Amy

The beige carpet in Eddy’s old apartment, aka our penthouse, had seen better days, but the royal-blue bedding on the king-size bed smelled the same as the one in Nentres’s bedroom, so I presumed this was what homemade soap smelled like. I remembered the penthouses from the time before the Ice Age, when my parents and I went on vacations. We’d traveled the world, usually to warm places like Spain and Italy. This was no Italian hotel, but it was mine for all intents and purposes.

Next, I tested the glorious shower. I opened the faucet, then started taking my boots off when I heard the telltale sign of lack of water. A few drops hit the tile, then nothing.

No running water.

“They’ve got community baths,” Nentres said.

I yelped, nearly coming out of my skin. “God, you scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry,” he said and leaned a shoulder on the doorjamb.

“How do you know about the baths?”

“I know.”

A cryptic answer, but I didn’t press. “What did you pay Eddy with?” The backpack looked heavy and jingled as Nentres shook it off his shoulder. It wasn’t roges.

“Confederate gold coins.”

My eyes widened. “Really?” I remembered he’d mentioned the Confederate gold, but to be that close to something so old was still amazing.

“Yeah, really.”

“Does that make me a Yankee?”

Nentres laughed. “It does down here. My dad might mention it.”

I cleared my throat. “I invited your parents to the ball. Can we just call it a party?”

“So I’ve heard. And yes, we can do whatever you want as long as you come to the party.”

“I’ll come.”

He stayed quiet for a while. “That’s good to hear.”

“Shit.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a dress.”

“I reckon that if we’d stayed home, Mary would’ve found you a dress. Something French, something designer made from before the Ice Age. Something from my momma, which in turn would make both you and Momma happy.”

“Oh, I don’t know about your parents, Nentres. I’m mixed race and consider myself black. You’re white.”

He frowned, then raised his eyebrows. “I think we’ve grown out of that era.”

“Are you sure? Because my grandparents sure never grew out of it, and I refuse to make excuses about the color of my skin.”

Nentres extended his hand, and when I put mine into his, he pulled me into a hug. He pecked my nose. “You are cute, smart, and all mine. I’ll make sure everyone sees only that.”

God, this man was smooth and hard in all the right places. He melted my panties just by bringing me here so I could do my thing. I couldn’t think when he held me against him. “I’m serious,” I said.

“I am too.” He lifted me onto the counter, spread my legs, and stepped between them. “Me and you, sugar, we get along best when we fuck. Let’s do that, hm?” His hand found its way up my sweater, into my bra, and closed over my nipple, which formed a bud he rubbed with his palm. I clamped my legs around his waist when his lips touched my neck, and I tucked my hand into his pants to get a handful of cock. I stroked him slowly even though I wanted him inside me right now. He breathed heavily on my neck, grunted when I swiped my thumb over the tip of his dick, and bit my shoulder when I reached for his other dick.

I was sleeping with a man who had two dicks. Nothing and nobody else would do. I was in deep trouble. I knew I’d gone from fling to cling, because when I decided to leave, he’d left with me. He didn’t let me go, and in a way had showed me he wanted more, and that he would be here for as long as I wanted him, and even when I didn’t. His commitment to what we could have together scared me. “I have to pee,” I said. A lie.

Nentres stopped thrusting into my hands, fixed my bra back up, and stepped away. “Can I watch?”

I chuckled. “No.”

He strolled out of the bathroom, then poked his head back inside. “I think we need buckets of water. I’ll go get those.”

“Thanks.”

I heard the door close behind him. My feet hit the tile, my first instinct to flee. The thought of falling for this man made my heart race, made my breath catch in my throat. I paced the room first, then opened the door and stepped outside and into a long hallway, thought better of it, and went back in the room, where I closed the door and leaned against it, wishing the TV stations still broadcast so I could curl up in bed, eat ice cream from the carton, and watch romantic tragedies just to confirm I was right to feel this way. To feel as if something horrible was coming, that this man would die on me, and that I shouldn’t get emotionally invested in him.

A glance out the window confirmed I had every reason to feel this way.

Gray buildings surrounded a gray garden with broken trees and benches with gray skies looming over everything. Our gray future.

I sat on the bed and pursed my lips. A job, something fun and demanding, would keep me busy instead of sitting around doing nothing, or worse, fucking Nentres, for days.

I searched the room for something, anything. Under the TV, there was a door. I opened it and found small bottles of alcohol. I picked out a clear one and checked the dates. Made in the Denver habitat and not expired. I spun the cap and sniffed. My stomach rose, but this was just what I needed. Liquid courage that would last all night. I plugged my nose and chugged, my eyes tearing from the strong, awful taste. After I swallowed, I gagged, capped the bottle, and swore not to touch it again.

