by London Casey
Sugar.
I didn’t do the whole nickname thing, but the way sugar rolled off Maddox’s sexy lips, it made it all okay. I could hear his voice in my head. That roughness from being a man and from smoking. I could smell him too. Hell, I could still feel his body against mine. His body thrusting, holding me, loving me. It all happened so fast, but to me, it had been a slow build from the second I turned the corner to the back of St. Skin and saw him flicking his cigarette across the back lot.
I didn’t reply to the text.
I pulled myself from the closet.
I hadn’t been to St. Skin in a few days. I had called Tate and quit but never faced him in person. Not to mention, he paid me in advance for another round of work that I hadn’t completed yet. So, I owed him money, and I fully intended on giving that back.
I sat at my desk and figured out how much Tate paid me and divided it by the days worked, blah, blah, and I got a number that seemed right that I owed him back.
I wrote a check and left the apartment.
I had a really heavy heart. I didn’t want to be done with St. Skin. Every day there brought new stories to capture. I liked the tattoo scene. I liked talking to the people getting ink. I liked figuring out the different personalities of the guys. It was the shot of life that I so needed. Not to mention the money was good. Very good.
I got to my car and opened the driver’s door and climbed in. I threw my bag across seat, looking as I did, realizing there was something on the passenger seat.
It was a black box. Big. With a green bow stuck on top.
“What the…”
I looked up into the rearview mirror and saw a truck parked behind me.
Maddox was behind the wheel.
Before I could make a move, Maddox drove away.
I put my window down but didn’t yell for him. He was too far away. So I grabbed for my phone and sent him a text.
What is this?
I waited.
No response.
I set my attention back to the box next to me. I didn’t do the whole present thing. It always came with a price. Some kind of favor attached to it. Some kind of payback that could be called up at anytime, anyplace.
I slowly lifted the lid of the box and let out a gasp.
It was a camera. A brand-new camera. One that was far better than the one that got smashed into pieces. Complete with a set of lenses, too. Really expensive lenses, ones that would allow me to take a variety of shots at different angles and distances. This camera was amazing. It was beautiful. It was perfect. It would change everything about my business.
And tucked under it was a folded-up piece of paper.
I opened it, and there was a gift card for way too much money, along with a note from Maddox.
Whatever else you need to keep taking your beautiful pictures, Hazel with the green eyes.
Maddox
I stared at the paper, the gift card, the camera, all of it going round and round in my head, wondering what to do.
I wanted to be thankful, but I was honestly scared. Worried what it meant. Was it just a kind gesture from Maddox, or did it come with strings attached? He wanted in on my life, my personal life, so badly, and I didn’t understand why. Only that it involved some girl he couldn’t save. What did that even mean? Did she leave him?
Slowly, I inspected every piece of the camera and the accessories. I kept a running total in my head, a total was the insanely large, even before including the number on the gift card. It was by far the most expensive gift I had ever gotten. And all from a man who wasn’t…well…mine.
My heart was racing, my hands were shaking, and I didn’t know what to do. I looked at my bag and thought about the check I wrote to pay Tate back for the work I wasn’t going to be able to do.
Then I looked at the camera again.
I guess I was able to work.
At St. Skin.
Where Maddox wanted me to go.
I finally allowed myself to smile.
I started my car.
I knew the first picture I was going to take with the new camera.
I walked through the front door, and Danielle waved to me. She pointed toward Tate’s office, and I waved her off. I showed her the camera, and she raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t sure if anyone knew that I had quit the job or not, but whatever. I had a one-track mind, and I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way. Those moments of total empowerment were amazing. And ever since meeting Maddox and climbing his wall while he climbed mine…I felt more empowered. I felt safer. I felt stronger. Even with the hell that Mitch had caused.
It was a relief to have someone who cared, someone who didn’t judge.
I opened the door to Maddox’s room, but it was empty.
My finger was on the button to get a picture of him.
Damn.
I turned and walked across to Prick’s room. Slowly, I opened the door to find that was empty, too. I gazed around the room. The whole place had a horror vibe to it, which sort of fit Prick’s personality. The big chair. The supplies for piercing. It made me shiver. He had shown me pictures of places people got pierced. And he flirted that he had plenty of naughty places pierced on himself.
I shut the door and started to move on to open every damn door I needed to open.
First, I glanced back.
Maddox was probably outside.
I turned and went that way.
I opened the back door, and sure enough, there was Maddox, along with Prick, Axel, and Tate.
Maddox turned and grinned at me. “Looks like you got yourself a new camera.”
“Does that mean you’re working here again?” Tate asked. “Because if not, I’m going to have to hire out again…”
“Hey,” Prick said. “Maybe we can get a topless photographer. Now that I would smile for.” Prick looked at me. “Unless you want to…”
“See this button?” I said to Prick.
“Yeah…”
“Press it,” I said.
Then I made my move.
I cracked my own shell. I climbed over my own wall.
