I was back in the old neighborhood again, my feet walking the well-remembered path behind the arcade. This was where I’d smoked my first blunt as a teen, where I’d gotten my ass kicked by some older kids for talking too much shit.
It was darker at night than it used to be, without the carnival lights of the pinball machines shining out of the windows. Trash sat piled in the corners of the alley. It smelled like rotting food and stale piss. A lot had changed since I’d last been here, but I remembered when this was the place to meet with friends, flirt with girls. It was silent now. Kids didn’t need an arcade when they had easy access to endless games on their tablets and phones.
Still, the owners had kept it going for as long as they could, longer than they probably should have, closing the doors only when the pandemic finally forced them to. It had been up for sale ever since, but so far, there hadn’t been any offers.
Gino, the owner’s son, was an old friend, and when I’d asked him if I could use the building for the night, he passed me a key with no questions asked. Gino was good people.
I tucked my motorcycle helmet under one arm and got the back door open. Inside was like a mausoleum. All the machines were still in their places, standing sentinel along the walls. A thin layer of dust gathered on them, and the air held the stale note of abandonment. Moving deeper into the building, I saw that the front windows were boarded up, but at least the cracks between them were wide enough to let a little light in. Just enough for me to wonder if I’d made a mistake inviting Lauren here. I thought it’d be nostalgic, fun to sneak around our old stomping grounds, but so far, it was just depressing.
Fuck it. It was too late to turn back now. She’d be here soon, and I might as well spend that time making the place more presentable. The photo booth was still where I remembered, tucked in a corner near the back, and the same layer of dust that coated everything else sat like a film over the buttons and curtain. I found some rags in a storage closet and quickly cleaned the booth off, stepping back to take it in once I was done. It looked better, less like something you’d find in a haunted museum, but the thought of pulling Lauren inside it didn’t make me especially excited. We wouldn’t be able to see shit in there, even with the curtain open.
Hoping I wasn’t about to charbroil myself, I grabbed the cord and plugged it in. The photo booth immediately flared to life, light spilling out of it, buttons flashing electric blue in the darkness.
Overhead, I noticed something sparkling along the seam where the walls met the ceiling. Fairy lights. Jackpot. Only once they were on, bathing the space in a soft glow that made it look more cozy than spooky, did I realize I’d just spent over twenty minutes giving a makeover to a derelict arcade because I wanted to impress a girl. And to think, just last week, I’d burned a man’s house to the ground and nearly beaten him to death afterward.
I contained multitudes.
My phone chimed. I pulled it from my pocket to see a message from Lauren.
I’m outside, it read. And I brought two friends with me who are going to post up near the door. If I scream, they barge inside, and you have a very bad night.
Threats. I liked it.
The door is unlocked, I wrote back. You know where to find me.
This was a test. The last time I saw her, I had to chase her down. I needed to know she wanted this, or at least the cash, bad enough to make the first move on her own. If she couldn’t work up the courage to walk in here by herself, then she probably didn’t have what it took to put up with me.
The door opened with a loud creak.
“That’s not creepy or anything,” she muttered.
Another creak, and then the sound of the door closing. I strained my ears, trying to figure out whether she was walking farther into the arcade or if she’d taken one look inside and decided to bail. A soft footfall reached me, and then she was there, rounding the corner into the main room, her face turned up as she took in the fairy lights. Her hair was curled into loose waves, and she wore shorts and a cropped tank top. This was the first time I’d seen her up close without heels, and she looked so small without them. Delicate. Breakable. Right until she lowered her gaze to mine and pulled the taser out from behind her back.
“Am I going to need this?” she asked, electricity arcing between the two probes.
I cocked my head sideways, unable to help myself. “Only if you have a pain kink.”
Her grin turned diabolical. “Let’s find out.”
She took a step forward, and I moved sideways, putting a pool table between us. The thing about weirdos like Lauren was you never knew how far they’d be willing to take the bit, and I’d already risked electrocution once tonight.
