by April Fire
“Depends how far we’re going,” I shrugged.
“Just the other side of town,” he replied nonchalantly, and I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Sorry, where exactly are we going tonight?” I asked firmly. The other side of town could have meant so many things, and I wasn’t sure I was necessarily on board with all of them. I liked to keep things strictly middle-class, dropping by apartment parties and fancy clubs when I could drop the cash. Hitting up some stranger’s party in a part of town I didn’t normally go to…that sounded like a bad idea.
“It’s just one of my buddy’s apartments, on Hope Street,” he didn’t make eye contact, and I could tell that he was hoping I wasn’t about to run away screaming. Hope Street? I had heard of that. A lot of people assumed that the name was ironic because of all the trouble that happened in that part of town. I took a deep breath, and steadied myself- did I really want to do this? Was he worth it? I shot him a look, and he met my gaze steadily.
“If anything happens, I can take care of you,” he promised. “And trust me, it’s safe. You’ll have a good time, I promise.”
“Fine,” I agreed. “But I’m holding you to all of that.”
“Please do,” he grinned, and flagged down a cab. We slid into the back seat, and I reluctantly removed my hand from his arm. The scent of his aftershave lingered on my shoulder where we’d been touching, and I surreptitiously took another little whiff to tide me over till we got to the party.
We arrived a few minutes later, and Darius quickly hustled me up some stairs through a building where the door apparently didn’t have a lock to keep the crazies out. Hope Street was already full of people milling around, huddled in little groups under street lamps. I glanced around without thinking, then immediately dropped my gaze to the floor instead. Didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. Jesus, what had I let Darius talk me into with this shit?
As soon as we arrived at the apartment, Darius pulled out a key and let himself in.
“Wait, is this your place?” I screwed up my face in surprise.
“Might be,” he shrugged, and he looked a little embarrassed to have to admit it. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
“Nope,” I shook my head. I had met this guy at an amateur boxing night, after all -- I couldn’t exactly act shocked and scandalized that he wasn’t living the cleanest or safest of lives. He led me inside, and into his kitchen where he poured me a drink. I smiled my thanks and took it, and began to take in my surroundings.
The place was packed --there must have been at least forty or fifty people crammed into that tiny apartment, wall to wall. Muffled music was blaring from somewhere, but you could barely hear it over the sound of the conversation. Someone bounded up to Darius and caught him by the shoulder, spinning him around.
“Ian!” Darius’ face lit up and he gave him a quick hug. “Thanks for getting all of this together, man.”
“Thanks for giving me somewhere to practice my skills,” Ian replied, and glanced at me.
“This is Emilia,” Darius introduced us quickly, and Ian raised his eyebrows.
“Oh, so this is…?”
“The woman who’s training me, yeah,” Darius quickly filled in the blanks, giving Ian a look that seemed to be imploring him to shut the fuck up. I couldn’t help but smile- so Darius had been talking about me, had he? Good to know.
“Right,” Ian looked me up and down. “Well, I’ll catch you guys later, huh?”
“Sure thing,” Darius nodded and watched as Ian vanished again.
“What have you been telling him about me?” I asked, emboldened by the buzz of conversation around me. Darius shrugged, and I could tell he was hoping he could have avoided that question.
“Nothing that I want to repeat,” his eyebrow flicked up ever-so-slightly, and my breath quickened a little. Was this seriously happening? And was I being a major idiot for even considering hooking up with a colleague? I had never even been tempted before, but with Darius and me, it only seemed like a matter of time before we fell into bed together. I took another sip of my drink, and looked around the party.
“Will you be okay by yourself? There are a few people I need to catch up with,” Darius cocked his head to the side, and I nodded.
“Go ahead,” I waved my hand vaguely at the crowd. “As long as you don’t forget about me.”
“I won’t,” he promised, and moved behind me to get out of the kitchen, letting his hand linger on my waist as he did so. I shivered at his touch- his fingers were warm even through my shirt, and I wondered how they would feel against my bare skin.
I took a deep breath, downed my drink, and moved out of the kitchen to join the party proper. It had been a while since I’d just gone to a place where I knew nobody, but here I was and I had to admit, it felt kind of good. No one knew me here, no one was aware of my past as a failed musician, or was going to question me on how the music was coming along and then screw their faces up in awkwardness when I had nothing to tell them.
I had a couple more drinks and found myself in conversations with strangers, the kind that seem so dense and important at the time but are actually completely ephemeral.
I wasn’t sure what time it was when Darius came and found me again; the night had turned from pale blue to pitch black outside the window, and I was feeling pleasantly tipsy as I made my way to the kitchen to grab another drink. As I did so, I found Darius already inside. He turned to me with a grin.
“Having a good time?”
“Hell, yes,” I agreed. “How do you know all these people?”
“It’s more that they know me,” he shrugged. “A lot of them come to my matches, and they get to know each other and want somewhere to hang out that isn’t that old warehouse.”
“So, you host them here?”
“Whenever I can,” he nodded. “I like the community. It’s a real mix of people.”
“You can say that again,” I agreed as I watched a woman with pink hair and piercings making out with a dude in a suit against the wall behind him.
