Dark Ink Tattoo: Episode 1 Page 4

  Goddammit.

  “I do, but I can’t.”

  “Then – just give me twenty-four hours.”

  “A day isn’t going to change anything.”

  He came in closer. “This day will.”

  And then he was so near and he smelled so good and this might be the last chance I had to get properly fucked, under the moon no less – I leaned up and kissed him, hard. He tensed in surprise, but then kissed me back, just as fiercely, and instantly closed the space between us, pressing me against the hood of his car.

  His hands were all over me, up my sweater, beneath my bra, and mine were just as eager on him, pushing inside his suit jacket to slide between buttons. I needed skin, skin to skin to skin.

  His mouth moved to my neck as I gasped for air, bending backwards under his attention. The wind swept past him and I shivered. “Here,” he said, pulling his jacket off quickly, setting it around my shoulders. “And now,” he demanded, spinning me around to face the beemer. With one broad hand he pushed be down, bending me over the warm hood of his car. I felt my skirt crawl up my hips and was not even the least bit ashamed.

  I heard a zipper, felt him pull the thin cotton line of my panties over and – in a second his cock was in me. I groaned low, I loved the sensation of feeling full, of knowing he needed to be inside me. And he – wasn’t afraid to be rough – which was just how my wolf and I liked it.

  “Oh, fuck me,” I whispered, as he grabbed both my arms and hauled me back onto his cock. He thrust hard and fast and then stopped, leaving me aching for more.

  “Do you feel that, Angela? How hard I am for you?” He punctuated each of his questions with a thrust.

  “Uh huh,” I panted, nodding helplessly against his car.

  “Whatever it is you’re scared of,” he said, taking slow, deep, strokes. “I’m not. I feel this, and I know we’re supposed to be.” He pulled his cock almost all the way out, and teased me with the head of it. “And I know that you need me,” he said, pushing all the way back in fast, and I moaned. “I belong inside you. And you belong wrapped around me,” he said, and after that started fucking me properly, long and slow.

  My heels already had me teetering forward, ass high for him. He slipped his coat up, and smacked it, then dropped the coat back in place so I wouldn’t get cold. Then he did it again, on the other side, and I knew I’d have red handprints on my ass till dawn. I couldn’t move against the car hood, but I – twisted and got my panties just right, so that each time he thrust they tugged against my clit and – “Mark,” I whispered, clenching my hands.

  “That’s right,” he said, arcing himself deeper inside me at feeling me build. He reached forward and grabbed my hair, yanking my head back, so I would feel ridden. I pawed out on the hood, bracing myself for his cock, trying to take all he had to give as he began speeding up, each of his thrusts filling me, winding me. He reached down and smacked my ass again, harder, as I started moaning in time with his cock.

  “Fuck, yes, fuck –“ I shouted as his cock landed the final time it took – my orgasm clenched him and I heard him say, “God, yes,” as his cock plugged me tight.

  I shuddered repeatedly, speared by his cock, feeling it pulse deep inside me as his cum released. His coat fluttered to the asphalt and he hauled me back on him, pushing his hands up my sweater, showing my breasts to the moon, as I howled.

  Chapter 6

  Dark Ink was supposed to be open 24/7.

  That was part of its ‘mystique’, and the introduction to many of its favorable online reviews – “Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to get a tattoo!” -- but what was understood by me and the other artists who took nightshifts waiting for not-entirely drunk walk-ins, was that you could close up for a few hours here or there. Some of them slept in the back – one of the reasons the bell over the door was so loud – others took naps in their cars during breaks.

  As Vegas was between major conventions, it was a weeknight, and colder than balls on a brass monkey outside, I felt pretty safe taking off few hours as long as I was back to high-five someone on the early crew pre-dawn. So I drew to entertain myself until one AM, but after that I set the ‘be back soon!’ sign to a generous five AM and locked the shop behind me.

  I walked out to my car feeling loose and tingly. Tonight I was playing close to the edge. Not with my employment – Angela would never fire me, I was the best artist she had – but with my need to feed. I was down two nights, and the co-eds had helped, but I was too hungry for them to top-off alone.

