“What crawled up his ass?” I asked as we continued to laugh, my legs pulled up to avoid the smashed footwell, twisted in my seat to see the guys.
I was met with the steady eyes of Grey, staring at me with a hot intensity that curled my toes as his laughter faded. His Adam’s apple bobbed, lips parting to let out a shaky breath.
Lips that looked pillow soft in the dawning light.
He bit his lower one and something tightened in my belly, the adrenaline still pumping blood through my veins making my fingers twitch.
A slight curl at the corner of his mouth sent me over the edge with a wild lust that swallowed me whole.
I was through the seats, a fist in the short hair at the nape of his neck to crush his mouth to mine. An animal sound ricocheted through my chest as his hands came up to hold me there, tight on either side of my jaw.
“Mmmm,” Rook groaned somewhere to my right, and I reached a blind hand out for him, finding a fistful of shirt to grab hold of. I yanked him close, tearing myself from Grey to find Rook’s lips.
He tasted strongly of whiskey, and it sent a spike of surprise sparking in my eyes like starbursts. His tongue flicked into my mouth, and I moaned, but a strong hand gripped my neck, hauling me back. Hot and urgent. Until I was kissing Grey again, their intermingled scents driving me to a hazy delirium.
A sound of surprise squeaked up my throat as Rook grabbed hold of my legs, hard fingers working the button and zipper of my jeans.
I moaned loudly into Grey’s mouth as Rook violently undressed me and Grey ravished my mouth with his tongue. My breasts with his greedy hands. Their touches almost frantic in their intensity.
Like they were afraid at any moment I would stop them.
I should.
I really should.
But right now? I’d rather die than have them stop for even a fucking second.
I was high off the moment. Wanting to keep living fast, ready to die hard if that’s what this demanded of me.
“Fuck,” I croaked as Grey’s mouth trailed kisses down my cheek to my neck, suckling lightly on the tender flesh there. Marking me.
Rook grunted as he struggled with my pants, finally kicking the warped door open to get out and rip them from my legs. Yanking me down to lay me across the seat in the process. Bits of chunky glass and dirt biting into my skin.
My panties went next, the distinct sound of steel cutting through cotton making me shiver as he sliced them from me.
I tried to heave myself up to see what Rook was doing, but Grey kept me locked to him, jerking my chin until our mouths met again in an upside down kiss.
My back arched, breath hitching as Rook buried his face in my pussy.
I whimpered into Grey’s mouth, and he ripped the top of my shirt, exposing my breasts to the cool morning air, making my nipples pebble.
He groaned into my mouth as he twisted one, rolling the sensitive top between his rough fingers until I was convulsing against the seat at all the sensations rebounding through my body.
Rook feasted on my greedy cunt like a man starved until I wrapped my legs tight around his shoulders, crying out when Grey finally released my mouth to lean over and suck one of my nipples into his warm mouth.
This was…
Fuck, this was the most incredible…
A blade dragged up my inner thigh. I would know the feeling anywhere.
I pressed into it, hungry for more.
“Fuck, Rook,” I choked out, squirming so much now in the seat that he had to move his free arm over my waist like a bar, holding me down.
Cold metal brushed my opening beneath where his tongue was setting a quick, flicking pace.
I pushed against it, the cold making me suck a breath in through my teeth as I felt the blunt edge of the tang thrust slowly inside of me.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
“You like that?” Rook asked, sounding almost incredulous as he pushed the blade further inside of me. I found a fistful of his dark hair and dragged his mouth back to my pussy.
“Yes,” I said. “Don’t fucking stop.”
He didn’t.
My nipple popped out of Grey’s mouth, and I reached my other hand above me, feeling down the length of his torso until I found what I was looking for. The solid bulge beneath his jeans. The perfect cock I knew was bound beneath it and begging to be set free.
I tried to undo the button, but the angle made it almost impossible. I whimpered, shuddering as Rook fucked me with the handle of the blade.
“Take these off,” I demanded breathily, tugging on Grey’s jeans. “Now.”
I didn’t have to tell him twice. He got his door to open and stepped out to remove them, coming back with his cock fisted in his hand.
I opened wide, salivating at the sight of it, looping my fingers around his thigh to force him to move faster. He knelt on the edge of the seat and fed his thick cock into my mouth. I stretched my neck, taking it in, using my grip on his thigh to bring him closer.
The salty taste of him slid down my throat and I moaned against his cock as he withdrew it, letting me circle the tip with my tongue.
“I want you to fuck my mouth,” I told him, breathless, readjusting myself on the seat so my head was flat and he stood behind me. I wanted him to fuck my mouth while Rook fucked my pussy with his knife.
I didn’t think I’d ever wanted anything as much as I wanted this.
“Do as the woman says,” Rook growled from between my legs and Grey obliged, pushed past my lips to slide his cock over my tongue, all the way to the back of my throat.
