by Nova Rain
“Oh for fuck’s sake…” I groaned, whirling around to face her. “Why the hell are you doing this? Do you even remember what happened the other night?”
“Donny, I’m falling apart here,” her wobbly voice came back, along with the tremor on her lips. “Just this morning, I lost my job and my best friend. Please, make me feel good. One night; that’s all I’m asking.”
I didn’t need to hear anything else. She had been teasing me for days, and I’d been struggling not to pounce on her. I leaned in, determined to satisfy her request. This time, my lips joined hers in a soft, tender kiss. Ava glued her body onto mine, her hands cupping my face with eagerness. I pulled her blouse out of her pants, the thought of touching that silky skin causing my cock to twitch in protest. With a firm grip on her hips, I spun her around, until her body made contact with the counter.
“Make me feel good,” she repeated with a whisper as I unbuttoned her blouse. The lace of her white bra peeking out, I reached forward.
“You’ll feel amazing,” I whispered, the feel of her skin in my hands raising goosebumps all over my body. Ava peeled off her top, our kiss filling with heat and hunger with each passing second. I squeezed her midsection and let my fingers move up, her arms flying around my waist. A deep whimper escaped her, the moment my crotch bumped against hers. I pulled down the cup over her left breast, causing it to hang heavily.
“Touch me…” she urged in a husky voice as I cupped the underside of her breast. I pushed it up and then stroked that juicy flesh, a pain in my cock beginning to annoy me. It was stiff and ready to burst out of my pants, but I wasn’t going to bother with it just yet. Besides, I was too busy to take off my pants. I traced the area around her nipple, feeling the tiny wrinkles of her skin. Ava tilted her head back, pushing my head down. She let out a hiss and led me to her chest. I opened my eyes to slits for a split second. The view of her exposed breast turned the discomfort into sheer agony.
“I’m all yours tonight, you knockout,” I grunted, before my mouth landed on her soft breast. Her quick laugh indicated how much she liked my comment. I kissed my way up and reached down, her fingers diving up and into my hair. I pulled the zipper down and unbuttoned my jeans, my upper lip touching her hardened nipple.
“That’s it, kiss me,” she encouraged, squeezing her eyes shut. I wasn’t going to let her down. I planted a firm kiss over her nipple before sucking it into my mouth. My cock finally free of its bounds, I stroked her stomach. My tongue danced around her sensitive area, flicking her nipple up and down while I savored the sensation of her skin on my lips. Ava let go of my head and reached down to her pants. I caught the faint sound of a button being undone, before she wiggled her hips. Sliding her pants down to her knees, she then hopped onto the counter.
I felt her fingers on either side of my jaw, easing me up to her level. Just when she raised her legs, I cupped the back of her heel and pulled it off her foot. I repeated that to her other foot, my mouth crashing into hers once more. I yanked her pants down her calves and off her legs, the tip of my tongue brushing the top of her mouth. My fingers mapping out the skin of her inner thigh, I pressed myself into her.
“I love how hard you are,” her sexy voice sent sparks down my spine yet again. I moved her thong to the side, feeling a hint of moisture on my knuckle. She let out another whimper in my mouth as I glided my fingers down her slit. Ava leaned back, and I spread her glistening pussy lips.
“Oh, baby...” she moaned, the tip of my middle finger dipping into her. Reaching back, she hit her hand against the wall. I laid short kisses along her jawline, feeling her wetness coating my finger. I withdrew and pushed it back in, her thigh muscles flexing. Kissing my way down the side of her neck, I lifted my hand up to her mouth. She plucked it out of mid-air and guided my wet finger to her lips. I stole a glance up at her, stopping just before her breasts. With her eyes shut, she licked the tip first and then let my finger slip into her mouth. Ava sucked it all the way down to the knuckle, edging me further.
“Dirty girl,” I grunted, straightening myself up. Her eyes snapped open, giving me a glimpse of her hunger. She ran her tongue along her upper lip as I gripped the base of my shaft. The swollen head of my cock nudged her clit for a moment, before stopping at her entrance.
