Creed
I stood next to the Boss, keeping my eyes on everything around him. We walked through the big archway into the Bones, a dive bar that catered to the less–than-reputable. Lucky for me, my demoted status was temporary; the Boss had me on his personal bodyguard staff tonight.
It felt good to be back in my proper place instead of scrubbing the streets for information. It also helped that Kelly, the fanatic bastard, was in a fantastic mood, his lips lifted in an evil-looking smile that sent shivers down my spine. He was happy about all of this shit. It would either get him killed (and everyone else at the Devil’s Edge) or would make him incredibly powerful and rich. I wasn’t a fan of either idea.
We took a table in the corner, keeping a windowless wall at our backs and our eyes towards the bar around us. “Oh yes, this is a good day,” Kelly was saying, that stupid grin splitting his ugly mug. “Everything is going so well; Christine is ready to get product in here by next month.” And the Boss was off, talking to everyone and no one at the same time. He expected everyone to listen with a smile as he talked about signing the death warrant of everyone here.
But we were all of us trained as bodyguards, and we would do our jobs. No matter what.
A waitress came around, bringing out waters. It was pretty plain from the way that she was dressed and the way she eyed the Boss that she was on the menu just as much as the food was.
The Boss winked at her. “Hello, there gorgeous. Can you get us all cheeseburgers and fries and beers all around? On my tab, sweetheart.”
“Anything yah say, Kelly,” the woman responded, winking back. She bent over the table, obviously showing off her breasts as they nearly tumbled out of her low-cut uniform. “I’ll be back in a few with the beers. Bottles or pitchers?”
“Bottles, you sweet piece of ass,” Kelly yelled back, his laugh echoing through the whole bar.
The waitress disappeared. I didn’t like this place; it was too easy for predators to be hiding in the nooks and crannies of the dive. Patrick, who was sitting beside me, silent and grave, seemed to be thinking the same thing. He wasn’t quite a bodyguard, not officially, but he made a good one whenever Kelly was out of the hideout. Patrick took all of our safety very seriously; it shocked me when he’d had so little opposition to Kelly’s cartel plan. But I held my tongue, did my job, even as those niggling little thoughts kept returning.
He doesn’t deserve your loyalty. He’s an idiot and is going to drive the Edge into the ground. Kelly doesn’t deserve to be leader. And if Patrick doesn’t stand up to him, he doesn’t deserve his position either.
You need to get out.
Those thoughts clouded my mind, filling up all of the empty spaces and pushing everything else out of the way. It was almost enough. I almost didn’t notice that the waitress was a different woman. Almost didn’t notice that her uniform was too big and was held on almost entirely by her posture.
I was so far gone, I almost didn’t notice that the new waitress was wearing the same name tag as the old one. Or the little spot of blood on the front of her shirt.
My eyes trailed up to the deadpan expression on her face as she very carefully handed each one of us a bottle of beer. But the other bodyguards were looking elsewhere. They were looking for a different kind of threat, one that could come in with guns blazing.
I stood and grabbed the waitress’s wrist in one, fluid motion. She froze, her eyes scanning my face. Without looking, I swiped the bottle of beer from in front of Kelly off of the table and held it out to her. “Drink it,” I said, my voice as firm as my grip on her wrist.
“No, I- I have to get back to work,” she whispered, her eyes filling with panicked fear. She wouldn’t even look at the beer or me. Her eyes were locked with my collarbones peeking out from the edges of my collared shirt. “I should--”
“You will drink this. Unless you’ve poisoned it?”
By now, Kelly and everyone at the table had gone silent, all of them staying far back from their beers. The whole dive had turned to watch, their eyes cold and deadly.
“No! No, I--” The girl tried to pull her wrist free, but I didn’t budge. “I didn’t do anything wrong, please!”
“Then drink with us,” I said, holding the beer out to her lips. “Just a sip, to prove to us you didn’t poison it.”
The girl was crying by now, her whole body quivering as she fought to keep the beer bottle’s lip as far away from her lips as possible. “Okay, okay! It’s poisoned!” she screamed. “Just let me go!”
But there was no letting her go now. Everyone at my table was now standing, death and ice in their eyes. “Patrick, my friend. She’s yours.”
I held my hand out to him, and one of the bodyguards snapped her up, dragging her outside as Patrick followed. After a few moments of silence, the bar returned to its normal noise.
“We should go,” I told Kelly, keeping my eyes locked on the crowd around us. “I don’t think she was working alone.”
Kelly’s eyes were practically glowing. “If you think so. If they are trying to murder me, it only because I’m doing great things. Great things! No one will ever forget my name after this deal goes through.” In spite of that strange speech, he stood up, his Cheshire grin spreading ever wider. Soon, it would consume his whole face. “Great things,” he repeated.
Why did you save him? If Kelly dies before the cartel moves in, the deal will fall through. Patrick wouldn’t have the balls to sign any of the papers; it would make him a target like it has done for Kelly.
