by Shaw, Robin
“A python.” He shook his head.
“The shading is jacked up. It looks like a damn lizard. And the lines aren’t clean either. You want a cover up?”
“I want an embroidered band with a compass in the middle of it. Can you do that all tonight?”
I finished Ari’s new tattoo late into the night and rolled my chair away from his. I could tell his arm was a little sore and stiff, but he wouldn’t admit it. He was a very particular dude and he only wanted the ointment I’d given him to soothe his skin. Besides us, Manny was the only person left in the shop.
“How are Sage, Renner, and Austin doing?”
Ari’s easy carefree expression vanished and became strained. “They’re good. They’re in Georgia right now. That’s where our show is at.”
“And you’re here. You’ve done shows with a fever. I know you wouldn’t miss a show—for a cover-up.”
He avoided my eyes. “This weekend I slipped up,” he chocked out and gazed at the ceiling with dampened eyes. There was relative silence for minutes and my chest tightened for him. He had come a long way from the dude who had been apathetic about his future after we’d come out of our detox phase at our rehab. Sage, Renner, and Austin had saved him from himself; the self-destructive fiend that lurked in him. They’re the reason he pulled through treatment and committed to staying clean. “A groupie came to my room Saturday night,” he gulped through a dry throat, “and she took out a bottle of Ox from her bag. I was a goner; I didn’t try to refuse. The guys came yesterday morning, and got the hotel manager to open up my hotel room. I was given an ultimatum from them; I shape up— or they’ll give me a settlement, since I co-wrote and co-produced most of our songs, but…but that’s it. I’ll be washed up for real.”
“Remember when I relapsed?”
“But it’s not the same. That was back then. You’ve been on the up and up since, right?”
“Yeah, but I’ve gone to bars, been at people’s houses where they had everything an addict like me wants. Being too chill is a precursor for going under.”
“You sound like an addiction’s counselor,” he said with a dry laugh.
“Damn, I did. Didn’t I?” I exhaled a harsh breath and stared at him. “There’s an open narcotics meeting at eleven thirty.” I looked at my watch. “We can make it.” Ari hauled himself from the chair after I stood up. “And there’s this burger joint we can go to afterward. Where you going to be at?” I put my leather jacket on.
“The Holiday Inn.”
“You checked in?”
“I came straight from the airport. Manny put my shit in his closet, since it’s small in here.”
I nodded. “Stay at my house. You’ll get to meet my new dog, Riley.”
Mariska
Beth: Going to be at Chase’s tonight =)
Me: See you in the am.
AFTER I TEXTED BETH, I put my phone back into my bag, and looked around the library. For three days, I hadn’t run into Hunter. I remembered that he had classes on Monday and Thursdays. On Monday, I’d found out that his class had been cancelled when I’d passed by his classroom before I’d driven to work. Man, the library was practically empty this evening. My thoughts dashed back to Hunter’s rare charismatic grins and tall, strong build. When I’d first seen Chase in person, I thought that Beth had hit the jackpot, but Hunter had this presence about him that couldn’t be ignored.
As I exited the library, I heard my name and spun around, ungracefully colliding into Hunter. Laughing, he stilled my arms and shook his head. He’d cut his hair. I used to prefer guys to have short hair and dress formally, but I wished he hadn’t cut his hair. I looked at his shirt, slacks, and leather shoes, feeling like I was in front of a different guy. Why had he changed his look so drastically? Was he trying to be like Chase? He wasn’t wearing his leather jacket, or his jean jacket. His appearance was conventional, but the way his eyes lingered over me was anything but gentlemanly.
“I’ve been in that library since I finished my class this afternoon,” he said.
“Oh.”
“I got there just in time to get a table to myself. The party must have gone smoothly, ‘cause I didn’t hear anything from Chase.”
We were down the flight of stairs when I said, “Or it could be because no one’s seen you. Have you been at Lasting Impressions all week?”
“It’s been weird not seeing me, hasn’t it?” he asked and I was secretly happy that he and Jill hadn’t had the chance to go out together.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’ve gotten back my appetite.” We started walking toward my residence hall.
