by Meg Jackson
She knew she shouldn’t. She still barely knew him.
But somehow, she did.
She followed him into the store, where he bought some bullets and paid for a session at the indoor shooting range behind the shop itself. As they stood at the counter, Kim listened for the sounds of gunfire, but none came.
“Got the whole place to yourself right now,” the clerk said cheerily. He was a large man with bushy blonde beard and friendly eyes; if Kim had seen him at McDonalds, she would never have guessed this was his workplace. With ear protection in hand, Kennick and Kim retreated to the back room, where ten separated lanes waited. Kim was growing more and more agitated with each moment; what was she doing? She wasn’t the sort of girl who shot guns, for fun or any other reason! She could shoot herself, or Kennick, accidentally!
Except, she realized, she wouldn’t. Because, as Kennick walked her patiently through the ins and outs of the gun, which he said was a Remington .330, she realized that the gun was made to be hard to shoot accidentally. He taught her how to hold it when she wasn’t about to shoot, how to put the safety on and off, how to load and rack and reload.
The gun, when he handed it to her, safety on and her fingers nowhere near the trigger, she was amazed at its weight. It looked much lighter. Finally, with a wink, Kennick helped her put the ear protection on and led her to the booth. A red target stood about 25 feet down the lane. Kim’s body was shaking, her hands barely able to lift the little gun, and she wanted to turn and tell him thanks but no thanks.
Then he came behind her, arms encircling hers, and held her tight, their hands together on the handle. She could barely hear him through the earplugs, but could hear the relaxing tone in his voice. With his fingers over hers, they undid the safety. And with his finger over hers, they pulled the trigger.
The recoil surprised her, but not as much as the feeling right after the sound exploded around them, loud even with ear protection.
She felt…badass.
Kim had never once in her life felt badass.
But now, she felt damn good.
Something about the power, the sound, the weight of the gun, the feel of the recoil, all inflated her with a sudden burst of invincibility. Screw everyone, screw the world! Kimberly James could fire a gun, and fuck anyone who thought she couldn’t!
Of course, she was the only one who ever thought she couldn’t, but that didn’t matter at the moment.
Kennick stepped back as Kim took another shot, then another. Slowly, her aim got better, and though she never managed to hit the center target, she at least hit the target in the circles instead of on the white space beyond it. She shot until the bullets were gone; she shot until her whole body buzzed with energy, her mind rushing with a confidence she’d never known possible. Turning, flushed and breathing heavy, she saw the smile on Kennick’s face. Placing the gun on the little table in front of her, she slipped into his arms.
“You were right,” she murmured against his neck. “That was amazing.”
She’d forgotten all about her mother, all about work, all about Pastor Hendrix and Bob Talkee and everything in her life that held her back. She was badass Kim James, and she loved Kennick for making her feel that way.
On the drive back to the trailer park, where Kim knew she would get a chance to put all her newfound confidence to good use in a very different sort of rush, she gushed about every little thought that came into her head, no longer afraid of being boring or vapid or petty. She talked until she was thirsty, and Kennick smiled the whole way, laughing and shaking his head. He’d never seen this side of Kim before, and he liked it quite a bit.
The good feelings lasted all the way through the front door of his trailer, where a sneering face crumpled them all to the ground in a spectacular way.
“How did you get in here?” Kennick growled, pushing Kim behind him. She peered around her shoulder. A man she didn’t recognize was smirking, looking right back at her. His eyes were coal-black and his hair blonde; he wasn’t a Volanis, that was for sure. His clean-shaven jaw was covered in pockmarks, his nose slanted violently down. He might have been handsome if it wasn’t for the ugly look on his face.
“Is this it, Nicky?” he said with a sneer. “Is this what you’ve been doing while the rest of us have been busting our asses trying not to get lynched? You dragged us to this shit town and now you’re preoccupying yourself with pussy?”
“You better watch what you say next,” Kennick threatened, stepping forward. The energy between the two men crackled.
