4
Ilona
Darkness closed in around me. The only source of light was coming from the moon through my window.
It allowed me to see the outline of my naked body draped over the dark, silk sheets.
I tried to inhale a deep breath, but was met with a sharp, stabbing pain clawing at my throat.
My hands shot to my mouth, only they didn’t.
My brain screamed at my arms to move, but they lay motionless at my side.
What felt like tiny legs wriggled inside me, climbing their way up my esophagus and onto my tongue.
A scream got caught behind the sharp mass.
My skin broke out in a cold sweat as I gagged, helplessly praying for my body to move.
With a final cough, the clawing stopped, and a solid, wet mass flopped onto my exposed chest. I strained my eyes to see the creature crawling over my pebbled skin.
It was black, shining in the moonlight with a curling, pointed tail.
My hands finally moved, reaching for the creature when an excruciating pinch pressed into my neck.
I woke up soaked and panting. I jolted upright, my hands clutching at my chest and the stinging sensation on my neck. My head whipped around, throwing the blankets off to check for any crawling creatures. There was nothing.
My body relaxed again, melting back into the mattress as a strange feeling washed over me. I didn’t understand why, but the need to make myself come was too strong to resist, and Larz’s face emerged and stuck in my mind.
Since I met her, the pull in my chest hadn’t stopped. It would weaken every now and then, but it never fully went away. My hand still tingled where she’d held it. It was completely irratIlonal. I didn’t even know her. I barely spoke two words to her. But I missed her.
I missed her in a way a body missed a lost limb, but my anxiety wouldn’t let me seek her out again.
I had made a complete fool of myself at the skatepark, and she seemed very uninterested.
Her cold, dark eyes flashed through my mind, sending ghostly shivers down my spine.
How creepy would it look if I showed up every day just to watch her?
Especially after almost being decapitated by a flying skateboard.
So I resisted the urge. It almost felt wrong, like I was denying a primal urge to fill a space where only she belonged.
For the last few weeks, if I wasn’t at work, I stayed inside, binge-reading my favorite series, declining all of Bev’s invitations to go out and unpacking.
I had barely made a dent in the boxes, but I was getting somewhere.
Shudders of pleasure prickled through my body as I let my fingers travel between my legs and brushed across my aching clit. Swollen, tattooed biceps filled my mind's eye with vein-covered hands wrapping around my throat. Haunting, black eyes stared into mine, commanding all of my attention.
My moans came out in ragged breaths as I tried to hold myself back. I rubbed slow, intentIlonal circles, trying to savor every bit of her imagined touch.
My climax built quickly in my belly, too quickly. In an attempt to lengthen the bliss I was feeling, I pushed two fingers inside of me, shocked at the soaking wet sounds my movements made. I had never been this wet or so quick to climax.
Holding myself back was no longer a thought in my mind as I stretched a third finger inside. I could hear Larz in my brain, whispering praises about how good I was doing for her.
It was insane. I’d only spent about two minutes in her presence, and my body responded to the thought of her like she was the only one who had ever touched me.
“Yes, Larz! Yes!” Her name spilled from my lips in a series of choked screams and muffled moans as I threw a pillow over my face.
The release was so intense I thought I’d pass out. For at least a minute, I rode the most blissful train of pleasure I’d ever known. Every cell of my body sang in unison, squeezing, burning, crashing and lighting up again until I finally slumped back into the mattress.
I lay panting and breathless. The image of Larz in my mind vanished with the last phantom clench of my pussy. I found myself grasping for any piece of her, only to be left with the black void behind my eyelids.
As my breathing slowly returned to normal, the pull in my chest twitched and tugged, and I realized that I wouldn’t be able to forget her. Whatever she was doing to me, I wanted it.
~
I was so distracted with my dream and the aftermath of the most earth-shattering orgasm I’d ever had from masturbating that I forgot to grab my morning coffee from Roasterz. Forgot until Stellan walked through the front door holding two paper mugs.
The excitement of another confirmed lesbian in town had disappeared. After seeing Larz, no other woman could compare. She’d etched herself into my brain and ruined me for anyone else the second our skin touched.
