Antihero (Imperfect Heroes Book 1) Page 6

  His fingers climbed higher up my thigh, finally pushing aside my panties. One eager finger slid into me, slick and easy. I groaned into his mouth. It was him making me forget my own name now.

  “I want you, T. I can either take you in the backseat or we can head to my place. Your choice, sweetheart.”

  It was difficult, but I really didn’t want to have car sex like a couple of teenagers. “Take me to a bed, now,” I breathed into his ear.

  He pulled his hand away from my leg and stuck it in his mouth, smiling as he licked his finger. Then he started up the car and drove a little too fast back to his place.

  Ellis

  I could barely drive home with her hand on my zipper and her lips so close to my ear. The car was permeated with the smell of sex and heat. How did Talia do things to me nobody else could?

  I steered the car toward my house and decided to throw caution to the humid wind and say, “Stay with me tonight.”

  It wasn’t a question, it was a demand, a plea.

  She stopped licking my ear and said, “I don’t know.”

  “Why not?” I shot back, immediately regretting the question. I didn’t know why I regretted asking it, just that I thought I sounded sorta desperate. But wasn’t that what I was?

  She shrugged, taking that bottom lip captive again. “I… I don’t know. I just shouldn’t.”

  We reached a stoplight and I put the car in park. I reached over and ran my hand over her creamy, pale thigh again. I then reached up under her dress, grazing my fingers over the black lace, and my pants shrunk another size. “Please.”

  She stared at me again, that hostage lip and those indecisive amber eyes that gave her away in every way. I knew I had her.

  “Please,” I said again.

  A green light illuminated her beautiful face and I knew I needed to put the car into motion, but I didn’t care. There were no other cars around so I just sat there, waiting for her answer.

  Finally, she smiled a little, nodding her pretty red head. “Okay. I’ll stay with you.”

  I smiled in triumph and put the car into gear, heading to my place.

  I had a feeling we weren’t going to get much sleep tonight. And that was fucking awesome.

  She’d been to my place a few times, but had never stayed the night. What in the hell was wrong with us?

  I set the alarm to my beautiful car and led us to the door of my little mobile home I rented in this ridiculous trailer park. Thankfully, this one was one of the “higher end” mobile home parks, the roads paved and lawns manicured, a little kiddie park on its edge with play equipment and a basketball hoop.

  Talia didn’t seem to care at all. After I locked the door, I threw my keys, phone, and wallet onto my kitchen counter, and then looked at her. She had a mischievous, wild look on her face, and I slid the purse she had slung around her body off over her head and threw it on my couch. But she didn’t move.

  Crouching down, I slowly removed one of her boots and set it next to the sofa. I then removed the other, and looked up to see her staring down at me in amusement.

  I kissed the tops of her purple painted toes and began trailing kisses up her ankle, knee, then the inside of her perfect thigh. Reaching up while my lips stayed on her skin, I pulled her panties off and tossed them… somewhere.

  Standing slowly, I slid my hands up her hips, taking her dress with me. She raised her arms voluntarily when it reached her ribcage, and I tossed the dress off of her with one swift movement.

  The black lacy thing holding her breasts in place had to come off. Pressing my body into hers, I kissed her softly on the mouth and then threaded my fingers through the curls on the back of her head. With slow movements that were killing me, I slid my hand down her back and popped the latch on her bra, releasing it as I slid both straps off her shoulders, never breaking the kiss. She groaned into my mouth when I tossed it to the side, and then I pulled apart from her for a fraction of a second to lose my shirt.

  I pressed my bare chest into hers and pushed her to walk backwards toward my room. The door was already open and we kept walking and kissing until we reached my bed. The backs of her knees hit the mattress and she fell with a giggle, me following.

  Talia slid on her back until her beautiful head was on a pillow and I put myself on top of her, leaning down to lick and kiss every inch of her body. My dick was straining unbelievably hard against my jeans, so I yanked them off, tossing them onto the floor. Underwear? No. Who has time for that?