  You see, sex took the edge off and amazing sex could just about replace it -- and sex with Bella was almost guaranteed to be amazing. But if she wanted to do other things for some reason, like just read tea leaves, my hunger and I were going to have a bad time of it. I didn’t turn into a slavering monster after one night, or even two or three, but after four or five I had a lot of sympathy for junkies.

  * * *

  My first stop was my apartment. It was a basement unit, next to no windows, perfect for me, antithetical for the majority of Vegas. I slid out of my clothing and into the shower, washing the scent of tonight’s penthouse letter away, and when I got out of the shower, dried off.

  I didn’t look at myself in mirrors much. Not because I couldn’t see myself in them – I could, movies were lame – but because there wasn’t much point. For the past four years I hadn’t changed. But now something compelled me to lean over my sink and look. I had one Japanese sleeve, with a dragon swirling up it from my old mentor, the other was covered in thick-lined American traditional tattoos. The knuckles of one hand had the letters JACK tattooed across them, the other had ROCK, since my last name was Stone, from when I was punk and seventeen.

  I wasn’t stupid, I knew I was good looking, but there had to be something else. Karma, Jennifer, Bella, Rose, Cymberly, JJ, Kate, Ruby – all the girls that’d come before, and all ones I knew would come after -- what was it they saw in me? How come with them it was so easy?

  Why couldn’t Angela see whatever it was?

  I pushed back. That was a stupid question to ask and it didn’t deserve an answer. Didn’t need one. All those other women, they knew trouble, were trouble, or were just passing through. Angela…was real to me.

  Which was why I wanted her – and precisely why I could never let that show. I locked down that train of thought and threw away the key, just as my phone buzzed on the counter.

  Don’t be late. Bella.

  Never, I texted her back, and went for the bathroom door.

  Bella lived out in Summerlin, in a suburb that’d sprung up and managed to thrive. I drove the way to her place by memory and when I got there coasted in, parking beside her Kia in the driveway. That someone who considered themselves so mystical lived here and drove that – I shook my head as I walked up.

  Five minutes early, I decided not to ring the doorbell, and instead just tried the door. It opened – and as she’d already invited me in once before, and I stepped through.

  “Open sesame,” I announced, in her entryway/den. Her couches were black velvet, her lamp had a maroon sheet over it to tint the light, and everything else was painted black, the walls, her shelves, her fireplace. Everything but the carpeting was gothic – it was still its original suburbian tan.

  “Jack!” She walked in from her kitchen. She was wearing an apron and not much else, if I could believe my eyes. “You changed,” she said.

  “Not really,” I said, giving her a feral grin.

  She chuckled and walked around behind me to lock the door. Definitely just an apron. I started to feel a lot better about getting fed tonight.

  “So what’s going on?” I asked, following her back to her kitchen. “It’s been months.”

  “Miss me?” she said, looking over her shoulder, as she returned to stirring a small bowl.

  “Always,” I said, but she made a demurring sound.

  “You know better than to say things you don’t mean.”

  From behind I could see ever
ything, her perfectly heart-shaped ass, and half of her numerous tattoos. She had a tramp stamp before their coolness came and faded, only hers were photorealistic antlers, coming out of a mystical grail. We’d met when she’d walked into the shop and needed a mandala tattooed on her inner thigh, which led to the first of many times we’d fucked. I could see a hint of it right now, my art, on her.

  “Sometimes,” I said, more truthfully, walking up to stand behind her. Whatever she was stirring looked like dirt mixed with different dirt. “I’d just assumed you’d moved on.” And I wasn’t the calling type. Why should I be? I had nothing to offer a normal human being.

  Her stirring slowed. “Well, I did. But – it didn’t work out. So – now I’m back. But I need your help.” She set the bowl down and twisted around. “I’m in trouble.”

  I set my hands on her hips. “What kind?”

  “I – fell in with these guys and –“she started, then looked up at me and gave up. “Your aura’s the only thing that’s worse than theirs are.”

