The First Lock - 13. Chapter 13

- XIII -

It was only ten in the morning, and Katrena was absent-mindedly flipping through TV channels, without even noticing what was on. It was as if her finger just kept on pushing the remote control’s button while her mind was elsewhere. She knew that she should stop thinking about Jett; she knew that she should just lock every single memory of him in a back of her mind; she knew that she was simply torturing herself right now, since Jett was going to be nothing but a part of her past for the rest of her life. She knew all that, but she couldn’t help herself.

****

When she woke up in the morning after the encounter with that mind controller the night before, the only thing she could concentrate on was coffee. She brushed her teeth and went outside, completely ignoring the fact that she could make coffee herself. She didn’t want that. She wanted the real thing -- not homemade one. She marched into the coffee shop, ordered a nice espresso, thought for a few seconds, and got a muffin as well. Then she sat down at the small table by the window and started thoughtfully working on her muffin. Someone sat next to her.

“I thought I told you last night that if you got into my head one more time, I’d kill you,” she said quietly without looking up.

“Well,” he said. “Last night was interesting; I don’t remember the last time I had such adrenaline rush... I would call but I didn’t have your number,” he paused for a few seconds. “Also I thought you should try those muffins; they are good, huh?”

“Not too bad,” she nodded and finally looked at him.

She didn’t get a good look at him last night because of the darkness. He was dark-haired and his eyes were a shade of winter-blue. His mouth was rather harsh; there was nothing sensual about it -- just a hard, strong line. He wore his hair in a ponytail and a couple of strands escaped the hair band and hung in front of his face loosely by now. She blinked when all of a sudden, she wanted to reach out and tuck one of those strands behind his ear.

“Stay out of my head,” she said without a smile, and he frowned.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said, and she realized that the desire was her own, and not inflicted by his power.

Great, she thought with annoyance, while turning her attention to her espresso and unfinished muffin. The fact that he was able to get through her defenses last night was apparently turning into some weird aphrodisiac right now.

“I am Jett, by the way,” he said and she looked at him again.

“Katrena,” she sighed. “So what else can you do? Besides mind and Fire controlling?”

He smiled and she was astonished at the transformation that smile brought to his mouth. Now it wasn’t harsh at all; it was (“kissable”) soft instead.

“I am somewhat okay with Water,” he said. “Not brilliant by any means, but okay. What about you?”

She shrugged and looked away from that damn mouth of his. She concentrated on her rapidly diminishing muffin instead.

“I am okay at a few things,” she said finally.

“Such as...?”

“Fire, Earth, magic streams...” she glanced at him.

“I know that,” he rolled his eyes. “What else?”

She finally finished her muffin and washed it down with espresso.

“I can also control Water and Air,” she admitted after a minute or two.

He blinked.

“With the same skill as you can control everything you demonstrated last night?” he asked carefully.

“Yeah,” she nodded simply and he blinked again.

“Holy shit,” he said softly. “I guess I got lucky last night, huh? I mean, the fact that I am still alive...”

“It’s that damn mind controlling thing,” she grimaced. “If not for that, you’d be gone by now, believe me.”

“You were the first one who could resist me,” he muttered. “How did you even know?”

“Because I never think that everything is fine, and that I should just keep on walking for no reason,” she said calmly. “When I thought that, I knew something was off... I figured I’d just play along without letting you know...” she glanced at him and couldn’t help but smile. “You are good, by the way... Nobody was able to make me do something I didn’t want to do before.”

“I thought you resisted completely,” he frowned.

“You made me stop and look at my shoe,” she said seriously. “I did not intend to do that.”

He laughed, and she looked away when she wanted to shut him up with her mouth and drink that laughter of his. She knew that he didn’t use his power this time as well; it was all her. “Dammit,” she thought gloomily. “Should’ve accepted Julian’s invitation last night. It would probably be a lesser evil!” She knew that it wasn’t true though. Julian Salamander would never be a lesser evil.

“Wanna go gawk at the street musicians and artists?” he asked.

She almost said ‘no.’

“Yes,” she said quietly instead.

