24. Jael
Toxic - JPOLND and Rachel K. Collier
“ H urry, hurry, hurry or I’ll miss the bus!” I tap my foot, glancing from the diner counter to the parking lot where the bus is boarding. I ordered a club sandwich and bag of chips to go in hopes it would be ready within a few minutes.
It was a snap decision I had to make.
Stick things out with Bront? or take my chances on the bus headed to Northam.
I wasn’t sure what to do, but then I realized finding the ticket must’ve been some kind of sign.
There was a reason I happened upon it, and that must’ve been because I wasn’t supposed to go with Bront?.
We’d come to form our own eccentric relationship. We weren’t friends but we weren’t enemies either. We weren’t lovers despite having sex and sharing in a few kisses. I wasn’t even sure if I could trust him or if I was letting my feelings get in the way.
He has some kind of ability to get through to me. Some silent, telepathic trick where he lowers my defenses and draws me in.
I can’t let him distract me. I have to focus on finding my sister and he won’t even tell me how.
“Excuse me…” I wave my hand at the waitress behind the counter and wait for her to look over. “Can you check on my order? It’s very important. I’m on that bus about to depart?—”
“Your order will be ready in order that it was received.”
She turns her back on me again.
I scowl and then make a snap decision to take matters into my own hands. It’s the kind of spontaneous decision-making I’m known for and that Nurse Big Bird used to say gets me into too much trouble back when I was a patient at the hospital.
If I didn’t get my way, I’d find a way to get my way.
…which usually involved breaking a few rules.
Now is one of those times as I slip down the hall on the side of the diner. Instead of pivoting to one of the restrooms (there are three, one for men, one for women and a family one), I go left into the kitchens.
Nobody notices me at first.
I breeze past the counters as the fry cook and his assistant rush to complete various orders. While they’re plating some chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes, I’m stopping at what appears to be the sandwich station to throw together some ingredients.
Turkey. Ham. American cheese. Lettuce and tomato.
I’m squirting a generous amount of mayo on the wheat bread when the assistant finally notices me. He’s carrying a plate of chili cheese fries as he turns around and then jumps back, losing his balance. The plate crashes to the floor and he staggers backward into the counter.
“Who the fuck is this?” the fry cook yells.
“Sorry, I’ll be out of your hair in just a minute! I already paid for this, by the way!” My hands scramble, wrapping the sloppy sandwich up in some deli paper.
They start toward me, faces red with anger. I duck under them and beeline for the emergency exit on the side.
The fresh evening air caresses me the second I step outside and leave them yelling in my wake. They have way too many orders to worry about someone who snuck a sandwich through (that I already paid for).
I come around the back of the diner with my sights set on the front of the parking lot where the bus is still boarding: the opposite direction of the motel.
The ticket says the bus departs at five-thirty. Minutes before sunset, only to arrive by midnight.
It’s almost full. I pick up the pace, walking faster around the side of the diner.
Not so far now…
I’m closing the gap, adrenaline thumping at the pulse point of my neck.
Bront? appears from behind a dumpster stationed at the side of the building. He steps into my direct path. He’s got the minotaur mask on, his stance like a bull that’s ready to charge.
I stumble to a halt, the sandwich dropping from my hand and splattering on the ground.
FUCKKK!
I take half a step back, my stomach pitting. “It’s… it’s not what it looks like. I told you I was getting something to eat.”
He lets silence answer as he takes a wide step toward me. I take two more back.
“Bront?,” I say slowly. “I’ll scream… if you try anything… I swear that I’ll—STAY BACK!”
He’s started toward me. I don’t even bother with any more warnings that’ll go ignored. I spin around and take off.
I make quick work of the side of the building, rounding the corner.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think much further ahead. I didn’t think about the fact that the diner is cordoned off by a chain link fence. Beyond that is woodland that stretches on as far as the highway goes.
I’m panting as I come up on the chain-link fence and make another snap decision. I leap toward the metal diamond links and scramble up like a cat climbing a tree. I’m clumsy and slower than I’d like to be, but I’m able to make it toward the top as the fence rattles.
Bront?’s given it a violent shake from down below. He reaches up and grabs at my foot as I’m about to swing over to the other side.
“Let go of me!” I scream, kicking at him.
I’m sitting atop the fence, trying to free my boot, when I lose my balance and come crashing down. I land with a thump in the grass.
The world around me feels upside down for a good second or two.
Then I realize it’s not just me. It’s the metal fence rattling and swaying, almost like it’s about to give. It’s Bront? climbing up the fence and leaping over with relative ease. Unlike me, he lands on his feet, his boots slamming down in earthquake fashion.
“No…” I cough, shaking my head. I scoot back, still trying to put distance between us. “Bront?…”
My eyes squeeze shut as he stands over me and I brace for whatever’s to come. He’s pissed, angry I would dare try to run after everything we’ve been through. That I would leave him in the motel room while I tried to board a bus.
I’m not sure what I’m expecting, but his giant fist twists into the front of my t-shirt and he yanks me to my feet. He brings me toward the chain-link fence, walking me backward until I’m colliding with the metal crisscrossed wires.
“You tried to run,” he grunts.
