Chapter 2: Tasting the Dark
Her fingers worked the leather loose, the belt sliding free with a soft rasp, and then she was at his trousers, tugging down the zip, pushing the fabric aside until her palm found the heavy heat of him straining through his boxers. She wrapped her hand around the shape of it, drawing a low breath at the sheer size, and peeled the cotton down. His cock sprang against her knuckles, thick and warm, and she leaned in to breathe him in, that intimate musk flooding her senses as she licked a slow stripe up the shaft. She took the head into her mouth, savoring the salt on her tongue, the weight of him pressing against her lips.
"Can I take this off?" she asked, fingers plucking at the blindfold.
Teresa's voice came from somewhere to her left. "Go ahead."
She slipped it off, blinked against the amber light, and found Bodie Killam watching her with those steady dark eyes. Her breath caught. Bodie. The one she had murmured about to Simone months ago, half-joking, half-pleading.
"You," she breathed.
He smiled, slow and knowing. "Happy birthday, Ashley."
She shoved him back onto the bed, hiked her midnight-blue dress over her hips, and peeled it up and over her head, tossing it aside so she stood in nothing but a scrap of black lace. Her nipples pebbled in the cool air, already slick between her thighs as she straddled him, fingers digging into his shoulders.
She leaned down and captured his mouth, a hard, hungry kiss that swallowed whatever he might have said in greeting. Her fingers found the buttons of his white shirt, working them loose one by one, and she slid her hands inside, palms flattening against the solid planes of his chest. His skin was warm, smooth over the dense muscle beneath, and she let out a husky sound against his lips as she traced down his abdomen.
Bodie's hands came up and grabbed her ass, fingers digging into the firm flesh through the thin lace of her underwear, squeezing with a grip that was gentle but unmistakably firm. He pulled her closer against him, and she felt his cock throb against her thigh, thick and insistent.
A whisper drifted from somewhere behind her, Sun-Hee's sharp voice carrying a note of glee. "She's eating him alive."
Another voice, Simone's, answered in a low murmur Ashley could not quite parse. She did not care. She did not care about anything but the man beneath her, the body she had wanted and finally, finally had her hands on.
She broke the kiss with a wet smack and sat back on his thighs, drinking in the sight of his bare chest. "Still too much clothes," she said, more to herself than to him, and scrambled off the bed.
He lay there watching her, propped on his elbows, that calm smile still curling the corner of his mouth. She tugged his shoes off, flinging them to the floor with a dull thud. Then she grabbed his ankle and pulled. He chuckled, lifting his hips to help her slide his dark trousers down his powerful thighs. She tossed them aside, then climbed back on top of him.
"Greedy," he said.
"You have no idea."
She hooked her fingers into the waistband of his boxers and pulled them down, letting his cock spring free, thick and proud against his stomach. She took a moment to look at it properly now, no blindfold, and felt her mouth water. The head was flushed a deep, ruddy brown, glistening with the wetness she had left on it, and the shaft was long and heavy, veins crawling up the underside. Exactly as she had imagined. Every single sleepless night she had spent imagining it.
She knelt over him again, bare thighs straddling his hips, and looked over her shoulder at Teresa, who leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, that heavy silver bracelet glinting under the amber lights.
"This," Ashley said, breathless and grinning, "is the best birthday present I've ever gotten."
Teresa just smirked, slow and knowing, and said nothing.
Ashley turned back to Bodie and trailed a hand down his chest, then lower, wrapping her fingers around his cock again. He was thick enough that her thumb and fingers did not quite meet, and she stroked him slowly, feeling every inch of heat and hardness.
"How long have you wanted this?" she asked, her voice gone low and rough.
"Longer than you know." His voice was a low rumble, and his hands found her hips again, thumbs tracing the sharp line of her pelvic bone through the lace.
She leaned down and pressed her lips to his jaw, then his neck, tasting the salt of his skin. "Then you've been hiding it well."
She let her lips trail down his chest, her tongue tracing the ridged ladder of his abdomen until she reached the hair at the base of his cock. He was twitching against her cheek, hot and eager, and she turned her head to run her mouth along the length of him, breathing in that scent she had already decided she could never get enough of.
"I want this inside me," she murmured against his skin. "But Christ, I could suck you forever."
