Devour

by E. K. Blair

  While I’d been packing my clothes and accessories during the afternoon, I had second thoughts about going home with Liam. I liked him well enough, but after hearing about his family and his brother, I couldn’t shake the lump of worry that had settled in the pit of my stomach.

  “Thalia, you ready.” Callie shouted as she poked her head into my room. “What’s wrong?”

  I inhaled. “Nothing. Come on lets go.” I ushered her through our small apartment, grabbing our jackets and purses on the way out, before she could question me further.

  Once outside, I had to dash to keep up with her. Deciding that the night would go smoother with a few rules, I said, “I’m not drinking too much tonight. I have a long car journey tomorrow, so I don’t want to be puking all the way there. I also wouldn’t put it past Liam to leave me if I get sick in his car.”

  She stopped and turned. A worry line traced its way across her forehead as her gaze bored into me. “I think you’re making a mistake,” her tone was clipped as though she was holding back, “but it’s your decision.” She frowned as I tugged her arm to get her moving again instead of replying right away.

  I loved her like a sister, but I had to make my own decisions. If I didn’t, Callie would end up treating me like a little girl, just like my parents did. “I’m a big girl now.” I smiled to take the challenge out of my tone. “If I’m not happy there then I’ll head home, or to Texas.”

  “You promise.”

  “Yes Mom,” I laughed, pushing my way through the door of Luke’s as Callie followed me inside.

  Luke’s was a five-minute walk from where we lived, and every Friday night they had a live band. More often than not it was ‘The Leopards’, not sure where that name came from, but they were good. Luke’s always had a full house when they played.

  We pushed our way through the crush of bodies to the bar; the eyes of some college guys tracking us like prey, which I guess single college girls were. I ignored the interested looks. Other college girls might not mind being prey, but Callie and I did. The guys in here knew to leave us alone, but a few couldn’t take no for an answer.

  Callie and I weren’t opposed to being hit on, I mean what girl doesn’t like a hot guy flirting with her, but after putting up with it for nearly three years, it kind of sucked.

  Standing at the bar, I spotted some friends on the dance floor so, after Callie passed me a beer, we headed towards them. We loved to dance and during the past six months had only allowed ourselves to let go once a month, due to the papers we had to get written before the end of the semester, plus, of course, there were our jobs. Our jobs being another reason why I hadn’t been too bothered about Liam’s lack of passion. It had been so long since I’d felt like a normal twenty-one year old.

  “Hey,” Jeff whispered into my ear, his arms wrapping around my waist as he snuggled in against my back. Jeff was harmless and totally not into me. As in, he much preferred someone with a dick! Callie and I were the only ones who knew that because we’d once seen him kissing a guy. We’d basically been in the wrong place at the wrong time. After a bit of a showdown we’d become friends, and now and again I would go out with him and let everyone think we were dating to help him keep his secret. He was a good sounding board and had let me rant about my family and guys, more often than I’d care to admit.

  Jeff pushed me further onto the dance floor with him. Keeping his hands on my hips he started swaying to a slow song that had come on. He was only a couple of inches taller than my five-foot-six frame so he was pretty easy to dance with.

  The Leopards usually played the slow song before they took a break, so any minute I expected the speaker system to kick in with ‘Panic! At the Disco’, which was pretty good, or something else as Mick was the bar tender tonight and he loved the kind of music that had a bite to it. I was one hundred percent into Three Doors Down, which drove Callie mad, as she was more Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. I’d yet to admit to liking them as well.

  On my second bottle of beer, thanks to Callie, I continued to dance and grind against Jeff who wasn’t affected one bit with my ass rubbing against his dick.

  I placed my empty bottle onto a table at the side of the dance floor, before I practically threw myself into Jeff’s arms as we started jumping and singing along to ‘The Leopards’.

  After about an hour on the dance floor with Jeff, I turned to him and shook my head, to let him know I needed a break. Leaving him alone, I walked towards the table where Callie was sitting with Chase, David, Liam, Nadine and Kristy – some friends we occasionally hooked up with.

