by Pepper Pace
Cover
Title
Love
Intertwined
Three Tales of Interracial Romance and Eroticism
Vol 1
By Pepper Pace
~***~
Copyright
© 2011 by Pepper Pace. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Pepper Pace.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There are very many people that helped the stories in this collection come together. I’d like to thank my ‘First Read’; Michelle J. Special thanks go to John G. for editing Someone to Love and The Way Home (as well as coming up with the titles). I’d like to express special appreciation to my fans for all of your feedback and encouragement. Thanks to my blog followers for allowing me to ‘practice’ on you. And thanks to my family for tolerating me when I spent hours behind my computer.
Contents
Copyright
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Someone to Love
~About the Author~
~***~
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. This book contains graphic depictions of sexual acts and is intended for adults only.
Someone to Love
It was just a dream, but the pain was as intense as if it was real. At first a numbing cold—then sharpness, like razors slicing apart her skin. And last...a smell like burning bacon.
Raina sat up in bed, catching the scream in her throat before it had a chance to leave her lips. Her tank top was plastered to her skin in night sweats. She prayed that she hadn't screamed this time. Usually, when the scream escaped, it took her a long time to lock it back inside.
With shaky hands, she pushed her long dark hair back from the half of her face that was unscarred.
Black curly tendrils plastered themselves to the intricate design of her scars. She didn't bother them, preferring her hair to hide the half of her face that had been destroyed in the fire.
Slowly, she sank back into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin, shivering.
***
Bill felt his stomach grumbling. He was hungry but had used the last of his money on the pills in his shirt pocket. Thank God it was Friday. Payday. Quickly he brushed his teeth and splashed his face. He didn't have any bus fare so he would have to walk to work, which meant if he didn't leave now he'd be late.
He zipped up his jacket, locked his apartment and hurried to work.
It wasn't even light outside, which was just fine by him. That meant he'd have the streets to himself—he didn't much like people, and people didn't much like him. And that was fine, too.
He buried his hands into his pockets, wishing he still had his big parka. His windbreaker did little to ward off this kind of cold, when the temperature was well below freezing. Bill had been short on money and Buster, his dealer, had liked the coat. At the time the choice had been easy...
"Fuck." He cursed under his breath, wishing for at least a cigarette. He spotted a butt holder at the bus stop. He dug through it until he found a decent one. The people waiting for their bus either gave him a wary glance or avoided eye contact altogether, hoping he wouldn't beg change. He ignored them, digging into his pocket for a disposable lighter, and then he hurried back on course.
When he finally got to work he stole a cup of coffee. It cost 50 cents but he never paid. Once, one of his bitchy, up-tight co-workers called him on it. He spent five minutes indignantly explaining how he put $5.00 in the coffee can at the beginning of each week, and how he was highly offended that she would jump to such a conclusion. Red faced, the bitchy up-tight co-worker apologized profusely. He just walked away, shaking his head.
Bill sat down in the canteen, cupping his hot coffee, trying to thaw out. A few of the 'shirts-and-ties' were in the small room catching a quick bite. Bill never acknowledged them unless they spoke first. And since he was just a clerk in the mail room, they seldom had a reason to speak to him. And that suited him fine.
After taking note that there were no free donuts or danishes sitting out, he tossed his empty coffee cup in the trash and left.
When he was gone a woman stood up and put 50 cents in the coffee can for him. She kept her head lowered so that her hair masked the half of her face that was covered by scars.
***
Raina used to eat her lunch in her cubicle until management passed a rule that food had to be consumed in designated eating areas only. After that she'd go out to eat, except for days when it was too cold or wet. Only then would she be forced to sit in the canteen with her co-workers.
Raina was a loner by choice. She thought her colleagues were okay and seemed nice enough. They always tried to include her in that don't-leave-Raina-out-just-because-she's-different sort of way.
But she didn't want to be forced on people just because they felt sorry for her or because they wanted to feel better about themselves. She didn't want any more to do with the people that tried to get her to go to their church, or who gave her pep talks about her inner beauty, or who complained about their horrible lives. She thought she'd slit her wrists if she heard one more person tell her how inspiring she was. Didn't they know that all she was doing was the best that she could?
"Hi, Bill."
Raina glanced up to see Bill come into the canteen. Jill had greeted him. Raina didn't like Jill. Absently Bill said hi and poured himself coffee. He drank it black, Raina knew.