My mouth falls open as if to explain, but he doesn’t give me the chance. He crushes his mouth against mine. I’m left swept up in a kiss that I never saw coming, heart pounding and lungs quivering for air.
I breathe his name and try to pull away, but he doesn’t let me. His arms are like pythons snaking around my hips, his palms and fingers spread wide on the curve of my ass. I’m lifted off my feet and pushed back into the chain-link fence.
The mesh wires sag against our weight but Bront?’s sturdy enough for us both.
He palms my ass and devours my mouth.
My head reels, so thrown off by what’s happening I’m lost on how to think. How to even respond. The only thing I can do is clutch at Bront?’s arms and notch my legs at his waist.
The wide gape that’s the mouth of his mask is warm and smooth. It’s made of leather that feels weirdly pleasing against my lips.
Good enough to pull me deep into the moment; good enough to make me forget our surroundings.
Bront? claws at the button of my jeans. The button snaps free and he’s wrestling my jeans down my hips and thighs. It’s no easy feat as he drops me back to my feet and forces them the rest of the way down.
His name is the only word I can choke out. “Bront?—oh!”
My panties are next.
He’s feral, so rough and abrupt that there’s no fighting him on it. His rage pulses off him, heat radiating from his broad body as he scoops me back up and then presses me against the chain-link fence.
The metal wires cut into my bare flesh, but I don’t even have time to protest—he’s slamming into me in the next second. His thick dick sinks straight into me, going deep.
I scream and my arms fly out on either side to grip at the metal diamonds. My fingers curl around the crisscrossed wires and I use them as leverage as his hips begin to move. They’re fast and machine-like, drilling into me.
My pussy aches, stretching to fit him. I’m not even wet—or not wet enough—but in this moment, Bront? doesn’t give a damn.
This is about punishment. He’s taking me in this ditch, up against this fence, just feet away from the diner and the motel on the other side.
The parking lot where travelers come and go.
I screw my eyes shut as the achy sensation in my pussy almost overwhelms me. A cry threatens to surface, words begging for mercy.
But Bront? has none to give. He hammers into me, his thrusts rough and punishing. His fingers curl at the base of my throat and he brings our mouths together again. He kisses me as he fucks me, practically bouncing me on his dick.
I’m bobbing like a ragdoll, my legs barely wrapped around his waist. It wouldn’t even matter if they weren’t; he balances my weight easily enough that he wouldn’t miss a beat either way.
“Bront?!” I scream as my pussy quivers and aches. Tiny dots float among the black sea that’s my closed eyelids.
Flashes of pain come and go. His hips slam into me again, his dick reaching my cervix and making my entire body seize up. Every thrust that he gives is designed to make me suffer.
I’m in tears as I grip the metal wires and accept my punishment. I let him have his way with me until some semblance of arousal arrives. It licks away at the burning pain and starts to spread enough that I can find a blip of pleasure.
A tiny little tingle that I hold onto and focus on through Bront?’s heavy thrusts.
But just as I’m starting to discover pleasure, I’m dropped back to my feet. I’m whipped around until I’m facing the chain-link fence and he’s kicking my legs apart. He spits into his hand and strokes his dick a few times before spearing back into me.
I clutch at the metal wires all over again, this time facing the diner and the parking lot and watching in breathless longing as the bus finally departs.
Nobody even notices.
We’re so far away, hidden behind the diner, that no one thinks to glance in this direction.
And still Bront? fucks me. He plows into me from behind, his dick stretching my walls. I grip the fence and close my eyes, deciding to lose myself in the brutal, chaotic motions.
I embrace the burn. The pain he inflicts on me as he fucks me roughly and gropes at any part of me he can.
There’s no other choice but to welcome it as finally my pleasure grows. The small blip I’d found returns, tingling from my sensitive, abused pussy and then spreading elsewhere.
Bront?’s heavy breaths graze my skin. They draw shudders out of me as his hips crash against my ass and he reaches around me to rub my clit. Even the rubbing motions of his fingers are rough.
But they’re the little push I need to send me over the edge. My orgasm explodes from within, making me cry out and clutch the metal wires so tightly, I cut open my hand again.
He follows only a few deep thrusts behind. He slams into me a final time, buried at the back of my pussy, filling me up with his release.
A primitive grunt rumbles out of him as he does, the sound vibrating straight through me. I cling to the fence for seconds to come, still unable to stand on my own.
Bront? steps back and zips up his pants. He picks up my pair though makes no move to help put them on me.
I blink in a daze and then glance down at his warm release trickling along the inside of my thigh.
“Motel,” he grunts. He holds out my pair of jeans for me to take. “Now.”
I don’t have the energy to protest. I’m not even sure I want to anymore.
If I had any doubts about where I belonged or what I should do, Bront?’s put those to rest. He’s left no room to question it.
We’re in this together and there’s no other option. Somewhere in the recesses of my twisted mind, a part of me wonders if I knew that all along. If I tried to run knowing he’d come for me, like he’s always come for me.
The thrill of the chase. The fear of the escape. The arousal that inevitably takes over once he catches me…
All things I’ve begun to crave.
I slide into my jeans and follow in his wake, his shadow the way he is mine.