"Take your time," he said, his voice rough at the edges now.
She wrapped her lips around the head and sank down. His hands came up and tangled in her hair, fingers curling against her scalp, not pushing, just holding, grounding her as she worked her way down his shaft inch by inch. She took him deep until her nose brushed the coarse hair at his base, and she held there a moment, throat working around him, savoring the stretch, the fullness, the weight of him pressing against her tongue.
A low groan rumbled up from his chest. "Ashley. Fuck."
She pulled back slow, letting her tongue drag along the underside of him, then swallowed him down again. She found a rhythm, bobbing her head as she cupped his balls in one hand, rolling them gently. He tasted like salt and musk and raw masculine heat, and she was lost in it, in the glide of him against her lips, in the way his breathing turned ragged above her, in the subtle flex of his hips as he fought to stay still for her.
She was not sure how long she worked him. Time dissolved into the wet sounds of her mouth and the occasional sharp curse that slipped past his control. Her jaw began to ache, a deep, pleasant soreness, and she eased off for a moment, stroking him with her fist as she caught her breath.
The murmur of voices reached her then, on the far side of the room. Teresa and Simone and Sun-Hee, talking in low tones she could not quite follow. She did not try. She had far more important things to focus on.
But then she heard it. A faint knock, three soft taps, and then the sound of a door opening. Her head started to turn, instinct pulling her toward the noise, but Bodie's hands tightened in her hair, gentle but insistent, holding her in place.
"Don't stop," he said, low and steady. "You were doing so well."
Something flickered in her chest. A thrill, bright and electric, that she had felt before only in her most private fantasies. She knew that door had opened for a reason. She knew her friends were not done with her.
But Bodie's cock was still heavy on her tongue, and she could not bring herself to care about anything else. She sank down again, taking him deeper than before, and he groaned her name like a prayer. She closed her eyes and let herself vanish into the act, into the slide and the suck and the taste of him, and she felt his fingers tighten in her hair as he neared the edge.
Then there were hands on her hips. Warm, unknown hands, sliding down her bare sides and hooking into the waistband of her panties.
She froze, breath catching around Bodie's cock. Her body went rigid, and she felt the slow drag of lace being pulled down her hips, over the swell of her ass, down her thighs. The air hit her wet skin, cool and startling, and she heard a low, amused chuckle from somewhere behind her. Not Simone's voice. Not Teresa's. Not Sun-Hee's.
A man's voice.
"Birthday girls should be naked," he said, casual and light. "That's the rule, isn't it?"
Bodie's hands held her head steady. He had not let go, not even when she stiffened, and she felt his cock pulse against her tongue as he spoke in that low, calm rumble.
"You okay with this, Ashley?"
She pulled off him with a wet sound, panting, her lips swollen and flushed. She looked up at him, at those steady dark eyes watching her with a patience that made her chest ache.
"There's more of you?" she breathed.
Behind her, the unknown man had pulled her panties down to her knees, and she felt his hands settle on her bare ass, broad and warm, squeezing the firm curves with an easy confidence.
Teresa's voice, across the room, carried a note of satisfaction as she said, "We told you we had something special planned."
The words barely registered before the man behind her dropped to his knees. His hands spread her ass cheeks wide, thumbs brushing the crease of her thighs, and then his mouth was on her. A broad, flat tongue dragged up the length of her slit, from the wet heat of her entrance to the tender bundle of nerves at the top, and she gasped around a mouthful of Bodie's cock.
"Jesus," she breathed, the word muffled against his shaft.
The man's tongue circled her clit with a lazy, practiced ease, and she felt her knees weaken. His hands gripped her ass harder, pulling her open for him, and he buried his face between her cheeks, licking and sucking at her pussy like she was the last meal he would ever eat. She was soaked. She knew she was soaked, could feel the wetness of her own arousal slicking his chin and dripping down her thighs, and she rocked her hips back into his mouth without meaning to.
He chuckled against her skin, a low vibration that buzzed through her entire body. "Tastes like a birthday cake," he said, and his voice was raucous and familiar, the voice of a man who always laughed too loud at his own jokes, who had once charmed her into dancing on a table at a wedding neither of them had been invited to.
Cass.
