Downfall

by Jay Crownover

  No. The man kissing me right now was the one who ran through the city like he owned the streets. The one who grew up rough and ready to fight. This was the man who took no prisoners, who fought, who had others turn around and walk the other way when they saw him coming. This was the beast who lived inside Solomon Sanders’ soft heart. This was the demon who kept the saint safe in the harsh world.

  I couldn’t catch my breath, wasn’t sure I wanted to. He left me breathless and lightheaded as he used his grip on my backside to hoist me up the slippery wall. I heard the strangled sound of discomfort he made, but chose to ignore it. If he wanted to push past the pain, be it emotional or physical, I was here to support him, not scold him. I obediently wrapped my legs around his narrow waist, gasping into the carnal kiss as I felt his hardness immediately find that soft, yielding spot between my legs that now felt like it belonged to him as much as it belonged to me. My thighs quivered in anticipation and my core clenched as his tongue thrust in and out of my mouth. I felt the bite of his teeth on my lower lip and hissed when the tang of blood flitted across my tongue. I dug my fingernails into the inked skin across Solo’s back and braced myself against the onslaught of all the emotions he was unleashing on me at once. I could taste desire and desperation. I felt the lingering sadness hiding behind the intensity of his passion. His anger was there in the rough hold of his hands and the impatient way his hips ground against mine. Pinned against the wall like a butterfly mounted in a display box, there was little I could do but ride out the swells of the storm.

  Solo’s head dropped to the side of my neck, and once again there was a drag of teeth and the slight sting of a bite. The arm he wasn’t using to hold me worked its way between our bodies and a moment later calloused fingers were plucking at my pebbled nipples almost painfully. I let my head fall backward and made a noise when it hit the tiled wall harder than I intended. I’d never been the recipient of such aggressive, consuming affection before. Never had anyone handled me as if they might die if they couldn’t get as close to me as quickly as possible. It was overwhelming, but it was also a total turn on. Solo admitted to never having anyone significant in his life for an extended period of time. Having him come at me like he was starving when I had no clue how to handle someone like him was almost too much. He treated me as if I was the only one who could deal with his relentless lust.

  Hs teeth nipped their way across my exposed throat and I knew I was going to have the imprint of his fingertips on my ass for days because he was holding me so tightly. I closed my eyes and whispered his name, rolling my hips against the straining hardness throbbing between my splayed thighs. He always felt larger than life and bigger than average. Right now, he felt huge and close to impossible to take. I must’ve made a small sound of distress because Solo’s demeanor immediately changed. He still held onto me like he had no plans of ever letting go, but his hands went from bruising to reverent and his lips went from punishing to pleasurable.

  The fingers torturing my puckered nipples twisted and his knuckles dragged their way down my breastbone, across my belly, and down to the valley where his cock was taking up all the available space. Those same knuckles brushed lightly through wet folds until they knocked against my pulsing clit. My legs tightened around his lean waist and I curled a hand around the back of his head. His short hair felt like wet silk under my palm. His long fingers skated through damp flesh, outlining every tremor that followed. I felt the broad tip of his erection press against my fluttering opening as our eyes locked.

  His looked like the night sky; they were so pretty when they glittered with arousal. The way he wanted me, the way he showed how much he cared, flashed like stars in the obsidian depths. I angled my hips closer, taking the first few inches of his rigid length inside my body. He was hot and hard, exactly like the wall at my back. I felt pliant and soft, letting my body mold around his. I took him in on a sigh, letting my head fall forward to rest on his tattooed shoulder.

  Solo shifted his hold on my ass; I surrendered to the sensation of being taken as I let him have whatever he needed. He had a lot of negative feelings he needed to purge out of his system, and I was glad to be the martyr. If he was the pyre, I didn’t mind burning on top of him all night long until whatever was haunting him had been chased away.