  Liam made room for me, so I slid into the seat. “You looked good out there,” he shouted, kissing me smack on the lips.

  My eyes flew wide open. Callie looked about as stunned as I felt. That was new. Liam had never shown me any affection in public before. Narrowing my eyes, I took his challenge. I turned in his embrace and straddled him, wrapping my arms around his neck and plunged in. I needed to see if there was anything between us once and for all. I put my all into it and maybe we had potential, because my blood started to tingle and Liam started to grow between my legs. I pressed against him. Liam broke the kiss and just looked at me.

  “God, you’re hot tonight,” Liam commented.

  Our breathing was labored while we continued to stare at each other in shock, in truth I felt confused. Liam was great to hang out with and we had been dating, kind of, for the past six months, but we hadn’t kissed like that before.

  “Wow, you two looked ready to get down and dirty,” Kristy said as Liam moved me from his lap with unsteady hands.

  “Thalia, do you want to leave?”

  I hesitated at Liam’s question.

  “I don’t mean to follow up with more than a kiss. I just meant because we have an early start tomorrow.” Liam practically had to shout in my ear to be heard.

  “Okay.” We stood to leave, the others giving us knowing looks, but Callie knew me better than anyone else and knew Liam wouldn’t be spending time in my bed.

  I leaned over to shout in Callie’s ear, “Are you coming or staying?”

  “Staying. I’ll get Jeff to walk me back.”

  We hugged, and then I let Liam pull me through the crowd to the outside. It was good to breathe fresh air after being squished in the sweaty bar.

  Liam grasped my hand, his grip sending tendrils of warmth up my arm while we walked back to my apartment in silence. He appeared to be as lost in thought as I was. He was probably replaying the kiss. The kiss, which had come out of the blue. Could I blame it on the alcohol? Probably not. He knew I’d only had two beers. The kiss had been hot; he certainly knew how to kiss.

  “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet since we left the bar.” His tone seemed unsure, but I couldn’t tell what he was unsure about.

  I reached up and touched along my tender lips with my fingers. His eyes narrowed as he watched me. “I was thinking,” I met his eyes, “can we try that again?”

  He shook his head, about to say something, but I didn’t give him time. I stepped into his space, took hold of his head, pulled him down to me, and sealed our lips together. I wanted to know if the kiss and reaction at the bar was a one off.

  Our lips met. Our bodies touched, chest to chest and... nothing. It was nice, but... nothing. I slowly pulled back and looked into Liam’s eyes. He looked flushed.

  “Thalia.” He reached up and brushed the hair away from my face. “I’m not ready to become intimate with you. I like you a lot and I can talk to you. I guess I’m afraid of losing that if we hit the sack. You know what I mean?”

  “I’d like that – a lot.” I nearly laughed out loud when I saw the look on his face. He looked as relieved as me.

  “When I take you home tomorrow, would it be okay for me to tell everyone that you’re my girlfriend? I mean we may end up together anyway. It would just stop my mom from constantly parading girls through the house,” he asked, looking hesitant.

  “Okay, I guess.” I glanced up to the d
ark window of my apartment, “I better head upstairs.” I turned away and started to open the front door.

  “Thanks Thalia, you’re great.” He came up behind me, kissing me on the cheek before stepping back. I watched him turn back towards Luke’s for his car.

  “Goodnight Liam, I’ll see you bright and early.”

  “That you will. Goodnight Thalia.”

  Chapter 4

  Jack

  Saturday night and I was knocking back a beer before it was Deception’s turn on stage. I lived for these nights. Deception being the group I’d started back in high school with a couple of friends. Reece was on the drums, while Donovan worked his electric guitar, which left me to sing solo, occasionally bringing my guitar out.

  Deception was also one of my big secrets. As far as my parents were concerned the ‘band phase’ had come to an end when we all left high school. Little did they know!