“A friend of mine relapsed,” he told me in a serious tone and I reached for his hand, disliking the troubled expression that clouded his face. It was then that I knew how much older he was than most of us in terms of his life experience. While Hunter was as striking as the day that I’d met him, I’d missed some of the holes in his face and the sealed skin on his earlobes where he’d once worn earrings.
“Is your friend getting help?”
Hunter made a gesture in the affirmative. We quietly strolled until I sat down at the same bench where Scott and I had sat at on Saturday. I wanted to know if Hunter was really all right and if his friend’s setback was triggering him to relapse. God, I hoped that wasn’t the case. I wouldn’t even know what to do about that. Would Beth and Chase know what to do? Beth had told me that Chase just stopped smoking pot without getting professional help. Were alcohol and cocaine harder classes of drugs to kick?
“He’s in a thirty day inpatient program now. I’d driven him there at four this morning.”
Hunter’s frown deepened as he glanced down at my hands over his. I dropped my hand from his, settling it on the scant space between us. “Have you talked to Beth about it?”
“It’s been a hectic twenty-four hours, so I haven’t. The first thing I did after I dropped him off was shower and get dressed for my class presentation. I didn’t think I would’ve been able to do that and Dr. Mastrangelo wouldn’t have thought twice about deducting points because I didn’t come to class looking the correct way today.”
As I studied him, I wanted him here with me unless he preferred to be by himself. “I have some soda upstairs,” I told him. “You can tell me more about it…if you’re okay with it.”
***
WHEN WE WERE ON the second floor, I glimpsed around the hallway as I turned the key into my dorm room. I didn’t think that Hunter would’ve come up with me. I’d been afraid that he’d wouldn’t.
Hunter took a step closer and I could smell the light scent of his detergent and the gel he used to shape his thick newly short brown hair. He lifted my chin, and murmured my name, making me meet his gaze. “If you wanna back out now, just say the word. We can talk another time. I know you’re trying to be nice.”
I gentled into his grasp as he caressed my face for a split second. I turned the knob and pushed the door open. When we were inside, Hunter flipped on the light and I set my tote down by my bed, where my tie-dye pajamas were folded. Hunter moved down on my desk and I opened the fridge, feeling the breath I’d been holding in rush over my lips.
“I’ll take the Ginger Ale.” I poured him some in a plastic cup, and saw that Hunter looked less forlorn than he had when he’d told me about his friend. He took his drink from my hand and resumed his spot on my desk chair.
Hunter’s eyes roved over my legs when I sank down on my bed. He drank from his cup, his throat and arms lined with muscles. Warmth flooded between my thighs and my nipples tightened to achy points. I pulled my pillow from behind me and covered the front of my body, hoping that he hadn’t noticed my reaction to him.
Chapter 7
Hunter
MARISKA’S FACE FLUSHED BRIGHT pink and my dick strained against my pants. I swung my body on the chair to face her table as an excuse to throw my empty cup in her trashcan, and to adjust the crotch area of my pants. When I was done, I whirled in the chair and Mariska gaze instantly connecte
d with mine.
“My friend and I met back when I was seventeen—through the detox part of my treatment.” She bobbed her head to let me know that she was listening. “We’ve talked whenever we could since we graduated from that program. He stopped by Lasting Impressions on Monday and admitted that he’d taken some scripts. I’d thought that if we went to meetings while he was here, he would’ve been fine to go back home, since he’d been clean longer than me.” Her intent gaze brushed over my face as I went on, “But last night he told me that he called one of his old connections to buy some pills. He handed me the bottle when I’d gotten home. He was going to take some with a little bottle of Vodka he bought at the bodega.”
“Did he go to treatment without a fight?”
“Yeah. It’s hard for him on all fronts. There are people—many actually—who he feels he’s letting down by going into treatment for a month.”