"Cold enough for you?" Jill asked, in the way of making conversation.
"Yeah," Bill replied, sitting down at a table far away from Jill and her friends.
Jill was the office slut. She had slept with a number of the guys in the building. Now she had her sights on Bill. Raina had overheard her and her friends talking about Bill's police record and Bill's shitty pay and how freaky it was that he never spoke to anyone. And they laughed that he looked like Brad Pitt on crack—but nonetheless Jill thought he might be worth a tumble or two in the bedroom.
That offended Raina at some deep level that she normally kept buried. It reminded her of the time she came upon a group of boys at school talking about how they'd screw her as long as she kept a bag over her head.
Jill might have a pretty face, but she had an ugly personality.
Raina threw away her trash and left.
"God, I'm happy she's gone," one of Jill's friends said.
"Yeah, looking at her face makes me sick to my stomach," Jill said absently, while watching Bill.
He had his head buried in his hand, intently reading the paper. Jill loved the way his long blonde hair fell all unruly in his eyes. She loved his stubble and his cold blue eyes. She liked how detached he was, as if life was an afterthought. Jill lived for the approval of her friends and the creature comforts that a good job afforded. What made Bill so attractive to her was that he went through life as if none of it meant a thing to him. She was going to turn up the heat. Bill was just the type of Bad Boy she liked.
***
Bill couldn't get his check fast enough. He had one last run; to pick up the final mail of the day, and then he was going to get something to eat before he passed out. Actually, he'd gone longer than this without eating...days. But he was still starving, nonetheless.
Everybody would have their mail in their outboxes except the little prom queen, Jill. She'd take her time licking her envelopes as if he didn't have anything better to do than to watch her puff out her boobs and wiggle her ass.
Raina saw Bill pushing the mail cart down the aisle. Shit! She'd run out of envelopes at the beginning of the day and it had slipped her mind until
now. She had four letters that had to be postmarked today.
He grabbed the mail out of her outbox.
"Do you have any envelopes?" She asked softly.
His blue eyes met hers, then he frowned. "What?"
"Envelopes? Do you have any?"
"No." He glanced at the clock. "I'll bring you some back when I drop these off."
"No...you don't have to do that," she replied quickly, barely looking up. One of the envelopes slipped off the cart. Swiftly Bill reached to grab it before it hit the floor. Raina didn't see him and reached for the letter as well. Their heads cracked soundly into each other.
"Ow!" Bill held his head with one hand. Painfully, he squinted at Raina who was holding her eye. "Are you okay?" He reached out and moved her hair aside, his fingers brushing her scars.
She jerked out of his reach as if his touch was like fire. When her eye met his, it was filled with shame.
Bill couldn't move, like a deer trapped in the headlights. Raina looked down until her face was completely obscured by her long curly hair.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
"It's ...okay." He mumbled. After a moment he stood and then pushed the cart on to the next cubicle.
"Wow." Jill said. "I saw that. You two cracked heads pretty good."
Bill looked back over his shoulder at Raina, who was still covering her eye. She was sitting very still in her chair.
"She'll be alright..." Jill called after him as he walked back to Raina's cubicle.
"Hey." He kneeled in front of her. "Let me see."
Raina just stared at him with her one good eye.
"Come on." He whispered. He gently put his hand on her wrist—the one that hid her injured side. "It's okay."
She let him lower her hand and he pushed her hair behind her ear and looked at her swelling eye.
"You need some ice on this. It's probably going to swell shut." He didn't say that it was going to be black and blue.
She didn't speak.
"There's probably ice in the canteen," he offered. "Come on." He held out his hand. Tentatively she took it and allowed him to guide her into the canteen.
"What about the mail?" Jill called. Bill ignored her.
"You okay?" he asked when she still didn't speak.
Raina nodded, remembering that her scars were exposed as long as her hair was behind her ear. Quickly she swept it from over her shoulder and back into her face. Bill made no comment. Once in the canteen he went to the freezer for ice and made a makeshift ice pack out of a few napkins. He handed it to her to place over her eye.
She kept her head lowered as she accepted it. "What about you?" She mumbled.
"What?"
Raina gestured to his forehead. A purple lump was beginning to form.
"Oh. I have a pretty hard head. I'm more concerned with your eye."
"It'll be okay."
Bill's stomach growled loudly. He closed his eyes in discomfort. When he opened them she was studying him.
"You don't have to stay here with me."