  “Never thought I would have room in my life for anyone else. Didn’t realize how much empty space I was rattling around in until you came along, Orley. I like how you filled my life up.” I felt rather than saw the smile he flashed somewhere above my bent head. “Like the way I fill you up even more.”

  He wasn’t wrong. It was almost hard to breathe with that impressive cock seated all the way inside of me. I was full of him in more ways than one.

  The fingers delicately playing with my clit kept up their light strum and stroke as his hips started to kick in a smooth rhythm, driving my body up the wall and rocking upward into my clenching pussy with each fall. It was a brutal, quick pace which immediately had me panting into his damp skin and whispering his name through strangled breaths. I could feel warmth spreading outward from my belly, and all my muscles started to shake.

  Solo groaned loud and low into my hair, and I sent up a silent prayer Noble had in fact fallen asleep. I already owed her an explanation as to why her favorite person had been sullen all night long; I couldn’t think about explaining why mommy was moaning Solo’s name over and over again. I hoped I had a few years left before we needed to have that kind of chat.

  The scruff on Solo’s chin scraped along my temple as his body hammered into mine. With every thrust and retreat I could feel his big body releasing some of the toxic tension that had made him nearly unapproachable all night. I much prefer him shaking this way than the way I found him when I first came into the bathroom. I tightened all my limbs around him and tried not to think about my moans echoing off the walls around us.

  He growled into the space above my head, fingers losing dexterity and falling away from the tender spot hidden between my legs where he’d been drawing out every ounce of pleasure he could. His rhythm faltered, his hips crashed into mine hard enough to bruise, and his short fingernails dug into the curve of my ass hard enough to leave marks. I felt the firm flesh of his cock pulse and kick and heard his breath skip a few beats as a rush of warm wetness really did flood all the available space where we were joined. I lifted my head and watched Solo’s eyes drift shut as he let himself get lost fully in his release. Finally, his features softened and the angry twist of his mouth relaxed.

  When his eyes popped open, a tiny grin played around his mouth and his hands skimmed where I was still pinned between the wall and his muscular chest.

  “Not gonna leave you hanging. Promise.” I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the conversation we still needed to have or the orgasm… either way, I would wait. I was still a little dazed from being captive to his emotional storm.

  I didn’t say anything when he leaned back, separating our bodies with a slick, sexy sound. Our eyes stayed locked as he found a discarded washcloth and cleaned us up. I stayed silent when he lifted me in his arms and started to carry me toward the unfamiliar bedroom. There wasn’t any sound coming from the living room, but that could be misleading. Sometimes when it was quiet, it meant things were going to hell in a handbasket. Before we talked or continued what he started in the shower, I was going to have to check on Noble.

  I didn’t make any noise until an hour later when Solo finally told me about Lester. Then, it was my turn to cry and let grief sweep me away. Luckily, Solo knew exactly how to help me deal with the sadness that felt like it was going to swallow me whole.

  Solo

  It was a good thing I was used to making the most of the few free moments I had.

  The longer I was with Orley, the more apparent it was that we were going to have to sneak stolen moments together between various interruptions for the foreseeable future. It seemed like we were always going to be interrupted by a phone ringing or Noble needing something. Yest
erday morning, one of the Boss’s guys showed up unannounced, just when things were getting good, to see if we needed anything. It was a nice gesture, but I almost ripped the dude’s head off, which the Boss wouldn’t have appreciated. I never considered myself a patient man, but I was learning I had an untapped well of tolerance and self-control. In all honesty, it made the occasions when I did get to be the sole focus of Orley’s attention, and when she was the center of my entire world, all the sweeter and more intense. We tended to go at each other like we may never get another chance, which always proved to make the sex out of this world and impossible to forget, even if we were left hard up because something outside the bedroom door demanded our attention.