Mariska took a sharp intake of breath. “This sounds like it was spiraling out of control. If those people can’t support him, then they’re not meant to be in his life.” The fervor in her voice caught me off guard. She almost seemed to actually care that addiction was no walk in the park. It wasn’t enough to want to be clean; it was a second by second decision for an addict feed his or her urges or not. Any addict who told me that she or he hadn’t had any thoughts about running for the euphoria, or the long lasting calm of numbness was a damn liar. Having a shitload of work to do for school, having to be on my A game at Lasting Impressions, and taking Riley in, have all been a tremendous help in quelling my cravings.
After looking at each other for some time, she asked, “Is it hard for you?”
A bitter laugh escaped me and I shook my head in answer.
“I don’t know what it’s like.” She swallowed and dropped her gaze to floor. “To struggle with the compulsion to use, but I think what you’ve done—coming here to be a brother to Chase again, and making a living doing what you love…is pretty commendable.”
“Since when?” I asked her, because I knew that she thought I was worthless.
“Since now,” she whispered and her beautiful dark eyes widened when I found myself hovering over her bed.
“Mariska, how much have you wanted to hate me?” Unsteadily, she got to her feet. The air grew thick around us. “Hmm…” I probed at her non-answer and traced my finger down her smooth arm. She whimpered and looked me over, her eyes flooding with want.
“So much.”
“I want to hate you too. I want to be the biggest fucking asshole you’ve ever met.”
I watched as her pulse thrummed against her neck. I cupped the back of her head, crushing her chest against mine. Tilting her chin to the precise angle I wanted, I pressed my lips to hers and she thrust her tongue into my mouth. I felt her hands roughen my hair as she ravaged my mouth. I ran my hands from the back of her neck down to her back, and cupped her ass; the fullest part of her body. She filled my hands completely and her breathing quickened as my arousal pressed against her stomach. Her legs gave out completely and she fell onto her bed. Her long legs slightly parted, as if daring me to wrap them around my waist and fuck her. She wasn’t wearing one of her longer dresses either. She was in a cute pink and yellow thigh length dress. All I had to do was pull her dress up.
As I levered over her, my face a whisper from her ear, she moaned out my name against my lips. Pulling the string of her dress down to her arms, I slipped my hand into the top of her dress and ran circles around her taut dusky pink nipples. She didn’t need to wear a bra and her dress provided no added support for her breasts. To know that every time I’d seen her she went without a bra had my dick pulsing, threatening to explode in my pants before anything really happened. When she dove her hands into my hair with more force than before, I withdrew my hand.
“Hunter…please…”
“Please, what? Say it,” I told her harshly.
She grabbed my hand and dragged it to her breasts. Her pert tits were something I hadn’t thought I had a chance of ever witnessing.
“You can speak up for yourself any other day, Mariska. Tell me now.”
With a defiant turn of her chin, she licked her fingers, which were thoroughly wet with her saliva and rubbed her breasts. She proceeded to roll her nipples between her index finger and middle fingers. I pushed her hands away and a smug expression surfaced over her features. I smashed my mouth down to hers again and then dragged my lips underneath her chin, making a trail along her throat until I had one of her breasts in my mouth. As her body bowed, I squeezed her other tip and she tried to stifle her groans when I suckled each mound. She tasted sweet and damp. When my tongue probed around her other nipple, I pushed her dress up and ventured past her wet panty, slowly sliding one finger into the most incredible tightness I’d penetrated.
I gazed at Mariska, unable to help myself. “Touch your breasts again,” I grunted and she rubbed her breasts. Mariska was so fucking uninhabited that it made me harden more. Her damp, tanned skin glistened and my entire body ached to feel her flesh on mine. She was wet and needy. The little brown hairs on her pussy curled with her slickness. I liked that she wasn’t bare from the waist down. I’d never liked feeling a naked or stubby pussy. I pulled my finger back out and drove back in, not giving her the delicate introduction this time. Her core clenched around my finger, the muscles in her stomach and legs tightening.
“How much do you like me now?” I asked her. Panting, she rubbed her breasts faster.
“Not enough that I won’t combust on my own, Hunter,” she replied with a smirk and clutched her reddened breasts in her hands as if she was protecting herself from me.
