Chapter 7
Nightfall
The nights were starting to run into each other. Seraphina had decided she needed to change it up. Therefore, she made her way to a country bar that boasted its line dancing and karaoke. Neither appealed to her, and she seriously didn’t want to hear people trying to live out their dreams of singing in front of a live audience. Not many could wow a crowd. However, she was in the mood for something more … rugged tonight.
Dressed in skinny jeans tucked into a pair of cowboy boots she had worn once while horseback riding and a flowy, spaghetti strapped top, she walked into the place like she owned it and made her way to the bar. Whiskey was the top agenda. It was a “cowboy” bar after all.
She slid between two men who were conversing, not caring in the least that she was breaking into their conversation. They didn’t care either.
The man to her left leered at her, saying to his friend, “Look at what we got here,” before he said to her, “How you doin’, dollface?”
Seraphina simply grinned at him as the bartender tapped on the bar top to get her attention.
“Whiskey, straight up,” she told him while holding out her ID, knowing the routine in a new place and knowing how young she looked.
The bartender glanced at her identification then nodded before moving on, delivering an order a few seats down before flipping a shot glass over and pouring her drink.
“Never seen you in here before,” the guy on her right commented.
Seraphina again simply grinned shyly at him as the bartender slid her whiskey toward her. Then he uncapped a bottle of beer and set it beside her shot, telling her, “Chaser. On the house,” and winking before scuttling off to his next customer.
Seraphina took the shot and quickly swallowed it down. Then she held the glass at her lips, rolling it along her bottom one as she savored the warm liquid and shook off the harsh burn sliding down her throat. Setting the glass down, she shimmied her body, which had the two men focusing on her ass in her tight jeans. Then she picked up the beer bottle, glanced at the first man, the one on her left, and asked, “Dance with me?”
His leering smirk turned into a triumphant smile, his eyes crinkling. “My pleasure.”
His friend laughed and patted the guy on the back, telling him he will take care of my tab, but that he got the next dance.
Again, Seraphina simply grinned at him, giving him her thanks, before she winked at him then lifted the bottle to her lips, taking a big swallow of the ice-cold, full-flavored, fermented liquid barley.
For the next hour, her newfound yet fleeting friend taught her how to line dance, only passing her off to his friend once before taking all her attention again. Seraphina, however, made sure to give his friend come-hither eyes, letting him know he was her target. She would glance at him fleetingly before quickly looking away, seeming coy in her longing.
The man who had set his claim on her pulled her in for a slow dance, rubbing his erection along her belly. His jeans were as tight as his hair flowed loosely under the brim of his faux Stetson, making his erection prominent yet tightly confined. She made sure to make his situation harder for him by pressing against him, swaying and adding pressure as she grinded into him, and sometimes “accidentally” brushing, sometimes kneading the bulge. It became too much for him.
As he excused himself to the bathroom, Seraphina made her way back to his friend and her target, who promptly asked the bartender for another shot for her. She gladly took it, giving him a grateful smile. Then she picked up another beer and took a few swigs, the liquid refreshing her dry throat.
Setting the bottle down, she inspected her target. He was about mid-thirties with no wedding ring, though by the permanent indention on his finger, he once was. He looked weathered down, like he worked outdoors—her guess was construction—with soft blue eyes and dark hair that had a splattering of gray. He was dressed in jeans, but nowhere near as tight as his friend’s, and a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He wore a gold cross around his neck, denoting his denomination was Catholic. Perfect.
She took a step toward him, almost straddling one of his spread thighs, but not quite. Yet, she was close enough that she could press her ache against his knee and rub herself. Instead of relieving her longing, the touch inflamed it. She let out a low groan, needing so much more.
“Help me?” she asked him softly, pressing herself against him again while she arched her back and her eyes unconsciously fluttered.
“What about—”
“You,” she practically begged. “Please. I want you.”
Heart racing, the man glanced around the room, not seeing his friend. The poor man was still in the bathroom, hoping that, by getting himself off now, he could last longer when he got the young thing in his bed later. He was going to be sorely disappointed when he found her and his friend gone.
The Catholic man threw down some bills to cover their tab. Then he clasped Seraphina’s hand and led her out to his truck. He helped her into the passenger seat then came around to the driver’s side. As he was starting the engine to get them somewhere more private, she clambered onto his lap and started grinding against him.
Kissing his neck, she made her way up to his ear where she gently bit his lobe and breathed into his ear, “Fuck me. I want you to fuck me hard, please.”
