Till The Sun Dies: Checkmate, #2

by Finn, Emilia

  I worried. I wondered. I mulled over the idea that a man touching me – even Ang – might upset me. That I might freak out and run away.

  But I didn’t.

  His hands are nothing like any that’ve touched me in the past. They wanted to control and hurt. He wants to pleasure. That’s all there is to it; he wants to make me feel good.

  His fingers slide along my sensitized flesh and rob me of breath. A double assault, one single finger slides inside my body in the same moment his teeth pull my earlobe between his lips.

  “Ahhhh. Ang.”

  “Mmm.” Slowly, he slides in and out of my wet heat while his tongue works magic on my ear. My brain can’t figure out which pleasure to focus on. “You’re so beautiful. Laine. So stubborn and beautiful.” His thumb slides over my clit until I buck in his lap. Anticipating my move, his spare hand anchors my hip against the solid length beneath my ass. “You feel so good. So perfect and tight.”

  I arch back and melt into his chest. Part of me wants to tense up, to rush my orgasm to the surface, but the other part, a more dominant side, allows me to melt into a mass of laziness, allowing him to play me as skillfully as he plays his instruments.

  “So beautiful.” He adds a second finger. “So wet.” He bites my ear and adds a third finger until I hiss at the stretch. “So tasty.”

  My chest rises and falls. His spare hand leaves my hip and slides along my ribs until he cups my breast. Gently, so very gently, he plays with my nipple until my nerve-endings overload and I can do nothing but sit and feel.

  “Oh my God,” I pant. “Oh… Ang. That feels so good.”

  “Good.” His tongue works my ear. His fingers work my nipple. His thumb works my clit.

  I’m a bundle of nerves until he strikes the match minutes after he started and I explode in his lap. Jolting limbs, clenching hands, quiet cries into the early morning light.

  Before I come down from my high, before my orgasm dies down, I push his hands away and spin in his lap. Straddling his naked hips, I stare into his eyes and slide over his dick in one smooth move.

  When a girl declares herself a born-again virgin, the first few times sting just like they did the first time she lost her virginity. Even if I had years of unspeakable things done to my body, when you take an extended period away from men, things tighten up until it’s like starting all over again.

  The tip of Ang’s dick taps my womb and drags a cry up my throat. Pleasure and pain. It hurts, but I lift onto my knees and drop back down, because the pleasure is so worth it.

  There’s no way I’m stopping.

  “Laine.” Face to face, he cups my jaw and pulls me closer so our chests slide together and our tongues duel. His hands slide up my thighs to clasp my hips, lifting me up and slamming me down, I cry out from the pleasure.

  “So perfect,” he breathes.

  I can’t keep my eyes open. The pleasure is too potent, too much, so I scrunch them closed and allow his strong arms to lift my weight.

  With his cock still nestled deep inside my body, he stands from the balcony chair and moves toward the doorway, leaving the sheet to flutter to the ground.

  I trust his strength. I trust him unconditionally, so I continue to play with his tongue while he takes me to the fancy piano inside and lays me out over the cold surface.

  * * *

  “Are you almost ready to go home?”

  Ang moves around the room in nothing more than boardshorts and messy hair. I haven’t moved in an hour. I starfish the king-sized bed with nothing more than a sheet barely covering a foot of flesh.

  Kneeling on the bed between my legs, he takes my hip in his large hand and rolls me half over so he can nibble on my thigh. “It’s almost time to pack up and go home again.”

  “I dunno.” I purr as his tongue slides along my hip. “Vacation has been fun, and it took you way too long to pull your pants down. I feel cheated.”

  He chuckles against my hip, his warm breath heating my skin until his teeth nip and the goosebumps chase away the warmth. “I’m sorry I took so long. I swear, I was trying to be a gentleman. It damn near killed me to not tell you how I felt this whole time.”

  “We still have two days.” I smile when his hands slide over my ribs. “Two more nights of the same bed.”

  “Mmm. We’re definitely sharing a bed; I only just got you.” He allows me to roll back until I’m flat on my back. Crawling along my body, he stops over me and grins. “Then we can stay at the Cherry Drop. That place was… an experience, and you have something to say to that asshole.”

