Hardcore: Volume 1 (3 page)

I rolled my neck around, feeling the muscles stretch. “Yeah.”

“Want company?”

“Always.” I smiled.

I heard her boots hit the ground, followed by the shuffle as she undressed.

“What took you so long to get back?” she asked when she got in behind me, and I turned to face her, unsure what to say about what happened, unsure if I should say anything at all. Her blue eyes were bright, her short, black hair tousled from being in her hood, though it still framed her face, curling around her jaw.

I dodged her question with one of my own. “Did any of you get caught by those guys?”
 

Her brow dropped. “No,” she answered, then realization lit up her face. “Wait … did you?”

I nodded and reached for the shampoo, avoiding her eyes.

“No shit. He must have been good,” she said, laughing.

“He was.” I fought down the smile, but a shock shoot through me, raising my nipples as it passed on its way down my body.

“Get the fuck out,” she breathed, blinking at me with big, wide eyes. “Did you fuck him?” Her mouth hung open, but the corners tilted up in an awed smile.

I shrugged and squeezed shampoo out into my hand, then set the bottle down. “Maybe.” My fingers slipped into her hair, and she turned around, putting her back to me. I went to work, kneading her scalp with the pads of my fingers.

“Where?”

“Like, what hole?”

She laughed. “No, you slut. That’s not what I mean.”

“I know,” I smiled and sloughed some of the lather off her hair. It hit the tiled floor with a slap. “On a roof a couple of blocks away.”

She waited for me to elaborate, huffing when I didn’t. “Don’t make me beg. Spill the details. Was he hot?”

“No, I fucked a random ratchet on a rooftop with five grand in stolen shit a couple of feet away. Of course he was hot. He kept up with me, really made me work for it. I mean, the dude chased me for blocks, and I thought I lost him twice before he finally caught me. And when he did … I don’t know. I had to kiss him.”

“Sounds like he earned it.” She shook her head, chuckling in disbelief. “That’s fucking crazy, Cor. It’s been a long time since you’ve had the D.”

“I kind of forgot how good it is. Is that weird?”

“Nope, not when you’ve had my magic touch at your beck and call.” She raised her hands and wiggled her fingers, dragging them down like it was raining glitter.

I laughed, but emotion stirred deep in my chest. I’d never been in love, not with girl or guy, though I’d dated both. Sex was a tool, a way to escape, disconnected from my heart. It was why relationships never worked for me, not outside of Erin.
 

For years we’d found comfort in each other, but it was never
under any expectation. Just a way for us to be alone, together. Our world was fucked up, and dating was complicated, no matter who it was with. They had needed more than I could supply, but being with Erin was easy. We gave and took what we needed, never asking or wanting more. It was all either of us could give.

“My turn,” she said and stepped into the stream. Her wet thigh slipped against mine, and she slapped my ass as I took her place.

Erin poured shampoo into her palm and reached for my hair. “Anyway, I get it, you lucky bitch. I’m always such a horndoggie after a job. I can’t even imagine if I got chased down by a sexy motherfucker. I think the guy chasing me was more into Dunkin’ Donuts than parkour.” Her fingers stilled. “Hang on, he wasn’t rapey or anything, right?”

“No, I literally had to beg him to fuck me.”

“Ohhhh, my God,” she said, giggling as she ran her fingers through the ends of my hair. “Fuck, that is sexy. What’s his name?”

“Don’t know. I took off as soon as it was over, and there wasn’t a lot of talking before that.”

“Yeah, guess not, huh? I guess Jade’s skank talk was poorly timed.”

“Everything Jade says is poorly timed. But yeah.”

She piled my hair on my head, and bubbles ran down my neck and shoulders. “Feeling weird about it?”

I thought about it as she played with my hair. “Not really. I think I needed that. He…” My eyes went out of focus, and I heard him in my mind, saw his face as he asked what I was running from. It was a question I couldn’t even answer. For just a split second, I felt like he understood me on some level even I didn’t, which was ridiculous. It still gave me comfort. “Yeah, no.”