I stared down at the floor, my head full and my skull throbbing from all of the noise bouncing around inside of it. I could have saved us. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut.
So why didn’t I?
That thought haunted me, followed me around for the rest of the day. I was a fool. And I was thinking it as I mounted the stairs back to my motel room. My feet carried me down the hall, even as my mind was occupied. But when I looked up, I noticed my feet had taken me down too far. I was standing front of Ivy’s door, not my own.
Why did I come here? But I already knew the answer. I could feel the frustration and worry burning my up under my skin. And I wanted to take it out on Ivy’s flesh. I wanted to carve my name into her skin with my teeth. I wanted to throw her against the wall and pierce her body. I bet she would be tight and dripping wet.
And even worse, I was pretty sure that good-girl Ivy wanted me just as badly.
Fuck. I lifted my hand anyway to her door. I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
I knocked. After a few moments of silence, the locks on the door clicked and squeaked and groaned. The door parted from the frame ever so slightly, giving me a glimpse at those angelic brown eyes and the messy tumble of mocha-colored curls.
“Oh, Creed,” she said, her eyes instantly dropping to the floor. Was that fear or desire in her gaze, or was it a mix of both? Her fingers gripped the door so hard her knuckles were white. “Josh was sleepy, so I sent him back to your place to nap. He’s still there. If you--”
I pressed my hand against the door of her motel room, pushing her and the door back inch by inch. Even as she braced herself against it to keep it closed, I overpowered her, my hunger overwhelming my sense.
Suddenly, she backed away from the door, her eyes too wide and her mouth parted. She was panting like she’d just sprinted for the bus, her face darkening several shades as she blushed. I could feel my body harden in response to her fear, her desire, those too-wide eyes questioning me as I entered her room and closed the door behind me.
“Uh, Creed, I--” But she stopped talking. I backed her into a corner. Her face was doused in fear, her eyes too wide and tracking every single one of my movements. She looked like a rabbit being stalked by a fox. And there was no escape for her.
“Ivy,” I whispered, lifting my hand to brush my fingers over her cheek. “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”
She gaped at me, her mouth working but no sound coming out. Before she could catch her breath or find her voice, I was kissing her, my mouth locked over hers like a vacuum. It felt like gravity, an inevitable twisting of events that got us here, and not a single thing in the world could have stopped it.
Her lips were pliant under mine, her whole body tense and frozen. I knew I shouldn’t be kissing her, I shouldn’t even be in this room with her, but I couldn’t seem to stop.
Reluctant hands lifted up and wrapped around my shoulders, the warmth of her pressing closer. I slid my tongue between her lips and she bit me, her eyes wild.
And that broke me.
All control went out of the window. My hands explored her back and hips without control, my mouth pressed so hard to hers neither of us could breathe. I was holding onto her so tightly, drowning in the taste of her lips, in the caresses of her fingers, that my mind and body were no longer under my control.
I wrapped my arms close around her quivering body, pressing her hard against the line of my burning, aching body. I explored her mouth with tongue, lips, and teeth, pulling her ever closer until neither of us could breathe.
Ivy looked like an angel, but she kissed like a demon.
As soon as her desire overtook her fear and her surprise, Ivy began to battle back, her body pressing harder against mine. Her teeth and lips clashed against mine like she was starved, her mouth hungry and hard against my own. Her nails bit into my shoulder through the thick skin of my leather jacket. One of her legs wrapped erotically around mine, pulling my body closer and setting my blood on fire.
It was like a ticking time bomb between us and nothing could stop the coming explosion. We would clash, wrestle, and burn, our desires explosive and all-consuming.
Until a little voice in the back of my head decided to intervene.
This is a terrible idea.
Ivy felt so fragile under my hands, so light. A flash of her angelic eye flashed across my mind and stumbled back from her. I was across the room in seconds, breathing heavily as I stared at her. She didn’t seem to be breathing at all, her hair disheveled and her lips bruised and swollen. I was too rough for her.
We both froze, uncertain. “I--” I started, but it came out more like a croak. So I cleared my throat and tried again. “I’m sorry. I’ll go.”
And I turned on my heel and left, shutting the door quietly behind me. As soon as the door was closed, I could hear the bolt turn home, the chains put back on the door.
I couldn’t blame her at all for that.
I slumped back to my room, my feet heavy and my blood still boiling. I had an erection that was making my pants painfully tight across my hips. Ivy was still all bruised and tangled up in my thoughts, which was only making the whole situation worse. I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted anything; my whole body throbbed with the memory of her skin so close to mine.
She was getting too close to me, too close to Josh. There was only one thing I could do at this point to make sure Ivy would run away screaming from this life that would kill her: I would have to scare her. And scaring her meant doing the unthinkable: I’d have to bring her down to the Devil’s Edge.
Fuck.