“No, that was your one and only stipulation, but before you wouldn’t even let me use a finger.”

I snorted and looked over my shoulder. “And you listened?”

“I know, right. It wasn’t much fun. Not before anyway. I love the way your hips wiggle into my finger, inviting me in.”

My cheeks burned and I lied, thinking about the few times that he had used a finger. “That wasn’t an invitation.”

“No?” he questioned while his fingers picked up my arousal slid in. Just the tip. A middle finger I think. I hesitated not about to move, to get busted in a lie. Not a muscle moved, not even a breath. Not until he did the reach around. One pinch to my aching core had me pressing back.

Paxton took the lead by a head when I pushed back. He was the one to stay perfectly still that time. All but the twisting back and forth he did on my clit, that is. I whimpered and backed up more.

“That’s it my little slut, come to your owner.”

I was so messed up in the head. His gravely tone and dominate victory chilled me to the bone. I can’t really call it a premonition because I didn’t really see a vison. It was more like a knowing. I liked it. Paxton was the poison and I liked it. What the hell was wrong with me?

Paxton was a pro. Paxton knew exactly how to set up a plan. Bait the hook for later. I whimpered when he slowly removed his finger and slid into me.

“I might let you have that later. Not in a bathroom. Not now.”

From the time Paxton slid into me, to the time we were both spent, may have been five minutes. I didn’t make it that long. That was a second one for me. That’s how crazy turned on I was.

Once we were finished I stayed behind and cleaned up. Paxton opened the door and I turned to look at him, not expecting him to be looking back. The look in his eyes and the tone in his voice told me I had just chipped away a little more. I would take it.

“You’re driving me crazy.”

I smiled and placed my hand on the door. “You love it.” The door broke our contact and let the back of my head beat off the wall. He did love it, and I loved the crazy I caused. Truth was, he caused the same crazy in me. He knew that, too.

I curled up on Paxton’s arm with a soft white blanket when I returned. His typing fingers stopped for a moment while his ego reacted to me watching him work.

“Is that going to be a waterfall?” I asked with my finger pointing to rock-wall in the making. His lips kissed my head and he replied. I relaxed.

“I’m not sure yet. This is the job that’s kept me late all week. It’s a lot of space. The guy wants four-thousand-square-feet turned into a retreat.”

“Wow, I bet that’s expensive.”

Talking to Paxton like this made me the happiest girl on the planet. “That’s the problem. His budget is a quarter-million-dollars. I need at least three-hundred to pull off what he’s expecting.”

I studied the landscaping design in front of him with constricted eyes. “That’s a huge waterfall. Why so big?”

“He wants a waterslide going down the middle. Thirty feet. That’s a lot of stone. Stones not cheap around these parts. Not to mention I have to break up a hug slab of concrete. Twenty five by eighteen. That’s an expense on its own.”

I moved a little, repositioning myself for a better view. “You could use those. The pieces. They’re free. It would be all profit.”

“Shut-up. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh really? Well I’ll have you know, you can stack them and use a mixture of concrete and three different colors of dioxide for the stone look. Mix it up like porridge shovel it on. Let it gravitate toward the bottom before you shape it into a stones. It’s easier to work with that way. Oh, it’s better because you’re not giving any little creatures a habitat to bread. Nobody wants snakes or lizards hanging out at their pool. Good selling point,” I added not missing a beat. “Maybe you could even put a couple deeper holes to plant some color.” That’s when I stopped. My eyes went to Paxton’s, looking just as shocked as his. I snorted and smiled. “I have no idea how I know that. I wonder if there’s any truth behind it.”

Paxton didn’t blink an eye. He stared over at me like I had just figured out Newton’s Law. Like building waterfalls was my specialty. He finally grunted when I elbowed him in the ribs.

“What’s wrong with you? Stop looking at me like that.”

“You’re a fucking genius. That could work. That could work and I could make one hell of a profit off this job. I’m going to look into that. I don’t get it. You just rattled that shit off like you did it every day.”

My eyebrows turned toward inward and my nose scrunched with a silly smile. “Right? Where did that come from?”

“Where do you want a waterfall? I have a whole pile behind my shop from an old basement I dug out. I don’t want to go to Disneyland. I want go home and build a waterfall.”

I laughed and snuggled back into his side. This was going to be a good trip. I felt it deep in my soul. Paxton talked about his plans for the property, totally asking my opinion. Again, I gave my opinion and he listened. For the first time since I met him, I felt like he valued me as a person. Not just a piece of meat, a maid, and cook. Like I mattered.

I closed my eyes when he moved the shrubs around for the fifth time. I yawned and felt a kiss to my head. A relaxing calm blanketing me with love and admiration. It might have taken a lot of time and effort, but I was sure we were going to beat this thing. We had to. People didn’t have this much gravitational pull toward one another without it being real. It was real, and I would take the days like this and deal with the other ones for as long as I could handle it.

~~

“We’re you headed, pretty little thing.”

I didn’t have to turn around to know Tommy Boy’s voice. His arm went around my neck and I smelled the sweat from his armpit.

“I have to go home. Ms. Porter needs her medicine.”

“When we gonna hang out, Yo? You never want to do anything but school work. You gotta live a little. Have some fun. Tell you what. How about you meet me on your stoop at eleven tonight. The old bag will be half dead by then.”

“I can’t. Sorry. I’ll see ya around.”

I tried to get away from him, but he wouldn’t let me. Three other guys enclosed me, one I didn’t even know from our hood. He was young. Like me. The other three were Falcon’s age. Old enough to know better.

“Leave me alone. I’ll scream,” I threatened, my heart pounding heavy in my chest. I was a pea next to one of them, let alone three of them.

“Leave me alone, I’ll scream,” The ring leader patronized me by mimicking my words. I bet his heart wasn’t pounding though. Not like mine.

“Stop it,” I said again, repeating myself over and over. The young one was the daring one.

“Stop it,” Tommy said again in a whiny tone. Mine wasn’t whiny. Mine was scared shitless. Shaky and full of fear. Fear that pumped rapidly through my veins.

I didn’t see what happened directly after that. The next thing I knew I was somewhere else. Somewhere besides the street that I kept myself planted on.

I was an initiation. A seventeen-year-old helping a thirteen year old get into the Birds. A commencement into a gang. Three of them held me down and watched while the newest member did whatever he wanted to me. And just when I thought I was done, the other three helped themselves, too. They didn’t care about me. They didn’t care about my cries, my pleas to stop. They didn’t care. Nobody cared.

I knew where I was because it wasn’t the first time I’d been on that nasty mattress. Falcon took me there when his momma was home. But nobody else. Everyone knew better. The thought of asking for the drugs Tommy Boy promised crossed my mind. I wanted to go there. Where my mom used to go when a needle was inserted to her veins. To a better place.