  I was on top of her, my cock pressing into her thigh.

  “Please, Ellis. I need you. Please,” she breathed into my ear.

  Oh, hell.

  I smiled down at her, my hand pinning her down on her belly, and looked at my nightstand. Knowing it held what I needed, I reached over and pulled out a box. Fuck! Empty.

  A mild panic began to overtake me. I slid over and began rummaging through the drawer until relief flooded me at the feel of a small, round foil wrapper. I pulled it out. I couldn’t remember buying this brand but who the fuck cared. I needed it now.

  Note to self: Go buy more Trojans tomorrow.

  I ripped it open and slid it on, looking back at my girl, her lip in her teeth again, making me absolutely insane. Did she do that on purpose, that lip biting thing? Or did she even know she was doing it? I didn’t care. It made me stand to attention and that was exactly what I needed right now.

  Her legs were already open so I positioned myself between them. I loved how she smiled wickedly up at me as I grabbed both her hands and pinned them above her head, wrapping my hand around her delicate, thin wrists. She gave no resistance at all.

  Without breaking eye contact, I plunged into her silky depths, gasping in relief. I kept her hands hostage as I watched her beautiful, naughty expression turn to one of surrender. Her eyes closed and her eyebrows dipped together, her breaths getting faster. I felt her wet muscles clench around me and then she was panting at me to keep going.

  I pounded her harder. She smiled, then concentrated again, her hips bucking to meet mine as I continued to thrust as hard as I could.

  She made a strange mewling sound and relaxed a little, and so did I. I kept moving, looking down at her as her hands were pinned above her head. My right arm had them captive, but my left hand was free to do… whatever it wanted.

  I used the flat of my palm to run it over her peaked nipple, causing her to moan. I then ran it over the plain of her belly, circling my finger around her bellybutton, continuing my thrusts as she met me stroke for stroke.

  Pressing my hand down to her beautiful mound, I then slid a finger down to her sensitive nub, circling my finger there as I felt us both moving together, me inside her then out, then in again. Watching the movement was too much as I felt the pleasurable pressure continuing to build inside me.

  Then I felt her clench around me again. Her nipples went hard instantly and her hips bucked in time with mine.

  “Oh, God, please,” she cried out, slamming her hips against mine.

  I was completely undone. I felt my eyes roll back as I lost everything I had inside of her.

  Then I felt something strange. It almost felt like a pop. All I knew was that the head of my cock was suddenly the only thing I could feel inside of her. It was the most intense, pleasurable feeling ever. Every burst of what I let loose was rushing out of me, and I could feel every minute detail. I’d never felt anything so... fucking awesome.

  I collapsed on top of my beautiful girl, my body shaking from the experience, my emotions skittering all over the damn place. That was unlike anything I’d ever felt. It was incredible… indescribable… should I say beautiful?

  I pulled out of her and gasped when I went to yank off the condom. The entire tip was ripped and hanging open.

  The damn thing had busted open.

  Fuck me.

  Chapter 8

  Talia

  I rolled over as soon as he was out of me. Oh, my God. Now I knew why I put up with not knowing much about Ellis.
His cock was a magic wand, and I was under its damn spell.

  After pulling out, he’d done something with the condom and came behind me to wrap his body close around mine. His form molded perfectly to me, but he didn’t seem perfectly relaxed. He still felt a bit stiff, but maybe that was just how he was. I cursed myself for not knowing him better, but that was short-lived when sleep began to take me. I was exhausted from the day, and as much as I wanted to roll over and stare into his mesmerizing eyes, I just couldn’t. My body was a useless heap of spent energy, and I needed to sleep a little.

  I’d been over to this little mobile home of his before but I’d never spent the night. What was the morning going to be like? It wasn’t like he could just take off. He lived here. And I certainly wasn’t going to just leave. I’d look into the crystal-blue depths of his eyes in the early morning light and hopefully we’d make love again.

