26. Gio
26
GIO
C ancer fills my lungs as the cherry red end of my cigarette burns hot in the night air. “Gio?” The husky female voice at my back makes my muscles bunch ... and not in anticipation. “Are you coming back to bed?”
My skin crawls. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking the first time I followed this chick back from The Veil . I can’t even remember her name—Jen? Jess? Something with a J.
Removing my lips from the cig, I turn my head to the side and let a stream of smoke blow out before responding. “Yeah, be in once I’m done with this.” I hold the cig up as an excuse for my escape. I’ve already fucked her once tonight and it was hard enough to get it up when I wasn’t inebriated or high. If I manage to get it up again, it’ll be a miracle.
Jen-Jess presses her side against the sliding glass doors of her apartment and pushes her tits out in my direction. “Don’t keep me waiting too long,” she murmurs, the intent and desire in her raspy tone evident.
I close my eyes and turn back to the gray horizon. “I said I’ll be back in when I’m fucking done,” I snap, not caring about her feelings. I don’t even want to be here. The only reason I am is the damn girl next door.
The stripper huffs out a breath and then disappears back into the apartment, slamming her sliding door with enough force to make the whole rickety thing shudder. I put the cigarette back between my lips and then clamp both hands over the railing. Wood splinters crack under the pressure. This whole building is falling apart. No doubt, Mr. Ritchie has been bribing the inspectors who infrequently come by to make sure everything is up to code because there’s no way this two-story apartment building is anything more than matchsticks waiting to go up in flames. My mind begins to circle back to my reason for even being here. Cool autumn air filters over the back of my neck and further down my bare back.
Watch her.
That’s all any of us have been doing since Juliet Donovan fell right into our laps. Straight down from her castle in the sky to the gutter where we’ve lived all our lives. My fingers grip the railing tighter, the wood creaking in protest. Jerking my hands away, I lift shaking fingers to the cigarette hanging from my lips and release another stream of smoke. I’d give anything for this to be more than nicotine right now. A good joint would do me a world of good, but if I’m watching Prep Girl then I need to have my head clear.
Turning away from the darkened sky, I quickly stamp out my half-finished cig on the shitty patio that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since well before the current occupant moved in and head inside. The tiny apartment is more like a shoebox than a place to sleep and Jen-Jess is already naked and sprawled out on her bed. Her tits are small but perky, and the rosy-brown nipples peak as she writhes against the mattress.
My eyes scan to the coffee table that’s set between her bed and the rest of the studio apartment. The sight of white powder residue lingering in the center and a cracked credit card discarded nearby makes my chest ache. Fuck.
My eyes shoot back to the girl as her lids lift and she offers me a smile. “Gio…” She moans and reaches out. “I’m so hot for you, baby.”
I stand stalk still. The sensation of insects crawling all over my body roots me to the floor. Disgust rolls through me in waves. The walls close in. My head fills with water and smoke.
God … no.
“Gio.” Sickness creeps up my throat as Jen-Jess groans again and rolls back and forth on the thin mattress set atop the box spring on the floor. “I’m hungry for you.”
She rolls to the side and begins reaching, hands stretching past the edge of the mattress until she latches on to my belt loops. I stumble forward and she practically attacks my zipper. It was hard enough to do this before when she wasn’t drugged out of her fucking mind. Now, my cock remains flaccid as she reaches past my jeans and into my boxers to take it out. Her bony fingers tighten and stroke me in practiced moves. I grit my teeth and force myself to remain still though I’d love nothing better than to shove her off my body. Nothing about her attracts me now that I’m sober. Nolan was right—I should’ve stayed the hell away from the chicks that work at The Veil .
Swallowing back bile, I reach out and capture her hand, removing her from my dick as she turns wide, blown-out eyes up to my face. “What’s wrong?” Her lips are dry and cracked, and she licks them, leaving behind a shiny trail of saliva.
My gag reflex works hard against my resistance. “Nothing,” I tell her. “I want to focus on you first.”
I want her to hurry up and pass out so I don’t have to pretend that the reason I’m here is because I want her. My eyes cut back to the coffee table, wondering just how much cocaine she’s had. Is she a regular addict or just a social one?
A soft sigh escapes her lips, drawing me back to the present as I press Jen-Jess onto her bed and leverage up over her. Transferring her hands to one of mine, I yank up my jeans and boxers, tucking my cock out of sight before holding her down.