  One of my eyebrows rose. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

  She looked innocently at me – as innocent as she could. “It means I think you’re the only person that can save me.”

  Instead of asking ‘Really?’ I had the wisdom to growl, “How?”

  “Like this,” she said, drawing near and leaning up to kiss me.

  Bella and I – we weren’t kissers. I was generally worried about inopportune teeth and she usually wanted me to fuck her fast, animalisticly. So I stiffened as her mouth met mine and her lips parted. “Bella –“I murmured, trying to pull up, but her hands caught my head and brought me back to her. “What’s going on?” I asked, as she set my forehead to hers, giving me a glorious view down the front of her apron at her heaving chest.

  “I am,” she whispered, and grabbed my belt.

  In a moment my belt was unbuckled and my button-fly undone. One of her hands pushed down as the other one went up my stomach. I pulled my shirt off quickly, giving her more access to skin, as her hand inside my jeans found my hard cock and wrapped around.

  “You have missed me, haven’t you?” she said.

  I ran a hand into her thick hair and pulled her head back so she had to look at me. “I’m gonna show you just how much.”

  She shuddered, at my tone, at my raw need – I saw her do it, and I felt her hand tremble, holding me.

  “That’s what you want, isn’t it?” I said, taking a step forward, still holding her by her hair, pressing her back against her countertop. “You thought you were going to be in control tonight, didn’t you?”

  She nodded a little, her head unable to pull much against her trapped hair.

  I lowered my head to breathe in her neck, to smell her, to almost be able to taste her blood – to definitely be able to taste her sex, in the wetness that I knew now freely flowed between her thighs.

  “I don’t know who you’ve been fucking, Bella, but they sure as hell weren’t me.” I stepped back, letting go of her hair and pulling myself away from her in a rush. “Take that apron off, now,” I commanded, and her shaking hands went for the knots. “Then get back to your bedroom, and lay ass up.”

  The apron fell to the ground as she raced down the hall.

  * * *

  I took my time in her kitchen, kicking off my boots and my jeans. I knew she could hear me, just as I knew she’d obeyed. She wanted something from me – and I needed something from her. Waiting made it sharper for us both. And before I walked after her, I went to the den and grabbed the scarf from her lamp.

  Her room was even darker than the den was, but vampires have excellent night vision. Although if I hadn’t been able to see her, I’d still have heard her, her breathing unsteady as she waited and hoped, and I’d definitely have been able smell her, anywhere. I walked up behind her bed, which she was on, ass up, like I’d commanded. I put my knees against the mattress, moved it, and heard her gasp.

  “Jack?”

  I held the scarf up between my hands. I hadn’t decided what I’d do with it yet. Maybe I ought to gag her. “Yeah?”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Whoa.” I stepped away from her bed, letting the scarf go. “Why? It’s just me.” We’d played rougher games than this before.

  She turned on the bed, laying naked in tousled sheets. “It’s just – I was supposed to – the past few months – they’ve been really bad for me.” She got the words out in gasps, and I realized she was crying.

  “Oh – Bella –“My hard-on sank, and my hunger lunged out, like a dog on a leash. She crawled across her bed to me and pulled me down to hold her. “I’m sorry,” I apologized, for who or whatever had hurt her. “I am sorry,” I said, brushing her hair from her face.

  She clung to me, sobbing, and all I could do was hold her back. “My poor baby,” I whispered for her, like someone long ago had once whispered it for me, and rocked her, skin to skin.

  “No, I’m sorry,” she said, wiping a hand across her face. “I didn’t mean to do this with you.”

  I could feel her heart beating against the wall of my chest, and felt small fangs budding out. “You can’t be strong all the time. It’s okay.”

  She looked up at me and put a hand to my chin. “How can you be so evil and still be so safe?”

  I was taken aback by the question. Did she…know what I was? How could she? “I don’t know,” I said, and tried to blow it away.

  She ran fingers through my hair, scratching my scalp, sending tingles down my spine. “Maybe you’re not evil yet is the thing. Maybe all of your evil is still to come.”