Her expression was triumphant as she slipped the weapon into her purse, where it was no doubt primed and ready to go. Smart woman.
“So,” she said. “NT95?”
I nodded, bracing myself.
The humor fled from her face. “This whole time, Junior?”
“I needed to know you were okay, Lo.”
Her mouth opened, only for her to close it again like she didn’t know what to say to that.
“I have your diary with me,” I told her. “To give back to you.”
“You took it from Kelly, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I don’t want it. Too many bad memories. You should burn it.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
She nodded, and we fell quiet for a moment. A much larger discussion loomed, but I didn’t feel ready for it yet, and I could tell from the way Lauren glanced around us, as if looking for a distraction, that she wasn’t either.
“This place is bigger than I remember,” she said. “But that’s probably because there aren’t a hundred screaming Italian kids crammed in here with us.”
Thank god.
She turned and headed toward a machine along the back wall. My gaze dropped to her ass and the way her denim shorts clung to it, and then down over her toned legs. Fuck, what I would give to feel those thighs squeezing either side of my head while I tasted her.
She stopped at a bright pink machine labeled “Powder Mountain” and turned to look at me over her shoulder. “This one was my favorite.”
“I remember,” I said, rounding the pool table.
She frowned. “You do?”
I nodded; I remembered everything about Lauren. Stepping past her, I plugged the machine in. “You should play a round.”
She smiled, her eyes wide as they fell to the control panel. “I don’t have any quarters.”
I slipped my fingers into my front pocket and pulled out a handful. I was nothing if not prepared. The game cost fifty cents to play, so I popped two in and hit go, leaning back on the next machine over to watch her have her fun. Oddly enough, as impatient as I’d been earlier, I felt no need to rush things now. Watching her in real life was just as mesmerizing as it was online. Her dark eyes creased at the corners as she concentrated, and she bit her lower lip every time she had to perform a particularly difficult move.
“I swear I used to be better at this,” she said when she died a short time later.
“Maybe I can help.” I stepped behind her, bracing my hands on either side of the machine, where the paddles were, forming a cage with my body. “You work the attacks. I’ll work the defense.”
She sucked in a breath and nodded. “Okay.”
We died almost immediately.
“Well,” I said.
She turned in my arms. “That was your fault.”
“How so?”
She waved in my general direction. “The standing.”
I leaned closer, grinned. “Are you saying I’m distracting you?”
“No,” she said.
“The way you’re staring at my mouth says otherwise.”
She huffed and turned back around. “Let’s go again.”
I produced two more quarters, and she restarted the game.
“You can do it, Lo,” I said. “Show those aliens who the queen of Powder Mountain is.”
She died instantaneously.
“That one had to be intentional,” I said. “You jumped right into the raptor’s open mouth.”
“I was trying to kick it in the head,” she whined. “Fine. You’re distracting me.”
I stepped closer, our bodies flush from my thighs to chest. This time when I spoke, my voice came out lower, the careful hold I had on my control slipping. “I haven’t even started trying to distract you.”
She turned again, her game forgotten.
I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her onto the edge of the machine, putting us face-to-face. Her hands landed on my shoulders, steadying herself, and I reached down and hooked mine beneath her knees, guiding her legs around me, reveling in the feel of her smooth skin beneath my fingertips.
“You’re fucking beautiful, you know that?” I said, watching the neon lights dance in her dark eyes.
“You’re fucking beautiful,” she shot back, sounding disgruntled about it.
I smiled and leaned in, brushing my lips against hers, our gazes locked from an inch away. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be,” she said.
“That’s all I needed to hear.”
I scooped her off the game and strode toward the photo booth, one arm braced beneath her ass, the other around her back. She clung to my shoulders, face buried in my neck, tongue hot against my skin as she tasted me. Fuck, I wanted her. Wanted to be buried in her. With a yank, I got the photo booth curtain open and set Lauren down inside. Her hands immediately dropped to my belt, a hungry look on her face.