Stellan walked right up to the register and placed the coffee on the counter.
“Good morning,” she smiled and it had no effect on me. I took stock of my body: no heart flutters, no loss of words, my mouth was still moist and ready to make sentences.
“Morning,” I took a sip of the perfectly brewed black coffee. “Thank you, I needed this.” I reached into my wallet to pay her back, but she waved me off.
“Please, no. It was on me. Maybe you can help me find a…”
Her voice trailed out as the bell on the front door rang and the woman plaguing my mind walked inside.
But she didn’t just walk in, she floated.
Her presence commanded all of the attention in the room.
Our eyes met and the world stopped spinning.
Everything melted away until there was nothing but me and her.
My chest pulled, almost painfully, as she walked towards me.
I wanted to duck behind the counter. I couldn’t handle embarrassing myself in front of her again, but I couldn’t move.
My gaze was locked on her, following the way her arms swayed, the rumple of her jeans as her thickly muscled thighs moved forward, the way her glossy hair slipped behind her back as she turned to look at me.
“Ilana?” Stellan snapped her fingers in front of my face, cutting through the trance. I shot her an annoyed look.
“Ill-OH-na,” I corrected. How did she already forget?
“I’m sorry I-”
“Ilona.”
Cool. Calm. Perfect. Her voice drifted over me, immediately easing the irritation Stellan had caused. I nearly fainted at the sound of my name on Larz’s lips. She stood at the desk, towering over both me and Stellan, but her eyes were fixed on me.
“That’s a beautiful name.”
Oh, fuck. The panic was returning, crawling under my skin like the creature in my dream. What was it about this woman that rendered me completely useless?
“Thank you,” I smiled as my voice shook.
“I was looking for a certain book,” she flashed me a smile, her sharp canines on full display. She seemed softer today, more open. “I was hoping you could help me.”
“Actually, I was just asking for help.” Stellan puffed out her chest, but it was useless; Larz didn’t even acknowledge her presence.
Her gaze just burned into me, weighing me down. Gravity seemed to be working against me as my knees shook, almost buckling. I needed to get away from her and as much as I didn’t want Stellan, she was my only escape.
I rounded the desk, waving Stellan over to me, doing my best to place as much distance between Larz and me as possible.
“She’s right. I’ll…I’ll be right with you.”
I disappeared between the rows of books, Stellan trailing close behind me.
I never wished for my talkative manager to be here as much as I did in this very moment.
But it was a Tuesday, and Bev was off. Meaning I wouldn’t be able to avoid Larz for long.
A part of me hoped she would get impatient and leave, but the other part wanted to hurry up and get rid of Stellan, so I could be alone with the new object of my obsession.
I walked around with Stellan, suggesting all of my favorite books I could think of, only for her to turn down every single one. It only solidified my disinterest in her. Although she had willingly wandered into the bookstore, she looked as if she would rather be anywhere else.
Larz lingered in the corner the entire time, patiently waiting for her turn with me. Every few moments, I would steal a glance, watching as she ran her fingertips over the books in the classics section. It was almost seductive.
The pull in my chest was more intense than ever. It was almost painful, like a sick and desperate yearning. While my mind panicked whenever I was around her, my body screamed to be taken into her arms. I had a developing, deep desire to know her. To care for her. To give myself to her.
Deranged. That’s what I was. Absolutely psychotic to be feeling such a fiendish need to drop to my knees and rip my heart open for a woman I’d barely spoken to.
Stellan finally decided on the most popular self-help book and I rolled my eyes as we made our way to the counter.
With the sale we had going on, it was only $5, so I decided to buy it for her to pay her back for the free coffees.
Maybe I should have thought before I acted, because she was looking at me like I’d just gotten on one knee and asked her to spend her life with me.
“Wow, thank you. You really didn’t have to do that.” She cradled the book in her hands like a prize.
“Oh, it's nothing. Just a thank you for the coffee.” I tried to sound nonchalant, but I came off completely cold.
“Speaking of coffee, would you like to go grab one sometime? Maybe on your next day off?”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I scrambled for a polite way to let her down.