  I was a young guy. I’d been sexually active longer than I would ever admit to my mother, and if anyone told me I would be okay with my girl dipping out in the middle of a spectacular blowjob because there was a toddler having a nightmare in the other room, I would have told them they were crazy. There were too many girls out there, and I already had my own shit to deal with on the regular. But, none of those girls were Orley, and none of those toddlers were Noble. I’d climbed out of bed almost as fast as the pretty redhead when I heard Noble shrieking from the other room. It might’ve taken a minute for my cock to calm down, but when Noble was secured in the big bed between me and her mother, I forgot all about my dick because it was my heart that felt like it was going to explode. I wasn’t entirely sure how I ended up here, but I knew with every fiber of my being I wasn’t going back to where I was before.

  At this particular moment, the sun hadn’t risen, and Noble was still dead to the world on the fold-out in the living room. After two nights, she’d finally adjusted to the apartment enough to sleep through the night. Not that she wasn’t going to be up as soon as the sunlight hit the main window in the room, but until then, I had Orley all to myself. I was going to make the most of the time we had. My ribs felt a little bit better. It didn’t feel like my insides were coated in burning acid every time I moved. I could even bend without grimacing as much.

  That meant I could finally cover Orley with my body and fuck her into the mattress instead of her riding me like a professional rodeo queen. I liked having her on top of me, but I wanted to know what she felt like under me. I wanted those pretty blue eyes looking up at me, dazed with lust, while she bit her lip to muffle the sexy sounds she made when she was close to breaking apart. I fully planned on making all those fantasies a reality as soon as I was done mapping out every single part of her sweet, wet pussy with my tongue.

  She’d been writhing under my mouth for a solid five minutes. She was pulling at my hair and squeezing my head between her thighs. I could feel her insides quiver, and every time she said my name under her breath, a rush of moisture followed. I was determined not to miss a single drop. She tasted as good as I imagined she would. I could feast on her forever, but knowing it was highly unlikely I was going to get more than one uninterrupted hour, I was going to have to save the savoring for another time when lives weren’t on the line and her kid wasn’t sleeping restlessly.

  I slid my hands under Orley’s very nice backside and pulled her closer to my mouth. I shifted tactics and used the edge of my teeth on her clit. Her entire body vibrated in my hands and her nails dug into my scalp hard enough to hurt. I grunted a little, and felt her hips roll, forcing her hips closer to my face. It was awesome to be with someone who couldn’t get enough. Orley told me she was relatively inexperienced when it came to sex and intimacy, which reminded me she was still so young. But she rolled with everything I threw at her and came at me just as hard. It almost seemed like we were meant to be. We clicked when we were in bed together. We both blindly tried to navigate making a serious relationship work in a less-than-ideal situation.

  “Close, Solo. So close.” Her toned thighs clamped around my ears and her back bowed up off the bed. I could tell she was right on the edge, because she was soaking wet and her body was undulating wildly in my hands. Her breathless whisper was hot and so was the way her heels dug into the center of my back. I liked the trail of shiny, slick moisture I left along her inner thigh when I pulled my mouth off her flushed opening and dragged it down the soft line of skin.

  She shoved a condom in my hand as I crawled my way up her body. Neither one of us mentioned the incident in the shower being less than well thought out, but I wasn’t going anywhere—wasn’t running like her piece-of-shit sperm donor—regardless of the consequences of needing her so badly I couldn’t think straight. Once I had things wrapped up and good to go, I hitched one of her legs over my hip, braced a forearm above her head and let my body sink fully into hers. We both sucked in a sharp breath at the contact. I loved the way she engulfed me, greedy, and impatient. She used the heel resting on my ass to hurry me up, wanting the full length of my erection imbedded inside of her as deeply as possible. It was easy enough to tell when I hit her spot. Her entire body flushed and she made a keening, high sound that immediately made my dick harder than it already was.

  I kissed her on the forehead and started to move. With each drag of my cock through the tight, wet clamp of her body, it felt like the top of my skull was going to blow off. Nobody felt as good as this woman. Being inside of her was my new favorite place and the only way I was going to give her up was if someone killed me. Being with Orley really did bring about feelings worth dying for. I never thought I would care about another person to that drastic of an extent, but here I was. I wasn’t sure I was old and mature enough to call what we did making love, but I was certain it was a whole lot more than just sex.