“Well, I’m glad. At least one of us got laid. Too bad Dunkin’ Donuts wasn’t exactly my dream guy.” Her hands slipped down to my shoulders, slick with soap, then down my back to my hips. “You’re still a little rattled.”

She was right. He was still on my mind, but of course he was. I chalked it up to the fact that we’d just had random sex on a rooftop. Nothing more. It was simple, and it was over. Sex was a tool, never tied up in emotion, always black and white.
 

I turned to face her, redirecting my thoughts with a smile, not wanting to process it anymore. I focused on her. “Are you still amping from the run?”

“Mmm hmm,” she said, knowing exactly where my question was going with her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Well, I already got mine.” My fingers found the hollow under her neck and trailed down between her breasts. “I’d hate to leave you out in the cold.”

Erin smiled as she rested her forearms on my shoulders, and I leaned in to brush my lips against hers.

She was so familiar to me, her lips, her body. The hot water beat down on us, and my hands slipped around her waist, pulling her close as we kissed. Our breasts pressed together, soft and slick as the shampoo ran out of my hair and between us. I ran my hand around the swell of her ass, and she broke away, leaning back to rest her shoulder blades against the tile. She licked her lips, watching me lather my hands and slip my palms up the planes of her stomach, to her breasts. I arched over her to kiss her and I touched her, cupped her, caught her hard nipples between my fingers and pulled gently. She moaned softly against my lips and pulled my hips closer.

“Fuck me,” she whispered with hooded eyes, and her wet, black hair stuck to her cheeks.

I smiled and trailed my hand down to her pussy, running the pad of my middle finger down her slit as I shifted in slow circles, rubbing her clit with the ball of my hand. I pressed harder until she was slick, then dipped my finger inside, curling it against the sensitive spot inside, and she gasped. I pulled out and rocked back in, flexing my hand to squeeze, and she contracted around my finger in answer.

She shuddered and sighed against the shower wall, our nipples brushing when I pressed my hips against the back of my hand inside of her. She tangled her hands in my hair as I kissed down her chest, pausing when I reached her nipple to pull it into my mouth and suck, flicking the tip with my tongue before I moved down her body. I sank to my knees and parted her, trailing the tip of my nose over her clit and up to pull it into my mouth, running my tongue along her opening and back up to lick and suck in rhythm. She lifted her leg to rest her thigh on my shoulder and braced herself against the shower walls.

I reached up for her breast, my other hand finding her pussy to slip my fingers inside, and it didn’t take long for the two actions to bring her to panting, to squeezing, to coming all around me as steam curled up around us.
 

“Goddamn, Cory,” Erin breathed.

“You’re welcome.” I stood as I wiped my lip and kissed her. Her lips were so soft, and I lingered for a long moment, ready again, high from getting Erin off.

She trailed her fingers up my thighs and to my pussy, swollen and wet, knowing exactly what I needed. “Come here.”

It only took a moment. I closed my eyes, could feel him against me, inside of me, imagined the scruff of his beard against my neck, and with my palm pressed against the tile next to Erin’s head, I came for the second time that night.

Erin wrapped her arms around my slick waist, and I leaned into her, all of a sudden so exhausted that I could barely stand.

“Come on. Want to sleep in my bed tonight?”

I nodded as she turned off the water and reached for the towels that hung on the wall outside of the shower. She handed me one, and I toweled off before following her to her room. Within seconds, I had blindly pulled on one of her t-shirts and climbed into bed, burying myself in the down comforter without a single thought in my mind. I barely felt her slip in behind me, and I was asleep.

I WOKE TO THE sound of laughter and shifted, slipping my hands under my pillow, content and relaxed. My body ached, a slow burning through my legs, and for a split second, I couldn’t remember why. But the night before blew through me in a rush, from the store through the chase and everything after.
 

