Someone caught my attention. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look at the girl in the center of the dance floor with her back to me. Long, vibrant, purple hair cascading all around her as she seductively swayed her hips to the beat. Making love to the music in a way I had never seen before.
She possessed the music; the music didn't possess her.
She was wearing a gray cotton, backless, belly shirt that was held in place by a simple, thin string, tied in a bow across the center of her back. Her ripped up jeans hung low on her hips, the hem dragging on the floor beneath her. She was covered in tattoos. One sleeve completely finished on her left arm. Her right arm halfway there with a few places of creamy, white skin peeking through.
But the tattoo on her back was what had my attention. It was a masterpiece. I had never seen anything like it before.
Intricate, mesmerizing, dark, yet the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It had a pin up style angel drawn in the center, starting at the top of her spine and ending down the middle of her back. The angel’s head was bowed not revealing her face, hands placed out in front of her, clasped in prayer gesture. Purple hair, flowing wild and free.
The wings attached to the angel, spread out on each of her shoulder blades, descending all the way down both sides of her back. Narrowing in on her tiny waist. The wings were so fucking detailed. I imagined she must have spent hours upon hours and several sessions lying on a table.
The wing on the right side of her back was so pure and white, illuminating to the eye. I had no idea there could be that many shades of white all intermixing, creating the feathers texture. Hints of silver were interlaced with the white making it really standout. Each feather was perfectly placed, every stroke immaculate.
While the wing on the left side was clipped, made up of dark shades of black with red bleeding through the empty spaces. The feathers were tarnished, broken, all out of place, and moving in all sorts of directions. Some were missing, some hanging by a thread. The same flawless, distinct texture, and shading as the right wing.
They were contrasting and contradicting to say the least.
Baffling even.
I stood there amazed and in awe of the story and mystery before me. Desperately wanting to unfold it. I wanted to find out if every piece on her had a meaning, a significance behind it. The girl was a dancing paradox and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her, even if I wanted to.
And I didn’t want to.
Her hands slowly worked their way up her body to her head, running her fingers seductively through her hair, holding it up in place. I wanted to sink my teeth into her luscious ass. The way she moved, the way she swayed, the way she danced was so unbelievably fucking sexy, but it wasn’t like every other girl I was used to seeing.
She wasn’t dancing for anyone but herself.
She rocked her hips, spinning to the beat of the music, finally turning to face me.
I. Stopped. Breathing.
She was fucking beautiful. Describing her wouldn’t even do her justice.
Her eyes were shut, oblivious to all the eyes that were fixated just on her. She didn’t give a fuck who was around, who was talking, who was dancing.
All her facial features were pronounced and prominent but perfect for her. Her mouth was pouty and plump, seductively biting on her lower lip as the song came to an end. I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly becoming dry. My gaze traveled down her body, her breasts were full, big, and perky as fuck. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and I could see her nipples peeking through her top. She had the tiniest waist with her hips slightly curving out.
An hourglass figure, exactly how I liked it.
There were tattoos down the sides of her stomach, one on her lower abdomen, and few cursive writing pieces scattered around. The one on her collarbone caught my attention the most and I wanted to know what it said. My eyes wondered back up to her face at the exact same moment the song ended.
The vision in front of me opened her eyes, and I sucked in a visible breath. I’d never seen eyes so bright and blue before. She looked so angelic, even though I knew she was anything but pure. She cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at me. Taking me in as much as I took her in seconds ago. The music changed over to a faster beat, and the dance floor was once again filling quickly. The crowd of bodies started to surround her, but she didn’t let that deter her regard over me. Slowly, she walked toward me, parting through the men and women dry fucking each other on the dance floor.
Never breaking our connection.
I was leaning against the railing, one leg placed over the other. The blunt still between my thumb, index, and middle fingers. My other hand placed inside my pocket, rubbing my fingers together, imagining the way her skin would feel beneath them. Patiently and calmly waiting for her to say the magic words that would allow me to touch her.
To feel her against my skin.
Along my mouth.
Around my cock.
She was intoxicating as much as she was suffocating.
I took in the way her hips swayed, the way her tits bounced, and the way she licked her lips, making my dick twitch at the sight.
She stepped out onto the balcony, closing the sliding door behind her to lean up against it. Angling her body in a way that only made me want to devour every last fucking inch of her silky, white skin. The smell of weed, salt water, and something else, something tempting, something sinful, something her surrounded us.
Was now my new favorite scent.
Without saying a word, she gradually eyed me up and down with a fascinated glare. She took me in inch by inch until she stopped, reaching her desired destination. I followed her stare down to my hand still not moving from the place I stood. Grinning like a goddamn fool when I realized what she wanted.
“Can I have a hit?”
I peered back up at her.
“Pretty please,” she added in a seductive tone, biting her bottom lip.