“Second-rate pussy, too, from the looks of it,” the man said. And then there was a vicious crack, a yelp of pain. Kim watched Kennick’s fist come back bloody; the man’s jaw was diagonal to his face, and he held it, blood trickling down his fingers while his wild, angry eyes stared up at Kennick.
His jaw must not have been broken, though, because he kept talking.
“Should have your head where it matters, Kennick,” he said, spitting out blood onto the trailer floor. “Think your idiot brother is gonna be able to be responsible for all that sweet cheeba out in the far trailer? Even if he had half your brains, which he doesn’t, he’d still be two IQ points away from qualifying for welfare.”
When Kennick’s shoulder rolled back again, his fist stiff and ready to land another blow, Kim caught it and held. Surprised, he looked back at her. She shook her head no, eyes wide. She wasn’t much for bloodshed, and the last thing Kim wanted was to watch Kennick put someone in the hospital over mere words. He grimaced, as though holding back physically pained him, but relented all the same, dropping his raised fist. When he turned back to the man, he stepped forward enough to make him bend over the sink.
“Get. The. Fuck. Out.”
“Lettin’ this bitch call your shots? Thought your balls were a little bigger than that,” the man said, his eyes narrow. Kim recognized everything about this man. He was a bully. Just a bully. She’d known a million of them in her life. Bob Talkee was one. Pastor Hendrix another. Her mother…well, that went without speaking. She saw Kennick’s shoulders tense and knew that this time, her light grip on his arm wouldn’t be enough. So she stepped forward, around him, placing herself between them. When she looked at the man, she imagined everyone who’d ever insulted her. She gathered every bit of moisture in her cheeks and spit.
“I’d recommend you listen to your rom baro,” she hissed. “Before he gives that pretty mouth of yours something else to wail about.”
The man’s eyes went wide, flashing from Kim to Kennick and back. He tensed, then his body seemed to pulse. But he slid past her all the same and made for the door, their eyes following his every move. When he had himself half out the door, he stopped and turned.
“Fair warning, motherfucker,” he said. “Fair fucking warning.”
24
And then he was gone. Kim’s heart was beating nearly out of her chest. And when Kennick’s arms encircled her, she melted. Turning, she felt a flutter in her stomach. He was looking her up and down as though he’d just found the Holy Grail.
“Holy fuck,” he whispered, pulling his arms in so that their bodies pressed together. “That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it, big man?”
He smiled. She was floating, high on adrenaline and the passion of being swept entirely in his eyes. And when he kissed her, it was all her best futures coming true. Pulling away, he answered her question with the smirk on his lips as much as the words coming from his mouth.
“I’m gonna fuck you ‘til you scream my name.”
In a single motion, he’d swept her up into his arms and carried her through the trailer to his bed, his mouth against the warm flesh of her neck, his tongue darting out to spark her sensitive nerves as she held tight around his neck. When they’d entered the sanctum of his room, the light smell of incense lingering in the air, the warm purples of his walls bathing them in a sensual aura, he dropped her to her feet once more.
“Take these off,” he demanded, fingering the business casual blouse she’d been wearing for work that day. Never taking her eyes off him, Kim began to undress, slowly, watching his eyes widen with each button that unbuttoned, until finally she slid the shirt from her arms and unzipped her skirt, letting it pool around her feet. It had been too hot for stockings that day, and the only things that kept them apart were her bra and panties.
“All of it,” Kennick growled, reaching out with one finger to pluck at the strip of fabric between the cups of her bra. She felt wild under his eyes; his tongue coming out to lick his lips seemed to beg to return to its rightful place in her own mouth. As she removed the last of her clothing, standing entirely bare before him, she lifted one hand to the top of his jeans.