The man was done. Her soft and urgent touches, her breathing those words into his ear, knowing this beautiful girl wanted him with a desperation he felt himself for her, there was nothing he could do but give in to her, come hell or high water.
To hell with his friend.
To hell with being caught.
And to hell with anyone seeing his bare ass.
He was going to fuck this girl like he had never fucked in his life.
He turned slightly on the bench seat, pressing her back with his body. He buried his face in her neck and supported her back with his hands as he laid her down, grinding against her. His movements were frantic as he fumbled with the button of her jeans then tried to yank them down.
She giggled. “My boots.”
With jerking, desperate movements, he had those off in seconds, her jeans and panties coming off only seconds after that. It took him longer to unsnap and pull his own jeans down, his hands shaking too badly as he stared at her naked form, watching as she pulled her shirt up but not off, baring her naked breasts and massaging them before she slipped one hand down to her mound, rubbing the hidden nub.
His hands continued to shake as he sheathed himself before leaning over her on unsteady arms. She willingly spread her soft, tanned thighs for him, arching her hips up, eager to be filled, to relieve the pulsating ache that had her moaning at just the thought of him inside her.
It was almost too much for him. Her exquisite beauty, the young suppleness of her taut body, the fact that this would break his sixteen-month’s cold spell. If he didn’t get himself together, he would ejaculate like a pre-pubescent boy and shame himself in front of this budding woman.
As he guided his sheathed length into her core, he saw a flash of paradise. Groaning, he couldn’t contain the need to mate, to release his seed. He thrust and thrust and thrust, animalistic in his need, only the thought of climaxing on his mind. But no, he reminded himself. Must. Last. Longer.
Seraphina moaned and cooed as the construction worker plunged into her. She spread her legs as much as she could in the large yet still cramped cab, making him slide in deeper, feeding the hunger that never burned out. Her breaths came out in gasps, her head knocked, knocked, knocked into the door, her breasts bounced as he cocooned her, his forearms pressed tightly against her sides, his head remaining buried in her neck.
The only motion he made was with his hips. He never removed his head from the crook of her neck, never skimmed his lips over her flesh, never moved his hands. No groping, no kissing, sucking, licking, biting. Only plunging deeper, deeper, as deeply as her body would allow him.
Seraphina didn’t mind. All her attention was at her core, and at the pleasant, hefty, sweaty weight of him on her. In those moments of satiating needs, she felt content, safe. She felt …
“God, I think I have already fallen in love with you,” the man groaned out with his release, the endorphins speaking for him.
Seraphina giggled, squeezing him with her core muscles and eliciting another groan from him.
Finally, he moved something besides his hips, pressing his lips to the crease of where her neck met her shoulder, lingering there for a moment before he lifted his head and looked into her eyes.
“Hi,” she said softly.
He grinned boyishly, not moving.
“I should go,” she told him, which made him frown. “Your friend,” she reminded him.
His eyes grew round before he quickly pulled out of her and sat up, looking around. The windows were fogged over. “Shit.”
Seraphina sat up and pulled her shirt down before reaching toward the floor and gathering her clothes. While redressing, she told him, “I’ll let him know you left. He’ll never know.” She gave him a shy smile.
“Are you going to…?” He let the question linger between them.
Instead of scoffing like some women would, Seraphina merely gave him a soft smile. “I didn’t want him. I wanted you.” Shimmying her pants up, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “And I got you.”
He gave her another boyish grin.
“You should smile like that more often. It’s awfully cute on you.”
That compliment had his grin growing.
Seraphina tugged on her boots then leaned in to give him another kiss, to which he tried to catch her lips. He didn’t. She took the lead and kissed the corner of his mouth, allowing a slide of lips and a tease of her tongue along his bottom lip. It was enough to make him moan and sway toward her.
“Till next time,” she promised.
It was an empty promise.
She jumped out of his cab, leaving him with his pants still halfway down his thighs and a condom still encasing his cock.
Her grin slipping from her lips, she felt just as dejected as she did after every night she went out. The only satisfaction she ever got was from reiterating how men were all pieces of shit. No matter how good they seemed, they still cheated, whether it was on their significant others or their friends, in this case.
For example, Jake from last week. He had seemed like a straight-up guy, out celebrating his new promotion, yet he had never even mentioned how he was in the process of proposing to his longtime girlfriend. Seraphina had overheard that when he had shown one of his female coworkers the ring that night, asking if the woman thought it was acceptable or if he should drop another thousand and get a bigger diamond. Seraphina had found the ring box in this jacket pocket after their rendezvous and had made sure to leave it out on the nightstand. A simple reminder of what an asshole he was when he woke up the next morning to find his one-night stand gone.
