Sleeves (3 page)

They booed and hollered about how unfair this was.

“Touch it—you have to,” he said, breathing really hard, and his chest damp with sweat. His hands trembled as he released his massive, swollen cock from his jeans.

When did that happen? When did he get this worked up that he appeared to have just returned from a five mile run and was harder than the bars surrounding them?

Somehow he’d moved them both and in a flash she had been flung behind the chair, facing his back, and he was seated again. He grabbed her arms, circling them around him.

It was an odd angle to be in since her ass was sticking up in the air behind her as she tried to avoid touching him with her arms.

Something told her deep down inside, she could only touch him
there
—on his cock, and nowhere else, or it really would be bad.

“What about a sleeve?” she asked.

“Fuck—if you grab one, I won’t be held responsible for how badly I hurt you,” he said through gritted teeth.

And then her hands were entwined around the base of his shaft, his hands over hers.

He was grunting, straining up into her grip, but barely thrusting at all.

She’d given hand-jobs plenty, but this was . . . different.
He
was different.

Her touch was light but not timid. She was coaxing him to adjust to her hold on him, her breath on his shoulder and neck, the sound of her voice in his ear.

“I won’t hurt you—relax,” she whispered.

He was so high strung, she had no doubt he’d bend the bars, break out and wreak havoc on this place, going berserk on the ladies out there.

“I want you to have this—you need it. I can tell this is what you’re dying for,” she said so quietly, it was like a dream of a promise in the air.

“Harder—if you don’t go harder, it’ll hurt worse.” His hips jutted up as high as they could go without the rest of his body leaving the seat.

“Five minutes,” the bartender shouted.

“Fuck—
hard
. Tear skin, break through to me!” Kel panted through his grinding teeth.

She grabbed him as rough and tight as she could, frowning at the thought of how much pain this was probably causing him. When his body rounded forward, making her reach further, she managed to tighten her grip to keep from losing it. His chest seemed to cave in with a large, stuttering inhale and he all but collapsed with a seizing breath.

With each twist and jerk of her hands, his touch over her fists lightened, and almost turned to reverence.

He was caressing her, and she was
what
? Manhandling him? Abusing this poor twisted soul?

“Yes, that’s it—God, no one ever gets it, but you do, don’t you,
slut
?” His speech dragged like he was high.

A frisson of fear crackled through her for a moment. Would he hurt her? He was calling her names now.

How hard would it be for him to turn around and kill her with his bare hands?

Her eyes drifted to those very hands—they were calloused, hardened from some kind of harrowing life, but at the same time, they seemed the hands of a man that created, that cocooned the soft side of a woman’s heart without being asked.

“You—are so—” she inhaled deeply and licked her lips, trying to gain courage “—soft and beautiful.” She sighed and moved her lips as close to his naked shoulder as possible without touching him. “All of you, Kel.”

He shook in his seat, his hands releasing her completely as he gasped and choked on the air around him. His abs tightened, his thighs shook, and in the next breath, he was spurting all over her hands, all over his chair and it was dripping down his inner thighs.

But that wasn’t as shocking as this man, collapsing out of the chair and falling to the ground, unconscious.

Chapter 2

“Sssssuuuuhhh,” a stuttering breath ripped out of Kel.

“Hey, man, take it easy,” Max said, looming over him.

“Who’s manning the bar?” Kel asked, trying to shove himself up to sitting.

“I called in a favor from a friend. He’s taking care of it.” Max’s eyes were heavy with concern. “You okay? I was worried you might not wake up.”

“I’m fine. How’d I get back here to my bed?”

“I dragged you by your jeans, so I didn’t touch you.” Max pointed at his bare feet sticking out of a blanket.

“I covered you up. He told me not to touch your skin again, even if you were out of it, and I didn’t think you wanted your junk hanging out,” the woman with the curvy body, long auburn curly hair and cobalt blue eyes said. It took a moment, but then he remembered she was the woman who’d been inside the cage.

“Why’s she here?” Kel bit out. “She’s the reason this happened!”

“I know, but she was . . . Never mind,” Max said, slapping the edge of the bed, and then he moved toward the door. “She’s going to watch out for you. I need to get back out there before we lose all our customers. We have a large crowd tonight, and it doubled after you brought her into the cage. These women must’ve been dialing up their friends, telling them they had to get in here.”

“No one filmed it, did they?” Kel frowned.

“Nah. They signed those forms—it’s all good.” Max smacked the door opened and left.

“Are you all right? Is there something I can get you?” a sweet smooth voice to his right asked.

“I wanna be alone.”

“No.”

“What the hell, girl? I don’t know you—this is my place! I live here!”

“In the back of a seedy night club?” Her voice rose in pitch, and her eyebrows decided to camp out on her upper forehead.

“
Yeah
, in the back of a seedy night club. What do you care?” He shoved the blanket off; his skin was on fire.

He got up, tucked his dick back in his jeans and groaned. “You need to leave.”

“Not until the club closes. You think I’m going back out there?” She grimaced, and her neck jerked, angling her head back. “They know I jacked you off in front of them.”

“They didn’t see a damn thing,” he said, waving his hand in the air, insinuating she was being stupid.

“They saw your come drenched on my hands, on that chair and on the floor. I swear you could fill a half-gallon empty milk container. When was the last time you got off anyhow?”

“Last night,” he rasped, his voice hoarse for some reason as he lied. Why was she making him uptight? It wasn’t like this bitch knew anything about him and his life.

She was staring at him, watching him move around.

