In the Gray

by B.B. Reid

God, you sadistic fuck, I’ll answer to any of them—Joren, Roc, Golden—anyone else. Anyone but him. “How the fuck you just started this damn job and you already missing shifts?”

Rowdy’s impassive expression returned when he spoke again. “I thought you said you needed this job.” “I do.” “So give me one good reason why I shouldn’t fire you.” My brows lowered. “I’m not sucking your dick if that’s what you mean.”

“I’m not trippin’, little girl. You look like all you’d do is lick the tip.”

“Apologize.” “The only thing you’ll get from me is my ass to kiss,” I gritted out. “I’m not sorry for shit, you boorish maniac. You deserved it!”

“You’re stubborn as fuck, you know that?” I inhaled deeply before slowly exhaling as I shook my head. “I’m not going to accept responsibility for what you did, Rowdy. I didn’t ask you to hurt me.”

Freeing my hands from the ice packs, he stared at them for a long moment, some indecision in his eyes that melted away a second before his head lowered, and he kissed my cold fingers. Warmth pooled in my belly and pussy as I gaped at him. “Me too,” he whispered. He carefully tucked my trembling hands back under the ice before meeting my gaze.

“The whole shop heard Atlas in here screaming. I thought you were up here murdering that girl. I had Golden pull the fire alarm to get everyone out of the building.”

I’d heard disobedient bitches had the best pussy around, and I needed hers in the worst way.

I was used to females who fell to their knees and begged to suck my dick. With Atlas, I felt like I was in high school again, having to work for the pussy with professions of love and flowers.

I wanted to penetrate that young bitch in the worst way, and I was beginning to suspect not just her body.

That’s my baby, I thought with a smirk before I could catch myself. I knew Atlas had only refused to avoid having to speak to me, but I still felt something akin to pride bloom in my chest. At the end of the day, she got me, and that was all any man could ask of the woman he wanted to fuck—more than once.

Donny held out his hand, which I ignored. He thought I forgot that time in the third grade when I caught him leaving the bathroom after taking a piss and not washing his hands.

You’ve got one time to ask me when your car will be done, and I won’t even sell it for parts. I’ll fuck you up first and then make you watch while I feed that bitch to a car crusher.” His eyes damn near bulged out of their sockets, and I could tell he was already regretting hiring me. It was too bad he’d already paid me because I didn’t give refunds either.

“Rowdy’s different,” the hairdresser continued. “He basically wakes up on the wrong side of the bed every day. He’s got a thorn in his paw, and everyone’s too scared to rip it out.”

“Apparently, our talk this morning wasn’t enough for you to shape the fuck up, so tell me, Atlas…what will it take?” I just barely stopped my lips from curling as Rowdy sat back in his chair, looking smug. “What should I do about your inability to do what I tell you?”

“I don’t know what you should do,” I said to Rowdy, “but you could act like a grown-up and get over it.” From the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw Joren wince. The room was silent for one long, tense moment, and then, “Fuck.”

“Golden said to tell him who you really are and why you’re here, and he’ll take you with him.” “What?” Rowdy ignored me. “I don’t even know why you’re wasting your time, G. This little bitch been suspect since the beginning.”

“Kind of like four grown men sitting in the dark behind a locked door?”

“Stop touching me.” “You didn’t ask nicely.” “Please stop touching me. Fuck you. Thanks.” I grinned. “Keep it up. I just might.” Atlas shook her head, looking a little forlorn. “I can’t fuck you, Rowdy. You’re my boss, and I need this job.” “I won’t be for long if you fuck up again,” I told her

Atlas’s hand suddenly reached for my wrist, stopping my exploration just as my fingers grazed the edge of her panties. “I’m not really the sex-without-commitment type,” she announced with an attitude. “Sorry.”

“Then why is your pussy wet, Atlas?” “Oh, boss…” She gave me a mocking pout. “Is that what you call wet?” “Yeah?” I didn’t give her a chance to respond before I hooked my finger in the seat of her drenched panties,

“Look at me.” Her guilty gaze darted up to mine. “I don’t know if I made this clear, but I want you, and I’m not a patient man. I’ll give you a few more days to reconcile with the fact that we’re fucking. Tell yourself whatever you like. Lie that I really want more and just don’t know it yet if you have to. But when that day comes…” She made another sound when I adjusted my hand until I was palming her hot cunt. “This pussy will only weep for me.”

“And I hear you. You want me? Well, words are pretty, but talk is cheap, old man.”

“I value actions above all else, and you’ve done nothing to show me you want me. All you’ve done since we met is try to scare and hurt me. Am I tempted? Yes. You’re fine as hell, and I haven’t been fucked in a while. You seem like you’re good for a nut…if nothing else. If hell somehow freezes over and I let you fuck me, I promise not to get my feelings involved. I know I’m much younger than you’re used to, but I don’t just fall for any man who shows me a little bit of attention. You don’t really seem worth the effort of falling in love. You’re a fuck boy, Rowdy Wray, and my mama always told me to take men like you with a grain of salt.”

