Marked

by Charisse Spiers

That wasn't really what I was expecting. Okay, I'm really not sure what I was expecting. Maybe to have to talk to him about the shit I just confessed to, or even to be an ear for whatever job he had to do earlier, where he came from, or what he had to do, but not something as simple as that. Of course, it doesn't surprise me. Typical Kaston as I've come to know him. What would probably haunt most people is just an everyday occurrence to him, and things that seem abnormal in relationships to the average couple becomes appealing to him.

  "Uh, why?"

  "Because I want you to. Do I really need to come up with a better reason?"

  "This is still new. We've known each other for how long? A few weeks? A month? That's weird. We haven't even gone on a date. Shouldn't you at least go to dinner with someone before you share a house? A few sleepovers or your stalkerish meet and greets are not enough to know if we would be compatible roomies. I'm not even a good roommate. There are reasons as to why I live alone."

  "Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself? You sure as hell aren't going back in that apartment alone. This is a new house. I haven't even finished unpacking. You can do whatever the fuck you want to do to it on my bill."

  "Kaston..."

  He grabs my face. I turn into his hand, his thumb rubbing along my bottom lip. His legs spread and lift, thrusting me upward slightly, then comes back down, setting me on the head of his dick, before sliding inside. It feels so good. Altering my knees to the floor, I start to move up and down. He pulls me toward him. "I have your blood and you have mine. A fucking house should be petty. I won't want you any less in six months time. Move in with me. Let me take care of you. I promised you that your future would not be a repeat of your past. Let me show you. It'll be no different than living with your best friend," he says, with a smirk on his face.

  When he's in me completely I stop. "You're never going to give up, are you?"

  "Nope. Not until your things are here."

  I roll my eyes. Figures. I have an idea... "How about we bet on it?"

  "If I win you move in and if you win?"

  My grin grows. "You take me to Paris."

  "Deal. What's the bet?"

  "First one to come loses."

  "Before you I would've had that one in the bag. I guess it's time to put my balls to the test; pun intended."

  I place my palms on the shower wall on each side of his head, leaning my body into him. "I don't like to lose."

  I push off of his dick and turn around, before grabbing his dick and placing it back inside, sitting down all the way with my back against him. "Fuck, Lux."

  His hand runs halfway up my spine and around to my front, before cupping my breasts in his hands, pinching my nipples between his fingers. I place one hand on the back of his and the other behind me on the back of his head, while one of his descends and starts rubbing my clit. He puts more pressure than he normally does, making it feel even better. I pick up pace, getting a rhythm, before changing positions from my knees to a squatting position, preparing to bounce on his dick. He bites my shoulder, pressing harder on my clit as he rubs up and down dramatically. I scream out, picking up pace now that I have control over my legs in their entirety. "Fuck, you're wetting my cock. Shit."

  It feels too good. I'm not going to last like this. I lean forward and grab his ankles to give me leverage, before bouncing at a slightly different angle, milking him. He pulls his hand from my breast, and then rubs his thumb around my pussy, before sliding it back to my asshole, still rubbing my clit. "No. Fuck. I can't."

  His motions become circles, both matching each other, one on my clit and one on my asshole, while I continue bouncing on his cock, getting faster as the pleasure consumes my mind, body, and soul. "Shit, I can't.... Fuck! I'm about to come."

  I dig my nails into his skin as I start to orgasm, every muscle contracting and swollen from increased blood flow, now sensitive to the touch. I stop and sit up to lean against him, no longer able to move. His hand rakes up my stomach, brushing over my naval ring towards my breast. "I guess you win," I say out of breath.

  "Mmmmm."

  He kisses my neck. "Let's go get your things."

  "Kaston, it's the middle of the night. It can wait."

  "No, it can't."

  "Yes it can."

  "Nope, because you're going to be busy planning a trip to Paris."

  I get off his cock and turn around to face him. "What are you talking about? You won. You don't have to take me anywhere."