By the time Nentres returned with water buckets, I had “tested” all twelve bottles of alcohol and settled on the ones with yellow liquor. I lifted a mini bottle as he kicked the door closed with his foot.

“Cheers!” I announced.

Nentres nodded and carried the buckets into the bathroom. “Eddy said the sewer still works, but I wouldn’t take his word for it.”

“Wanna drink?” I asked.

He came out and sat next to me, then checked out the minibar. A smile tugged his lips. “I see you like bourbon.”

“Yup, all the yellow-brown stuff.”

Nentres accepted the bottle I offered and took a swig. I giggled at the face he made after swallowing. “Eddy’s got better bourbon downstairs. You wanna come down?”

“Sure.” At this point, I was up for anything.

Hours later, Nentres and Eddy sat at the table, piles and piles of plastic chips in front of them, while Jackie, a girl I’d met during the card game, sat at the table in her bra. I’d lost my shoes and socks, but hung in there with the tough guys.

Jackie lost a hand, turned in her chair, and brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Won’t you get that, dragon-man?”

“Get what?” I asked, though I knew what she wanted him to get.

Nentres glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. I paid him no mind. Seemed like liquid courage had done its job. I felt great, the shit flying out of my mouth without any filter. And I didn’t care. Or I thought I didn’t care, until she unsnapped her bra. It fell from her breasts, and she spun around. Oh hell no.

Nentres uncapped his bottle of Eddy’s real good bourbon and poured the last bit into his glass. He swirled it and chugged while the girl and I faced each other in some sort of who’s- gonna-blink-first contest.

Eddy shuffled the cards and dealt. I blinked away first and flipped the corners of my own cards. Pocket As. I’d been getting great hands all night. Should’ve played for money, though I had suggested Jackie and I join the men for strip poker. At the time, the idea sounded great, and Jackie and I made fast friends. Not so much anymore. She wanted Nentres, and she was gunning for him with breasts three times the size of mine.

Nentres had finished off a bottle, and I didn’t know if he’d give in to her. Well, the girl had great breasts. Was he a tit man or a booty man? I had a booty. Ah, an idea struck my drunk brain. I folded to Jackie, thus losing. When I stood, the room spun around, so I spun with the turning wheel, showing everyone my back. Then I slipped my thumbs under my waistband and tried to tug it down.

Hands over mine stopped me.

“We’re gonna head upstairs.” Nentres got my socks, though not my boots—those I’d lost for good to Jackie.

Eddy chuckled. “Works fine for me, but I wouldn’t mind—”

“I’d have to kill you,” Nentres bit out. “Not playing around, man.”

“We’re not done here,” Eddy said.

“Keep tabs. We’ll continue later.”

Eddy nodded, then banged the table. “Dayum, what’s today?”

“Wednesday,” I slurred.

“No, I mean the date.”

“Eight. October eighth.”

Eddy pointed at Nentres. “Happy birthday, my man, happy birthday.”

My jaw hit the floor. Well, almost.

“I can’t believe you remembered,” Nentres said. “Even I forgot it.”

Eddy pointed to his temple. “I remember everything.”

There was some sort of…a pause while the men’s eyes locked and something passed between them. It made me think Eddy and Nentres had once been friends.

Eddy kept talking, but Nentres walked, pushing me in front of him. When we got to the stairs, I looked up and sighed. They seemed to never end.

Nentres picked me up, carried me up the stairs—thank the good Lord for that!—and mumbled something.

“What was that?”

“Your body is for my eyes only.”

“Oh, and I should poke your eyes out when you glanced at her tits.”

“I didn’t glance, but I’m happy you thought I had.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Nentres climbed, urgency in his step. “It means you want me.” And this man planned to have me. The moment we walked inside and he kicked the door closed, I found myself facing it, Nentres’s warm body pressing me into the cold wood. He snuck one hand under my T-shirt and pinched my nipple. I yelped, surprised and excited. That pain shot straight to my clit. Nentres kissed my shoulder and tugged up my shirt, unsnapped my bra. Fingers closed over my hips, and when he stepped back, he tugged so I followed, my hands on the door.

A warm palm pressed on the small of my back, and I spread my legs and leaned forward so he could lay slaps on my ass. He removed my pants and pushed my panties to the side so he could tongue my pussy. My asscheeks burned when he spread them and put his wet tongue on my small back hole. He poked it while two of his fingers pumped inside my pussy. I grabbed his hair and pulled his face closer, then wiggled my ass, trying to get some friction onto my clit. I panted when he rubbed his jaw on it, making it both hurt and feel good at the same time.

My breasts grew heavy, my nipples hardened, and on the inside, I ached and burned for him. I pushed back, trying to get more of his tongue, fingers, anything, more of everything. Nentres slapped my ass so hard, I screamed. I felt it swell and heat up.

