by Magan Vernon
She shook her head slightly. “You’re not a monster, Nick. Not at all. You’re one of the most caring and sweetest men that I’ve ever met.”
If only she knew.
“It’s nice of you to say that, but I am. The world see’s me as this piranha. A shark. I’m my father’s son. The one who fights men in the cage and out in the business world. I just wanted to find someone who could maybe see me as something more than a monster. That’s why I chased you. I wanted to prove that I was something different.”
She leaned in and placed the lightest kiss on my lips. “I don’t think you’re a shark or a monster, Nicky. You’ve definitely proved that to me and that’s all that matters.”
***
After dinner and a bottle of wine, the sun set over Lake Michigan, casting an orange glow over the water. Jackie stood up from the table and looked out the window.
“I’ve never seen a view like this before.”
I watched her glide across the floor, her hips swaying slightly. Everything about the girl turned me on and as much as I wanted to slow down, my dick wasn’t exactly following directions. I walked through the living room and stepped behind her, looking out the windows as I wrapped my arms around her waist. “I was about to say the same thing.”
I pushed her hair to the side and inhaled her scent. She was intoxicating and I wanted to taste all of her. I gently kissed the spot where her neck met her shoulders and a small moan escaped her lips as she rolled her hips into my groin.
Moving my lips down her shoulders, I slowly inched my hands underneath her tank top, tracing my thumb along the waistband of her jeans. She moved one hand up, fisting my hair and pulling it, then put her other hand on mine. I thought she might move my hand away, but instead she moved my fingers underneath the waistband of her jeans.
Tracing my tongue along her earlobe I made the same motion with my finger, slowly, tracing the line just below her jeans, feeling the edge of a pair of silk panties. “Tell me what you want, Jackie,” I whispered into her ear.
She unbuttoned her jeans and then pulled roughly onto my hair. “I want you, Nicky. Only you. Don’t make me beg.”
I hooked one finger inside of her, she was already so wet and moaned the minute I slid it in. “I would never make you beg. I’ve wanted you more than anything.”
Slowly I circled my thumb over her clit while making the same motion with my finger inside of her. Her thighs shook around me and when I felt her come on my fingers, she let out a loud moan into my neck that made my cock harden against her.
“Can I take you to my bedroom?” I whispered in her ear.
She turned around so I was forced to pull my fingers out of her. I thought she was going to stop me but instead she pressed her lips to mine. Her kiss was urgent, her tongue meeting mine and tasting so sweet that I couldn’t get enough of her. When she broke the kiss I wanted more.
“Take me anywhere you want,” she whispered into my lips.
I smiled and grabbed onto her ass, lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist and giggled as I carried her through the living room into my bedroom. As soon as we were inside I tossed her on the bed and peeled my shirt off, throwing it to the side. I crawled on the bed, meeting her lips with mine again. She moaned, kissing me as her fingers made quick work undoing my belt and pants, peeling them off like her life depended on it.
I broke the kiss and kicked off my pants, shoes and socks and then looked at her, still fully clothed. She smiled seductively and peeled off her tank top and bra, exposing her beautiful, full breasts with two hardened nipples. I dove forward and cupped her left breast in my hand, stroking my thumb over her nipple. Then I put my mouth over her right nipple, swirling my tongue over the hardened bud and sucking it softly.
She moaned my name, the sweetest sound I ever heard. I switched breasts, giving them each a tease. “Oh, Nicky, you’re torturing me,” she moaned, pulling my hair and forcing my face away.
“You don’t like it?”
She smacked her lips. “I like it, but I think it’s my turn to torture you.”
She sat up, so I followed suit and she yanked my briefs down, my cock already primed and ready. She licked her lips and then ran her tongue from my balls up to the head of it, making eye contact with me the entire time. Then she smiled and slowly put my entire cock in her mouth. I tilted my head back and moaned as her warm tongue slid up and down my shaft. It really was torture. Exquisite torture.
“Oh, Jackie, you’re good at that.”
