Last Gift (2 page)

“Gifts, of course,” she smirks.

A few other art students have wandered over. I ask all of them. “What is best gift you receive?”

They shout out answers.

“Jewelry.”

“Xbox.”

“Car.”

The last is from Callie. I point to her. “You get a car as a gift?”

“I wish,” she shakes her head. “But I’d like one. You giving them out?”

I nod slowly. “Yes. Yes, I think I am.” I clasp Callie around her shoulder, like she is a good comrade. “Thank you for your friendship.”

Turning, I head for the rental car. I am excited. Very excited. I am going to buy Daisy a car for Christmas.

When I arrive at Daisy’s college campus, my spirits are high and I care not that Daisy is surrounded by males—two at least. The third I am not so sure of. There are females there too. I wonder what they discuss. Perhaps gifts. I hope one of them wishes for a car so that Daisy will understand how normal this gift is. As I approach, I study the other individuals surrounding her to see what they might have that Daisy does not. Her coat is keeping her warm. I would like to buy her a fur but Daisy says that she doesn’t like the thought of wearing all those dead animals.

“Nick!” Daisy hails me immediately. She draws me into the crowd and I lean down to kiss her, just a small brush of my lips against hers. Then, to be sure, everyone understands that Daisy is under my protection, I place my gloved hand around the back of her collared neck.

“All done
kotyonok
?”

She nods eagerly and waves goodbye to her friends. “You seem in a pretty good mood.”

“
Da
, I run over motorist on the way here. Very satisfying.”

“Nick,” she exclaims, batting at my arm.

“Little hitman humor,” I joke.

Suddenly she stops and turns me to face her. “You never joke.” Her eyes are searching mine but she cannot see the gifts I have in mind for her, only that I love her so I stare back into the rich blue depths and think of her heavy eyelids the night before as she sucked me deep into her mouth.

“Last night,” I whisper to her, “so good, da?”

“
Da
,” she agrees.

“Tonight it is my turn.” I bend down close to her ear so no one can hear the words but her. “Tonight I will kneel between your tender thighs and I will lick you until you are screaming for mercy, but no mercy will be yours. Instead, I will torment you with my fingers and tongue and cock until you are senseless, until you feel nothing but pleasure in every nerve and fiber. There will be no centimeter of you that is not touched by me. When you arise from our bed tomorrow there will be no memory in your head but of me fucking you.”

Her knees buckle and I clasp her to me. “You shouldn’t say those things to me in public,” she gasps, glancing around.

“No one but you and I matter in this world, Daisy,” I tell her in all seriousness. “But come, let us get home so the fucking can commence.”

This elicits a giggle from her. “You’re so filthy and formal at the same time. I love it.”

I hold open the car door of the cheap sedan. It will be one of the last days Daisy will ride in this. Climbing into the passenger seat, I hand her my public phone. “I make friend for you today.”

“Is that right?” she takes the phone and flicks it open. “Is it this Callie person?”

“
Da
, she offers you her phone number so you can meet her.”

She snorts and then closes the phone. Leaning her head against the seat, she says, “I’m thinking she wants to be friends with you, Nick.”

“
Nyet
, she invites you to have coffee with her. I will come with so you are not alone,” I offer magnanimously as if it is a big gesture for me to accompany Daisy to a coffeehouse when in truth we both know that I am desolate without her. “But she is a little strange. You should not sit close to her. Her eyelashes look like giant spider legs. It is hard to concentrate on what she is saying when those long black things are creeping close to you,” I advise.

Daisy sighs. “Okay, Nick, if we decided to hang out with Callie, I’ll be sure to sit back far away from her.” There is a tone in her voice, one that suggests she is holding back a laugh. I take a moment to glance at her before focusing on the traffic in front of me. “What is funny then?”

This time she does laugh outright. “She’s probably wearing fake eyelashes, Nick! And she was flirting with you. She wants you to call her to take her out for coffee.”

“But I am with you Daisy, for always. Why would I want to have coffee with a girl with spiders on her eyes?”

She reaches over and lays her head against my arm. “I love you Nick. I love that you are completely clueless because otherwise I’d probably be tormented by jealousy.”