“I’m afraid she’s busy that day.” Larz planted her large hand on the desk and leaned in next to us. I studied the silver rings that adorned her, thinking about how easily I could become just like one of them…wrapped around her finger. “Isn’t that right, Ilona?”
For once, the words came out as easily as breathing “Yes.”
Stellan slid her book off the desk and backed away. She scanned Larz up and down one time before returning her gaze to me. “Noted. See you around, Ill-OH-na.”
I didn’t watch her leave. Larz had leaned down on both elbows, invading my space and engulfing my line of vision from all angles. She stared for a moment and I got a chance to really look at her.
The top half of her hair was pulled into a bun at the back of her head, while the bottom half hung loose with wispy pieces framing her face.
Her ear lobes were stretched, much bigger than mine.
Her tattoos were clearer up close, the scorpions on her neck standing out the most. But it was her eyes that really had me entranced.
They were almond-shaped and so, so dark that I could’ve sworn they were black. I couldn’t make out her pupil from her iris from under her hooded lids. When I thought she couldn’t get any more attractive, her tongue poked out and ran over her plump bottom lip.
I almost fainted as all the blood in my body rushed between my legs. Her tongue was split, right down the middle. Whatever higher power was out there plucked her directly from my version of heaven and handed her right to me.
I didn’t realize my mouth was hanging open until she stood straight, a low chuckle escaping her chest.
The bell on the front door rang and the world came into view again. I looked around, catching the back of Stellan as she walked away. Had the last few hours that passed really been just seconds?
We were alone. The air was thick, heavy with something I couldn’t quite describe. It melted over my skin like lava. I said the only thing I could think of.
“So, what did you need help finding?”
Her gaze ran over my body. Her jaw twitched, sending chills down my spine. “Oh, I already found what I wanted.”
A dangerous, sinful heat shot through my body. A filthy thought of repeating my actions from this morning flashed through my mind. Next time, I’ll part my fingers just a bit so I can imagine what that split tongue would feel like gliding across my clit.
She pulled a book from her back pocket and thumped it on the counter. My fantasy dissipated as I studied the cover; It was the same book I had just started the night before. I picked it up, gawking at it and back up at her.
“I’m reading this right now.”
“Maybe we cou-” She was cut off by a boy I hadn’t seen come into the store.
“Can you hurry it up, please?” The boy gestured to a stack of books in his arms that he was barely able to lift. “Some of us have places to be!”
Larz turned, straightening her back and looking down at the boy. I took a second to shamelessly admire her muscled back through her thin, ribbed tank. The boy gasped, dropping the books and rushing out of the store. Larz turned around again, catching me mid-gawk.
That intoxicating chuckle escaped her lips again as she turned her attention back to me, trickling over my skin like a scolding shower.
“As I was saying, maybe we could meet at the skate park after your shift tomorrow and talk about it?”
A warmth spread through my chest. “So you weren’t just trying to save me from a coffee date with the barista?”
She leaned in closer, making my breath catch. “Yes, and no. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t get to you first, Ilona.”
I bit down on my lip, stifling the moan threatening to push through. Every word that dripped from her lips traveled straight to my pussy. I was soaked, but it was more than that. I didn’t just want to fuck her, I wanted to spend time with her and unravel her mystery string by string.
“Well, thank you. And yes, I would like that.”
“Perfect.” Her smirk turned into a full, face-splitting grin. Her sharp canines were sparkling in the overhead lights.
She turned and picked up the discarded books the boy had dropped, placing them on the desk like they weighed nothing, before pulling her wallet out and paying for her choice.
“I’m Larz, by the way.” She held her hand out, and I took it for the second time since I met her, the familiar electricity shooting through my skin. She rubbed the back of my hand gently with the pad of her thumb, lingering just a few seconds longer than necessary.
“Nice to officially meet you, Larz. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“It’s a date.” She winked as she walked out the door, disappearing into the thick, morning fog.
I didn’t know how I was going to get through a whole conversation with her the next day, but I was damn sure going to try.