I relaxed my gag reflex as he grunted, fucking my tight little throat until I could hardly breathe. It only turned me on more.
An orgasm began to build, coming on faster than a jet, with just as much power.
My pussy clenched around the hilt of the blade.
Grey, sensing my closeness, reached down and rubbed my nipples with wetted fingers until I came. The orgasm ripping through me like a thousand tiny explosions. Like a car crash I wanted to relive over and over again. The bruises and bumps and scrapes forgotten in favor of the release.
If I believed in souls, I’d say mine just left my fucking body.
I screamed around Grey’s cock as the orgasm came to a head, my vision blurring, fingernails biting into flesh.
It continued for what felt like minutes, and just when I thought it was finally going to release me, the blade and Rook’s tongue vanished from between my legs and I gasped as he lifted my ass end high, plowing into my pussy with his pierced cock.
Grey’s cock was knocked from my mouth, and I dragged in a breath.
“Don’t lose it,” Rook told me, breathless, the gleam of my wetness still on his lips as his dark eyes watched me. “I want another one.”
He thrust into me, holding my legs locked around his neck, making Grey have to climb into the backseat to reach my mouth. I took him back in as he braced himself on the seats, nudging the back of my throat again.
“Come on, Ghost,” Rook demanded, and as if on cue, I began to spiral into another orgasm. The feel of his Jacob’s ladder rubbing over my sweet spots driving me fucking insane.
“Choke her,” Rook roared, and Grey gave me a chance to catch my breath before his fingers curled around my throat, tightening the channel his cock ruthlessly fucked.
My fingers clutched the worn seat beneath me until it tore, the lack of air priming my body as one orgasm began to roll into the next.
Teeth bit into my calf, and I cried out as they broke the skin, the pain mixed with the pleasure bringing me a release so absolute it made tears sting in my eyes. Grey cried out as his warm heat spilled down my throat, and Rook stiffened between my legs, giving himself over to his own release, filling me.
I swallowed, utterly spent with the orange glow of sunrise staining the backs of my eyelids. The only sound besides our heavy breaths and the chirp of the sparrows in the trees.
The hum of the tattoo gun filled the apartment as I leaned over the back of one of the kitchen stools. I wasn’t sure what I expected for a pain level, but this definitely wasn’t it. It was kind of nice, actually.
I didn’t know what that said about me, but the heavy handed path of the needle working its way down my spine felt almost therapeutic. Fuck, it would’ve been if it weren’t for what Tattoo Guy was inking into the flesh between my shoulder blades.
“You sure this is all you want?” Tattoo Guy grunted as he completed the tattoo and set down the gun on the counter. “Dies pays well in case his men want additional ink to compliment the tag. Pinkie got his in the eye of a tiger, and you might’ve noticed all The Crow’s tags are woven through with their other ink.”
My face screwed up at that as I pulled my tank top back down to cover the fresh ink.
“Hey, hold up. I need to bandage it.”
Groaning, I lifted my shirt back up as Rook wandered from my bedroom, a towel hanging low on his hips. His body glistening with fresh droplets from the shower, flushed red.
My jaw tightened. If Tattoo Guy could’ve waited just another twenty fucking minutes to show up at my door, I could’ve joined him.
Judging by his cheeky smirk, he knew what I was thinking.
Rook tugged my shirt the rest of the way out of Tattoo Guy’s way as he cleaned the tattoo, wiping it down before applying a thin clear bandage to it, pressing it down tight, making the fresh needle wounds sting.
“That’s it?” Rook asked, echoing Tattoo Guy’s question.
I shrugged his hand from my back. “I didn’t exactly have time to think about it.”
He frowned, and Tattoo Guy finally finished with my bandage, starting to pack up.
“If you want anything added, just give me a call. I’ll make time.” He flipped a card from his wallet, pressing it flat to the countertop. “Rook,” he added, nodding in his direction. “We still on for next month.”
“Pending my demise,” Rook replied with a wink, making my stomach clench.
“Any idea what you’ll have yet or are you going to make me draw it up same day again?”
Rook shrugged, pursing his lips. “You’ll know when I do.”
“So yes then.”
“See you, Rick.”
Tattoo Guy shook his head, slinging his back over his shoulder as he left.
Rook didn’t speak again until the door shut behind him. He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, his name flexing over his knuckles. “You good?”
“Feels like a betrayal,” I found myself saying, the honesty almost too heavy.
“Because of what happened to your dad?”
I nodded. It wasn’t the only reason, but it was the biggest one. The fact my mom got the drugs that drove her half mad from the Kings didn’t help. They were also the reason she became an addict. And the reason the collector came knocking for money she didn’t have. Why he decided to take what was owed from my flesh instead of her empty purse. Why he gave me no choice but to end him. Awakening my darkness and changing me forever.
