Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
RAMONA
I hoisted my skates over my shoulder, wheels bumping against my back, and shut my brother’s car door. The summer evening air was cooler than this morning, but I felt just as hot as before.
When I’d pulled up, Río’s motorcycle was nowhere to be seen, so I’d thought I’d have to wait for him. But once I scanned the skate park, gray concrete illuminated by the overhead lights, I immediately homed in on him rolling in lazy, relaxed movements. He threw a few jumps in here and there, but it looked more of a warming up than anything.
I’d sat in the car, watching him and freaking out about how I was going to approach. What I was going to say.
But then he looked over his shoulder, straight at me as if he’d known I’d been there all along, and raised both brows expectantly. Because he probably had known the minute I drove up, by sound or scent alone.
Now, I was making my way over and forcing myself to take deeper breaths. This was just hanging out. Skating was something that relaxed me, and it obviously did the same for him. Nothing to worry about. At all.
Yeah.
I couldn’t keep my free hand from making sure my freshly washed denim shorts were sitting just right. The new long-sleeved bra top I’d finally bought was in that moisture-wicking, workout fabric. Hopefully that with the short length would stop me from turning into a gross, stinky blob. But time would tell.
As I crossed the threshold from parking lot to skate park, Río rolled toward me, black eyes alight with something like excitement.
To see me.
My face got really hot, and I stopped at a length of fence with a bench and dropped my skates to the ground.
Río’s board scraped the concrete as he came to a stop a few feet from me. He was wearing a red band t-shirt this time, and the bottom hem had obviously been taken to with a pair of scissors. It left an inch or two of his belly exposed, and his black jeans sat low on his hips.
“Like what you see, Princess?”
I hadn’t realized I’d completely stopped putting on my skates and been staring. Even though I knew I was blushing, I narrowed my eyes at him. “You wish.”
Río crouched so that he could look me in the eye, and it made the back of my neck bristle. I didn’t think I had issues with eye contact like my brother, but… maybe I did. Río’s unflinching stare was making me squirm.
“Yeah, I do.” He replied simply, cocky smirk still painted across his face. Río ran a hand through his shiny hair that was hanging in languid waves around his face and down his back. “You hungry?”
I frowned and swiveled to look around. I’d just gotten here. Did he already want to leave?
He must’ve seen my confusion, because he chuckled and offered, “I brought a pizza from work.”
“Oh.” I took stock of my empty stomach. I’d been too hopped up with nerves to eat the roasted chicken and vegetables my brother made for dinner, and as if it was being called to outright, my stomach gave a hearty growl that even a human would be able to hear.
Río looked smug as hell and darted away without a word. I watched him go toward his stuff, and sure enough, he returned with a white pizza box, the smell of cheese and pepperoni almost a cloud around him.
He sat down next to me on the bench, bare arm brushing my clothed one, and opened the box.
“Extra pepperoni?” I asked with brows raised.
Río shrugged and offered nothing else, but the heat wouldn’t leave my face. When was the last time I’d been to Vinny’s? Certainly not since the first night I showed up in Antler Pointe. Did he remember, or was it just a coincidence?
I took a slice that was still pretty warm and started eating. Grease immediately coated my fingers and lips, but it was fucking good, and I soon knocked back my first slice and two more while we sat in silence. Apparently, the long day in the sun and wrangling two pups from school to ice cream to home drained my energy more than I’d thought.
Licking the sauce and oil off of my fingers, I finally looked back at Río beside me. The silence had been so nice, just watching the other skaters zoom back and forth, that I hadn’t thought to speak. Instead of looking annoyed or antsy, though, he was staring right back. The fluorescent lights reflected off of his facial piercings, and his sea of tattoos were even bolder in this light.
Río still wasn’t saying anything, just continuing to face me with an intense expression that held no hint of his usual cockiness. “Um… are you not going to eat?”
His eyes darted to somewhere lower on my face. “Nah. Too full.”
I blinked. “Oh. Well, I think I’m done for now. Thank you for the food.” I straightened and began wiping my hands on my shorts and dusting off remnants of pizza crust.
