by Ana Mardoll
The sandy-haired boy hesitates, but Sappho tugs at him again and he nods. "Sure. Yeah. Just for a few rounds, though. Is Diamond gonna kiss her, too?" Despite his frown, interest creeps into his voice as she leads him away.
"Oh, gosh, do you think we can get her to?" Sappho gushes, wrapping an arm around his waist. She glances back at me once, a triumphant grin on her face, and nods meaningfully at the wide open golden doors. I mouth a prayer of relief back at her. Thank you. I'll make it up to you.
I look back to Keoki, who watches the other boy being led away with a small smile on his face, seeming amused. "Hey." I reach out to cover his hand with mine, seeking his gaze. My heart is pounding in my throat; I know what I want, but it's harder to spit it out than I would have imagined. "Can we get out of here? Now? Get back to your room before anyone notices we're gone?"
His breath catches in his throat; I can see the moment when his chest breaks its normal rhythm. "Yeah," he agrees, nodding at me with suddenly solemn eyes. "Yeah, I think we can. You good to stand? Here, I've got you." Rising easily, he reaches down his hand to help me up. "Let's go, Aniyah."
Chapter 22
Keoki
My eyes need a moment to adjust when we plunge from the sunny grotto into the darkened hallway. I pull up beside the open golden doors, out of sight of the guys inside. Leaning against the wall, I watch the flickering torchlight as it casts dancing shadows over the corridor that stretches back to our cavern.
Aniyah halts when I do, drawing near until our arms touch. I turn my hand, seeking her dangling fingers and lacing mine through the spaces between them; for a moment we stand still in the quiet semi-darkness and enjoy the sensation of touching like this. Her hand is soft and delicate, lacking a fighter's calluses. She brushes her fingers against mine and I shiver at the silken pleasure that ripples through me.
"You said we could go back to your room?" she prompts, her smile curving up at the edges with a wry twist.
I could die from that smile. My voice is husky, pitched low to match her whisper. "I'd like that."
Yet I hesitate for the length of a heartbeat, wrestling with doubt. I remember being with Diamond after my first fight, and Miyuki after my second. I'm pretty sure Aniyah likes me the way Tony does—and the way Diamond and Miyuki didn't—and she isn't just trying to please me, but I need to be certain.
"Only if you want to, though," I tell her, searching her eyes. "I could smuggle you into Christian's room, if you like him better. Or we could go back inside and I could keep Lucas off your back while you pick someone else, you know?"
Her smile widens in a slow spread that threatens to stop my heart. "No, I want to go to your room," she says, meeting my eyes without hesitation. She giggles in the darkness. "I mean, I would have liked to swim in the pool with you and talked for a while, but your room was where I wanted to end up. Your friend just sped things along."
I take a deep breath and offer her a dazzling grin. "He does that," I tell her in a confiding tone, pushing off from the wall. "He's not bad, I shouldn't bust on him, but he tends to shit all over everyone's fun."
She giggles again, covering her mouth with her free hand. "We have one of those, too. I guess you'll meet Heather properly one of these cycles."
I can't remember which one is Heather but that doesn't stop me from chuckling, her good humor impossible to resist. I sweep my gaze over her in the dim light, partly for the pleasure of looking but also in search whatever illness Miyuki seemed to think had struck her friend. She'd whispered a warning to me when she passed, but Aniyah seems fine; she's happy and giggling, and doesn't seem ill. Was it just nerves?
She twists shyly away from my gaze, looking down the hall behind us in the opposite direction from our rooms. "What do you suppose is back there?" she murmurs, her voice dropping into a dreamy cadence.
I peer at the dark stretch of hallway that curves into darkness. "I don't know. You think there's another stable of fighters?"
It's a joke, but the thought hits me that this could be the case; there could be pockets of boys and girls all over this place, not just our own little group. Her eyes meet mine and I see the same thought written on her face, the dawning possibility that there might be more of us. "Do you wanna find out?" I whisper.