  But was that what we were doing? Making love? Or were we just having sex? Two people who were very attracted to each other fulfilling a need in one another? I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that from the moment I’d met Ellis Anderson, he’d captured my heart.

  I’d been furious with myself the moment I had actually admitted to myself that I had let him have my heart. I’d been lying to myself, saying the physical attraction was just that—someone to have fun with. But then every time we slept together, I realized I was chipping off a small part of my heart and soul a little more to him each time.

  How the hell did people have “casual sex”? Because I most certainly wasn’t cut out for it. So why was I doing it? At first I didn’t know. All I knew was that when he was in my presence, I couldn’t say no to him. What did that make me? Some sort of whooped little girl?

  I wasn’t sure. And it frustrated me that the lines were blurred so badly. I had wanted a definition to what we were. Boyfriend and girlfriend? Booty-call only? Future exes? I was going insane…

  If I was just his “booty call”, he wouldn’t take me out in public, right? He’d keep me on speed-dial and ask to come over when the need arose. That was what it seemed like at first, and with me dealing with the death of my mother, the busyness of school, and my job, I sort of didn’t care. But now—six months into it—I should care, right?

  I did care. I hated to admit it, but I did.

  These thoughts were making me crazy. I drifted off to sleep with Ellis’s perfect body spooning me, and I told myself to stop overanalyzing shit and just enjoy him.

  I sure hoped my heart would obey my mind one of these days.

  When my eyes fluttered open the next morning, the confusion was replaced with annoyance. I was in Ellis’s bedroom, but I was alone.

  Ellis was gone.

  I threw back the covers and got up, stretched, and found his shirt on the floor. Shoving it over my head, I used his bathroom, and then wandered out into his living room. The whole entire mobile home was utterly quiet, and I could practically hear crickets. Except it wasn’t night. Sun was streaming in through every window, and making my way to one of them, I could see his car in the same spot he’d left it the night before. Before he’d made love to me in his bed—more than once.

  Although when I searched the entire home, Ellis was nowhere to be found. I unlocked and opened the back door, and with both arms wrapped around me, wandered out to what could be considered a backyard. It was nothing more than some patio furniture and a little grass, but he was nowhere.

  I breathed in deep, gazing at the small park with the play equipment for kids off in the distance. It was vacant, but I was sure later on, it would be full of kids.

  Wandering back inside, I went into the kitchen and saw the clock on the microwave reading 8:22 a.m. Where the hell was my man?

  I saw a coffee pot, and it was full. Pressing the flat of my hand to its glass body, I could feel the heat radiating there. I rummaged through the cabinets until I found a coffee mug and poured some into it. There was a small bottle of vanilla creamer in his fridge, and I poured a little in to counteract the bitterness I knew the coffee would assault my tongue with.

  I scrunched my nose as the coffee slid down my throat. It wasn’t the worst I’d tasted, but I could definitely say I was officially a coffee snob. I took a few more sips and dumped the rest down the drain, rinsing out the cup and leaving it in the sink.

  How could he just leave me here in his place? The urge to snoop around was overwhelming, but I just couldn’t. Would I want him nosing around my place as I slept or if I’d left?

  I laughed at that. I’d never leave him asleep in my own damn bed. Fuck him for doing that to me. Maybe I should snoop around.

  Sighing at my own morality, I shook my head and found my dress and purse strewn over the couch. I tossed Ellis’s shirt off and put on the bra, panties, dress, and purse, and smiled when I found my keys at the bottom of my purse. Then I cursed when I remembered my car was at my apartment, and I was trapped here.

  Damn.

  Pulling out my phone, I didn’t see any messages from Ellis. No text, no note, no nothing. I began to type furiously with my thumbs.

  I don’t know where you are, but you need to get your ass back to your house. I need to get home.

  I made no effort at being nice, courteous, or flirty. The longer I sat here, the more pissed off I got when I didn’t get a reply. After about an hour, I gave up hope that he had just left to go out and get breakfast or something. I was so out of here. I picked up my phone and searched through the contacts, hitting send when I located the one I wanted.