“Oh, I’m mental, baby, and rule number one is never give us crazy ones any pussy.” I lifted my head just enough to meet the fire in her gaze. “Unfortunately for you, beautiful, you lost that privilege.”

“I can’t wait to see you throwing all this ass on my dick,” he told me as he nestled his face in my neck and inhaled. “The way it’s sitting in these jeans, I’ll be giving you back shots all night.”

All thoughts of names and colors went poof as I quickly became alarmed. Rowdy alone was intimidating enough. The sheer size of the monster waking up terrified me. “Um…how big are you?” I blurted. Rowdy’s green eyes gleamed as he bit his bottom lip. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“So you’re really not going to answer me?” “Nah.” “Why not?” “Because you’re talking stupid right now, and I’m liable to choke you. I want to fuck you, beautiful, not hurt you.”

“You can think whatever you please, but I already told you, we’re fucking. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it.” I felt my nipples pebble against my shirt. “How about no? Do you understand that word?” “You won’t say no.”

“Are those tears for me, bad girl?” I huffed and looked away. “In your dreams,” I blustered. “I definitely dream about you,” he confessed. “But you’re only crying when my dick is inside you, and you’re begging me to go deeper.”

released a frustrated exhale. “I already told you. I never fucked her, Atlas.” I stared at him for a long while, and he let me until I was satisfied he was telling the truth. “Just checking.” “She sucked my dick, though.” Rowdy barked a laugh when I shoved him.

Rowdy reached us first since he was leading the pack, and I braced myself for what he would do or say. I already knew he wouldn’t care if he hurt my feelings. To be honest, I was more worried about what I would do if he hit on another girl in front of me.

“Friend, huh?” I didn’t need to turn around to see that he was pissed. I could hear the storm brewing behind the quiet calm. “So, that’s why you’ve been acting like you don’t want this dick,” he mused aloud, adding to my embarrassment. “You prefer your own equipment, huh?”

“You promised me a party,” I reminded him gently. “I made it a whole week without running away from you. Don’t let me lose you now.”

I released the breath I’d been holding, only to have it stolen again when Rowdy whirled around, grabbed a fist full of my faux locs in a punishing grip and kissed me. For the first time. In front of prying eyes and enemies.

I didn’t care that we weren’t alone or had been so close to death. He tasted too good. He felt too right. I never wanted our connection to end, and I wasn’t just talking about the kiss. Rowdy already had a hold on me that should have scared me but didn’t. Instead, I finally felt like I was where I was always meant to be. His kiss made me more and more certain with each press of his lips.

I found her mouth in the dark again and slipped my tongue inside. One hit of her, and I was already addicted. Atlas must have felt the same because it wasn’t long before she kissed me back.

“Keep yourself safe, and let me answer for my bullshit.” “No.” I couldn’t see her, but I could picture the stubborn pout on her pretty face clear as day. “If you don’t want me to follow you into fire, then don’t run into fire.”

“Your fraud-ass stole that from Frozen!”

The first time I tasted Atlas, I wanted her laid out and ass naked so I could take my time. I was going to get her addicted to my dick and then drop her troublesome ass like a bad habit.

“I’m starting to think who you really want is that little weird bitch out there. You been giving her my pussy?”

“If I find out you’re lying to me,” I warned. “If I found out she touched you, I’ll kill you both. I’ll snuff that bitch for taking what’s mine, and I’ll make you watch. I’ll fuck you while she bleeds out.”

“There’s only you.” A wave of calm rippled over me, and I leaned down to kiss her. I’d never been jealous before, so I didn’t know a healthy way of handling it. At that moment, I was going for what I knew, what felt natural. This, making Atlas feel good and showing that pussy who it answered to, was as raw and real as it could possibly get.

I paused to push a third finger inside her. She whined and rose onto the tip of her toes to escape the impossible invasion I was forcing on her tight little pussy. “Shhh,” I hushed against her lips when she whined again. “You’re too tight, baby. Gotta stretch you if you’re ever going to take my dick.”

I didn’t like the hurt I saw there, but it wasn’t my problem. I was as single as four quarters. I owed her nothing.

Women were way more cutthroat. When the beef was up, it was stuck, and it didn’t matter how petty. Until death do us part, bitches and cunts!

I felt so stupid. After what I’d allowed Rowdy to do to me downstairs in the storage closet, I’d expected, I don’t know, respect? Friendship? Genuine interest that lasted more than five minutes before he decided to ignore me again? The whiplash was real.

His lips parted to answer, but I grabbed my food and walked off. I wasn’t interested in what he had to say. A part of me expected him to come after me, but he didn’t. Of course, he didn’t. Because despite what Ky thought, I wasn’t wrong. Rowdy didn’t give a damn about me.

It was so easy for him, wasn’t it? To inject chaos into my life and then leave me to clean up the mess. There was absolutely no way I was getting in the car with Joren. He could barely stand, and his date didn’t look any better off.

The sound of glass crunched under an otherwise silent foot right before a sack was shoved over my head and all I saw was darkness. It muffled my startled scream and the increasingly hysterical ones that followed as I was lifted off the ground, my feet and legs kicking and flailing as I was carried away.