“I think it’s starting to wind down here, though,” he remarked, and craned his neck to watch as a few more people left the place. “Do you want me to call you a taxi, or…?”
I looked up at him, and let me teeth trail across my bottom lip. I knew what I wanted --- the alcohol buzzing around my system had emboldened me, had promised me that this was nothing but a great idea, that if I didn’t go for it I was crazy and should just go home and curl up in bed with twenty cats right then and there.
I wanted him so badly that it almost ached inside me, and no matter how much I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t. He was right here in front of me, flirting, talking, laughing, touching me, and if I passed him up now he might think I just wasn’t interested at all. Yeah, we had to work together- but there would be no way I could keep my head on the job with all the tension between us.
“I think I’d like to stay,” I murmured in reply. He looked back at me, his eyes sweeping over my body as they had done the first time we’d met. I hardly knew this guy. I had promised myself that sex was something special, something to wait for, but I wanted to throw it all out the window as he took me in, blatantly looking me up and down. I loved the feeling of his eyes on me- it was like some kind of compulsion. I needed him. Needed to feel him against me. I remembered the way his body had looked when he was standing there in that ring, and I knew I couldn’t wait any longer.
He stepped forward, and placed his hands on the refrigerator behind me, either side of my shoulders. My breathing quickened, and my heart hammered in my chest as his gaze moved down to my lips. I flicked my tongue out across them, placing my drink carefully back up on the side to make sure I kept my hands free. And then, finally, it happened.
It was a surprisingly gentle kiss- his mouth was soft at first, his stubble rough against my skin as our lips met for the first time. But soon enough, all the tension that had been building between us since we first made eye contact at his match the week before seemed
to come to a head, and there was no holding us back.
He wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me flat against his chest; I stumbled against him, grabbing him for support, and he pushed his tongue into my mouth to kiss me deeper. At once, the encounter moved from romantic to passionate, our hands traveling up and down each other’s bodies, our breath coming faster, the small noises that he let out at every motion becoming less sweet and far darker.
His skin was warm against mine and I found myself craving more of him, even as we kissed. I’d never felt anything like it before. I wanted him so badly there was an ache in my chest, and even making out as furiously as we were, wasn’t filling the void.
“Bedroom?” I panted, and he nodded. He grabbed my hand and we wove through the crowd, which was still thankfully big enough for people not to look twice at where we were going and what we were doing.
Darius pulled me into a room just off the hallway that led from the front door of the apartment. I hadn’t noticed it on the way in, but at that moment, I was grateful for the privacy it provided for us. He closed the door behind us, and pounced on me once again, knocking us both back on to the bed. He ran his hands down my waist and my thigh, grabbing and groping at my flesh through my clothes.
“Fuck, you feel good,” he murmured against my ear. I bucked my hips up to meet his, and found that he was already hard beneath his slacks. He moved down my body, unbuttoning my shirt and kissing from my neck down to my breasts. I stared up at the ceiling, mouth slightly agape and eyes half-closed, as he undressed me.
The way his hands moved across my skin -- he was so in-control, so goddamn good at what he was doing. I lifted my head to watch him as he kissed across my stomach, letting his tongue trace the lines next to my hips that led down to my pussy.
My back arched up off the bed as if of its own accord, and a groan escaped my lips. I was glad that the party was still loud enough outside that I didn’t have to worry about making too much noise. I ran my hands through my hair and tried to pull myself back to reality as he began to slide my pants down over my hips, but it was difficult to keep my head in the game. I was so turned-on that my head was spinning, my body reacting to every single little touch.
He kissed the outside of my panties, and his hot breath sent pulses of pleasure through my pussy. He pulled my underwear aside and kissed me, once, right on the clit; I let out a cry that sounded almost more like pain than enjoyment.
“You okay?” He looked up at me, running his hands around my thighs so he could grip my ass. I nodded, my chest heaving as I looked down at him. I knew I couldn’t wait any longer- I had to have him right then and there.
“Fuck me,” I breathed, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him back on top of me. “Now. Please.”
“Anything you say,” he replied, kissing my lips again and quickly stripping himself down as he searched his bedside table for a condom. I watched as he cast aside his clothes, propping myself up on my elbow so I could take him in. He turned to me once he’d found the foil packet, and raised an eyebrow.
“Like what you see?” He teased, and I shrugged.
“Not bad,” I shot back nonchalantly, but internally I was committing every inch of his body to memory; the strength of his chest, the muscles that stuck out in his shoulders and arms, his toned stomach and legs. He was physically perfect and, as he clamored back on top of me, I had to remind myself that this gorgeous specimen of manhood wanted me. Me.
He rolled on the condom and grabbed my leg, positioning it so that it was draped over his shoulder. He kissed my calf lightly, and I praised all things good and pure that I’d thought to shave that morning before I came out to work. He slid his other hand behind my head, and leaned down to kiss me as he eased himself inside of me for the first time.
Our lips met as he thrust his full length within me, and I gripped his back, nails digging into his skin just to have something to hang on to. I gasped as he began to move, his cock thick and stout inside me. I had always loved to fuck, as long as I could remember, but this was something else entirely. I was completely soaked just from the promise of this, and the pleasure was almost too much as he started out with shallow thrusts and worked himself the full way into my cunt.