Initially, my plan was to play out her fantasy to a T, but as much as I loved the idea of her lips wrapped around my dick, the thought of dragging those shorts off and making her come again was much more appealing. Besides, there was an orgasm imbalance between us. She’d gotten me off more times than I could count, and it was time to level the playing field.
I grabbed her wrists, pushing her backward toward the bench. “Uh-uh. You sit. I kneel.”
She looked up at me. “But in my diary—”
I silenced her with a kiss. Those goddamn glossy lips had been calling to me like a siren song, and I couldn’t resist them any longer. She opened for me instantly, tasting like mint and watermelon lip gloss and memories of a simpler time.
With a groan, I stepped into her, forcing her back against the wall as I deepened the kiss. She clutched at my shoulders, meeting my tongue stroke for stroke. My hands slid from her face to her breasts, palms cupping the sides, thumbs brushing over her nipples slowly at first, and then faster, matching the pace she set in her videos.
She shivered, tilting her head back to give me greater access. I kissed, licked and bit my way to her earlobe, filing every response away, learning what she liked, what she loved. The way she dug her nails into me when I swirled my tongue a certain way. Her gasp when I gently pinched her nipples. And then the soft, breathy little moan that followed when I dragged my mouth down her neck.
“Nic,” she said, sounding out of breath.
My answering grin was triumphant. I’d already been promoted from Junior and we hadn’t even gotten started yet. “Mmm?” I mumbled, unwilling to take my lips off her long enough to talk.
“I want to feel your mouth on me,” she said.
God bless women who weren’t afraid to tell you what they wanted.
I turned us, bumping the back of her knees against the bench hard enough to send her falling to the padded seat. Her ass had barely hit the cushion before I dropped in front of her, crowding between her legs, hands bunching her shirt up and over her head, fingers slipping inside the cups of her bra. I kissed her again, toying with her nipples, teasing her until I tugged the lace down and let her breasts spill free. And then I pulled my mouth from hers and leaned down, swirling my tongue over one nipple while my fingers played with the other.
She made a desperate sound and shifted her hips forward, needing friction between her thighs. I tilted my pelvis up just enough to meet hers, the ridge of my cock pressed tight to her sex, giving her something to grind on.
“Nic,” she said with more desperation.
I lifted off her just enough to speak. “Not as into teasing in real life as you are in your videos?”
“I’m not teasing in them. It takes time to work myself up when it’s just me.”
My head swam, all the blood in my body rushing south to my dick. It took her time to work herself up, but I’d just gotten my hands on her, and already she was asking for more.
I went back to worshipping her breasts with my mouth while my fingers traveled lower, unbuttoning her shorts and sliding the zipper down. With a tug, I had them moving, and she shifted her hips just enough for me to pull both her shorts and thong free. I dropped them to the floor beside me and leaned back, taking a moment to drink her in. She was stunning, from her large dark eyes all the way to the little rainbow tattoo on her ankle.
Digging in my pocket, I hauled out more quarters and turned halfway around.
“What are you doing?” Lauren asked.
“Creating a memory,” I told her, dropping the quarters into the machine and hitting go.
I swiveled back around, ducked low enough to hook her legs over my shoulders, and dragged her to the edge of the bench. I’d been thinking about doing this to her since the night at Velvet when I realized how turned on she was by the sight of another woman getting head, and without preamble, I dove down and buried my face in her pussy.
She sucked in a breath just as the first flash filled the booth. I grinned even as I ran my tongue through her folds, imagining the resulting picture. Then the taste of her hit me and all other thoughts fled from my mind. There wasn’t anything else to compare it to. Words like sweet, bitter, sharp, and musky came to mind, descriptors that most women didn’t want to hear, because they didn’t sound like they should taste good. But they fucking did.
Lauren’s slickness suddenly had me ravenous, and I groaned, pressing closer, sliding my tongue as deep as I could reach.