  “Love the way you feel under me.” And I liked that I was the only thing she could see when her bright blue eyes opened; she was completely surrounded by my body and my need. The combination was absolutely euphoric.

  “I love being under you. It feels safe here.” Her hands cupped each side of my face and her forehead knocked clumsily against my chin as she started to nibble along the line of my throat. When her teeth grazed my Adam’s apple, my hips kicked into hers involuntarily. Between all the interrupted sexy moments, and the fact I could still taste her all over my tongue, it wasn’t going to take much to shove me over the edge into a thought-stealing orgasm.

  Fortunately, Orley’s control was stretched as thin as mine. I shifted my head so I could get my mouth on her pretty, pointed nipples. All it took was a little suction and a tiny bite on one, then the other, to have her bucking underneath me and coming apart around my cock. The pulse of her completion pulled my own from where it lingered in anticipation. Heat tap danced its way up and down my spine as my rhythm faltered and my hips rocked aimlessly into the cradle of hers, mindlessly seeking out every single last drop of pleasure. Now that I’d been inside her with nothing between us, I was going to have to move getting to the point where we could go bare up high on the priority list. If we were going to be forced to sneak in intimate moments amongst the chaos of our everyday lives, I wanted them to feel as bright and pure as possible.

  I collapsed on top of her in a sweaty, satiated mess. Her legs locked around my waist and I could feel both of us softening and relaxing in a haze of utter bliss and satisfaction. We were good together, and each time seemed better than the time before.

  Orley bit my shoulder playfully and kissed the small hurt. The tip of her tongue dragged along the tattoo that lived there and I remembered her telling me she wanted to trace them all. She wasn’t even a third of the way there yet. She was still working on everything from my pecs up. I buried my nose in the hollow behind her ear and smiled against her skin. I’d never really experienced peace before she came along, but I understood the feeling now. When I was with Orley like this, there was nothing on my mind but how good I felt and pride at knowing I was the one who made her limp and languid. I always felt like I was carrying around so much responsibility, it was an honest-to-God treat to feel like the only thing required of me at the moment was making the woman beneath me feel good.

  Of course, one of our ph
ones chose that very moment to ring.

  I didn’t want to move; I never wanted to move, but I knew Orley wouldn’t let me ignore the sound. It could be the Boss or someone from my mother’s facility. If it was her phone, she would be worried it was her boss, or possibly Erica. I told her the girls were keeping an eye out for anything suspicious at the apartment complex. After what happened to Lester, Orley was terrified her father would send his henchmen after anyone who might know where she was stashing Noble. She didn’t want her friends to get hurt in the line of fire trying to keep her safe.

  I rolled to the side with a groan. Pushing myself up, I discarded the condom and looked at the phones on the metal nightstand which was too cool for this barely used room. The Boss had unique taste, that was for sure. Orley’s phone lit up, but the number on the screen read private.

  Normally, I’d just answer the call, but after making the promise to no longer make any unilateral decisions without her, I grabbed the ringing phone and waved it in her direction. “The caller ID doesn’t recognize the number.”

  She pushed her tangled, sweat-dampened hair out of her face and squinted at the display. She waved a hand in the air dismissively. “Answer it. It’s probably a telemarketer.”

  I swiped the screen and poked the speaker icon so we could both hear. “Yeah?” I failed to see the point in being polite if it was a robocaller.

  “Who is this?” Surprisingly, the voice immediately brought Orley upright in the bed. She clutched the sheets to her chest and pushed hair out of her face. I noticed her hands started shaking and her eyes blew wide.

  I cocked an eyebrow and looked at the phone in my hand. “I think that’s my question. Who the fuck is this?”

  The voice was disturbingly calm and cultured. I had a sinking feeling I knew exactly who was on the other end of the line.