I didn’t give it a second thought. I pushed off the railing, taking the blunt to my mouth and sucking in long and hard. Striding over to her in four, determined steps. Her gaze didn’t waver from mine as I leaned in close to her pink, pouty mouth, catching her completely off guard. Caging her in with my arms. Her eyes widened but she didn’t push me away. I parted my lips, slightly letting some smoke escape and that’s when she realized what I was doing. She mirrored my direction, and I slowly, softly blew out the smoke from my lungs into her awaiting mouth.
I saw something familiar in her eyes, something I had always seen in mine, reflecting back at me.
Pain.
A raw and dark painful ache, exactly like the pain I had been carrying around my whole life. I felt it in my skin, in my heart, and in my soul that this girl was different. She was like a diamond, smooth but with sharp edges. Our lips touched ever so lightly the entire time.
I knew right then and there…
This girl.
This. Fucking. Girl.
Was going to be the end of me.
Briggs
Have you ever met someone that you felt like you already knew with every fiber of your being? Knowing it was physically impossible, knowing it was the first time you had ever laid eyes on him, knowing that he was a complete and utter stranger.
But, feeling it in your heart, in your mind, and in your soul that this person was a part of you. Someone you possibly met in a previous life, someone who may have meant something to you.
I locked eyes with the guy across the room and a sense of deja vu hit me, I felt like I had seen him before, his presence was comforting and intriguing, although in my head I knew he was a complete stranger. I felt a pull towards him, like he was a piece of a puzzle that was missing from my life.
I knew something was brewing.
Something big.
Important.
Life-changing.
The way he looked at me consumed me in ways I never thought possible. There was a predatory yet captivating glare in his eyes. As if I w
as the answer to every question he ever had. His eyes were blue, maybe green, but mostly blue. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his, they were so bright, so blinding, so fucking true.
The scar on his eyebrow caught my attention first. There was a patch of hair gone, sliced right down the middle, and left in its place was the memory of what made him almost lose his eye. If it had been a few centimeters lower, it would have been gone like the hair.
His skin was slightly tan from the sun, but I could see a few freckles peeking through on the bridge of his nose and on the sides of his cheeks. He had facial hair all around the lower side of his face, I guess you could call it a beard.
He had dark brown, spiky hair, and with the lighting above us I could see hints of red scattered around. My eyes moved on their own accord from his face down to his body. It was then that I realized how big he was. His white V-neck shirt pressed tightly against his chest, while the sleeves barely held in his strong, defined, muscular arms. I had the sudden urge to feel them wrapped around me. He was tall, way taller than my five-foot-four frame. He had to be over six feet of solid muscle.
He was devastatingly handsome.
In a bad boy I want to fuck every part of you kind of way.
But that wasn’t what captured my attention. It was his scars. There were several down his arms, some on his neck. I only imagined he had to have more. They had to tell a story and I instantly wanted to see and touch every single one of them, as if they would tell me what happened to him.
He hadn’t moved from his place in front of me, still caging me with arms. I began to think his feet were glued to the floor beneath him. Smoke billowed up all around us, only adding to his tempting allure.
His lips were smooth when they brushed mine. I felt the sudden urge to feel them against me again, but deeper that time.
I bit my lip at the thought, and his eyes glazed over.
“What’s your name?” he asked, seeming caught off guard by his own question. Like he had never asked for a girl’s name before.
For first time since my parents died I wanted to say…
Daisy.
I opened my mouth to reply but quickly asked, “What’s yours?” instead.
He smiled, big and wide. Displaying perfect white teeth.
“Austin.”
I noticed there was a slight southern drawl to his voice and had to resist the urge to ask him where he was from.
He raised his scarred eyebrow at me, waiting for my response.
“Briggs.”
He cocked his head to the side not sure if I was telling him the truth. I wasn’t used to telling people my name, it felt so foreign leaving my lips. I never had a reason to voice my name, people around me already knew. My little black cards were the reason why I was there. I went where my uncle ordered me to go.
“Is that your last name?”
I shook my head no.
“Your parents named you Briggs?” he questioned with a hint of teasing in his tone.
“Your parents named you Austin?” I fired back with the same tone.
He chuckled. “Feisty.”
Standing upright, moving away from me and taking his warmth with him. I immediately missed it.
He hit the blunt again and then handed it over to me. I tried to hide my disappointment, I wanted to feel his lips on mine again. I shook away all the new and unfamiliar feelings, stepping away from him to walk over to the railing.
I hit the blunt a few times, waiting for him to join me. It took longer than it should have, and I was suddenly subconscious about what he was thinking that made him waver and stay by the sliding door where I left him. When I felt his presence next to me, I thought he would lean over the railing to look out at the water like I was.
He didn’t.
He stood close beside me, leaning up against the railing, his left forearm holding up all his weight. His eyes placed intently on the side of my face, looking through me. Not at me.
I cleared my throat and swallowed hard. My heart beating rapidly with the effect he was having on me.
“So, Briggs, you from Miami?”
