Page 45 of Edge of Ruin
“I wasn’t,” she assured me. “I was at school. And I didn’t cry for Randy. He was a real prick. I have him to thank for this.” She held up her wrist, with its barbed-wire tattoo. “This was his idea of a joke.”
I stared at the fuzzy, faded tattoo around her slender wrist, anger simmering inside me. “All I can say is, the list of people whom I want to dismember and grind into the dirt on your behalf is growing,” I said.
“Thank you, but it’s ancient history now. So, how did the bust shake out for you? Did you end up with Child Protective Services, too?”
I shook my head. “No. I just took off.”
Her eyes widened. “Alone? At fourteen? How did you live?”
I hesitated for a moment before replying. “Barely,” I said. “So what about your mom? Is she out of prison?”
Vivi shook her head. “She OD’d in prison. Eight months after she went inside.”
I felt sucker-punched. That was what I got for trying to distract her from my own story. “Aw, shit. I’m sorry,” I said, helplessly.
She gazed intently into her coffee mug. “It was a long time ago,” she said. “And I was as lucky with my second family as I was unlucky with my first. I’m okay. You can relax, Jack.”
We listened to the wind in the trees. I reached out until I touched the flower tattooed on her chest. “The perfect combination of toughness and a good attitude,” I said.
She blushed. “You’re doing it again, Jack. Saying all the right things.”
“Is it working? You want to grab me again?”
Her devastating secret smile turned dazzling. She got up, came around the table and sat down on my lap.
My arms encircled her. Emotion made me speechless. My dick was stone hard against the pressure of her ass, but it wasn’t just that. I just couldn’t believe she was there, draping herself over me, holding me, trusting me. She was so beautiful, so special, so shining. Like a unicorn, laying its head in my lap. Me, breathless with the wonder of it. So turned on, I could barely suck in a chestful of air.
She gasped as I stood up and swept her into my arms, heading up the stairs. “Jack! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Being masterful,” I said. “Stop giggling like that. Get into the vibe.”
“Hail, oh conquering hero,” she gasped out, between giggles. “Do with me as you will, my wild warrior lover. How’s that?”
“Great. Works for me.” I shoved open the door to my bedroom with my foot and set her on her feet. We faced off, breathing hard. Her color was high, her eyes were shining. I tossed off my shirt. Vivi whipped off her tank. Call and response. I jerked open my belt, popped open my jeans buttons. She yanked loose the drawstring of her skirt, let the garment puddle around her ankles. Her beauty unraveled me.
“Turn around,” I said hoarsely. “Let me see your ass.”
She obliged me. I came up behind her and knelt, my hands sliding down over her ribs, her waist, to clasp her hips. I pressed my lips against the tribal looking mandala tattoo at the small of her back. “What’s the story with this one?”
“Oh.” She shivered as I licked her there, my hand sliding up between her legs. “That was a celebratory tattoo. To mark the occasion of getting away from Bri—from that crappy ex that I mentioned before. I called my buddy Rafael on the day that the shit hit the fan, and he whisked me away in his van, which is now my van. Drove me to my first crafts fair, in upstate New York. I had a good day, sold a bunch of stuff. After, we celebrated with buffalo wings and beer and a tattoo. Rafael got a dragon tattooed on his butt that night, if I remember correctly. I was a little more conservative.”
I turned her to face me, my eyes level with the perfect contours and sweet downy hollows of her groin. Breathing in the hot, heady smell of sex. My cock ached with eagerness. I placed her hand on my shoulder to steady her and lifted her delicate foot. She teetered, giggling, as I touched the tattooed images of the crescent moon and star on top of her foot. “And this one?”
“There’s no real story with that one,” she admitted. “I just thought it was pretty.”
“It is,” I said. All of them were. Fit embellishments for her vivid beauty. Even the barbed wire around her wrist had its own poignant grace.
I gazed up at her pink face, her dilated eyes, the whole perfect length of her sweet body. Her pussy, still shiny and flushed, poking proudly out of her labia. “What an incredible view,” I muttered.
I rose to my feet, moving behind her, my cock prodding the back of her thighs, and slid my hands around her waist, sliding one hand down between her legs. The tender seam of her pussy was slick and damp beneath my fingers.
“I want to take you from behind,” I said. “Is that a problem for you?”
A fine tremor went through her, but I couldn’t tell if it was fear or desire. I nuzzled and petted, waiting until she gave me a clearer answer. Several breathless minutes went by as I caressed her. She began to writhe and make keening sounds in her throat as my hands grew bolder.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, finally.
I let go of her, stepped back. “Show me, then.”