Río closed the pizza box without looking at it and set it beside himself on the bench. He planted his legs on either side of the metal seat and faced me.“You’re welcome, Princess.”
I frowned, “I don’t know why you insist on that nickname. It’s stupid.”
He raised a brow and leaned closer to me. I froze in anticipation, feeling his warm breath fan over my face. It smelled faintly fruity like gum or candy.
Río raised a finger and ran it in the air just beside my jawline. He didn’t touch me, but the heat from his almost-touch did. “You’re pretty like a princess.”
My frown stayed firmly put in place. In fact, it was even deeper. “I’m pretty. That’s not very original. And if that’s the case, I’d rather be a queen.” Río seemed mesmerized by the action of tracing the air around my face, now doing the same with my cheek and temple, and he followed the shapes he was drawing with his eyes. It was weirdly entrancing, watching him watch me.
While he moved over the curve of my ear and down my neck, he huffed a laugh. “Ah, but princesses have more fun.” His gaze flew to mine as if it’d never left, “Don’t you want to have fun with me, Ramona?”
My lashes fluttered, worrying what the right thing to say was. What did he mean by ‘fun’? Like skating ‘fun’? Or sex ‘fun’?
Well, with those two options, it was far simpler to say, “Yeah.”
The hand he’d been running along the lines of my skin shot down and landed on the bench with a reverberating thump that I felt on the backs of my thighs and all the way up my spine. Río lowered even further and allowed the tip of his nose to trace the upper curve of my cheek.
It would have been a simple, almost innocent gesture if it’d come from anyone else. But something about this jaguar shifter had my skin feeling electrified the moment he touched me. Almost worse now that I was stone-cold sober with nothing to dull the way my body reacted to him.
I gasped when his tongue darted out, licking at the corner of my lips. And I didn’t mean to, but when he did it again, the tip of mine was already out to meet him.
Río’s arms immediately wrapped around me, and I found my legs draped over his thighs, front nearly plastered to his. For the first time since the night of the party, Río kissed me properly. Fully.
My arms wound around his neck as I let him take full control of the kiss, of me. His tongue piercing was a hard, tantalizing pressure that contrasted deliciously with the softness of him. Our lips moved against each other, and our breaths were heavy through our noses as we gave into the tension between us.
Far away, whistles rang out in the summer evening air, but, like our first real encounter, I was fully content to be his and not worry about the rest. People could see us, and I wouldn’t give a damn. Being in his arms felt too good.
Río was the first to pull away, and I was already addicted to him, because my mouth chased his, not wanting to let go. He put a firm hand on the back of my head, holding me steady so that he could separate our faces, and my body reacted almost instantly and leaned into the silent command to stay.
Thankfully, he only left an inch or so between us, restraint still tight around me. Already missing being as close as we could possibly be, I scooted my hips forward, nearly straddling him now, and felt the warm pressure of his dick beneath my thigh. It was hard and warm and trapped within the confines of his jeans.
“Fuck.” Río murmured quietly, more to himself than me, but I nodded back all the same. If he was thinking that this was intense—intoxicating—then I was in full agreement.
The currents of lust were still running through me, and with the cologne of his warm spice scent twining all around me, I couldn’t keep my hips from rolling against him again. It wasn’t my fault, okay?
He cursed again, flexing his own so that there was more contact between us. He directed my head in for another hard kiss that I moaned embarrassingly into.
But, just as our tongues began swirling around each other in earnest again, Río broke away to pant in my ear. “You keep this shit up, and I’m taking you back to my truck to lay you down and fuck you until you scream.”
The tone of his voice was far from teasing, but it wasn’t flat either. The same word came to mind when I’d asked Sylvie about what she’d do if my brother ever cheated on her.
Vicious.
My body reacted completely differently to this side of Río, the one that’d been directed at Alex when they walked in on us at the party. Now, though, it curled around my neck, threatening and ensuring my safety at the same time. Was it fucked up that it didn’t scare me in the slightest?