  I had another year of hard studying to do before I could get out from under them. It was going to be a hard year, not just because of the studying. I was going to piss good old dad off when he found out my program at college would be all geared to me practicing criminal law. All I had to do was get through summer before I headed back to school. A married man – Fuck!

  Kix had been open a couple of months and for the past couple of weeks, since we’d arrived home from college, Reece, Donovan and me had played on stage about three times. After our first appearance, people had been asking when we were coming back. Deciding it was a great way to spend the summer, we’d struck a deal with Ryder, and now we wanted to extend the deal to maybe a Wednesday night as well as the Saturday spot we already had. Ryder wanted to think about it.

  “You seen the chick over there?” Reece asked, pointing his bottle of beer in the direction of the blonde girl who looked to have melons for breasts.

  “Not interested.” The thing was I hadn’t been interested in close to twelve months, ever since I had Mia thrust on me. Mia my fiancée, the woman I was being faithful to. The woman I didn’t want, but was trapped with.

  “You need a distraction my friend, and that over there, is a distraction.”

  “Fuck. Reece, I am so not going there. If you’re that interested, you go for it.”

  After a minute of silence from me, he grabbed another beer and walked towards the ‘chick’. What my friends couldn’t understand was why I stayed faithful to someone I didn’t love and didn’t like spending time with. I may have allowed my family to push me into marriage, which would happen in about six weeks, but I wouldn’t cheat on the girl. I’d tried to tell my folks I wanted to wait until after college before I committed myself to her. I hoped she’d have changed her mind by then so I’d be off the hook. For some reason everyone, including my so-called fiancée, wanted the wedding this summer.

  I’d returned home from college to find the wedding arranged and to be told, all I had to do was show up. To say I’d gotten totally and utterly drunk that night would be an understatement.

  Why did I let my parents push me into a wedding I didn’t want? Well, I was so close to finishing college and my father had put my financial future on the line. I’d studied damn hard so the last thing I wanted to do was pull from the program.

  I tried not to think about it too much, and just hoped everything, including my feelings, fell into place.

  Looking at other women was out of the question, because I was frightened that if I did, I might find the woman I’d been looking for before my life got ‘arranged’. The one that I’d dreamed about. Regardless of what my friends thought, before my life had taken a turn, I would have loved nothing more than to find the woman meant for me. Instead of the constant stream of women gracing my sheets, I’d just have the one woman.

  “I see he’s found some company,” Donovan pointed out.

  “I’m surprised you’re not with him.” I stated, turning away from Reece’s flirting and looked at Donovan who was in his usual black jeans and white t-shirt, which was stretched tight over his abs. He’d been my friend for about thirteen years, and he knew me better than my own family did. Usually he’d go in for the kill with Reece, even if it was just the one woman.

  “Maybe later. We’re up in a minute.” Donovan turned and leaned against the bar. “We have a good crowd here tonight. Do you think they’d come and watch us on a Wednesday as well?”

  We surveyed the bodies, which were packed tightly into the place, here to let off steam to our music; it felt damn good knowing they were here because of us.

  “Yeah, I do. Maybe not as many, but I guess the majority of them would. The only problem I might have is work.” I took a long swallow of beer, grimacing at the thought of spending the summer under my dad’s watchful eyes. It had been my idea so I couldn’t complain too much. “I can shift things around and work when I get home if I have to. I really want the Wednesday slot.” I drained the rest of my beer knowing I needed our music to get me through the week.

  I still dreamed of having a life of my choosing, but six weeks would be here all too soon and it took all my strength to stay strong.

  “Hey,” Donovan nudged me with his beer.

  “What?”

  “What?” Donovan repeated. “Where’d you go?”

  “Thinking about the shit I have to look forward too,” I replied with a heavy sigh.

  “Talking about shit, isn’t your brother home tomorrow?”