  "I came when you started milking my cock like you were fucking thirsty, but I wasn't about to stop you. Technically you won, but in that wager you never stated if you won that you weren't moving in, only that I had to take you to Paris, which I will gladly. It was a win for me either way. Always pay attention to details, beautiful. It can be the difference in winning or losing."

  He grabs my chin, the very one that's probably sitting on the floor, and pulls me in for a kiss. He fucking out conned me. How did I miss that? "Fine, but seriously, I'm not moving when it's still dark outside. You can kiss my ass. If you'll wait till daylight I'll even snuggle with you."

  I stand and put my hands over my chest, waiting for him to stand too. It's starting to get chilly in here. "Don't temp me. I would gladly kiss your ass, but since you made me an offer I can't decline, okay. I love your bargaining skills. I think I'm getting the better deal."

  "Yeah, yeah. So Paris? France? Really," I ask as I open the shower door and step out.

  He slaps my ass and follows me out, before he grabs the towel off the bar, wrapping it around me from behind, then steps up behind me, pressing his body against mine as he stares at me through the mirror. "Paris, France. It's pretty cool. Going with you sounds fun. We aren't too old for public sex, even in foreign countries. Have you ever been?"

  I laugh. "To France? No. That's a good joke though."

  "Why is it funny?"

  "Really, Kaston? Why the hell would you think I've ever been out of the country? I don't even have a passport."

  "You were driving a fucking Porsche when I met you. Why would no one have ever taken you out of the country, yet buy you an expensive car?"

  I shrug my shoulders. "I haven't really dated that many people. I was only really a whore when I decided to be and when there was something I wanted, like my tits. Again, control is the magic word. The car was actually a birthday gift. Fucking asshole. Who takes back a gift? You're the only one that's ever really caught me off guard and actually interested me. I usually get bored."

  "Stop referring to yourself as a whore. It fucking pisses me off. I don't care under what form of humor. As freely as most humans have sex now, that term should be terminated from use and become extinct. Clearly we've both had sex in our pasts, a lot I'm assuming, but our bodies now belong to each other and that's all that matters. Secondly, that car would be gone by now anyway. I'm not dating someone on another man's dime. Period. I really haven't dated anyone in adulthood, but only because I haven’t wanted to. It was high school, then work after college. No one ever caught my attention like you did. Maybe my dad's death changed my perspective, but I think it was just you, so here we are, and we'll figure it out together."

  He starts drying me down with the towel. Watching him do it is turning me on again, oddly. Maybe it's the nurturing aspect, but since I’ve never had that before I’m not sure. "Tell me, why Paris?"

  "If I tell you, you're going to think I'm a fat kid." I laugh.

  "You, beautiful, could never be associated with that in my mind. Tell me."

  "Well, you know how most people go to Paris thinking of the Eiffel Tower? Not me. When I think of Paris it's for the food, all that way. Don't get me wrong. I want to see it in its entirety, but I want to taste the pastries and the cuisine. I want to have a food-gasm as the fork slides down my tongue, coating it in yumminess. My mouth starts watering just thinking about it. I want to put a pretty dress on, curl my hair, and sit in a five-star restaurant while I eat a four-course meal, that most people never imagine exper
iencing in a lifetime. That is what I call a vacation."

  "So you're passionate about food?"

  I laugh again. I can’t believe I’m telling him this so freely. It makes me feel light. "Yes, I guess you can say that. I've wanted to be a Chef since I was a kid. Delta's mom dated this guy once that had money. For her birthday he took them out to this fancy restaurant and she got to bring a friend, me. It was like no food I had ever tasted. When we left there I was so full I didn't think I'd be able to eat for three days, but it was worth the pain in my stomach. From that day forward I wanted to be the person that created something so beautiful, yet tasty. I wanted to be the maker behind things that comfort souls. I wanted to be a Chef."

  He turns me around to face him, backing me against the bathroom counter. "Why aren't you?"