“Oh, fuck,” she said, sounding caught off guard. A hand hit my shoulder, bracing herself as she arched her hips. Another camera flash turned my vision white—this photo reel was going to be obscene.
I replaced my tongue with my fingers, driving them deep, hooking them forward until her soft cries told me I’d found her G-spot. All the idiot men out there who claimed it was a myth either hadn’t spent enough time asking their partners what felt good, or they didn’t understand basic anatomy.
I curled my fingers inside her in a come hither motion and switched from the flat of my tongue to the tip, running it in a circle around her tight little bundle of nerves before flicking over it several times in quick succession.
“Oh my g—what are y—oh, fuck.” Her words ended on a moan.
Another flash.
I repeated the motions again and again, until words failed her entirely and she stopped moving, her muscles clenching up around me like her body was about to seize. A feeling of victory mixed with pride swept through me, and I picked up the pace, driving Lauren harder, faster.
She panted, nails digging through my shirt, thighs squeezing the sides of my face. A shudder ran through her. Her inner muscles clenched on my fingers. “Nic!”
It was all the warning I had before she came, her body wracked with shivers, legs clamping around me like a boa constrictor. Warmth flooded my fingers as I continued to pump into her. I shifted my tongue to the sides of her clit, knowing direct stimulation while coming could quickly become too much, and slowed my pace, easing her down from her high.
The camera flashed a final time.
I dropped one last kiss on her folds and glanced up to see Lauren looking absolutely wrecked. Her eyes were wild, chest heaving, lipstick smeared like she’d bitten her own lips to keep from screaming.
“What,” she said, “the fuck was that?”
I chuckled and gently thrust my fingers inside her, reveling in how wet she was for me. “Does that mean you forgive me now?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Tell me how you learned to do that, and maybe I’ll consider it.”
“What? This?” I hooked my fingers forward again and stroked her until she moaned.
As tempting as it was to get her off again, I understood the advantage of leaving her wanting more, so I slowly slid my fingers free. I couldn’t resist one more taste of her, though, slipping them through my lips and cleaning every last drop of her off my skin. God, the taste of her was a drug.
She watched me with hungry eyes before her focus dropped below my belt. “Get your dick out.”
Her order nearly startled a laugh out of me, but I shook my head. Did I want her hands and tongue and mouth on me? Absolutely, but tonight was about her. Leaning forward, I helped her back into her underwear and shorts, one foot at a time.
“Please?” she said, the open need in her voice like music to my ears.
“Not tonight,” I told her, because I didn’t think I could stop at her sucking me off. I’d need more of her, all of her, and I wanted her to be able to scream in peace when I finally got inside her. “Lift your hips,” I told her, sliding her clothes up her legs.
She did as I asked, moving just enough that I was able to get them back in place.
Her eyes narrowed as she tucked her tits inside her bra. “Why are you being so nice? I remember you. Don’t try to hide from me, Junior.” Oh, so I was Nic when I was getting her off and Junior the rest of the time? “You were a grumpy bastard back then, and, judging by the way you death-glared all the church biddies, you’re even worse now.”
If she only knew what else I’d done to the church biddies. “Maybe I’ve changed.”
She snorted. “Somehow, I doubt that.”
I gripped her thighs and started to pull her close again. “What do I need to do to convince you? More groveling?”
She blew out a shaky breath. “No.”
The suspicion remained in her gaze, so I ran my hands up her legs, gripping her hips. “What if we erase all of it?”
Her brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“What if we rewrite those bad memories with good ones? Pick up where we left off?”
Her eyes dropped to my lips. “I’m not looking for something serious right now.”
I nodded, ready to lie through my teeth, say whatever it took to see her again. “I can’t do anything serious either.”
Her gaze lifted back to mine, and I could see the turmoil in her eyes as she decided something. “Look, I’m breaking all my rules here, but what are you doing Friday?”
I fought back a grin. “Whatever you’re doing Friday.”
“Let me show you what else Velvet has to offer, and if you’re still interested after, we can talk about this more.”
“I’ll be there.”