She grabbed my hand and put it on her head, making me fist her hair and then tug it back, like she was instructing me. So I pulled slightly and she moaned on my dick. Fuck, it felt good. My thighs quivered, so I pulled again and she moaned a little louder. If she was going to keep doing that I was going to come soon. I pulled her head back, forcing her to stop sucking and look up at me. “If I’m going to come, I want it to be in you,” I whispered.
“Fair enough,” she said, getting up to her knees and pulling her pants down, sliding them with her lace panties to the ground.
“Now where were we?” I asked, kneeling in front of her.
She was still on her knees in front of me and moved forward until her wet pussy was at my dick, then she grabbed my ass and with one quick thrust and pushed me inside of her.
“Fuck,” I yelled. “That feels so damn good.” I grabbed onto her ass and plunged deeper inside of her. Her lips parted with ach movement, making the sweetest moans. Her breasts bounced between us, her nipples two hard little buds on my chest. The sensation of them against me, made my whole body quake even harder.
I grabbed her thighs and wrapped her legs around me. She hooked her ankles behind my back and I slammed her onto the bed. She moaned and yanked my hair, tilting my head back. The girl liked it rough and I loved that about her.
I shifted my weight to one arm and moved my right hand to her clit, drawing slow circles with my thumb over her wet, hardened nub while I continued to thrust into her. She moaned, coming onto my dick over and over. She was so sweet, her moans so soft, it was hard for me to last long with her. But I wanted to make sure she was pleasured.
I sat up and put her legs over my shoulders, thrusting hard into her. Jackie’s eyes rolled back into her head with each thrust. Her red lips, pursed into a permanent O. God, she was beautiful.
“Right there, Nicky. Right. There.” She placed both her hands on my ass, digging her nails into me and pushing me deep inside. I moaned, coming inside of her.
I went still and then collapsed on her, out of breath and panting. She didn’t say anything and didn’t move for awhile. I propped up on my elbows. She smiled at me “That was something else,” she whispered between breaths.
I leaned over and placed the lightest kiss on her lips. “It was.”
A vibrating sound came from the floor next to us. I leaned over the bed, glancing toward the source of the sound. “I hope that’s your phone, unless you have something else that you carry around in your pants pocket.”
“I think you might like it if I did.” She kissed me, placing her hand on my cheek and nibbling at my bottom lip. She already had me ready to go for round two and I wasn’t even out of her from round one.
“For you, I might be willing to try it.” I deepened our kiss, trying to focus my attention on her, but I couldn’t ignore that her phone was still vibrating loudly on the floor next to us.
I broke the kiss slightly. “I hate to say this, but do you need to get that? It’s been going off for awhile now and I don’t want to keep you from anything.”
She rolled her eyes and shifted underneath me until I moved to the side and slipped out of her. “For a guy that has been giving me the best sex of my life, you’re trying way too hard at this gentleman thing.”
I kissed her shoulder before she leaned over and grabbed her phone out of her pants pocket. “A true gentleman knows when to hold your hand and when to pull your hair.” I grabbed onto the back of her hair and tugged it lightly, which
made her smile.
But then her smile fell when she saw the name on her phone and she put it up to her ear. “Hey, Carrie, what’s up?” Jackie glanced at me and put her finger to her lips, telling me to keep quiet. I sat up and found my boxers on the floor, slipping them on.
“What?” She raised her eyebrows. I couldn’t understand what the person was saying at the other end of the phone, but her sobs were loud and clear. “What the hell happened?”
She stood, shaking her head. “I knew this shit was going to catch up to him eventually.” She put her hands out as if the girl on the other end of the phone could actually see her. It was a good thing that she couldn’t. “No, I didn’t mean it that way about your brother. You know how I felt about his lifestyle. I know, you know, we broke up.” She paused, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yeah, of course I’ll be there. If you need me there, I’ll be there. Text me if you need anything else, girl.”