The name hit her like a shot of liquor. Cass Kardos. Teresa's friend, the one with the messy brown hair and the reckless grin and the body that moved like he had been built for exactly this. She had watched him flirt with half the women in the group over the years, had wondered once or twice what it would feel like to be the one his hands were on.
Now she knew. Now his tongue was flat against her clit, lapping at her with a hunger that made her thighs tremble, and his fingers were sliding through the slick of her pussy, one thick digit pressing against her entrance, teasing, waiting. She pressed back against it and he sank it into her to the knuckle, crooking it up against the ridged spot inside her that made her hips jerk and a hot, helpless sound escape her throat.
"Oh, you like that," Cass said, smug and delighted, and dragged his tongue back up to her clit.
Bodie's cock was still in her mouth. She had forgotten it for a moment, body overwhelmed by the dual assault, and she felt his hands tighten in her hair, guiding her back down. She opened her throat and took him deep, bobbing her head in time with the rhythm Cass had set below. The taste of him filled her mouth again, and the thickness stretched her jaw, and she sucked him hard as Cass's finger curled inside her, pressing over and over against that spot until she was moaning around flesh.
"That's it," Bodie grunted, his hips flexing up to meet her. "Take it all, Ashley. Fuck, you feel good."
She felt him twitch against her tongue, felt the veins of his cock pulse and swell, and she knew he was close. The knowledge lit a fire in her belly. She wanted it, wanted to feel him come undone in her mouth, and she redoubled her efforts, one hand cupping his balls while the other wrapped around the base of his shaft, working him hard and fast in tandem with her mouth.
Cass, behind her, had moved to her clit. He sucked it between his lips, flicking it with the tip of his tongue, while his finger pumped in and out of her wet heat, and he added a second finger, stretching her open. She moaned around Bodie's cock, a raw and desperate sound, and her hips rocked back onto Cass's hand and forward into Bodie's mouth in a rhythm that made her head spin.
"Fuck," Bodie gasped. "Ashley, I'm gonna..."
She sucked him harder, hollowing her cheeks, swallowing him down to the root and holding there until her eyes watered and her throat convulsed around him. His hands flew to her head, gripping her hair, and he came with a deep groan that seemed to shake his whole body. Hot ropes of come flooded her throat, thick and salty, and she swallowed and swallowed, keeping her lips pressed tight around him until she felt his cock soften in her mouth and his hips fall back to the mattress.
She pulled off him slowly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, panting. A thin strand of saliva and come still connected her lower lip to him, and she watched him through heavy-lidded eyes as he lay there, chest heaving, a lazy, sated smile curling his mouth.
Behind her, Cass was still working. He had not stopped, not even for a moment, and she felt her own climax building, coiling low and hot in her belly. She was caught between the two of them, one just spent and the other still relentless, and the room was spinning around her.
"Please," she gasped, not sure who she was pleading with. "Please, don't stop."
She buried her face in the bedsheets, muffling the sounds that kept clawing out of her throat. Cass's tongue was relentless, a flat, wet drag up her slit followed by the tight suction of his lips around her clit, and his fingers were inside her now, two of them, curling and pumping in a rhythm that had her thighs shaking against his shoulders.
She felt Bodie shift beneath her. Felt the mattress move as he rolled off the bed, his weight leaving a cooling absence against her hip. She wanted to ask where he was going, wanted to turn and watch him walk, but Cass chose that moment to sink his teeth gently into the swell of her ass and then soothe the bite with his tongue, and every thought scattered like startled birds.
"That's it," Cass murmured against her skin, his voice thick and smug. "Let go, birthday girl. I've got you."
The knot in her belly was wound so tight it ached. She pressed her forehead into the sheets and pushed her hips back into his face, riding his tongue in a slow, desperate grind, and he moaned against her like he was savoring a meal. His fingers crooked up inside her, pressing hard against the ridged spot that made her vision flash white, and he worked her clit with the flat of his tongue in broad, wet strokes that sent sparks shooting up her spine.
"Fuck, fuck, I'm close," she gasped into the sheets.
He did not answer. He just doubled down, sucking her clit between his lips and flicking it with the tip of his tongue while his fingers hammered that spot inside her with punishing precision. The pressure built and built until she was arched off the bed, her hands twisted in the sheets, and then it broke over her like a wave, hot and blinding and total.