“Jesus,” he groaned. “You feel amazing.”
I was surprised he could manage anything as complex as words; I could only come up with a series of soft sounds, my mouth opening and closing as he moved inside of me. I wrapped my other leg around his waist and arched myself up to allow him even deeper, matching the roll of my hips with the pace of his thrusts. I had no idea how long we stayed like that, clinging to each other for dear life- I imagined days flying off the calendar and the sun and moon rising and falling outside time and time again, and giggled to myself. I could have stayed here for weeks, losing myself to how good he felt inside me.
But soon enough, I felt my pussy beginning to clench around him; I was almost ready to come. I was stunned -- I usually took forever to get there, but only about a half-hour after our lips met, I was on the brink.
“Fuck!” I gasped against his lips as it happened. The feeling blossomed out from my pussy, sending waves of pleasure across my entire body. A few seconds later, I felt him finish inside my still-clenching pussy, and he thrust himself deep inside me one last time, holding himself there as though savoring the sensation. He slowly withdrew, and we rolled apart on the bed, both staring at the ceiling for a moment. Well, he was looking at the ceiling, but I was sneaking a few looks at his body once more. Just to remind myself how good he looked.
He propped himself up on his elbow and turned to me; I had no idea what we were meant to do or say next, but I was happy to let him take the lead with that one.
“So…” he let the word hang in the air between us. “That was fun.”
“It was,” I agreed, finally managing to make eye contact. I felt as though I might explode on the spot, there on his bed, in his slightly messy bedroom. Just being this close to him felt absurd, let alone knowing that we had just fucked the shit out of each other. I took a deep breath and let it out; he was just a guy. A hot guy, sure, and a guy who was good in bed- but a guy nonetheless. The last thing I needed was to be losing my mind over just some guy when I had other things I should have been focusing on.
“You want to do it again sometime?” He raised his eyebrows.
“What, like fuck-buddies?”
“Sure,” he shrugged. I eyed him for a second; I mean, I didn’t want anything serious with him. Yes, he was hot, but he was involved with stuff I didn’t want to go anywhere near. It was best that I keep him at arm’s length, but if we were working together, well, then that was hardly an option anymore. So, the best compromise seemed to be the one that he was offering. Hook up on the regular to get it out of our systems, but keep it casual.
“Sounds good,” I grinned. “As long as we keep it from everyone at work, right?”
“Obviously,” he nodded, and reached over to run a hand from just beneath my arm all the way down to my hip. I shivered at his touch, and he smiled back at me.
“I think we’re going to have a whole lot of fun,” he murmured softly, and, before I knew it, his mouth met mine once again. I closed my eyes, put everything else from my head, and lost myself to him once more.
Chapter Three
Emily
A few weeks later, I woke up in a familiar bed, but one that was not my own.
I stretched out and reached for my clothes where we had abandoned them in a small pile the night before. Darius was still sprawled out on the bed next to me, fast asleep. He was naked too, and I took a second to look at him as he lay flat-out on his stomach. The muscles in his back were visible through his skin, and I fought the urge to reach out and run my hands along them. I didn’t want to wake him up yet, before I’d had a chance to shower and get a coffee in me.
He was out late most nights, so would normally sleep longer than me when it came to mornings like this. Last night, he’d been out at a f
ight while I’d been working a shift and he’d picked me up at Dino’s (I snuck around the back to make sure that no-one saw who I was leaving with) and we came back here and fucked ourselves stupid.
He had balanced me on the kitchen counter, strong arms wrapped tight around my body. Just the thought of it was making me all…mmm. A shiver ran down my spine as I got myself dressed. I could very happily have spent an unthinkable amount of time screwing with Darius.
It had been just under a month since we’d first agreed on our fuck-buddies relationship and, so far, things were pretty much perfect. I’d never had a prolonged fuck-buddy before; I was either a one-night-stand or a full-blown relationship kind of girl. This was entirely new territory for me, and I had to admit that I was having a whole lot of fun exploring it.
Darius was incredible in bed, or hell, maybe the two of us just had that kind of chemistry that didn’t come along very often and bounced off each other. Things had only gotten better since the first night we hooked up, and I found myself regularly crashing over at his place after we spent the night in bed.
I had mentioned this to Nina, and she had given me a look over her coffee cup while we were at the café close to where she worked. I hadn’t seen much of her since she and that coach had started hooking up, but we were both happy to take the opportunity to actually talk about how our respective love lives were going.
“What’s that look for?” I demanded as I tucked into my brownie. I had skipped breakfast that morning as Darius had insisted on taking me back to bed instead, and who was I to refuse his advances?
“So, you’re keeping it casual, but you’re staying over there most nights of the week?” She confirmed. I shrugged.
“Yeah, that’s right,” I agreed. “I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”
“And are either of you seeing other people?” She pressed, leaning forward in her seat.
“No, but-“
“Honey, you’re dating this guy,” She remarked. “No shame in it, but you guys are in the early days of boyfriend/girlfriend stuff.”