And I pulled the camera off my neck and threw it into the air.
Maddox’s eyes went wide.
I trusted Prick to catch the camera, which he did.
Then I jumped forward, right at Maddox. His strong hands caught me. I moved to my toes. I planted my lips right against his and hoped that Prick was smart enough to get the picture. The first picture taken with the new camera.
The kiss was quick, but the picture would last forever. And the cat calls coming from everyone around us seemed like it would never end.
The sounds of Ow! Yeah! Get it, girl! Daaaaamn…kept coming, along with whistling and clapping.
I looked up at Maddox, realizing what I had done. So my face started to burn with deep heat.
“You like the camera, then?” Maddox whispered.
“I don’t get why.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I got a great picture of your ass, Hazel,” Prick said.
I turned. “What?”
“Look.”
I grabbed the camera from him.
The stupid… Prick… took a picture of my ass. Then I saw it was labeled 2. I pressed the button and the first image showed. It was me kissing Maddox. Somehow, Prick had pulled it off.
“Thanks,” I said to him.
“You gonna jump into my arms and kiss me now?” he asked.
“Not quite.”
“Oho, so that’s exclusive to Maddox?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s interesting,” Prick said with a sly grin.
I looked back and saw everyone staring at me.
“It’s not…we’re not…I mean…”
Tate pushed forward between them all. “Okay. Break-time over. Go tattoo someone. Hazel, I need to talk to you, please.”
Maddox opened the door and held it for everyone.
He was last to go, winking at me before he did so.
&
nbsp; The door swung shut.
“Should we go in?” I asked Tate.
“Actually, let’s stay out here for a minute.”
“Okay.”
Tate put one of his bear paw hands to the door. He looked down, then at me. “You got a new camera.”
“Yeah.”
“Maddox did it?”
“Yeah.”
“But you two aren’t…”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Does it matter?”
“Actually it sort of does, Hazel. There’s something I have to tell you…something that’s going to happen…”
26
MADDOX
PRESENT DAY
I walked into my room and saw Hazel sitting on the chair.
She was a beautiful dream. A touch of an angel to the world of the devil I resided in. I stared for a few seconds, admiring the sight. Her hair down. Those green eyes shining brighter than they actually were. The way her body molded against the chair. I saw myself sitting next to her, putting some ink on her wrist. Something soft, sweet, subtle, something that was all her. Something you wouldn’t see at first, but when you did, you’d be in awe.
In fact, I had an idea for what I wanted to do.
Around her neck was the camera.
She grabbed it and lifted it up, snapping a few pictures of me.
“That came with a condition,” I said. “No more pictures of me.”
“Try me,” she whispered.
I walked toward her as she took about ten more pictures. I leaned over the chair, the camera still clicking away. I didn’t stop until my forehead rested against hers.
“Well, aren’t you feeling brave, huh?”
“Maddox, how much did this cost?”
“I think you know that answer, sugar. So why ask?”
“This is insane. I can’t pay you for this.”
“I didn’t say you had to.”
“At least take the gift card back. I don’t need anything else.”
“No refunds on the gift card,” I said.
“But…why?”
I touched her cheek. “You deserve it. Whatever you’re going through, you deserve this. At the very least, this. Because this you love. Because this is part of your spirit. And I don’t want you to lose your spirit, Hazel.”
“Are you saying that you like my spirit? That you like me?”
“That I like you? What are we, twelve?”
She grinned.
I kissed the tip of her nose and then turned to go to my desk.
“I’m just not good with gifts,” she said. “So, if I come across like I don’t appreciate it…”
“Sugar, I didn’t do this to get my name on a building or something,” I said. I sat down and pulled open a drawer.
“You did it because of her. The girl from the picture.”
I looked in the mirror at my own reflection. I swallowed hard.
Why the fuck had I flirted with opening that door?
“You don’t want to talk about it,” Hazel said.
I grabbed a pen and ripped a piece of paper in half.
“It’s not that,” I said. “It’s just not the time.” I folded up the paper. I turned and grabbed Hazel’s hand, and I put the paper into it. “Just take your pictures and make your living, okay? Don’t let anything stand in your way. There’s so much shit I can’t say to you, because it would be wrong. I don’t do what I’m doing right now. Ever. Okay? So that means something. I hope you know that. I have to go get some ideas for a sketch for a tattoo. And Tate is calling a meeting I guess.”
She swallowed hard. “A meeting. Yeah. I…well…yeah.”
“Yeah? Yeah what?”
“Nothing.”
She was lying to me.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sure it’s good. Hey, why do you hate the cameras so much? I mean, my camera and stuff?”
“I just do.”
I stood up.
Reading her body language was like reading a picture book. I could see everything. Something had her uneasy. And Tate wanted to talk to her privately. And now, Tate wanted to talk with all of us. And me, privately, after that meeting.
That meant whatever was going on had something to do with Hazel.
She opened the paper and let out a laugh.