  "It's just a stupid dream, Kaston; one that I found when I was a child. Not all dreams come true. Life happens. It steps in the way. Finances control everything. Schools for culinary arts are expensive. Then, to really be good you have to travel to some of the most renowned culinary places in the world, training under people that have made a dent in that world. You have to be willing to let people mold you, to make you better. Education only takes you so far, but learning from those that have perfected it, getting that history and culture from different places, is what makes you the best. That's just not possible for me, and I've accepted it. It takes everything I make to survive, but that's okay, because no matter what I'm making it on my own. I may have taken handouts for things through the past few years, for things that don’t matter like clothes and goods, but that's something that I keep for myself. You're the only one that knows aside from Delta, but she's like my sister. We’ve sat under the stars sharing our dreams. We've experienced the good and the bad together our entire lives."

  "You're wrong about something," he says, interrupting my thought.

  "What's that?"

  "Dreams are dreams because they're meant to come true. You just have to want it bad enough to reach for it and work your ass off to hold it in your grasp. I have all of this because of my father's dream, no matter how twisted it is to the average person. He had a dream to change the world, to bring the good back by ridding of the bad, one legal and one not, but both created an empire for good to prevail." He touches over my heart with his index finger. "By letting someone in here, you just never know when you're making his dream come true, because for some people, it's their dream to make someone else's dream come true, and to make them happy."

  My heart is racing. "What's your dream?"

  "To live an extraordinary life, because mediocre just isn't fucking good enough, and in such a short amount of time it's only built up to something greater. Now, I want to live an extraordinary life with someone else, my best friend, and someone that can make all other females fade; someone that wants to be an outcast with me, because being like everyone else isn't an option."

  I stare into his eyes, not knowing what to say. He's breaking down my walls one at a time, and to the point that they can’t be rebuilt. I'm not sure if I'm ready to give my heart to someone else. I'm not sure if I want to give someone that kind of control over me, yet oddly, I don't think I have a choice, and I'm starting to become more and more curious. "I hope you find that person," I whisper.

  He drops the towel and grabs me, sliding me up his front. I wrap my legs and arms around him, and then he starts walking toward the bedroom. "I believe I already have."

  I wake up to the ringing of Lux's phone for about the third time in the past hour. "Fuck!" I smile in my sleep at the sound of her voice, before opening my eyes as she sits up in bed and grabs her phone, clearly in a rage. "Hello," she says in an aggravated tone as she places the phone to her ear. "Yes, this is she."

  Her frustrated facial expression softens as the seconds pass. I sit up, watching her as she listens to whoever is on the other end. "I'll be there as soon as possible."

  The phone falls from her hand and hits the blanket, her face staring forward blankly, before her head turns toward me. "She's dead. The witch is dead."

  My brows furrow. "Who?"

  "My mother. She's dead."

  "How? I can't say that I'm really that upset to be honest, but it's been what ten, twelve hours? What did they say? Who was that?"

  "The police department. They’re pretty sure she overdosed. They want me to come identify her at the Fulton county medical examiners office just to be sure it’s her. They found my number in her cell under the recent call history. She's dead.... This looks really bad, doesn’t it?" The last two lines come out in a breathy whisper, as if she's relieved. Then, she looks at me. "Did you do it?"

  "How the fuck would I have done it? I've been with you. Not that I haven't thought about it..."

  "No, Kaston. What I mean is did you order it?"

  "No, Lux. Fuck. I may be a monster, but I'm not a demon. She's your mother. No matter how much I hate her or how much she's done to you, I wouldn't hurt you like that."

  "To be clear, I wouldn't have been mad.... Does that make me fucked up? This is my fault, isn't it? It's what I said to her. It just came out. I was so angry and hurt. I told her I hated her and wished she were dead. This all is my fault. She went off the deep end this time."

  Holy fuck. Maybe I should have just admitted to doing it. It would have been better than her thinking it's her fault. I grab her and pull her on my lap, before holding her face between my hands. "Don't you fucking dare. Dammit, don't take her sins and bear them. They're not yours to carry. Do you hear me? She made you do horrible things. We all have to pay for our sins. Every fucking one of us."