“There will never be anyone but you.” A break in traffic allows me a moment to drop a quick kiss on the top of her head. “Also, we will be home soon. I will show you what I mean.”

She shivers. “I can’t wait.”

Me either.

~~ * ~~

I am riveted by the sway of Daisy’s hips as she walks up the stairs in front of me. They seem to be saying something. This is the first refrain of the siren’s song. Follow me. Follow me.

“I am,” I whisper beneath my breath. “Anyway, even unto my own death.”

“What’s that?” she says.

“Your hips,” I tell her, for I keep nothing from my Daisy. Well, almost nothing. The car is a gift and so that will be secret until it is delivered. “They call to me. I think your body wants something from me.”

“Is that right?” she murmurs. Her innocence has given way to naughtiness and it is a change that I revel in. The words she says are subtext for the want simmering beneath the surface, the desire that has been building since we climbed into the car.

“It is so,
kotyonok
.” I have reached the step that she is standing on. I’m taller than Daisy, stronger, too, but she does not shrink from me. Instead, she rises on her tiptoes and places her mouth against my chin.

“What do you think my body wants?”

“I promised to show you.” I lift her effortlessly into my arms although my muscles tremble when she begins to dot open-mouthed kisses along my jaw line. My knees become weak as her tongue finds the hollow of my throat. I am but putty in her soft hands. Somehow I manage to unlock the door and carry Daisy to our bedroom. It takes a super-human effort and I think I am only upright because my cock is so hard that I can barely bend over to lay Daisy on the covers.

Her eyelids are heavy again, weighted down by lust. I dispense with my clothes swiftly. I know she likes to watch but I’m too eager to be inside her. I confess my weakness.

“I cannot wait to feel the hot glove of your cunt squeezing me.”

Her eyes flare at my words. Holding my heavy erection, I stroke it roughly, squeezing out drops of come and spreading it around the thick member for lubrication.

“Come here, then.”

At her invitation, I fall upon her, pulling off her coat and sweater. I pause then to savor her pendulous breasts that are swaying with her effort to remove the rest of her clothes. Palming each breast with a hand, I bury my face in the valley between the pale mounds, my thumbs rubbing gently over each nipple. They are erect almost immediately.

Her sensitivity astounds me and I am tempted to simply suckle on her breasts until she grinds to completion riding my thigh. But the ache in my cock is unrelenting. Later, then, I promise myself and kiss of the tops of each breast before removing the bra that confines them.

Impatiently she makes a frustrated sound that her tights and skirt are caught at my hard thigh. Moving, I help her until we are flesh to flesh. We fall back onto the bed, my mouth on hers and my hand between her legs.

She is wet, always so wet for me. Her thighs tighten around my hand and she begins to ride me even before I’ve touched her.

My fingers thread through her curls that shield her lower lips and her eager little clit that pushes up and demands attention. I ignore it, though, spreading her labia apart and reveling in the juicy sounds her cunt makes as I ease two fingers inside of her and thrust quickly.

The thready sounds of her need fill the air. “Yes, Nikolai, I need you.”

“I can feel it,” I growl moving down her body. “I want to taste it first.”

I nip at her clit and feel a corresponding tightening around the two fingers moving relentlessly inside her. Her soft flesh against my tongue makes me close my eyes in pleasure. I need the taste of her to flood my throat and coat my mouth. Using both hands, I spread her wide for me and spear my tongue inside her. She grips my head with both hands, tugging at me and pushing me away at the same time.

“God, Nick, the feeling—” her words are choked off as I attack her clit with my tongue, lightly nipping it and then sucking it into my mouth to soothe the tiny pains.

I will never get enough of her. Never. I drink at her fountain, working her with my tongue and lips and teeth and fingers until she is thrashing and crying meaninglessly above me. The fervor of her want makes me crazy with lust and I rear up on my knees and thrust inside her, one swift motion which sets her off again and I can feel the soft walls of her vagina hotly clutching at me. I grit my teeth to keep from coming at that very moment.

I have no restraint now. I am no better than an animal. Dragging her hips up, I pump into her.

