And he found giving it to her was like an addiction.
Near impossible to kick.
Totally weak.
He bent his head and touched his mouth to hers before he let her go and gave her what she wanted.
He swung off his jacket. Threw it over the back of a chair at her kitchen table. Went to the bag of chips, tore them open.
And dug into her guac.
After they ate, then fucked, he spent the night.
Totally fucking weak.
She had another nightmare.
He didn’t think about being weak about that.
He just didn’t like it.
And he lay with her, stroking her back, murmuring shit he didn’t pay attention to but whatever it was, it relaxed her and made her go back to sleep.
He did this thinking he had a lot on his plate. None of it good. And at the end of it, if he succeeded, he’d be incarcerated for a while.
He should cut her loose.
But now . . .
Now, he thought, not before she told him about her dreams.
He’d help her through that.
At least give her something worth something.
And after he did that he’d set her free.
Superwoman
Rush
Earlier that night . . .
Rush didn’t chance hitting the buttons to bang the gongs at Essence’s house when he pulled up that evening to pick up Rebel.
But he’d only taken a few steps along the stones at the side of the house when he heard the sound of an opening window.
He stopped, looked to the house and saw Essence hanging out, a garland of flowers wrapped around her forehead.
“Peace, brother!” she called.
“Hey, Essence,” he called back. “Here to pick up Rebel.”
“Do not have her home for bedtime!” she yelled, stuck her hand out the window, gave him a peace sign, then ducked back in and shut it.
He didn’t fight his grin or the shake of his head as he moved down the path and through the bush to Rebel’s house.
The greenery brushed his hair again as he knocked on her door.
He not only stopped feeling it, he lost the knowledge it or anything else existed when she opened the door.
Hair down and stylishly messy. Makeup heavy. Body barely covered in a tiny black silk dress edged with lace at the top, but also slashes of it under her tits hinting at skin, the dress hanging on her but the brevity of it, including the high hem, meant it didn’t need to be skintight.
At her neck, a tangle of delicate chains with equally delicate pendants. She had so much hair, he couldn’t see if she even wore earrings. But on her feet were square-toed, black, girl motorcycle boots with high, chunky heels, their kickassedness playing off the sexy, ultra-feminine flimsiness of the barely-there slip dress.
Fuck, he was not going to be able to control his hard-on and she hadn’t even said hello to him.
“It didn’t occur to me you might have the bike.”
She was speaking and it took him a second considering he was concentrating on controlling his cock to process her words.
“I can put leggings on or something,” she continued.
He’d make a deal with the devil just to make sure that didn’t happen.
Fortunately, he’d thought ahead and didn’t have to.
“I brought my truck.”
She took in his face, nodded, didn’t invite him in, but turned away from the door and disappeared in the shadows.
He walked in anyway.
She had a very small foyer painted a dark and rustic yellow, which had a tall, freestanding coatrack that was covered in hats, and a short, heavily-carved dark wood bench that now had a chunky gray cardigan on it, a little black purse, and small black leather tote.
Rebel grabbed the cardigan and tugged it on.
It was long, went down to her knees, which he was not a big fan of considering her skirt just covered her pubis and he was a biker. He seriously got off on her show of skin.
Especially the way she showed it.
There was lots of it.
But it was all class.
The sweater immediately dipped off her shoulder, opening up to expose the dress anyway, so he had nothing to complain about.
“This your shit?” he asked, going to the tote and grabbing the handles while she dropped the long, slim strap of her purse on her shoulder.
“Yup,” she muttered.
“You ready, baby?”
Her eyes came to him. He processed the red lipstick he hadn’t quite noticed due to the dress, also how much he liked it, and she nodded before ducking her head and digging in her miniscule purse.