N9ne: The Tale of Kevin Clearwater (King, #9)(45)
He’s staring at me. Unmoving. Unblinking.
“That’s not why I flinched,” he says as I finish wrapping his wound.
“Then, why?”
He’s still staring at me with that puzzled look on his face. I’m squirming inside my own skin, so I break the moment by standing and retrieving my bottle from the bathroom.
“Do you believe me?” I ask, with my back still turned. “That I didn’t have anything to do with Jared’s scam?”
“I want to believe you,” he answers.
“Why am I here?”
The frustration in his voice grows as does the volume of them. “Because it’s not safe. There are men looking for you, or don’t you remember?”
It’s an answer, but it’s not a good enough one. “Why do you care if they come for me? Why do you care if they take me? I don’t know where the money is. I can’t give it back to you. I can’t do anything but drink your vodka and squat in your RV until you throw me out for failure to pay rent or failure be sober or just for being a failure at life, so any sort of reason you could offer, any little tidbit of info as to why you’d want to surround yourself with this, please, by all means, do tell.”
He stands and takes a step toward me. “I don’t have to tell you shit except that you’re not leaving. Not yet. Not until I have this figured out. Until then, you can be as drunk as you want for as long as you want, but you’re going to be drunk here. Is that understood?”
“You don’t believe me, do you,” I say. I turn my back to Nine.
“I don’t know,” he answers, his voice is close, I spin around to find him standing so close it only takes one tug on my hip, and I’m pressed flat against him.
“I don’t fucking know what to believe,” he continues.
Suddenly, I’m furious, the anger simmering deep down and explodes into my words. “Well, that makes two of us. It might be the one thing we actually have in common. I’ve trusted the wrong people one too many times, and I’m not about to go down that road again and take you at your word and just hang around until you do decide to torture or kill me, and you know what? You shouldn’t trust me,” I push on his chest, but he catches my wrists, squeezing them tightly. “because you don’t fucking know me!”
I lean to the side and look past him to the door.
He tugs my body back, holding me tighter. “You’re not leaving,” he warns.
I push my chest into his, challenging him. “Oh yeah? Watch me!”
“I said you’re not fucking leaving.” Nine’s nostrils flare.
“You’re not just some puppet master who can pull my strings and get his way,” I yell, struggling harder, but he’s so damn big and strong, it’s infuriating!
He moves in closer, brushing his lips over the sensitive tip of my ear. A tingling sensation tickles its way down my spine and I curse my betraying body.
“Oh, little bird, you’ve got it all wrong.” He grabs my chin, forcing me to meet his dark hooded gaze. “I don’t want to pull your strings.” He looks so deep into my eyes that I’m sure he can see my spleen. I’m scared and uncomfortable. Two of my least favorite things to be. “I want to set you free.”
His lips cover mine and the tickling in my spine burns, turning into an all-out eruption of sensation and need.
He’s kissing me. I should be mad. And I am mad. I pull away, but his fingers tangle in my hair, holding my head in place while he ravages my mouth.
Suddenly, I’m in the air, in Nine’s arms. My legs instinctually wrap around his waist. His tongue seeks mine and when they touch, there’s no dancing or sweetness. It’s a war. A battle of mouths and lips and tongues. Clanking teeth and hissing sounds. It’s anarchy. Chaos. Desire burning like heated iron colliding with an unmistakable need for victory. As if whoever wins this kiss wins the argument and gets their way.
Win the kiss. Win my freedom.
You mean win the feeling of his body on top of yours. Win the feeling of his tongue stroking your—
I cut Anxiety off before she continues, because she’s no help to me here. If anything, she’s the reason I find myself writhing against him like a cat in heat.
Nine carries me into the bedroom, tossing me down onto the bed. He stands over me, breathing hard. I can see the outline of his huge erection under his sweats. My face flushes along with the rest of my body.
Of all the things I am imagining that might come next, none of it is close to what does happen, which is Nine, flicking off the light and uttering only a single word before leaving the room completely.
“Sleep.”
* * *
NINE
“I can sleep on the couch,” she calls back to me.
I shut my eyes tightly. “Just go to sleep.” Fuck my life. One more second with Lenny wrapped around me like that, and I was about to take her like an animal. Fucking her isn’t in the cards right now. She doesn’t know who I really am. I don’t know what she’s really guilty of. And the thought of taking her, of being assaulted by the past when I’m with…no, I can’t do it. Not now and not with her.
Although with this aching need and pain in my gut and in my cock, I might have to relieve myself soon with one of the girl’s that’s used to me freaking out afterwards and doesn’t give a shit as long as she gets paid.