“Close your eyes,” I order.
“Gio…” Her eyes slide shut as my name leaves her lips. I’m not an incredibly kinky bastard—not like Nolan or Lex—but right now, I’d give anything for a ball gag. I don’t want to hear my name from anyone, much less her, but I have a job to do.
Watch her.
Even as I press the girl whose name I still can’t remember into her sheets, my thoughts are on the woman next door. Juliet Donovan is uncontrollable. She has us all on edge. I used to give Lex so much shit when it came to his obsession with her. Now, her poison has spread to all of us. She’s in our heads. In our dreams. Fucking everything up.
“Yes, yes, yes…” The whispered words from the girl beneath me drag me back to reality as I lower my head and graze my lips over the curve of one breast. In my mind, it’s not her I’m touching.
In my mind, Juliet Donovan is the one stretched out under my muscles, her naked body on display for me. If I close my eyes, I can picture her perfectly. Pale skin, gleaming in the shadowed room. My cock twitches in my pants, finally showing some interest. I let my mouth trail over her breasts and lower to the nearly concave hollow of her belly. Prep Girl isn’t this skinny. She’s not half-starved. No, her curves are lush and round. Her tits bigger than the nameless, faceless girl’s in my arms. A hunger I’ve never known assails me, driving me against the girl as my cock lengthens and hardens, pressing into the fabric of my boxers and jeans.
It would take no work at all to have Juliet beneath me, to spread her out like a feast, and find my way to the place between her thighs. Wetness against pouty lips, juice oozing down her sensitive flesh. I let one hand move between the legs under me and press into the bundle of nerves there, rotating as the girl’s back bows and a cry of pleasure escapes her.
What would it feel like to have Juliet Donovan screaming for me? To spread her open and force Lex to see how filthy his innocent little angel can truly be?
The fantasy fills me up and I grit my teeth against the urge to cum. Around and around, my thumb strokes a quivering clit just begging for some attention. I keep my eyes squeezed tightly shut, unwilling to let reality invade my illusion that I crave more than my next breath—Prep Girl under me, writhing for me, crying out my name as I drive her higher and higher towards the precipice of pleasure.
I want her to forget everything—all of the hate and fear and vitriol that consumes Silverwood. If anyone might accept my brothers and me, surely it’s the girl who hates Silverwood as much as we do.
A feminine cry fills the air as I sink two fingers deep inside a soaking cunt. Rotating my hand, I curl my fingers inward and stroke the spot just behind her pubic bone. Anatomy is good for one thing. I might be average in school, but here—when I can put my hands on a subject—I’m an A-plus student.
“Oh God!” The hips beneath me bump and twist as I finger-fuck the girl to completion. Harder. Faster. She screams and a sudden rush of wetness preludes the hard clamping of inner muscles squeezing my fingers. All at once, Jen-Jess sags into the mattress, panting heavily and my eyes open. The fantasy disappears and disappointment invades. Thankfully, though, so does obvious exhaustion. Jen-Jess opens her mouth on a hard yawn, nearly cracking the bones of her jaw in the process.
“Ugh, that was so good,” she mumbles. “Gimme a sec and I’ll take care of you…”
I withdraw my fingers and stare down at the clear fluid encasing the digits. In my mind, it’s Juliet’s orgasm coating my hand and I want to know what she tastes like. I want to put it between my lips and suck her clean. But it’s not. This isn’t her cum on my hand. It wasn’t her cunt squeezing me. That fact disgusts me, and what’s worse is the knowledge that I want her enough to fantasize about her.
So, I get up and head into the bathroom. I turn the knobs on the sink until steam billows up from the scalding water flowing into the cracked Formica. Shoving my hands into the boiling water, I scrub with the cheap soap on the countertop until my fingers are lobster red. When I feel marginally clean—or rather, I don’t think I can stand the small enclosed cubicle of a bathroom any longer—I head back into the room to find that Jen-Jess has passed out on her mattress.
Relief courses through me and I head for the balcony, pulling the cigarette pack from my back pocket as I go. Withdrawing another, I press it between my lips and exchange the pack for a lighter. The red and gold flame dances in front of my face, warming my skin as I light the cig and drag more of that evil cancer into my lungs, sucking it down and praying it kills me someday before it’s too late.