  “Maybe,” I said flatly, hoping to discourage further conversation.

  She inhaled deeply and pulled back, looking straight into my eyes. I didn’t know what she was trying to find there – or if the man in the mirror that answered so many women’s unspoken desires was looking back. Then she moved in – I thought to nestle herself against me again, and I started bargaining with my hunger, swearing to give it fresh blood tomorrow night – when I felt her lips kiss at the hollow of my throat.

  I sat still, not wanting to scare her, not wanting to assume. Her lips trailed down a half-inch to my sternum, and kissed me there again.

  By the time she reached my navel I was panting. I didn’t want to – I wanted to be in control -- but the hunger – knowing where her lips were going and why -- there was no way not to be hard. But as her lips met the light hair trailing down I found some inner reserve I didn’t know I had, and stopped her. “You don’t have to, Bella. I’m here for you. Without that. Really.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m doing it,” she whispered, and her mouth sank onto my cock.

  I groaned and slowly fell back on her bed, as her mouth overcame me. There was enough light for me to see her but I still closed my eyes, giving into the sensation of her tongue against my head. She stroked the tip of me with it and sucked just the head gently, cupping her lips all around. I wanted to buck up and make her take more of me, but I could already tell – if we fucked this time – the way we were going to fuck – it’d shut my hunger right the hell up. All I had to do was hang on.

  She worked her mouth down my shaft and started stroking my balls and I risked thrusting, feeling my cock bend down the back of her throat, held in tight. Her dark eyes looked up at me, waiting, and for the second time that night I reached for her hair – to push it out of my way so I could see her. She purred at being watched and went faster – and my body and my hunger fell out of sync. My body wanted her to taste me, now, to hold her head and thrust until everything was spilled inside her mouth. But my hunger required much much more to be sated.

  I pushed myself up on my elbows. “I need to fuck you,” I growled.

  She pulled herself slowly off my cock, letting me feel each inch revealed, and then looked at me, breathless herself. “So do it,” she said, her voice just as low, and I took it as a challenge.

  I folded over myself and grabbed her, pulling her over me,
shoving her up, until her thighs framed my face. I knew she was wet, but I had to be sure – I grabbed her ass and pulled her onto me, burying my face in the sweetness of her pussy. I licked her open and pushed in and felt more than heard her moan, her whole body shuddering over me. I worked my tongue up until it was under her hood and sucked at her there, while pushing my chin up to grind. I felt her ass tense under my hands and she thrust into me, begging me to suck harder, push deeper. More wetness flowed, so much, and I knew – I pushed out from underneath her, I had to get my cock inside her now. I rose up behind her, her on her knees in front of me. I grabbed her hips and pulled.

  “Jack,” she hissed, as my cock landed. We both waited there for a moment, feeling this new space, occupied. Her breath hitched and then she rocked against me, and I thrust into her, and we were off again. I saw her dart a hand down between her legs as I hunched over her, thrusting deep and I braced with one hand and wrapped the other around her, holding onto her breast, rolling a nipple. Each time I thrust she grunted and soon both her hands where on her head board, so she could press back into me. I felt my cock glide in and out of her on a river of juices and spit and thought maybe I’d never been so deep in a woman before – maybe I’d finally met someone able to take me – the hunger roiled through my body, fusing with it, becoming one with all my motions, so that all of me was ready to devour her the second she –

  let –

  go –

  her pussy swelled and grabbed my cock and I knew – I grabbed her hips and thrust wildly, shoving my cock in and out, feeling her thick walls close in as my hard cock arched up and – Bella screamed as the first wave clenched tight.

  Luckily I knew her – I knew so much better than to slow down.

  I fucked her right through that orgasm, and the next, and the one after that – it was like she had a switch inside that, once flicked, wanted to stay on – her pussy like an incandescent light. By the fourth one though – my hunger couldn’t stand it any longer. I’d absorbed so much life from her, but none of it would count if I couldn’t give her some back.