No, what made me pause was the thought of having to tell him that it was my first time. That I’d throw a bucket of cold, rank water on both of us by admitting that piece of humiliating truth and make him regret taking up with me all together or think he had to go easy on me.
When he’d looked down at me while I swallowed his dick, reducing this cocky male to a series of writhes and pants, I’d felt caressed and powerful. Like nothing could touch me while I stayed wrapped up in that bliss.
Río seemed like he’d be the type to not want to take the time. And really, I didn’t blame him. Any sort of fun with me beyond this came with too much baggage. I couldn’t even get naked with him, for god’s sake.
“Where’d you go?” he whispered in my ear while scratching the blunt tips of his fingernails on my scalp. I had a fleeting thought that I wished it was his claws instead.
My own fingers were tangled in his hair, but he didn’t seem to mind. I risked meeting his eyes, finding the black soft, gooier, and not the hard onyx they’d been before. Disappointment and self-loathing made my stomach dip. “Nowhere.”
Río planted a closed-lipped kiss on the side of my mouth before nuzzling against my ear. “You don’t want me to?”
I scrambled at the idea of him pulling away from me completely. “I-I do. Just?—”
“Not right now?” I bit hard into my lower lip and nodded. His face was hard and soft against mine, and his scratching sent a shiver down my back. “That’s fine, Princess.”
“I’m sorry,” I blurted, tears collecting and making my vision go blurry.
Río somehow pulled me even closer, but the urgency of our lust was gone. Because of my stupid hangups. How was letting him fuck me any different from sucking him off? It was all sex.
“Shh. Don’t be. I can get carried away sometimes.”
Somehow, my face had found home in the crook of his neck, and he was allowing it like I wasn’t some random girl he wanted to fuck. It was pathetic, how my body moved to this embrace without my permission. But I couldn’t bring myself to give up the comfort, either. “No. I like it—that you want me like that.”
“Mm, is that right?” He started placing tiny little kisses into my hair. I nodded. “You like that I can’t stop thinking about the way you clenched around my fingers when I made you come? Or imagining how it’ll feel when you milk my cock dry while I tell you how pretty and perfect you are?”
Was that moaning noise coming from me? My hips were making small movements against his again, my arms clinging to him.
“Watch it, Princess. You keep doing that, I’m not going to be able to pump the breaks, and I’ll have the both of us coming right here in front of everyone.”
What I meant to come out as sharp was more of a whine, “Well stop saying shit like that.”
Río chuckled, and I felt it down to my bones. Low and smooth. “Hm. Maybe next time, then.” He straightened, and I was automatically angry at the air between us. He brought a thumb to smooth the skin of my lip. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” I bit back.
“Like you’re mad I’m not spreading you open right here.”
My eyes gave a dramatic and lengthy roll. “You’re so full of it.”
Río threw his head back and barked a laugh. “Lucky for you, I like a little brattiness. Keep it up, and I might let you tie me up and see how hard you can get me to scream.” My jaw dropped, which only made him laugh harder. He gently pulled away, and I was so stunned by his words and the renewed wave of desire they incited, I let him stand and walk toward his board.
He picked it up and came back over to me, hair tousled and half-hard dick obvious. His gait and expression was back to that easy, cocky confidence, but it took me awhile to move past images of his wrists bound to a bed with pleasured tears in his eyes.
Well , didn’t know I’d be fucking into that.
Río grinned down at me, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. Instead of teasing, he jutted a chin toward my skates that’d been left abandoned on the concrete beside the bench. “Ready to skate?”
No , I wanted to say. But the world around us was filtering back in, and with it, was my more rational mind. Maybe it was good that he’d stopped us. Though I’d obviously proven to myself that I didn’t have as many reservations as I thought I did, my reaction to going further right now wasn’t just nothing.
