over and clasped my hand in hers. “I’m sorry I embarrassed you. I’ve never worried about what other people think and I’ve always gotten what I want. It didn’t occur to me that you’d have to suffer for it.”

  Glancing at her quickly, I said, “Well, at least you made it up to the waitress with that tip.”

  “She was doing her damned best with what she had. She deserved it. I’m not a wench to people who do what they’re paid for.”

  Thinking back on it, she didn’t say one cross word to the waitress, I didn’t hear what she’d said to the kitchen staff, but she really tore into the manager who had apparently been on a break. “I guess they did deserve it, though.”

  “Yeah, they did,” she said, nodding her head. “And I feel bad for the people who got the wrong stuff or cold food who didn’t stand up for themselves. It would have been a waste of money. I should have probably went about it differently, but at least we got what we paid for.”

  Chuckling, I said, “We didn’t pay for anything.”

  “Hm. True. But if we had…”

  I turned into my driveway and looked at Corra. “I’m glad you stand up for yourself and stuff, but next time can you not make me want to hide under the table?”

  She leaned across the console and kissed me. “Promise.”

  “Good. Let’s go inside, there’s something I want to show you in my bedroom.”

  Corra grinned. “What, your bed?”

  “Ha, ha. You think you know me so well.” I didn’t deny it, though.

  I’d known when I met Corra that she had a big personality. While I’d never been attracted to people like her— the loud, obnoxious people— Corra was more than her big mouth. It wasn’t my favorite aspect about her, but if she were perfect, she’d really
be obnoxious.

  Fortunately for me, Corra was using that big mouth on my cock (gulp!) right then. I could feel my release racing up my spine and down through me, but I pulled her off before the point of no return.

  “Hey! Whadja do that for?” she asked when I yanked her by her hair.

  “This is not how I wanted to finish tonight,” I said, then flipped us so that she was on all fours. I’d learned a lot about sex, and I’d found my favorite position to be “doggy style.” After rolling on a condom, I gripped her hips hard and yanked her up, sliding into her with the force she loved. I tangled my fingers in her hair and used it like horse reins, pounding into her hard and fast. I knew she could never hold off long like this, and within seconds she clenched around me and called my name. I jerked her back against my hips one last time and tensed with my release.

  I didn’t know if all sex felt that good, or if it was just Corra. I’d bet it’s just Corra, though.

  Corra

  Because of the goal, I’d set for myself, I had never turned down a job. Unfortunately, there was a first time for everything.

  The client wanted her boss offed because she wanted his job. He was a good guy, not even a lascivious gaze in the client’s direction. She wasn’t happy when I’d turned her down, but the look on Dan’s face when he overheard about me turning the client down made it worth it.

  I knew things were getting serious with Dan and me. He’d officially met my family and decided that they were the best bunch he’d ever met. What a relief that was. He even got along with Salty, who was still apparently detoxing or the shit had hit the fan at the club. I didn’t ask.

  It was Doggy Tuesday, as I’d dubbed it, and Dan and I were on our way out to the shelter. “So, since neither of us has just swallowed anything so our lives won’t be in danger, how do you feel about dogs?” I asked him.

  He chuckled and shrugged. “They’re alright. I’d never been interested in getting one. Too...furry.”

  “Dan. They’re dogs. Of course, they’re furry.”