She came with his mouth buried between her thighs and his fingers still crooked inside her, hips grinding back in a shameless, seeking rhythm as her orgasm tore through her in long, shuddering pulses. She heard herself cry out, a raw and broken sound, and she did not care. She let herself be dragged under, writhing against his face as he lapped at her through every aftershock until finally, finally, she went limp, chest heaving against the mattress, legs trembling so badly she could not have stood if the room was on fire.
The mattress dipped in front of her.
She kept her eyes closed, chasing her breath, riding the last slow rolls of pleasure as they faded into a warm, buzzing afterglow. Cass was still pressed against her ass, his hands stroking her flanks, his breath hot and ragged against her inner thigh. He had not pulled his fingers out yet, and she felt them curl gently inside her, a soft, teasing pressure that made her toes curl.
She heard a soft shift of weight in front of her and felt warmth settle between her and the headboard. Bodie, she thought. He must have gone to get water. Or a condom. Something patient and considerate. Something exactly like him.
She smiled against the sheets and forced her eyes open.
The man in front of her was not Bodie.
It was Drew Eaton. Sun-Hee's friend from the gym, the one with the quiet voice and the watchful eyes and the habit of standing in corners at parties, arms crossed, saying little but seeing everything. She had spoken to him a handful of times. Sun-Hee had pointed him out once, joking that he was the strong silent type, and Ashley had laughed and said strong and silent was fine by her if it meant he kept his mouth shut and his hands busy.
She had also noticed the outline. It was impossible not to. Even in loose joggers, even in baggy jeans, there was a distinct, heavy curve of flesh at his groin that drew the eye like a magnet. She had thought, more than once, that the bulge looked like it belonged on a horse, and she had always dismissed the thought as exaggeration.
She had been wrong.
Drew knelt there, calm and unhurried, and his cock stood proud and full between his thighs, and it was magnificent in a way that made her breath catch in her throat. Thick was not the word. It was the thickest cock she had ever seen in her life, a heavy, veined column of dark flesh that curved slightly upward, its head swollen and deeply flushed, beading with a pearl of pre-cum at the slit. It was long too, longer than Bodie's, longer than anyone's, with a weight and heft to it that seemed almost improbable. Her mouth went dry.
"Hey," Drew said. His voice was low and soft, almost gentle. "Sun-Hee said you wanted a proper birthday."
She stared at him. Then at his cock. Then back at him.
"You're not Bodie," she heard herself say, and the words came out dazed and breathless.
"No." Drew tilted his head, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "He's off getting sorted. Wanted to make sure you had company."
Behind her, Cass pulled his fingers out with a wet sound and gave her ass a friendly smack that made her yelp. "Go on, Ash. He's been showing that thing off to everyone who'd look all night. Give him a proper welcome."
She swallowed. Her gaze dropped back to Drew's cock, and she felt a fresh pulse of heat between her thighs, the aftershock of her orgasm rippling into something new and hungry. Her jaw ached just looking at him.
"There's no way," she whispered, reaching out with a trembling hand. She wrapped her fingers around the base of his shaft, and they did not come close to meeting. He was hot and hard and silken over iron, and his cock twitched against her palm as she stroked him once, slowly, from root to tip.
Drew let out a low breath, and his hands came to rest on her shoulders, light and warm. "Told you," Cass said from behind her, his voice full of glee. "Happy birthday, Ash."
She pulled him closer with a grip on his hips, shifting up onto her knees so she could lean down and take him into her mouth. The head of his cock pressed against her lips, and she opened wide for it, but it was immediately different from Bodie. The girth alone made her jaw stretch to a degree that bordered on painful, her lips straining to seal around the swelling crown. She got just the flared head past her teeth before she had to stop, her throat seizing at the sheer volume of him.
Drew made a low, patient sound, his hands settling on her shoulders with a featherlight touch. "No rush," he said, soft as ever. "It takes a while, first time."
She wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him that she had deep-throated men before, that she was good at this, that she could handle anything. But the truth was pressed against the roof of her mouth, thick and heavy and unmistakably larger than anything she had ever taken before, and she had to focus on just breathing through her nose while her jaw adjusted.