...They made it as far as a couple of blocks. That was when they steered off the main street without saying anything; they just sort of drifted off the street at the same time, and headed towards some dead-end alley, which was almost identical to the one they fought in last night. And then he pushed her against the wall of some old building without saying anything, and she wrapped her arms around his neck in the same silent manner. She was surprised how soft that hard-looking mouth of his actually was. He was nipping on her lower lip, and that sent some serious vibrations down her spine. One of her arms slid down the side of his body and wrapped itself around his waist. She pulled him closer and slowly ground her hips against his. She liked what she felt. He moaned when she did that, and his tongue immediately dove into her slightly opened mouth.

She was drinking his breath and it was almost intoxicating. “God,” she thought hazily. “How is this even possible? I have never met him before last night and...” The thought just drifted off without finishing itself, and Katrena wrapped one of her legs around his, desperate for even more contact. He groaned when she started to rock her hips in a slow, steady rhythm, pushing, and grinding, and rotating against his. His tongue was violating her mouth, and she welcomed the intrusion with her own exploring and frantic nipping.

Finally, after her particularly hard push against him, he muttered something unintelligible and shoved her harder into that wall. She grabbed his wrist when he started undoing her belt buckle.

“It’s... daytime...” she muttered. “Are you crazy...?”

“You are crazy... If you think that I am going to let you go after... Mmm... After all this...” he muttered back, his fingers still working her belt buckle, his wrist magically free from her grasp. “Don’t worry...” he tried to grin. It didn’t work. “Nobody is going as much as glance this direction... I guarantee that...”

“How...” she mumbled, arching her back when he started to pull off her pants.

“I can multitask,” he said seriously.

Katrena’s own fingers were working on his jeans button. It didn’t take her too long to defeat the buckle and the zipper, and she pushed the jeans down his hips. She impatiently kicked off her shoes, and Jett finally freed her legs from the prison of tight pants. Katrena breathed something in some bizarre non-existing language when he lifted her up, and her legs locked tightly around his waist. He stared at her while caressing her mouth with his tongue, both of his hands grasping her tightly, almost desperately. She looked at her own reflection in his winter-blue eyes, her arms never leaving his neck, her fingers tangled up in his hair.

She let out a desperate low groan when he was finally inside her. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second when her body wrapped itself tightly around his.

“Oh...” was all he said before opening his eyes again.

The wall was rubbing hard against her back, which was protected only by her thin shirt. Without even thinking, she threw a barrier between her back and the wall, and unpleasant sensation disappeared immediately. “Apparently, I can multitask as well...” she thought, and then he was moving slowly inside her, and all the thoughts simply ceased to exist.

She was amazed when she felt the heat building up after several minutes of his slow rocking; it was growing with envious speed.

“Oh my God...” she mumbled and grabbed tighter onto his hair. “Don’t... Don’t...”

He slightly frowned and slowed down. She immediately yanked on his hair.

“Don’t stop!” she hissed, and he blinked and resumed his slow speed.

She dropped her head into his shoulder when the heat exploded into white oblivion, and her body screamed out in raw bliss. He whimpered something into her hair when her muscles started helplessly spasming around him. He slowed down again, his breathing beyond uneven, his body trembling. Finally, he started to pick up speed once more, his breathing slightly more composed. Katrena started trailing down the side of his throat with her tongue, her own hips jerking, mirroring his movements. He stiffened up when she bit his skin, her teeth far from gentle.

“Don’t...” he mumbled in a raspy voice. “Don’t do that again... If you don’t want me to... Ahh... Don’t do that...”

She grinned and bit him harder. He hissed a scrambled profanity and raised his head.

“Look at me,” he demanded in a harsh whisper. “Goddammit... Look at me!”

She let go of his skin and raised her head as well. He locked his eyes on hers.

“I want you to feel it...” he muttered, and she blinked, not sure what he was talking about.