"Yes." The word is drawn out in a long hesitant whisper and when she takes a step in that direction, her movements are sluggish, as if she isn't quite sure of this decision now that she's made it. We haven't been expressly forbidden from wandering the halls, but that doesn't mean it isn't dangerous and I wonder if the same concern has occurred to her. If we're caught, there might be consequences.
"Oh, hey. Hold up." I reach out to touch her—not roughly, my fingers barely brush her arm above the elbow—but she sways and topples over, crumbling slowly to the ground.
I reach for her in a panic, trying to steady her; but her legs have gone limp and she continues to fall. I stoop as she crumples, sliding my hands over her body as I grapple for purchase; trusting to my strength, I manage to wrap my arms around her waist and hoist her up. I end up standing with a girl slung across my arms, wondering what exactly happened.
Aniyah gasps in a very delayed reaction. Her face is close enough to mine for me to feel her breath on my cheek, and as I peer at her in the dim light I realize her pupils are heavily dilated. She looks dizzy, her gaze focused on a point over my shoulder as though she can't find my face.
"Hey," I whisper, studying her with concern. "Are you okay? Miyuki said you were sick."
She sighs and leans into my chest. "I've been hurting bad all cycle. I got dizzy for a moment. It'll pass."
A loud burst of laughter can be heard from inside the sunlit grotto. Quickly, I turn in the direction of my room, carrying her in long strides to the best safety I can offer. "What do you mean you're hurting? Are you wounded? Should I get Miyuki to come heal you? She'd patch you right up."
She looks up at me with a soft smile. "You think so?"
"Yeah!" I give her an encouraging nod as we pass through the ugly iron doors to our cavern, now flung open. "She's done wonders with me and Justin. He still can't walk and doesn't wake up much, but you can tell he hurts a lot less than he otherwise would, you know? And she's so good to me; touches the scars on my chest and the pain vanishes for a whole cycle. Amazing! She could help you— oh."
I cease singing her friend's praises as the obvious drives its way home. "But you already know she can do that," I add, giving her a lopsided grin and feeling awkward. "And she already knows you're in pain."
"I do and she does," Aniyah admits, her gentle smile never wavering. "I'm glad to hear she helps you so much, though. Please don't drop me," she adds as we reach the door to my room.
I chuckle, pushing the door open with my foot. "Drop you? Don't you know I'm the strongest dude here?"
Aniyah's lips quirk at the edges as she tries not to laugh. "Yes, I do have eyes in my head," she teases. "I just, uh, need you to know that if you drop me on this floor, it will probably kill me."
I wince and tighten my arms around her, carrying her to my bed. Once I've laid her down, I retreat to close the door; Tony said he wouldn't be coming, and I don't want Lucas dropping in to whine at us. Then I flop onto the floor beside the bed, looking up at her. She lies with her eyes open, studying the glowing ceiling.
"So, uh. Her magic doesn't work on you?" Looking up at those wide eyes, I feel a sudden pang of guilt. "Are Justin and me using it all up? The magic, I mean?"
She blinks, looking thoughtful. "Noooo," she says, the word rolling slowly off her tongue. "I don't think so, anyway. There's something wrong with me, but I'm not sure what."
I try not to grin. "That's ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect."
I'd expected her to smile, but instead she sighs and shakes her head. "I'm not perfect, Keoki. I hurt, I couldn't begin to describe how much. I can't do things; I can't even do what I wanted to do with you. And I'm— Well, I suppose you'll see sooner or later. Help me."
/>
I'm not sure what she's doing; her hips lift and she squirms in place while patting down her clothes. She pulls at knots in her wrapped fabric, and I realize she's trying to undress. Oh. Okay, then. I help her, unwinding gauze from under her as she lifts with her legs. My hands tremble from trying not to touch more than necessary; it's not that I don't want to touch her, but I feel like we've skipped a few steps.
She kicks her discarded clothes to the ground and lies on my thin mattress in naked glory. Her brown skin glistens with a soft sheen under the phosphorescent light and my eyes sweep over her in a slow caress of appreciation. I'm not sure what I've done to warrant this gift, but I'm not going to question it. When I reach her eyes, however, there's sadness in those infinite depths. "Aniyah? Are you okay?"