Bill glanced at the clock. "I need to get my check." She was already nodding her head. "Uhm." He scratched his head. "I'd like to see that you get to your car or the bus safely." Bill hurried out of the room. "Give me a minute and I'll be right back,” he called over his shoulder.
Surprised, Raina sat in a chair. Fifteen minutes later, when he still hadn't returned, she tossed the sopping wet ice pack into the trash and headed back to her work area, a bit disappointed, but not surprised that he hadn't come back. Already the office was pretty empty. On a Friday no one lingered after closing.
She noted that Bill's mail cart was gone. She sat in her chair to clean up her work station, then saw a box of envelopes sitting on the desk.
"There you are." Bill hurried to her breathlessly. "I'm sorry about that. I had to finish getting the mail."
"You're still here. I thought you left."
"I said I was going to be back, didn't I? How's your eye? Is it better?"
"Yes, it doesn't hurt anymore." She gestured to the few letters on her desk. "I have to...."
"Go ahead. I'll wait."
Raina opened one of her drawers. "Would you like a candy bar while you wait?"
Bill felt his mouth begin to water instantly at the thought of the silky chocolate melting on his tongue.
"I have plenty," she offered when he hesitated. Again his stomach grumbled loudly, betraying him.
"I guess I am kind of hungry. Thanks." He forced himself to eat it slowly even though every cell in his body was begging him to shove it whole down his throat.
Quickly, she finished up her work.
"Those need to be postmarked today?" he asked, past a mouthful of candy.
Raina glanced at him, then shrugged. "They should...."
"It's okay." He smiled for the first time the entire day, probably the entire week. "I'll take them down to the mail room. Come on. You ready to go?"
Raina nodded wordlessly and gathered her coat and purse.
He led her down the freight elevator to the basement. They called it the lower level, but it was underground with no windows and surrounded by cinder block walls. That was a basement to him. He turned on some lights because everyone had already left.
"I've never been down here."
"You'd have to have a key to get into any of the rooms." He led her into a main storage area, then unlocked the door to a smaller room. Raina hesitated until he switched on a light. There was Bill's mail cart, a toggle table to sort many pieces of mail, and boxes of supplies.
Ignoring her for a moment he metered her envelopes. Afterwards, he slipped them into the mail slot. "Done."
"This is your office?" Raina said while looking around.
Bill shrugged, "Yeah."
"Pretty cool. You have a door." Bill raised his eyebrow in question. "A door?"
"Yeah," she said, looking around her. "You can eat lunch in privacy."
"Oh." He took a moment to absorb that. "I rarely eat lunch." He paused. "Come on—you need any supplies? Paper, pens?"
"No. Thanks."
He locked the door to his 'office' behind them. "Well, let me know if you do. We pull the skiffs when they first come in and get first crack at everything."
"Really?" she said, half to herself. "I've been asking for a gel pen for two months."
Hearing her Bill pulled out 3 boxes of pens from a larger one. "Here you go, red, black, blue."
Raina laughed. "I don't need this many!"
Bill was surprised at how pretty she was when she wasn't peeking out past all that dark hair like Cousin It. Even though he could barely see any burn scars the way she wore her hair, you also couldn't see her.
He thought she might be a light skinned black woman, maybe Hispanic, because her hair was almost waist length. Her eyes were catlike and a golden brown that was striking. She was medium height, small framed and certainly no older than his own twenty-eight years.
"Your name is Raina?"
She raised her eyebrow, surprised that he would even know that much about her. "And you're Bill." She tried to hand him back two boxes of pens.
"Keep those. You'll be set for the rest of the year."
He cut off the lights and led her into the elevator. Now that his stomach wasn't eating his backbone, he could concentrate on other things...like getting high, maybe relaxing with some company. He wondered what Raina was doing after work on a Friday night. He suspected that she would spend the evening alone.
"I was going to cash my check and then grab something to eat. Would you like to join me?"
Raina looked at him surprised. Self consciously she swept her hair to one side being sure that half of her face was obscured.
"I...okay." She whispered.
"Okay." Bill smiled a second time inside an hour. "Do you drive?" Please, please, please say yes.
"I drive."
"Good. Because I don't have a car, and it's cold."
They headed for the garage and got into Rain
a's fairly new Mini-Cooper. The radio came blasting on and she quickly turned it off. It was a blues song.
"No, keep it on." He said.
"You like blues?"