“Tit for tat,” she cooed, wanting him to return the favor and show her what he held beneath all his clothes. To her surprise, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away, stepping forward to press his body against hers, mouths meeting in a hungry clash of lips and tongue; when he raised a palm to the center of her chest and pushed backward, she was caught off-guard, and toppled backwards onto the bed, the mattress bouncing slightly beneath her. He dropped to his knees before her, his eyes dancing over her prone body, her succulent breasts and already-damp slit, as she leaned backwards on her elbows, watching him with one eyebrow raised.
“Patience,” he said with a sly grin, and leaned forward until his mouth met the sensitive skin of her belly, right above her navel, his tongue stroking gently as he made his way downwards. Each inch of skin that he graced with his tongue sparked, sending ecstatic trails upward, and made Kim relax deeper and deeper into the mattress, until eventually she was on her back and he was poised just above her sex, his hands coming to grab her thighs and wrenching them apart, his hot breath running in gusts across her tingling clit.
“Please,” Kim moaned, beside herself with anticipation as he teased her, blowing long warm breezes over her now-swollen clit. Her sex glistened before him, ready and open, and he growled against her as he finally reached his tongue out to taste her, drawing the tip upwards from her pussy to her slit in devastatingly slow motion.
Kim’s hands flew, automatically, to his hair, running through each long strand as he began to pleasure her throbbing clit with his tongue. Relief swelled and flooded her taut muscles as he circled the tight bundle of nerves with his tongue, then lapped over it, then flicked upward, each motion designed to draw her closer and closer to the precipice.
Darts of ecstasy nipped at her nerves, her thighs closed around his head, her fingers rolling through his hair faster. She let her head roll back on her neck as he licked her steadily, a balloon of pressure developing in her deepest self. She could hear the desperate little cries that escaped her mouth, and she knew she was pulling his head towards her, her hips beginning to grind gently against his mouth.
Releasing his grip on her thighs, Kennick pressed two fingers against her moist slit; they slipped in easily, and Kim groaned in abandon as he probed her slowly, making her squirm and buck in an effort to feel him deeper as he began to increase the pace of his tongue on her clit. The balloon was filling more and more, her body wavering as her muscles tightened to the point of pain, her throat releasing moans and cries of pleasure with wanton lust.
“Kennick,” she groaned, aware of nothing but his name, his fantastic tongue bringing her pleasure she’d never imagined, his fingers inside her probing, now curling, and pressing, some deep and primal place inside her, pressing harder until the balloon was about to burst, and he suckled her clit between his lips, flicking the tip of his tongue across it as she exploded around him.
Kim’s body shuddered and bucked in ecstasy, her passion flooding every inch of her body as she came and came, his mouth never leaving her sex, driving her orgasm to new heights. With a ragged breath, she pushed away at his forehead, the sensation too much as the fireworks peaked and began to fall in gloriously vibrant embers around her.
Her slit was dripping now, her juices flowing freely as her orgasm subsided, and Kennick rose to his feet, his own breathing labored, his cock straining through his jeans, the taste of her lingering on his tongue. Kim pulled herself up and grabbed at his jeans, popping the button and ripping the zipper down in a frenzy. She wanted him in her mouth, wanted to make him explode the same way he’d done for her. She wanted it more than she could remember wanting anyone’s cock in her mouth.
As his veiny, engorged cock released and stood straight before her, a moment of panic swirled through her at its size. But the drop of glistening precum on the tip begged for her tongue, and she leaned forward, taking the plushy head in between her lips, rewarded with a groan from Kennick above her as she swirled her tongue around the head, an emphatic moan sending vibrations up his cock.
The briny pre-cum dripped down her throat and made her want more; she let her tongue dip forward, before her lips, soaking his shaft so that it slid easily through her mouth and down her throat. She took her mouth away, replacing it with her hand, just long enough to shift so that she was kneeling before him on the bed. With her fist firm around the base, she bobbed her head up and down on his cock, savoring the taste of him and the feel of the vein underneath it throbbing against her tongue.