I agreed, and Río stayed close by while I laced my roller skates as quickly as I could. Once they were on, I made my way over to him, tracing circles like I always did. Except, this time, after I grabbed my headphones and turned on my music, we were lost in our own worlds but never far from one another. Like orbiting planets, I worked on my toe-spins while he pulled kickflips and shove-its, lost in his own movements. When he went over to the bowl, dropping in and revolving in its depths, I practiced turning my hips out, bending my legs so that my feet formed a straight line and the placement of my weight let me wind delicate curves around the bowl.
Río and I exchanged glances that felt comfortable and intimate. No need to talk, just content that the other was there, within reach.
The hours bled into each other, the passage of time marked only by the people that arrived or left. All the while, Río and I didn’t really speak with anyone else aside from quick greetings or head nods of acknowledgement.
The skate spot technically had a closing hour, but since it was considered a public park and the lights stayed on at all hours of the night, many ignored the signs that told us to get out at midnight. The cops rarely came by here to enforce it, so when I opened my eyes after losing myself to the music I danced to, I was surprised to find the park empty aside from Río and I. The last skaters were heading to their cars or walking down the road, to go home and sleep or continue hanging out elsewhere.
When I turned over my shoulder, Río was already standing, watching me. He had one foot on the tail of his board, angling it up in the air. He’d removed his shirt earlier in our skate session, and the thin sheen of sweat made the vibrant colors and deep blacks of his tattoos glisten. The trio of graceful cranes before a bright, orange sun took up most of his right side and contrasted sharply with the macabre skulls on the back of each of his hands. There was little space on his upper body that wasn’t covered in art, and I had the urge to run my fingers over each piece.
Feeling a bit more comfortable with him now, I rolled over to Río, my braid sticking to the side of my neck from the hours of sweat I’d worked up. With the added height of my wheels, Río was only about two inches taller than me. I stopped, close enough to see the tiny black hairs that’d begun to sprout on his cheeks since his last shave, and I gave into the prickling urge in my fingertips.
Río’s hair was up in a messy bun, but the hairs that’d fallen free tickled the back of my hand as I traced the bold dahlia flower on the side of his neck. The petals were sharp and drawn with thick, black lines, but all together, they conveyed a gentle grace.
I swept my touch down to his chest, tracing the flapping wings of three cranes, two smaller than the third that seemed to be leading the flight they’d taken. My fingernail just barely scraped a path around his pierced nipple as I mapped the other tattoos that were expertly drawn on his flesh.
“Ramona,” his voice held the beginning rumbles of a purr, and I rested the pad of my finger on the blade of a dagger along his ribcage. I tilted my head to look up at his face, eyes winding up past the silver studs beneath his lips and the rings punched through his nose.
Río rested his hands on my hips, and when he dipped in to kiss me, it was a soft press of lips. My palm flattened against his chest, feeling his heart beat and his lungs swell. Number Twelve, it turned out, wasn’t just sex, or the pleasure he coaxed out of me. No , I amended my list. It’s this, too. We pulled back for air, resting the sides of our noses against each other. I breathed him in, let the feel of his body ground me.
Then, I felt his hold on me clench. Not painfully, but the bubble around us shifted. Río biting at his lip caused it to bump against mine. I held my breath, heart beating faster as he kept me close.
“I’m not staying here.”
My lashes fluttered wildly, mind trying to catch up to what he was saying. Even though we were too close to be able to focus on much of anything, I looked into his black eyes, trying to decipher what path his mind had taken.
Here, I noticed the almost-invisible ring of contact lenses around his irises, but that curious detail was in the background as I realized what he was trying to convey with that one sentence.
That he wouldn’t be staying in town. That he would be leaving at some point.
That he liked me. That he wanted to keep me close while he was here but not close enough to be here long-term.
I swallowed the conflicted lump in my throat. While my stay in Antler Pointe had no definite end, I could easily be leaving, too. He was warning me that whatever this was, it was finite.
I reached up to hold his jaw with both of my hands, nodding with small, jerky movements, and brought our lips together again. I’d never expected anything lasting. Not this shaky peace I’d been feeling, not the care of my brother or his family. Not my life.
Knowing that Río and I had an approaching deadline was okay. It had to be.