He stared into her eyes without blinking, and suddenly, she gasped when a brand-new sensation flowed into her body. It felt familiar and completely different at the same time. All those trembling waves of threatening pleasure – they felt familiar. The building heat, tremors of desperate anticipation – those were familiar as well. The tightening, new-kind of tingling, and almost electric rush – those were new. Her own waves mixed with whatever it was that she was feeling, and that impossibly-demented mix of two different shades of the same pleasure knocked the breath out of her. She thought she was screaming at the top of her lungs, when in fact, the only sound that escaped her throat was just some muffled meowing. Jett never shifted his gaze, not even when his convulsions made him push her harder into that wall. His eyes were locked on hers, small strained whimpers escaping his slightly open mouth, his hips gaining the mind of their own; the mind that they were losing completely, making his entire body shudder head to toe.

Finally, the tremors slowed down for both of them, and then they stopped completely after some reluctant hesitation. Katrena’s suddenly limp body tried to wrap itself around Jett.

“Holy... hell...” she muttered after a few minutes. “What... What was that...?”

“I projected on you,” he muttered into her hair. “I wanted you to know how I felt...”

“Did you get my sensations then?” she managed to raise her head slightly.

“No,” he muttered. “Only works one way...”

“You missed out on a hell of a lot,” she said in a low voice, and he gave her a weak grin.

“Maybe,” he said and kissed her mouth. “I don’t think so, however...”

“I don’t want to leave him,” she thought. “I want to be with him...” she blinked. “Don’t leave me...” she heard a faint whisper in her head; this time it didn’t pretend to be one of her own thoughts.

“I wasn’t going to,” she said aloud. “Stay the hell out of my head!”

He laughed weakly and kissed her mouth again.

****

A shrill ringing of the phone made her jump and drop the remote control. She blinked rapidly, as if trying to wake up. Mandy picked up the phone upstairs, and Katrena squeezed her eyes shut. Why the hell did she just remember all this? Goddammit, why did she let herself go down that particular memory-lane? She felt helpless, furious tears burn the back of her eyelids when Mandy came out of her bedroom and called her name. Katrena hastily pushed those tears back inside and looked up.

“The kisser from another world is on the phone for you,” Mandy said seriously, her eyes twinkling like crazy.

Katrena mastered a weak smile even though Mandy’s words felt like a razor blade running over her heart. The kisser from another world, she thought. That particular kisser she would never see again.

“Got it,” she nodded and got up.

“You okay?” Mandy frowned.

“Nauseous,” Katrena grimaced, and Mandy nodded with a slight understanding frown.

“Hello,” Katrena said into the receiver and Mandy left.

“Hey,” he said. “You okay? You sound funny. Did you just wake up or something?”

“No,” she sighed. “Nauseous,” she repeated the same lie.

“Oh...” he responded. “Still up for the brunch thing?”

She glanced at the clock. It read 11:35.

“Paul,” she said slowly and he interrupted her.

“If you feel crappy, it’s okay... Ummm, what I meant was... We don’t have to go anywhere if you are not up to it,” he finished in what sounded like uplifted voice, but she closed her eyes when she heard disappointment in his intonation.

“No, it’s all good,” she said finally, those damn tears burning her eyes once again. “Could we go at one though, instead of noon?”

“Oh,” disappointment was partially gone from his voice. “Absolutely! Should I call just to make sure...”

“No,” she interrupted him. “Just come, okay? I’ll be fine, I am sure.”

“I’ll bring the bucket, just in case,” he said seriously, and she laughed in spite of the tears.

“Good idea,” she said energetically. “I am going to eat some carrots; those damn things actually help my nausea for some weird reason...”

“Okay,” he said and she heard his smile. “See you at one, then?”

“Yeah,” she muttered. “See you at one...”

She hung up the phone and went upstairs. She wasn’t nauseous in the slightest; she just wanted to be alone right now.

“Mandy!” she called loudly. “I am going to take a shower, okay?”

“Go for it!” Mandy yelled from behind the door of her bedroom. “Use all the hot water if you feel like it! I already took a shower this morning!”

“Okay,” Katrena called and went into the bathroom.

She waited for the water to warm up, slowly getting out of her clothes, and then she stepped into the shower, letting the water cascade down her body. She closed her eyes and just stood there for the next forty minutes, letting the water to wash all those tears off her face.