Jackie hung up the phone and tossed it back on the floor before she let out a deep breath and sat on the bed next to me.
“What was that about?” I asked tentatively. I sort of had a sinking feeling, but I had to ask.
She shook her head. I expected her to cry or to be angry. To have some sort of a reaction, but she was like I always was in training: numb. “Emilio’s sister called me.” She stared at her hands, picking at her cuticles. “The cops called her family early this morning and said they found him dead near The Candy Shop. They say they’ll investigate but, well the fucker is a known gangbanger. He’s had so many priors that the police are probably happy just to have him off the streets.”
I put my hand on hers, trying to offer some comfort. Not because I knew what happened to him, but because he was her ex-boyfriend. She had to feel something. “I’m sorry, Jackie.”
She bit her lip. “What’s weird is that I’m not sorry. I should be. I was with him since high school. You’d think that I should be sad. Angry. Something, but I feel ... nothing.”
Her eyes were so intensely focused on me I couldn’t look away. “Is that wrong of me? I should feel something, shouldn’t I? Does that make me a bad person?”
I cupped her face. “Jackie, you could never be a bad person. It’s normal to feel numb. It’s a lot to process.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She bit her lip. “There’s also another part to this that I hate to bring up, but his sister really wants me to go to his funeral.”
I nodded. “You should probably go. If she wants you there and if you were with him that long, you probably have a long history with his family.” I dropped my hands from her cheeks and held onto her hands, interlacing our fingers.
“I know I should go, but I don’t want to go alone.”
“I’m sure you could find someone to go with you. Maybe your roommate or something...”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t want Haley there. Or any of the girls from the shop. I know they’ll be there, but I don’t want to be there with them. It’s weird, but he’s a part of my past that I want to stay in the past, to leave there in the cemetery with his funeral. I don’t want to sit there and reminisce about what we had. I just want to leave it there.”
“Okay. I can understand that.”
She hesitated, swallowing hard before she spoke. “Which is why I want you to go with me...”
I sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t know. Do you really think that’s such a good idea? The new guy at your ex-boyfriend’s funeral.”
She squeezed my hands. “Please, Nicky? I need you there. Please? For me.”
I looked into her eyes. They had the same fear in them as the night I first saw her. The look that had me hooked from the moment I met her. I knew I was a goner then and I knew there was no way I could say no now. “Okay, Jackie. I’ll be there.”
Chapter 12
There’s something about rain and funerals that go hand in hand, like they belong together. But Emilio’s funeral was somewhere I definitely didn’t belong. There was a line of cars parked at the cemetery, a lot of them with red flags hanging out the right side. His gang colors. I didn’t know if they knew what I’d done or if they’d even know me, but I was on my guard. And my best behavior.
I pulled in and parked behind a sedan that didn’t have a flag on it. Jackie didn’t say a word the whole ride over and I didn’t try to start a conversation. Once the car was turned off I finally turned toward her. “If you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to. I can leave now.”
She shook her head, her black waves cascading down her shoulders. I knew we were going to a funeral but she looked amazing in her black corset dress. She had a flair for style that was different than any other girl I’d been with. I probably looked completely out of place next to her in my navy Armani suit, but I was trying to blend in. Not stand out.
It was bad enough to be going to the funeral of a guy I killed, but I was standing there with his former girlfriend, the girl he’d called his “sloppy seconds” before spitting in my face. Now I had to stand there, stone-faced, and pretend to feel sorry while his family all cried for the guy that I’d put a hit on. I’d kept my head down long enough over the years, hopefully I could do the same thing around a group of fucking thugs.
“We have to go. We’ve already been spotted.” She looked in the rearview mirror I followed her gaze. A tall Hispanic girl walked toward the car. Before she could cross the gravel road, Jackie opened the door and leaped out.
“Carrie, I’m so sorry about Emilio.” Jackie shut the door and closed the distance between herself and the other girl, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her in for a hug.
Carrie hugged her back, but her dark eyes were on me as I got out of the car. “Who is this?”