  “Ew.” My lips twist into a scowl. “Skeeter was so fucking creepy, and the neighbors were obnoxiously loud.”

  “Should we run away?” he suggests. “We have the car keys – they don’t. They know we left together last night, so today’s gonna be brutal.”

  “Kane’s gonna tease so hard.”

  Nipping at my bottom lip, tiny wrinkles fan out from his eyes when he smiles. “He’s going to tease until one of us hits him.”

  “Dibs.” I lean up and press a wet kiss to his lips. “I want to hit him; it’s not like he won’t deserve it, and he won’t hit me back… probably.”

  “Probably,” he laughs. “You look too much like Jess; no way will he hit you. I’ll have your back, I promise.” He taps my leg. “Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

  “No sleeping?”

  “Not today. We traded sleep for sex, now it’s daytime and our vacation is almost over. Once we go home, shit gets real and I have friends to talk to. They’re probably gonna hit me, so I’ve gotta enjoy this while I can.”

  Laughing, I allow him to pull me out of bed and set me on my feet. Naked from head to toe and warming under his gaze, my muscles ache like I’ve just started at a new gym. “It was totally worth it, by the way, but can we lie on the beach today and read? You can put sunblock on my back and not end it with drowning yourself in the ocean.”

  “Jesus, Laine.” The tip of his nose slides over the bridge of mine. “You knew what you were doing to me. You knew you were hurting me.”

  “I didn’t want to hurt you. I was just trying to get your attention.” I stand on my toes and press a kiss to his lips. “Today you get to nap on the sun lounge with me and no one will hit you.”

  “Probably.”

  “Probably. We can wear sunglasses and pretend to read, and between mojitos and orgasms, we can snooze. Doesn’t that sound perfect?”

  37

  Angelo

  Reflection

  “Finally!” Shooting out of his seat and pointing an obnoxious finger in our direction, Kane’s announcement draws the gaze of every person in the large banquet room. “Finally! Jesus.” The cloth napkin in his lap falls to the floor, and Jess snorts as Kane rushes around the table and barrels straight up to us. “I swear, it’s like I knew the moment you sealed the deal. My balls un-shriveled and Jessie got the pounding of her life.” He shoves me aside and grabs Laine’s face, bringing her onto her tip-toes. Cupping her cheeks and smooshing them in until her lips jut forward, he slams a long, closed mouth kiss on her mouth and doesn’t stop until I shove him away.

  “Bishop! Get the fuck off her, man!”

  “Sir!” A little waitress in black and white steps between us like she’s scared we’re going to rumble. “This is a family restaurant, and you’re making a scene.”

  “He got laid last night, Wendy!” He points over her head. “Angelo – the eternal virgin – finally used his big boy words and got laid. Now we can all live long, happy lives without risk of explosion.”

  Wendy’s cheeks flame.

  Laine’s cheeks flame.

  And when I look to my right and find a young family whose parents are not a hell of a lot older than us, my anger notches up when the thirty-ish mom’s face flames.

  “Bishop.” I step around the women and push him back until we step into the foyer. “You gotta fuckin’ stop.”

  “Don’t stop now, brother. You just started.”


  “Kane; you’ve seen me work. Don’t make me fuckin’ hurt you.”

  Unaffected, not scared in the least, he bounces on his toes and smacks my arm. “Hey – remember way back when we met, when you found out I knew the twins? You found out I kissed Laine by accident.”

  Anger rockets through my gut. “What about it?”

  “I kissed Laine!” He skips out of my way when I surge forward. “I kissed her before you did. Did you know there was tongue? A little boob action? She groaned, man.”

  “Motherfucker!” Pouncing, I slam him to the floor and swing out with wild strikes.

  I’m not a fighter, not like the Rollers, not even like Kane, so each strike I get through his guard is a pity punch that he lets through. But even knowing that, my knuckles crunching against his face feels good, and when the girls step out and find me on top, I revel in my mini-victory.