“You’ll come on my face.”
I massaged the pad of my fingers on her clit in slow circles. I felt the tension building in her core when I plunged back inside. Swollen and very sensitive, I fluttered my tongue on her flesh like she was dying for me to do since she’d been exposed to me, or perhaps, before I was wedged between her legs. Her gaze latched onto me, almost as if she was unable to look away. She was fighting the calm before the storm as I feverishly flicked my tongue on her pussy until she rippled around my finger. Then I covered her cleft with my mouth. Closing her legs on either side of my face, her orgasm was violent as my face shook against her folds. Muffled screams clashed with the loud silence that had dominated the room.
As her legs fell wide open, she moved the pillow from her face, peering at me while she bit down on the bottom of her trembling lips. I washed my hands at the sink and she looked up at the ceiling; bliss filled her face.
“That’s how it is,” Mariska commented, her voice coming out drowsy.
I pivoted around to watch her. Sheets were wrapped around her waist as she finger combed her hair. She looked like I fucked her. Not like I’d given her some tongue and finger action.
“You’ve never had it like that?” I teased her and wiped my hand on the hand towel that was hung above the sink.
I bet those preppy boys she liked to date didn’t know the first thing about how to serve a woman. They just wanted to get it in and then call it a night. But, then again, Mariska didn’t act like the type of woman who would tolerate a guy who’d only gotten himself off. The prospect of sinking into her sent a thrill down my spine, the sensation traveling to my groin.
She diverted her gaze and slid from her bed, padding toward her closet where her tie dye bathrobe hung. “Not quite.” Her response came out shaky as she picked imaginary lint from the fabric.
When her stopped and headed to her bed again, I blocked her from moving. My suspicion that she was hedging made me feel like my stomach was lodged in my throat.
Chapter 8
Mariska
HUNTER LOOMED OVER ME. My dress almost pooled at my feet. The bed sheets that had covered me were on the floor. As he picked the sheets up and threw them back on my bed, I tugged the strings of my dress on my shoulder. There weren’t any stains and it hadn’t wrinkled. I wanted to look composed. One minute he’d been talk
ing about his friend and I’d observed how much he saw himself in his friend. Then, all of my senses had short-circuited. I didn’t hate him and I didn’t believe that I ever had.
“Have you ever had any kind of sex?”
I tried to resist how much heat flared between the apex of my thighs from how close he was to me. I was drowning in the depths of need and nervousness, but his instant hold over my shoulders was unyielding.
I hesitated for a minute and then I responded, “No, Hunter. I haven’t had any kind of sex with anyone.”
Steering from my arms, Hunter’s expression was loathing. He retrieved his book bag from the floor and carried it over his shoulder. “You should’ve said something.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Oh, is knowing whether or not I am a virgin a prerequisite for what you did? Because, if I am not mistaken, you enjoyed yourself.” I wanted to take back every kind word I’d said to him. He thought less of me, because I hadn’t had “real” sex yet.
“I can’t really say because I didn’t get to fuck you,” he said in the most menacing tone, “and your vag tasted like every other one I’ve lapped at.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling so reckless and naive. “Then there won’t be any need to come back for more. I guess when I need my next fix, I’ll go to Scott, or some of the other guys who live here.”
“I would’ve given you a trial run, but I don’t have any protection on me—and you probably don’t either.” A mocking smile crept across his lips and transformed into a smug sneer on a face that I’d thought rivaled most guys at UM. “What? You’re going to stay a virgin princess forever? Finally see that you’re not some rare gem?”
The sound of Scott’s voice calling my name from the other side of the door sent a prickle down the back of my neck. I remembered that tomorrow night he and I had a date. Hunter opened the door. My parents were behind Scott, the amiable expressions slipped from their faces and, in its place, were very severe ones. It was like the time the school had called home, because I’d skipped my fourth and fifth period classes. At the time, Beth had been set to leave Franklin Parks the next day in order to begin her scholarship program orientation. Jake and I had wanted to have one more day with her like we’d had most days in high school.