Beneath her fingers, his shaft was a column of vein-corded heat. She wrapped both hands around the base, needing every finger just to hold him steady, and worked her mouth down along the head, tongue flattening against the underside, tasting the first clean salt of his pre-cum. A shiver ran down her spine. She had barely gotten a third of him in, and already she was drooling, spit spilling down her chin to slick her hands.
Behind her, she felt Cass shift. The warmth of his body withdrew from her ass, and she heard the soft sound of him repositioning, the creak of his knees against the floor.
She pulled off Drew with a wet pop, a thread of saliva connecting her lower lip to his glistening crown. She turned her head just enough to glare over her shoulder, sweat-slicked hair sticking to her cheek.
"Cass Kardos, so help me, do not even think about leaving."
Cass had settled back on his heels, shirtless now, his bare chest gleaming under the amber lights. She could see the wicked grin splitting his face before she even focused on the rest of him. He was holding his jeans half-unbuttoned, revealing the top of a dark trail of hair that disappeared beneath his waistband.
"Only getting comfortable, birthday girl." He raised his hands in mock innocence. "I ain't going anywhere. Promise."
She narrowed her eyes at him a moment longer, then felt his gaze drop meaningfully down to her ass, still raised in the air, still glistening with his spit. He was already hard, his cock straining against the straining denim of his unzipped jeans, a thick tent that she could see even from this angle.
"Comfortable," she repeated flatly. Then she heard the definite rasp of his zipper being drawn down, followed by the soft displacement of cloth as he shoved his pants over his hips. "You better mean it."
"Every single word." His voice had gone low, thick with amusement and something darker. "Now go back to what you were doing. I'm just about set back here."
A shiver ran through her, and she allowed herself a slow, pleased smile that Cass could not see. She turned back to Drew, who was watching her with those quiet, watchful eyes, a faint furrow between his brows as if he was checking for a change of heart.
"I'm fine," she told him, before he could ask. "Come here. Let me try again."
He shuffled forward on his knees, his cock bobbing with the motion, and she took the head back into her mouth. The stretch was still present, still deep and demanding, but she leaned into it this time, relaxing her jaw in a slow, deliberate way. She breathed through her nose and pushed down another inch. Then another. The crown pressed against the back of her throat, and she paused there, saliva flooding her mouth, her jaw screaming with the effort of holding him.
Behind her, she heard the rustle of denim hitting the floor. Then the unmistakable low weight of a man settling onto the mattress behind her, knees pressing into the sheets on either side of her thighs. His hands found her hips, broad and warm, gripping her with an easy confidence that made her stomach flip.
"God, look at that," Cass murmured, his voice thick and dark. "She's really working at it, isn't she?"
A muffled sound escaped her, somewhere between a moan and a laugh, as Drew twitched against her tongue. She redoubled her efforts, hollowing her cheeks, taking him deeper with a persistent, unhurried rhythm. It was slow going, each inch a battle, but she did not want it any other way. She wanted to feel every inch of him stretch her, wanted the burn and the drool and the impossible fullness of him pressing into her throat.
Cass's thumbs traced the line of her hips, sliding inward along the crease of her thighs, coming to rest against the slick entrance of her pussy. He did not push inside. He just swiped through her wetness, gathering the slick heat of her arousal and spreading it up over her clit in a slow, almost lazy circle.
"Whenever you're ready, birthday girl," he said, a low vibration threading through the words. "I'm right here."
She pushed back against Cass's hands, a wordless, hungry roll of her hips that ground her wet heat against his fingertips. He took the invitation for what it was. She felt the broad, blunt head of his cock press against her entrance, slick with her own arousal, and then he slid inside her in one smooth, relentless push.
The fullness of him was a shock, thick and hot, stretching her in a way that made her gasp around Drew's cock. Cass bottomed out against her ass with a low, guttural sound that vibrated through his chest and into her spine. He held there a moment, hands gripping her hips hard enough to bruise, and she felt every inch of him pulsing inside her.
"Holy shit," Cass breathed. "You're so fucking tight. And so goddamn wet."
She could not answer. Drew's cock was buried in her throat, the crown pressing against the soft tissue at the back, and she was pinned between them, filled at both ends, every nerve ending screaming with sensation. She pushed her hips back into Cass, a shallow, experimental grind, and he took the cue, pulling out until just the head remained and then slamming back into her with a force that made her cry out around Drew.