When she laughed, I smiled.
Her cheeks turned red.
I’d written something on the piece of paper.
Do you like me? Circle YES or NO.
I circled YES, like a damn fool, wanting to flirt and make her smile.
“There’s your answer,” I said.
I walked to the door but didn’t get a chance to open it. Hazel got off the chair and hurried to the door. She put her hand to the doorknob and turned the lock. Then she took a handful of my shirt and pulled herself toward me.
I slowly turned, and she was staring up at me.
There was a look in her eyes that shot heat through my body. I felt myself swelling instantly, putting myself and Hazel in dangerous territory. I gritted my teeth, wanting to warn her that if she was going to play these games, she would lose. No matter what, she would lose.
But this time…she actually got one over on me and won.
With three words.
“Here’s your answer.”
I gave her the benefit as she kissed me. I let her pin me against the door for a little bit as I held her steady, leaning down, kissing her as hard and wild as she kissed me. She tasted so fucking delicious, my favorite flavor in the world. One that I could never describe and one I would never fucking share. It was mine. All mine.
Her hands were under my shirt, scratching at my body. I loved that feeling—the way she found ways to let herself go. Show her true colors. Her beautiful strength. Her needs. I was a lucky man right then to be given the chance to see that and capture it for a moment or two.
My hands touched her face, stroking her cheeks. That was only temporary, though. Hazel slid her right hand down and went over my jeans, finding my thickness with ease. She squeezed it and groaned into my mouth.
That’s when I lost my cool.
My hands slapped against her hips, and I spun her around. She let out a gasp when she realized she was the one pinned to the door now. My lower half rested against hers. She bucked her hips at me, biting her lip as we took a momentary break from the wild kissing.
That moment gave me a chance to flirt with her a little more.
My fingers touched the button on her pants, flicking it open with ease.
“You know, I’ve never done anything crazy in here,” I whispered. I kissed her neck. “But you make me crazy, Hazel. Crazy in every sense of the word.”
“Maddox,” she purred as her hands grabbed for my neck.
I opened her pants and slid my left hand around to the small of her back, under her shirt, feeling the softness and the dimples on her back.
I ached for her in a way that bothered me. Shit, it really fucking bothered me.
I kissed her neck again and growled.
I looked at her, staring down at her. My lip curling. I felt angry, but in a really heated way. Not to hurt her, no, never that. But angry that she was the one who was getting to me and through me.
My hand felt the smoothness of her body. The curve of her body gave way to the damp folds of her slit. My fingers welcomed themselves, pressing and curling with her, feeling the tender heat pouring from her.
Her nails dug hard into my neck. Her mouth opened like she wanted to make noise.
But she knew any noise she made, everyone in St. Skin would hear.
Not that I gave a damn.
I ran the tip of my nose up and down against hers. I brought my middle finger up and touched her clit. I made the same motion with my fingertip to her clit as I had done with my nose to hers. Teasing her from top to bottom.
I made circles around her clit, feeling her hips moving with my touch. I was in full command, just the way I liked it.
Her body shivered as it reste
d against the door, ready for me.
I kissed her lips. “Try not to make too much noise, sugar. This is a place of business.”
I laughed and then kissed her neck.
My fingers moved back down, and I pressed them against her opening. Her pussy was beautiful, sheathing tight against my fingers as I sank them into her. I felt her legs flex and thrust, offering more of herself to me. She sucked in a breath and let out some breathless noise.
I groaned and ran the tip of my tongue along the sweetness of her neck, tasting her skin.
With a twisting and pulling movement, I made Hazel bend her knees, press her back harder against the door, thrusting herself at me. Her hands let go of their hold on my neck and grabbed my shoulders.
I gently went back up her neck to her ear. My fingers, however, were anything but gentle. Moving, circling, curling my fingers as I guided her toward the edge of climax.
I let out a breath against her ear. “Sugar, I want to feel you. All of you. This door is going to open soon. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
Hazel let out a groan sound as she rocked her hips against my touch. I felt her body starting to jerk randomly. She was there, getting closer by the second.
“Fuck, sugar, you don’t know what you’re doing to me. I’m going to give you everything soon enough. And I hope you can handle it and keep it safe. I’m going to share everything with you. Not even the guys here know my everything…”
“Maddox,” she groaned. “Kiss me.”
I put my lips to hers and felt her try to ravage me. Her body thrusting. Her tongue diving into my mouth. But I was the one still in complete and total control. My two fingers taking care of her between her legs. Sliding out and up, caressing her clit, giving her that last little nudge to the edge of that waterfall. My other hand moved up her body, over the swell of her breast, up to her neck, finally resting against her cheek.
And that’s how I held her as she came.
Reaching climax, she stopped kissing me, her mouth open, letting out little groans and whimpers. Tasting her breath, her lips touching mine, her body gently bouncing with each shock of pleasure that went through her body.
It was fucking beautiful, just like she was.