He rose and covered both my mouth and nose with his hand. His erection settled between my ass cheeks, then he positioned one cock at the entrance of my pussy and pushed inside at the same time as he removed the hands that blocked my breath. I inhaled loudly. “Oh God.”

Nentres grunted, clenched his hands over my forehead, and pulled my head back. My back bent, and I couldn’t move. He’d impaled me onto him and made sure that when he fucked me, he did it slowly, so his dick glided inside as it stretched me.

His big cock kept hitting the front of my belly. I pinched my nipple harder than I should’ve and bit my lip when my pussy fluttered. A thumb breached my asshole, and I rolled my eyes, then stared at the ceiling as he stretched my hole first with his thumb, then with two fingers that pumped mercilessly into me. I whined, my walls pulsed, and I didn’t care if the whole city heard me shouting his name.

My knees shook, and I just wanted to collapse onto the bed, but Nentres wasn’t finished. He held me up, then spun me around. His eyes burned. I clearly saw the flames dance around his pupil, and I realized I was having sex with an animal. It didn’t matter that he looked like a man, spoke like a man, and walked on two legs, I knew this was the dragon in his human form taking me.

He ripped my panties off.

The dragon was claiming me. I saw it in Nentres’s eyes, and when he hooked an elbow under my knee and lifted then bent so he could fit both cocks inside me, I leaned my head back against the door and braced. My other leg followed up, and both cocks entered me. Stars danced in front of my eyes. I was so full and turned on, so completely ruined for a human man. No other could do what the dragon could do to me. He pounded me into the door, and I locked my fingers behind his neck to hold myself up. My breasts bounced, my back scraped the wooden door, and I let out a cry and bit his bottom lip. Copper hit my taste buds, and I pushed my tongue inside his mouth as if I could invade him. He let me.

My second orgasm didn’t build, it exploded inside me, this one different from the others because of the cock in my ass. It was extraordinary. I lost my grip, and my hands sagged. Like goo, I slumped against the door, speechless, my breath coming out in pants. “Oh my God,” I managed to say.

Nentres picked me up and laid me down on the bed, making sure neither of his cocks left my body. His hands rested on either side of my head, and he pumped into me. My vision got blurry, my body and brain so thoroughly fucked, I barely managed a smile and a nod as he kept repeating, mine, mine, mine.

Yeah, the dragon was here, and he was staking his claim.

I was spoken for.

I dreamed about cupcakes with tiny paper dragons on top of them, and I awoke, fully sober, on a mission to bake the cupcakes for Nentres’s birthday. “Happy Birthday,” I whispered and pecked his cheek. “I’m gonna see about some cakes.” The moonlight coming through the window lit his face, and I lingered, staring at the hard line of his jaw.

If his story about Mother Nature was true, I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve such a man. Or his dragon, for that matter. When had she gifted me with this spirit thing? At birth, or sometime later? Maybe it was that first night after I’d buried my dad and felt alone in the world. Maybe this Mother Nature had felt sorry for me and decided to give me hope.

With his easy smile, Nentres spread hope everywhere he went. He’d have made the Hollywood A-list. Women all over the world would’ve swooned over him. The least thing I could do was bake him cupcakes.

I checked his watch. Three in the morning. I’d be done by the time he woke up. I made my way to the bathroom. My head pounded—okay, so maybe I was half-sober—and I swore I’d never drink again.

After I freshened up in the bathroom, I rubbed my shoulders as the cold seeped into my body. I walked back into the bedroom to throw some clothes on and stopped dead in my tracks as an…awareness struck me. I couldn’t pinpoint why my heart raced, why my skin crawled as if ants marched all over it. I surveyed the dark room.

Nentres slept, a playful tilt to his mouth. He must be having pleasant dreams. I was overreacting, probably still under the influence of alcohol. I shook my head and stepped toward my suitcase. Except I couldn’t move, as if I’d hit a wall. I put my hand in front of me and felt a barrier.

If the blood could have drained from my body, it would have. There was something here, in this room, with us. “Nentres, wake up,” I whispered as if that something would get disturbed if I spoke normally.

Nothing.

“Nentres,” I tried again, this time a little louder.

Fingers closed on my forearm, the indentations on my skin visible but nothing else. I screamed and tugged my arm, tried running away, but I hit an invisible barrier. The fingers left my arm, but something sharp stung my shoulder muscle. Instantly, my vision blurred, and I leaned my hands on the invisible wall around me and looked down. My feet hovered over the beige carpet.

This thing lifted me, dragging me over the bed and to the window, which did not open. I summoned some energy and screamed, but Nentres didn’t hear me. I punched the invisible wall hard, and it zapped me back, frying the skin over my knuckles. The enclosure carried me, but the window remained closed, and when I realized it intended to break it, I sat down inside the…bubble and covered my head.

When I looked up, I was hovering over the street, traveling inside this thing. I spun around and watched the hotel disappear from sight.