  “They’re so childish,” Jess murmurs. Holding Laine’s hand, she watches her man take hit after hit. She’s not worried. She watches on with a roll of her eyes, then drags Laine back into the dining room with a huff. “Immature idiots.”

  Laughing, Kane bucks me off easily and proves my suspicions – pity strikes – until I land on my back and gasp for breath. Glancing around the space surrounding us, I find dozens of wary eyes watching us.

  One man – very Duckworth and snobby – stands over us and points toward the stairs. “You’re no longer welcome in our restaurant. Please leave.”

  * * *

  Banished from a fancy five-star restaurant with a warning to never return, with red knuckles and a fat lip, we end up eating burritos on the beach for breakfast. Unsurprisingly, the girls didn’t follow us out. They stay inside and eat their fancy prepaid food while me and the man I now consider a brother hang out on the sand and talk shit.

  “Where are your folks?” When I lamely mentioned my thoughts on brotherhood, Kane turned introspective, staring at the waves rolling in for the longest time. “Did they make the memorial?”

  He shrugs and lies back against the dune behind us. “My mom’s dead, my dad’s a career military guy. No time for frivolous shit like memorials. It’s not like we had Jay’s body, so what’s the point, ya know?”

  “You still did something for him. You remembered him. You did it all alone?”

  “Nah. Eric was with me.”

  “Just Eric?”

  “Tell me about your mom?” he returns savagely. “I don’t wanna talk about Jay, but I wanna know why you flinch every time I mention her.”

  “She’s dead.”

  Smiling, he picks up his almost empty can of Coke and takes a sip. “I figured that out already. Now I’m asking my brother what happened. It hurts you, so I’m here to take some of the load.”

  Lying back and sunning myself, I close my eyes and think of Laine. “She killed herself when I was a kid. Suicide.”

  He gives a sympathetic grunt. “I’m sorry to hear that, man.”

  “In the shower. Slit her wrists because my dad wouldn’t stop beating the fuck out of her every morning and night.”

  “Shit.” I open my eyes and glance over to find his jaw ticking. “So pulling Laine out of the shower…”

  “Damn near killed me.” I turn back to study the sky. “But it’s whatever. It was a long time ago, and Laine’s fine. That’s all that matters to me now.” I take a deep breath and remember back. “She has no clue she was with me that day.”

  “Laine?”

  “Mm.” I lift my permanently stained hands and study them. “I pulled my mom out of the shower, but it was too late. After the ambulance came, then the police, I snuck away. I didn’t know where to go, so I went to Alex and Scotch’s place, sat in their yard and ignored everyone for hours. Luc and the twins were always there, always skating, and Mr. Turner – chief at the time – wasn’t home yet, so no one knew. Laine came over and tried to get me up to skate, but it’s like I was mute. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t do anything, I just sat there and studied my hands, so she sat down and rested her shoulder against mine. We were there for hours, Bish, until the sun went away and the police came to get me, and the whole time, I had my mom’s blood beneath my nails.”

  “It’s almost like you and her in my garage the past couple months,” he muses. “She didn’t wanna talk, she didn’t wanna do anything, but you sat with her anyway, provided her a shoulder when she needed it.”

  I scoff. “I didn’t even see the similarities, but I guess.”

  “And your dad?”

  My smile is wiped clean. “Also dead. My first kill.”

  I knew that’d get his attention.

  His eyes whip back to mine, a stark black, reminding me of the man who stood in a utilitarian room and helped me torture another man. “Come again, Alesi.”

  “Couple months after my mom was gone, he strapped me into his truck, tied me down, because he knew I was the son of a wily prick and I’d learned to slither my way out of situations. He hog-tied me, and drove us toward the lake. He was gonna take us both out, because that’s who he was. Miserable fucking prick, and since my mom took herself out of the equation, he was pissed.” I make shapes of the clouds in the sky, anything to distance myself from the hatred I have for that man. “I was just a kid, but I wasn’t stupid, so just after we crossed the tracks and passed the town sign, I got out of my ropes, grabbed the wheel, and drove us straight into that big oak tree just outside town. I slammed against the windshield and jacked my shoulder up bad, since I had no restraints, but my father’s seatbelt jammed up.” I scoff. “Irony, if you ask me. The truck caught fire, but I slithered my way out and watched him burn up.” I meet Kane’s watchful gaze. “He cried out for me. He reached out. Wanna know what I did?”

