I went back to AJ, tossed a few bills onto the counter to cover our drinks, and left without a word to him or anyone else. Kassa quietly walked beside me as I pulled her toward her car. I unlocked it and opened her door, holding on to her hand until she was seated. Stepping back, I carefully closed the door and went around to the driver’s side. She remained quiet as I drove us home, the car full of the leftover rage still flooding through me. I watched her out of the corner of my eye, saw the way she cradled her wrist in her hand and how she flinched whenever she touched one of the angry, red spots on her flesh.
I pulled her car into the garage a few minutes later and turned it off, but we just sat there, neither of us attempting to move to get out.
“What happened?” I demanded in a quiet voice that defied the rage that wanted free reign.
“He seemed nice at the gym the last few weeks, but I had been turning him down when he’d asked me out. But then Alicia encouraged me to give him a chance and so I said yes the last time.” She shrugged. “But he was different tonight. He got mad when I didn’t laugh at his stupid joke, and things went downhill from th
ere. I was leaving when he grabbed me.”
“Was he drinking?”
She nodded, and I clenched my eyes closed, picturing all the times my father had pulled the Jekyll and Hyde bit on my mother. When he hadn’t been drinking, he had actually been an all right kind of man. But, after a few drinks, he would become a monster.
Kassa had been out with a man like that. She could have ended up just like my mother.
Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t make my lungs fucking work as the panic of picturing Kassa in that kind of position stole the air from my lungs.
SEVENTEEN
Kassa
Gray’s face became pale as he struggled to suck in a deep enough breath. I knew what was happening to him, could see the panic on his face, and was at a loss for how to help him.
I touched his cheek because that had worked in the past, but right then, it did nothing to help him. “Gray,” I called and cupped his face between my hands. “Hey, I’m okay,” I said to assure him.
But he only closed his eyes, tuning me out.
“Gray,” I pleaded. “Look at me. I’m okay, babe. I’m right here with you. Safe. We’re safe. You protected me. I…” Tears spilled from my eyes because I didn’t seem to be getting through to him.
Scared and hurting for him, I wrapped my arms around his neck and touched my lips to his. It was just a quick brush of my lips over his, to try to bring him back to me, but it had an immediate effect on him. On both of us. My entire body caught fire at that innocent brush of lips on lips.
Gray went completely still, before his eyes slowly opened. He looked down at me, and the fear and rage faded right before my eyes, only for his gaze to fill up with a hunger that seemed to suddenly consume him as it filled the car with tension that sparked brightly as our eyes stayed locked.
“Kas,” he groaned and tenderly grasped my face in his big hands. “Fuck, Kas.” His head descended and his lips caught mine in a kiss that made me forget about everything else.
His tongue thrust into my mouth, giving me my first real taste of Gray. I could taste beer on his breath, but there was something else, something exhilarating and exciting. My fingers raked through the hair at the back of his head as I kissed him back, touching my own tongue to his as I silently begged him to never stop kissing me.
Gray was hungry, devouring my mouth as if I could fill whatever void was empty inside him. His hand dropped from my cheek, going to my waist and pulling me across the car and onto his lap. I went willingly, my legs moving on either side of his as I straddled his lap in the small seat. My ass hit the steering wheel, but he gripped it, protecting me from bumping into it again.
The windows fogged up around us, but we didn’t care, kissing and kissing until we were both gasping for air. He pressed my hips down, pushing my core right over his hardness. I saw flashes of light behind my closed lids from the shot of pure pleasure that seemed to electrify me from the inside out. I shifted my hands to his shoulders, holding on as he moved my hips back and forth on his hard-as-steel cock.
This was madness. All I had wanted was to comfort him, not start something that was burning through me like an out-of-control wildfire. But I wasn’t going to complain. I had dreamed of kissing him, of touching him—of him touching me—like this. It felt so good, and I never wanted it to end.
One of his hands released my ass and cupped my breast, squeezing and massaging at first, but then he found my pebble-hard nipple and pinched it, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger as I whimpered into his mouth. As he groaned, his other hand went to comfort my other breast, his fingers slipping under the top of my halter and pulling it free. The cool air from the AC caused goose bumps to pop up along my overheated skin.
Gray made an unintelligible noise in his throat and broke our kiss, only for him to push me back against the steering wheel and bury his face between my breasts. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said with a growl before sucking one nipple deep into his hot mouth. His tongue pressed it against the roof of his mouth.
The pleasure was so intense that I cried out, my hand stabbing through his hair to hold him against me. His hands were busy again, but I was so caught up in what he was doing with his mouth that I barely noticed when he unsnapped my jeans until he’d pushed his hand inside and touched my drenched pussy through my panties.
“Ah, fuck,” he grated out against my flesh. “So wet for me.” His finger parted my pussy lips, and he brushed the pad of his thumb over my clit.
“Gray,” I breathed. “Mm, that feels so good.”
“I know, baby. I know.” His fingers stroked lower, teasing around my opening. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. I’m going to live off this memory, Kassa. I’m going to jerk myself off every damn night while thinking about you just like this.”
The images that filled my mind only made me wetter, my pussy gushing a little onto his hand. His middle finger pushed up into me, going only as far as his first knuckle before pulling out and thrusting back in. My back arched against the steering wheel, my legs trembling from the pleasure of his touch while he continued to suck on my nipples, going from one to the other and back again.
I felt reckless and needy, not caring about anything but wanting Gray to make me come. His cock was hard against his thigh as it rubbed against my ass through our jeans. With a tortured groan, he angled me so that the seam of my ass was cupping his hardness.