"Just... don't flinch." Before I can make sense of this, she turns her back to me and faces the wall of the niche.
I don't see it at first. My eyes are too full of the curve of her perfect ass, too busy tracing the line of her legs where they stretch down the length of my bed. Then she takes a deep breath and her sides tremble with anticipation—or is it pain?—and suddenly it's all I can see, expanding until it fills every inch of my vision: a long scar cut from shoulder to hip, curving around her side to disappear along her lower stomach.
I'd thought Tony's scars were painful to look at, and my own vanity had been wounded by the prospect of permanent marks on my chest. But this one overshadows any I've seen on the guys here; the dark line carved into Aniyah is thicker than my finger and longer than my arm.
"Baby," I breathe. I reach out to touch her, but end up hovering uncertainly in the air over her silken skin; I don't want to hurt her with my clumsy hands. "Who did this to you? Was it Handler? Can I kill him for you?"
She shakes her head, tiny curls brushing against her arm where she's stretched it out to use as a pillow. "I came here like this. I don't remember who did it, or why." My fingers close the gap of air between us and I stroke the dark line where it crosses her hip. The tissue is knotted and hard under my touch, closed and healed rather than fresh and recent like my own wounds.
"And it hurts?"
Aniyah hesitates. "Not the scar itself. But something under the scar, yes. All the time, and it's getting worse. I feel dizzy and unbalanced; not constantly, but in waves. That's why I nearly fell in the hallway out there. Thank you for catching me," she adds, her voice low.
I let my fingers roam over her scar, wondering if I could know her by knowing this part of her. "And it won't let you do— What did you want to do with me?"
She shifts along the thin mattress, turning to look at me. Lying on her back allows me to see where the scar terminates; it ends in a thick knot of tissue a finger's length from her navel, resembling a second belly-button, but to the right of where it should be. "Sorry?" she asks, her eyes full of confusion.
"You said you couldn't do what you wanted to do with me," I remind her, watching her face with curious interest. "What did you want to do?"
Aniyah snorts and leans back against her arm. "Um. I don't know exactly, but not this! Not having to be carried around because I'll fall over otherwise. I wanted to have fun with you." An embarrassed smile flashes over her beautiful face. "I'm supposed to be pleasing you."
I lace my fingers through hers and lean against the bed. Sitting here on the floor, I could lie my head against her leg if I wanted or I could turn and kiss her thigh. Just being close to her—feeling the warmth of her skin, inhaling the sweet scent of her—is enough to take me from these caves. She doesn't belong in this place. We need a world where the sun is gentler and the sand is softer and the crowd is gone entirely.
"Well, you do please me, just by being here with me." My fingers stray to the leather on my wrist and the tiny engraved pick inside. I feel the tug of a hazy memory: strings under my fingers and words in my throat; words bolstered by the magic of the music in my hands.
The memory fades as I look up to find her watching me with a wry smile. "You're very kind. But I doubt this was what they had in mind when they brought us here to please you."
I grin, conceding the point. "Well, they don't need to know what we get up to in the dark. I'm serious; I am happy to be here. I like you." I lean closer, dropping my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "And anyway, I've got someone keeping me pretty set in the pleasure department, you know? So you don't need to worry. I'm perfectly content right now, just hanging out with someone I like."
Her smile widens and her head tilts very slightly to the left, curiosity and delight flickering over her face. "Oh? Oh! It's that boy, isn't it? He was so miserable when you were wounded. Miyuki said you were friends."
Heat rushes to my cheeks. "I, uh. Yeah." I could kick myself; Tony asked me to keep a secret and I didn't last a single conversation without blurting it out. "Don't tell anyone? Tony thinks we could get into trouble."
Aniyah's gaze softens and she nods. "Promise," she whispers, making a gesture over her heart. "Does he— Does Tony know about me? Us?" She looks down at her naked body, suddenly shy.
"Does he know that I like you and you're the prettiest girl here? I think he probably noticed, yeah." I raise my fingers to her chin, encouraging her eyes to meet mine. "Uh, I kinda invited him to play with us next time. If there's a next time. And if you want that. The both of us, I mean."