  I laughed, because neither, Donovan or Reece got along with Liam and vice-versa. “Yeah, he is and apparently he’s bringing his girl with him.”

  Donovan spat his mouth full of beer out, luckily onto the floor and not me. “You fucking with me?”

  I held my hands out. “Nope, he is. Moms been sprucing the place up, driving me crazy, following me around making sure I didn’t just dump my boots at the foot of the stairs. Trust me, I tried and within five minutes, they came flying in my room, with the door banging shut behind her. God, she’s driving me nuts.”

  “She always drives you nuts,” Reece pointed out, reappearing – alone. “They’re ready for us. Which song do you want to kick off with?”

  “Hero.” I’d written the song myself and it was loud with a bite to it. The crowd usually went wild when we sang it, especially when Reece lost his t-shirt towards the end, flashing his tattoos not to mention his muscles.

  “Okay, let’s bring this place to life,” Reece said, walking in the direction of the stage. “You girls coming,” he asked Donovan and me when we made no move to follow him.

  We finally started to follow Reece as Ryder climbed on to the stage.

  “Okay y’all, shut the fuck up,” came blaring through the speakers. Not one to mix words was Ryder, a thirty-year-old ex-marine with a bad attitude, who just happened to own the bar and for some reason liked us.

  “I know y’all are here to see my smiling face.” Half the crowd laughed and the other half whistled. “Sorry to disappoint y’all, but you’re going to have to put up with Deception.” With that he leapt from the stage as we climbed up on it.

  Chapter 5

  Jack

  As I placed the mic back into the stand, I couldn’t help but smile in pride. We rocked the place tonight and even ended our turn on stage with ‘Love, Lost and Found’. It was a slow number to give the guys in the crowd a chance to get their hands on the women.

  While I’d been singing, I’d had a front row seat watching the ‘chick’ from before going between the three of us with lust clear in her eyes. She had no chance with me, but I’d glanced at Donovan and Reece a few times and knew as soon as our stint was over they’d be all over her, and in her.

  I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t been turned on with the sizzling glances she’d kept throwing at me, because I had been. The boner in my jeans could attest to that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t act on it.

  Walking towards the bar to distract myself from the throbbing going on below my belt, I bumped into a dark haired girl, who started to tumble forwards. Placing my hands on her hips to s
top her from tipping over, her ass rubbed up against my groin.

  She turned her head. “Is that for me?” she purred, rubbing against my dick, which had gone hard as fuck.

  Taking a deep breath, I gently pushed her away from me, “No. Sorry.”

  I carried on walking, but changed direction towards the back where I knew the guys had taken the ‘chick’. God, I hated that word. I needed to come badly; otherwise my dick wouldn’t go down. I hadn’t had sex in forever, but my fist worked fine, although I was getting fed up with it.

  Donovan and Reece were in the storeroom, so taking another breath; I knocked on the door. “Guys, it’s me,” I shouted through the door, knowing it would be useless trying to open it since it would be locked.

  I heard the lock click before the door opened slightly. I pushed my way in, much to Donovan’s shock.

  “You’re joining us?” Reece asked, in disbelief from between the woman’s thighs.

  “Not exactly.” I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing in the room with them. Sex was out of the question; since Mia I’d stopped with the one-night stands. Once or twice I’d watched the guys with women, jerking off to the show.

  This wasn’t a first. We’d done a threesome with a woman on more than one occasion with our cocks in her cunt, ass and mouth. Yeah, it had been hot as fuck, and with just the memory, my dick hardened even more.

  “I’m staying over here,” I said, backing up to the wall, resting against it. I had a first class view of the naked woman on the desk, who was already groaning, thrashing her head from side to side. I wasn’t surprised as Reece had his mouth buried between her thighs, with Donovan sucking her tits; then she came with a squeal, which Donovan moved to capture in his mouth.

  I stroked my cock through my jeans, then thought fuck it, unzipped and unbuttoned the denim that had been keeping me contained and let my swollen dick burst free.