Drew's hands tightened on her shoulders, steadying her. "Easy," he murmured, his voice strained. "Take your time with me, Ashley."
She wanted to laugh. Take her time. As if she had any control left. Cass was already setting a rhythm, hard and fast and relentless, his hips slapping against her ass with a wet, rhythmic sound that filled the room. Each thrust drove her forward, pushing her mouth further down Drew's cock, and she found herself bobbing in counterpoint, taking Drew deeper with every buck of Cass's hips.
It was too much. It was not nearly enough. The stretch of Drew's cock in her throat and the fullness of Cass's cock in her pussy, the dual assault on her senses, had her head spinning. She was drooling now, spit spilling down her chin and over her hands as she braced herself on Drew's thighs. She could hear herself making sounds, desperate little whimpers and moans muffled around flesh, and she did not care.
"That's it," Cass grunted, his pace quickening. "Take it all, birthday girl. Take every inch."
His fingers dug into her hips, pulling her back onto him with each thrust, and she let him use her, let him drive into her with a force that made her breasts bounce and her vision blur. She had wanted this, dreamed of this, the overwhelming sensation of being filled and fucked and used, and now it was happening and it was even better than she had imagined.
She pushed her mouth down Drew's cock with renewed determination, taking him deeper than before, until her nose brushed the coarse hair at his base. Her throat convulsed around him, and she held there, eyes watering, savoring the impossible fullness of him. Drew groaned above her, a low, wrecked sound, and his hips twitched involuntarily.
"Fuck, Ashley," he gasped. "You're going to make me come."
That only spurred her on. She swallowed around him, working her throat, and Drew's hands flew to her hair, gripping her head with a desperate tightness. She felt his cock swell, felt the veins pulse against her tongue, and she sucked him hard as Cass pounded into her from behind.
"Come in her mouth," Cass growled, his own voice ragged.
The filthy words sent a shock of heat through her. She moaned around Drew's cock, a raw, desperate sound, and redoubled her efforts, bobbing her head in rhythm with Cass's thrusts. She was close herself, the friction of Cass's cock dragging against her inner walls and the pressure of Drew's cock in her throat combining into a building, blinding pressure.
Drew let out a strangled groan. His hands tightened in her hair, and she felt his cock pulse and jerk against her tongue, and then he was coming, hot and thick, flooding her mouth with his seed. She swallowed and swallowed, his cock twitching with each powerful spasm, and she did not stop until he was spent, his grip on her hair loosening as he sagged back on his heels.
She pulled off him, gasping, a thin trail of come still connecting her lower lip to his glistening crown. Her jaw ached. Her throat was raw. And Cass was still pounding into her from behind, relentless and unceasing, driving her toward the edge with every thrust.
"Fuck, you feel incredible," Cass gritted out, his rhythm faltering. "You're going to make me come, Ash. You're going to..."
"Yes," she gasped, pushing back onto him. "Come inside me. I want to feel it."
He let out a roar, and she felt his cock swell and pulse inside her, felt the hot flood of his come fill her as he slammed home one final time and held there, shuddering. She clenched around him, milking him, and the sensation of his orgasm triggered her own, a blinding, total release that ripped through her.
She came with his cock buried deep inside her, her body convulsing around him, her cry muffled against the sheets. Wave after wave of pleasure crashed through her, and she was vaguely aware of Cass collapsing against her back, his breath hot against her shoulder as he rode out his own climax.
The room went quiet except for their ragged breathing.
After a long moment, Cass pulled out with a wet sound, and she felt his come trickle down her inner thigh. She was spent, every muscle in her body trembling, and she collapsed onto her side, chest heaving.
"That was..." she started.
"Not done yet."
The voice came from across the room. Teresa, her tone carrying a note of dark amusement.
Ashley forced her eyes open, turning her head toward the door. Teresa stood there, arms crossed, her red dress catching the amber light. Beside her stood two men Ashley had never seen before, tall and broad-shouldered, watching her with hungry eyes.
"Happy birthday, Ashley," Teresa said, a slow smile curling her lips. "The night is just getting started."