My nerves were set on fire. A hot blaze ran steady through my body. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. He had me questioning who he was and how he had this hold on me. I hated and loved the newfound feeling he was producing deep within my core.
It was mind-boggling.
I had been around some of the most powerful, corrupt men in the entire world and didn’t bat an eye. They didn’t even fucking faze me anymore. Yet, there I was anxious and nervous about a guy I had only just met. Acting like the teenage girl I was supposed to be and not the fucked up prodigy I’d become.
The connection and pull he had on me was making me want to reveal my truths, and that scared the shit out of me.
“How old are you?”
I shrugged, unable to find my voice.
I knew I was making a complete ass out of myself, but I wasn’t used to talking to ordinary people. All the acquaintances in my life were business transactions.
I handed him back the blunt, not answering his questions.
He eyed me cautiously.
It was too much to take in, and I was making a fool of myself anyway. I pushed off the railing.
“Thanks for the smoke," I said with a nod.
I didn’t give him time to answer. I quickly turned to leave, but he caught my arm, stopping me.
Our eyes connected.
“Where you goin’?” he asked, as if his whole world was about to walk away from him.
I smiled. I couldn’t help it.
“I got a smile,” he added, reaching out with his other hand like he was catching my expression in the air and placed it near his heart.
“I’ll keep that one. Who knows when I’ll get to see it again.”
I laughed, giving him a huge smile that time. He groaned, setting his hand over his heart again, bowing his head in a dramatic gesture.
“Now, you’re just tryin’ to kill me, baby.”
Baby…
I blushed, grinning like a damn schoolgirl. When he unexpectedly pulled me toward him, for a brief moment I thought he was going to wrap me in his arms, but at the last second he set me right next to him by the railing.
“What’s a guy got to do around here to get you to talk to him, huh?”
I shrugged, that time I was just fucking with him.
“Damn, I take two steps forward and three steps back. I won't complain… I got a smile, didn’t I?”
I grinned.
We passed the blunt back and forth a few more times in comfortable silence and then he threw the roach over the railing.
“Where you from, Austin?” I blurted what I had been thinking since the second I laid eyes on him.
His mouth dropped open in another dramatic gesture. “Wow. She speaks, I had no idea. I was beginning to think it was me.” He smiled. “I do believe I asked you first though. Nice try."
He reached over, softly gripping the back of my neck, smirking at me. I realized pretty quickly that he liked to have his hands on me in one way or another, and I recognized even faster that I liked it.
“North Carolina,” he answered, anyway.
“Ah.” I nodded. “A down South boy. I guess it’s true what they say about Southern charm.”
“Baby, you have no idea. I’m just getting started.”
I didn’t falter, I loved the way he was looking at me too much. “Washington,” I revealed, shocking myself.
My eyes immediately widened by the truth of my response. It just came out of nowhere, a slip of the tongue. The last time I said I was from Washington my parents were alive and I was six years old.
“Hey…” he coaxed, taking in my stunned expression.
He took his finger and lifted my chin to look deep into his eyes. I shook my head, stepping back and away from him. He cocked his head to the side confused by the turn in events.
This was too much. He was stirring up too many emotions in me.
I couldn’t do this. It wasn’t fair.
Not to him.
I wasn’t meant to be this person. Maybe I was in another life, maybe in another time, maybe in another world. In this one, I was a Martinez.
So I just turned around…
And left.
Chapter 13
Austin
I looked for her.
Briggs.
I couldn’t find her anywhere. It was like she fell off the face of the earth or was a figment of my imagination. I spent two weeks, two fucking weeks trying to find her in Miami clubs, bars, and random house parties to no avail. I gave up my search, losing all hope in finding the blue-eyed angel.
The first place I traveled outside of Miami was Washington. I didn’t even realize it until I was getting off at the bus stop, I was in Brigg's home state. My subconscious must have taken over, thinking it would be easy to find the girl with purple hair and tattoos among millions of faces.
The girl I knew nothing about but her name. I couldn’t get her out of my head. I gave up searching for her after a few weeks, even though I didn’t want to.
I’d met a few young transients like me, traveling with just the clothes on their backs and the bag over their shoulders. Wanting to see the world and everything life on the road had to offer.
I learned pretty quickly that money runs out fast, and there were times I slept under a bridge, on the beach, or in an alley. I had been fucked with a few times, so I realized safety was in numbers. I had been to Colorado, Nevada, and Louisiana, to name a few, in the last six months. I left Ohio eight months ago and never looked back. I had sent a few postcards to my parents and Alex from random places over the last eight months, but I hadn’t spoken to anyone since I left.
Now I was in Michigan freezing my fucking balls off in the dead of winter. One of the guys I was traveling with wanted to see The Great Lakes and snowboard Boyne Mountain. The second we stepped off the train I regretted my decision immediately. Why the fuck anyone would want to live in this miserable cold was beyond me. I usually worked construction or bartending to make some money wherever we traveled, depending on what was in demand.