Rook nodded solemnly to himself, brooding.
“It’s fine,” I muttered. “It needed to be done. Now Diesel will stop bitching at me. Worth it for that alone.”
My attempt to lighten the mood seemed to work only halfway, but I’d take it.
Rook had spent the last two nights with me at Briar Hall, in my bed, and somehow I’d managed to keep my hands to myself after the slight setback at the rally field.
It wasn’t without herculean effort though, and seeing him now, naked save for the towel and dripping wet…
I want to lick him.
My skin bristled at the traitorous thought and I cleared my throat as I went through the motions of making two shitty lattes, my skill at frothing the milk seeming to only get worse day by day.
I’d made it clear to Grey and Rook after the fiasco in the smashed car that what happened between us didn’t mean I’d forgiven them or that I trusted them. They didn’t say it, but I could see in their eyes that it didn’t mean I’d gained their trust back yet, either.
And Corvus…
Well, Corvus barely said two words to me since rally night. He showed up for classes and threw himself into finding out more about whoever set up the art display in the school atrium last week, doing everything he could to ignore me.
I knew he was pissed because someone could’ve been hurt in the crash, or, you know, if I’d actually managed to take the thirty foot jump, but we were all still alive, weren’t we?
In hindsight, maybe I was being reckless, but fuck if it wasn’t fun. We’d needed that.
I slid one of the latte’s to him on the counter. “You should go get dressed or we’ll be late.”
“Does it matter?”
My brows drew. Did it?
“Corv has already spoken to administration.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re exempt.”
“From?”
He grinned mischievously behind his mug as he took a sip. “From everything. Being marked late. Absent. Using your phone during class, if you still had one. And a myriad of other fun things.”
“Like not getting expelled for fucking the vice principal?”
He lifted his mug in a salute. “Exactly.”
“Well, if it’s all the same to you, I’m hungry as fuck and have absolutely no desire to cook.”
“Cafeteria?”
“Please.”
He strode back to the bedroom to get dressed, standing in such a way that he damn well knew I could see him as he let his towel fall to the floor and pulled on his jeans.
His back tatts extended down to cover part of his magnificent glutes and the urge came again. To taste him. To bite him like he bit me on rally night. The twin crescents of his teeth marks in my calf were crusted over now, but I fully planned to scrub the scabs off in the shower later, ensuring the markings would scar.
“You talk to Becca any more this morning?”
“With what?” I asked. “I don’t have a phone, remember?”
“As if you couldn’t break into mine.”
I pursed my lips, nodding.
“No. I haven’t. Not since our calls Tuesday and yesterday.”
I’d done as Diesel had asked and set up a call with Becca. Her on a payphone and me on Grey’s burner cell. We now had a good idea of what the creep looked like. Brown hair long enough on top to show it was wavy. Blue eyes. A pale complexion. Slim, but muscular. About six feet tall. She had no photos of him since he wouldn’t let her take any, smart fucker, but the description was good. So was the other intel.
Diesel already knew where they were meeting since he’d bugged the place. It was a little bunkhouse on the edge of Thorn Valley that Ace had been renting in cash for several months. But Becca’s intel also told us that he sometimes asked her to meet him in other places. Or rather, to pick him up in other places. Which explained why the passenger seat of her car was always set for someone much taller than I was.
Specifically, from a Quickie Mart just inside Ace territory.
It cemented the theory that he was an Ace, but on the next call, when I’d asked Becca Diesel’s new question about his gang ink, she’d said he didn’t have any. No ink at all.
She’d been fucking this guy for months, so I wanted to believe she had an intimate knowledge of every inch of his flesh, but… that may not have been the case.
The guys I slept with before the Crows never saw my scars and there were six inches of them cuffing both my upper thighs. They didn’t see them because I didn’t want them to see them. If I could hide that, this guy could hide a little ‘A.’
“Is it getting any easier?”
“What?”
“Talking to her.”
My chest tightened. “Not really.”
I got off the phone as fast as I could each time we spoke even though Becca was brimming with questions of her own. Was I okay? Was I in any trouble because of her? Did I need her to come back?
The questions were only put on hold for the apologies.
I knew she meant them, but I wasn’t ready yet. Trust was a fragile thing, a new thing for me. I didn’t know how she could earn it back or else I’d tell her.
“You guys’ll work it out,” Rook assured me, sounding so sure.
“How do you know that?”
“You think the guys and I haven’t gone through shit? Man, I could tell you stories… This one time Grey—”
“Grey what?”
“Nah. It was a long time ago. We were younger. Still learning how to trust each other. It wasn’t always easy, you know. It won’t be for you and Becks, either, but she’s your sister. Maybe not by blood, but by choice. You don’t throw that shit away for one mistake.”
I must’ve pulled a face because he snorted, coming over to tug the empty mug from my fingers. “Come on, Ghost. Let’s eat.”