She stares at me then bursts out laughing, clutching her stomach with her hands. "Next time?" she asks, sputtering to a halt, her eyes dancing with amusement. "We haven't done anything this time."
I lean in closer, one hand running along her leg in a long caress from knee to hip. "You want to fix that?"
Desire flares in her eyes but the expression on her face collapses into hopelessness. "Keoki, I want to, but I don't think I can move. I'm sorry."
"That's okay! I figure there's lots of things we can do that don't involve you moving."
"Name one." Her eyes glitter in the dark as her lips tug back into a smile at her challenge. I love that about her, I realize, my stomach flipping as I watch her face; no matter how awful everything is, no matter how much she hurts, she still finds humor in the situation. She's fragile on the outside but with a core stronger than the arena pillars. She deserves better than this, I think, gazing up at her. We all do.
"Lean back, baby," I whisper, placing my hands on her legs. "Turn just a little to the— there you go." She doesn't move much, letting me do most of the work of adjusting her. I part her legs and pull her forward off the bed until she's just hanging off the edge and her knees frame my face.
"Tell me what we're doing?" she whispers, a hint of panic in her voice.
"I've got you," I promise. I slide my hands under the soft round curve of her bottom, supporting her at the edge of the thin mattress. "Remember how strong I am? I won't let you fall."
I lean into her warmth and study her in the dim light. I'd been planning to do this ever since my first time with Diamond, figuring that if her mouth felt like liquid fire on my body then I would return the favor. But now that I'm here and in a front-row seat, I feel a sudden attack of nerves. What if I do it wrong? I dip my head closer and dart out my tongue, stroking in a long experimental trace.
The soft hiss that escapes her throat turns the knot in my stomach to liquid. Another long lick, my tongue flattening wide against her, and she whimpers. Her body rolls against my hands, straining to follow my tongue in its long meandering stroke. "Like this, Aniyah?" I whisper, leaning in to press my lips flat against her in a kiss that quickly morphs into a soft sucking nuzzle against her skin.
"Yes. Yes." Her low whisper is barely audible over the burble of water in the fountain behind me. "Can you—?" She stirs, raising her head to look down at me with glazed eyes. "No, your hands are full," she mumbles. I'm about to ask what she needs—I'd have done so already except it would require moving my mouth away—but her hand snakes down to nestle near my lips, her fingers working with easy assurance.
I chuckle, the sound thrumming against her warm skin.
"Yes, baby," I whisper, letting my lips rake over her skin. "Help me please you, okay?" I'm not sure if she can hear me over her breathing and I'm not waiting to find out; I duck my head and get back to work, alternating between the flat of my tongue and the very tip, trying to move in time with the little cries that rip from her throat.
When her knees tighten around my face, I find I can support her with just one hand. Since everything below her waist is already pretty busy and since everything above her waist is tantalizingly out of reach and since plunging my tongue into her while she cries for more has worked me up more than I could have dreamed, I let my free hand drop to my own business to play.
I hadn't intended to finish myself off; I don't have any goal in mind except to please her. But when she arches her neck, letting out a long guttural moan and her thighs clench tight enough around my head to make me see lights behind my eyes, I tumble over the edge of reason with her. In one moment, I'm kissing her body in long rough strokes because I need more than anything else to please her, then liquid fire pours through me and my kisses become raw gratitude expressed through mindless repetition.
Her fingers are in my hair and pulling me away when her voice penetrates my consciousness. "Stop, please, Keoki, oh my gosh, stop!" Her words are punctuated by hysterical giggles. I rise in a daze from the ground, letting her pull me onto the bed beside her. My jaw hurts and I feel belated sympathy for Diamond, but this was worth the lingering ache in my muscles.
I wrap my arms around Aniyah and study her face closely in the darkness. "Did I hurt you?"
"No!" She laughs again, limp in my arms. "No, it was very good. Thank you." Her eyes shine in the darkness. "I just had to stop after everything exploded. It was too much."