Jackie let go of Carrie and stepped back as I approached. I kept one hand in my suit pocket and extended my other hand to Carrie. “My name’s Nick. I’m a friend of Jackie’s.”
Carrie shook my hand tentatively, studying me like I was a piece of meat that was just thrown into the lion’s den, which I probably was. “You look familiar, Nick. Have we met before?”
I shook my head as I let go of her hand and put it in my pocket since it probably wouldn’t have been the best thing to hold Jackie’s hand at her ex-boyfriend’s funeral. “No, ma’am, I don’t believe so. I think I would have remembered someone as pretty as you.”
She smiled and ran her hand through her short brown hair. “Flattery at my brother’s funeral isn’t going to get you very far, Nick.”
I shrugged. “It was worth a shot.”
“Are you ready for this mi nena?” Jackie asked Carrie.
Carrie shook her head. “Is anyone ever ready to bury their brother?”
I swallowed hard. I knew it was a rhetorical question, but the answer hit harder than I cared to admit to her. I’d buried more members of my family than I ever wanted to. Watching a loved one get put six feet under was always like taking a part of you with them. If something happened to Dominic or any one of my cousins I didn’t know what I’d do.
Carrie turned toward the awaiting tent where a crowd of people gathered. The last funeral I went to was my Nonna’s. It was inside of St. Anthony’s church and I was told it was a half an hour wait just to get inside to see her. Everyone who knew her loved her. My Nanu used to say that she didn’t know a stranger.
Emilio’s funeral was a lot smaller. There were about thirty chairs lined up in front of a casket with a picture of him set in an easel to the side of it. It had to have been a picture from a few years back, maybe even a senior picture. He was in a suit with his head shaved, looking off in the distance. I didn’t see any neck tattoos or other markings of the thug that I met in the back alley.
I should have had some remorse being there. I knew exactly how he died, who shot him. But instead I looked at the faces of his family members and friends. The ones who stood at his casket. The few that were there and mourning him. And the girl that was at my side. The one that he hurt so badly she had to run. Making sure
that she never had to run again made it all worthwhile.
I scanned the crowd, expecting to see El Lobo or any of the other guys from the fight. None of them were there. Figured. They called themselves brothers but none of them showed up when it really mattered.
We took a seat toward the back and Carrie joined a crying, older woman up at the front row, who I guessed was Emilio’s mother. She didn’t speak much, just sobbed and said a few words in Spanish as she stared at the casket. A priest in black robes crouched down in front of the woman and whispered something to her, clutching her hand. She said something back to him in Spanish and he nodded before standing up.
“Today we are here to honor the life of our brother Emilio as God welcomes him home,” the Priest said.
I felt something brush against my hand and when I looked down Jackie clasped her hand onto mine. Maybe she was mourning Emilio and maybe she wasn’t, but I wasn’t going to turn her away. The guy was a bastardo, plain and simple. I didn’t see a decent bone in his body. He disrespected me, my famiglia, and my girlfriend. The only reason he got my respect in his death was because I honored Jackie. The priest could say what he wanted to about laying Emilio to eternal rest and him being one of the souls of the faithful, but I couldn’t help but clench my free hand into a fist. I shouldn’t have been angry. I was at a fucking funeral.
But when I looked over and saw his mother hunched over and crying into her handkerchief it was a new sort of pain that welled up in the pit of my stomach. The bastardo brought this on himself. He vilified himself. He sought me out. He pried and poked. He put himself right in the middle of a fight that he knew he couldn’t win and for what? To watch his mother and sister suffer?
My jaw clenched just thinking about it. Wherever he was, in the afterlife or wherever people go when they die, he was there, escaping his problems while his mother had to live with his mistakes. A son that cheated on his girlfriend, lived the life of a thug, and had no remorse for it. It was better to have a guy like him off the streets. He didn’t deserve to live. It was better this way. The casket was lowered to the ground in silence as his mother and sister stood close, watching as the only man in their family was buried six feet under.