He was barely halfway buried in her mouth when his cock first hit the back of her throat, making her gag slightly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as her nose struggled to capture enough breath. Her hand pumped steadily on the bottom of his shaft, her lips meeting her own knuckles so that every inch of him was covered and pleasured.
His hands found their way into her strawberry blonde locks and closed into tight fists, taking control and holding her in place as his hips began to rock back and forth. Looking up at him, his nostrils flared and his eyes were half-lidded with lust. Kim let him use her, feeling the raw power of his thrusts as he slid deeper and deeper into her mouth, each stroke determined and commanding, her tongue lapping at whatever part of him it could touch.
“Touch yourself,” he growled, and Kim obeyed happily, letting her fingers plunge into her dripping slit, her palm pressed against her still-buzzing clit. She pumped wildly against herself, the sensation of Kennick’s cock filling her mouth making her desire rise fast and hard. She loved the way he was using her, taking her mouth and throat as his own, taking what he wanted, what she was so happy to offer. As his pace quickened, her own body began to shake, her hips bucking slightly as she pressed against her clit and thrust her fingers upward.
His dick throbbed and strained in her mouth, and she knew he was close. Her own body was beginning to shake, her pleasure barreling towards her faster than she could stop it, and the moment his hot cum hit her throat, filling her with the musky sweetness of him, she came against her hand, body snapping in fiery bliss as she swallowed every drop of his cum, savoring the raw burn of it down her abused throat. When he slid out of her, a few last streams of seed fell across her breasts, and she ran a finger through the mess, bringing it to her lips to suck the last bit of him into her mouth, her body tingling and sparking.
“Christ, baby,” he groaned, twisting and falling at the same time so that he lay beside her on the bed, his feet on the floor, his stomach fluttering and chest rising heavily.
“Mmm,” Kim could only respond, leaning back to find her place in the crook of his arm, one of the only places she ever felt truly at home, one of the only places she never once felt bad.
25
“Kennick,” Kim asked, her voice slow, not wanting to spoil the otherwise perfect moment. “I know this isn't the best pillow talk but...”
“Ah,” Kennick sighed, turning to his side so he could face her, then leaning up on one elbow. His long hair fell into his eyes and Kim fought back the urge to run her fingers through it, pull him down, and kiss him into the next week. She settled for just running her fingers through his hair, letting her fingertips tickle down his jaw and through his red beard. “I thought this was coming. Can't get anything past you, huh,
keshalyi?”
“I mean, okay, it's not even a question, is it? I know. I was right there when he said it. You're growing weed out here,” she said, letting her hand fall to her chest. “You know I work for the mayor, right? And weed is still illegal in the state of Delaware?”
He collapsed onto his back beside her with a sigh.
“I know,” he said. “Trust me, I know.”
Kim let the silence draw out for a moment before propping herself above him, trying to hide her smile. By the worry that was still etched in his face, she was hiding it well.
“Did you also know,” she said in mock seriousness. “That you're lying in bed with someone who has tried marijuana before?”
His eyebrows rose slightly as he studied her face.
“I didn't,” he said, reaching out to stroke her bare arm, the sensation settling straight up her spine.
“Did you know,” she said, leaning in and letting her lips hover inches above his, “that you're lying in bed with someone who didn't just try it, but tried it and liked it?”
It was Kennick's turn to hide a smile as he leaned upwards, meeting her teasing lips with his own. Pulling away, he shook his head.
“I didn't know that,” he said. “But it's very interesting.”
Kim giggled and lowered her head to his chest, settling into the crook of his strong arm, inhaling his scent of sandalwood and heat.
“I don't really care,” she said. “As long as it's just weed. But if it gets to be serious stuff...”
“Never,” Kennick said shaking his head. “Worst we ever tried was mushrooms, but they're finicky at best.”
“Well, I guess that wouldn't be awful either,” Kim shrugged against him. “But no pills. No meth. No smack, coke, angel dust, bath salts, DXM, speed...”
“Jesus,” Kennick huffed, “you sure you're not a dealer?”