  A tear falls down her cheek and drops. "It doesn't take away the guilt."

  "What guilt? What the hell do you have to feel guilty about? She used you your entire life."

  "Because for the first time in my life I feel free."

  "Damn, baby, that's not a bad thing. Let it go. I got you. Do you understand? If you fall as you drop the weight then I'll catch you, but let it go. You tried harder than most would to save her. Some people can't be saved, yeah?"

  "Yeah."

  "Then bury her, say goodbye, and move on. That's the best you can do."

  "Okay."

  "Do you want me to come with you?"

  "Thank you, but I think this is something I need to do alone. Will you take me to get some clothes and the car?"

  "Sure. Do you want me to make the arrangements?"

  "I can't ask you to do that, Kaston. I don't want you to. I'll figure it out."

  "Then I'm hiring a moving company to clear out your things. Come here when you're done. Okay? All your stuff will be waiting. I won't touch any of it."

  She exhales, defeated, but then like she always does sounds so strong. "Okay. It can’t be any different than co-ed roommates. I don't think I could sleep there again anyway. Sell the bed or store it. I don't want it. I sure as hell am not bringing it into our home."

  Our home. Fucking hell that makes me happy.

  "Okay, beautiful. Let's get dressed. I'll go in to the office for a while."

  I pull into her apartment complex and stop in the space beside the Ferrari, letting her out. She opens the door and I grab her hand, pulling her back for a kiss. "I'm going upstairs with you to change. Don't try to stop me after the shit that just happened."

  She nods and I kill the engine to my truck, both of us exiting together. She's silent the entire walk to her apartment, me thinking of what I'm about to find when she opens that fucking door. When she does I move her aside, entering first, my 9mm ready to draw if I need it. It's only lit by the incoming sunlight, nothing really appearing out of place. I flip the light switch along the way, lighting the room even more. As I walk into her bedroom, a slight crack in the wall catches my attention. Immediately that story she told me starts to develop in my mind, images that no man ever wants to have of his girl and another man.

  She walks past me and immediately goes for the closet, returning in a pair of jeans and a black top. She
loads a duffel bag with a sports bra and a pair of shorts, as well as a pair of sneakers. "What's that for?"

  "I need to go to the gym. I need a stress reliever and that's what working out is for me. I haven't really been much since I met you. I need to balance the things that make me happy, and one of those things is you, but not the only."

  "Mind if I come? I enjoy it too, you know. It could be fun to work out together."

  "Okay. I didn't really think that body came naturally." She smiles, but I can tell that she's a little anxious.

  I pull her in my arms after she zips up the bag and pulls the strap over her head, carrying it across her body. "Just breathe. You'll only have to do this once. It gets easier. Trust me. I know."

  She reaches up on her tiptoes and kisses me on the lips. "Thanks, Kaston. I'll call you when I'm done, okay?"

  "Okay." I let her go, following her back through the apartment toward the door. She opens it and steps out. I grab her hand pulling her back for one more kiss. "Be careful. Call me if you need me and I'll be there. I'll just stay and wait on the movers."

  "Are they really going to come this short of notice?"

  "Money talks."

  "Okay then. Here are my keys."

  I let her go, watching her disappear down the hall before shutting the door. I need to talk to Chevy, but I have plenty of time to make calls while I'm here, because I'm not leaving anytime soon. I have a feeling he'll be back, and I'll be waiting...

  I grip the steering wheel as I pull into the medical examiners office and park. Being in places like this makes me fucking nervous. Hell, cops make me nervous. Just talking to one on the phone had me freaking out. "You can do this. Just breathe."

  Before I can talk myself out of it I kill the engine and get out, locking up behind me. It's a reasonably short walk before I'm pulling open the door to the building. I walk up to the first person I see, a heavyset man behind the counter, and hair white as snow. "Can I help you, miss?"

  "Yes, sir. I'm here because I was called about my mom, Katherine Larsen."