“You feel amazing, always so amazing,” I gasp between thrusts. Daisy looks up at me, wordless with love, and I bend down to take her mouth in mine. I rub my tongue against hers, the same profane motion I make with my cock inside of her cunt. She moans and I revel in the dual sensations of being surrounded by her wet, hot enclosures.

“Faster, Nick,” she pleads with me. “Don’t stop.”

Her hips are now moving in that same round motion as she made when she walked up the stairs, only faster now and with less perfect rhythm. The glide of her hot cunt against my shaft feels like heaven. The pleasure of our joining is almost too much.

Her fingers dig into my thighs and as I feel the bite of the nails in my flesh I recognize how close she is to coming again. My balls tighten as I increase the pace of our mating.

“Now, come for me now.” I demand. Her body rises off the bed bowed by the force of her orgasm. I shout out my release and pound into her until I feel like I am jetting my come throughout her entire body. Nothing in this world is as good as being inside her. I collapse, sweaty and spent onto her body and her arms and legs close about me holding me close.

“You are my beloved, Daisy, as I am yours. Do not ever let go.”

“I won’t Nick,” she whispers into my ear. I do not know who clutches the other closer but I think it is me.

~~ * ~~

Daisy

I never thought Christmas would be such a delicate situation. But then again, I never thought of myself with someone like Nick.

I stuff my hands inside my coat pockets and watch my breath blow, frozen, into the air. I’m skipping class. I should be prepping for finals, but somehow, I am here on the street, waiting at the bus stop. This is more important than classes. It’s imperative that I get Christmas right for my Nick, so that we set the tone for our future together. I want to show him how good life with me can be. How sweet it is to be loved purely for who you are, not who hires you.

It’s these thoughts that go through my mind as I take the bus to the rougher part of town and hop off two blocks from a gun store. I walk briskly. It’s cold and icy, but it’s early and there’s hardly anyone on the street. I feel safe, oddly enough; my love is a hitman, and I have met the
Bratva
head on. Street thugs seem almost a foolish worry now.

I head into the gun store and smile at the man behind the counter.

He gives me a skeptical look, as if I’ve taken a wrong turn. “Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for a Christmas present for my…boyfriend.” I frown at the word. There’s probably a better one for what Nick is to me. He is my everything. But we’re not married. We’re not even engaged.

“What kind of gun?” the man asks.

I step up to the counter and peer at the weapons there. Immediately, I’m crestfallen at the sight. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the handguns, pistols, and assorted weaponry in the cases.

It’s that I realize it’s an entirely wrong gift for my Nick.

We’re trying to move away from guns and death, he and I. If I got him one, what kind of message would I be sending?
Here is what you are, and what you will always be. A killer.

I bite my lip. This feels wrong. My Nick is so much more than this, than a man who deserves nothing more than weapons.

“Actually,” I murmur. “I think I have changed my mind.” I give the man a quick smile and turn and leave, heading right back for the bus.

I think about Nick as I wait for the bus, and I think about him on the way back to the part of town where we live. I’ll go back to the campus shortly, so he won’t suspect I’ve been away, but I head to our apartment first. I have an idea of what to get Nick after all.

My Nick loves art. My Nick loves me. I think of his lean, tattooed body and how gorgeous he is to me. Perhaps I will get a tattoo — some of his beautiful, haunting sketches — on my body. He will see it on my skin and know I am his forever.

I like this thought. I dash up the stairs to our apartment, unlock the door, and hustle to the desk set up in the corner of the spare bedroom. It is Nick’s office, though he does not spend much time in here. We prefer to cuddle on the couch, and my love has gotten quite good at sketching with one hand, the other wrapped around my shoulders and holding me close while I watch movies or read a novel. I used to read nothing but romances, but the reality of Nick has ruined those silly fantasies for me; now, I read cozy mysteries about crime-solving cats.

Nick’s sketchbook is carefully set on the desk, amid boxes of charcoals and pencils. I pick it up and begin to flip through the pages, as always fascinated by the inner workings of Nick’s mind. The sketches are dark, and some are disturbing, but all of them have a beauty and a grace to them. I pause over one sketch of a woman that must be me, asleep in bed, the covers tangled about my body.