Confusion twisted through me, and I took a breath, trying to untangle my feelings. It was over as soon as it began, and I’d never see him again. Maybe that was the appeal. I could own that one moment and never have to answer for more. It was just a second in my life. A blip. A super hot blip.

My yawn practically unhinged my jaw, and I stretched, twisting my hips as I reached for my phone on Erin’s nightstand. I found a text from my younger sister, Jill.

See you this afternoon?

Of course,
I answered, and my phone buzzed again almost immediately.

Awesome. Can’t wait.

I smiled and texted back.
Shouldn’t you be listening to Sister Mary? I’m sure she has some super important and relevant information about calculus that you should be paying attention to.

Riiiiight. I know how everyday calculus is. Now stop texting me before you get me in trouble.

Turn your phone off.

Don’t tell me what to do!

I snorted.
It’s in the job description. Later, punk.

Byeeee
 

I tossed my phone on the bed and slipped out from under the covers. The concrete was cold under my feet as I walked across the room to Erin’s dresser to dig through it for a pair of leggings. There was no rhyme or reason to her organizational skills, just piles of black clothes shoved haphazardly into each compartment. It took forever before I found a pair and pulled them on, grabbed my phone, then made my way into the kitchen.
 

Everyone was sitting around the table eating breakfast, and they all smiled up at me when I walked in. Well, Jade sort of sneered, but that was the most that any of us could hope for.
 

The conversation flowed around me while I poured coffee and took a seat on the bench next to Cher, who handed me a plate and laid a bagel on it. She was our tiny little mother figure, a short, curvy brunette with curly hair and big, brown eyes. Every morning, she got up before everyone and prepped breakfast. In fact, she was the only one who ever cooked or emptied the bathroom trash. The rest of us would wait until it got to that point where it had been smashed down so far that even the slightest disturbance would result in a small avalanche of errant Q-Tips and cotton balls.
 

I spread an obscene amount of cream cheese on my bagel as Morgan laughed and folded her long legs under her. She was the tallest of all of us, even played basketball in high school. “I totally lost mine at 42
nd
. I jumped a gap between buildings, and he pussed out hard. I looked back and he was just standing on the other side, looking over the ledge like a dumb shit.”

“Fucking dudes.” Jade shook her head. “Mine just wasn’t fast enough to keep up. What’s new, right?”
 

I glanced over at her where she sat at the head of the table. She really was gorgeous, with a pert nose and full lips, milky white skin, and icy blue eyes. But her attitude was like a baseball bat wrapped in razor wire, and she never stopped swinging.

Cher jerked her chin at me and tore a piece off her bagel. “How about yours, Cory? How’d you lose him?”

Erin shot me a look, and I swallowed the bite in my mouth like a rock.

“I ran him all over, but I couldn’t get rid of him until a couple of blocks away. He wasn’t easy to shake.” It was true enough.

“Anyway,” Jade said and sat back in her chair, clearly giving zero fucks about anything I had to say. “Jace should be back soon with the cash. I have another job for us tonight.”

Morgan’s eyebrow was up. “So soon?”

“Yeah, it’s too good to pass up. They just got a shipment in.” Jade took a bite of bagel and spoke around the wad of food. “My informer says they have infrared sensors, whatever that means,” she said, mostly to me.

“Yeah, no problem,” I answered.

“I’ll get you the address so you can case it before tonight. We’ll leave here at midnight, so make sure you all have your shit together before then,” Jade said, closing the conversation.

The warehouse door slid open, and Jace walked in looking smug. He stopped next to Jade and pulled an envelope out of his jacket, then counted out hundreds into stacks while everyone waited, chatting quietly.

“Three grand each,” he said as he walked around the table, slapping stacks down in front of each of us. No one thanked him.

“You already tell them about tonight?” Jace asked Jade, like we all weren’t sitting right there.