  He lifts a brow in question.

  “I kicked dirt in his face and told him to go fuck himself.”

  “You regret it?”

  “Nope.”

  He grins and goes back to watching the ocean. “Can’t say I blame you. I’ve killed men before, I’ve held a man down while my brother tortured him, I’ve done loads of shit that isn’t exactly on the up and up.”

  “Regret it?”

  “Nope.”

  Sitting up, I rest my elbows on my knees and study the sand. “All my life, I was scared of turning into my dad. I was scared I’d take pleasure in someone else’s pain, then Laine did what my mom did, and it was like a sign. A bad fucking omen that we were them and history was repeating.”

  “She’s not like your mom, Ang, and you sure as shit ain’t like your dad.”

  “I enjoyed hurting Graham.”

  He chuckles. “Trust me, I enjoyed hurting him, too. He deserved what he got, so don’t tell yourself you’re a bad person for fucking him up. If someone could’ve come along and done the same to your old man before it was too late for your mom, would you be happy? Would you want her to be saved?”

  “Yeah.”

  Nodding, he taps my arm to draw my attention to the girls walking along the beach toward us. Blonde hair whips around their faces, and their laughter travels on the wind. “Exactly. You were the person you hoped would come along and save you guys. You were a hero. You couldn’t do it for your mom, but you did it for Laine, and she’s the most important person in your world. Don’t forget that.”

  I watch them approach, still fifty yards away, but their smiles are bright, contagious. My lips spread into a smile as Laine saunters toward me. “She’s so beautiful, Bish. I can’t process how fucking amazing she is.”

  “Mmm. Don’t mess them up; mine’s on the left, pink shorts, filthy grin because she knows she still owes me a BJ.”

  “Dude!”

  He chuckles and climbs to his feet. “Relax, Alesi. You won. She’s finally yours. It’s time to relax and enjoy what you’ve got.” He picks up our trash and the empty soda can, and without another word, he walks along the beach and tugs Jess from Laine’s grasp. Laughing, Laine continues toward me and stops in such a way that the button of her jean shorts are
at my eye level.

  Grinning, I slide my hand along her thigh, allowing my eyes to drag up her body until our eyes meet.

  “Hey.” Grinning, she turns and drops into my lap, making me grunt. I had a moment to wonder if I was in trouble – Kane’s teasing might’ve upset her, or our fighting and subsequent ejection from the restaurant – but her wiggling butt making itself comfortable on my lap says we’re fine.

  “Hey. Enjoy your breakfast?”

  I brush her hair back and drop a kiss on her brow, because I haven’t seen her in an hour and I missed the fuck out of her. “It was actually pretty good. There are worse things in life than burritos for breakfast. Enjoy yours? We thought you’d follow us out.”

  She scoffs. “No way. It’s a five-star restaurant, and an all you can eat buffet. No way were we following you out. Just because you guys can’t control your shit doesn’t mean we’re dumb enough to get banished too.”

  “So much for loyalty.” I slide my finger along her ribs and grin when her body tenses. “You afraid I’m gonna tickle you, Laine?”

  “No.” She grabs my hand with a strong grip and forces our fingers together. “I’m too tired for tickles. I ate, I’m so full I wanna spew, so now I’m ready to nap. Tickling will hamper my plans.”

  I run my nose through the top of her hair and breathe her in until I’m dizzy. “Do you remember that time you called me in the middle of the night and woke me up?”

  Her brows pull in while she thinks. “That day we went to Spence’s?”

  “Yeah. And all the times you called to be saved when you were cow tipping.”

  Her chest bounces with laughter. “Uh-huh.”

  “And remember when you woke me up yesterday? I was tired and didn’t want to come down to the beach, but you made me get up anyway?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Exactly.” I drop a kiss on the top of her head. “Shut the hell up about being tired. You’ll get over it.”