“Oooh, yeah!” Ava moaned, my thick inches sliding through her wet folds. I wrapped my arms around her thighs, grunting with pleasure. She grabbed me by the shoulders and squeezed my skin through my shirt. Finding myself deep inside of her, I leaned forward. That lust in her eyes was too much for me to resist. They were half-open, staring into mine, darting down at her body and then back up. All of a sudden, her hands were no longer on my shoulders. Ava put them on my chest and yanked, ripping the buttons of my shirt in impatience. They bounced off the counter, a sexy smile bursting upon her lips.
“Fucking wild…” I groaned, my hard thrusts causing her breasts to bounce up and down.
“These are so good,” she moaned, squeezing my muscled chest, her breath caressing my chin. She exhaled hard, a moment before I claimed that hot mouth of hers. I could hear our bodies smashing into each other, the feel of her thick juices all over my shaft making my insides burn with desire. Ava placed her hands on either hip and pushed me onto her, trying to control my pace. Her long fingernails left marks on my skin, our kiss muffling her moans. Just moments later, she threw her head back, the sounds of her pleasure joining the sound of pounding. Ripples were going up and down her thighs with every thrust. Her inner muscles clenched around me as a louder, deeper moan rang in my ears. Even more delicious warmth surrounded my shaft, her powerful orgasm filling my chest with pride. Three, final thrusts sent me over the edge. I jerked back, my juices spurting out of my cock and over the cabinet underneath.
Deep grunts were still leaving my mouth when Ava leaned forward. With a sweet whimper, she planted another kiss on my mouth and eased back.
“Now we can cook,” she laughed, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
“You’re one, crazy girl.” I chuckled, pulling my pants back up. “I like it that you’re smiling, though.”
Ava burst out laughing and hopped off the counter. This time, she didn’t try to seduce me. Instead, we did cook some beans and potatoes. Much to my relief, she didn’t mention her mishaps for the rest of the night. We discussed what we had been up to in our worlds and had some fun. And when we ran out of stories, we went to my bedroom for a special kind of fun. The brunette and I enjoyed each other until the early morning. She didn’t have any more surprises in store for me. She just had an insatiable appetite for more craziness in bed.
Chapter Ten
Ava
Another ugly feeling came over me when I woke up.
Anger.
I wasn’t mad at Donny. Even sixteen-year old girls know that men are animals when it comes to sex. If a beautiful woman beckons? Sure, why not? To them, it’s just an instinct. No emotions need to be involved.
In truth, I was mad at myself, because I had made such a mess of everything. Working for Michelle would have earned me a hundred-and-thirty thousand dollars a year. With that handsome reward, would have come something I hadn’t had in all my life: Respect. At last, I would be in a line of work where I wouldn’t have to strip off my clothes. The job was stressful, I’d had to put in many hours every day, but it wasn’t so difficult. I just had to provide my input to Michelle about venues for fundraisers and organize press conferences and interviews. Handling the press was no picnic, but, in time, I would have learned to do that.
There was another reason for me to be angry, one that had stunned me. I felt an unprecedented need the previous night with Donny, a need that had puzzled me so much that I couldn’t wait to get it out of my system. Unfortunately for me, there was only person I could turn to. It was none other than Helena Wall. After her night shift, she was back at her house in North Haven.
The eighty miles between us didn’t deter me. I didn’t appreciate the distance, but Helena’s cool head would
be valuable in this situation. Her cold approach could sometimes drive me crazy, because she didn’t demonstrate any emotion, but I needed it. Michelle and I often argued about this or that. Helena’s calm mindset was the antidote to our hot tempers and our selfishness. I was a little too smug, and Michelle was a little self-centered. The bottom line, however, was that our overinflated egos prevented us from seeing some simple truths.
North Haven… I always thought that Helena was too good to live there. She just didn’t belong in the “filthy-rich suburbia” as Michelle used to call it. A down-to-earth doctor, living amongst spoiled brats who preoccupied their minds with ways of spending daddy’s money? She was like a house cat among rabid dogs. She couldn’t tell if—or maybe when—one of them was going to bite her. And by that, I meant someone mistreating her in some way.