  Chapter 9

  Ellis

  The motorcycle’s roar soothed my ears and relaxed me, and then the vibration of my phone in my pocket made me stress up again. I knew it was her. She was texting me, asking where the hell I was. But I didn’t have an answer for her. I was everywhere and nowhere, driving down the interstate with no destination at all. And I didn’t care. I had to clear my head. I’d worn no helmet because I didn’t care about the law right now. I guess it was in my nature not to care. I’d practically started my life off as a criminal, hadn’t I?

  Woman in love with an ex-con, gets pregnant by him, then has me… never met my dad ‘cause he ended up back behind bars, now serving a twenty-five-year federal sentence for a drug crime and Mom refused to bring me to a prison visiting room to see him. And did I care? Not really. Probably why I’d taken the path I’d taken. Drugs, guns, gang-banging. It was in my nature. It was what was comfortable to me. I shouldn’t have been proud of that—and I wasn’t. The Marine Corps had shown me a whole different point of view. A side where you saved lives for no other reason than it was the right thing to do—not take lives because it served my selfish cause. As much of an adjustment that that had been for me, I had learned fast. A drill sergeant barking and spitting in my face about what a lowlife piece of shit I was didn’t faze me one bit. I already knew I was a lowlife piece of shit. What did faze me, though, was being sent 5,000 miles away, to the other side of the world, to defend and protect the freedoms of a country I knew didn’t give two fucks about me, the United States, or anything else good.

  Still, I did what I was told. I loaded and cleaned and assembled and disassembled my weapon like they told me to. I slept and didn’t sleep when they’d told me to. I wore what and when they told me to wear. I never asked why. I never complained. The thought of prison and being forced back into a white supremacist gang kept my nose to the fucking grindstone. I wanted no part of any of that.

  Do your four years, then you’re done.

  You’re free.

  You can do whatever you want.

  Stay out of trouble.

  Until one day, trouble found me. Well, me, and my entire company.

  Sent out to scout a possible enemy camp, three other Marines and I took the Humvee out to investigate why the scout hadn’t returned. It wasn’t the first time we’d been tasked with this, and it wouldn’t have been the last. So with familiarity, we set off, sure we’d find nothing. But it wasn’t what we found, but instead what found
us that changed something inside of me.

  Like I always did, I thought about that day Duke had almost lost his leg due to that deadly IED. The day I’d almost lost two fingers, but still ended up sacrificing one. I looked down at the place where I should have a pinky finger and the deep scarring of the finger next to it, when a honk from a car behind me caught my attention and burst me out of my military musings.

  With both feet planted on the hot asphalt on either side of my bike seat, I looked up to see the light had turned green. I have got to stop daydreaming at stoplights.

  I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I knew that when I’d woken up with Talia this morning, I’d been both happy and scared shitless. I just needed to take a ride to clear my head. I should have left her a note or a text or something, but I was obviously an inconsiderate asshole like that. She’d figure it out, I’m sure.

  My bike took me back to the bridge leading over the gulf waters, as it had so many times. This was a familiar mainstay to me, obviously something that helped soothe whatever was scrambling my mind at the moment. And right now, it was Talia.

  What had freaked me out so badly about waking up next to her? Wasn’t that what I always wanted? Maybe she didn’t though. Maybe I had coerced her into staying. Although I didn’t hear her asking me to take her home after she’d collapsed in my arms.

  Then there was the broken condom. That had never happened before, and that was probably the reason for my freakout. My stomach was in knots but I wasn’t sure if I should tell her or not. I was just going to assume she was on some sort of birth control. I didn’t think she had some freaky disease and I know I didn’t. I hadn’t been with anyone but her in the past six months. I tried to calm my brain by looking at the early morning sun glistening over the choppy water. I kept moving and got to the pier I’d been at last night—we’d been at last night—and killed the engine.