It made his gut threaten to replace his lungs, it was that knotted and unsettled in his body.

“Holy God, you came last night, and that much shit came out of you?” She shook her head. “If I hadn’t watched you do it, I would’ve thought it was a trick. Like you’d used the lube to make it look like more, or maybe even the water from the bottle on that table nearby.”

He coughed to clear his throat, but it didn’t help. “Speaking of which—be a good little bitch and go fetch me a drink. I’m thirsty.”

“You forgot to grope my tits first, you dick.” She rolled her eyes and grinned. “I’m not here to be your bitch. I’m here to make sure you’re okay.”

“I said. I’m. Fine,” he ground out.

“You’re not fine. Look at your arms. They’re bright red, and your fists are blanched white. You look like you’re about to split your purple pants, Hulk. Calm down . . . Jesus.” She motioned for him to take a seat again on his bed.

“Why are you really here? Is it your friend’s money?” He pulled the hundred dollars out of his pocket. “Here. Take it.”

He threw it at her.

It scattered on the floor. Her expression was blank.

“You expect me to take that back?”

“Yes,” he said, failing to blink.

“Well, I won’t.”

“Bitch, you need to quit snorting coke. That shit’ll mess you up every damn time.” His lopsided smirk pressed into his cheek and made his temple tight. His head tingled.

She barked a sardonic laugh. “Yeah, tell me about it. There was this one time—”

“You don’t use,” he interrupted. He could tell she was the squeaky clean type. No woman used that was this innocent looking and sounding.

“No, I don’t, but I’ve been around a lot of people who do. Now listen to my story. It’s a good one.” She grinned again.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. “You are seriously fucked up, lady. You know that, right?”

“No more so than you.” She brushed her hands across her skirt. “There was this one family I had to visit recently.”

“Oh, Jesus,” he sighed.

“Well said. I thought the same thing when I pulled up to their house surrounded by waist-high weeds, dryer than the African plains. There was a broken down truck with cobwebs all over it, busted windows in the house, barely boarded up, and there were cats all over the place.”

He yawned and stretched for a moment. “Is there a point to this? I should probably get back out there.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder, jerking it in the direction he needed to go and then went back to crossing his arms.

“Yeah, there’s a point—if you’ll just slow down and listen . . .” She rolled her eyes, then dropped them. “Anyway, I stepped up to the front door, realizing there was no way they were going to let me in.” Her eyes lifted back to his face, and she looked like she was searching for an answer there from him.

“Are you a cop or somethin’?”

She chuckled, but failed to answer his question. “I knocked on the door, and heard something crash inside. It sounded like maybe another window had busted at the back of the house—like someone was running away, thinking I was the authorities. I was able to peek over the gate in time to see a woman, half-dressed with blonde hair, slipping out the window and then booking it through the yard. She threw herself over the hurricane fencing and into the alley. I called the cops while I kept watching her. She was barefoot, but it didn’t seem to matter to her. She didn’t slow down for anything.”

“Smart woman to get away from you.” He dropped his chin a little and gave her a look like she couldn’t be serious—telling him this tedious, pointless story.

“Yes, she was, because when the police got inside a few minutes later and saw what was going on, she really was lucky. There was a man OD’ing on the floor, convulsing and choking on his own vomit.” She swallowed and her eyes softened. “There was a four-year-old kid lying on the floor next to him, not really crying, not really doing anything, but he had the oddest eyes I’ve ever seen. They were mostly gray, but there was this ring of green around the middle, and he looked at me like he knew exactly who I was . . .”

“And who were you?” He ignored the eye color comment, even though it made his heart pound and his palms sweat. Did she realize his eyes were that exact odd combination?

“Salvation.”

“So, you’re saying you’re here to save me—is that it?” He snorted.

“Not at all.” She scrunched her shoulders up and moved toward the door. “I’m saying whether you run or stay, it doesn’t really make a difference to me. I arrive to aid whoever needs help whether it’s asked for or not. I took that kid out of there after I saved that man’s life by calling the cops. If I hadn’t been there to do that, he would’ve died. Instead of cursing me out like I figured he’d do, he was relieved. He said that kid wasn’t his, and he creeped him out. I took that sweet boy away and never felt better about myself.” She palmed the knob and gave him a furtive look. “The thing is, Kel . . . you gave me the same look, right before you passed out. Like I took a burden away from you—like I’d relieved you somehow. I don’t know what I could’ve done that would’ve warranted a look like that, but it sure as hell wasn’t about getting off. There’s something more.”

“The fuck there is,” he growled, turning his head away.

“Enjoy the rest of your evening. I’m sure the ladies are all dying to see what you do next.”

“Yeah, whatever.” He scraped his toe across the floor, and his face heated.

“Night.” She slipped out the door, and she was gone.

“Fucking cunt with all your answers.” He banged the back of his heel against the wall.

Before he knew what he was doing, he grabbed a shirt, put it on and picked up his keys. In the next beat, he was opening his back door, ripping the padlock off as he did it. He jumped on his motorcycle, then stalked after her down the road.

It looked like she had driven to the club with her two friends.

They were all sitting in the car like rocks, unmoving.

Had he pissed them all off that badly?

He had to chuckle at that.

They dropped her off at what must’ve been her office, since her car was near the front of a building.

She waved at them, got in her car and left.

He followed far enough back she wouldn’t notice him, but he never let her out of his sight.

She kept driving and wiping at her eyes.

Was she crying?

And how far away did she fucking live? Nova Scotia?