My BMW roared, turning left and into her neighborhood, and a bad memory rushed back to my mind. Joe’s ruined Camaro, hurtling down the road. He and Bryan carrying out a bloody Donny, with a piece of glass still lodged in his throat. That view alone brought me to the verge of passing out. On the other hand, Helena was as cool as a cucumber. She stitched him up like she was sewing buttons on a shirt.
I found the tall redhead out in her garden, her hands in yellow gloves while she pruned her rose bushes. I was twenty yards away, and their wonderful scent reached my nostrils with ease.
“Hey!” I waved, flashing her a bright smile. “That’s a pretty sight. That’s why you don’t want to move to the city,” I teased, crossing the narrow pathway in her lawn.
“We have been over this, dear.” She addressed me in her usual, calm voice. “I’m not moving to the city because a decent house would cost me a fortune. I would have to get a mortgage, and I do not like debt. What brings you over?”
“A lot,” I muttered. “Can we go inside, please?”
“Yes, of course,” she accepted, shoving dead leaves in a plastic bag. “I’ve made stew. There’s some of it left if you like.”
“Thanks, but I’m not hungry,” I maintained, as Helena pulled open the screen door.
“Something’s wrong,” she presumed, taking her gloves off. “You never pass on my stew.”
I sighed, striding into her kitchen. “You’re right. Michelle fired me yesterday.”
“Oh, I know about that. Michelle told me.” Her confession confused me. If anything, it negated her previous comment.
“Why didn’t you say anything outside? And why aren’t you upset?” I wondered, pitching my voice higher.
“I am upset,” Helena admitted in a firm tone. “You relapsed. Again. And instead of getting help, you chose to do a terrible, terrible thing. But…” she paused. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t seen this coming. You move in criminal circles, Ava. You’re surrounded by lowlifes and crooks. Perhaps you thought you could make some easy money like them.”
“If you’re going to lecture me, too, I’d rather leave,” I stated, annoyance deepening my voice. “I already got that from Michelle.”
“I wasn’t trying to lecture you,” Helena denied the accusation. “I was just trying to explain why you resorted to selling cocaine. Anyway, I’m not judging you. I don’t condone what you did, but I’m not judging you. You were driven by need, not greed. If you’d gotten greedy, you’d come here in a Lamborghini. Still, this just goes to show how debt can affect people’s judgment. What are you going to do about it, now that you’re unemployed?”
“Actually, I took care of it,” I informed her, the thought of Donny’s gesture bringing a small smile to my face.
“How?”
“With the help of Donny Falcone,” I announced, my smile widening. “He gave me the money to pay it off. He even came with me to ensure nothing went wrong.”
“That’s quite unexpected if you ask me,” she commented, an expression of bewilderment taking over her face. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but he doesn’t like you very much, does he?”
“That’s true. At least, that’s what I thought,” I added, excitement speeding up my heart. “The official excuse was…” I drew quotation marks in the air. ‘I’m trying to protect Joe. The guys you owe money to could kill Michelle by mistake.’ Last night, I realized how wrong I was. He found me outside his building, crying my eyes out. He took me in, he listened to me, and, um…” I faltered. “We ended up having sex in his kitchen.”
“He took advantage of you?” Helena asked, furrowing her brow.
“No,” I shook my head sideways. “He turned me down at first. Then, I practically begged him. I was heartbroken, honey. You have to understand that.”
“I do, but that doesn’t change the fact that having sex with him was wrong,” she voiced her opinion, a touch of disapproval in her tone. “Haven’t you socialized enough with criminals already? You had to have sex with a henchman, too? Why? There are plenty of decent men out there.”
“Where?” I splayed my arms out to the side. “Show me a guy who’d stick around a woman that can’t stop crying. Show me someone willing to hear a girl out, without saying ‘let’s go somewhere more private’ every two minutes.”
“Good point,” Helena commented with a nod.