Just once, she wished a man would prove her wrong.
Seraphina stood under the awning to the side of the front door and waited until the Catholic construction worker drove off. Then she waited a bit more before turning right back around and heading to her own car. There was no way she was chancing a run-in with the friend.
She pulled her single car key out of her pocket and inserted it in the door when someone grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth before she could scream.
“You think you can be a cock tease all night then turn around and fuck my friend?” Stetson man pressed her front against her car door, grinding his new erection into her ass. “You get to find out which one of us is better.”
Seraphina tried to scream around his hand as he wrapped his arm around her waist and hauled her up against him. She fought, kicking and scratching at him as he carried her around the corner of the building and out of sight.
He pressed her against the back of the building with his full weight, still covering her mouth as he used his other hand to unbutton her pants and drag them down, which proved difficult since they were so tight and she was spreading her legs so he couldn’t shove them past her hips.
The entire time, she struggled, trying to twist her body out from under him, reaching back to scratch his face. She tried to open her mouth wide enough to bite him, but he had it trapped shut. The man was a beast. Nothing she did deterred him from his single-minded focus.
She decided it would be best to just give in. If she was an active participant, then it wasn’t rape. At least, that was what she told herself as she stopped fighting and thrust her ass back into his groin. Her heart pounded as she prayed.
~~~~~
Nathan was livid. He had watched her tease two men at the same time. Watched as she had blatantly played with one while giving fuck-me eyes to the other. Then she had left with that one, while the other had gone to the bathroom. That was the stupidest move in a list of stupid moves she had made lately.
Nathan couldn’t figure out her game. Why was she doing this? What led her to casual hookups, sometimes more than one a week? Was it just her nature to love ’em and leave ’em?
He shook his head. He couldn’t figure it out, and he needed to figure it out. It was an obsession. She was his obsession; had been for years upon years.
He went back outside. He had gone out there earlier, following them, ready to follow her to the next sleazy motel. That hadn’t been what happened. Another stupid move.
She had fucked the guy in the parking lot. Not only that, but Nathan had seen the cowboy hat guy come out and witness the truck rocking. They had both listened to her moans and the man’s grunts. Then the cowboy hat man had huffed, kicked the wall, and growled as he had gone back inside to nurse his bruised ego over a cold beer.
As he stood outside now, having followed cowboy hat man out by a minute, conscious of retaliation, he found the parking lot empty of people. The truck was gone, Mr. Cowboy Hat was gone, Seraphina was gone, yet her car was still there.
Nathan kept his head down, his face lost in the hoodie he had donned tonight. He meant to walk past her car; however, a cursory examination of his surroundings had him stopping short. Her key was sticking out of her driver’s side door and mumblings were coming from the back of the lot.
He ducked down between two cars, listening. Something akin to a muffled scream reached his ears before he heard a menacing voice whisper harshly, “Oh no, bitch. You’re not gonna make this easy. I want you to fight.” At that, he heard a smack then more muffled crying.
Oh, hell no!
Nathan saw red.
Standing from his crouched position, hands clenched into fists, he treaded heavily toward the sound of the scuffle with a determined purpose—to maim the asshole.
He didn’t even take in the scene when he came upon them, too consumed with inflicting pain on the person who was hurting his reason for living.
He grabbed the wannabe cowboy by the arm, swinging him around and making him loosen his hold on Seraphina. Then he swung his arm forward, his whole body turning with the momentum and not stopping as he followed through with a punch to the guy’s jaw. The man staggered back, confused at the turn of events, before he regained clarity.
“Leave!” Nathan growled at Seraphina, not even sparing her a glance as Mr. Cowboy Hat charged toward him like a raging bull.
The two men locked arms around each other. Nathan kneed him in the weapon he was about to molest Seraphina with, making him fold over even more and clutch himself. Nathan then punched him repeatedly in the kidneys; one, two, three times in quick succession. Then he kicked the man away from him and pounced, grabbing the man by his raggedy hair, his hat having fallen off in the scuffle, and started punching him in the face until someone grabbed his arm.
It was then he realized Seraphina had never left.
He dropped the now unconscious man’s head, stood up straight, and walked away.
“Wait,” Seraphina called after him.
He ignored her.
She grabbed his arm, trying to get him to stop, to answer her, to see his face, but he turned before she could, not stopping his strides. Finally giving up, she shouted, “Thank you,” to his retreating form.
He stopped, dipped his head in acknowledgement, then disappeared, but he didn’t go far. He watched from the shadows as she kicked the asshole on the ground, got in her car, and then drove away.