“The funny thing is, after we were done, I wanted to hug him and thank him,” I disclosed the fact that had both shocked and enraged me. “I have never thanked a guy for sex. Not once. Our first time was rather quick, but…”
“You did it twice?” She squeaked, her brows popping up.
“Actually, we did it five times,” I told her, unable to keep my smile from reappearing. “Five, wonderful, crazy-hot times. You won’t believe what he can do with his mouth. And his hands? Well, let me just say he knows exactly where and how to touch a woman. He…”
“Okay, okay!” Helena raised her hands in the air to silence me. “You made your point. I don’t need the details. It does sound like someone has a crush on that henchman, I must say.”
“No, I do not!” I emphasized, my smile vaporizing. “I just spent a great night with him, that’s all!”
“If that night were to happen again, would you say ‘no’?” She posed the question, the volume in her voice rising.
“Would you say ‘no’ to a tall, handsome man who makes you laugh, who pays you compliments even during sex? A guy who listens and understands exactly what you’re going through?” My answer came in the form of another question. I might have been expecting her response, but all that Helena did was push her lips together and avert her gaze from me. “That’s what I thought. One other thing. You’re confusing physical attraction with emotional attachment. In my book, those are two completely different things. Would I sleep with him again? Yes. Am I in love with him? No.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Helena said, her voice but a whisper. “It’s just… My God.” She giggled and brought her gaze back to mine. “You know how much I don’t like hearing these sort of details, and you still tried to give them to me. I don’t know about you, but to me, this sounds like enthusiasm. Too much enthusiasm.”
“Well, in my defense, I had an amazing time last night.” I smiled. “Thanks for the input, doctor. And the support. They both mean a lot to me. I’ll be seeing you.”
“Bye.”
Ah, Helena… The calm and soft-spoken voice of reason, the friend willing to criticize in a non-insulting way. God, I wished she lived closer to me. I wished I didn’t have to drive for an hour-and-a-half to have those great conversations with her. One could argue that there was always the phone or Skype, but one-on-one was much, much better. Reading facial expressions is impossible during phone conversations, and I never liked video calls, because I’d have to stare at a screen. Even so, I left North Haven that day, confident that she hadn’t turned her back on me. I still had a friend who accepted me, despite my mistakes and my shortcomings.
Chapter Eleven
Donny
“Bryan and I are going to his cousin’s place: 781 JFK Drive, Tribeca. Jimmy’s come up with something.”
It was
about time he did. It had been a week since the bombing of Joe’s mall, and we were still in the dark. We knew squat about who had done this and why.
In spite of the good news, something in Joe’s text felt off. Jimmy was a great hacker, there was no doubt about that, but he was just a kid in his senior year in college. How had he managed to afford a place in one of Manhattan’s most expensive neighborhoods? I could suspect; yet, I didn’t want to believe it. His involvement in the armored truck heist had earned him two million bucks. All three of us had advised him to keep a low profile and not buy anything for at least a year. That way, he would stay off the cops’ radar and the organization’s radar, too.
Arriving at his address confirmed my gut feeling. A house in his neighborhood had to cost more than my entire apartment building. They were all on big estates, surrounded by stonewalls and featured power gates. In fact, Jimmy’s place was the only one without those fancy features. It was the last house on the dead-end street. A shiny, black Audi R8 was parked in the driveway. Beyond it, I could make out a huge glass façade. But the worst thing of all wasn’t the front. It was the interior that outraged me. Computer screens were flashing in the dark space that was supposed to be his living room. There had to be more than two dozen of them in there. Two rows lined the side walls, whereas another row lined the far wall. Jimmy himself was outside, talking to Joe and Bryan.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Joe, the hothead who couldn’t keep his cool, didn’t seem angry with him. On the contrary, by the time I got out of my car, the three of them were laughing.
“Stupid sons of bitches…” I groaned, gritting my teeth. “Genovese Jr! Get in! I need to have a word with you!”
“Hi, Donny!” Jimmy threw a quick glance over, standing between my friends. I pushed Joe and Bryan aside and grabbed that asshole by the shirt. “Hey!” He cried out as I dragged him through his open door. “What’s gotten into you, man?”
